John Calvin

===Final years (1555–1564)===
[[File:Calvin 1562.jpg|thumb|right|John Calvin at 53 years old in an engraving by [[René Boyvin]].]]

Calvin's authority was practically uncontested during his final years, and he enjoyed an international reputation as a reformer distinct from Martin Luther.<ref>{{Harvnb|Cottret|2000|p=235}}</ref> Initially, Luther and Calvin had mutual respect for each other. A doctrinal conflict had developed between Luther and Zurich reformer [[Huldrych Zwingli]] on the interpretation of the eucharist. Calvin's opinion on the issue forced Luther to place him in Zwingli's camp. Calvin actively participated in the polemics that were exchanged between the [[Lutheran]] and [[Reformed churches|Reformed]] branches of the Reformation movement.<ref>{{Harvnb|Parker|1975|pp=162–163}}</ref> At the same time, Calvin was dismayed by the lack of unity among the reformers. He took steps toward rapprochement with Bullinger by signing the ''[[Consensus Tigurinus]]'', a [[concordat]] between the Zurich and Geneva churches. He reached out to England when [[Archbishop of Canterbury]] [[Thomas Cranmer]] called for an [[ecumenical]] synod of all the evangelical churches. Calvin praised the idea, but ultimately Cranmer was unable to bring it to fruition.<ref>{{Harvnb|Parker|1975|pp=164–165}}</ref>

Calvin sheltered [[Marian exiles]] (those who fled the reign of Catholic [[Mary I of England|Mary Tudor]] in England) in Geneva starting in 1555. Under the city's protection, they were able to form their own reformed church under [[John Knox]] and [[William Whittingham]] and eventually carried Calvin's ideas on doctrine and polity back to England and Scotland.<ref>{{Harvnb|Parker|2006|pp=170–172}}</ref>

[[File:Bâtiment sud du Collège Calvin 2006-08-16.jpg|thumb|left|The [[Collège Calvin]] is now a college preparatory school for the Swiss ''[[Matura|Maturité]]''.|272x272px]]

Within Geneva, Calvin's main concern was the creation of a ''collège'', an institute for the education of children. A site for the school was selected on 25 March 1558 and it opened the following year on 5 June 1559. Although the school was a single institution, it was divided into two parts: a grammar school called the ''collège'' or ''schola privata'' and an advanced school called the ''académie'' or ''schola publica''. Calvin tried to recruit two professors for the institute, Mathurin Cordier, his old friend and Latin scholar who was now based in [[Lausanne]], and [[Emmanuel Tremellius]], the former [[Regius Professor of Hebrew (Cambridge)|Regius professor of Hebrew]] in Cambridge. Neither was available, but he succeeded in obtaining Theodore Beza as rector. Within five years there were 1,200 students in the grammar school and 300 in the advanced school. The ''collège'' eventually became the [[Collège Calvin]], one of the college preparatory schools of Geneva; the ''académie'' became the [[University of Geneva]].<ref>{{Harvnb|Olsen|2004|pp=158–159}}; {{Harvnb|Ganoczy|2004|pp=19–20}}; {{Harvnb|Cottret|2000|pp=256–259}}; {{Harvnb|Parker|2006|pp=157–160}}</ref>

====Impact on France====
Calvin was deeply committed to reforming his homeland, France. The Protestant movement had been energetic, but lacked central organizational direction. With financial support from the church in Geneva, Calvin turned his enormous energies toward uplifting the French Protestant cause. As one historian explains:

<blockquote>He supplied the dogma, the liturgy, and the moral ideas of the new religion, and he also created ecclesiastical, political, and social institutions in harmony with it. A born leader, he followed up his work with personal appeals. His vast correspondence with French Protestants shows not only much zeal but infinite pains and considerable tact and driving home the lessons of his printed treatises.<ref>{{cite book|author=Preserved Smith|title=The Age of the Reformation|url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.226293|year=1920|publisher=H. Holt|page=[https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.226293/page/n207 201]}}</ref> Between 1555 and 1562, more than 100 ministers were sent to France. Nevertheless French King [[Henry II of France|Henry II]] severely persecuted Protestants under the [[Edict of Chateaubriand]] and when the French authorities complained about the missionary activities, the city fathers of Geneva disclaimed official responsibility.<ref>{{Harvnb|McGrath|1990|pp=182–184}}; {{Harvnb|Parker|2006|pp=178–180}}</ref></blockquote>