Johann Ernst Grabe was born in 1666, at Königsberg in Prussia, and was brought up a Lutheran. In 1695 he decided to enter the Church of Rome, but was persuaded instead to turn to England and join the Church of England. From about 1696 till his death on 3 November 1711 he applied himself ardently to theological study, chiefly in Oxford: he received a D.D. degree on 27 April 1706, and was soon after offered the Margaret Professorship of Divinity. Further details are given in the Dictionary of National Biography.

Manuscripts of Grabe, relating to theological Greek manuscripts.

Grabe's manuscripts passed by his will first to Dr Hickes, next after the death of the latter in 1715 to George Smalridge, Bishop of Bristol, and finally on his death in 1719 to the Bodleian Library, which soon after received them, although the Benefaction Register enters them under 1724.

Entry to read in the Library is permitted only on presentation of a valid reader's card (for admissions procedures see http://www.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/services/admissions/).

Falconer Madan, et al., A summary catalogue of western manuscripts in the Bodleian Library at Oxford which have not hitherto been catalogued in the Quarto series (7 vols. in 8 [vol. II in 2 parts], Oxford, 1895-1953; reprinted, with corrections in vols. I and VII, Munich, 1980), vol. III, nos. 9711-9765.

Full descriptions, in Latin, of the Greek manuscripts are in Henry O. Coxe, Catalogi codicum manuscriptorum Bibliothecae Bodleianae pars prima recensionem codicum Graecorum continens (Oxford, 1853; reprinted with corrections, 1969).

Manuscripts, Greek

Theology

Grabe | Johann Ernst | 1666-1711 | Theologian