38 Facts About Isaac Casaubon

Isaac Casaubon was a classical scholar and philologist, first in France and then later in England.

Isaac Casaubon was born in Geneva to two French Huguenot refugees.

Until he was nineteen, Isaac had no education other than that given him by his father.

At the age of nineteen Isaac Casaubon was sent to the Academy of Geneva, where he read Greek under Franciscus Portus, a Cretan.

Isaac Casaubon remained at Geneva as professor of Greek until 1596.

At Geneva, Isaac Casaubon lacked example, encouragement and assistance and struggled against the troops of the Catholic dukes of Savoy, but became a consummate Greek and classical scholar.

Isaac Casaubon spent all the money he could spare on books, including copying classics that were not then in print.

Isaac Casaubon sought help by cultivating the acquaintance of foreign scholars, as Geneva, the metropolis of Calvinism, received a constant stream of visitors.

Isaac Casaubon eventually met Henry Wotton, a poet and diplomat, who lodged with him and borrowed his money.

Influential French men of letters, the Protestant Jacques Bongars, the Catholic Jacques de Thou, and the Catholic convert Philippe Canaye endeavoured to get Isaac Casaubon invited to France.

In 1596, they succeeded, and Isaac Casaubon accepted a post at the University of Montpellier, with the titles of conseiller du roi and professeur stipendie aux langues et bonnes lettres.

Isaac Casaubon stayed there for only three years, with several prolonged absences.

Isaac Casaubon was badly treated and poorly paid by the university authorities.

Isaac Casaubon began to see the editing of Greek books as a more suitable job for him.

Isaac Casaubon debuted as an editor with a complete edition of Strabo, of which he was so ashamed afterwards that he apologized to Scaliger for it.

In 1598 Isaac Casaubon was at Lyon, overseeing the printing of his Athenaeus.

Isaac Casaubon stayed another year at Lyon with de Vicq, where he hoped to meet the king, who was expected to visit the south.

Isaac Casaubon was persuaded to sit as a referee on the challenge sent to Du Plessis Mornay by Cardinal Duperron.

Meanwhile, the king repeated his invitation to Isaac Casaubon to settle in Paris, and gave him a pension.

Isaac Casaubon remained in Paris until the assassination of Henry IV in 1610.

Isaac Casaubon had attained the reputation of being a learned man, in an age in which learning formed the sole standard of literary merit.

Isaac Casaubon had money, the ability to worship as a Huguenot, and the society of men of letters, both domestic and foreign.

In Paris, Isaac Casaubon was still uneasy about his religion: the life of a Parisian Huguenot was always insecure, for the police were likely not strong enough to protect them against a sudden mob uprising.

Isaac Casaubon began to pay attention to overtures from the bishops and the court of England.

Isaac Casaubon had the most flattering reception from King James I, who often sent for him to discuss theological matters.

Isaac Casaubon continued to speak of himself as the servant of the regent, and to declare his readiness to return when summoned to do so.

Lancelot Andrewes, then Bishop of Ely, became Isaac Casaubon's friend, taking him to Cambridge, where he met with a most gratifying reception from the notabilities of the university.

Isaac Casaubon accompanied the bishop on visits to nearby towns including Doddington and Wisbech.

Isaac Casaubon declined the honorary degree which was offered him.

Still, Isaac Casaubon gradually discovered the serious inconveniences of his position.

Isaac Casaubon was especially mortified by Sir Henry Wotton's behaviour towards him, so inconsistent with their former intimacy.

Isaac Casaubon's windows were broken by vandals, and his children were pelted in the streets.

An exception was John Selden who was close enough to Isaac Casaubon to lend him money.

Isaac Casaubon was continually being summoned to one or other of James's hunting residences in order to converse.

Isaac Casaubon placed their origin in the third or fourth century AD, rather than in a much earlier "hermetic" period to which they had generally been ascribed.

Isaac Casaubon's correspondence was finally collected by Theodorus Janssonius van Almeloveen, who prefixed to the letters a careful biography of Casaubon.

Isaac Casaubon corresponded with scholars all over Europe, including Johannes van den Driesche and, more surprisingly, one of the doctors of the Ambrosiana Library and eminent historian of Milan, Giuseppe Ripamonti.

Isaac Casaubon corresponded with the translators of the King James Version of the Bible and helped resolve issues in the translation.