Francis made Prisoner at Pavia--Reaction against the
Reformation--Margaret's Anxiety for her Brother--Louisa
consults the Sorbonne--Commission against the
Heretics--Briçonnet brought to Trial--Appeal to the
Parliament--Fall--Recantation--Lefevre accused--Condemnation
and Flight--Lefevre at Strasburg--Louis Berquin
imprisoned--Erasmus attacked--Schuch at Nancy--His
Martyrdom--Struggle with Caroli--Sorrow of Pavanne--His
Martyrdom--A Christian Hermit--Concourse at Notre Dame.
[Sidenote: MARGARET'S ANXIETY FOR FRANCIS I.]
During the latter period of Farel's sojourn at Montbeliard, great
events were passing on the theatre of the world. Lannoy and Pescara,
Charles's generals, having quitted France on the approach of Francis
I., this prince had crossed the Alps, and blockaded Pavia. On the 24th
of February 1525, he was attacked by Pescara. Bonnivet, La Trémouille,
Palisse, and Lescure died fighting round their sovereign. The Duke of
Alençon, Margaret's husband, the first prince of the blood, had fled
with the rear-guard, and gone to die of shame and grief at Lyons; and
Francis, thrown from his horse, had surrendered his sword to Charles
Lannoy, viceroy of Naples, who received it kneeling. The King of
France was prisoner to the emperor. His captivity seemed the greatest
of misfortunes. "Nothing is left me but honour and life," wrote the
king to his mother. But no one felt a keener sorrow than Margaret. The
glory of her country tarnished, France without a monarch and exposed
to the greatest dangers, her beloved brother the captive of his
haughty enemy, her husband dishonoured and dead......What bitter
thoughts were these!......But she had a comforter; and while her
brother to console himself repeated: "_Tout est perdu, fors
l'honneur_, all is lost save honour!" she was able to say:--
Fors Jésus seul, mon frère, fils de Dieu![1033]
Save Christ alone, dear brother, Son of God!
[1033] Les Marguerites de la Marguerite, i. 29.
Margaret thought that in the hour of trial Francis might receive the
Word of God. A few months before, the king had already betrayed
religious sentiments on the death of his daughter the Princess
Charlotte. The Duchess of Alençon, having concealed the child's
sickness from him, Francis, who no doubt suspected something, dreamed
three several times that his daughter said to him: "Farewell, my king,
I am going to paradise." He guessed that she was dead, and gave way to
"extreme grief," but wrote to his sister that "he would rather die
than desire to have her in this world contrary to the will of God,
whose name be blessed."[1034]
[1034] Lettres inédites de la reine de Navarre, p. 170.
Margaret thought that the terrible disaster of Pavia would complete
what the first trial had begun; and most earnestly desiring that the
Word of God might be with Francis in his prison, she wrote a very
touching letter, which deserves to be preserved, to Marshal
Montmorency, who had been taken prisoner along with the king. It is
very probable that she speaks of herself and Bishop Briçonnet in the
graceful allegory which serves as an introduction to her request:--
"Dear cousin, there is a certain very devout hermit who for
these three years past has been constantly urging a man whom
I know to pray to God for the king, which he has done; and he
is assured that if it pleases the king by way of devotion,
daily, when in his closet, to read the epistles of St. Paul,
he will be delivered to the glory of God; for He promises in
His Gospel, that whosoever loveth the truth, _the truth shall
make him free_. And forasmuch as I think he has them not, I
send you mine, begging you to entreat him on my part that he
will read them, and I firmly believe that the Holy Ghost,
which abideth in the letter, will do by him as great things
as he has done by those who wrote them; for God is not less
powerful or good than He has been, and his promises never
deceive. He has humbled you by captivity, but he has not
forsaken you, giving you patience and hope in his goodness,
which is always accompanied by consolation and a more perfect
knowledge of Him, which I am sure is better than the king
ever knows, having his mind less at liberty, on account of
the imprisonment of the body.
"Your good Cousin, MARGARET."
[Sidenote: REACTION AGAINST THE REFORM.]
In such language did Margaret of Valois, full of anxiety for the
salvation of her brother's soul, address the king after the battle of
Pavia. It is unfortunate that her letter and the Epistles of St. Paul
were not sent direct to Francis; she could not have selected a worse
medium than Montmorency.
The letters which the king wrote from the Castle of Pizzighitone,
where he was confined, afforded his sister some little consolation. At
the beginning of April she wrote to him: "After the sorrow of the
Passion this has been a Holy Ghost (_i. e._ a Pentecost), seeing the
grace that our Lord has shown you."[1035] But unhappily the prisoner
did not find in the Word of God that _truth which maketh free_, and
which Margaret so earnestly desired he might possess.
[1035] Lettres de la reine de Navarre à François, i. p. 27.
All France, princes, parliament, and people, was overwhelmed with
consternation. Erelong, as in the first three ages of the Church, the
calamity that had befallen the country was imputed to the Christians;
and fanatical cries were heard on every side calling for blood, as a
means of averting still greater disasters. The moment, therefore, was
favourable; it was not enough to have dislodged the evangelical
Christians from the three strong positions they had taken; it was
necessary to take advantage of the general panic, to strike while the
iron was hot, and sweep the whole kingdom clear of that opposition
which had become so formidable to the papacy.
[Sidenote: ACCUSATIONS AND MENACES.]
At the head of this conspiracy and of these clamours were Beda,
Duchesne, and Lecouturier. These irreconcilable enemies of the Gospel
flattered themselves they might easily obtain from public terror the
victims that had been hitherto refused them. They instantly employed
every device; conversations, fanatical harangues, lamentations,
threats, defamatory writings, to excite the anger of the nation, and
particularly of their governors. They vomited fire and flame against
their adversaries, and covered them with the most scurrilous
abuse.[1036] All means were good in their eyes; they picked out a few
words here and there, neglecting the context that might explain the
passage quoted; substituted expressions of their own for those of the
doctors they criminated, and omitted or added, according as it was
necessary to blacken their adversaries' characters.[1037] We have this
on the testimony of Erasmus himself.
[1036] Plus quam scurrilibus conviciis debacchantes. Er. Francisco
Reig, p. 1108.
[1037] Pro meis verbis supponit sua, prætermittit, addit. Ibid. 887.
Nothing excited their wrath so much as the fundamental doctrine of
Christianity and of the Reformation,--salvation by grace. "When I see
these three men," said Beda, "Lefevre, Erasmus, and Luther, in other
respects endowed with so penetrating a genius, uniting and conspiring
against meritorious works, and resting all the weight of salvation on
faith alone,[1038] I am no longer astonished that thousands of men,
seduced by these doctrines, have learned to say: 'Why should I fast
and mortify my body?' Let us banish from France this hateful doctrine
of grace. This neglect of good works is a fatal delusion from the
devil."
[1038] Cum itaque cerneram tres istos......uno animo in opera
meritoria conspirasse. Natalis Bedæ Apologia adversus clandestinos
Lutheranos, fol. 41.
[Sidenote: JURISPRUDENCE AND THE GOSPEL.]
In such language did the Syndic of the Sorbonne endeavour to fight
against the faith. He was destined to find supporters in a debauched
court, and in another part of the nation more respectable, but not
less opposed to the Gospel; I mean those grave men, those rigid
moralists, who, devoted to the study of laws and forms of
jurisprudence, regard Christianity as no more than a system of
legislation; the Church, as a moral police; and who, unable to adapt
to those principles of jurisprudence which absorb their whole thoughts
the doctrines of the spiritual inability of man, of the new birth, and
of justification by faith, look upon them as fanciful dreams,
dangerous to public morals and the prosperity of the state. This
hostile tendency to the doctrine of grace was manifested in the
sixteenth century by two very different excesses; in Italy and Poland
by the doctrine of Socinus, the descendant of an illustrious family of
lawyers at Sienna; and in France by the persecuting decrees and
burning piles of the parliament.
The parliament, in fact, despising the great truths of the Gospel
which the reformers announced, and thinking themselves called upon to
do something in so overwhelming a catastrophe, presented an address to
Louisa of Savoy, full of strong remonstrances on the conduct of the
government with regard to the new doctrine. "Heresy," said they, "has
raised its head among us, and the king, by neglecting to bring the
heretics to the scaffold, has drawn down the wrath of heaven upon the
nation."
At the same time the pulpits resounded with lamentations, threats, and
maledictions; prompt and exemplary punishments were loudly called for.
Martial Mazurier was particularly distinguished among the preachers of
Paris; and endeavouring by his violence to efface the recollection of
his former connexion with the partisans of the Reformation, he
declaimed against the "secret disciples of Luther." "Do you know the
rapid operation of this poison?" exclaimed he. "Do you know its
potency? Well may we tremble for France; as it works with
inconceivable activity, and in a short time may destroy thousands of
souls."[1039]
[1039] Mazurius contra occultos Lutheri discipulos declamat, ac
recentis veneni celeritatem vimque denunciat. Lannoi, regii Navarræ
gymnasii historia, p. 621.
[Sidenote: LOUISA CONSULTS THE SORBONNE AND THE POPE.]
It was not difficult to excite the regent against the partisans of the
Reformation. Her daughter Margaret, the first personage of the court,
Louisa of Savoy herself, who had always been so devoted to the Roman
pontiff, were pointed at by certain fanatics as countenancing Lefevre,
Berquin, and the other innovators. Had she not read their tracts and
their translations of the Bible? The queen-mother desired to clear
herself of such outrageous suspicions. Already she had despatched her
confessor to the Sorbonne to consult that body on the means of
extirpating this heresy. "The damnable doctrine of Luther," said she
to the faculty, "is every day gaining new adherents." The faculty
smiled on the receipt of this message. Till then, its representations
had not been listened to, and now their advice was humbly solicited in
the matter. At length they held within their grasp that heresy they
had so long desired to stifle. They commissioned Noel Beda to return
an immediate answer to the regent. "Seeing that the sermons, the
discussions, the books with which we have so often opposed heresy,
have failed in destroying it," said the fanatical syndic, "all the
writings of the heretics should be prohibited by a royal proclamation;
and if this means does not suffice, we must employ force and
constraint against the _persons_ of these false doctors; for those who
resist the light must be subdued by _torture_ and by _terror_."[1040]
[1040] Histoire de l'Université, par Crévier, v. 196.
[Sidenote: COMMISSION AGAINST THE HERETICS.]
But Louisa had not waited for this reply. Francis had scarcely fallen
into the hands of the emperor before she wrote to the pope to know his
pleasure concerning the heretics. It was of great importance to
Louisa's policy to secure the favour of a pontiff who could raise all
Italy against the victor of Pavia, and she was ready to conciliate him
at the cost of a little French blood. The pope, delighted that he
could wreak his vengeance in the "most Christian kingdom" against a
heresy that he could not destroy either in Switzerland or Germany,
gave immediate orders for the introduction of the Inquisition into
France, and addressed a brief to the parliament. At the same time
Duprat, whom the pontiff had created cardinal, and on whom he had
conferred the archbishopric of Sens, and a rich abbey, laboured to
respond to the favours of the court of Rome by the display of
indefatigable animosity against the heretics. Thus the pope, the
regent, the doctors of the Sorbonne, the parliament, and the
chancellor, with the most ignorant and fanatical part of the nation,
were conspiring together to ruin the Gospel and put its confessors to
death.
The parliament took the lead. Nothing less than the first body in the
kingdom was required to begin the campaign against this doctrine, and
moreover, was it not their peculiar business, since the public safety
was at stake? Accordingly the parliament, "influenced by a holy zeal
and fervour against these novelties,[1041] issued a decree to the
effect that the Bishop of Paris and the other prelates should be bound
to commission Messieurs Philip Pot, president of requests, and Andrew
Verjus, councillor, and Messieurs William Duchesne and Nicholas
Leclerc, doctors of divinity, to institute and conduct the trial of
those who should be tainted with the Lutheran doctrine.
[1041] De la religion catholique en France, par de Lezeau. MS. in the
library of St. Geneviève, Paris.
"And that it might appear that these commissioners were acting rather
under the authority of the Church than of the parliament, it has
pleased his holiness to send his brief of the 20th of May 1525,
approving of the appointment of the said commissioners.
"In consequence of which, all those who were declared Lutherans by the
bishop or ecclesiastical judges to these deputies, were delivered over
to the secular arm, that is to say, to the aforesaid parliament, which
thereupon condemned them to be burnt alive."[1042]
[1042] The manuscript in the library of Ste. Geneviève at Paris, from
which I have quoted this passage, bears the name of Lezeau, but that
of Lefèbre in the catalogue.
This is the language of a manuscript of the time.
Such was the terrible commission of inquiry appointed during the
captivity of Francis I. against the evangelical Christians of France
on the ground of public safety. It was composed of two laymen and two
ecclesiastics, and one of the latter was Duchesne, after Beda, the
most fanatical doctor of the Sorbonne. They had sufficient modesty not
to place him at their head, but his influence was only the more secure
on that account.
[Sidenote: CHARGES AGAINST BRIÇONNET.]
Thus the machine was wound up; its springs were well prepared; death
would be the result of each of its blows. It now became a question on
whom they should make their first attack. Beda, Duchesne, and Leclerc,
assisted by Philip Pot the president, and Andrew Verjus the
councillor, met to deliberate on this important point. Was there not
the Count of Montbrun, the old friend of Louis XII., and formerly
ambassador at Rome,--Briçonnet, bishop of Meaux? The committee of
public safety, assembled in Paris in 1525, thought that by commencing
with a man in so exalted a station, they would be sure to spread
dismay throughout the kingdom. This was a sufficient reason, and the
venerable bishop was impeached.
It is true that Briçonnet had given guarantees of submission to Rome,
to the parliament, and to the popular superstitions; but it was
strongly suspected that he had done so merely to ward off the blow
about to fall upon him, and that he was still countenancing heresy in
secret. It would appear that, after giving way, he had partly regained
his courage;--a circumstance quite in harmony with these irresolute
characters, who are tossed about and driven to and fro, as the waves
of the sea by the wind. Several acts were ascribed to him in different
places that would have been the most signal retractation of his
unhappy decrees of 1523 and 1524. The more eminent his rank in the
Church and in the State, the more fatal was his example, and the more
necessary also was it to obtain from him a striking recantation of his
errors, or to inflict upon him a still more notorious punishment. The
commission of inquiry eagerly collected the evidence against him. They
took account of the kindly reception the bishop had given to the
heretics; they stated that, a week after the superior of the
Cordeliers had preached in St. Martin's Church at Meaux, conformably
to the instructions of the Sorbonne, to restore sound doctrine,
Briçonnet himself had gone into the pulpit, and publicly refuted the
orator, calling him and the other Grayfriars bigots, hypocrites, and
false prophets; and that, not content with this public affront, he
had, through his official, summoned the superior to appear before him
in person.[1043] It would even appear from a manuscript of the times
that the bishop had gone much farther, and that in the autumn of 1524,
accompanied by Lefevre of Etaples, he had spent three months in
travelling through his diocese, and had burnt all the images, save the
crucifix alone. Such daring conduct, which would prove Briçonnet to
have possessed great boldness combined with much timidity, cannot if
it be true, fix upon him the blame attached to other image-breakers;
for he was at the head of that Church whose superstitions he was
reforming, and was acting in the sphere of his rights and
duties.[1044]
[1043] Hist. de l'Univ. par Crévier, v. 204.
[1044] In the library of the pastors at Neufchatel there is a letter
from Sebville, in which the following passage occurs: "Je te notifie
que l'évêque de Meaux en Brie près Paris, _cum Jacobo Fabro
Stapulensi_, depuis trois mois, en visitant l'évêché, ont brûlé actu
toutes les images, réservé le crucifix, et sont personellement
ajournés à Paris, à ce mois de Mars venant, pour répondre _coram
supremâ curiâ et universitate_." I am inclined to believe this fact
authentic, although Sebville was not on the spot, and that neither
Mezeray, Daniel, nor Maimbourg allude to it. These Romanist authors,
who are very brief, might have had reasons for passing it over in
silence, considering the issue of the trial; and Sebville's report
agrees in other respects with all the known facts. The matter is,
however, doubtful.
[Sidenote: THE FACULTY OF PARIS.]
Be that as it may, Briçonnet could not fail of being guilty in the
eyes of the enemies of the Gospel. He had not only attacked the Church
in general; he had grappled with the Sorbonne itself, that body whose
supreme law was its own glory and preservation. Accordingly it was
delighted on hearing of the examination instituted against its
adversary; and John Bochart, one of the most celebrated advocates of
the times, supporting the charge against Briçonnet before the
parliament, cried out, elevating his voice: "Against the Faculty,
neither the Bishop of Meaux nor any private individual may raise his
head or open his mouth. Nor is the Faculty called upon to enter into
discussion, to produce and set forth its reasons before the said
bishop, who ought not to resist the wisdom of that holy society, which
he should regard as aided of God."[1045]
[1045] Hist. de l'Univ. par Crévier, v. 204.
[Sidenote: ALARM OF THE BISHOP.]
In consequence of this requisition, the parliament issued a decree on
the 3d October 1525, by which, after authorizing the arrest of all
those who had been informed against, it ordered that the bishop should
be interrogated by James Menager and Andrew Verjus, councillors of the
court, touching the facts of which he was accused.[1046]
[1046] Maimbourg, Hist. du Calv. p. 14.
This decree of the parliament amazed the bishop. Briçonnet, the
ambassador of two kings--Briçonnet, a bishop and a prince, the friend
of Louis XII. and Francis I.--to submit to an examination by two
councillors of the court!......He who had hoped that God would kindle
in the heart of the king, of his mother, and of his sister, a fire
that would spread over the whole nation, now saw the nation turning
against him to extinguish the flame which he had received from heaven.
The king is a prisoner, his mother is at the head of the enemies of
the Gospel, and Margaret, alarmed at the misfortunes that burst upon
France, dares not ward off the blows that are about to fall on her
dearest friends, and directed first against that spiritual father who
has so often consoled her; or, if she dares, she cannot. Quite
recently she had written to Briçonnet a letter full of pious
outpourings: "Oh! that my poor, lifeless heart could feel some spark
of love, with which I desire it were burnt to ashes."[1047] But now it
was a question of literal burning. This mystic language was no longer
in season; and whoever now desired to confess his faith, must brave
the scaffold. The poor bishop, who had so earnestly hoped to see an
evangelical reform gradually and gently making its way into every
heart, was frightened, and trembled as he saw that he must now
purchase it at the cost of his life. Never perhaps had this terrible
thought occurred to him, and he recoiled from it in agony and
affright.
[1047] MS. in the Royal Library (Paris) S. F. No. 337.
[Sidenote: APPEAL TO PARLIAMENT--TEMPTATION.]
Yet Briçonnet had still one hope: if he were permitted to appear
before the assembled chambers of parliament, as became a person of his
rank, in that august and numerous court, he would be sure to find
generous hearts responding to his appeal, and undertaking his defence.
He therefore entreated the court to grant him this favour; but his
enemies had equally reckoned on the issue of such a hearing. Had they
not seen Luther appearing before the German diet and shaking the most
determined hearts? On the watch to remove every chance of safety, they
exerted themselves to such effect that the parliament refused
Briçonnet this favour by a decree dated the 25th of October 1525, in
confirmation of the one previously issued.[1048]
[1048] Maimbourg, Hist. du Calv. p. 15.
Here then was the Bishop of Meaux referred like the humblest priest to
the jurisdiction of James Menager and Andrew Verjus. These two
lawyers, docile instruments in the hands of the Sorbonne, would not be
moved by those higher considerations to which the whole chamber might
have been sensible; they were matter of fact men: had the bishop
differed from that society, or had he not? This is all they desire to
know. Briçonnet's conviction was therefore secured.
[Sidenote: THE BISHOP FALLS AWAY.]
While the parliament was thus holding the sword over the head of the
bishop, the monks, priests, and doctors were not idle; they saw that
Briçonnet's retractation would be of more service to them than his
punishment. His death would only inflame the zeal of all those who
held the same faith with him; but his apostacy would plunge them into
the deepest discouragement. They went to work accordingly. They
visited and entreated him, Martial Mazurier in particular endeavouring
to make him fall, as he had done himself. There was no lack of
arguments which might appear specious to Briçonnet. Would he like to
be deprived of his functions? Could he not, by remaining in the
church, employ his influence with the king and the court to effect an
incalculable amount of good? What would become of his old friends,
when he was no longer in power? Might not his resistance compromise a
reform, which, to be salutary and durable, should be carried out by
the legitimate influence of the clergy? How many souls he would offend
by resisting the Church; how many souls he would attract, on the
contrary, by giving way!......They, like himself, were anxious for a
reform. All is advancing insensibly; at the court and in the city and
provinces, everything is moving forward......and would he in mere
recklessness of heart destroy so fair a prospect!......After all, they
did not call upon him to sacrifice his opinions, but only to submit to
the established order of the Church. Was it well in him, when France
was labouring under so many reverses, to stir up new confusions? "In
the name of religion, of your country, of your friends, and of the
Reformation itself, be persuaded," said they. By such sophisms are the
noblest causes ruined.
Yet every one of these considerations had its influence on the mind of
the bishop. The tempter, who desired to make our Saviour fall in the
wilderness, thus presented himself to Briçonnet in specious colours,
but instead of saying with his Master: "Get thee behind me, Satan!" he
listened, welcomed, and pondered on these suggestions. From that hour
his fidelity was at an end.
Briçonnet had never embarked with his whole heart, like Luther or
Farel, in the movement that was then regenerating the Church; there
was in him a certain mystical tendency which weakens men's minds, and
deprives them of that firmness and courage which proceed from faith
alone based on the Word of God. The cross that he was called to take
up that he might follow Christ was too heavy.[1049] Shaken, alarmed,
stupified, and distracted,[1050] he stumbled against the stone which
had been artfully placed in his path......he fell, and instead of
throwing himself into the arms of Jesus, he threw himself into those
of Mazurier,[1051] and by a shameful recantation sullied the glory of
a noble faithfulness.[1052]
[1049] Crucis statim oblatæ terrore perculsus. Bezæ Icones.
[1050] Dementatus. Ibid.
[1051] Ut Episcopus etiam desisteret suis consiliis effecit. Launoi,
regii Navarræ gymnasii hist. p. 621.
[1052] Nisi turpi palinodia gloriam hanc omnem ipse sibi invidisset.
Bezæ Icones.
[Sidenote: CONSEQUENCES--RETRACTATION.]
Thus fell Briçonnet, the friend of Lefevre and of Margaret; thus the
earliest supporter of the Gospel in France denied the glad tidings of
grace, in the guilty thought that if he remained faithful, he would
lose his influence over the Church, the court, and France. But what
was represented to him as the salvation of his country, perhaps
became its ruin. What would have been the result if Briçonnet had
possessed the courage of Luther? If one of the first bishops of
France, beloved by the king and by the people, had ascended the
scaffold, and had, like the little ones of the world, sealed the truth
of the Gospel by a bold confession and a christian death, would not
France herself have been moved; and the blood of the bishop becoming,
like that of Polycarp and Cyprian, the seed of the Church, might we
not have seen that country, so illustrious in many respects, emerging
in the sixteenth century from that spiritual darkness with which it is
still clouded?
Briçonnet underwent a mere formal examination before James Menager and
Andrew Verjus, who declared that he had sufficiently vindicated
himself of the crime imputed to him. He was then subjected to penance,
and assembled a synod in which he condemned Luther's books, retracted
all that he had taught contrary to the doctrine of the Church,
restored the invocation of saints, endeavoured to bring back those who
had forsaken the Romish worship, and wishing to leave no doubt of his
reconciliation with the pope and the Sorbonne, kept a solemn fast on
the eve of Corpus Christi, and gave orders for pompous processions, in
which he appeared personally, still further testifying his faith by
his magnificence and by every kind of devout observance.[1053] In his
will he commended his soul to the Virgin Mary and to the heavenly
choir of paradise, and desired that after his death (which happened in
1533) twelve hundred masses should be said for the repose of his soul.
[1053] Mezeray, ii. 981; Daniel, vi. 544; Moreri, art. Briçonnet.
[Sidenote: BRIÇONNET AND FENELON--LEFEVRE ACCUSED.]
The fall of Briçonnet is perhaps the most memorable in the history of
the Reformation. Nowhere else do we find a man so sincerely pious and
so deeply engaged in the reform turning round so suddenly against it:
yet we must clearly understand his character and his fall. Briçonnet
was, as regards Rome, what Lefevre was with respect to the
Reformation. They were both persons of half-measures, properly
belonging to neither party. The doctor of Etaples inclined towards the
Word, while the Bishop of Meaux leaned to the hierarchy; and when
these two men who touch each other were called upon to decide, the one
ranged himself under the banner of Rome, and the other of Jesus
Christ. We cannot, however, be sure that Briçonnet was wholly untrue
to the convictions of his faith; at no period after his recantation
did the Romish doctors place entire confidence in him. But he acted,
perhaps, as the Archbishop of Cambray afterwards did, and whom he
resembled in many points; he thought he might submit outwardly to the
pope, while remaining inwardly subject to his old convictions. Such
weakness is incompatible with the principles of the Reformation.
Briçonnet was one of the chiefs of the mystic or quietist school in
France, and we know that one of its leading maxims has ever been to
accommodate itself to the church in which it exists, whatever that
church may be.
Briçonnet's guilty fall went to the hearts of his old friends, and was
the sad forerunner of those lamentable apostacies which the spirit of
the world so often obtained in France in another age. The man who
seemed to hold the reins of the Reformation in his hand was suddenly
thrown from his seat; and the Reformation was thenceforward destined
to pursue its course in France, without a human leader, without a
chief, in humility and in obscurity. But the disciples of the Gospel
raised their heads, and from that time looked with a firmer faith
towards that heavenly Guide, whose faithfulness they knew could not be
shaken.
[Sidenote: CONDEMNATION AND FLIGHT.]
The Sorbonne triumphed; this was a great stride towards the
destruction of the Reform in France; and it was important to achieve
another victory without delay. Lefevre stood next after Briçonnet.
Accordingly Beda had immediately turned the attack against him, by
publishing a book against this illustrious doctor, full of such gross
calumnies, that Erasmus says, "even smiths and cobblers could have
pointed them out." His fury was particularly excited by the doctrine
of justification through faith, which Lefevre was the first to preach
to Christendom in the sixteenth century. To this point Beda
continually recurred, as an article which, according to him,
overturned the Church. "What!" said he, "Lefevre affirms that whoever
places his salvation in himself will surely perish; while the man
that lays aside all strength of his own, and throws himself entirely
into the arms of Jesus Christ, will be saved!......Oh, what heresy! to
teach the inefficacy of meritorious works!......What a hellish error!
what a deceitful snare of the devil! Let us oppose it with all our
might!"[1054]
[1054] Perpendens perniciosissinam dæmonis fallaciam.....Occurri
quantum valui. Nat. Bedæ Apolog. adv. Lutheranos, fol. 42.
That engine of persecution which produces either retractation or
death, was immediately turned against the doctor of Etaples; and hopes
were already entertained of seeing Lefevre share the fate of the poor
wool-comber or of the illustrious Briçonnet. His accusation was soon
drawn up; and a decree of the parliament (dated 28th August 1525)
condemned nine propositions extracted from his commentaries on the
Gospels, and placed his translation of the Scriptures in the list of
prohibited books.[1055]
[1055] J. Lelong, Biblioth. sacrée, 2d partie, p. 44.
This was only the prelude; and that the learned doctor knew. Upon the
first symptoms of persecution, he had felt that, in the absence of
Francis I., he must fall under the assault of his enemies, and that
the moment was now come to obey the Lord's commandment: _When they
persecute you in one city, flee ye into another_.[1056] Lefevre
quitted Meaux, where, after the bishop's apostacy, he had drunk
nothing but the cup of bitterness, and saw all his activity paralyzed;
and as he withdrew from his persecutors, he shook the dust from off
his feet against them, "not to call down evil upon them, but as a sign
of the evils that were in store for them; for (says he in one place)
just as this dust is shaken from off our feet, are they cast off from
the face of the Lord."[1057]
[1056] Matthew x. 14, 23.
[1057] Quod excussi sunt a facie Domini sicut pulvis ille excussus est
a pedibus. Faber in Ev. Matth. p. 40.
The persecutors had missed their victim; but they consoled themselves
with the thought that France was at least delivered from the father of
the heretics.
[Sidenote: LEFEVRE AT STRASBURG--FAREL AND LEFEVRE MEET.]
The fugitive Lefevre arrived at Strasburg under a borrowed name; there
he immediately united with the friends of the Reformation; and what
must have been his joy at hearing that Gospel publicly taught which he
had been the first to bring forward in the Church! Lo, there was his
faith! this was exactly what he had intended to teach! He seemed to
have been born a second time to the christian life. Gerard Roussel,
one of those evangelical men who, like the doctor of Etaples, did not
attain complete emancipation, had also been compelled to quit France.
Together they followed the teaching of Capito and Bueer;[1058] they
had frequent private conversations with these faithful doctors,[1059]
and a report was circulated that they had even been commissioned to do
so by Margaret, the king's sister.[1060] But Lefevre was more occupied
in contemplating the ways of God than with polemics. Casting his eyes
over Christendom, filled with astonishment on beholding the great
events that were taking place, moved with thankfulness, and his heart
full of anticipation, he fell on his knees and prayed the Lord "to
perfect that which he saw then beginning."[1061]
[1058] Faber stapulensis et Gerardus Rufus, clam e Gallia profecti,
Capitonem et Bucerum audierunt. Melch. Adam. Vita Capitonis, p. 90.
[1059] De omnibus doctrinæ præcipuis locis cum ipsis disseruerint.
Ibid.
[1060] Missi a Margaretha, regis Francisci sorore. Ibid.
[1061] Farel à tous seigneurs, peuples, et pasteurs.
One pleasure in particular awaited him in Strasburg; Farel his
disciple, his son, from whom he had been separated by persecution for
nearly three years, had arrived there before him. The aged doctor of
the Sorbonne found in his young pupil a man in the vigour of life, a
Christian in all the energy of faith. Farel affectionately clasped
that wrinkled hand which had guided his first steps, and he
experienced an indescribable joy at again meeting with his father in
an evangelical city, and on seeing him surrounded with faithful men.
Together they listened to the pure instructions of illustrious
teachers; together they partook of the Lord's Supper in conformity
with Christ's institution; together they received touching proofs of
the love of their brethren. "Do you remember," said Farel, "what you
once observed to me when we were both sunk in darkness: William, God
will renew the world, and you will see it!......Here is the beginning
of what you then told me."--"Yes:" answered the pious old man, "God is
renewing the world......My dear son, continue to preach boldly the
holy Gospel of Jesus Christ."[1062]
[1062] Quod et pius senex fatebatur; meque hortabatur pergerem in
annuntiatione sacri evangelii. Farel to Pellican. Hotting. H. L. vi.
17.
[Sidenote: A CITY OF REFUGE--LOUIS BERQUIN.]
Lefevre, from excess of caution doubtless, wished to live unknown at
Strasburg, and had taken the name of Anthony Pilgrim, while Roussel
assumed that of Solnin. But the illustrious doctor could not remain
hidden; in a short time the whole city and the very children saluted
the aged Frenchman with respect.[1063] He did not dwell alone; but
resided in Capito's house with Farel, Roussel, Vedastus, who was
eulogized for his diffidence, and a certain Simon, a converted Jew.
The houses of Capito, Œcolampadius, Zwingle, and Luther, were then
like inns. Such was at that time the strength of brotherly love. Many
other Frenchmen were living in this city on the banks of the Rhine,
and they founded a church in which Farel often preached the doctrine
of salvation. This Christian society soothed the pain of exile.
[1063] Nam latere cupiunt et tamen pueris noti sunt. Capito to
Zwingle, Epp. p. 439.
[Sidenote: COMPLAINT OF THE PRISONER--ERASMUS.]
While these brethren were thus enjoying the asylum offered them by
fraternal affection, those in Paris and in other parts of France were
exposed to great dangers. Briçonnet had retracted; Lefevre had quitted
France; this was no doubt something for the Sorbonne; but it had still
to wait for the punishments that it had advised. Beda and his party
had found no victims......one man exasperated them still more than
Briçonnet and Lefevre; this was Louis Berquin. The gentleman of
Artois, of a more decided character than his two masters, omitted no
opportunity of tormenting the monks and theologians, and of unmasking
their fanaticism. Living by turns at Paris and in the provinces, he
collected and translated the writings of Luther and Erasmus:[1064] he
himself would compose controversial works, and defend and propagate
the new doctrine with all the zeal of a new convert. The Bishop of
Amiens denounced him; Beda seconded the charge; and the parliament had
him thrown into prison. "This one," said they, "shall not escape us
like Briçonnet or Lefevre." In effect, they kept him in close
confinement. In vain did the superior of the Carthusians and others
entreat him to apologize; he boldly declared that he would not give
way on a single point. "There seemed no way left," says a chronicler,
"but to lead him to the stake."[1065]
[1064] Erasmus, Epp. p. 923.
[1065] Actes des Martyrs, p. 103.
Margaret, in consternation at what had happened to Briçonnet, dreaded
to see Berquin dragged to that scaffold which the bishop had so
shamefully escaped. Not daring to visit him in prison, she endeavoured
to convey a few words of consolation to him; and it was perhaps for
him that the princess composed this touching complaint of the
prisoner, in which the latter, addressing the Lord, exclaims:--[1066]
But yet, where'er my prison be,
Its gates can never keep out Thee
For instant where I am, Thou art with me.
[1066] Marguerites de la Marguerite des Princesses, i. 445.
But Margaret did not stop here; she instantly wrote to her brother,
soliciting this gentleman's pardon. Happy would she be if she could
deliver him in time from the hatred of his enemies.
[Sidenote: ERASMUS ATTACKED--HIS DEFENCE.]
While waiting for this victim, Beda resolved to intimidate the enemies
of the Sorbonne and of the monks by crushing the most celebrated of
them. Erasmus had taken up the pen against Luther; but that was of
little consequence. If they can succeed in destroying Erasmus, with
much the stronger reason would the ruin of Farel, of Luther, and of
their associates be inevitable. The surest way to reach the mark is to
aim beyond it. When once Rome has placed her foot upon the neck of the
philosopher of Rotterdam, where is the heretical doctor that can
escape its vengeance? Lecouturier, commonly known by his Latin name
_Sutor_ (cobbler), had already begun the attack, by launching from his
solitary Carthusian cell a treatise overflowing with violence, in
which he called his opponents theologasters and jackasses, charging
them with scandalous crimes, heresy, and blasphemy. Treating of
subjects which he did not understand, he reminded his readers of the
old proverb: _Ne sutor ultra crepidam_, Let the cobbler stick to his
last.
Beda hastened to the assistance of his brother. He ordered Erasmus to
write no more;[1067] and taking up that pen which he had commanded the
greatest writer of the age to lay down, he made a collection of all
the calumnies that the monks had invented against the illustrious
philosopher, translated them into French, and composed a book that he
circulated in the city and at court, striving to raise all France
against him.[1068] This work was the signal of attack; Erasmus was
assailed from every quarter. An old Carmelite of Louvain, Nicholas
Ecmond, exclaimed every time he went into the pulpit, "There is no
difference between Luther and Erasmus, except that Erasmus is the
greater heretic;"[1069] and wherever the Carmelite might be, at table,
in coach, or in boat, he called Erasmus a heresiarch and forger.[1070]
The faculty of Paris, excited by these clamours, prepared a censure
against the illustrious writer.
[1067] Primum jubet ut desinam scribere. Erasm. Epp. 921.
[1068] Ut totam Galliam in me concitaret. Ibid. 886.
[1069] Nisi quod Erasmus esset major hæreticus. Ibid. 915.
[1070] Quoties in conviviis, in vehiculis, in navibus. Ibid.
[Sidenote: APPEAL TO THE KING AND THE EMPEROR.]
Erasmus was astounded. This, then, is the end of all his forbearance,
and of even his hostility against Luther. He had mounted to the breach
with greater courage than any man; and now they want to make him a
stepping stone, and trample him under foot, that they may the more
securely attack the common enemy. This idea disgusted him: he turned
round immediately, and almost before he had ceased his attack upon
Luther, fell upon these fanatical doctors, who had assailed him from
behind. Never was his correspondence more active than now. He glances
all around him, and his piercing eye soon discovers in whose hands
depends his fate. He does not hesitate: he will lay his complaints and
remonstrances at the feet of the Sorbonne, of the parliament, of the
king, and of the emperor himself. "What is it that has kindled this
immense Lutheran conflagration?" wrote he to those theologians of the
Sorbonne, from whom he still expected some little impartiality; "what
has fanned it, if not the virulence of Beda and his fellows?[1071] In
war, a soldier who has done his duty receives a reward from his
general; and all the recompense I shall receive from you, the leaders
in this war, is to be delivered up to the calumnies of such as Beda
and Lecouturier."
[1071] Hoc gravissimum Lutheri incendium, unde natum, unde huc
progressum, nisi ex Beddaicis intemperiis. Er. Epp. p. 887.
"What!" wrote he to the parliament, "when I was contending with these
Lutherans, and while I was maintaining a severe struggle by order of
the emperor, the pope, and other princes, even at the peril of my
life, Beda and Lecouturier attacked me from behind with their foul
libels! Ah, if fortune had not deprived us of King Francis, I should
have invoked this avenger of the muses against this new invasion of
the barbarians.[1072] But now it is your duty to put an end to such
injustice!"
[1072] Musarum vindicem adversus barbarorum incursiones. Ibid. p.
2070.
As soon as he found the possibility of conveying a letter to the king,
he wrote to him immediately. His penetrating eye detected in these
fanatical doctors of the Sorbonne the germs of the league, the
predecessors of those three priests who were one day to set up the
_Sixteen_ against the last of the Valois; his genius forewarned the
king of the crimes and misfortunes which his descendants were destined
to know but too well. "Religion is their pretext," said he, "but they
aspire to tyranny even over princes. They move with a sure step,
though their path is underground. Should the prince be disinclined to
submit to them in every thing, they will declare that he may be
deposed by the Church; that is to say, by a few false monks and
theologians who conspire against the public peace."[1073] Erasmus in
writing to Francis I. could not have touched a tenderer point.
[1073] Nisi princeps ipsorum voluntati per omnia paruerit, dicetur
fautor hæreticorum et destitui poterit per ecclesiam. Ibid. p. 1108.
[Sidenote: PARIS AND LORRAINE--ESCH IMPRISONED.]
Finally, to be more certain of escape from his enemies, Erasmus
invoked the protection of Charles V. "Invincible emperor," said he,
"certain individuals who, under the pretence of religion, wish to
establish their own gluttony and despotism, are raising a horrible
outcry against me.[1074] I am fighting under your banners and those of
Jesus Christ. May your wisdom and power restore peace to the Christian
world."
[1074] Simulato religionis prætextu, ventris tyrannidisque suæ,
negotium agentes. Er. Epp. p. 962.
Thus did the prince of letters address the great ones of the age. The
danger was averted; the powers of the world interposed; the vultures
were compelled to abandon a prey which they fancied already in their
talons. Upon this they turned their eyes to another quarter, seeking
fresh victims, which were soon found.
Lorraine was the first place in which blood was again to flow. From
the earliest days of the Reform there had been a fanatical alliance
between Paris and the country of the Guises. When Paris was quiet,
Lorraine applied to the task; and then Paris resumed her labour, while
Metz and Nancy were recovering their strength. In June 1525, Peter
Toussaint returned to Metz, in company with Farel. They desired a
hearing before their lordships _the Thirteen_; and this being refused,
they appealed to the _eschevin_. Plans were already laid for throwing
them into prison, when, fearful of danger, they quickly left the city,
travelling all night lest they should be overtaken.[1075]
[1075] Chroniques de Metz, p. 823.
[Sidenote: ESCH IMPRISONED--SCHUCH AT NANCY.]
The first blows were destined apparently to fall on an excellent man,
one of the Basle refugees, a friend of Farel and Toussaint. The
Chevalier d'Esch had not been able to escape the suspicions of the
priests in Metz. They discovered that he kept up a communication with
the evangelical Christians, and he was imprisoned at Pont-a-Mousson,
about five miles from Metz on the banks of the Moselle[1076] These
tidings overwhelmed the French refugees and the Swiss themselves with
sorrow. "O heart full of innocence!" exclaimed Œcolampadius. "I
have confidence in the Lord," added he, "that he will preserve this
man to us, either in life as a preacher of righteousness, to announce
His name, or as a martyr to confess him in death."[1077] But at the
same time Œcolampadius disapproved of the impetuosity, enthusiasm,
and imprudent zeal which distinguished the French refugees. "I wish,"
said he, "that my very dear lords of France would not be so hasty in
returning into their own country, before they had duly examined all
things;[1078] for the devil is spreading his snares on every side.
Nevertheless let them obey the Spirit of Christ, and may this Spirit
never abandon them."
[1076] Noster captas detinetur in Bundamosa quinque millibus a Metis.
Œcol. to Farel, Epp. 201.
[1077] Vel vivum confessorem, vel mortuum martyrem servabit. Œcol
to Farel, Epp. 201.
[1078] Nollem carissimos dominos meos Galles properare in Galliam, &c.
Ibid.
There was, in truth, reason to fear for the chevalier. The fury of the
enemy had broken out in Lorraine with redoubled violence. The
provincial of the Cordeliers, Bonaventure Renel, confessor to Duke
Anthony the Good, a man devoid of shame, and not very commendable on
the score of morals, gave this weak prince, who reigned from 1508 to
1544, great licence in his pleasures, and persuaded him, almost by way
of penance, to destroy the innovators without mercy. "It is enough for
every one to know his _Pater_ and his _Ave_" this prince, so well
tutored by Renel, would say; "the greater the doctor, the greater the
disturbance."[1079]
[1079] Actes des Martyrs, p. 97
Towards the end of 1524 the duke's court was informed that a pastor
named Schuch was preaching some new doctrine in the town of St.
Hippolyte, at the foot of the Vosges. "Let them return to their duty,"
said Anthony _the Good_, "or else I will march against the city, and
destroy it by fire and sword."[1080]
[1080] Ibid. p. 95.
[Sidenote: HIS CONDEMNATION AND MARTYRDOM.]
Upon this the faithful pastor resolved to give himself up for his
flock, and repaired to Nancy, where the prince was residing. As soon
as he arrived he was thrown into a filthy prison, under the guard of
brutal and cruel men; and Friar Bonaventure at last saw the heretic in
his power. It was he who presided at the trial. "Heretic! Judas!
devil!" exclaimed he. Schuch, calm and collected, made no reply to
this abuse; but holding in his hands a Bible, all covered with notes,
he meekly yet forcibly confessed Christ crucified. On a sudden he
became animated; he stood up boldly, and raising his voice, as if
filled by the Spirit from on high, looked his judges in the face, and
threatened them with the terrible judgments of God.
Brother Bonaventure and his companions, amazed and transported with
rage, rushed upon him with violent cries, tore away the Bible from
which he was reading this menacing language, "and like mad dogs," says
the chronicler, "unable to bite his doctrine, they burnt it in their
convent."[1081]
[1081] Actes des Martyrs, recueillis par Crespin, en Français, p. 97.
All the court of Lorraine resounded with the obstinacy and impudence
of the minister of St. Hippolyte, and the prince, curious to hear the
heretic, desired to be present at his last interrogatory, but in
secret however, and concealed from every eye. As the examination took
place in Latin, he could not understand a word; but he was struck with
the firm countenance of the minister, who seemed neither vanquished
nor confounded. Exasperated at such obstinacy, Anthony the Good rose
up, and said as he withdrew: "Why do you still dispute? He denies the
sacrament of the mass; let them proceed to execution against
him."[1082] Schuch was instantly condemned to be burnt alive. When the
sentence was made known to him, he raised his eyes to heaven, saying
mildly: "I was glad when they said unto me, let us go into the house
of the Lord."[1083]
[1082] Hist. de François I. par Gaillard, iv. 233.
[1083] Psalm cxxii. 1.
On the 19th August 1525 the whole city of Nancy was in motion. The
bells were tolling for the death of a heretic. The mournful procession
set out. It was necessary to pass before the convent of the
Cordeliers, who, rejoicing and expectant, had assembled before the
gate. At the moment that Schuch appeared, Father Bonaventure, pointing
to the carved images over the portals of the convent, exclaimed:
"Heretic! pay honour to God, to his mother, and to the saints."--"Ye
hypocrites!" replied Schuch, standing erect before these blocks of
wood and stone, "God will destroy you, and bring your deceits to
light!"
[Sidenote: BEDA'S CONTEST WITH CAROLI]
When the martyr reached the place of execution, his books were burnt
before his face; he was then called upon to retract; but he refused,
saying: "It is thou, O God, who hast called me, and thou wilt give me
strength unto the end."[1084] After this he began to repeat aloud the
fifty-first psalm: "Have mercy upon me, O Lord, according to thy
loving kindness." Having mounted the pile, he continued to recite the
psalm until the smoke and the flames stifled his voice.
[1084] Eum auctorem vocationis suæ atque conservatorem, ad extremum
usque spiritum recognovit. Acta Mart. p. 202.
Thus the persecutors of France and Lorraine beheld a renewal of their
victories; at length men paid attention to their advice. The ashes of
a heretic had been scattered to the winds at Nancy; it was a challenge
to the capital of France. What! shall Beda and Lecouturier be the last
to show their zeal for the pope! Let flames reply to flames, and
heresy, swept from the soil of the kingdom, would soon be entirely
driven back beyond the Rhine.
But before he could succeed, Beda had to sustain a combat, half
serious, half ludicrous, against one of those men with whom the
struggle against the Papacy is merely an intellectual pastime and not
an earnest purpose of the heart.
[Sidenote: CONTEST WITH CAROLI--PAVANNE'S DEJECTION.]
Among the scholars whom Briçonnet had attracted to his diocese, was a
doctor of the Sorbonne, named Peter Caroli, a vain and frivolous man,
not less quarrelsome and litigious than Beda himself. In the new
doctrine Caroli saw the means of vexing Beda, whose ascendency he
could not endure. Accordingly, on his return from Meaux to Paris, he
made a great sensation by carrying into the pulpit what was called,
"the new way of preaching." Then began an indefatigable struggle
between the two doctors; it was blow for blow, and trick for trick.
Beda summoned Caroli before the Sorbonne, and Caroli summoned him
before the bishop's court by way of reparation. The faculty continued
the examination, and Caroli gave notice of an appeal to the
parliament. He was provisionally forbidden to enter the pulpit, and he
preached in all the churches of Paris. Being positively forbidden to
preach at all, he publicly lectured on the Psalms in the College of
Cambray. The faculty forbade him to continue his course, and he begged
permission to finish the explanation of the 22d Psalm, which he had
just begun. Finally, on the refusal of his request, he posted the
following placard on the college gates: "_Peter Caroli, desirous of
obeying the orders of the sacred faculty, has ceased to lecture; he
will resume his lectures (whenever it shall please God) at the verse
where he left off_: THEY HAVE PIERCED MY HANDS AND MY FEET." Thus Beda
at last found his match. If Caroli had seriously defended the truth,
the burning pile would soon have been his reward; but he was of too
profane a spirit to be put to death. How could the judges capitally
punish a man who made them lose their gravity. Neither the bishop's
court, nor the parliament, nor the council, could ever come to a
definite decision in his cause. Two men such as Caroli would have
wearied out the activity of Beda himself; but the Reformation did not
produce his parallel.[1085]
[1085] Gerdesius, Hist. seculi xvi. renovati, p. 52; D'Argentré,
Collectio judiciorum de novis erroribus, ii. 21; Gaillard, Hist. de
François I. iv. 233.
As soon as this unseasonable contest was ended, Beda applied to more
serious matters. Happily for the syndic of the Sorbonne, there were
men who gave persecution a better hold of them than Caroli. Briçonnet,
Erasmus, Lefevre, and Farel had escaped him; but since he cannot reach
these distinguished individuals, he will content himself with meaner
persons. The poor youth, James Pavanne, after his abjuration at
Christmas 1524, had done nothing but weep and sigh. He might be seen
with a melancholy air, his eyes fixed on the earth, groaning inwardly,
and severely reproaching himself for having denied his Saviour and his
God.[1086]
[1086] Animi factum suum destestantis dolorem, sæpe declaraverit. Acta
Mart. p. 203.
[Sidenote: HIS JOY AND MARTYRDOM--THE HERMIT.]
Pavanne was undoubtedly the most diffident and inoffensive of men: but
what mattered that! he had been at Meaux, and in those days that was
sufficient. "Pavanne has relapsed," was the cry; "_the dog is turned
to his own vomit again, and the sow that was washed to her wallowing
in the_ _mire_." He was immediately arrested, thrown into prison, and
taken before his judges. This was all that the youthful James
required. He felt comforted as soon as he was in chains, and found
strength sufficient to confess Jesus Christ with boldness.[1087] The
cruel persecutors smiled as they saw that, this time at least, nothing
could save their victim; there was no recantation, no flight, no
powerful patronage. The young man's mildness, his candour and courage,
failed to soften his adversaries. He regarded them with love; for by
casting him into prison, they had restored him to tranquillity and
joy; but his tender looks only served to harden their hearts. His
trial was soon concluded: a pile was erected on the Grève, where
Pavanne died rejoicing, strengthening by his example all those who in
that large city believed openly or secretly in the Gospel of Christ.
[1087] Puram religionis Christianæ confessionem addit. Acta Mart. p.
203.
This was not enough for the Sorbonne. If they are compelled to
sacrifice the little ones of the world, their number must at least
make amends for their quality. The flames of the Grève struck terror
into Paris and the whole of France; but a new pile, kindled on another
spot, will redouble that terror. It will be talked of at court, in the
colleges, and in the workshops of the people; and such proofs will
show more clearly than any edicts, that Louisa of Savoy, the Sorbonne,
and the parliament, are resolved to sacrifice the very last heretic to
the anathemas of Rome.
[Sidenote: THE HERMIT OF LIVRY.]
In the forest of Livry, three leagues from Paris, and not far from the
spot where once stood the ancient abbey of the Augustines, dwelt a
hermit, who in his excursions having met with some men of Meaux, had
received the evangelical doctrine in his heart.[1088] The poor hermit
had felt himself rich in his retreat, when one day, returning with the
scanty food that public charity bestowed on him, he carried back Jesus
Christ and his grace. From that time he found that it was better to
give than to receive. He went from house to house in the surrounding
villages, and as soon as he had opened the doors of the poor peasants
whom he visited in their humble huts, he spoke to them of the Gospel,
of the perfect pardon that it offers to the burdened soul, and which
is far better than absolutions.[1089] Erelong the good hermit of Livry
was known in the environs of Paris; people went to visit him in his
lowly cell, and he became a mild and fervent missionary for the simple
souls of that district.
[1088] Cette semence de Faber et de ses disciples, prise au grenier de
Luther, germa dans le sot esprit d'un ermite, qui se tenait près la
ville de Paris. Hist. cath. de notre temps, par S. Fontaine, Paris,
1562.
[1089] Lequel par les villages qu'il fréquentait, sous couleur de
faire ses quêtes, tenait propos hérétiques. Hist. cath. de notre
temps, par S. Fontaine, Paris, 1562.
The rumour of the doings of this new evangelist did not fail to reach
the ears of the Sorbonne and of the magistrates of Paris. The hermit
was seized, dragged from his hermitage, from his forest, from those
fields through which he used to wander daily, thrown into a prison in
that great city which he had ever shunned, and condemned "to suffer
the exemplary punishment of the slow fire."[1090]
[1090] Ibid.
[Sidenote: HIS MARTYRDOM.]
In order to render the example more striking, it was determined that
he should be burnt alive in the front of Notre-Dame, before that
splendid cathedral, that majestic symbol of Roman-catholicism. All the
clergy were convoked, and as much pomp was displayed as on the most
solemn festivals.[1091] They would, if possible, have attracted all
Paris round the stake, "the great bell of the church of Notre-Dame
(says an historian) tolling solemnly to arouse the citizens."[1092]
The people flocked in crowds through all the streets that led into the
square. The deep tones of the bell drew the workman from his toil, the
scholar from his books, the merchant from his traffic, the soldier
from his idleness, and already the wide space was covered by an
immense crowd which still kept increasing. The hermit, clad in the
garments assigned to obstinate heretics, with head and feet bare, had
been led before the gates of the cathedral. Calm, firm, and collected,
he made no reply to the exhortations of the confessors who presented
him a crucifix, save by declaring that his sole hope was in the
pardon of God. The doctors of the Sorbonne, in the front ranks of the
spectators, seeing his constancy, and the effect it was producing on
the people, cried aloud: "He is damned: they are leading him to
hell-fire!"[1093] The great bell still continued tolling, and its loud
notes, by stunning the ears of the crowd, increased the solemnity of
this mournful spectacle. At length the bell was silent, and the martyr
having replied to the last questions of his enemies, that he was
resolved to die in the faith of his Lord Jesus Christ, was burnt by a
slow fire, according to the tenor of his sentence. And thus, in front
of Notre-Dame, amid the shouts and emotion of a whole people, under
the shadow of the towers raised by the piety of Louis the younger,
peacefully died a man, whose name history has not transmitted to us,
except as the "Hermit of Livry."
[1091] Avec une grande cérémonie. Hist, des Egl. Réf. par Théod. de
Bèze, i. 4.
[1092] Ibid.
[1093] Beza, Histoire des Églises Réf. i. 4.