Boate family
The Boate, Boot or de Boot family was a prominent family of Dutch origin which became strongly associated with Ireland. They produced two distinguished writers and an Irish High Court judge. One branch of the family settled in Tipperary where they became substantial landowners.
History
Godefrid or Godefroy Boot, knight, of Gorinchem (c.1570-1625) married Christine van Loon.[1][2] They had two sons, Gerard and Arnold. Both brothers studied at the University of Leiden, where they qualified as doctors. They moved to London, and subsequently to Ireland. Arnold was personal physician to Robert Sidney, 2nd Earl of Leicester, and subsequently to James Ussher, Archbishop of Armagh; he was also Surgeon General to the Irish Army, and his experiences as an army surgeon provided the material for two of his books. The brothers collaborated on a work on philosophy, Philsophia Naturalis Reformata, a refutation of Aristotle [3] and Arnold supplied the material for Gerard's best-known work The Natural History of Ireland. Arnold's great interest was in Hebrew studies, on which he published several works. His most famous book was The Character of a Truly Virtuous and Pious Woman, an elegy to his wife Margaret, daughter of the Irish judge Thomas Dongan.[4] Both brothers were members of the Hartlib circle, the circle of writers who corresponded with Samuel Hartlib on religion, science and philosophy.
Due to the disturbed conditions following the Irish Rebellion of 1641 Arnold moved to Paris, where he died in 1653. Gerard moved to Ireland, to take up a medical post in Dublin where he died in 1650: in consideration for the substantial sums of money which Gerard had donated for the suppression of the Irish Rebellion his widow, Katherine Menning, was granted lands in Tipperary.[5]
Since Arnold's only surviving child was a daughter, Mariana, the Godfrey Boate who was described as a clerk in Chancery is likely to have been the son of Gerard and Katherine. He was the father of Godfrey Boate junior, who became a High Court judge,[6] and whose conduct of a trial for seditious libel so enraged Jonathan Swift that on the judge's death in 1722 he wrote a mocking Elegy for Judge Boat. Godfrey had no sons and the Boate lands passed by inheritance into the Hemsworth family.
Notable family members
- Gerard Boate (.1604-1650), writer and physician
- Arnold Boate (1606-1653), Gerard's brother, physician, writer and Hebraist
- Margaret Boate (née Dongan) (1626-1651), Arnold's wife
- Godfrey Boate (1673-1722) , probably Gerard's grandson, Irish High Court judge
Notable works
- Philosophia Naturalis Reformata Gerard and Andrew Boate 1641
- A Remonstrance on Diverse Remarkable Passages of Our Army in Ireland Arnold Boate 1642
- Animadversiones sacrae ad textum Hebraicum veteis Testementi Arnold Boate 1644
- Observationes medicae de affectibus a veteribus ommissis Arnold Boate 1649
- The Character of a Truly Virtuous and Pious Woman Arnold Boate 1651
- 'The Natural History of Ireland Gerard Boate 1652
References
- ↑ Biographies of Arnold and Gerard Boot in the Nieuw Nederlandsch Biografisch Woordenboek, vol. 4, p. 113
- ↑ Gilbert, John Thomas "Gerard Boate" Dictionary of National Biography 1885-1900 Vol.5 p.284
- ↑ Gilbert p.284
- ↑ Gilbert , John Thomas "Arnold Boate" Dictionary of National Biography 1885-1900 Vol.5 p.283
- ↑ Gilbert p.284
- ↑ Ball, F. Elrington The Judges in Ireland 1221-1921 John Murray London 1926 Vol.2 p.85