University of Mississippi eGrove Liberal Arts Faculty Books Liberal Arts 10-20-2020 The Consistory and Social Discipline in Calvin's Geneva Jeffrey R. Watt University of Mississippi Follow this and additional works at: https://egrove.olemiss.edu/libarts_book Part of the European History Commons Recommended Citation Watt, Jeffrey R., "The Consistory and Social Discipline in Calvin's Geneva" (2020). Liberal Arts Faculty Books. 225. https://egrove.olemiss.edu/libarts_book/225 This Book is brought to you for free and open access by the Liberal Arts at eGrove. It has been accepted for inclusion in Liberal Arts Faculty Books by an authorized administrator of eGrove. For more information, please contact [email protected]. ’ James B. Collins, Professor of History, Georgetown University Mack P. 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McCollim Gunpowder, Masculinity, and Warfare A Show of Hands for the Republic: in German Texts, – Opinion, Information, and Repression Patrick Brugh in Eighteenth-Century Rural France Jill Maciak Walshaw A complete list of titles in the Changing Perspectives on Early Modern Europe series may be found on our website, www.urpress.com. The Consistory and Social Discipline in Calvin’s Geneva Jerey R. Watt Copyright © by Jerey R. Watt CC BY-NC All rights reserved. Except as permitted under current legislation, no part of this work may be photocopied, stored in a retrieval system, published, performed in public, adapted, broadcast, transmitted, recorded, or reproduced in any form or by any means, without the prior permission of the copyright owner. First published University of Rochester Press Mt. Hope Avenue, Rochester, NY , USA www.urpress.com and Boydell & Brewer Limited PO Box , Woodbridge, Suolk IP DF, UK www.boydellandbrewer.com ISBN-: ---- ISSN: -; vol. Cataloging-in-Publication data available from the Library of Congress. Cover illustration: John Calvin Presiding over the Company of Pastors of Geneva in from Harmsworth History of the World: Western Europe om the Middle Ages to the Close of the Napoleonic Era (London: Educational Book Company, ). Lithograph based on a painting from ca. by Pierre-Antoine Labouchère. This book is published as part of the Sustainable History Monograph Pilot. With the generous support of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the Pilot uses cutting-edge publishing technology to produce open access digital editions of high-quality, peer-reviewed monographs from leading university presses. Free digital editions can be download- ed from: Books at JSTOR, EBSCO, Hathi Trust, Internet Archive, OAPEN, Project MUSE, and many other open repositories. While the digital edition is free to download, read, and share, the book is under copyright and covered by the following Creative Commons License: CC BY-NC. 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For Isabella, again and always Abbreviations and Illustration xi Acknowledgments xiii Introduction The Consistory Encounters Resistance The Push for Religious Uniformity Educating and Disciplining the Young Controlling Lust and Regulating Marriage Superstitions, Magic, and Witchcra­ Promoting the Industrious and Sober Lifestyle Conicts, Reconciliation, and the Confession of Sins Conclusion Notes Selected Bibliography AEG Archives d’État de Genève C.O. Ioannis Calvini Opera Quae Supersunt Omnia, edited by Gulielmus Baum, Eduardus Cunitz, and Eduardus Reus. Brunswick: C.A. Schwetschke and Sons, – . Jur. Pen. A “Livre des informations prises contre ceulx de la faction de Perrin, Vandel et complices” Jur. Pen. A Juridictions Pénales A, “Livre des Criminelz,” i.e., sentences passed by the Conseil, – . Jur. Pen. A Juridictions Pénales A, “Livre des Criminelz,” i.e., sentences passed by the Conseil, – . Jur. Pen. K Juridictions Pénales K, “Rapports et Renvois du Consistoire, –” PC Procès Criminels, ère et e Séries RC Registres du Conseil de Genève (du Petit Conseil, Conseil des LX, Conseil des CC, et du Conseil Général, –) R.Consist. Registres du Consistoire de Genève à l’époque de Calvin (published editions) R.Consist. Registres du Consistoire de Genève (archival manuscripts) RC Part. Registres du Conseil pour les aaires des Particuliers Map of early modern Geneva and its territories xi Although I was unaware of it at the time, I began work on this book way back in . Having just defended my dissertation, under strong encouragement from my mentor, Robert Kingdon, I agreed to take part in the initial stage of the ambitious project to transcribe and publish scholarly editions of the registers of the Consistory during the time of John Calvin. I accordingly spent several weeks that summer at the Meeter Center at Calvin Seminary in Grand Rapids, Michigan, transcribing the minutes of the rst volume. In the decades that fol- lowed, I have pursued research projects that had nothing to do with the Consis- tory, but I have always maintained an interest in this morals court, which nally became the principal focus of my research in the early s. Given how long it has taken to bring this book to fruition, the list of people I need to thank is obviously lengthy. Without the project to publish the volumes, fourteen of which have now ap- peared in print, I would never have undertaken this monograph. I of course owe a huge debt to Bob Kingdon. Aware of how rich these sources are, he assembled a team of scholars and secured many years of funding to pursue this ambitious project. He deserves heartfelt thanks from all scholars interested in the Refor- mation in Geneva. Tom Lambert dedicated many years to the project and served as coeditor for the rst several volumes. His superb paleographical skills and incredible attention to detail have le­ a lasting positive imprint on the editions, and he remains most generous in sharing his knowledge of this institution. He graciously agreed to set aside time to read parts of this manuscript, and I am most grateful for his advice. Many thanks also to Wallace McDonald, another former member of the team who made very important contributions to many of the volumes. My profound appreciation goes to my good friend Max Engam- mare, director of Droz, for his steadfast support for the project. His erudition and attentive reading of the volumes have been invaluable, and collaborating with him since the s has been a wonderful experience. Many kind thanks also to Christophe Chazalon, who, starting with volume , has assiduously read all the annotations and has made numerous suggestions for improvements in them. I am also quite grateful to Lee Palmer Wandel, Bob Kingdon’s successor xiii xiv Acknowledgments at the University of Wisconsin, for the nancial support we continued to receive for several years a­er Bob’s passing. I also want to express my deep appreciation to the superb sta of Geneva’s Ar- chives d’État, one of the richest and almost certainly the best organized archive in all of Europe. My sincere thanks therefore to Catherine Santschi and Pierre Flückiger, the past and present Archiviste d’État, and I am especially much obliged to Sandra Coram-Mekkey, Anouk Dunant Gonzenbach, and Barbara Roth-Lochner for their most generous assistance. Over the years I have bene- ted enormously from the exchange of ideas with numerous scholars who share an interest in early modern Geneva. These include Christian Grosse, Liliane Mottu-Weber, Philip Benedict, Cristina Pitassi, Daniela Solfaroli Camillocci, Nicolas Fornerod, Sonia Vernhes Rappaz, Karen Spierling, Scott Manetsch, Elsie McKee, Michel Grandjean, Bernard Lescaze, Michel Porret, Antoinette Emch-Dériaz, and William Naphy. I have also proted greatly from the ex- change of ideas with Raymond Mentzer, the dean of historians of consistories, as well as with other esteemed scholars, such as Merry Wiesner-Hanks, James Farr, Barbara Diefendorf, Joel Harrington, David Whitford, Hal Parker, Ward Holder, Bruce Gordon, Michèle Robert, Jon Balserak, Danièle Tosato-Rigo, and Paul Thayer. Work on this book has been facilitated by extended stays as a guest scholar in various venues. Many thanks to the Meeter Center and to its former and current directors, Rick Gamble and Karin Maag, for providing funding for the Consistory project at its inception. I spent a delightful semester as a guest fellow at the University of St. Andrews in the spring of , and I thank Bridget Heal and Andrew Pettegree for aording me that great opportunity. In the fall of , thanks to friend and colleague Philippe Chareyre, I was honored to be a Professeur invité at the University of Pau. Sharing ideas about consistories with Philippe was and continues to be most fruitful, and I deeply appreciate his warm hospitality. More recently, I had the pleasure of being a guest professor at the University of Geneva’s Maison de l’histoire and Institut d’histoire de la Réformation, and I thank in particular Daniela Solfaroli Camillocci for her ef- forts behind that appointment, which allowed me to complete the last details of archival research.