Jan Franco

Jan Franco
M.D.
Born Eersel, Duchy of Brabant
Occupation physician, astrologer
Citizenship Brussels
Education mathematics, medicine
Alma mater University of Leuven
Period Baroque
Genre almanacs
Subject medical astrology
Years active 1586–1611
Relatives Jean Baptiste Auxstruies (nephew)

Jan Franco (active 1586–1611) was a physician, mathematician and astronomer who compiled almanacs. He was born in the village of Eersel in the Duchy of Brabant and studied medicine at the University of Leuven. He settled in Brussels to practice medicine and was given the freedom of the city. He was a practicing physician at least until 1594.[1] As he had studied both medicine and mathematics, he was asked to calculate the ephemerides, for purposes of medical astrology.[2] This led to his work as a compiler of almanacs from 1586 to 1611. From 1612 almanacs were printed on the basis of his drafts but completed for publication by his son, Jan Franco jr., and by Johannes Regius.[3] As late as 1616 almanacs prepared by others were being sold on the strength of his name.[4]

Publications

References

  1. Jean-Noël Paquot, Mémoires pour servir à l'histoire littéraire des dix-sept provinces des Pays-Bas, de la principauté de Liège et de quelques contrées voisines (Leuven, Imprimerie académique, 1767), pp. 224–225
  2. Aug. Vander Meersch, "Franco (Jean)", Biographie Nationale de Belgique, vol. 7 (Brussels, 1883), 256–257.
  3. Cara Janssen, "De almanakken van Jan Franco Sr. en de promotie van een katholiek-Habsburgse identiteit in de Zuidelijke Nederlanden (1598-1621)", Jaarboek voor Nederlandse Boekgeschiedenis 22 (2015), pp. 9-26.
  4. Paul Arblaster, From Ghent to Aix (Leiden and Boston, 2014), pp. 70–71.
  5. Available on Google Books. Accessed 8 July 2016.
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