Michael Servetus

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Michael Servetus, 17th century engraving

Michael Servetus (actually Miguel Serveto y Reves, French Michel Servet; born September 29, 1509 or 1511 in Villanueva de Sigena ( Huesca ) in what was then the Kingdom of Aragón , possibly in Tudela (Navarra) ; †  October 27, 1553 in Champel - Geneva ) a Spanish doctor, humanist scholar and anti-Trinitarian theologian. He was burned as a heretic at Calvin's instigation .

Life

Servetus studied law at the University of Toulouse and came to the Holy Roman Empire in the wake of Charles V (1500–1558) . From 1526 to 1530 he was in the service of the imperial confessor Juan de Quintana († 1534). When he did not succeed in winning Johannes Oekolampad for his views of the Trinity, which differed from church doctrine , in his youth he turned to Strasbourg in October 1530 , where he knew Wolfgang Capito and Martin Bucer , and published his work critical of the Trinity in Hagenau De trinitatis erroribus (1531). The Basel Council had part of the edition destroyed; Bucer judged that the author "was worthy of having his entrails torn out of his body". Fearing the consequences of his heretical position, Servetus later published under the name Michael Villanovanus (after his birthplace Villanueva de Sigena).

Servetus sought to justify his views in his work Dialogi de trinitate (1532, also published in Hagenau). Then he returned to France, mostly living in Paris or Lyon , where he worked as a proofreader and editor for the Drexel printing company. In Lyon he also got to know Symphorien Champier . Servetus studied astrology, mathematics and medicine and gained a respected name as a geographer through his publication of Ptolemy . He also made a name for himself as a doctor and physiologist , in particular because of his groundbreaking remarks on the small bloodstream that he described for the first time in Europe , the discoverer of which he was considered for a long time.

Persecution by John Calvin

In 1536 he met John Calvin in Paris, who invited him to discuss the question of the Trinity, which Servet initially did not answer for fear of being reported as a heretic. He also studied philosophy, geometry, theology and Hebrew. Johann Weyer made friends with Servetus in Paris around 1537/38, whom he met there under his alias Michael Villanovanus . In 1540 he received a call to Vienne as personal physician to Archbishop Pierre Paulmier; in addition to his general medical practice. From Vienne, however, he entered into a correspondence with Calvin, the tone of which intensified and culminated in Calvin's threat that "if Servetus should ever come to Geneva, he would not leave alive."

Servetus memorial stone in Champel

In 1553 Servetus also removed himself from Catholic and Protestant doctrine through his theosophical work Christianismi Restitutio, published in Lyon . Indirectly identified by Calvin as the author of this work, Servetus was arrested by the Lyons chief inquisitor. However, he escaped from prison and went into hiding for several months. In mid-August 1553 he was recognized by Calvin in Geneva, who immediately arranged for his arrest.

During their investigation, the Geneva authorities turned to Vienne on August 21 and requested Servetus' immediate extradition. Servetus was given the choice of either being extradited or facing the court in Geneva. He opted for a trial in Geneva. In the following trial (August 14 to October 26, 1553), which was marked by violent theological disputes between Servetus and Calvin, at Calvin's insistence the majority of the judges recognized for one under a law that was ineffective in their country Act that was not committed in their country and to the death penalty for a person not under their control. At the urging of Guillaume Farel , another reformer working in Geneva, Calvin ordered the execution of the death sentence by means of the stake on October 26th . The last surviving words of Servetus were "O Jésus fils du dieu éternel, aie pitié de moi." Pieter Overd'hage de Zuttere from Ghent, who witnessed the execution as an eyewitness, wrote a detailed report about it, which also describes Farel's behavior. Overd'hage is said to have taken the copy of the Christianismi Restitutio , which was burned with Servet, from the flames.

Aftermath

The execution of a Protestant by other Protestants on religious issues sparked heated debates even among Calvinists.

The most momentous were the writings in which the Basel theologian Sebastian Castellio dealt critically with the persecution of Servet. In several works - including De haereticis, an sint persequendi ("From the heretics and whether they are to be persecuted") and Contra Libellum Calvini ("Against the little book of Calvins") - he argued against the criminal prosecution of so-called false believers by not being himself referred only to the Bible and the church fathers , but also to Martin Luther , other reformers and even Calvin himself. Castellio worked out a theory of fundamental religious tolerance, which was to prevail throughout Europe in the course of the Enlightenment .

A little less known is that the Italian anti-Trinitarian Baptist Camillo Renato also wrote a Latin poem in which he spoke out against the unjust punishment of Servet. It appeared at his place of residence in Traona in Valtellina in 1554 under the title In Ioannem Calvinum de iniusto Michaelis Serveti incendio (German: Against Johannes Calvin about the unjust burning of Michael Servetus ).

On October 27, 1903, the 350th anniversary of Servet's death, the Servetus memorial stone was erected near the place of execution . A street between the confluence of Avenue de la Rosaire and Avenue de Beau-Séjour and the Plateau de Champel is now called Rue Michel-Servet .

Works

  • De trinitatis erroribus libri septem , [Hagenau] 1531 ( online )
  • Dialogorum de Trinitate libri duo , [Hagenau] 1532 ( online )
  • In Leonardum Fuchsium apologia , Lyon 1536 (see also Leonhart Fuchs )
  • Syruporum universa ratio , Paris 1537 ( online )
  • In quendam medicum apologetica disceptatio pro astrologia , s. l. 1538
  • Christianismi restitutio , [Vienne] 1553 ( online )

As editor

  • Ptolemy , Geographicae Enarrationis Libri Octo , Lyon 1535 ( online ).

There are also a number of anonymous publications.

Fiction

See also

Editions and translations

  • Charles Donald O'Malley (translator): Michael Servetus. A Translation of his Geographical, Medical and Astrological Writings with Introductions and Notes. American Philosophical Society, Philadelphia 1953

literature

Web links

Commons : Michael Servetus  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Ana Gomez Rabal: Vida de Miguel Servet. In: Turia , Nº 63-64, Teruel , pp. 209-210.
  2. ^ Encyclopedia.com: Servetus, Michael .
  3. ↑ Barbara I. Tshisuaka: Servetus, Michael. In: Werner E. Gerabek , Bernhard D. Haage, Gundolf Keil , Wolfgang Wegner (eds.): Enzyklopädie Medizingeschichte. De Gruyter, Berlin / New York 2005, ISBN 3-11-015714-4 , pp. 1322 f .; here: p. 1322.
  4. ^ Francis Higman: Michel Servet. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland . September 9, 2010 , accessed June 25, 2019 .
  5. ↑ In quendam medicum Apologetica disceptatio per astrologia (full text on Archive.org ).
  6. ↑ Wolf-Dieter Müller-Jahncke : Michael Servetus. In: Wolfgang U. Eckart , Christoph Gradmann (Hrsg.): Ärztelexikon. From antiquity to the present. 1st edition. 1995 C. H. Beck'sche Verlagsbuchhandlung, Munich 1995, p. 329, 330 (2nd edition 2001, p. 288; 3rd edition Springer Verlag, Heidelberg / Berlin / New York 2006, p. 299, 300th Ärztelexikon 2006 ) , doi : 10.1007 / 978-3-540-29585-3 .
  7. ^ Henri Tollin : The discovery of the blood circulation by Michael Servet, 1511–1553 , 1876 ( full text ).
  8. ^ John C. Hemmeter: Michael Servetus - Discoverer of the pulmonary circulation: his life and work. In: Janus 20, 1915, pp. 331-364 and panels I-IX.
  9. ↑ See Johann Weyer: De praestigiis Daemonum , edition Oporinus, Basel 1568, pp. 525f ( Google Books ).
  10. ↑ a b Encyclopedia Britannica (1892), Volume 21, p. 685
  11. ↑ The Heretics , p. 326, reprint Dorset Press, 1990; According to Encyclopedia Britannica (1892), volume 21, p. 685 , Calvin wrote to Guillaume Farel on February 26, 1546 : si venerit, modo valeat mea autoritas, vivum exire nunquam patiar .
  12. ^ William H. Gentz: The Dictionary of Bible and Religion. Abingdon Press, 1986, p. 254.
  13. ↑ Archived copy ( memento of October 15, 2014 in the Internet Archive ), translated: "Jesus, Son of Eternal God, have mercy on me"; see also William H. Gentz: The Dictionary of Bible and Religion. Abingdon Press, 1986, p. 256.
  14. ↑ Martin Tielke: Petrus (OVERDHAGE, ZUTTERE, Pieter Anastasius de) HYPERPHRAGMUS . In: Biographisches Lexikon für Ostfriesland , Vol. I. Ostfriesische Landschaft, Aurich 1993, p. 195.
  15. ↑ Petrus Hyperphrogenus (= Pieter Overd'hage) Gandavus : Historia de morte Michaelis Serveti (lost). Fragment printed in: Christoph Sand: Bibliotheca Anti-Trinitariorum, sive Catalogus Scriptorum & succinta narratio… Johannes Aconius, Freistadt (= Amsterdam) 1684, p. 8 ( Google Books ); see also the marginal note "De wreede doot (= the cruel death) van M. Ser." in: Pieter Overd'hage: Een saechtmoedige tsamensprekinge . [Antwerp] 1581, unpaginated ( Google Books ).
  16. ↑ Grzegorz Wierciochin: Écrire contre l'intolérance: l'Historia de Morte Serveti de Sébastien Castellion . In: Studia Romanica Posnaniensia 42 (2015), pp. 97–113, esp. P. 99, note 6.
  17. ^ Biographical entry on Camillo Renato in the Treccani Encyclopedia
  18. ↑ Fuchs had published the following work in 1534: Apologia Leonardi Fuchsii contra Hieremiam Thriverum Brachelium, medicum Lovaniensem: qua monstratur quod in viscerum inflammationibus, pleuritide praesertim, sanguis e directo lateris affecti mitti debeat (justification of Leonard (us) Fuchs (ius) against Jérémie de Dryvère (Jeremias Thriverus Brachelius, 1504–1554), doctor in Leuven, who shows that when there is inflammation of the internal organs, especially pleurisy, blood should be drawn directly from the affected side) ( full text ). Servetus' writing from 1536 is a replica of it ( www.servetus.org ). In it Servatus Symphorien Champier defended himself .
personal data
SURNAME Servetus, Michael
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Miguel Serveto y Reves; Michel Servet
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Spanish doctor, scholar, humanist and theologian
DATE OF BIRTH 1511
PLACE OF BIRTH Villanueva de Sigena , Huesca
DATE OF DEATH October 27, 1553
Place of death Geneva