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

Huguenot The Huguenots ( , ; ) are a Religious denomination, religious group of French people, French Protestants who held to the Reformed (Calvinist) tradition of Protestantism. The term, which may be derived from the name of a Swiss political leader, ...

scholar who served as a French-language teacher to future English monarchs

King Edward VI Edward VI (12 October 1537 – 6 July 1553) was King of England and King of Ireland, Ireland from 28 January 1547 until his death in 1553. He was crowned on 20 February 1547 at the age of nine. The only surviving son of Henry VIII by his thi ...

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. She was the last and longest reigning monarch of the House of Tudor. Her eventful reign, and its effect on history ...

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 known for his Wives of Henry VIII, six marriages and his efforts to have his first marriage (to Catherine of Aragon) annulled. ...

. A zealous

Calvinist Reformed Christianity, also called Calvinism, is a major branch of Protestantism that began during the 16th-century Protestant Reformation. In the modern day, it is largely represented by the Continental Reformed Protestantism, Continenta ...

, 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 branch of Christianity that emphasizes Justification (theology), justification of sinners Sola fide, through faith alone, the teaching that Salvation in Christianity, salvation comes by unmerited Grace in Christianity, divin ...

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 ( – 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 Henry's death on 28 January 1547. Catherine was the final queen consort o ...

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

British Museum The British Museum is a Museum, public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is the largest in the world. It documents the story of human cu ...

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's letter to St. Gregory 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 –1200 AD, and has ...

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 (natural or juridical) 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 armig ...

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 16th-century 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