William Rawley (–1667), born in

Norwich Norwich () is a cathedral city and district of the county of Norfolk, England, of which it is the county town. It lies by the River Wensum, about north-east of London, north of Ipswich and east of Peterborough. The population of the Norwich ...

, was the

chaplain A chaplain is, traditionally, a cleric (such as a minister, priest, pastor, rabbi, purohit, or imam), or a lay representative of a religious tradition, attached to a secular institution (such as a hospital, prison, military unit, intellige ...

of several major 17th-century English figures, including the philosopher

Francis Bacon Francis Bacon, 1st Viscount St Alban (; 22 January 1561 – 9 April 1626) was an English philosopher and statesman who served as Attorney General and Lord Chancellor of England under King James I. Bacon argued for the importance of nat ...

, King Charles I, and King Charles II. In this role, he served as Bacon's

literary executor The literary estate of a deceased author consists mainly of the copyright and other intellectual property rights of published works, including film rights, film, translation rights, original manuscripts of published work, unpublished or partially ...

, with the standing and means to preserve many of Bacon's papers and see to the posthumous publication of many of his written works.William Rawley, ''Resuscitatio, or, Bringing into Publick Light Several Pieces of the Works, Civil, Historical, Philosophical, & Theological, Hitherto Sleeping; of the Right Honourable Francis Bacon....Together with his Lordship's Life'' 1657.

Literary executor

When Bacon died in 1626, the former Lord Chancellor bequeathed Rawley, who had been his private chaplain, his papers and a large sum of money. Bacon's estate was effectively bankrupt and no cash bequest changed hands, but the deceased philosopher's papers were considered worthless and the creditors allowed Rawley to take them. Rawley continued to admire Bacon's memory, and worked with associates, led by Thomas Meautys, to edit and publish many of the manuscripts. This required serious literary work, as Bacon had left many of his manuscripts incomplete. Baconian works published by Rawley include the English edition of ''

New Atlantis ''New Atlantis'' is a utopian novel by Sir Francis Bacon, published posthumously in 1626. It appeared unheralded and tucked into the back of a longer work of natural history, ''Sylva Sylvarum'' (forest of materials). In ''New Atlantis'', Bac ...

'' (1628), Bacon's controversial work of utopian

political philosophy Political philosophy studies the theoretical and conceptual foundations of politics. It examines the nature, scope, and Political legitimacy, legitimacy of political institutions, such as State (polity), states. This field investigates different ...

. Catherine Drinker Bowen, one of Bacon's biographers, credits her protagonist with inspiring the creation of London's

Royal Society The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, re ...

, originally conceived as a group of disinterested scientists working under royal patronage and modeled after the scholars of the ''New Atlantis''. Bowen suggests that Rawley's role as defender of Bacon's insights and literary memory helped encourage elite opinion during the reign of Charles II.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rawley, William 17th-century English Anglican priests Francis Bacon scholars 1580s births 1667 deaths