William Nicolson
William Nicolson (1655–1727) was an English churchman, linguist and antiquarian. As a bishop he played a significant part in the House of Lords during the reign of Queen Anne, and left a diary that is an important source for the politics of his times. He was a versatile scholar, involved in numerous collaborations and contributing uncredited in the work of others.
Early life
He was born in
Journey to Germany
Nicolson visited the
Of the scholars he met in Leipzig, Nicolson was impressed by Johann Benedict Carpzov II, and Jakob Thomasius. He also admired Johann Adam Schertzer.[3] He studied there until February 1679, when he turned for home.[4] In his English Historical Library, he recommended a number of German authors: Melchior Goldast and Heinrich Lindenbrog on laws, Justus Georg Schottelius on early German as language.[5]
Priest and churchman
Nicolson was ordained as a deacon in 1679 and made Vicar of
Francis Atterbury, high church and High Tory, courted controversy in 1696 with an anonymous pamphlet suggesting Convocation should meet in parallel with Parliament.[6] Nicolson was one of a group of churchmen opposing Atterbury's views, including Edmund Gibson, White Kennett and William Wake.[7] Atterbury made offensive remarks about Nicolson in print.[1]
Bishop and chapter at Carlisle
In 1702 Nicolson, a Tory moderate, was appointed bishop of Carlisle.[1] He had cultivated the support of local Tories: Sir Christopher Musgrave, 4th Baronet, Thomas Tufton, 6th Earl of Thanet who was heir to the Cumbrian Clifford estates, Colonel James Grahme the brother of Richard Graham, 1st Viscount Preston.[8] His Miscellany Accounts of his diocese, compiled in 1707–4, were published in 1877 by Richard Saul Ferguson. They were from his own observations, or from trusted witnesses.[9][10] He found in 1703 the neglected Holmcultram Abbey full of water.[11] Charles Murray Lowther Bouch used Nicolson's records to conclude that 70% of the churches in the diocese were then in tolerable condition, with 10% very bad.[12]
Atterbury was appointed
Later life
In 1713 White Kennett addressed to Nicolson a pamphlet on Thomas Merke, bishop of Carlisle in the time of Richard II. It dealt with The Hereditary Right of the Crown of England Asserted, an anonymous Jacobite pamphlet by George Harbin.[15][16] Nicolson had been moving in the Whig direction in politics for some years, paying off debt to the Musgrave family, associating with London Whigs and in 1709 dining with the Earl of Carlisle at Naworth Castle, and supporting the Whig side in the 1710 British general election.[17]
During the
Nicolson served as Lord High Almoner to George I of Great Britain from 1716 to 1718. He was translated to Derry in 1718. There he was in an uncomfortable position in relation to the Archbishop of Dublin, William King: the "English party"—clerics not of Irish birth, assumed Hanoverian supporters and loyal to Dublin Castle—were out of favour with the Anglo-Irish clergy. Nicolson made a friend of Henry Downes, and got onto good terms with the politician William Conolly. In the Irish House of Lords he found an ally in John Evans. But his health was failing, and when Archbishop Thomas Lindsay of Armagh died, he made clear to William Wake, now of Canterbury, that he had no interest in succeeding him.[19][20][21]
In 1727 Nicolson was nominated
Scholar
Nicholson himself referred to his interest in "septentrional learning".[23] According to Burke, he was known as the "Star of the North".[24]
Early work
John Fell appointed Nicolson editor of the manuscript "Northern Dictionary" of Francis Junius, who was an Oxford resident from 1676 to autumn 1677.[1][25] He made a transcription, with additions, of Junius's collection of old German materials.[26] Nicolson after his return to Oxford held a lectureship at Queen's in Anglo-Saxon set up by Williamson, and gained a reputation in the area.[27]
While he was in Germany, Johann Adam Schertzer asked Nicolson to translate an essay by Robert Hooke. It was published in 1679 as Conamen ad motum Telluris probandum.[1][28]
Runes and Northumbria
In his period as parish priest, Nicolson took an interest in
In 1691 Nicolson wrote in a letter to Thoresby of his strong interest in the recovery of the history of the
Nicolson did carry out extended field-work trips in the summer months, through the 1690s, as a naturalist as well as an antiquarian. His beat spread out over northern England.[37]
Historian
In 1694 Nicolson expressed in a letter to Ralph Thoresby a strong interest in the model of the Uppsala antiquarian group (Academy of Antiquities) founded in 1667 by Magnus Gabriel De la Gardie.[38][39] He complained also that "our histories hitherto have been most lazily written". The year before he had blamed too individualist an approach.[40] His own major works were of critical bibliography: the Historical Library, beginning with the English Historical Library in volumes of 1696, 1697 and 1699 for the first edition. It was followed by the Scottish Historical Library, 1702; and the Irish Historical Library, 1724. There were complete later editions, in 1732 and 1776.[22] Nicolson, even if he kept in touch with Edward Lhuyd and had an interest in the links between Cumbria and North Wales,[37] did not divide Wales off from England in the Library.
There was also the Leges Marchiarum or Border Laws (1705, new ed., 1747).[22] This work was topical in the run-up to the Acts of Union 1707. Nicolson disagreed with William Atwood, on the relative standing of England and Scotland.[41] The 1704 book The Superiority and Direct Dominion of the Imperial Crown of England over the Crown and Kingdom of Scotland by Atwood was attacked in Leges Marchiarum. A technical point at issue was the "Homage" of Malcolm IV of Scotland, which according to Nicolson related only to English counties held by the Scottish Crown.[42]
Preservation of records
Nicolson showed zeal in collecting and guarding
Soon after Nicolson came into the
To preserve records, Nicolson had special rooms built at Derry.[22]
"Every New Philosopher"
Nicholson was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in November 1705.[48] In conversation in January 1706, he asked John Vaughan, 3rd Earl of Carbery, another Fellow, for information on John Beaumont FRS, who had dedicated a book on spirits to Carbery. A "discourse" on current innovations in natural philosophy followed, in which Carbery observed that since Descartes, "Every New Philosopher thought himself wise enough to make a World". They referenced in particular Thomas Burnet and John Woodward.[49]
From the 1690s Nicolson had both a practical and theoretical interest in geology, as a follower corresponding with Edward Lhuyd at the
Lhuyd and William Whiston became involved in a geological controversy with Woodward, regarded as a "great fray between the Virtuosi".[53] The ramifying quarrel drew in John Harris, a cleric whom Nicolson met and liked after a Gresham College dinner held by Woodward in January 1705.[54] He was defending Woodward vigorously against Tancred Robinson and John Ray. Nicolson felt he should intervene and mediate.[55] In the end he couldn't see his way through "Dr. Burnet's roasted egg", "Dr. Woodward's hasty pudding", and "Mr. Whiston's snuff of a Comet".[53]
Family
In 1701, Nicolson married Elizabeth Archer, daughter of John Archer of Oxenholme, Westmoreland. They had eight children.[1]
References
- ^ doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/20186. (Subscription or UK public library membershiprequired.)
- ^ James, Francis Godwin (1956). North Country Bishop: A Biography of William Nicolson. Yale University Press. p. 8.
- ^ JSTOR 30165936
- ISBN 978-1-107-07368-5.
- JSTOR 30165936
- ^ doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/871. (Subscription or UK public library membershiprequired.)
- ISBN 978-0-19-822404-4.
- ^ James, Francis Godwin (1956). North Country Bishop: A Biography of William Nicolson. Yale University Press. p. 90.
- ISBN 978-0-85444-074-0.
- ^ Lee, Sidney, ed. (1901). . Dictionary of National Biography (1st supplement). Vol. 2. London: Smith, Elder & Co.
- ISBN 978-0-85444-074-0.
- ISBN 978-0-85444-074-0.
- ISBN 978-1-317-86854-5.
- ^ James, Francis Godwin (1956). North Country Bishop: A Biography of William Nicolson. Yale University Press. pp. 168–9.
- ^ Kennett, White (1713). A letter to the Lord Bishop of Carlisle [i.e. William Nicolson], concerning one of his predecessors Bishop Merks; on occasion of a new volume for the Pretender, intituled, The hereditary right of the Crown of England asserted [by George Harbin]. The third edition. [Signed: W. K., i.e. White Kennet.]. Sam. Buckley.
- ^ Stephen, Leslie; Lee, Sidney, eds. (1890). . Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 24. London: Smith, Elder & Co.
- ^ James, Francis Godwin (1956). North Country Bishop: A Biography of William Nicolson. Yale University Press. pp. 200–2.
- ^ James, Francis Godwin (1956). North Country Bishop: A Biography of William Nicolson. Yale University Press. pp. 218–9.
- ^ Diary, p. 61
- ISBN 978-1-84383-584-4.
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- ^ a b c d e Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 19 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 664.
- ISBN 978-1-5017-2764-1.
- ^ Burke, John (1836). A Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Commoners of Great Britain and Ireland Enjoying Territorial Possessions Or High Official Rank, But Uninvested with Heritable Honours. Henry Colburn. p. 396.
- ISBN 978-90-474-1248-9.
- ISBN 978-1-139-47105-3.
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- ^ "Conamen ad motum Telluris probandum ex observationibus astronomi celeberrimi Roberti Hooke Regiæ Societatis, apud Londinenses, Socii Quod è sermone Anglicano in Latinum transtulit Guilhelmus Nicolson, Collegi Reginalis, apud Oxonienses, Art. Bacc". quod.lib.umich.edu.
- ISBN 978-0-85115-599-9.
- ^ Martyn (Londres), John; Allestry (Londres), James; Oldenburg, Henry (1686). Philosophical Transactions, Giving Some Accompt of the Present Undertakings, Studies and Labors of the Ingenious in Many Considerable Parts of the World. 1287: T. N.
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: CS1 maint: location (link) - JSTOR 531088
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- ^ James, Francis Godwin (1956). North Country Bishop: A Biography of William Nicolson. Yale University Press. p. 76.
- ISBN 978-0-85115-599-9.
- ISBN 978-0-7509-9105-6.
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- ^ JSTOR 1790782
- ^ David C. Douglas, English Scholars (1939), p. 131.
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- ISBN 978-0-521-02988-9.
- ISBN 978-0-19-822404-4.
- ^ a b Diary, p. 40.
- ^ Diary p. 549, note 251
- doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/61544. (Subscription or UK public library membershiprequired.)
- ^ Knight, Charles (1843). London. Charles Knight & Company. p. 290.
- ^ Diary, p. 41
- ^ "Library and Archive Catalogue". The Royal Society. Retrieved 3 October 2010.
- ^ Diary, p. 352
- ^ James, Francis Godwin (1956). North Country Bishop: A Biography of William Nicolson. Yale University Press. p. 69.
- ^ Diary, p. 159
- ^ Diary, p. 319
- ^ ISBN 978-0-8014-9935-7.
- ^ Diary, pp. 268-9
- ISBN 978-0-8014-9935-7.