James Brocard

Jacopo Brocardo (Anglicised as James Brocard(e), Latin: Jacobus Brocardus Pedemontanus) (c.1518 – 1594?) was an Italian Protestant convert and biblical interpreter. He regarded the year 1584 as the inauguration of a major new cycle. He prophesied that the last age would last 120 years from the birth of Martin Luther in 1483. As an apocalyptic thinker he was influenced by Martin Cellarius.

He was born in Pinerolo around 1518. He became a scholar and grammarian, and a follower of Giulio Camillo.

Brocardo is not considered a very reliable witness to his own biography. He was in France in the late 1540s, and he met Martin Bucer. On his own account, he became a Protestant convert in 1563. He was arrested in Cividale del Friuli in 1565. When questioned by the Inquisition, he admitted reading forbidden works, by Johann Carion, Johann Reuchlin, Paul Riccius and Cornelius Agrippa. In time the Council of Ten released him, or he escaped or bribed his guards; and he went to northern Europe. There he found a friend, patron and supporter in Jacques de Ségur-Pardaillan, encountered in Heidelberg, where he was from 1573. Ségur was also a significant diplomat for the anti-Ligue forces in France, in the period 1583 to 1585.Jacques Auguste de Thou was under the impression that Ségur was trying to implement Brocardo's prophetic and ecumenical vision, to the benefit of Henry of Navarre. Brocardo was in England around 1580 and in the Netherlands where he then studied at Leiden; it is suggested he may have followed the movements of Ségur of the period.

...
Wikipedia