Wakefield, Robert

Wakefield, Robert a learned English divine in the reign of Henry VIII, was born in the north of England. He was educated at the university and on the Continent; taught Greek, Hebrew, Chaldee, and Syriac in France and Germany; in 1519 left his Hebrew professorship at Louvain, returned to England, and became chaplain to Dr. Pace; opened a public lecture in Greek at Cambridge in 1524, being made B.D. by Henry VIII, whom he favored after opposing in the affair of his divorce from Catherine; was professor of Hebrew at Oxford in 1530; canon of Wolsey's College in 1532; saved Hebrew and Greek MSS. at the dissolution of the lesser monasteries in 1536; and died in London, Oct. 8, 1537. He left some learned works in language and controversy.