Abstract:
This study shows how patronage framed and fashioned the careers of Thomas Hobbes and
his patron William Cavendish, the earl of Newcastle. Newcastle's protection allowed
Hobbes to articulate heterodox ideas without immediate fear of reprisal. It also enabled
him to solidify his status as a gentleman and the intellectual equal of both his mentor and
other natural philosophers. When Hobbes offered his ideas on optics, motion, politics, and
philosophy as gifts to his patron, he was reaffirming his own honor and status while
acknowledging Newcastle's power. Hobbes always acted as if he was operating in the
space created by a noble patron, even after this place had been transformed by the Royal
Society. For Newcastle, intellectual patronage reaffirmed the status and honor he had lost
during the English Civil War. Newcastle tried to establish himself as a philosopher in his
own right by applying Hobbesian ideas to studies of politics, horsemanship, and swordsmanship.
Thus, the rewards of patronage were mutual
