Book contents
- John Calvin in Context
- John Calvin in Context
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Contributors
- Acknowledgments
- Abbreviations
- Introduction
- Part I France and Its Influence
- Part II Switzerland, Southern Germany, and Geneva
- 7 The Swiss Confederation in the Age of John Calvin
- 8 Strasbourg in the Sixteenth Century
- 9 Geneva and Its Protectors
- 10 Daily Life in Geneva
- 11 Reforming the City-State
- 12 Consistories and Discipline
- 13 Reformed Education and the Genevan Academy
- 14 Worship, Pastorate, and Diaconate in Early Modern Europe
- Part III Empire and Society
- Part IV The Religious Question
- Part V Calvin’s Influences
- Part VI Calvin’s Reception
- Conclusion
- Bibliography
- Index
- References
7 - The Swiss Confederation in the Age of John Calvin
from Part II - Switzerland, Southern Germany, and Geneva
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 14 November 2019
- John Calvin in Context
- John Calvin in Context
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Contributors
- Acknowledgments
- Abbreviations
- Introduction
- Part I France and Its Influence
- Part II Switzerland, Southern Germany, and Geneva
- 7 The Swiss Confederation in the Age of John Calvin
- 8 Strasbourg in the Sixteenth Century
- 9 Geneva and Its Protectors
- 10 Daily Life in Geneva
- 11 Reforming the City-State
- 12 Consistories and Discipline
- 13 Reformed Education and the Genevan Academy
- 14 Worship, Pastorate, and Diaconate in Early Modern Europe
- Part III Empire and Society
- Part IV The Religious Question
- Part V Calvin’s Influences
- Part VI Calvin’s Reception
- Conclusion
- Bibliography
- Index
- References
Summary
The Swiss Confederation remained an enigma for the Frenchman John Calvin, and with good reason.1 This collection of territories was a unique and rather confusing political and cultural entity that had emerged piecemeal in the late Middle Ages. The very term Swiss, which makes sense to modern ears, hardly applied in the sixteenth century in a place where there was little sense of national identity.2 Humanists had begun to valorize Helvetia, and the wars against the Habsburgs and the Burgundians had done much to incite forms of patriotism, but loyalties remained largely local. Huldrych Zwingli had embraced a sense of the Swiss as the elect people of God, and even the young Heinrich Bullinger wrote of his countrymen as the Israelites of the covenant. The reality, however, was much less harmonious. By the beginning of the sixteenth century, the newly expanded Confederation (with the addition of Basel and Schaffhausen) was a collection of 13 members bound by a series of alliances but divided by internal tensions. Not least was the problem posed by Zurich, which during the previous century had made repeated, and unsuccessful, attempts to expand its hegemonic interests.3
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- John Calvin in Context , pp. 61 - 69Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2019