Pierre Viret et la diffusion de la Réforme, ed. Karine Crousaz and Daniela Solfaroli Camillocci

Abstract

The black walnut tree is well known for being toxic to everything that grows beneath its canopy. Jean Calvin had the same effect on other Protestant reformers within his orbit, overshadowed by his pervasive brilliance, which was in turn reinforced by Geneva’s institutional foundations and sustenance. One of those who suffered this unintentional suffocation was Pierre Viret, the reformer from the francophone Suisse Romande who launched the religious changes at Neuchâtel before being appointed pastor at Lausanne in 1536. He directed the reformation there for twenty-three years before being eventually ousted in 1559 by the authorities in Bern. Retiring briefly to Geneva, he spent the last decade of his life (from 1561 to 1571) in the kingdom of France and the principality of Béarn, in places where the hopes and disappointments of its Protestant reformation were at their strongest. Controversy dogged him wherever he went in that decade. His opponents recognised him for what he was—a Protestant theologian of ability, with a talent for polemic (who had taken up controversial positions on important practical issues), and experience in the institutionalisation of the Protestant reformation. Only in recent years has his substantial published output received the attention it deserves.