VirginiaHuguenot
Puritanboard Librarian
Recent threads on the subject of marriage and courtship have reminded me of previous studies I have done on specific examples of marriage involving Reformers (and others).
Some interesting historical highlights worthy of note are:
* The marriage of Martin Luther and Katherina von Bora was the quintessential Reformed marriage. Both renounced their Papist vows of celibacy and entered into God's holy institution of marriage for their mutual benefit and in so doing set the prime example of how one can serve God while being married.
* John Calvin married a widow, Idelette de Bure. She died before him, and they three children who died in infancy, although she had two children by her first husband.
Source: http://www.desiringgod.org/library/biographies/97calvin.html
* John Calvin described a woman's marriageable years (ie., "flower of her age," re: I Cor. 7.36) as between 12 and 20.
* John Knox married twice: first, at age 38; then, after his wife passed away, again, at age 50, to a young woman age 17! As to the age discrepancy issue, all of Knox's godly progeny came from the second wife, and their marriage was a happy one. William Gouge addresses age disparity in his work on Of Domesticall Duties.
* C.S. Lewis (58), John Murray (60's) and William Farel (70's) all married for the first time late in life. Calvin did not approve of Farel's marriage due to his age.
* Puritans and Reformers who wrote on marriage include William Gouge, Henry Smith, Heinrich Bullinger, Martin Luther, John Calvin, Daniel Defoe and many others. All of their works are still relevant and edifying today.
Some interesting historical highlights worthy of note are:
* The marriage of Martin Luther and Katherina von Bora was the quintessential Reformed marriage. Both renounced their Papist vows of celibacy and entered into God's holy institution of marriage for their mutual benefit and in so doing set the prime example of how one can serve God while being married.
* John Calvin married a widow, Idelette de Bure. She died before him, and they three children who died in infancy, although she had two children by her first husband.
Perhaps the most important providence during this three-year stay in Strasbourg was finding a wife. Several had tried to get Calvin a wife. He was 31 years old and numerous women had shown interest. Calvin had told his friend and matchmaker William Farel what he wanted in a wife: "The only beauty which allures me is this – that she be chaste, not too nice or fastidious, economical, patient, likely to take care of my health" (see note 23). Parker comments, "Romantic love . . . seems to have had no place in his character. Yet prosaic wooing led to a happy marriage" (see note 24). I think Parker was wrong about romantic love (see below on Idelette's death). But the prosaic wooing he referred to was toward an Anabaptist widow named Idelette Stordeur who had joined Calvin's congregation with her husband Jean. In the spring of 1540, Jean died of plague and that August 6, 1540, Calvin and Idelette were married. She brought a son and daughter with her into Calvin's home.
Idelette was never well again. They had two more children who also died at or soon after birth. Then on March 29, 1549, Idelette died of what was probably tuberculosis. Calvin wrote to Viret,
You know well how tender, or rather soft, my mind is. Had not a powerful self-control been given to me, I could not have borne up so long. And truly, mine is no common source of grief. I have been bereaved of the best companion of my life, of one who, had it been so ordained, would have willingly shared not only my poverty but even my death. During her life she was the faithful helper of my ministry. From her I never experienced the slightest hindrance. She was never troublesome to me throughout the whole course of her illness, but was more anxious about her children than about herself. As I feared these private worries might upset her to no purpose, I took occasion three days before she died, to mention that I would not fail in discharging my duty towards her children" (see note 27).
Calvin never remarried.
Source: http://www.desiringgod.org/library/biographies/97calvin.html
* John Calvin described a woman's marriageable years (ie., "flower of her age," re: I Cor. 7.36) as between 12 and 20.
* John Knox married twice: first, at age 38; then, after his wife passed away, again, at age 50, to a young woman age 17! As to the age discrepancy issue, all of Knox's godly progeny came from the second wife, and their marriage was a happy one. William Gouge addresses age disparity in his work on Of Domesticall Duties.
* C.S. Lewis (58), John Murray (60's) and William Farel (70's) all married for the first time late in life. Calvin did not approve of Farel's marriage due to his age.
* Puritans and Reformers who wrote on marriage include William Gouge, Henry Smith, Heinrich Bullinger, Martin Luther, John Calvin, Daniel Defoe and many others. All of their works are still relevant and edifying today.
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