November 30, 1654

John Selden (December 16, 1584 to November 30, 1654), "lawyer and historical and linguistic scholar," came from humble but substantial parents, his father a yeoman and his mother the daughter of a gentleman. His career casts an important light on the complexities of 17th century English politics, and his Oxford Dictionary of National Biography article does a fair job of presenting Selden's accomplishments:

"....Selden matriculated from Hart Hall, Oxford. He was admitted....to the Inner Temple in November 1603. ...[An ascent] helped by the 'humanity, courtesy and affability' of his courtly manners, on which the earl of Clarendon later remarked ....[H]is circle included John Donne, Edward Herbert, Lord Herbert of Cherbury, Samuel Daniel, the herald Augustine Vincent, and the travel writer Samuel Purchas.

"Even as Selden engaged in the study of common law, he began scholarly research and writing in other fields. According to Anthony Wood, it was in London rather than in Oxford that Selden acquired his formidable linguistic competence: French, German, Spanish, Italian, Latin, Greek, Old English, Hebrew, Chaldean, Samaritan, Aramaic, Arabic, Persian, and Ethiopic were all cited in his published works. He soon made the acquaintance of Lancelot Andrewes, dean of Westminster from 1601 to 1605 and a long-term promoter of the study of oriental languages, and Andrewes's most notable pupil, William Bedwell, became a friend. Selden claimed to have assembled in 1605 the book on the gods of the ancient Middle East eventually published as De dis Syris (1617), and ....his work on the governance of England under the Britons, Saxons, and early Normans...

".... His legal career stimulated rather than impeded his other interests. He had a great love of poetry, and his own compositions were sufficiently regarded in his lifetime for John Suckling to include him in his poem 'A session of poets' of 1637, but little of his verse survives. .....

"In Titles of Honor Selden acknowledged the contribution of his friends to his scholarly endeavour and personal life. He paid tribute to his 'beloved friend that singular Poet... Ben Jonson', while Jonson reciprocated with praise for 'his honord friend' in a commendatory verse...

"... Breaking away from the genealogical concerns of most heralds and kings of arms,...[Selden's research] derived honour from virtue, portrayed all civil honours as granted by the sovereign, and dismissed any claim to a hereditary nobility independent of the state .....

"In response to an enquiry from Ben Jonson about scriptural arguments adduced against cross-dressing, Selden wrote on 28 February 1616 a learned letter which disclosed several of the novel interpretations developed at length in De dis Syris, including the derivation of ancient European gods and goddesses from Asian deities, the report that 'Men did honor and invoke Venus [while dressed] in women's attire, and women the like to Mars in men's armour', the startling theory that 'the greatest names in the Eastern theologie of the Gentiles, were expressly noted by both sexes, and according to that mysterie of community of sexes, were worshipt', the conclusion that 'The self same was in Europe, where nothing of that kind was, if not traduced out of Asia', and the foundation of the origin of Mars and Venus in 'the masculin-[feminin] or generative power supposed in the Sunne, or the Sunne and Moon, which were the first creatures idolatrously worshipt' .... No wonder this imaginative and controversial study of comparative religion won accolades from continental scholars."...

"The most celebrated of Selden's...[early books], The Historie of Tithes (1618), marked a major refinement in his theory and practice of history... The Historie of Tithes offered political advice on an issue of burning contemporary relevance. Between 1605 and 1613 George Carleton (who became successively bishop of Llandaff and of Chichester), Thomas Ridley (a prominent civil and canon lawyer), and Foulke Robarts (a Norwich divine) had drawn upon the interpretation of medieval canon lawyers and some historical evidence to make strident attacks upon the lay ownership of tithes. Selden detected no link between ancient Jewish tithes and those of medieval Christian Europe. During its first four centuries, voluntary charity funded the Christian church. During the next four centuries, pious laymen started to offer perpetual endowments, including tithes, to particular monasteries and churches, but retained control of the patronage of the resulting livings. With careful philological readings of contemporary primary sources Selden deconstructed the long-standing assertions that tithes had existed by the law of nature and that parish clergy had collected tithes by divine right during the first 800 years of Christianity.

......
"In Anglo-Saxon England parishes came into existence largely as foundations by laymen who endowed them, and the argument that tithes had always belonged by divine right to the parish priest was anachronistic nonsense. Listing many references to lay consecrations of property and income to the church found in early manuscripts, Selden concluded that before the reign of King John lay tithing was voluntary, and thus many of the so-called appropriated tithes traced their 'chief originall from these arbitrarie Consecrations' (pp. 290-91). This brilliant reading of manuscript sources creatively reinterpreted the meaning of parishes in the early English church and stressed the positive role of laymen in the endowment of the church.

"Selden also discovered that the general enforcement of divine-right tithes had spread across the face of western Europe as the result of a well-planned and executed programme of legal innovation. Starting in earnest about the year 1200, the enterprise reached a climax under Pope Innocent III and accompanied the climb of the papacy to the zenith of its political power in western Europe, including the England of King John. However, English common law, like the secular laws of other states in western Europe, came to enforce customary payments of cash in composition for crops and of fixed quantities other than a tenth; it also adjudicated any disputes over the rights of ownership of appropriated tithes. The aggressive clerical invasion of the property rights was eventually met by the statutes of the sixteenth century that controlled tithes and dissolved monasteries. As always for Selden, the law of God applied only as enforced through the laws of particular states. Underlying the occasionally flaming heat of the Historie of Tithes stood a profoundly protestant version of Christianity which envisaged a church governed by the prince and parliaments, integrated into society, and enriched by the creative talents of laymen, as well as those of the clergy.

"A 'Review' at the end of the Historie of Tithes provided a brief history of the Roman law to show how it could not rightly claim to have ruled even western Europe in an unbroken sequence and pictured William I, his barons, and those 'learned in the laws' (identified as 'the common Lawiers of that time, as Godric and Alfwin') gathering together as a parliament in the fourth year of the conquest to hear and confirm the 'former Laws of the Kingdome' (p. 482). This vivid image of the historical triumph of the king-in-parliament appeared just in time for Selden's political career of the following decade. King James and his favourite, the marquess of Buckingham, forced Selden to withdraw Historie of Tithes from circulation, apologize to the privy council for the mistake of its publication, and endure in silence the attacks on it made by his critics. However, he would neither admit that it presented false evidence or interpretations nor retreat from the central thesis that the law of God found enforcement only in the laws of particular jurisdictions.
......
"In 1621 Selden also acted as a legal consultant and a researcher for Francis Bacon, Viscount St Albans, gathering sources for the latter's history of Henry VII. ...

"During the 1620s Selden became involved in an impressive number of scholarly enterprises. On 24 May 1621 he wrote to James Ussher, then bishop of Meath, that a new edition of Titles of Honour was in the press. It probably drew upon a large number of studies, manuscripts, and printed public records. Selden's correspondence with Ussher from the 1620s dealt with an incredible range of scholarly topics, including the siting of churches in antiquity, the Samaritan Pentateuch (especially interesting for its chronology in comparison with those contained in the Hebrew and Greek versions), and British historical materials; in addition, they exchanged books and manuscripts...Selden's knowledge of Anglo-Saxon had improved to the degree that Ussher could suggest, when returning .... 'two Saxon Annales' in August or September 1625, that Selden would earn the gratitude of antiquaries if he produced a composite Anglo-Saxon chronicle, but this came to nothing.

".....Five years later he published Marmora Arundeliana (1628), an edition of the classical inscriptions in Greek from the marbles collected from Asia Minor by Thomas Howard, earl of Arundel, with an introduction and notes. It contained the text of a treaty and a major chronology of considerable importance to European classical scholars, as well as a philological discussion of the word 'nomos' that explored the relationship of music, poetry, and law among the ancient Greeks."

"[John Selden played a leadership role in the 1620s' disputes between King and parliament and he was imprisoned. However he had the liberty to move] .... in and out of the Tower from 1631 onwards. Only an apology made to the king in 1634 brought a final release without bail. These years of enforced leisure allowed Selden to finish two scholarly projects and start new ones.

"A monument to the wide-ranging mastery of medieval continental and English sources and studies, the weighty second edition of Titles of Honor (1631) drew its evidence widely. As well as providing a model for a true history based upon many primary sources, this edition also sought to establish a solid foundation for a new philosophy of politics that would emulate the revolution in astronomy brought about by 'Copernicus, Tycho, Galileus, Kepler' ........[Therein we learn] The Norman conquest brought few changes to patterns of landholding and governance, but replaced Saxon feudal thegns by Norman barons. Selden discussed at great length the feudal and military character of the early Norman baronage, the nature of the knight's fee as a grant of land designed to provide the service of a professional warrior, and the transformation of a baronage by tenure into one defined by receiving an individual summons to parliaments. These interpretations represented a major scholarly accomplishment, and they made the conquest of 1066 look like just one of many moments of innovation, one additional adjustment of northern customs to Latin offices, carried out through an assembly of notables..... It portrayed the continual calling of parliaments as a necessary part of English governance.
.....

"Although relatively brief, Selden's two studies of ancient Jewish society demonstrated his new mastery of the Talmud and provided the first taste of a passion for Jewish studies that dominated his scholarship for the last two decades of his life. On 4 August 1625 Selden wrote to Archbishop James Ussher asking about the differences between the Samaritan and Hebrew versions of the Torah. On 2 November 1627 Ussher replied with corrections to Scaliger's Samaritan chronology and discussed the related problems that fascinated both scholars....

"...Selden's dedication of the joint printing of De successionibus in bona defuncti and De successione in pontificatum Ebraeorum (1636) to Archbishop William Laud [signaled a shift.] In the parliamentary session of 1629 Selden had attacked Laud, then bishop of London, for licensing bad books and refusing to license attacks on Arminianism or popery. With the shift in Selden's research during the 1630s, Laud's library proved very useful and the two men formed a friendship. Laud sent Hebrew books to Selden to settle the question of their authorship and also helped to negotiate his reconciliation with King Charles. In the dedication of 1636, Selden assured .... Laud that he was not one of those Hebraists who deserted to the other side, like the extreme sabbatarians, but explored Jewish wisdom in order to improve Christianity. He praised Laud for his 'incomparable' gift of a voluminous quantity of oriental manuscripts to the library of Oxford.....
....
"During the 1630s Selden received recognition and expanded his social life into new circles, including the court. .... As the court connections of the countess of Kent strengthened, Selden entered into a mentoring relationship with George Digby (the scholarly eldest son of the earl of Bristol), lending books, purchasing volumes, and enjoying his company. In February 1638 the courtier, connoisseur, and diplomat Sir Kenelm Digby wrote from Paris thanking Selden 'for the kind favour you did me in sending me your Mare Clausum and other workes' and reciprocated with a book in a fine French binding..... Following the death of the earl of Kent in 1639 Selden took up permanent residence at White Friars, the home of the countess. There was clearly a widely circulating rumour that he married her, and the countess's description of herself in her will as 'late wife' rather than as 'widow' of Kent gives it some credence. John Aubrey asserted it as a truth, adding that Selden had had sexual relations with her during Kent's lifetime and with his knowledge; Selden inherited the countess's property after her death.
.....
In the 1640s Selden served as a member of the Long Parliament (until excluded by Pride's Purge), acted as a lay member of the Westminster assembly, and continued extensive scholarly research and writing. His election as MP for Oxford University perhaps had the blessing of its chancellor, Laud, who tried to enlist Selden's help to relieve pressure for extensive religious reform by withdrawing the canons of 1640. .... On 10 March 1641 he argued that since 'ancientlie Bishops in Saxon times had voices in making lawes' before voting for removal of clerical participation 'wee would give the clergie some other voices' ...Against his advice the house initiated a bill to remove the bishops from parliament. For Selden this represented a serious subversion of the English 'frame of government'. A few months later he also spoke and voted against the attainder of Thomas Wentworth, earl of Strafford.

"When Charles I began to gather supporters in the summer of 1642 the marquess of Hertford invited Selden to join him in royal service in York. In reply, Selden excused himself on grounds of illness, but also professed that his 'loyal and humble affections to his majestie and his service are and shall now be as great and as hearty as any mans' .....

"During the 1640s Selden also received a number of rewards, made new friendships, and helped old friends. Parliament appointed him keeper of the records in the Tower in 1643 and named him one of the twelve commissioners for the Admiralty in 1644. In 1646 he was voted £5000 in compensation for his prosecution and imprisonment by the crown in 1629-31, but found it difficult to collect. He used his influence to save several libraries from pillage and disbursal, including the royal collection, that at Lambeth Palace, and that of Archbishop Ussher. He received wonderful letters of praise, such as that in 1647 from young Ralph Cudworth, the future Cambridge Platonist, accompanied by a 'pamphlet' on religion, a 'small expression of my great Respects to you' ...Other younger scholars, such as the very learned Dr Gerard Langbaine, provost of Queen's College, Oxford, sought Selden's protection from over-zealous visitors in 1648. Working in Westminster, he helped many caught up in the tribulations of the civil wars."

I do want to include the last part of the ODNB biography, but here is a good place to mention their reference to Selden's "table talk."

"Collected mostly in the 1640s by his clerical amanuensis, Richard Milward, and published posthumously in 1689 with a dedication to his executors, Selden's 'table talk' reflected his concerns from this decade [of civil war]. Its contents, arranged alphabetically in short sections, were devoted mainly to issues of religion, morality, and politics...."

'Synods' fell in this category, and that reference is to permanent organizations of clerics which exert power beyond the church. Selden argued against this, as we read in Table-talk of John Selden,(1847): (Authors John Selden, Richard Milward and edited by Edward FitzGerald)

"If we have had no National Synod since the Kingdom hath been settled as now it is, only Provincial; and there will be this inconveniency, to call so many Divines together; 'twill be to put power in their Hands, who are too apt to usurp it, as if the Laity were bound by their determination. No, let the Laity consult with Divines on all sides, hear what they say, and make themselves Masters of their Reasons; as they do by any other profession, when they have a difference before them. For Example, Goldsmiths, they enquire of them, if such a Jewel be of such a value, and such a stone of such a value, hear them, and then, being rational men, judge themselves.

".... The Clergy of England, when they cast off the Pope, submitted themselves to the Civil Power, and so have continued, but these challenge to be Jure Divino, and so to be above the Civil Power; these challenge power to call before their Presbyteries all Persons for all sins directly against the Law of God, as proved to be sins by necessary consequence. If you would buy Gloves, send for a Glover or two, not Glovers-Hall: consult with some Divines, not send for a Body.

"...There must be some Laymen in the Synod, to overlook the Clergy, lest they spoil the Civil work: Just as when the good Woman puts a Cat into the Milk-House to kill a Mouse, she sends her Maid to look after the Cat, lest the Cat should eat up the Cream."

And we return now to our main program:

"As he neared the end of his seventh decade Selden's precarious health declined. His long-time companion, the countess of Kent, died on 7 December 1651 and left him her property. Two years later he updated his will, appointing his 'beloved friends' Edward Heyward, John Vaughan, Matthew Hale, and Rowland Jewks the elder, as the heirs in trust of his lands and estate, and leaving only £100 each to the two sons of his sister, Mary, and her husband, John Bernard of Goring, Sussex, as country folk unused to riches; Aubrey thought he had at least one illegitimate daughter, but had considered such offspring unworthy heirs. ...Continuing to correspond with friends and scholars, Selden answered in October 1653 an enquiry from Archbishop Ussher about the identity of Gallio in the book of Acts, concluding-after examining works by Caesar Baronius, Grotius, and Justus Lipsius-that he may well have been Seneca's brother. ... In November 1654 he conversed with Ussher ... which supports Anthony Wood's repetition of Sir Matthew Hale's comment that he died 'a resolved serious Christian' ...., rather than Aubrey's story that Thomas Hobbes persuaded Selden to turn away clergymen who came to pray with him. Following Selden's death ...., the aged archbishop of Armagh [James Ussher] preached on 14 December at Selden's well-attended public funeral at the Temple Church...

"During a lifetime of scholarship, legal practice, and public service, Selden amassed an extensive collection of books and manuscripts. A story circulated that he had revoked an original intention to bequeath these to the Bodleian Library, Oxford, but this was false. By the terms of his will the library was to receive his collection of Greek and Oriental manuscripts, selected Latin manuscripts, and his remaining Talmudic and rabbinical books. Most of these were forwarded by his executors to the Bodleian in 1659, although in the interim some had been lost. Among the 8000 volumes which arrived safely, some had belonged to Jonson, Donne, and Cotton; they remain there today. Selden's greatest legacy, however, was not the expensive hat band studded with diamonds that he left to Hertford but his extensive European and Jewish studies and his advocacy of a mixed monarchy. His histories on European and British topics displayed a meticulous application of continental humanist methods and a masterful reading of English and continental sources and commentaries in imaginative, detailed narratives of great complexity. The meticulous results of his plunge into the complex realm of Jewish studies showed great respect for the integrity of rabbinic interpretations and an unparalleled understanding of Jewish texts, traditions, and history, all conveyed in subtle, empathetic studies that used the wisdom of the Jews to teach a Christian audience. How fitting for one praised by the earl of Clarendon for 'his good nature, charity, and delight in doing good' ...and noted by Wood as 'the glory of the English nation, as Hugo Grotius worthily stiles him' ..."