William Temple, 1st Baronet

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Sir William Temple

William Temple, 1st Baronet (born April 25, 1628 in London , † January 27, 1699 in Moor Park near Farnham (Surrey) ) was an English statesman, writer and diplomat.

Life

William Temple came from an Ireland- based line of the ancient English Temple family. He studied at Cambridge and then toured the European continent for six years. Only after the restoration of the Stuarts he entered the public career by becoming a member in 1660 of the Irish Convention and in that Assembly by opposition to the introduction of a poll tax ( Poll bill distinguished). With his father John Temple (1600–1677) at the same time, the County Carlow elected him to the Irish Parliament in 1661, which appointed him the following year as its commissioner to the king. Temple has since settled in London with his family and in 1665, when the war against Holland broke out, he received a secret mail from the court to the Bishop of Munster , which earned him the title of baronet and the office of resident at the court of Brussels .

When the Spanish Netherlands came into danger from France in 1667 , Temple, as the English plenipotentiary in The Hague , concluded the alliance with the Dutch that was named the Triple Alliance (1668) with the arrival of Sweden . As envoy in Aachen , he brought about the peace of May 2, 1668 between France and Spain . Charles II then appointed him envoy to the States General . In response under the Cabal Ministry in 1669, he withdrew from public affairs and went to his estate Sheen near Richmond in Surrey , where he wrote his Observations on the United Provinces of the Netherlands and some of his essays .

As a result of the discontent caused by the war against the Netherlands in connection with France in 1672, Charles II recalled the moderate Temple to civil service. In 1674 he went to The Hague, where he prepared peace and led the preliminary negotiations for the marriage of Prince William of Orange with Charles' oldest niece, Maria . In 1679 Charles II called him back to London. In order to reconcile the parties, he advised the king to form a council of state made up of 30 of the most distinguished government officials and members of parliament, whatever plan was carried out. He also became a Member of Parliament for Cambridge University .

When Charles II dissolved Parliament on January 10, 1681, Temple took his leave and retired to his Moor Park estate near Farnham, where the later famous Jonathan Swift was his secretary from 1689. Temple died on January 27, 1699 at the age of 70 on his estate. His works , which were distinguished by their form and content, were published in 1750 in London in two volumes and in 1814 in four volumes. Swift published his Memoirs (2 vol., London 1709) and Letters (3 volumes, London 1700-03), EA Parry Dorothy Osborne's letters to Sir William Temple 1652-54 (London 1888, expanded edition 1903).

literature

personal data
SURNAME Temple, William, 1st Baronet
BRIEF DESCRIPTION English statesman, writer and diplomat
DATE OF BIRTH April 25, 1628
PLACE OF BIRTH London
DATE OF DEATH January 27, 1699
Place of death Bog Park at Farnham (Surrey)