In the sixteenth century, a transition occurred in the way Alpine space was perceived. From a relatively negative conception at the end of the Middle Ages, which depicted the mountains as a demonic place, the early modern period saw the emergence of a more positive vision, portraying the Alps as a place where God reveals Himself. Believers thus expressed this new spiritual relationship with Alpine space in various ways. Are there differences between Catholics and Protestants in the ways they affirmed God’s presence in the mountains?
A Master’s student in General History at the University of Geneva, Eliott Henchoz (b. 2002) specializes in the history of the Alps in the early modern period and in texts by Reformed humanists relating to these mountains. His Bachelor’s thesis focused on representations of the Western Alps in sixteenth-century texts.