Dr. Simon Forman

Dr Simon Forman was an Elizabethan occultist, and alternative medical practitioner in London. He was a quack physician and surgeon, who spent time in jail for occult practices and prescribing dangerous potions, was banned from practicing medicine, and implicated in murder after his death. All this being said the London people held him in high regard, mainly because he bravely stayed in London during a plague outbreak, and cured himself and others of the disease. The extensive records of his life, including his many occult experiments are held in the Bodleian Library in Oxford.

While Simon Forman's life is intriguing, it is his diary entries that are of ultimate importance to Shakespearean scholars because they contain information on theatrical performances at the Globe in 1610 and 1611.

Links below:

www.mysteriousbritain.co.uk...

shakespeare.about.com...

Yes, anyone who has ever enjoyed (suffered?) being "taught" Shakespeare will know of Forman from the prefatory notes.
( they'll also know he got the plot and the date somewhat wrong, but hey ho)
Next to Dee, one of the most interesting "characters" of the day.

Yes, I agree that Dr. John Dee was a far more interesting person then Simon forman. I have books about each of them and they both had their share of heartache and tradegy.

Simon Forman had a fanatic desire to be educated and continually experienced frustration because he didn't have the money or connections to ever gain that.

I do admire his determination but wonder if his obsessive need for education and status, fuelled his choice for setting up several medical practices without a license from the Royal College of Physicians.

Like most physicians of his day, he used psuedo-science by mixing astrology when making medical his diagnoses.

He was also implicated in the murder of Sir Thomas Overbury. An excellent book that describes life in the court of James I, is called "Unnatural Murder" by Anne Summerset, and describes that murder (by poison) in detail.

One very interesting thing in Forman's life, is that he actually predicted the day of his death (using astrology) and indeed, he died on that exact day whilst rowing a boat across the Thames.

I had a thread about Dr. Dee, that didn't spark much interest, but should be in the ATS archived threads somewhere.

All the Best,
Deep

Anyone interested in ataste of Forman can get a good account here before searching further: shakespeare.about.com...
and John Dee is well worth a search.