Andrew Michael Ramsay
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Sir Andrew Michael Ramsay Bt FRS (9 July 1686 – 6 May 1743), commonly called the Chevalier Ramsay, was a Scottish-born writer who lived most of his adult life in France. He was a baronet in the Jacobite peerage.
Ramsay was born in
Ramsay was in England in 1730, and received an honorary degree from the University of Oxford. The claim was nominally his discipleship to Fénelon, but in reality beyond doubt his connection with the Jacobite party. He died at
He was a
Biography
Ramsay may have been born in 1681 or 1688, but the most likely date of his birth is 9 July 1686. The son of a baker, he grew up in
As a youth Ramsay was attracted to the mysticism of
In 1710 Ramsay travelled to Rijnsburg to meet Poiret and later met
Although Ramsay himself was converted to Catholicism by Fénelon, conversion was not deemed an option by Mme Guyon, who strongly advised the community around her to stick to the principles of their proper faith while meditating on Pure Love. In his Life of Fénelon (London, 1723) Ramsay stated his own insights of how Mme Guyon's system had affected him. Association with
In 1722 Ramsay became active in high level negotiations over a tax on assets of
In 1723 Ramsay was knighted into the
From 1725 till 1728 he stayed as an invited guest at the
Both were elected Fellows of the Royal Society in December 1729. In 1730 Ramsay became a member of the Spalding Gentlemen's Society in Lincolnshire, a club in correspondence with the Society of Antiquaries of London. Prominent members had included Sir Isaac Newton, John Gay and Alexander Pope. Still another honour was conferred on Ramsay in 1730: the Honorary Degree of Doctor of Civil Law at Oxford University.
Prior to the conference of the academical titles (and a part of his Life of Fénelon and Travels of Cyrus) Ramsey had been remarked in the intellectual circles of his time. The influential
Ramsay returned to France in 1730 and, following the death of the Duc de Sully, passed into the service of the Comte d'Évreux (the original patron of the
Ramsay's task in the Évreux household was to tutor a nephew, Godefroy Géraud, duc de Chateau-Thierry, son of the elder brother, Emanuel Theodose de la Tour d'Auvergne, Duc de Bouillon; shifting upon the death of Géraud to the tutorial of the Count's grand nephew, the Prince of Turenne, Godefroi Charles, son of Charles Godefroi, Duc de Bouillon, the head of the house.
It was for the Prince's education that Ramsay wrote the Histoire du
In June 1735 Ramsay married Marie Nairne (1701–1761), the daughter of Sir David Nairne, undersecretary to James III. For the occasion the Chevalier Ramsay was created a Scottish Knight and Baronet (23 March 1735) with remainder to heirs male. He had issue, a son and a daughter, but his son (1737–1740) died in infancy, and his daughter (1739–1758) from smallpox at the age of 19.
Ramsay lived until 1743 under the benevolent protection of the house of Bouillon, in St. Germain-en Laye, writing and studying, but above all preparing his magnum opus: Philosophical Principles of Natural and Revealed Religion, edited after his death (1748–49) by his wife and friends. The second part of this was, in Ramsay's words, "a history of the human mind in all ages, nations and religions concerning the most divine and important truths". Some "Chinese Letters" written by Ramsay remained unpublished.
Freemasonry
Ramsay was associated with Freemasonry from its introduction in France (1725–26). Charles Radclyffe, Earl of Derwentwater, who acted as Grand Master for France beginning in 1736, was present at Ramsay's funeral.[7] It is presumed that Ramsay's being a Mason facilitated his introduction into the Gentleman's Club of Spalding, of which the prominent Masonic propagator John Theophilus Desaguliers was then also a member.
In 1736 Ramsay pronounced in Paris a public speech which defined the four qualities to become a French Freemason: philanthropy, moral values, secrecy, and empathy for sciences and fine arts.[8][9]
In 1737 Ramsay wrote his Discourse pronounced at the reception of Freemasons by Monsieur de Ramsay, Grand Orator of the Order, in which he connected
To a Church already in difficulty over the deviating principles of the
It is frequently mistakenly repeated that Ramsay mentioned the Knights Templar in his Discourse, when in fact he did not mention the Order at all - he mentioned the Knights Hospitaller. But perceptive listeners would have understood his mention of the Crusader knights to be an indirect reference to the Knights Templar, the memory of whom was still controversial in France and may have led to the Pope's indictment of the organization a year later.[10]
Bibliography
Ramsay's works include:
- Les voyages de Cyrus (London, 1728; Paris, 1727): Engl. 'The travels of Cyrus to which is annexe'd a discourse upon the theology & mythology of the pagans' – a book composed in avowed imitation of Fenelon's ''Les avantures de Télémaque''.
- He also edited Télémaque itself (Paris, 2 volumes, 1717) with an introduction
- A Histoire de la vie et des ouvrages de Fenelon (The Hague, 1723).
- A partial biography of Henri de la Tour d'Auvergne, Vicomte de Turenne(Paris, 1735)
- Poems in English (Edinburgh, 1728), and other miscellaneous works.
References
- ^ Chisholm 1911.
- ^ public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Ramsay, Andrew Michael". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 22 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 879. One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the
- ^ "Quotes on universalism throughout church history". at Tentmaker.org. Accessed 5 December 2007.
- ^ Alain Bernheim, Ramsay et ses deux discours, pp7-11 Vie de Ramsay, Editions Télètes, 2011
- ^ Martin I.McGregor, A BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF CHEVALIER ANDREW MICHAEL RAMSAY, 2007
- ^ René Louis d'Argenson (1857), Mémoires et journal inédit, Paris: Pierre Jannet
- ^ George David Henderson, Chevalier Ramsay (London: Thomas Nelson and Sons, 1952).
- ^ "The Chevalier Ramsay". 6 February 2017. Archived from the original on 20 February 2019.
- ^ Gauthier, Arthus. "Freemasonry as a philanthropic project". Replacing charity, anticipating the welfare State: A conceptual genealogy of philanthropy in France since the Age of Enlightenment (PDF). ESSEC Business School. p. 10. Archived (PDF) from the original on 19 April 2021.
- ISBN 978-0-470-12765-0
Works cited
- Cherel, Albert. 1917. "André Michel Ramsay – Sa vie" =Chpt II in Fénelon au XVIIIe siècle en France. Paris: Librairie Hachette ed.
- Cherel, Albert. 1926. "Un aventurier religieux au XVIIIe sciècle, André Michel Ramsay" Paris: Perrin.
- George David Henderson. 1952. Chevalier Ramsay. London: Thomas Nelson and Sons.
- Dupriez, Bernard. 1965. Fénelon: Écrits Spirituels – Extaits. Paris: Nouveaux Classiques Larousse.
- Andrew Mansfield. 2015. Ideas of monarchical reform: Fénelon, Jacobitism and the political works of the Chevalier Ramsay. Manchester: Manchester University Press - http://www.manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk/9780719088377/