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 Geneva) and 6.2% other Christian (mostly various other Protestants), 38% of Genevans are non-religious, 6.1% are Muslim and 1.6% are Jews. Geneva has historically been considered a Protestant city and was known as the "Protestant Rome" due to it being the base of John Calvin, William Farel, Theodore Beza and other Protestant reformers. Over the past century, substantial immigration from France and other predominantly Roman Catholic countries, as well as general European secularization has changed its religious landscape. As a result, three times as many Roman Catholics as Protestants lived in the city in 2000, while a large number of