Nicholas Culpeper

British physician of the 17th century who had a short and eventful life. He may be best remembered for his "Culpeper's Herbal," a compendium of natural healing that became the standard text for over three centuries.

Culpeper was the son of a titled father who owned castles and manor houses in Kent and Sussex, as the family rose to high social position during the reign of King John in the 12th century. Nicholas was named after his dad, a Reverend minister who died 13 days before the birth of his son.

Their manor house went into other hands and his mom moved with him to the village of Isfield, where her father, the Reverend William Attersole, presided over a Puritan congregation. An erudite man, Attersole was noted for his commentary on the Biblical Book of Numbers. It was he who raised the boy, recognizing his natural abilities and providing a good education. Nicholas was an apt student and applied himself, being particularly well versed in Latin and Greek. He began his astrological studies at age ten. A brilliant scholar in the humanities, he was also a scathing critic and a hot-headed revolutionary. He was a strong and loyal ally but a dangerous adversary, altruistic to those in need but reckless in slandering those with whom he disagreed. Entering Cambridge at 18, he distinguished himself in the Classics but with reckless extravagance, squandered his inheritance.

He fell in love with a beautiful heiress and they planned to elope. On the night of their rendezvous, there was a severe thunderstorm and while driving to their meeting place, his lover's coach was struck by lightning and she died instantly. Grief-stricken and incoherent, Culpeper withdrew for several months to his mother's cottage in Isfield with a nervous breakdown. Emerging from the trauma a changed man, he changed his life's direction. He refused to return to Cambridge and resumed to enter the ministry as he had planned.