Linacre was born at
Brampton,
Chesterfield, in
Derbyshire, descended from an ancient family, recorded in the
Domesday Book. He received his early education at the
Canterbury Cathedral school, under the direction of
William Tilly of Selling, who became prior of Canterbury in 1472. It was from Selling that Linacre must have received his first incentive to study Classics. Linacre entered
Oxford in about 1480, and in 1484 was elected a fellow of
All Souls College. Shortly afterwards he visited
Italy in the train of Selling, who was sent by King
Henry VII as an envoy to the papal court. Linacre accompanied his patron as far as
Bologna. There he became the pupil of
Angelo Poliziano, and shared the instruction that Poliziano imparted at Florence to the sons of
Lorenzo de Medici. The younger of these princes became
Pope Leo X and later remembered his old companionship with Linacre. Among his other teachers and friends in Italy were
Demetrius Chalcondylas,
Hermolaus Barbarus,
Aldus Romanus the printer of
Venice (of whose New Academy Linacre was a member), and
Nicolaus Leonicenus of
Vicenza. Linacre took the degree of doctor of medicine with great distinction at
Padua. On his return to Oxford, full of learning and imbued with the spirit of the
Italian Renaissance, he formed one of the brilliant circle of Oxford scholars, including
John Colet,
William Grocyn, and
William Latimer, who are mentioned in the letters of
Erasmus. Linacre does not appear to have practised or taught medicine in Oxford. In about 1501 he was called to court as tutor of the young
Arthur, Prince of Wales. On the accession of
Henry VIII in 1509, he was appointed as
Physician to the King, an office at that time of considerable influence and importance, and practised medicine in
London, having among his patients most of the great statesmen and prelates of the time, including
Cardinal Wolsey, Archbishop
William Warham, and Bishop Fox. After some years of professional activity, Linacre devoted himself to the study of theology and the duties of the priesthood. In around 1509, he received priest's orders as the rector of Merstham, Kent. Numerous ecclesiastical positions followed, and he finally obtained the rectorship of Wigan in 1520, which he held until his death in 1524. His clerical benefices included the Precentorship of York Minster. His ordination was connected with his retirement from active life. Literary labours and the cares of the foundation that owed its existence chiefly to him, the
Royal College of Physicians, occupied Linacre's remaining years. The most important service Linacre conferred on his own profession and science was the foundation by royal charter of the
College of Physicians in London, and he was the first President of the new college, which he further aided by bequeathing to it his own house and library. Shortly before his death, Linacre obtained from the king
letters patent for the establishment of readerships in medicine at Oxford and Cambridge, and placed valuable estates in the hands of trustees for their endowment. Two readerships were founded at
Merton College, Oxford, and a lectureship at
St John's College, Cambridge. The Oxford foundation was revived by the university commissioners in 1856 in the form of the
Linacre professorship of anatomy. At St John's College the funds are still in use today; since 1989 the college has hosted an annual "Linacre Lecture" on a subject in medicine, delivered by a leading research scientist in their field. A modern monument in the crypt of
St Paul's Cathedral in
London lists Linacre's grave as one of the important lost in the
Great Fire of London in 1666. His
epitaph in
Old St Paul's Cathedral was recorded by
Paul Hentzner and translated by
Robert Naunton as reading: ==Works==