Everard Digby
Everard Digby (* approx. 1550/1; † approx. 1605) was an English theologian, physicist and the author of the first scientific work on swimming . He was accepted as a student at St John's College, Cambridge University in 1567 , accepted as a scientist there in 1570, received his BA in 1571, his MA in 1574 and his BD in 1581, completing his studies as a philosopher and theologian. From 1572 he was employed at the college, first as a fellow, from 1584 as a principal lecturer . In 1587 he was dismissed because he did not fit into college life by propagating total poverty and because he spoke very negatively about colleagues to students. He was also accused of being a Catholic in Protestant England. Since he had an income as a parish priest in Rutland and soon took over two more parishes, he himself had a corresponding income for the rest of his life.
Scientific importance
He was best known for his swimming book De arte natandi from 1587, which describes a biomechanics of swimming that has been unsurpassed for over three hundred years. So he treats z. B. already the specific weight of the person and questions of buoyancy . It was first translated into English and later into all major European languages. Napoleon's troops learned from this book and were thereby far superior to others. The swimming book is in the tradition of other practical sports instructions of the time. Roger Ascham , a colleague of Digby's in St. John's, was the author of the most famous archery book: Toxophilus .
Digby took a critical look at Petrus Ramus . Because of this criticism, Digby was accused of being Catholic. In his Theoria Analytica , Digby shows himself to be a pupil of Aristotle . Here he tries to systematize the human forms of perception. He is also the author of Everard Digbie, his Dissuasive from taking away the Lyvings and Goods of the Church, with Celsus of Verona, his Dissuasive, translated into English, London, 1589 , which also earned him the charge of papism .
One of the reasons put forward for his expulsion from college was that of disturbance of the peace. He blew his horn at noon in the college cloister. However, it cannot be ruled out that he made sound experiments with the echo in the course of perception research .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Orme, N .: How we first learned to swim. HistoryExtra December 3, 2011; http://www.historyextra.com/swimming
- ↑ De arte natandi libri duo: quorum prior regulas ipsius artis, posterior vero praxin demonstrationemque continet. Authore Euerardo Dygbeio Anglo in artibus Magistro. Londini: Excudebat Thomas Dawson 1587
- ↑ Michael West (1973): Spenser, Everard Digby, and the Renaissance Art of Swimming. Renaissance Quarterly 26 (1), pp. 11-22
- ↑ A short introduction for to learn to swim. Gathered out of Master Digbies Booke of the Art of Swimming. And translated into English for the better instruction of those who understand not the Latine tongue. By Christofer Middleton. London: Printed by Iames Roberts for Edward White, and are to be sold at the little North doore of Paules Church, at the signe of the Gun 1595
- ^ Arnd Krüger : Swimming. The change in attitude towards a form of physical exercise. In: Arnd Krüger, John McClelland: The beginnings of modern sport in the Renaissance . Arena, London 1984, ISBN 0-902175-45-9 , pp. 19-42
- ^ John McClelland: Body and Mind: Sport in Europe from the Roman Empire to the Renaissance (Sport in the Global Society). Routledge, London 2007
- ↑ Arnd Krüger: Swimming and the Emergence of Modern Spirit, in: John McClelland & Brian Merrilees (Eds.): Sport and Culture in Early Modern Europe . Toronto: Center of Reformation and Renaissance Studies 2007, pp. 407-430
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Digby, Everard |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Dygbeius, Yourardus |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | English philosopher and humanist |
| DATE OF BIRTH | around 1550 |
| DATE OF DEATH | around 1602 |