Brian Harvey Goodwin Wormald

In the centuries since his death, Francis Bacon has been perceived as a promoter and prophet of 'natural science'. Certainly Bacon expected to fill the vacuum which he saw existing in the study of nature; but he also saw himself as a clarifier and promoter of what he called 'policy', that is, the study and improvement of the structure and function of civil states including the then new British state. In this major study, Brian Wormald's first since his work on Clarendon, Bacon is shown resolving this conflict by attending assiduously to both fields, arguing that work on one would help progress in the other. In his teaching, in his practice and in terms of what was actually achieved, the junction between the two enterprises was affected by Bacon's work in history - civil and natural. In this fundamental reappraisal of one of the most complex and innovative figures of the age, Brian Wormald reveals how Bacon's conception and practice of history provided an answer to his strivings in both policy and natural philosophy.

In the centuries since his death, Francis Bacon has been perceived as a promoter and prophet of ‘natural science’. Certainly Bacon expected to fill the vacuum which he saw existing in the study of nature; but he also saw himself as a clarifier and promoter of what he called ‘policy’, that is, the study and improvement of the structure and function of civil states including the then new British state. In this major new study, Brian Wormald’s first since his work on Clarendon, Bacon is shown resolving this conflict by attending assiduously to both fields, arguing that work on one would help progress in the other. In his teaching, in his practice, and in terms of what was actually achieved, the junction between the two enterprises was affected by Bacon’s work in history - civil and natural. In this fundamental reappraisal of one of the most complex and innovative figures of the age, Brian Wormald reveals how Bacon’s conception and practice of history provided an answer to his strivings in both policy and natural philosophy.

This celebrated study, first published in 1951, offers a reinterpretation of the writings and attitudes of Edward Hyde, Earl of Clarendon (1609–74), best known for his History of the Rebellion and the Civil War and his autobiography, which presents an excellent record of the English Civil War. Mr Wormald reconstructs the attitudes of this controversial figure towards the earth-shaking events of the war and what made him change his ideas. His answers reverse the traditional view, espoused by S. R. Gardiner, of Hyde’s thought.