James Tyrrell (writer)
James Tyrrell | |
|---|---|
| Born | May 5, 1642 |
| Died | 17 June 1718(aged 76) Shotover,England |
| Alma mater | The Queen's College,Oxford |
| Era | 17th-century philosophy |
| Region | Western philosophy |
Main interests | Political philosophy |
James Tyrrell(5 May 1642 – 17 June 1718) was anEnglishauthor,Whigpolitical philosopher, and historian.[1]
Life
[edit]James Tyrrell was born inLondon,the eldest son of SirTimothy TyrrellandElizabeth Tyrrell (née Ussher),the only daughter of ArchbishopJames Ussher.His younger sister Eleanor married the deistCharles Blount.[2]He lived inOakley, Buckinghamshire.He was married to Mary Hutchinson (1645-1687), daughter of Sir Michael Hutchinson ofFladbury,Worcestershire.They had at least three children, includingJames Tyrrelland Mary and another son.
Educated atThe Queen's College, Oxford(MA, 1663), he became a barrister in 1666 and ajustice of the peaceinBuckinghamshire.He was deprived of this office byJames IIfor failing to support theDeclaration of Indulgence.[1]At the time of thePeace of Rijswijk(1697), he was persuaded back into public service byThomas Herbert, 8th Earl of Pembroke(Lord Pembroke) to become Commissioner of thePrivy Seal.
Tyrrell was a friend and supporter ofJohn Locke,who stayed at Tyrrell's home during a period when he was apparently working on hisTwo Treatises on Government.Tyrrell's thinking appears to have been influential in the development of Locke's, and for a time his writings were more influential than Locke's in the emergence ofWhigthinking and policies.
WhenPierre Des Maizeauxset about compilingA Collection of Several Pieces of Mr. John Locke,a posthumous edition of lesser-known works and manuscripts, he recorded his conversations with Tyrrell who spoke at some length about his friend. The manuscript was discovered in 2021.[3]
He spent his later years inShotover,near Oxford and began buildingShotover Parkthere, where he died on 17 June 1718,[1]though he is buried in the church in Oakley.
According to a memorial to him, "He was a man of rare integrity, gravity, and wisdom: had never polished himself out of his sincerity: nor refined his behaviour to the prejudice of his virtue. He was a warm and zealous lover of his country, & of that system of religion and law which he well knew could only support it."
Works
[edit]HisPatriarcha non monarcha(1681) was a reply toRobert Filmer'sPatriarcha;it also included references toThomas Hobbes,and was also influenced bySamuel Pufendorf.[4]A Brief Disquisition of the Law of Naturewas an English abridgment ofRichard Cumberland'sDe legibus naturae.Bibliothetica politicawas a huge compendium of Whig constitutional theory.[4]
- Patriarcha non monarcha. The patriarch unmonarch'd: being observations on a late treatise and divers other miscellanies, published under the name of Sir Robert Filmer baronet. In which the falseness of those opinions that would make monarchy jure divino are laid open: and the true principles of government and property (especially in our kingdom) asserted. By a lover of truth and of his country,1681
- A brief disquisition of the law of nature, according to the principles laid down in the reverend Dr. Cumberland's (now Lord Bishop of Peterborough's) Latin treatise on that subject. As also his considerations of Mr. Hobbs's principles put into another method,1692
- Bibliotheca politica: or An enquiry into the ancient constitution of the English government; both in respect to the just extent of regal power, and the rights and liberties of the subject. Wherein all the chief arguments, as well against, as for the late revolution, are impartially represented, and considered, in thirteen dialogues. Collected out of the best authors, as well antient as modern...,1694
- The General History of England, both Eccesiastical and Civil(5 volumes, published between 1700 and 1704). In which Tyrrell demonstrates that the liberties of the people are not concessions of kings.
References
[edit]- ^abcGoldie, Mark (2004)."Tyrrell, James (1642–1718)".Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.Oxford University Press.Retrieved4 December2016.
- ^Ford, Alan. "Ussher, James".Oxford Dictionary of National Biography(online ed.). Oxford University Press.doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/28034.(Subscription orUK public library membershiprequired.)
- ^Waldmann F.,(2021)John Locke as a Reader of Thomas Hobbes’s Leviathan: A New Manuscript,J. of Modern History, vol. 93, nbr. 2
- ^abThe Cambridge History of Eighteenth-Century Political Thought,ed.Mark GoldieandRobert Wokler,Cambridge University Press, 2006, p. 781
- Selected Political Works of James Tyrrell.Online collection.
Sources
[edit]- Julia Rudolph,Revolution by Degrees: James Tyrrell and Whig Political Thought in the Late Seventeenth Century(Studies in Modern History), 2002.
External links
[edit]
Media related toJames Tyrrellat Wikimedia Commons
