Meet Calvin’s Wife: Idelette

Idelette was a young widow with two young children. Her former husband, Jean Stordeur, a cabinet maker from Liège (one of “those cities of the Netherlands in which the awakening had been most remarkable,” J.H. Merle D’Aubigne writes), contracted the plague in 1540 a little more than a year after Calvin’s arrival there and died within a few days. The Stordeurs lived in Strasburg, which was a refuge for Christians fleeing Roman persecution. They were Anabaptists, who were rejected by Roman Catholics, Lutherans, and the Reformers alike. It is possible that Idelette was the daughter of a famous Anabaptist, Lambert van Buren, who in 1533 was convicted of heresy, had his property confiscated, and was banished from Liege. Read more»

Joel Beeke, “Who Was Idelette Van Buren?” (January 31, 2021)

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  • R. Scott Clark
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    R.Scott Clark is the President of the Heidelberg Reformation Association, the author and editor of, and contributor to several books and the author of many articles. He has taught church history and historical theology since 1997 at Westminster Seminary California. He has also taught at Wheaton College, Reformed Theological Seminary, and Concordia University. He has hosted the Heidelblog since 2007.

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