Ralph Cudworth | |
|---|---|
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| 11th Regius Professor of Hebrew, University of Cambridge | |
| In office 1645–1688 | |
| Preceded by | Robert Metcalfe |
| Succeeded by | Wolfram Stubbe |
| 14th Master of Christ's College, Cambridge | |
| In office 1654–1688 | |
| Preceded by | Samuel Bolton |
| Succeeded by | John Covel |
| 26th Master of Clare Hall, Cambridge | |
| In office 1645 (1650) – 1654 | |
| Preceded by | Thomas Paske |
| Succeeded by | Theophilus Dillingham |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 1617 (1617) Aller, Somerset, England |
| Died | 26 June 1688(1688-06-26) (aged 70–71) |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 4, includingDamaris Cudworth Masham |
| Parents |
|
| Relatives | James Cudworth (brother) |
| Alma mater | University of Cambridge: |
| Ecclesiastical career | |
| Religion | Christianity (Anglican) |
| Church | Church of England |
| Ordained |
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Offices held | Vicar,Gt Wilbraham (1656) Rector,N. Cadbury (1650–6) Rector,Toft (1656–62) Rector,Ashwell (1662–88) Prebendary,Gloucester (1678) |
Ralph CudworthFRS (/reɪfˈkʌdwɜːrθ/;[1] 1617 – 26 June 1688) was an EnglishAnglican clergyman,Christian Hebraist,classicist,theologian andphilosopher, and a leading figure among theCambridge Platonists who became 11thRegius Professor of Hebrew (1645–1688), 26th Master ofClare Hall (1645–1654), and 14th Master ofChrist's College (1654–1688).[2] A leading opponent ofHobbes's political and philosophical views, hismagnum opus was hisThe True Intellectual System of the Universe (1678).[3]
Cudworth's family reputedly originated inCudworth (nearBarnsley), Yorkshire, moving toLancashire with the marriage (c.1377) of John de Cudworth (died 1384) and Margery (died 1384), daughter of Richard de Oldham (living 1354),lord of the manor ofWerneth,Oldham. The Cudworths ofWerneth Hall,Oldham, were lords of the manor of Werneth/Oldham, until 1683. Ralph Cudworth (the philosopher)'s father,Ralph Cudworth (Snr), was the posthumous-born second son of Ralph Cudworth (d.1572) ofWerneth Hall,Oldham.[4][5][6][7][8]
The philosopher's father,Ralph Cudworth (1572/73–1624), was educated atEmmanuel College, Cambridge, where he graduated BA (1592/93, MA (1596). Emmanuel College (founded by SirWalter Mildmay (1584), and under the direction of its first Master,Laurence Chaderton) was, from its inception, a stronghold of Reformist, Puritan and Calvinist teaching, which shaped the development of puritan ministry, and contributed largely to the emigrant ministry in America.[9] Ordained in 1599[10][11] and elected to a college fellowship by 1600,[12] Cudworth Snr was much influenced byWilliam Perkins, whom he succeeded, in 1602, as Lecturer of the Parish Church ofSt Andrew the Great, Cambridge.[13] He was awarded the degree ofBachelor of Divinity in 1603.[14] He edited Perkins'sCommentary onSt Paul'sEpistle to the Galatians (1604),[15] with a dedication toRobert, 3rd Lord Rich (later 1st Earl of Warwick), adding a commentary of his own with dedication to SirBassingbourn Gawdy.[16] Lord Rich presented him to the Vicariate ofCoggeshall, Essex (1606)[17] to replace the deprived ministerThomas Stoughton, but he resigned this position (March 1608), and was licensed to preach from the pulpit by theChancellor and Scholars of theUniversity of Cambridge (November 1609).[18][19] He then applied for the rectorate ofAller, Somerset (an Emmanuel College living)[20] and, resigning his fellowship, was appointed to it in 1610.[21]
His marriage (1611) to Mary Machell, (who had been "nutrix" – nurse, or preceptor – toHenry Frederick, Prince of Wales)[22] brought important connections. Cudworth Snr was appointed as one ofJames I's chaplains.[23] Mary's mother (or aunt) was the sister of SirEdward Lewknor, a central figure (with theJermyn and Heigham families) among the puritanEast Anglian gentry, whose children had attended Emmanuel College.[24] Mary's Lewknor and Machell connections with the Rich family included her first cousins SirNathaniel Rich and his sister Dame Margaret Wroth, wife of SirThomas Wroth ofPetherton Park nearBridgwater, Somerset, influential promoters of colonial enterprise (and later of nonconformist emigration) inNew England. Aller was immediately within their sphere.
The children of Ralph Cudworth Snr and Mary (née Machell) Cudworth were:
The second son, and third of five (probably six) children, Ralph Cudworth (Jnr) was born atAller, Somerset, where he was baptised (13 July 1617). Following the death of his father, Ralph Cudworth Snr (1624),John Stoughton (1593–1639), (son of Thomas Stoughton of Coggeshall; also a Fellow of Emmanuel College), succeeded as Rector of Aller, and married the widow Mary (née Machell) Cudworth.[31] Dr Stoughton paid careful attention to his stepchildren's education, which Ralph later described as a "diet ofCalvinism".[32] Letters, to Stoughton, by both brothers James and Ralph Cudworth make this plain; and, when Ralph matriculated atEmmanuel College, Cambridge (1632),[33] Stoughton thought him "as wel grounded in Scho[o]l-Learning as any Boy of his Age that went to the University".[34]Stoughton was appointed Curate and Preacher atSt Mary Aldermanbury,London (1632),[35] and the family left Aller. Ralph's elder brother,James Cudworth, married and emigrated toScituate, Plymouth Colony, New England (1634).[36] Mary Machell Cudworth Stoughton died during summer 1634,[37] and DrStoughton married a daughter of John Browne ofFrampton andDorchester.[38]
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From a family background embedded in the early nonconformity and a diligent student, Cudworth was admitted (as a pensioner) to his father's old college,Emmanuel College, Cambridge (1630), matriculated (1632), and graduated (BA (1635/36); MA (1639)). After some misgivings (which he confided in his stepfather),[39] he was elected a Fellow of Emmanuel (1639), and became a successful tutor, delivering theRede Lecture (1641). He published a tract entitledThe Union of Christ and the Church, in a Shadow (1642),[40] and another,A Discourse concerning the True Notion of the Lord's Supper (1642),[41] in which his readings ofKaraite manuscripts (stimulated by meetings withJohann Stephan Rittangel) were influential.[42]
Following sustained correspondence withJohn Selden[43] (to whom he supplied Karaite literature), he was elected (aged 28) as 11thRegius Professor of Hebrew (1645).[44] In 1645,Thomas Paske had been ejected as Master ofClare Hall for his Anglican allegiances, and Cudworth (despite his immaturity) was selected as his successor, as 26th Master (but not admitted until 1650).[45] Similarly, his fellow-theologianBenjamin Whichcote was installed as 19thProvost ofKing's College.[46] Cudworth attained the degree ofBachelor of Divinity (1646), and preached a sermon before theHouse of Commons of England (on1 John 2, 3–4),[47] which was later published with a Letter of Dedication to the House (1647).[48] Despite these distinctions and his presentation, by Emmanuel College, to the rectorate ofNorth Cadbury, Somerset (3 October 1650), he remained comparatively impoverished. He was awarded the degree ofDoctor of Divinity (1651),[44] and, in January 1651/2, his friend DrJohn Worthington wrote of him, "If through want of maintenance he should be forced to leave Cambridge, for which place he is so eminently accomplished with what is noble and Exemplarily Academical, it would be an ill omen."[49]
Despite his worsening sight, Cudworth was elected (29 October 1654) and admitted (2 November 1654), as 14th Master ofChrist's College.[50] His appointment coincided with his marriage to Damaris (died 1695), daughter (by his first wife, Damaris) ofMatthew Cradock (died 1641), firstGovernor of theMassachusetts Bay Company. Hence Worthington commented "After many tossings Dr Cudworth is through God's good Providence returned to Cambridge and settled in Christ's College, and by his marriage more settled and fixed."[51]
In his Will (1641),Matthew Cradock had divided his estate beside theMystic River atMedford, Massachusetts (which he had never visited, and was managed on his behalf)[52] into two moieties: one was bequeathed to his daughter Damaris Cradock (died 1695), (later wife of Ralph Cudworth Jnr); and one was to be enjoyed by his widow Rebecca (during her lifetime), and afterwards to be inherited by his brother, Samuel Cradock (1583–1653), and his heirs male.[53] Samuel Cradock's son,Samuel Cradock Jnr (1621–1706), was admitted to Emmanuel (1637), graduated (BA (1640–1); MA (1644); BD (1651)), was later a Fellow (1645–56), and pupil ofBenjamin Whichcote's.[54] After part of the Medford estate was rented to Edward Collins (1642), it was placed in the hands of an attorney; the widow Rebecca Cradock (whose second and third husbands were Richard Glover andBenjamin Whichcote, respectively), petitioned the General Court of Massachusetts, and the legatees later sold the estate to Collins (1652).[55][56]
The marriage of the widow Rebecca Cradock to Cudworth's colleagueBenjamin Whichcote laid the way for the union between Cudworth and her stepdaughter Damaris (died 1695), which reinforced the connections between the two scholars through a familial bond. Damaris had first married (1642)[57] Thomas Andrewes Jnr (died 1653) of London and Feltham, son of SirThomas Andrewes (died 1659), (Lord Mayor of London, 1649, 1651–2), which union had produced several children. The Andrewes family were also engaged in the Massachusetts project, and strongly supported puritan causes.[58]
Cudworth emerged as a central figure among that circle of theologians and philosophers known as theCambridge Platonists, who were (more or less) in sympathy with theCommonwealth: during the later 1650s, Cudworth was consulted byJohn Thurloe,Oliver Cromwell's Secretary to theCouncil of State, with regard to certain university and government appointments and various other matters.[59][60] During 1657, Cudworth advisedBulstrode Whitelocke's sub-committee of the Parliamentary "Grand Committee for Religion" on the accuracy of editions of the English Bible.[61] Cudworth was appointed Vicar ofGreat Wilbraham, and Rector ofToft,CambridgeshireEly diocese (1656), but surrendered these livings (1661 and 1662, respectively) when he was presented, by DrGilbert Sheldon,Bishop of London, to theHertfordshire Rectory ofAshwell (1 December 1662).[11]
Given Cudworth's close cooperation with prominent figures in Oliver Cromwell's regime (such asJohn Thurloe), Cudworth's continuance as Master of Christ's was challenged at theRestoration but, ultimately, he retained this post until his death.[62] He and his family are believed to have resided in private lodgings at the "Old Lodge" (which stood between Hobson Street and the College Chapel), and various improvements were made to the college rooms in his time.[63] He was elected aFellow of theRoyal Society in 1662.
In 1665, Cudworth almost quarrelled with his fellow-Platonist,Henry More, because of the latter's composition of an ethical work which Cudworth feared would interfere with his own long-contemplated treatise on the same subject.[64] To avoid any difficulties, More published hisEnchiridion ethicum (1666–69), inLatin;[65] However, Cudworth's planned treatise was never published. His own majestic work,The True Intellectual System of the Universe (1678),[66] was conceived in three parts of which only the first was completed; he wrote: "there is no reason why this volume should therefore be thought imperfect and incomplete, because it hath not all the Three Things at first Designed by us: it containing all that belongeth to its own particular Title and Subject, and being in that respect no Piece, but a Whole."[67]
Cudworth was installed asPrebendary ofGloucester (1678).[11] His colleague,Benjamin Whichcote, died at Cudworth's house in Cambridge (1683),[68] and Cudworth himself died (26 June 1688), and was buried in the Chapel of Christ's College.[69] An oil portrait of Cudworth (from life) hangs in the Hall ofChrist's College.[70] During Cudworth's time an outdoor Swimming Pool was created atChrist's College (which still exists), and a carved bust of Cudworth there accompanies those ofJohn Milton andNicholas Saunderson.[71]
Cudworth's widow, Damaris (née Cradock) Andrewes Cudworth (died 1695), maintained close connections with her daughter,Damaris Cudworth Masham, atHigh Laver,Essex, which was where she died, and was commemorated in the church with a carved epitaph reputedly composed by the philosopherJohn Locke.[72]
The children of Ralph Cudworth and Damaris (née Cradock) Andrewes Cudworth were:
The stepchildren of Ralph Cudworth (children of Damaris (née Cradock) Andrewes and Thomas Andrewes) were:
Cudworth was a member of theCambridge Platonists, a group of English seventeenth-century thinkers associated with the University of Cambridge who were stimulated by Plato's teachings but also were aware of and influenced by Descartes, Hobbes, Bacon, Boyle and Spinoza.[88]
The role of nature was one faced by philosophers in the Age of Reason or Enlightenment. The prevailing view was either that of the Church of a personal deity intervening in his creation, producing miracles, or an ancient pantheism (atheism relative to theism) – deity pervading all things and existing in all things. However, the "ideas of an all-embracing providential care of the world and of one universal vital force capable of organizing the world from within."[89] presented difficulties for philosophers of a spiritual as well as materialistic bent.
Cudworth countered these mechanical, materialistic views of nature in hisTrue intellectual system of the universe (1678), with the idea of 'the Plastick Life of Nature', a formative principle that contains both substance and the laws of motion, as well as a nisus or direction that accounts for design and goal in the natural world. He was stimulated by the Cartesian idea of the mind as self-consciousness to see God as consciousness. He first analysed four forms of atheism from ancient times to present, and showed that all misunderstood the principle of life and knowledge, which involved unsentient activity and self-consciousness, addressing the tension between theism and atheism, took both the Stoic idea of Divine Reason poured into the world, and the Platonic idea of the world soul (anima mundi) to posit a power that was polaric – "either as a ruling but separate mind or as an informing vital principle – either nous hypercosmios or nous enkosmios.[89] According to theEncyclopædia Britannica:[90]
It is in connection with the refutation of hylozoic atheism that he brings forward the celebrated hypothesis, which he held in common with More, of a plastic nature,—a substance intermediate between matter and spirit,—a power which prosecutes certain ends but not freely or intelligently,—an instrument by which laws are able to act without the immediate agency of God ...
All of the atheistic approaches posited nature as unconscious, which for Cudworth was ontologically unsupportable, as a principle that was supposed to be the ultimate source of life and meaning could only be itself self-conscious and knowledgeable, that is, rational, otherwise creation or nature degenerates into inert matter set in motion by random external forces (Coleridge's 'chance whirlings of unproductive particles'). Cudworth saw nature as a vegetative power endowed with plastic (forming) and spermatic (generative) forces, but one with Mind, or a self-conscious knowledge. This idea would later emerge in the Romantic period in German science asBlumenbach'sBildungstreib (generative power) and theLebenskraft (orBildungskraft). Guido Giglioni writes:[89]
... the life of the universe splits into two principles – the one transcendent and intellectual (« an animalish, sentient and intellectual nature, or a conscious soul and mind, that presided over the whole world »), the other immanent and devoid of perception (« a certain plastic nature, or spermatic principle which was properly the fate of all things »)
The essence of atheism for Cudworth was the view that matter was self-active and self-sufficient, whereas for Cudworth the plastic power was unsentient and under the direct control of the universal Mind orLogos. For him atheism, whether mechanical or material could not solve the "phenomenon of nature." Henry More argued that atheism made each substance independent and self-acting such that it 'deified' matter. Cudworth argued that materialism/mechanism reduced "substance to a corporeal entity, its activity to causal determinism, and each single thing to fleeting appearances in a system dominated by material necessity."[89]
Cudworth had the idea of a general plastic nature of the world, containing natural laws to keep all of nature, inert and vital in orderly motion, and particular plastic natures in particular entities, which serve as 'Inward Principles' of growth and motion, but ascribes it to the Platonic tradition:[91]
The Platonists seem to affirm both these together, namely that there is a Plastick Nature lodged in all particular Souls of Animals, Brutes, and Men, and also that there is a Plastick or Spermatick Principle of the whole Universe distinct from the Higher Mundane Soul, though subordinate to it. (Cudworth, TIS, p. 165)
Further, Cudsworth's plastic principle was also a functional polarity. As he wrote:[92]
The Seminary Reason or Plastick Nature of the Universe opposing the Parts to one another and making them severally Indigent, produces by that means War and Contention. And therefore though it be One, yet notwithstanding it consists of Different and Contrary things. For there being Hostility in its Parts, it is nevertheless Friendly and Agreeable in the Whole; after the same manner as in a Dramatick Poem, Clashings and Contentions are reconciled into one Harmony. And therefore the Seminary or Plastick Nature of the World, may fitly be resembled to the Harmony of Disagreeing things.
As another historian notes in conclusion, "Cudworth's theory of plastic natures is offered as an alternative to the interpretation of all of nature as either governed by blind chance, or, on his understanding of the Malebranchean view, as micro-managed by God."[91]
Cudworth's plastic principle also involves a theory of mind that is active, that is, God or the Supreme Mind is "the spermatic reason" which gives rise to individual mind and reason. Human mind can also create, and has access to spiritual or super-sensible 'Ideas' in the Platonic sense.[88] Cudworth challenged Hobbesian determinism in arguing that will is not distinct from reason, but a power to act that is internal, and therefore, the voluntary will function involves self-determination, not external compulsion, though we have the power to act either in accordance with God's will or not. Cudworth's 'hegemonikon' (taken from Stoicism) is a function within the soul that combines the higher functions of the soul (voluntary will and reason) on the one hand with the lower animal functions (instinct), and also constitutes the whole person, thus bridging the Cartesian dualism of body and soul orpsyche andsoma. This idea provided the basis for a concept of self-awareness and identity of an individual that is self-directed and autonomous, an idea that anticipates John Locke.
Cudworth rejectedRené Descartes'animal machine doctrine, which held that animals are mere automata devoid of consciousness. In contrast to Descartes' strict dualism, which limited subjective experience to rational, immaterial human souls, Cudworth argued that animals possess a form of soul marked by internal self-activity and sensibility. He maintained that living beings are distinguished from inanimate matter not only by rationality but also by their capacity for autonomous motion and subjective states. Though based on metaphysical premises not widely held today, Cudworth's account provided a moral and philosophical contrast tomechanistic interpretations of animal life and denied that animals should be regarded as mindless or morally insignificant.[93]
Locke examined how man came to knowledge via stimulus (rather than seeing ideas as inherent), which approach led to his idea of the 'thinking' mind, which is both receptive and pro-active. The first involves receiving sensations ('simple ideas') and the second by reflection – "observation of its own inner operations" (inner sense which leads to complex ideas), with the second activity acting upon the first. Thought is set in motion by outer stimuli which 'simple ideas' are taken up by the mind's self-activity, an "active power" such that the outer world can only be real-ized as action (natural cause) by the activity of consciousness. Locke also took the issue of life as lying not in substance but in the capacity of the self for consciousness, to be able to organize (associate) disparate events, that is to participate life by means of thesense experiences, which have the capacity to produce every kind of experience in consciousness. These ideas of Locke were taken over by Fichte and influenced German Romantic science and medicine. (SeeRomantic medicine andBrunonian system of medicine).Thomas Reid and his "Common Sense" philosophy, was also influenced by Cudworth, taking his influence into the Scottish Enlightenment.[88]
George Berkeley later developed the idea of a plastic life principle with his idea of an 'aether' or 'aetherial medium' that causes 'vibrations' that animate all living beings. For Berkeley, it is the very nature of this medium that generates the 'attractions' of entities to each other.[92]
The refraction of light is also thought to proceed from the different density and elastic force of this æthereal medium in different places. The vibrations of this medium, alternately concurring with or obstructing the motions of the rays of light, are supposed to produce the fits of easy reflection and transmission. Light by the vibrations of this medium is thought to communicate heat to bodies. Animal motion and sensation are also accounted for by the vibrating motions of this æthereal medium, propagated through the solid capillaments of the nerves. In a word, all the phenomena and properties of bodies that were before attributed to attraction, upon later thoughts seem ascribed to this æther, together with the various attractions themselves. (Berkeley V 107–8)
Berkeley meant this 'aether' to supplant Newton's gravity as the cause of motion (neither seeing the polarity involved between two forces, as Cudworth had in his plastic principle). However, in Berkeley's conception, aether is both the movement of spirit and the motion of nature.
Both Cudworth's views and those of Berkeley were taken up by Coleridge in his metaphor of the eolian harp in his 'Effusion XXXV' as one commentator noted: "what we see in the first manuscript is the articulation of Cudworth's principle of plastic nature, which is then transformed in the published version into a Berkeleyan expression of the causal agency of motion performed by God's immanent activity."[92]
Cudworth's works includedThe Union of Christ and the Church, in a Shadow (1642);A Sermon preached before theHouse of Commons (1647); andA Discourse concerning the True Notion of the Lord's Supper (1670). Much of Cudworth's work remains in manuscript. However, certain surviving works have been published posthumously, such asA Treatise concerning eternal and immutable Morality, and A Treatise of Freewill.
Cudworth'sTreatise on eternal and immutable Morality, published with a preface byEdward Chandler (1731),[94] is about the historical development of British moral philosophy. It answers, from the standpoint ofPlatonism, Hobbes's famous doctrine that moral distinctions are created by the state. It argues that just as knowledge contains a permanent intelligible element over and above the flux of sense-impressions, so there exist eternal and immutable ideas of morality.[95]
Another posthumous publication was Cudworth'sA Treatise of Freewill, edited byJohn Allen (1838). Both this and theTreatise on eternal and immutable Morality are connected with the design of hismagnum opus,The True Intellectual System of the Universe.[96]
In 1678, Cudworth publishedThe True Intellectual System of the Universe: the first part, wherein all the reason and philosophy of atheism is confuted and its impossibility demonstrated, which had been given anImprimatur for publication (29 May 1671).
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TheIntellectual System arose, according to Cudworth, from a discourse refuting "fatal necessity", ordeterminism.[95] Enlarging his plan, he proposed to prove three matters:
These three comprise, collectively, the intellectual (as opposed to the physical) system of the universe; and they are opposed, respectively, by three false principles: atheism, religious fatalism (which refers all moral distinctions to the will of God), and the fatalism of the ancientStoics (who recognized God and yet identified him with nature). Only the first part, dealing with atheism, was ever published.
Cudworth criticizes two main forms of materialisticatheism: theatomic (adopted byDemocritus,Epicurus andThomas Hobbes); and thehylozoic (attributed toStrato of Lampsacus, which explains everything by the supposition of an inward self-organizing life in matter). Atomic atheism, to which Cudworth devotes the larger part of the work, is described as arising from the combination of two principles, neither of which is, individually, atheistic (namely atomism and corporealism, or the doctrine that nothing exists but body). The example of Stoicism, Cudworth suggests, shows that corporealism may be theistic.
Cudworth discusses the history of atomism at length. It is, in its purely physical application, a theory that he fully accepts. He holds that theistic atomism was taught byPythagoras,Empedocles and many other ancient philosophers, and was only perverted to atheism by Democritus. Cudworth believes that atomism was first invented before theTrojan War by aSidonian thinker named Moschus orMochus (whom he identifies withMoses in theOld Testament).
Cudworth's method in arranging his work was to marshal the atheistic arguments elaborately before refuting them in his final chapter. This led many readers to accuse Cudworth himself of atheism – asJohn Dryden remarked, "he has raised such objections against the being of a God and Providence that many think he has not answered them".[97] Much attention was also attached to a subordinate matter in the book, the conception of the "Plastic Medium" (a revival ofPlato's "World-Soul") which was intended to explain the existence and laws of nature without referring to the direct operation of God. This theory occasioned a long-drawn controversy betweenPierre Bayle andGeorges-Louis Leclerc, with the former maintaining, and the latter denying, that the Plastic Medium is favourable to atheism.
Summing up the work,Andrew Dickson White wrote in 1896:
To this day he [Cudworth] remains, in breadth of scholarship, in strength of thought, in tolerance, and in honesty, one of the greatest glories of the English Church ... He purposed to build a fortress which should protect Christianity against all dangerous theories of the universe, ancient or modern ... While genius marked every part of it, features appeared which gave the rigidly orthodox serious misgivings. From the old theories of direct personal action on the universe by the Almighty he broke utterly. He dwelt on the action of law, rejected the continuous exercise of miraculous intervention, pointed out the fact that in the natural world there are "errors" and "bungles" and argued vigorously in favor of the origin and maintenance of the universe as a slow and gradual development of Nature in obedience to an inward principle.[98]
This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Cudworth, Ralph".Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 7 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 612–613.
| Academic offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | 11th Regius Professor of Hebrew, University of Cambridge 1645–1688 | Succeeded by Wolfram Stubbe |
| Preceded by Thomas Paske vacancy from 1645 | 26th Master of Clare Hall, Cambridge 1650–1654 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | 14th Master of Christ's College, Cambridge 1654–1688 | Succeeded by |
