BEZA (DE BESZE), THEODORE French theologian, son of bailli Pierre de Besze, was born at Vezelai, Burgundy, on June 24, of good parents, known for generous piety. An uncle, Nicolas de Besze, counsellor of the Paris parle ment, placed him (1529) under Melchior Wolmar at Orleans, and later at Bourges. Wolmar, who had taught Calvin Greek, grounded Beza in Scripture. Beza studied law at Orleans (May 1535 to Aug. , beginning to practise it in Paris . To this period belong his exercises in Latin verse, in the loose style of the day, published by him as Juvenilia in Though not in orders, he held two benefices. A severe illness wrought a change in him ; he married his mistress, Claude Desnoz, and joined Cal vin at Geneva (Oct. 1548). In Nov. 1549 he became Greek pro fessor at Lausanne, where he acted as Calvin's adjutant and defended the burning of Servetus in his De Haereticis a civili ma gistratu puniendis • In 1558 he became professor at Geneva. His ability was shown in the Colloquy of Poissy (1560. On Cal vin's death (1564), he became his biographer and successor. As a historian, Beza has been the source of serious mistakes; as an administrator, he softened the rigour of Calvin. His editions and Latin versions of the New Testament had an influence on the Eng lish versions of Geneva (1557 and 156o) and London (1610. The famous codex D. was presented by him (1581) to Cambridge university with a dubious account of the history of the ms. His numerous works are of little moment, except those mentioned. He resigned his offices in i600, and died on Oct. 13, 16o5. He was not the author of the Histoire ecclesiastique sometimes ascribed to him; nor, probably, of the vulgar skit published under the name of Benedict Panavantius (1551) and there is no au thority for attributing it to him.
See Laingaeus, De Vita et Moribus (1585, calumnious) ; Antoine la Faye, De Vita et Obitu (16o6, eulogistic) ; Schlosser, Leben (18o6) ; Baum, Th. Beza, portrait (1843-1851) ; Heppe, Leben (1861) .