Hadrian à Saravia | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1532 (1532) Hesdin, Artois, Spanish Netherlands (now France) |
| Died | January 15, 1612(1612-01-15) (aged 79–80) Canterbury, United Kingdom |
| Other names | Adrian Saravia, Adrianus Saravia |
| Known for | Translator of King James Version of the Bible |
| Spouses |
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Hadrian à Saravia, sometimes calledHadrian Saravia,Adrien Saravia, orAdrianus Saravia (1532 – 15 January 1612) was a Protestant theologian and pastor from theLow Countries who became anAnglicanprebend and a member of theFirst Westminster Company charged byJames I of England to produce theKing James Version of the Bible.
Saravia was born inHesdin (Artois), then part ofFlanders, toProtestant Spanish and Flemish parents, Christopher de Saravia and Elisabeth Boulengier.[1] He entered the ministry atAntwerp, reviewed a draft of theBelgic Confession and gathered aWalloon congregation inBrussels.[2] Saravia continued to move between London and Europe.[1] In 1561, he married Catherine d'Allez ofSt Omer.[1] The marriage would last 45 years, and the couple had one son and an unknown number of daughters.[3] Following the death of Catherine, Saravia married Marguerite Wiits in 1608.[4]
He went from there to England and was sent as anevangelist toJersey andGuernsey. WhenElizabeth I of England foundedElizabeth College in 1563 he was appointed as its first schoolmaster.[5]
In 1568 he became rector of the parish ofSt Pierre du Bois, Guernsey, which was then underPresbyterian discipline.
From 1571 to 1578, he held the position of headmaster at theGrammar School inSouthampton. His students includedRobert Ashley,Nicholas Fuller, Francis Markham,Edward Reynolds, SirThomas Lake, andJosuah Sylvester.[1][6]
By late 1580 he was living in Ghent and was an inspector of the theological school and active in religious affairs.[1] With Ghent under threat by the Spanish, he moved to Leiden in November 1582.[1] He was appointed a professor of theology atLeiden University on 13 August 1584.[1] From Leiden he wrote (9 June 1585) toWilliam Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley advising the assumption of the protectorate of theLow Countries by Elizabeth. He left theUnited Provinces when his complicity in a political plot was discovered.[2]
He published several treatises defending the Episcopacy againstPresbyterianism. He was appointed, in 1588, rector ofTatenhill, Staffordshire. His first work,De diversis gradibus ministrorum Evangelii (1590; in English, 1592, and reprinted), was an argument forepiscopacy, which led to a controversy withTheodore Beza and gained him incorporation asDD atOxford (9 June 1590), and aprebend atGloucester (22 October 1591).[2]
On 6 December 1595 he was admitted to acanonry atCanterbury (which he resigned in 1602), and in the same year to thevicarage ofLewisham, Kent, where he became an intimate friend ofRichard Hooker, his near neighbour, whom he absolved on his deathbed. He was made prebendary ofWorcester in 1601 and ofWestminster (5 July 1601). In 1604, or early in 1605, he presented toJames I of England hisLatin treatise on theEucharist, which remained in the Royal Library unprinted, until in 1885 it was published (with translation and introduction) by ArchdeaconG. A. Denison.[2]
In 1607 he was nominated one of the translators of theKing James Version of the Bible of 1611, his part beingGenesis to the end ofKings II.[2] He is said to have been the only translator who was not English.[7]
On 23 March 1610 he exchanged Lewisham for the rectory ofGreat Chart, Kent. He died atCanterbury on 15 January 1612, and was buried in the cathedral.[2] His second wife, Margaret Wiits, erected a memorial to him at the Cathedral.[8]
Saravia is one of the first Protestant mission theologians. In his ecclesiological writingDe diversis ministrorum Evangelii gradibus sicut a domino fuerunt instituti of 1590, he referred to the Church’s missionary command, which he believes is valid for all times. In the episcopate, which goes back to the apostles (apostolic succession), the Church has the authority to send out missionaries. This view was criticized by Protestant theologians, among themTheodor Beza andJohann Gerhard, who, like many of the Reformation and Old Protestant theologians, believed that the missionary command had already been fully fulfilled in the time of the Apostles.[9]
One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Gordon, Alexander (1911). "Saravia, Adrian". InChisholm, Hugh (ed.).Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 24 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 207.