Jean Crespin

Jean Crespin, Jean and John Crispin Crispin (* 1520 in Arras, France, † April 12, 1572 in Geneva, Switzerland ) was a French jurist. From 1548 he became the most successful printer and publisher of his time in Geneva.

Life

Jean Crespin was the son of the jurist Charles Crespin in Arras. Crespin studied in Leuven 1533-1538 first literature, then law, and then practiced as a lawyer in Arras. Since 1540 he was parliamentary lawyer in Paris. When he converted to the Reformed Church, he was persecuted as " heretics " and reported on March 28, 1545.

Crespin first went to Strasbourg and Basel. From there he came in October 1548 to Geneva, where he was recognized on August 25, 1551 as a resident ( Habitant ) and on April 2, 1555 was the civil rights. In Geneva he no longer worked as a lawyer but became a successful printer and publisher. In 20 years, he has published about 250 books, including many works to support the Reformer John Calvin, with whom he was friends. Another friend was Theodore de Beza.

His most important work was Le livre des martyrs ( 1554 ), in which he described the religious wars and religious persecutions from the Middle Ages to the present.

He died in 1572 in Geneva of the plague.