Editing Thomas Hobbes (section)

===Early life===
Thomas Hobbes was born on 5 April 1588 (Old Style), in [[Malmesbury#Westport St Mary|Westport]], now part of [[Malmesbury]] in [[Wiltshire]], England. Having been born [[Preterm birth|prematurely]] when his mother heard of the coming [[Spanish Armada|invasion of the Spanish Armada]], Hobbes later reported that "my mother gave birth to twins: myself and fear."<ref>{{cite book |title=Vita carmine expressa |year=1679 |first=Thomas |last=Hobbes |chapter=Opera Latina |editor-first=William |editor-last=Molesworth |editor-link=William Nassau Molesworth |location=London |volume=I |page=86 |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/thomaehobbesmal00unkngoog/page/n98/mode/2up|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Z_JiAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA117}}</ref> Hobbes had a brother, Edmund, about two years older, as well as a sister, Anne.

Although Thomas Hobbes's childhood is unknown to a large extent, as is his mother's name,<ref>{{Cite journal |doi=10.2307/3791051 |jstor=3791051 |title=Thomas Hobbes: Radical in the Service of Reaction |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sNtoQgAACAAJ |year=1986 |last1=Jacobson |first1=Norman |last2=Rogow |first2=Arnold A. |journal=[[Political Psychology (journal)|Political Psychology]] |publisher=[[W.W. Norton]] |volume=8 |issue=3 |pages=469 |issn=0162-895X |isbn=978-0-393-02288-9 |lccn=79644318 |oclc=44544062}}</ref> it is known that Hobbes's father, Thomas Sr., was the [[Vicar (Anglicanism)|vicar]] of both [[Charlton, Brinkworth|Charlton]] and Westport. Hobbes's father was uneducated, according to [[John Aubrey]], Hobbes's biographer, and he "disesteemed learning."<ref name="Sommerville-1992-256" /> Thomas Sr. was involved in a fight with the local [[clergy]] outside his church, forcing him to leave [[London]]. As a result, the family was left in the care of Thomas Sr.'s older brother, Francis, a wealthy glove manufacturer with no family of his own.

==== Education ====
Hobbes was educated at Westport church from age four, went to the [[Malmesbury school]], and then to a [[Independent school|private school]] kept by a young man named Robert Latimer, a graduate of the [[University of Oxford]].{{sfn|Robertson|1911|p=545}} Hobbes was a good pupil, and between 1601 and 1602 he went to [[Magdalen Hall]], the predecessor to [[Hertford College, Oxford]], where he was taught [[scholastic logic]] and mathematics.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://philosophy.hertford.ox.ac.uk/ |title=Philosophy at Hertford College |location=Oxford |publisher=[[Hertford College]] |access-date=24 July 2009 |archive-date=4 March 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210304064346/http://philosophy.hertford.ox.ac.uk/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://galileo.rice.edu/Catalog/NewFiles/hobbes.html |work=The Galileo Project |title=Hobbes, Thomas |publisher=[[Rice University]] |year=1995 |first=Al Van |last=Helden |access-date=1 December 2010 |archive-date=27 April 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190427075808/http://galileo.rice.edu/Catalog/NewFiles/hobbes.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LGSytrSTMQwC&pg=PT89 |title=Thomas Hobbes: Politics and law |publisher=[[Routledge]] |isbn=978-0-415-08083-5 |year=1993 |page=89 |last=King |first=Preston T.}}</ref> The principal, John Wilkinson, was a [[Puritan]] and had some influence on Hobbes. Before going up to Oxford, Hobbes translated [[Euripides]]' ''[[Medea (play)|Medea]]'' from [[Ancient Greek language|Greek]] into [[Latin verse]].<ref name="Sommerville-1992-256" />

At university, Thomas Hobbes appears to have followed his own curriculum as he was little attracted by the scholastic learning.{{sfn|Robertson|1911|p=545}} Leaving Oxford, Hobbes completed his [[B.A. degree]] by incorporation at [[St John's College, Cambridge]], in 1608.<ref>{{cite ODNB |id=13400 |title=Hobbes, Thomas (1588–1679), philosopher |author=Malcolm, Noel |year=2004}}</ref> He was recommended by Sir James Hussey, his master at Magdalen, as tutor to [[William Cavendish, 2nd Earl of Devonshire|William]], the son of [[William Cavendish, 1st Earl of Devonshire|William Cavendish]],{{sfn|Robertson|1911|p=545}} [[Baron]] of Hardwick (and later [[Duke of Devonshire|Earl of Devonshire]]), and began a lifelong connection with that family.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www-groups.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/~history/Biographies/Hobbes.html |title=Thomas Hobbes |publisher=[[University of St Andrews]] |last1=O'Connor |first1=J.J. |last2=Robertson |first2=E.F. |author2-link=E. F. Robertson |date=November 2002 |website=School of Mathematics and Statistics |location=Scotland |access-date=1 December 2010 |archive-date=22 October 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191022194936/http://www-groups.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/~history/Biographies/Hobbes.html |url-status=live }}</ref> William Cavendish was elevated to the peerage on his father's death in 1626, holding it for two years before his death in 1628. His son, also William, likewise became the 3rd Earl of Devonshire. Hobbes served as a tutor and secretary to both men. The 1st Earl's younger brother, Charles Cavendish, had two sons who were patrons of Hobbes. The elder son, [[William Cavendish, 1st Duke of Newcastle|William Cavendish]], later 1st [[Duke of Newcastle]], was a leading supporter of Charles I during the [[English Civil War|Civil War]] in which he personally financed an army for the king, having been governor to the [[Prince of Wales]], Charles James, Duke of Cornwall. It was to this William Cavendish that Hobbes dedicated his ''Elements of Law''.<ref name="Sommerville-1992-256" />

Hobbes became a companion to the younger William Cavendish and they both took part in a [[Grand Tour|grand tour]] of Europe between 1610 and 1615. Hobbes was exposed to European scientific and critical methods during the tour, in contrast to the [[scholastic philosophy]] that he had learned in Oxford. In Venice, Hobbes made the acquaintance of [[Fulgenzio Micanzio]], an associate of [[Paolo Sarpi]], a Venetian scholar and statesman.<ref name="Sommerville-1992-256"/>

His scholarly efforts at the time were aimed at a careful study of classical Greek and Latin authors, the outcome of which was, in 1628, his edition of [[Thucydides]]' ''[[History of the Peloponnesian War]]'',{{sfn|Robertson|1911|p=545}}  the first translation of that work into English directly from a Greek manuscript. Hobbes professed a deep admiration for Thucydides, praising him as "the most politic historiographer that ever writ," and one scholar has suggested that "Hobbes' reading of Thucydides confirmed, or perhaps crystallized, the broad outlines and many of the details of [Hobbes'] own thought."<ref>{{Cite book |title=Hobbes's Thucydides |date=1975 |publisher=Rutgers University Press |isbn=978-0-8135-0783-5 |editor-last=Schlatter |editor-first=Richard |location=New Brunswick |pages=xxvii, 7}}</ref> It has been argued that three of the discourses in the 1620 publication known as ''Horae Subsecivae: Observations and Discourses'' also represent the work of Hobbes from this period.<ref>{{cite book |last=Hobbes |first=Thomas |title=Three Discourses: A Critical Modern Edition of Newly Identified Work of the Young Hobbes |editor-last=Reynolds |editor-first=Noel B. |editor-link=Noel B. Reynolds |editor2-last=Saxonhouse |editor2-first=Arlene W. |publisher=[[University of Chicago Press]] |year=1995 |isbn=978-0-226-34545-1 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vPD5QjS6OCIC}}</ref>

Although he did associate with literary figures like [[Ben Jonson]] and briefly worked as [[Francis Bacon (philosopher)|Francis Bacon]]'s [[amanuensis]], translating several of his ''[[Essays (Francis Bacon)|Essays]]'' into Latin,<ref name="Sommerville-1992-256"/> he did not extend his efforts into philosophy until after 1629. In June 1628, his employer Cavendish, then the Earl of Devonshire, died of the [[Bubonic plague|plague]], and his widow, the countess [[Christian Cavendish, Countess of Devonshire|Christian]], dismissed Hobbes.{{sfn|Robertson|1911|p=546}}<ref>{{cite book|title=The Cavendish family|last=Bickley|first=F.|publisher=Houghton, Mifflin Company|year=1914|isbn=978-5-87487-145-1|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gI0JAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA44|pages=44|access-date=22 April 2024|archive-date=22 April 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240422150412/https://books.google.com/books?id=gI0JAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA44|url-status=live}}</ref>