Servetus Burned at Geneva

October 27, 1553

The Spanish physician Michael Servetus, who had denied the Trinity and discovered the pulmonary circulation of the blood, was burned alive outside Geneva with his books chained to his thigh. John Calvin had advocated a swifter beheading. Protestant Europe argued for years about whether heretics should die. The execution divided Protestants between those supporting Calvin and those, like Castellio, arguing that killing for belief was murder.