Jean Belmain, also known as John Belmain or John Belleman (died after 1557) was a

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

Huguenot The Huguenots ( , also , ) were a religious group of French Protestants who held to the Reformed, or Calvinist, tradition of Protestantism. The term, which may be derived from the name of a Swiss political leader, the Genevan burgomaster Be ...

scholar who served as a French-language teacher to future

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ...

monarchs

King Edward VI Edward VI (12 October 1537 – 6 July 1553) was King of England and Ireland from 28 January 1547 until his death in 1553. He was crowned on 20 February 1547 at the age of nine. Edward was the son of Henry VIII and Jane Seymour and the first E ...

and

Queen Elizabeth I Elizabeth I (7 September 153324 March 1603) was Queen of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death in 1603. Elizabeth was the last of the five House of Tudor monarchs and is sometimes referred to as the "Virgin Queen". Eli ...

at the court of their father,

Henry VIII Henry VIII (28 June 149128 January 1547) was King of England from 22 April 1509 until his death in 1547. Henry is best known for his six marriages, and for his efforts to have his first marriage (to Catherine of Aragon) annulled. His disa ...

. A zealous

Calvinist Calvinism (also called the Reformed Tradition, Reformed Protestantism, Reformed Christianity, or simply Reformed) is a major branch of Protestantism that follows the theological tradition and forms of Christian practice set down by John C ...

, Jean Belmain was a refugee from the persecution of Protestants in France. Large and austere, he was well rewarded for his services, and may well have had a major role in forming Edward's

Protestant Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...

views.Jordan, ''Edward VI: The Young King, Vol 1'' (page 68) Belmain began his teaching duties in 1546 and also completed a French-language translation of the prose devotion ''Lamentacions of a Sinner'' written by Henry's last queen

Catherine Parr Catherine Parr (sometimes alternatively spelled Katherine, Katheryn, Kateryn, or Katharine; 1512 – 5 September 1548) was Queen of England and Ireland as the last of the six wives of King Henry VIII from their marriage on 12 July 1543 until ...

, in which his most noticeable adaptation was to add exclamations. The

British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...

contains a manuscript translation into French of the second Prayer-book of Edward VI, written by Belmain, with a dedicatory epistle to his former pupil. This preface is dated 18 April 1553 from the royal palace of Sheen. In the same collection of manuscripts there is also to be found a translation of

Basil the Great Basil of Caesarea, also called Saint Basil the Great ( grc, Ἅγιος Βασίλειος ὁ Μέγας, ''Hágios Basíleios ho Mégas''; cop, Ⲡⲓⲁⲅⲓⲟⲥ Ⲃⲁⲥⲓⲗⲓⲟⲥ; 330 – January 1 or 2, 379), was a bishop of Cae ...

's letter to

St. Gregory Pope Gregory I ( la, Gregorius I; – 12 March 604), commonly known as Saint Gregory the Great, was the bishop of Rome from 3 September 590 to his death. He is known for instigating the first recorded large-scale mission from Rome, the Gregoria ...

on the solitary life. This work Belmain, in a somewhat curious preface, dedicates to the Lady Elizabeth, with the assurance that it is rendered from the original Greek. This introductory letter contains a rather sharp attack on the phonetic principle of

French orthography French orthography encompasses the spelling and punctuation of the French language. It is based on a combination of phonemic and historical principles. The spelling of words is largely based on the pronunciation of Old French c. 1100–1200 AD, a ...

then coming into vogue, though its author seems perfectly willing to adopt a well-considered reformed method of spelling; and indeed he pronounces his intention of writing a treatise on the subject. There does not seem to be any means of ascertaining the date of this translation, but it is probably earlier than the French version of the Prayer-book. Jean Belmain was

armiger In heraldry, an armiger is a person entitled to use a heraldic achievement (e.g., bear arms, an "armour-bearer") either by hereditary right, grant, matriculation, or assumption of arms. Such a person is said to be armigerous. A family or a cl ...

ous. On 20 November 1552 he was granted arms by Sir Gilbert Dethick as: Azure a chevron Argent engrailed ermine between three bezants Or on each bezant a demi lion rampant Gules. Crest: A griffin's head Or between two wings Azure bezanty.'Lot 34: Grant of Arms for Jean Belmain, - French tutor to King Edward VI and Queen Elizabeth I', Dreweatt's Auction 9 September 2015, "Western Manuscripts
Lot 34
See further details from S.J.F. Plowman, 'Grant of arms: Jean Belmain 1552'
Heraldry Online 19 August 2017
(wordpress)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Belmain, Jean French educators French expatriates in the United Kingdom Huguenots 16th-century English educators 16th-century deaths Year of birth unknown Place of birth unknown Year of death unknown Place of death unknown 16th-century French people