Andrew Melville, sacred chronology and world history: the Carmina Danielis 9 and the Antichristus

The accepted view of the ecclesiastical reformer Andrew Melville (1545–1622) as the dynamic leader of the Presbyterian movement in Jacobean Scotland has been severely eroded in recent years, with particular criticism of the actual importance of his contribution to the Kirk and to Scottish higher education. While this reductionism has been necessary, it has resulted in an inversion of the overwhelmingly positive traditional image of Melville, and does not give us a rounded assessment of his life and works. This article attempts to partially redress this balance by looking at a neglected aspect of Melville's Latin writings, which showcase his talents as a humanist intellectual and biblical commentator. It focuses on two long poems that are both commentaries and paraphrases of Daniel and Revelation: the Carmina Danielis and the Antichristus. Through these poems, we see how Melville engaged with two problems exercising reformed theologians across Europe: the dating of key biblical events and the historicised meaning of prophecies within these texts. We also find evidence that Melville read widely among both contemporary and ancient commentators on both these issues

De summa trinitate & || FIDE CATHOLICA:|| DE CHRISTIANIS CATHO/||licis, haereticis & apostatis:|| DE SACRAMENTIS FIDEI, ET || unionis Christianae:|| DE POTESTATE, IVRE, ET RE/||ligione Papistica:|| Imperatorum Christianißimorum leges at#[que] consti-||tutiones praecipuae, et Rom. Pontificum decretales:|| Cum interpretatione compendiosa ... || Quae THEODORVS BIBLIANDER ex probatis autho-||ribus conscripsit ... ||

Vorlageform des Erscheinungsvermerks: BASILEAE.||(EX OFFICINA || IOANNIS OPORINI, ANNO || Salutis humanae M.D.LV. Men-||se Ianuario.||

Biblia sacrosancta Testamenti Veteris & Novi

Enthält : Ecclesiastici libri, qui semper pro sacris libris ab ecclesia habiti sunt & digni visi qui legantur a piis. ... ; Novum Testamentum omne / ad graecorum exemplarium fidem, ad veterem item aeditionem, Erasmi quoque Roterod. versionem postremam, aliorumque emendatorum latinorum codicum interpretationem, recognitum, castigatum atque translatume sacra Hebraeorum lingua Graecorumque fontibus consultis simul orthodoxis interpretibus religiosissime translata in sermonem latinum, authores omnemque totius operis rationem ex subiecta intelliges praefatione [Hrsg.: Konrad Pellikan ; Übers.: Leo Jud, Theodor Bibliander, Petrus Cholinus, Rudolf Gwalther]. ...Bogensignaturen: α-β⁸, γ⁶, a-z, A-Z, Aa-Ee, aa-ll⁸, mm⁴, nn, aaa-ooo⁸, ppp⁴, qqq⁸3 DruckermarkenNachdruck der Übersetzung der Foliobibel von 154

Machumetis Saracenorum principis, eiusque successorum vitae, ac doctrina, ipseque Alcoran : Quo velut authentico legum divinarum codice Agareni & Turcae, alijque Christo adversantes populi reguntur .... His adiunctae sunt confutationes multorum, et quidem probatissimorum authorum, Arabum, Graecorum, et Latinorum, una cum doctissimi viri Philippi Melanchthonis praemonitione. Quibus .... Adiunctae sunt etiam, Turcarũ, ..., res gestae maxime memorabiles, a DCCCC annis ad nostra usque tempora

Haec omnia in unum volumen redacta sunt, opera & studio Theodori Bibliandri, Ecclesiae Tigurinae ministri, qui ... Alcorani textum emendavit, & marginib. apposuit Annotationes, ...Impressum gemäss Hieronymus, ergänzt nach VD16Umfang im Detail: "[12] Bl., 230 S., [9] Bl., 178 S., [1] Bl., 163 S."Enthält in Teil 3 eine Vorrede von Philipp Melanchthon (VD16 K 2585 "b"

Ad omniũ ordinum || REIP. CHRISTIANAE || Principes uiros, populum#́[que] Christianum, Relatio fi-||delis THEODORI BIBLIANDRI: quòd à solo || Verbo filio#́[que] Dei tum exacta cognitio praesentium || temporum & futurorum, at#[que] ipsius etiam Antichri-||sti, maximae pestis totius orbis, tum recta optima#́[que] || moderatio reipublicae et totius uitae Chri-||stianae petenda sit.|| ... ||

Verbesserte Neuaufnahme.Vorlageform des Erscheinungsvermerks: BASILEAE,|| 1545.|| (EX OFFI-||CINA IOAN. OPORINI ... || Mense Martio.||

Ad nominis Christiani socios consultatio : Qua nam ratione Turcarum dira potentia repelli possit ac debeat a populo Christiano

Theodoro Bibliandro autoreDrucker nach Kolophon: EX OFFICINA NICOLAI BRYLINGERI, Anno 1542. Mense Martio

Institutionum grammaticarum de lingua hebraea liber unus

Theodoro Bibliandro authore. ...Bogensignaturen: a-n⁸, o-p