John Calvin-Life,Legacy and Theology

JOHN CALVIN : LIFE, LEGACY AND THEOLOGY -
PROF. M. M. NINAN
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The background story of Geneva as a State under Bishop
and the coming of Calvinian authority
"Prior to the sixteenth century, the government of Geneva was vested in its bishop, who was its lord or
dominus; in the Duke of Savoy, who controlIed the post of vice-dominus (or vidomne); and in a
burgher administration consisting of Four elected syndics and three councils - the Little Council, the
Council of Sixty, and the General Council. The bishopric, however, after the mid-fifteenth century was
little more than an appendage of the house of Savoy, and its incumbents were the creatures and
cadets of that princely house.
In the early sixteenth century, conflict developed between Duke Charles 111 of Savoy ( I 504- I553)
and a group of patriotic citizens, Ied by Philibert Berthelier, who sought to protect and extend the
rights of the burgher regime. The Duke smashed the insurgent faction in I5I9, but his withdrawal from
Geneva in late I525 because of a troubled situation in Piedmont gave the patriots a new opportunity
for action. In 1526 they concluded an alliance with Bern and Freiburg in the Swiss Confederation, and
in I 527 they instituted the Council of Two Hundred, which formally assumed the powers of the
vidornne. The Bishop of Geneva, Pierre de la Baume (I 522-1 544), acquiesced in this major political
change and then fled the city to join the Duke in resisting the patriotic gains. In I 530 the Duke
attacked Geneva, but the intervention of Bern and Freiburg saved the city and led in turn to their
occupation of the Pays de Vaud as a guarantee that Geneva’s new freedom would be respected.
Up to this time Protestantism had barely made its appearance in Geneva, but within the next few
years the entry was made and an active and aggressive Protestant movement began to develop. One
of the chief factors in this was the pressure brought to bear on the Genevan authorities by Bern. Bern,
Geneva’s ally, had adopted Zwinglian reform in 1528 and was militant in her support of the new faith.
She was soon dispatching preachers to neighboring towns and countryside and using her
influence to gain a hearing for their doctrines. With her backing Guillaume Farel, a fiery French
evangelist, returned to Geneva in December, 1533 (his previous visit to the city in October, 1532,
had resulted in his speedy expulsion) and, soon joined by a disciple, Pierre Viret of Orbe, stayed
on to lay the foundations of Genevan Protestantism. At Bern’s insistence a public disputation, with
Farel and Viret defending “evangelical truth,” was held early in 1534 and a church was subsequently
turned over to the reformers. The breach had now been made. In May, 1534, Freiburg, which
remained Catholic, severed her alliance with Geneva, and in July the Bishop, in league with the Duke,
launched an unsuccessful attack on the city. The political conflict now merged more distinctly with the
religious quarrel. Following the Bishop’s defeat the Genevan authorites declared the episcopal see
“vacated,” and the Protestants, still a minority, became more active in their campaign against Catholic
faith and practice.
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