Servetus, Michael

(1511–53)

   Theologian.

   Servetus was born in Tudela, Navarre, and was educated at Saragossa and Toulouse. Subsequently he travelled to Basle and Strasbourg where he met Martin bucer. He came to believe that the doctrine of the Trinity should be abandoned and he expressed this view in his De Trinitatis Erroribus Libri VII and, later, in his Christianismi Restitutio. In the meantime he had become a distinguished doctor and between 1541 and 1553 he was physician to the Archbishop of Vienna. However, as a result of his religious convictions, he was arrested by the Inquisition in Vienna. He managed to escape to Geneva, but calvin turned out to be no more merciful or tolerant than the Roman Catholic authorities. Servetus was burnt at the stake by the Genevan authorities after refusing to recant. Calvin has been much criticised for his part in this affair.

   R.H. Bainton, Hunted Heretic: The Life and Death of Michael Servetus (1953);

   J. Friedman, Michael Servetus: A Case Study in Total Heresy (1978);

   J.F. Fulton, Michael Servetus: Humanist and Martyr (1953).