Nicolas Tindal
Encyclopedia
Paul de Rapin
Paul de Rapin , sieur of Thoyras , was a French historian writing under English patronage....
. Very few comprehensive histories existed at the time and Tindal wrote a three volume 'Continuation', a history of the Kingdom from the reigns of James II
James II of England
James II & VII was King of England and King of Ireland as James II and King of Scotland as James VII, from 6 February 1685. He was the last Catholic monarch to reign over the Kingdoms of England, Scotland, and Ireland...
to George II
George II of Great Britain
George II was King of Great Britain and Ireland, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg and Archtreasurer and Prince-elector of the Holy Roman Empire from 11 June 1727 until his death.George was the last British monarch born outside Great Britain. He was born and brought up in Northern Germany...
. Tindal was Rector of Alverstoke
Alverstoke
Alverstoke is a parish in the borough of Gosport, Hampshire, England, that encompasses land stretching from Haslar to Stokes Bay. Alverstoke lies within half a mile of the shore of Stokes Bay and near the head of a creek which extends a mile westward from Portsmouth Harbour...
in Hampshire
Hampshire
Hampshire is a county on the southern coast of England in the United Kingdom. The county town of Hampshire is Winchester, a historic cathedral city that was once the capital of England. Hampshire is notable for housing the original birthplaces of the Royal Navy, British Army, and Royal Air Force...
, Vicar of Great Waltham, Essex, Chaplain of Greenwich Hospital and a Fellow of Trinity College, Oxford
Trinity College, Oxford
The College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity in the University of Oxford, of the foundation of Sir Thomas Pope , or Trinity College for short, is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. It stands on Broad Street, next door to Balliol College and Blackwells bookshop,...
.
Background
Tindal's father, John Tindal, the Rector of Cornwood, DevonDevon
Devon is a large county in southwestern England. The county is sometimes referred to as Devonshire, although the term is rarely used inside the county itself as the county has never been officially "shired", it often indicates a traditional or historical context.The county shares borders with...
and Vicar of St Ives, Cornwall
St Ives, Cornwall
St Ives is a seaside town, civil parish and port in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. The town lies north of Penzance and west of Camborne on the coast of the Celtic Sea. In former times it was commercially dependent on fishing. The decline in fishing, however, caused a shift in commercial...
, was the brother of Matthew Tindal
Matthew Tindal
Matthew Tindal was an eminent English deist author. His works, highly influential at the dawn of the Enlightenment, caused great controversy and challenged the Christian consensus of his time.-Life:...
, the eminent deist
Deism
Deism in religious philosophy is the belief that reason and observation of the natural world, without the need for organized religion, can determine that the universe is the product of an all-powerful creator. According to deists, the creator does not intervene in human affairs or suspend the...
and author of 'Christianity as Old as the Creation'. A near relation of Thomas, 1st Lord Clifford
Thomas Clifford, 1st Baron Clifford of Chudleigh
Thomas Clifford, 1st Baron Clifford of Chudleigh , English statesman and politician, was created the first Baron Clifford of Chudleigh on 22 April 1672 for his suggestion that the King supply himself with money by stopping, for one year, all payments out of the Exchequer.He was born in Ugbrooke,...
, Lord High Treasurer
Lord High Treasurer
The post of Lord High Treasurer or Lord Treasurer was an English government position and has been a British government position since the Act of Union of 1707. A holder of the post would be the third highest ranked Great Officer of State, below the Lord High Chancellor and above the Lord President...
of Charles II
Charles II of England
Charles II was monarch of the three kingdoms of England, Scotland, and Ireland.Charles II's father, King Charles I, was executed at Whitehall on 30 January 1649, at the climax of the English Civil War...
, the Tindal family
Tyndall
Tyndall is the name of an English family taken from the land they held as tenants in chief of the Kings of England and Scotland in the 11th, 12th and 13th centuries: Tynedale, or the valley of the Tyne, in Northumberland...
were derived from Baron Adam de Tindale, a tenant in chief of Henry II
Henry II of England
Henry II ruled as King of England , Count of Anjou, Count of Maine, Duke of Normandy, Duke of Aquitaine, Duke of Gascony, Count of Nantes, Lord of Ireland and, at various times, controlled parts of Wales, Scotland and western France. Henry, the great-grandson of William the Conqueror, was the...
.
Tindal went up to Exeter College, Oxford
Exeter College, Oxford
Exeter College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England and the fourth oldest college of the University. The main entrance is on the east side of Turl Street...
, where he took an MA degree in 1713. From Oxford, he took up his rectory in Hampshire and was later appointed a Fellow of Trinity. When Tindal mastered the French language is unclear, although he was the first member of his family to bear the French spelling of his name - a very popular one amongst his descendants. However, he first engaged in his life's work of historical translation with the publication, in monthly numbers, of his translation of the 'Dissertation of the Excellency of the History of the Hebrews above that of any other Nation, wherein are examined the Antiquities and History of the Assyrians, Chaldans, Egyptians, Phoeninicans, Chinese &c. with the Peopling of America... Written in French by R.P.D'Augustin Calmet', which appears to have been a considerable undertaking. Tindal went on to write a 'History of Essex
Essex
Essex is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of England, and one of the home counties. It is located to the northeast of Greater London. It borders with Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent to the South and London to the south west...
', having become Vicar of Great Waltham, although this project never came to fruition.
'History of England' & the 'Continuation'
Tindal's great work was his thirteen volume translation of Rapin's History, which was first published in 1727. We learn that he had been appointed Chaplain to the Fleet from his dedication of the earlier volumes, one of which was written in GibraltarGibraltar
Gibraltar is a British overseas territory located on the southern end of the Iberian Peninsula at the entrance of the Mediterranean. A peninsula with an area of , it has a northern border with Andalusia, Spain. The Rock of Gibraltar is the major landmark of the region...
. Tindal enlarged the volumes in their second edition (1732) to contain notes, genealogical tables and maps of his own composition. The work was a great contribution to the development of British historiography
Historiography
Historiography refers either to the study of the history and methodology of history as a discipline, or to a body of historical work on a specialized topic...
of the eighteenth century as so few well written histories existed at the time; and none of them so comprehensive. Whilst the works are principally of narrative form, the discursive analysis of many of the sources and contentions of a number of periods was very advanced for its time. Tindal was rewarded by the presentation of a gold medal by Frederick, Prince of Wales
Frederick, Prince of Wales
Frederick, Prince of Wales was a member of the House of Hanover and therefore of the Hanoverian and later British Royal Family, the eldest son of George II and father of George III, as well as the great-grandfather of Queen Victoria...
, to whom he had decicated the second volume
Rapin had finished his work at the death of James II
James II of England
James II & VII was King of England and King of Ireland as James II and King of Scotland as James VII, from 6 February 1685. He was the last Catholic monarch to reign over the Kingdoms of England, Scotland, and Ireland...
, giving Tindal the opportunity of demonstrating his own historical abilities. His Continuation brought forward the works to the reign of George II
George II of Great Britain
George II was King of Great Britain and Ireland, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg and Archtreasurer and Prince-elector of the Holy Roman Empire from 11 June 1727 until his death.George was the last British monarch born outside Great Britain. He was born and brought up in Northern Germany...
. Tindal's work was much valued at the time, although not without controversy. Some had questioned the authorship of the Continuation; although there is no evidence to support those contentions and his many other works and literary style point to his pen.
Other Works & Life
Dimitrie Cantemir
Dimitrie Cantemir was twice Prince of Moldavia . He was also a prolific man of letters – philosopher, historian, composer, musicologist, linguist, ethnographer, and geographer....
's History of the Othman Empire'
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
(sic) in 1734. The 'Guide to Classical Learning, or Polymetis abridged, for Schools', of which he was editor, was a rare classical text-book which remained of importance throughout the century.
Tindal appears to have attracted some controversy during his life. Aside from that relating to his 'Continuation', he was engaged in a bitter dispute with one Eustace Budgell
Eustace Budgell
Eustace Budgell was an English writer and politician.Born in St Thomas near Exeter, Budgell was educated at Oxford University. His cousin, the writer Joseph Addison, took him to Ireland and got him appointed to a lucrative office...
about his apparent disinheritance by his uncle, Matthew Tindal
Matthew Tindal
Matthew Tindal was an eminent English deist author. His works, highly influential at the dawn of the Enlightenment, caused great controversy and challenged the Christian consensus of his time.-Life:...
. Budgell had adopted some of Tindal's freethinking views and assisted him in publishing his 'Christianity as Old as the Creation'. However, he had fallen on hard times, losing up to £20,000 in the South Sea Bubble. It was therefore of some surprise that Matthew Tindal had apparently left the greater part of his fortune to this man, to the exclusion of Rev Nicolas, who had been named in a previously published will. Budgell was prosecuted for forgery but committed suicide by drowning himself in the Thames before the case came to trial. Whether Tindal was ever repaid the 2000 guineas of which he had been defrauded is unclear, though Alexander Pope
Alexander Pope
Alexander Pope was an 18th-century English poet, best known for his satirical verse and for his translation of Homer. He is the third-most frequently quoted writer in The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations, after Shakespeare and Tennyson...
declaimed:
- Let Budgell charge low Grub-street on my quill,
- And write whate-er he please, except my Will.
Tindal himself was recorded as saying of Garrick
David Garrick
David Garrick was an English actor, playwright, theatre manager and producer who influenced nearly all aspects of theatrical practice throughout the 18th century and was a pupil and friend of Dr Samuel Johnson...
that 'The deaf hear him in his action, and the blind see him in his voice.'.
Tindal's long association with Greenwich Hospital and the Naval Office is commemorated by a portrait by Knapton
Knapton
Knapton is a village and a civil parish in the English county of Norfolk. The village is south-east of Cromer, north-east of Norwich and north-east of London. The village lies north-east of the A149 between Kings Lynn and Great Yarmouth. The nearest railway station is at North Walsham for the...
, now in the collection of the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich From this was taken the engraving that illustrates this article.
Family
Tindal's son, Capt George Tindal, RNRoyal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
, purchased Coval Hall, Chelmsford
Chelmsford
Chelmsford is the county town of Essex, England and the principal settlement of the borough of Chelmsford. It is located in the London commuter belt, approximately northeast of Charing Cross, London, and approximately the same distance from the once provincial Roman capital at Colchester...
, during Tindal's lifetime, where the family were based for some generations. His great grandson, Sir Nicolas Conyngham Tindal, was Lord Chief Justice of the Common Pleas from 1829 - 1843.
Legacy
The authors of the ninth volume of the Cambridge History of English and American Literature conclude thatSources
- Noggle, James (2004) 'Literary Taste as Counter-Enlightenment in Hume's History of England' in SEL Studies in English Literature 1500-1900 - Volume 44, Number 3, summer 2004, pp. 617–638
- Nichols, John (1812) 'Literary Anecdotes' Article on Nicolas Tindal
- Gentlemen's Magazine (1733) Vol III p 356
- New Dictionary of National BiographyDictionary of National BiographyThe Dictionary of National Biography is a standard work of reference on notable figures from British history, published from 1885...
('DNB') (Oxford, 2004) - Tindal, Nicolas The Continuation of Mr Rapin's History of England'
- 'Encyclopædia Britannica (1823): Article on Budgell, p 778
- Byron, George Gordon; Moore, Thomas (ed) (1859) 'The Poetical Works of Lord Byron' p 452 (note)
- Nichols, JohnJohn Nichols (printer)John Nichols was an English printer, author and antiquary.-Early life and apprenticeship:He was born in Islington, London to Edward Nichols and Anne Wilmot. On 22 June 1766 he married Anne Cradock daughter of William Cradock...
(1812) Literary Anecdotes of the Eighteenth Century, Vol IX: 'Genealogy of the Family of Tindal of Northumberland, Devon & Essex'. - Burke's Landed Gentry (1863): 'Tindal of Chelmsford'
- Website of the National Maritime Museum