With this forty-third volume of the series, covering the final three years of the Reformer’s life (1603–05), the immense undertaking of editing the correspondence of Theodore Beza at long last reaches its harbor. In the foreword, Olivier Labarthe, president of the Society of the Historical Museum of the Reformation (MHR), chronicles briefly the incredible journey from its inception in 1903 to the present successful conclusion. Over a hundred years ago, Hippolyte Aubert copied nearly two thousand manuscripts with an eye to preparing a selection for two publications. These publications never came to fruition. In 1945, the MHR appealed to Henri Meylan to resume the project, but this time with an expanded mission: they determined that it should encompass all Beza’s correspondence published in chronological order. Meylan published the first volume in 1960. In all, thirteen collaborators worked on the project over the years, supported by the Swiss National Science Foundation, under the voluntary editorial guidance of Alain Dufour. The complete record that we now have in our hands is invaluable. Without exaggeration, Labarthe gives this assessment of Beza: he was “the true craftsman of the Genevan church, academy, and city in the sixteenth century, while also enjoying a measure of international influence as the spiritual head of reformed Calvinists” (v).

When 1603 began, Beza was eighty-three years old, turning eighty-four in October of that year. He was too feeble to continue corresponding with his vast network throughout Europe or even personally to maintain his affairs in Vézelay. Many of the letters in this volume, therefore, merely show his signature lending gravitas to a letter from the Company of Pastors. Such is the case of a letter that the Company sent to Elizabeth I, queen of England (no. 2759), requesting permission to raise funds in Britain to alleviate Geneva’s perilous situation following the incident of the infamous Escalade. The letter bears the signatures of Antoine de la Faye and Beza. Indeed, numerous letters, especially those of 1603, touch on the Escalade and Geneva’s security.

A series of letters touch on personal matters involving inheritance and family in Vézelay. The old family to which Beza belongs is in financial disarray, due to the way that the Wars of Religion impacted its property. Many relatives remained Catholic, but his half-brother Nicholas moved to Geneva with the intent of rearing his family in the reformed faith. Beza, therefore, naturally favored his son, Jean de Bèze, thus causing consternation among other relatives around Vézelay worried about inheritance. Both in the introduction and in notes accompanying the relevant letters, the editors help the reader navigate the complex web of names and associations.

Two of the letters in this volume (nos. 2768 and 2786), both recommendations from Amandus Polanus, reveal a phenomenon that undoubtedly caused Beza some discomfort. Because of his age, Beza had become somewhat of an icon, almost a museum piece, for well-placed youth to visit during their grand tours of Europe. Still, Beza had loyal friends with whom he maintained a modicum of correspondence. These include Catherine de Bourbon, Charles de Zerotin of Moravia, and the abovementioned Polanus.

The editors have enriched the volume with material in the appendixes concerning Beza’s death. Appendix 2 contains the funeral oration pronounced by Gaspard Laurent, rector of the Academy, on 16/26 October 1605. The editors note that it reads like a short biography sprinkled with conventions from ancient funeral orations (xi, 104). On page 126, still part of the second appendix, one finds an invitation sent out to dignitaries and former students to attend the funeral. There follow four appendixes containing poems written to commemorate Beza.

Finally, the editors wrap up the series by including several tools that render this volume especially valuable. They attach two letters that defy precise dating, one to Beza from Henri de Navarre (no. 2791) and one from Beza to an unknown recipient (no. 2792) with interesting comments about languages and the gift of prophecy. In an index of addenda to the letters and appendixes, the editors list here in one place all letters and appendixes that were discovered after their proper volume appeared and so published in later volumes. They also provide a similar list of illustrations appearing in volumes 1–43.