Nathanael Carpenter

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Nathanael Carpenter (7 February 1589 – c. 1628) was an English writer, philosopher, and geographer.

Life
He was the son of John Carpenter, a rector in Northleigh, Devon. He began studies at St. Edmund Hall, Oxford in 1605 and, in 1607, was elected a Devonshire fellow of Exeter College. He earned a BA in 1610, an MA in 1618, a BD in 1620, and a DD in 1626. While at Oxford, he became known as a thoughtful philosopher, poet, mathematician, and geographer. One of his pupils was Sir William Morice, who would later become Secretary of State.

Matthew Sutcliffe nominated him to Chelsea College, and Archbishop James Ussher brought him to Ireland, where he served as schoolmaster of the king’s wards in Dublin. Carpenter is believed to have died in Dublin in early 1628; his funeral sermon was preached by Robert Ussher.

Works
Carpenter’s first major work, Philosophia libera triplici exercitationum decade proposita (1621), attacked Aristotelianism. It was published in Frankfurt under the pseudonym “N. C. Cosmopolitanus,” with later editions in 1622, 1636, and 1675. His Geography Delineated Forth in Two Books appeared in 1625 and was reissued in 1685. He delivered three sermons titled Achitophel, or the Picture of a Wicked Politician, preached at the University of Oxford and dedicated to James Ussher; editions appeared in 1627, 1628, 1629, 1638, and 1642 (the first edition was later revised to remove some Arminian passages). After his death, Chorazin and Bethsaida’s Woe was published (1633 and 1640), with a dedication noting his work on optics and a near loss of his manuscripts to the Dutch shores.