{{Short description|15th and 16th century English physician}} {{Use dmy dates|date=September 2016}} {{Use British English|date=September 2016}} '''John Argentine''' (died 1507) was an English physician who attended Edward V of England and later Arthur, Prince of Wales, and was Provost of King's College, Cambridge.
==Life== He was the son of John d'Argentine, of Great Wymondley in Hertfordshire. The Argentines had been settled in Cambridgeshire since the Norman conquest of England. He was educated at Eton and King's College, Cambridge.<ref>{{acad|id=ARGN457J|name=Argentine, John}}</ref>
Argentine was the last known attendant of the Princes in the Tower; he noted that Edward took daily confession and penance, believing that his death was near.{{#tag:ref|The original Latin wording "Argentinus medicus" has been alternatively translated as "a Strasbourg doctor", ''Argentoratum'' being the Latin name for Strasbourg, but more likely refers to Argentine.<ref name=Rhodes1>{{cite journal|last=Rhodes|first=D.E.|title=The Princes in the Tower and Their Doctor|journal=The English Historical Review|date=April 1962|volume=77|issue=303|pages=304–306|publisher=Oxford University Press|doi=10.1093/ehr/lxxvii.ccciii.304}}</ref><ref name="Klaassen">{{cite book |title=The Transformations of Magic: Illicit Learned Magic in the Later Middle Ages and Renaissance |author=Klaassen, Frank |publisher=Penn State University Press |isbn=9780271056265 |year=2013 |page=227}}</ref> The suggestion that Argentine himself was a Strasbourg doctor is a misidentification,<ref name="Klaassen"/> and Anthony Allen connected the Argentine family name to an unrelated location in Normandy.<ref name=Rhodes2>{{cite journal|last=Rhodes|first=D.E.|title=Provost Argentine of King's and his Books |year=1956 |volume=2 |number=3 |journal=Transactions of the Cambridge Bibliographical Society|pages=205–209|publisher=Cambridge Bibliographical Society}}</ref>|group="note"}} Argentine's evidence was also the basis for French declarations that the Princes in the Tower of London had been murdered and their assassin crowned as King Richard III.
Later, he became physician to Prince Arthur. He ended his life as Provost of King's College, Cambridge and is buried there in the Chantry Chapel.
==In popular culture== Argentine is a major character in the Channel 4 drama ''The Princes in the Tower'' in which he interrogates Perkin Warbeck to test the veracity of his claim to being Richard of Shrewsbury, 1st Duke of York. He is portrayed in the show by John Castle.
==References== {{Reflist}}
==Notes== {{Reflist|group="note"}}
{{s-start}} {{s-aca}} {{succession box |title = Provost of King's College, Cambridge |years =1501–1507 |before =John Dogget |after =Richard Hatton }} {{end}} {{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Argentine, John}} Category:15th-century births Category:1507 deaths Category:15th-century English medical doctors Category:16th-century English medical doctors Category:People educated at Eton College Category:Fellows of King's College, Cambridge Category:Provosts of King's College, Cambridge Category:People of the Wars of the Roses Category:Year of birth unknown Category:Princes in the Tower Category:Arthur, Prince of Wales {{England-med-bio-stub}}