John Toland 1670-1722

John Toland (1670-1722), the Irish-born rationalist philosopher and freethinker, was a visitor to the court of Hanover and among several of the influential thinkers of the day with whom Sophia corresponded, supported and endowed. Their relationship has been discussed previously on this website.

A new website, dedicated to the life of Toland, was unveiled last year with a view to the impending centenaries connected to his birth and his death. We are reproducing below, the website's mission statement, which was issued on 11 March 2018 (which also marks the centenary of Toland's death in 1722) to coincide with the launch of the new website.

John Toland (1670-1722)

– Irish-born Rationalist Philosopher and Freethinker –

http://www.carboneria.it/Tolandfr.htm
[Public domain],
via Wikimedia Commons

John Toland, Irish-born rationalist philosopher and freethinker, died on this day (11 March) in 1722. "If you would know more of him, search his writings," he wrote in a self-penned epitaph that appeared a few days later.

Toland is best remembered today as a philosopher, freethinker, author, pamphleteer who made important contributions to the various fields of philosophy – in what today would be regarded as both the natural and social sciences.

We choose this day to formally unveil a new website dedicated to Toland, his life and work. This website will serve as a free online resource and repository of knowledge pertaining to his writings, the times in which he lived and to the social movement that he, along with others, spearheaded and represented, with particular reference to the enduring legacy and effect.

There is a lot that has been said about John Toland and probably a lot more that could be said. This website will serve the purpose of ensuring that nothing that should be said will go unsaid. That is why this is a free website, open to anyone who may wish to contribute. Furthermore, we invite those who may wish to contribute to get in touch with us.

The fact that this website is being formally unveiled on the anniversary of Toland's death is not coincidental. In fact, the date has been deliberately chosen. The 350th anniversary of Toland's birth will be observed on 30 November 2020 and the 300th anniversary of his death falls less than two years later, in 2022. We particularly encourage anyone who has an interest in these anniversaries to get in touch with us, to ensure that they are properly observed and accorded the respect that they are due. We will do our best (without fear or favour) to publicise events that are taking place, using networks and channels of communication within our reach.

Further details about this web project will be unveiled in due course. If you are interested, we encourage you to keep in touch – subscribe using the facilities that are available or sign up for e-mail alerts. You can also find us on Facebook and Twitter.

If you would know more, follow us.

– reproduced from the website of the John Toland (1670-1722) Centenaries Project

Sophia of Hanover (1630-1714): a woman for all times and all seasons

Sophia as dowager Electress of Hanover,
around the time she was proclaimed heir
presumptive of the British crown.
[Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

On a day that electors across Great Britain and Northern Ireland go to the polls in what may well prove to be an historic plebiscite for the UK, another event is recalled, which marked a significant milestone in the history and evolution of that United Kingdom.

Sophia of the Palatinate (commonly referred to as Sophia of Hanover – she was Electress of Hanover from 1692 to 1698) died on this day (June 8) in 1714, less than two months before she would have ascended to the throne of the Kingdom of Great Britain, to which she became heir presumptive under the Act of Settlement 1701.

In her biography, Sophia of Hanover: Winter Princess (2010), author, J.N. Duggan suggests that Sophia deserves greater recognition than has hitherto been accorded to her: as a certain link in the lineage of the British Crown. She was, in fact, "an exceptional woman in her own right, remarkable both for her open-minded and down-to-earth character and for her writings, which have been sadly neglected."

"She occupied a ringside seat at the cockpit of continental politics." She was also a gifted chronicler, corresponding with many influential and/or well-placed people of her day. Gottfried Leibniz (1646-1716) and John Toland (1670-1722) were among the writers and philosophers whom she sponsored.

Fortunately, much of this correspondence has survived to provide "a wonderful glimpse of life as it was for the ruling classes of her time". In addition to her "insider's view of many of the main military and political events of her time", she also paints a picture that people today would find uncomfortable – freezing castles and smoking chimneys, rickety carriages and muddy roads and "harshest of all, the demands of etiquette, which kept her standing for over an hour, listening to her brother, the Elector, while she was in labour with her fourth son."

Upon Sophia's death, her eldest son, Elector George Louis of Brunswick-Lüneburg (1660-1727), became heir presumptive to the British throne and succeeded Queen Anne (1665-1714), who died within a few short weeks of Sophia's passing. His descendants have occupied the throne down to the present time.

Sophia of Hanover: Winter Princess by J.N. Duggan is published by Peter Owen Publishers and available to buy online in print and e-book editions. Further information available from the author's website.

The Heretic and the Heiress: Remembering John Toland (1670-1722)

John Toland, the Irish-born philosopher whose writings had an important influence on the early Enlightenment period of European history, was born on this day (30 November) in 1670. He was also a contemporary of Sophia of Hanover but, the two had much more in common than that. In fact, despite their vastly different backgrounds, their lives intertwined in more ways than one, as recounted in the following article from 2010, that is re-published from the official website of J.N. Duggan, author of biographies of both Sophia and Toland.

The Heretic and the Heiress

John Toland (1670-1722),
via Wikimedia Commons

What is the connection between a European Princess (a descendant of the Wittelsbach and Stuart dynasties, who would go on to become Heiress Presumptive to the throne of Great Britain by the Act of Settlement of 1701) and a Donegal heretic widely denounced by political and ecclesiastical authorities of the day? Two new books by Irish author, J.N. Duggan, furnish an answer.

Sophia, Electress of Hanover (1630-1714) was daughter of Frederick and Elisabeth of the Palatinate, known as the Winter King and Queen of Bohemia. Irish readers may be interested to know that she was a 20x great grand-daughter of Brian Boru and counted Strongbow and Aoife among her ancestors.

She is best remembered, in the English-speaking world, as the connection between the Houses of Stuart and Hanover but, in the opinion of her biographer, she deserves to be remembered, in her own right, as a gifted writer and chronicler of her times (1630-1714).

She has left us an enormous legacy of writings in the form of her memoirs, (which she wrote at the age of 50), and the many letters which she wrote to her family and friends over the course of her long and eventful life. Her writings are remarkable both for the light that they throw on the politics and personalities of the 17th Century – she was related by blood or marriage to all the great families of Europe – but also, for the insiders view that she gives us of life in the princely courts of Europe.

Because of her privileged position and ringside seat at the cockpit of European politics, she was able to report to Leibniz on 4 November 1688:

The Prince of Orange left last Saturday with 50 vessels. He had no manifesto except a memoir that the English Protestants sent him listing all their grievances against their King and the reasons that made them doubt that the Prince of Wales is the Queen’s child. However, the King of England [James II] has done me the honour of writing to me in his own hand on this subject, where he says that he would have to be the wickedest man on earth to do such a thing, but it seems that those who believe in such an imposture judge him by their own standards. H.M. writes to me also that he had not been able to believe for a long time that his son-in-law and nephew would be willing to invade his country and that was why he had delayed so long in making preparations, but that if the wind remained contrary for another few days he would be in a state to receive him. Therefore we are all impatient to learn how matters went in England. On all the Prince of Orange’s banners there is 'For Religion and Liberty'.

J.N. Duggan is the author of Sophia of Hanover: from Winter Princess to Heiress of Great Britain 1630-1714, recently published by Peter Owen Publishers of London. The circumstances in which her book on Sophia of Hanover was completed, led directly to her second book, John Toland: Ireland's Forgotten Philosopher, Scholar ... and Heretic. The author explains that she had never heard of John Toland (1670-1722) until coming across his name while researching for her biography of Sophia:

Searching through other people’s bibliographies, I realised that he was the recognised source of information on the Courts of Hanover and Berlin in the first decade of the Eighteenth Century, and Chambers Biographical Dictionary informed me that he was an Irishman.

In fact, John Toland was born and raised on the Inishowen Peninsula in Co. Donegal, in 1670. He was a prolific writer on important political and religious issues of the day. He was the first person to be called a freethinker (by Bishop Berkeley); a radical republican who challenged the divine right of kings; the first to advocate full citizenship and equal rights for Jewish people in Great Britain and Ireland, among other notable achievements.

Toland left Ireland soon after his first book, Christianity Not Mysterious, was publicly burned in Dublin, having been denounced in both the Irish and English parliaments. He moved to London, where he resided till his death in 1722 but, was also a frequent visitor to the continent. At the behest of some leading Whig lords, he wrote a book (Anglia Libera) in support of Sophia of Hanover's claim to the throne. He was able to present her with a copy in person, when he travelled with Lord Macclesfield's delegation that delivered the Act of Settlement to her.

That Toland and Sophia would take an instant liking to each other is not surprising, according to the author of these two volumes. It was noted that that during daily walks, Sophia and the Irishman would distance themselves from the attendant courtiers so that they could talk in private.

They were both very forward-looking but also, very practical people. He loved an audience and she loved to be entertained. Throughout her life, Sophia kept in touch with the thinking of the foremost philosophers of her day. Gottfried Leibniz was not only librarian to the court of Hanover but, he was Sophia’s best friend and confidante. The two of them, together with the Catholic bishop of Neustadt, Christof Rojas de Spinola, attempted to reunite the Catholic and Protestant churches.

The attempt ended in failure and acrimony but, in any case, Sophia's enthusiasm for ecumenism was waning as prospects of a Protestant crown loomed on the horizon.

Toland, for his part, was in turn a member of each of the major religious sects – Catholic, Church of Ireland and Presbyterian – but, he abandoned them all and was denounced by each as a dangerous heretic. Outside of academic circles, he is barely known in his native Ireland but, where he is remembered, he is celebrated for the important role that he played in laying the groundwork for the 18th century Enlightenment.

• Sophia of Hanover: from Winter Princess to Heiress of Great Britain, 1630-1714 is published by Peter Owen Publishers.
• John Toland: Ireland's Forgotten Philosopher, Scholar ... and Heretic is published by The Manuscript Publisher.

Further information about both of these titles, including how to buy online, is available from the author's website.