Marie Dentière

Marie Dentière (c. 1495–1561) was a Genevan Protestant reformer and theologian. She played an active role in Genevan religion and politics, playing a large role in the closure of Geneva's convents, and preaching with such reformers as John Calvin and William Farel. In addition to her writings on the Reformation, Dentiere's writings seem to be a defense and propagation of the female perspective in the rapidly changing world. Her second husband, Antoine Froment, was also active in the reformation.

Much of Marie Dentière's early life remains unknown. She was born in Tournai (in current Belgium) into a relatively well-off family of nobility, and entered an Augustinian nunnery at a young age, eventually becoming abbess. However Martin Luther's preaching against monasticism led her to flee to Strasbourg to escape persecution—not only for abandoning her position as nun but for converting to the Reformation. Strasbourg was a popular refuge for Protestants at that time.

While in Strasbourg, in 1528, she married Simon Robert, a young priest. Soon they left for an area outside of Geneva to preach the Reformation, and had five children together. Robert died 5 years later in 1533, and the now widowed Dentiere married Antoine Froment, who was at work in Geneva with Farel. Dentière's outspokenness strongly irritated Farel and Calvin, which in turn drove a rift between them and Froment.

Dentière's work stresses the importance of the Reformation, but also the need for a larger role for women in religious practice. To Dentière, women and men were equally qualified and entitled to the interpretation of Scripture and practice of religion. In Geneva in 1536, following the successful rebellion against the Duke of Savoy and the local prince-bishop, Dentiere composed The War and Deliverance of the City of Geneva. The work was published anonymously, and called for Genevans to adopt the Reformation.

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