1530-1532. The first writings
 Having
worn out his welcome there with constant theological dispute,
Servetus moved to more tolerant Strasburg where he met the
town reformers Bucer
and Capito. There,
in 1531, he published De
Trinitatis Erroribus (On the Errors of the Trinity). If
Servetus hoped his book would persuade the new Protestant
establishment to re-think orthodox trinitarian doctrine, as
traditionally interpreted from the fourth century Council
of Nicaea through the late mediaeval Scholastics, and replace
it with his own formulation, he was quickly disappointed.
Though Protestants admired some aspects of Servetus' thought,
they deplored many others. Moreover, they were especially
defensive concerning their trinitarian orthodoxy, having no
desire to call upon themselves still more Roman Catholic denunciation.
The Lutheran reformer Melanchthon,
commenting on De Trinitatis Erroribus, lamented, "As
for the Trinity you know I have always feared this would break
out some day. Good God, what tragedies this question will
excite among those who come after us!"
Servetus tried the effect of a more conciliatory volume,
Dialogorum
de Trinitate (Dialogues on the Trinity), published the
following year. But in it he neither conceded anything important
to his system, nor even softened the vituperation of his rhetoric.
His second volume was neither intended nor received as a recantation.
His books were confiscated, and he was warned out of several
Protestant towns. Meanwhile, in 1532, the Supreme Council
of the Inquisition in Spain began proceedings to summon him,
or to apprehend him if he would not appear before the tribunal.
His brother, Juan, a priest, was sent to persuade him to return
to Spain for questioning. He was terrified. He later wrote
of this period, "I was sought up and down to be snatched
to my death." He fled to Paris and surfaced there with
a new name, Michel de Villeneuve.
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