ABSTRACT
As we saw at the end of the previous chapter, Tremellius departed from England at the very start of 1554, leaving his wife and family to take care of various practical matters, while he returned to the continent in search of a new job. Despite his growing reputation and profile, this would not prove to be easy. There were several reasons for this. First, as we have already seen, he could be the victim of prejudice on account of both his Italian and Jewish origins. Second, his attachment to the Reformed church, and particularly his association with Calvin served, in these confessionally volatile times, to limit his options. And third, as the serious study of Hebrew was still in its relative infancy, there were only a limited number of suitable posts available. The result of all of this was that, after a period of searching in vain for a job teaching Hebrew, Tremellius was obliged to take a job as tutor to the young children of the Duke of Zweibrücken. For someone who had been the Regius Professor of Hebrew at Cambridge little more than a year before, Tremellius must have regarded this as a demotion. Nonetheless, it did ensure that he was not long without employment. And within another couple of years, having managed to bridge the gap in this way, he was able to return to a post more in keeping with the rest of his career: rector at a newly formed academy.
