Jeanne de Jussie facts for kids
Jeanne de Jussie (1503 – 7 November 1561) was a Roman Catholic nun and writer from Geneva. She wrote about how the Protestant Reformation affected the Poor Clares convent in Geneva.
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Jeanne de Jussie's Early Life
Jeanne de Jussie was born in 1503 in Jussy-l'évèque, a place in the old region of Chablais. Her parents were Louis and Jeanne de Jussie. She was the youngest of six children who grew up. It seems she went to school in Geneva.
Her father, Louis, passed away before 1519. He left behind some property. Jeanne's uncle, Amédée, decided his own son, Georges, would inherit the family castle. This made Jeanne's mother and siblings upset. After a difficult legal fight, the family had to leave the castle. Jeanne's brothers then sold the rest of their property. Jeanne decided to join a convent in 1521 when she was 18 years old. Her mother passed away in 1535.
Life in the Convent
The Poor Clares were nuns who promised to live by four special vows: chastity, poverty, obedience, and enclosure (staying within the convent). Families did not have to pay for their daughters to join, but they often gave money. Poor Clares nuns kept their hair short and walked barefoot. They wore wool clothes, a coat, a linen hood, a headband, and a simple rope belt with four knots. These knots stood for their four vows.
The nuns were only allowed to stop fasting on Christmas and when they were sick. Most of their time was spent on housework and chores. Because Jeanne had a good education, she became the convent's secretary by 1530. She was in charge of writing letters for the convent. She wrote to important people like the Duke of Savoy and the bishop, asking for their help and protection.
The Convent of Saint Clare
The Convent of Saint Clare in Geneva was also called "Monastère Jésus de Bethléem." It was started by Yolande of Valois in 1473. The building where it once stood is now the Palais de Justice. Because Yolande was married to the Duke of Savoy, the convent stayed close to the House of Savoy.
Jeanne's book starts by mentioning members of the Savoy family. These include Charles III of Savoy (the Duke) and Beatrice of Portugal (the Duchess). She also mentions their children: Louis, Philibert Emmanuel (Emanuele Filiberto), Catherine Charlotte, and Philippe. François, Count of Gruyère, gave land for the convent. Building started in 1474 after more land was bought.
Louise Rambo was the abbess (leader) of the convent when Jeanne was writing. Pernette de Montluel was the vicaress and took over after Rambo died in 1538. Jeanne herself became abbess in 1548 after the nuns moved to Annecy. She passed the position to Claude de Pierrefleur when she died in 1561.
When Jeanne wrote her book, 24 nuns lived in the convent. There were also other helpers like portresses, a bursar (who handled money), cooks, a nurse, and lay sisters.
Challenges for the Convent
The Reformers often attacked Catholic places. Sometimes, only the convent's church stayed open in Geneva. Eventually, it was forced to close. Priests and monks stopped wearing their special clothes in public. Things got so bad that religious leaders carried weapons to protect themselves.
In 1535, the nuns moved to the Monastery of the Holy Cross in Annecy. The convent in Geneva was officially closed on July 8, 1793. The building became a hospital, and then the Palais de Justice. The monastery in Annecy where the nuns found safety later became a cotton mill. A special plaque there remembers the Poor Clares.
The Short Chronicle
Jeanne de Jussie's book, The Short Chronicle, was likely written between 1535 and 1547. Some experts believe she started writing around 1535 to keep a record for future nuns. Two copies of her original handwritten book are kept at the Library of Geneva.
The book was first printed in 1611. It was called Le levain du Calvinisme, ou commencement de l'heresie de Geneve. This means "The Leaven of Calvinism, or Beginning of the Heresy of Geneva." It's interesting because Jeanne never directly mentions John Calvin in her text. Later, in the 1800s, the book was translated into Italian and German. A full English version was published in 1996.
Today, many scholars study the book from a feminist point of view. Jeanne wrote that "women were truer Catholics than men." She believed they fought for their purity against people like Marie Dentière. Marie Dentière tried to convince the nuns to get married. Jeanne's book shows that "women played a more active role" in the Reformation than people once thought. Jeanne not only describes battles from the view of women and wives, but she also tells how women were hurt for their beliefs, especially by their husbands. She even said that women were better than men at making strong choices to keep their religion.
Jeanne's story also shows how important privacy was in the convent. She describes how people tried to break into the convent. The building's design mostly kept them out. Her book also gives a Catholic view of the Protestant Reformation in Geneva. This event is usually linked to John Calvin's work starting in 1536. Some people also praise Jeanne's book for its good writing.
Summary of the Chronicle
The Short Chronicle tells about many important people and dates from the Protestant Reformation in Geneva. Jeanne names Pierre de la Baume as the bishop of Geneva in 1526. She calls him the Monseigneur of Geneva in her book.
Jeanne wrote that Guillaume Farel gave a sermon in German. However, she probably mistook him for Gaspard Grossman. The Bishop of Belley was asked to help Geneva stop attacks, but it did not work. Later, Farel came to Geneva with two friends, Pierre Robert Olivétan and Antoine Saunier. They were all judged and forced to leave the city. Antoine Froment followed them.
On March 28, 1533, a battle happened between Catholics and Protestants. Jeanne describes this mostly from the view of women and wives. The fight ended with an exchange of hostages and, later, peaceful laws. That December, both sides got ready for a civil war. Jeanne saw this herself. But government officials were able to calm things down.
After this, life became more dangerous for Catholics. Jeanne reports many cases of Catholic property being destroyed. This often happened as acts against religious images. There were also executions. Four Protestant preachers (Guillaume Farel, Pierre Viret, Antoine Froment, and Alexandre Canus) came to the city to preach. Another battle almost happened that December. Farel started to baptize and marry Protestants in 1534.
A woman named Hemme Faulson visited the convent to see her aunt (Claudine Lignotte) and her sister (Blaisine Varembert). But she was turned away after trying to change their beliefs. Attacks on Catholic statues and art became very common that summer. The bishop then removed the Genevans from the church. In September, a captain from Bern broke into the convent walls. He was ordered to inspect the building. From then on, the convent was often targeted.
After Farel and Viret settled in a nearby monastery, they often bothered the convent. They also handed out papers to advertise a debate. The bishop quickly banned this debate.
Protestants came to the convent to tell the nuns they had to attend the debate. But the nuns stayed strong. Later, the father confessor told them what he saw at the debate. He said that Reformer Jaques Bernard kept losing his arguments against the Dominican friar Jean Chapuis. So, Chapuis was removed from the debate for the rest of the days. Farel and Viret then tried to preach at the convent, forcing the nuns apart.
After Hemme Faulson returned, she started a long plan to get her sister Blaisine out of the convent. She also took many of the convent's things, saying they belonged to Blaisine. Besides Hemme Faulson and her sister, Marie Dentière, Claude Bernard, Claudine Levet, and city leaders also approached the nuns. This finally led to the nuns deciding to leave.
After stopping in Saint-Julien and the Castle of La Perrière, where they continued their cloistered life, the nuns finally arrived in Annecy. There, they settled in the Monastery of the Holy Cross. Jeanne spends the last pages of her book thanking the Savoy family. They gave the nuns shelter on their journey and in Annecy.
Catholic Women's Faith
Jeanne writes about how strong Catholic women were. These women refused to join their Protestant husbands and were punished for it. Jeanne especially praises young women and daughters for standing up to their fathers. She tells stories of women who secretly left prison. She also writes about a woman who chased after men who took Catholics away. Another woman stole her baby from a Protestant baptism.
Celibacy and Marriage
In The Short Chronicle, Jeanne even says that marriage is a heresy (a false belief). She admits she saw bad things done by some priests. But she promises readers that those actions would be punished. At times, she refuses to describe marriages done by Reformers like Farel. She did this to protect herself from what she saw as wrong.
Eventually, Reformers broke into the convent. They preached their ideas about marriage and tried to make the nuns get married. At other times, Jeanne simply wrote about these events by insulting the married couple and the Reformers. She called them "very bad," "wicked," and "miserable." Except for Blaisine Varembert, the Reformers lost interest when the nuns refused to cooperate. The nuns were then allowed to leave the city safely.
Marie Dentière
Jeanne most famously wrote against Marie Dentière. Marie Dentière was a former nun. They strongly disagreed about purity and what women should be allowed to preach. Jeanne called Marie Dentière a "false, wrinkled abbess with a devilish tongue."
