John Selden
This article includes a improve this article by introducing more precise citations. (December 2022) ) |
John Selden | |
---|---|
scripture, argued that civil law arises from contract |
John Selden (16 December 1584 – 30 November 1654) was an English jurist, a scholar of England's ancient laws and constitution[1] and scholar of Jewish law.[2] He was known as a polymath; John Milton hailed Selden in 1644 as "the chief of learned men reputed in this land".[3][4]
Early life
He was born at
His father, also named John Selden, had a small farm. It is said that his skill as a violin-player was what attracted his wife, Margaret, who was from a better family, being the only child of Thomas Baker of
Legal scholar into politics
In 1618, his History of Tithes appeared. Although it had passed censorship and licensing, this dissertation on the historical basis of the tithe system caused anxiety among the bishops and provoked the intervention of the king, James I. The author was summoned before the Privy Council and was compelled to retract his opinions.[7] Also, his work was suppressed, and he was forbidden to reply to anyone who might come forward to answer it.
This all seems to have caused Selden's entry into politics. Although he was not in the
Parliamentarian
Marshalsea |
---|
In 1623 he was returned to the House of Commons for the borough of Lancaster, and sat with John Coke, William Noy and John Pym on Sergeant Glanville's election committee. He was also nominated reader of Lyon's Inn, an office he declined to undertake. For this the benchers of the Inner Temple fined him £20 and disqualified him from being one of their number. Nevertheless, after a few years, he became a master of the bench. In the first parliament of Charles I (1625), it appears from the "returns of members" printed in 1878 that contrary to the assertion of all his biographers, he had no seat. In Charles's second parliament (1626), he was elected for Great Bedwyn in Wiltshire, and took a prominent part in the impeachment of George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham. In the following year, in Darnell's Case (the Five Knights' Case), he was counsel for Sir Edmund Hampden in the Court of King's Bench.
In 1628 he was returned to the third parliament of Charles for
He was not elected to the
In 1643, he participated in the discussions of the
In October 1643, Selden was appointed by Commons to take control of the office of Clerk and Keeper of the Records in the Tower, which duty passed to the Master of the Rolls in 1651.
Last years
After the death of the
Works
It was as a prolific scholar and writer that Selden won his reputation. The early books were on English history.
English history and antiquities
In 1610 three of his works came out: Jani Anglorum Facies Altera (The Back Face [or Two Faces] of the English Janus) and England's Epinomis,[13] which dealt with the progress of English law down to Henry II; and The Duello, or Single Combat, in which he traced the history of trial by battle in England from the Norman Conquest. In 1613 he supplied a series of notes, including quotations and references, to the first eighteen cantos of Michael Drayton's Poly-Olbion. In 1614 he published Titles of Honor, which, in spite of defects and omissions, remained a comprehensive work for centuries. It was republished in a larger and greatly revised edition in 1631 and earned for Selden the praise "monarch of letters" from his friend Ben Jonson.[14]
In 1615, the Analecton Anglobritannicon, an account of the civil administration of England before the Norman Conquest, written in 1607, was published; its title and argument imitated the Franco-Gallia of François Hotman.[15] In 1616 appeared notes on John Fortescue's De laudibus legum Angliae and Ralph de Hengham's Summae magna et parva.[16]
In 1618 his controversial History of Tithes was published. A first sign of the coming storm was the 1619 book controverting Selden, Sacrilege Sacredly Handled in two parts; with an Appendix, answering some objections by James Sempill.[17] Selden hit back, but was soon gagged. The churchmen Richard Tillesley (1582–1621) (Animadversions upon M. Seldens History of Tithes, 1619) and Richard Montagu (Diatribae upon the first part of the late History of Tithes, 1621) attacked the work.[18] There were further replies by William Sclater (The Quaestion of Tythes Revised, 1623), and by Stephen Nettles (Answer to the Jewish Part of Mr. Selden's History of Tithes 1625). In it Selden tried to demonstrate that tithing depended on the civil law, rather than canon law. He also made much of the complexities of the ancient Jewish customs on tithes.[19] The work was also a milestone in the history of English historical writing through its mixture of antiquarian-philological scholarship with historical narrative, two approaches to the study of the past previously seen as distinct.
In 1623 he produced an edition of Eadmer's Historia Novarum. It was notable for including in appendices information from the Domesday Book, which at the time had not been published and could only be consulted in the original at Westminster, on the payment of a fee.[20]
He published in 1642 Privileges of the Baronage of England when they sit in Parliament and Discourse concerning the Rights and Privileges of the Subject. In 1652 he wrote a preface and collated some of the manuscripts for Sir Roger Twysden's Historiae Anglicanae scriptores X.
Literature and archaeology of the Near East
In 1617, his De dis Syris was issued, and immediately established his fame as an orientalist. It is remarkable for its early use of the comparative method, on
In 1628, at the suggestion of Sir Robert Cotton, Selden compiled, with the assistance of two other scholars, Patrick Young and Richard James, a catalogue of the Arundel marbles.
Studies on Judaism
He employed his leisure at Wrest in writing De successionibus in bona defuncti secundum leges Ebraeorum and De successione in pontificatum Ebraeorum, published in 1631.
During the progress of the constitutional conflict, he was absorbed in research, publishing De jure naturali et gentium juxta disciplinam Ebraeorum in 1640. It was a contribution to the theorising of the period on natural law. In the words of John Milton, this "volume of naturall & national laws proves, not only by great authorities brought together, but by exquisite reasons and theorems almost mathematically demonstrative, that all opinions, yea errors, known, read, and collated, are of main service & assistance toward the speedy attainment of what is truest."[4][22] It develops into a theory of international law, taking as its basis the Seven Laws of Noah.[23]
In 1644, he published Dissertatio de anno civili et calendario reipublicae Judaicae, in 1646 his treatise on marriage and divorce among the Jews entitled Uxor Ebraica, and in 1647 the earliest printed edition of the old English law-book Fleta. In 1650 Selden began to print the trilogy he planned on the Sanhedrin, as the first part of De synedriis et prefecturis juridicis veterum Ebraeorum through the press, the second and third parts being severally published in 1653 and 1655. The aim of this work was to counter the use by the Presbyterians, in particular, of arguments and precedents drawn from Jewish tradition; it was a very detailed study aimed at refuting such arguments, and pointing out the inherent flexibility of the tradition that was being cited.[24]
International law
His
The circumstances of its delayed publication, in 1635, suggest that during the early 1630s Selden inclined towards the court rather than the popular party and even secured the personal favour of the king,
His last publication was a vindication of himself from certain charges advanced against him and his Mare clausum around 1653 by
Posthumous publications
Several of Selden's minor works were printed for the first time after his death, including a tract in defence of the 25 December birth of Christ written during the Puritan Commonwealth (1649–1660) when celebration of Christmas was prohibited.
Views
Selden arrived at an
He was sceptical of the legend of
Commemoration
Selden is commemorated in the name of the Selden Society, a learned society concerned with the study of English legal history, founded in 1887.
He is also commemorated in place-names in Salvington, including "The John Selden Inn", which purports to be on the site of his dwelling; Selden Road; and the Selden medical centre. Also The Selden Arms on Lyndhurst Road in Worthing.
Influence
According to the Encyclopedia of Historians and Historical Writing, he "played a role of fundamental importance in the transition of English historical writing from a medieval antiquarianism to a more modern understanding of the scope and function of history than had ever before been expressed in Renaissance England".[29] His reputation lasted well, with Mark Pattison calling him "the most learned man, not only of his party, but of Englishmen".[30]
By about 1640, Selden's views (with those of Grotius) had a large impact on the
Library collections
By the time of his death in 1654, Selden had accumulated a library of several thousand manuscripts and printed books. Selden's will left his intentions for this library somewhat ambiguous, although the will and codicil seem to suggest that he intended to bequeath most of his Oriental manuscripts, Greek manuscripts, a Latin manuscript, and his printed Talmudic and Rabbinical books to the Bodleian Library, Oxford.[39] There is some evidence to suggest that Selden intended to leave his printed books and historical manuscripts to the Inner Temple but that this transaction did not occur because the Temple did not possess a large enough library.[40] By 1656, two years after Selden's death, his executors (Edward Heyward, John Vaughan, Matthew Hale, and Rowland Jewks) were in negotiation with the Bodleian library to transfer Selden's entire collection.[41] In 1659, the executors stipulated that Selden's manuscripts "bee forever heerafter kepte together in one distincte pile and body under the name of Mr. Selden’s Library." The Bodleian agreed, and the library received Selden's collection in June 1659.[42]
Selden's collection was the largest received by the Bodleian in the seventeenth century, comprising around 8,000 items.[43] Even this massive collection did not represent the extent of Selden's library. Duplicates, meaning books the library already owned, were given to Gloucester Cathedral library.[41] A rumor also circulated in the decades after Selden's death that part of his library had remained in London and was destroyed by a fire. The 1704 edition of Edward Chamberlayne's The Present State of England claimed that a fire at the Inner Temple destroyed "8 Chests full" of Selden's manuscripts.[44] Still, the collection the Bodleian received was large enough that it required several years and multiple librarians to fully catalogue.[45] Since then, the original collection has been enhanced by further acquisitions, most notably by a group of forty Selden manuscripts purchased by the Bodleian from James Fairhurst in 1947.[46][43] The Selden collection at the Bodleian houses more than 400 manuscript volumes taking up more than 40 meters (approx. 130 feet) of shelf space.[47][48] The linguistic range of these manuscripts reflects Selden's interest in eastern and other languages. The languages represented include
- Russian
- An incomplete Russian-English vocabulary (MS. Selden Supra 61)
- Samples of Russian calligraphy (MS. Arch. Selden A. 72 (5))
- Greek
- Astronomical and musical treatises (MS. Arch. Selden B. 17)
- Several Greek versions of the New Testament Gospels (MS. Selden Supra 2, 3, 6, 28–9)
- Arabic
- Hebrew
- New World languages
- A treatise on Mexican hieroglyphics (MS. Arch. Selden A. 2)
Many manuscripts relate to Selden's study of the law both in England and internationally. These include
- A fragment on Islamic law (MS. Selden Superius 42)
- Canon law (MS. Arch. Selden A. 63)
- An account of the laws of Ivan the Terrible (MS. Selden Supra. 59)
- Various legal topics, such as maritime law and a Latin treatise on procedure in Civil Courts (MS. Arch. Selden B. 27)
Some manuscripts touch on contemporary events. For instance MS. Arch. Selden B. 8 includes a Latin speech given in Oxford on the return of Prince Charles from Spain in 1623. Still others contain classical works of philosophy and literature, such as
Beyond manuscripts, the Selden collection contains several notable printed works. Among them is the first book ever printed in Japan using moveable type, Sanctos no gosagueo no uchi nuqigaqi (Arch.b.f.69).[43] The printed books included in the Selden collection contain many that are significant in part because they originated in the libraries of other famous figures, including Sir Robert Cotton, John Donne, and John Dee.[43] According to Geoffrey Keynes, several of the books Selden received from John Donne's library include inscriptions from both men. One such book is Theodorus Beza's Tractatio de polygamia, which includes Donne's signature and motto ("Per Rachel ho servitor, & non per Lea"), as well as Selden's motto ("περί παντός τήν έλευθερίαν", "Freedom above all things").[49][50]
Notes
- ^ Pocock, John (1957), The Ancient Constitution and the Feudal Law, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
- ^ Herzog, Isaac (1931), "John Selden and Jewish Law", Journal of Comparative Legislation and International Law, 3, 13 (4): 236–45.
- ^ Milton, John (1644). Areopagitica, A Speech of Mr. John Milton for the Liberty of Unlicenc'd Printing to the Parliament of England (1 ed.). London. p. 11. Retrieved 6 January 2017 – via Google Books.
- ^ a b "Milton's Areopagitica". Archived from the original on 24 January 2021. Retrieved 20 December 2007.
- ^ Elleray 1977, §168.
- ISBN 978-1-107-01134-2.
- ^ Berkowitz, p. 36.
- ^ Glen Burgess, The Politics of the Ancient Constitution (1992), p. 95.
- ^ Francis J. Bremer, Tom Webster. Puritans and Puritanism in Europe and America: A Comprehensive Encyclopedia (2006), p. 105.
- ^ Sommerville, Johann. "The English Revolution, 1647–1649". University of Wisconsin. Archived from the original on 27 September 2011. Retrieved 8 June 2016.
- ^ Thomas, Francis Sheppard (1843). Notes of Materials for the History of Public Departments. W. Clowes & Sons.
- ^ Robert Batchelor, London: The Selden Map and the Making of a Global City, 1549–1689 (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2014), 128–151
- ^ The Epinomis (Greek Ἐπινομίς) is the name of one of Plato's dialogues, which was an appendix to his Laws (Greek Νόμοι, Nomoi). Thus, the title England's Epinomis indicates that the work is an appendix to Selden's Jani Anglorum Facies Altera.
- ^ James Loxley, The Complete Critical Guide to Ben Jonson (2002), p. 100.
- ^ Colin Kidd, British Identities Before Nationalism: Ethnicity and Nationhood in the Atlantic World, 1600–1800 (1999), p. 85.
- ^ Michael Lapidge, Malcolm R. Godden, Simon Keynes, Anglo-Saxon England (2000), p. 250.
- ^ "The Scottish Nation, Semple". electricscotland.com. Retrieved 8 June 2016.
- ^ Charles John Sommerville, The Secularization of Early Modern England: From Religious Culture to Religious Faith (1992), p. 100.
- ^ Adam Sutcliffe, Judaism and Enlightenment (2005), p. 47.
- ^ David C. Douglas, English Scholars (1939), p. 171.
- ^ David Armitage, British Political Thought in History, Literature and Theory, 1500–1800 (2006), p. 57.
- ^ Milton, John (1644). Areopagitica, A Speech of Mr. John Milton for the Liberty of Unlicenc'd Printing to the Parliament of England (1 ed.). London. p. 11. Retrieved 6 January 2017. via Google Books
- ^ Mark W. Janis, Religion and International Law (1999), pp. 68–9.
- ^ Johann Somerville, Hobbes, Selden, Erastianism and the history of the Jews, pp. 168–9, in Graham Alan John Rogers, Tom Sorell, Hobbes and History (2000).
- ^ Theanthropos: God Made Man, a Tract Proving the Nativity of our Saviour to be on the 25 December
- ^ Steven Matthews, Theology and Science in the Thought of Francis Bacon, pp. 125–8.
- ^ Rodney Castleden, King Arthur: The Truth Behind the Legend (2003), p. 49.
- ^ Haycock, David Boyd (2013). "Chapter 7: 'Much Greater, Than Commonly Imagined.'". The Newton Project, University of Sussex. Archived from the original on 26 February 2009. Retrieved 8 June 2016.
- ^ Kelly Boyd, Encyclopedia of Historians and Historical Writing (1999), p. 1082.
- ^ Pattison, Mark (1879). English Men of Letters, Ch. 8.
- ^ Richard Tuck, Philosophy and Government 1572–1651 (1993), pp. 272–4.
- ^ A. P. Martinich, The Two Gods of Leviathan: Thomas Hobbes on Religion and Politics (2003), p. 381.
- ^ Jon Parkin, Science, Religion and Politics in Restoration England: Richard Cumberland's De Legibus Naturae (1999), pp. 61–4.
- ^ Richard Tuck, Natural Rights Theories: Their Origin and Development (1981), p. 162.
- ^ Jon Parkin, Science, Religion and Politics in Restoration England: Richard Cumberland's De Legibus Naturae (1999), pp. 26–8.
- ^ Thomas Goddard Bergin and Max Harold Fisch (translators), The New Science of Giambattista Vico (1970 edition), section 493 at p. 123; translation revised by replacing "law" with a faithful rendering of "diritto" as "right".
- ^ Thomas Goddard Bergin and Max Harold Fisch (translators), The Autobiography of Giambattista Vico (1975 edition), p. 172.
- ^ Isaiah Berlin, Against the Current (1997 edition), p. 118.
- ^ Barratt, D. M. (1950–1951). "The Library of John Selden and its later history". The Bodleian Library Record. 3: 129.
- ^ Barratt, D. M. (1950–51). "The Library of John Selden and its later history". The Bodleian Library Record. 3: 130–31.
- ^ a b Barratt, D. M. (1950–51). "The Library of John Selden and its later history". The Bodleian Library Record. 3: 131.
- ^ Barratt, D. M. (1950–51). "The Library of John Selden and its later history". The Bodleian Library Record. 3: 132.
- ^ a b c d The Bodleian Library. "Rare Books Named Collection Descriptions". Weston Library.
- ^ Chamberlayne, Edward (1704). Angliae Notitia: Or The Present State of England (21 ed.). London. p. 465.
- ^ Barratt, D. M. (1950–51). "The Library of John Selden and its later history". The Bodleian Library Record. 3: 133.
- ^ Barratt, D. M. (1950–51). "The Library of John Selden and its later history". The Bodleian Library Record. 3: 128.
- ^ Bodleian Archives & Manuscripts. "Manuscripts of John Selden".
- ^ All information about Selden's manuscripts taken from the Bodleian Library's Summary Catalogues: Madan, Falconer and H. H. E. Craster. 1922. A Summary Catalogue of Western Manuscripts in the Bodleian Library at Oxford. Vol. 2. Oxford University Press. Also Clapinson, Mary and T. D. Rogers, Summary Catalogue of Post-Medieval Western Manuscripts in the Bodleian Library Oxford. Vol. 2. Oxford: 1991.
- ^ Keynes, Geoffrey (1958). A Bibliography of John Donne. Cambridge University Press. p. 210.
- ^ Bodleian Library (24 June 2010). "'Freedom above all things': A display of John Selden's books at the Bodleian Library".
References
- Anthony à Wood, Athenae Oxonienses, ed. Bliss (London; 1817, 4 vols.)
- John Aikin, Lives of John Selden and Archbishop Usher (London, 1812)
- Robert Batchelor, London: The Selden Map and the Making of a Global City, 1549–1689 (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2014) ISBN 9780226080659
- David Sandler Berkowitz, John Selden's Formative Years: Politics and Society in Early Seventeenth-Century England (London, 1988)
- Sergio Caruso, La miglior legge del regno. Consuetudine, diritto naturale e contratto nel pensiero e nell’epoca di John Selden (1584–1654), Giuffrè: Milano 2001, two vols.
- Paul Christianson, "Selden, John (1584–1654)." Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. (Oxford University Press, 2004)
- Elleray, D. Robert (1977). Worthing: a Pictorial History. Chichester: Phillimore & Co. ISBN 0-85033-263-X.
- Gabor Hamza, Comparative law and Antiquity (Budapest, 1991)
- George William Johnson, Memoirs of John Selden, etc. (London, 1835)
- Jason P. Rosenblatt, Renaissance England's Chief Rabbi: John Selden, Oxford University Press, 2006
- S. W. Singer(preface and notes), The Table-Talk of John Selden. (London, 1856)
- G. J. Toomer, John Selden: A Life in Scholarship (Oxford, OUP, 2009) (Oxford-Warburg Studies).
- Archdeacon David Wilkins (editor), Johannis Seldeni Opera Omnia, etc. (London, 1725)
- Daniel Woolf, "The Idea of History in Early Stuart England" (Toronto, 1990)
- John Milton, Areopagitica. (London, 1644)
- Attribution
- public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Selden, John". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. This article incorporates text from a publication now in the
Further reading
- Daniel Woolf (1990), The Idea of History in Early Stuart England
- Paul Christianson (1996), Discourse in History, Law and Governance in the Public Career of John Selden, 1610–1635
- Reid Barbour (2003), John Selden: Measures of the Holy Commonwealth in Seventeenth-century England
- Ofir Haivry (2017), John Selden and the Western Political Tradition (Cambridge University Press)
External links
- Manson, Edward (1913). "JOHN SELDEN". In Macdonell, John; Manson, Edward William Donoghue (eds.). Great Jurists of the World. London: John Murray. pp. 185–194. Retrieved 12 March 2019 – via Internet Archive.
- "Selden, John", A Short Biographical Dictionary of English Literature, 1910 – via Wikisource
- Works by or about John Selden at Internet Archive
- The Correspondence of John Selden in EMLO