Thomas Hearne

Thomas Hearne (by George Vertue after a design by Peter Tillemans )

Thomas Hearne (* 1678 in Little Field Green ( Berkshire ), † June 10, 1735 in Oxford ) was a British antiquarian who was best known for his diaries .

Life

Thomas Hearne was the second son of the sexton and schoolmaster George Hearne and his wife Edith. He was born in 1678 and baptized on July 11 of the same year. However, John Aikin assumes 1680 as his date of birth in his General Biography . Because of his early interest in science, Hearne became friends with the squire Francis Cherry (Aikin's benefactor is Charny), a Jacobite and non-juror who lived in nearby Shottesbrooke. Probably at Cherry's instigation, Hearne attended the public grammar school in Bray (Berkshire) from 1692 . In addition, Cherry initially gave him private lessons in classical philology and passed this task on to his friend Henry Dodwell in 1694 . In 1695, Cherry took 17-year-old Hearne in temporarily. On December 5 of the same year, Hearne enrolled at St Edmund Hall , where he also moved the following year. Hearne studied geography and classical philology at the University of Oxford . Before he graduated in 1703, Hearne made transcriptions for Dodwell, John Mill and Johannes Ernst Grabe .

Worked at the Bodleian Library

In 1701, Hearne, a regular visitor to the Bodleian Library , was hired as an assistant to the library by John Hudson , then newly appointed Bodley's Librarian . Initially it was Hearnes' task to revise the catalog of printed books drawn up by Thomas Hyde from 1674 and to publish a supplementary appendix. Hudson soon abandoned the plan, however, and the catalog was forgotten until Robert Fysher reused parts of it in his 1738 catalog of the Bodleian Library, but without referring to Hearne's authorship.

The collaboration between Hudson and Hearne, who was appointed assistant library director in 1712, produced many publications, including revisions of Latin literature and an edition of the correspondence between Thomas Bodley and Thomas James . In the preface to the latter, Hearne calls on readers to donate books to the Bodleian Library or to bequeath them in their wills. The urgency with which he does so, puts loud Ernst Gustav Vogel suggests that the 1695 repealed legal deposit scheme was not yet back at that time active.

In the years around 1710 Hearne also frequently took on research assignments , for example for Jeremy Collier , Hilkiah Bedford and Francis Atterbury . The 1709 edition of Ignatius 'letters ( digitized version ), for which Hearne also did the editing , and the Homer edition by Joshua Barnes ( digitized version) also draw on Hearnes' research.

Political and religious conflicts with superiors

Because of his beliefs as a non-juror, Hearne turned down all positions in his academic career that would have required swearing the oath of allegiance to George I. After his supervisor Hudson advised against accepting the position of chaplain of Corpus Christi College , Hearne was named Beadle of Divinity in 1709 and passed the position to his friend Edward Lhuyd , who died that same year. In 1719 Hearne also declined promotion to Bodley's Librarian.

When Henry Dodwell announced the end of the schism in 1710 and many non-jurors, including Francis Cherry, returned to the Church of England , Hearne joined George Hickes' group, which continued to deny the oath. This decision met with incomprehension and often clearly articulated rejection within the Bodleian Library, but also on the part of University College and Oxford University Press . As Hearne got older, he began to combine his views as a non-juror with attacks against contemporaries and to add them to his publications. This ultimately led to the planned new edition of Dodwell's De parma equestri Woodwardiana dissertatio being suppressed, as Hearne had provided some polemical swipes at Dodwell for the appendix.

Despite the increasingly violent controversy with his superiors, Hearne received the position of Architypographer and Beadle of Civil Law in 1715, although he was provided with an assistant. At the initiative of John Hudson, with whom he also had a deteriorating relationship, Hearne soon resigned from this position. Refusing to give up his position as deputy head of the Bodleian Library, Hudson finally had the locks on the library door changed so that Hearne could no longer use his keys.

Hearne's foreword to his planned new edition of William Camden's Annals caused offense at Oxford University Press due to his Catholic-looking tendencies, which is why the printing of the entire work was canceled. Hearne was appointed before the rectorate and had to answer for his writing there. Hearnes 'prominent supporters included the doctor Richard Mead , who, unlike Hearnes' many Tory friends , saw himself as Whig , and Arthur Gore , the 3rd Earl of Arran , who ultimately gave Hearne permission to publish. The retired librarian used these for further reprints of works that were judged unsuitable by Oxford University Press due to the origin or religion of their authors. For example, Hearne and Thomas Ruddiman published the Scottish Chronicle of John Fordun , who considered the independence of Scotland from England. Hearne decided not to include the sequel by Walter Bower , as this would have been politically too risky due to Bower's open support for an independent Scotland.

In later years Hearne dealt much with the history of Glastonbury Abbey , largely relying on the chronicle of the Catholic antiquarian Charles Eyston , which he was reissuing.

Death and survival

All attempts to drive Hearne out of Oxford were unsuccessful and he stayed in his apartment in St Edmunds Hall until his death. Presumably of gastric cancer , Hearne died in his home on June 10, 1735 and was buried four days later in the churchyard of St Peter-in-the-East.

Hearnes' belligerent character gave rise to numerous satires on his person. He is not only mentioned in The Dunciad by Alexander Pope , but also prompted Edmund Curll to publish the Impartial memorials of the life and writings of Thomas Hearne (1836). In contrast to the largely negative reports about Hearne's personality, his scientific work was mostly praised, for example by Philip Bliss and William Dunn Macray .

Fonts (selection)

As editor

Thomas Bodley, Thomas James: Reliquiæ Bodleianæ. Or some genuine remains of Sir Thomas Bodley. London: John Hartley 1703.
Pliny the Younger : Epistolae et Panegyricus. Cum variis lectionibus et annotationibus. Oxford: West 1703.
Eutropius : Breviarium historiæ Romanæ. Cum Pæanii metaphrasi Græca. Oxford: Sheldon 1703.
Abbé de Vallemont : Ductor historicus. Or, a short system of universal history, and an introduction to the study of it. The second edition, very much augmented and improv'd. London: Timothy Childe 1704-1705.
Marcus Junianus Iustinus : Historiarum ex Trogo Pompeio. Oxford: Sheldon 1705.
Titus Livius : Patavini Historiarum from urbe condita libri qui supersunt. Oxford: Sheldon 1708.
John Spelman : The Life of Aelfred the Great [...] from the original manuscript in the Bodleian Library. With considerable additions, and several historical remarks by the publisher. Oxford: At the Theater 1709.
William of Newburgh : Historia sive Chronica rerum Anglicarum. Oxford: Sheldon 1719.

As an author

A Collection of Curious Discourses. Oxford: 1720.
A letter containing an account of some antiquities between Windsor and Oxford. Oxford: 1769.
Remarks and collections. Oxford: Clarendon Press (published posthumously in eleven volumes between 1885 and 1921).

Individual evidence

↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e John Watkins: Hearne (Thomas) . In: John Watkins (Ed.): The Universal Biographical Dictionary . A new edition, considerably enlarged and improved. Longman, London 1823, p. 614 ( google.at ).
↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l ^m ⁿ ^o ^p ^q ^r ^s ^t ^u ^v ^w ^x ^y ^z ^aa ^ab ^ac ^ad Theodor Harmsen: Hearne, Thomas (bap. 1678, d. 1735), antiquary and diarist . In: Henry Colin Gray Matthew, Brian Howard Harrison (Eds.): The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography . tape 26 : Haycock – Hichens. Oxford University Press, Oxford 23 September 2004 (English).
↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g John Aikin: HEARNE, Thomas . In: John Aikin (Ed.): General Biography. Or, Lives, Critical and Historical, of the Most Eminent Persons of All Ages, Countries, Conditions, and Professions, Arranged According to Alphabetical Order . tape 5 . T. Davison, London 1804, p. 87 ( google.at ).
^ ^A ^b Ernst Gustav Vogel: Historical overview of the ordinances for the delivery of mandatory copies to public libraries in some European countries . In: Robert Naumann (Ed.): Serapeum . tape 6 , no. 22 . Weigel, Leipzig November 30, 1845, p. 348 .
↑ Brynley Francis Roberts : Lhuyd [Lhwyd; formerly Lloyd], Edward (1659/60? -1709), naturalist and philologist . In: Henry Colin Gray Matthew, Brian Howard Harrison (Eds.): The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography . tape 34 : Liston - McAlpine. Oxford University Press, Oxford 23 September 2004 (English).

personal data
SURNAME	Hearne, Thomas
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	British antiquarian and diary author
DATE OF BIRTH	1678
PLACE OF BIRTH	Little Field Green, Berkshire
DATE OF DEATH	June 10, 1735
Place of death	Oxford

[:2-1] John Watkins: Hearne (Thomas) . In: John Watkins (Ed.): The Universal Biographical Dictionary . A new edition, considerably enlarged and improved. Longman, London 1823, p. 614 ( google.at ).

[:0-2] ↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l ^m ⁿ ^o ^p ^q ^r ^s ^t ^u ^v ^w ^x ^y ^z ^aa ^ab ^ac ^ad Theodor Harmsen: Hearne, Thomas (bap. 1678, d. 1735), antiquary and diarist . In: Henry Colin Gray Matthew, Brian Howard Harrison (Eds.): The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography . tape 26 : Haycock – Hichens. Oxford University Press, Oxford 23 September 2004 (English).

[:3-3] ↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g John Aikin: HEARNE, Thomas . In: John Aikin (Ed.): General Biography. Or, Lives, Critical and Historical, of the Most Eminent Persons of All Ages, Countries, Conditions, and Professions, Arranged According to Alphabetical Order . tape 5 . T. Davison, London 1804, p. 87 ( google.at ).

[:1-4] A ^b Ernst Gustav Vogel: Historical overview of the ordinances for the delivery of mandatory copies to public libraries in some European countries . In: Robert Naumann (Ed.): Serapeum . tape 6 , no. 22 . Weigel, Leipzig November 30, 1845, p. 348 .

[5] Brynley Francis Roberts : Lhuyd [Lhwyd; formerly Lloyd], Edward (1659/60? -1709), naturalist and philologist . In: Henry Colin Gray Matthew, Brian Howard Harrison (Eds.): The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography . tape 34 : Liston - McAlpine. Oxford University Press, Oxford 23 September 2004 (English).