John Calvin

Calvin trained as a humanist lawyer in France before breaking with the Roman Catholic Church around 1530. When violence against Protestant Christians erupted, he fled to Basel, publishing the first edition of his Institutes of the Christian Religion in 1536. That same year, William Farel recruited him to Geneva, but the city council resisted their reforms and expelled both men. Calvin moved to Strasbourg to minister to French refugees, then returned to Geneva in 1541 at the city's invitation. He introduced new church government and liturgy while powerful families fought his authority. In 1553, Michael Servetus arrived in Geneva; Calvin denounced him, and the council burned Servetus at the stake for heresy. After supportive refugees arrived and new elections shifted power, Calvin's opponents were pushed out, and he spent his final years spreading the Reformation across Europe.