How did the Cavendish family connect Thomas Hobbes to English royalist politics?

The Cavendish family played a pivotal role in shaping Thomas Hobbes’s political trajectory and his alignment with the royalist cause. For decades, Hobbes served various branches of this aristocratic family as a tutor, political adviser, and business representative.1

Through his long-standing employment with the earls of Devonshire and his work for the marquess of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Hobbes became deeply embedded in the royalist side of the disputes between the King and Parliament that preceded the English Civil Wars. His connection to the family provided him with direct exposure to practical politics, including observing parliamentary debates and attending meetings of the Virginia Company, which brought him into contact with influential figures of the era.12

This environment directly influenced his intellectual output. In 1640, amidst the escalating conflict between Charles I and Parliament, Hobbes wrote a treatise defending the King’s broad interpretation of his royal prerogatives. Royalist members of Parliament subsequently utilized arguments from this work, The Elements of Law, Natural and Politic, during their debates.2