Robert Wakfeld

, a Northern Man born, and the greatest Linguist of his time, was as he saith, (a)(a) At the end of his p [•] raph in Ecclesiast. ex fidelibus natus fidelis, ex Christianis Christianus, and afterwards being fitted for the University, he was sent to Cambridge, where he took one or more degrees in Arts. But his desire being solely bent to improve his natural Genie in the Tongues, he went to travel, and in short time attained to a very considerable knowledge in the Greek, Hebrew, Chaldaic, and Syriac Tongues. About that time he read and taught the said Tongues at Tubing in Germany, at Paris, and in 1519, I find (b)(b) In Fastis Lovan. per Val. Andream, Printed 1650. p. 283. him to be Hebr. Professor at Lovaine in Brabant, in the place of one Matthew Adrian: But continuing there only 4 Months, he returned into England, where being made known to the King by his great friend and admirer Rich. Paice Dean of St. Pauls, he was made one of his Chaplams, took the Degree of Bach. of Divinity, was beloved of many, and patroniz’d in his studies by Thom. Bulleyn Earl of Wilts. When the unlawfulness of Matrimony between the King and Catherine of Spayne, Widow of his Brother Prince Arthur was called into question, he began to defend the Queens cause, and therefore gained the love of many, b [•] t being afterwards courted by fair promises to change his mind, and the rather because of his great skill in the Tongues and Divinity, and therefore able to say more than another Man, he came over to the Kings Party, whereby he gained the hatred of many. I have seen (c)(c) At the end of his Kotser Codicis. a Letter written by him to the King, dated from Sion in Middlesex, 1527. wherein he tells him, that he will defend his cause or question in all the Universities in Christendome, &c. and afterwards tells him, that, “if the People should know that he, who began to defend the Queens cause, not knowing that she was carnally know of Pr. Arthur his Brother, should now write against it, surely he should be stoned of them to death, or else have such a slander and obloquy raised upon him, that he would rather dye a thousand times than suffer it, &c. Afterwards upon the intreaty of the” University of Oxon made to the King, Wakfeld was sent thither about 1530. and at his first coming he made a publick Speech in the Hall of the Coll. of K. Hen. 8. (since called Ch. Church) before the University, and afterwards read publickly the Hebrew Lecture there, as his Brother Tho. Wakfeld did at Cambridge by the Kings Authority, beginning to read there in 1540. In 1532, he was made by the King the twelfth or junior Canon of his College at Oxon, founded on the site of that of the Cardinal, and in the same Year, he was incorporated B. of Divinity. So that continuing there some Years after, and-instructing many in the Tongues, I have therefore put him among the Oxford Writers. In 1536, when he saw the King make havock of Religious Houses, he carefully preserved divers Books of Greek and Hebrew, especially those in the Library of Ramsey abbey, which were partly composed by Laur. Holbeach a Monk of that place, in the Reign of Hen. 4. among which was his Hebrew Dictionary. As for the works of Wakfeld they are mostly these that follow.

Oratio de laudibus & utilitate trium Linguarum, Arabicae, Chaldaicae, & Hebraicae, atque idiomatibus hebraicis quae in utroque testamento inveniuntur. Printed by Winand Worde in qu.

Paraphrasis in librum Koheleth (quem vulgo Ecclesiasten vocant) succincta, clara atque fidelis. Printed in a black char. in qu.

Kotser codicis, quo praeter ecclesiae sacrosanctae decretum, probatur conjugium cum fratria carnaliter cognita, illicitum omnino, inhibitum, interdictumque esse tum naturae jure, tum jure divino, legeque evangelica atque consuetudine catholica ecclesiae orthodoxae. Printed at Lond. (1528) in qu. This is the same with his Book entit. by Bale and Pits, De non ducenda Fratria.

Syntagma de hebraeorum codicum incorruptione. Printed in qu. In which Book are several things against Joh. Fisher B. of Rochester concerning Matrimony, and the unlawfulness of the Kings Marrying with his Brothers Wife.

Oratio Oxonii habita in Coll. Regio. Printed with the former in qu.

De Laudibus Agriculturae.

Epistolae ad D. Th. Bulleyn comitem Wilts. Joh. Fisherum Ep. Roff. Rich. Paceum, &c. Besides other things mentioned (c)(c) In Bale cent. 9. nu. 73. & in Pits, aet. 16. nu. 957. elsewhere, which I have not yet seen. He died at London on the eighth day of Octob. 1537 in Fifteen hundred thirty and seven, leaving Thomas his Brother his Heir, but where he was buried I cannot yet tell. Jo. Leland in one (d)(d) In 4. tom. collect. p. 328. of his Books gives him the name of Polypus, noting thereby, he way of contumely, that he was a crafty man for craftily conveying away the Hebrew Dictionary before-mention’d. Rich. Paice Dean of Pauls, in a Letter (e)(e) At the end of Wakfeld’s Kotfer codicis, &c. See also in Rich. Paice his Pref. in ecclesiasten recognitum, &c. to K. H. 8. dat. at Sion 1527. saith that Rob. Wakfeld is a Person of excellent learning as well in Divinity, as in wonderful knowledge of many and divers Languages. The University of Oxon in an (f)(f) Vid. Hist. & Antiq. Vniv. Oxon. lib. 2. p. 38. b. Epistle to the said King, doth also say, that besides his various accomplishments, he gives place to none for his admirable knowledge in the Hebrew, Syriac and Arabick Tongues.