An Example from the Diaspora of the Italian Evangelicals: Galeazzo Caracciolo and His Biographies. Issue 1 (3rd July 2014)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Olson, Jeannine E.
• Is Part Of: Reformation. Volume 10:Issue 1(2005)
• Page Start: 45
• Page End: 76
• Publication Date: 2014-07-03
• Subjects: Reformation -- Great Britain -- Periodicals; Reformation -- Periodicals; Church history -- 16th century -- Periodicals; Europe -- Civilization -- 16th century -- Periodicals; Europe -- History -- 1492-1648 -- Periodicals; Periodicals; 940.23
• DOI: 10.1179/ref_2005_10_1_004
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1357-4175

Abstract

Abstract : This article consists of an up-to-date history of the biographies of Galeazzo Caracciolo (1517-86), preceded by reference to the importance of Italian exile communities in early modern Europe and a summary of Caracciolo's life, complete with recent manuscript discoveries. Caracciolo, of a noble family of Naples, was an Italian evangelical who left Italy and settled in Geneva, Switzerland, because of his religious convictions. Befriending John Calvin, he took up a leadership role and became renowned in the Reformed world for his sacrifices. A year after his death, a biography of Caracciolo appeared that has been reprinted in every century up to the twentieth, particularly at times when his life could serve as an example to be emulated. There were more editions of Nicolao Balbani's biography of Caracciolo published in England in the seventeenth century than in any other country in any other century. These editions were an English version of the biography translated by William Crashaw from a Latin edition of Balbani's original Italian. This biography and the story therein of Caracciolo's life and of his divorce influenced the marital laws and religious narratives of other early modern Protestant countries, including England and Scotland.