Thomas Hobbes, dubbed by his detractors “The Monster of Malmesbury”, was born prematurely in Wiltshire, on April 5, 1588, allegedly because his mother had taken fright at the launch of the Spanish Armada. He later wrote in his autobiography that she had given birth to twins: both him, and fear. Indeed, fear would play a decisive role in Hobbes's view of human nature, and in the influential political philosophy he derived from it. Hobbes was one of the “four horsemen” of the Early Modern apocalypse: along with Galileo, Descartes and Spinoza, he helped to fashion a then-controversial but subsequently enduring bridge between medieval stagnation and scientific revolution. Hobbes paved the way to modern, secular nation-statehood, commonwealths undergirded by robust social contracts. Yet the road he travelled in that process was far from straight or smooth: it led through the tumultuous English Civil War and the subsequent beheading of a sovereign (Charles I), whose son and heir Hobbes would eventually tutor.
Hobbes's father, the Vicar of Charlton and Westport, was a minor cleric typical of the late Tudor period. Short on erudition but long on vice, he was compelled to flee in disgrace after episodes of drinking, gambling and fisticuffs. Young Thomas had already demonstrated precocity in Classics during his schooling, and his talents were developed by his benevolent uncle Francis, who in 1603 sent him up to Magdalen Hall in Oxford. Thomas excelled so conspicuously in Classics and Divinity – the only subjects then on offer – that soon after his graduation in 1608, on the recommendation of the Principal, he found himself in the employ of the powerful Cavendish family, initially as a tutor to William, soon to become the second Earl of Devonshire. In this capacity Hobbes embarked on his first Grand Tour. On their return he was promoted to the Earl's Secretary. William duly became Earl but died soon after: Hobbes lost a friend and, for a time, his position, since the Cavendish heir was too young to benefit from his tutelage. Hobbes also served as the last amanuensis to Lord Chancellor Francis Bacon, the primogenitor of British empiricism, and the late Renaissance formulator of modernity's iconic slogan: “knowledge is power”.
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