File:Robert_Burton_by_Gilbert_Jackson.jpg · Wikimedia Commons · See Wikimedia Commons
Key facts
- Born
- ( 1577-02-08 ) 8 February 1577, Lindley , Leicestershire, England
- Died
- 25 January 1640 (1640-01-25) (aged 62), Oxford , Oxfordshire, England
- Resting place
- Christ Church Cathedral
- Pen name
- Democritus Junior
- Education
- Christ Church, Oxford ( BA , 1602; MA , 1605; BD , 1614)
- Notable works
- The Anatomy of Melancholy Philosophaster
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- human
- Given name
- Robert
- Family name
- Burton
- Gender
- male
- Citizenship
- United Kingdom
- Place of birth
- Leicestershire
- Place of death
- Oxford
- Occupation
- university teacher
- Employer
- University of Oxford
- Languages spoken
- Latin
- Religion
- Anglicanism
- Notable work
- The Anatomy of Melancholy
- Field of work
- English-language literature
- Image
- Robert Burton by Gilbert Jackson.jpg
Show 9 more facts
- has works in the collection
- British Library
- place of burial
- Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford
- Commons category
- Robert Burton (scholar)
- date of birth
- 1577-01-01
- date of death
- 1640-01-01
- pseudonym
- Democritus junior
- described by source
- Encyclopædia Britannica 11th edition
- writing language
- English language
- Commons Creator page
- Robert Burton
Sources (2)
via Wikidata · CC0
~40 min read
Encyclopedic overview
Robert Burton (8 February 1577 – 25 January 1640; sometimes writing under the pen name Democritus Junior) was an English author and fellow of Oxford University, known for his encyclopaedic The Anatomy of Melancholy.
Born in 1577 to a comfortably well-off family of the landed gentry, Burton attended two grammar schools and matriculated at Brasenose College, Oxford in 1593, age 15. Burton's education at Oxford was unusually lengthy, possibly drawn out by an affliction of melancholy, and saw an early transfer to Christ Church. Burton received an MA and BD, and by 1607 was qualified as a tutor. As early as 1603, Burton indulged in some early literary creations at Oxford, including Latin poems, a now-lost play performed before and panned by King James I himself, and his only surviving play: an academic satire called Philosophaster. This work, though less well regarded than Burton's masterpiece, has "received more attention than most of the other surviving examples of university drama".
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Robert Burton” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.