Editing John Caius (section)

==Biography==

===Early years===
Caius was born in [[Norwich]] and was educated at [[Norwich School]].<ref>{{cite book|title=A Comprehensive History of Norwich|first=A. D.|last=Bayne|year=1869|publisher=Jarrold and Sons|url=https://archive.org/details/acomprehensiveh00bayngoog|page=726}}</ref> In 1529, he was admitted as a student at [[Gonville Hall]], Cambridge, founded by [[Edmund Gonville]] in 1348, where he seems to have mainly studied [[divinity (academic discipline)|divinity]].

After graduating in 1533,<ref>{{acad|id=CS529J|name=Caius, John}}</ref> he visited Italy, where he studied under [[Johannes Baptista Montanus|Montanus]] and [[Vesalius]] at [[Padua]]. In 1541 he took his degree as a physician at the [[University of Padua]].<ref name="EB1911">{{EB1911|inline=y|wstitle=Caius, John|volume=4|pages=960–961}}</ref>

In 1543 he visited several parts of Italy, Germany and France and then returned to England. Upon his return from Italy he Latinised his surname which was somewhat fashionable at the time.

===Career===
[[File:Gate of Honour Caius Court.jpg|thumb|The Gate of Honour, Caius Court, [[Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge]]]]
[[File:Cambridge University, Gate of Honour, Gonville & Caius College.jpg|thumb|Gate of Honour, Gonville & Caius College]]
Caius was a physician in London in 1547, and was admitted as a fellow of the [[Royal College of Physicians|College of Physicians]], of which he was for many years president.<ref name="EB1911"/>

In 1551 he was attending in [[Shrewsbury]] when a notable outbreak of [[sweating sickness]] occurred in the town; the following year, after his return to London, he published ''A Boke or Counseill Against the Disease Commonly Called the Sweate, or Sweatyng Sicknesse'' (1552), which became the main source of knowledge of this disease, now understood to be [[influenza]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=John Caius {{!}} British physician {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/John-Caius |access-date=20 April 2023 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en}}</ref>

In 1557 Caius, at that time physician to [[Mary I of England|Queen Mary]], enlarged the foundation of his old college, changed the name from "Gonville Hall" to "Gonville and Caius College", and endowed it with several considerable estates, adding an entire new court at the expense of £1,834 ({{Inflation|UK|1834|1557|fmt=eq|cursign=£}}). He accepted the mastership of the college 24 January 1559 on the death of [[Thomas Bacon (academic)|Thomas Bacon]], and held it until about a month before his own death.<ref name="EB1911"/>

[[File:Cambridge University, Gonville & Caius College, from King's Parade.jpg|thumb|Gonville & Caius College, from [[King's Parade]]]]
He was physician to [[Edward VI of England|Edward VI]], [[Mary I of England|Queen Mary]] and [[Elizabeth I of England|Queen Elizabeth]].<ref name="EB1911"/> From this position he was dismissed in 1568 on account of his adherence to the [[Roman Catholic]] faith. He was incongruously accused both of [[atheism]], and of keeping secretly a collection of ornaments and [[vestment]]s for Roman Catholic use. The latter were found and burned in the college court.{{Citation needed|date=June 2021}}

He was elected nine times president of the College of Physicians, an account of which, ''Annales collegii medicorum 1520-1565'', he left in manuscript.

He returned to Cambridge from London for a few days in June 1573, about a month before his death, and resigned the mastership to [[Thomas Legge]], a tutor at [[Jesus College, Cambridge|Jesus College]]. He died at his London house, in [[St Bartholomew's Hospital]], on 29 July 1573, but his body was brought to Cambridge, and buried in the chapel under the monument which he had designed.<ref name="EB1911"/>

The question of whether he was the inspiration for the character of Dr Caius in [[Shakespeare]]'s play the ''[[Merry Wives of Windsor]]'' has been discussed at length by [[Arnold McNair, 1st Baron McNair]].<ref>{{cite journal |author=Lord McNair |title=Why is the doctor in the Merry Wives of Windsor called Caius? |journal=Med. Hist. |date=October 1968 |volume=13 |issue=4 |pages=311–339 |pmid=4899813 |pmc=1033978 |doi=10.1017/s0025727300014769}}</ref>