James Harrington | |
|---|---|
 James Harrington, c. 1658 | |
| Born | (1611-01-03)3 January 1611 Upton, Northamptonshire, England |
| Died | 11 September 1677(1677-09-11) (aged 66) Little Ambry,Dean's Yard, Westminster, England |
| Resting place | St Margaret's, Westminster |
| Language | English |
| Education | Trinity College, Oxford |
| Period | European wars of religion |
| Genre | Utopian fiction |
| Subject | Utopia,classical republicanism |
| Notable works | The Commonwealth of Oceana |
James Harrington (orHarington; 3 January 1611 – 11 September 1677) was an Englishpolitical theorist ofclassical republicanism.[1] He is best known for his controversial publicationThe Commonwealth of Oceana (1656).[2][3] This work was an exposition of an ideal constitution, autopia, designed to facilitate the development of the English republic established after the regicide, the execution ofCharles I of England in 1649.
Harrington was born in 1611 inUpton, Northamptonshire. He was the eldest son of Sir Sapcote(s) Harrington ofRand, Lincolnshire, who died in 1630, and his first wife, Jane Samwell of Upton, daughter ofSir William Samwell. James Harrington was the great-nephew ofJohn Harington, 1st Baron Harington of Exton, who died in 1613. For a period, he resided with his father in themanor house atMilton Malsor, Northamptonshire, which had been bequeathed by Sir William Samwell to his daughter following her marriage. Ablue plaque on Milton Malsor Manor commemorates this residence.
Holy Cross Church in Milton Malsor contains a monument on the south wall of thechancel to Harrington's mother,Dame Jane Harrington.[4] According to the memorial, she died on 30 March 1619, when James was 7 or 8 years old. The memorial reads, in modern English but punctuated as in the original:
"Here under lies the body of Dame Jane, daughter of Sir William Samwell Knight, & late wife to Sir Sapcotes Harington [sic] of Milton Knight, by whom he had issue 2 sons & 3 daughters, viz James, William, Jane, Anne & Elizabeth. Which Lady died March 30, 1619".
When his father died in June 1630, James commissioned a second monument, which can still be seen in the Church of St Oswald atRand, Lincolnshire. It depicts Sapcotes and his first wife Jane together with their five children.
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Knowledge of Harrington's childhood and early education is thin, though he clearly spent time both in Milton Malsor and at the family manor in Rand. In 1629 he enteredTrinity College, Oxford as agentleman commoner and left two years later with no degree. His eighteenth-century biographer, John Toland, says that while there one of his tutors was the royalist High ChurchmanWilliam Chillingworth, which may have been the case before the latter left for the Catholic seminary in Douai in 1630. On 27 October 1631 Harrington entered theMiddle Temple.
By this time, Harrington's father had died, and his inheritance helped pay his way through several years of continental travel. There is some suggestion that he enlisted in a Dutch militia regiment (apparently seeing no service), before touring the Netherlands, Denmark, Germany, France, Switzerland and Italy. He was inGeneva with James Zouche in the summer of 1635 and subsequently travelled to Rome. In the light of this, Toland's reference to his visiting the Vatican, where he "refused to kiss the Pope's foot", probably refers to early 1636; meanwhile his visit to Venice helped bolster his knowledge of, and enthusiasm for, the Italian republics. The following decade, including his comings and goings during the Civil Wars, are largely unaccounted for by anything other than unsubstantiated stories, for example that he accompanied Charles I to Scotland in 1639 in connection with the firstBishops' War. In 1641–42 and in 1645 he provided financial assistance to Parliament, providing loans and perhaps also collecting money on behalf of Parliament in Lincolnshire. Yet, around the same time, he was acting as 'agent' forCharles Louis, the Prince Elector Palatine, who was nephew ofCharles I and whose brotherPrince Rupert led the Royalist forces in theEnglish Civil War. Charles Louis and his mother had declared their support for Parliament in 1642.
Harrington's apparent political loyalty to Parliament did not interfere with a strong personal devotion to the King. Following the capture of Charles I, Harrington accompanied a "commission" of MPs appointed to accompany Charles in the move fromNewcastle toHoldenby House (Holmby), after he had been relinquished by the Scots, who had captured him. Harrington's cousin Sir James Harrington was one of the Commissioners, which perhaps explains why the future author ofOceana was one of those who accompanied the commissioners as servants 'to wait upon' the King on the journey.[5] Harrington continued as 'gentleman of the bedchamber' to the King once they reached Holdenby House, and we see him acting in that capacity through to the end of the year at bothCarisbrooke Castle andHurst Castle. However, while at Hurst Castle Harrington got into a discussion with the Governor and various army officers during which he voiced his support for the King's position concerning theTreaty of Newport, resulting in his dismissal.[6]
At least two contemporary accounts have Harrington withCharles on the scaffold, but these do not rise above the level of rumour.
After Charles' death, Harrington probably devoted his time to the composition ofThe Commonwealth of Oceana. By order of England's thenLord ProtectorOliver Cromwell, it was seized when passing through the press. Harrington, however, managed to secure the favour of Cromwell's favourite daughter,Elizabeth Claypole. The work was restored to him, and appeared in 1656, newly dedicatedto Cromwell.[7] With the views embodied inOceana, particularly those bearing on vote by ballot and rotation of magistrates and legislators, Harrington and others (who in 1659 formed a club called the "Rota") endeavoured to push practically, but with little success.[8][9]
Harrington's manuscripts have vanished; his printed writings consist ofOceana, and papers, pamphlets, aphorisms and treatises, many of which are devoted to its defence. The first two editions ofOceana are known as the "Chapman" and the "Pakeman". Their contents are nearly identical. HisWorks, including the PakemanOceana and a previously unpublished but important manuscriptA System of Politics, were first edited with a biography byJohn Toland in 1700.[10] Toland's edition, with numerous substantial additions byThomas Birch, appeared first in London in 1737. An edition not including Birch's additions but rather a copy ofHenry Neville'sPlatoRedivivus was published in Dublin in the same year. The 1737 London edition was reprinted in 1747 and 1771.Oceana was reprinted in HenryMorley's Universal Library in 1887; S.B. Liljegren reissued a fastidiously prepared version of the Pakeman edition in 1924.
J. G. A. Pocock was a modern editor of Harrington's work. In 1977, he edited a compilation of many of Harrington tracts, with a lengthy historical introduction. According to Pocock, Harrington's prose was marred by an undisciplined work habit and a conspicuous "lack of sophistication," never attaining the level of "a great literary stylist." For example, as contrasted with Hobbes and Milton, "nowhere" to be found are:
important shades of meaning...conveyed [through] rhythm, emphasis and punctuation; ...He wrote hastily, in a baroque andperiodic style in which he more than once lost his way. He suffered from Latinisms...his notions of how to insert quotations, translations and references in his text were at times productive of confusion.[11]
By contrast,Rachel Hammersley has argued that Harrington's literary approach was specifically designed to serve his political purposes, to persuade his readers to act on his ideas.[12]
Following theStuart Restoration, on 25 November 1661 Harrington was arrested on a charge of conspiring against the government in the "Bow Street"cabal[13] and, without a formal trial, was thrown intothe Tower. There, he was "badly treated", and in April 1662 a warrant was issued for him to be held in close custody, which led his sisters into obtaining a writ ofhabeas corpus. Before it could be executed, however, the authorities rushed him toSt Nicholas Island off the coast ofPlymouth. His brother and uncle won Harrington's release to the fort at Plymouth by posting a £5000 bond. Thereafter, his general state of health quickly deteriorated, perhaps from his ingestion on medical advice of the addictive drugguaiacum.[14]Harrington's mind appeared to be affected. He suffered "intermittent delusions;" one observer judged him "simply mad." He recovered only slightly, then slipped decidedly downhill. He proceeded to suffer attacks of gout and palsy before falling victim to a paralysing stroke. At some point between 1662 and 1669 he married "a Mrs Dayrell, his 'old sweetheart'", the daughter of a Buckinghamshire noble.
Harrington died at Little Ambry,Dean's Yard,Westminster. He was buried next toSir Walter Raleigh inSt Margaret's, Westminster. There is a slate wall memorial to him atSt Michael's Church, Upton.[15]
[Harrington has often been confused with his cousinSir James Harrington, 3rd Baronet of Ridlington, MP, a member of theparliamentary commission which tried Charles I, and twice president of Cromwell's Council of State. He was subsequently excluded from theIndemnity and Oblivion Act which pardoned many who had taken up arms against the King during the Civil Wars (1642–46).]
One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Harrington, James".Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 13 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 18–19.
