Character of Francis I.--Commencement of Modern
Times--Liberty and Obedience--Margaret of Valois--The
Court--Briçonnet, Count of Montbrun--Lefevre commends him to
the Bible--Francis I. and "his Children"--The Gospel brought
to Margaret--Conversion--Adoration--Margaret's Character.
[Sidenote: CHARACTER OF FRANCIS I.]
Thus the whole university was in a state of restlessness. But the
Reformation in France was not to be a work of the learned only. It was
to take its place among the great ones of the world, and even in the
court of the sovereign.
The youthful Francis I. of Angoulême had succeeded his father-in-law
and cousin Louis XII. His beauty and address, his courage and love of
pleasure, made him the first knight of his time. He aspired, however,
at being something more; he desired to be a great and even a good
king, provided everything would bend to his sovereign pleasure.
Valour, a taste for letters, and a love of gallantry, are three terms
that will express the character of Francis and the spirit of his age.
Two other illustrious kings, Henry IV. and especially Louis XIV.,
presented the same features in after-years. But these princes wanted
what the Gospel communicates; and although there had always existed in
the nation elements of holiness and christian elevation, we may say
that these three great monarchs of modern France have in some measure
stamped upon their subjects the impress of their own peculiarities, or
rather that they themselves were the faithful images of the character
of their people. If the Gospel had entered France with the most
illustrious of the Valois family, it would have brought the nation
what it does not possess,--a spiritual tendency, a christian holiness,
a knowledge of divine things, and would thus have perfected it in what
constitutes the real strength and greatness of a people.
[Sidenote: COMMENCEMENT OF MODERN TIMES.]
It was in the reign of Francis I. that France and Europe passed from
the middle ages to modern times. The new world, which was then in the
bud, grew up and entered into possession. Two classes of men imposed
their influence on the new state of society. On the one hand were the
men of faith, men also of wisdom and holiness; and by their side were
the courtly writers, friends of the world and of vice, who by the
freedom of their principles contributed as much to the depravation of
morals as the former to their reformation.
If Europe in the days of Francis I. had not witnessed the rise of the
reformers, and had been handed over by the severe judgment of
Providence to the unbelieving innovators, her fate and that of
Christianity would have been decided. The danger was great. For some
time these two classes of combatants, the antagonists of the pope and
the opponents of the Gospel, were mixed up together; and as they both
claimed liberty, they appeared to employ the same arms against the
same enemies. An unpractised eye could not distinguish between them
amid the dust and clouds of the battle-field. If the former had
allowed themselves to be carried away by the latter, all would have
been lost. The enemies of the hierarchy were passing rapidly to the
extremes of impiety, and pushing christian society into a frightful
abyss; the papacy itself was helping towards this terrible
catastrophe, and accelerating by its ambition and its disorders the
destruction of the remnants of truth and life still surviving in the
Church. But God raised up the Reformation, and Christianity was saved.
The reformers who had shouted liberty, soon called for obedience. The
very men who had cast down the throne whence the Roman pontiff issued
his oracles, fell prostrate before the Word of God. Then a clear and
definite separation took place; nay more, the two bodies engaged in
war against each other. The one party had desired liberty only for
themselves, the others had claimed it for the Word of God. The
Reformation became the most formidable enemy of that incredulity
towards which Rome is often so lenient. After restoring liberty to the
Church, the reformers restored religion to the world. Of these two
gifts, the latter was the most needed.
[Sidenote: MARGARET OF VALOIS.]
The friends of infidelity hoped, for a while, to reckon among their
number Margaret of Valois, duchess of Alençon, whom Francis tenderly
loved, and always called "_sa mignonne_," his darling, as we learn
from Brantôme.[747] The same tastes, the same acquirements,
distinguished both brother and sister. Possessing, like Francis, a
handsome person, Margaret combined with those eminent qualities that
make great characters those gentler virtues that win the affections.
In the world, in the gay entertainments at the court of the king and
of the emperor, she shone like a queen, charming, surprising, and
captivating all hearts. Passionately fond of letters, and endowed with
a rare genius, she would retire to her closet, and there indulge in
the sweet pleasures of thought, study, and learning. But her ruling
passion was to do good and prevent evil. When ambassadors had been
received by the king, they went and paid their respects to Margaret.
"They were mightily enchanted with her," says Brantôme, "and made a
glowing report of her to their own countrymen." And the king would
often refer matters of importance to her, "leaving them solely to her
decision."[748]
[747] Vie des Dames illustres, p. 333. La Haye, 1740.
[748] Ibid. p. 337.
This celebrated princess was distinguished for the strictness of her
morals; but while many confine this strictness to their lips, and are
lax in their behaviour, Margaret did the contrary. Irreproachable in
conduct, she was not altogether free from censure in her writings.
Instead of being surprised at this, we might rather wonder that a
woman so dissolute as Louisa of Savoy should have a daughter so pure
as Margaret. While visiting different parts of the country with the
court, she amused herself with describing the manners of the time, and
particularly the disorders of the priests and monks. "I have heard
her," says Brantôme, "thus narrating tales to my grandmother, who
always accompanied her in her litter, as lady-in-waiting, and who had
charge of her inkhorn."[749]
[749] Vie des Dames illustres, p. 346.
[Sidenote: THE COURT--BRIÇONNET.]
This Margaret, so beautiful, so full of wit, and living in the
atmosphere of a corrupted court, was one of the first to be carried
away by the religious movement then beginning in France. But how could
the Duchess of Alençon be reached by the Reformation in the midst of
so profane a court, and of the licentious tales by which it was
amused? Her elevated soul felt wants that the Gospel alone could
satisfy; grace works everywhere; and Christianity, which even before
an apostle had appeared in Rome already counted followers in the house
of Narcissus and in the court of Nero,[750] penetrated rapidly, at the
period of its renovation, into the court of Francis I. High-bred dames
and noble lords addressed the princess in the language of faith; and
that sun, then rising upon France, shed its earliest beams upon an
illustrious head, by which they were immediately reflected on the
Duchess of Alençon.
[750] Romans xvi. 11; Philip. iv. 22.
Among the most distinguished noblemen at the court was William of
Montbrun, son of Cardinal Briçonnet of St. Malo, who had entered the
church after the decease of his wife. Count William, who was fond of
study, took holy orders, and became successively bishop of Lodève and
of Meaux. Being twice sent ambassador to Rome, he returned to Paris,
unseduced by the flattery and pomps of Leo X.
At the period of his return to France, the sap was everywhere
beginning to move. Farel, then master of arts, was lecturing in the
celebrated college of the Cardinal Lemoine, one of the four principal
colleges of the theological faculty in Paris, equal in rank to the
Sorbonne. Two fellow-countrymen of Lefevre, Arnaud and Gerard Roussel,
with several others, increased the circle of liberal and generous
minds. Briçonnet, fresh from the gay entertainments and festivities of
Rome, was astonished at what had taken place in Paris during his
absence. Thirsting for the truth, he renewed his ancient relations
with Lefevre, and passed many precious hours with the doctor of the
Sorbonne, with Farel, the two Roussels and their friends.[751] This
illustrious but humble-minded prelate was willing to be instructed by
the lowliest Christians, but particularly by the Lord himself. "I am
in darkness," said he, "awaiting the grace of the Divine benevolence,
from which I am exiled by my demerits." His mind was dazzled, as it
were, by the brilliancy of the Gospel. His eyelids drooped before its
unequalled brightness. "The eyes of all men," added he, "are
insufficient to receive the whole light of this great luminary."[752]
[751] Histoire de la Révocat. de l'édit. de Nantes, i. 7. Maimbourg,
Hist. du Calv. p. 12.
[752] This passage is taken from a manuscript in the Bibliothèque
Royale at Paris, entitled _Lettres de Marguerite, reine de Navarre_,
and marked S. F. 337. I shall have frequent occasion to quote the
manuscript, which I had great difficulty in deciphering.
[Sidenote: BRIÇONNET READS THE BIBLE.]
Lefevre had recommended the bishop to the Bible; he had pointed to it
as the clue which ever leads men back to the primitive truth of
Christianity,--to what it was when schools, sects, ordinances, and
traditions were unknown, and as the powerful medium by which the
religion of Jesus Christ is renovated. Briçonnet read the Bible. "Such
is the sweetness of this Divine food," said he, "that it makes the
mind insatiable; the more we taste of it, the more we long for
it."[753] The simple and mighty truth of salvation charmed him: he
found Christ,--he found God himself. "What vessel," said he, "is able
to receive the exceeding fulness of this inexhaustible sweetness? But
the dwelling extends according to our desire to entertain the good
guest. Faith is the quartermaster who alone can find room for him, or,
more truly, who makes us dwell in him." But at the same time the good
bishop, afflicted at seeing this doctrine of life, which the
Reformation restored to the world, held in so little estimation at
court, in the city, and among the people, exclaimed: "Oh singular and
most worthy innovation, and yet to my fellow-men most unacceptable!"
[753] Ibid.
[Sidenote: FRANCIS I. AND HIS CHILDREN.]
It is in this way that evangelical opinions made their way into the
midst of the frivolous, dissolute, and literary court of Francis I.
Many of the men who composed it, and who enjoyed the entire confidence
of the king, as John du Bellay, Budæus, Cop the court physician, and
even Petit the king's confessor, appeared favourably disposed towards
the sentiments of Briçonnet and Lefevre. Francis, who loved learning,
who invited into his states learned men inclined to Lutheranism, and
who thought (as Erasmus says) "in this manner to adorn and illustrate
his age in a more magnificent manner than he could have done by
trophies, pyramids, or by the most pompous structures," was himself
carried away by his sister, by Briçonnet, and by the literary men of
his court and universities. He would often be present at the
discussions of the learned, listening with delight to their
conversation at table, and calling them "his children." He prepared
the way for the Word of God by founding Hebrew and Greek
professorships. And hence Theodore Beza, when placing his portrait at
the head of the reformers, says: "Pious spectator! do not shudder at
the sight of this adversary! Ought he not to have a part in this
honour, who expelled barbarism from the world, and with firm hand
substituted in its stead three languages and sound learning, to be as
it were the portals to the new building that was shortly to be
erected?"[754]
[754] Neque rex potentissime pudeat......quasi atrienses hujus ædis
futuras. Bezæ Icones.--Disputationibus eorum ipse interfuit. Flor.
Ræmundi Hist. de ortu hæresum, vii. 2.
[Sidenote: MARGARET RECEIVES THE GOSPEL.]
But there was at the court of Francis I. one soul in particular, which
seemed prepared to receive the evangelical influence of the doctor of
Etaples and the bishop of Meaux. Margaret, yet hesitating and
wavering, in the midst of the depraved society that surrounded her,
looked for support, and found it in the Gospel. She turned towards
this fresh breath that was reanimating the world, and inhaled it with
delight as an emanation from heaven. From some of the ladies of her
court she learnt what the new doctors were teaching; they lent her
their writings, their little books, called in the language of the
time, "tracts;" and spoke to her of the "primitive Church, of the pure
Word of God, of worshipping in spirit and in truth, of christian
liberty which shakes off the yoke of superstition and traditions of
men to bind them closer to God alone."[755] Erelong this princess
conversed with Lefevre, Farel, and Roussel; their zeal, their piety,
their purity of morals,--all in them struck her imagination; but it
was the Bishop of Meaux in particular, who had long enjoyed her
friendship, that became her guide in the path of faith.
[755] Maimbourg, Hist. du Calvinisme, p. 17.
Thus, in the midst of the brilliant court of Francis I. and of the
profligate household of Louisa of Savoy, was accomplished one of those
conversions of the heart which, although not thoroughly evangelical,
are not the fruit of a mere æsthetical religion. Margaret subsequently
recorded in her poems the different movements of her soul at this
important period of her life; and in them we may trace the path she
then trod. We find that the sense of sin had taken strong hold of her,
and that she wept over the levity with which she had treated the
scandals of the world. She exclaimed:
Is there a gulf of ill, so deep and wide
That can suffice but e'en a tenth to hide
Of my vile sins?
This corruption, of which she had so long been ignorant, she
discovered everywhere, now that her eyes were opened.
Well do I feel within me is the root,
Without are branch and foliage, flower and fruit.[756]
[756] Marguerites de la Marguerite des princesses. Lyon. 1547, tome i.
Miroir de l'âme pécheresse, p. 15. The copy I have used appears to
have belonged to the Queen of Navarre herself, and some notes that it
contains are said to be in her own handwriting. It is now in the
possession of a friend of the author's.
[Sidenote: ADORATION.]
Yet amidst the alarm caused by the state of her soul, she felt that a
God of peace had appeared to her:
My God, thou hast come down on earth to me,--
To me, although a naked worm I be.[757]
And erelong a sense of the love of God in Christ was shed abroad in
her heart.
Margaret had found faith, and her enraptured soul indulged in holy
transports.[758]
Word Divine, Jesus the Salvator,
Only Son of the eternal Pater,
The first, the last; of all things renovator,
Bishop and king, and mighty triumphator,
From death by death our liberator.
By faith we're made the sons of the Creator.
From this time a great change took place in the Duchess of Alençon:--
Though poor, and weak, and ignorant I be,
How rich, how strong, how wise I am in Thee![759]
But the power of sin was not yet subdued in her. She found a struggle,
a discord in her soul that alarmed her:[760]--
In spirit noble,--but in nature slave;
Immortal am I,--tending to the grave;
Essence of heaven,--and yet of earthly birth;
God's dwelling place,--and yet how little worth.
Margaret, seeking in nature the symbols that might express the wants
and affections of her soul, chose for her emblem (says Brantôme) the
marigold, "which by its rays and leaves, has more affinity with the
sun, and turns wherever he goes."[761]--She added this device:--
_Non inferiora secutus_,
I seek not things below,
"as a sign," adds the courtly writer, "that she directed all her
actions, thoughts, desires, and affections, to that great sun which is
God; and hence she was suspected of being attached to the Lutheran
religion."[762]
[757] Ibid. pp. 18, 19.
[758] Marguerites, &c. Discord de l'esprit et de la chair, p. 73. (The
translator has endeavoured to preserve the quaintness of the original,
both in rhyme and rhythm).
[759] Ibid. Miroir de l'ame, p. 22.
[760] Ibid. Discord de l'esprit, p. 71.
[761] Vie des Femmes illustres, p. 33.
[762] Ibid.
[Sidenote: MARGARET'S CHARACTER AND INFLUENCE.]
In fact, the princess experienced, not long after, the truth of the
saying, that _all who will live godly in Jesus Christ shall suffer
persecution_. At the court, they talked of Margaret's new opinions,
and the surprise was great. What! even the sister of the king takes
part with these people! For a moment it might have been thought that
Margaret's ruin was certain. She was denounced to Francis I. But the
king, who was tenderly attached to his sister, pretended to think that
it was untrue. Margaret's character gradually lessened the opposition.
Every one loved her, says Brantôme: "she was very kind, mild,
gracious, charitable, affable, a great alms-giver, despising nobody,
and winning all hearts by her excellent qualities."[763]
[763] Vie des Femmes illustres, p. 341.
In the midst of the corruption and frivolity of that age, the mind
reposes with delight on this chosen soul, which the grace of God had
seized beneath such a load of vanities and grandeur. But her feminine
character held her back. If Francis I. had felt his sister's
convictions, he would no doubt have followed them out. The timid heart
of the princess trembled before the anger of the king. She was
constantly wavering between her brother and her Saviour, and could not
resolve to sacrifice either. We cannot recognise her as a Christian
who has reached the perfect liberty of the children of God: she is a
correct type of those elevated souls, so numerous in every age,
particularly among women, who, powerfully attracted towards heaven,
have not sufficient strength to detach themselves entirely from the
earth.
However, such as she is, she is a pleasing character on the stage of
history. Neither Germany nor England present her parallel. She is a
star, slightly clouded no doubt, but shedding an indescribable and
gentle radiance, and at the time of which I am treating her rays shone
out still more brightly. It is not until later years, when the angry
looks of Francis I. denounce a mortal hatred against the Reformation,
that his frightened sister will screen her holy faith from the light
of day. But now she raises her head in the midst of this corrupted
court, and appears a bride of Christ. The respect paid to her, the
high opinion entertained of her understanding and of her heart, plead
the cause of the Gospel at the court of France much better than any
preacher could have done. The gentle influence of woman gained
admission for the new doctrine. It is perhaps to this period we should
trace the inclination of the French nobility to embrace Protestantism.
If Francis had followed his sister, if all the nation had opened its
gates to Christianity, Margaret's conversion might have been the
saving of France. But while the nobles welcomed the Gospel, the king
and the people remained faithful to Rome; and there came a time when
it was a cause of serious misfortune to the Reformation to count a
Navarre and a Condé among its ranks.