viii Introduction 



to Edward Prince of Wales (afterwards King Edward the 

 Sixth) but also edited the Dialogus de Avibus of his friend 

 Gybertus Longolius of Utrecht, who died the preceding year. 

 He pursued his botanical studies in several parts of Germany, 

 as well as in the Netherlands, including East Friesland, for 

 he became physician to the Count of Emden, and visited the 

 islands of Juist and Norderney lying off the coast of that 

 province. 



On the death of King Henry the Eighth he returned to 

 England, becoming chaplain and physician to Lord Protector 

 the Duke of Somerset ; but he lived at Kew, where he 

 established a botanic garden. He was, moreover, incor- 

 porated M.D. of Oxford, and was appointed a prebendary 

 of York. In 1550 the Privy Council sent letters for his 

 election as Provost of Oriel College in Oxford, but the post 

 had been already filled, and a similar disappointment awaited 

 him in regard to the Presidency of Magdalen College in the 

 same University. He then applied to Sir William Cecil for 

 leave to return to Germany, but was soon after consoled by 

 being appointed Dean of Wells, and, having in 1551 published 

 the first part of his New Herbal, was during the next year 

 ordained priest by his old friend Ridley, then Bishop of 

 London. 



On the accession of Queen Mary Turner had to vacate his 

 deanery, and betook himself for safety once more to the 

 Continent, visiting Rome and several places in Germany and 

 Switzerland. When Queen Elizabeth ascended the throne he 

 returned to England, and recovered his deanery, to which 

 was attached the rectory of Wedmore in Somersetshire ; but 

 in 1564 he was suspended for nonconformity and seems to 

 have come to live in London. In 1557 he had addressed 

 a letter on English Fishes to Gesner, which was included 

 in that naturalist's Historia Animalium; and in 1562 he 

 published the second part of his Herbal, which he dedicated 

 to Lord Wentworth, the son of his original benefactor. On 

 the 7th of July 1568 Turner died at his house in Crutched 

 Friars in the City of London, and was buried in the church of 

 St Olave, Hart Street. 



