The creation of a transnational, Calvinist network and its significance for Calvinist identity and interaction in early modern Europe

Abstract

This article argues that early modern Calvinism in particular can lay claim to a transnational space in history. It focuses on how a Calvinist transnational network came into existence during the second half of the sixteenth century. It points to the role of repeated persecution, exodus and emigration in shaping both Calvinist theology and culture. Without this transnational experience of repeated emigration and persecution the international solidarity of Calvinists across Europe would not have existed by the early seventeenth century and the pan-European relief work for suffering co-religionists in Germany during the Thirty Years' War would not have been possible. Taking its departure in the exodus of a number of prominent merchant families from Lucca in Italy in the 1560s it follows their history for the next couple of generations, showing first their Huguenot affiliation during their stay in France and their experience of the Wars of Religion. It then follows them via Frankfurt and Nuremberg to Antwerp and Stade in Northern Germany until they finally settled in Amsterdam and London. In this process it emphasises how they intermarried with other Calvinist emigrant families from Flanders (with whom they formed trading companies) and it highlights their active roles within the refugee Calvinist churches which sprang up in the cities where they resided.

Keywords:

• Calvinist network
• Lucca
• Antwerp
• Amsterdam
• London

Notes

 1. See P. Subacchi, “Italians in Antwerp in the Second Half of the Sixteenth Century,” in Minorities in Western European Cities (sixteenth-twentieth centuries), ed. H. Soly and A.K.L. Thijs, 75–76. Brussels, 1995. For similar use of the term national in the early modern period, see Bartolomé Yun Casalilla, “‘Localism,’ global history and transnational history. A reflection from the historian of early modern Europe.” Historisk Tidskrift 127, no. 4, (2007): 659–76, especially 667–68.

 2. Despite the dangers of anachronism I have followed the advice of Bartholomé Yun Casalilla of ‘historicising’ the concept of transnational and its use, see Bartolomé Yun Casalilla, “‘Localism,’ global history and transnational history,” 672.

 3. W.G. Naphy, Calvin and the Consolidation of the Genevan Reformation, 121-43. Manchester, 1994.

 4. J.I. Israel, The Dutch Republic. Its Rise, greatness and Fall 1477–1806, 160 and 308. Oxford, 1995; see also G. Parker, The Dutch Republic, 119. London 1981, and J. Briels, Zuid-Nederlanders in de Republiek 1572–1630, Sint-Niklaas 1985, 28, 47, 69–70.

 5. See M.P. Holt, The French Wars of Religion, 1562–1629, passim. Cambridge, 1995.

 6. O. Gelderblom, Zuid-Nederlandse kooplieden en de opkomst van de Amsterdamse stapelmarkt (1578–1630), 72. Hilversum, 2000, and H. Neidiger, “Die Entstehung des evangelisch-reformierten Gemeinde in Nürnberg als rechtsgeschichtliches Problem.” Mitteilungen des Vereins für Geschichte der Stadt Nürnberg 43 (1952): 245.

 7. For De Bra, see Archive relating to the Reformed refugees from the Upper Palatinate in the Reformierten Pfarramts St. Martha (ARPSM), folder 86 (accounts for 1633); for De Bra's marriage to Elisabeth de famars, see Amstelodamum, 57 (1970), 191. For his involvement in the West India Company, see Stadsarchief Amsterdam, Notarial Archief 419A/17; 702; 1609/209–10; 1947/299; and 1101/193–204. See also De Bra's will which lists his many commercial contacts within the reformed diaspora, 1101/203.

 8. For quote see Papillon, Memoirs of Thomas Papillon, 412; see also Adorni-Braccesi, ed. Vicenzo Burlamacchi. Libro di Ricordi, 139–40.

 9. N. Zemon Davies, “The Sacred and the body social in sixteenth century Lyon.” Past and Present 90 (1981): 48, note 14.

10. Cited in Papillon, Memoirs of Thomas Papillon, 414–15.

11. Holt, The French Wars of Religion, 80–82.

12. Adorni-Braccesi, ed., Vicenzo Burlamacchi. Libro di Ricordi, 149–50 and Papillon, Memoirs of Thomas Papillon, 416–17.

13. Adorni-Braccesi, ed., Vicenzo Burlamacchi. Libro di Ricordi, 149–50 and Papillon, Memoirs of Thomas Papillon, 169.

14. For the term ‘godly warriors’ see D. Crouzet, Les guerriers de Dieu: la violence temps de troubles de religion vers 1525 – vers 1610, 2 vols. Seyssel, 1990; see also Holt, The French Wars of Religion, 121–23.

15. Holt, The French Wars of Religion, 124–25.

16. Holt, The French Wars of Religion, 258, note 37.

17. A. Dietz, Frankfurter Handelsgeschichte, vol. 2. 11–47 Frankfurt, 1921; and C.L. Holtfrerich, Frankfurt as a Financial Centre. From Medieval Trade Fair 6o European Banking Centre, 45–61, especially 50. Munich, 1999.

18. P. Subacchi, “Italians in Antwerp in the Second Half of the Sixteenth Century.” In Minorities in Western European Cities (sixteenth–twentieth centuries), ed. H. Soly and A.K.L. Thijs, 73–90, especially 74. Brussels, 1995.

19. G. Marnef, “The changing face of Calvinism in Antwerp, 1555–1585.” In Calvinism in Europe, 1540–1620, A. Pettegree et al., 143–59, especially 157–58. Cambridge, 1994. See also for the wider historical context G. Marnef, Antwerp in the Age of the Reformation: Underground Protestantism in a Commercial Metropolis, 1550–1577. Baltimore, 1996.

20. G. Marnef, “The changing face of Calvinism in Antwerp, 157.

21. Adorni-Braccesi, ed., Vicenzo Burlamachi. Libro di Ricordi, 253, note 24.

22. O.P. Grell, “Merchants and ministers: the foundations of international Calvinism,” in Calvinism in Europe, ed. A. Pettegree et al., 254–73, especially 260; see also Adorni-Braccesi, ed., Vicenzo Burlamachi, Libro di Ricordi, 253, note 24.

23. W.-R. Baumann, The Merchants Adventurers and the Continental Cloth-trade (15602–1620s), 262–76. Berlin–New York 1990; and J. Bombach, ed. Stade. Von den Siedlungsanfängen bis zur Gegenwart, 134–37. Stade, 1994.

24. H. Schilling, Niederländische Exulanten im 16. Jahrhundert, Schriften des Vereins für Reformationsgeschichte no. 187, 125–34, especially 130. Gütersloh, 1972.

25. H. Schilling, Niederländische Exulanten im 16. Jahrhundert, Schriften des Vereins für Reformationsgeschichte no. 187, 55–56 and 131–32.

26. Bombach, ed., Stade, 134–37.

27. For Emden, see Bombach, ed., Stade, 124–26; for the Calandrini family in Emden, see Adorni-Braccesi, ed., Vicenzo Burlamachi. Libro di Ricordi, 253.

28. O. Gelderblom, Zuid-Nederlandse kooplieden en de opkomst van de Amsterdamse stapelmarkt (1578–1630), 61. Hilversum, 2000.

29. See Gemeente Stadsarchief Amsterdam, Archief van de Waalsch Hervormde Gemeente, 201, inv. 269.

30. J.I. Israel, The Dutch Republic: Its Rise, Greatness, and Fall 1477–1806, 307–15. Oxford 1995; for Amsterdam, see Gelderblom, Zuid-Nederlandse kooplieden, passim.

31. Israel, The Dutch Republic, 328.

32. Gemeente Stadsarchief Amsterdam, Archief van de Waalsch Hervormde Gemeente, 201, inv. 198.

33. Gemeente Stadsarchief Amsterdam, Archief van de Waalsch Hervormde Gemeente, inv. 269 and inv. 197.

34. Adorni-Braccesi, ed., Vicenzo Burlamachi. Libro di Ricordi, 286; for the Malaperts, see Kooijmans, Vriendschap, Vriendschap en de kunst van het overleven in de zeventiende en achttiende eeuw, passim. Amsterdam, 1997.

35. Kooijmans, Vriendschap, 83.

36. Kooijmans, Vriendschap, 83, 83 and Adorni-Braccesi, ed., Vicenzo Burlamachi. Libro di Ricordi, 254, note 27 and 286, note 78.

37. Grell, “Merchants and ministers,” 254–73, especially 261.

38. Gelderblom, Zuid-Nederlandse kooplieden, 240, note 283; see also T. Koopman, “J.P. Sweelinck 1562–1621.” Maandblad van het genootschap Amstelodamum, 58, 1971, 193–97; and http://www.let.uu.nl/–Rudolf.Rasch/personal/dmh12.htm

39. L. Kooijmans, Vriendschap, 353, note 4.

40. Adorni-Braccesi, ed., Vicenzo Burlamachi. Libro di Ricordi, 255 and 257.

41. W.J.C. Moens, ed. The Registers of the French Church, Threadneedle Street London, 82 and 98. Lymington: Publications of the Huguenot Society, vols IX and XIII, 1896 and 1899.

42. John (Giovanni) Calandrini received an export licence from the English government in July 1608, CSP Dom. 1603–1610, 449; however, he received a visit from his nephew, Nicolao Diodati, in Amsterdam in the autumn of 1610 and Nicolao did not leave until January 1611 when he went to London to stay with Philip Burlamachi for the following 18 months; see Adorni-Braccesi, ed., Vicenzo Burlamachi. Libro di Ricordi, 161; by May 1617 John Calandrini and Philip Burlamachi were being used by the English government in financial transactions, CSP Dom. 1611–1618, 468.

43. A.V. Judges, “Philip Burlamachi: a Financier of the Thirty Years War.” Economica 6 (1926): 290.

44. For David Papillon, see DNB.

45. For Putney, see B. Weinreb and C. Hibbert, eds, The London Encyclopædia, 626. London, 1983.

46. D.C. Dorian, The English Diodatis, 54. New Brunswick, 1950; and Adorni-Braccesi, ed., Vicenzo Burlamachi. Libro di Ricordi, 254, note 24.

47. J.A. Worp, ed. Constantijn Huygens Briefwisseling, part 1, 1608–1634, no. 204. The Hague, 1911.

48. O.P. Grell, Dutch Calvinists in Early Stuart London. The Dutch Church in Austin Friars 1603–1642, 62–63. Leiden, 1989.