Theodore Beza

Theodore Beza (Theodore de Beze or de Besze) (June 24, 1519 - October 13, 1605) was a French Protestant Christian theologian and scholar who played an important role in the early Reformation. He was closely associated with Calvinism. He lived most of his adult life in Switzerland.

Early Life

He was born at Vezelay (8 miles west-south-west of Avallon), in Burgundy. His father, Pierre de Beze, royal governor of Vezelay, descended from a Burgundian family of distinction; his mother, Marie Bourdelot, was known for her generosity. Theodore's father had two brothers; one, Nicholas, was member of Parliament at Paris; the other, Claude, was abbot of the Cistercian monastery Froimont in the diocese of Beauvais. Nicholas, who was unmarried, on a visit to Vezelay was so pleased with Theodore that, with the permission of their parents, he took him to Paris to educate him there. From Paris Theodore was sent to Orleans in December 1528 to enjoy the instruction of the famous German teacher Melchior Wolmar. He was received into Wolmar's house, and the day on which this took place was afterward celebrated as a second birthday.

Related Topics:
Vezelay - Avallon - Burgundy - Parliament - Abbot - Cistercian - Monastery - Beauvais - Orleans - Melchior Wolmar

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Young Beza soon followed his teacher to Bourges,

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whither the latter was called by the duchess

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Margaret of Angoulême, sister of Francis I. Bourges

Related Topics:
Angoulême - Francis I

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was one of the places in France in which the heart

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of the Reformation movement beat the strongest. When, in

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1534, Francis I issued his edict against ecclesiastical

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innovations, Wolmar returned to Germany,

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and, in accordance with the wish of his father,

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Beza went back to Orleans to study law, and spent

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four years there (1535-39). This pursuit had little

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attraction for him; he enjoyed more the reading of

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the ancient classics, especially Ovid, Catullus, and

Related Topics:
Ovid - Catullus

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Tibullus. He received the degree of licentiate in

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law August 11, 1539, and, as his father desired, went

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to Paris, where he began practise. His relatives

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had obtained for him two benefices, the proceeds

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of which amounted to 700 golden crowns a year; and

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his uncle had promised to make him his successor.

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Beza spent two happy years at Paris and soon

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gained a prominent position in literary circles. To

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escape the many temptations to which he was

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exposed, with the knowledge of two friends, he

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became engaged in the year 1544 to a young girl

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of humble descent, Claudine Denoese, promising to

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make this engagement public as soon as his

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circumstances would allow it. He published a collection

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of Latin poems, Juvenilia, which made him famous,

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and he was everywhere considered one of the best writers of

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Latin poetry of his time.

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But he fell ill and his

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distress of body, it is reported, revealed to him his spiritual needs.

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Gradually he came to the knowledge of salvation in

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Christ, which he apprehended with a joyous faith.

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He then resolved to sever his connections of the

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time, and went to Geneva, the French city of

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refuge for Evangelicals (adherents of the Reformation movement),

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where he arrived with Claudine on October 23, 1548.

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