Three Early Modern Utopias: Thomas More: Utopia / Francis Bacon: New Atlantis / Henry Neville: The Isle of Pines
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1516
Composes Book 1 of the Utopia. December: first edition of Utopia published at Louvain.
1517
Made Master of Requests and member of the Privy Council. Second edition of Utopia published at Paris. Luther publishes Ninety-Five Theses Against Indulgences, and the Reformation can be said to have begun. Sixty people hanged by Wolsey after riots in London.
1518
March and November: third and fourth editions of Utopia published at Basel. More’s Epigrams published.
1520
Attends Henry VIII at the Field of the Cloth of Gold. Luther publishes De Captivate Babylonica and other works and is excommunicated.
1521
Made Under-Treasurer and knighted. Ralph Robinson, Utopia’s future translator, born of relatively poor parents in Lincolnshire.
1522
Luther translates New Testament into German.
1523
Moves to Chelsea. Made Speaker of the House of Commons. Attacks Luther.
1524(2?)
Writes Four Last Things.
1525
Made Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster. Tyndale translates New Testament into English. Luther writes ‘On the Bondage of the Will’.
1527
September: Henry VIII asks More’s advice on propriety of dissolving marriage with Catherine of Aragon. More can see no reason why the marriage should be annulled. Holbein paints portrait of More.
1529
Conducts negotiations at Treaty of Cambrai. Made Lord High Chancellor. Publishes A Dialogue Concerning Heresies, attacking Luther and Tyndale. Publishes Supplication of the Souls.
1531
Henry VIII named Supreme Head of the Church of England.
1532
16 May: resigns from office over the ‘Submission of the Clergy’, a bill which allowed the Crown to veto ecclesiastical legislation. In resigning, he may also have been attempting to avoid confrontation with Henry VIII over divorce with Catherine of Aragon.
1533
Publishes Apology, Confutation of Tyndale’s Answer, Deballation of Salem and Bizane, Answer to John Frith. Thomas Cranmer, Archbishop of Canturbury, allows divorce between Henry and Catherine. Henry marries Anne Boleyn in defiance of the Pope and is excommunicated. Birth of Elizabeth, later Elizabeth I.
1534
March: Act of Succession passed, legitimizing issue of Henry and Anne Boleyn and bastardizing Mary (daughter of Henry and Catherine of Aragon). 1 July: More refuses to take Oath of Supremacy, which would ratify the Act of Succession and acknowledge Henry VIII as Supreme Head of the Church of England. Committed to the Tower of London. Writes A Dialogue of Comfort Against Tribulation, The Sadness of Christ. Second edition of Tyndale’s translation of the New Testament.
1535
1 July: Tried. 6 July: beheaded.
1536
Ralph Robinson, having been educated at Grantham and Stamford grammar schools, enters Corpus Christi College, Oxford.
1542
Robinson, who graduated in 1540, becomes a fellow of Corpus Christi College.
1544
Robinson applies for degree of MA. Some time after he leaves Oxford for London and obtains livery of Goldsmith’s company. Enters service of William Cecil, Lord Burleigh.
1551
First edition of his English translation of Utopia published. May: Robinson appeals to Cecil for an increase in income.
1556
Second, revised edition of Robinson’s translation of Utopia.
c. 1572
By this time Robinson is impoverished and appealing to Cecil once again for an increase of income. Thereafter nothing is known of him.
Francis Bacon
1561
22 January: born at York House, the Strand, the younger of Sir Nicholas Bacon’s two sons by his marriage to Lady Ann Bacon (née Cooke), his second wife (there being four sons from the first marriage).
1564
New Royal Charter bestowed on English Merchant Adventurers company.
1565
Royal College of Physicians, London, allowed to carry out human dissections.
1570
First modern atlas (with 53 maps) published by Abraham Ortelius.
1573
5 April: goes up to Trinity College, Cambridge. Francis Drake sees the Pacific Ocean for the first time.
1575
March: leaves Cambridge.
1576
27 June: is entered at Gray’s Inn; admitted 21 November, but in September had accompanied Sir Amias Paulet, English ambassador to France.
1577
Richard Eden publishes his History of Travel in the East and West Indies.
1579
20 March: returns from France. Trinity Term, admitted to Gray’s Inn.
1581
Elected to Parliament as member for Bossiney, Cornwall.
1582
27 June: admitted as Utter Barrister of Gray’s Inn. Richard Hakluyt’s accounts of voyages begin to be published.
1584
23 November: MP for Weymouth and Melcombe Regis.
1586
29 October: MP for Taunton. Becomes a Bencher of Gray’s Inn.
1587
Lent Term, elected Reader at Gray’s Inn. Privy Council consults him on legal matters.
1588
August: appointed to government committee examining recusants. December: appointed to select committee of lawyers to review parliamentary statutes.
1589
4 February: MP for Liverpool. Asked to prepare official document justifying the Queen’s religious policies. 29 October: granted reversion of Clerkship of Star Chamber.
1591
Easter Term, first appearance as pleader in court.
1592
Galileo publishes Della Scienze Mechanica (on raising weights). Plague kills 15,000 people in London, with further outbreaks in following years.
1593
19 February: MP for Middlesex. 2 and 8 March: speaks against the Queen’s demand for additional taxes, and loses royal favour.
1595
Mercator’s atlas published.
1596
Appointed Queen’s Counsel Extraordinary (honorific title). Galileo invents thermometer.
1597
February: first edition of Essays (ten essays), with Colours of Good and Evil, and Religious Meditations. 18 October: MP for Ipswich; speaks against enclosures.
1598
Tycho Brahe publishes account of his discoveries, with a description of the instruments he has used.
1599
March: acts as prosecuting counsel in trial of Essex over Irish debacle. The Italian naturalist Ulissi Aldrovani publishes an account of his studies of birds.
1600
24 October: Double Reader at Gray’s Inn. William Gilbert publishes De Magnete (on magnetism and electricity).
1601
19 February: acts as state prosecutor in trial of Essex for rebellion. Commanded by the Queen to write A Declaration of the Practises and Treasons attempted and committed by Robert late Earl of Essex. 27 October: MP for Ipswich. November: introduces bill for repealing superfluous laws.
1603
24 March: death of Queen Elizabeth, accession of King James I. 23 July: Bacon knighted by James, along with 300 others. Publishes (anonymously) A Brief Discourse, touching the Happy Union of the Kingdoms of England, and Scotland. Member of the ecclesiastical commission.
1604
March: MP for Ipswich. June: publishes Sir Francis Bacon His Apology, in certain imputations concerning the late Earl of Essex, and (anonymously) Certain Considerations touching the better Pacification and Edification of the Church of England, which is suppressed by the Bishop of London. 18 August: appointed King’s Counsel. Kepler publishes his Optics.
1605
October: publishes The Two Books of Francis Bacon. Of the proficience and advancement of Learning, divine and human (reprinted 1629).
1606
1607
17 February: makes important speeches in Parliament supporting union of the kingdoms and naturalization of Scottish citizens. 25 June: appointed Solicitor-General.
1608
Becomes Clerk of the Star Chamber. Appointed Treasurer of Gray’s Inn.
1609
Publishes De Sapientia Veterum.
1610
February: MP for Ipswich. June: speaks in defence of the royal prerogative.
1611
Marco de Dominis offers a scientific account of the phenomenon of the rainbow.
1612
November: publishes enlarged edition of the Essays (thirty-eight essays).
1613
26 October: appointed Attorney-General.
1614
January: publishes The Charge of Sir Francis Bacon, Knight, His Majesty’s Attorney-general, touching Duells . . . April: MP for Cambridge University.
1616
25 May: acts as state prosecutor against the Earl and Countess of Somerset over the poisoning of Sir Thomas Overbury. 9 June: appointed Privy Counsellor.
1617
7 March: appointed Lord Keeper of the Seal; reforms workings of Chancery.
1618
January: appointed Lord Chancellor. 12 July: created Baron Verulam. Royal College of Physicians issues Pharmacopoeia Londinensis.
1619
October: involved in prosecution of the Earl of Suffolk for illegal exaction.
1620
12 October: publishes in part Instauratio Magna: Preface, ‘Plan of the Work’, and Part II, Novum Organum (two books only). This volume includes Parasceve ad Historiam Naturalem et Experimentalem. November: involved in prosecution of Sir Henry Yelverton, Attorney-General, for unlawfully amending the charter of the City of London.
1621
27 January: created Viscount St Alban. 3 May: sentenced by the House of Lords on charge of taking bribes. Dismissed from office as Lord Chancellor, fined £40,000, and temporarily imprisoned; but retains other titles and is given a limited pardon. Retires to Gorhambury.
1622
March publishes The Historie of the Reign of King Henry the Seventh. November: publishes Historia Naturalis et Experimentalis . . ., Part I: Historia Ventorum.
1623
January: publishes Part II: Historia Vitae et Mortis. October: publishes De Dignitate & Augmentis Scientiarum Libri IX.
1624
March: composes treatise concerning a war with Spain. December: publishes Apophthegms New and Old and The Translation of Certain Psalms into English verse.
1625
27 March: death of King James; accession of King Charles I. April: publishes third edition of the Essays or Counsels, Civil and Moral . . . Newly enlarged (fifty-eight essays). 19 December: makes last will and testament.
1626
9 April: dies at Highgate, having caught a chill experimenting with the effect of refrigeration on preserving food. Santorio Santorio measures human temperature with thermometer for the first time; Jardin des Plantes created in Paris.
1627
Publication of Sylva Sylvarum: or A Natural History, to which is appended the New Atlantis.
Henry Neville
1620
Born in Berkshire, second son of Sir Henry Neville and Elizabeth, daughter of Sir John Smith of Kent.
1621
English attempt to colonize Newfoundland and Nova Scotia. Dutch West India Company chartered.
1623
Dutch massacre English factors in Moluccas.
1624
James I dissolves Parliament.
1625
James I dies. Charles I succeeds. Colonial office established in London.
1629
Charles dissolves Parliament.
1634
English settle at Malabar. Pilgrims leave in The Mayflower to found Plymouth colony.
1635
Enters Merton College, Oxford. Later moves to University College, Oxford. Leaves without a degree. Dutch occupy English Virgin Islands.
1636
Dutch settle in Sri Lanka.
1642
English Revolution begins. Portuguese cede Gold Coast to Dutch.
1645
Neville returns to England from a trip to the continent. Recruits soldiers for Parliament in Abingdon. Dutch occupy St Helena.
1646
English Revolution ends with victory of Cromwell.
1647
Publishes The Parliament of Ladies and The Ladies a Second Time Assembled in Parliament.
1649
Sits on Goldsmiths Hall committee on delinquents. Charles I beheaded.
1650
Publishes News from the New Exchange, or the Commonwealth of Ladies. Accord between English and Dutch over North American colonies.
1651
Neville made member of the Council of State. Becomes friendly with staunch republicans such as James Harrington and grows suspicious of Oliver Cromwell’s commitment to republicanism. Thomas Hobbes’s Leviathan published. English Navigation Act, aimed against the Dutch, gives English ships monopolies in foreign trade. Dutch settle Cape of Good Hope.
1652
War with the Netherlands. English defeat Dutch at Folkestone. Filmer’s Observations concerning the Original of Government published.
1653
Oliver Cromwell becomes Lord Protector. English defeat Dutch again, in various battles.
1654
Neville banished from London by Oliver Cromwell. Treaty of Westminster ends Anglo-Dutch War; Dutch recognize 1651 Navigation Act.
1655
Cromwell dissolves Parliament.
1656
Harrington’s Oceana published.
1657
Cromwell rejects title of King; creates House of Lords.
1658
Cromwell dies. Succeeded by son Richard as Lord Protector, who resigns following year.
30 December: Neville returned to Parliament as MP for Reading.
1659
16 February: charged unsuccessfully with atheism and blasphemy in an attempt to exclude him from Parliament. 21 Febrary: argues against armed intervention in war between Sweden and Denmark. Becomes member of Harrington’s Rota Club. Publishes Shuffling, Cutting and Dealing in a Game of Piquet.
1660
Parliament invites Charles II to return to England, and dissolves itself. Dutch peasants (Boers) settle in South Africa. Royal African Company founded.
1661
Coronation of Charles II.
1663
October: Neville arrested on suspicion of involvement in the Yorkshire rising. Imprisoned in the Tower but released for want of evidence. Moves shortly after to Silver Street near Bloomsbury market.
1664
British seizure of New Netherlands; New Amsterdam renamed New York.
1666
France and the Netherlands declare war on England.
1667
Peace of Breda between the Netherlands, France, and England. Milton starts to publish Paradise Lost.
1668
Neville publishes The Isle of Pines, first in two separate pamphlets, then as a combined pamphlet.
1672
Britain declares war on the Netherlands.
1675
Neville publishes translation of a selection of Machiavelli’s works.
1680
Extinction of the dodo.
1681
Neville publishes Plato Redivivus, or a Dialogue concerning Government.
1685
Charles II dies, succeeded by brother James II.
1688
James II abdicates; William (of Orange) and Mary crowned. Aphra Behn publishes Oroonoko.
1694
20 September: Neville dies; buried in parish church of Warfield, Berkshire.
The Title page of the 1556 edition of Robinson’s translation of Utopia.
The
Translator to the Gentle Reader
Thou shalt understand, gentle reader, that though this work of Utopia in English come now the second time forth in print, yet was it never my mind nor intent that it should ever have been imprinted at all, as who for no such purpose took upon me at the first the translation thereof; but did it only at the request of a friend, for his own private use, upon hope that he would have kept it secret to himself alone.* Whom though I knew to be a man indeed, both very witty and also skilful, yet was I certain that in the knowledge of the Latin tongue he was not so well seen as to be able to judge of the fineness or coarseness of my translation. Wherefore I went the more slightly through with it, propounding to myself therein rather to please my said friend’s judgement than mine own. To the meanness of whose learning I thought it my part to submit and attemper my style. Lightly, therefore, I overran the whole work, and in short time, with more haste than good speed,* I brought it to an end. But, as the Latin proverb sayeth: ‘The hasty bitch bringeth forth blind whelps.’* For when this my work was finished, the rudeness thereof showed it to be done in post-haste. Howbeit, rude and base though it were, yet fortune so ruled the matter that to imprinting it came, and that partly against my will.