John Aubrey
John Aubrey was born on the 12th of March 1626 at Easton Piers, a manor house near Kington St Michael in Wiltshire. He grew up as an only child within a wealthy gentry family that traced its roots to the Welsh Marches. His father Richard owned lands across Wiltshire and Herefordshire but cared little for books or learning. Instead he preferred field sports like hunting over intellectual pursuits. Young John spent years studying geometry in secret while reading whatever texts came his way including Bacon's Essays. He felt melancholy during this time of isolation from other children. His maternal grandfather Isaac Lyte lived at Lytes Cary Manor in Somerset which now belongs to the National Trust.
In 1649 John Aubrey discovered megalithic remains at Avebury which would become central to his life work. He later mapped these sites and discussed them extensively in Monumenta Britannica written between 1663 and 1693. This massive manuscript contains four distinct parts covering druidic temples Roman camps and sepulchral monuments. The Aubrey holes at Stonehenge bear his name though scholars doubt whether they are the same holes he observed. In 1663 King Charles II requested to see Avebury so Aubrey showed him the ancient henge monument. His essay Chronologia Architectonica written in 1671 stands as a highly perceptive milestone in architectural history despite remaining unpublished for centuries. The manuscript now resides in Bodleian Library as MSS Top.Gen.c.24 and 25.
In 1656 John Aubrey started compiling material for a natural historical study of Wiltshire divided into antiquities and natural history sections. His work on county antiquities called Hypomnemata Antiquaria was largely finished by 1671 before one volume disappeared in 1703. The surviving manuscript now holds Bodleian MS Aubrey 3 while another copy sits at Royal Society MS 92 containing supernatural phenomena he removed from his original draft. Between 1687 and 1689 he wrote Remaines of Gentilisme and Judaisme collecting customs traditions old wives tales and rhymes now held at British Library Lansdowne MS 231. In 1673 royal cartographer John Ogilby licensed him to survey Surrey though Ogilby never used the material. Aubrey continued adding to this manuscript until
1692 when it became Natural History and Antiquities of Surrey published five volumes between 1718 and 1719.
By 1670 John Aubrey had lost every estate due to lawsuits leaving him officially bankrupt after selling Easton Piers his ancestral home. From that point forward he depended on hospitality from numerous friends including Sir James Long second Baronet and Lady Dorothy at Draycot House Wiltshire. He died of apoplexy while traveling on the 7th of June 1697 aged seventy-one years old. Burial occurred in churchyard of St Mary Magdalen Oxford where his final resting place remains today. Despite financial ruin he continued writing until death producing works like Miscellanies published posthumously which bolstered his reputation as superstitious eccentric for generations afterward.
For much of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries critics viewed John Aubrey merely as entertaining gossip
rather than serious scholar. Only beginning in the 1970s did full appreciation emerge regarding breadth and innovation of his scholarship through editorial recoveries. Andrew Clark edited Brief Lives Chiefly of Contemporaries between 1669 and 1696 for Clarendon Press in 1898 though excisions removed controversial passages. Modern editions by Kate Bennett published two volumes in Oxford during 2015 now serve standard reference purposes described by Michael Hunter as edition we have been waiting for. One-man show Brief Lives starring Roy Dotrice ran over eighteen hundred performances across forty years emphasizing eccentricities over scholarly contributions. Doctor Who serial The Stones of Blood aired in 1978 featuring Fourth Doctor joking about Druidism founded by Aubrey as seventeenth century joke. Ruth Scurr published semi-fictional diary
John Aubrey My Own Life drawing heavily from surviving scattered writings in 2015.
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Common questions
When was John Aubrey born and where did he grow up?
John Aubrey was born on the 12th of March 1626 at Easton Piers near Kington St Michael in Wiltshire. He grew up as an only child within a wealthy gentry family that traced its roots to the Welsh Marches.
What major discovery did John Aubrey make at Avebury in 1649?
In 1649 John Aubrey discovered megalithic remains at Avebury which became central to his life work. He later mapped these sites and discussed them extensively in Monumenta Britannica written between 1663 and 1693.
Which manuscripts by John Aubrey are held in the Bodleian Library today?
The manuscript Chronologia Architectonica written in 1671 resides in Bodleian Library as MSS Top.Gen.c.24 and 25. His surviving county antiquities work Hypomnemata Antiquaria is now held as Bodleian MS Aubrey 3 while another copy sits at Royal Society MS 92.
How did John Aubrey die and when did this occur?
John Aubrey died of apoplexy while traveling on the 7th of June 1697 aged seventy-one years old. Burial occurred in churchyard of St Mary Magdalen Oxford where his final resting place remains today.
When was the appreciation for John Aubrey scholarship restored after being dismissed?
Critics viewed John Aubrey merely as entertaining gossip rather than serious scholar for much of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Only beginning in the 1970s did full appreciation emerge regarding breadth and innovation of his scholarship through editorial recoveries.