Thomas Allen (mathematician)
Thomas Allen , also Alleyn, (born December 21, 1542 in Uttoxeter , Staffordshire , † September 30, 1632 in Oxford ) was an English mathematician, scholar and astrologer.
Allen studied from 1561 at Trinity College in Oxford with the completion of the Magister artium in 1567. He was there a fellow of the college, but moved in 1571 to Gloucester Hall, a college of Catholic partisans in Oxford. Officially he remained an Anglican, although he was never ordained. He had numerous students there, including Kenelm Digby and Thomas Harriot (who was, however, at a different college). Among other things, he taught mathematical geography, which was important for the voyages of discovery of the time. Among his students here were Thomas Aylesbury (1576–1657), later overseer of the Royal Navy and director of the mint and patron of science, and Robert Fludd . He earned a great reputation as a scholar and died in Gloucester Hall.
He was the astrologer of Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester and also created horoscopes for other eminent personalities. Similar to John Dee , with whom he was known, he partly had the reputation of practicing the black arts as a magician (as in Leicester's Commonwealth of 1584). For example, there were rumors that he had tried to use black magic to promote a connection between his patron, the Earl of Leicester, and Queen Elizabeth I.
He was also associated with William Herbert, 3rd Earl of Pembroke , a Patron of Science, and with Robert Bruce Cotton and William Camden . He was considered a great book collector and left his library to Kenelm Digby, through which they came to the Bodleian Library for the most part . He published little, including a commentary on the second and third books of the Almagest by Claudius Ptolemy (known as The Quadripartite Construction ) and on De Scriptores Britanniae by John Bale .
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| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Allen, Thomas |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Alleyn, Thomas |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | British mathematician, scholar and astrologer |
| DATE OF BIRTH | December 21, 1542 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Uttoxeter , Staffordshire |
| DATE OF DEATH | September 30, 1632 |
| Place of death | Oxford |