History of the Middle Temple
Author(s)
Bibliographic Information
History of the Middle Temple
Hart, 2011
Available at 5 libraries
Note
Includes indexes
Description and Table of Contents
Description
The history of the Middle Temple is a long and fascinating one. Templars held the estate of the Temple from the twelfth century until their suppression in the early fourteenth century; thereafter the lawyers came. The magnificent Tudor Hall of the Middle Temple was completed in 1574. By Elizabethan times the Inns of Court were known colloquially as the Third University of England. Many persons other than lawyers became members of Middle Temple - among them Sir Walter Raleigh, Elias Ashmole, Edward Hyde (Earl of Clarendon), William Congreve, Henry Fielding, Edmund Burke, William Cowper and William Makepeace Thackeray. Another Middle Templar and explorer was Bartholomew Gosnold, discoverer of Cape Cod, who named a nearby island Martha's Vineyard in honour of his six-year-old daughter. From those beginnings grew the thirteen American colonies, and in due course five Middle Templars signed the American Declaration of Independence on 4 July 1776. Moreover, the US Constitution was drafted by a committee chaired by yet another Middle Templar, John Rutledge, who, along with six other Middle Templars, was among its 39 original signatories.
The story of the Inn in modern times has seen it become one of the world's pre-eminent centres for legal education and practice.
This history of the Middle Temple, written by a team of eminent lawyers and legal historians, is the product of original research in the archives of the Middle Temple and will be a treasure trove of information about the Inn, its diverse history and influence.
Table of Contents
Prologue: The Knights Templar Jonathan Riley-Smith
Article: The Temple Church John Toulmin
Chapter 1: The First Two Centuries John Baker
Article: Buildings of the Middle Temple Richard O Havery
Chapter 2: Conflict, Change and Continuity: Elizabeth I to the Great Temple Fire Wilfrid Prest
Article: The Maritime Connection Richard Hill
Article: Literary Associations of the Middle Temple Jessica Winston
Appendix: Men of Letters Associated with the Middle Temple Lesley Whitelaw
Chapter 3: The Unreformed Middle Temple Wilfrid Prest
Article: The American Connection John Colyer
Appendix: The American Connection John Colyer
Chapter 4: The Middle Temple in the 19th Century Raymond Cocks
Article: The Inn as a Disciplinary Body David Woolley
Chapter 5: The Middle Temple Since 1900 Eric Stockdale
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