RQX_73_4_BookReviews 1428..1429 monuments and textual sources, most known only to a small group of specialists. I hope that it will also help scholars of the Reformation to recognize the riches for the field that are to be found in Denmark. Kristoffer Neville, University of California, Riverside doi:10.1017/rqx.2020.282 Registres du Consistoire de Genève au temps de Calvin, Tome XI (20 février 1556– 4 février 1557). Isabella M. Watt and Jeffrey Rodgers Watt, eds. Travaux d’Humanisme et Renaissance 578. Geneva: Droz, 2017. xlii + 394 pp. $142.68. These registers of the Genevan consistory are particularly interesting. They contain min- utes for the first full year after the victory of John Calvin and his partisans over their oppo- nents, the Enfants of Geneva. They had lost their public charge and been banished, fined, or beheaded in 1555. Larger numbers of French immigrants were admitted to the Genevan bourgeoisie. Calvin and his supporters were in a stronger position than they had been since the consistory was initiated in 1542 as a church court filling gaps left by Roman Catholic ecclesiastical courts after the Genevan Protestant Reformation (1535–36). In this volume for 1556–57, pastors and city councilors appear to act hand in glove. Geneva’s magistrates seemed in agreement with pastors on issues involving sexuality, Nicodemism (camouflag- ing one’s Protestant convictions), and attendance at Catholic Mass by individuals who journeyed outside of Geneva. This was no surprise. Geneva’s magistrates listened to Reformed pastors weekly from seats of honor in front pews. By 1556, Genevan pastors had won the right to control excommunication, denial of participation in quarterly celebrations of the Lord’s Supper, which also barred one from getting married (318) or participating in a baptism (6). Genevans believed denial from the Lord’s Supper risked eternal salvation. Excommunication also risked affecting one’s business or status, but it was rarely for life. Excommunication could be lifted by the consistory if one acquiesced to what the consistory wanted, often repentance for scan- dalous, disruptive, or sinful behavior. Excommunication was designed to bring people into line, not to crush them. Besides excommunication, the consistory approved (or denied) divorce with right to remarry. Only the government, however, could inflict cap- ital punishment: beatings, imprisonment, death, or banishment for incorrigible individ- uals. In 1556–57, the consistory often advanced recalcitrant individuals on to the Small Council of Twenty-Five. The threat of having to appear before the council could have encouraged individuals to repent before the consistory to escape a worse fate. Even before 1555, division between pastors and government officials was less than one would presume, considering that there was a division in Genevan society between French immigrants and native Genevans. Pastors were largely well-educated French RENAISSANCE QUARTERLY1428 VOLUME LXXIII, NO. 4 Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. 06 Apr 2021 at 01:07:09, subject to the Cambridge Core terms of use. https://crossmark.crossref.org/dialog?doi=10.1017/rqx.2020.283&domain=pdf https://www.cambridge.org/core immigrants. Magistrates were largely less formally educated Genevans. About half of consistory members were from governing councils. Minimizing potential conflict was the consistory bringing together select council members and the pastors, an organiza- tional stroke of genius, encouraging collaboration between Frenchmen and native Genevans. Deliberating together weekly helped to bridge the gap. By 1556, Calvin appeared to be able to tighten the discipline further, expand the consistory’s field of action, and strengthen punishments, but Calvin’s victory was not so complete as to make that easily possible. Jeffrey Watt points out Calvin’s difficulties in his artfully crafted introduction (xv–xxiii). Watt also places consistory records in historical context. Not all Genevans were enthusiastic about the many immigrants and refugees in sixteenth-century Geneva. Some Genevans resisted the discipline French pastors brought, for the consistory condemned not only breeches of the Ten Commandments such as sexual promiscuity or usury (which could be considered a form of stealing) but also castigated people for dancing, gambling, card playing, participating in certain other games, indiscrete songs, and criticizing the pastors or the French. The consistory did not condemn drinking alcohol per se. Indeed, the city partially paid pastors in wine. The consistory did condemn excessive drinking; rowdyism, especially in the inns; and alcoholism. Genevan consistory records are transcribed from some of the most difficult six- teenth-century court reporting. The editors provide a glossary of sixteenth-century French. This volume is indexed in three separate categories: subjects, places, and names of persons. The appendix lists syndics, other officers, dates of the Lord’s Supper for 1556, and members of the Small Council. The Watts thoroughly research Genevan records, including the city council. The copious footnotes identify every locale and individual. Prior and future appearances of individuals before the consistory are noted. Consistory records, useful for doctoral dissertations and scholarly papers, are indispensable for academic libraries, serious scholars, and even church libraries. Jeannine Olson, Rhode Island College doi:10.1017/rqx.2020.283 The Arnhem Mystical Sermons: Preaching Liturgical Mysticism in the Context of Catholic Reform. Ineke Cornet. Brill’s Series in Church History and Religious Culture 77. Leiden: Brill, 2019. x + 400 pp. $204. Of all the excellent courses I took while an undergraduate at Columbia University, the best of all was Marilyn Harran’s class on mysticism, taught at Barnard College. I was familiar with the adage that says mysticism begins rather misty and ends in schism, but this course was so much more than that, with consideration of the inadequacies of REVIEWS 1429 Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. 06 Apr 2021 at 01:07:09, subject to the Cambridge Core terms of use. https://www.cambridge.org/core