Absolutism Vs Calvinism
A wise man once said that everything is about sex, except for sex, which is about power. This may be perhaps a liberal analogy, but it is true that the inception of modern divorce in John Calvin’s Geneva is grounded in both the Protestant view on human sexuality as well as its sensibilities in maintaining order and authority. Both religious and political authorities saw the value in dissolving unhappy unions, for reasons of procreation as well as a means of maintaining authority. On the one hand, these divorces were groundbreaking in that they allowed for remarriage, but the strict circumstances with which one is allowed to obtain a divorce, as well as unintended prejudices against the lower classes and women, assured that the Calvinist
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On the one hand, the actual administrative body that governed on issues of divorce and adultery were made up of elected officials in a stratified system of multiple legislative assemblies (12-14). However, these assemblies were also made up exclusively of landowning males in the bourgeois class. In addition, as was demonstrated in the cases presented by Kingdon, class distinctions and also the connections held by those bringing the cases to the Consistory were extremely important to whether or not one actually obtained a divorce. For example, a law passed in 1566 regarding the death penalty for adulterers held sharper penalties for servants charged with adulterous behavior (117). In addition, the two first two men discussed, Pierre Ameaux and Antoine Calvin, were able to obtain divorces and remarry, in no small part due to their high standing in society (31), along with their connection with and overt support from John Calvin himself (49, 77). Along these same lines, while the laws themselves were designed to be equally applied to both genders, problematic prejudices began to appear, as a majority of divorces ruled in favor of men, and women were disproportionately charged with and punished for adultery. This was due to general misogynistic prejudices felt towards women during the time period, along with the wide literacy and education gap between men and women. Other problems with the Genevan system included the propensity of the government for sentencing criminal offenders to death (29), as well as a judicial process that included consecutive interrogations (effectively badgering) of accused parties, sometimes incorporating torture to coerce confessions. Overall, however, the amalgamation of Roman and Scriptural law was groundbreaking in its
On the one hand, the actual administrative body that governed on issues of divorce and adultery were made up of elected officials in a stratified system of multiple legislative assemblies (12-14). However, these assemblies were also made up exclusively of landowning males in the bourgeois class. In addition, as was demonstrated in the cases presented by Kingdon, class distinctions and also the connections held by those bringing the cases to the Consistory were extremely important to whether or not one actually obtained a divorce. For example, a law passed in 1566 regarding the death penalty for adulterers held sharper penalties for servants charged with adulterous behavior (117). In addition, the two first two men discussed, Pierre Ameaux and Antoine Calvin, were able to obtain divorces and remarry, in no small part due to their high standing in society (31), along with their connection with and overt support from John Calvin himself (49, 77). Along these same lines, while the laws themselves were designed to be equally applied to both genders, problematic prejudices began to appear, as a majority of divorces ruled in favor of men, and women were disproportionately charged with and punished for adultery. This was due to general misogynistic prejudices felt towards women during the time period, along with the wide literacy and education gap between men and women. Other problems with the Genevan system included the propensity of the government for sentencing criminal offenders to death (29), as well as a judicial process that included consecutive interrogations (effectively badgering) of accused parties, sometimes incorporating torture to coerce confessions. Overall, however, the amalgamation of Roman and Scriptural law was groundbreaking in its