Hartlib Circle
Encyclopedia
The Hartlib Circle refers primarily to the correspondence network set up in Western and Central Europe by Samuel Hartlib
, an intelligencer
based in London, and his associates, in the period 1630 to 1660.
that had more of a public face, was the "Office of Address" — he envisaged an office in every town where somebody might go to find things out. While this might be compatible with Baconian ideas, the immediate inspiration was Théophraste Renaudot
and his Paris bureau d'adresse. For example, at a practical level, Hartlib thought people could advertise job vacancies there — and prospective employees would be able to find work. At a more studious level, Hartlib wanted academics to pool their knowledge so that the Office could act as a living and growing form of encyclopedia, in which people could keep adding new information. The Office of address idea was promoted by Considerations tending to the happy Accomplishment of Englands Reformation in Church and State (1647), written by Hartlib and John Dury
, a pamphlet also including an ambitious tiered system of educational reform.
ideas; Hartlib himself had an interest in sigils
and astrology
. Boyle too attempted to straddle the opening divide between experimental chemistry and alchemy, by treating the latter in a less esoteric way; he did distance himself to an extent from the Hartlib group on moving to Oxford around 1655. Both Boyle and William Petty became more attached to a third or fourth loose association, the Oxford group around John Wilkins
, at this period; Wilkins was to be the founding Secretary of the Royal Society.
, an important broker of the royal charter for the eventual Society. He was, however, not promoting a purist Baconian model, but an "Antilia". This was the name chosen by Johann Valentin Andreae for a more hermetic and utopian fellowship. The proposal, which conformed to Comenian ideas as more compatible with pansophia or universal wisdom, was in effect decisively rejected. Hartlib was relying on a plan of Bengt Skytte, a son of Johan Skytte
and knighted by Charles I, and the move was away from Bacon's clearer emphasis on reforming the natural sciences. Despite some critical voices, the Hartlib-Comenius trend was written out of the Royal Society from the beginning. Hartlib himself died shortly after the Society was set up.
referred a few times in his correspondence to the 'Invisible College
'. Scholarly attention has been paid to identifying this shadowy group. The social picture is not simplistic, since en masse Hartlib's contacts had fingers in every pie.
Margery Purver concluded that the Invisible College coincided with the Hartlib-led lobbyists, those who were promoting to the Parliament the concept of an Office of Address. The effective lifetime of this idea has been pinned down to the period 1647 to 1653, and as a second wave of speculation on the ideal society, after Comenius left. There was a limited implementation, by Henry Robinson
, in 1650.
In the later Interregnum the "Invisible College" might refer to a group meeting in Gresham College
. According to Christopher Hill
, however, the Gresham College club that was convened from 1645 by Theodore Haak
, certainly a Hartlibian, was distinct from the Comenian Invisible College. Lady Ranelagh, who was Boyle's sister, had a London salon during the 1650s, much frequented by virtuosi associated with Hartlib.
Samuel Hartlib
Samuel Hartlib was a German-British polymath. An active promoter and expert writer in many fields, he was interested in science, medicine, agriculture, politics, and education. He settled in England, where he married and died...
, an intelligencer
Intelligencer
According to the Oxford English Dictionary, an intelligencer is "One who conveys intelligence or information", "One employed to obtain secret information, an informer, a spy, a secret agent", or "A bringer of news; a messenger; an informant; a newsmonger"...
based in London, and his associates, in the period 1630 to 1660.
Structure
J. T. Young writes:At its nexus, it was an association of personal friends. Hartlib and Dury were the two key figures: Comenius, despite their best efforts, always remained a cause they were supporting rather than a fellow co-ordinator. Around them were Hübner, HaakTheodore HaakTheodore Haak was a German Calvinist scholar, resident in England in later life. Haak’s communications abilities and interests in the new science provided the backdrop for convening the “1645 Group,” a precursor of the Royal Society.Although not himself known as a natural philosopher, Haak's...
, PellJohn Pell-Early life:He was born at Southwick in Sussex. He was educated at Steyning Grammar School, and entered Trinity College, Cambridge, at the age of thirteen. During his university career he became an accomplished linguist, and even before he took his B.A. degree corresponded with Henry Briggs and...
, MoriaenJohann MoriaenJohann Moriaen was a German alchemist and early chemist, known as an associate of Samuel Hartlib. He was active in recruiting for Hartlib's network of intellectuals, the Hartlib Circle, and communicating with them. He was a convinced pansophist.With no published works, his activities have been...
, Rulise, Hotton and Appelius, later to be joined by Sadler, CulpeperCheney CulpeperSir Cheney Culpeper was an English landowner, a supporter of Samuel Hartlib, and a largely non-political figure of his troubled times, interested in technological progress and reform. His sister Judith was the second wife of John Colepeper, 1st Baron Colepeper.-Landowner:After a legal training, he...
, WorsleyBenjamin WorsleyBenjamin Worsley was an English physician, Surveyor-General of Ireland, experimental scientist, civil servant and intellectual figure of Commonwealth England. He studied at Trinity College, Dublin, but may not have graduated....
, BoyleRobert BoyleRobert Boyle FRS was a 17th century natural philosopher, chemist, physicist, and inventor, also noted for his writings in theology. He has been variously described as English, Irish, or Anglo-Irish, his father having come to Ireland from England during the time of the English plantations of...
and Clodius. But as soon as one looks any further than this from the centre, the lines of communication begin to branch and cross, threading their way into the entire intellectual community of Europe and America. It is a circle with a definable centre but an almost infinitely extendable periphery.
Themes
- Agriculture and horticulture: Ralph AustenRalph Austen-Life:Austen was, according to Anthony Wood, a native of Staffordshire, and became a student at Magdalen College, Oxford. On 7 April 1630 he was chosen a university proctor, and he spent the remainder of his life in Oxford, devoting most of his time to gardening and the raising of fruit-trees...
, John BealeJohn Beale (writer)John Beale was an English clergyman, scientific writer, and early Fellow of the Royal Society. He contributed to John Evelyn's Sylva, or A Discourse of Forest-Trees and the Propagation of Timber, and was an influential author on orchards and cider...
, Cheney CulpeperCheney CulpeperSir Cheney Culpeper was an English landowner, a supporter of Samuel Hartlib, and a largely non-political figure of his troubled times, interested in technological progress and reform. His sister Judith was the second wife of John Colepeper, 1st Baron Colepeper.-Landowner:After a legal training, he...
, Cressy Dymock. - Alchemy, chemistry, mineralogy: Cheney Culpeper, Ezekiel Foxcroft, John French.
- Education: Hartlib compiled a list of "advisers", and updated it. It included Jeremy Collier, John DuryJohn DuryJohn Dury was a Scottish Calvinist minister and a significant intellectual of the English Civil War period. He made efforts to re-unite the Calvinist and Lutheran wings of Protestantism, hoping to succeed when he moved to Kassel in 1661, but he did not accomplish this...
, Thomas Horne, Marchamont Nedham, John PellJohn Pell-Early life:He was born at Southwick in Sussex. He was educated at Steyning Grammar School, and entered Trinity College, Cambridge, at the age of thirteen. During his university career he became an accomplished linguist, and even before he took his B.A. degree corresponded with Henry Briggs and...
, William Rand, Christian Ravius, Israel TongeIsrael TongeIsrael Tonge , aka Ezerel or Ezreel Tongue, was an English divine and an informer in the "Popish" plot. He was born at Tickhill, near Doncaster, the son of Henry Tongue, minister of Holtby, Yorkshire...
, and Moses Wall. The staff proposed for Durham College was influenced by the Circle's lobbying. John HallJohn Hall (poet)John Hall was an English poet, essayist and pamphleteer of the Commonwealth period. After a short period of adulation at university, he became a writer in the Parliamentary cause and Hartlib Circle member.-Life:...
was another associate who wrote on education. In the period 1648–50 many works on education appeared from Circle authors (Dury, Dymock, Hall, Cyprian Kinner, Petty, George Snell, and Worsley). - Mathematics
- Medicine: William RandWilliam Rand (physician)William Rand was an English physician who projected general reforms in medical education, practice and publication. His views were Paracelsian and Helmontian, and he participated in the Hartlib Circle.-Life:...
- Pansophism
- Protestantism: Sarah Hewley.
- Settlement of Ireland: William PettyWilliam PettySir William Petty FRS was an English economist, scientist and philosopher. He first became prominent serving Oliver Cromwell and Commonwealth in Ireland. He developed efficient methods to survey the land that was to be confiscated and given to Cromwell's soldiers...
, Benjamin WorsleyBenjamin WorsleyBenjamin Worsley was an English physician, Surveyor-General of Ireland, experimental scientist, civil servant and intellectual figure of Commonwealth England. He studied at Trinity College, Dublin, but may not have graduated....
.
Projects
One of Hartlib's projects, a variant on Salomon's HouseSalomon's House
Salomon's House is a fictional institution in Sir Francis Bacon's utopian work New Atlantis, published in 1627, the year after Bacon's death. In this work, he portrayed a vision of the future of human discovery and knowledge...
that had more of a public face, was the "Office of Address" — he envisaged an office in every town where somebody might go to find things out. While this might be compatible with Baconian ideas, the immediate inspiration was Théophraste Renaudot
Théophraste Renaudot
Théophraste Renaudot was a French physician, philanthropist, and journalist.Born in Loudun, Renaudot received a doctorate of medicine from the University of Montpellier in 1606. He returned to Loudon where he met Cardinal Richelieu and Père Joseph. In the 1610s, Richelieu became more powerful and...
and his Paris bureau d'adresse. For example, at a practical level, Hartlib thought people could advertise job vacancies there — and prospective employees would be able to find work. At a more studious level, Hartlib wanted academics to pool their knowledge so that the Office could act as a living and growing form of encyclopedia, in which people could keep adding new information. The Office of address idea was promoted by Considerations tending to the happy Accomplishment of Englands Reformation in Church and State (1647), written by Hartlib and John Dury
John Dury
John Dury was a Scottish Calvinist minister and a significant intellectual of the English Civil War period. He made efforts to re-unite the Calvinist and Lutheran wings of Protestantism, hoping to succeed when he moved to Kassel in 1661, but he did not accomplish this...
, a pamphlet also including an ambitious tiered system of educational reform.
Attitudes and associations
One distinguishing feature of the Hartlib Circle was its tolerance of hermeticHermeticism
Hermeticism or the Western Hermetic Tradition is a set of philosophical and religious beliefs based primarily upon the pseudepigraphical writings attributed to Hermes Trismegistus...
ideas; Hartlib himself had an interest in sigils
Sigla
Sigła is a village in the administrative district of Gmina Aleksandrów, within Biłgoraj County, Lublin Voivodeship, in eastern Poland. It lies approximately east of Aleksandrów, south-east of Biłgoraj, and south of the regional capital Lublin....
and astrology
Astrology
Astrology consists of a number of belief systems which hold that there is a relationship between astronomical phenomena and events in the human world...
. Boyle too attempted to straddle the opening divide between experimental chemistry and alchemy, by treating the latter in a less esoteric way; he did distance himself to an extent from the Hartlib group on moving to Oxford around 1655. Both Boyle and William Petty became more attached to a third or fourth loose association, the Oxford group around John Wilkins
John Wilkins
John Wilkins FRS was an English clergyman, natural philosopher and author, as well as a founder of the Invisible College and one of the founders of the Royal Society, and Bishop of Chester from 1668 until his death....
, at this period; Wilkins was to be the founding Secretary of the Royal Society.
Foundation of the Royal Society
In 1660 Hartlib was at work writing to John EvelynJohn Evelyn
John Evelyn was an English writer, gardener and diarist.Evelyn's diaries or Memoirs are largely contemporaneous with those of the other noted diarist of the time, Samuel Pepys, and cast considerable light on the art, culture and politics of the time John Evelyn (31 October 1620 – 27 February...
, an important broker of the royal charter for the eventual Society. He was, however, not promoting a purist Baconian model, but an "Antilia". This was the name chosen by Johann Valentin Andreae for a more hermetic and utopian fellowship. The proposal, which conformed to Comenian ideas as more compatible with pansophia or universal wisdom, was in effect decisively rejected. Hartlib was relying on a plan of Bengt Skytte, a son of Johan Skytte
Johan Skytte
Johan Skytte was a Swedish politician.Skytte was son of the Mayor of Nyköping, Bengt Nilsson Skräddare...
and knighted by Charles I, and the move was away from Bacon's clearer emphasis on reforming the natural sciences. Despite some critical voices, the Hartlib-Comenius trend was written out of the Royal Society from the beginning. Hartlib himself died shortly after the Society was set up.
The "Invisible College"
Robert BoyleRobert Boyle
Robert Boyle FRS was a 17th century natural philosopher, chemist, physicist, and inventor, also noted for his writings in theology. He has been variously described as English, Irish, or Anglo-Irish, his father having come to Ireland from England during the time of the English plantations of...
referred a few times in his correspondence to the 'Invisible College
Invisible College
The Invisible College has been described as a precursor group to the Royal Society of London, consisting of a number of natural philosophers around Robert Boyle...
'. Scholarly attention has been paid to identifying this shadowy group. The social picture is not simplistic, since en masse Hartlib's contacts had fingers in every pie.
Margery Purver concluded that the Invisible College coincided with the Hartlib-led lobbyists, those who were promoting to the Parliament the concept of an Office of Address. The effective lifetime of this idea has been pinned down to the period 1647 to 1653, and as a second wave of speculation on the ideal society, after Comenius left. There was a limited implementation, by Henry Robinson
Henry Robinson (writer)
Henry Robinson was an English merchant and writer. He is best known for a work on religious toleration, Liberty of Conscience from 1644.-Life:He was educated at St John's College, Oxford, and was a freeman of the Mercers' Company...
, in 1650.
In the later Interregnum the "Invisible College" might refer to a group meeting in Gresham College
Gresham College
Gresham College is an institution of higher learning located at Barnard's Inn Hall off Holborn in central London, England. It was founded in 1597 under the will of Sir Thomas Gresham and today it hosts over 140 free public lectures every year within the City of London.-History:Sir Thomas Gresham,...
. According to Christopher Hill
Christopher Hill (historian)
John Edward Christopher Hill , usually known simply as Christopher Hill, was an English Marxist historian and author of textbooks....
, however, the Gresham College club that was convened from 1645 by Theodore Haak
Theodore Haak
Theodore Haak was a German Calvinist scholar, resident in England in later life. Haak’s communications abilities and interests in the new science provided the backdrop for convening the “1645 Group,” a precursor of the Royal Society.Although not himself known as a natural philosopher, Haak's...
, certainly a Hartlibian, was distinct from the Comenian Invisible College. Lady Ranelagh, who was Boyle's sister, had a London salon during the 1650s, much frequented by virtuosi associated with Hartlib.