ANDREAS MASIUS François

Journal of Eastern Christian Studies 61(3-4), 199-244. doi: 10.2143/JECS.61.3.
2046973
© 2009 by Journal of Eastern Christian Studies. All rights reserved.
ANDREAS MASIUS (1514-1573):

HUMANIST, EXEGETE AND SYRIAC SCHOLAR
WIM FRANÇOIS*
One of the most important research interests of Albert Van Roey (†2000),
professor of Patrology, History of the Ancient Church, and Syriac studies
at the Leuven Faculty of Theology, was the person of Andreas Masius,
a sixteenth century Brabant humanist, alumnus of the University of Leuven,
diplomat, exegete and Syriac scholar. Van Roey amassed a considerable
collection of documents related to Masius and even dedicated a number of
articles to the subject, but never managed to finalise the book on which he
had been working. The documentation in question is currently kept in the
Maurits Sabbe Library of the Leuven Faculty of Theology.1 In preparing the
present article, we were able to access Van Roey’s documents. Our aim is to
focus on Masius’ academic activities, his contacts in Leuven and his work as
a Syriac scholar and exegete. His work as a diplomat will be dealt with on
another occasion.2
* Wim François is a postdoctoral researcher at the Research Unit ‘History of Church and
Theology’ at the K.U.Leuven. We wish to thank Prof. Brian Doyle for his invaluable
assistance in translating the text.
1
A provisional manuscript of the book planned by Van Roey has been preserved in three
files, to which we refer henceforth as: Leuven, Maurits Sabbe Library, Fonds Van Roey–
Masius.
2
On Masius’ life and work, see, among others, Valerius Andreas, Bibliotheca Belgica,
Monumenta humanistica belgica, 5 (Nieuwkoop, De Graaf, 1973; orig. Leuven, Zegers,
1643), pp. 51-52; Joannes Franciscus Foppens, Bibliotheca Belgica, 2 vols. (Bruxellis, Petrus
Foppens, 1739), vol. 1, p. 55; Jean-Noël Paquot, Mémoires pour servir à l’histoire littéraire
des dix-sept provinces des Pays-Bas, de la principauté de Liège, et de quelques contrées voisines,
18 vols. (Leuven, Imprimérie académique, 1763-1770), vol. 9, 1767, pp. 197-215; Henry
de Vocht, ‘Andreas Masius (1514-1573)’, in Miscellanea Giovanni Mercati. Vol. 4: Lette-
ratura classica e umanistica, Studi e testi, 124 (Città del Vaticano, Bibliotheca apostolica
Vaticana, 1946), pp. 425-438; Id., History of the Foundation and the Rise of the Collegium
Trilingue Lovaniense 1517-1550, Recueil de travaux d’histoire et de philologie, série 3, 42;
série 4, 4, 5, 10; Humanistica Lovaniensia, 10-13, 4 vols. (Leuven, Librairie Universitaire,
1951-1955), vol. 3, 1954, pp. 282-290. See also Briefe von Andreas Masius und seinen
Freunden 1538 bis 1573, ed. Max Lossen, Publikationen der Gesellschaft für Rheinische
Geschichtskunde, 2 (Leipzig, Alphons Dürr, 1886). Lossen provides a biography of Masius
93223_JECS_2009/3-4_02_François_ME.indd 199 24/03/10 14:02

200 WIM FRANÇOIS
I. MASIUS IN LENNIK AND IN LEUVEN3
Andreas Masius was born in Sint-Martens-Lennik near Brussels – most likely

in the village of Goudveerdegem – on Saint Andrew’s Day, November 30,
1514.4 He received his basic education in his native region and in 1531 went
on to the University of Leuven to study artes at the college of ‘The Lily’.5
In 1533, he obtained the degree of Master of Arts, as primus of 107 students.6
He is known to have studied Latin, Greek and Hebrew at the Collegium
trilingue, obviously after having obtained his degree in the artes. Masius was
taught Latin by Professor Conradus Goclenius, who acted as president of the
Trilingue until his death in 1539, Greek by Rutger Rescius, and Hebrew by
on pp. XVI-XX. The importance of this publication, however, is to be found in its publication
of a large part of Masius’ correspondence, although it remains to be completed on the
basis of other collections of letters.
3
See Leuven, Maurits Sabbe Library, Fonds Van Roey–Masius, file A, version 7.12.1997,
pp. 1-15. See also Albert Van Roey (†) and Piet Borremans, ‘De jeugdjaren van Andreas
Masius’, in Bijdragen tot de geschiedenis van Lennik, 6 (2002), pp. 208-216.
4
J.-N. Paquot, who was unfamiliar with the majority of Masius’ letters, assumed the year
of his birth to be 1515 or 1516 (Mémoires, p. 198). However, it is evident from at least
two of his letters that Masius was born in 1514: Masius to Guillaume Postel, 13 April
1554 (Lossen), no 136, p. 162; Masius to Elector Frederick II of Pfalz, 8 August 1555
(Lossen), no 166, pp. 206-207.
5
Andreas Masius is not listed in Schillings’ edition of the matriculation register of the
Leuven University (along with several other students who graduated in the artes in 1533).
Reference is made nevertheless to the matriculation of one ‘Andreas Gossens de Liniaco’
on February 28, 1531, precisely the same year that Masius went to Leuven. The reference
to Gossens is found among the ‘Pauperes Lilienses’, students who received a grant from
‘The Lily’: see Matricule de l’Université de Louvain, ed. A. Schillings et al., Académie
royale de Belgique. Commission royale d’histoire. Publications in quarto, 33, 10 in
17 vols. (Bruxelles, Kiessling, 1903-1980), vol. 4, 1961, p. 53. While it is possible that
two young men from Lennik, both named Andreas, went to Leuven in the same year and
joined the ‘Pauperes Liliensens’, it cannot be excluded that Schillings’ edition contains a
transcription error.
6
Joannes Molanus, Historiae Lovaniensium libri XIV, ed. Petrus Franciscus Xaverius De
Ram, Académie royale de Belgique. Commission royale d’histoire. Publications in quarto,
9, 2 vols. (Bruxelles, Hayez, 1861), vol. 1, p. 606; Catalogus omnium primorum in generali
et solemni philosophiae et artium promotione…, ed. Petrus Franciscus Xaverius De Ram
(Mechliniae, P.J. Hanicq, 1824), p. 27; Edmond-Henri-Joseph Reusens, Promotions de la
Faculté des Arts de l’Université de Louvain (1428-1797). Vol. 1: Promotions de 1428 à 1568
(Leuven, Peeters, 1869), p. 81.

ANDREAS MASIUS 201
Andreas van Gennep from Balen near Mol, otherwise known as Balenus.7
He appears to have been least interested in Latin, although he had an
excellent command of the language.8 He most likely considered Greek and
Hebrew more important on account of their value for biblical studies.
According to his friend Ludovicus (‘Lodewijk’) Gensius, Masius had even
managed to master Hebrew in six months, and he appears to have taken
precisely the same amount of time to master Greek. He became so proficient
in Greek that, within a few months, he translated a work on weather fore-
casting entitled De praesagio ventuum, which had been incorrectly ascribed
to Aristotle. The Latin translation was much praised by specialists in the
field.9 Hebrew fascinated him even more than Greek. In 1536, while he was
still in Leuven, he entered into correspondence with Sebastian Münster
(1488-1552), a renowned Hebrew scholar, Old Testament exegete and cos-
mographer,10 who was probably the first to introduce Masius to Jewish
exegesis of the Old Testament. Münster had in fact spent a short time study-
ing in Leuven in 1507, and he had dedicated his 1527 Latin translation of
Moses Maimonides’ Logica sapientis Rabbi Simeonis to Jan van Kampen
(Campensis), Balenus’ predecessor as professor of Hebrew at the Trilingue.11
Part of Masius’ correspondence with Sebastian Münster was written in
Hebrew, as we can gather from the preface to the latter’s Accentuum hebrai-
corum liber unus, a Latin translation of Elijah Levita’s work on Hebrew
accents, which he dedicated to Masius in 1539, the year after the latter had
7
Andreas Balenus to Masius, 17 October 1538 (Lossen), no 2, p. 3; de Vocht, Coll.
Trilingue, vol. 3, p. 282.
8
Ludovicus Gensius to Masius, 1 May 1540 (Lossen), no 6, p. 8. Cf. the praise expressed
by de Vocht with respect to Masius’ knowledge of Latin (Coll. Trilingue, vol. 3, p. 282
and ‘Masius’, p. 427.
9
Ludovicus Gensius to Masius, 1 May 1540 (Lossen), no 6, p. 8.
10
Godfrey Edmond Silverman and Aya Elyada, ‘Muenster, Sebastian’, in Encyclopaedia
Judaica, 14 (22007), cc. 599-600; Werner Raupp, ‘Münster, Sebastian’, in Biographisch-
Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon, 6 (1993), cc. 316-326; see also Karl Heinz Burmeister,
Sebastian Münster. Versuch eines biographischen Gesamtbildes, Basler Beiträge zur Geschichts-
wissenschaft, 91 (Basel – Stuttgart, Von Helbing und Lichtenhahn, 21969); Ludwig Geiger,
Das Studium der Hebräischen Sprache in Deutschland vom Ende des XV. bis zur Mitte des
XVI. Jahrhunderts (Breslau, Schletter, 1970), pp. 74-88.
11
P. Klein [M. Catane], ‘Rabbi Simeon, the Author of Maimonides’ ‘Treatise of Logic’’,
The Journal of Jewish Studies, 1 (1948-49), p. 158.

202 WIM FRANÇOIS
left Leuven.12 Several of the most influential Hebraists of the period have
thus been mentioned: the German Jew Elijah Levita (Jewish name, Elijah
ben Asher ha-Levi Ashekenazi) taught Sebastian Münster, who most likely
passed on his knowledge of Hebrew to Leuven professor Jan van Kampen,
and the latter passed it on to his successor, Andreas Balenus, who taught it
in turn to Masius at Leuven’s Collegium trilingue.
In line with the academic programme of the day, Masius probably became
a teacher at the college of ‘The Lily’ after having obtained his degree in the
artes and whilst following courses at the Collegium trilingue. It is also possible
that he followed courses at one of the higher faculties, such as theology or
law.13 Whatever the case, he was later to acquire a doctorate in law, most
probably in the early 1550’s.14
12
Briefe Sebastian Münsters. Lateinisch und Deutsch, ed. Karl Heinz Burmeister (Ingelheim
an Rhein, Boehringer, 1963), no 9, p. 42; cf. Joseph Perles, Beiträge zur Geschichte der
hebräischen und aramäischen Studien (München, Theodor Ackermann, 1884), p. 205.
Reference is also made to Masius’ Hebrew letters in the preface to Münster’s Dictionarium
trilingue of 1543 (see Briefe, ed. Lossen, p. 4).
13
Ludovicus Gensius to Masius, 1 May 1540 (Lossen), no 6, p. 8 in which Gensius
does indeed make reference to Masius’ study of theology. See also Edmond-Henri-Joseph
Reusens, Documents relatifs à l’histoire de l’Université de Louvain 1425-1797, 5 vols.
(Leuven, Chez l’auteur, 1881-1903), vol. 4, 1886-88, p. 248, in which dates concerning
teaching appointments in ‘The Lily’ require emendation on the basis of Masius’ corre-
spondence. Both documents lead de Vocht to conclude that Masius taught philosophy
at ‘The Lily’ and that he studied either theology or law at the same time (Coll. Trilingue,
vol. 3, p. 282 and ‘Masius’, p. 427).
14
From 1554 onwards the correspondence refers to Masius as ‘doctor iuris’. Where and
when he acquired this degree remains unknown. Valerius Andreas and Foppens suggest
that he graduated immediately after his studies in Leuven and before he went into the
service of Jan van Weze (Andreas, Bibliotheca Belgica, p. 51; Foppens, Bibliotheca Belgica,
vol. 1, p. 55). Paquot argues that he acquired the degree at a foreign university (Mémoires,
p. 198). De Vocht suggests that Masius may have accompanied his boss’s nephew Hendrik
Rudolf up ten Haitzhovel as supervisor in Bologna from 1542 to 1546, using the years
1545-46 in particular to take exams in law (Coll. Trilingue, vol. 3, p. 285; vol. 4, 1955,
p. 117; ‘Masius’, pp. 428-429). Van Roey supported this hypothesis in his essay on
‘Masius en Zevenaar’, in Bijdragen tot de Geschiedenis van Lennik, 3 (1986), pp. 7-27, here
p. 9. Later on, however, he revised his position: ‘It is difficult to follow de Vocht in this
regard. It is improbable in itself that Masius spent more than one year outside Germany
in the period. Given his custom of accompanying Lund to the Diet, would he have missed
the Diet that took place at Worms from May 17th to 27th and from May 31st to August
6th 1545 [sic]? Whatever the truth of the case, and in contrast to Lossen, two letters writ-
ten by Masius and unfamiliar to both Lossen and de Vocht are available to us that allow

ANDREAS MASIUS 203
It should also be noted by way of conclusion that Masius composed a

distichon on the death of Erasmus in 1537, likewise during his time in
Leuven. The text is included in a collection of epitaphs published by Rutger
Rescius on the occasion of the great humanist’s demise.15
II. MASIUS IN THE SERVICE OF JAN VAN WEZE.

CONTACTS WITH OTHER ORIENTALISTS (1538-1548)16
In the Service of Jan van Weze, Bishop of Lund

Lodewijk Gensius suggests in one of his letters that Masius’ friends in Leuven
believed he had a splendid ecclesiastical career to look forward to.17 At that
moment in his life, however, there was little evidence of such a career. A per-
manent appointment at the University of Leuven seemed to elude him, in spite
of the best efforts of his professors Balenus and Goclenius. Both professors
sought a solution in government service. Thanks to the intervention of
Gotschalk Erichson, imperial councillor and Munsterungskommisar at the Court
in Brussels, Masius was given the opportunity to enter the service of Bishop
Jan van Weze (‘Johannes von Weeze’) as his secretary.18 Van Weze had been
us to form a better picture of Masius in the years 1544-1546’ (Leuven, Maurits Sabbe
Library, Fonds Van Roey–Masius, file A, version 7.12.1997, p. 52). In addition, the letter
from Abbot H. Blarer dated 1549, in which he encourages Masius to acquire the ‘titulum
und insigna doctoratus’, with a view to a new job (at the Court, for example), suggests
that he had not yet acquired the title doctor iuris at the time: see Gerwig Blarer to Masius,
May 6, 1549, in Gerwig Blarer, Abt von Weingarten 1520-1567. Briefe und Akten, ed.
Heinrich Günter, Württembergische Geschichtsquellen, 16-17, 2 vols. (Stuttgart, W. Kohl-
hammer, 1914-21), vol. 2, 1921, no 1116, p. 187 lines 34-36.
15
‘Vivit, qui vixit, quid vos lugetis? Erasmus. / Vivit apud superos, qui modo vixit homo. /
Foecundo nati ingenio lugete libelli, / Quosque situs perimit, quosque necant tenebrae. /
Vestrum est exitium, vobis periere labores, / Ille laborum expers vivit apud superos’:
D. Erasmi Roterodami epitaphia per eruditissimos aliquot viros Academiae Lovaniensis edita
(Lovanii, Ex officina Rutgeri Rescii, 1537), f. A8r°.
16
See also Leuven, Maurits Sabbe Library, Fonds Van Roey–Masius, folder A, version
7.12.1997, pp. 15-77.
17
Ludovicus Gensius to Masius, 1 April 1540 (Lossen), no 4, p. 7.
18
Ludovicus Gensius to Masius, Autumn 1538 (Lossen), no 1, pp. 1-2; Andreas Balenus
to Masius, 17 October, 1538 (Lossen), no 2, pp. 3-4. De Vocht writes that Jan van Weze
had offered him a post at the end of August 1538, but such a date is clearly too late
(Coll. Trilingue, vol. 3, p. 282; comp. ‘Masius’, p. 428).

204 WIM FRANÇOIS
secretary to Christian II, King of Denmark, and also Bishop of Roskilde. He

was later appointed Archbishop of Lund (Sweden), but he was unable to take
possession of his see because of the revolt of the Swedish against his master
Christian II, whom he followed into exile in Brabant (1523). Together with
Erichson and Cornelius de Schepper, both of whom had worked for Christian
II, van Weze then took a post in the diplomatic service of Emperor Charles V.
At the end of 1537 and the beginning of 1538, Masius disappeared unno-
ticed from Leuven. He appears to have written to Gensius that he was leaving
to go to ‘a bishop of Lund’, but his new destination remained uncertain. Some
suggested that he taught at a German university at the time. At the end of July
1538, Jan De Bruyckere, another friend and fellow student at ‘The Lily’,
received a letter from Masius that had been posted in Vienna on March 18.19
Uncertainty about his whereabouts, however, had not yet been resolved. As a
matter of fact, Masius was already in the service of van Weze, who was sta-
tioned at that time at the Court of King Ferdinand in Vienna. In the spring
of 1538, van Weze was given to understand that the emperor had appointed
him Bishop of Constance as a reward for his services. However, the see had
been transferred to Meersburg, on the northern shore of the lake, in 1526,
when Constance adopted the Reformation. Van Weze only took official pos-
session of his new diocese on January 11, 1540.20 It is probable, therefore, that
Masius spent at least part of his time up to that point in Vienna and the
remainder as dedicated secretary to van Weze during the various missions to
which his employer had been sent as advisor to Emperor Charles and as Bishop
of Constance. We know that they faithfully attended sessions of the German
Reichstagen, and when the bishop was in residence at his palace in Meersburg,
Masius was on hand to translate his pastoral and diplomatic letters into impec-
cable Latin. He spent his free time at the Cistercian Abbey of Waldsassen in
the Oberpfaltz, of which van Weze was also the administrator.
Masius’ Correspondence with his Friends in Leuven

Masius’ correspondence with his friends in Leuven offers a first-rank source of
information on his Leuven years and for the reconstruction of his diplomatic
peregrinations. According to the testimony of one of his friends, Lodewijk
19
Ludovicus Gensius to Masius, Autumn 1538 (Lossen), no 1, pp. 1-2.
20
See the invitation addressed to Blarer in Gerwig Blarer, ed. Günter, vol. 1, 1914, no 549,
p. 375 lines 9-17.

ANDREAS MASIUS 205
Gensius, Masius had assembled a considerable circle of acquaintances because

he was pleasant company: ‘Someone with your character cannot help attract-
ing people, wherever you find yourself ’.21 Although Masius was a particularly
erudite figure, he was also exceedingly humble and averse to every form of
arrogance. Gensius was even inclined to suggest that he develop a little more
self-assurance.22 Lodewijk Gensius, who hailed from St. Winoksbergen in
French Flanders, should be considered among the best friends of Masius
from the period when they were fellow students at ‘The Lily’. In the years
that followed, they exchanged letters on a regular basis,23 twenty of which
were preserved by Gensius,24 although only eight have survived to the present
day. They both graduated in the artes in 1533. In 1537 Gensius accepted
the post of submonitor (or hypodidascalus) at the St. Donatianus School in
Bruges. Gensius wrote to Masius from Bruges for the first time in the autumn
of 1538, shortly after De Bruyckere had informed him that his friend was
in Vienna.25 Five letters have also been preserved from the spring of 1540,
which Masius spent together with Jan van Weze in seditious Ghent as part
of the retinue of the Emperor.26 Masius probably would have taken the
opportunity to visit his friend Gensius at the time.27 When he visited Brus-
sels during the same period, Masius also wrote to Jan De Bruyckere in
Ghent, as is evident from his correspondence with Gensius.28 Unsatisfied
with the servilis conditio, an expression Gensius employed to describe his
teaching job in Bruges, he returned to Leuven after a little more than two
years, most likely to ‘The Lily’. In Leuven, Gensius dedicated himself to the
study of Greek under the guidance of professor Rescius. The last two letters
21
‘Non potest enim non esse gratum omnibus tale ingenium, in quascunque terras per-
veniat’ (Ludovicus Gensius to Andreas Masius, Autumn 1538 [Lossen], no 1, p. 1).
22
Ludovicus Gensius to Masius, 1 May 1540 (Lossen), no 6, p. 8. Sebastian Münster also
praises the modesty of the learned Hebraist in the foreword to his translation of Elijah
Levita’s Accentuum hebraicorum liber unus (Briefe Sebastian Münsters…, ed. Burmeister,
no 9, p. 42; cf. Perles, Beiträge, p. 205).
23
De Vocht, Coll. Trilingue, vol. 3, pp. 258-261.
24
Ludovicus Gensius to Masius, 23 March 1542 (Lossen), no 12, p. 14.
25
Ludovicus Gensius to Masius, Autumn 1538 (Lossen), no 1, pp. 1-3.
26
Ludovicus Gensius to Masius, 30 March 1540 (Lossen), no 3, pp. 4-6; 1 April 1540
(Lossen), no 4, p. 7; 7 April 1540 (Lossen), no 5, p. 7; 1 May 1540 (Lossen), no 6, pp. 7-9;
4 May 1540 (Lossen), no 7, p. 9.
27
‘quem tibi Brugis ostendimus’ (Ludovicus Gensius to Masius, 23 March 1542 [Lossen],
no 12, p. 15).
28
Ludovicus Gensius to Masius, 30 March 1540 (Lossen), no 3, pp. 4-5.

206 WIM FRANÇOIS
that have been preserved of his correspondence with Masius – dated 1541
and 1542 – were sent from Leuven.29 In both letters, Gensius shares a great
deal of news concerning Masius’ former friends – de Vocht even dedicates
an entire section to ‘the Masius constellation’30 – and expresses their desire
to see Masius back in their company.
One of Masius’ closest friends, and perhaps his most important corre-
spondent, was Jan De Bruyckere from Ghent. De Bruyckere was professor
at ‘The Lily’ and the artes faculty for some time, after which he acquired a
prebend in Saint Omer/Sint-Omaars, although he later returned to Leuven.31
Nothing, however, has been preserved of the correspondence between Masius
and De Bruyckere. Andreas Chilius, the teacher and Latinist who declared
that he had no other friend in Leuven than Masius, shared the latter’s inter-
est in exegesis and in 1541 was to become parish priest of Maldegem, the
village of his birth.32 Other friends include Christianus Cellarius, ‘economist’
and later school teacher in Bergues/Sint-Winoksbergen,33 and Vulmar Ber-
naerts, Leuven professor of Canon Law who was sent to the Council of
Trent in the 1550’s.34 In one of the letters he addressed to Masius from
Trent, Bernaerts even makes specific reference to a number of friends, among
them De Bruyckere, Gensius, Christianus Cellarius, and Jan Cortenbosch,
who hailed from Ghent and later worked for the Curia in Rome.35
29
Ludovicus Gensius to Masius, 7 October 1541 (Lossen), no 11, pp. 12-14; Ludovicus
Gensius to Masius, 23 March 1542 (Lossen), no 12, pp. 14-17.
30
De Vocht, Coll. Trilingue, vol. 3, pp. 257-270.
31
Ludovicus Gensius to Masius, 23 March 1542 (Lossen), no 12, p. 15. Comp. de Vocht,
Coll. Trilingue, vol. 3, pp. 257-258.
32
Ludovicus Gensius to Masius, 7 October 1541 (Lossen), no 11, p. 13; also 7 April 1540
(Lossen), no 5, p. 7. Comp. de Vocht, Coll. Trilingue, vol. 3, pp. 262-263.
33
Ludovicus Gensius to Masius, 7 October 1541 (Lossen), no 11, pp. 12-13. Comp. de
Vocht, Coll. Trilingue, vol. 3, pp. 291-296.
34
Ludovicus Gensius to Masius, 7 October 1541 (Lossen), no 11, pp. 12-13. Comp. de
Vocht, Coll. Trilingue, vol. 3, p. 257.
35
It was Bernaerts who wrote the well known words concerning the intervention of Ruard
Tapper, ‘decanus noster’, at the Council of Trent: ‘docte quidem et solide, sed lingua, ut
scis, tarda et inexpedita’. See Vulmar Bernaerts to Masius, 31 December 1551 (Lossen),
no 86, pp. 96-97; also 25 January 1552 (Lossen), no 88, pp. 98-99; 20 March 1552
(Lossen), no 93, pp. 104-105; 22 June 1552 (Lossen), no 97, p. 107; 18 October 1552
(Lossen), no 103, pp. 111-112; 1 May 1562 (Lossen), no 250, p. 345. Comp. de Vocht,
Coll. Trilingue, vol. 3, p. 257.

ANDREAS MASIUS 207
In the last of Gensius’ letters to Masius36 one also finds a fine example
of Leuven gossip relating to professor Petrus (‘Pieter’) Nannius, who had
come to Leuven from Alkmaar in 1535 and had succeeded Goclenius as
teacher of Latin at the Trilingue in 1539, after Masius had already left the
city. At the beginning of 1542, Nannius had announced with considerable
melodrama that he planned to travel to Italy in the company of his favourite
student, Hendrik Rudolf up ten Haitzhovel, nephew of Jan van Weze.
Unfortunately, Nannius did not get further than the docks in Antwerp and
was forced to return to Leuven where his students immediately insisted he
also justify certain derogatory remarks he had made with respect to Philip
Melanchton.37
Nannius was also one of Masius’ regular correspondents, and he in turn
had a number of remarks to make about Andreas Balenus, his colleague
36
Ludovicus Gensius to Masius, 23 March 1542 (Lossen), no 12, pp. 14-15.
37
On Nannius, see Amédée Polet, Une gloire de l’humanisme belge. Petrus Nannius 1500-
1557 (Leuven, Librairie universitaire – Uystpruyst, 1936). Nannius was invited to travel
to Italy in 1541 by Jacobus Fieschi, a former pupil and Bishop of Savona, with the prom-
ise of a good pension. However, Nannius had politely to refuse the offer, pointing to his
age and his reluctance to leave his family (Petrus Nannius to Jacobus Fieschi, 27 Novem-
ber 1541 [Polet], no 33, pp. 269-272). To everyone’s surprise, however, Nannius changed
his mind a few months later, pointing out on this occasion that a nephew of van Weze,
his sister’s son, Hendrik Rudolf up ten Haitzhovel, who had been his student in Leuven,
was on the point of leaving for Italy to continue his studies, and that it pained him to
have to say goodbye to such an extraordinary fellow (Petrus Nannius to Jan van Weze, 1
March 1542 [Polet], no 37, pp. 275-277). Whatever the truth of the matter, Nannius had
suspended his courses at the Collegium trilingue and a host of candidates were lining up
to replace him. But Nannius, who may already have been waiting in Antwerp for a ship
heading for Savona, did not depart. Had the bishop perhaps withdrawn his generous
promises? In any event, Nannius was forced to return to Leuven, much to the perverse
satisfaction of a number of his associates. His return to Leuven was not the only reason
the Latin teacher at the Trilingue was subject to gossip, a fact that offers some insight into
the prevalent mentality at the university in the years in question. Nannius had apparently
spoken with disdain about Philip Melanchton. This not only irritated Nannius’ German
students but many others besides, who made use of the situation on Nannius’ return to
vent their dissatisfaction and mock him with satirical poems. The situation was serious
enough to inspire Nannius to explain why he had not left for Savona and to refute any
accusations of attacking Melanchton when he gave his first class around March 15, 1542.
He also made use of the testimony of other scholars, including a letter written to him by
Masius from Speyer on March 8, which he had just received (Ludovicus Gensius to
Masius, 23 March 1542 [Lossen], no 12, pp. 14-16).

208 WIM FRANÇOIS
and Masius’ former professor of Hebrew.38 According to Nannius, the man

was not only lazy – which explained why he rarely responded to Masius’
letters39 –, he was also mentally disturbed. Nannius was certain that Masius
could confirm this fact from his own experience in Leuven. In 1544, how-
ever, things had taken a turn for the worse. Balenus shied from human
company completely, saw ghosts, was subject to dreadful visions (‘spectra et
terricula’) and had not taught a class since Christmas of 1543. Nannius even
went so far as to sound out Masius’ potential interest in succeeding Balenus
as professor of Hebrew.40 In the meantime, however, the provisors of the
university urged Balenus to resume his duties. Balenus agreed to do so,
but in such a manner that the provisors were left with their doubts about his
resolve: ‘if I’m still alive tomorrow’, he had added to his response. Nannius
noted his relief that the man was not contemplating suicide, although he
continued nevertheless to avoid his teaching assignments. The university
authorities were reluctant to have him replaced for fear it might aggravate
his illness.41 It took until September 1544 before Nannius could inform
Masius that Balenus had resumed his duties. In spite of their friendship,
however, the latter was still unable to respond to his letters.42
Masius also corresponded with Jan Visbroeck, a former student of
the university and later secretary to Cardinal Giovanni Morone in Rome.
Masius and Visbroeck were to meet again at Trent in the summer of 1543.
Visbroeck was accompanying Morone, one of the papal legates preparing the
Council in Trent, and Masius was part of the retinue of his bishop Jan van
Weze and perhaps even that of the emperor himself.43
38
Petrus Nannius to Masius, 6 August 1541 (Lossen), no 10, pp. 11-12; 18 March 1543
(Lossen), no 13, p. 17; 25 March 1544 (Lossen), no 15, p. 18; 1 July 1544 (Lossen), no 17,
pp. 18-19; September 1544 (Lossen), no 18, pp. 19-20.
39
Only one letter has indeed been preserved: Andreas Balenus to Masius, 17 October
1538 (Lossen), no 2, pp. 3-4.
40
Petrus Nannius to Masius, 25 March 1544, ed. Andreas Lamey, Epistolae Palatinae,
in Acta Academiae Theodoro-Palatinae. Vol. 7: Volumen historicum (Mannheim, typis
academicis, 1794), no 4, pp. 319-320; completed by (Lossen), no 15, p. 18. Comp. (Polet),
no 42, p. 281.
41
Petrus Nannius to Masius, 1 July 1544 (Lossen), no 17, pp. 18-19.
42
Petrus Nannius to Masius, September 1544 (Lossen), no 18, pp. 19-20.
43
In a letter dated March 15, 1544, Visbroeck reminds Masius of ‘things they had arranged
the year before in Trent’ (Jan Visbroeck to Masius, 15 March 1544 [Epist. Palat.], no 3,

ANDREAS MASIUS 209
In the letters from Gensius to Masius dated October 7, 1541 and March
23, 1542, a number of other acquaintances are mentioned, among them
Joris Cassander, who resided in the college of ‘The Castle’ and had graduated
together with Masius as magister artium in 1533.44 In the course of the years,
Masius was also to come into contact with several other well-known figures
with whom he became acquainted – or at least had the opportunity to do
so – while he was in Leuven, at the artes, ‘The Lily’, or the Trilingue. Gerard
Mercator, for example, resided in the college of ‘The Pig’ from 1530 and
also followed classes at the Collegium trilingue. Ghislain de Busbecq and
Gerard Veltwijck, among others, can be added to the list.
Masius may have looked back at his time in Leuven with a certain degree
of nostalgia, especially when we account for indications of the fact that he
was not particularly happy as secretary to van Weze. Indeed, his administra-
tive duties and the continuous travelling must have been burdensome at
times. He complains to Gensius on occasion that life at the Court offered
him little opportunity to study. His friend endeavours to comfort him in
response by reminding him of the wealth of experience his position pro-
vided.45 In September 1540, Masius complained to Gotschalk Erichson about
the unpleasant manner with which van Weze treated him and one is left
with the impression that he was contemplating resignation from his post. The
letters in question date, however, from a period in which van Weze was ill.46
pp. 317-318; completed by [Lossen], no 14, pp. 17-18; also Masius to Jan Visbroeck,
31 March 1544 [Epist. Palat.], no 5, pp. 320-321; completed by [Lossen], no 16, p. 18).
44
In a post-script to his letter dated October 7, Gensius writes that a school had been set
up in Bruges on the bequest of Jan De Witte, Bishop of Cuba, and that Joris Cassander
had been appointed to it with a substantial annual salary of 150 florins (cf. Ludovicus
Gensius to Masius, 7 October 1541 [Lossen], no 11, pp. 13-14). In his letter to Gensius
of December 8, Masius inquires as to the identity of the said Cassander. The question
surprises his addressee, since he is forced to remind Masius that Cassander graduated in
the artes in the same year as himself. While the latter had not enjoyed much importance
in the past, he was now highly respected in both Leuven and Bruges, where he had been
born and now taught, on account of his excellent Greek and Latin. He had also published
a number of minor works, namely his Oratio panegyrica in laudem urbis Brugarum, deliv-
ered at the beginning of his professoriate at the school of Jan De Witte, and his Tabulae
breves et expeditae in praeceptiones rhetoricae (Ludovicus Gensius to Masius, 23 March 1542
[Lossen], no 12, p. 14; comp. de Vocht, Coll. Trilingue, vol. 3, pp. 296-303).
45
Ludovicus Gensius to Masius, 1 April 1540 (Lossen), no 4, p. 7.
46
Gotschalk Erichson to Masius, 23 September 1540 (Lossen), no 8, pp. 9-10; 22 Octo-
ber 1540 (Lossen), no 9, pp. 10-11.

210 WIM FRANÇOIS
Contacts with Other Orientalists

While life as a diplomat may not have been the fulfilling experience Masius
had expected, it nevertheless provided him with the opportunity to establish
contacts with other orientalists. In addition to the Hebraist Sebastian Mün-
ster, with whom he had been corresponding since his Leuven days, he also
got to know the well-known Old Syriac expert Johann Albrecht Widman-
stetter (1506-1557).47 Masius may have met Widmanstetter in Ghent as
early as 1540. At the time Widmanstetter was in the service of Louis X,
Duke of Bavaria, and had been sent to Ghent by the Bishop of Eischstätt.48
A year later, on July 21, 1541 – the day that King Ferdinand arrived at
the Diet in Regensburg, most probably with Widmanstetter as part of his
entourage – Masius sent the renowned Syriac scholar a short note, in Hebrew
for the sake of caution. The note in question contained a cry for help from
Masius, who wanted to meet Widmanstetter at the first opportunity, since
the latter had the solution to a certain problem at his disposal.49 The note
should perhaps be treated in similar fashion to the letters of complaint
Masius addressed to Erichson in the same period, for they indicate his desire
to leave the service of Jan van Weze and express the hope that Widmanstetter
might help him find employment elsewhere. This interpretation is confirmed
by the rather sad letter written by Masius in Regensburg and addressed to
Petrus Nannius. In his response dated August 6, Nannius expresses his regret
at the evident listlessness (‘taedium animi’) he had found in Masius’ letter,
although he makes no reference to the cause thereof.50
In the year 1542, reference is made for the first time to Masius’ association
with another renowned Hebraist and theologian, Paul (Büchlein) Fagius
(1504-1549),51 who from 1537 to 1541 had served as a pastor in Isny on
47
Margit Ksoll-Marcon, ‘Widmanstetter, Johann Albrecht’, in Biographisch-Bibliographisches
Kirchenlexikon, 16 (1999), cc. 1548-1550.
48
Max Müller, Johann Albrecht Widmanstetter 1506–1557. Sein Leben und Werken (Bam-
berg, 1907 [= 1908?]), p. 35.
49
Perles, Beiträge, pp. 203-204.
50
Petrus Nannius to Masius, 6 August 1541 (Lossen), no 10, p. 11.
51
Giulio Busi, ‘Fagius, Paulus’, in Encyclopaedia Judaica, 6 (22007), c. 676; Friedrich
Wilhelm Bautz, ‘Fabius (Büchlein), Paul’, in Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon, 1
(1990), cc. 1592-1593; Richard Raubenheimer, Paul Fabius aus Rheinzabern. Sein Leben
und Wirken als Reformator und Gelehrter, Veröffentlichungen des Vereins für Pfälzische
Kirchengeschichte, 6 (Grünstadt, Sommer, 1957). See also Geiger, Das Studium, pp. 65-74.

ANDREAS MASIUS 211
the eastern shore of Lake Constance not far from Meersburg, where he had
even established a Hebrew printing press. It is possible that Fagius resided
in Constance in the years 1543-44 in order to organise the town’s Protestant
community. Paul Fagius dedicated his anti-Jewish, Christological work entitled
Liber fidei seu veritatis – Sefer Amanah (Book of Faith), published in Latin and
Hebrew in 1542, to Masius. The work in question contained a defence of
Christianity against the Jews. According to Fagius’ foreword, the Hebrew
text was not written by someone born a Christian but rather by a Jew who
had converted to Christianity.52 The authorship of the Sefer Amanah has
been attributed to Gerard Veltwijck, a Jewish convert to Christianity, former
student at ‘The Castle’ in Leuven and the Collegium trilingue, who was a
renowned orientalist, theologian and advisor to Emperor Charles. Fagius’
foreword praises Veltwijck’s scholarship explicitly and without apparent
occasion.53 In addition, he places Masius side by side with Veltwijck and
Widmanstetter as promoters of the study of oriental languages and letters.
Although Fagius and Masius did not live far from one another, it would
appear that the men never met in person and were only acquainted with one
another by means of Masius’ Hebrew letter(s).54
Under orders from his employer Jan van Weze, Masius was also sent to
Rome. The interests he defended in Rome, however, were limited for the
most part to the acquisition of ecclesiastical privileges and prebends for the
bishop and his acquaintances. In this sense, Jan van Weze was a prelate of
the old school, the sort that the Council of Trent was to allow little room
for manoeuvre. Van Roey assumes there had been an initial visit to Rome in
the early months of 1545, followed by participation in the Diet of Worms
in the company of his bishop (spring-summer) and a brief return to the
52
Moritz Steinschneider, ‘Paul de Bonnefoy et le Livre de la Foi’, Revue des Études juives,
4 (1882), pp. 78-87; Id., ‘Le Livre de la Foi. Paul Fagius et Sébastien Münster. Appendice
à l’article Paul de Bonnefoy’, Revue des Études juives, 5 (1883), pp. 57-67.
53
Perles, Beiträge, p. 183; Manfred Rosenberg, Gerhard Veltwyck. Orientalist, Theolog
und Staatsmann, Diss. doct. Philosoph. Fac., Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, 1935,
pp. 20-24. On Veltwijck, see also Godfrey Edmond Silverman, ‘Veltwyck, Gerard’, in
Encyclopaedia Judaica, 20 (22007), c. 493; de Vocht, Coll. Trilingue, vol. 3, pp. 355-
358.
54
Perles, Beiträge, p. 205; Raubenheimer, Paul Fabius, pp. 32-33, 49, 136-138; Briefe,
ed. Lossen, p. 17.

212 WIM FRANÇOIS
Eternal City in the autumn-winter of the same year.55 His following journey
took place in May and June of 1547. Herwig Blarer, abbot of the Benedic-
tine Abbey of Weingarten and friend of van Weze, had agreed to accept
leadership of the moribund Abbey of Ochsenhausen. Since the Council of
Trent was explicitly against the accumulation of ecclesiastical benefices,
Masius was sent to Rome by the Bishop of Constance with a petition from
the monks of Ochsenhausen addressed to the pope and the cardinals appeal-
ing nevertheless for the appointment of Herwig Blarer as their abbot. In spite
of the many difficulties he faced, Masius succeeded in having Blarer’s
appointment confirmed.56
Masius may have sought contact with the Jewish community in Rome in
the first months of 1545 in order to satisfy his hunger for Hebrew writings.
Around the same time, his desire to learn Arabic began to take concrete
form. He had already asked Nannius to purchase Arabic books on his behalf,
although we can read in the latter’s response of March 25, 1544 that he had
not yet been able to fulfil this request since he needed the help of Balenus
to do so and Balenus was ill (… depressed).57 Masius seized the opportunity
to study Arabic in Rome under Guillaume Postel (1510-81),58 although it
55
Leuven, Maurits Sabbe Library, Fonds Van Roey–Masius, folder A, version 7.12.1997,
pp. 57-58.
56
Leuven, Maurits Sabbe Library, Fonds Van Roey–Masius, folder A, version 7.12.1997,
pp. 61-68.
57
Petrus Nannius to Masius, 25 March 1544 (Epist. Palat.), no 4, pp. 319-320 (to be
completed by [Lossen], no 15, p. 18).
58
Masius to Paul Fagius, 8 March 1545, in Raubenheimer, Paul Fagius, pp. 136-138.
Written in Rome, the copyist of this letter has dated it March 8, 1540, but this cannot
be accurate. Reference is made to the presence in Rome of ‘Guillaume Postel who had
recently published his book Concordia orbis Christi in Basel’. Postel had been in Rome
since 1543, and the book in question appeared in Basel in 1544. Moreover, Masius sent
his letter to Strasbourg to which Fagius only returned in the autumn of 1544. The letter
must date from after this period and was probably written on March 8, 1545. Masius’
residence in Rome in 1545 is confirmed by the foreword written by Sebastian Münster
for his 1546 edition of Abraham ben Hiyyah’s Sefer zurath ha-aretz (Sphaera mundi) in
which he states: ‘Andreas Masius wrote to me last year concerning the many Hebrew
books he had seen among the Jews in Rome’ (Briefe von Andreas Masius, ed. Lossen, p. 20;
Perles, Beiträge, pp. 205-206; Erwin I.J. Rosenthal, Studia Semitica, University of Cam-
bridge Oriental Publications, 16-17, 2 vols. (Cambridge, University Press, 1971), vol. 1,
p. 137 n. 33. A second confirmation is offered by the Servite father Octavius Pant-
agathus, who wrote to Masius in 1546 that he found it difficult to understand the latter’s

ANDREAS MASIUS 213
is evident from a letter addressed to Postel at a later date that he had not
been able to follow enough lessons to master the language.59 ‘Not only did
Postel teach Masius Arabic, he also shared with him his interest in the Kab-
balah’.60 After meeting in Rome, Masius and Postel continued to correspond
with one another for years, not only about their publications, but also about
the personal problems encountered primarily by Postel.61
In 1545, Masius also made the acquaintance in Rome of the Servite father
Octavius Pantagathus, who belonged to the elite of Rome’s intelligentsia,
and with whom he was to correspond for several years. Rome had clearly
made an impression on Masius. No more than a year after meeting Pant-
agathus, Masius informed him in a letter that he was fed up with Germany
and wanted to spend more time in his company in Rome. In a letter marked
‘postridie Iduum Octobre [1546]’, however, Pantagathus tried to temper
Masius’ enthusiasm. What did he know of Rome? His short visit the year
before had only afforded him the briefest of opportunities to acquaint him-
self with Pantagathus and his environment. But Masius insisted, and in his
response, written on his birthday in 1546, he defended himself with a degree
of vehemence. He complained that life was difficult for him at the time,
that he felt anxious (‘anxius’), uncertain (‘dubius’), overburdened by work
enthusiasm for his Roman environment, bearing in mind that he had only enjoyed brief
contact therewith ‘the year before’ (see Masius’ answer to that letter: Masius to Octavius
Pantagathus, 30 November 1546 [Lossen], no 20, p. 21). F. Secret argued that the letter
of Masius to Fagius should be dated March 8, 1546, pointing out particularly the ortho-
graphic similarity between 1546 and 1540. Given the other arguments, however, we prefer
to date the letter one year earlier, in 1545 (François Secret, ‘La rencontre d’Andreas Masius
avec Postel à Rome’, Revue d’Histoire Ecclésiastique, 59 [1964], pp. 485-489).
59
Masius to Guillaume Postel, 13 April 1554 (Lossen), no 136, p. 161.
60
Robert J. Wilkinson, Orientalism, Aramaic and Kabbalah in the Catholic Reformation:
The First Printing of the Syriac New Testament, Studies in the History of Christian Traditions,
137 (Leiden – Boston, Brill, 2007), p. 79; Id., The Kabbalistic Scholars of the Antwerp
Polyglot Bible, Studies in the History of Christian Traditions, 138 (Leiden – Boston, Brill,
2007), p. 40.
61
Masius is even described by G. Weill as Postel’s most intimate friend and confidant.
See Georges Weill, Vie et caractère de Guillaume Postel. Traduite du latin et mise à jour
par François Secret, Itinéraires, 4; Collection d’histoire de l’humanisme (Milan, Archè ‘Les
Belles Lettres,’ 1987), pp. 151-152, 70, 78 etc.; Yvonne Petry, Gender, Kabbalah and the
Reformation: The Mystical Theology of Guillaume Postel (1510-1581), Studies in Medieval
and Reformation Thought, 98 (Leiden – Boston, Brill, 2004), passim; Wilkinson, Orien-
talism, pp. 79-83.

214 WIM FRANÇOIS
(‘negociosus’) and dejected (‘disiectus’). He wanted to put the wartime con-

ditions prevailing in Germany behind him and devote himself to study. He
was not motivated by ambition or the pursuit of gain, but rather by a desire
to live a more Christian life (‘in Christi disciplina conquieturus’).62 A few
months later, in January 1547, he wrote to Johannes Antonius de Taxis that
he longed to be in Rome.63
We know that Masius also corresponded with the Jewish teacher Elijah
Levita (1468/69-1549). The fact that the man wanted to meet Masius one
more time before he died is evident from a number of letters from Levita’s
assistant Cornelio Adilkind, which date from the visit Masius made to Rome
on behalf of Jan van Weze and Herwig Blarer (May and June 1547), and
were published by J. Perles.64 Adilkind was a Jew of German origin who
worked for the Venetian printer Daniel Bomberg and other printers who
produced Hebrew books. He also worked as Levita’s assistant in the same
city. The question of Adilkind’s conversion to Christianity remains unset-
tled.65 His letters testify to Masius’ enduring interest in the study of Hebrew
linguistics and especially in the Kabbalah. Masius was also asked to read the
galley proofs of the Latin translation of Maimonides’ Guide for the Perplexed,
a task initially ascribed to a monk from Padua, which Bomberg intended to
publish. He was referred to the Jewish community in Rome, with which he
had already established contacts, for an original Hebrew version of the work
and for additional commentaries.
On June 13, 1548, this period in Masius’ life abruptly came to an end
when his employer van Weze died of a stroke at the Diet of Augsburg.
Masius later wrote a long lament for his deceased master, although Cornelius
de Schepper, a prominent imperial diplomat, seriously questioned its authen-
ticity, ‘bearing in mind that he [= van Weze] was not exactly one of the
62
Masius to Octavius Pantagathus, 30 November 1546 (Epist. Palat.), no 6, pp. 322-323;
completed by (Lossen), no 20, pp. 21-23.
63
Johannes Antonius de Taxis to Masius, 4 March 1547 (Lossen), no 21, pp. 24-25.
64
Perles, Beiträge, pp. 209-214. Also Gérard E. Weil, Élie Lévita. Humaniste et Massorète
(1469-1549), Studia Post-Biblica, 9 (Leiden, Brill, 1963), pp. 162-164; Meir Medan,
‘Levita, Elijah’, in Encyclopaedia Judaica, 12 (22007), cc. 730-732.
65
Moritz Steinschneider, Catalogus librorum hebraeorum in Bibliotheca Bodleiana (Hildes-
heim, Georg Olms, 1964; orig. Berlin, Friedlaender, 1852-60), no 7765, p. 2835; Perles,
Beiträge, p. 211; ‘Cornelius B. Baruch Adelkind’, in The Jewisch Encyclopedia, 1 (1901),
cc. 189-190; Weil, Élie Lévita, pp. 113, 152-164.

ANDREAS MASIUS 215
perfect’.66 This would agree with other witnesses to the fact that Masius did
not always have an easy time under van Weze.
III. MASIUS IN ROME FOR THE DUKE OF CLEVES. OLD SYRIAC STUDIES
(1548-58)67
In the Service of William V, Duke of Cleves

After Jan van Weze succumbed to a stroke in 1548, a new period dawned
in Masius’ life. While he would have preferred to dedicate himself to a life
of study, his personal fortune did not permit such a luxury. In the years
following van Weze’s death, he appears to be engaged in a constant search
for new prebends and ways of capitalising on existing benefices.68 To his
good fortune, the Bishop of Lund had renounced a canonry in Lübeck
shortly before his death and the position was granted to Masius during his
last visit to Rome 1547.69 A year later in 1548, however, Masius had still
received nothing in terms of salary from the Hanseatic city.70 After van
Weze’s death, Masius also set his sights on his former employer’s canonries
in Xanten and Emmerich. It would appear, nevertheless, that he was unable
to acquire them.71 As probable compensation for ultimately renouncing any
66
‘… quum inter perfectos non videatur numerandus’ (Jo. de Langhe to Masius, 18 Novem-
ber [Lossen], no 59, pp. 65-66).
67
Leuven, Maurits Sabbe Library, Fonds Van Roey–Masius, folder B. See also Albert Van
Roey, ‘Les études syriaques d’Andreas Masius’, Orientalia Lovaniensia periodica, 9 (1978),
pp. 141-158; Id., ‘Masius als oriëntalist’, in Bijdragen tot de geschiedenis van Lennik, 1
(1978), pp. 104-110; Id., ‘Les débuts des études syriaques et André Masius’, in V Sympo-
sium Syriacum 1988. Katholieke Universiteit, Leuven, 29-31 août 1988, ed. René Lavenant,
Orientalia Christiana Analecta, 236 (Roma, Pont. Institutum Studiorum Orientalium,
1990), pp. 11-19.
68
It is difficult to obtain a precise picture of Masius’ prebends and the income they pro-
vided: Briefe, ed. Lossen, p. XVII, and Leuven, Maurits Sabbe Library, Fonds Van Roey–
Masius, folder B, p. 11.
69
Johannes Hominis to Masius, 23 June 1548 (Lossen), no 23, p. 27: ‘Andreae Masio
decano et canonico Lubicensi’; Masius to Herwig Blarer, 11 June 1549 (Lossen), p. 49;
Propst Franciscus a Sp… to Masius, 9 August 1552 (Lossen), no 99, p. 108: ‘decano
Lubiceasi’. Comp. Gotschalk Erichson to Masius, 23 September 1540 (Lossen), no 8, p. 9.
70
Masius to Herwig Blarer, 22 September 1548 (Lossen), no 26, p. 30.
71
Masius to Johann von Vlatten and Karl Harst, 18 November 1548 (Lossen), no 27,
p. 31; Duke’s Council to Masius, 4 January 1549 (Lossen), no 29, pp. 33-34; Masius to

216 WIM FRANÇOIS
claim to a canonry in Emmerich, he was granted the deanery of Niedeggen–

Gulik in May 1551.72 Evidence of his determination to acquire a canonry
in Xanten is available as late 1554.73 Through abbot Blarer he also applied
for a canonry in Constance in 1549, which he appears to have acquired. Two
years later, however, he renounced the position.74 A first reference to the fact
that he was also dean of Saint Cunibert’s in Cologne is made in June 1553.75
In addition to this, we know that he had acquired the rights (‘preces regales’)
to a prebend in Utrecht in 1538. This likewise seems to have rendered little
income, forcing him to take considerable trouble in the course of the 1550’s
to make it pay.76 It is clear that this income was not enough to guarantee
Duke William V, 5 March 1549 (Lossen), no 31, p. 37; Johann von Vlatten to Chancellor
Johann Gogreve, 7 April 1549 (Lossen), no 34, p. 42; Jo. Blessius to Masius, 12 November
1550 (Lossen), no 58, p. 65; Masius to Duke, 13 April 1551 (Lossen), no 70, pp. 76-77;
5 May 1551 (Lossen), no 71, p. 78; Masius to Chancellor Heinrich Bars Olisleger, 4 June
1553 (Lossen), no 111, p. 124.
72
Masius to Duke William V, 13 April 1551 (Lossen), no 70, pp. 75-77; 5 May 1551
(Lossen), no 71, p. 78; 26 July 1551 (Lossen), no 73, p. 81; 25 August 1551 (Lossen),
no 74, p. 82; Duke’s Council to Masius, 28 August 1551 (Lossen), no 75, p. 82; Masius
to Duke, 18 October 1551 (Lossen), no 79, p. 88; Masius to Gerard of Gulik, 13 July
1553 (Lossen), no 116, p. 130. Comp. Leuven, Maurits Sabbe Library, Fonds Van Roey–
Masius, folder B, p. (29) 44.
73
Masius to Henry van der Reck, 12 June 1554 (Lossen), no 141, p. 174.
74
Masius to Herwig Blarer, 4 March 1549 (Lossen), no 30, p. 35; 17 November 1551
(Lossen), no 82, p. 93: Masius alludes to a certain ‘Jacobo Curtio, dem ich main canonicat
zu Constanz resignierte’.
75
Duke’s Council to Masius, 12 June 1553 (Lossen), no 113, p. 125; Jo. Blessius to
Masius, 27 July 1555 (Lossen), no 165, p. 204; Masius to Chancellor Christopher Probus,
9 August 1555 (Lossen), no 168, p. 210; Duke William V to Masius, 4 October 1555
(Lossen), no 172, p. 215; 19 November 1555 (Lossen), no 176, p. 227; Arnold Vogelsanck
to Masius, 22 January 1558 (Epist. Palat.), no 36, pp. 367-368. Masius writes in this last
letter that he wanted to relinquish the deanery of Saint Cunibert, thus suggesting he was
thinking of leaving the clerical state.
76
Andreas Balenus to Masius, 17 October 1538 (Lossen), no 2, p. 3; Johann de Langhe
to Masius, 24 October 1550 (Lossen), no 56, pp. 63-64; 18 November 1550 (Lossen),
no 59, p. 66; 14 December 1550 (Lossen), no 63, p. 70; Jan Visbroeck to Masius,
22 January 1554 (Lossen), no 129, p. 145; Johann de Langhe to Masius, 17 September
1554 (Lossen), no 146, p. 180; 25 November 1554 (Lossen), no 152, p. 187; 27 January
1555 (Lossen), no157, p. 192; Jo. Blessius to Masius, 27 July 1555 (Lossen), no 165,
p. 204; Masius to Chancellor Christopher Probus, 9 August 1555 (Lossen), no 168, p. 210;
Johann von Altena to Masius, 30 September 1555 (Lossen), no 173, p. 221; February 1557
(Lossen), no 208, p. 287.

ANDREAS MASIUS 217
Masius’ existence. With its many possibilities for doing research, Rome
continued to interest him, and he may have expected some kind of assistance
from Visbroeck in this regard.77
Masius ultimately succeeded in establishing himself as a sort of freelance
ambassador in Rome, working for the most part for a number of German
princes, including Duke William V of Jülich-Cleves-Berg and the Palatinate
Elector Frederick II (as well as a few other German aristocrats). He intro-
duced himself to William V and his administration in the hope of acquiring
much coveted benefices in exchange.78 He spend three lengthy periods
defending the interests of his employers in Rome.79 From March 1549 to
July 1550 he spent the better part of his time defending the claims of the
Duke of Cleves to the convent (‘Stift’) of Herford. He interrupted his stay
in Rome to attend the Diet of Augsburg where discussions with the papal
nuncios continued unabated. Masius informed the duke on this occasion
that the curial circles in Rome were highly suspicious of him and advised
him to do something about it. Rather than shower Rome with yet more gifts,
however, he suggested that the duke promise a life of steadfast faith and
restraint (‘aber fidem et taciturnitatem’).80 From April 1551 until April 1553,
Masius spent all of his time in Rome, continuing to work on the Herford
case as well as the duke’s authority to distribute certain benefices ordinarily
reserved for the pope. During a third stay from February to July 1556,
Masius continued to seek the duke’s advantage in matters related to ecclesial
jurisdiction and discipline, but his primary task was to defend the reform
measures the duke wanted to introduce in his territory in line with the Augs-
burger Religionsfriede, among them the provision of communion sub utraque
specie as well as the establishment of a university in Duisburg. Masius
achieved little at the time because Pope Paul IV, who was known for his
austerity, was unwilling to surrender any of the Church’s ancient rights
77
Johannes Visbroeck to Masius, 28 November 1550 (Epist. Palat.), no 8, pp. 324-327;
to be completed with (Lossen), no 61, pp. 67-68.
78
In a letter to abbot Blarer, he offers a clear summary of his situation: ‘I shall have to
remain in service for a while longer, until the anni carentiae of Lübeck are past or some-
thing else devolves to me whereby I am able to live a life of comfort and study’ (Masius
to Herwig Blarer, 22 September 1548 [Lossen], no 26, p. 30).
79
Leuven, Maurits Sabbe Library, Fonds Van Roey–Masius, folder B, p. 31.
80
Masius to Duke William V, 9 December 1550 (Lossen), no 62, p. 69.

218 WIM FRANÇOIS
and was not interested in innovations. The reform-minded Duke of Cleves’

reputation in Rome suffered considerably.81
When his German employers left him alone, as they did between October
1553 and March 1556,82 Masius spent much of his time in the Cistercian
Abbey in Waldsassen, where his friend Hendrik van Weze had been granted
administrative rights by Elector Frederick II on the death of his uncle.83
Efforts were even made between 1551 and 1555 to have Masius appointed
administrator of the abbey, because van Weze had set his sights on mar-
riage.84 On other occasions, Masius resided in the Abbey of Weingarten with
Herwig Blarer, whom he considered a father and mentor. Both monasteries
provided Masius with the opportunity to study undisturbed.85
Old Syriac Studies

Masius was content in Rome,86 since his diplomatic activity provided him
with the time and the opportunity to maintain connections with Roman
humanists, spend time in the Vatican Library and mix in Jewish circles.
According to Giorgio Levi della Vida, Masius, together with Johann Potken,
was the first orientalist we can claim with certainty to have worked in the
Vaticana.87 Masius also took the opportunity to deepen his knowledge of
Syriac while in Rome.88 Interest in Old Syriac dramatically increased in the
81
See amongst others Heribert Smolinsky, ‘Kirche in Jülich – Kleve – Berg. Das Beispiel
einer landesherrlichen Kirchenreform anhand der Kirchenordnungen’, Römische Quartal-
schrift, 84 (1989), pp. 104-119, esp. pp. 109-110.
82
Leuven, Maurits Sabbe Library, Fonds Van Roey–Masius, folder B, p. 71.
83
Briefe, ed. Lossen, p. 211.
84
Cf. infra, pp. 224-225.
85
‘ociari ac literis memet oblectari’. See Masius to Johann von Vlatten, 5 March 1549
(Lossen), no 32, p. 38.
86
‘… Roma, quam alioqui omnibus urbibus praeferrem …’ See Masius to Johann von
Vlatten, 5 March 1549 (Lossen), no 32, p. 38. Also Vulmar Bernaerts to Masius, 31
December 1551 (Lossen), no 86, p. 96; 25 January 1552 (Lossen), no 88, pp. 98-99.
87
Giorgio Levi della Vida, Ricerche sulla formazione del più antico fondo dei manoscritti
orientali della Biblioteca Vaticana, Studi e testi, 92 (Città del Vaticano, Bibliotheca Apos-
tolica Vaticana, 1939), pp. 137-138 and particularly p. 444.
88
Leuven, Maurits Sabbe Library, Fonds Van Roey–Masius, folder B, p. 57-63; Van Roey,
‘Les études syriaques d’Andreas Masius’, pp. 144-150. See also Wilkinson, Orientalism,
pp. 83-89; Id., Kabbalistic Scholars, pp. 39-42.

ANDREAS MASIUS 219
first half of the sixteenth century,89 and appears to have been related to the
desire of the Church of Rome to establish relations with a number of Eastern
churches (read: reunite the said churches with Rome). In this context and with
a view to the publication of a Syriac New Testament, a Jacobite priest named
Moses from Tur Mardin was sent to Rome by his patriarch Ignatius ’Abdallâh.90
Moses was the man who had given Masius a few Old Syriac lessons (and also
helped to improve his Arabic, which he had begun under Postel) at the begin-
ning of 1553, during the his ‘second’ stay in Rome in the service of the Duke
of Cleves. The lessons in question lasted no more than a month or two at the
most,91 but Masius’ knowledge of Hebrew and Aramaic allowed him to learn
the language relatively quickly. It is highly likely that Masius took the oppor-
tunity during these months to examine a Syriac gospel manuscript written in
1519 by a Maronite sub-deacon named Elias – when he was a mere twenty
years of age – and available in the Vatican library (Vat sir. 15). Elias had been
part of a delegation sent by his patriarch to the pope.92 It is probable that
Masius used this gospel manuscript to put together Syriac-Latin notes to which
he refers in 1554 and which he would later use in compiling his dictionary.93
Masius was not only able to employ his newly acquired knowledge for his
biblical-literary studies, but also to assist the Roman curia in its contacts with
the Eastern churches (and vice versa). One of the first texts he translated was
the confession of faith that Moses of Mardin had professed in his own name
and in the name of his patriarch a year earlier (1552) in the presence of Pope
89
The best introductory account of Syriac studies to date is Sebastian P. Brock, ‘The
Development of Syriac Studies’, in The Edward Hincks Bicentenary Lectures, ed. Kevin
J. Cathcart (Dublin, University College, Department of Near Eastern Languages, 1994),
pp. 94-113. Also: Riccardo Contini, ‘Gli inizi della linguistica siriaca nell’Europa rinasci-
mentale’, in Italia ed Europa nella linguistica del Rinascimento: confronti e relazioni, ed. Mirko
Tavoni et al., Istituto di studi rinascimentali Ferrara. Saggi, 2 vols. (Modena, Panini, 1996),
vol. 2, pp. 483-501.
90
Joseph Simonius Assemanus, Bibliotheca orientalis clementino-vaticanae, 4 vols. (Roma,
Typis Sacrae Congregationis de Propaganda Fide, 1719-24), vol. 1, 1719, p. 535. Also
Wilkinson, Orientalism, pp. 64-75, 83-85.
91
See, for example, Masius to Guillaume Postel, 13 April 1554 (Lossen), no 136, p. 161. For
further argumentation see Van Roey, ‘Les études syriaques d’Andreas Masius’, pp. 145-146.
92
Levi della Vida, Ricerche, pp. 137-139; Leuven, Maurits Sabbe Library, Fonds Van
Roey–Masius, farde B, pp. 55-56, 63; Wilkinson, Orientalism, pp. 17, 88.
93
Latinus Latinius to Masius, 23 January 1554 (Lossen), p. 147: ‘… illas ex evangelio
Syro excerptas notatiunculas’; Masius to Latinus Latinius, 25 February 1554 (Lossen),
no 133, p. 153: ‘Meas ex evangelio Syro excerptam annotatiunculas’.

220 WIM FRANÇOIS
Julius III and the cardinals. Moses accepted the procession of the Spirit
ab utroque, the existence of two natures in Christ in accordance with the
Council of Chalcedon, and the primacy of Rome.94 It is probable that
Masius also made a Latin translation of a short contemplatio theologica on
the Holy Trinity at the time, likewise put together in 1552 by Moses of
Mardin.95 Moses kept on exchanging letters in the Syriac language with
Masius, after the latter’s departure from Rome and notwithstanding his
limited ability to write Syriac. Masius would evenso draw heavily on these
letters for the Peculium Syrorum, his Syriac dictionary.96
In November 1552, while Masius was still in Rome, a Nestorian monk
named Mar Shem’um Sullâqa or Siud, superior of the monastery of Rabban
Hormizd in the neighbourhood of Mosul, arrived in the city. He had been
elected by (a faction of) the Nestorians as their new patriarch. Sullâqa and
his retinue had brought a letter from their supporters in which they asked
the pope to anoint their candidate for patriarch. In addition, they had a let-
ter of recommendation in their possession, written in Jerusalem by seventy
Nestorians who had accompanied the candidate in question from Mosul
to the Holy City. Sullâqa made his confession of faith in Rome in 1553.
At that moment, Masius was the only person in the city of Rome who had
any familiarity with Old Syriac,97 and he translated the three documents
concerned into Latin for Sullâqa and his delegation. A few weeks later,
94
De Paradiso commentarius, scriptus … a Mose Bar-Cepha Syro … Adiecta est etiam Divi
Basilii Caesariensis Episcopi leítourgía sive anaforá … Praeterea professiones fidei duae,
altera Mosis Mardeni Iacobitae … altera Sulacae sive Siud Nestoriani … Adhaec duae Epis-
tulae populi Nestoriani ad Pontificem Rom. … Omnia ex syrica lingua nuper translata per
Andream Masium … (Antverpiae, Ex officina Christophori Plantini, 1569), p. 261.
95
J.S. Assemani notes, nevertheless, that the said contemplatio stems from the Syriac
liturgy for the feast of the Holy Trinity (Bibliotheca Orientalis, vol. 1, p. 536).
96
Jan Willem Wesselius, ‘The Syriac Correspondence of Andreas Masius: A Preliminary
Report’, in V Symposium Syriacum 1988, ed. Lavenant, pp. 21-29. In this work, the author
promises an edition with translation and commentary of the Syriac correspondence
between Moses of Mardin and Masius. To the best of our knowledge this edition has not
appeared.
97
De Paradiso … Dedicatio Augerio a Busbeck, p. 229: ‘… cum… alterum vero hominem
[= Sullâqa], ut videbatur, integritatis atque innocentiae singularis, et alioqui peregrinum
lubenter mea, qua potui, opella iuvarem, cum praeter me, quod sine arrogantia dico, tum
Romae appareret nemo, qui quas hic a suis popularibus attulerat Syricas litteras legere,
nedum Latine interpretari quiret’.

ANDREAS MASIUS 221
Sullâqa was ordained bishop and patriarch of the (then unified) Chaldeans
(in spite of the fact that the previous patriarch was still alive).98
It is likely that Masius had the opportunity to purchase a manuscript
containing the liturgy (anaphora) of Saint Basil in Syriac from a Syrian while
he was resident in Rome. On the insistence of Julius Pflug, the renowned
Bishop of Naumberg, he also translated the piece into Latin. It is possible
that Masius presented the said translation to Pflug on the occasion of a visit
he made to him a few months later in September 1554.99 However, in the
spring and summer of 1555, Masius exchanged at least four letters with
Moses of Mardin, asking advice about the translation of diverse words and
sentences from the anaphora about which he hesitated along with questions
on the theological problems evoked by some passages. These items not only
related to theological problems encountered in the process of unification of
the eastern Churches with Rome, but also in the controversy between the
latter and the Reformation (e.g., celibacy or the veneration of saints).100
In 1555, the year after Masius made his various translations, an important
progress was made in the study of Old Syriac literature. In that year, the first
book printed in Syriac letters was published in Vienna: the Liber sacrosancti
evangelii de Jesu Christo Domino et Deo nostro. The publication was the result
of collaboration between Moses of Mardin, Johann Albrecht Widmanstetter
and Guillaume Postel. Widmanstetter and Postel were Western Europe’s
finest experts in Old Syriac at the time. Masius did not play a direct role in
the project.
Masius and the Burning of the Talmud in Rome

In 1553, under the pontificate of Julius III, Cardinal Pietro Caraffa, the head
of the Inquisition, ordered copies of the Talmud to be burned in the Papal
States and throughout Italy. The cardinal chose the feast of Rosh Hashanah,
Jewish New Year (September 9) of that year, to burn the Talmud in Rome,
with the specific intention of aggravating the grief already felt among the
98
For further information and literature see Wilkinson, Orientalism, pp. 85-87.
99
De Paradiso … Dedicatio Augerio a Busbeck, p. 227; Hubertus Leodius to Masius,
7 November 1554 (Epist. Palat.), no 29, pp. 357-358; to be completed with Briefe, ed.
Lossen, p. 182.
100
Wesselius, ‘The Syriac Correspondence of Masius’, pp. 25-26.

222 WIM FRANÇOIS
Jewish population. Similar burnings were to take place in other Italian cities.101
On this occasion, we have evidence of Masius’ ardent defence of the Talmud,
as well as the Kabbalah and other Jewish traditions, within curial circles in
Rome (e.g., to Cardinal Sebastianus Pighinus). Masius also complained
about the pernicious influence of the Jesuit Francesco de Torres in the ques-
tion and expressed his fear that a papal decree would ultimately forbid other
Hebrew books (and not only the Talmud). He insisted that such works were
not to be understood as an affront to Christ and Christianity, and under-
lined their enormous potential for improving the understanding of the bible
– referring in particular to relevant statements by Jerome on the question –
and for bringing the Jews to Christianity. Masius also had a degree of per-
sonal interest in the situation, having stored a collection of Hebrew books
in the repository of Daniel Bomberg’s printing house in Venice (including
a complete Talmud) awaiting his return to Germany. He thus feared that
the books in question might also be destroyed and that he would be seri-
ously out of pocket as a result.102 Masius’ love for the eternal city flagged
considerably at this point in time.103 K.R. Stow suggests that Masius’ letter
to Cardinal Pighinus persuaded Pope Julius III to issue the bull Cum sicut
nuper on May 29, 1554 in which he confirmed the earlier decree of the
101
See particularly Kenneth R. Stow, ‘The Burning of the Talmud in 1553, In the Light
of Sixteenth Century Catholic Attitudes Toward the Talmud’, Bibliothèque d’Humanisme
et Renaissance, 34 (1972), pp. 435-459; also Id., ‘The Papacy and the Jews: Catholic
Reformation and Beyond’, Jewish History, 6 (1992), pp. 257-279; Wilkinson, Orientalism,
pp. 91-94; Amnon Raz-Krakotzkin, The Censor, the Editor, and the Text: The Catholic
Church and the Shaping of the Jewish Canon in the Sixteenth Century, Jewish Culture and
Contexts (Philadelphia, University of Pennsylvania Press, 2007), pp. 32-58. On Masius’
attitude to the decree see also Perles, Beiträge, pp. 223-229.
102
Masius to Card. Sebastianus Pighinus, 24 December 1553 (Lossen), no 128, pp. 144-
145; (Epist. Palat.), no 20, pp. 344-346; particularly Masius to Marcus Antonius de Mula,
19 February 1554 (Lossen), no 131, p. 147; Masius to Octavius Pantagathus, 25 February
1554 (Lossen), no 132, pp. 147-152; Masius to Latinus Latinius, 25 February 1554
(Lossen), no 133, pp. 152-154; Masius to Card. Sebastianus Pighinus, 26 February 1554
(Lossen), no 134, pp. 154-158.
103
Masius to Latinus Latinius, 25 February 1554 (Lossen), no 133, p. 153: ‘Nam ipsius
Urbis desiderium … nonnihil retudit imo tantum non extinxit dira illa isthic nuper lata
in vetustissimos libros sententia, quae profecto, si quid judico, perpetuam summo pon-
tifici notam barbarici inusserit. Non sum apud me, quoties cogito tam prudentes viros tam
faciles aures male renatis Apellis praebuisse’. Comp. also Masius to Octavius Pantagathus,
25 February 1554 (Lossen), no 132, p. 149.

ANDREAS MASIUS 223
Inquisition – thus forbidding the Talmud but permitting the use of other,
non-blasphemous Hebrew books, explicitly asserting that he acted to promote
conversion.104 The obstinate opponents of the Talmud and other Hebrew
books within the Roman hierarchy, among them the future popes Paul IV
(the already mentioned Pietro Caraffa, former head of the Inquisition) and
Pius V, took note of Masius’ position on the matter and did not hesitate
to use it against him in the years that followed.105 In addition, Masius was
acting as the Roman representative of the Duke of Cleves at the time, a man
known for his open, humanistic religious politics and suspected of a lack of
orthodoxy in Rome.
Inclusion of Aramaic and Syriac in a New Polyglot Bible

Little has been documented with respect to Masius’ studies between 1554
and 1565. His interests in this period seemed to focus on the bible and the
text of the bible in particular. One of his more specific plans was the com-
bination of existing ancient versions of the bible in a single publication, in
what we would now refer to as a polyglot edition. He was able to assemble
some material for the project – Hebrew and Aramaic manuscripts and par-
ticularly a codex containing the Syriac version of Origen’s Hexapla, a work
hitherto unknown in the West.106 Masius made reference to the project for the
104
Stow, The Burning of the Talmud, pp. 449, 458.
105
Wilkinson writes in this regard: ‘Thereafter Pius IV, one of the most severe critics of
Rabbinic Literature, placed Masius’ Joshua of 1574 on the Index and when the Biblia Regia
was completed in Antwerp Masius’ collaboration on the project jeopardised papal appro-
bation’ (Orientalism, p. 94; cf. Kabbalistic Scholars, p. 42). The first part of this statement
is not entirely correct. Pius IV was pope from 1559 to 1565 and has nothing to do with
the situation under discussion. His successor was Pius V, pope from 1565 to 1572. When
Masius made clear his plans to publish his Joshua, in which he abundantly refers to the
Talmud, his friend Latinus did indeed draw his attention in 1571 to the prohibition
against Talmudic literature promulgated by three different popes, but Latinus was more
than likely referring to Julius III, Paul IV and Pius V (Stow, The Burning of the Talmud,
p. 443). The Joshua commentary finally appeared in 1574. It must be added, however,
that the initiative to subject it to censure rather came from Portugal and Spain and not
from Rome, and that the censorship sentences did not target Masius’ use of the Talmud
in the first instance (cf. infra, pp. 232-236). It remains correct that Pius V was reluctant
to approve of the Biblia Regia, which appeared in 1571, and that Masius’ reputation as a
defender of the Talmud was at stake in this matter (cf. infra, p. 242).
106
Cf. infra, pp. 229-230.

224 WIM FRANÇOIS
first time in a letter dated June 9, 1554 and addressed to his friend Latinus
Latinius, secretary to Cardinal Jacobo Puteo in Rome,107 although he had
already mentioned it briefly to Octavius Pantagathus.108 It would likewise
be quite surprising if Masius had not discussed the idea with Christopher
Plantin in Antwerp.109
IV. MASIUS IN ZEVENAAR. BIBLICAL STUDIES110
Marriage and Move to Zevenaar

A variety of circumstances lead Masius to change his marital status and place
of residence. Firstly, Frederick II was succeeded as count palatine in 1556
by Otto Henry. The latter endeavoured to establish Lutheranism throughout
the territory, in which the Abbey of Waldsassen was likewise located. Hendrik
van Weze, who seemed to be in no particular hurry to introduce the Refor-
mation, ended up in jail on a number of occasions for his tardiness. It goes
without saying that Masius could no longer remain in Waldsassen under
such circumstances (let alone continue his efforts to become the abbey’s
administrator).111
It is conceivable that the new circumstances encouraged him to give ear
to a piece of advice given him by his mentor, Abbot Herwig Blarer. In the
summer of 1558 – at the age of 44 – he entered into matrimony with a lady
he must already have known for a long time, namely Elza (‘Elske’) up ten
Haitzovel. Elza was the great niece of his former employer Jan van Weze,
and cousin to his friend Hendrik van Weze. In 1561, the couple settled on a
107
Masius to Latinus Latinius, 9 June 1554 (Lossen), no 140, p. 173: ‘… jamdudum
animo verso cogitationem de conferendis excutiendisque omnibus veteribus sacrorum
Bibliorum interpretibus … eamque ad rem praeter hebraea et chaldaea exemplaria manu-
scripta etiam syra lingua vetustissimum codicem, in quo sunt Regum libri et alia nonnulla
fragmenta mihi comparavi, in quo rubris elementis adscriptum repperi: eam syram trans-
lationem ex graeco codice, qui in bibliotheca Caesariana erat per Eusebium et Pamphilum
emendatus, factam esse’. See also Latinus Latinius to Masius, 6 October 1554 (Lossen),
p. 181; Masius to Latinus Latinius, 13 November 1554 (Lossen), no 150, p. 185.
108
Masius to Octavius Pantagathus, 25 February 1554 (Epist. Palat), no 23, pp. 350-352,
esp. p. 352.
109
Van Roey, ‘Les études syriaques d’Andreas Masius’, p. 150.
110
Van Roey, ‘Masius en Zevenaar’; see also Wilkinson, Kabbalistic Scholars, pp. 43-45.
111
Van Roey, ‘Masius en Zevenaar’, pp. 9-12.

ANDREAS MASIUS 225
farmstead in Zevenaar, in present-day Netherlands, but then situated in the

western corner of the Duchy of Cleves, near the border with the Habsburg
Low Countries. A year earlier, in 1560, Hendrik van Weze had also exchanged
Waldsassen for Zevenaar and had likewise married. A friend of both, Hendrik
van der Reck, did precisely the same thing in 1560 after becoming sheriff
(‘drost’) of the Liemers, the region of which Zevenaar was the main town.
In the same period, more specifically in 1561, plans for the establishment
of a university in Duisburg, for which Masius had lobbied in Rome on
behalf of the Duke of Cleves from 1556, moved towards a dénouement.112
The project originally formed part of a number of proposed reforms, which
the duke wished to introduce following the Augsburger Religionsfriede, with
the intention of improving the spiritual, intellectual and ecclesial life of the
duchy. The new university was to be financed on the basis of a number
of ecclesial benefices.113 As long as Paul IV remained pope, however, little
was going to come of the duke’s plans. His successor Pius IV promulgated
an (antedated) bull on March 19, 1561 foreseeing the establishment of a
university in Duisburg, but the pope suddenly withdrew the bull and even
had the duke’s procurator imprisoned. His reaction is said to have been
occasioned by a smear campaign instigated by the universities of Leuven and
Cologne, which stimulated fears in Rome that a university in Duisburg
would be a source of heresy.114 Once again, the religious politics of the
duchy of Jülich-Cleves-Berg had become the subject of suspicion in Rome.
After visiting the duke in 1561, the papal nuntio Commendone reported
all sorts of indications of heresy to Rome (although he seems to have gotten
along well with Masius).115 Masius personal orthodoxy, however, was also
the subject of discussion in curial circles in Rome,116 perhaps on account of
his previous protest against the prohibition of the Talmud. It goes without
saying that Masius was far from pleased with the withdrawal of permission
112
For this passage, cf. Jan Hendrik Jongkees, ‘Masius in moeilijkheden’, De Gulden
Passer, 41 (1963), pp. 161-168, p. 162.
113
Duke William V to Masius, 27 September 1555 (Lossen), no 172, pp. 218-219;
19 November 1555 (Lossen), no 176, p. 229.
114
Masius to Card. Morone, 25 May 1561 (Lossen), no 244, pp. 332-334.
115
Briefe, ed. Lossen, pp. 331-332 and 334.
116
‘haereseos accusor’ (Masius to Card. Morone, 25 May 1561 [Lossen], no 244, pp. 332-
334; see also Latinus Latinius to Masius, 5 August 1561 [Lossen], pp. 334-335).

226 WIM FRANÇOIS
to establish a university in Duisburg, which made his relationship with

‘Rome’ all the more difficult.117 The Duke of Cleves nevertheless kept Masius
in his service, entrusting him with occasional diplomatic missions at the
court in Brussels, from 1567 under the Duke of Alva.118
Duke William of Cleves also counted among his protégées the geographer
Gerard Mercator, whom Masius must have known in Leuven but who
had moved to Duisburg in 1552 under suspicion of having Protestant sym-
pathies. Joris Cassander, who had studied with Masius in Leuven and grad-
uated in the same year (1533), also lived in the region.119 It seems likely that
the three men maintained contact in one way or another and, at a certain
moment, their names were even mentioned as professors of the planned
Duisburg university.120
The Latin Translation of Moses bar Cepha’s De Paradiso

In spite of his unstable health, Masius enjoyed the freedom in Zevenaar
to indulge his true vocation, that of a Syriac scholar and exegete. Indeed,
all the publications we possess from him date from the period he lived in
Zevenaar.121 During the winter of 1565-66 when Masius was suffering from
poor health, he produced a Syriac manuscript from among his documents
that he had purchased from Moses of Mardin between 1552 and 1553. The
manuscript contained a commentary on the biblical narrative of the earthly
paradise that had been written in the middle of the ninth century by a Jaco-
bite bishop of Mosul, Moses bar Cepha. Masius set about making a Latin
translation of the manuscript, which he completed in 1567 and dedicated
117
‘Profecto non video, quid apud barbarissimos barbaros fieri posset barbarius…’ (Masius
to Card. Morone, 25 May 1561 [Lossen], no 244, p. 333; also Gutachten von Masius
wegen Beantwortung des päpstl. Breves vom 19. März 1561, September 1561 [Lossen],
no 254, pp. 335-338).
118
Van Roey, ‘Masius en Zevenaar’, pp. 13-19.
119
Of his former Leuven correspondents, Masius appears to have maintained particular
contact with Johannes Visbroeck in this period.
120
Briefe, ed. Lossen, p. 338.
121
Van Roey, ‘Les études syriaques d’Andreas Masius’, pp. 150-158; ‘Masius en Zevenaar’,
pp. 19-23. Comp. Leonard J. Greenspoon, ‘Masius, Andreas (1514-73)’, in Dictionary of
Biblical Interpretation, ed. John H. Hayes, 2 vols. (Nashville, Abingdon Press, 1999), vol. 2,
p. 134.

ANDREAS MASIUS 227
to his friends Hendrik van Weze and Hendrik van der Reck.122 Van Roey
points out that this is the first work ever to have been translated from Old
Syriac literature into a European language.123 Next to De Paradiso commen-
tarius, Masius included the translation he had made in 1553-54 of a number
of Syriac segments, his first after learning Syriac. With the exception of
his contemplatio theologica, the works in question were dedicated to Ogier-
Ghislain de Busbecq (from Comines/Komen), whom Masius had known in
Leuven.124 After Busbecq’s appointment as ambassador in Constantinople
on behalf of Emperor Maximillian, Masius had asked him on occasion for
Syriac manuscripts, especially the work of Saint Ephraim (although his
requests did not always meet with a positive response).125 Masius’ work
received an approbatio from Sebastien Baer Delphius, the dean of the church
of Our Lady in Antwerp and was finally published by Plantin in 1569. De
Paradiso commentarius was republished in the Maxima Bibliotheca Patrum126
and appears together with his translation of other Syriac works in the Critici
sacri.127 His translation of Bar Cepha’s De Paradiso is also included in Migne’s
Patrologia graeca.128 Masius’ Latin translation is considered important because
the original Syriac text is particularly rare.129 Van Roey is of the opinion, how-
ever, that Masius’ translation is of limited quality because of its paraphrasing,
122
For the full title of the work, cf. supra, n. 94, De Paradiso, pp. 3-226.
123
Van Roey, ‘Les débuts des études syriaques et André Masius’, p. 17.
124
Cf. supra, n. 94, Anaphora Divi Basilii… , pp. 235-254; Precatio Divi Basilii… ,
pp. 254-256; Fidei professio, quam Moses Mardenus … Romae professus…, pp. 257-264;
Duae epistulae populi Nestoriani ad Pontificem Rom., pp. 264-269; Professio fidei quam Siud
sive Sulaka … est professus Romae, pp. 269-272; Mosis Mardeni theologica de Sacrosancta
Trinitate contemplatio, pp. 273-276.
125
De Paradiso… Dedicatio Augerio a Busbeck, p. 229; comp. Ogier de Busbecq to Masius,
28 May 1556 (Lossen), no 192, pp. 260-263. See also Van Roey, ‘Les études syriaques
d’Andreas Masius’, pp. 148-152.
126
Maxima Bibliotheca veterum patrum, et antiquorum scriptorum ecclesiasticorum…/
a Margarino de la Bigne et al., 27 in 28 vols. (Lugduni, Apud Anissonios, 1677), vol. 17,
pp. 457-500.
127
Critici sacri: sive Annotata doctissimorum virorum in Vetus ac Novum Testamentum …
Editio nova, 8 in 9 vols. (Amstelaedami, Excudunt Henricus & Vidua Theodori Boom,
Joannes & Aegidius Janssonii à Waesberge, Gerhardus Borstius, Abrahamus à Someren,
Joannes Wolters, 1698), vol. 1, pars II, pp. 387-496.
128
Moses Bar-Cepha, De Paradiso, trans. Andreas Masius, PG, 111, cc. 481-608.
129
Comp. Leo Depuydt, ‘Classical Syriac Manuscripts at Yale University: A Checklist’,
Hugoye: Journal of Syriac Studies, 9/2 (2006).

228 WIM FRANÇOIS
non-literal style.130 It is probably for this reason that Laevinus Torrentius,

who had received the work from Stephanus Pighius, expressed his belief that
Masius was capable of doing better.131
Commentary on the Book of Joshua

Masius’ best-known work is also a bible commentary, on the book of
Joshua.132 His claim that he completed the work on his (feast and) birthday
in 1563 should be taken with a pinch of salt,133 since the facts seem to point
to the beginning of 1571. Masius was curious to know what the academic
– and the ecclesial – world thought of his work. At the end of his Praefatio
in graecam editionem, he submits his hypotheses ‘to the judgement of every
scholar’ and in particular ‘to that of the most holy Church and its pontiff’.134
Obviously, Masius had already sent the Praefatio to his friend Latinus Lati-
nius, in the spring of 1571. Latinius was able to inform him by means of
four letters what the authorities in Rome thought of his work. Latinius con-
sidered it dangerous, for example, to continue to base oneself on Talmudic
authors in face of the prohibitions of three different popes. He further
invited him to change the expression ‘most holy Church’ (‘sacrosanctae
Ecclesiae’) to read ‘most holy Church of Rome’ (‘sacrosanctae Romanae
Ecclesiae’). Masius does not appear to have followed his friend’s advice.
Lossen suspects that also warnings must have been formulated around this
time against the fact that Masius doubted the reliability of the Septuagint and
the Vulgate.135 By the summer of 1571, the commentary on the book of
Joshua had been handed over to Plantin. The latter passed it in turn to Leuven
130
Van Roey, ‘Les études syriaques d’Andreas Masius’, p. 152.
131
Stephanus Pighius to Masius, 14 March 1569 (Epist. Palat.), no 47, p. 384; also Briefe,
ed. Lossen, p. 425.
132
Andreas Masius, Iosuae imperatoris historia illustrata atque explicata…(Antverpiae,
Ex officina Christophori Plantini, 1574).
133
Iosuae imp. hist. II. Comment., p. 350.
134
Iosuae imp. hist. I. Praefatio in graecam editionem, p. 124: ‘Neque enim, quin multi in
multis a me dissentiant, recusare aut possum, aut volo: sed meum iudicium, in quo mag-
nam esse infirmitatem ingenue confiteor, omnium doctorum iudicio, et praesertim sacro-
sanctae Ecclesiae, eiusque summo Pontifici Romano submitto’.
135
Latinus Latinius to Masius, 18 and 22 May 1571 (Lossen), pp. 460-461; 1 and
18 December 1571 (Lossen), pp. 474-475. Comp. Jongkees, ‘Masius in moeilijkheden’,
p. 163.

ANDREAS MASIUS 229
theologian Johannes Molanus, who returned it on July 1, 1571 as ready to

print. For a variety of reasons, including financial difficulties, Plantin had to
delay the book’s publication until 1574, after Masius’ death.
Dedicated to King Philip II, the work is divided into two parts, a text
edition and a commentary. The text edition provides the Greek Septuagint
text and a literal Latin translation on the right-hand page. Masius wanted to
provide a reconstruction of the Septuagint version of Joshua, the Greek
translation of the bible ascribed to seventy-two Alexandrian scholars at the
end of the third century BCE, which is included in the fifth column of
Origen’s so-called Hexapla (third century CE). Masius also included a series
of critical symbols in his reconstruction, which he considered to be based on
Origen’s asterisks136 and obelisks137. The fact that Masius clearly ascribed
some of the asterisked additions in the text to the earlier LXX-revision of
Theodotion (second century CE) is also of particular interest.138 The signifi-
cance of Masius’ reconstruction is above all due to the fact that he had an
important manuscript at his disposal, probably dating from the eighth cen-
tury, containing the text of the Syro-Hexapla,139 a Syriac version of the fifth
column of Origen’s Hexapla, made by Paul, Bishop of Tella in the early
seventh century.140 The manuscript is striking, among other things, for its
136
Asterisk: a sign used in the Hexapla to mark passages found in Hebrew but missing
from the Septuagint translation. Origen included them in his text, taking them from other
translations (including Theodotion). Comp. Natalio Fernández Marcos, The Septuagint in
Context: Introduction to the Greek Version of the Bible, trans. Wilfred G.E. Watson (Leiden,
Brill, 2000), p. 363.
137
‘Obelus: sign of something spurious. Origen used it to mark words or passages that
were in the Septuagint but missing from the corresponding Hebrew text’ (Fernández
Marcos, The Septuagint in Context, p. 365).
138
Iosuae imp. hist. I, p. 2: ‘Haec Septuaginta duorum interpretum quidem est; sed admis-
tione verborum Theodotionis suppleta. atque asteriscis, obeliscisque, et limniscis, ut olim
ad Adamantio, ubique destincta, illustrataque: et ab incredibiliter multis mendis repurgata’.
139
Iosuae imp. hist. I. Epistola dedicatoria ad regem catholicum, p. 6: ‘In ea autem correc-
tione emendationeque cum aliorum vetustissimorum codicum, et praesertim eius qui in
Vaticana bibliotheca habetur, fidem sum secutus, tum interpretum Syrum ubique auc-
torem certissimum habui, qui ea Graeca ad verbum expressit ante annos nongentos, quae
in Adamantii Hexaplis ab Eusebio in nobili illa Caesariensi bibliotheca fuere collocata…
Habeo enim ab illo interprete Syro etiam Judicium historias et Regum; praeterea Para-
lipomena, Ezdram, Esther, Judith; denique Tobiae, et Deuteronomii bonam partem’.
140
The Syro-Hexapla manuscript used by Masius disappeared after his death, but what
is in all probability the second part of this Syriac text is still available in the Codex

230 WIM FRANÇOIS
preservation of Origen’s famous critical symbols, which are only rarely found
in other Greek manuscripts. It was also equipped with marginal notes (read-
ings of other Greek hexaplaric columns and scholia). The disappearance of
the said manuscript after Masius’ death, grants lasting significance to the
Brabant humanist’s work, especially with respect to the textual criticism of the
book of Joshua. Reservations are justified, however, with respect to Masius’
fervent use of Origen’s critical symbols. In the words of M.L. Margolis:
‘Nevertheless we cannot escape the conviction that frequently the signs are
wholly from the pen of Masius and especially that faulty disposition was
tacitly corrected’.141
The left-hand page of the text edition provides the Hebrew text and a
literal Latin translation, with the Aramaic (Chaldee) interpretation in the
margin where it differs from the Hebrew. At the bottom of both the right-
hand and the left-hand page, the Latin Vulgate translation is printed ‘quam
sacrosancta Ecclesia merito probavit recepitque’.142
The text edition is followed by the aforementioned Praefatio in editionem
graecam and by annotationes, in which Masius offers text-critical remarks
on his reconstruction of the original Greek text on the basis of his Syro-
Hexaplaric manuscript.
Ambrosianus, dated to the end of the eighth or beginning of the ninth century CE.
Cf. Willem Baars, New Syro-Hexaplaric Texts. Edited, Commented upon and Compared with
the Septuagint (Leiden, Brill, 1968), pp. 1-5.
141
Max Leopold Margolis has prepared a monograph in which he minutely discusses the
way in which Andreas Masius uses the famous Syriac document in order to reconstruct
the Greek text. He finished his study on June 15, 1923 and hoped to publish it in the
Harvard Theological Review, but this never materialised. The typescript for this monograph
entitled Andreas Masius and His Commentary on the Book of Joshua was recovered in 1982
by Leopold J. Greenspoon, who also began editing the manuscript with funding provided
by a grant from the American Council of Learned Societies, but he did not succeed in final-
ising the project. Margolis’ opinion of Masius’ work is visible to a degree in Greenspoon’s
publication of a number of segments of his book: ‘A Preliminary Publication of Max
Leopold Margolis’s Andreas Masius, together with His Discussion of Hexapla-Tetrapla’,
in Origen’s Hexapla and Fragments. Papers Presented at the Rich Seminar on the Hexapla,
Oxford Centre for Hebrew and Jewish Studies, 25th-3rd August 1994, ed. Alison Salvesen,
Texte und Studien zum antiken Judentum, 58 (Tübingen, Mohr Siebeck, 1998), pp. 39-69
(quotation from p. 53). See also Origenis Hexaplorum quae supersunt; sive veterum inter-
pretum graecorum in totum vetus testamentum fragmenta, ed. Fridericus Field, 2 vols.
(Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1875), vol. 1, p. 334.
142
Iosuae imp. hist. I, p. 2.

ANDREAS MASIUS 231
The second part of Masius’ study, which has separate pagination, consists
of a commentary on the book of Joshua. The commentary itself is preceded
by a praefatio. From the very beginning, Masius declares that the Pentateuch
as we now know it could not have been the work of Moses, but had been
put together long after his death. In his opinion, the considerable number
of clearly demonstrable later interpolations made it impossible to determine
the material that stemmed from Moses himself.143 He seems to have been
convinced with respect to the book of Joshua that the work could not have
been written by Moses’ successor. He even appears to presuppose that Ezra,
with the possible assistance of a few of his acquaintances, and under the
inspiration of the Spirit, was the author of both the Pentateuch and the book
of Joshua (and possibly of some other biblical books). According to Masius,
the author(s) in question made use of sources, ‘annals’ that had been pre-
served in the community of Israel, and which he believed to include the
Book of the Righteous. The latter is said to have contained reference to the
well-known sun miracle before it was taken up in the book named ‘Joshua’,
more specifically in Joshua 10,13.144 He added at this juncture that the
‘gesta’ of Samuel and Saul were presented in the Book of the Righteous in
addition to those of Joshua (a fact he doubtlessly based on 2 Sam 1,18, in
which David’s lament over Saul and Jonathan is to be found). In any case,
this lead him to the careful conclusion that Samuel likewise could not have
written the book named after him, but that another author must have com-
posed it at a later date.145 In his commentary on Joshua, Masius makes refer-
ence on virtually every page to passages from the Talmud and the Midrash
and to the insights of Jewish exegetes and philosophers. Geographical ques-
tions concerning the Holy Land that became important during his research
were presented to Mercator.146
143
Iosuae imp. hist. II. Comment., pp. 2, 301. Comp. Greenspoon, ‘Margolis’s Masius’,
p. 43: ‘Among his most far-reaching judgments in this regard was the determination that
Moses was not the author of the Pentateuch’.
144
Iosuae imp. hist. II. Comment., pp. 2, 189-190, 294, 300. Comp. Alexandre Westphal,
Les sources du Pentateuque. Étude de critique et d’histoire, 2 vols. (Paris, Fischbacher, 1888-
92), vol. 1, 1888, p. 51; Victor Baroni, La Contre-Réforme devant la Bible: La question
biblique (Lausanne, La Concorde, 1943), p. 236.
145
Iosuae imp. hist. II. Comment., p. 2.
146
On September 5, 1564, Masius gave Hendrik van Weze a letter for Cassander, who
was living in Xanten at the time, asking him to consult Mercator on the precise location

232 WIM FRANÇOIS
Masius’ commentary on the book of Joshua is concluded by the letter

addressed to Christopher Plantin by Hendrik van Weze, on April 15, 1573,
a week after Masius’ death, in which van Weze writes about the author’s last
days. The book includes five indices and a list of Hebrew books and manu-
scripts employed in relation to the explanatory texts.
The commentary on Joshua quickly became the subject of censure.147
By a decision of the Council of the Inquisition in Portugal on April 26,
1575, the possession, reading, printing and sale of the book was forbidden.148
The work as a whole was added to the Lisbon Index of 1581.149 In 1575,
the same year in which the Portuguese Inquisition banned Masius’ book, his
work also appears to have been censured by the rector of the archiepiscopal
college in Toledo on the instruction of the Spanish Inquisition. This is
supported by a copy of the book, which Fr. Heinrich Reusch was able to
examine at the end of the 19th century. According to custom, the censured
of Gerizzim and Ebal, where Joshua organised a religious service after the fall of Jericho
and Hai (Josh 8,30-35). He himself was of the opinion that the text referred to two peaks
of one and the same mountain. He also asked Cassander to provide him with the map of
Palestine published earlier by Mercator, which he had seen along the way. He returned to
the same subject on the last day of 1564. The requested map of Palestine also appears to
have been provided by chancellor Heinrich Bars Olisleger of Cleves: see Jean Van Raem-
donck, ‘La géographie ancienne de la Palestine. Lettre de Gérard Mercator à André
Masius’, Annalen van den Oudheidkundigen Kring van het Land van Waes, 10 (1884-85),
pp. 41-71; taken up, including the incorrect sequence of the letters, by Maurice Van
Durme, Correspondance mercatorienne, no 47 (Antwerp, Nederlandsche boekhandel, 1959),
pp. 59-62, although the sequence of the letters was already corrected in Briefe, ed. Lossen,
pp. 358-360. In a letter from Mercator to Masius dated May 22, 1567, the geographer
likewise deals with a large number of questions concerning the geography of Palestine (Van
Raemdonck, ‘La géographie’, pp. 64-65, with a complete version in Van Durme, Corre-
spondance mercatorienne, no 57, pp. 74-81).
147
For an overview see Franz Heinrich Reusch, Der Index der verbotenen Bücher: Ein
Beitrag zur Kirchen- und Literaturgeschichte, 2 vols. (Bonn, Max Cohen & Sohn, 1883-85),
vol. 1, 1883, p. 571, which continues to be important in spite of its age.
148
Israël S. Révah, La censure inquisitoriale portugaise au XVIe siècle. Étude accompagnée
de la reproduction en fac-similé des Index, Instituto de alta cultura. Centro de estudos de
psicologia e de história da filosofia. C: Monografias (Lisboa, Instituto de alta cultura,
1960), vol. 1, pp. 63-64.
149
Jesús Martinez De Bujanda et al., Index de l’Inquisition portugaise 1547, 1551, 1561,
1564, 1581, Index des livres interdits, 4 (Sherbrooke, Éditions de l’Université de Sher-
brooke – Genève, Droz, 1995), pp. 428, 668. Comp. Franz Heinrich Reusch, Die Indices
librorum prohibitorum des sechzehnten Jahrhunderts, Bibliothek des litterarischen Vereins in
Stuttgart, 176 (Leipzig, Hiersemann, 1936; orig. Tübingen, 1886), p. 353.

ANDREAS MASIUS 233
passages are blacked out with ink.150 The Index published in 1583 by Car-
dinal Gaspar de Quiroga, the Spanish inquisitor general, catalogues the work
as ‘forbidden unless expurgated’ (‘prohibetur nisi repurgetur’).151 A year
later, the Spanish Index expurgatorius of 1584 makes explicit reference to
five passages under censure, clearly fewer than the rector of the college in
Toledo originally had in mind. In three of the challenged passages, Masius
questions whether the Vulgate offers the correct translation of Joshua’s text
(in spite of the fact that the said Vulgate had been proclaimed the Church’s
authentic and trustworthy text by the Council of Trent decades before).
In two instances, Masius had minimised the value of religious cult. In his
commentary on Josh 22,28, for example, he insists that the cross of Christ
is not intended by the Church as an object of worship but rather as a
reminder of Christ himself. Much to the irritation of the censors, moreover,
150
On page 43 of the commentary, where Masius deals with Josh 2,6, the censor repre-
hends him for his criticism of the Vulgate: ‘Quod Latinus non linum ipsum, sed lini
stipulas interpretatur, vix ferri potest’. On page 59, in his commentary on Josh 3,6, Masius
points out that when the clergy neglect their obligations or ‘improbis actionibus reipublicae
statum conturbent laedantve’, the monarch should remind them of their duties ‘atque
etiam, si opus sit, ab eo, quod improbe faciunt, suo imperio refrenare’. On page 128, in
relation to Josh 7,12, he speaks of the opulent and immoral lifestyle of the clergy. On page
302, in his commentary on Josh 20, he speaks in some detail about the right of asylum.
On page 318, dealing with Josh 22,12, he argues that people who had departed the reli-
gious faith of their forebears to follow a different rite rather than a heretical teaching
should not be put to death without additional evidence of bad intent. On the contrary,
Masius insisted that one should not punish with the magistrate’s sword those who could
be corrected by the sword of the spirit. On page 325, dealing with Josh 22,28, the words
given in italics in the sentence ‘Ecclesia nobis ante oculos ponit crucis Christi figuram, non
ut eam adoremus, sed ut, dum aspicimus, in memoriam redeamus…’ are crossed through
by the censor. The sentence on page 317 dealing with Josh 22,9-11, ‘Illud fateor piaculum
esse et cum falso cultu coniunctum, aras non uni Deo, sed aliis etiam divis consecrare,
idque etiam divus Augustinus saepe monuit; neque enim ara, nisi cui sacrificatur, dicari
debet’ is accompanied by the remark ‘caute legendum’. A similar comment made by
Masius has been removed from page 156, with reference to Josh 8,38-39, as is the sentence
on page 343, with reference to Josh 25,30: ‘Ad solam enim vitae bene actae imitationem,
non etiam ad religiosum cultum, quem adorationem vocant theologi, divorum monimenta
conservare fas est’. All of the passages in question had thus been reworked by the Spanish
censor; see Franz Heinrich Reusch, Luis de Leon und die Spanische Inquisition (Bonn,
Eduard Weber’s Buchhandlung, 1873), p. 263 n. 1.
151
Jesús Martinez De Bujanda et al., Index de l’Inquisition espagnole 1583, 1584, Index
des livres interdits, 6 (Sherbrooke, Éditions de l’Université de Sherbrooke – Genève, Droz,
1993), pp. 166, 889.

234 WIM FRANÇOIS
his commentary on Josh 25,30 insists that the mortal remains that remind
us of the saints (‘monimenta’) should not be preserved with a view to the
cult of the saint in question but to help us rather to follow their example.152
It would also appear that the Leuven theologians were alarmed by the censor-
ship measure of their Portuguese and Spanish colleagues. On December 11,
1575, Johannes Molanus, who earlier had granted the original approbatio
on Masius’ Joshua commentary, evidently formulated an admonitio on the
same work. His warning specifically refers to Josh 8,30, in which Masius had
written that altars at the time of Optatus of Milete and Augustine were plain
and simple, unadorned with statues, on which nothing was revered except
the ransom Christ had paid for our salvation, namely his body and blood.
Molanus likewise refers to a potentially ‘notabilis et perniciosus error’ in
Masius’ commentary on the aforementioned Josh 22,28, although he does
not doubt the author’s good intentions.153
The Roman Index of 1596, promulgated with the approval of Clement
VIII, similarly catalogues Masius’ commentary on Joshua as ‘forbidden
unless corrected’ (‘prohibetur usquequo emendetur’).154 The Roman Index
expurgatorius of Joannes Maria Brasichellensis – dating from 1607 – lists no
fewer than 23 censured passages, some of which had already been referred
to by the Spanish inquisitor.155 In this same Index, frequent reference is
made to Masius’ doubts concerning the reliability of the Vulgate’s rendering
of the Joshua text. A further series of censured remarks relate to his critique
of the extravagant and dissolute lifestyle of the clergy. In his discussion of
Josh 3,6, Masius had questioned the extent to which the secular power could
exercise authority over priests. In answer to his question he writes that where
clergy did not perform their liturgical duties correctly or gave offence to
the community by their shameless deeds (‘improbis actionibus’), it was the
task of the local prince to remind them of their obligations and curb their
152
De Bujanda et al., Index de l’Inquisition espagnole, 6, pp. 785-786, 984.
153
This document is known in the first instance from two footnotes in J.-P. Migne’s
Scripturae Sacrae cursus completus (cf. infra, n. 165). Further research is needed.
154
Jesús Martinez De Bujanda et al., Index de Rome 1590, 1593, 1596. Avec étude des
index de Parme 1580 et Munich 1582, Index des livres interdits, 9 (Sherbrooke, Éditions
de l’Université de Sherbrooke – Genève, Droz, 1994), pp. 459, 933.
155
[Joannes Maria Brasichellensis,] Indicis librorum expurgandorum… Tomus Primus…/ Per
Fr. Io. Mariam Brasichellen… redactus… et aeditus (Romae, Ex Typographia R. Camerae
Apostolicae, 1607), pp. 24-27.

ANDREAS MASIUS 235
shameless deeds (a sentence already censured by Toledo’s college Rector).

He alludes in addition to Num 27,22 with respect to which he points out
that Joshua and the people of Israel were granted the priest Eleazer as the
mouthpiece of God’s laws and commandments, not as the mouthpiece of
their personal opinions. This remark was likewise subject to censure. In his
discussion of Josh 7,12, Masius continues to attack the scandalous activities
of the clergy, particularly their luxurious palaces, their horses and their
women of ill repute (cf. already censured by Toledo’s college Rector).
According to Masius, the words spoken by Joshua ‘from now on I will no
longer be with you’ did not imply the refusal of the Spirit’s assistance in
helping us understand the truths of the faith, but rather that God had with-
drawn his assistance to the Church in its struggle against its enemies, espe-
cially the Turks. God had made use of this situation to encourage the Church
and its leaders to repent. In his commentary on Josh 9,14, Masius makes
every effort to demonstrate that divine Providence does not necessary force
human will in a certain direction, rather it leaves room for human freedom.
‘Divine Providence’, he concludes, ‘precedes human activity, in compliance
with the order of fate (‘fataliter’), rather than being an effective guiding force
(‘efficienter’)’.156 This sentence was probably censured on account of the
word ‘fataliter’, which gave the impression that God had no impact on what
happened in the world and that it was all beyond his influence. Several state-
ments in which Masius minimises the value of religious cult (and calls for
authentic discipleship) are also censured by the Roman Index. Besides the
two sentences already censured by the 1584 Spanish Index expurgatorius,
the Index of 1607 adds a passage from Masius’ commentary on Josh 22,
9-11, more than likely because the censors interpreted his words as implying
that an altar should not be dedicated to a saint, but only to the one to whom
the sacrifice was offered, namely God (cf. already censured by Toledo’s
college Rector). In addition, Masius notes with respect to Josh 25,19
that prayer, through which mortals claim to be in the service of God, only
offers pseudo-hope. Given the insignificant and even vicious nature of the
human person, one cannot add something gracious to the magnificence
of God. The censors must have considered such a statement to be verging
156
Iosuae imp. hist. II. Comment. , p. 165: ‘Ipsa enim, quam dixi, divina providentia
illiusmodi mortalium actiones fataliter potius praecedit, quam efficienter’.

236 WIM FRANÇOIS
on Protestantism, reason indeed for censure. Further, in his comment on

Josh 22,12, Masius argues that we should not consign to death those who
had strayed without ill will from the religious path of their forebears to
follow an albeit deviant rite rather than a deviant teaching. Masius even held
that the punishment of even a single individual with the magistrate’s sword
was to be avoided when correction by the sword of the spirit was still pos-
sible. This statement was likewise subject to censure. In Masius’ opinion,
however, ill-willed people who stubbornly endeavoured to undermine the
foundations of the faith were indeed to be punished by the sword.157 Because
Masius’ work was ultimately placed on the Index, he is ‘sometimes claimed
as a ‘martyr’ to the cause of critical scholarship’.158 It is striking, neverthe-
less, that none of the indices makes explicit reference to Masius’ use of the
Talmud.
In spite of the critical response of the ecclesial authorities, Masius’ Joshua
commentary exercised a considerable amount of influence on the exegesis of
the book. His annotations were published in the appendix of the London
Polyglot of 1657, directed by B. Walton.159 As a kind of supplement to this
polyglot, the Critici sacri were published in London by Cornelius Bee in
1660. In the second volume, both Masius’ commentary and annotations on
Joshua were included.160 The volumes were reissued in 1695 in Frankfurt.
A new edition was published in 1698 in Amsterdam including large additions,
and supplemented by a four volume Thesaurus (two in 1701 and two in
1732), not contained in the original edition. The 1698 Amsterdam edition
included additional annotations (‘eiusdem additamenta nova ex MS.’) on
Joshua,161 but also on Deuteronomy 17-26.28-34,162 parts of Jeremiah 2, 3
and 4163 and on the four gospels.164 It is also known that Masius made a
157
Comp. Briefe, ed. Lossen, p. 461.
158
Greenspoon, ‘Margolis’s Masius’, p. 43.
159
Biblia sacra polyglotta…, 6 vols., Edidit Brianus Waltonus (Londoni, Imprimebat
Thomas Roycroft, 1655-57), vol. 6: Appendix, 1657, pt. 12, pp. 110-120.
160
Critici sacri: sive annotata doctissimorum virorum in SS. Biblia Annotationes et Tractatus
…/ Prostant apud Cornelium Bee et al., 9 vols. (Londini, Excudebat Jacobus Flesher,
1660), vol. 2, cc. 1403-1984.
161
Critici sacri … Editio nova, vol. 2, pars I, cc. 1-556.
162
Ibid., vol. 1, pars II, cc. 110-228.
163
Ibid. vol. 4, cc. 766-767, 774, 780.
164
Ibid., vol. 6.

ANDREAS MASIUS 237
considerable number of annotations on other biblical books that were never

published in printed form, but obviously had survived in manuscript form.
His annotations on texts of the Old Testament include readings he found
in his codex of the Syro-Hexapla. The second part of Masius’ book, the
commentary on Joshua, was even incorporated into the Catholic Scripturae
Sacrae Cursus Completus in volumes 7 and 8, edited by Jacques-Paul Migne
in Paris in 1838.165 Migne offers an uncensored version, although he pro-
vided a footnote in relation to Josh 8,30 and 22,28 containing the aforemen-
tioned concerns of Molanus.
Masius’ Contribution to the Antwerp Polyglot Bible

While Masius was at work in Zevenaar on De Paradiso and his commentary
on Joshua, he became more and more involved in Christopher Plantin’s
plan to print and publish a polyglot bible from his workshops in Antwerp.166
We know that Masius had corresponded with Plantin on the project as early
as February 1566, and that it had apparently gained momentum thanks
to the initial support of Wilhelmus Lindanus, the Bishop of Roermond.
The original intention of the project was to improve on the Complutensian
Polyglot by adding the Aramaic Targum of the entire Hebrew bible, and not
only the Pentateuch, as was the case with the Complutensis. It would appear
that Masius had already promised that he would take responsibility for
this work and that he would also provide a Latin translation of the Targum.
165
Scripturae Sacrae cursus completus…, ed. Jacques-Paul Migne, 29 vols. (Paris, Migne,
1837-45), vol. 7, 1838, cc. 851-1264; vol. 8, 1838, cc. 9-458.
166
Biblia sacra Hebraice, Chaldaice, Graece, et Latine Philippi II. Regis Catholici pietate, et
studio ad sacrosanctae ecclesiae usum/[a Aria Montano], 8 vols. (Antverpiae, Excudebat
Christoph Plantinus, 1571-73). On the Antwerp Polyglot Bible see, among others, Leon
Voet, The Plantin Press (1555-1589): A Bibliography of the Works Printed and Published
by Christopher Plantin at Antwerp and Leiden, 6 vols. (Amsterdam, Van Hoeve, 1980-83),
vol. 1, 1980, pp. 280-315, esp. pp. 289-291; Bernard Rekers, Benito Arias Montano 1527-
1598. Studie over een groep spiritualistische humanisten in Spanje en de Nederlanden, op
grond van hun briefwisseling (Groningen, VRB, 1961) and also Benito Arias Montano
(1527-1598), Studies of the Warburg Institute, 33 (London, The Warburg Institute, Uni-
versity of London – Leiden, Brill), 1972, pp. 45-69; Wilkinson, Kabbalistic Scholars,
pp. 67-75. For an account of Masius’ contribution to the Polygotta’s Syriac segment
see Van Roey, ‘Les études syriaques d’Andreas Masius’, pp. 152-158, and Wilkinson,
Kabbalistic Scholars, pp. 47-48, 78-81.

238 WIM FRANÇOIS
In the name of Lindanus, Plantin also pointed out the importance of includ-
ing the Syriac translation of the New Testament in such a polyglot edition.167
Masius clearly understood, however, that the introduction of emendations
to the biblical text was a highly delicate matter, especially with respect to
the letters of Paul. After the arrival in Antwerp of Arias Montano – who was
to supervise the project – Masius urged him to be particularly careful, and
to be aware that heterodox groups would employ every opportunity to upset
the traditional consensus of the Church.168
In the last analysis, responsibility for the edition of the Syriac New Testa-
ment was given over to a young pupil of Guillaume Postel, Guido Fabritius
or Guy Le Fèvre de la Boderie. Masius is known to have assisted him, how-
ever, pointing out all sorts of errors that had found their way into Paul’s
Epistles in the aforementioned Vienna edition of 1555, for example.169
In the dedication to his Joshua commentary, Masius offers an outline of
his actual contribution to the Polyglotta project:170 the Syriac grammar and
167
Christopher Plantin to Masius, 26 February 1566 (Lossen), no 259, pp. 362-364.
Some secondary literature dates the letter from Plantin to Masius on February 26th 1565.
Van Roey, however, has rightly calculated the date of the letter to 1566 (‘Les études
syriaques d’Andreas Masius’, p. 152 n. 65, with a reference to personal annotations of
de Vocht). For the 1565 dating, see de Vocht, ‘Masius’, p. 433, and Rekers, Studie,
p. 97 and Arias Montano, p. 45; Philippe Theunissen, ‘Arias Montano et la Polyglotte
d’Anvers’, Les Lettres Romanes, 19 (1965), pp. 231-246, here 232-234. The latter also
emphasizes the initial support of Lindanus who ultimately became a fierce opponent of
the Polyglot Bible.
168
Masius to Arias Montano, 10 October 1568, ed. Rekers, Studie, no 89, p. 259 and Arias
Montano, no 48, p. 143. Rekers insists that Masius as well as Plantin and others belonged
to the Family of Love, a spiritualist group based in Antwerp (Studie, pp. 98 n. 2, 170; Arias
Montano, p. 72). This information should be treated with utmost circumspection.
169
Biblia Polyglotta Regia, t. V. Epistola dedicatoria ad lectorem Guidonis Fabritii Boderiani,
[f. †7v°]: ‘Cum iam Epistolas Pauli recognoscerem, per litteras nos monuit Andreas Masius
… quae inter excudendum Viennese exemplar in Paulinas epistolas irrepserant’. Also
Christopher Plantin to Masius, 1 August 1570 (Lossen), no 310, pp. 444-445.
170
Iosuae imp. hist. I. Epistola dedicatoria ad regem catholicum, p. 4: ‘Nam cum ego de tua
voluntate certior factus a consiliario tuo … Benedicto Aria Montano … Theologo libellos
conscripsissem duos de Syrorum lingua; quorum altero eius literarum cognitionem, sive,
ut vocamus, Grammaticam; altero vocabulorum vim significationemque explicavi; qui
libelli ad Apparatum pulcerrimae illius Bibliorum editionis tuae, quam modo dicebam,
pertinerent; atque insuper typographum tuum Plantinum Chaldaicis quibusdam exempla-
ribus, rarae illis quidem et emendatissimae integritatis; quae manuscripta in mea supel-
lectile libraria habebam, libenter, ut debui, adiuvissem…’

ANDREAS MASIUS 239
dictionary, which were included in the Apparatus of the Polyglot Bible,

together with the Aramaic Targum (‘chaldaica paraphrasis’) for which he
lent a manuscript to Plantin. The Targum edition in question fits appropri-
ately within the Polyglot’s original design. The information Masius provides
in the dedication to his Joshua commentary agrees with what is written in
Arias Montano’s foreword to the Polyglot,171 in which he praises Masius’
contribution, in spite of the latter’s preference to remain in the background.
According to B. Rekers, this preference was not a question of humility on
Masius’ part, but was due to his awareness that certain ecclesiastical circles
would use his participation to cast a shadow on the entire project.172
Masius’ most important contribution to Plantin’s Polyglot, at least with
respect to the Old Syriac portion thereof, was his grammar and his dictionary.
The grammar (Grammatica Linguae Syricae) is signed March 7 – thus dem-
onstrating that it was complete at that stage – and the dedication is dated
March 15. After the work was sent to Plantin, the latter informed Masius
on April 24 that he had received it,173 and on August 2, the Leuven censors
Augustinus Hunnaeus and Cornelius Reyneri Goudanus gave their approval
with respect to the grammar. For its part, Masius’ dictionary (Syriorum Pecu-
lium) was not intended to be exhaustive, but only to include those words that
were characteristic of Syriac usage when it departed from the older Aramaic
(Le Fèvre de la Boderie took responsibility for an Aramaic dictionary). The
dictionary’s dedication to Montano dates from July 1, 1570. On August 1,
Plantin informed Masius that the work had arrived, taking the opportunity
to remind him of what for Masius was an important agreement: his gram-
mar and dictionary would be published separately and Le Fèvre would only
be given access to Masius’ dictionary after his own had already been
printed, thus preventing him from taking over any part of the latter’s
171
Biblia Polyglotta Regia, t. I. Benedicti Ariae Montani alia ad lectorem praefatio [see n. 166],
f. ***2v°: ‘Ab Andrea Masio, viro a Consiliis, et Secretis Ducis Cliviae, plerisque valde
doctis annotationibus, et Chaldaica Paraphrasi in priores Prophetas, Psalmos, Ecclesiasten
et Ruth, ope Hispani exemplaris a se Romae inventi, et quod maximum est, Dictionario
Syriaco cum ejusdem idiomatis doctissima Grammatica aucti sumus: summam certe com-
mendationem praestantissimus et antiquarum linguarum peritissimus hic vir apud omnes
studiosos meretur’. Comp. Christopher Plantin to Masius, 26 December 1569 (Lossen),
no 306, pp. 435-436.
172
Rekers, Studie, p. 106; Arias Montano, p. 51.
173
Christopher Plantin to Masius, 24 April 1570 (Lossen), no 308, pp. 440-441.

240 WIM FRANÇOIS
work.174 It remains difficult to deny that Masius saw the young Le Fèvre as
something of a rival. The dictionary was approved by the Leuven censors on
September 2, and both grammar and dictionary were printed in the Apparatus
to the Polyglotta in 1571.175 Van Roey points out that while Masius was quite
aware that both publications were pioneering works,176 he was equally confident
that they could only help to advance knowledge of the subject.177
In addition to editing an Old Syriac grammar and dictionary, Masius
also lent Plantin an Aramaic (Chaldee) manuscript (probably at some stage
during the summer of 1568). According to Arias Montanus, the latter con-
sisted of an Aramaic paraphrase of the historical books of the Old Testament
(Joshua, Judges, Samuel and Kings), the Psalms, the book of Qoheleth and
the book of Ruth.178 This manuscript was used in part for the edition of the
Aramaic Targum of the Old Testament, which Plantin’s Polyglot provides
at the bottom of the page.179 For the Pentateuch, the Polyglot uses the text
174
Christopher Plantin to Masius, 26 December 1569 (Lossen), no 306, pp. 435-436,
and particularly Christopher Plantin to Masius, 1 August 1570 (Lossen), no 310, pp. 444-
445; 22 October 1570 (Lossen), no 314, pp. 450-451. This arrangement, which Van Roey
underlines (Van Roey, ‘Les études syriaques d’Andreas Masius’, p. 155) would appear to
be contradicted by Diederik Lanoye: ‘At the same time, between February and April 1570,
Lefèvre and Harlemius read and corrected the Syriac grammar and dictionary of Andreas
Masius, which Plantin had brought to Louvain’ (‘Benito Arias Montano (1527-1598) and
the University of Louvain, 1568-1576’, Lias, 29 [2002], pp. 23-44, esp. 32).
175
The Apparatus contains works considered necessary when reading the text, including
a number of grammars and dictionaries. Biblia Polyglotta Regia, t. VI.2. Syriorum Peculium
… Andreas Masius sibi … colligebat, 1571, pp. 1-54; t. VI.3. Grammatica Linguae Syricae,
inventore atque auctore Andrea Masio, 1571, pp. 1-59.
176
See the addition on the title page: ‘Opus novum, et a nostris hominibus adhuc non
tractatum’.
177
Van Roey, ‘Les études syriaques d’Andreas Masius’, pp. 155-158. The grammar was
not reprinted as such, but served as the basis for [Caspar Waser,] Institutio linguae Syriae,
ex optimis quibusque apud Syros scriptoribus, in primis Andrea Masio, collecta/a Casparo
Wasero Tigurino (Lugduni Batavorum, Ex officina Plantiniana, Apud F. Raphelengium,
1594). A second edition appeared under the title: Grammatica Syra, duobus libris methodice
explicita … Editio posterior, priori ita emendatior et locupletior, ut nova videri possit/a
Casparo Wasero Tigurino (Leidae, Typis Raphelengianis, 1619).
178
Biblia Polyglotta Regia, t. I. Benedicti Ariae Montani alia ad lectorem praefatio, f. ***2v°:
‘… chaldaica paraphrasi in priores Prophetas, Psalmos, Ecclesiasten et Ruth, ope Hispani
exemplaris a se Romae inventi …’
179
Biblia Polyglotta Regia, t. II. Benedicti Ariae Montani in Chaldaicarum paraphraseôn
libros et interpretationes praefatio, [f. 4r°-v°]: ‘… Hoc itaque repurgato exemplari a Masio

ANDREAS MASIUS 241
employed a few decades before by Cardinal Jimenes for the Complutensian

Polyglot. Plantin was unable to do the same for the remaining books, because
Jimenes had not printed their Aramaic Targum, but had only prepared
a manuscript version thereof. A portion of Jimenes’ manuscript had found
its way into private hands in Rome, where Masius was able to purchase it.
For the Aramaic Targum of the Old Testament outside the Pentateuch,
Plantin printed the version found in the Rabbinic Bible published by Daniel
Bomberg in Venice (1517), corrected on the basis of the manuscript of
Jimenes – Masius.
In his preface to the Polyglotta, Arias Montano further added that Masius
had contributed ‘many learned notes’. According to Van Roey, Plantin sent
the Hebrew texts of the Old Testament to Masius prior to publication, and
the latter provided them with a series of marginal notes.180
In 1571, Masius was awarded a golden neck-chain of 300 ecus by Philip II
for his contribution to the Polyglotta.181 As was to be expected, Masius’
accepto, atque a nobis, qua potuimus, fide et diligentia, latinitate donato, in hisce Bibliis
praecipue usi sumus…’ See also Benito Arias Montano to Gabriel Zayas, 9 November
1568 (Lossen), p. 423; Christopher Plantin to Masius, 31 January 1571 (Lossen), no 315,
pp. 453-454; 29 October 1571 (Lossen), no 328, p. 471. Comp. Van Roey, ‘Masius en
Zevenaar’, p. 23 and Voet, The Plantin Press (1555-1589), p. 313.
180
Van Roey, ‘Masius en Zevenaar’, p. 23. Comp. his ‘Les débuts des études syriaques et
André Masius’, p. 17.
181
See, for example, Arias Montano to Masius, 20 August 1571, ed. Rekers, Studie,
no 130, p. 277; Christopher Plantin to Masius, 17 September 1571 (Lossen), no 325,
p. 468; Antonio de Tassis to Masius, 31 October 1571 (Lossen), no 329, pp. 473-474.
Comp. Iosuae imp. hist. I. Epistola dedicatoria ad regem catholicum, p. 2. Also Christopher
Plantin to Masius, 29 October 1571 (Lossen), no 328, p. 471. At the beginning of this letter,
Plantin presupposes that Masius was or could be the subject of suspicion, to which the pub-
lisher reacted by praising his engagement on behalf of the Christian faith. Plantin then writes:
‘Et quant a ce que scaves, mond. Sigr Arias Montanus le vous gardera tant que voudres’. This
allusion is not very clear and has been the subject of a variety of interpretations. The publish-
ers of Plantin’s correspondence interpret it as follows: ‘Ce que Arias Montanus doit garder
pour Masius est probablement le secret du soupçon d’hétérodoxie jeté sur Masius et
l’accusation d’avoir cité les Talmudistes dans sa grammaire Syriaque’ (Correspondance de Chris-
tophe Plantin, ed. Max Rooses and Jan Denucé, 9 vols. [Antwerpen, De Nederlandsche
Boekhandel – ’s Gravenhage, Martinus Nijhoff, 1883-1920], vol. 3, 1911, p. 88 n. 3).
According to de Vocht, however, the allusion refers to the fact that Arias Montano had
received the valuable chain and was keeping it safe on Masius’ request. Plantin did not under-
stand Masius’ question and related it to insinuations concerning Masius himself: Stephani
Vinandi Pighii epistolarium Published from the Brussel Copy, Cart. & Man., 187, ed. Henry de
Vocht, Humanistica Lovaniensia, 15 (Leuven, Librairie Universitaire, 1959), p. 11 n. 2.

242 WIM FRANÇOIS
participation in the project was the subject of protest in Rome.182 Among

other things, Pope Pius V, who had not yet given his approval to Plantin’s
undertaking, made critical remarks with regard to Masius’ contribution to
the project, although Roman disquiet tended to focus on Masius’ general
disposition towards the use of Hebrew learning and the Kabbalah rather than
specific heterodox passages in his work.183 Since the pope was unwilling to
grant his unconditional approval to the project without further ado, Arias
Montano, the leader of the Polyglot project, was obliged to travel to Rome
on royal command. In a letter to Juan de Zuñiga (Spanish ambassador in
Rome) and Cardinal Sirletus, clearly dating from March 1572, Masius
defends himself and protests his orthodox faith.184 The Duke of Alba, for
his part, wrote to the king to vouchsafe Masius’ orthodoxy.185 Pius V’s death
in May of the same year changed the situation and Arias Montano succeeded
in obtaining the approval of Gregory XIII, amongst others through the
mediation of Cardinal Sirletus.186 Debate concerning the Polyglot Bible,
however, had not yet reached its conclusion.
Masius died in Zevenaar on April 7, 1573 at the age of 59 having received
the last sacraments of the Catholic Church. He was surrounded on his death-
bed by his wife Elske and his good friends Hendrik van Weze and Hendrik
van der Reck.
CONCLUSION
Andreas Masius can be described with confidence as ‘an academic in the

margins’. An outstanding pupil of the Louvain Collegium trilingue, he never-
theless left the university to become a diplomat, first in the service of Jan van
182
Rekers, Studie, pp. 111-113; Arias Montano, pp. 55-56; Wilkinson, Kabbalistic Scholars,
pp. 72-73, 93-95.
183
Juan de Zuñiga to Philip II, 4 February 1572, ed. Tomás González Carvajal, ‘Elogio
histórico del Dr. B. Arias Montano’, Memorias Real Academia Historia, 7 (1832), no 37,
p. 159.
184
Masius to Juan de Zuñiga, March 1572, ed. Rekers, Studie, no 99, pp. 262-263;
Masius to Card. Sirletus, March 1572, in Jongkees, ‘Masius in moeilijkheden’, pp. 163-
166.
185
Alba to Philip II, 18 May 1572 (González Carvajal), no 43, p. 163.
186
Latinus Latinius to Masius, 7 June 1572 (Lossen), no 338, pp. 486-487; Jongkees,
‘Masius in moeilijkheden’, p. 167.

ANDREAS MASIUS 243
Weze, Bishop of Constance (1538-48), and after the latter’s sudden death,
of William V, the Duke of Cleves (1548-58). In line with traditional and
perhaps questionable ecclesial practices, he strived in curial circles for the
acquisition of ecclesiastical privileges and benefices for his patrons. Sympa-
thetic to the tradition of Catholic biblical humanism, however, he consid-
ered the biblical sources to be the driving force par excellence behind a pure
practice of the Catholic faith, and he applied himself to the study of the
biblical languages, Hebrew, Aramaic, and Syriac. After his marriage (1558),
he retired to a farmstead in Zevenaar (1561). As a married, Roman Catholic,
lay scholar, he produced his most outstanding works far from the academic
environment of his day, works that offer a permanent testimony to his ded-
ication and skill. A pioneer of Syriac studies in Western Europe, Masius’
Syriac grammar, which became part of Plantin’s Polyglot Bible, stands out as
one of the great philological achievements of the sixteenth century (1571).187
As we mentioned earlier in this article, Masius’ Greek text of the book of
Joshua continues to have a degree of significance for textual criticism, par-
ticularly because he was able to make use of a valuable manuscript of the
Syro-Hexapla, which is no longer at our disposal. In addition, his publica-
tion of a fairly deserving commentary on the book of Joshua grants him a
unique status – particularly as a layman – during the golden age of Catholic
biblical exegesis. His ongoing interest in the Talmud and the Kabbalah,
his ability to relativise cultic exaggerations and place the emphasis on disci-
pleship of Christ, his criticism of the clergy’s pursuit of opulence and the
sensual pleasure etc., made him the subject of suspicion in Rome and lead
to the censure of a number of passages in his work. Although Perles refers
to him as a liberal exegete (‘freisinniger Bibelforscher’),188 Masius remained
loyal to if critical of the Catholic Church until the end and more than once
expressed his hostility towards the Reformation, ‘pestilentissima illa pestis
haeresis’.189
187
Wilkinson, Kabbalistic Scholars, p. 80.
188
Perles, Beiträge, p. 205.
189
Masius to Johann von Vlatten, 19 October 1559 (Lossen), p. 321; see also Masius to
Octavius Pantagathus, 30 November 1546 (Lossen), no 20, pp. 21-23; Masius to Gerwig
Blarer, 10 August 1548 (Lossen), no 24, p. 28.

244 WIM FRANÇOIS
Abstract
This article sheds light on the person of Andreas Masius (1514-73), and is in
part based upon the documentation left by Albert Van Roey (†2000), professor
of Patrology, History of the Ancient Church, and Syriac studies at the Faculty
of Theology of Leuven University. After his studies and a short lectureship at the
University of Leuven, Masius became the secretary to Jan van Weze, one time
Bishop of Lund and then Bishop of Constance, and one of the major councillors
of the Emperor Charles V. While life as a diplomat may not have been the
fulfilling experience Masius had expected, it nevertheless provided him with the
opportunity for establishing contacts with other Orientalists (1538-48). After
Jan van Weze suddenly died at the Diet of Augsburg in 1548, Masius suc-
ceeded in establishing himself as a sort of freelance ambassador at the curia
in Rome promoting the interests of several German noblemen, particularly those
of William V, Duke of Jülich-Cleves-Berg. His stay in Rome allowed him to visit
the libraries of the city in search of manuscripts and establish contacts with Jews,
Orientals and Orientalists who could help forward his knowledge of languages,
particularly Old Syriac, in addition to his biblical scholarship (1548-58). In
1558 Masius married and settled on a farmstead in Zevenaar, in the western
corner of the Duchy of Cleves, on the border with the Habsburg Low Countries.
There he enjoyed the freedom to indulge his true vocation, Syriac and biblical
studies. He wrote, amongst others, a commentary on the book of Joshua and
also made an important contribution to the Syriac part of the Antwerp Polyglot
Bible, published by Christopher Plantin (1571-73). Andreas Masius died
April 7, 1573.

ANDREAS MASIUS François

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Journal of Eastern Christian Studies 61(3-4), 199-244. doi: 10.2143/JECS.61.3.

ANDREAS MASIUS (1514-1573):

93223_JECS_2009/3-4_02_François_ME.indd 199 24/03/10 14:02

I. MASIUS IN LENNIK AND IN LEUVEN3

Andreas Masius was born in Sint-Martens-Lennik near Brussels – most likely

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93223_JECS_2009/3-4_02_François_ME.indd 201 24/03/10 14:02

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It should also be noted by way of conclusion that Masius composed a

II. MASIUS IN THE SERVICE OF JAN VAN WEZE.

In the Service of Jan van Weze, Bishop of Lund

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secretary to Christian II, King of Denmark, and also Bishop of Roskilde. He

Masius’ Correspondence with his Friends in Leuven

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Gensius, Masius had assembled a considerable circle of acquaintances because

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and Masius’ former professor of Hebrew.38 According to Nannius, the man

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Contacts with Other Orientalists

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(‘negociosus’) and dejected (‘disiectus’). He wanted to put the wartime con-

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In the Service of William V, Duke of Cleves

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claim to a canonry in Emmerich, he was granted the deanery of Niedeggen–

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and was not interested in innovations. The reform-minded Duke of Cleves’

Old Syriac Studies

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Masius and the Burning of the Talmud in Rome

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Inclusion of Aramaic and Syriac in a New Polyglot Bible

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IV. MASIUS IN ZEVENAAR. BIBLICAL STUDIES110

Marriage and Move to Zevenaar

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farmstead in Zevenaar, in present-day Netherlands, but then situated in the

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to establish a university in Duisburg, which made his relationship with

The Latin Translation of Moses bar Cepha’s De Paradiso

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non-literal style.130 It is probably for this reason that Laevinus Torrentius,

Commentary on the Book of Joshua

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theologian Johannes Molanus, who returned it on July 1, 1571 as ready to

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Masius’ commentary on the book of Joshua is concluded by the letter

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