Théodore de Bèze
24 June 1519—13 October 1605
(de Besze, Theodorus Beza)
Théodore de Bèze, age 24 (1543), Musée historique de la Réformation, Genève.
THÉODORE DE BÈZE, Genevan Reformer, was born at Vézelay, in Burgundy, June 24, 1519; d. at Geneva Oct. 13, 1605. His father, Pierre de Bèze, royal governor of Vézelay, descended from a Burgundian family of distinction; his mother, Marie Bourdelot, was known for her generosity. Théodore’s father had two brothers; one, Nicholas, was a member of Parliament at Paris; the other, Claude, was abbot of the Cistercian monastery Froimont in the diocese of Beauvais. Nicholas, who was unmarried, on a visit to Vézelay was so pleased with Théodore that, with the permission of his parents, he took him to Paris to educate him there. From Paris, Théodore was sent to Orléans (Dec. 1528) to enjoy the instruction of the famous German teacher Melchior Wolmar. He was received into Wolmar’s house, and the day on which this took place was afterward celebrated as a second birthday. Young Bèze soon followed his teacher to Bourges, whither the latter was called by the duchess Margaret of Angoulême, sister of Francis I. Bourges was one of the places in France in which the heart of the Reformation beat the strongest.
When, in 1534, Francis I issued his edict against ecclesiastical innovations, Wolmar returned to Germany, and, in accordance with the wish of his father, Bèze went back to Orléans to study law, and spent four years there (1535–1539). This pursuit had little attraction for him; he enjoyed more the reading of the ancient classics, especially Ovid, Catullus, and Tibullus. He received the degree of licentiate in law Aug. 11, 1539, and as his father desired, went to Paris, where he began practice. His relatives had obtained for him two benefices, the proceeds of which amounted to 700 golden crowns a year, and his uncle had promised to make him his successor.
by Eugène Choisy
The New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge (1908)
Featured Psalms:
Chantez à Dieu nouveau cantique (Psalm 98)
Collections of Psalms:
[For psalters before 1551, see Jean Calvin and Clément Marot]
Pseaumes octantetrois de David
Geneva (1551): WorldCat | BNF
Rutgers Facsimile (1973): WorldCat
Pseaumes de David . . . par C. Marot, avec plusieurs cantiques (Strasbourg, 1553): WorldCat
Octantetrois Pseaumes de David mis en rime françoise (Geneva, 1553): Images
Pseaumes octantetrois de David, plus 6 ps. nouvellement traduits par Th. de Bèze (Geneva, 1554): Gallica
Octanteneuf Pseaumes de David (Geneva, 1556): Images
Les Pseaumes de David, mis en rime françoise par Clement Marot, et Theodore de Beze (Geneva, 1558): Images
Pseaumes de David, mis en rythme francoise par Clement Marot, & Theodore de Besze (Geneva, 1560): Gallica
Les Pseaumes de David, mis en rime françoise par Clement Marot & Theodore de Besze (Paris? 1561): Gallica
Les Pseaumes mis en rime françois
Geneva (1562): Images | Archive.org
Facsimile Librairie Droz (1986): WorldCat
Geneva (1563): Images | Archive.org
Geneva (1565): Images
Geneva (1566): Images
Geneva (1568): Images | Archive.org
Geneva (1576): Images
Geneva (1577): Images
Geneva (1580): Images
Geneva (1585): Images
Geneva (1587): Images
Geneva (1589): Images
Geneva (1596): Images
Geneva (1597): Images
Les Pseaumes de David et les saincts cantiques de la Bible, ensemble les arguments et la paraphrase /
Psalmorum sacrorum libri quinque, vario carminum genere latine expressi, et argumentis, atque paraphrasi illustrati
French / Geneva (1579): Images
Latin / Geneva (1580): Images
Editions:
Théodore de Bèze, Correspondance, 43 vols. (Geneva: Librairie Droz, 1960–2017).
Pierre Pidoux & Samuel Jan Lenselink, Le Psautier huguenot du XVIe siècle, 3 vols. (Bärenreiter, 1962–1969): WorldCat
Pierre Pidoux, Psaumes mis en vers français (1551–1562), accompagnés de la version en prose de Loïs Budé (Geneva: Droz, 1984): WorldCat
Digital Editions, Bibliothèque de Genève: http://institutions.ville-geneve.ch/fr/bge/bge-numerique/personnalites/de-beze/
Manuscripts:
Bibliothèque de Genève: http://institutions.ville-geneve.ch/fr/bge/bge-numerique/personnalites/de-beze/
Related Resources:
H. Leigh Bennett, “Théodore de Bèze,” A Dictionary of Hymnology, ed. John Julian (London, 1892), pp. 140–141: HathiTrust
H. Leigh Bennett, “French Psalters,” A Dictionary of Hymnology, ed. John Julian (London, 1892), pp. 932–936: HathiTrust
Henry Martyn Baird, Theodore Beza: The Counsellor of the French Reformation, 1519–1605 (NY: Putnam’s Sons, 1899): Archive.org
Eugène Choisy, “Theodore Beza,” The New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge, vol. 2 (NY: Funk & Wagnalls, 1908), pp. 78–81: HathiTrust
Waldo Selden Pratt, “The significance of the old French psalter,” Papers of the Hymn Society (NY: The Hymn Society, 1933): PDF
John H. Gerstner Jr., “Singing the words God has put in our mouths: A personalized account of the 1551 Genevan Psalter,” The Hymn, vol. 4, no. 1 (Jan. 1953), pp. 69–76: HathtiTrust
Frédéric Gardy, Bibliographie des œuvres théologiques, littéraires et juridiques de Théodore de Bèze (Geneva, 1960): WorldCat
Paul Frédéric Geisendorf, Théodore de Bèze (Geneva, 1967): WorldCat
Robert M. Kingdon, Geneva and the Consolidation of the French Protestant Movement, 1564–1572 (Madison: Univ. Wisconsin, 1967): WorldCat
Jacques Pineaux, La poésie des Protestants de langue française au XVIe siècle (1559–1598) (Paris, 1971): WorldCat
Édith Weber, “The French Huguenot Psalter,” Proceedings of the Huguenot Society of London, vol. 22, no. 4 (1974).
Tadataka Maruyama, The Ecclesiology of Theodore Beza: The Reform of the True Church (Geneva: Droz, 1978): WorldCat
Jill Raitt, “Theodore Beza,” Shapers of Religious Traditions in Germany, Switzerland, and Poland, 1560–1600 (New Haven, CT: Yale, 1981), pp. 89–104.
Jill Raitt, “Théodore de Bèze,” The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Reformation (Oxford: University Press, 1996), pp. 149–151: Online
Robert Weeda, Le Psautier de Calvin: l'histoire d'un livre populaire au XVIe siècle (1551–1598) (Turnhout, Belgium: Brepols, 2002): WorldCat
Shawn D. Wright, Our Sovereign Refuge: The Pastoral Theology of Theodore Beza (Waynesboro, GA: Paternoster, 2004): Amazon
Emily R. Brink, “A reformed approach to psalmody: The legacy of the Genevan Psalter,” The Hymn, vol. 56, no. 1 (Winter 2005), pp. 16–25: HathiTrust
Duck Schuler, “The history of the Genevan psalter,” Credenda Agenda, vol. 13, no. 2 (2007): PDF
Karin Maag, Lifting Hearts to the Lord: Worship with John Calvin in Sixteenth-Century Geneva (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2016): Amazon
Karin Maag, “No better songs: John Calvin and the Genevan Psalter in the sixteenth century and today,” The Hymn, vol. 68, no. 4 (Autumn 2017), pp. 28–33.
Donald K. McKim & Jim West, Theodore Beza: An Introduction to His Life and Theology (Eugene, OR: Cascade, 2023): Amazon
Édith Weber, “Théodore de Bèze,” Canterbury Dictionary of Hymnology:
http://www.hymnology.co.uk/t/théodore-de-bèze