Online Encyclopedia

Search over 40,000 articles from the original, classic Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th Edition.

SERVETUS, MICHAEL [MIGUEL SERVETO] (1...

Online Encyclopedia
Originally appearing in Volume V24, Page 686 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
» Make a correction to this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Spread the word: del.icio.us del.icio.us it!

See also:

SERVETUS, See also:MICHAEL [See also:MIGUEL SERVETO] (1511-1553) , physician and polemic, was See also:born in 1511 1 at See also:Tudela in See also:Navarre, his See also:father being Hernando Villanueva, a See also:notary of See also:good See also:family in See also:Aragon. His surname is given by himself as " Serveto " in his See also:early See also:works, " per Michaelem Serveto, See also:alias Reues." Later he Latinized it "Servetus "; when See also:writing See also:French (1553) he signs " See also:Michel Servetus." 2 It is probable that he was of the same family as the See also:Spanish ecclesiastic Marco See also:Antonio Serveto de Reves (d. 1598), born at Villanueva de Sigena in the See also:diocese of See also:Huesca (Latassa, Bibl. nueva, ;1798, i. 6o9). At this See also:place is the traditional See also:mansion of the family, and in the See also:parish See also:church the family See also:altar with the family arms (See also:Christian See also:Life, 29th See also:Sept. 1888). Servetus at See also:Geneva makes Villanueva his birthplace, assigning it to the adjoining diocese of See also:Lerida. His later adopted surname, Villanovanus or de Villeneufve, was no See also:mere See also:pseudonym since he followed his father's example. Of his See also:education we only know that his father sent him to study See also:law at See also:Toulouse, where he first became acquainted with the See also:Bible (1528). From, 1525 he had found a See also:patron in Juan de See also:Quintana (d. 1534), a Franciscan 1 This date rests on his own testimony (both at See also:Vienna and Geneva) and that of See also:Calvin. An isolated passage of the Geneva testimony may be cited in favour of 1509.

' The See also:

form Servet first appears in a See also:letter of Oecolam~ppaadius to the See also:senate of See also:Basel (1531) and is never used by himself. See also:Mosheim'e " Servede " is an imaginary form. promoted in 1530 to be See also:confessor to See also:Charles V. In the See also:train of Quintana he witnessed at See also:Bologna the See also:double See also:coronation of Charles in See also:February 1530, visited See also:Augsburg, and perhaps saw See also:Luther at See also:Coburg. The spectacle of the See also:adoration of the See also:pope at Bologna impressed him strongly in an See also:anti-papal direction. He See also:left Quintana, visited See also:Lyons and Geneva, repaired to See also:Oecolampadius at Basel, and pushed on to See also:Bucer and See also:Capito at See also:Strassburg. Considerable See also:attention was attracted by his first publication, De Trinitatis erroribus (1531, printed by See also:John Setzer at See also:Hagenau). It is crude, but See also:original and See also:earnest, and shows a wide range of See also:reading very remarkable in so See also:young a See also:man. See also:Melanchthon writes " Servetum multum lego." Quintana, who describes him as di grandissimo ingegno, and gran sophista, thought the See also:matter was Serveto's, but the See also:execution too good to be his (H. Lammer, Monumenta Vaticana, 1861, 109). The See also:essay was followed in 1532 by a revised presentation of his views in See also:dialogue form. We next find him at Lyons (1535) editing scientific works for the Trechsel See also:firm, adopting the " Villanovanus " surname, which he constantly used till the See also:year of his See also:death.

At Lyons he found a new patron in Dr Symphorien Champier (Campegius) (1472-1539), whose profession he resolved to follow. Resorting (1536) to See also:

Paris, he studied See also:medicine under Johann See also:Gunther, Jacques See also:Dubois and See also:Jean See also:Fernel. It was in 1536, when Calvin was on a hurried and final visit to See also:France, that in Paris he first met Servetus, and as he himself says, proposed to set him right on theological points.' Servetus succeeded Vesalius as assistant to Gunther, who extols his See also:general culture, and notes his skill in See also:dissection, and ranks him vix ulli See also:secundus in knowledge of See also:Galen. He graduated in arts, and claims to have graduated in medicine (of this there is no See also:record at Paris), published six lectures on " syrups " (the most popular of his works), lectured on See also:geometry and " See also:astrology " (from a medical point of view) and defended by counsel a suit brought against him (See also:March 1538) by the medical See also:faculty on the ground of his astrological lectures. In See also:June 1538 he writes from See also:Louvain (enrolled there as a university student on the 14th of See also:December 1537 as Michael See also:Villanova) to his father (then See also:resident at See also:San Gil), explains his removal from Paris, early in See also:September, in consequence of the death (8th See also:August) of his See also:master (el senor mi See also:maestro), says he is studying See also:theology and See also:Hebrew, and proposes to return to Paris when See also:peace is proclaimed. After this he practised medicine for a See also:short See also:time at See also:Avignon, and for a longer See also:period at Charlieu (where he contemplated See also:marriage, but was deterred by a See also:physical impediment). In September 1540 he entered himself for further study in the medical school at See also:Montpellier, possibly gaining there a medical degree. Among attendants on his Paris lectures was See also:Pierre Paulmier, since 1528 See also:archbishop of See also:Vienne. Paulmier now invited Servetus to Vienne as his confidential physician. He thus acted for twelve years (1541-1553), making See also:money by his practice, and also by renewed editorial See also:work for the Lyons publishers—work in which he constantly displayed his See also:passion for original See also:discovery in all departments. Outwardly he was a conforming See also:Catholic; privately he pursued his theological speculations. It is probable that in 1541 he had been rebaptized (he maintained the See also:duty of adult See also:baptism at the See also:age of See also:thirty).

See also:

Late in 1545, or very early in 1546, he opened a fatal See also:correspondence with Calvin, forwarding the See also:manuscript of a much-enlarged revision of his theological tracts and expressing a wish to visit Geneva. Calvin replied (13th February 1546) in a letter now lost; in which, he says, he expressed himself " plus durement que ma coustume ne See also:porte." On the same See also:day he wrote to See also:Guillaume See also:Farel, " si venerit, modo valeat mea autoritas, vivum exire nunquam patiar," and to Pierre Viret in the same terms. Evidently Servetus had warning that if he went to Geneva it was at his peril. Writing to See also:Abel Pouppin (in or about 1547) he complains that Calvin would not return his manuscript, and adds, " mihi ob See also:earn rem moriendum esse certo scio." The See also:volume of theological tracts, again recast, was declined by two Basel publishers, Jean Frellon (at Calvin's instance) and Marrinus, but an edition ' See also:Beza incorrectly makes Servetus the challenger, and the date 1534.of See also:i000 copies was secretly printed at Vienna by Balthasar Arnollet. Ready by the 3rd of See also:January 1553, the bulk of the impression was privately consigned to Lyons and See also:Frankfort for the See also:Easter See also:market. On 26th February, a letter, enclosing a See also:sheet of the printed See also:book, and revealing the See also:secret of its authorship, was written from Geneva by Guillaume H. C. de Trye, formerly echevin of Lyons, to his See also:cousin See also:Antoine Arneys in that See also:city. The letter bears no sign of dictation by Calvin (who must, how-ever, have furnished the enclosed sheet), and de Trye's See also:part may be explained by an old grudge of his against the Lyons book-sellers. For a subsequent letter Calvin furnished (reluctantly, according to de Trye) samples of Servetus's See also:handwriting, expressly to secure his conviction. The inquisitor-general at Lyons, Matthieu Ory (the " Doribus " of See also:Rabelais) took up the See also:case on 12th March; Servetus was interrogated on 16th March, arrested on 4th See also:April, and examined on the two following days. His See also:defence was that, in correspondence with Calvin, he had assumed the See also:character of Servetus for purposes of discussion. At 4 A.M. on 7th April he escaped from his See also:prison, evidently by connivance.

He took the road for See also:

Spain, but turned back in fear of See also:arrest. How he spent the next four months is not known. His own See also:account is that he never left France; Calvin believed he was wandering in the See also:North of See also:Italy; the absurd See also:suggestion that he See also:lay hid as a conspirator in Geneva was first started by J. See also:Spon (Hist. de Geneve, 168o). On Saturday the 12th of August he rode into Louyset, a See also:village on the French See also:side of Geneva. Next See also:morning, having sold his See also:horse, he walked into Geneva, put up at " the See also:Rose," and asked for a See also:boat to take him towards See also:Zurich on his way to See also:Naples. Finding he could not get the boat till next day (See also:Monday) he attended afternoon service (he would probably have got into trouble if he had not done so), was recognized at church See also:par quelques freres, and immediately arrested. The See also:process against him (See also:Nicholas de la See also:Fontaine being in the first instance the nominal prosecutor) lasted from 14th August to 26th See also:October, when See also:sentence " estre brusle tout vyfz " was passed, and carried out next day at Champel (Oct. 27th, 1553). Calvin would have had him beheaded. Meanwhile the See also:civil tribunal at Vienne had ordered (17th June) that he be fined and burned alive; the sentence of the ecclesiastical tribunal at Vienne was delayed till 23rd December. Jacques Charmier, a See also:priest in Servetus's confidence, was condemned to three years' imprisonment in Vienne.

The only likeness of Servetus is a small copperplate by C. Sichem, 1607 (often reproduced); the original is not known and the authenticity is uncertain. In 1876 a statue of Servetus was erected by See also:

Don Pedro Gonsalez de Velasco in front of his Instituto Antropologico at See also:Madrid; in 1903 an expiatory See also:block was erected at Champel; in 1907 a statue was erected in Paris (Place de la Mairie du XIVe See also:Arrondissement); another is at Aramnese; another was prepared (1910) for erection at Vienne. The religious views of Servetus, marked by strong individuality, are not easily described in terms of current systems. His denial of the tripersonality of the Godhead and the eternity of the Son, along with his anabaptism, made his See also:system abhorrent to Catholics and Protestants alike, in spite of his intense Biblicism, his passionate devotion to the See also:person of See also:Christ, and his Christocentric See also:scheme of the universe. His earliest theological writings, in which he approximates to the views of F. See also:Socinus, are better known than his riper work. He has been classed with Arians, but he endorses in his own way the homoousian See also:formula, and denounces See also:Arius as " Christi gloriae incapacissimus." He has had many critics, some apologists (e.g. Postel and Lincurius), few followers. The fifteen condemnatory clauses, prefacing the sentence at Geneva, set forth in detail that he was guilty of heresies, blasphemously expressed, against the See also:foundation of the Christian See also:religion. An instance of his injurious See also:language was found in his use of the See also:term " trinitaires " to denote " ceux qui croyent en la Trinit6." No law, current in Geneva, has ever been adduced as enacting the See also:capital sentence. See also:Claude Rigot, the procureur-g6n6ral, put it to Servetus that his legal education must have warned him of the provisions of the See also:code of Justinian to this effect; but in 1535 all the old See also:laws on the subject of religion had been set aside at Geneva ; the only civil See also:penalty recognized by the edicts of 1543 being banishment.

The Swiss churches, while agreeing to condemn Servetus, say nothing of capital See also:

punishment in their letters of See also:advice. The See also:extinct law seems to have been revived for the occasion. A valuable controversy followed on the question of executing heretics, in which Beza (for), Mino Celsi (against), and several See also:caustic See also:anonymous writers (especially Castellio) took part. The following is a See also:list of his writings: i. De Trinitatis erroribus libri septem (Hagenau, 1331). 2. Dialogorum de Trinitate libri duo (Hagenau, 1532); two reprints of 1 and 2, to pass for originals; No. I in Dutch version (162o), by See also:Regnier Telle. 3. Claudii Ptolomaei Alexandrini geographicae enarrationis libri octo; ex Bilibaldi Pirckheymeri translatione, sed ad Graeca et prisca exemplaria a Michaele Villanovano jam primum recogniti. Adjecta insu per ab eodem scholia, &c. Lyons, Melchior and Gaspar Trechsel (1535; 2nd ed., Lyons, See also:Hugo a Porta (1541), i.e.

1542 fol.; printed by Caspar Trechsel at Vienne) ; on this work Tollin founds his high estimate of Servetus as a See also:

comparative geographer; the passage incriminated on his trial as attacking the verity of See also:Moses is from Lorenz. Friese; the accounts of the language and character of See also:modern nations show original observation. 4. In Leonardum Fuchsium apologia. Autore Michaele Villanovano (1536, reproduced by See also:photography, 1909). 5. Syruporum universa ratio, &c. (Paris, 1537); four subsequent See also:editions; latest, See also:Venice, 1548 (six lectures on digestion; syrups treated in fifth lecture). 6. See also:Michaelis Villanovani in quendam medicum apologetica disceptatio See also:pro astrologic (Paris, 1538; reprinted, See also:Berlin, 188o); the medicus is jean Tagault, who interrupted Servetus's lectures on See also:astronomy, including See also:meteorology. 7 Biblui Sacra ex Santis Pagnini tralatione . recognita et scholiis illustrate, &c. (Lyons, Hugo a Porta, 1542, fol.), remarkable for its theory of prophecy, explained in the See also:preface and illustrated in the notes.

8. D'Artigny says Servetus See also:

fit See also:lee argumens to a Spanish version of the Summa of See also:Aquinas; this, and See also:divers traits de grammaire from Latin into Spanish have not been identified. 9. Christianismi restitutio (1553; perfect copies in Vienna and Paris); a copy in See also:Edinburgh University Library is See also:complete except that the missing first sixteen pages are replaced by a transcript from the original draft, containing matter not in the See also:print (this supplementary manuscript was reproduced by photography, 1909); a transcript of other portions of the draft is in the Bibl. Nat., Paris; partly reprinted (See also:London, 1723), (copies in London and Paris) ; reprinted (See also:page for page) from the Vienna copy (See also:Nuremberg, Kau. 1790) ; See also:German version, by B. See also:Spiess (See also:Wiesbaden, 1892-1895) ; the last See also:section Apologia to Melanchthon, is given in the original Latin. The book is not strictly anonymous; the See also:initials M.S.V. are given at the end; the name Seruetus on p. 199. The often-cited description of the pulmonary circulation (which occurs in the 1546 draft) begins p. 169; it has escaped even Sigmond that Servetus had an See also:idea of the See also:composition of See also:water and of See also:air; the hint for his re-searches was the dual form of the Hebrew words for See also:blood, water, &c. Two See also:treatises, See also:Desiderius (ante 1542) and De tribus impostoribus (1598) ihave been wrongly ascribed to Servetus.

Most of his few remaining letters are printed by Mosheim; his letter from Louvain was despatched in duplicate (to evade See also:

capture), but both were seized; one is in the Record See also:Office (U. 140), the other in the See also:British Museum (See also:Cotton See also:MSS., See also:Galba B. x.). See also:heim) is superseded by Mosheim's Anderweitiger Versuch (1748, with appendix, Neue Nachrichten, &c., 1750), reproducing the records of the Vienne examination (since lost) first printed by D'Artigny, Nouveaux Memoires d'hist., &c., vol. IL (1749). Chaufepie's valuable See also:article, Nouv. Did. historique, iv. (1756), fol. (in See also:English, by Rev. See also:James Yair, 1771) makes no use of Mosheim's later researches. Trechsel's See also:Die Prot. Antitrinitaires vor F. Socin, bk. i.

(1839), uses all available material up to date. The investigations of H. Tollin, M.D. (See also:

forty See also:separate articles in various See also:journals, 1874 to 1885) have thrown much See also:light, mixed with some conjecture. The records of the Geneva trial, first published by De la See also:Roche, reproduced in Rilliet's Relation &c., (1844), and elsewhere, are best given in vol. viii. (187o) of the Corpus reformatorum edition of Calvin's works; Roget's Hist. du peuple de Geneve, vol. iv. (1877), has a good account of both trials. The passage on the pulmonary circulation, first noticed by W. See also:Wotton, Reflections upon Anc. and Mod. Learning (1694), has given rise to a literature of its own; see, especially, Tollin's Die Entdeckung See also:des Blutkreislaufs, &c. (1876); See also:Huxley, in Fortnightly Rev. (February 1878); Tollin's Kritische Bemerkungen itber See also:Harvey and See also:seine Vorgdnger (1882).

Other physiological speculations of Servetus are noted by G. Sigmond, Unnoticed Theories of Servetus (1826). The best study of Servetus as a theologian is Tollin's Lehrsystem M. Servets (3 vols., 1876-1878) ; Punyer's De M. Serveti See also:

doctrine (1876), is useful. From a Unitarian-point of view, Servetus is treated by R. See also:Wright, See also:Apology (1807) W. H. See also:Drummond, D.D. (1848); R. See also:Wallace, Antitrin. Biog.

(185o) ; J. S. See also:

Porter, Servetus and Calvin (1854). E. See also:Saisset, Rev. des deux Mondes (1848), treats Servetus as a pantheist; he is followed by Menendez Pelayo, Los Heterodoxos espanoles (188o, vol. ii.), and by R. See also:Willis, M.D., Servetus and Calvin (1877, an unsatisfactory book; cf. A. See also:Gordon, Theol. Rev., April and See also:July 1878). Of Servetus's See also:personal character the best vindication is Tollin's Characterbild M. Servets (1876, in French, with additions by Dardier, Portrait Caractere, 1879). His See also:story has been dramatized by Max See also:Ring, Die Genfer (185o), by Jose Echegaray, La Muerte en los Labios (188.o), by See also:Albert See also:Hamann, Servet (1881), and by Prof.

See also:

Shields, The Reformer of Geneva (1897). See also:Recent See also:pamphlets by Spanish and French writers are numerous; some of the illustrations in Dr W. See also:Osier's Michael Servetus (1909), are useful. (A.

End of Article: SERVETUS, MICHAEL [MIGUEL SERVETO] (1511-1553)

Additional information and Comments

There are no comments yet for this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Please link directly to this article:
Highlight the code below, right click, and select "copy." Then paste it into your website, email, or other HTML.
Site content, images, and layout Copyright © 2006 - Net Industries, worldwide.
Do not copy, download, transfer, or otherwise replicate the site content in whole or in part.

Links to articles and home page are always encouraged.

[back]
SERVAN, JOSEPH MICHEL ANTOINE (1737-1807) 		[next]
SERVIA

Site © 2006 - Net Industries