The Trial of the 16th Century: Calvin and Servetus

The facts surrounding Michael Servetus’s 1553 arrest in Geneva, his subsequent trial, and execution by burning have been woven by Calvin’s detractors into a narrative that paints Calvin as an intolerant, mean-minded monster, capable of bloodthirsty acts, and utterly ruthless in his treatment of anyone who disagreed with him. Calvin’s own words, in a 1546 letter to Guillaume Farel – ‘if [Servetus] shall come [to Geneva] I shall never permit him to depart alive, provided my authority be of any avail’ – have not helped!