Calvin's Reluctant Return to Geneva

Welcome to "Really Calvin, is this an ideal life? A historical podcast." In today's episode, we focus on John Calvin. In September 1541, Calvin made a reluctant return to Geneva, a city that had expelled him just three years earlier. This pivotal moment in Reformation history was not, as often believed, an immediate triumph for Calvin. Instead, it was the culmination of complex political maneuverings, particularly the Artichauts' Crisis of 1540.

This crisis, stemming from a botched diplomatic mission to Bern, set the stage for Calvin's recall more than any later political upheavals. Calvin's initial hesitation to return, evident in his correspondence, challenges the notion of his immediate political dominance. In fact, it wasn't until 1555 that Calvin truly consolidated his influence in Geneva. The Artichauts' Crisis also reshaped Geneva's relationship with Bern and altered the city's internal power dynamics, setting the stage for Calvin's long-term impact on the city and the broader Reformation movement.

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This historical popularization podcast is developed as part of the interdisciplinary project entitled "A semantic and multilingual online edition of the Registers of the Council of Geneva / 1545-1550" (RCnum) and developed by the University of Geneva (UNIGE), as part of funding from the Swiss National Scientific Research Fund (SNSF). For more information: https://www.unige.ch/registresconseilge/en.

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