Jodocus Crull

Jodocus Crull, M.D., FRS (1660–1713) was a late 17th-century and early 18th-century "miscellaneous writer"[1] on historical subjects, with political and sociological insights. Though his life remains somewhat of a mystery, his works are still consulted by academic and popular history writers today.[2]

Early life and education

Crull was born in Hamburg, then a free state of the Germanic Confederation, of a family part of that city's patriciate.[3] He applied himself to medicine at Holland's Leiden University. The M.D. was attained in 1679 with Crull's inaugural essay: Disputatio medice-chymica exhibens medicamenti veterum universalis, recentiorumque paticularium verum in medicina usum, etc.[4]

Life in England

Subsequently, Crull settled in England although he may have been a public school student there before he matriculated at Leiden. He was created M.D. of Cambridge by royal mandate[5] on 7 August 1681;[6] elected a fellow of the Royal Society on 23 November 1681 and admitted on 30 November;[7] and later admitted a licentiate of the Royal College of Physicians on 22 December 1692.[8]

Crull's life remains rather ambiguous for some accounts speculate that he subsisted mainly by doing translations and compilations for booksellers while seeming to have met with little success in his profession since there are a number of omissions of his name on the annual list of the Fellows of the Royal Society which, according to the author (Gordon Goodwin) of the Crull entry in the 1917 D.N.B., suggest an inability to pay. Other accounts imply the likelihood that Crull may have been a dilettante and eccentric who had the means to follow his interests and who may not have paid his fees to the Royal Society with regularity since he may not have attached a great significance to being listed yearly. Where he practised medicine could have been in London or its environs for he settled in London but resided outside of the city because of "country" being appended to his name on the lists.

The fact that Crull could entreat Sir Hans Sloane's vote at the coming election of a navy physician [9] or interact with Sir Isaac Newton and other luminaries of his age shows that he was comfortable with himself; and that the latter view of him runs counter to Goodwin's portrayal of him in the D.N.B., an entry which also neglects to mention that Crull [10] received the M.D. from King's College in the University of Cambridge in 1681.[11]

Works

Crull's works were published either anonymously or with his initials only. His principal translations are:

  • Baron von Pufendorf's Of the Nature and Qualification of Religion, in reference to civil society;[12]
  • Pufendorf's An Introduction to the History of the Principal Kingdoms and States of Europe;[13]
  • Gabriel Dellon's A Vovage to the East Indies, etc.;[14]
  • Father J. Bouvet's The Present Condition of the Muscovite Empire,...in two letters,...with the Life of the present Emperour of China.[15]

Other writings include:

  • A Compleat History of the Affairs of Spain;[16]
  • Memoirs of Denmark;[17]
  • The Antiquities of St. Peters, or the Abbey Church of Westminster;[18]
  • The History of the Jews since the Destruction of Jerusalem: being a continuation of Josephus;[19]
  • The Antient and Present State of Muscovy.[20]

See also

References
  1. Gordon Goodwin (1888). "Crull, Jodocus" . In Stephen, Leslie (ed.). Dictionary of National Biography. 15. London: Smith, Elder & Co. p. 262.
  2. For example, The Antient and Present State of Muscovy was used by Lindsey Hughes for his Sophia, Regent of Russia: 1657-1704 (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1990. ISBN 0-300-04790-8) and by Robert K. Massie for his Pulitzer Prize winning biography Peter the Great: His Life and World (New York: Ballantine Books, 1981. ISBN 0-345-29806-3)
  3. Schroeder's Lexikon der Hamburgischen Schriftsteller,i.,608
  4. Praes. Theodorus Craanen. Apud Viduam & Heredes Johannis Elzevirii: Lugduni Batavorum; British Museum 1185.g.15.(26)
  5. a decree from Charles II; "by royal mandate" (royal decree) - issued by His Majesty, and one that had to be consistent with the dignity of the Crown otherwise the mandate would not be worthy of the paper on which it was written -evincing that Crull was no ordinary fellow
  6. Munk's College of Physicians (1878),i. 497
  7. See List of Fellows of the Royal Society A,B,C,
  8. Lists of the College of Physicians in the British Museum
  9. Sloane MSS (No.4041),p.288
  10. Though Crull is often perceived as a German surname, it was originally Norman. A common name among England's and Ireland's Norman nobility, it gradually evolved into other variations such as Kryle or disappeared altogether as in the case of the barons and earls of Ashburnham. By the time Crull enrolled at the University of Cambridge his surname had all but disappeared with only a few still carrying it in England and Anglo Ireland, including John Crull, a student at Dublin's Trinity College whose father was an armiger (esquire) - source: George Dames Burtchaell, M.A., K.C., M.R.I.A. Alumni Dublinenses London: Williams and Norgate, 1924, p. 199 and Appendix B. The Crull name flourished as a Dutch patrician name and one of well-connected High German burghers and members of the Northern German lower nobility; and died out as a Reichsadel and Russian noble name
  11. "Crull, Jodocus (CRL681J)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge. Crull's degree was awarded Lit. Reg., i.e. by "royal decree." Given that Crull was at King's prompts queries: Why King's? How did he meet the Eton College requisite? Why did he come to England in the first place? Had he been there before Leiden? etc.
  12. Cat. of Printed Books, British Museum: 4400.aaa28
  13. Cat. of Printed Books, British Museum: 9007. bb.21
  14. Cat. of Printed Books, British Museum: 1470. b.29
  15. Cat. of Printed Books, British Museum: 10291. aaa. 43
  16. Cat. of Printed Books, British Museum: 9073. df.11
  17. Cat. of Printed Books, British Museum 154. d.2
  18. Cat. of Printed Books, British Museum: 577. c. 16
  19. Cat. of Printed Books, British Museum: 4516. de. 11
  20. Cat. of Printed Books, British Museum: 9455. b. 22
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