Kennett, White, 1660-1728 (historian and Bishop of Peterborough)
Dates
- Existence: 1660 - 1728
Biography
White Kennett (1660-1728), historian and Bishop of Peterborough, was born in Dover in 1660, the son of a dockyard storekeeper who would go on to become a vicar. He matriculated at Oxford in 1678 and it was while he was at the University that he became interested in antiquarian study. Kennett graduated BA in 1682 and began a career in the church, becoming a vicar in 1685. Alongside his church duties he continued his scholarly research, translating the classics and studying historical documents. In 1691 Kennet was made tutor and vice principal at St Edmunds Hall, Oxford and in 1700 became curate of St Botolph's, Aldgate. He rose up the ranks of churchmen, being made Royal chaplain at Windsor in 1708, Dean of Peterborough a year later and finally becoming Bishop of Peterborough in 1718. Despite his church duties he continued his historical studies and made significant contribution to British scholarship with his work on land tenures and the history of feudalism. In 1695 his Compleat History of England was published. It would run to three volumes and was one of the most ambitious and expensive publishing projects of the time. Kennett dies after a short illness in 1728.
Found in 5 Collections and/or Records:
Thomas Baker's copies of documents, mainly relating to Cambridge University, Late seventeenth - early eighteenth century
Transcripts, 1700 (Circa)
Includes: James I, speech to parliament, 30 Jan. 1621; papers, correspondence, speeches, and diplomatic exchanges re the civil war, particularly 1645-8; papers re administration of the duchy of Cornwall, 1640s. Many items have been published.
Transcripts, 1705-1706
Includes: extracts from parliamentary speeches 'which speeches I have in print which must be gotten'; list of dissenting preachers, arranged by county and divided into Presbyterian, Congregational, and Baptist, with statistical breakdown of same; Philip Herbert, earl of Pembroke, 'Speech concerning the King's Supremacy'; notes of events, 1640-7; lists of references; 'Observations about the Spanish Match'; extracts from House of Commons Journals, Nov. 1640-Jan. 1646 (with gaps).
White Kennett, Bishop of Peterborough (1660-1728) to Mr. Tryse, Attourney at Law, 19 Oct. 1727., 19 Oct 1727
Arranged, bound and listed by Munby, containing letters by collectors of books and manuscripts. The letters are arranged in order of the author's date of birth. There is also an alphabetical index.
White Kennett: materials collected for his anonymously published Complete History of England
Much of the material concerns James I, the English Civil War and its aftermath.
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