Theodore Haak
Encyclopedia
Theodore Haak was a German Calvinist scholar, resident in England in later life. Haak’s communications abilities and interests in the new science provided the backdrop for convening the “1645 Group,” a precursor of the Royal Society
.
Although not himself known as a natural philosopher, Haak's engagement with others facilitated the expansion and diffusion of the “new science” throughout Europe. Haak’s language skills were used in translation and interpretation and his personal correspondence with the natural philosophers and theologians of the day, including Marin Mersenne
and Johann Amos Comenius; he facilitated introductions and further collaborations. Beginning in 1645 he worked as a translator on the Dutch Annotations Upon the Whole Bible (1657). The first German translation of John Milton
's Paradise Lost
is perhaps his best known single work.
in Germany’s Palatinate region. Very little is known about Haak’s father—Theodore, Sr., who came to study at the University of Heidelberg from Neuburg in Thuringia
. It is unclear whether he finished his studies, but he did marry the rector’s daughter, Maria Tossanus and from there moved on to an administrative post in Neuhausen.
Haak’s mother, Maria Tossanus, descended from three of the Palatinate’s most distinguished and intellectual families—Tossanus (Toussaint), Spanheim, and Schloer. Maria's father was the pastor Daniel Toussaint, a French Huguenot
exile from Orléans
in Heidelberg, who had left France after the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre
in 1572. He assumed the chair of theology at Heidelberg in 1586 and became rector in 1594. Young Theodore Haak’s relatives included Friedrich Spanheim
(1600–1649), professor of theology at Geneva and Leyden; Ezechiel Spanheim (1629–1710), counselor and ambassador for the Elector Karl Ludwig
; Friedrich Spanheim (1632–1701), a professor of theology at Heidelberg; and Dr. J. F. Schloer who together with his son Christian also occupied high positions in the Palatinate court.
Definitive documentation regarding Theodore Haak’s early life is not extant, but it is likely given his family’s intellectual tradition and positions within the university that Haak followed the family’s scholarly footsteps. It is likely that he attended the Neuhausen Gymnasium, where his mother’s cousin was a teacher and eventually co-rector. He very likely would have matriculated at the University of Heidelberg had it not been for the outbreak of the Thirty Years' War
(1618–1648), which devastated the Palatinate area and Heidelberg in particular. The University of Heidelberg essentially closed and did not reopen again until the Peace of Westphalia
(1648).
, where he regularly met in secret with other Protestants for religious gatherings. He brought back from England a copy of Daniel Dyke
's Mystery of Self-Deceiving, which he shared with his Protestant spiritual circle. This volume was also Haak's first work in English to German translation, completed in 1638 under the title Nosce Teipsum: Das Grosse Geheimnis dess Selbs-betrugs.
In 1628 Haak returned to England and spent the following three years at Oxford, but left in 1631 without a degree. Shortly after, he was ordained a deacon
by the Bishop of Exeter
but never took full orders. He lived for a short time in Dorchester
but by 1632 left the countryside for London with the intention to return to Germany. His plans, however, were interrupted when he received a letter from the exiled ministers of the Lower Palatinate seeking his assistance with raising funds and influencing English Protestant clergymen in their cause. It was Haak's Calvinist heritage, language abilities, and presence in London that brought him to the attention of the Palatinate’s ministers. When this task was completed, Haak returned to Heidelberg in 1633; but, with war still ravaging Germany, Haak again, left this time for Holland. In 1638 at the age of thirty-three, Haak enrolled at the University of Leyden, where many of his relatives had already studied.
, a fellow German expatriate in London. Since 1636 Hartlib had been in frequent correspondence with Johann Amos Comenius, who forwarded to Hartlib his manuscript, De Pansophia. In 1638 when Haak returned to England, he found his friend Hartlib engaged, intellectually and logistically, with Comenius and another Calvinist intellectual, John Dury
(1596–1680).
Hartlib was a polymathic intelligencer
, and the "Hartlib circle
" reached into Holland, Transylvania, Germany, England, and Sweden. France, however, was an obvious gap in his European network and Haak's French language abilities drew him to Hartlib, who knew that an informal philosophical group existed in Paris. Its intelligencer was Marin Mersenne, a French theologian, mathematician, philosopher, and friend of Thomas Hobbes
, René Descartes
, and Blaise Pascal
.
Haak initiated a correspondence with Mersenne in 1639, likely at the request of Hartlib. His initial letter enclosed mathematical studies by John Pell
and works by Comenius. Mersenne replied almost immediately and although he briefly commented on Pell and Comenius, it was his request to Haak to send further scientific information that sustained their corresponding relationship. The correspondence between Haak and Mersenne covered current scientific and mechanical subjects such as tide
s, the making of telescope
s, spherical glasses, new planetary discoveries, magnet
s, cycloid
s, mills, and other machines. The nature of the correspondence was somewhat of a disappointment to Hartlib, who was more interested in expanding Comenius's pansophic
work. Mersenne showed greater interest in English scientific experiments and results, and the correspondence between Mersenne and Haak did serv to connect a small group of interested philosopher-scientists in London to Mersenne’s scientific group in Paris.
'—is considered by some a predecessor of the Royal Society. The group’s meetings and philosophical interests afforded Haak the perfect opportunity to reengage with his French friend. Letters in 1647 indicate that Haak was writing on behalf of the group asking Mersenne about new scientific developments in France and requesting an exchange of knowledge, even asking for a report when others from the Paris group returned from their scientific travels. Haak’s involvement with this early scientific group seems to have waned, perhaps due to his on-going interest in translation. As the group reemerged after the Restoration
, it became more formalized and eventually evolved into the Royal Society. One year after the founding of the Society, Haak was formally entered as a member in 1661 and in fact is listed as one of the 119 original fellows.
Haak’s work with the Royal Society was similar to the work that had so far engaged him throughout his life—-translation, correspondence, and diffuser of knowledge. One of the first tasks he undertook was a translation of an Italian work on dyeing. He also acted as an intermediary on behalf of his old friend Pell, and communicated to the Society Pell’s studies, including observations of a solar eclipse. Later it was to respond to university professors and civil administrators seeking information on the work undertaken by the Society. Other minor works prepared for the Society included a history of sugar refining and some German translations.
Haak’s life is “a study of the seventeenth century world in all its complexities of politics, new scientific discoveries, and intellectual strivings” both in England and abroad. His active engagement with a wide circle of friends and even wider range of acquaintances are important because they are evidence of the “formal and informal institutional arrangements, and social relationships” that were vital to developing “the new philosophy” during the Scientific Revolution.
Royal Society
The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, known simply as the Royal Society, is a learned society for science, and is possibly the oldest such society in existence. Founded in November 1660, it was granted a Royal Charter by King Charles II as the "Royal Society of London"...
.
Although not himself known as a natural philosopher, Haak's engagement with others facilitated the expansion and diffusion of the “new science” throughout Europe. Haak’s language skills were used in translation and interpretation and his personal correspondence with the natural philosophers and theologians of the day, including Marin Mersenne
Marin Mersenne
Marin Mersenne, Marin Mersennus or le Père Mersenne was a French theologian, philosopher, mathematician and music theorist, often referred to as the "father of acoustics"...
and Johann Amos Comenius; he facilitated introductions and further collaborations. Beginning in 1645 he worked as a translator on the Dutch Annotations Upon the Whole Bible (1657). The first German translation of John Milton
John Milton
John Milton was an English poet, polemicist, a scholarly man of letters, and a civil servant for the Commonwealth of England under Oliver Cromwell...
's Paradise Lost
Paradise Lost
Paradise Lost is an epic poem in blank verse by the 17th-century English poet John Milton. It was originally published in 1667 in ten books, with a total of over ten thousand individual lines of verse...
is perhaps his best known single work.
Early life and background
Haak was born on July 25, 1605 in NeuhausenNeuhausen
Neuhausen may refer to:*Neuhausen am Rheinfall, a town in the canton of Schaffhausen, Switzerland*Neuhausen auf den Fildern, a municipality in Baden-Württemberg, Germany*Neuhausen , a municipality in Baden-Württemberg, Germany...
in Germany’s Palatinate region. Very little is known about Haak’s father—Theodore, Sr., who came to study at the University of Heidelberg from Neuburg in Thuringia
Thuringia
The Free State of Thuringia is a state of Germany, located in the central part of the country.It has an area of and 2.29 million inhabitants, making it the sixth smallest by area and the fifth smallest by population of Germany's sixteen states....
. It is unclear whether he finished his studies, but he did marry the rector’s daughter, Maria Tossanus and from there moved on to an administrative post in Neuhausen.
Haak’s mother, Maria Tossanus, descended from three of the Palatinate’s most distinguished and intellectual families—Tossanus (Toussaint), Spanheim, and Schloer. Maria's father was the pastor Daniel Toussaint, a French Huguenot
Huguenot
The Huguenots were members of the Protestant Reformed Church of France during the 16th and 17th centuries. Since the 17th century, people who formerly would have been called Huguenots have instead simply been called French Protestants, a title suggested by their German co-religionists, the...
exile from Orléans
Orléans
-Prehistory and Roman:Cenabum was a Gallic stronghold, one of the principal towns of the Carnutes tribe where the Druids held their annual assembly. It was conquered and destroyed by Julius Caesar in 52 BC, then rebuilt under the Roman Empire...
in Heidelberg, who had left France after the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre
St. Bartholomew's Day massacre
The St. Bartholomew's Day massacre in 1572 was a targeted group of assassinations, followed by a wave of Roman Catholic mob violence, both directed against the Huguenots , during the French Wars of Religion...
in 1572. He assumed the chair of theology at Heidelberg in 1586 and became rector in 1594. Young Theodore Haak’s relatives included Friedrich Spanheim
Friedrich Spanheim
Friedrich Spanheim the elder was a Calvinistic theology professor at the University of Leiden.-Life:He entered in 1614 the University of Heidelberg where he studied philology and philosophy, and in 1619 removed to Geneva to study theology...
(1600–1649), professor of theology at Geneva and Leyden; Ezechiel Spanheim (1629–1710), counselor and ambassador for the Elector Karl Ludwig
Charles I Louis, Elector Palatine
Charles Louis, , Elector Palatine KG was the second son of Frederick V of the Palatinate, the "Winter King" of Bohemia, and his wife, Princess Elizabeth, daughter of King James I of England ....
; Friedrich Spanheim (1632–1701), a professor of theology at Heidelberg; and Dr. J. F. Schloer who together with his son Christian also occupied high positions in the Palatinate court.
Definitive documentation regarding Theodore Haak’s early life is not extant, but it is likely given his family’s intellectual tradition and positions within the university that Haak followed the family’s scholarly footsteps. It is likely that he attended the Neuhausen Gymnasium, where his mother’s cousin was a teacher and eventually co-rector. He very likely would have matriculated at the University of Heidelberg had it not been for the outbreak of the Thirty Years' War
Thirty Years' War
The Thirty Years' War was fought primarily in what is now Germany, and at various points involved most countries in Europe. It was one of the most destructive conflicts in European history....
(1618–1648), which devastated the Palatinate area and Heidelberg in particular. The University of Heidelberg essentially closed and did not reopen again until the Peace of Westphalia
Peace of Westphalia
The Peace of Westphalia was a series of peace treaties signed between May and October of 1648 in Osnabrück and Münster. These treaties ended the Thirty Years' War in the Holy Roman Empire, and the Eighty Years' War between Spain and the Dutch Republic, with Spain formally recognizing the...
(1648).
Traveller
In 1625, at the age of twenty, Haak embarked for England where he visited Oxford and Cambridge Universities. A year later he returned to Germany and spent the next two years in CologneCologne
Cologne is Germany's fourth-largest city , and is the largest city both in the Germany Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia and within the Rhine-Ruhr Metropolitan Area, one of the major European metropolitan areas with more than ten million inhabitants.Cologne is located on both sides of the...
, where he regularly met in secret with other Protestants for religious gatherings. He brought back from England a copy of Daniel Dyke
Daniel Dyke (died 1614)
Daniel Dyke was an English academic, a Puritan of the reign of James I.-Life:He was born at Hempstead, Essex, where his father was a minister and had been silenced for nonconformity. He proceeded B.A. at St John's College, Cambridge in 1595–6, and M.A. at Sidney Sussex College in 1599...
's Mystery of Self-Deceiving, which he shared with his Protestant spiritual circle. This volume was also Haak's first work in English to German translation, completed in 1638 under the title Nosce Teipsum: Das Grosse Geheimnis dess Selbs-betrugs.
In 1628 Haak returned to England and spent the following three years at Oxford, but left in 1631 without a degree. Shortly after, he was ordained a deacon
Deacon
Deacon is a ministry in the Christian Church that is generally associated with service of some kind, but which varies among theological and denominational traditions...
by the Bishop of Exeter
Bishop of Exeter
The Bishop of Exeter is the Ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Exeter in the Province of Canterbury. The incumbent usually signs his name as Exon or incorporates this in his signature....
but never took full orders. He lived for a short time in Dorchester
Dorchester
-England:*Dorchester, Dorset, the county town of Dorset; central to the organisation of the emigration of Puritans to North America during the 17th century*Dorchester, Oxfordshire, also known as Dorchester-on-Thames-Canada:...
but by 1632 left the countryside for London with the intention to return to Germany. His plans, however, were interrupted when he received a letter from the exiled ministers of the Lower Palatinate seeking his assistance with raising funds and influencing English Protestant clergymen in their cause. It was Haak's Calvinist heritage, language abilities, and presence in London that brought him to the attention of the Palatinate’s ministers. When this task was completed, Haak returned to Heidelberg in 1633; but, with war still ravaging Germany, Haak again, left this time for Holland. In 1638 at the age of thirty-three, Haak enrolled at the University of Leyden, where many of his relatives had already studied.
Role in knowledge networks
By this time, Haak was becoming well known as a gentleman-scholar with independent means and excellent family connections. In 1634, Haak had formed an advantageous and life-long relationship with Samuel HartlibSamuel Hartlib
Samuel Hartlib was a German-British polymath. An active promoter and expert writer in many fields, he was interested in science, medicine, agriculture, politics, and education. He settled in England, where he married and died...
, a fellow German expatriate in London. Since 1636 Hartlib had been in frequent correspondence with Johann Amos Comenius, who forwarded to Hartlib his manuscript, De Pansophia. In 1638 when Haak returned to England, he found his friend Hartlib engaged, intellectually and logistically, with Comenius and another Calvinist intellectual, John Dury
John Dury
John Dury was a Scottish Calvinist minister and a significant intellectual of the English Civil War period. He made efforts to re-unite the Calvinist and Lutheran wings of Protestantism, hoping to succeed when he moved to Kassel in 1661, but he did not accomplish this...
(1596–1680).
Hartlib was a polymathic intelligencer
Intelligencer
According to the Oxford English Dictionary, an intelligencer is "One who conveys intelligence or information", "One employed to obtain secret information, an informer, a spy, a secret agent", or "A bringer of news; a messenger; an informant; a newsmonger"...
, and the "Hartlib circle
Hartlib Circle
The Hartlib Circle refers primarily to the correspondence network set up in Western and Central Europe by Samuel Hartlib, an intelligencer based in London, and his associates, in the period 1630 to 1660.-Structure:J. T. Young writes:...
" reached into Holland, Transylvania, Germany, England, and Sweden. France, however, was an obvious gap in his European network and Haak's French language abilities drew him to Hartlib, who knew that an informal philosophical group existed in Paris. Its intelligencer was Marin Mersenne, a French theologian, mathematician, philosopher, and friend of Thomas Hobbes
Thomas Hobbes
Thomas Hobbes of Malmesbury , in some older texts Thomas Hobbs of Malmsbury, was an English philosopher, best known today for his work on political philosophy...
, René Descartes
René Descartes
René Descartes ; was a French philosopher and writer who spent most of his adult life in the Dutch Republic. He has been dubbed the 'Father of Modern Philosophy', and much subsequent Western philosophy is a response to his writings, which are studied closely to this day...
, and Blaise Pascal
Blaise Pascal
Blaise Pascal , was a French mathematician, physicist, inventor, writer and Catholic philosopher. He was a child prodigy who was educated by his father, a tax collector in Rouen...
.
Haak initiated a correspondence with Mersenne in 1639, likely at the request of Hartlib. His initial letter enclosed mathematical studies by John Pell
John Pell
-Early life:He was born at Southwick in Sussex. He was educated at Steyning Grammar School, and entered Trinity College, Cambridge, at the age of thirteen. During his university career he became an accomplished linguist, and even before he took his B.A. degree corresponded with Henry Briggs and...
and works by Comenius. Mersenne replied almost immediately and although he briefly commented on Pell and Comenius, it was his request to Haak to send further scientific information that sustained their corresponding relationship. The correspondence between Haak and Mersenne covered current scientific and mechanical subjects such as tide
Tide
Tides are the rise and fall of sea levels caused by the combined effects of the gravitational forces exerted by the moon and the sun and the rotation of the Earth....
s, the making of telescope
Telescope
A telescope is an instrument that aids in the observation of remote objects by collecting electromagnetic radiation . The first known practical telescopes were invented in the Netherlands at the beginning of the 1600s , using glass lenses...
s, spherical glasses, new planetary discoveries, magnet
Magnet
A magnet is a material or object that produces a magnetic field. This magnetic field is invisible but is responsible for the most notable property of a magnet: a force that pulls on other ferromagnetic materials, such as iron, and attracts or repels other magnets.A permanent magnet is an object...
s, cycloid
Cycloid
A cycloid is the curve traced by a point on the rim of a circular wheel as the wheel rolls along a straight line.It is an example of a roulette, a curve generated by a curve rolling on another curve....
s, mills, and other machines. The nature of the correspondence was somewhat of a disappointment to Hartlib, who was more interested in expanding Comenius's pansophic
Pansophic
Pansophism, in older usage often pansophy, is a concept of omniscience, meaning "all-knowing". In some monotheistic belief systems, a god is referred as the ultimate knowing spirit...
work. Mersenne showed greater interest in English scientific experiments and results, and the correspondence between Mersenne and Haak did serv to connect a small group of interested philosopher-scientists in London to Mersenne’s scientific group in Paris.
The “1645 Group” and the Royal Society
Haak’s correspondence with Mersenne dwindled after 1640 likely due to Haak’s diplomatic engagements in Denmark and the start of his more ambitious translation work, including an English translation of the Dutch Annotations upon the Whole Bible. In 1647, however, his correspondence with Mersenne resumed. This is likely due to the meetings of scientifically-minded men who began to meet in London beginning in 1645. This “1645 Group” or as it later was (misleadingly) known—the 'Invisible CollegeInvisible College
The Invisible College has been described as a precursor group to the Royal Society of London, consisting of a number of natural philosophers around Robert Boyle...
'—is considered by some a predecessor of the Royal Society. The group’s meetings and philosophical interests afforded Haak the perfect opportunity to reengage with his French friend. Letters in 1647 indicate that Haak was writing on behalf of the group asking Mersenne about new scientific developments in France and requesting an exchange of knowledge, even asking for a report when others from the Paris group returned from their scientific travels. Haak’s involvement with this early scientific group seems to have waned, perhaps due to his on-going interest in translation. As the group reemerged after the Restoration
Restoration (1660)
The term Restoration in reference to the year 1660 refers to the restoration of Charles II to his realms across the British Empire at that time.-England:...
, it became more formalized and eventually evolved into the Royal Society. One year after the founding of the Society, Haak was formally entered as a member in 1661 and in fact is listed as one of the 119 original fellows.
Haak’s work with the Royal Society was similar to the work that had so far engaged him throughout his life—-translation, correspondence, and diffuser of knowledge. One of the first tasks he undertook was a translation of an Italian work on dyeing. He also acted as an intermediary on behalf of his old friend Pell, and communicated to the Society Pell’s studies, including observations of a solar eclipse. Later it was to respond to university professors and civil administrators seeking information on the work undertaken by the Society. Other minor works prepared for the Society included a history of sugar refining and some German translations.
Haak’s life is “a study of the seventeenth century world in all its complexities of politics, new scientific discoveries, and intellectual strivings” both in England and abroad. His active engagement with a wide circle of friends and even wider range of acquaintances are important because they are evidence of the “formal and informal institutional arrangements, and social relationships” that were vital to developing “the new philosophy” during the Scientific Revolution.
Works by Theodore Haak
- Dyke, Daniel. Mystery of Self-Deceiving, [Nosce Teipsum: Das grosse Geheimnis dess Selb-betrugs, (Basel, 1638)]. Translated from English into German.
- _____. A Treatise of Repentance [Nützliche Betrachtung der wahren Busse (Frankfurt, 1643)]. Translated from English into German
- Milton, John. Paradise Lost [Das Verlustige Paradeiss, unpublished] Translated from English into German.
- Schloer, Frederick. Sermon on the Death of the Two Renowned Kings of Sweden and Bohemia Publicly Lamented in a Sermon, (London, 1633). Translated from the German into English
- Solemn League and Covenant. Translated from English into German
- The Dutch Annotations Upon the Whole Bible. Translated from Dutch into English. (London, 1657).