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Primary Contributors: Paul Botley and Máté Vince

Isaac Casaubon (1559–1614)

Born in Geneva in 1559, Casaubon was the son of Arnaud Casaubon (1525–1586), a Huguenot pastor, and his wife, Jeanne (née Rousseau; d. 1607). He was appointed professor of Greek at the University of Geneva in 1582 at the age of just twenty-three, despite his preference for theological studies. In 1596, he took up the position of ‘professeur stipendié aux langues et bonnes lettres’ to the University of Montpellier, before moving to Paris four years later at the invitation of Henri IV. In 1605 he became keeper of the Royal Library.

Casaubon was married twice: first in 1583 to Marie Prolyot (d. 1585), and secondly in 1586 to Florence Estienne (d. 1636), the daughter of the philologist, lexicographer, and printer Henri Estienne the younger [Henricus Stephanus] (d. 1598), with whom he had seventeen children, at least eight of whom did not survive to adulthood. The couple supplemented Casaubon’s income by taking in lodgers, including Edward Herbert, later Lord Herbert of Cherbur

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Isaac Casaubon

Casaubon worked in Geneva in the 1590s and in Paris from 1600. After the assassination of King Henri IV in 1610, he accepted a position in England from James I and placed his enormous knowledge at the King’s disposal. He was employed to speak to Europe on behalf of his new home, and to supply intellectual substance to the ongoing defence of the English Church against its Catholic detractors. His letters show that he brought to England not just his learning, but also his extensive network of European correspondents, among whom were the most eminent historians, theologians, philosophers and critics of the day.

Throughout the seventeenth century, Casaubon’s importance remained unquestioned, and this reverence for his example and his achievements culminated in a monumental edition of a portion of his poetry, prose and letters in 1709. These works were published alongside a lengthy Latin biography which constitutes the first serious attempt to assess his contribution to the history of scholarship. However, most of the letters published in 1709 were written by Casau

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Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Casaubon, Isaac

CASAUBON, ISAAC (1559–1614), classical scholar, was born in 1559 at Geneva, whither his parents, Arnold and Jehanne Casaubon (born Rousseau), both of Gascon origin, were driven by religious persecution. In 1561 Arnold Casaubon accepted a call to be pastor of the Huguenot church at Crest, a small town in Dauphiné, and there Isaac's childhood was spent. He was to a great extent self-taught, for his father, who undertook his education, was frequently absent from home, and when at home almost entirely engrossed with his pastoral work. At the age of nineteen Isaac was sent to Geneva as a student; here he learned Greek under Francis Portus, a Cretan, who formed so high an opinion of his pupil, that he suggested him as his successor just before his death in 1581. After a year's delay, Casaubon was appointed ‘professor of Greek,’ a high-sounding title, but worth only 10l. a year, and rooms in college. In 1583 he married Mary Prolyot, a native of Geneva, who died in the second year of their married life, leaving one