Project Profile of the Month: Leonard Digges
One does not automatically associated profiles managed by the Magna Carta Project with mathematics, but two profiles are of prominent mathematicians - Leonard Digges and his son Thomas. Thomas is likely to be the subject of a future Profile of the Month.
Leonard was born into a Kent gentry family, probably around 1515. After a spell at Oxford University, he was admitted to Lincoln's Inn - one of the London Inns of Court. This did not mean he was training to be a lawyer, and he was not called to the bar: it was common for young men of his background to be enrolled at an Inn of Court to pick up a smattering of law to help them in future life (for instance in managing property or serving as a magistrate), and to make contacts that might prove useful. Evidence suggests that his interests were more military than legal. In 1542 he and some other gentry visited a castle near Calais, then still an English possession; in 1545, he was among those ordered to oversee the defence of Kent; and in 1549 he was one of the advocates of the establishment of a militia for Kent.
In 1554 he became caught up in high politics. Mary I's intended marriage to Philip II of Spain had been announced, and this helped to trigger an unsuccessful rebellion, started in Kent and led by Thomas Wyatt, son of a Tudor courtier and poet. Leonard took part. Charged with high treason, he was condemned to death, but the sentence was commuted into a large fine and confiscation of property. Leonard died probably around 1559.
It is as a mathematician that Leonard is most remembered today. In this period, scientific and mathematical works were frequently still written in Latin, which gave them an international readership. Leonard was one of the first mathematicians to publish in English. His interests were largely in applied mathematics. Some of his work was on arithmetic, with a heavy emphasis on military uses. One book was on measurement for land surveying, carpentry and other purposes, and this remained a fairly standard work up to the end of the 17th century.
His main book, though, was an early almanac, which he expanded in successive editions. Mathematicians and scientists risked accusations of questioning religious beliefs, and in his almanac Leonard defended maths and astronomy against such charges. The book contained tide tables, and what we would see as mainstream science: astronomy (it was one of the first English publications to present a geocentric description of the solar system); weather-forecasting; and the use of instruments for measuring time. It also included a substantial amount of astrological material, and advice on the most favourable times for letting blood (a routine form of medical treatment in the past). This is an illustration of how, back then, the boundaries of science extended beyond what would be accepted now.
Team News
The trail development team badged the following trails in July 2023:
