Constantijn L'Empereur (July 1591 – June 1648) was a prominent Dutch

Hebraist A Hebraist is a specialist in Jewish, Hebrew and Hebraic studies. Specifically, British and German scholars of the 18th and 19th centuries who were involved in the study of Hebrew language and literature were commonly known by this designation, a ...

, a distinguished Orientalist and doctor of

theology Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of analyzing the ...

Biography

He was born in July 1591 in

Bremen Bremen (Low German also: ''Breem'' or ''Bräm''), officially the City Municipality of Bremen (german: Stadtgemeinde Bremen, ), is the capital of the German state Free Hanseatic City of Bremen (''Freie Hansestadt Bremen''), a two-city-state consis ...

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, to where his parents had fled from

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to escape religious persecution. He acquired great reputation for his knowledge of the oriental languages. He was also an able lawyer and divine and took his degree of doctor in the latter faculty. He studied the oriental languages under Drusius and

Erpenius Thomas van Erpe, also known as Thomas Erpenius (September 11, 1584November 13, 1624), Dutch Orientalist, was born at Gorinchem, in Holland. He was the first European to publish an accurate book of Arabic grammar. After completing his early educa ...

and after having been professor of theology and

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for eight years was in 1627 made professor of Hebrew at Leyden on which occasion he delivered an harangue on the dignity and utility of the Hebrew language and it was his constant endeavour to diffuse a knowledge of that language and of the

Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic languages, Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C ...

and Syriac among his countrymen that they might be the better enabled to combat the objections of the

Jews Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

to the

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religion. He translated and published several editions of the popular 'Travels of Rabbi Benjamin ben Jonah', one Latin-Hebrew Edition with and another one without notes, one Hebrew Edition at Bale, which his Friends – the Buxdorffs – sent to Joseph Scaliger who mentioned it favorably in a letter, which was included in a version of Benjamins Travels, printed in 1666 in Amsterdam, collated with a Dutch translation of the Bara, together with a text from the celebrated rabbi Manassah ben Israel. The Emperor-edition of Rabbi Benjamin of Tudela Itinerary was the bases for a popular German and French translation in the 17th and 18th Century. In 1639 l'Empereur was appointed advisor to the very successful Johan Maurits van Nassau, who was governor of

Dutch Brazil Dutch Brazil ( nl, Nederlands-Brazilië), also known as New Holland ( nl, Nieuw-Holland), was a colony of the Dutch Republic in the northeastern portion of modern-day Brazil, controlled from 1630 to 1654 during Dutch colonization of the Americas ...

from 1637 to 1644. l'Empereur died in June 1648 very soon after he had begun a course of theology at Leyden. Amongst his closest friends were Daniel Heinsius, the Buxtorffs and Lewis de Dieu, minister of the Eglise Wallon.For a biography of Lewis de Dieu, see Alexander Chalmers, ''The General Biographical Dictionary:'',
Lewis de Dieu
, Vol. 12, p. 65. Printed for J. Nichols, 1813. Daniel Heinsius and the Buxtorfs spoke very highly of him. He offered at one time to superintend the printing of a

Talmud The Talmud (; he, , Talmūḏ) is the central text of Rabbinic Judaism and the primary source of Jewish religious law (''halakha'') and Jewish theology. Until the advent of modernity, in nearly all Jewish communities, the Talmud was the cente ...

ical dictionary in Holland and endeavoured to bring the younger Buxtorf to Leyden who had undertaken to defend the vowel points against Louis Cappel. He was also corresponding with the notable archbishop

Usher Usher may refer to: Several jobs which originally involved directing people and ensuring people are in the correct place: * Usher (occupation) ** Church usher ** Wedding usher, one of the male attendants to the groom in a wedding ceremony ** Fiel ...

Works

L'Empereur's works are: *''Commentarius ad codicem Babylonicum, seu Tractatus Thalmudicus de mensuris Templi'' (Leyden, 1630), * ''Versio et Notae ad Paraphrasin Josephi Jachiadae in Danielem'' (Amsterdam, 1633), * ''Itinerarium D. Benjaminis'' in Hebrew and Latin (Leyden, 8 volumes), * ''Moysis Kimchi Grammatica Chaldaica'' (Leyden, 8 volumes), * ''Confutatio Abarbanelis et Alscheichi in caput liii Isaiae'' (Layden, 8 volumes, 1631, in French 1685), * ''Commentarius in Tractatum Thalmudicum, qui dicitur Porta, de legibus Hebraeorum forensibus'' in Hebrew and Latin (Layden, 1637) and * ''Commentarius ad Betramum de Republica Hebraeorum'' (1641, 8 volumes).

References

Sources

* Peter T. van Rooden, ''Theology, biblical scholarship, and rabbinical studies in the seventeenth century: Constantijn L'Empereur (1591–1648), professor of Hebrew and theology at Leiden'' (Vol. 6 of the ''Studies over de geschiedenis van de Leidse universiteit''), . * Alexander Chalmers, ''The General Biographical Dictionary'',
Empereur (Constantine)
, Vol. 13, pp. 203, 204. Printed for J. Nichols, 1814.

External links

*
Talmudis Babylonici codex Middoth sive de mensuris templi
', Elzevir, 1630. Also, her

and her

*
D. Isaaci Abrabanielis et R. Mosis Alschechi Commentarius in Esaiae Prophetiam 30
', Elzevir, 1631. *
Itinerarium D. Beniaminis
' (Travels of Rabbi Benjamin, son of Jonah), ex officinâ Elzeviriana, 1633. {{DEFAULTSORT:Empereur, Constantine Dutch Protestant theologians, Empereur Constantine Empereur Constantine 1591 births 1648 deaths 17th-century writers in Latin Academic staff of Leiden University Empereur Constantine