originals. It was not until PETRARCH’s time that Greek
began to be taught extensively in the West, though some
12th-century scholars had a knowledge of the language.
The first teachers in 15th-century Italy were either Sicil-
ians or southern Italians who lacked idiomatic knowledge
or envoys from Constantinople whose main preoccupa-
tion was with the threat from the Turks; the teaching was
inevitably haphazard. It became more systematic with the
appointment, at the instigation of Coluccio SALUTATIand
others, of Manuel CHRYSOLORASas professor of Greek at
Florence, where he taught from 1396 to 1400. From this
time Greek studies evolved steadily in Italy using the tal-
ents not only of other Greek immigrants, such as GEORGE
OF TREBIZONDand Gemistus PLETHON, but eventually na-
tive Italians, such as POLITIAN. The first Greek book to be
printed in the West was Constantine Lascaris’s grammar,
Erotemata (Milan, 1476).
France was the first country outside Italy in which
Greek studies developed, though teaching was at first
largely in the hands of Greeks, such as John Lascaris, who
visited France three times between 1495 and 1534, or Ital-
ian scholars, such as Giralomo ALEANDRO; their main em-
phasis was on the acquisition of the language.
Second-generation French Hellenists included Guillaume
BUDÉ, RABELAIS, Robert Estienne (see ESTIENNE PRESS), and
Étienne DOLET. The emphasis of this second generation
was on literature, but increasingly Greek scholars in
France were forced to adopt one side or the other in the
Reformation struggle. ERASMUSplayed a key role in this
controversy with his edition of the Greek New Testament
(1516).
Religious controversy also accompanied the gradual
extension of Greek studies into northern Europe. The ac-
tivities of Johan REUCHLINin Germany (see also HEBREW
STUDIES) provoked a reaction by traditionalists, which led
to the satirical scholarly feud of the EPISTOLAE OBSCURO-
RUM VIRORUM. LUTHERwas led to formulate some of his
central doctrines as a result of his contact with the origi-
nal New Testament text, though Erasmus deplored the
conclusions he drew, and thereafter it was impossible to
free the study of Greek in Germany from theological im-
plications.
The study of Greek in England began at Oxford and
Canterbury in the 1460s. George Neville, a younger
brother of Warwick the Kingmaker, had Greek scholars at-
tached to his household during his time as chancellor of
Oxford (1453–56, 1461–72). A number of extant manu-
scripts were written by the scribe George Serbopoulos be-
tween 1489 and 1500 at Reading Abbey. Greek was first
formally taught at Oxford (1491) by William GROCYN
whose fellow-pupil in Italy was Thomas LINACRE. A chair
of Greek was established at Oxford in 1516 and some
years later at Cambridge where Erasmus had lectured in
1511 at Bishop (later St) JOHN FISHER’s request. As in the
rest of northern Europe, the study of Greek was associated
in England with developments in theology and there was
a strong reaction against Greek, particularly at Oxford.
One topic that occasioned much controversy was the
correct pronunciation of Greek. The 15th-century Greek
immigrants recognized that their pronunciation differed
from that of the ancient Greeks. Reuchlin derived his pro-
nunciation from his Greek contemporaries, rendering the
vowels ηιυand diphthongs ει οιand νιlike the Italian i.
His so-called itacistic pronunciation was propounded in
MELANCHTHON’s Institutiones linguae Graecae (1518) and
Erasmus published his counterproposals in De recta Latini
Graecique sermonis pronuntiatione (1528). German and
Italian scholars generally retained the Reuchlinian pro-
nunciation while the Erasmian standard prevailed else-
where.
The importance attached to the study of Greek by the
early humanists had far-reaching implications. Greek phi-
losophy encouraged the more radical aspects of human-
ism and the study of the language inculcated a critical
approach that insisted on close attention to the actual
words of the text rather than the revamping of scholastic
commentaries and interpretations. The study of Greek
carried with it the seeds of many preoccupations of the
16th-century religious reformers.
Further reading: Nigel G. Wilson, From Byzantium to
Italy: Greek Studies in the Italian Renaissance (London:
Duckworth, 1992; Baltimore, Md.: Johns Hopkins Univer-
sity Press, 1993).Greene, Robert (1558–1592) English writer
Greene, who was probably born at Norwich, went to Cam-
bridge University in 1575. There he made friends with
Thomas NASHE, who later supported him against the at-
tacks of Gabriel HARVEY. Greene then traveled abroad be-
fore settling to a life of dissipation, supported by writing,
in London. He perhaps contributed to the Henry VI plays
that were later recast by SHAKESPEARE(whom Greene at-
tacked in his autobiographical Groatsworth of Wit, 1592).
Of his five independent plays, the lighthearted Friar Bacon
and Friar Bungay, acted in 1594, is the best. His prose
works include the romances Pandosto (1588) and
Menaphon (1589; republished as Greene’s Arcadia, 1599).
His numerous pamphlets embrace a variety of topics and
moods: for example, Euphues, his Censure of Philautus
(1587) takes up LYLY’s theme and style (see EUPHUISM),
but his most popular works were the so-called “coney-
catching” pamphlets, describing in racy prose the lives
and trickery of London’s rogues.Gregoriana The Jesuit college founded in Rome as the
Collegium Romanum by St. IGNATIUS LOYOLAin 1551. Be-
tween 1582 and 1584 it was endowed and made into a
university by Pope GREGORY XIII. The Gregoriana was the
earliest modern seminary and the model for later founda-
tions. The college’s influence on the course of the222222 GGrreeeennee,, RRoobbeerrtt