Civil and Canonical Law
Date: 1542
Region: Europe
Subject: Religious
Medium: Literature
Artist: Calvin, John (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 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.