Ralph Cudworth
| Ralph Cudworth | |
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| Born | 1617 Aller, Somerset, Kingdom of England |
| Died | June 26, 1688 (aged 70–71) |
| Alma mater | Emmanuel College, Cambridge |
| Occupation | Classicist, theologian, philosopher |
Ralph Cudworth (1617 – 26 June 1688) was an English classicist, theologian and philosopher, a leading figure among the Cambridge Platonists. From a family background embedded in the early nonconformist environment of Emmanuel College in the University of Cambridge, where he studied, he became Regius Professor of Hebrew 1645–88, Master of Clare Hall 1645–54 and Master of Christ's College 1654–88. His great work, entitled The True Intellectual System of the Universe, was published in 1678. He was a leading opponent of Thomas Hobbes.
Ralph Cudworth's father, Dr. Ralph Cudworth (born 1572), derived from the Cudworths of Werneth Hall in Lancashire. The family originated in Cudworth near Barnsley, Yorkshire, and came to Werneth by the marriage of John Cudworth to Margaret, daughter and coheiress of Richard Oldham, during the early 15th century. Ralph Cudworth the elder matriculated from Emmanuel College in the University of Cambridge in 1588/89, and graduating B.A. (1592/93), M.A. (1596), and B.D. (1603) became a Fellow of the college. In 1606 he was instituted to the Perpetual Vicarage of Coggeshall, Essex, at the presentation of Baron Rich, to replace Thomas Stoughton, who had been deprived by High Commission for nonconformism. He was presented to the rectory of Aller, Somerset by his college (which held the advowson) in c. 1609 or 1610. On 18 June 1611 at Southwark he married Mary Machell (who had been nurse to Prince Henry the son of James I) and their children were christened at Aller over the following decade.
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