Jean Calvin

Adrian Streete (University of Glasgow)

👁 Save to PDF
👁 Save to Bookshelf
👁 Report an Error

Ed. by Hugh Magennis, Queen's University Belfast
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.5.2.02: French Writing and Culture in the Renaissance, 1400-1600.
Vol. editors: Robert J. Hudson (Brigham Young University), Tim Unwin (University of Bristol), Phillip John Usher (New York University), David Williams (University of Sheffield)

Domains

Calvinists

Dates

Born 10 Jul 1509
Died 27 May 1564
Activity 1532-1564

Places

Born in France
Active in France; Switzerland

Activities

Primary

Humanist
Reformer
Theologian

Resources

John Calvin (also known as Jean Calvin, Jehan Cauvin, or Johannes Calvinus) was born in Noyon, a small town in Picardy, in 1509. He received his early education under the aegis of a local noble family, the Montmors, and was then sent up to the University of Paris by his father, Gérard, probably at the beginning of the 1520s. Calvin proceeded with a general course in Arts before going on to take his Master's degree in 1528. During this time, the young student was exposed to a number of important early sixteenth century intellectual currents. The intellectual climate of this period was characterised by a growing crisis of authority within the established Church with many groups pressing for reform of varying degrees. As a student, Calvin would probably have come into contact with the flourishing...

Please log in to consult the article in its entirety. If you are a member (student of staff) of a subscribing institution (see List), you should be able to access the LE on campus directly (without the need to log in), and off-campus either via the institutional log in we offer, or via your institution's remote access facilities, or by creating a personal user account with your institutional email address. If you are not a member of a subscribing institution, you will need to purchase a personal subscription. For more information on how to subscribe as an individual user, please see under Individual Subcriptions.

2028 words

Citation: Streete, Adrian. "Jean Calvin". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 04 January 2005 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=704, accessed 11 April 2026.]

704 Jean Calvin 1 Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

URL: https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?UID=704&rec=true

⇱ Literary Encyclopedia — Jean Calvin