Charls Butler

Charl(e)s Butler (c. 1559 – 1647), vicar of Wootton St Lawrence (Hants.,), is a somewhat undercelebrated English genius - scholar, schoolmaster, grammarian, theologian, naturalist, musical theorist and early proponent of English spelling reform - the earliest on record - whose life spanned the reigns of Elizabeth I, James I, and Charles I.

His book, "Đe Feminin` Monarķi`" - or đe histori of bee's. Shewing đeir admirable natur`, and propertis; đeir generation and colonis; đeir government, loyalti, art, industri; enemi's, vvars, magnanimiti, &c. Togeđer with đe riħt ordering of đem from tim` to tim`: and đe sweet` profit arising đer`of. Written out of experienc` - was first published in 1609. It was republished in 1634, the year of the first meeting of the Académie Française. The book's first edition was revolutionary for Natural history, being the first known natural history of bees, in a century which, in the period starting from his latter years, proved to be arguably the most revolutionary in English history. The third edition of 1634 was also revolutionary for spelling reform, being the earliest recorded publication in a reformed English spelling system.

In his English grammar of the previous year (1633), Butler had 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 founding principle of the century-old but now threatened(?) Simplified Spelling Society.

An early contemporary of Newton, Descartes and Leibniz, Butler is one of the earliest and least known founders and pace-setters of modern science in an era scarred by the effects of superstition.

Biography

Butler was born into a poor family but was admitted to Oxford as a working student with scholastic scholarships. He remained at Oxford ten years, probably teaching, and graduating with his Master of Arts in 1587. In 1593, Rev. Butler became Rector of Nately Scures in Hampshire, and later Master at the Holy Ghost School, Basingstoke. He resigned to accept a pastorage at Wootton St Lawrence in 1600 and served that rural post to his death in 1647.

Beekeeping

Butler was engaged in beekeeping in rural Hampshire and made the first recorded observations about the generation of beeswax, which was previously thought to be gathered by honeybees from plant materials. He observed that they produce wax combs from scales of wax produced in their own bodies. He was not the first to describe the largest honeybee as a queen, rather than king (see Swammerdam) but he popularized the notion with his classic book "The Feminine Monarchie", 1609. An influential beekeeper, he was the first to assert that drones are male and the workers female, and is sometimes called the "Father of English Beekeeping". [The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Beekeeping, Roger Morse and Ted Hooper, 1985, E.P. Dutton, Inc.]

Writings

"The Feminine Monarchie", 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 movable comb hives. Butler revised "The Feminine Monarchie" in 1623 and 1634. It was translated into Latin in 1678 and 1682, then from Latin back to English again in 1704. The book gives an excellent account of skep beekeeping, including methods of predicting - from tone pitch of the buzzing bees - when swarming will occur. Butler even transliterated the tones and included them on a musical score in the book.

Other books by Charles Butler included an English grammar (1633) with proposals to improve spelling to a phonetic alphabet. The 1634 edition of his beekeeping classic was written and published in his new orthography. He also authored a bestselling school textbook, "The Logic of Ramus" (1597), an introduction to the mould-breaking Renaissance philosophy of martyred Protestant French contemporary Pierre de la Ramée. Butler also published a book on music theory, "The principles of musik" (1636), and a theological defence of marriage between first cousins, coinciding with the engagement and subsequent marriage of his daughter to his nephew.

References