Decentering Reformed Martyrdom from Calvin and the Martyrologies Through Bezan Sources

Martyrdom in the sixteenth-century French and Swiss Reformations has long been an exciting area of research for scholars. However, the subject has almost exclusively been studied through large collections called the “martyrologies” or through Jean Calvin’s writings, at the expense of other sources. The article first examines these historiographical trends and then addresses some critical issues of a martyrology—or a Calvin-centered approach. It provides some methodological tools to overcome such issues and advocates for considering alternative source bases that have been neglected thus far. The introduction to an ongoing survey around the figure of the poet and reformer Théodore de Bèze illustrates the range of possibilities. Decentering Reformed martyrdom would allow scholarship to better acknowledge its complexity and its corrigibility.