The Body, the Law, and the Scalpel: Geneva’s Unfolding Secret (16th Century)

Welcome to “Really, Calvin – is this an ideal life? A historical podcast.” Today, we’re delighted to share a special episode by our friend Isabella Watt, co-editor of the Registers of the Genevan Consistory in the Time of Calvin. She brings us a surprising and colorful story at the crossroads of medicine, faith, and the human body: the moving case of Estienna Costel and Jean Cugnard—a 16th‑century Genevan couple whose story exposes the often pitiless way Calvinist society viewed sexuality and the female body.

Before diving into their intimate drama, let’s step back for some context. Since antiquity, medical and surgical treatises have shaped how people understood the body and its functions. Galen and Hippocrates still reigned supreme, their theories inspiring a humoral medicine in which health depended on the balance of bodily fluids. During the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, writings on female anatomy became more numerous—steeped in taboos, censorship, and the persistent idea that the female body was merely an inverted version of the male.

But in Calvin’s 16th‑century Geneva, these theories took on flesh in the person of Estienna Costel. Her husband, Jean Cugnard, sought a divorce: she suffered from a condition called arctitudo, a narrowing of the vaginal passage that made intercourse impossible and unbearably painful. The case shook Genevan institutions—the Consistory and the Lesser Council clashed over how to handle it, armed with reports from barber‑surgeons and midwives. Calvin, ever the logician, ruled the marriage invalid since it had never been consummated. But the Lesser Council took a different stance—one that was, shall we say, surgical. A solution so bold, even dangerous, that it leaves today’s listeners speechless.

In this episode, we delve into one of the most perplexing trials of Reformation‑era Geneva: where theology, anatomy, and conjugal violence intersect. How did the civil and ecclesiastical courts of Calvin’s time attempt to “repair” an impossible marriage?

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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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