Oswald Cockayne facts for kids
Thomas Oswald Cockayne (born in 1807, died in 1873) was a very smart person who studied languages and was also a church leader. He is most famous for collecting and publishing old medical writings from Old English times.
About His Life
Thomas Cockayne went to St. John's College, Cambridge, a famous university in England. He studied math and graduated in 1828. He was very good at it, ranking as the "tenth wrangler," which means he was among the top math students in his year!
Later, he became a churchman, which means he worked for the church. For many years, he also taught as an assistant teacher at King's College School, London. He was part of important groups like the Philological Society and the Early English Text Society, which are dedicated to studying languages and old texts.
His Main Works
Thomas Cockayne wrote many books and collections during his life. Here are some of his most important ones:
- A Civil History of the Jews, from Joshua to Hadrian (1841)
- A Greek Syntax (1846)
- Outlines of the History of France (1846)
- Outlines of the History of Ireland (1851)
- Life of Marshal Turenne (1853)
Leechdoms, Wortcunning, and Starcraft
His most famous work is called Leechdoms Wortcunning, and Starcraft of Early England. This was a huge collection of old medical texts from England before the Norman Conquest (which happened in 1066).
This collection shows us a lot about how people understood science and medicine a long, long time ago. It was published in three large books between 1864 and 1866. You can even find these old books online: Volume I, Volume II, and Volume III.
Other Writings
He also wrote Spoon and Sparrow, or English roots in Greek, Latin, and Hebrew (1861), which explored how English words are connected to older languages like Greek, Latin, and Hebrew. Another interesting work was The Shrine, a collection of papers on dry subjects (1864).
