CASAUBON, ISAAC

A leading scholar and teacher, the French classicist and Protestant theologian Isaac Casaubon epitomizes the spirit of Renaissance humanism and the Refor­mation. Born to French Huguenot refugees in Geneva, Casaubon was educated, until age eighteen, by his father. Then he attended the Academy of Geneva, where his work as a classical scholar earned him an appointment to teach Greek. He remained in Geneva until 1596, becoming acquainted with many who visited this Swiss Calvinist center. In 1596, after the Edict of Nantes granted civil rights and limited freedom of worship to French Protestants, Casaubon taught at the University of Montpellier. At this time Casaubon produced his editions of and commentaries on the classical authors Diogenes Laertius, Athenaeus, Theophras-tus, and Aristotle.

In 1600 Casaubon, called to the court of France, was named one of the Prot­estant commissioners to judge the accuracy of the patristic quotations in a trea­tise against the Mass.Protestant scholars blamed Casaubon for siding with Catholic commissioners in this controversy, a decision that plagued Casaubon for much of his life. When he was presented to Henri IV by Catholics eager for Casaubon's conversion, he was denied a professorship at the Royal College because he refused to convert, but was granted a post at the Royal Library. Within a few years, throughout northern Europe, Casaubon's reputation as a scholar spread.

Because of his study of early Christian theology and Catholic pressure on him to convert, Casaubon became disillusioned with Calvinist doctrine and at­tracted to the Church of England. When Henri IV's assassination in 1610 height­ened religious unrest, Casaubon accepted the invitation of Richard Bancroft, archbishop of Canterbury, to come to England. Warmly received by James I,* Lancelot Andrewes* (bishop of Ely), and others, Casaubon was converted to the Church of England and was given a living at Canterbury Cathedral. Although he kept his appointment in France, he took English citizenship in 1611 and never returned to France. He spent his last years writing to defend the English church against Catholicism and refuting the massive anti-Protestant history of Christianity, Annales ecclesiastici (Annals of the Church) by Cesare Baronio. He died in London and was buried in Westminster Abbey. Casaubon's involve­ment in religious controversy as he was torn between continental Calvinists and Catholics and his excellence in the activities Renaissance humanists promoted - the edition of and commentary on classical texts—both testify to his stature as a noteworthy figure.

M. Pattison, Isaac Casaubon, 1559-1614, 2nd ed., 1892.

(1559-1614)

   French classical scholar, regarded as the most skilled Hellenist of his time. A Protestant in religion, he taught Greek in Geneva and at the University of Montpellier and in 1600 was invited to the French court, where he became keeper of the royal library but disappointed the hopes of King Henry IV by refusing to convert to Catholicism. He began as primarily a student of classical antiquity but gradually shifted his interests to early Christian history. He spent the last period of his life at the court of James I of England, who had him write polemical works in defense of the Anglican religious settlement. Casaubon published several critical editions of Greek authors but was best known for his last publication, De rebus sacris et ecclesiasticis exercitationes / Exercises on Sacred and Ecclesiastical Matters (1614). This work attacked the strongly Catholic account of early church history in the Annales of Cardinal Cesare Baronio. Its most famous chapter demonstrated that the Hermetic texts which Renaissance Platonists attributed to a divine revelation made to the Egyptians long before the birth of Christ were a series of forgeries made in the late classical period.