Sir Kenelm Digby

Sir Kenelm Digby (1603 – 1665) was an English courtier and diplomat. He was also a highly reputed natural philosopher, and known as a leading Roman Catholic intellectual and Blackloist. For his versatility, Anthony à Wood called him the “magazine of all arts”.

Digby is also considered the father of the modern wine bottle.

From Austin Dobson:

Sir Kenelm Digby, 1603-65, author, courtier, sailor, and diplomatist. He was the only son of Sir Everard Digby, executed for his share in the Gunpowder Plot. Knighted by James I. in 1623, Sir Kenelm had successfully commanded a privateering squadron in the Mediterranean against the French and Venetians in 1628; and he had already married and lost his wife, the beautiful Venetia Stanley, 1633. In this year (1641), he fought a duel at Paris with a certain Mont de Ros, who had maligned King Charles, and he killed his man. His curious Private Memoirs were published in 1827 with an Introduction by Sir Harris Nicolas; and his life was written in 1896 [by T. Longueville]. There are portraits of him by Vandyck and Cornelius Janssen. (See post, under 7th November, 1651.]

• Saturday 18 September 1641

• Wikipedia articles on Sir Kenelm Digby
• Written works  by Sir Kenelm Digby at the Gutenberg Project

• Wikipedia for background, portrait.