Abstract

John Caius played a leading role in English medicine, and with a wider European reputation for his work on epidemiology and on Galen. History mattered to him, not only as confirming his innate conservatism but also as setting standards for the institutions he served. This essay looks at his historical writings, especially his two books on Cambridge University. The first, on its Antiquity, is universally regarded as largely invention, but the second, on its History, much less familiar, is an unusual essay in urban and academic history. It also shows subtly Caius’ religious views, increasingly at odds with a more evangelically inclined Cambridge.