William Bathe (2 April 1564 – 17 June 1614) was an

Anglo-Irish Anglo-Irish people () denotes an ethnic, social and religious grouping who are mostly the descendants and successors of the English Protestant Ascendancy in Ireland. They mostly belong to the Anglican Church of Ireland, which was the State rel ...

Jesuit The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...

priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deity, deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in parti ...

, musician and writer.

Life

Born in Dublin, Bathe lived at Drumcondra Castle,

County Dublin County Dublin ( or ) is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland, and holds its capital city, Dublin. It is located on the island's east coast, within the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster. Until 1994, County Dubli ...

, a member of a leading

family. He was the eldest surviving son of John Bathe,

Chancellor of the Exchequer of Ireland The Chancellor of the Exchequer of Ireland was the head of the Exchequer of Ireland and a member of the Dublin Castle administration under the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland in the Kingdom of Ireland. In early times the office was sometimes called ...

, and his first wife Eleanor Preston, daughter of Jenico Preston, 3rd

Viscount Gormanston Viscount Gormanston is a noble title, created in 1478, held by the Anglo-Irish Preston family since the Middle Ages. The oldest vicomital title in the British Isles, Lord Gormanston is accorded the style of Premier Viscount of Ireland. Desc ...

and Lady Catherine Fitzgerald; his paternal grandfather was

James Bathe James Bathe (c.1500–1570) was an Irish judge of the Tudor era, who was notable for serving as Chief Baron of the Irish Exchequer for thirty years under four successive monarchs. He was the grandfather of the 1st Earl of Roscommon, and of th ...

Chief Baron of the Irish Exchequer The Chief Baron of the Irish Exchequer was the Baron (judge) who presided over the Irish Court of Exchequer. This was a mirror of the equivalent court in England, and was one of the four courts which sat in the building in Dublin which is still ...

, whose second wife, William's grandmother, was Eleanor Burnell of BalgriffinO Mathúna, Seán P.: ''William Bathe, S.J. 1564–1614. A Pioneer in Linguistics'' (John Benjamins, 1986). His brother John Bathe was an Irish representative at the Royal Court in

Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

in the early 1600s. When William's father died in 1586 the family were among the biggest landowners in Dublin, although their wealth and influence notably declined in the next generation. Upon on his father's death, William inherited the family estates, but on entering the priesthood he passed them to John, the next brother in age, in 1601.Ball, F. Elrington: ''History of Dublin'' (Alexander Thom and Co., 1920), vol. 6. Bathe was trained as a musician and linguist at

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 ...

, where he wrote ''A Briefe Introductione to the True Art of Musicke'' (1584), which was revised as ''A Briefe Introduction to the Skill of Song'' (c.1596) – the first printed treatise on music in the English language.Collins, Paul: "Bathe, William", in: ''The Encyclopaedia of Music in Ireland'', ed. Harry White & Barra Boydell (Dublin: UCD Press, 2013), p. 66. Following a long-standing family tradition, he also studied law at the

Inns of Court The Inns of Court in London are the professional associations for barristers in England and Wales. There are four Inns of Court: Gray's Inn, Lincoln's Inn, Inner Temple, and Middle Temple. All barristers must belong to one of them. They have s ...

in London. For a time he enjoyed the favor of Queen

Elizabeth I Elizabeth I (7 September 153324 March 1603) was List of English monarchs, Queen of England and List of Irish monarchs, Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death in 1603. She was the last and longest reigning monarch of the House of Tudo ...

, to whom he presented a

harp The harp is a stringed musical instrument that has individual strings running at an angle to its soundboard; the strings are plucked with the fingers. Harps can be made and played in various ways, standing or sitting, and in orchestras or ...

of his own design. The Queen made him a number of grants of land, thus adding further to the extensive Bathe holdings: but royal favour ceased after 1598, when Elizabeth discovered that William had been ordained a priest. The decision of a third Bathe brother, Luke, to become a priest did nothing to restore the family to favor (under the name Father Edward, Luke became a prominent member of the Capuchin order). Apart from the religious issue, the close friendship between

Hugh O'Neill, Earl of Tyrone Hugh O'Neill, Earl of Tyrone (; – 20 July 1616) was an Irish lord and key figure of the Nine Years' War. Known as the "Great Earl", he led the confederacy of Irish lords against the English Crown in resistance to the Tudor conquest of Ir ...

and Sir William Warren, who married William's widowed stepmother Jenet Finglas, raised serious questions about the family's loyalty to the English Crown during O'Neill's rebellion, popularly known as the

Nine Years War The Nine Years' War was a European great power conflict from 1688 to 1697 between France and the Grand Alliance. Although largely concentrated in Europe, fighting spread to colonial possessions in the Americas, India, and West Africa. Relat ...

. William is not known to have visited Ireland after 1601. William Bathe taught languages in Europe and wrote one of the world's first language teaching texts, (The Door of Tongues, 1611), a juxtaposition of phrases in Latin and Spanish. It proved so popular that within twenty years it had been translated into nine languages. The Moravian educator

Comenius John Amos Comenius (; ; ; ; Latinization (literature), Latinized: ''Ioannes Amos Comenius''; 28 March 1592 – 15 November 1670) was a Czech Philosophy, philosopher, Pedagogy, pedagogue and Theology, theologian who is considered the father of ...

based his work on this text. For a period of time Bathe was rector of the Irish College at Salamanca. He should not be confused with his cousin Sir William Bathe of

Athcarne Castle Athcarne Castle is a ruined Elizabethan castle outside the town of Duleek in County Meath, Ireland. Etymology The name ''Athcarne'' is thought to be derived from either ''Áth Cairn'' meaning the Fording Point at the Cairn, or burial mound, ...

(died 1597), who was a judge of the Irish

Court of Common Pleas A court of common pleas is a common kind of court structure found in various common law jurisdictions. The form originated with the Court of Common Pleas at Westminster, which was created to permit individuals to press civil grievances against one ...

References

Bibliography

* Pulver, Jeffrey, "The English Theorists 10: William Bathe", in: ''The Musical Times'' vol. 75 (1934), pp. 900–902. * Rainbow, Bernarr, "Bathe and his Introductions to Musicke", in: ''The Musical Times'' vol. 123 (1982), pp. 243–247. * Nixon, Paul J., "William Bathe and His Times", in: ''The Musical Times'' vol. 124 (1983), pp. 101–102. * Ó Mathúna, Seán P., ''William Bathe, S.J., 1564–1614. A Pioneer in Linguistics'' (Amsterdam & Philadelphia: John Benjamins, 1986). * Karnes, Kevin C. (ed.), ''A Brief Introduction to the Skill of Song by William Bathe'' (London and New York: Routledge, 2005).

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bathe, William 1564 births 1614 deaths 16th-century Anglo-Irish people 16th-century Irish Jesuits 17th-century Irish Jesuits Alumni of the University of Oxford Irish musicologists Irish writers Linguists from Ireland People from Drumcondra, Dublin Academic staff of the University of Salamanca Latin-language education Irish Latinists