DOCSLIB.ORG

First Recorded English Speculative Freemason

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
First Recorded English Speculative Freemason FIRST RECORDED ENGLISH SPECULATIVE FREEMASON Introduction Every Freemason who spends time reading about the history of the fraternity must eventually ask himself the same questions. When and where did Freemasonry start? It is unfortunate that no documentary evidence has come to light so far that would pinpoint the exact date that Freemasonry started. If there had, many books on the subject would never have been written. There is however a significant list of firsts in Freemasonry that point the way. The place to begin any story is at the beginning. In history however, you must begin at a point where you can identify the thread of your topic and pick it up from there. Just because we do not have a written record of an event does not mean it did not happen. It only means we do not have the documentation. Sometimes it requires deductive reasoning and thoughtful conclusions. No matter what you believe you must allow that England in the 17th century was fertile ground for the growth of Freemasonry. Many well-meaning but misguided historians, both Masons and non-Masons, have tried to prove that Freemasonry was a lineal descendant or a modern version of the mysteries of classical Greece and Rome or derived from the religion of the Egyptian pyramid builders. Other theories reckon that Freemasonry sprang from bands of travelling stonemasons acting by Papal authority. Others still are convinced that Freemasonry evolved from a band of Knights Templar who escaped to Scotland after the Order was persecuted in Europe. Some historians have even claimed that Freemasonry derives in some way from the shadowy and mysterious Rosicrucian Brotherhood, which may or may not have existed in Europe in the early 1600s. All of these theories have been looked at repeatedly but no hard evidence has yet been found to give any of them credibility. The honest answers to the questions when where and why Freemasonry originated are that we simply do not know. Early evidence for Freemasonry is very meagre and not enough has yet been discovered - if indeed it even exists - to prove any theory. ELIAS ASHMOLE (1617-1692) It is in England that the first evidence of a Lodge completely made up of non-operative Masons is found. It is now well established that Elias Ashmole (May 23, 1617 – May 18, 1692) was the first English speculative Freemason because there is a record of it in his diary entry for October 16, 1646 - it reads in part: "I was made a Free Mason at Warrington in Lancashire, with Coll: Henry Mainwaring of Karincham in Cheshire." Elias Ashmole was made a Freemason in a Lodge held for that purpose at his father-in-laws house in Warrington in the North West of England. It took place at 4.30 pm in the afternoon. The precise time can be given because he kept a daily diary now housed in the Bodlean Library in Oxford. He records who was present, all of whom have been researched and have been found to have no connection with operative masonry. This is the evidence of the first initiation of an English speculative Mason. That is, notwithstanding the fact that those present and listed would have certainly been initiated at an earlier date. Therefore, Ashmole is not identified as the first speculative Mason in history - only the first whose details are known and recorded. In fact, English evidence through the 1600s points to Freemasonry existing apart from any actual or supposed organization of operative stonemasons. It is also known that Ashmole was an intellectual, and a talented and wealthy man of standing as well as the Antiquary and Founder of the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford. But many questions arise regarding the initiation of Brother Ashmole. In the whole of his extensive manuscript annotations there are only two references to his Masonic activities, dated 1646 and 1682. The names of those present in 1646 as listed by Ashmole in his diary are uncontested. None of those present belonged to the stonemasons' trade. The Lodge, however, will have consisted of several additional members not present at the initiation and who may well have been working operative stonemasons. There are two perennial questions raised with regard to Elias Ashmole’s initiation in 1646. Why did he join? And why is there no other mention of Freemasonry in his extensive diaries until his visit to London in 1682? Although there is only one other mention of Masonic activity in his diary he seems to have remained in good standing and well-connected with the fraternity as he was still attending meetings in 1682. On March 10 that year he wrote: "About 5 H: P.M. I received a Sumons to appeare at a Lodge to held the next day, at Masons Hall London." The following day, March 11 1682, he wrote: "Accordingly, I went ... I was the Senior Fellow among them (it being 35 yeares since I was admitted) ... We all dyned at the halfe Moone Taverne in Cheapeside, at a Noble Dinner prepaired at the charge of the New-accepted Masons." Ashmole's notes are one of the earliest references to Freemasonry known in England, but apart from these entries in his autobiographical notes, there are no further details about Ashmole's involvement. The answer may lie in that Freemasonry was not an organization of particular consequence or sufficient importance for Ashmole to make additional annotations. Ashmole may have joined because by nature he was a joiner. He could not have resisted the temptation to discover the nature of what even then was a mysterious association and he may well have found nothing of consequence in the fraternity for further comment or record. There is the added possibility that in the quiet and secretive ambiance of a Masonic meeting he was able to meet with unrecorded intellectual colleagues to discuss those aspects of esoteric and hermetic studies very much experimental in the scientific world at the time. Elias Ashmole was born on May 23, 1617 in Lichfield, Staffordshire, England. He attended Lichfield Grammar School (now King Edward VI School) and became a chorister at Lichfield Cathedral. In 1633, he went to live in London for legal training and in 1638, with the help of the patronage of James Pagitt, a Baron of the Exchequer he became a lawyer and established a law practice in London and for a few years law was his principal means of support. Also in 1638 he married Eleanor Mainwaring (1603–1641), of Smallwood in the county of Cheshire, a member of a poor but aristocratic family, who died, suddenly, while pregnant. Ashmole supported the side of King Charles I in the Civil War in England, and at the outbreak of fighting in 1642, he left London for the house of his father-in-law, Henry Mainwaring, at Smallwood, Cheshire. There he lived a retired life until 1644, when he was appointed King's Commissioner of Excise at Lichfield, his home town. Soon afterwards, at the suggestion of Sir George Wharton, a leading astrologer with strong Royal court connections, Ashmole was given a military post at Oxford, where he served as an ordnance officer for the King's forces. While in Oxford he entered himself at Brasenose College, Oxford University, and studied physics and mathematics. In late 1645, Ashmole left Oxford and came to London and mixed much in astrological circles, and finding himself a guest at 'the mathematical feast at the White Hart alehouse.' During 1645 and 1646, crucial years in the English Civil War, Ashmole’s political and military careers developed on parallel lines. In March 1646 he was made a Captain in the King’s Army and he witnessed the defeat of King Charles by Cromwell three months later. He returned to his home town and it was on October 16, 1646 that Elias Ashmole was made a Freemason in Warrington and as reported in his diary. In 1646–47, Ashmole made several simultaneous approaches to rich widows in the hope of securing a good marriage. A talented and ambitious man, he was able to fulfill many of his dreams after his second marriage in 1649 to the wealthy thrice-widowed Mary, Lady Mainwaring, 20 years his senior and sister of Sir Humphrey Forster. She may have been a relative by marriage of his first wife's family and was the mother of grown children. Her estate established Ashmole’s fortunes, even though he ceased to receive the income from her estate after her death. In every way except for Ashmole’s finances the marriage was a disaster. The marriage took place over the opposition of the bride's family, and it did not prove to be harmonious: Lady Mainwaring filed suit for separation and alimony but it was dismissed by the courts in 1657. Nevertheless, the marriage provided Ashmole with Mary's first husband's estates which left him wealthy enough to pursue his interests, now including botany and alchemy, without concern for his livelihood. He retired at the age of 32 and pursued personal interests thereafter. On April 1, 1668, Lady Mainwaring died, and on November 3 the same year Ashmole married Elizabeth Dugdale (1632– 1701), the much younger daughter of his friend and fellow herald, the antiquarian Sir William Dugdale (1605-86). All of Elizabeth's pregnancies ended in stillbirths or miscarriages, and Brother Ashmole remained childless. Ashmole's most significant appointment was to the College of Arms as Windsor Herald of Arms in Ordinary in June 1660. In this position he devoted himself to the study of the history of the Order of the Garter (founded in 1348) which had been a special interest of his since the 1650s, and proposed a design for the Royal Society's coat of arms.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • The Lucy Pedigree
    Franks Forages No 22A. The Lucy Pedigree There is in the Warwickshire Record Office, a letter to George Lucy from Francis Martin dated August 24th 19331. Who was Francis Martin and what was it about? The clue is in the library. Under the top of the small square table in the north side of the room is the Morocco bound pedigree on vellum of the Lucys prepared by the College of Arms. The College of Arms was founded in 1484 and is the official heraldic authority for England, Wales, N. Ireland and much of the commonwealth. Please read this ‘forage’ in conjunction with the College of Arms web site at www.college-of-arms.gov.uk which will help in understanding the context. Francis Martin was the Windsor Herald from 1819-39 and George Harrison Rogers-Harrison was Bluemantle Pursuivant from 1831 to 1849 when he also became Windsor Herald. Pursuivants are junior Officers of Arms. Francis Martin’s letter to George Lucy was in reply to George’s enquiry to the College of Arms for producing the Lucy pedigree. After apologising for the delayed reply due to illness, Martin gives a detailed response and salient points from the letter hereunder in a script approximating the original handwriting. I have transcribed a faithful copy of the Black Book in regard to the Lucy Pedigree. It is by no means a book of authority although reasonably useful when it corroborates with other evidences. There are many erasures and corrections in this book and particularly in the Lucy Pedigree which shows that points were doubted by the compiler.
    [Show full text]
  • Jetanh. 34253 FRIDAY, 7 FEBRUARY, 1936
    JEtanh. 34253 801 Registered as a newspaper # * Table of Contents see last page FRIDAY, 7 FEBRUARY, 1936 Heralds College, Rouge Dragon Pursuivant, London. E. N. Geijer, Esq. 22nd January, 1936. York Herald, A. J. Toppin, Esq. THE PROCLAMATION OF HIS MAJESTY KING EDWARD VIII. Windsor Herald, In pursuance of the Order in Council of the A. T. Butler, Esq. 21st January, His Majesty's Officers of Arms Richmond Herald, this day made Proclamation declaring the H. R. C. Martin, Esq. Accession of His Majesty King Edward VIIT. At ten o'clock the Officers of Arms, habited Chester Herald, in their Tabards, assembled at St. James's J. D. Heaton-Armstrong, Esq. Palace and, attended by the Serjeants at Arms, Somerset Herald, proceeded to the balcony in Friary Court, where, after the trumpets had sounded thrice, The Hon. George Bellew. the Proclamation was read by Sir Gerald W. Lancaster Herald, Wollaston, K.C.V.O., Garter Principal King A. G. B. Russell, Esq. of Arms. A procession was then formed in the following order, the Kings of Arms, Heralds, Norroy King of Arms, and Pursuivants and the Serjeants at Arms Major A. H. S. Howard. being in Royal carriages. Clarenceux King of Arms, An Escort of Royal Horse Guards. A. W. S. Cochrane, Esq. The High Bailiff of Westminster, in his The Procession moved on to Charing Cross, carriage. where the Proclamation was read the second State Trumpeters. time by Lancaster Herald, and then moved on to the site of Temple Bar, where a temporary Serjeants at Arms, bearing their maces.
    [Show full text]
  • The Architecture of Joseph Michael Gandy (1771-1843) and Sir John Soane (1753-1837): an Exploration Into the Masonic and Occult Imagination of the Late Enlightenment
    University of Pennsylvania ScholarlyCommons Publicly Accessible Penn Dissertations 2003 The Architecture of Joseph Michael Gandy (1771-1843) and Sir John Soane (1753-1837): An Exploration Into the Masonic and Occult Imagination of the Late Enlightenment Terrance Gerard Galvin University of Pennsylvania Follow this and additional works at: https://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations Part of the Architecture Commons, European History Commons, Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons, and the Theory and Criticism Commons Recommended Citation Galvin, Terrance Gerard, "The Architecture of Joseph Michael Gandy (1771-1843) and Sir John Soane (1753-1837): An Exploration Into the Masonic and Occult Imagination of the Late Enlightenment" (2003). Publicly Accessible Penn Dissertations. 996. https://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations/996 This paper is posted at ScholarlyCommons. https://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations/996 For more information, please contact [email protected]. The Architecture of Joseph Michael Gandy (1771-1843) and Sir John Soane (1753-1837): An Exploration Into the Masonic and Occult Imagination of the Late Enlightenment Abstract In examining select works of English architects Joseph Michael Gandy and Sir John Soane, this dissertation is intended to bring to light several important parallels between architectural theory and freemasonry during the late Enlightenment. Both architects developed architectural theories regarding the universal origins of architecture in an attempt to establish order as well as transcend the emerging historicism of the early nineteenth century. There are strong parallels between Soane's use of architectural narrative and his discussion of architectural 'model' in relation to Gandy's understanding of 'trans-historical' architecture. The primary textual sources discussed in this thesis include Soane's Lectures on Architecture, delivered at the Royal Academy from 1809 to 1836, and Gandy's unpublished treatise entitled the Art, Philosophy, and Science of Architecture, circa 1826.
    [Show full text]
  • Title Page Table of Contents Preface to the 1994
    Christopher Marlowe (1564-1607) A Biography g Louis Ule A Hearthstone Book Carlton Press Corp. * New York Acknowledgments g JJermission to reproduce the illustrations (following page lr 290) in this biography was granted as follows: for pages I from the Revels Accounts by the Public Record Office; tor the title page from the L593 edition of Edznard II by the \-ictoria and Albert Museum; for the Cambridge portrait of Christopher Marlowe by the Master and Fellows bf Corpus Christi College, Cambridge; for the Massacre at Paris fragment s- the Folger Shakespeare Library, Washington, DC; for the Hampton Court portrait by The Royal Collectiory St. james Palace, London; for the Venice portrait by the Picture Gallery and Museum of the Royal Shakespeare Theatre; for the title paggs of Sir Philip Sidney's Acradia and his Apology for Poetry bv the Henry E. Huntington Library and Museum; for Man- tegna's ludith and Holofernes, by the National Gallery of Art, \Vashington, DC; for letters of Hugh Sanford by Walter J. G. Verco, M.V.O., Chester Herald of Arms, College of Arms; for Sir William Dugdale's 1634 pen-and-ink sketch of the Shake- speare monument by Sir William Dugdale, Bart. Merevale Hall, Atherstone, Warwickshire; for MS. Cotton Julius C. III i. 280" (handwriting presumed to be that of William Cotton) by the British Library; for altered copy of the Baines note, BL Harley MS 6853 ff307-:308, by the British Library. Contents Preface to the 1994Private Printing ix Introduction xi 1. Origins and Background 1 2. The King's School, Canterbury 11 J.
    [Show full text]
  • Medicine, Astrology, and Written Records
    Casebooks in Early Modern England: Medicine, Astrology, and Written Records Lauren Kassell Bulletin of the History of Medicine, Volume 88, Number 4, Winter 2014, pp. 595-625 (Article) Published by Johns Hopkins University Press DOI: https://doi.org/10.1353/bhm.2014.0066 For additional information about this article https://muse.jhu.edu/article/564670 [ Access provided at 5 Oct 2021 13:50 GMT with no institutional affiliation ] Casebooks in Early Modern England: Medicine, Astrology, and Written Records LAUREN KASSELL Summary: Casebooks are the richest sources that we have for encounters between early modern medical practitioners and their patients. This article compares astrological and medical records across two centuries, focused on England, and charts developments in the ways in which practitioners kept records and reflected on their practices. Astrologers had a long history of working from particular moments, stellar configurations, and events to general rules. These practices required systematic notation. Physicians increasingly modeled themselves on Hip- pocrates, recording details of cases as the basis for reasoned expositions of the histories of disease. Medical records, as other scholars have demonstrated, shaped the production of medical knowledge. Instead, this article focuses on the nature of casebooks as artifacts of the medical encounter. It establishes that casebooks were serial records of practice, akin to diaries, testimonials, and registers; identi- fies extant English casebooks and the practices that led to their production and preservation; and concludes that the processes of writing, ordering, and preserv- ing medical records are as important for understanding the medical encounter as the records themselves. Keywords: casebooks, medical records, astrology, paper technologies, cases, patients, Simon Forman, Richard Napier This research has been supported by the Wellcome Trust, through an Enhancement Award 2004–9 and a Strategic Award 2009–14 on “Generation to Reproduction” (grants 074298 and 088708).
    [Show full text]
  • The Basset Family: Marriage Connections and Socio-Political Networks
    THE BASSET FAMILY: MARRIAGE CONNECTIONS AND SOCIO-POLITICAL NETWORKS IN MEDIEVAL STAFFORDSHIRE AND BEYOND A THESIS IN History Presented to the Faculty of the University of Missouri-Kansas City in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree MASTER OF ARTS By RACHAEL HAZELL B. A. Drury University, 2011 Kansas City, Missouri THE BASSET FAMILY: MARRIAGE CONNECTIONS AND SOCIO-POLITICAL NETWORKS IN MEDIEVAL STAFFORDSHIRE AND BEYOND Rachael Hazell, Candidate for the Master of Arts Degree University of Missouri- Kansas City, 2015 ABSTRACT The political turmoil of the eleventh to fourteenth centuries in England had far reaching consequences for nearly everyone. Noble families especially had the added pressure of ensuring wise political alliances While maintaining and acquiring land and wealth. Although this pressure would have been felt throughout England, the political and economic success of the county of Staffordshire, home to the Basset family, hinged on its political structure, as Well as its geographical placement. Although it Was not as subject to Welsh invasions as neighboring Shropshire, such invasions had indirect destabilizing effects on the county. PoWerful baronial families of the time sought to gain land and favor through strategic alliances. Marriage frequently played a role in helping connect families, even across borders, and this Was the case for people of all social levels. As the leadership of England fluctuated, revolts and rebellions called poWerful families to dedicate their allegiances either to the king or to the rebellion. Either way, during the central and late Middle Ages, the West Midlands was an area of unrest. Between geography, weather, invaders from abroad, and internal political debate, the unrest in Staffordshire Would create an environment Where location, iii alliances, and family netWorks could make or break a family’s successes or failures.
    [Show full text]
  • Historical Influence of the Rosicrucian Fraternity on Freemasonry
    Historical Influence of the Rosicrucian Fraternity on Freemasonry Introduction Freemasonry has a public image that sometimes includes notions that we practice some sort of occultism, alchemy, magic rituals, that sort of thing. As Masons we know that we do no such thing. Since 1717 we have been a modern, rational, scientifically minded craft, practicing moral and theological virtues. But there is a background of occult science in Freemasonry, and it is related to the secret fraternity of the Rosicrucians. The Renaissance Heritage1 During the Italian renaissance of the 15th century, scholars rediscovered and translated classical texts of Plato, Pythagoras, and the Hermetic writings attributed to Hermes Trismegistus, thought to be from ancient Egypt. Over the next two centuries there was a widespread growth in Europe of various magical and spiritual practices – magic, alchemy, astrology -- based on those texts. The mysticism and magic of Jewish Cabbala was also studied from texts brought from Spain and the Muslim world. All of these magical practices had a religious aspect, in the quest for knowledge of the divine order of the universe, and Man’s place in it. The Hermetic vision of Man was of a divine soul, akin to the angels, within a material, animal body. By the 16th century every royal court in Europe had its own astrologer and some patronized alchemical studies. In England, Queen Elizabeth had Dr. John Dee (1527- 1608) as one of her advisors and her court astrologer. Dee was also an alchemist, a student of the Hermetic writings, and a skilled mathematician. He was the most prominent practitioner of Cabbala and alchemy in 16th century England.
    [Show full text]
  • Elias Ashmole's Hermetic Reading of Gower's
    Accessus Volume 6 Issue 2 Magic, Religion, and Science Article 3 2020 Transmuting John Gower: Elias Ashmole’s Hermetic Reading of Gower’s Jason and the Golden Fleece Curtis Runstedler Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/accessus Part of the English Language and Literature Commons, European Languages and Societies Commons, and the Medieval Studies Commons Recommended Citation Runstedler, Curtis (2020) "Transmuting John Gower: Elias Ashmole’s Hermetic Reading of Gower’s Jason and the Golden Fleece," Accessus: Vol. 6 : Iss. 2 , Article 3. Available at: https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/accessus/vol6/iss2/3 This Article has been accepted for inclusion in Accessus by the editorial board of the journal and administrator of ScholarWorks at WMU. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Transmuting John Gower: Elias Ashmole’s Hermetic Reading of Gower’s Jason and the Golden Fleece Acknowledgments I would like to thank the Rare Book and Special Collections Division, The Library of Congress in Washington, D. C. for granting permission with their image reproduction. I am indebted to the following scholars and funding bodies for their generous support and encouragement: Elizabeth Archibald, Matthias Bauer, Angelika Zirker, Chad Gunnoe, Bob Yeager, Teach@Tübingen, Durham University’s Institute of Medieval and Early Modern Studies (IMEMS), Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen, and the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG). I would also like to thank the anonymous peer reviewer for their invaluable feedback. This article is available in Accessus: https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/accessus/vol6/iss2/3 Runstedler: A Hermetic Reading of Gower’s Jason & the Golden Fleece 1 Transmuting John Gower: Elias Ashmole’s Hermetic Reading of Gower’s Jason and the Golden Fleece1 In the Theatrum Chemicum Britannicum (1652), Elias Ashmole (1617–1692) includes annotations for the fourteenth- century trilingual English poet John Gower’s (c.
    [Show full text]
  • 15 Res and Disc.Indd
    RESEARCHES AND DISCOVERIES Martin, C.T., 1877, Catalogue of the Archives in the Muniment Rooms of All Souls’ College, p. 65 (Spottiswoode & Co, London). https://books.google.com.au/books?id=JtTOAAAAMAAJ Richardson, D., 2011, Magna Carta Ancestry, p. 564 (second edn, self-published). https://books.google.com.au/books?id=8JcbV309c5UC Rymer, T., 1739-1745, Rymer’s Foedera with Syllabus, Volume II, pp. 273-279 (London). British History Online. http://www.british-history.ac.uk/rymer-foedera/vol11/pp273-279 ‘Some Notes on English Medieval Genealogy’, Abstracts of Feet of Fines http://www.medievalgenealogy.org.uk/fines/abstracts/CP_25_1_117A_345.shtml Virgoe, R., 2006, Some Ancient Indictments in the King’s Bench referring to Kent 1450- 1452, p. 236, Kent Archaeological Society Records, vol. 18. https://www.kentarchaeology.org.uk/Research/Pub/KRV/18/5/236.htm WHEN was CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL’S MedievaL LIBRARY BUILDING DEMOLISHED? As a major Benedictine house, the priory of Christ Church Canterbury was a considerable user of books. Lanfranc’s rebuilding in the 1070s did not include a library; it is assumed that books were kept in cupboards in the cloister, as was normal in a monastery. By the late-twelfth century, a more commodious book store had been provided in the closed-off passageway leading out from the cloisters to which an upper floor was added in the early fourteenth century.1 By the mid fourteenth century many books had left Canterbury to stock libraries in its daughter houses, especially at Canterbury College in Oxford where Canterbury monks went to study at the university.
    [Show full text]
  • Common Voice": History, Folklore and Oral Tradition in Early Modern England 1Iiiiiiil..1Iiiiii@
    The "Common Voice": History, Folklore and Oral Tradition in Early Modern England 1IIiiiiil..1IiiiII@ D. R. Woolf Past and Present, No. 120 (Aug., 1988),26-52. Stable URL: http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0031-2746%28198808%290%3AI20%3C26%3AT%22VHFA%3E2.0.CO%3B2-U Past and Present is currently published by Oxford University Press. Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use, available at http://www.jstor.org/about/terms.html. JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use provides, in part, that unless you have obtained prior permission, you may not download an entire issue of a journal or multiple copies of articles, and you may use content in the JSTOR archive only for your personal, non-commercial use. Please contact the publisher regarding any further use of this work. Publisher contact information may be obtained at http://www.jstor.org/journals/oup.html. Each copy of any part of a JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears on the screen or printed page of such transmission. JSTOR is an independent not-for-profit organization dedicated to creating and preserving a digital archive of scholarly journals. For more information regarding JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. http://www.jstor.org/ Sat May 1520:56:51 2004 THE "COMMON VOICE": HISTORY, FOLKLORE AND ORAL TRADITION IN EARLY MODERN ENGLAND* Historians have long recognized the contributions to modern histori­ cal methodology of the antiquary, that curious explorer of records, student of ancient coins and tireless traveller in search of inscriptions and other sorts of archaeological evidence." John Leland's "laboriouse serche" for England's antiquities has become legendary," while high praise is given to generations of his followers from William Camden in the sixteenth to Ralph Thoresby in the early eighteenth century.
    [Show full text]
  • Harleian Society Publications
    HARLEIAN SOCIETY Register Section Leveson Gower, G.W.G. ed., A register of all the christninges, burialles and weddings, within the parish of Saint Peeters upon Cornhill beginning at the raigne of our most soueraigne ladie Queen Elizabeth. Part I, Harleian Society Register Section, 1 (1877) Hovenden, R. ed., A register of all the christninges, marriages and burialls, within the precinct of the cathedral and metropoliticall church of Christe of Canterburie, Harleian Society Register Section, 2 (1878) Chester, J.L. ed., The reiester booke of Saynte De’nis Backchurch parishe for maryages, christenynges and buryalles begynnynge in the yeare of o’lord God 1538, Harleian Society Register Section, 3 (1878) Leveson Gower, G.W.G. ed., A register of all the christninges, burialles and weddings, within the parish of Saint Peeters upon Cornhill beginning at the raigne of our most soueraigne ladie Queen Elizabeth. Part II, Harleian Society Register Section, 4 (1879) Chester, J.L. ed., The parish registers of St. Mary Aldermary, London, containing the marriages, baptisms and burials from 1558 to 1754, Harleian Society Register Section, 5 (1881) Chester, J.L. ed., The parish registers of St. Thomas the Apostle, London, containing the marriages, baptisms and burials from 1558 to 1754, Harleian Society Register Section, 6 (1881) Chester, J.L. ed., The parish registers of St. Michael, Cornhill, London, containing the marriages, baptisms and burials from 1546 to 1754, Harleian Society Register Section, 7 (1882) Chester, J.L. with Armytage, Gen. J ed., The parish registers of St. Antholin, Budge Row, London, containing the marriages, baptisms and burials from 1538 to 1754; and of St.
    [Show full text]
  • Literature in Context: a Chronology, C1660­1825
    Literature in Context: A Chronology, c1660­1825 Entries referring directly to Thomas Gray appear in bold type­face. 1660 Restoration of Charles II. Patents granted to re­open London theatres. Actresses admitted onto the English and German stage. Samuel Pepys begins his diary (1660­ 1669). Birth of Sir Hans Sloane (1660­1753), virtuoso and collector. Vauxhall Gardens opened. Death of Velàzquez (1559­1660), artist. 1661 Birth of Daniel Defoe (c1661­1731), writer. Birth of Anne Finch, Countess of Winchilsea (1661­1720), writer. Birth of Sir Samuel Garth (1661­1719). Louis XIV crowned in France (reigns 1661­1715). 1662 Publication of Butler’s “Hudibras” begins. The Royal Society is chartered. Death of Blaise Pascal (1623­1662), mathematician and philosopher. Charles II marries Catherine of Braganza and receives Tangier and Bombay as part of the dowry. Peter Lely appointed Court Painter. Louis XIV commences building at Versailles with Charles Le Brun as chief adviser. 1663 Milton finishes “Paradise Lost”. Publication of the Third Folio edition of Shakespeare. The Theatre Royal, Bridges Street, opened on the Drury Lane site with a revival of Fletcher’s “The Humorous Lieutenant”. Birth of Cotton Mather (1663­1728), American preacher and writer. 1664 Birth of Sir John Vanbrugh (1664­1726), dramatist and architect. Birth of Matthew Prior (1664­1721), poet. Lully composes for Molière’s ballets. “Le Tartuffe” receives its first performance. English forces take New Amsterdam and rename it New York. Newton works on Theory of Gravity (1664­1666). 1665 The Great Plague breaks out in London. Newton invents differential calculus. The “Journal des Savants”, the first literary periodical, is published in Paris.
    [Show full text]