THIS IS THE DIARY JUNCTION - DATA AND LINKS FOR OVER 500 HISTORICAL AND LITERARY DIARISTS
PLEASE TAKE A MOMENT ALSO TO LOOK AT KIP FENN, A MAJOR NOVEL ABOUT THE 21st CENTURY
- freely available on this site
Ashmole, Elias ___ 1617-1692 ___ British
___ scientist, lawyer
BIOGRAPHICAL SUMMARY
Ashmole was born in Litchfield,
Staffordshire, studied at Brasenose College, Oxford, and trained in law.
During the Civil War he returned to Oxford, where he became interested in
alchemy and astrology. His first wife, Eleanor, died in 1641 during childbirth.
As a royalist, Charles I gave him various duties, including that of collecting
the excise in Staffordshire during 1644. On his return to London, Ashmole's
interests appear to have widened out to include botany and anatomy. He married
Lady Mainwaring, who was 20 years older than him, but whose wealth helped
him accumulate a collection of astrological, medical and historical manuscripts.
In 1659, his collection was enlarged when the famous botanist, John Tradescant,
gifted him natural history specimens. After the Restoration, Charles II
rewarded Ashmole for his loyalty with the position of Windsor Herald. Together
with various other responsibilities, Ashmole also looked after the King's
medals. In 1661, Ashmole was one of the founding members of the Royal Society.
In 1665, Lady Mainwaring died, and he married Elizabeth Dugdale. His most
famous work, 'The Institutions, Laws and Ceremonies of the Most Noble Order
of the Garter' was published in 1672. Ashmole is perhaps most well remembered
for the Ashmolean Museum. In 1677 he gave his collections to Oxford University
on condition that it provided a building to house them. The building was
completed in the early 1680s and became the country's first museum. In the
same year, Ashmole was offered the post of Garter King at Arms; but he asked
for it be granted to William Dugdale, his wife's father.
One
biography link
DIARY DATES, CONTENT DESCRIPTORS
1633-1688 ___ social science nature
love/sex society health
WEB TEXT LINKS
ORIGINAL MANUSCRIPT LINKS
Oxford
University: Bodleian Library
SOME PUBLISHED TITLES
The Diary and Will of Elias Ashmole
Elias Ashmole (1617 - 1692), His Autobiographical and Historical Notes,
his Correspondence, and other Contemporary Sources Relating to his Life
and Work
May 2005
THIS IS THE DIARY JUNCTION - DATA AND LINKS FOR OVER 500 HISTORICAL AND LITERARY DIARISTS
Please
email if you have any corrections, additions or comments. |
IMPORTANT NOTES AND CAUTIONS:
1) The first line of basic information
may be incomplete in several ways: some historical figures have different
names (titles, pen-names); their birth and death dates may be unknown or
uncertain (g - guess, c - circa); similarly, their occupations may be unknown,
or they may have had other jobs; and, for early diarists, I've used 'British'
a bit too freely. 2) The biographical summary may not be accurate. It was
compiled quickly from various sources, mostly on the internet, and the facts
were not checked anywhere near as rigorously as they would have been if
they'd been intended for publication in a printed form. 3) The journal dates
and descriptors (which are in no particular order) must be treated with
caution: since I have not examined the diaries myself, the descriptors are
only guesses based on bibliographies, anthologies and internet biographies.
4) For the biography and etext links, I have ignored any sites with charges,
and I have avoided, wherever possible, those with pop-ups or too much advertising.
I have limited myself to providing three etext links where there is some
variety between them. 5) For the original manuscript links, I have limited
myself to providing a maximum of two (although, for a few diarists, their
original diaries are held in more than two places). 6) I have provided the
titles - chosen randomly - for up to three printed editions of the diaries. |