Frances Yates
This article relies largely or entirely on a single source. (March 2023) |
Frances Amelia Yates | |
---|---|
Born | Southsea, England | 28 November 1899
Died | 29 September 1981 Surbiton, England | (aged 81)
Occupation |
|
Alma mater | University College London, Warburg Institute |
Subject | History of Western esotericism |
Dame Frances Amelia Yates
After attaining an MA in French at University College London, she began to publish her research in scholarly journals and academic books, focusing on 16th-century theatre and the life of the linguist and lexicographer John Florio. In 1941, she was employed by the Warburg Institute in London, and began to work on what she termed "Warburgian history", emphasising a pan-European and inter-disciplinary approach to historiography.
Her most acclaimed publication was Giordano Bruno and the Hermetic Tradition (1964), in which she emphasised the role of Hermeticism in Bruno's works and the role that magic and mysticism played in Renaissance thinking. The Art of Memory (1966), and The Rosicrucian Enlightenment (1972) are also major works. Yates wrote extensively on the occult or Neoplatonic philosophies of the Renaissance, which she is credited with making more accessible.
Biography
Youth: 1899–1913
It seems to me now the Golden Age, in which the security and stability of the Victorian era were still intact and seemed the natural state of affairs, which would continue for ever (though in a less severe and easier form). It was not, of course, a golden age for all, but for me it was a time of perfect safety and happiness when I first put down roots of experience and inquiry in a world which made sense.
— Frances Yates, on her childhood[1]
Frances Amelia Yates was born on 28 November 1899 in the southern English coastal town of
In 1902, James was transferred to
Throughout this period, Yates' education was haphazard. In her early years, she was home schooled, being taught to read by her sisters before her mother took over her education as they moved away from home.[14] When in Glasgow she briefly attended the private Laurel Bank School,[15] but wouldn't attend school for two years after leaving the city.[11] Despite a lack of formal education, she read avidly, impressed by the plays of William Shakespeare,[16] and the poetry of the Romantics and Pre-Raphaelites, in particular that of Dante Gabriel Rossetti and John Keats.[17] She also began to write; in March 1913, Yates published a short story in the Glasgow Weekly Herald.[18] Aged 16 she began writing a diary, in which she stated that "my brother wrote poems, my sister writes novels, my other sister paints pictures and I, I must & will do something. I am not much good at painting, I am no good at all at music, so there is only writing left. So I will write."[19]
Early career: 1914–38
In 1914, the
In the early 1920s she began an undergraduate degree in French at the
While rummaging through the London
Through her research into Florio, Yates had become intrigued by one of his associates,
Joining the Warburg Institute: 1939–60
One of Yates' friends, the historian and fellow Bruno scholar Dorothea Singer, introduced her to
In 1943, Yates was awarded the
Upon Britain's victory in the war, Yates was among a number of Warburg scholars who emphasised the need for pan-European historiography, so as to reject the nationalisms that had led to the World Wars; this approach, she believed, must be both international and interdisciplinary.[48] She described this new approach as "Warburgian history", defining this as the "history of culture as a whole – the history of thought, science, art, including the history of imagery and symbolism."[49] Connected to this, she believed that school education should focus on pan-European, rather than simply British history.[50]
The Warburg Institute published Yates' third book in 1947 as The French Academies of the Sixteenth Century. She described this as "an ambitious effort to apply the Warburgian modes of work, to use art, music philosophy, religion" to elucidate the subject.[51] The following year, she began to contemplate writing a book on Bruno,[52] and spent September 1951 in Italy, visiting places that had been associated with his life.[53] By 1948, both Yates' sisters had moved back to the family home in Claygate;[54] however, in March 1951 Hannah died of leukemia,[55] and Yates' mother died in October 1952.[56] Despite the problems in her personal life, she continued her scholarship, typically publishing two or three scholarly papers a year.[57] She also lectured on the subjects of her research at various different universities across Britain; during the 1950s she lectured on the subject of espérance impériale, which would later be collected and published as Astraea: The Imperial Theme in the Sixteenth Century (1975).[58]
In 1954, Gertrud Bing became Director of the Warburg, overseeing the move from South Kensington to a specially constructed building in Woburn Square, Bloomsbury. Bing was a close friend of Yates, and they often went on holidays together.[59] Yates' fourth book, published in 1959, was The Valois Tapestries, in which she discussed the eponymous tapestries in the Uffizi in Florence, Italy. She offered a novel interpretation of the tapestries, approaching them as if they were "a detective story" and arguing that they were meant as portraits of the French royal family.[60]
International acclaim: 1961–81
Yates' scholarly productivity increased in the 1960s and 1970s,[61] when she also became a regular book reviewer for The New York Review of Books.[62]
In 1961, Yates authored
In 1971, Yates was awarded an honorary doctorate from the
Yates was promoted in the
In 1974, an
It was during the early 1970s that she began writing an autobiography, inspired by
Scholarly writings
With the publication of Giordano Bruno and the Hermetic Tradition Yates highlighted the
The seminal studies of Michel Foucault and Frances Yates, even if not fully persuasive in every aspect, have made it impossible for historians ever again to ignore the role of various forms of magical thinking and practice in the Renaissance understanding of the natural world.[96]
Yates' biographer Marjorie Jones asserted that Giordano Bruno and the Hermetic Tradition "galvanized Renaissance historiography" by illustrating how mysticism and magic had played a role in Renaissance culture and the scientific revolution.[97] She further asserted that the book "brought [Yates] to the forefront of Renaissance studies."[98]
Reputation
Historian of religion Henrik Bogdan asserted that Yates' work was "instrumental in changing the attitude of historians of science and philosophy toward esotericism."[99]
Although some of her conclusions would later be challenged by other scholars,
Scholarly critiques
It is now said that Yates founded a
Hanegraaff argued that the reception of Yates' work was coloured by the
Yates' scholarship was often criticised for using what she termed her "powerful historical imagination"; she put forward scenarios that could not be proved using documentary evidence, something that many other historians saw as a flaw in her methodology.[106]
But she "dealt with traditions whose remoteness she could not eliminate, even while she made them more understandable."[107]
Influence on popular culture
John Crowley drew extensively on Yates for the occult motifs in Little, Big (1981) and the Ægypt Sequence (1987–2007) in which she briefly appears as a character.[citation needed]
Philip Pullman was influenced by Giordano Bruno and the Hermetic Tradition for the design of the alethiometer in the His Dark Materials series.[108]
Personal life
Yates' biographer Marjorie G. Jones described the historian as a "deeply emotional, even passionate" woman, who was "depressive, moody, [and] frequently unhappy",[109] as well as being fiercely determined and hard working.[110] Jones noted that Yates remained a product of Victorian thought and value systems throughout her life.[2] She was highly critical of nationalism, seeing it as the cause for the European wars of the early 20th century, and sought to find a solution to Europe's conflicts in history, particularly the 16th century.[111] However, when it came to party politics, she was largely apolitical.[112]
In 1942, she commented that "I am an Anglican who takes the historical view that the Nazi [i.e. Protestant] revolution of 1559, and all the miserable complications which ensued, deprived me of part of my natural and native inheritance as an English Catholic."[113]
Yates' journals only allude to one potential romantic attachment, to a man named Leonard, although there is no evidence that they had a relationship.[114] There is no evidence that she was ever sexually involved with another person, although her journals are filled with references to a personal struggle against temptation, which may refer to sexual thoughts.[115] For years, she was a chain smoker.[116]
In 2017, she featured in a conference, London's Women Historians, held at the Institute of Historical Research.[117]
Works
- John Florio: The Life of an Italian in Shakespeare's England (1934)
- A study of Love's labour's lost (1936)
- The French Academies of the Sixteenth Century (1947)
- The Valois Tapestries (1959)
- ISBN 9780226950075
- ISBN 9780226950013
- Theatre of the World (1969)
- The Rosicrucian Enlightenment (1972)
- Astraea : The Imperial Theme in the Sixteenth Century (1975)
- Shakespeare's Last Plays: A New Approach (1975)
- The Occult Philosophy in the Elizabethan Age (1979)
- Lull and Bruno (1982) Collected Essays I
- Renaissance and Reform : The Italian Contribution (1983) Collected Essays II
- Ideas and Ideals in the North European Renaissance (1984) Collected Essays III
See also
- Method of loci
- School of Night
- Women in the art history field
References
This article has an unclear citation style. (March 2023) |
Citations
- ^ a b Jones 2008, p. 22.
- ^ a b Jones 2008, p. 1.
- ^ Jones 2008, pp. 1, 3.
- ^ Jones 2008, pp. 2–3.
- ^ Jones 2008, p. 4.
- ^ Jones 2008, p. 2.
- ^ Jones 2008, p. 8.
- ^ Jones 2008, p. 6.
- ^ Jones 2008, pp. 7, 16.
- ^ Jones 2008, pp. 18–19.
- ^ a b Jones 2008, p. 19.
- ^ Jones 2008, pp. 20–21.
- ^ Jones 2008, p. 3.
- ^ Jones 2008, pp. 3, 13–14.
- ^ Jones 2008, p. 16.
- ^ Jones 2008, p. 23.
- ^ Jones 2008, pp. 32–33.
- ^ Jones 2008, pp. 16–18.
- ^ Jones 2008, pp. 24–26.
- ^ Jones 2008, p. 29.
- ^ Jones 2008, pp. 30–31.
- ^ a b c Jones 2008, p. 39.
- ^ Jones 2008, pp. 41–42.
- ^ Jones 2008, pp. 40, 43.
- ^ Jones 2008, pp. 43–51.
- ^ Yates' profile at arthistorians.info.
- ^ Jones 2008, p. 42.
- ^ Jones 2008, pp. 55–56.
- ^ Jones 2008, p. 60.
- ^ Jones 2008, pp. 61–62.
- ^ Jones 2008, p. 65.
- ^ a b Jones 2008, p. 55.
- ^ Jones 2008, pp. 62–65.
- ^ Jones 2008, p. 66.
- ^ Jones 2008, pp. 56–57.
- ^ Jones 2008, pp. 57–58, 66–73.
- ^ Jones 2008, pp. 58–60.
- ^ Jones 2008, p. 71.
- ^ Jones 2008, p. 75.
- ^ Jones 2008, pp. 76–77.
- ^ Jones 2008, pp. 77–78.
- ^ Jones 2008, pp. 88–89.
- ^ Jones 2008, p. 93.
- ^ Jones 2008, p. 78.
- ^ a b Jones 2008, p. 99.
- ^ Jones 2008, pp. 96–97.
- ^ Jones 2008, pp. 97–98.
- ^ Jones 2008, p. 96.
- ^ Jones 2008, pp. 102–103.
- ^ Jones 2008, pp. 99–100.
- ^ Jones 2008, pp. 100–101.
- ^ Jones 2008, pp. 112–113.
- ^ Jones 2008, p. 114.
- ^ Jones 2008, p. 109.
- ^ Jones 2008, p. 108.
- ^ Jones 2008, pp. 111, 114.
- ^ Jones 2008, p. 112.
- ^ Jones 2008, p. 113.
- ^ Jones 2008, pp. 104, 108.
- ^ Jones 2008, pp. 116, 117.
- ^ a b Jones 2008, p. 132.
- ^ Jones 2008, p. 139.
- ^ Jones 2008, p. 120.
- ^ Jones 2008, p. 127.
- ^ Jones 2008, pp. 134–136.
- ^ Jones 2008, pp. 136–138.
- ^ "YATES, Dame Frances (Amelia)". Who Was Who. Oxford University Press. April 2014. Retrieved 20 April 2017.
- ^ Jones 2008, p. 136, 141.
- ^ Jones 2008, pp. 146, 148.
- ^ Jones 2008, pp. 107, 144.
- ^ "No. 45554". The London Gazette (1st supplement). 31 December 1971. p. 12.
- ^ Jones 2008, p. 143.
- ^ Jones 2008, p. 165.
- ^ Jones 2008, pp. 169–176, 178.
- ^ "Book of Members, 1780–2010: Chapter Y" (PDF). American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Retrieved 29 July 2014.
- ^ Jones 2008, p. 154.
- ^ Jones 2008, p. 181.
- ^ "No. 47234". The London Gazette (1st supplement). 10 June 1977. p. 7079.
- ^ Jones 2008, p. 186.
- ^ a b Jones 2008, p. 198.
- ^ Jones 2008, p. 193.
- ^ Jones 2008, p. 146.
- ^ Jones 2008, p. 145.
- ^ Jones 2008, pp. 181, 187–89.
- ^ Jones 2008, pp. xxiii, 177.
- ^ Jones 2008, pp. 190–191.
- ^ Jones 2008, p. 191.
- ^ "Frances Amelia Yates (1899 - 1981)". Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences. Archived from the original on 22 August 2020.
- ^ Jones 2008, p. 210.
- ^ Jones 2008, pp. 201–202.
- ^ Jones 2008, p. 217.
- ^ Jones 2008, p. 218.
- ^ Jones 2008, p. 219.
- ^ Keith Thomas, Religion and the Decline of Magic (1971), note p. 268.
- ^ John Michael Krois, Ars Memoriae, Philosophy and Culture: Frances Yates and After, in Glenn Alexander Magee (editor), Philosophy and Culture: Essays in Honor of Donald Phillip Verene (2002); (PDF at the Wayback Machine (archive index)
- ^ Anthony Grafton and Nancy Siraisi (editors), Introduction p. 3, Natural Particulars (1999).
- ^ Jones 2008, p. xvii.
- ^ Jones 2008, p. xviii.
- ^ Bogdan 2007, p. 8.
- Huguenot, cause."
- ^ E.g. described as such on http://nccsc.net/2007/2/15/reviving-iconography, http://www.marlowe-society.org/marlowe/life/freethinkers1.html Archived 16 December 2011 at the Wayback Machine.
- ^ Paolo Rossi, Logic and the Art of Memory (2000 translation), pp. xxii–xxiii.
- ^ Henrik Bogdan, Western Esotericism and Rituals of Initiation (2007), pp. 9–10.
- ^ Wouter Hanegraaff, The Study of Western Esotericism, pp. 507–08, in Peter Antes, Armin W. Geertz, Randi Ruth Warne, New Approaches to the Study of Religion: Regional, Critical, and Historical Approaches (2004).
- ^ Brian Vickers, Occult and Scientific Mentalities in the Renaissance (1984), pp. 5–6.
- ^ Jones 2008, p. 68.
- ^ John Michael Krois, Ars Memoriae, Philosophy and Culture: Frances Yates and After, in Glenn Alexander Magee (editor), Philosophy and Culture: Essays in Honor of Donald Phillip Verene (2002); (PDF at the Wayback Machine (archive index)
- ^ "Philip Pullman: Books that changed my life - Reader's Digest".
- ^ Jones 2008, p. xx.
- ^ Jones 2008, p. 107.
- ^ Jones 2008, pp. xviii, 52–53.
- ^ Jones 2008, p. 97.
- ^ Jones 2008, p. 92.
- ^ Jones 2008, p. 85.
- ^ Jones 2008, pp. 86, 88.
- ^ Jones 2008, p. 105.
- ^ London's Women Historians. Laura Carter & Alana Harris, Institute of Historical Research, 2017. Retrieved 28 September 2019.
Works cited
- Bogdan, Henrik (2007). Western Esotericism and Rituals of Initiation. New York: SUNY Press. ISBN 978-0791470701.
- Jones, Marjorie G. (2008). Frances Yates and the Hermetic Tradition. Lake Worth, Florida: Ibis Press. ISBN 978-0-89254-133-1.
Further reading
This article includes a list of general references, but it lacks sufficient corresponding inline citations. (March 2023) |
- Gatti, Hilary (2002). "Frances Yates's Hermetic Renaissance in the Documents held in the Warburg Institute Archive". Aries, Journal of the Study of Western Esotericism. 2 (2).
- Jacob, Margaret; Gosselin, Edward (September 1982). "Eloge: Dame Frances Amelia Yates, 28 November 1899 – 29 September 1981". Isis. 73 (3): 424–426. S2CID 144800526.
- Trapp, J. B. (2003). Frances Amelia Yates 1899–1981. Proceedings of the British Academy. Vol. 119, Biographical Memoirs of Fellows.
- Trevor Roper, H. R. (18 January 1973). "Frances Yates, Historian". The Listener. 89 (2286).