Jean-Paul Perrin (1580-?), sometimes incorrectly called Jean Paul Perrin Lionnois as he was originally from

Lyon Lyon (Franco-Provençal: ''Liyon'') is a city in France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of the French Alps, southeast of Paris, north of Marseille, southwest of Geneva, Switzerland, north ...

, was a French preacher and

Protestant Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that emphasizes Justification (theology), justification of sinners Sola fide, through faith alone, the teaching that Salvation in Christianity, salvation comes by unmerited Grace in Christianity, divin ...

historian in the 16th and 17th centuries, and pastor of a congregation at

Nyons Nyons (; ) is a subprefecture of the Drôme department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region in Southeastern France. In 2021, the commune had a population of 6,771. Nyons is a sub-prefecture of the department. Its olives have PDO status.

Dauphiné The Dauphiné ( , , ; or ; or ), formerly known in English as Dauphiny, is a former province in southeastern France, whose area roughly corresponded to that of the present departments of Isère, Drôme and Hautes-Alpes. The Dauphiné was ...

Works

He is best known for his ''Histoire des Vaudois'', commissioned by the Provincial Synod of the Reformed Church of Dauphiné in March 1605, completed around 1609 and published on January 1, 1618, in

Geneva Geneva ( , ; ) ; ; . is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland and the most populous in French-speaking Romandy. Situated in the southwest of the country, where the Rhône exits Lake Geneva, it is the ca ...

This 596-page work, also known as ''Histoire des Chrestiens Albigeois'', is based on numerous sources gathered mainly between 1602 and 1603 by

Calvinists Reformed Christianity, also called Calvinism, is a major branch of Protestantism that began during the 16th-century Protestant Reformation. In the modern day, it is largely represented by the Continental Reformed Christian, Presbyterian, ...

(including some Waldenses) with a view to defending the thesis that the

Roman Catholic Church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

is not descended from the

primitive Church Primitive Christianity, Primitive Christian, or Primitive Church may refer to: * Early Christianity, up to the First Council of Nicaea in 325 AD ** Christianity in the 1st century * Christian primitivism, or Restorationism, later movements intended ...

, but has departed from it, unlike the

Albigenses Catharism ( ; from the , "the pure ones") was a Christian quasi-dualist and pseudo-Gnostic movement which thrived in Southern Europe, particularly in northern Italy and southern France, between the 12th and 14th centuries. Denounced as a her ...

and the

Waldenses The Waldensians, also known as Waldenses (), Vallenses, Valdesi, or Vaudois, are adherents of a church tradition that began as an ascetic movement within Western Christianity before the Reformation. Originally known as the Poor of Lyon in the l ...

and other groups before them, who, according to Perrin, would have maintained the true faith particularly in the Alpine valleys and would have mostly rallied to the

Protestant Reformation The Reformation, also known as the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation, was a time of major theological movement in Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the papacy and ...

Anabaptism Anabaptism (from Neo-Latin , from the Greek language, Greek : 're-' and 'baptism'; , earlier also )Since the middle of the 20th century, the German-speaking world no longer uses the term (translation: "Re-baptizers"), considering it biased. ...

in the 16th century. Despite the fact that most of these original sources disappeared following the

dragonnades The ''Dragonnades'' was a policy implemented by Louis XIV in 1681 to force French Protestants known as Huguenots to convert to Catholicism. It involved the billeting of dragoons of the French Royal Army in Huguenot households, with the so ...

, this work is considered highly credible by historians for several reasons: it was revised by numerous Protestant pastors from

Southern France Southern France, also known as the south of France or colloquially in French as , is a geographical area consisting of the regions of France that border the Atlantic Ocean south of the Marais Poitevin,Louis Papy, ''Le midi atlantique'', Atlas e ...

over a period of 9 years; it often overlaps with the writings of

Jean Crespin Jean Crespin (c.1520 – 12 April 1572) was a French Protestant lawyer who became a significant printer and martyrologist in Geneva. Life He was born at Arras and studied law at Leuven. In 1540 he was in Paris, where he worked with his friend ...

, Nicolas Vignier and Philips of Marnix; it served as a reference for the writings of Thieleman Van Braght (

Martyrs Mirror ''Martyrs Mirror'' or ''The Bloody Theater'', first published in Holland in 1660 in Dutch by Thieleman J. van Braght, documents the stories and testimonies of Christian martyrs, especially Anabaptists. The full title of the book is ''The Blood ...

, 1660),

Jean Léger Jean may refer to: People * Jean (female given name) * Jean (male given name) * Jean (surname) Fictional characters * Jean Grey, a Marvel Comics character * Jean Valjean, fictional character in novel ''Les Misérables'' and its adaptations * Jean ...

(Histoire générale des Églises Évangéliques des Vallées du Piémont ou Vaudoises, 1669) or Antoine Monastier (Histoire de l'Église Vaudoise, 1847).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:SMITH, JOHN 1580 births Year of death unknown Clergy from Lyon 17th-century French historians 16th-century French historians 16th-century French male writers 16th-century French clergy 17th-century French clergy French Protestant ministers and clergy