Thomas Elyot and the Translation of Galen

Abstract

Galen’s reception in Renaissance literature is usually studied as the reception of Galenic anatomy or humoral physiology, rather than the reception of actual texts that Galen wrote. Revising that orthodoxy, this article analyses fragmentary vernacular translations from Galen’s works by Thomas Elyot, many of which are filtered through intermediary Latin translations by Thomas Linacre. This approach foregrounds the often highly literary nature of Galen’s treatises, as well as the extent to which Elyot responds to Galen with a concern for style as well as content. The results contribute to scholarship on Greek translation in sixteenth-century England, which to date has neglected scientific works. New conclusions are also reached about the scale and nature of Linacre’s early Tudor reception. Ultimately, Elyot’s Galen translations shed new light on the burgeoning status of English as a classically validated language in the sixteenth century, and offer a case study in the value of linking medical humanities with scholarship in translation studies and classical reception.