Dee's National Library

Justin Pickard

John Dee (1527-1608) presented Queen Mary (1516-58) with a visionary plan for the preservation of old books, manuscripts and records and the founding of a national library in 1556, but his proposal was not taken up. Instead, he expanded his personal library at his house in Mortlake, tirelessly acquiring books and manuscripts in England and on the Continent. Dee's library, a center of learning outside the universities, became the greatest in England and attracted many scholars.

Now, WI Queen Mary had listened to Dee? In what state would this 'national library' be today? Any butterflies for the intellectual establishment of the sixteenth century?
 

David S Poepoe

Banned
Justin Pickard said:
John Dee (1527-1608) presented Queen Mary (1516-58) with a visionary plan for the preservation of old books, manuscripts and records and the founding of a national library in 1556, but his proposal was not taken up. Instead, he expanded his personal library at his house in Mortlake, tirelessly acquiring books and manuscripts in England and on the Continent. Dee's library, a center of learning outside the universities, became the greatest in England and attracted many scholars.

Now, WI Queen Mary had listened to Dee? In what state would this 'national library' be today? Any butterflies for the intellectual establishment of the sixteenth century?
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Very interesting WI. I think the important thing to determine is exactly where the Dee Library will reside if Mary had accepted his books. If in London then the great peril would be the Great Fire of 1666. I think it would be more important that Dee's donation would be the kernal of later British intellectual growth. That his action causes the government to begin funding and purchasing books so that they can be use for learning.
 

Wendell

David S Poepoe said:
Very interesting WI. I think the important thing to determine is exactly where the Dee Library will reside if Mary had accepted his books. If in London then the great peril would be the Great Fire of 1666. I think it would be more important that Dee's donation would be the kernal of later British intellectual growth. That his action causes the government to begin funding and purchasing books so that they can be use for learning.
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Maybe the Library could be in Liverpool...
 

carlton_bach

If the library is in royal hands, it will probably be either at the Tower (where they traditionally kept their valuables and people they didn't want to lose) or at Hampton Court. Neither was hurt in the fire, but I wonder what kind of books Dee collected and what Cromwell's men would have made of them.

That said, a household estabnlishment of the Bibliothecary Royal, with a small stipend and funds for purchasing, would not be a huge expense. The real question is, would this hgave come early enough to still collect some of the valuable monastic collections that were selling by the hundredweight for kindling in the 1530s, or would he simply be competing with the Colleges for the few ancient texts still floating around? After all, Britain had Oxbridge to collect old books since the 1200s.
 

Justin Pickard

Well, Mary dies in 1558 so, whilst Elizabeth is still keen to grant Dee patronage, I would imagine that any further examination of the library project would be delayed until the early 1560s, when I think Elizabeth would be keen to use the unifying force of such a project as a way to boost flagging support amongst the English intelligentsia. I don't think it would be in specifically royal hands, I just think it would end up with a strong tradition of royal patronage, probably coming to fill a similar role to that held by the British Library today.

Unfortunately for its long term survival, a London location of some description seems all too obvious, and I think either a major adaption of some existing building, or the outright construction of an entirely new structure seem likely.

Any suggestions for a London location? What about Somerset House, which was already under Elizabeth's control?
 
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Justin Pickard

wikipedia said:
Somerset House takes its name from the London home of Edward Seymour, Duke of Somerset, who commissioned a riverside mansion on the site in 1547, one of a row of noblemen's houses with fronts along the Strand. The building was constructed from stone removed from some of the chantries and cloisters at St. Paul's Cathedral which were demolished at the behest of Somerset and other leading Protestant nobles as part of the ongoing Dissolution of the Monasteries.

When Somerset fell from grace in 1551 (being executed for treason the following year), the building passed to the Crown and was used by Princess Elizabeth for some years before she was crowned Queen Elizabeth in 1558.
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On closer inspection, this seems an entirely appropriate candidate. :D
 
Thande

Thande

Donor
Hmm. Maybe Dee could bring up the proposal again under Elizabeth? I think he had more influence with her than he did under Mary.

Very interesting WI, by the way. Perhaps it could lead to the establishment of an earlier Royal Society and especially a more important College/Society of Antiquaries (was begun 1586 OTL, but then banned by James I and reconstituted later on).
 
MrP

MrP

Banned
Hm, the survival of a load of manuscripts that we lost IOTL would be a great boon to historians across the globe! :cool:
 

alt_historian

MrP said:
Hm, the survival of a load of manuscripts that we lost IOTL would be a great boon to historians across the globe! :cool:
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Maybe to a lesser degree than the Great Library of Alexandria, but sure.

(cue argument over how valuable the GLoA was).
 
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