Editing Kenelm Digby (section)

==Early life and education==
Digby was born at [[Gayhurst]], [[Buckinghamshire]], England. He was of [[gentry]] stock, but his family's adherence to [[Catholic Church|Roman Catholicism]] coloured his career. His father, [[Everard Digby|Sir Everard]], was executed in 1606 for his part in the [[Gunpowder Plot]]. Kenelm was sufficiently in favour with [[James VI and I|James I]] to be proposed as a member of [[Edmund Bolton]]'s projected Royal Academy (with [[George Chapman]], [[Michael Drayton]], [[Ben Jonson]], [[John Selden]] and Sir [[Henry Wotton]]). His mother was Mary, daughter of [[William Moulsoe|William Mushlo]]. His uncle, [[John Digby, 1st Earl of Bristol|John Digby]], was the first Earl of Bristol.{{dubious|Relationship of Kenelm to John|date=May 2020}}<ref name=Academies>{{cite EB1911 |wstitle=Academies |volume=1 |page=105 |first=Francis |last=Storr}}</ref><ref name=Stain>{{cite book|title=A Stain in the Blood|date=2016}}</ref>

He went to [[Gloucester College, Oxford|Gloucester Hall, Oxford]], in 1618, where he was taught by [[Thomas Allen (mathematician)|Thomas Allen]], but left without taking a degree.<ref name=EB/> In time Allen bequeathed to Digby his library, and the latter donated it to the [[Bodleian]].<ref name=CE>{{cite Catholic Encyclopedia |last=Boothman |first=Charles |wstitle=Sir Kenelm Digby |volume=4}}</ref><ref name=Bodleian>{{cite web|title=Collection Level Description: Digby Manuscripts|url=http://www.bodley.ox.ac.uk/dept/scwmss/wmss/online/1500-1900/digbyCLD/digbyCLD.html|website=Bodleian Library|access-date=5 May 2015}}</ref>
[[File:Workshop of Anthony van Dyck - Portrait of Sir Kenelm Digby with a Sunflower.jpg|thumb|200px|''Kenelm Digby'' by workshop of [[Anthony van Dyck|van Dyck]]]]

He spent three years on [[Continental Europe|the Continent]] between 1620 and 1623, where [[Marie de Medici]] fell madly in love with him (as he later recounted). In 1623, in Madrid, Digby was appointed to the household of Prince Charles, who had just arrived there. Returning to England the same year, he was [[Knight Bachelor|knighted]] by James I and appointed gentleman of the privy chamber to Charles. He was granted a [[Master of Arts (Oxford, Cambridge, and Dublin)|Cambridge Master of Arts]] on the King's visit to the university in 1624.<ref>{{acad|DGBY624K|name=Kenelm Digby}}</ref>