Charles Butler

Parson, musicologist, beekeeper

This is the story of a humble local parson, Charles Butler, who studied at Magdalen College, Oxford. After a short time teaching at the Holy Ghost School in Basingstoke, he became the parson of Wootton St Lawrence, Hampshire, in 1600, and stayed until his death in 1647.

It was here, tucked far away from any major centre of learning, that he lived and worked for the remaining 47 years of his life, and wrote both his music treatise and his beekeeping study, The Feminine Monarchie. It is because of this book that Charles Butler is known as the Father of English Beekeepers.

Stained glass window showing Charles Butler holding a chalice and a book, surrounded by bees, with the Latin words Solertia et Labore — **Fig. 1.**Butler in the 1954 window at Wootton St Lawrence.

The Feminine Monarchie

What makes Butler stand out is his deep curiosity about the natural world, and the patience to observe and record his discoveries about the practical craft of beekeeping. The Feminine Monarchie is an early and remarkable work of English natural history.

The title itself is telling. For centuries the conventional view was that a honey bee colony was headed by a king bee, not a queen. The book explores the world of the honey bee, with an implicit nod to Elizabeth I's long reign as England's female monarch. It has been used by beekeepers for generations, and remains relevant around the world.

Bees, music and order

It is through Butler's role as a parson that we can appreciate his fascination with bees and music. It is not hard to see how a bee colony and a musical composition can each serve as a model for a good society: both are made of parts that work together in harmony.

In the hierarchy of the hive, the geometry of the honeycomb and the mathematical ratios of consonant intervals, bees and music reveal a divine order of nature.

The Melissomelos, or Bee Madrigal

Leafing through the pages of The Feminine Monarchie, you would not expect to find a four-part choral score. But that is what Butler gives us. The Melissomelos, or Bee Madrigal, is an endearing composition based on his careful listening to his bees, inside and outside the hive.

It includes an almost pitch-perfect imitation of piping, the sound a queen bee makes as she emerges.

Enjoy this 2017 recording of the Bee Madrigal, sung by Little St Mary's Choir, Cambridge.

The complete four-part score of the Melissomelos, or Bee Madrigal — **Fig. 2.**The Melissomelos, complete score.

Legacy and influence

Extracts from Parson, Musicologist, Beekeeper: Legacy and Influence of Charles Butler (1571 to 1647).

Avril TillmanCh. 1: The place, the parish and the parson philologist

As priest, Butler held a unique position in local society. His education and wide interests, including music, law, language and beekeeping, let him serve all his parishioners whatever their social or financial standing. As a beekeeping cleric he could observe his bees, spread knowledge about them, and carry out his pastoral duties conscientiously.

When his daughter Elizabeth was born, Butler gave her a swarm of bees and encouraged her to manage them well throughout her childhood. He called her his Honey Girl, and she was so successful that by her marriage in 1633 she is said to have brought her husband, Richard White, a dowry of £400 (around £50,000 now).

Through that marriage the family line leads to Gilbert White of Selborne, author of The Natural History of Selborne: a family link between Charles Butler, Father of English Beekeeping, and Gilbert White, Father of Ecology.
Revd John OwenCh. 2: Beekeeping, clergy and the church

The church and its clergy have had a long association with bees and beekeeping across many centuries, partly because of the mystery and wonder still accorded to the honey bee. Butler was fascinated by the hive as well as by the bees' social organisation within it.

He was clearly in touch with the emerging scientific community of the 17th century. He writes of the "fruit and profits" of bees, meaning not only honey, wax, mead and medicinal dressings, but also their "unique virtues ... for the use and comfort of man".
Kimberley JamesCh. 9: Great-great-nephew Gilbert

Butler and White led similar lives. Both were clergymen, both studied at Oxford, and both immersed themselves in the natural world around them and wrote about it in a way that has captured generations. Gilbert White's ideas about how nature is connected inspired naturalists from Darwin to Attenborough, and his records are still used in our understanding of climate change and biodiversity loss.
Andrea HillCh. 10: A book for all times

As bees and pollinators come under increasing environmental pressure, we are forced to reconsider our modern methods. There is a groundswell of voices calling for a more sustainable approach, and with sustainability comes responsibility, because we do not keep bees in isolation. Shrinking green spaces and pressure on forage mean we are more interconnected than ever, and it is up to us to understand the impact we have.
Hampshire Beekeeper, 1 February 1955Ch. 11: The 1954 Butler coronation window

The Charles Butler stained glass window was installed to mark the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II, paid for by the village of Wootton St Lawrence with help from admirers in many parts of the world.

The main figure is Butler holding his chalice and a copy of The Feminine Monarchie, with queen and worker bees on a honeycomb background around his head and shoulders. Beneath is the church of Wootton St Lawrence as it was in his time, with the four bells installed in 1625 and the font at which all five of his children were baptised.
Barbara RobsonCh. 13: Walk in the steps of Charles Butler

The Charles Butler Walk is rich in points of interest, taking you back to the 1600s and to Jane Austen's time in the early 1800s, through the Wootton landscape where rural communities lived for centuries in step with the seasons, their crops, livestock and land.

Along the way: Butler and his beekeeping, the Church of St Lawrence, Manydown Manor, and Tangier Park, where Jane Austen accepted her one and only proposal of marriage, from Harris Bigg-Wither, and changed her mind within 24 hours.