Antonio del Corro (Corrano, de Corran, Corranus) (

Seville Seville (; es, Sevilla, ) is the capital and largest city of the Spanish autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the River Guadalquivir, in the southwest of the Iberian Peninsula ...

, 1527-London, 1591) was a Spanish monk who became a Protestant convert. A noted Calvinist preacher and theologian, he taught at the

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

and wrote the first Spanish grammar in English.

Spain and exile on the Continent

He was a

Hieronymite The Hieronymites, also formally known as the Order of Saint Jerome ( la, Ordo Sancti Hieronymi; abbreviated OSH), is a Catholic cloistered religious order and a common name for several congregations of hermit monks living according to the Rule o ...

of the Abbey of San Isidro, Seville. Influenced by Cipriano de Valera, he came into contact with the Protestant ideas of

Luther Luther may refer to: People * Martin Luther (1483–1546), German monk credited with initiating the Protestant Reformation * Martin Luther King Jr. (1929-1968), American minister and leader in the American civil rights movement * Luther (give ...

, Melanchthon and

Bullinger Heinrich Bullinger (18 July 1504 – 17 September 1575) was a Swiss Reformer and theologian, the successor of Huldrych Zwingli as head of the Church of Zürich and a pastor at the Grossmünster. One of the most important leaders of the Swiss R ...

Against Inquisition

He left Spain with others in 1557, fearing the

Spanish Inquisition The Tribunal of the Holy Office of the Inquisition ( es, Tribunal del Santo Oficio de la Inquisición), commonly known as the Spanish Inquisition ( es, Inquisición española), was established in 1478 by the Catholic Monarchs, King Ferdinand ...

. Some scholars considered that he may be behind the pseudonym Reginaldus Gonsalvius Montanus (Renaldo Gonzalez Montano), who published in 1567 the account ''Sanctae Inquisitionis Hispanicae Artes aliquot detectae ac palam traductae'', a major source for subsequent accounts of the Inquisition; however, others believe it belonged to

Casiodoro de Reina Casiodoro de Reina or de Reyna ( 1520 – 15 March 1594) was a Spanish theologian who (perhaps with several others) translated the Bible into Spanish. Early life Reina was born about 1520 in Montemolín in the Province of Badajoz. Hermann D ...

European travels

He travelled to Lausanne and Geneva but came to quarrel with

Jean Calvin John Calvin (; frm, Jehan Cauvin; french: link=no, Jean Calvin ; 10 July 150927 May 1564) was a French theologian, pastor and reformer in Geneva during the Protestant Reformation. He was a principal figure in the development of the system ...

.Wyatt, Michael (2005) ''The Italian Encounter with Tudor England: a Cultural Politics of Translation'', p. 150. On Calvin's recommendation, however, he became tutor to

Henry of Navarre Henry IV (french: Henri IV; 13 December 1553 – 14 May 1610), also known by the epithets Good King Henry or Henry the Great, was King of Navarre (as Henry III) from 1572 and King of France from 1589 to 1610. He was the first monarc ...

.Asquith, Clare "Oxford University and Love's Labours Lost", p. 86, in Dennis Taylor, David N. Beauregard (editors), ''Shakespeare and the Culture of Christianity in Early Modern England'' In France he used the name Bellerive,The Reina-Valera Bible: From Dream to Reality , Literatura Bautista
and served as a minister in Béarn. He was supported by both

Jeanne d'Albret Jeanne d'Albret ( Basque: ''Joana Albretekoa''; Occitan: ''Joana de Labrit''; 16 November 1528 – 9 June 1572), also known as Jeanne III, was Queen of Navarre from 1555 to 1572. Jeanne was the daughter of Henry II of Navarre and Margar ...

and

Renée of France Renée of France (25 October 1510 – 12 June 1574), was Duchess of Ferrara from 31 October 1534 until 3 October 1559 by marriage to Ercole II d'Este, grandson of Pope Alexander VI. She was the younger surviving child of Louis XII of Fran ...

; the latter made him her chaplain at

Montargis Montargis () is a commune in the Loiret department, Centre-Val de Loire, France. Montargis is the seventh most populous commune in the Loiret, after Orléans and its suburbs. It is near a large forest, and contains light industry and farming, ...

. He became pastor of the Spanish church in Antwerp, but caused offence there too.

In England

He came to England in the period 1567-70 and settled there. Having behind him the influence of William Cecil, he held positions as pastor of the Spanish church in London, 1568–70, and lecturer at the

Temple Church The Temple Church is a Royal peculiar church in the City of London located between Fleet Street and the River Thames, built by the Knights Templar as their English headquarters. It was consecrated on 10 February 1185 by Patriarch Heraclius of J ...

, 1571-4. Later

Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester, (24 June 1532 – 4 September 1588) was an English statesman and the favourite of Elizabeth I from her accession until his death. He was a suitor for the queen's hand for many years. Dudley's youth was ov ...

was an important patron. In England, del Corro moved away from Calvinism to more tolerant and even free-thinking positions to become a controversialist. It has been suggested that his qualified acceptance stemmed from political expediency. At the Temple Church, he showed the influence of the

Lutheran Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and Protestant Reformers, reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Cathol ...

theologian Hemmingius in his preaching. He retreated from the Calvinist view of

predestination Predestination, in theology, is the doctrine that all events have been willed by God, usually with reference to the eventual fate of the individual soul. Explanations of predestination often seek to address the paradox of free will, whereby G ...

. That shift brought him under criticism from Richard Alvey, Master of the Temple.Secor, Philip Bruce (1999) ''Richard Hooker: Prophet of Anglicanism'', p. 95. Controversy over his views followed him to Oxford, where he did tutoring and catechism work (at

Hart Hall Hertford College ( ), previously known as Magdalen Hall, is a colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. It is located on Catte Street in the centre of Oxford, directly opposite the main ga ...

, also at

Oriel College Oriel College () is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in Oxford, England. Located in Oriel Square, the college has the distinction of being the oldest royal foundation in Oxford (a title formerly claimed by University College, w ...

and St John's College) and became reader in theology in 1578. It brought him the opposition of the Puritan

John Rainolds John Rainolds (or Reynolds) (1549 – 21 May 1607) was an English academic and churchman, of Puritan views. He is remembered for his role in the Authorized Version of the Bible, a project of which he was initiator. Life He was born about M ...

, who blocked his degree as Doctor of Divinity in 1576. He persisted in views favouring

free will Free will is the capacity of agents to choose between different possible courses of action unimpeded. Free will is closely linked to the concepts of moral responsibility, praise, culpability, sin, and other judgements which apply only to ac ...

, such as in glossing the '' Epistle to the Romans'', 5:22. In Oxford, his pupils included John Donne and Thomas Belson, a Catholic martyr. ''The Spanish Grammar'' (1590) was an English translation by John Thorie of a grammar written by del Corro to teach Spanish to French speakers, and published in Oxford in 1586. In his recent work "Silence: A Christian History", Diarmaid MacCulloch has drawn attention (pp 170,287) to "The Life and Works of Antonion del Corro, 1527-91", an unpublished PhD thesis by W.McFadden and to a published work, much indebted to McFadden but with additional material, "Protestant Reformers in Elizabethan Oxford", Oxford 1983, pp 119–122. MacCulloch notes that del Corro made "cautious and unmistakable statements of Unitarianism" but still ended his days "in comfort as a prebendary of St Paul's Cathedral in London".

Notes

Bromber, Robert, ''Antonio del Corro: Spanish Mirror for Gloriana'' (1997) unpublished thesis, Arizona State University

References

*Hauben, Paul J. (1967) ''Three Spanish heretics and the Reformation : Antonio Del Corro, Cassiodoro De Reina, Cypriano De Valera''. Geneva : Libr. Droz * McFadden, William (1953) ''The Life and Works of Antonio del Corro (1527-1591)'' * Peters, Edward (1988) ''Inquisition''. New York: Free Press

External links

*
Biography

Biography
{{DEFAULTSORT:Corro, Antonio Del 1527 births 1591 deaths Spanish Christian theologians Converts to Calvinism from Roman Catholicism Spanish emigrants to the Kingdom of England Academics of the University of Oxford 16th-century Spanish theologians Spanish evangelicals