The KJV Translator and the Unicorn

Q. Did any King James Bible translator mention the unicorn, apart from their translation of the Bible?

A. Yes, William Branthwaite, KJV translator in the 2nd Cambridge company, wrote to Sir Thomas Wilson, wishing that “my letters might bear bezoar or unicorn or some other more sovereign cordial either to cure your malady or to comfort against the fits and encounters thereof.” This is recorded in Gustavus Paine’s book, The Men Behind the KJV (p. 61). In the context Paine ties it to “the mythical unicorn,” mentioning it is found in nine Bible verses. Unfortunately, Paine misunderstands. Branthwaite does not at all think the unicorn he mentions is mythical.

A “cordial” here in his letter means a stimulating medicine. The Bezoar stone is a calcified concretion found in the stomachs of some animals, prized for medicinal properties (or at least its supposed medicinal properties). The bezoar stone and the rhinoceros horn are used in Indian, Oriental, and perhaps other traditional medicine.

It is not particularly important to our subject how good these remedies were as medicine. However, it is important that they were actual medicines that were used by doctors of that time. You cannot make medicine out of a fictious animal! You make medicine out of the horn of a real animal. This shows that the KJV translator Branthwaite thought of the unicorn as a real animal, not a mythical one.

From this same period of time, a medical book called The Anatomy of Melancholy, by Robert Burton (1577-1640), mentions the unicorn. On page 143 he writes, 

“Of inward medicines I need not speak: use the same cordials as before. In this kind of melancholy, some prescribe treacle in winter, especially before or after purges, or in the spring, as Avicenna; Trincavellius, mithridate; Montaltus, piony seeds, unicorns horn; os de corde cervi, &c.”[i]

The significance here is again that Burton is talking about actual medicines that were used by doctors. Whether these are great medicines, poor ones, or otherwise, the important factor is that Burton is writing about actual medicine that was used by doctors. It would be hard to use a mythical unicorn’s horn as medicine, but unicorn horn/rhinoceros horn was used then (is still used in traditional Chinese medicine).

Whatever William Branthwaite thought of unicorns beyond this, his letter shows he believed it was a living creature.

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[i] Treacle or theriaca, a type of medicinal syrup, probably of various ingredients; Avicenna (probably something medicinal named after the Persian doctor, AD 980-1037, of the same name); Trincavellius, mithridate (used as an antidote against poison); Montaltus, piony seed (the seeds of the peony are still used in homeopathic medicine; os de corde cervi (bone of the heart of a deer).