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{{short description|English theologian, classical scholar and linguist (1666–1727)}}
{{EngvarB|date=July 2017}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2017}}
'''William Wotton''' (13 August 1666{{snd}}13 February 1727) was an English theologian, classical scholar and linguist. He is chiefly remembered for his remarkable abilities in learning languages and for his involvement in the [[Quarrel of the Ancients and the Moderns]]. In [[Wales]] he is remembered as the collector and first translator of the [[Welsh law|ancient Welsh laws]].

==Life==
===Early years===
William Wotton was the second son of the Rev. Henry Wotton, rector of [[Wrentham, Suffolk]]. He was a child prodigy who could read verses from the Bible in English, [[Latin]], [[Koine Greek|Greek]] and [[Hebrew]] before he was six. In April 1676, when he was not yet ten years old, he was sent to [[St Catharine's College, Cambridge|Catharine Hall, Cambridge]], and graduated in 1679.<ref>{{acad|id=WTN676W|name=Wotton, William}}</ref> By this time Wotton had acquired [[Arabic]], [[Syriac language|Syriac]], and [[Biblical Aramaic|Aramaic]], as well as a knowledge of [[logic]], philosophy, [[mathematics]], [[geography]], [[chronology]], and history. His parents died whilst he was still at [[Cambridge]], and as a teenager he was taken into the household of [[Gilbert Burnet]], later [[bishop of Salisbury]]. He was awarded a fellowship at [[St John's College, Cambridge|St John's College]], from where he obtained an M.A. in 1683 and a B.D. in 1691. In 1686 he was appointed curate of [[Brimpton]] in Berkshire and the following year he was also elected a Fellow of the [[Royal Society]]. In January 1689 he was appointed vicar of [[Lacock]] in Wiltshire, which he held until his resignation in 1693.<ref>{{CCEd |type=person |id=22903 |name=Wotton, William |yob=1686 |yod=1727 |accessed=2 February 2014 }}</ref> Soon after ordination he was also appointed chaplain to [[Daniel Finch, 7th Earl of Winchilsea|Daniel Finch]] [[Earl of Nottingham]], and tutor to his family. Finch presented him with the rectory of [[Milton Keynes]], Buckinghamshire, in 1693.

===Educational controversy===
Wotton began his scholarly career as the translator of [[Louis Ellies du Pin|Louis Dupin's]] ''A new history of ecclesiastical writers'', (13 vols. 1692–99). However, he is chiefly remembered for his share in the controversy about the respective merits of ancient and modern learning. In his ''Reflections upon Ancient and Modern Learning'' (1694, and again 1697) he took the part of the moderns, although in a fair and judicial spirit.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}} According to Joseph Levine, 'of all the works in the controversy that had yet appeared in English or French his was easily the most judicious.'<ref>''The Battle of the Books'', p. 34.</ref> He was attacked for pedantry by [[Jonathan Swift|Swift]] in ''[[The Battle of the Books]]'' and ''[[A Tale of a Tub]]'',<ref>''The Battle of the Books'', pp. 112–122.</ref> but his book proved that 'Wotton was no mere pedant, but a wide-ranging intellect with a thorough command of learning, both ancient and modern.'<ref>''The Battle of the Books'', p. 34.</ref> Wotton responded calling Swift's ''A Tale'' "one of the profanest banters upon the religion of Jesus Christ, as such, that ever yet appeared."<ref>Warren Montag ''The Unthinkable Swift'' [https://books.google.com/books?id=MQSLif85zecC&pg=PA113 p.113]</ref> He also began to write a biography of the chemist Sir [[Robert Boyle]], but his notes were lost and the work was never completed.

Wotton wrote a ''History of Rome'' in (1701) at the request of Bishop Burnet, which was later used by the historian [[Edward Gibbon]]. In recognition, Burnet appointed him as a [[prebendary|prebend]] of [[Salisbury Cathedral|Salisbury]] from 1705. In 1707 Wotton was awarded a "[[Lambeth degree]]" of [[Doctor of Divinity]] by Archbishop [[Thomas Tenison]] in recognition of his writings in support of the established [[Church of England]] against the [[Deists]]. Around 1713 Wotton also developed ideas concerning the relationship between languages introducing the concept of an early proto-language by relating Icelandic, the Romance languages and Greek. This pre-dated [[William Jones (philologist)|Sir William Jones]]' famous lecture comparing Sanskrit with the Classical languages, by more than seventy years.<ref>''Archaeology and Language'' (1999). Vol. 3, pp. 6–9.</ref> These theories were later published after Wotton's death, as ''A discourse concerning the confusion of languages at Babel'' (1730).

==="A Drunken Whoring Soul"===
Throughout his adult life, Wotton was known to be "a most excellent preacher, but a drunken whoring soul".<ref>De la Pryme (1870), p. 28.</ref> He was also very extravagant, transforming his rectory into a 32-roomed mansion. He was, however, able to borrow money against future expectations of ecclesiastical preferment as a result of his close friendship with [[William Wake]], then bishop of [[Lincoln, Lincolnshire|Lincoln]].<ref>Stoker (2006) pp. 13–20.</ref> Between the summer of 1711 and the Spring of 1712, Wotton appears to have experienced a [[mid-life crisis]], and he scandalised the neighbourhood on many occasions by being found drunk in public, or else was known to have spent prolonged periods in local [[brothel]]s. As a result, he was initially warned about his behaviour by Wake, who later broke off their friendship and rescinded his promise of providing an additional living in Buckinghamshire. As soon as it became known that the rector's expectations had been dashed, local tradesmen began to press for the payment of their debts. In May 1714, Wotton was forced to abandon his rectory at Milton Keynes to avoid his creditors, and for seven years he lived at [[Carmarthen]] in south-west [[Wales]] under the assumed name of Dr. William Edwards.<ref>Stoker (2006) pp. 20–25.</ref>

===Studies in Wales===
Whilst at Carmarthen, Wotton reformed his character and returned to his studies. He was also able to re-establish his friendship with Wake, who had become [[Archbishop of Canterbury]] in December 1715.

Wotton began to study [[Welsh language|Welsh]],{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}} and produced an important bilingual parallel text edition of the Welsh and Latin texts of the [[Welsh law|medieval Welsh laws]] traditionally attributed to [[Hywel Dda]] at the request of his friend. To do this he had first to identify and obtain transcripts of a fifteen or so known manuscripts in either Latin or Mediaeval Welsh, and establish a text, and then begin the difficult task of translating the Mediaeval Welsh terminology which appeared in both the Latin and Welsh versions, but the meaning of which had been lost by the 18th century.<ref>Stoker (2006) p.48-50.</ref> From 1721 Wotton was assisted by the Welsh scholar [[Moses Williams (antiquarian)|Moses Williams]]. Wotton lived to complete the translation but was working on an accompanying glossary when he died. This was completed by Williams, and the whole work was published in 1730 by his son-in-law [[William Clarke (antiquary)|William Clarke]] in a large [[Folio (printing)|folio]] edition under the title ''Leges Wallicae''.

Whilst at Carmarthen he also conducted surveys of the cathedrals of [[St David's]] and [[Llandaff]] which were published by his friend [[Browne Willis]] in 1717 and 1718. He published ''Miscellaneous Discourses relating to the Traditions and Usages of the Scribes and Pharisees'' which included a translation of part of the ''[[Mishnah]]'' in (1718).

===Death===
Wotton had repaid his creditors and was able to return to [[Bath, Somerset|Bath]] in October 1721 and London in June 1722 but was in very poor health. He was still working on his ''Leges Wallicae'', when he died of [[oedema|dropsy]] at [[Buxted]], Sussex, on 13 February 1727.

==Works==<!--linked-->
{{expand list|date=February 2019}}
*''Cyfreithjeu Hywel Dda ac eraill, seu Leges Wallicae Ecclesiasticae et Civiles Hoeli boni et Aliorum Walliae Principum'' (London, 1730)
* {{citation |last=Wotton |first=William |authorlink=William Wotton |display-authors=0 |title=The History of Rome from the Death of Antoninus Pius to the Death of Severus Alexander |date=1701 |location=London |publisher=Tim. Goodwin |url=http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015063907946;view=1up;seq=9 }}
*''Miscellaneous Discourses relating to the Traditions and Usages of the Scribes and Pharisees'' (1718)
*(trans.), [[Louis Ellies Dupin]], ''A new history of ecclesiastical writers'', (13 vols. 1692–99)
*''Reflections upon Ancient and Modern Learning'' (1694, 1697)
*''[https://books.google.com/books?id=KLjFa2G_cUgC A Discourse concerning the Confusion of Languages at Babel]'' (London, 1713, 1730)
*''[https://books.google.com/books/?id=C3sCAAAAYAAJ Linguarum vett. septentrionalium thesauri grammatico-critici, & archaeologici, auctore Georgio Hickesio, conspectus brevis: Cui, ab antiquae literaturae septentrionalis cultore adjectae aliquot notae accedunt]'' (London, 1708)

==References==
===Citations===
{{reflist|30em}}

===Bibliography===
*Charles Ashton, ''Hanes Llenyddiaeth Gymreig o 1650 i 1850'' (Liverpool, 1891)
*Joseph M. Levine, ''The Battle of the Books'' (Ithaca, Cornell University, 1994).
*David Stoker, "William Wotton's exile and redemption: an account of the genesis and publication of ''Leges Wallicae''" Y Llyfr yng Nghymru/Welsh Book Studies, 7 (2006), 7–106.
*''The diary of Abraham De la Pryme, the Yorkshire antiquary,'' ed. Charles Jackson, Surtees Society v. 54 (Durham: Surtees Soc., 1870), p.&nbsp;29.
*''Archaeology and language,'' edited by Roger Blench and Matthew Spriggs, 4 vols. (London, 1999). Volume 3, Artefacts, languages and texts, p.&nbsp;6–9.
*{{EB1911|wstitle = Wotton, William|volume=28|page=837}}
*{{cite DNB|wstitle = Wotton, William|volume=62|first=Norman |last=Moore}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Wotton, William}}
[[Category:1666 births]]
[[Category:1727 deaths]]
[[Category:Celtic studies scholars]]
[[Category:Alumni of St Catharine's College, Cambridge]]
[[Category:Alumni of St John's College, Cambridge]]
[[Category:Doctors of Divinity]]
[[Category:Fellows of the Royal Society]]
[[Category:People from Wrentham, Suffolk]]
[[Category:Christian Hebraists]]
[[Category:Deaths from edema]]
[[Category:People from Buxted]]