08 June 2026
Volume 19 of the registers of the Consistory of Geneva covers the year 1562, which marked the outbreak of the first War of Religion in France.
As a result of this conflict, Geneva received a considerable number of refugees who were fleeing violence. At times the morals court showed concern that some of the new arrivals held beliefs that Genevans considered unacceptable. Calvin and his colleagues believed, for example, that some refugees from Italy were Anabaptists while others embraced the anti-trinitarian ideas of Michael Servetus. The morals court continued to stress the requirement of young people to attend the weekly catechism lessons, and it showed a growing concern with laziness and the dissipation of goods. It strongly discouraged ostentatious living, vigorously attacked usury, and showed a certain compassion for the poor. In dealing with matrimonial disputes, the Consistory summoned many couples for domestic unrest. Calvin was undoubtedly quite embarrassed by the actions of his stepdaughter, Judith Tourneur; her husband received a divorce, a rarity in Reformation Geneva, after Judith freely confessed to committing adultery. The pastors and elders persisted in showing a degree of scepticism toward allegations of magic and in actively exhorting parties to settle their difference and forgive each other.
