ABSTRACT
Immanuel Tremellius spent the first three decades of his life in Italy, but very little evidence relating to this has survived. All his extant writings and correspondence come from his exile, and it was also only after his departure from Italy that other people really started to mention him with any regularity. This is by no means unusual: the same can be said for the vast majority of his contemporaries who went on to enjoy illustrious careers.1 But for Tremellius this absence is especially unfortunate, as these years constituted a crucial period in his life. Not only did he receive the education upon which his future career was based, but he also underwent two conversions in rapid succession, first moving away from Judaism towards Christianity, and then passing from Catholicism towards Reformed Protestantism. In order to understand Tremellius’ outlook and the contribution that he would subsequently make to the religious history of the sixteenth century, it is important that we subject this early period of his life to as detailed a scrutiny as possible.
