Between the medieval and the modern: the Book of Martyrs and the reformed hagiography of Jean Crespin (1570)

Abstract

This article analyzes the Book of Martyrs last published in 1570 by the printer Jean Crespin, in the context of the religious reforms that were taking place in Geneva at the time. Here Crespin's work is taken beyond its propagandistic or pedagogical function, but also as a true hagiographic discourse. Tributes to a tradition that was in force throughout the Middle Ages, even with criticism of the saints and this type of narrative, considered superstitious, we argue that the hagiographic discourse remained among Protestants, especially among reformed people like Crespin. However, this discourse does not remain the same as the medieval or Catholic model, but was reformed by a Genevan printer in coherence with his own confession of faith and doctrine. In this sense, the article demonstrates how Crespin, through cases of martyrdom, reformed the theme of holiness, as well as hagiographic writing with his Book of Martyrs, thus inserting himself in the space between the medieval world and modernity.