author

Gabriel Plattes

d. 1644

An early English writer who mixed practical know-how with bold social imagination, he wrote about farming, mining, and the ideal commonwealth. Though little is known about his life, his work still stands out for its curiosity and reforming spirit.

1 Audiobook

A Description of the Famous Kingdome of Macaria

A Description of the Famous Kingdome of Macaria

by Gabriel Plattes

About the author

Gabriel Plattes was an English writer of the early seventeenth century, usually dated c.1600–1644. He is remembered for writing on agriculture and science, and is now generally recognized as the author of A Description of the Famous Kingdome of Macaria, a short utopian work first published in 1641 under Samuel Hartlib's name.

Plattes was one of the early English advocates of improving husbandry through practical experiment, and he also wrote about mining and natural knowledge. His books show a strongly practical cast of mind: he was interested in better cultivation, useful discoveries, and ways knowledge might improve everyday life.

That same practical streak runs through Macaria, which imagines a prosperous, well-governed society built on public good and intelligent reform. Very little about his personal life can be confirmed with confidence, but the surviving work suggests a writer deeply interested in how new ideas could make a nation healthier, richer, and better ordered.