Geneva Around this time, the House of Savoy came to at least nominally dominate the city. In the 15th century, an oligarchic republican government emerged with the creation of the Grand Council. In the first half of the 16th century, the Protestant Reformation reached the city, causing religious strife, during which Savoy rule was thrown off and Geneva allied itself with the Swiss Confederacy. In 1541, with Protestantism on the rise, John Calvin, the founder of Calvinism, became the spiritual leader of the city and established the Republic of Geneva. By the 18th century, Geneva had come under the influence of
Geneva Lake Geneva Lake Geneva Lake is a body of freshwater in Walworth County in southeastern Wisconsin. On its shores are the city of Lake Geneva, and the villages of Fontana-on-Geneva-Lake, and Williams Bay. The lake covers an area of approximately , has a maximum length of , mean depth of and a maximum depth of . Geologists believe that it is a filled-in kettle formed from a receding glacier. The lake and the community of Lake Geneva were named for the town of Geneva, New York, located on Seneca Lake, which government surveyor John Brink thought it resembled. To avoid confusion