Marie Dentière was a Geneva

Geneva

Geneva In the national languages of Switzerland the city is known as Genf , Ginevra and Genevra is the second-most-populous city in Switzerland and is the most populous city of Romandie, the French-speaking part of Switzerland...

n Protestant

Protestantism

Protestantism is one of the three major groupings within Christianity. It is a movement that began in Germany in the early 16th century as a reaction against medieval Roman Catholic doctrines and practices, especially in regards to salvation, justification, and ecclesiology.The doctrines of the...

 reformer and theologian. She played an active role in Genevan religion and politics, playing a large role in the closure of Geneva's convents, and preaching with such reformers as John Calvin

John Calvin

John Calvin was an influential French theologian and pastor during the Protestant Reformation. He was a principal figure in the development of the system of Christian theology later called Calvinism. Originally trained as a humanist lawyer, he broke from the Roman Catholic Church around 1530...

 and William Farel

William Farel

William Farel , né Guilhem Farel, 1489 in Gap, Dauphiné, in south-eastern France, was a French evangelist, and a founder of the Reformed Church in the cantons of Neuchâtel, Berne, Geneva, and Vaud in Switzerland...

. In addition to her writings on the Reformation

Protestant Reformation

The Protestant Reformation was a 16th-century split within Western Christianity initiated by Martin Luther, John Calvin and other early Protestants. The efforts of the self-described "reformers", who objected to the doctrines, rituals and ecclesiastical structure of the Roman Catholic Church, led...

, Dentiere's writings seem to be a defense and propagation of the female perspective in the rapidly changing world. Her second husband, Antoine Froment

Antoine Froment

Antoine Froment was a Protestant reformer in Geneva. Froment is best remembered for his role in initiating and solidifying the Reformation in Geneva along with William Farel and John Calvin...

, was also active in the reformation.

Early life

Much of Marie Dentière's early life remains unknown. She was born into a relatively well-off family of nobility, and entered an Augustinian nunnery

Augustinian nuns

Augustinian nuns are the most ancient and continuous segment of the Roman Catholic Augustinian religious order under the canons of contemporary historical method. The Augustinian nuns, named after Saint Augustine of Hippo , are several Roman Catholic enclosed monastic orders of women living...

 at a young age, eventually becoming abbess

Abbess

An abbess is the female superior, or mother superior, of a community of nuns, often an abbey....

. However Martin Luther

Martin Luther

Martin Luther was a German priest, professor of theology and iconic figure of the Protestant Reformation. He strongly disputed the claim that freedom from God's punishment for sin could be purchased with money. He confronted indulgence salesman Johann Tetzel with his Ninety-Five Theses in 1517...

's preaching against monasticism led her to flee to Strasbourg

Strasbourg

Strasbourg is the capital and principal city of the Alsace region in eastern France and is the official seat of the European Parliament. Located close to the border with Germany, it is the capital of the Bas-Rhin département. The city and the region of Alsace are historically German-speaking,...

 to escape persecution--not only for abandoning her position as nun but for converting to the Reformation. Strasbourg was a popular refuge for Protestants at that time.

Adult life

While in Strasbourg, in 1528, she married Simon Robert, a young priest. Soon they left for an area outside of Geneva to preach the Reformation, and had five children together. Robert died 5 years later in 1533, and the now widowed Dentiere married Antoine Froment, who was at work in Geneva with Farel. Dentière's outspokenness strongly irritated Farel and Calvin, which in turn drove a rift between them and Froment.

Religious accomplishments

Dentière's work stresses the importance of the Reformation, but also the need for a larger role for women in religious practice. To Dentière, women and men were equally qualified and entitled to the interpretation of Scripture and practice of religion.
In Geneva in 1536, following the successful rebellion against the Duke of Savoy

Charles III, Duke of Savoy

Charles III of Savoy , often called Charles the Good, was Duke of Savoy from 1504 to 1553, although most of his lands were ruled by the French between 1536 and his death....

 and the local prince-bishop

Prince-Bishop

A Prince-Bishop is a bishop who is a territorial Prince of the Church on account of one or more secular principalities, usually pre-existent titles of nobility held concurrently with their inherent clerical office...

, Dentiere composed The War and Deliverance of the City of Geneva. The work was published anonymously, and called for Genevans to adopt the Reformation.
In 1539, Dentière wrote an open letter to Marguerite of Navarre

Marguerite de Navarre

Marguerite de Navarre , also known as Marguerite of Angoulême and Margaret of Navarre, was the queen consort of Henry II of Navarre...

, sister of the King

Francis I of France

Francis I was King of France from 1515 until his death. During his reign, huge cultural changes took place in France and he has been called France's original Renaissance monarch...

. The letter, called the Epistre tres utile, or "very useful letter", called for an expulsion of Catholic

Catholic

The word catholic comes from the Greek phrase , meaning "on the whole," "according to the whole" or "in general", and is a combination of the Greek words meaning "about" and meaning "whole"...

 clergy from France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

, and criticized the foolishness of the Protestant clergy who compelled Calvin and Farel to leave Geneva. The letter was quickly suppressed due to its subversiveness. The full title of the letter is very long, and is listed at the end of the article.

However her encouragement of female involvement in writing and theology angered Genevan authorities, and no other female writings were published in the city for the rest of the 16th century.

Editions

• Marie Dentiere, Epistle to Marguerite de Navarre and Preface to a Sermon by John Calvin. Edited and translated by Mary B. McKinley. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 2004, Pp. xxx + 110 (The Other Voice in Early Modern Europe.)