Robert Sheringham (1602–1678) was an English linguist, scholar and

royalist A royalist supports a particular monarch as head of state for a particular kingdom, or of a particular dynastic claim. In the abstract, this position is royalism. It is distinct from monarchism, which advocates a monarchical system of governme ...

writer.

Life

He was born in Guestwick,

Norfolk Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the No ...

. He studied at

Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge Gonville and Caius College, often referred to simply as Caius ( ), is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1348, it is the fourth-oldest of the University of Cambridge's 31 colleges and one of th ...

, where he was B.A. in 1623, M.A.and Fellow in 1628. Though often believed to have been removed from his fellowship in 1644 (alongside the removal of other 'royalist' fellows), he held his post until 1651 before being expelled. He was restored in 1660. While in exile, he taught Arabic and Hebrew in

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Rotte'') is the second largest city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is in the province of South Holland, part of the North Sea mouth of the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta, via the ''"N ...

Works

He suggested a Talmudic origin of some of the ''

New Testament The New Testament grc, Ἡ Καινὴ Διαθήκη, transl. ; la, Novum Testamentum. (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus, as well as events in first-century Christ ...

parable A parable is a succinct, didactic story, in prose or verse, that illustrates one or more instructive lessons or principles. It differs from a fable in that fables employ animals, plants, inanimate objects, or forces of nature as characters, w ...

s. His ''Joma:Codex talmudicus'' (1648) was a Latin translation of and commentary on ''

Yoma Yoma (Aramaic: יומא, lit. "The Day") is the fifth tractate of ''Seder Moed'' ("Order of Festivals") of the ''Mishnah'' and of the ''Talmud''. It is concerned mainly with the laws of the Jewish holiday Yom Kippur, on which Jews atone for their ...

'', the tractate of

Seder Moed Moed ( he, מועד, "Festivals") is the second Order of the Mishnah, the first written recording of the Oral Torah of the Jewish people (also the Tosefta and Talmud). Of the six orders of the Mishna, Moed is the third shortest. The order of M ...

. In ''The King's Supremacy Asserted'' (1660) he denied the possibility of a “mixed monarchy”.

Monarchy A monarchy is a form of government in which a person, the monarch, is head of state for life or until abdication. The political legitimacy and authority of the monarch may vary from restricted and largely symbolic (constitutional monarchy) ...

, he said, was "the government of one alone." ''De Anglorum Gentis Origine Disceptatio'' (1670) was a work on the origins of the English language and people. It agreed with Samuel Bochart in its emphasis on the

Phoenicians Phoenicia () was an ancient Semitic-speaking peoples, ancient thalassocracy, thalassocratic civilization originating in the Levant region of the eastern Mediterranean, primarily located in modern Lebanon. The territory of the Phoenician city-st ...

, and followed in part

Verstegan Richard Rowlands, born Richard Verstegan (c. 1550 – 1640), was an Anglo-Dutch antiquary, publisher, humorist and translator. Verstegan was born in East London the son of a cooper; his grandfather, Theodore Roland Verstegen, was a refugee f ...

in making English identity largely Germanic. It influenced

Aylett Sammes Aylett Sammes (1636?–1679?) was an English antiquary, noted for his theories of Phoenician influence on the Welsh language. Life A grandson of John Sammes, lord of the manor of Little Totham, Essex, and son of Thomas Sammes by his wife Mary (n� ...

(c. 1636 – c. 1679), author of ''Britannia Antiqua Illustrata''. It took a linguistic interest in origins, matching Welsh words to the Greek language.

David C. Douglas David Charles Douglas (1898–1982) was a historian of the Norman period at the University of Cambridge and University of Oxford.Douglas, ''The Norman Episcopate before the Norman Conquest'', Cambridge Historical Journal, Vol. 13, No. 2. (1957), p. ...

, ''English Scholars'' (1939), p. 68. regarded it as too credulous.

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sheringham, Robert 1602 births 1678 deaths Christian Hebraists Alumni of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge Fellows of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge