Thursday, October 8, 2026

It is the 8th of October 2026. Welcome to the Christian History Almanac, brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org; I’m Dan van Voorhis.

There is a curious note to a collection of Early Modern Books at the University of Iowa. They have the library of the one-time President of the Parliament of Paris, Jacques Auguste de Thou, who was born on this, the 8th of October in 1553. Jacques was also a Canon of Notre Dame- a faithful Catholic amidst the French Wars of Religion.

 

What makes the collection of his works notable, especially once we consider his life, was a copy of the letters of John Calvin. De Thou was the servant of Catholic French royalty; he was a devoted Catholic, but his interest in the personal letters of that French Reformer in Geneva shed light on his irenicism. De Thou, who would himself become a great historian and narrator of French History and the Wars of Religion, was careful to present both sides of the story that kicked off in 1562 and lasted until 1598.

 

De Thou’s role illustrates for us the complicated nature of the Wars- not simply “Protestant v. Catholic” but often with shades of gray. For instance, De Thou was opposed to the Catholic League, which was a coalition of Catholic forces from other nations- led in large part by the Spanish Habsburgs.

 

In fact, De Thou would form a coalition with two of the famous Henrys of the French Wars of Religion (We need a good Weekend Edition on the French Wars of Religion- so many people called Henry it gets confusing). But- the Henrys with whom De Thou allied himself were Henry III, the Valois Catholic King of France, and Henry of Navarre- leader of the French Protestants (they would battle Henry, Duke of Guise- the leader of the Catholic League… It’s ok to be a little confused… too many Henrys.

 

But De Thou sought an alliance between the Catholic and Protestant Henrys along with the Protestant Princes of Germany to oppose the Catholic League.

 

It was never De Thou’s goal to abandon Catholicism; rather, it was to solidify the French and come up with a means for peace between the factions without foreign interference. As the story goes, Henry III dies and Henry of Navarre, the Protestant, ascends the French throne. Henry of Navarre would become Catholic, but used his old friend De Thou to help negotiate a peace- the Edict of Nantes of 1598, which marked an end to the religious wars (for a time).

 

But even before De Thou was working on that Edict, he had already been working on a project trying to figure out how France got into its trouble in the first place. By 1593, he had become the director of the Royal Library, a bibliophile and inheritor of his father’s library; he began to write a contemporary history of France. Beginning in 1604, portions were published in Latin of what he called “the History of His Own Time,” covering France between 1543 (ten years before his birth on this day) and 1607.

 

In the work, he was critical of the Catholic League and those whom he believed held an undue allegiance to the political power of the Pope. The work has been described as an early “scientific history” for De Thou’s approach, which attempted to collect the data and omit his own confessional biases. Whether this is the case or not, I’ll leave to others- what is remarkable was that he was attempting to do this- and thus the curious note about his library and the works of Calvin being in it. He wasn’t going to caricature the other side, but get to know it. It should be noted that this approach got his history put on the Index of banned books by the Papacy- you can’t please everyone.

 

De Thou would live until 1617, working as a diplomat and historian. His extensive library would be willed to his children before being purchased and eventually spread out across the globe- some of those works finding their way to the University of Iowa, where his copy of Calvin’s letters was found. Notably, De Thou, the Catholic, would want to gather Protestant sources as well to tell the story of the Reformation in his native France. Born on this day in 1553, Jacques Augustine De Thou was 63 years old.

 

 

 

 

The Last word for today comes from the daily lectionary and 1 Peter 5:

5 To the elders among you, I appeal as a fellow elder and a witness of Christ’s sufferings who also will share in the glory to be revealed: 2 Be shepherds of God’s flock that is under your care, watching over them—not because you must, but because you are willing, as God wants you to be; not pursuing dishonest gain, but eager to serve; 3 not lording it over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock. 4 And when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that will never fade away.

 

This has been the Christian History Almanac for the 8th of October 2026 brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org.

The show is produced by a man who knows that his Purdue Boilermakers and the Iowa Hawkeyes both adopted Black and Gold as their school colors independently in 1887. He is Christopher Gillespie.

The show is written and read by someone who is never so Protestant as when rooting against the terrible no good independent Catholics at Notre Dame… I’m Dan van Voorhis.

You can catch us here every day- and remember that the rumors of grace, forgiveness, and the redemption of all things are true…. Everything is going to be ok.