Civil and Canonical Law
Date: 1542
Region: Europe
Subject: Religious
Medium: Literature
Artist: John Calvin (1509-1564)
Confronting Bodies: The Sorbonne, Queen Mary
Dates of Action: 1542, 1555
Location: France, England
Description of Artwork: Civil and Canonical Law 1542: Reformed Protestantism Doctrine. Theologian, ecclesiastical statesman and one of the most important Protestant Reformers, Calvin attented the University of Orleans, then returned to Paris to study. After writing a learned study of Seneca's De Clementia ("Concerning Clemency") Calvin converted to Protestantism. In 1534 he left Paris and settled in Switzerland where he wrote "The Institutes of the Christian Religion" (1536), a comprehensive manual of Protestant systematic theology. On his way to Strasbourg in 1536 he stopped in Geneva and became the major figure in this center of Reformed Protestantism.
The Incident: 1542 France: Civil and Canonical Law forbidden by the Sorbonne. 1555 England: Queen Mary's proclamation required "that no manner of persons presume to bring into the realm any manuscripts, books, papers, by John Calvin . . . containing false doctrine against the Catholic faith"
Results of Incident: 1559 and 1564 Italy-Rome: All works listed for heresy in the first class prohibition of the "Index."
Source: Banned Books 387 B.C. to 1978 A.D., by Anne Lyon Haight, and Chandler B. Grannis, R.R. Bowker Co, 1978.
