The removal of the business to Geneva took place early in 1552. The Swiss capital, while at the time a town of but moderate population, presented certain special advantages, which could at the time have been found in no other city out of France, for carrying on a publishing business of the character of Robert’s. The sharp contests of the Reformation, turning as they did largely upon intellectual issues, such as the history of the Church, and the exegesis of the Scriptures and of the writings of the Fathers, had developed no little intellectual activity throughout Europe. Geneva had become the most important centre for the production of the dogmatic and controversial literature of the Protestants, or at least of the Calvinists. Its University, which dated from 1368, and had been reorganised by Calvin in 1539, was already a place of resort for students and scholars from all parts of Europe who were interested in the doctrines of the Reformers, or who were attracted by the commanding personality of Calvin, while the Swiss printers had established channels of distribution for their books not only through Germany and the Low Countries, but even in far off England. The distribution in France of the publications from Geneva, even for books of accepted orthodoxy, was very much restricted and hampered by the regulations of the University, which had been framed for the purpose of keeping the sale of the books in France in the hands of the French dealers. Heretical works, under which were classed all the writings of the Protestants, were, of course, prohibited altogether. It was not possible, however, through any amount of restriction or prohibition, to prevent the Geneva printers from making sale of their works across the easily reached frontiers, and in fact the forbidden French territory formed a most important part of their market.