Regius Professor of Hebrew (Cambridge)

Senate House, University of Cambridge

The Regius Professorship of Hebrew in the University of Cambridge is an ancient academic chair at the University of Cambridge founded by King Henry VIII in 1540. ^[1] The holder of the chair is the senior academic in Hebrew and Semitics at Cambridge. According to the Royal family, the title of Regius Professor is "a rare honour, designed to reflect an exceptionally high standard of teaching and research at an institution." ^[2] Although some Regius Professors (Civil Law, Physic, and Modern History) are appointed by the Crown on the advice of the Prime Minister, ^[3] this is no longer true for the Professor of Hebrew.

Among the holdings at Cambridge relevant to study of Hebrew are the Cairo Genizah, the Cambridge manuscript of the Mishnah, ^[4] and hundreds of rare books and manuscripts in the University Library ^[5] and the libraries of the various Colleges.

Ely Cathedral as seen from Quanea Drove F in the southwest

When created, the professorship carried a permanent stipend of £40 per year. In 1840 this was increased, with a canonry of Ely Cathedral being attached to the post in perpetuity. ^{[6] [7]} In the twenty-first century, however, the Regius Professor has not been in holy orders, and so the position is not associated with the Church.

List of Regius Professors

The chair has been held by:

• 1540-1549 Thomas Wakefeld ^{[8] [9]}

• 

  Paul Fagius, Regius Professor briefly in 1549, until his death in the plague

  1549 Paul Fagius ^[10]
• 1550-1553 Immanuel Tremellius ^[11]
• 1569 Antoine Rudolphe Chevallier
• 1572 Philippe Bignon ^[12]
• 1575 Edward Lively
• 1605 Robert Spaldinge
• 1607 Geoffrey Kynge
• 1608 Andrew Byng
• 1622 Robert Metcalfe
• 1645 Ralph Cudworth ^{[13] [14]}
• 1688 Wolfram Stubbe
• 1699 James Talbot
• 1705 Henry Sike
• 1712 Philip Bouquett
• 1748 Thomas Harrison
• 1753 Charles Torriano
• 1757 William Disney
• 1771 William Collier
• 1790 John Porter
• 1795 Henry Lloyd
• 1831 Samuel Lee
• 1848 William Hodge Mill
• 1854 Thomas Jarrett
• 1882 Alexander Francis Kirkpatrick
• 1903 Robert Hatch Kennett
• 1932 Stanley Arthur Cook ^[15]
• 1938 David Winton Thomas ^[16]
• 1968 John Adney Emerton ^[17]
• 1995 Robert P. Gordon ^{[18] [19]}
• 2012 Geoffrey Khan ^[20]
• 2025 Aaron Koller ^{[21] [22]}

Official coat of arms

According to a grant of 1590, the office of Regius Professor of "Hebrew" at Cambridge has a coat of arms with the following blazon: ^[23]

Coat of arms of Regius Professor of Hebrew

Crest On a wreath "silver and sables," a turtle-dove azure. Escutcheon Argent, the Hebrew letter ת (Tawe) sable, on a chief gules, a lion passant guardant or, charged on the side with the letter H sable.

References

1. Logan, F. Donald (January 1977). "The origins of the so-called regius professorships: an aspect of the renaissance in Oxford and Cambridge" . Studies in Church History. 14: 271–278. doi:10.1017/S0424208400006987. ISSN   0424-2084.
2. "The Queen awards Regius professorships". www.royal.uk. 2013-01-29. Retrieved 2025-03-26.
3. Anonymous (2020-04-30). "Regius professorships". www.lib.cam.ac.uk. Retrieved 2025-03-26.
4. "Digitized Mishnah manuscript from the Cambridge University Library".
5. Koller, Aaron (2025). ""A Miserable Remnant Though this Be, It is Not without Value": A Fragment of Mishnah Avodah Zarah in the Babylonian Tradition from a Book Binding in the Cambridge University Library" (PDF).
6. "Ecclesiastical Commissioners Act 1840, Chapter 113".
7. "First Reading - Hansard - UK Parliament". hansard.parliament.uk. Retrieved 2025-03-26.
8.   'Wakefeld, Thomas', in Dictionary of National Biography (London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–1900)
9. Williams, Benjamin (2023-01-01). ""Great Mountains Suspended from Every Single Letter": Thomas Wakefield and His Hebrew Bibles". Christian Hebraism in Sixteenth-Century England: Robert and Thomas Wakefield.
10. "A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge". March 26, 2025.
11. Austin, Kenneth (2007). From Judaism to Calvinism: the Life and Writings of Immanuel Tremellius (c. 1510–1580). London: Routledge.
12. Mihelic, Joseph L. “The Study of Hebrew in England.” Journal of Bible and Religion 14, no. 2 (1946): 94–100. http://www.jstor.org/stable/1457067.
13. Passmore, J.A. (1951). Ralph Cudworth: An Interpretation. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
14. "Cudworth, Ralph (1617–1688), philosopher and theologian" . Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/6864 . Retrieved 2025-04-28.(Subscription, Wikipedia Library access or UK public library membership required.)
15. "Stanley Arthur Cook - National Portrait Gallery". www.npg.org.uk. Retrieved 2025-03-26.
16. Emerton, J. A. (1991). "The Work of David Winton Thomas as a Hebrew Scholar" . Vetus Testamentum. 41 (3): 287–303. doi:10.2307/1519069. ISSN   0042-4935. JSTOR   1519069.
17. Williamson, Hugh Godfrey Maturin; Day, John; Gordon, Robert P., eds. (1995), "Biographical note: John Adney Emerton", Wisdom in Ancient Israel, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 287–288, ISBN   978-0-521-62489-3 , retrieved 2025-03-26
18. "Professor Robert P Gordon FBA". The British Academy. Retrieved 2025-03-26.
19. "Publications by Robert P Gordon, Professor of Hebrew, Cambridge". Robert P Gordon. Retrieved 2025-03-26.
20. Khan, Geoffrey (2017-12-04). "Professor Geoffrey Khan". www.ames.cam.ac.uk. Retrieved 2025-03-26.
21. "Professor Koller to Depart YU, Join Cambridge as Regius Professor of Hebrew" . Retrieved 2025-05-10.
22. "Aaron Koller joins AMES as the new Regius Professor of Hebrew" . Retrieved 2025-05-10.
23. A Complete Guide to Heraldry by Arthur Charles Fox-Davies (1909), pp. 587-588.