John Bastwick
British doctor
John Bastwick (1593–1654) was an English Puritan, physician and controversial writer. He was punished for his sedition and this included having his ears removed. He was supported by petitions from his wife Susanna Bastwick.
Early life
Bastwick was born at Writtle, Essex. He entered Emmanuel College, Cambridge, on 19 May 1614, but remained there only a very short time, and left the university without a degree. He travelled and served for a time as a soldier, probably in the Dutch army. He then studied medicine abroad, and took the degree of M.D. at Padua. Back in England in 1623, he settled at Colchester, where he practised as a physician.
Career
Bastwick was a Latin stylist, and began a career as a controversialist with Latin works. In 1634 he published in the Netherlands two anti-Catholic Latin treatises: Elenchus Religionis Papisticae, an answer to a Catholic called Richard Short; and Flagellum Pontificis, an argument in favour of Presbyterianism.
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This entry incorporates text from “John Bastwick” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.