Nicolas des Gallars
Nicolas des Gallars [in Lat. Gallasius] (c. 1520 - 1581), was a Calvinist pastor and theologian.
Life
Gallars was of noble birth, and "possessed legal training, rich exposure to the humanities, and polished Latin."[1] He first appears as author of a Defensio of William Farel, published at Geneva in 1545, followed (1545–1549) by translations into French of three tracts by John Calvin.[2] Scott Manetsch notes that Gallars' appointment "signaled an important new stage in Calvin's recruitment efforts."[1] In 1551 Gallars was admitted bourgeois of Geneva, and in 1553 made pastor of the church in Jussy.[2]
In 1557 Gallars was sent to minister to the Protestants at Paris; his conductor, Nicolas du Rousseau, having prohibited books in his possession, was executed at Dijon; des Gallars, having nothing suspicious about him, continued his journey.[2]
On the revival of the Strangers' church in London (1560), he, being then minister at Geneva, came to London to organize the French branch; and in 1561 he published La Forme de police ecclesiastique instituée a Londres en l'Eglise des Français. In the same year he assisted Theodore Beza at the colloquy of Poissy. He became minister to the Protestants at Orléans in 1564; presided at the synod of Paris in 1565; was driven out of Orléans with other Protestants in 1568; and in 1571 was chaplain to Jeanne d'Albret, queen of Navarre.[2]
Works
Calvin held him in high esteem, employing him as amanuensis, and as editor as well as translator of several of his exegetical and polemical works. He himself wrote a commentary on Exodus (1560); edited an annotated French Bible (1562) and New Testament (1562); and published tracts against Arians (1565–1566).[2]
His main work was his edition of Irenaeus (1570) with prefatory letter to Grindal, then bishop of London, and giving, for the first time, some fragments of the Greek text.[2]
References
- ^ a b Manetsch, Scott M. (2013). Calvin's Company of Pastors: Pastoral Care and the Emerging Reformed Church, 1536-1609. Oxford University Press. p. 40.
- ^ a b c d e f Chisholm 1911.
- Pierre Bayle, Dictionnaire Hist. et crit.
- Jean Senebier, Hist. littéraire de Genève (1786)
- Nouvelle Biog. gén. (1857).
- This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Gallars, Nicolas des". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 11 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 413.
- Des Gallars, Nicolas, in the Historical Dictionary of Switzerland.
