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Beloved Son Felix
by
Felix Platter
general information | review summaries | our review | links | about the author
| Title: | Beloved Son Felix |
| Author: | Felix Platter |
| Genre: | Autobiographical |
| Written: | (1612) (Eng. 1961) |
| Length: | 164 pages |
| Original in: | German |
| Availability: | Beloved Son Felix - US |
| Beloved Son Felix - UK | |
| Beloved Son Felix - Canada | |
| Mémoires de Félix Platter - France | |
| in: Tagebuch - Deutschland | |
| El diario de Félix Platter - España | |
| from: Bookshop.org (US) |
- Coming of Age in the Renaissance
- Platter edited his early journals -- here covering 1552 to 1557 -- in 1612 but they were not published at this time; they were first published in Thomas Platter und Felix Platter, zwei Autobiographien in 1840
- Translated by Seán Jennett
- With a Foreword by Stephen Greenblatt
- With several drawings and prints
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Our Assessment:
B : a lively glimpse of a slice of sixteenth-century European life
See our review for fuller assessment.
| Source | Rating | Date | Reviewer |
|---|---|---|---|
| BJHS | . | (1:2) 12/1962 | W.T.Stearn |
| BMJ | . | 26/8/1962 | Zachary Cope |
| RSA Journal | . | 11/1961 | Geoffrey Keynes |
| Sunday Times | . | 4/6/1961 | C.V.Wedgwood |
From the Reviews:
- "The present book provides an excellent English translation of this in a very pleasing format. (...) (T)his extract from Platter's journal is admirably designed and printed, and the well-chosen illustrations, which include a number of drawings by Jennett and two portraits of Platter, add to its attractiveness." - W.T.Stearn, British Journal for the History of Science
- "An honest diary gives a vivid picture of contemporary life. This book is such a record. (.....) His plain narrative delineates the cruel customs of the time." - Zachary Cope, British Medical Journal
- "(O)ne of the earliest travel diaries of its kind and surely one of the most truthful. It is also one of the most interesting, its only fault being that it is too short. It has now been admirably translated into English in its entirety. (...) The special interest of his diary is the impression of medical education at Montpellier to be gathered from it. He gives, however, no consecutive account of this, and the picture must be constructed out of hints dropped in the course of his narrative." - Geoffrey Keynes, Journal of the Royal Society of Arts
- "This sixteenth-century journal, which is as delightful to the ordinary reader as it is useful to the social historian, has long been known to students of the period in its original German form. Mr. Seán Jennett now gives it to English readers in a translation which perfectly captures the freshness and character of the original." - C.V.Wedgwood, Sunday Times
Please note that these ratings solely represent the complete review's biased interpretation and subjective opinion of the actual reviews and do not claim to accurately reflect or represent the views of the reviewers. Similarly the illustrative quotes chosen here are merely those the complete review subjectively believes represent the tenor and judgment of the review as a whole. We acknowledge (and remind and warn you) that they may, in fact, be entirely unrepresentative of the actual reviews by any other measure.
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The complete review's Review:
Beloved Son Felix is a translation of several chapters from Felix Platter's memoirs/journal -- the chapters focused on his trip from Basel to Montpellier, his time spent studying medicine there, and then his return trip to Basel.
(The original memoir -- published together with that of his father --, which begins with his birth, is longer but hardly immense; it's unclear why only these sections were translated (and apparently there is no complete translation of the journal yet).)
The title is taken from the opening of father Thomas' memoir, written at the behest of his 'beloved son Felix' (well, 'lieber sun Felix' -- more like 'dear son Felix').
While Platter often does specify the dates when much of the various action happens, Beloved Son Felix is not a day-by-day diary, but rather skips along.
Platter also revised the work, adding the occasional commentary from more than five decades on in describing what became of certain people and the like, e.g.:
Despite his marriage Batt continued with his former way of life, and began to court Gorius Wentz's daughter in law, who lived on the wheat market, at the sign of the 'Salmon'. She was called little Annette of the 'Salmon'. They would dance sometimes in the house, late, on Catalonian carpets, so that the neighbours should not be disturbed in the night. Eventually, the girl became pregnant, and was put in prison with her mother, who was considered her accomplice in the matter. The child was baptized. The mother was banished, and went to Schliengen, where she married no less than three times, and I believe that she lives there still in this year 1612.(He also rather gratuitously adds to one mention: "We talked a great deal with the daughter of the house, and we danced with her to the accompaniment of the lute. I saw her again forty-five years after, when she was decrepit and repulsive".)
This volume opens with Platter explaining that: "From my childhood I had always dreamed of studying medicine and of becoming a doctor". His father was very much on board and, in 1552, when Platter was fifteen, sent him off to Montpellier -- "where in those days the study of medicine flourished".
In the first chapter, Platter recounts: 'The Journey from Basel to Montpellier' -- which includes going through Geneva, where he drops in on Calvin, who sets him up with a travelling companion. (Platter also goes to hear Calvin preach on Sunday, but: "I could not understand his sermon".) Traveling -- here and later -- is often still dangerous, and along the way: "Several times we saw the bodies of men hanging from the trees". Still, after nearly three weeks Platter arrives at his destination.
The long central section describes his nearly five years as: 'A Student in Montpellier' -- which also includes a variety of excursions, and is only limitedly focused on his actual studies. Money and means of support are something of an issue, with Platter and his family arranging for him to be put up by a Monsieur Catalan, whose son is to be sent to Basel "as an exchange for me", an apparently common arrangement, with the Platter household sounding like it was often overflowing with lodgers and the like.
Platter often mentions writing to his father or receiving letters from him -- and dad consistently tells Platter both of the competition and the circumstances awaiting him, such as for example when:
He urged me again, in view of the growing number of doctors and medical students in Basel, to work with ardour and so raise myself above the common level. I must not rely on his fortune, because he was no more than an old schoolmaster, and aged; I must realize that I should have to depend on my profession for my living. This prediction proved to be entirely true, but thanks be to God everything has turned out for the best.As he studies, Platter remains always: "mindful, too, of the multitude of physicians in Basel, among whom I could make my way only by superior knowledge" -- though that multitude was not exactly overwhelming, as dad yet again: "reminded me again that there were seventeen medical men in Basel, some already doctors and others about to become so".
He takes his studies seriously, and:
Not only did I never miss the dissections of men and animals that took place in the College, but I also took part in every secret autopsy of corpses, and I came to put my own hand to the scalpel, despite the repulsion I had felt at first.Autopsies are frequently mentioned -- including one of his earliest experiences, where he notes how much interest the procedure attracted:
Besides the students, the audience contained many people of the nobility and the bourgeoisie, and even young girls, notwithstanding that the subject was a male. There were even some monks present.Eventually in his enthusiasm to dissect and learn more: "I joined with French students and exposed myself to danger to procure subjects", going on grave-robbing expeditions. Platter doesn't go into too much detail, but, for example, describes one subject: "The child was a little boy, and we made a skeleton of him". They even found a monk who was apparently very helpful -- to the extent even that when things get hairy:
We dug up an old woman and a child and took the bodies to the Augustin monastery, to Brother Bernhard's cell, where we dissected them, for it was no longer possible to take corpses into the town.The brutality of punishment of those deemed criminals also comes up frequently, as Platter describes quite a few people being put to death in rather horrible ways. Among those executed is also Catalan's former servant girl, who Platter recalls having helped him take off his boots when he first arrived. Among the more detailed descriptions is of the treatment of a murderer brought to justice only three years after his crime -- with the victim then being disinterred:
so that the murderer could be confronted with his victim. However, there were none of the signs they expected to see on such an occasion -- as for example the opening of the wound and the gushing forth of blood; although it should be added that the corpse was very wasted.While there's relatively little about Platter's actual studies, the work does give some nice insight into life in those times, as well as Platter's character. He plays the lute, goes to dances, and is perhaps a bit of a dandy, as when his father sends him:
two beautiful skins, tinted green, of which I had an excellent suit made, embroidered with green silk. I paraded in it at the ball, and aroused the admiration of every man, for leather breeches were then quite unknown in that country.There's also the long-distance arrangement of his possible marriage; his various living and sleeping arrangements (such as when: "I was alone in the house, and took my meals in the pharmacy, which was not far away, but in the evening Hummel would return with me, and share my bed, so that I might not be alone during the night"), or mentions such as that: "Cooking is always done with oil, and I did not eat anything cooked in butter during the whole of my stay in Montpellier". It's unfortunate that he doesn't go into more detail about many of his experiences -- not least when they drop in on Nostradamus, "famous for his almanacks and horoscopes. Several of us consulted him", but Platter fails to reveal any more .....;
While only offering limited insight into medical education in the sixteenth century, Beloved Son Felix does offer a nice and quite far-ranging slice and tour of life in those times. While the well-connected, curious, and ambitious young student is presumably hardly typical, his experiences range far and wide enough to give a good impression of much of life in those times. His somewhat wide-eyed way of taking in and relating everything is appropriate for the teen he still was, and while one wishes for much more engagement and discussion of these experiences there's still quite a bit to be found here, and it all makes a fun (and sometimes grisly) tour of the times.
- M.A.Orthofer, 5 December 2025
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Beloved Son Felix:
- McNally Editions publicity page
- Thomas Platter und Felix Platter, zwei Autobiographien - 1840 text
- See Index of Biographical works under review
- See Index of Travel-related books
- See Index of Books Written Before 1900
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Swiss doctor Felix Platter lived 1536 to 1614.
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© 2025 the complete review
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