ABSTRACT
By 1580, then, John Calvin's story had been chiefly recounted in two forms, either neo-hagiography or demonisation, and nowhere is the contrast in interpretations of data more glaring than in opposed versions of his death. Two standard versions of Calvin's last moments became essential ingredients in the opposed emergent historiographical traditions. Versions of Calvin are and have been dictated by the credal positionings of those who hold to them. Our survey of the French Catholic historical consensus against Calvin confirms, then, that his posthumous reputation, focusing on his almost Satanic pride, was at the mercy of doctrinal disagreements. Calvin's eminent status was also acclaimed by the poet, and dean of St Paul's, John Donne, who placed him alongside St Augustine for 'insight' and 'judgment' in his exposition of Scripture. The royalist and High Church bishop of Durham, John Cosin, found Calvin's statements on the eucharist absolutely consistent with the teachings of the early Fathers of the Church.
