View source for Patriarcha, Or, The Natural Power of Kings

{{DISPLAYTITLE:''Patriarcha, or, The Natural Power of Kings''}}
===by Sir Robert Filmer===
__NOTOC__
{{BookPageInfoBox
|imagename=FilmerPatriarcha1680.jpg
|link=https://wm.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/permalink/01COWM_INST/g9pr7p/alma991005233249703196
|shorttitle=Patriarcha, or, The Natural Power of Kings
|author=[[:Category:Robert Filmer|Sir Robert Filmer]]
|publoc=[[:Category:London|London]]
|publisher=Printed, and are to be sold by Walter Davis Book-binder
|year=1680
|edition=First
|lang=[[:Category:English|English]]
|pages=7, 141
|desc=[[:Category:Octavos|8vo (19 cm.)]]
|shelf=E-1
}}[[File:FilmerPatriarcha1680Frontispiece.jpg|left|thumb|200px|<center>Frontispiece portrait of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_II_of_England Charles II].</center>]][http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Filmer Sir Robert Filmer] (c. 1588-1653), an English political theorist and defender of the divine rights of kings, was born in Kent’s East Sutton parish.<ref>Glenn Burgess, "[http://www.oxforddnb.com.proxy.wm.edu/view/article/9424 Filmer, Sir Robert (1588?–1653)]" in ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', accessed October 3, 2013.</ref> He matriculated at [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trinity_College,_Cambridge Trinity College], Cambridge, in 1604, though he did not take a degree. Filmer was later admitted to [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lincoln%27s_Inn Lincoln’s Inn], one of the four [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inns_of_Court Inns of Court] in London to which barristers of England and Wales belong when they are “called to the Bar,” an English term indicating that a one is qualified to argue in court on behalf of another.<ref>''The Bar Council'' website, s.v. "[http://www.barcouncil.org.uk/becoming-a-barrister/how-to-become-a-barrister/being-called-to-the-barBeing Called to the Bar]," accessed October 3, 2013.</ref> Filmer was called to the bar in 1613. Despite his qualifications, there is no evidence that he ever practiced law.<br /> 
<br />
''Patriarcha'', Filmer’s best-known work, was written in about 1630 and remained unpublished for nearly 50 years.<ref>Glenn Burgess, "Filmer, Sir Robert."</ref> Much dispute has arisen over ''Patriarcha’s'' original date of composition, but there is strong evidence to suggest that the manuscript was composed before 1631.<ref>Ibid., "There is good internal evidence to suggest that the manuscript of the work now in the University of Chicago Library Codex MS 413 was composed before 1631."</ref> ''Patriarcha'' represents an attack on [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calvinism Calvinists] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Society_of_Jesus Jesuits], two enemies of royal power in Filmer’s view.<ref>R.S. Downie and Ted Honderich, eds., ''The Oxford Companion to Philosophy'' (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1995), 280.</ref> In it, Filmer espouses the doctrines of extreme believers of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Divine_right_of_kings Divine Right] party: the family represents the appropriate model of all government, and subjects have a duty of passive obedience.<ref>Ibid.</ref> Filmer’s argument in ''Patriarcha'' traces the divine nature of the rule of patriarchs from the Old Testament onward, asserting that modern kings draw their power from the authority given by God to Adam, to Noah, and to Noah’s three sons (Shem, Ham, and Japheth) who ruled the three continents of the Biblical Old World.<br /> 
<br />
After his death, Filmer’s writings gained notoriety as a target for criticism in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Locke John Locke]’s first ''Treatise'' and became an object of ridicule for Locke’s [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whig_%28British_political_party%29 Whig] contemporaries, including [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Tyrrell_%28writer%29 James Tyrell] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Algernon_Sidney Algernon Sidney].<ref>Glenn Burgess, "Filmer, Sir Robert."</ref> 

==Evidence for Inclusion in Wythe's Library==
[[Dean Bibliography|Dean's Memo]]<ref>[[Dean Bibliography|Memorandum from Barbara C. Dean]], Colonial Williamsburg Found., to Mrs. Stiverson, Colonial Williamsburg Found. (June 16, 1975), 11 (on file at Wolf Law Library, College of William & Mary).</ref> includes the 1760 edition of ''Political Discourses...viz. Patriarchs, or the Natural Power of Kings'' based on a reference in [[Serene Patriot: A Life of George Wythe|William Clarkin's]] biography of Wythe. In discussing [[Thomas Jefferson|Thomas Jefferson's]] education under Wythe, Clarkin states "[w]e do know that Jefferson studied ... Filmer's ''Patriarcha,''" but Clarkin provides no source of corroborating evidence.<ref>William Clarkin, ''Serene Patriot: A Life of George Wythe'' (Albany, New York: Alan Publications, 1970), 42.</ref> Brown's Bibliography<ref>Bennie Brown, "The Library of George Wythe of Williamsburg and Richmond," (unpublished manuscript, 2009, rev. May, 2014) Microsoft Word file. Earlier edition available at: https://digitalarchive.wm.edu/handle/10288/13433.</ref> lists two of Filmer's works, ''Observations Concerning the Original and Various Forms of Government'' (1696) and ''Patriarcha: or the Natural Power of Kings'' (1680) based on Jefferson's copy at the Library of Congress in which the two titles are bound together. Brown also notes Clarkin's reference and the lack of supporting evidence. The Wolf Law Library purchased the 1680 edition of ''Patriarcha: or the Natural Power of Kings''.  
[[File:FilmerPatriarcha1680Inscription1.jpg|left|thumb|350px|<center>Label with inscription, front pastedown.</center>]]

==Description of the Wolf Law Library's copy==
Bound in period-style full blind calf. Includes a printed label "Petter Laslett Trinity College Cambridge" with the inscription "Gift of Edward Miller, 20 April, 1941. Bound by Gray, 1971" on the front pastedown. Also has the inscription "Peter Laslett, Joh. 30/4/51. Fm EM" on the front flyleaf. Purchased from Tavistock Books.

Images of the library's copy of this book are [https://www.flickr.com/photos/wolflawlibrary/sets/72157658843851378 available on Flickr.] View the record for this book in [https://wm.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/permalink/01COWM_INST/g9pr7p/alma991005233249703196 William & Mary's online catalog.]

[[File:FilmerPatriarcha1680Inscription.jpg|right|thumb|300px|<center>Inscription, front flyleaf.</center>]]

==See also==
*[[George Wythe Room]]
*[[Wythe's Library]]

==References==
<references/>

[[Category:George Wythe Collection at William & Mary's Wolf Law Library]]
[[Category:Government]]
[[Category:Robert Filmer]]
[[Category:Titles in Wythe's Library]]

[[Category:English]]
[[Category:London]]
[[Category:Octavos]]