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François Vatable (late 15th century – 16 March 1547) was a French humanist scholar, a hellenist and hebraist.


Life

Born in Gamaches,
Picardy Picardy (; Picard language, Picard and , , ) is a historical and cultural territory and a former regions of France, administrative region located in northern France. The first mentions of this province date back to the Middle Ages: it gained it ...
, he was for a time rector of Bramet in Valois. In 1530
Francis I of France Francis I (; ; 12 September 1494 – 31 March 1547) was King of France from 1515 until his death in 1547. He was the son of Charles, Count of Angoulême, and Louise of Savoy. He succeeded his first cousin once removed and father-in-law Louis&nbs ...
appointed him as one of his Royal Lecturers in what afterwards became known as the
Collège de France The (), formerly known as the or as the ''Collège impérial'' founded in 1530 by François I, is a higher education and research establishment () in France. It is located in Paris near La Sorbonne. The has been considered to be France's most ...
. Vatable got the chair of Hebrew. At a later date a royal grant conferred upon Vatable the title of Abbot of Bellozane, with the benefices attached thereto. Vatable is regarded as the restorer of Hebrew scholarship in France, and his lectures in Paris attracted a large audience including Jews. He was known by his immense erudition, his gift of communication, his talent as a teacher and the support of his listeners. His work is not very extensive, but very admired.Gabriel-Henri Gaillard, ''Histoire de François Ie roi de France, dit le Grand'roi et le père des Lettres'', vol. VII, Paris, 1769, p. 312 Vatable died in Paris.


Work

250px, Vatablus published no works of his own, but in his early years (1518 onwards as an assistant to Jacques Lefèvre d'Étaples) he procured new Latin translations and editions from the Greek works by ''The Philosopher'', as
Aristotle Aristotle (; 384–322 BC) was an Ancient Greek philosophy, Ancient Greek philosopher and polymath. His writings cover a broad range of subjects spanning the natural sciences, philosophy, linguistics, economics, politics, psychology, a ...
was known. These works were inquiries in physics, human and animal nature, psychology, astronomy, and meteorology (''Physica, De caelo, De anima, De generatione et corruptione,
Meteorologica ''Meteorology'' ( Greek: ; Latin: ''Meteorologica'' or ''Meteora'') is a treatise by Aristotle. The text discusses what Aristotle believed to have been all the affections common to air and water, and the kinds and parts of the Earth and the affec ...
'', and the so-called '' Parva naturalia'' (minor tracts on physical phenomena)). These became standard textbooks of Universities throughout Europe. As a
Royal lecturer Royal may refer to: People * Royal (name), a list of people with either the surname or given name * A member of a royal family or royalty Places United States * Royal, Arkansas, an unincorporated community * Royal, Illinois, a village * Roy ...
he actively participated in the edition of a better text of the different Books of the Bible. He procured Hebrew editions for scholarly use (published by
Robert Estienne Robert I Estienne (; 15037 September 1559), known as ''Robertus Stephanus'' in Latin and sometimes referred to as ''Robert Stephens'', was a 16th-century printer in Paris. He was the proprietor of the Estienne print shop after the death of his f ...
, or in English Robert Stephens). To the edition of the
Minor Prophets The Twelve Minor Prophets (, ''Shneim Asar''; , ''Trei Asar'', "Twelve"; , "the Twelve Prophets"; , "the Twelve Prophets"), or the Book of the Twelve, is a collection of twelve prophetic works traditionally attributed to individual prophets, like ...
he added the commentary of the famous Jewish Rabbi
David Kimhi ''Cervera Bible'', David Kimhi's Grammar Treatise David Kimhi (, also Kimchi or Qimḥi) (1160–1235), also known by the Hebrew acronym as the RaDaK () (Rabbi David Kimhi), was a medieval rabbi, biblical commentator, philosopher, and grammarian ...
. From the lecture notes taken by Vatable's pupils,
Robert Estienne Robert I Estienne (; 15037 September 1559), known as ''Robertus Stephanus'' in Latin and sometimes referred to as ''Robert Stephens'', was a 16th-century printer in Paris. He was the proprietor of the Estienne print shop after the death of his f ...
also drew material for the ''
scholia Scholia (: scholium or scholion, from , "comment", "interpretation") are grammatical, critical, or explanatory comments – original or copied from prior commentaries – which are inserted in the margin of the manuscript of ancient a ...
'' which he added to his edition of the Latin Bible in two columns, juxtaposing the new Latin translation of the Zurich Bible by Leo Jud to the standard Latin text of the
Vulgate The Vulgate () is a late-4th-century Bible translations into Latin, Latin translation of the Bible. It is largely the work of Saint Jerome who, in 382, had been commissioned by Pope Damasus I to revise the Gospels used by the Diocese of ...
. Afterwards the Sorbonne doctors sharply inveighed against the
Lutheran Lutheranism is a major branch of Protestantism that emerged under the work of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German friar and Protestant Reformers, reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practices of the Catholic Church launched ...
tendencies of some of the notes in Estienne's Bible. By then Vatable had already died. The notes in Estienne's Bible are a model of clear, concise literary, and critical exegesis. The
Salamanca Salamanca () is a Municipality of Spain, municipality and city in Spain, capital of the Province of Salamanca, province of the same name, located in the autonomous community of Castile and León. It is located in the Campo Charro comarca, in the ...
theologians, with the authorization of the
Spanish Inquisition The Tribunal of the Holy Office of the Inquisition () was established in 1478 by the Catholic Monarchs of Spain, Catholic Monarchs, King Ferdinand II of Aragon and Queen Isabella I of Castile and lasted until 1834. It began toward the end of ...
, issued a new thoroughly-revised edition of them in their Latin Bible of 1584. From the edition of 1729 which
Jacques Paul Migne Jacques Paul Migne (; 25 October 1800 – 24 October 1875) was a French priest who published inexpensive and widely distributed editions of theological works, encyclopedias, and the texts of the Church Fathers, with the goal of providing a u ...
republished in his ''Scripturae sacrae cursus completus'' (1841), the scholia on the '' Book of Esdras'' and ''
Book of Nehemiah The Book of Nehemiah in the Hebrew Bible largely takes the form of a first-person memoir by Nehemiah, a Hebrew prophet and high official at the Persian court, concerning the rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem after the Babylonian exile and the ...
.'' The notes on the
Psalms The Book of Psalms ( , ; ; ; ; , in Islam also called Zabur, ), also known as the Psalter, is the first book of the third section of the Tanakh (Hebrew Bible) called ('Writings'), and a book of the Old Testament. The book is an anthology of B ...
, published separately in 1545 were re-edited (and augmented) in Estienne's ''Liber Psalmorum Davidis'' (1557), published in Geneva. These were reprinted together with remarks of
Hugo Grotius Hugo Grotius ( ; 10 April 1583 – 28 August 1645), also known as Hugo de Groot () or Huig de Groot (), was a Dutch humanist, diplomat, lawyer, theologian, jurist, statesman, poet and playwright. A teenage prodigy, he was born in Delft an ...
, by Vogel, under the misleading title: ''Francisci Vatabli annotationes in Psalmos'' (1767).


See also

*
Jacques Dubois Jacques Dubois ( Latinised as Jacobus Sylvius; 1478 – 14 January 1555) was a French anatomist. Dubois was the first to describe venous valves, although their function was later discovered by William Harvey. He was the brother of Franciscus Sy ...
, his student * Minuscule 398 – one of his manuscripts


Notes


References

*


Further reading

*Sainte-Marthe, ''Gallorum doctrina illustrium elogia'' (Paris, 1598); *Hurter, ''Nomenclator literarius''; * Calmet, ''Bibliothèque sacree'', IV (Paris, 1730); * Louis Ellies du Pin, ''Table universelle des auteurs ecclesiastiques'', I (Paris, 1704); * François-Xavier de Feller, , VIII (Paris, 1822), 311; *Lichtenberger, ''Encyclopedie des sciences religieuses'', XII (Paris, 1877–82), 307; *Simon, ''Hist. crit. du Vieux Testament'', III (Paris, 1680), 15; *Haneberg, ''Gesch. der bibl. Offenb''. (4th ed., Ratisbon, 1876), 849. *Dick Wursten, 'François Vatable, so much more than a ‘name’', ''Bibliothèque d’Humanisme et Renaissance'' – vol. 73/3 (2011), pp. 557–591.


External links


François Vatable
{{DEFAULTSORT:Vatable, Francois 15th-century births 1547 deaths People from Somme (department) French scholars French Renaissance humanists French Hebraists