The Life Mathematick

Abstract

Abstract John Speidell (1577–1649) was one of the pre-eminent teachers of mathematics in London in the first half of the seventeenth century, and was author of an important early work on logarithms, as well as various elementary mathematical works. His son Euclid was also a teacher of mathematics. Beyond information gleaned from their published works, we know very little about these two men. However, a manuscript written by Euclid Speidell towards the end of his life is preserved at the Lincolnshire Archives, and this sheds a great deal of light on the life and times of John Speidell. Incidental comments in the manuscript are also revealing about mathematical culture in the 1590s. Because Euclid Speidell lived until 1702 we are therefore in possession of a remarkable source, covering mathematical teaching for more than a century. One suggestion that has been made about mathematical culture in this period is confirmed: namely that instruments were central to the acquisition of knowledge, the unity of the ‘mathematical arts’, and the career progress of teachers and practitioners. With this in mind we might usefully return to questions about the place of instruments in learning: their use was the norm, not an exception, and challenges to instrumentation should be seen as radical attempts to change the order of knowledge and privilege certain kinds of expertise, rather than as rational critiques of intellectual inferiors.