Schaff - History of the Christian Church Vol. 8 - Media Sabda Org

190
edition of Calvin’s Opera with a notice littéraire, Tom. XXI. pp.
6–172, to which are added the Epitaphia in lo. Calvinum scripta
(Hebrew, Greek, Latin, and French). There are also German,
English, and Italian translations of this biography. An English
translation by Francis Sibson of Trinity College, Dublin, reprinted
in Philadelphia, 1836; another by Beveridge, Edinburgh, 1843.
The biography of Beza as enlarged by Colladon, though somewhat
eulogistic, and especially Calvin’s letters and works, and the letters
of his friends who knew him best, furnish the chief material for an
authentic biography.
Hierosme Hermes Bolsec: Histoire de la vie, moeurs, actes, doctrine,
constance et mort de Jean Calvin, jadis ministre de Genève, dédié au
Reverendissime archeuesque, conte de l’Église de Lyon, et Primat de
France, Lyon, 1577 (26 chs. and 143 pp.); republished at Paris, 1582;
and with an introduction and notes by L. Fr. Chastel, Lyon, 1875 (pp.
xxxi and 328). I have used Chastel’s edition. A Latin translation, De J.
Calvini magni quondam Genevensium ministri vita, moribus, rebus
gestis, studiis ac denique morte, appeared in Paris, 1577, also at
Cologne, 1580; a German translation at Cologne, 1581. Bolsec was a
Carmelite monk, then physician at Geneva, expelled on account of
Pelagian views and opposition to Calvin, 1551; returned to the Roman
Church; d. at Annecy about 1584. His book is a mean and
unscrupulous libel, inspired by feelings of hatred and revenge; but some
of his facts are true, and have been confirmed by the documents
published by Galiffe. Bolsec wrote a similar biography of Beza:
Histoire de la vie, moeurs, doctrine et déportments de Th. de Bèze dit
le Spectable, 1582. A French writer says, “Ces biographies sont un
tissu de calomnies qu’ aucun historien sérieux, pas même le P.
Maimbourg, n’a osé admettre et dont plus récemment M. Mignet a fait
bonne justice.” (A. Réville in Lichtenberger’s “Encycl.,” II. 343.)
Comp. the article “Bolsec” in La France Protestante, 2d ed. (1879), II.
745–776.
Antibolseccus. Cleve, 1622. Of this book I find only the title.
Jacques Le Vasseur (canon and dean of the Church of Noyon):
Annales de l’eglise cathédrale de Noyon. Paris, 1633, 2 vols. 4°.
Contains some notices on the birth and relations of Calvin.