Editing Robert Burton (section)

==Early life and education==
===Family and grammar school===
[[File:Burton family house, Lindley, from William Burton's Description of Leicestershire.jpg|thumb|Lindley Hall, the Burton family manor, as depicted in a stylised frontispiece to William Burton's ''Description of Leicestershire'' (1622). The manor was a medieval foundation, inherited affinially by the Burton family, and torn down in the 17th century.{{sfn|O'Connell|1986|p=4–5}}]]
Robert Burton was born on 8 February 1577, to Ralph Burton (1547–1619) and his wife, Dorothy ({{nee|Faunt}}; 1560–1629), in [[Lindley, Leicestershire|Lindley]], [[Leicestershire]].{{sfn|Bamborough|2009}}{{sfn|Nochimson|1974|p=87}} Burton believed himself to have been conceived on 9 PM on 25 May 1576, a fact he often used in his astrological calculations.{{sfn|O'Connell|1986|p=2}} He was the second of four sons and fourth of ten children; his elder brother, [[William Burton (antiquary, died 1645)|William]], is the only other member of the family for whom we know more than minor biographical details, as he later became a noted antiquarian and topographer.{{sfn|Nochimson|1974|p=87}}{{efn|Ralph, and later his son William Burton, recorded the names and birthdates of ten Burton children: Elizabeth (b. 7 July 1573), Anne (b. 5 July 1574), William (b. 24 August 1575), Robert (b. 8 February 1577), Mary (b. 13 July 1578), George (b. 28 August 1579), Jane (b. 17 October 1580), Ralph (b. 3 July 1582), Catherine (b. 22 October 1584), and Dorothy (who died in infancy).{{sfn|O'Connell|1986|pp=3–4}}}} Both his parents' families were members of the [[landed gentry]], with the Burtons from an old, if undistinguished, pedigree.{{sfn|Bamborough|2009}}{{sfn|Nochimson|1974|p=87}} Robert may have inherited his medical interest; in the ''Anatomy'', he writes of his mother's "excellent skill in [[wikt:chirurgery|chirurgery]]".{{sfn|O'Connell|1986|p=5}}{{efn|According to Michael O'Connell: "'Chirurgery' here does not have quite our modern sense of surgery [...] [it] had still its etymological sense of medicine practised by the hands and would include such things as bone-setting and the treatment of sprains and lacerations."{{sfn|O'Connell|1986|p=5}}}} William states a member of their mother's family, Anthony Faunt, was said to have died from "the passion of melancholy",{{sfn|Gowland|2006|p=5}}{{sfn|Nochimson|1974|p=87}} and speaks fondly the family's maternal relation to [[Arthur Faunt]], a Jesuit controversialist and uncle to William and Robert.{{sfn|Gowland|2006|p=5}}

Burton probably attended two grammar schools, the [[King Edward VI College, Nuneaton|King Edward VI Grammar School]], [[Nuneaton]] and [[Bishop Vesey's Grammar School]], [[Sutton Coldfield]].{{sfn|Nochimson|1974|p=88}}{{efn|In the ''Anatomy'', Burton indicated he studied at Sutton Coldfield, while his will states he was a "Grammar Scholar" at Nuneaton. The biographer [[Jean Robert Simon]] first identified the schools as those above, but admits that neither has Burton's name in their archives.{{sfn|Nochimson|1974|p=88}}}} Burton wrote in the ''Anatomy'' that students "think no slavery in the world (as once I did myself) like to that of a Grammar Scholar", which some writers have taken as suggestion that he was an unhappy schoolboy. More modern biographers, such as R. L. Nochimson and Michael O'Connell, have regarded it as Burton merely presenting what was a popular sentiment, rather than hinting at any personal dislike or source of childhood melancholy.{{sfn|Nochimson|1974|pp=88–89}}{{sfn|O'Connell|1986|pp=6–7}}

===Oxford education===
[[File:John Bancroft with a View of Cuddesdon Rectory, 17th century, University College.jpg|left|thumb|[[John Bancroft (bishop)|John Bancroft]], Burton's tutor at Christ Church, and a lifelong friend. In the left corner is a view of Bancroft's palace near Oxford, [[Cuddesdon]], which Burton praised in the ''Anatomy'', suggesting he was a frequent visitor to his old tutor's estate.{{sfn|O'Connell|1986|p=9}}]]
In July 1593, aged 15, Burton [[matriculated]] into [[Brasenose College, Oxford|Brasenose College]], [[Oxford University|Oxford]],{{sfn|CCEd, Robert Burton}} where his elder brother was already attending. Burton did not receive his Bachelor's until 30 June 1602, and only after he migrated to Christ Church College in 1599.{{sfn|Nochimson|1974|p=89}}{{sfn|Bamborough|2009}} For the time between his matriculation and his transfer, almost nothing is known of Burton.{{sfn|Traister|1976|p=66}} According to [[Anthony à Wood]], Burton "made considerable progress in logic and philosophy" at Brasenose,{{sfn|Wood|1815}} though the college left an impression sufficiently weak that Burton himself made no mention of Brasenose in his corpus.{{sfn|O'Connell|1986|p=8}} Most Oxford students would have completed their education at nineteen, but by 1602, Burton was twenty-six. Some biographers, such as Michael O'Connell and [[J. B. Bamborough]], have cited this as evidence Burton suffered some lengthy illness while a student, possibly melancholy.{{sfn|Traister|1976|p=66}} Record has been found of one "Robart Burton of 20 yeres", a patient of London doctor and astrologist [[Simon Forman]], who was treated for melancholy over a period of five months in 1597.{{sfn|Traister|1976|pp=66–67, 69}}{{efn|"Robart Burton"'s connection to the scholar Burton is suggested not only by the "coincidence of name and age", but by Burton's later familiarity towards London,{{sfn|Traister|1976|p=68}} and the indication he was closely acquainted with Foreman from Burton's astrological notebooks. In these notebooks, Burton attributes a test for virginity used in [[judicial astrology]] to Foreman, a test which Foreman never published, suggesting Burton knew Foreman personally.{{sfn|Bamborough|1981|p=280}}{{sfn|Sununu|1987|p=244}}}} Indeed, 1596 and 1597 are the only years of Burton's maturity in which he seems to have purchased no new books.{{sfn|Bamborough|2012|p=14}}

When he entered Christ Church in 1599, Wood reports Burton was assigned as tutor [[John Bancroft (bishop)|John Bancroft]], "for form sake, tho' he wanted not a tutor";{{sfn|Bamborough|2009}}{{sfn|Nochimson|1974|pp=91–92}}{{sfn|Wood|1815}} though Bancroft was only three years his senior, he was six or seven years ahead of Burton in his studies, and was well-connected within the church,{{efn|John was the nephew of [[Richard Bancroft]], [[Bishop of London]] and later [[Archbishop of Canterbury]]. As Archbishop, Richard ensured his nephew's political advancement, granting him various sinecures, and aiding his election to the [[Mastership of University College]].{{sfn|Cranfield|2008}}}} later becoming the [[Bishop of Oxford]]. It seems some friendship developed between the two; Burton praised Bancroft's construction at [[Cuddesdon]] in the ''Anatomy'', implying he was a frequent visitor.{{sfn|O'Connell|1986|pp=9–10}} At Christ Church, Burton proceeded to an MA on 9 June 1605, and a BD in May 1614.{{sfn|Bamborough|2009}}{{sfn|Nochimson|1974|p=92}} Simultaneously, Burton rose through the college ranks, attaining ''disciplus'' in 1599, ''philosophus secundi vicenarii'' in 1603, and ''philosophus primi vicenarii'' in 1607, the last of which qualified him as a tutor.{{sfn|O'Connell|1986|p=10}} Sometime after he obtained his MA, Bamborough considers it likely Burton was attempting to leave the university. The college statutes required Burton to take a BD after his MA, but Burton chose not to proceed to DD.{{sfn|Bamborough|2009}}

===Early writings and plays===
While at Oxford, Burton indulged his literary interests alongside these academic ones. In 1603, on the [[Union of the Crowns|accession of James I]], Burton contributed a short Latin verse celebrating the event to a commemorative Oxford volume; he made similar offering of twenty-one poems upon James's royal Oxford visit in 1605.{{sfn|O'Connell|1986|p=11, 110}} On this visit, Burton took active part in the "praeparation for the Kinges cominge", including a play he composed for the occasion.{{sfn|O'Connell|1986|p=11}}{{sfn|Nochimson|1970|p=326}} This play, since lost, has been identified with ''Alba'', a pastoral comedy with a mythological subject matter, probably written in Latin.{{sfn|O'Connell|1986|p=11}} The play was performed before James I on 27 August 1605.{{sfn|Nochimson|1974|p=97}} According to a witness of the events, Philip Stringer, Burton's play was poorly received by James and his court. The [[queen consort]] and her [[Lady-in-waiting|ladies]] took offence at several "almost naked" male actors, probably portraying [[satyrs]],{{sfn|O'Connell|1986|p=11}} and the king was so displeased by the production that the [[chancellor of Oxford|chancellors of both Oxford]] and [[chancellor of Cambridge|Cambridge]] had to plead for him to stay, as otherwise he "would have gone before half the Comedy had been ended".{{sfn|Nochimson|1970|p=328}}

However Burton reacted to this royal pan, he was already at work on another play by 1606. This play, ''Philosophaster''—which is fully extant across three manuscripts—was finished by 1615, by which time Burton was revising and correcting it. Burton speaks briefly of ''Philosophaster'' in the ''Anatomy'', mentioning that it was performed at Christ Church on 16 February 1617, during the [[Shrovetide]] festivities. The play was acted by the students alongside three local townsmen. Burton likely took a view towards pleasing the administration in this production. The play cast the son of [[John King (bishop of London)|John King]], then [[Dean of Christ Church, Oxford|Dean of Christ Church]], in a leading role, and departed from ''Alba''{{'s}} controversial mythological themes for the less contentious ones of an academic satire.{{sfn|Nochimson|1974|p=98}}{{sfn|McQuillen|1993|p=6}}{{sfn|O'Connell|1986|p=12}}