La Vie En Rose

Sunday, October 08, 2006

Clarification: Jean Calvin was Swiss AND French

Okay, so I've had more than one person comment on this, so I thought I would just let you all know that I've done some research on sites more credible than the beloved Wikipedia, so here's the deal on Calvin's nationality:

Jean Chauvin was born July 10, 1509 in Noyon, Picardy, FRANCE. He lived there until he went to study Latin in Paris, then Law in Orleans, then back to Paris for classical literature. While in Paris the second time, he made friends with Nicholas Cop. Now Nicky was, in 1533, appointed Rector of the University and, in his very first sermon, said some lovely things that immediately got him branded a heretic. Jean fled to escape guilt by association, first to Angouleme (French town about 6 hours SW of Paris by bus), and then, when King Francis I decided that he really wanted to crack down on those dern heretics, to Basel, Switzerland. Though he returned to France briefly to set his affairs in order, he emigrated permanently to Switzerland in 1536, and spent most of the rest of his life in Geneva.

Though his father's name was Cauvin, sometimes spelled Chauvin, Jean himself showed a preference for Calvin, even as a young man. That explains why the street was named Jean Calvin: Calvin was his own prefered spelling, even in French, and Jean is the only way the French will ever spell what we call John. Probably the only way Jean spelled it too.

So there you are. Thank you to all of you who rightly corrected me, and forced me to probe deeper into the mysteries of history and naming.

1 Comments:

  • At 10:57 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    We need new emails.

    We are being unjustly deprived, just because we live in the States and not in Paris!

    Love you,

    dad

     

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