Degory Wheare, also spelt Digory Whear (the first name can be Latinized as Degoreus or Digoreus) (1573 – 1 August 1647) was an historian, the first
Camden Professor of Ancient History
The Camden Professorship of Ancient History at the University of Oxford was established in 1622 by English antiquary and historian William Camden, Clarenceux King of Arms, and endowed with the income of the manor of Bexley, becoming the first and ...
in the
University of Oxford
, mottoeng = The Lord is my light
, established =
, endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019)
, budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20)
, chancellor ...
.
Life
He was born in
Jacobstow
Jacobstow ( kw, Lannjago) is a civil parish and village in north Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. The village is located east of the A39 road approximately seven miles (11 km) south of Bude.Ordnance Survey: Landranger map sheet 190 ''Bude ...
,
Cornwall
Cornwall (; kw, Kernow ) is a historic county and ceremonial county in South West England. It is recognised as one of the Celtic nations, and is the homeland of the Cornish people. Cornwall is bordered to the north and west by the Atlantic ...
, at the mansion of Berry Court. He matriculated at
Broadgates Hall, Oxford, on 6 July 1593, graduated B.A. on 5 February 1597, and proceeded M.A. on 16 June 1600. He was a contemporary of
Francis Rous
Francis Rous, also spelled Rouse (c. 1581 to 1659), was an English politician and Puritan religious author, who was Provost of Eton from 1644 to 1659, and briefly Speaker of the House of Commons in 1653.
Stepbrother of Parliamentary leader ...
, a lifelong friend; and he was tutor at Broadgates Hall to
John Pym
John Pym (20 May 1584 – 8 December 1643) was an English politician, who helped establish the foundations of Parliamentary democracy. One of the Five Members whose attempted arrest in January 1642 sparked the First English Civil War, his use ...
(matriculated 18 May 1599).
Another Oxford friend was
Charles Fitzgeoffrey
Charles Fitzgeoffrey (1576–1638) was an Elizabethan poet and clergyman.
Early life and education
Fitzgeoffrey was born in Cornwall, the son of a clergyman, Alexander Fitzgeoffrey (a surname sometimes spelled Fitzgeffrey), Rector of the parish o ...
.
Wheare was admitted on 7 July 1602 as Cornish fellow of
Exeter College, Oxford
(Let Exeter Flourish)
, old_names = ''Stapeldon Hall''
, named_for = Walter de Stapledon, Bishop of Exeter
, established =
, sister_college = Emmanuel College, Cambridge
, rector = Sir Richard Trainor
...
, and became full fellow on 7 July 1603.
[ He was headmaster of Abingdon School from 1605–1606. He resigned his fellowship on 30 April 1608. In that year he went abroad as travelling companion to ]Grey Brydges, 5th Baron Chandos
Grey Brydges, 5th Baron Chandos (10 August 1621) of Sudeley Castle in Gloucestershire, was an English nobleman and courtier.
Early life
He was the only son of William Brydges, 4th Baron Chandos, who died on 18 November 1602, and Mary Hopton, ...
; and on his return to England Wheare continued to live with him. He was then permitted to occupy lodgings with his wife in Gloucester Hall, Oxford
Gloucester ( ) is a cathedral city and the county town of Gloucestershire in the South West of England. Gloucester lies on the River Severn, between the Cotswolds to the east and the Forest of Dean to the west, east of Monmouth and east of the ...
, where he became a close friend of Thomas Allen.[
Through the influence of Allen with ]William Camden
William Camden (2 May 1551 – 9 November 1623) was an English antiquarian, historian, topographer, and herald, best known as author of ''Britannia'', the first chorographical survey of the islands of Great Britain and Ireland, and the ''Ann ...
, the founder of the chair, Wheare was appointed on 16 October 1622 the first professor of modern history at Oxford, and he became principal of Gloucester Hall on 4 April 1626, where he expanded the student population. Anthony Wood says that Wheare ‘was esteemed by some a learned and genteel man, and by others a Calvinist
Calvinism (also called the Reformed Tradition, Reformed Protestantism, Reformed Christianity, or simply Reformed) is a major branch of Protestantism that follows the theological tradition and forms of Christian practice set down by John Ca ...
.’[
Wheare died at Oxford on 1 August 1647, and was buried under the eagle in Exeter College Chapel on 3 August, a large gravestone marking the place of burial. He left a widow and several children, in poverty. Four of his sons had been educated at Oxford; Charles was an unsuccessful candidate on his father's death for the professorship of modern history.][
]
Works
His most significant work was entitled ''De Ratione et Methodo Legendi Historias'' (''Of the Reason for and Method of Reading Histories'') published in October 1623. This was in origin his inaugural address for the new chair, in which he laid out a schema for the study of secular history, which found such a positive response that it went through many editions and expansions in the next decades. An English version was published in 1685 by Edmund Bohun
Edmund Bohun (1645–1699) was an English writer on history and politics, a publicist in the Tory interest.
Life Great Britain
Edmund Bohun was born on March 12, 1644/5 in Ringsfield, Suffolk, England.S. Wilton Rix, The Diary and Autobiography of ...
, as ''The Method and Order for Reading both Civil and Ecclesiastical Histories''.
See also
* Frederick Goddard Tuckerman: Degory Wheare is referred to in a sonnet by this poet as a "forgotten sage" named Dagoraus Whear.
Notes
;Attribution
References
Birmingham University: Account of Wheare's life
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wheare, Degory
1573 births
1647 deaths
17th-century English historians
17th-century English writers
17th-century English male writers
Camden Professors of Ancient History
Alumni of Broadgates Hall, Oxford
Fellows of Exeter College, Oxford
Principals of Gloucester Hall, Oxford
Heads of Abingdon School
Non-fiction writers from Cornwall