007? Jerome Cardan

Added: 11/29/2006

To find the original 007 secret agent, you must travel all the way back in time to 16th century England and to John Dee, a scholar of St. John's College, Cambridge. John Dee (1527-1608) was an English mathematician, professor, and astronomer who gave it all up for the (at that time) more lucrative occupation of being an astrologer. In 1552, the famous Italian astrologer and physician Jerome Cardan briefly visited England.

One of the most voluminous authors that ever wrote, perhaps the ablest physician of his day, and certainly a man of the most decided and versatile genius, Jerome Cardan, or to designate him more properly by his Italian name, Girolamo Cardano, presents, in his singular history, a curious epitome of the sixteenth century, its eccentricities, energies; and modes of thought. The natural son of an eminent jurisconsult of Milan, he found himself thrown on the world as a waif and vagabond, and for many long and weary years had to battle with it in that character, though he ultimately succeeded in winning for himself a place amid the most favored of its children.

Few men who have risen to eminence and distinction, have had so protracted a period of probation as Jerome Cardan, or exhibited such perseverance and tenacity of purpose in prosecution of the fame to which they believed themselves destined. Though regularly educated at the universities of Pavia and Padua, his stain of illegitimacy prevented his admission as a member of the Milanese College of Physicians; and it was not till after he had gained, by his literary and medical abilities, some powerful friends, that he was enabled by their aid to force his entrance into that learned body.
The appointment of professor of medicine at the university of Pavia, with a salary of two 'hundred and forty, afterwards raised to four hundred gold crowns, followed shortly after this victory, and from this time fortune may be said to have smiled. on Jerome Cardan. His fame as a physician diffused itself not only over Italy, but throughout Europe. Pope Paul III. offered him a handsome pension if he would enter his service, and a proffer of an annual stipend of eight hundred crowns, with the maintenance of his household, was forwarded to him by the king of Denmark; but with neither of these invitations would he accord compliance, the uncertainty of the papal tenure of office, and the cold and moist climate of Scandinavia, being both insuperable objections. To another offer, however, which he received, he lent a more ready ear, and the journey which he undertook in consequence forms, to a Briton, more especially, one of the most curious episodes in the life of the Italian physician.

In passing through London on his return home, Cardan was summoned to attend the young king, Edward VI, then in a declining state of health, and who fell a victim to consumption in the ensuing summer. He had several interviews and conversations with the youthful sovereign, who's generally, received reputation for distinguished abilities and goodness of heart he amply confirms. In Cardan's role as both astrologer and physician, he was invited to cast an astrological chart and prescribe for the young and deathly ill King Edward VI. Court circles, in the know, felt sure the king was dying from consumption. When performing the young King Edward VI's birth chart interpretation, Jerome Cardan astrologer had forecasted an average length of life and marriage for the young king. However, shortly before the soon-to-be death of Edward VI, Jerome Cardan wisely chose to depart England and return to his native Italy. In later writings, Cardan protested that his forecast for the young king was incorrect due to a mistake on his part (a calculation he had failed to perform). According to Cardan, his leaving was not a matter of "getting out of town while the getting was good."

Probably he foresaw that Edward's life must ere long come to a termination, but to have expressed any opinion to that effect would have been both perilous to himself and cruel towards the amiable prince. After a short stay in London, he proceeded to Dover, crossed over from thence into Belgium, and passing through the Low Countries, reached Cologne, from which he sailed up the Rhine to Strasburg and Basel. He then continued his journey through Switzerland, crossed the Alps, and re-entered Milan, on 3rd January 1553, after an absence of nearly a year.

The sunshine of prosperity continued for several years to beam on Cardan, but his latter clays were embittered by a terrible calamity. Gianbatista, his eldest son, had married a worthless girl, and thereby occasioned his father the most poignant sorrow; but the indignation which he expressed at the event gradually relented, and he allowed the disreputable couple a marriage without interference. Soon fearful quarrels arose between husband and wife, the latter of who did not scruple to glory in her infidelities, and thereby roused the implacable resentment of Gianbatista, who conceived the design of poisoning her, and made it through the use of a cake. His wife died, and thereupon he and his brother Aldo were arrested as her murderers. As regarded the latter, the charge was abandoned, but the proofs of Gianbatista's guilt were strong, and not-withstanding all the efforts of his father to save him, he was condemned, and put to death in prison at the early age of twenty-six.

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