Wouter Deelen (English:Walter Deloenus,Latin:Gualterus Delenus,French:Gualtier Delvin) (c. 1500–1563) was a Dutch Anabaptist, Greek and Hebrew scholar, for a time librarian of Henry VIII, and then preacher at the Dutch church in London.
Wouter Deelen was born inBalen in the province of Antwerp in Brabant. He made a trip to Wittenberg in 1522. Following studies at theUniversity of Leuven[1] he taught Greek and Hebrew at the University of Haarlem 1523-1527, then from July 1533 was the first professor of Greek and Hebrew at theUniversity of Amsterdam.[2] Due to an interpretation of John 6:51b,[3] he was accused of Anabaptist heresy, and removed on 1 May 1535. Nine days later 10 May 1535 Anabaptist uprising in Amsterdam occurred, after which Deelen was discovered to have met in secret with radical Anabaptist leaders includingJan van Geelen, although it is possible that Deelen's role was as a mediator.[4]
In 1535 he fled to England, later becoming a librarian toHenry VIII, and working on a revision of the Latin New Testament ofErasmus. This he published under the Latin name Galterus Deloenus:Testamentum Novum Latinum in 1540. In 1550Edward VI appointed Deelen andMarten Micronius (c.1522-1559) as preachers of the Dutch refugee congregation atAustin Friars, where he worked with Polish Calvinist reformerJan Łaski.[5] It seems likely that Deelen was acquainted withImmanuel Tremellius and his studentChristopher Carlisle at Cambridge, and may have been present at the latter's debate with SirJohn Cheke on the doctrine ofharrowing of Hell in 1552, since he published sharing Carlisle's view on removing the doctrine from the creeds.
Following the death of Edward VI (1553) aged 15, most of the Dutch, German and Polish Anabaptist community returned to the Low Countries. Deelen settled inEmden, Germany, where he worked withJan Utenhove ofGhent on a translation of the New Testament into Dutch and edited the Dutch translation of reformation historianJohannes Sleidanus'De statu religionis commentarii. In 1559, a year afterElizabeth I succeededMary Tudor, Deelen returned to London, where he died in 1563.[6]
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