One in particular claimed that the Earth itself was the center of the “universe” while the sun and all the planets revolved around it. Scholar John Dee introduced this concept to Hannah “Green” after he noticed her inspecting “a beautiful strange brass instrument” set in his window (Gregory 140). Mr. Dee describes the instrument as a representation of how the “heavens” (or planets) were created and set in motion by God to revolve around Earth. This motion, as said by Dee, was started by the outermost ring of the globe called the primum mobile. The device that he referred to was known as an armillary sphere, inspired by Ptolemy’s geocentric (or earth-centered) view of the universe (Rogers 15). It was common belief during the 16th century that the primum mobile itself was “the physical origin of life, motion, and time” and “[determined] the natural operation of the universe” (“Primum Mobile” 3). In addition to astronomy, Gregory referred to medical and health-related knowledge of that time; this particularly included the belief in “water humors”. Some time after Hannah’s future husband, Daniel Carpenter, flees England to study “the art of surgery and pharmacopeia” in Venice. These studies, according to Daniel, include the “flow of the humors around the body… from the rise and fall of the tides to the beat of the heart” (Gregory 255). Medical schools around this time still taught ideas created by doctors and physicians hundreds of years prior to the 16 century. These ideas included the belief that the body’s health was entirely dependent on the four “humors” - blood, black bile, yellow bile, and phlegm - that were said to bring about illness if not kept in balance (Ball 1). This relates to Elizabeth’s previously mentioned diagnosis of “watery humors”, which according to medical knowledge of the time, was
One in particular claimed that the Earth itself was the center of the “universe” while the sun and all the planets revolved around it. Scholar John Dee introduced this concept to Hannah “Green” after he noticed her inspecting “a beautiful strange brass instrument” set in his window (Gregory 140). Mr. Dee describes the instrument as a representation of how the “heavens” (or planets) were created and set in motion by God to revolve around Earth. This motion, as said by Dee, was started by the outermost ring of the globe called the primum mobile. The device that he referred to was known as an armillary sphere, inspired by Ptolemy’s geocentric (or earth-centered) view of the universe (Rogers 15). It was common belief during the 16th century that the primum mobile itself was “the physical origin of life, motion, and time” and “[determined] the natural operation of the universe” (“Primum Mobile” 3). In addition to astronomy, Gregory referred to medical and health-related knowledge of that time; this particularly included the belief in “water humors”. Some time after Hannah’s future husband, Daniel Carpenter, flees England to study “the art of surgery and pharmacopeia” in Venice. These studies, according to Daniel, include the “flow of the humors around the body… from the rise and fall of the tides to the beat of the heart” (Gregory 255). Medical schools around this time still taught ideas created by doctors and physicians hundreds of years prior to the 16 century. These ideas included the belief that the body’s health was entirely dependent on the four “humors” - blood, black bile, yellow bile, and phlegm - that were said to bring about illness if not kept in balance (Ball 1). This relates to Elizabeth’s previously mentioned diagnosis of “watery humors”, which according to medical knowledge of the time, was