'Above Atlas his Shoulders' -Thomas Browne's Worldview

The English doctor-philosopher and literary figure Thomas Browne (1605-1682) held a unique understanding and view of the world which is rewarding to explore through the perspective of geography.

Its in Religio Medici  or ‘The Religion of a Doctor’ (1643) that Thomas Browne describes himself as a  microcosm or little world, as well as informing his reader that he possessed a globe.

‘the world that I regard is myself. It is the microcosm of my own frame that I cast my eye upon. For the other I use it but like my globe and turn it round sometimes for my recreation. Men that look upon my outside, perusing only my condition and fortunes do err in my altitude. For I am above Atlas his shoulders’. [1]

By saying he is 'above Atlas' Browne implies that as a microcosm or little world he has transcended the burden of carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders.  

The large-scale sculpture known as the Farnese Atlas (header photo) dating from the second century of the Common Era depicts the fate of Atlas. In Greek myth, the giant is condemned by the gods to hold a globe—sometimes celestial, sometimes terrestrial—on his shoulders for eternity. 

During Browne’s era globes were sold in pairs: one showing the earth, the other of the heavens. The mapping of the night sky was far more detailed and accurate than the rough depictions of remote and little-known regions of Earth. 

The ancient Greek Strabo (64 or 63 BC – c. 24 AD) was the author of a vast work on geography. Written during the early Roman Empire, Strabo's encyclopaedic work consists of political, economic, social, cultural, and geographic descriptions. Its  the only surviving ancient text to describe the entire inhabited world known to the Roman world.  In Strabo's map of the  world the British Isles can be seen. (above) [2] 

Also listed as once in Browne’s library is Gerard Mercator’s epic world map of 1569. (below) [3]  Mercator's projection laid out the globe as a flattened version of a cylinder. His map, with its Mercator projection, was designed to help sailors navigate around the globe using its longitude meridian lines to plot a straight route. It was Dutch map-making and cartography which was crucial for Dutch explorers. 

Following Dutch independence from Spanish rule in 1588 the newly formed Dutch Republic grew prosperous and expanded with overseas territory, notably in the East Indies. The Northern European port of Amsterdam became one of Europe’s busiest trading centres and superseded Venice as an importing and exporting  port in the 17th century. Just as during the Middle Ages the sea port of Venice was a major European trading centre with its network of canals used to convey and store imported goods to merchant’s storehouses from the Near East, so too Amsterdam with its man-made network of canals became the predominant sea and trading port in the 17th century. 

The 16th/ 17th centuries were an era of great exploration and discovery, notably through adventurers such as Olivier van Noort the first Dutchman to circumnavigate the world -  Willem Schouten the first to sail the Cape Horn route to the Pacific Ocean , Cornelis de Houtman, who explored the East Indies -  Willem Janszoon  the first European to  see the coast of Australia in 1606 and Cornelis Nay, explorer of the Arctic - The most notable Dutch explorer of the 17th century was Abel Tasman  the first European to discover New Zealand and Fiji. The Dutch also made important contributions to horticulture, land reclamation, and art throughout the 17th century. 

  

Dutch engraver Pieter van den Keere’s 12 sheet map of 1611 (above) was wall mounted. Its border shows 14 cities and the rulers of seven nations. Stylized pairs of figures in the national costume of national cultures are also depicted on it. 

Its often said that the 16th/17th centuries were advanced through three driving inventions- Printing , the Mariner’s Compass and Gunpowder, each of which transformed the lives of many in this era. 

Thomas Browne’s life spanned not only the Dutch 'Golden Age' but also England’s most traumatic century. He was born just weeks before the Gunpowder Plot of 1605 and lived through the events of the English Civil war, the execution of King Charles, the Commonwealth of Cromwell, the subsequent Restoration of Monarchy, the Great plague of 1665 and the Fire of London in 1666. 

From his residence for an academic year in Montpellier in France, Padua in Italy and Leyden in Holland Browne acquired a privileged education and an appreciation of other cultures. His celebrated tolerance adhered to the maxim of ‘when in Rome do as the Romans’ as regards cuisine and food, as he frankly tells his reader -

‘I wonder not at the French for their dishes of frogs and toadstools, nor at the Jew for locusts and grasshoppers but being amongst them make them my common viands. And I find they agree with my stomach as well as theirs.’ [4]

Of greater importance Browne also recognised a major cause of hatred, one which remains so to the present day, that of nationalism. Nationalism, if zealous, encourages those who, purely from an accident of birth to consider their own nation to be the World’s best, and to dislike or even hate other Nationalities, often without having ever visited or even met anyone from the country which they hate. Browne’s continental education inoculated him against this prejudice, as he informs us-

‘I find not in me those common antipathies I discover in others. Those national repugnances do not touch me, nor do I behold with prejudice, the French, Italian, Spaniard or Dutch. But where I find their actions in balance with my countrymen, I honour love and embrace them to the same degree. All places, all airs are unto me one country, I am in England everywhere under any meridian’. [5]

Browne was able to give full expression to his interest in world geography, culture and customs in his subsequent work, the groundbreaking Pseudodoxia Epidemica which was first published in 1646. Its Latin title might loosely be translated as 'Pandemic of fake news'. Pseudodoxia is a pioneering work  and firmly in the vanguard of the early Scientific Revolution. Consisting in total  of over 200,000 words,  its sixth book addresses queries historical and geographical.  He points out that the terms East and West are dependent on where exactly one is located in the world and informs his reader on the botany and zoology of America. He also reveals an uncommon knowledge of cartography in discourse on the number of mouths of the Egyptian river Nile -   

'Ptolomy an Egyptian, and born at the Pelusian mouth of Nile, in his Geography maketh nine: and in the third Map of Africa, hath unto their mouths prefixed their several names; ..... wherein notwithstanding there are no less then three different names from those delivered by Pliny. ....Lastly, Whatever was or is their number, the contrivers of Cards and Maps afford us no assurance or constant description therein. For whereas Ptolomy hath set forth nine, Hondius in his Map of Africa, makes but eight, and in that of Europe ten. Ortelius in the Map of the Turkish Empire, setteth down eight, in that of Egypt eleven; and Maginus in his Map of that Country hath observed the same number. And if we enquire farther, we shall find the same diversity and discord in divers others'. [6]

Other prejudices which persist to this day are also tackled in Pseudodoxia - why do some people differ in the colour of their skin, why does the skin-pigmentation of American natives differ from African natives, as well as the thorny question- why does the religious prejudice of antisemitism persist ? He also recognised that what is considered to be beautiful in facial appearance and body decoration differs enormously between world cultures, stating-  

'Thus flat noses seem comely unto the Moore, an Aquiline or hawked one unto the Persian, a large and prominent nose unto the Romane; but none of all these are acceptable in our opinion. Thus some think it most ornamentall to wear their Bracelets on their Wrests, others say it is better to have them about their Ancles; some think it most comely to wear their Rings and Jewels in the Ear, others will have them about their Privities; a third will not think they are compleat except they hang them in their lips, cheeks or noses'.  [7]

One of the best gateways to understanding of a different culture is through learning its language. The Reverend Whitefoot, who was Browne’s lifelong friend, informs us that his friend was familiar with all the languages printed in Hutter’s polyglot New Testament of 1599. Hutter’s New Testament (above) includes the languages of Syrian, Hebrew, Greek, Latin, German, Bohemian, Italian, Spanish, French, English, Danish and Polish. These 12 languages are printed in side-by-side-columns of 3 languages per page. Hutter’s polyglot Bible encouraged Christians to read and study the Hebrew language. Browne’s own interest in Hebrew was instrumental in his study of the esoteric lore of the Kabbalah. [8] 

With his deep interest in languages Browne was well-equipped to introduce badly needed new words, often of a scientific nature into English language. Although its not quite a foreign language he also took an interest in the peculiarities of the Norfolk dialect and noted these words to be in common use in Norfolk such as Bunny,   Mawther, Kedge, Seele, Straft, Matchly, Dere, Nicked, Gadwhacking Stingy,  Sap, Cothish, Thokish, and Paxwax. Strong traces of the Dutch tongue can be heard in Norfolk dialect to the present day.

Perhaps the most accessible of Browne’s works is his shortest work, A Letter to a Friend which was written as a bereavement consolation following the premature death of the English poet Richard Lovelace (1617-57) (above). A Letter to a Friend features numerous medical case-histories and opens with the demographic calculation that in the whole world ‘there dieth one thousand an hour’. 

Browne was aware that geographic locations can affect people psychologically and he's credited as the first to identify the psychopathology of what is known today as Paris syndrome. 

Paris syndrome has been described as a severe form of culture shock and a sense of extreme disappointment experienced by only a handful per million when visiting Paris and is believed to be caused by factors such as language barrier, cultural differences, exhaustion and above all else, idealization. 

With his deep interest in unusual psychic phenomena and introduction of the words  'pathology' and 'hallucination' into the English language, Thomas Browne was well qualified to identify the phenomena of Paris syndrome. Within the following paragraph he names ten geographic locations, defines the ozone-rich air of East Anglia as 'Aerial Nitre', introduces the word 'migrant' into English and advises against 'infirm heads' that is, impressionable minds from visiting Venice or Paris. 

‘He was fruitlessly put in hope of advantage by change of Air, and imbibing the pure Aerial Nitre of these Parts; …..He is happily seated who lives in Places whose Air, Earth, and Water, promote not the Infirmities of his weaker Parts, …..He that is weak-legg'd must not be in Love with Rome, nor an infirm Head with Venice or Paris. Death hath not only particular Stars in Heaven, but malevolent Places on Earth,…..in which Concern, passager and migrant Birds have the great Advantages; who are naturally constituted for distant Habitations, whom no Seas nor Places limit, but in their appointed Seasons will visit us from Greenland and Mount Atlas, and as some think, even from the Antipodes. [9]

Browne’s speculation on the migration routes of birds is a reminder of his keen interest in feathered creatures. At one time of another he kept an owl, a cormorant, a kestrel and an eagle. He's also credited with introducing the word 'incubation' into English. It was in his lifetime that one of the first recorded extinctions of a species of bird occurred.

 

The first recorded mention of the flightless bird known as the dodo was in 1598 by Dutch sailors when they discovered Mauritius, a small island near Madagascar which was a useful stopping-off point for Dutch sailors en route to the East Indies. Because the Dodo is a flightless it was easily captured by hungry sailors. Browne’s contemporary the Royalist politician, Sir Hamon L’Estrange of Hunstanton in Norfolk wrote of a dodo he saw exhibited  in London in 1638. 

‘About 1638, as I walked London streets, I saw the picture of a strange fowl hung out upon a cloth canvas, and myself, with one or two more then in company, went in to see it. It was kept in a chamber, and was somewhat bigger than the largest turkey-cock, and so legged and footed, but stouter and thicker, and of a more erect shape, coloured before like the breast of a young cock-fesan, and on the back of a dunne or deare colour. The keeper called it a dodo; and in the end of a chimney in the chamber there lay a heap of large pebble-stones, whereof he gave it many in our sight, some as big as nutmegs; and the keeper told us she eats them (conducing to digestion); and though I  remember not how far the keeper was questioned therein, yet I am confident that afterwards she cast them all again.

The last recorded sighting of a dodo was in 1662. The bird was immortalized by Lewis Carroll in his ‘Alice in Wonderland.’ The character of the dodo is believed to be inspired by a specimen of a dodo exhibited in the Oxford University Museum which Carroll frequently visited.

Exploring world cultures can be enriched through collecting artifacts from near and far, whether it's treasures gathered during travels or acquired locally. In an era long before photography, those with means could hire artists to capture the essence of these treasured possessions, preserving memories of exotic journeys and far-off lands. 

Sir Robert Paston of Oxnead Hall, near Alysham commissioned an unknown Dutch artist to paint a selected fraction of his collection of art-objects, some of which were acquired when his father visited Jerusalem and Cairo. Dating from circa 1665 The Paston Treasure (above) has a Multi-layered narrative, its simultaneously, a record of the Robert Paston’s collection, a Vanitas painting and a microcosm of the world in the 17th century, as hinted by the prominent position of a globe. Browne would have seen this painting when visiting the Paston’s and given that in Religio Medici he confesses,  'I can look a whole day with delight upon a handsome picture, though it be but of an horse’ he would  without doubt delighted in viewing it. 

The world’s continents are represented in The Paston Treasure by - a packet of tobacco from America, a boy and parrot from Africa, and a porcelain dish from Asia. Sculptures and gems, gold, silver and enamel, as well as music instruments of a bass viol, sackbut, violin and lute can also be seen. The peaches, grapes and oranges, along with lobster, suggest a luxurious lifestyle. 

The Paston Treasure also expresses a moral warning -  life has sudden, unexpected disturbances - the servant is disrupted from his duties by a monkey which has jumped onto his shoulder, the young girl is interrupted from her singing by a parrot alighting on the music she’s reading.. In recent years The Paston Treasure has been restored, exhibited in America and studied in depth by the art-historian Spike Bucklow in his excellent, insightful book. Today, it can be seen in Norwich Castle Museum.

Its only in recent decades that topics such as alchemy and the esoteric in general have been taken seriously by academics. Spike Bucklow is the first in over three and a half centuries to identify that The Paston Treasure displays a mounted shell cup (above) with a very clear image of Atalanta in the act of running. Bucklow notes, 'It is as if Sir Robert had put this shell in the painting to draw attention to a book that guided his alchemical journey', the book in question being Michael Maier's alchemical work Atalanta Fugiens (1617). [10]

One unique feature of Browne’s prose is his usage of geographical places and historical persons as symbols. For example he describes the difficulties in his compiling an encyclopaedia, as, 'oft-times fain to wander in the America and untravelled parts of truth'. Geographical place name symbols along with historical persons symbols can be found in Browne’s  philosophical work, the two-in-one diptych discourses of 1658, Urn-Burial and The Garden of Cyrus. 

These two 17th century images, the Nigredo stage of the alchemical operation (left)  and 'The Garden of Mathematical Delights'( right) both from books once in Browne's library, are I believe, excellent visual representations of the thematic concerns and mood music of each respective discourse. (Click on picture to enlarge). 

The melancholic, Grave and Saturnine meditations upon human suffering in Urn-Burial are ‘answered’ by the Mercurial Garden delights of Cyrus. A multiplicity of opposition or polarities occur in Browne’s literary diptych, in  their respective themes, imagery, truth and literary style. Urn-Burial opens 'in the deep discovery of the subterranean world' and concerns itself with the oblivion of Time, in complete contrast The Garden of Cyrus concerns itself with Space and opens with ‘shooting rays and diffused light’ of the Creation before continuing in speculation on the geographical location of the Garden of Eden.  [11]

In Browne’s geographical symbolism America invariably symbolizes the new, the unknown and exotic.  In contrast the proper place name of Persia is used as a symbol of magic and esoteric wisdom. These two geographical symbols are juxtaposed in a startling way at the conclusion of The Garden of Cyrus - in doing Browne highlights how Humankind’s collective consciousness ebbs and flows between those who are waking up and conscious while others fall asleep and are unconscious.

‘The huntsmen are up in America and they are already past their first sleep in Persia'.

But perhaps the most famous example of Browne’s geographical symbolism occurs in Religio Medici,  where he inspirationally declares – ‘We carry within us, the wonders we seek without us.There is all Africa and her prodigies in us’. [12]  

The psychologist Carl Jung when hearing this quote while visiting Kenya, East Africa,  was impressed and immediately made note of it. Actually there’s a fascinating relationship between the famous Swiss psychologist Jung to Browne, both were doctors interested in  the interpretation of dreams, both read esoteric authors and both were interested in the geography of the mind, and mapping of the psyche’s contents. [13]

Together, Urn-Burial and The Garden of Cyrus are Browne’s great work of psychology. Historical personages are employed by him as symbols in order to illustrate archetypes, that is, the first, original forms of the psyche as envisioned by Plato and Hermetic philosophers. Browne’s proto-psychology  attempts in Cyrus to delineate the archetype of the wise ruler through historical name symbolism, mentioning Moses, Solomon, Abraham, Alexandria the Great and the titular Cyrus as exemplars of the wise ruler. Women aren’t overlooked in his proto-psychology, the archetype of the 'Great Mother' is sketched through inclusion of the nurturing Old Testament matriarch Sarah, the Roman goddess Juno and the Egyptian goddess Isis.   

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With the colonization of South America by the Spanish and Portuguese in the seventeenth century, as well as European migration to North America, along with the opening of trading routes to the East Indies and China, an abundance of published reports upon exotic flora and fauna became available to the physician. Tobacco and the potato were early exports from America  to Europe throughout the 17th century.

It was the Swiss alchemist-physician Paracelsus (above) who encouraged his fellow physicians to experiment with substances from the vegetable, mineral and animal kingdoms in order to discover new medicines and new cures. We can be confident that Doctor Browne of Norwich was a committed follower of Paracelsus (1493-1541), not only are the 'Luther of Medicine''s bulky writings listed as once in his vast library but the very word used by Paracelsus to describe his distinctive kind of medical alchemy, known as spa-gyric ( meaning to separate and conjoin) can be seen inscribed upon Browne's coffin-plate, one half of which survives on display at Saint Peter Mancroft. The distinguished Canadian physician Sir William Osler (1849-1919) who was a great admirer of Browne commissioned a replica of this brass Coffin-plate. It can be seen at the Norfolk and Norwich Sir Thomas Browne Medical Library. [14]

 

A great example of Browne’s following Paracelsian medicine occurs in his assessment of so-called Peruvian Bark, the source of the drug known  today as Quinine.

A Jesuit priest is credited as among the first to observe that the Inca people use a diffusion of the bark from the cinchona tree to ease the symptoms of malaria. Indeed the original Inca word for the cinchona tree bark, 'quina' or 'quina-quina'  which roughly translates as 'bark of bark' or 'holy bark'. In 1638, the wife of a Peruvian viceroy used the bark to relieve her fever-induced symptoms during the onset of malaria. Her remedy was called a 'miracle cure'. By 1658 an English newspaper advertised -  'The excellent powder known by the name of 'Jesuits' powder' may be obtained from several London chemists'. 

Although Peruvian Bark was hailed as a successful medicine for malaria due to religious prejudice it was not officially recognised in England until 1677. Because it was known as 'Jesuits' Powder' it was tainted with associated with Catholicism. Even among the educated such as King Charles the Second, who took an active interest in the new scientific enquiry advanced by the Royal Society, was suspicious of 'Jesuit's Powder' because of its presumed association with Catholicism. However when the King suffered from a malarial fever he consulted a Mr Robert Talbor who was obliged to give the King the bitter bark decoction in great secrecy. The treatment completely relieved King Charles from malarial fever and he rewarded Talbor handsomely with a lifetimes membership of the newly-formed Royal Society. 

Several 17th century English physicians were interested in reports of the healing qualities of Peruvian Bark, especially those who lived in regions prone to the spread of malaria; East Anglia with its marshes, broads, large tracts of low-laying land and slow-flowing, stagnant stretches of water was an ideal habitat for the spread of the insect-borne virus. 

In correspondence to his youngest son nicknamed ‘Honest Tom’  Browne requested of him - 

'When you are at Cales, see if you can get a box of the Jesuits' powder at easier rate, and bring it in the bark, not in powder'. [15]

Browne’s request to obtain Jesuits' powder from a Continental source and not from London suggests he knew that the thriving trade in Peruvian Bark was vulnerable to dilution by apothecaries. His insistence on bark and not powder also suggests he was familiar with Peruvian Bark's composition. His assessment of Peruvian bark in an undated letter is considered one of the most detailed in British medical history-

Another new substance introduced to Europe, in this case through trade with China, was the root known as Ginseng.

  

Because the shape of the fleshy Ginseng root resembles the torso and limbs of a human, all kinds of medical and healing properties have been attributed to it. Widely cultivated in China for centuries Ginseng is used in Chinese medicine as a muscle relaxant.  In correspondence to his eldest son Edward, Dr. Browne wrote-

Deare Sonne, - You did well to observe Ginseng. All exotick rarities, especially of the east, the East India trade having encreased, are brought in England, and the profitt made therof. Of this plant Kircherus writeth in his China illustrata. [16] 

Today ginseng is scientifically recognised for its anti-carcinogenic and antioxidant properties

Throughout the 1650s and 1660s England found itself embroiled in conflict with the newly-emerging economic power and global trade of the Dutch Republic. British resentment towards the newly emerging European power is perceptively articulated by the art-historian Simon Schama, who noted of Johan De Witt, the chief negotiator for the peace treaty of the Second Anglo-Dutch War -

‘British enmity, on the other hand, he knew to be chronic and rooted in the very nature of the Republic’s existence, or at least  its prosperity. The problem, he supposed in common with many of his compatriots, was that, in matters of trade, the British were poor losers. Unable to match the Dutch in resourcefulness, industry, or technical ingenuity, they were prepared to bludgeon their way to wealth by the assertion of deliberately bellicose principles and by interfering with the freedom of trade. Peevish envy had turned them into a gang of unscrupulous ruffians who would stop at nothing to burglarize the Dutch warehouse, pretending all the time that some cherished issue of sovereignty had been infringed. [17] 

One of Browne’s greatest personal tragedies was hearing from the British Admiralty that his son Midshipman Thomas, ‘Honest Tom’ had been lost in action and presumed dead aged 21. 

A solitary piece by Browne, written for the entertainment of young Midshipman Tom survives. 'The Sea-battle’ is a vivid narration of an ancient world Sea-battle. Written in Latin its conclusion is a valuable insight on a primary cause of war. 

'The cause of this war was that of all wars, excess of prosperity. As wealth arises spirits rise, and lust and greed of power appear; thence men lose theiir sense of moderation, look with distaste on the prosperity of others, revolve disquiet in their mind, and throw overall settlement, for fear lest their enemies’ wealth be firmly established, they put their own to risk; and finally (as happens in human affairs) fall into slavery when they seek to impose it, and earnestly courting good fortune, experience disaster.' [18]

In his old age Browne seems to have taken an even greater interest in traveller’s accounts of exotic locations and newly discovered lands. Its testimony to his eldest daughter Elizabeth’s education, patience and devotion that her father recorded the following in his Commonplace notebooks –

‘Books which my daughter Elizabeth hath read unto me at nights till she read them all out -All the Turkish historie - All the history of China - All the travels  of Olerarius and Mandelslo -All the travels of Taverniere - All the Travels of Petrus della valle - All the travels of Vincent Le Blanc -All Sandys his travels  - All the travels of Pinto - All the travels of Gage - -All the history of Naples -All the history of Venice - Some hundreds of sermons. Many other Books, Treatises, discourses of several kinds. [19]

But perhaps the traveller Dr. Browne took the greatest interest in was his eldest son, Edward Browne (1644-1708). In 1668 Edward made a tour of Holland and Germany visiting museums, libraries, and churches. When later based in Vienna he made three long journeys, one to the mines of Hungary, one to Thessaly, another into Styria and Carinthia. Wherever Edward Browne travelled he acted as the dutiful eyes and ears of his father, who instructed him with advice such as- 

'Take notice of the various Animals, of places, beasts, fowles, & fishes; what the Danube affordeth, what depth, if conveniency offers, of mines, minerall works, Beside naturall things you may enquire into politicall & the government & state & subsistence of citties, townes & countries… observe how the Dutch make defences agaynst sea inundations…' [20] 

Also included among the travel books in Browne’s vast library is Thomas Fuller’s guide to the sights and places of the holy land of Palestine.  Fuller's book A Pis-pah Sight was important in its day and includes a detailed account of the geography and history of Palestine. Incidentally, it was Thomas Fuller in his Worthies of England who described the Norwich of Browne's day to be, 'either a city in an orchard, or an orchard in a city, so equal are houses and trees blended in it'. [21]

Another noteworthy geography book  once in Browne’s library is Athanasius Kircher’s China Illustrata. Dating from 1665 China illustrata was printed in Amsterdam. A work of encyclopaedic breadth, it included accurate maps as well as mythical creatures. It drew heavily on reports by Jesuit missionaries who worked in China. Kircher’s book remained the most informative source on China for over two centuries. [22]

In the above illustration Chinese botany and horticulture, costume and customs, along with architecture, are all faithfully recorded from an eyewitness account of a social gathering, a feast upon giant jackfruit.

It may well have been while turning his globe round sometime for his recreation that Browne was inspi to pen his ‘Prophecy concerning the future State of Several Nations’ . It was written after the Pandemic of Bubonic plague and the Great Fire of London in 1666 in which an estimated one hundred thousand people perished, some twenty percent of London’s entire population perished. In all probability it was inspired after he was shown a copy of the French doctor Nostradamus’s prophecies, the first translation  English into English in 1672. 

In his doggerel verse and parody of Nostradamus’s barely intelligible prophecies Browne makes some astounding predictions, which are based upon nothing more than the solid combination of rational conjecture and a deep knowledge of geography and history. In one of its seven rhyming couplets Browne questions the morality of the growing Slave-trade, long before its eventual abolition –

'When Africa shall no longer sell out its Blacks/to be Slaves and drudges to the American Tracts'. 

At a time when it was only a fledgling colony, Browne predicted that one day America would become Europe’s economic equal -

'When the New World shall the old invade/ nor count them their Lords but their Fellows in Trade'.

Remarkably, he also 'predicted’ that America would one day become a Nation which pursued happiness and engage in economic protectionism. 

'When America shall cease to send out its treasure/but employ it instead in American Pleasure’.  [23]

Browne's miscellaneous tract known as Museum Clausum his solitary work of fiction, an inventory of lost, rumoured and imaginary books, pictures and objects, also includes geographical speculations.  In the 16th century, the voyage of Hanno saw increased scholarly interest in an age when European exploration and navigation were flourishing. Already then, the extent of Hanno's voyage was debated. Browne makes mention of the explorer Hanno in Museum Clausum thus -

'A learned Comment upon the Periplus of Hanno the Carthaginian, or his Navigation upon the Western Coast of Africa, with the several places he landed at; what Colonies he settled, what Ships were scattered from his Fleet near the Equinoctial Line, which were not afterward heard of, and which probably fell into the Trade Winds, and were carried over into the Coast of America'. [24]

In all probability its through his friendship with the Icelandic Lutheran minister Theodor Johannsson that Browne also includes in Museum Clausum  - 

'A Snow Piece, of Land and Trees covered with Snow and Ice, and Mountains of Ice floating in the Sea, with Bears, Seals, Foxes, and variety of rare Fowls upon them'. [25]

Browne’s view of the world's future  was one which was, ‘not like to envy those that shall live in the next, much less three or four hundred Years hence, when no Man can comfortably imagine what Face this World will carry: [26]

He was aware of several disastrous scenarios which threaten life on Earth and knew that an increase in global traffic has medical implications, stating in A Letter to  a Friend- ‘New Discoveries of the Earth discover new Diseases'. He knew of  the threat of asteroids from outer Space impacting Earth, and wrote of ‘a mighty stone falling from the clouds which antiquity could believe Anaxagoras was able to foretell half a year before’. [27] And also made the sombre cosmological observation that - 'The created world is but a small parenthesis in Eternity.’ [28]

Before revealing what is arguably one of Browne’s greatest linguistic contributions to our modern age, its worthwhile remembering that while today he’s often promoted for his scientific profile, Browne’s worldview in essence was a synthesis of a deeply held Christian faith, adherence to hermetic philosophy and scientific empirical enquiry. There’s far greater value in reading Browne today for his moral, psychological, and spiritual insights than his 'occular observation' of the natural world.  As a doctor, it’s the geography of the mind which interests him most. He would with little doubt whole-heartedly agreed with Carl Jung’s assertion that- ‘Science and technology have indeed conquered the world, but whether the psyche has gained anything is another matter'. [29]

The Garden of Cyrus (1658) has a frontispiece ‘borrowed’ from a book by one of Browne's favourite authors, the Italian polymath Giambattista Della Porta (1535-1615). Its Latin quotation reads, ‘What is more beautiful than the Quincunx, which, no matter how you view it, present straight lines’. 

The full running title of The Garden of Cyrus includes what is one of Browne’s greatest neologisms, one which is highly relevant to our modern age, that of ‘Network.’ He probably encountered the word ‘network’ from reading of the Bible where its used to describe the decorative and structural design of Solomon’s temple. What is certain is that Browne was the first to write about net-like or reticulated structures in subjects as diverse as art, architecture, metalwork, botany, marine life and anatomy, in order to illustrate his concept. It’s a word which underscores his hermetic belief in the interconnectivity of  all life-forms in the world.  In the 19th century usage of the word ‘network’ gathered steam  after the new railway routes of England were described as a network. Today in our increasingly inter-connected world the word ‘Network’, with its strong geographical associations, has expanded to include social, transport, communication and technological meanings. 

Here in Norwich today we can take pride in the fact that it was once the home of a polymath mind who observed and wrote of Networks, introducing it, among many others into English language. The word Network is exemplary, not only of Sir Thomas Browne’s contribution to scientific vocabulary but also his mystical ‘Above Atlas’  worldview.

Notes

This is a revised version of a talk centred upon Thomas Browne's view of the world through the perspective of geography  which was delivered on October 21st 2025 on behalf of the Norfolk Heritage Centre.

[1]  Religio Medici Part 1 Section 11 

(The academic C.A. Patrides also used the the phrase 'Above Atlas his shoulders' as the title for his excellent introduction to Browne's major works for  Penguin publications in 1977). 

[2] Strabo 17 books of Geography ed. Isaac Casaubon Paris 1620. 1711 Sales Catalogue page 7 no.55

[3] Sales Catalogue 5 no. 1, 2 

[4] Religio Medici Part 2 Section 1

[5] Ibid.

[6] Pseudodoxia Epidemica Book 6 On the River Nile

[7] Pseudodoxia Epidemica  Book  6 chapter 11

[8]  On Browne and the Kabbalah

[9] A Letter to a Friend

[10] The Paston Treasure - Spike Bucklow

[11] Nigredo (left) from Theatrum Chemicum Sales Catalogue  Page 25 no. 124 and  (right) Bettini Fucaria & Auctaria ad Apiria Philosophiae Mathematicae  S.c. page 28. no. 16

[12] Religio Medici Part 1 : 15

[13]  See Carl Jung and Sir Thomas Browne

[14] Paracelsus Opera S. C. page 22 no. 118

[15] Domestic Correspondence edited Keynes

[16] Ibid.

[17] Simon Schama  -The Embarrassment of Riches

[18] Miscellaneous Writings ed. Keynes

[19] Ibid.

[20] Edward Browne's travels are the subject of recent academic study by Anna Wyatt (See the excellent monograph 'wide excusions' by Anna Wyatt) which also stresses that Browne's daughters made no small contributions in assisting their father. 

[21]  Thomas Fuller's A Pisgah-sight, with maps  1650. 1711 Sales Catalogue p. 45  no. 73  

[22] China Illustrata  Amsterdam 1667 S. C . page 8 no. 93

[23]  Quotes from 'A Prophecy' Miscellaneous Tract 12

[24] Miscellaneous Tract 13

[25] Ibid

[26] A Letter to a Friend

[27] Museum Clausum

[28] Christian Morals Part 3 Section 29

[29] C.G. Jung - Collected Works vol. 10 'Civilization in Transition'.

See also 

Sir Thomas Browne and China

Sir Thomas Browne on America

Sir Thomas Browne and Japan

 

The River, the City, and the Artist.

One of Europe's oldest cities, Norwich has a long and illustrious history. Like many great cities, it was founded on the banks of a river. Vital to Norwich's development and growth in trade and commerce, transport and culture, in the nineteenth century the river Wensum became a popular setting for artists of the Norwich School of Painters. 

In the briefest, highly selective sketch of Norwich's history - 

Norwich's  origins can be traced back to three Danish-Saxon fishing communities which once dwelt upon the terraced shingle banks of the Wensum known as Conesford, Westwic and Norwic which unified under the name of of Norwic (North port or settlement)  to become Norwich. Fully established as a town by the 10th century CE Norwich had its own mint which issued coins with the word NORVIC inscribed upon them. Following the Norman conquest of 1066, stone quarried from Caen in Normandy was transported across the North Sea and river to build and construct the City's two Norman architectural jewels, its Castle and Cathedral. 

The City's independence and trading status were enhanced under a Charter granted by King Richard I (the Lion heart) in 1194 for an annual payment to the King which freed the City and its citizens from all rents, tolls and taxes previously paid and permitted them to elect their own Reeve, (the senior official responsible under the Crown who often acted as chief magistrate). King Richard's Charter, granted in reward for Norwich's contribution to his ransom when kidnapped whilst returning from the Crusades, effectively allowed the City to be self governing, giving Norwich the same rights as London.

From the 13th century onward Norwich became a manufacturing city, exporting a wide variety of goods including pottery, wool and textiles, via the river Wensum. The river effectively connected the City to trade as far afield as Scandinavia and Russia, Germany and the Baltic North Sea cities as well as the Netherlands and Flanders. 

Norwich's trade and commerce with the Netherlands and Flanders in particular was vigorous throughout the Middle Ages and Renaissance. Dutch and Flemish (modern-day Belgium) influences in fields as diverse as horticulture, architecture, textiles in particular wool, painting, religious denomination, civic social policy and not least, migration over the centuries have all been significant in contributing to Norwich's economic well-being and cultural heritage. 

 

Like many cities in medieval Europe, Norwich built a wall around itself for defense, taxation of goods and control of entry to trade in the City. The city walls were built circa 1280 to 1340. At around 4 kilometres in length they enclosed an area larger than the city of London. Norwich's city walls were supplemented by Cow tower and Bishop gate bridge strengthening defenses at its weakest point, the exposed bend of the river which  semi-circles around the Cathedral. The Wensum was integral to the defense of medieval Norwich. Its semi-circular bend from New Mills at the north of the City to Carrow south-east of the City effectively functioning as a wall. 

The medieval river-gate at Carrow is unique to European city defenses. Consisting of two 'Boom' towers'  one standing on each side of the river, by placing either a timber 'boom' or chains between them, effectively prevented any vessel from sailing further upstream. Their ruins at Carrow bridge, along with a long stretch of the city's medieval walls nearby, survive to the present-day.  

                                         

It would have been after passing between the 'Boom-towers' water-gate at Carrow (historical photo above) that visitors by river to Norwich would have seen the city's many churches towers, (Norwich has the large number of  medieval churches in Northern Europe).  The city's two largest architectural structures, the  Castle  perched upon earthwork mound and Cathedral with flying buttresses and spire pointing heavenwards would have been visible many miles from the low viewpoint of water before arriving at the walled city.   

A spectacular section of the old city wall  survives to this day. It  rises sharp up the valley with the Black Tower at its summit. The  surviving section  is a remarkable display of medieval engineering skill and dramatic to view. Poorly signed, this section of the City's medieval walls remains unknown to many locals even.

Tragically, shortly after the completion of the City wall, Norwich, like almost every other city in Europe suffered from the pandemic of the Black Death which peaked from 1347 to 1351. The Black Death was the second disaster affecting Europe during the 14th century, the Great Famine occurring 1315–1317. The Black Death plague is estimated to have killed between 30% to 60% of Europe's population. Norwich was not exempt from this death-toll with over half its population dying from the disease. It was against the background of the Black Death that the city's Christian mystic Julian of Norwich (1343–c.1416) wrote her Revelations of divine Love, the first book to be written by a woman in English,which continues to grow in popularity for its spiritual message. 

A major contributing factor to Norwich's identity occurred during the Elizabethan era when Protestant refugees from the Spanish Netherlands were invited to settle in Norwich to invigorate the City's declining textile industry. In 1565 some 30 households of master weavers and their families, 300 people in total, traveled from the Netherlands to Norwich seeking refuge from Spanish Catholic persecution. Reports of the City's religious tolerance resulted in many more religious refugees migrating from the Netherlands and contributing to Norwich's manufacturing industries of weaving and wool. At one time almost one third of Norwich's population consisted of skilled artisan refugees, a crucial factor in shaping the City's identity. 'The Strangers' as they were known, brought with them their pet Canary birds. Fancy breeds of the Canary bird were  bred in in the city  and in the early 20th century  they became emblematic of Norwich football team. The Canaries holds claim to having the world's oldest football supporter's song, On the ball, City. 

England's first provincial newspaper the Norwich Post was printed in Norwich in 1701. Succeeded by the Norwich Mercury in 1737,  its reflective of the city's high literacy rate as well as its radical politics. Support for the French revolution was initially high in Norwich, its leading intellectual William Taylor even visiting Paris in order to  kiss the soil of Liberty. Norwich's radical and sane politics continues to the present-day. In the 2016 advisory Referendum it voted for the UK to Remain in the European Union. 

Its been said that prosperity and literacy were the two factors which were the driving forces between 1750-1850 which contributed to Norwich's theatrical, artistic, philosophical and musical life. Together, they cross-fertilised Norwich's cultural life in a way that was unique outside London. 

In contrast to its close continental connections Norwich was, and still is, geographically remote from any other English town in transport links, a situation which was not improved until the mid-nineteenth century with the advent of the railway. Indeed, its been said  that it was sometimes quicker for a Norwich citizen to travel via river, sea and canal to Amsterdam than to London until the arrival of the railway. Travelling to London involved traversing marsh and forest on poor roads with the risk of robbery and overnight hostelry and rest for horses. In contrast, travelling to Amsterdam involved transportation via tidal river, sea and canal, its primary hazard being crossing the North Sea.

Whether because of its radical politics or more likely a received perception of the City as a 'back-water', Norwich was not officially recognized  as a seat of learning until 1963 when elected as the host city to the University of East Anglia. The University was named  'East Anglia' as representative of the region as a whole rather than its host city, resulting in few even today knowing its location. The University  didn't however hesitate to adopt Norwich City's  'Do Different' motto as its own. 

Currently teaching over 17,000 students statistically UEA is the British University with the highest percentage of students nationwide who choose to settle in the city of their graduation, a major contributing factor to the City's 9% population growth in the past decade. Prestigious UEA alumni include the geneticist, Paul Nurse, awarded the 2001 Nobel Prize in Medicine and novelist, Kazou Ishiguru, awarded the Nobel prize for Literature in 2017.  

With its many continental connections and influences its not too surprising that Norwich is one of the most European influenced of all English cities. The City's 'Do different' mindset is in evidence today in its growth as a regional retail centre, as a place of academic excellence and as a place which has a unique blend of international and local artistic life. 

2. Norwich School of Painters

John Thirtle's (1777-1839) watercolour Rainbow effect, King Street, (40 x 63 cm) depicts the City's busy river. The low eye-level of Thirtle's water-colour creates the effect of the viewer as part of the river-traffic. A rainbow, reflected in water following an evening downpour makes for a dramatic moment.  Observation of Nature, including atmospheric effects such as weather and changes of daylight being of particular interest to the Norwich School of artists.

In the foreground of Thirtle's water-colour there can be seen the river vessel most commonly associated with Norfolk, the wherry, a low draught, single sail craft capable of transporting heavy loads. In the background can be seen  a segment of the city wall rising steep up the  wooded valley with the Black tower at its summit. This section of the old city wall as previously discussed, survives to the present-day. 

John Thirtle was one of a number of Norwich artists  associated with The Norwich Society of Artists  which was established by the two friends who married sisters, John Crome (1768-1821) and Robert Ladbrooke (1768 –1842). The Society was formed in 1803 in order to hold regular meetings and discussions to establish 'An enquiry into the Rise, Progress and Present state of Painting, Architecture and Sculpture, with a view to point out the Best Methods of study to attain the Greater Perfection in these Arts'.

The clear-cut world of Classical representation of form and content is finely balanced with Romanticism in many artworks of the Norwich School, not least in the bold and skillfully executed water-colours of J.S. Cotman (1769-1842) including his Trowse Hythe (Below). Trowse, on Norwich's outskirts, is where the smaller river Yare joins the Wensum and where the river Wensum mysteriously ends.  

Its the sheer modernity of J.S. Cotman's art, in particular his water-colours which arrests the viewer today. Unsurprisingly Cotman's art received a mixed reception in his life-time. Curator and expert on the Norwich School of Painters Ms. Giorgia Bottinelli assesses J.S. Cotman thus- 

'One of the most original watercolourists of the nineteenth century, John Sell Cotman never achieved fame as an artist in his lifetime, something he so desperately craved and which fleetingly appeared to be within his grasp early in his career. On the whole his work did not appeal to the 19th century taste for the romantic and the picturesque: it was often controlled and unsentimental, with a focus on abstracted shape and inherent structure. It was not until the early 20th century and the rise of modernism that his work finally achieved the recognition it rightfully deserved'. [1] 

 

 

Several of John Crome's greatest art-works are set within only a short walk from his doorstep, the Colgate region of Norwich, including his late work Norwich river: Afternoon (above). 

Usually considered to be the leading light of the Norwich School of artists, John Crome was a shrewd, self-taught artist who survived the perils of bankruptcy, debt, imprisonment, madness, early death from disease, alcoholism and lack of patronage which others in the Norwich School suffered in their precarious careers as artists. In 1816, following Napoleon's defeat when  it was once more safe to visit France Crome did so, exhibiting and selling his paintings in Paris as well as purchasing paintings there.

John Crome studied the works of 17th Dutch masters closely in particular those by Hobbema, Cuyp, and Ruisdael to create art which celebrated the beauty of the Norfolk landscape. Far from merely imitating Dutch painting styles Crome learnt from the Dutch masters to develop his own unique style and today his paintings are ranked alongside Turner and Constable as amongst the finest in nineteenth century British art.  

The bright colouration and highly-polished finish of John Crome's Norwich river:Late Afternoon has often been commented upon. Its title reflects the close attention Norwich School artists played to qualities of light. 

Scientific analysis of  the canvas of Norwich river:Late Afternoon revealed that it was not in fact canvas but mattress ticking, a cotton or linen textile tightly woven for durability and to prevent feathers poking through the fabric. It was used to cover mattresses. Whether Crome's usage of mattress ticking was from necessity or experiment is not known. 

It was whilst working on a painting entitled A view of the Water Frolic, Wroxham Broad in mid-April 1821 that John Crome contracted a fever, dying later in the month. His last words were reputed to be, 'Oh Hobbema, my dear Hobbema, how I have loved you !'   

 Joseph Stannard's  Thorpe Water Frolic, Afternoon. 

(Height 109.8 x Width 175.8 cm. dated 1824). 

Joseph Stannard (born Norwich September 13th 1797 - died Norwich 6th December 1830) began exhibiting his paintings in 1811 when aged just 14. Like his younger brother Alfred, he was keen oarsman. He was also an  accomplished ice-skater who entertained Norwich folk with his skating skills during cold winters. Often in financial difficulties and/or poor health, Stannard's growing years were dominated by the Napoleonic wars which were prohibitive to travel in mainland Europe. When stability did return to Europe with the victory of Waterloo, he took the opportunity to visit Holland where  he viewed paintings by seventeenth century Dutch landscape masters Ruisdael, Berchem and Hobbema which deepened his interest in marine and seascape subjects; the marine artist Van de Velde in particular influenced him.

 In 1824 Joseph Stannard's fortune changed when the Norwich manufacturer, art collector and patron, John Harvey commissioned him to paint Thorpe Water Frolic:Afternoon.

Harvey was inspired with the idea of having a festivity on the river at Thorpe, just outside Norwich, from his witnessing water-festivities at Venice while on the Grand tour of Europe. The first water-frolic at Thorpe in 1824 attracted crowds of over 30,000 when the population of Norwich was little more than 10,000. Harvey's agenda was to establish Norwich as a sea-port for the export of his merchandise. 

 

Like all good sailors particular attention is paid to weather conditions and a vigorous cloudscape frames Stannard's water-frolic.There's an interesting inter-play between Stannard the sailor who has depicted the rigging and canvas sails of boats with every rope in its correct place and the medium of canvas on which he painted. The canvas of Thorpe Water Frolic, Afternoon is dominated by a large canvas, a sail catching the breeze.  Stannard's own boat The Cytherea is on the extreme right and was described in a contemporary newspaper report of the event -

'its colour is purple; the inside is adorned with an elegant gilt scroll, which completely encircles it; on the back-board where the coxswain sits, is a beautiful and spirited sea-piece, representing a stiff breeze at sea, with vessels sailing in various directions, painted in oils, and the spoons of the oars are neatly covered with gilt dolphins'.

Art historian Trevor Fawcett speculated- 'If the Thorpe water frolics were really great pageants, as the Norwich Mercury suggested, and if the multitudes who attended were all actors, then Stannard played his part thoroughly...[2]

Although there is a judicious amount of poetic licence in Stannard's Thorpe Water Frolic its also an important social document. Norwich's textile and loom workers, courting couples and rugged seamen all enjoying a care-free day on the river away from cramped working conditions are all depicted. They, along with Stannard in red, shielding his eyes to view his patron, are on the right bank of the river. Thomas Harvey standing in a gondola, the growing middle-class, civic dignitaries, naval officers and the aristocracy of Georgian England are on the left bank of the river. 

Joseph Stannard never became an official member of the Norwich School but nevertheless he clearly admired  and was influenced by John Crome and an enigmatic relationship exists between the two artists. As a precocious artist, Stannard's family requested Crome to teach young Joseph, but Crome quoted an astronomical fee which was seen as a blank refusal by the Stannard family. 

Curiously,  Stannard's Thorpe Water Frolic shares two details with John Crome's late work Norwich river:Afternoon firstly, of a small boy at the stern of a boat trailing a toy, and secondly of a woman dressed in bright yellow apparel, also at boat's stern. (The first recorded use of chrome yellow as a colour name in English was in 1818).

Norwich surely lost a great artist with Joseph Stannard's early death from tuberculosis aged just 33. However, his masterpiece, the river-scene Thorpe Water-Frolic:Afternoon remains a jewel in the crown of Norwich Castle Museum's extensive collection of paintings by the Norwich School.

Joseph Stannard has been assessed thus-

'As a draughtsman Joseph Stannard stands out as a major figure, there being almost a majestic grace and simplicity about his work. Whilst most of the Norwich School painters specialised in landscape, he retained an interest in seascape painting and achieved a quality which not only outrivalled most of his fellow painters, but most of the painters of the 19th century. The late Major boswell, whose family had dealt in the Norwich School paintings for generations, maintained that Joseph Stannard was the greatest genius of the School'. [3]

 

The Norwich School of Artists great achievement was that a small group of self-taught working class artists were able to feature urban Norwich with its churches, court-yards and cityscapes and rural Norfolk with its windmills, heath, marsh, woodlands and waterways as settings for their art.  Undaunted by meagre local patronage, together, leading artists Crome and Cotman, along with Joseph Stannard, established a school of landscape which continues to grow in reputation and stature.

  

The art historian Nikolaus Pevsner claimed that the picturesque was England's greatest contribution to European visual culture. Defined as visually attractive, especially in a quaint or charming way, English picturesque art is now, largely through the pioneering achievements of the Norwich School of artists, can now be recognised as Norwich's greatest contribution to European painting.

3. Just a little Browne and Norwich's future

According to the church historian Thomas Fuller (1608-61)  17th century Norwich was, 'either a city in an orchard, or an orchard in a city, so equal are houses and trees blended in it' . This blending of the urban with leaf continues in present-day Norwich with its reputation as one of greenest of English cities. Thomas Browne, the city's first botanist, natural historian, archaeologist and literary figure of significance, was a contemporary of  the historian Thomas Fuller, and indeed a book by Fuller is listed as once in Browne's vast library. 

In many ways Thomas Browne (1605-82) is one of most dazzling and valuable jewels in the crown of Norwich's cultural heritage. Known of world-wide, contributing to diverse fields of knowledge Browne's star is currently in the ascendent with a resurgence of interest in the physician-philosopher and his diverse literary works. Browne was also, as the archaeologist Alan Carter noted, one of the first to speculate upon Norwich's origins. In Urn-Burial  (1658) he alludes to coins minted in Norwich (the earliest with  the inscription name Norvic is dated 850 CE), to the city being established sometime after the Roman occupation of Britain, and to it being a place of size before  destruction by fire following a Viking raid by King Swen Forkbeard in 1004 CE-

'Vulgar Chronology will have Norwich Castle as old as Julius Caesar; but his distance from these parts, and its Gothick form of structure, abridgeth such Antiquity. The British Coins afford conjecture of early habitation in these parts, though the City of Norwich arose from the ruins of Venta, and though perhaps not without some habitation before, was enlarged, builded, and nominated by the Saxons. In what bulk or populosity it stood in the old East-angle Monarchy, tradition and history are silent. Considerable it was in the Danish Eruptions, when Sueno burnt Thetford and Norwich', [4]

More often than not Thomas Browne refers to the Wensum simply as 'the Norwich river'. Its been speculated that the word 'Wensum' is a corruption of the old English of 'wendsome' meaning winding, and this, as almost all old rivers, the Wensum certainly is, as can be seen in the photo below of the river Wensum at Drayton, a few miles north-west of Norwich. 

Geographically speaking, the Wensum is an old or senile river, that is a river with a low gradient and low erosive power and with having flood-plains. Today the Wensum is listed as a biological Site of Special Scientific Interest and as a Special Area of Conservation. Nevertheless it is under threat of environmental damage from a proposed Western Link Road (WLR) which will seriously damage river wildlife and its immediate environment with little, if any benefit to the easing of  traffic in the region whatsoever.[5]

On several occasions in his Natural History notes Thomas Browne refers to the network of shallow lakes in the north-east quarter of Norfolk as 'broad waters' . In all probability its from his description that the nomenclature of these shallow lakes  originated from to become  known as the Norfolk Broads. Today, the Norfolk Broads have National Park status and protection 'however it was not until the 1960's that aerial photography determined the Norfolk Broads were in fact not natural but man-made, the product of many years of digging for peat as a source of heat which following flood and inundation from the sea, formed the present-day Broads. 

On the river upstream between New Mills to Hellesdon Mills its possible to often spot the iridescent blue plumage and bullet-like flight of the kingfisher zipping low over the water. As a keen ornithologist who at one time or another kept an eagle, cormorant, bittern, owl and ostrich to study, Browne noted of Norfolk -

The number of rivulets becks & streams whose banks are beset with willows & Alders which give occasion of easier fishing & slooping to the water makes that handsome coloured bird abound which is called Alcedo Ispida or the King fisher. They build in holes about gravel pits.. their nests wherein is to bee found great quantity of small fish bones. & lay very handsome round & as it were polished eggs.

Browne was a keen botanist and noted of the aquatic plant Acorus Calamus  known as Sweet Flag (photo below).

                         

'This elegant plant groweth very plentifully and beareth its Julus yearly by the banks of Norwich river  chiefly about Claxton and Surlingham. & also between norwich & Hellsden bridge so that I have known Heigham Church in the suburbs of Norwich strewed all over with it, it hath been transplanted and set on the sides of Marish ponds in several places of the country where it thrives and beareth ye Julus yearly. [6]

The Sweet Briar bridge to Hellesdon (photo above) is a great example of the legacy from the 1930's. Constructed in 1932, Sweet Briar bridge, along with the acres of landscaped parks of Eaton and Wensum, innovative social housing at Mile Cross, libraries, and urban regeneration in general, were all constructed and achieved through the collective work-force of the unemployed of Norwich during the Great Depression of the 1930's era.

The river Wensum upstream of New Mills is navigable only to light, non-powered vessels and is at turns scenic, neglected and wild. Its only with one's eye at water level that one gains a perspective of  the sheer size and abundance of mature trees growing near the river. Approaching Hellesdon Mill two varieties of willow can be seen growing together. (above). 

The weeping willow is a naturally occurring mutation of Salix babylonica which was introduced to England from China in the early 17th century during a time of fascination with all things Chinese ts cultivated for it's beautiful appearance. The more common willow Salix fragilis, 'crack willow', is named for the loud noise it makes when it breaks.  Grown on the river-bank so that its binding roots protect the bank from erosion its used for commercial willow farming (withey beds) and is managed by pollarding. Some of humans' earliest manufactured items may have been made from willow. A fishing net made from willow discovered by archaeologists dates back to 8300 BCE and basic crafts, such as baskets, fish traps, wattle fences and wattle and daub house walls, were often woven from osiers or withies (rod-like willow shoots, often grown in coppices). [7]

The Dictionary of British Place-names states that the name Hellesdon comes from Hægelisdun (the spelling of the location 985 CE), meaning 'hill of a man named Hægel', with the spelling changed to Hailesduna by 1086. Hægelisdun is recorded  traditionally, as the place where King Edmund was killed by Viking invaders in 869 CE, although there remains no agreement on exactly where King Edmund died.

Its intriguing to think that momentous history such as King Edmund dying in battle near Norwich remains ultimately unknown, such speculation returns our far from exhaustive essay where it began, the remote in time origins of the city, whilst also  exploring the fascinating relationship between city, river and artist.

At the current time of writing, Norwich faces the same challenge as many cities throughout the world in the wake of the Pandemic (2020 - ?) how to make the city, in particular its centre, a safe place to visit, work, socialise and be entertained.  Norwich,  having survived war, plague, flood, fire, famine, rebellion and riot in its thousand plus year history, will surely become a busy, enterprising city, proud to 'Do Different'  once more in the near future.

                         

The Wensum river at 'The Willows', five minutes from my doorstep.

Books 

* The Anglo-Saxon origins of Norwich: the problems and approaches by Alan Carter Anglo-Saxon England Vol. 7 (1978), pp. 175-204  pub. Cambridge University Press

* The Norwich Knowledge: An A-Z of Norwich - the Superlative City Pub. 2011

by Michael Loveday. Highly recommended

* Norwich, the growth of a city.  Green and Young Norfolk museums Service 1981

* The Norwich School of Painters -  Harold Day pub. Eastbourne Fine Art 1979

* The Norwich School of Artists - Andrew Moore pub. HMSO Norfolk Museum Services 1985

*Romantic Landscape:The Norwich School of Painters -Brown/Hemingway/Lyles pub. Trustees of the Tate Gallery 2000

* A Vision of England : Paintings of the Norwich School ed. Bottinelli pub. Norfolk Museums 2013

Notes

[1] EDP May 20th The artist they called too colourful

[2] from article by Trevor Fawcett-Roper in Norfolk Archaeology 1976

[3] The Norwich School of Painters -  Harold Day pub. Eastbourne Fine Art 1979

[4] Urn-Burial (1658)

[5] Environmental threat to the Wensum

[6] Notes on Natural history of Norfolk especially its birds and fishes pub. Jarrolds 1905.

[7]  Info on Willow by Nik Thomson with thanks.

Archaeological maps of the development of early Norwich.

*All text identical to the Wikipedia entry on the Norwich School of Artists was penned by myself in 2003.

* Essay dedicated to the memory of the Norwich artist Joseph Stannard, b. Norwich, 13th September 1797 - 1830. Stannard's premature death surely lost the City a great artist.

Also in memory of Jennifer Carrier, long-time friend and Norwich 'old girl'.