Prior to Bolingbroke : How a ‘minor’ poet and diplomat shaped the greatest events of his day

Abstract

My thesis is an attempt to adjust the historical record in reference to one who has been for a long time considered a minor figure, and to indicate the supreme political and commercial influence of Matthew Prior (1664-1721) during the Tory administration of the final years of Queen Anne. In this respect I have dealt with his guiding role in the Treaty of Utrecht and accompanying Treaty of Commerce, and with his creation of many of the political ideas later used by Henry St. John, Viscount Bolingbroke in the formation of the ‘Idea of a Patriot King’.