Nicholas Cop

SIXTEENTH CENTURY. German-French scholar. Son of Guillaume Cop, former royal physician, he was professor of medicine in the College Sante-Barbe and one of a circle of humanists in Paris with Roussel and Calvin. In 1533 he was elected rector of the University of Paris. This involved a university sermon on All Saints' Day. Choosing as his text Matthew 5:3, he contrasted the slavery of the law which man cannot fulfil with the saving merits of Christ. He minimized the value of good works and reviled the “Sophists” of the Sorbonne for their intolerance. The address was largely made up of citations from Erasmus and Luther. The theologians proceeded against him for heresy, and he fled to Basle. Nothing more is known of him.