Michael Servetus
Michael Servetus, otherwise known as Miguel Serveto, was born in Villanueva de Sijena in 1511. He was born into a Catholic family of riches, his father being appointed as royal Notary of the Royal Monastery of Sijena. Servetus was an intelligent child. In his early teenage years, he was already familiar with Latin, Greek, and Hebrew, as well as being gifted in mathematics and philosophy. By the young age of 14, he started to serve Juan de Quintana “doctor theologus” at the University of Paris (Pérez and Hillar xv).
Nearing his twenties, Michael Servetus followed his father’s wishes to study law and attended the University of Toulouse, the most distinguished university in France at the time. He spent the majority of his college years reading the Bible, discovering very early that he did not agree with the doctrine of the trinity. He could not find the trinity to be explicitly revealed in the holy writings, causing him to believe that it stood in the way of evangelization of the Moors and the Jews (Pérez and Hillar xv).
Servetus completed two years at the university before he was recalled to the service of Quintana, who was now …show more content…
Panicked, Michael Servetus fled to Paris, where he took on a new identity, Michel de Villeneuve. While “Michel de Villeneuve” studied mathematics and medicine in Paris, John Calvin was being forced into hiding due to the inaugural address he had written for Nicolas Cop, Rector of the University of Paris. The address was described as “…blend(ing) the teachings of Erasmus and Luther in a manifesto of reform” (Bainton 81). When Calvin attempted to return to Paris in order to meet with Servetus, Michael did not show up. He stated, “On this account I delayed…and also because of imminent persecution, so that with Jonah I longed rather to flee to the sea or to one of the New Isles,” (Pérez and Hillar