Boorde (or Borde), Andrew (c. 1490–1549)

English physician and author. He travelled widely throughout Europe and wrote the first travel handbook of Europe, the earliest modern work on hygiene, and the first printed specimen of the gypsy language.

Boorde joined the Carthusians while still a minor, and was made suffragan bishop of Chichester in 1521. He was freed from his monastic vows in 1529, and then studied medicine, afterwards travelling in Europe. Returning to London in 1534, he undertook a confidential mission for the English politician Thomas Cromwell to assess the attitude abroad towards Henry VIII.