Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Chevallier, Anthony Rodolph
CHEVALLIER, ANTHONY RODOLPH (1523–1572), Hebraist and French protestant, born on 16 March 1522–3 at Montchamps, near Vire in Normandy, was descended from a noble family. He studied Hebrew under Francis Vatablus at Paris; embraced the protestant faith; came to England in Edward VI's reign, about 1548; was entertained, first by Fagius and Bucer, and afterwards by Archbishop Cranmer, with whom he resided for more than a year. Subsequently he settled at Cambridge; gave free lectures in Hebrew; lodged with Emanuel Tremellius, the Hebrew professor; was pensioned by Cranmer and Goodrich, bishop of Ely; and married Elizabeth de Grimecieux, Tremellius's stepdaughter, on 1 Dec. 1550. His eldest child, Emanuel, was born at Cambridge on 8 Sept. 1551. Cranmer recommended Chevallier to the king's notice, and he was granted letters of denization and the reversion to the next vacant prebend at Canterbury. He has also been identified with the 'Mr. Anthony' who taught the Princess Elizabeth French. On Edward VI's death in 1553 Chevallier fled to Strasburg, where he was appointed Hebrew professor in 1559, but removed in the same year to Geneva and confirmed his intimacy with Calvin, whose acquaintance he had made before 1554 (Orig. Letters, 1537-68, Parker Soc. p. 716). Ultimately he settled at Caen, near his native place, and in 1568 revisited England to solicit Queen Elizabeth's aid for the French protestants. He was in no hurry to return to Normandy; agreed to become Hebrew lecturer at St. Paul's Cathedral; and in May 1569 received, at the suggestion of Archbishop Parker and Bishop Grindal, the appointment of Hebrew professor in the university of Cambridge. He matriculated on 3 Aug. 1569, and on 5 Sept. complained to Parker that his stipend as professor had been reduced. John Drusius and Hugh Broughton were his pupils, and the latter was enthusiastic in his praises of him. Laurence Gordon, son of Anthony, bishop of Galloway, boarded with him in August 1571, paying three French crowns monthly (Bannatyne Miscellany, ii. 143). Chevallier became prebendary of Canterbury in 1569-70, and on 24 March 1571-2 received leave of absence from Canterbury for two years without prejudice to his emoluments. His life was menaced in the St. Bartholomew's massacre at Paris, but he escaped to Guernsey, intending to return to England, and died there in October of the same year. In his will dated 8 Oct. he acknowledges his indebtedness to the archbisbops of Canterbury and York and to Tremellius, whom he entreats to take care of his wife and children, at the same time expressing a hope that the queen would pension them.
Chevalier's chief writings were first published in Bryan Walton's great Polyglot Bible of 1657. In that work appear Chevallier's translation from the Syriac into Latin of the Targum Hierosolmitanum, his Latin version of the Targum of Pseudo-Jonathan on the Pentateuch, and corrections of Jonathan's Targum on Joshua, Judges, Kings, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and the twelve minor prophets. Chevallier's other works are: 1. 'Rudimenta Hebraicae Linguae accurate methodo et brevitate conscripta,' which includes a Hebrew letter by Tremellius commending the book, and a Syriac and Latin version by the author of St. Paul's Epistle to the Galatians, Geneva, 1560, 1567, 1591, and 1592, Wittenberg, 1574, Leyden, 1575; 'cum notis P[etri] Cavallerii,' Geneva, 1590; the British Museum possesses a copy of this last edition with copious manuscript notes by Isaac Casaubon. 2. Emendations on Pagninus's 'Thesaurus Linguae Sanctae,' Leyden, 1576, and Geneva, 1614; in the Cambridge University Library there is a copy of Pagninus (ed. 1529) with some of Chevalier's manuscript notes. 3. 'Alphabetum Hebraicum ex A. C. ... recognitione,' 1566, 1600. 4. Hebrew verses on Calvin's death, printed in Beza's poems. Chevallier intended to publish an edition of the Bible in four languages, but did not finish it, and nothing is now known of it.
[Cooper's Athenæ Cantab. ii. 308, 558; Parker Correspondence (Parker Soc.}, 349; Strype's Annals, I. ii. 552; Zurich Letters (Parker Soc.) 97; Niceron's Mémoires; Haag's La France Protestante, iii. 440; Brit. Mus. Cat.]
Dictionary of National Biography, Errata (1904), p.63
N.B.— f.e. stands for from end and l.l. for last line
| Page | Col. | Line | |
| 215 | i | 32 | Chevallier, Anthony R.: for professor read professor or lecturer |
| 2 f.e. | for Syriac read Aramaic |