Idelette Calvin
(d. 1549)
BIRTH
c. 1500
PLACE
Liège, Belgium
DEATH
March 29, 1549
PLACE
Geneva, Switzerland
FAMILY
HUSBAND
John Calvin
(1509-1564)
HOMES
RELIGIOUS VIEWS
CHRISTIAN
ANABAPTIST, REFORMED CHRISTIAN
MEMBERSHIPS
AWARDS
Idelette de Bure was the wife of the Protestant reformer John Calvin. In August 1540, on the recommendation of the reformer Martin Bucer and others, Calvin married Idelette in Strasbourg. She suffered from poor health for much of their marriage. Idelette bore Calvin a son, Jacques, in 1542, but he died soon after birth. Idelette died in Geneva on March 29, 1549. Calvin grieved deeply for her and cared for her children from her first marriage.
EARLY LIFE
Idelette de Bure came from a family in the region of Liège, in the southern Low Countries, now Belgium; her date of birth is unknown. She married Jean Stordeur, and the couple joined the Anabaptists, a radical Protestant movement, and moved to Strasbourg. There they met John Calvin, who was ministering to French-speaking refugees in the city, and he persuaded them to join the Reformed church. Stordeur died of plague around 1540, leaving Idelette a widow with a son and a daughter.
In August 1540, on the recommendation of the reformer Martin Bucer and others, Calvin married Idelette in Strasbourg. The following year they moved to Geneva, where Calvin led the Reformation.
Idelette bore Calvin a son, Jacques, in 1542, but he died soon after birth. She suffered from poor health for much of their marriage.
Idelette died in Geneva on March 29, 1549. Calvin grieved deeply for her and cared for her children from her first marriage. He never remarried.
CAREER
DEATH
The following year they moved to Geneva, where Calvin led the Reformation. Idelette de Bure was the wife of the Protestant reformer John Calvin. In August 1540, on the recommendation of the reformer Martin Bucer and others, Calvin married Idelette in Strasbourg. She suffered from poor health for much of their marriage. Idelette bore Calvin a son, Jacques, in 1542, but he died soon after birth. Idelette died in Geneva on March 29, 1549. Calvin grieved deeply for her and cared for her children from her first marriage. The available biographical account does not describe a continuous final medical course. It gives no dependable sequence of treatment and last symptoms from which to reconstruct a more detailed bedside narrative.
POPULAR BIOGRAPHIES
Idelette de Bure Calvin, John Calvin’s wife. Bainton provides collective biography; the other biographies concern Calvin and their family. Editorial selections prioritize biographical coverage; five standalone biographies were not established. Family and collective biographies, primary writings, references and related studies are labelled individually. Multi-volume works and series are counted as one selection.
1. Women of the Reformation in France and England — Roland H. Bainton. [Collective biography] Find on Amazon
2. Calvin — Bruce Gordon. [Related biography of her husband] Find on Amazon
3. John Calvin: A Sixteenth-Century Portrait — William J. Bouwsma. [Related biography of her husband] Find on Amazon
4. John Calvin: A Biography — T. H. L. Parker. [Related biography of her husband] Find on Amazon
5. A Life of John Calvin: A Study in the Shaping of Western Culture — Alister E. McGrath. [Related biography of her husband] Find on Amazon
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