Charles Butler (1571 – 29 March 1647), sometimes called the ''Father of English Beekeeping'', was a logician, grammarian, author, priest (Vicar of

Wootton St Lawrence Wootton St Lawrence is a small village in the civil parish of Wootton St Lawrence with Ramsdell, in Hampshire, England, west of Basingstoke. The name is derived from the Old English ''wudu tun'' meaning woodland settlement or farm. History Th ...

, near

Basingstoke Basingstoke ( ) is a town in Hampshire, situated in south-central England across a valley at the source of the River Loddon on the western edge of the North Downs. It is the largest settlement in Hampshire without city status in the United King ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

), and an influential

beekeeper A beekeeper is a person who keeps honey bees, a profession known as beekeeping. The term beekeeper refers to a person who keeps honey bees in beehives, boxes, or other receptacles. The beekeeper does not control the creatures. The beekeeper ow ...

. He was also an early proponent of

English spelling reform For centuries, there have been movements to reform the spelling of the English language. Such spelling reform seeks to change English orthography so that it is more consistent, matches pronunciation better, and follows the alphabetic principle. ...

. He observed that bees produce wax combs from scales of wax produced in their own bodies; and he was among the first to assert that drones are male and the queen female, though he believed worker bees lay eggs.

Biography

Butler was born into a poor family in

Buckinghamshire Buckinghamshire (, abbreviated ''Bucks'') is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Northamptonshire to the north, Bedfordshire to the north-east, Hertfordshir ...

, South East England, but became a boy chorister at Magdalen College,

Oxford Oxford () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and non-metropolitan district in Oxfordshire, England, of which it is the county town. The city is home to the University of Oxford, the List of oldest universities in continuou ...

at the age of eight. At the age of ten, he matriculated, taking his BA in 1584 and his MA in 1587. In 1593, Butler became Rector of Nately Scures in

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Berkshire to the north, Surrey and West Sussex to the east, the Isle of Wight across the Solent to the south, ...

in 1593 and in 1595 became also Master at the Holy Ghost School,

. He resigned to accept an incumbency at

in 1600 and served that rural post until his death on 29 March 1647. He was buried in an unmarked grave in the chancel of his church.

Beekeeping

Butler was engaged in

beekeeping Beekeeping (or apiculture, from ) is the maintenance of bee colonies, commonly in artificial beehives. Honey bees in the genus '' Apis'' are the most commonly kept species but other honey producing bees such as '' Melipona'' stingless bees are ...

at his rural parsonage in Hampshire and made the first recorded observations about the generation of

beeswax Bee hive wax complex Beeswax (also known as cera alba) is a natural wax produced by honey bees of the genus ''Apis''. The wax is formed into scales by eight wax-producing glands in the abdominal segments of worker bees, which discard it in o ...

, which was previously thought to be gathered by

honeybees A honey bee (also spelled honeybee) is a eusocial flying insect within the genus ''Apis'' of the bee clade, all native to mainland Afro-Eurasia. After bees spread naturally throughout Africa and Eurasia, humans became responsible for the cur ...

from plant materials. He was not the first to describe the largest honeybee as a queen, rather than king - a distinction usually granted to Spaniard Luis Mendez de Torres for his 1586 observation, which was confirmed by Swammerdam's later microscopic dissections. However, Butler popularized the notion with his classic book ''The Feminine Monarchie'', 1609. Butler may have misinterpreted the queen's function when he found queenless colonies sometimes develop eggs laid by "laying workers", however there is no doubt he saw the queen as an Amazonian ruler of the hive. As an influential beekeeper and author, his assertion that drones are male and workers female, was quickly accepted. For his discoveries and his book, Butler is sometimes called the ''Father of English Beekeeping''.

The Feminine Monarchie

'' The Feminine Monarchie'', originally published by Joseph Barnes, Oxford, in 1609, is the first full-length English-language book about beekeeping. It remained a valid and practical guide for beekeepers for two hundred fifty years, until Langstroth and others developed and promoted moveable comb hives. Butler revised ''The Feminine Monarchie'' in 1623 and 1634. It was translated into

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

in 1678 and 1682, then from Latin back to English again in 1704. The title expresses Butler's main idea that the colony is governed, not by a king-bee, as Aristotle claimed, but by a queen-bee. The last edition written by Butler contains ten chapters, including sections regarding bee gardens, hive-making materials, swarm catching, enemies of bees, feeding bees, and the benefits of bees to fruit (

pollination Pollination is the transfer of pollen from an anther of a plant to the stigma (botany), stigma of a plant, later enabling fertilisation and the production of seeds. Pollinating agents can be animals such as insects, for example bees, beetles or bu ...

). The book gives an excellent account of

skep A beehive is an enclosed structure which houses honey bees, subgenus ''Honey bee, Apis.'' Honey bees live in the beehive, raising their young and producing honey as part of their seasonal cycle. Though the word ''beehive'' is used to describe th ...

beekeeping, including methods of predicting - from tone pitch of the buzzing bees - when swarming might occur. Butler even transliterated the tones and included the Bees' Madrigal on a musical score in the 1623 edition. He further suggested that musicians may trace the roots of music back to the sounds of the hive.

Spelling reform

Charles Butler published ''The English grammar'' (1633) with proposals to improve spelling to a phonetic alphabet. In his book, Butler condemned the vagaries of traditional English spelling and proposed the adoption of a system whereby men should write altogeđer according to đe sound now generally received. The 1634 edition of his beekeeping classic was written and published in his new orthography.

Other writings

Butler authored a bestselling school textbook, ''The Logic of Ramus'' (1597), an introduction to the philosophy of the Protestant French contemporary Pierre de la Ramée. He also published a book on music theory, ''The principles of musik in singing and setting'' (1636), and a theological defence of marriage between first cousins, coinciding with the engagement and subsequent marriage of his daughter to his nephew.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Butler, Charles 1571 births 1647 deaths English beekeepers Linguists of English Orthographers 17th-century English Anglican priests English music theorists 16th-century English writers 16th-century English male writers 17th-century English writers 17th-century English male writers Beekeeping pioneers People from Wootton St Lawrence English-language spelling reform advocates