Thomas Bodley

Sir Thomas Bodley (March 2, 1545 – January 28, 1613), was an English diplomat and scholar, founder of the Bodleian Library, Oxford.

Biography

Thomas Bodley was born at Exeter in the second last year of the reign of Henry VIII. His father, John Bodley, was a Protestant merchant who went to live abroad rather than stay in England under the Catholic regime of Mary. The family (and the ten year old Nicholas Hilliard, who had been attached to the household by his parents, friends of Bodley) eventually settled in Geneva where Thomas received his early education. He attended lectures given by John Calvin and Theodore Beza, and attended services led by John Knox. He learned Greek from Mattheus Beroaldus and Hebrew from Antoine Chevallier. The study of these languages remained enduring passions for Bodley throughout his life.

After Mary's death in 1558 and the accession of Elizabeth, the family returned to England, and Bodley entered Magdalen College, Oxford to study under Lawrence Humphrey. In 1563 he took his B.A. degree, and was shortly afterwards admitted as a Fellow to Merton College. He began lecturing at Merton and in April 1565 he was formally appointed as the college's first Lecturer in Ancient Greek, a post that was subsequently made permanent. He served in many college offices and in 1569 was elected as one of the University's junior proctors, and for some time after was deputy Public Orator. Leaving Oxford in 1576 with a licence to study abroad and a grant from his college of £6. 13s. 4d., he toured France, Italy, and Germany, visiting scholars and adding French, Italian, and Spanish to his range of languages.

On his return he was appointed gentleman-usher to Queen Elizabeth and he entered Parliament as member for Portsmouth, and represented St Germans in 1586. In 1585 Bodley was entrusted with a mission to form a league between Frederick II of Denmark and certain German princes to assist Henry of Navarre, the future Henry IV of France. He was next dispatched on a secret mission to France; and in 1588 he was sent to the Hague as minister, a post which demanded great diplomatic skill, for it was in the Netherlands that the power of Spain had to be fought. The essential difficulties of his mission were complicated by the intrigues of the queen's ministers at home, and Bodley repeatedly asked to be recalled. He was finally permitted to return to England in 1596, but finding his preferment obstructed by the competing interests of Burghley and Essex, he retired from public life, and returned to Oxford.

As he had married Ann Ball in 1587 (a widow of considerable fortune and the daughter of a Mr Carew of Bristol) he had had to resign his fellowship at Merton, but he still had many friends there and the college gave a dinner in his honour in the spring of 1598. G. H. Martin speculates that the inspiration to restore the old Duke Humfrey's library may have come from the renewal of his contact with Henry Savile and other former colleagues at this dinner. Once his proposal was accepted he spent the rest of his life devoted to the library project. He was knighted on April 18, 1604. He died in 1613 and was buried in the choir of Merton College chapel. His monument of black and white marble complete with pillars made from books and allegories of learning is placed on the western wall of the north transept of the chapel.

The Bodleian Library

Bodley's greatest achievement was the re-founding of the library at Oxford, later named the Bodleian Library in his honor. He determined, he said, "to take his farewell of state employments and to set up his staff at the library door in Oxford." In 1598 his offer to restore the old library was accepted by the university. Bodley began his book collection effort in 1600, using the site of the former library above the Divinity School, which was in near ruin.

Even though Bodley lived over 400 years ago, modern libraries are still benefiting from some of his early ideas and practices.

One important idea that Bodley implemented was the creation of a "Benefactors' Book" in 1602, which was bound and put on display in the library in 1604. While he did have funding through the wealth of his wife, Ann Ball, and the inheritance he received from his father, Bodley still needed to have the gifts of his affluent friends and colleagues to build his library collection. Although not a completely original idea (as encouragement in 1412 the University Chaplain was ordered to say mass for benefactors) Bodley recognized that having your name out for everyone to see their contributions was more inspiring. According to Lewis B. Wright,

He had prepared a handsome Register of Donations, in vellum, in which the name of every benefactor should be written down in a large and fair hand so all might read. And he kept the Register prominently displayed so that no visitor to the library could escape seeing the generosity of Bodley's friends. The plan, as it deserved, was a success, for its originator found that, 'every man bethinks himself how by some good book or other he may be written in the scroll of the benefactors.' [Wright, Louis B. "Some Early 'Friends' of Libraries." "The Huntington Library Quarterly" 2, no. 3 (April 1939). http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0018-7895%28193904%292%3A3%3C355%3ASE%22OL%3E2.0.CO%3B2-B (accessed March 10, 2008).]

This innovative idea has carried on for over four centuries and has continued to be a great motivator for friends of libraries everywhere.

Another significant event related to Bodley was the agreement between the Bodleian Library and the Stationer's Company, in which "the Company agreed to send to the Library a copy of every book entered in their Register on condition that the books thus given might be borrowed if needed for reprinting, and that the books given to the Library by others might be examined, collated and copied by the Company." [Nicoll, Allardyce, ed. "Shakespeare Survey Vol. 4: An Annual Survey of Shakespearean Study & Production." Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1951.] This was the beginning of legal deposit libraries, and today, the Bodleian is one of six such libraries in the United Kingdom and Ireland. In 2003, the Copyright Act of 1911 was expanded to include information on CD-ROM and websites. This regulation is in place to ensure the collection and preservation of all published materials as an accurate, up to date historical record.

Publications

Bodley wrote his autobiography up to the year 1609, which, with the first draft of the statutes drawn up for the library, and his letters to the librarian, Thomas James, was published by Thomas Hearne, under the title of "Reliquiae Bodleianae, or Authentic Remains of Sir Thomas Bodley", (London, 1703, 8vo).If anyone would want to find out more about Sir Thomas Bodley there is a family in loughton.

References

NotesFurther references
*1911
*cite book
last = Martin
first = G.H.
coauthors = Highfield, R.L.
title = A History of Merton College
publisher = OUP
year = 1997
location = Oxford
id = ISBN 0-19-920183-8
pages = ch.8
*cite journal
last = Wright
first = Louis B.
authorlink =
coauthors =
title = Some Early 'Friends' of Libraries
journal = The Huntington Library Quarterly
volume = 2
issue = 3
pages =
publisher =
location =
date = April 1939
url = http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0018-7895%28193904%292%3A3%3C355%3ASE%22OL%3E2.0.CO%3B2-B
doi =
id =
accessdate = 2008-03-10
*cite book
last = Nicoll
first = Allardyce, ed.
authorlink =
coauthors =
title = Shakespeare Survey Vol. 4: An Annual Survey of Shakespearean Study & Production
publisher = Cambridge University Press
date = 1951
location = Cambridge, UK
pages =
url =
doi =
id =
isbn = 0-52-152378-8

* [http://www.archive.org/search.php?query=mediatype%3A(texts)%20-contributor%3Agutenberg%20AND%20(subject%3A%22Bodley%2C%20Thomas%2C%20Sir%2C%201545-1613%22%20OR%20creator%3A%22Bodley%2C%20Thomas%2C%20Sir%2C%201545-1613%22) Works by or about Thomas Bodley] at Internet Archive (scanned books original editions color illustrated)

Persondata
NAME= Bodley, Thomas
ALTERNATIVE NAMES=
SHORT DESCRIPTION=English diplomat and scholar, founder of the Bodleian Library, Oxford
DATE OF BIRTH=March 2 1545
PLACE OF BIRTH=Exeter, England
DATE OF DEATH=January 28 1613
PLACE OF DEATH=