Editing Robert Fludd (section)

==Career==
Between 1598 and 1604,following his graduation, Fludd studied medicine, chemistry and [[hermeticism]] on the European mainland. His itinerary is not known in detail.<ref name=Debus1>Debus pp. 207–8.</ref> On his own account he spent a winter in the [[Pyrenees]] studying [[theurgy]] (the practice of rituals) with the [[Jesuits]].<ref>{{cite book|author=Urszula Szulakowska|title=The Alchemy of Light: Geometry and Optics in Late Renaissance Alchemical Illustration|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZJox8Eh-gs8C&pg=PA170|year=2000|publisher=BRILL|isbn=978-90-04-11690-0|page=168}}</ref> Furthermore, he indicated that he travelled throughout Spain, Italy and Germany following his time in France.

Upon returning to England in 1604, Fludd matriculated to [[Christ Church, Oxford]]. He intended to take a degree in medicine. The main requirements to obtain this, at the time, included demonstrating that he (the supplicant) had read and understood the required medical texts—primarily those by [[Galen]] and [[Hippocrates]]. Fludd defended three theses based on these texts, and on 14 May 1605,He made his supplication. He graduated with his M.B. and [[Doctor of Medicine|M.D.]] on 16 May 1605.

After graduating from Christ Church, Fludd moved to London, settled in [[Fenchurch Street]], and made repeated attempts to enter the [[London College of Physicians|College of Physicians]]. Fludd encountered problems with the College examiners, both because of his unconcealed contempt for traditional medical authorities (he had adopted the views of Paracelsus), and because of his attitude to authority—especially those of the ancients like Galen. After at least six failures, he was admitted in September 1609. He became a prosperous London doctor, serving as Censor of the College four times (1618, 1627, 1633, and 1634).<ref name="William H. Huffman 45"/> He also participated in an inspection of the London apothecaries put on by the College in 1614, and helped to author the ''Pharmacopoeia Londinensis'' in 1618—a directory of standardized pharmaceutical preparations given by the London College of Physicians. He became such an established figure within the College that he was included in seventeenth-century critiques of the college, including those by [[Nicholas Culpepper]] and [[Peter Coles (17th century)|Peter Coles]].

Subsequently, both his career and his standing in the College took a turn very much for the better. He was on good terms with [[Sir William Paddy]].<ref name=Debus1/> Fludd was one of the first to support in print the theory of the [[circulation of the blood]] of the college's [[William Harvey]].<ref>{{cite book|author=William H. Huffman|title=Robert Fludd|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pTAiTfP5jq4C&pg=PA20|year=2001|publisher=North Atlantic Books|isbn=978-1-55643-373-3|page=20}}</ref> To what extent Fludd may have actually influenced Harvey is still debated, in the context that Harvey's discovery is hard to date precisely.<ref>{{cite book|author=Walter Pagel|title=William Harvey's Biological Ideas: Selected Aspects and Historical Background|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=m0cQQlZK43cC&pg=PA340|year=1967|publisher=Karger Publishers|isbn=978-3-8055-0962-6|page=340}}</ref> The term "circulation" was certainly ambiguous at that time.<ref>[[Allen G. Debus]], ''Robert Fludd and the Circulation of the Blood'', J Hist Med Allied Sci (1961) XVI (4): 374-393. doi: 10.1093/jhmas/XVI.4.374</ref>