Obscure Heroes of the Reformation - Marlorat

Augustin Marlorat was born in 1506 in the dukedom of Lorraine. His parents died when he was very young and he was placed in an Augustinian monastery when he was eight years old. In these circumstances, he was able to study theology and was later sent to the University of Lausanne. He was soon chosen to be pastor at Vevay, then later he was sent to Rouen.

He was present at the 1561 conference of Poissy between Beza and the cardinal of Lorraine. In 1562, civil wars broke out in France and the city of Rouen was besieged and finally captured. Marlorat, along with four prominent citizens of the city were taken captive. Francis, duke of Guise ordered the prisoners hanged. Marlorat was hanged on October 31, 1562 at the age of 56. 

He was a prolific writer. His works include: A Catholic and Ecclesiastical Exposition of the New Testament; An Exposition Upon Genesis; An Exposition on the Psalms of David; An Exposition Upon the Prophecy of Isaiah; And The Thesaurus of the Whole Canonical Scriptures.

Obscure Heroes of the Reformation - Erpenius

Thomas Erpenius was born in Gorcum, in Holland in 1584. He went to school in Leyden and was admitted to the university was he was 18. He took his M.A., when he was 25. He took up the study of theology and languages under Joseph Scalinger. From there he travelled to England, France, Italy and Germany.

When he returned to Paris, he became acquainted with Casaubon. Together they travelled to Saumur and Thomas studied Arabic. He then went to Venice and with the help of some learned Jews and Turks, he learned Turkish, Persian and Ethiopian. His skill was such that he was offered a great deal of money to stay in Venice and translate some Arabic books into Latin. He continued travelling for four more years, travelling through Paris and purchasing Arabic books wherever he went. He finally returned to Leyden in 1612. There were plans to bring him to England and pay him a large salary to teach, but in 1613 he was appointed Professor of Oriental Languages at the university in Leyden.

Erpenius married in 1616 and had three children. In 1616 he was made Professor of Hebrew also. It was reported of him that whatever task he worked at, he worked with such fervency that you would have thought that he had nothing else to attend to.

In 1620 the prince of Orange sent him to France to procure the services of Peter Moulin and Andrew Rivet to be professors of Divinity at Leyden. Initially, he was unsuccessful, but the next year he was able to bring Rivet with him back to Leyden.

Erpenius was so famous that the king of Spain offered him great rewards if he would come to Spain and translate some ancient writings that no one had ever been able to do before. The king of Morocco was so impressed with the quality of Erpenius’ Arabic that he showed off letters from Erpenius to Arabic scholars and noblemen as if they were some sort of miracle. The prince of Orange frequently sought his services to translate Arabic letters from royalty in Africa and Asia.

Erpenius fell sick due to the plague in 1624 and died at the age of 40.

Obscure Heroes of the Reformation - Tremellius

Immanuel Tremellius was born in Ferrara. His father was a Jew and educated him very skillfully in the Hebrew language. He came under the ministry of Peter Martyr and was soon converted. He went with Martyr to Lucca, where he taught Hebrew.

He went with Martyr to Strasberg and then to England during the reign of Edward VI. Upon Edward’s death, he returned to Germany and in the school of Hornbach, he taught Hebrew.

He was later sent to Heidelberg to be the professor of Hebrew. He translated the Syriac New Testament into Latin. He also set about to translate the Old Testament from the Hebrew and was thus associated with the work of Francis Junius.

Late in life, he was called upon by the duke of Bouillon to be the professor of Hebrew at the newly built university in Sedan. Tremellius remained faithful at this post until his death at the age of 70, in the year 1580.

Obscure Heroes of the Reformation - Ramus

Peter Ramus was born in France in the year 1515. His grandfather had been a nobleman. But his estate was plundered by Charles, duke of Burgundy, general under Emperor Charles V. Ramus’ grandfather was forced to leave his country and become a farmer. Ramus’ father made a living by making charcoal. Peter was compelled to be a servant in one of his uncle’s homes. But since he was always so busy, with no time to study, he decided it would be better if he could work in the home of some learned man.

He moved to Paris and was admitted into the College of Navarre. He worked hard all day for his masters and devoted the larger part of the night to his studies. In a sort time he received his M.A. He was much admired at school by both student and professors.

He began at this time to take private students until he was fit for more public work. He was shortly appointed to read logic and at the age of 21 he published a book entitled “Logic, with some Animadversion upon Aristotle.” For this work he was equally admired and hated. Many admired him for his learning and piety at such a young age, but others, jealous of his status complained of such a young man daring to correct Aristotle. By their political clout, the Sorbonne professors were able to have Ramus banned from teaching or writing any more on philosophy.

The governor of another college, wishing to restore his school which had been emptied by the plague, sent for Ramus to assist him in this task. His reputation alone restored the college and filled it with more students than it had before the plague. The Sorbonne doctors, angered by this turn of events tried to sow discord between Ramus and the college governor, but to no avail. Upon the governor’s death, Ramus succeeded him and was appointed by the bishop of Lorraine as the Regius Professor of Rhetoric and Philosophy at the ripe old age of 36!

Princes all over Europe tried to lure him to universities in their kingdoms by offering him large salaries. But no one was able to entice him to leave his beloved France. Before long he was made dean of the entire university. This gave him the liberty to pursue a quieter life. Religious turmoil made it unsafe to stay in Paris so he moved to Fountainbleu where the king’s library was. But even there it was not safe. Ramus therefore resolved to move to Germany until peace obtained again in his homeland. He travelled to Strasburg, Basel, Lausanne, Heidelberg, Nuremberg and Augsburg and was kindly accepted at all the universities of these cities. He returned to France once the war ended.

He stayed at the University in Paris until the St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre. The college gates were closed and Ramus locked himself in his house. The violent Papists broke through the gates, forced their way into his house and ran him through with a spear. Not being satisfied with this, they threw him out the window and then cut his head off and dragged his body through the streets of Paris. They finally threw his disfigured and dismembered corpse into the Seine River. This was in the year 1572. Ramus was 75. Adding insult to injury, the rioting Papists seized all of his books and writings, containing many valuable commentaries and destroyed them to the great loss of learned men.

Obscure Heroes of the Reformation - Cranmer

Thomas Cranmer was born on July 2, 1489. He was from an ancient family in Lincolnshire. Very little is known of his infancy and childhood.

He was admitted into Jesus College in Cambridge where he attained a Master of Arts. While there he married a relative of the innkeeper’s wife. This was generally considered to be a hinderance to his future preferment. He suffered much malicious rumors against him due to his marriage. Cranmers’s wife died very early, after which he returned to his studies. He returned to his studies with such fervor that he was soon made a Fellow of the college, despite the fact that widowers were generally denied this honor.

Cranmer remained at the college until the plague broke out, which forced the students to leave the university. At this time he became a private tutor to some gentleman’s sons.

During this time, Rome was agitated by the divorce of King Henry and Katherine. Rome and Henry were engaged in a power struggle. Henry was convinced that Rome wanted to first divorce England of all its wealth before she granted the marital divorce.

It so happened that one of Henry’s courtiers came into Cranmer’s company during this time. During their conversations, the subject of divorce came up. Cranmer informed the courtier that the easiest way for Henry to get what he wanted was to stop playing the Pope’s games and appeal directly to Scripture. Since the king’s marriage was unlawful to begin with, it could be annulled. When word of this reached Henry, he sent for Cranmer. After diligently teaching in the most principal universities in Europe, Cranmer was appointed archbishop of Canterbury.

Cranmer flourished at Canterbury, endearing the people to himself by his grave and pious demeanor. He was held in high regard during all of Henry VIII and Edward VI’s reign. When Mary came to the throne, however, things changed. Mary had Cranmer accused of heresy and sent him to Oxford, where he was to engage in some disputations, which were merely ruses to trump up charges against him on theological grounds. Cranmer was charged with heresy, found guilty by the papist judges and sentenced to death at the stake on March 21, 1556.

His legacy lives on within the Church of England through the Book of Common Prayer and the Thirty-Nine Articles an Anglican statement of faith derived from his work.