Margaret Cavendish(1617 — 1673)
Margaret Cavendish
royaume d'Angleterre
8 min read
Seventeenth-century English natural philosopher and woman of letters (1623–1673), she developed her own theories on the nature of matter, drawing on atomism while proposing an original vitalist materialism. The first woman to attend a meeting of the Royal Society, in 1667.
Frequently asked questions
Key Facts
- Born in 1623 in Colchester (England), died in 1673
- Published *Poems and Fancies* in 1653, a work blending poetry and atomist theory
- Wrote *Observations upon Experimental Philosophy* in 1666, a critique of experimental method
- Attended a meeting of the Royal Society in 1667 — the first woman to be admitted
- Developed a vitalist materialism: matter is animated by its own reason, in opposition to Descartes
Works & Achievements
Cavendish's first major work, blending poetry with atomist speculation inspired by Lucretius. It is one of the earliest texts to popularize atomic theories in the English language.
The first systematic exposition of her philosophy of nature, developing her theory of vitalist materialism, according to which all matter possesses its own form of perception.
A remarkable autobiography for a woman of her time, offering a valuable account of women's education, the Civil War, and the life of a female intellectual in the seventeenth century.
A rigorous critique of the Royal Society's methods, particularly Robert Hooke's Micrographia. Cavendish argues for the superiority of reason over instrumental observation.
A utopian and philosophical novel considered one of the earliest works of science fiction. A woman becomes empress of a fantastical world, allowing Cavendish to explore her theories in narrative form.
A biography of her husband the Duke of Newcastle, a valuable historical document on the Civil War and the Royalist exile, which also reveals much about Cavendish's own intellectual journey.
A revised and expanded version of her philosophical theories, representing the most complete synthesis of her thought on matter, motion, and universal perception.
Anecdotes
In May 1667, Margaret Cavendish became the first woman to attend a session of the Royal Society in London. Her visit caused such a stir that crowds gathered in the streets to catch a glimpse of the famous "Mad Madge." The society's most eminent members, including Robert Boyle and Robert Hooke, gave her demonstrations of their experiments with the microscope and other instruments.
Margaret Cavendish was renowned across Europe for her spectacular and disconcerting style of dress, blending masculine and feminine elements in entirely invented combinations. At the exiled court of Queen Henrietta Maria in Paris, her outfits drew as much admiration as ridicule. This sartorial extravagance was her assertive way of claiming an identity beyond convention.
In 1653, Margaret Cavendish published her *Poems and Fancies* under her own name, at a time when women who wrote almost always used a male pseudonym or remained anonymous. She justified this boldness in the preface by fully embracing it, making her a pioneer of female intellectual visibility in seventeenth-century England.
Her novel *The Blazing World* (1666) is today considered one of the earliest works of science fiction in world literature. In it, a woman becomes empress of a fantastical world populated by beast-men, and Cavendish inserts herself as a character — creating one of the first examples of autofiction in English literature.
During the years of continental exile with her husband William Cavendish, Margaret met and corresponded with major philosophers such as Descartes, Hobbes, and Gassendi. With no formal education whatsoever, she engaged them in genuine philosophical debates about the nature of matter, sometimes refuting their positions in her own published works.
Primary Sources
My atomes are not those of Epicurus, nor those of Des Cartes, but mine owne: and therefore I desire all my Readers and Friends, not to compare them with those of other Philosophers.
I desire all my Readers and Friends, not to Mistake Me for one that desires Fame; for I dare Declare, that I had rather be unknown, than have an ill Fame.
Art cannot introduce new matter, but only works upon the matter that nature hath given; neither can it go beyond the compass of nature, nor beyond the ability of natural parts.
By this Lady's means, the Emperor came to know the several natures of the inhabitants of that world, their several manners of government, their several sciences, arts and trades.
My father was a gentleman, which title is grounded and given by merit, not by princes; and 'tis the act of time, not favour. And though my brothers and sisters were several in number, yet we were bred virtuously, modestly, civilly, honourably.
Key Places
Birthplace of Margaret Lucas in 1623, born into a prosperous gentry family. The town was besieged and devastated during the Civil War, forcing her family to scatter and Margaret to join the royal court in exile.
City in the Spanish Netherlands where Margaret married William Cavendish in 1645 during their shared exile. The couple lived there for several years and moved in the intellectual circles of European refugees gathered around the court of Henrietta Maria.
City where Margaret lived in exile from 1644 at the court of Henrietta Maria, and where she met Descartes and Hobbes, whose ideas had a lasting influence on her own natural philosophy.
The Cavendishes' main residence after the Restoration of 1660, a vast ducal estate where Margaret wrote the bulk of her mature works and lived until her death in 1673.
The learned institution founded in 1662 that Cavendish visited in May 1667, becoming the first woman to attend one of its sessions. Robert Boyle and Robert Hooke gave her experimental demonstrations that fed into her published critiques.
