Galeni pergamensis de temperamentis, et de inaequali intemperie

The work presents Thomas Linacre’s early‑sixteenth‑century Latin translation of two of Galen’s classic treatises on the four bodily temperaments and the influence of uneven weather on health. By rendering Galen’s medical philosophy into the language of Renaissance scholars, Linacre offers readers a window onto the ways physicians of the period linked climate, personality, and disease. The text stays close to the original arguments, explaining how excesses of heat, cold, moisture or dryness were thought to shape both physical and mental states.

Accompanying the translation is a scholarly introduction by Joseph Frank Payne, which situates Linacre’s effort within the broader currents of humanist learning and early English printing. The volume also sheds light on John Siberch, Cambridge’s first printer, whose rare 1521 edition marks a milestone in the city’s publishing history. Together, the translation and commentary provide a rich glimpse of Renaissance science, philosophy, and the fragile world of early printed books.