The creation of a transnational, Calvinist network and its significance for Calvinist identity and interaction in early modern Europe

This article argues that early modern Calvinism in particular can lay claim to a transnational space in history. It focuses on how a Calvinist transnational network came into existence during the second half of the sixteenth century. It points to the role of repeated persecution, exodus and emigrati...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:European review of history = Revue européene d'histoire 2009-10, Vol.16 (5), p.619-636
Main Author: Grell, Ole Peter
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Amsterdam
Antwerp
Belgium
Calvinism
Calvinist network
Culture
Early modern history
Emigration
England
European history
History of religion
Italy
London
Lucca
Modern history
Netherlands
Protestantism
Religious persecution
Social networks
Solidarity
Theology
Transnationalism
United Kingdom
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Summary:This article argues that early modern Calvinism in particular can lay claim to a transnational space in history. It focuses on how a Calvinist transnational network came into existence during the second half of the sixteenth century. It points to the role of repeated persecution, exodus and emigration in shaping both Calvinist theology and culture. Without this transnational experience of repeated emigration and persecution the international solidarity of Calvinists across Europe would not have existed by the early seventeenth century and the pan-European relief work for suffering co-religionists in Germany during the Thirty Years' War would not have been possible. Taking its departure in the exodus of a number of prominent merchant families from Lucca in Italy in the 1560s it follows their history for the next couple of generations, showing first their Huguenot affiliation during their stay in France and their experience of the Wars of Religion. It then follows them via Frankfurt and Nuremberg to Antwerp and Stade in Northern Germany until they finally settled in Amsterdam and London. In this process it emphasises how they intermarried with other Calvinist emigrant families from Flanders (with whom they formed trading companies) and it highlights their active roles within the refugee Calvinist churches which sprang up in the cities where they resided.
ISSN:1350-7486
1469-8293
DOI:10.1080/13507480903262595