Joseph Hall
Joseph Hall (1574-1656) was an English bishop, author, and satirist known for his moderate views within the Anglican Church and his critiques of societal vices. Born in Ashby-de-la-Zouch, Leicestershire, Hall received a strong education at Cambridge, where he earned multiple degrees. His literary career took off with the publication of his first major work, *Vergidemiarum*, which faced controversy when it was burned by the Archbishop of Canterbury shortly after its release. Hall's writings encompass a variety of genres, including satire, allegorical fantasy, and moral essays, reflecting influences from classical and Renaissance literature.
Notable works include *Mundus alter et idem*, which critiques political and social systems through imaginative narratives, and *Characters of Vertues and Vices*. Hall's prose is characterized by modern syntax and clever alliteration, contributing to the early development of the English essay form. He served as bishop of Exeter and Norwich, navigating the turbulent political landscape of the English Civil War, which led to his imprisonment. Hall's insights on morality and society influenced later satirists, including Jonathan Swift. His legacy is marked by a commitment to moral reflection and an enduring critique of contemporary issues.
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Subject Terms
Joseph Hall
Bishop
- Born: July 1, 1574
- Birthplace: Bristow Park, near Ashby-de-la-Zouch, Leicestershire, England
- Died: September 8, 1656
- Place of death: Higham, Norfolk, England
Biography
Joseph Hall was born in Ashby-de-la-Zouch, Leicestershire, England, in 1574. His father, rumored to have begun as a swineherd, was bailiff on the vast estate of the Earl of Huntingdon. His pious mother, Winifride, attempted to give him a Puritan education. The patronage of the Earl of Huntingdon enabled Hall to enter Cambridge, where he completed the degrees of B.A. (1592, Emmanuel College), M.A. (1596), Bachelor of Divinity (1603), and Doctor of Divinity.
Hall, a realistic moralist, rejected certain extremes of both Catholic and Puritan doctrine, and was ordained in the Anglican Church, which he tried to keep on a path of moderation. His writings reflect his superb education, ranging from the Greek and Roman classics (Theophrastus, Plato, Juvenal, Seneca), the moralists of the Middle Ages (Thomas Aquinas, the allegorist William Langland), through the Renaissance Era of his close predecessors (Erasmus of Rotterdam, François Rabelais, and Sir Thomas More).
Hall’s first major work, the six-volume Vergidemiarum, published in 1597 and 1598, was publicly burned by the Archbishop of Canterbury in 1598. It was composed in Latin verse, reminiscent of the satires of Juvenal, but adapted to the foibles and vices of Hall’s contemporaries. The first recorded use of the word “plagiarism” in England appears in Vergidemiarum.
Undaunted by the first book-burning, Hall followed with another satire, this time in Latin prose, Mundus alter et idem (the world different and the same), in 1607. It combines vivid, often ribald imagery with the genre of allegorical fantasy associated with Sir Thomas More. Like More’s Utopia, Hall’s work analyzes entire political and social systems. For example, in Hall’s feminist utopia (actually, dystopia), Viraginia: “As to its form of government, the state seemed to be a democracy, in which all governed and none obeyed. They settled affairs at public meetings, in which all spoke and none listened.” Hall examined moral and economic problems in the other dystopias that he described in this Latin work, including “Moronia” (land of fools), “Pamphagonia” (land of gluttony) and “Crapulia” (land of overabundance).
Apart from the two Latin masterpieces, Hall continued his bracing moral lessons in numerous works of English prose, including Characters of Vertues and Vices (1608), The Honour of the Married Clergy (1620), and towards the end of his life, the autobiographical Hard Measure. His crisply modern syntax, combined with artful alliterations reminiscent of Langland, give clues to his success as a preacher; his prose contributed to the development of the English essay form. He also contributed English verses on the death of Prince Henry (appearing in the anthology Lachrymae lachrymarum) and a preface in verse to John Donne’s Anniversaries (both 1613).
Hall married Elizabeth Winiffe in 1603, and they had eight children, including four sons who were ordained in the Anglican Church. The year 1603 saw the death of Queen Elizabeth I and the beginning of Hall’s close association with King James I and his son, Prince Henry. In 1627, Hall became bishop of Exeter, and in 1641, bishop of Norwich. After the Puritan Oliver Cromwell was elected to Parliament in November, 1640, Parliamentary demands for disciplining the non-Puritan clergy became strident. Hall was arrested in 1641 and imprisoned in the Tower of London for four months in 1642. In 1648, he was evicted from his bishop’s residence in Norwick; however, he continued to preach and to write until his death at age eighty-two. His trenchant observations on society, politics, and morality were continued by his many successors in English satire, beginning with Hall’s most immediate and brilliant heir, Jonathan Swift.