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THE
REFORMATION IN EUROPE
IN THE TIME OF CALVIN.
VOL. I.
LONDON
PRINTED BY SPOTTISWOODE AND CO.
NEW-STREET SQUARE
HISTORY
OF
THE REFORMATION IN EUROPE
IN THE TIME OF CALVIN.
BY J. H. MERLE D’AUBIGNÉ, D.D.
AUTHOR OF THE
‘HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION OF THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY’ ETC.
‘Les choses de petite durée out coutume de devenir fanées, quand
elles out passé leur temps.
‘Au règne de Christ, il n’y a que le nouvel homme qui soit florissant,
qui ait de la vigueur, et dont il faille faire cas.’
CALVIN.
VOL. I.
GENEVA AND FRANCE.
LONDON: LONGMAN, GREEN, LONGMAN, ROBERTS, & GREEN. 1863.
PREFACE.
At the conclusion of the preface to the first volume of the _History
of the Reformation_, the author wrote, ‘This work will consist of four
volumes, or at the most five, which will appear successively.’ These
five volumes have appeared. In them are described the heroic times of
Luther, and the effects produced in Germany and other countries by
the characteristic doctrine of that reformer--justification by faith.
They present a picture of that great epoch which contained in the germ
the revival of christianity in the last three centuries. The author
has thus completed the task he had assigned himself; but there still
remained another.
The times of Luther were followed by those of Calvin. He, like his
great predecessor, undertook to search the Scriptures, and in them
he found the same truth and the same life; but a different character
distinguishes his work.
The renovation of the individual, of the Church, and of the human race,
is his theme. If the Holy Ghost kindles the lamp of truth in man, it
is (according to Calvin) ‘to the end that the entire man should be
transformed.’--‘In the kingdom of Christ,’ he says, ‘it is only the new
man that flourishes and has any vigour, and whom we ought to take into
account.’
This renovation is, at the same time, an enfranchisement; and we might
assign, as a motto to the reformation accomplished by Calvin, as well
as to apostolical christianity itself, these words of Jesus Christ:
_The truth shall make you free._[1]
When the gods of the nations fell, when the Father which is in heaven
manifested Himself to the world in the Gospel, adopting as His children
those who received into their hearts the glad tidings of reconciliation
with God, all these men became brethren, and this fraternity created
liberty. From that time a mighty transformation went on gradually, in
individuals, in families, and in society itself. Slavery disappeared,
without wars or revolutions.
Unhappily, the sun which had for some time gladdened the eyes of the
people, became obscured; the liberty of the children of God was lost;
new human ordinances appeared to bind men’s consciences and chill
their hearts. The Reformation of the sixteenth century restored to the
human race what the middle ages had stolen from them; it delivered
them from the traditions, laws, and despotism of the papacy; it put
an end to the minority and tutelage in which Rome claimed to keep
mankind for ever; and by calling upon man to establish his faith not
on the word of a priest, but on the infallible Word of God, and by
announcing to everyone free access to the Father through the new and
saving way--Christ Jesus, it proclaimed and brought about the hour of
christian manhood.
An explanation is, however, necessary. There are philosophers in our
days who regard Christ as simply the apostle of political liberty.
These men should learn that, if they desire liberty outwardly, they
must first possess it inwardly. To hope to enjoy the first without the
second is to run after a chimera.
The greatest and most dangerous of despotisms is that beneath which
the depraved inclination of human nature, the deadly influence of the
world, namely, sin, miserably subjects the human conscience. There
are, no doubt, many countries, especially among those which the sun of
christianity has not yet illumined, that are without civil liberty,
and that groan under the arbitrary rule of powerful masters. But, in
order to become free outwardly, men must first succeed in being free
inwardly. In the human heart there is a vast country to be delivered
from slavery--abysses which man cannot cross alone, heights he cannot
climb unaided, fortresses he cannot take, armies he cannot put to
flight. In order to conquer in this moral battle, man must unite with
One stronger than himself--with the Son of God.
If there is anyone, in the present state of society, who is fatigued
with the struggle and grieved at finding himself always overcome by
evil, and who desires to breathe the light pure air of the upper
regions of liberty--let him come to the Gospel; let him seek for union
with the Saviour, and in his Holy Spirit he will find a power by which
he will be able to gain the greatest of victories.
We are aware that there are men, and good men too, who are frightened
at the word ‘liberty;’ but these estimable persons are quite wrong.
Christ is a deliverer. _The Son_, He said, _shall make you free_. Would
they wish to change Him into a tyrant?
There are also, as we well know, some intelligent men, but enemies of
the Gospel, who, seeing a long and lamentable procession of despotic
acts pass before them in the history of the Church, place them
unceremoniously to the account of christianity. Let them undeceive
themselves: the oppression that revolts them may be pagan, jewish,
papal, or worldly ... but it is not christian. Whenever christianity
reappears in the world, with its spirit, faith, and primitive life, it
brings men deliverance and peace.
The liberty which the Truth brings is not for individuals only:
it affects the whole of society. Calvin’s work of renovation, in
particular, which was doubtless first of all an internal work, was
afterwards destined to exercise a great influence over nations.
Luther transformed princes into heroes of the faith, and we have
described with admiration their triumphs at Augsburg and elsewhere. The
reformation of Calvin was addressed particularly to the people, among
whom it raised up martyrs until the time came when it was to send forth
the spiritual conquerors of the world. For three centuries it has been
producing, in the social condition of the nations that have received
it, transformations unknown to former times. And still at this very
day, and now perhaps more than ever, it imparts to the men who accept
it a spirit of power which makes them chosen instruments, fitted to
propagate truth, morality, and civilisation to the ends of the earth.
* * * * *
The idea of the present work is not a new one: it dates more than
forty years back. A writer, from whom the author differs on important
points, but whose name is dear to all who know the simple beauty of
his character, and have read with care his works on the history of the
Church and the history of Dogmas, which have placed him in the foremost
rank among the ecclesiastical historians of our day--the learned
Neander--speaking with the author at Berlin in 1818, pressed him to
undertake a _History of the Reformation of Calvin_. The author answered
that he desired first to describe that of Luther; but that he intended
to sketch successively two pictures so similar and yet so different.
The _History of the Reformation in Europe in the time of Calvin_
naturally begins with Geneva.
The Reformation of Geneva opens with the fall of a bishop-prince. This
is its characteristic; and if we passed over in silence the heroic
struggles which led to his fall, we should expose ourselves to just
reproaches on the part of enlightened men.
It is possible that this event, which we are called upon to describe
(the end of an ecclesiastical state), may give rise to comparisons
with the present times; but we have not gone out of our way for
them. The great question, which occupies Europe at this moment, also
occupied Geneva at the beginning of the sixteenth century. But that
portion of our history was written before these late exciting years,
during which the important and complex question of the maintenance or
the fall of the temporal power of the popes has come before, and is
continually coming before, sovereigns and their people. The historian,
while relating the facts of the sixteenth century, had no other
prepossessions than those which the story itself called up.
These prepossessions were quite natural. Descended from the huguenots
of France, whom persecution drove from their country in the sixteenth
and seventeenth centuries, the author had become attached to that
hospitable city which received his forefathers, and in which they found
a new home. The huguenots of Geneva captivated his attention. The
decision, the sacrifices, the perseverance, and the heroism, with which
the Genevans defended their threatened liberty, moved him profoundly.
The independence of a city, acquired by so much courage and by so many
privations, perils, and sufferings, is, without doubt, a sacred thing
in the eyes of all; and no one should attempt to rob her of it. It may
be that this history contains lessons for the people, of which he did
not always think as he was writing it. May he be permitted to point out
one?
The political emancipation of Geneva differs from many modern
revolutions in the fact that we find admirably combined therein the
two elements which make the movements of nations salutary; that is
to say, order and liberty. Nations have been seen in our days rising
in the name of liberty, and entirely forgetting right. It was not so
in Geneva. For some time the Genevans persevered in defending the
established order of things; and it was only when they had seen, during
a long course of years, their prince-bishops leaguing themselves with
the enemies of the state, conniving at usurpations, and indulging in
acts contrary to the charters of their ancestors, that they accepted
the divorce, and substituted a new state of things for the old one, or
rather returned to an antecedent state. We find them always quoting
the ancient _libertates_, _franchesiæ_, _immunitates_, _usus_,
_consuetudines civitatis Gebennensis_, first digested into a code in
1387, while their origin is stated in the document itself to be of
much greater antiquity. The author (as will be seen) is a friend of
liberty; but justice, morality, and order are, in his opinion, quite as
necessary to the prosperity of nations. On that point he agrees with
that distinguished writer on modern civilisation, M. Guizot, though he
may differ from him on others.
In writing this history we have had recourse to the original documents,
and in particular to some important manuscripts; the manuscript
registers of the Council of Geneva, the manuscript histories of Syndic
Roset and Syndic Gautier, the manuscript of the _Mamelus_ (Mamelukes),
and many letters and remarkable papers preserved in the Archives of
Geneva. We have also studied in the library of Berne some manuscripts
of which historians have hitherto made little or no use; a few of these
have been indicated in the notes, others will be mentioned hereafter.
Besides these original sources, we have profited by writings and
documents of great interest belonging to the sixteenth century, and
recently published by learned Genevese archæologists, particularly by
MM. Galiffe, Grenus, Revillod, E. Mallet, Chaponière, and Fick. We
have also made great use of the memoirs of the Society of History and
Archæology of Geneva.
With regard to France, the author has consulted various documents of
the sixteenth century, little or altogether unknown, especially in
what concerns the relations of the French government with the German
protestants. He has profited also by several manuscripts, and by their
means has been able to learn a few facts connected with the early part
of Calvin’s life, which have not hitherto been published. These facts
are partly derived from the Latin letters of the reformer, which have
not yet been printed either in French or Latin, and which are contained
in the excellent collection which Dr. Jules Bonnet intends giving to
the world, if such a work should receive from the christian public the
encouragement which the labour, disinterestedness, and zeal of its
learned editor deserve.
The author having habitual recourse to the French documents of the
sixteenth century, has often introduced their most characteristic
passages into his text. The work of the historian is neither a work of
the imagination, like that of the poet, nor a mere conversation about
times gone by, as some writers of our day appear to imagine. History
is a faithful description of past events; and when the historian can
relate them by making use of the language of those who took part in
them, he is more certain of describing them just as they were.
But the reproduction of contemporary documents is not the only business
of the historian. He must do more than exhume from the sepulchre in
which they are sleeping the relics of men and things of times past,
that he may exhibit them in the light of day. We value highly such a
work and those who perform it, for it is a necessary one; and yet we
do not think it sufficient. Dry bones do not faithfully represent the
men of other days. They did not live as skeletons, but as beings full
of life and activity. The historian is not simply a resurrectionist:
he needs--strange but necessary ambition--a power that can restore the
dead to life.
Certain modern historians have successfully accomplished this task. The
author, unable to follow them, and compelled to present his readers
with a simple and unassuming chronicle, feels bound to express his
admiration for those who have thus been able to revive the buried past.
He firmly believes that, if a history should have truth, it should also
have life. The events of past times did not resemble, in the days when
they occurred, those grand museums of Rome, Naples, Paris, and London,
in whose galleries we behold long rows of marble statues, mummies, and
tombs. There were then living beings who thought, felt, spoke, acted,
and struggled. The picture, whatever history may be able to do, will
always have less of life than the reality.
When an historian comes across a speech of one of the actors in the
great drama of human affairs, he ought to lay hold of it, as if it were
a pearl, and weave it into his tapestry, in order to relieve the duller
colours and give more solidity and brilliancy. Whether the speech be
met with in the letters or writings of the actor himself, or in those
of the chroniclers, is a matter of no importance: he should take it
wherever he finds it. The history which exhibits men thinking, feeling,
and acting as they did in their lifetime, is of far higher value than
those purely intellectual compositions in which the actors are deprived
of speech and even of life.
The author, having given his opinion in favour of this better and
higher historical method, is compelled to express a regret:
Le _précepte_ est aisé, mais l’art est difficile.
And as he looks at his work, he has to repeat with sorrow the
confession of the poet of antiquity: _Deteriora sequor!_
This work is not a biography of Calvin, as some may imagine. The
name of that great reformer appears, indeed, on the title-page,
and we shall feel a pleasure, whenever the opportunity occurs, in
endeavouring to restore the true colours to that figure so strangely
misunderstood in our days. We know that, in so doing, we shall shock
certain deeply-rooted prejudices, and shall offend those who accept
without examination, in this respect, the fables of Romish writers.
Tacitus indeed assures us that malignity has a false show of liberty:
_Malignitati falsa species libertatis inest_; that history is listened
to with more favour when she slanders and disparages: _Obtrectatio et
livor pronis auribus accipiuntur_. But what historian could entertain
the culpable ambition of pleasing at the expense of truth? Moreover, we
believe that, if our age still labours under great errors with respect
to many men and things, it is more competent than those which went
before to hear the truth, to examine, appreciate, and accept it.
We repeat, however, that it is not a history of Calvin, but of the
Reformation in Europe in the time of that reformer which we desire to
narrate. Other volumes are already far advanced, and we hope to publish
two more in the ensuing year. But may we be permitted, in conclusion,
to transcribe here a passage of Holy Scripture that has often occurred
to our mind in executing a new work? It is this:
_Ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is
even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth
away. For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live and do
this or that._[2]
EAUX VIVES, GENEVA.
CONTENTS
OF
THE FIRST VOLUME.
BOOK I.
GENEVA AND THE FIRST HUGUENOTS.
CHAPTER I.
THE REFORMATION AND MODERN LIBERTY.
ANCIENT TIMES.
Three Movements in Geneva--Importance of the Political Element--Causes
of this Importance--Liberty in Protestant Nations--Influence
of Calvin--Low Countries, Scotland, France, England,
United States--Liberty and Licence--The Sixteenth Century,
Servetus and Calvin--The Study of great things in small--Three
Sources of Modern Liberty: Roman, Germanic, Christian--Three
Strata of the Soil PAGE 1
CHAPTER II.
FIRST USURPATIONS AND FIRST STRUGGLES.
MIDDLE AGES.
Three Powers opposed to the Genevan Liberties--The Counts of
Geneva--The Bishop-princes--Danger of the Temporal
Power of Bishops--The Dukes of Savoy--They covet Geneva--Peter
of Savoy gets possession of the Castle--His Successes
and Failures--Amadeus V. seizes the second Castle--Makes himself
Vidame--Confirms the Liberties of Geneva--Amadeus VIII.
begs Geneva of the Pope--The Pope deprives Geneva of
the Election of its Bishop--A Duke and Pope makes himself
Bishop--Struggle between a Son and a Mother--Irregularities
of Philip Lackland--The Father runs away from the Son--Stratagem
of the Mother to save her Treasures--The Son
appears before the Father--Singular Visit--Fair of Geneva
transferred to Lyons--A Reforming Bishop at Geneva--Savoy
prepares to strike a final Blow--God breathes over Men--Renovating
Principle in Geneva PAGE 14
CHAPTER III.
A BISHOP SENT BY THE POPE TO ROB GENEVA OF ITS INDEPENDENCE.
(1513.)
Death of the Bishop, Agitation of the People--Talk of the Citizens--De
Bonmont chosen Bishop by popular Acclamation--The
Duke and the Bastard of Savoy--Agreement between these
Princes--Union with Savoy desired by the Pope--The Bargain
concluded at Rome--The Swiss are deceived--Murmurs
of the Genevans--The Servile Party yields, the Free Men protest--Entrance
of the Bishop-prince into Geneva--He takes
the Oath in order to break it--Tampers with Berthelier and
De Bonmont--Balls and Banquets to corrupt the Youth--Savoyards
at Geneva--A Young Rake--Immorality PAGE 39
CHAPTER IV.
OPPOSITION TO THE DESIGNS OF THE DUKE, THE POPE, AND THE
BISHOP.
(1513-1515.)
Complaints of the Licentiousness of the Priests--Corruption in the
Convents--Unavailing Representations of the Magistrates--Arrival
of Bonivard at Geneva--His Wit and Good-humour--Death
of his Uncle; the Culverins--Besançon Hugues appears--Character
of Charles III.--Marriage of Julian and Philiberta--A
Bull gives Geneva to Savoy--Indignation and Protest of
the Citizens--Sadness in Geneva--Contrary Decision of the
Cardinals--Charles’s new Scheme PAGE 57
CHAPTER V.
BERTHELIER AND THE YOUTH OF GENEVA AROUSED BY THE BISHOP’S
VIOLENCE.
(1515-1517.)
Vandel and his four Sons--The Bishop kidnaps the Father--Emotion
of the Sons and of the People--Berthelier tears up his
Chatelain’s Commission--Address to the Bishop, who runs away--Miracles
of a Monk--Fêtes and Debauchery--Berthelier’s
School of Liberty--Sarcasms and Redress of Wrongs--No
Liberty without Morality PAGE 71
CHAPTER VI.
THE OPPOSING PARTIES PREPARE FOR BATTLE.
(1516-1517.)
A Thief pardoned by the Bishop--The Duke’s Anger--The
Ducal Envoys sup at St. Victor’s--La Val d’Isère tries to gain
Bonivard, and fails--The Envoys and the Bishop take to flight--The
Duke and the Bishop plot together--Bonivard and
Berthelier combine--Characters of Bonivard, Berthelier, and
Calvin--A gloomy Omen PAGE 81
CHAPTER VII.
ASSEMBLY, AGITATION, AND JOKE OF THE PATRIOTS.
(1516-1517.)
A few Patriots meet together--Assembly at the Molard--The
Oath of the Patriots--Supper at Mugnier’s and the Momon--Bonivard’s
Witticism--Death of Messire Gros’ Mule--Berthelier
proposes a Practical Joke--The Mule’s Skin put up to Auction--The
Duke comes to Geneva--Seyssel tries to divide the Genevans--Plot
of the Duke and the Bishop PAGE 92
CHAPTER VIII.
PÉCOLAT TORTURED AND BERTHELIER ACCUSED.
(1517.)
Pécolat’s Character--_Non videbit Dies Petri_--The Bishop’s stale
Fish--Treacherous Stratagem to seize Pécolat--He is put to
the Torture--Overcome by Pain--Terror of Pécolat and the
Genevans--The Bishop desires that Berthelier be surrendered to
him--He is advised to flee--Quits Geneva in disguise--They
look for him everywhere PAGE 103
CHAPTER IX.
BERTHELIER CALLS THE SWISS TO THE AID OF GENEVA; HUGUENOTS
AND MAMELUKES; THE BISHOP’S VIOLENCE.
(1517-1518.)
Berthelier courts the Swiss Alliance--Berthelier’s Speeches at
Friburg--The Bishop refuses him a Safe-conduct--Threats of
the Swiss--Huguenots--Mamelukes--Syndic d’Orsières deputed
to the Bishop--The Ambassador thrown into prison--A
Savoyard Deputy in Switzerland--The Duke in Switzerland--Complaints
against the Bishop PAGE 114
CHAPTER X.
FRESH TORTURES; PÉCOLAT’S DESPAIR AND STRIKING DELIVERANCE.
(DECEMBER 1517 TO MARCH 1518.)
Pécolat appears before his Judges--He is threatened with the
Torture--Reported to be a Churchman--Handed over to the
Priests--The Devil expelled from his Beard--Tries to cut
off his Tongue--Bonivard attempts to save him--Appeal to
the Metropolitan--The Bishop summoned by his Metropolitan--Bonivard
finds a Clerk to serve the Summons--The Clerk’s
Alarm and Bonivard’s Vigour--The Injunction made known to
the Bishop--Four-score Citizens ask for Justice--Influence of
Pécolat’s Friends--The Excommunication placarded in Geneva--Consternation
and Tumult--Order to release Pécolat--Papal
Letters against Pécolat--Pécolat set at large--Returns in
triumph to Geneva--Pécolat in Yvonnet’s Cell--His pantomimic
Story--The timid Blanchet PAGE 126
CHAPTER XI.
BERTHELIER TRIED AT GENEVA. BLANCHET AND NAVIS SEIZED AT
TURIN. BONIVARD SCANDALISED AT ROME.
(FEBRUARY TO SEPTEMBER 1518.)
The three Princes plot against Geneva--Torch of Liberty rekindled
at Geneva--Berthelier’s Trial begins--The Procurator-Fiscal
asks for his Imprisonment--Passionate Accusations--Blanchet
and Andrew Navis at Turin--The Bishop has them
arrested--Their Examination--They are put to the Torture--Navis
repents of his Disobedience to his Father--Bonivard
goes to Rome--Morals of the Roman Prelates--Two Causes
of the Corruption--Bonivard on the Germans and Luther--Bonivard
at Turin--His Flight PAGE 148
CHAPTER XII.
BLANCHET AND NAVIS PUT TO DEATH. THEIR LIMBS SUSPENDED TO
THE WALNUT-TREE NEAR THE BRIDGE OF ARVE.
(OCTOBER 1518.)
Blanchet and Navis condemned--Farewell, Decapitation, and
Mutilation--Their Limbs salted and sent to Geneva--Hung up
on the Walnut-tree, where they are discovered--Indignation,
Irony, and Sorrow--Father and Mother of Navis--The Bishop’s
Cure of Souls--Chastisement of the Princes--Various Effects
in the Council--Embassy sent to the Duke--The Bishop asks
for more Heads--Will Geneva give way? PAGE 164
CHAPTER XIII.
THE HUGUENOTS PROPOSE AN ALLIANCE WITH THE SWISS, AND THE
MAMELUKES AMUSE THEMSELVES AT TURIN.
(OCTOBER TO DECEMBER 1518.)
Berthelier’s Energy--The Limbs of Navis and Tell’s Apple--Bishop
and Duke deny the Murder--The Deputies join the
Ducal Partisans--Bishop and Duke demand Ten or Twelve
Heads--The chief Huguenots consult together--An Assembly
calls for Alliance with Switzerland--Marti of Friburg supports
Liberty at Geneva--Return of the Genevan Deputies--The
Council rejects their Demand--The People assemble--The
Duke’s Letter refused PAGE 176
CHAPTER XIV.
THE HUGUENOTS DEMAND AN ALLIANCE WITH FRIBURG: THE MAMELUKES
OPPOSE IT. BERTHELIER IS ACQUITTED.
(DECEMBER 1518 AND JANUARY 1519.)
Two Parties face to face--Hugues’ Mission to Friburg--Alliance
proposed to the People--The Moderates and Men of Action--Agitation
at Geneva--Quarrels--Berthelier’s Danger--His
Calmness and Trial--His Acquittal--Great Sensation at Turin--Ducal
Embassy to Geneva--Flattery and Quarrels PAGE 188
CHAPTER XV.
THE PEOPLE, IN GENERAL COUNCIL, VOTE FOR THE ALLIANCE; THE
DUKE INTRIGUES AGAINST IT.
(FEBRUARY 6 TO MARCH 2, 1519.)
Friburg offers her Alliance--Voted with enthusiasm--Huguenot
Elections--Great Joy--Mameluke Party organised--Liberty
awakens--Strange Talk about Geneva--The Princes try to
win Friburg--Tamper with the Huguenot Leaders--The
Princes agitate Switzerland--Joy caused by the Deputy from
Friburg--Trouble caused by the Deputy from the Cantons--Noble
Answer of Geneva--To whom Geneva owes her Independence PAGE 199
CHAPTER XVI.
THE CANONS JOIN THE DUKE, AND THE PEOPLE RISE AGAINST THEM.
(MARCH 1519.)
The Duke wins over the Canons--Bonivard’s Speech--His Distinction
between the Temporality and Spirituality--Declaration
of the Canons against the Alliance--The exasperated Patriots
proceed to their Houses--Bonivard between the People and the
Canons--Canons write another Letter--The People quieted PAGE 212
CHAPTER XVII.
THE DUKE AT THE HEAD OF HIS ARMY SURROUNDS GENEVA.
(MARCH AND APRIL 1519.)
Insolence of fifteen Ducal Gentlemen--Firm Reply of the Council--Alarm
at Geneva--The Duke’s King-at-arms before the Council--His
Speech; Reply of the Premier Syndic--The Herald
declares War--Geneva prepares for Resistance--Mamelukes go
out to the Duke--Their Conference in the Falcon Orchard--Duke
removes to Gaillard--Marti arrives from Friburg--Interview
between the Duke and Marti--Failure of the Night
Attack--Duke’s Wiles and Promises--Bonivard’s Flight PAGE 220
CHAPTER XVIII.
THE ARMY OF SAVOY IN GENEVA.
(APRIL AND MAY 1519.)
The Duke and his Army enter Geneva--The Army takes up its
Quarters in the City--The Duke and the Count are Masters--Pillage
of Geneva--Proscription List--The Friburger reproaches
the Duke--A General Council and the Duke’s Proclamation--Friburg
Army approaches--Message from Friburg to the Duke--Alarm
and Change of the Duke--Genevan Sarcasms: the
_Bésolles_ War--Mediation of Zurich, Berne, and Soleure PAGE 236
CHAPTER XIX.
ARREST OF BONIVARD AND BERTHELIER.
(APRIL TO SEPTEMBER 1519.)
The Bishop and Mamelukes conspire at Troches--Bonivard’s
Escape between a Lord and a Priest--Treachery of the two
Wretches--Bonivard’s Imprisonment at Grolée--The Bishop
raises Troops--His Entrance into Geneva and his Intentions--Berthelier’s
Calmness--His Meadow on the Rhone and his
Weasel--His Arrest--His Contempt of Death--Refuses to ask
for Pardon--The Word of God consoles him PAGE 249
CHAPTER XX.
PHILIBERT BERTHELIER THE MARTYR OF LIBERTY. TERROR AND
OPPRESSION IN GENEVA.
(AUGUST AND SEPTEMBER 1519.)
The Bishop refuses a legal Trial--All done in one Day--Six
hundred Men in line of battle--Unjust and illegal Condemnation--Berthelier’s
Death--Procession through the City--Emotion
and Horror of the Genevans--Struggles and future Victory--The
Blood of the Martyrs is a Seed--The Bishop desires to
revolutionise Geneva--Mameluke Syndics’ silent Sorrow--First
Opposition to Superstitions--St. Babolin--De Joye’s Examination--Threatened
with the Torture--Princes of Savoy
crush Liberty--Voice of a Prophetess PAGE 261
CHAPTER XXI.
STRUGGLES OF LIBERTY. LUTHER. DEATH OF THE BISHOP. HIS
SUCCESSOR.
(1520-1523.)
Lévrier’s Protest in the Name of Right--Huguenots recover
Courage--Their Moderation and Love of Concord--Clergy
refuse to pay Taxes--Luther’s Teaching--His Example encourages
Geneva--Great Procession outside the City--A Threat
to shut the Gates against the Clergy--Bonivard set at liberty--Pierre
de la Baume Coadjutor--Death of the Bishop--Despair
and Repentance--His Successor--The new Bishop’s Letter to
the Council--Reception of Pierre de la Baume--Hopes of some
of the Genevans--The Bishop’s Oath and Tyranny PAGE 278
CHAPTER XXII.
CHARLES DESIRES TO SEDUCE THE GENEVANS. THE MYSTERIES OF THE
CANONS AND OF THE HUGUENOTS.
(AUGUST 1523.)
Beatrice of Portugal--Vanity of the Genevans--Magnificent Entry
of the Duke and Duchess--Beatrice’s Pride offends the Genevans--Proof
that Geneva loves Popery--Representation of a
Mystery--Invention of the Cross--Banquets, Balls, and Triumphs--The
Love of Independence seems checked--New Testaments
sold in Geneva--New Authority, new Doctrine--Memoir
to the Pope on the Rebellion of Geneva--Huguenots
represent a Mystery--_The Sick World_--The Bible unerring,
a true Remedy--Disorders of the Clergy--Luther and the
Reformation--The World prefers to be mad--Quarrels between
Genevans and Savoyards--Lévrier and Lullin--Carters before
Princes--Birth of a Prince of Savoy--Duke’s Efforts to obtain
Geneva--Disorders in the Convents--God keeps watch for
Geneva PAGE 295
CHAPTER XXIII.
AIMÉ LÉVRIER, A MARTYR TO LIBERTY AND RIGHT AT THE CASTLE OF
BONNE.
(MARCH 1524.)
Homage to the Martyrs of Liberty--The Vidames in Geneva--Who
will hinder the Duke?--The Duke and Lévrier at Bonne--Firm
Language of Lévrier--Church and State--Duke unmasks
his Batteries--Promises and Seductions--Episcopal
Council before the Duke--Lévrier before the Duke--The Duke
threatens him with Death--Lévrier prefers Death to Flight--St.
Sorlin and the Duke retire--Lévrier kidnapped and carried
off to Bonne--Agitation at Geneva--Episcopals afraid to intercede--Machiavellian
Plot of the Duke--Geneva or Lévrier’s
Head--Intercession of Genevan Ladies--Lévrier’s Calmness
and Condemnation--Ten o’clock at Night--Lévrier’s Martyrdom--A
moral Victory--Founders of Modern Liberty--Effect
on the Young and Worldly--Hope of the Genevans, Flight of
the Duke--Geneva breathes and awakens PAGE 318
CHAPTER XXIV.
INDIGNATION AGAINST THE MAMELUKES; THE DUKE APPROACHES WITH
AN ARMY; FLIGHT OF THE PATRIOTS.
(1524-1525.)
Dishonesty of Treasurer Boulet--Syndic Richardet strikes him--Boulet
trades upon this Assault--Vengeance of the Council of
Savoy--Boulet and the Bishop at Geneva--Geneva reports to
the Bishop the Duke’s Violence--A new Leader, Besançon
Hugues--Election of four Huguenot Syndics--Hugues refuses
to serve--Appeal from Geneva to Rome--Threats of the Council
of Savoy--The Bishop neglects Geneva--Violence done to the
Genevans--The Duke requires the Recall of the Appeal to Rome--Forty-two
Opponents--Proscription Lists--The Storm bursts--Terror
in Geneva--The Exodus--Vuillet’s Visit to Hugues--Flight
through Vaud and Franche-Comté--Hugues quits his
House by night--Pursuit of the Fugitives PAGE 345
CHAPTER XXV.
THE FUGITIVES AT FRIBURG AND BERNE. THE DUKE AND THE COUNCIL
OF HALBERDS AT GENEVA.
(SEPTEMBER TO DECEMBER 1525.)
Speech of Hugues at Friburg--Welcome of Friburg, Berne, and
Lucerne--Evangelical Influence at Berne--Thoughts of the
Savoyards--Mamelukes withdraw the Appeal to Rome--The
Duke desires the Sovereignty--Geneva wavers--The Swiss Support--The
Duke’s Stratagem--Hugues exposes it--The Fugitives
joined by their Wives--Sorrow and Appeal of the Fugitives--Anxiety
of the Bishop--Lay Power--The Duke’s Scheme--Convokes
a General Council--Council of Halberds--The Duke
claims the Sovereignty--Vote in the absence of the Halberds--The
Duke thwarted in his Despotism--His Heart fails him: he
departs--Mamelukes accuse the Exiles--Lullin and others return
to Geneva--Their Demand for Justification PAGE 369
CHAPTER XXVI.
THE PEOPLE AND THE BISHOP DEFEND THE CAUSE OF THE FUGITIVES.
(DECEMBER 1525 TO FEBRUARY 1526.)
One hundred Citizens before the Council--Justification of the
Fugitives--The Friburg Notary interrogates the Assembly--Rising-up
of a little People--The Protest numerously signed--Measures
of the Savoyard Party--Both Parties appeal to the
Bishop--Pierre de la Baume at Geneva--Vandel wins him
over--The Bishop braves and fears the Duke--Election of
Syndics: Mameluke List--Episcopal List--Four Huguenots
elected--The People quash the Decrees against Liberty--Effects
of the good News at Berne--The Bark of God’s Miracles. PAGE 391
CHAPTER XXVII.
GENEVA AND THE SWISS ALLIED. THE BISHOP, THE DUCALS, AND THE
CANONS ESCAPE. JOY OF THE PEOPLE.
(FEBRUARY TO AUGUST 1526.)
Act of Alliance in the Name of the Trinity--Return of the Exiles
to Geneva--Speech of Hugues--Reads the Act of Alliance--Clergy
plot against the Alliance--The Bishop protests against it--People
ratify the Alliance--Liberty of the People and Temporality
of the Bishop--Germ of great Questions in Geneva--Genevans
incline towards the Reform--Conspiracy of the Canons--A
Flight--Everything by the Grace of God--The Swiss
receive the Oaths of Geneva--Joy of the People--Honour to
Bonivard, Berthelier, and Lévrier--Awakening of Society in the
Sixteenth Century--Will the Tomb close again?--Greatest
Glory of France--Her Salvation PAGE 407
BOOK II.
FRANCE. FAVOURABLE TIMES.
CHAPTER I.
A MAN OF THE PEOPLE AND A QUEEN.
(1525-1526.)
Three Acts necessary for Union with God--Work of Luther,
Zwingle, and Calvin--Truth and Morality procure Liberty--Calvin
crowns the Temple of God--A Queen--Similarity between
Margaret and Calvin--Their Contrast--Pavia--Effect
produced on Charles V.--Advice of the Duke of Alva--Dismemberment
of France--The Way of the Cross--Margaret’s
Prayers--She finds the King dying--Francis restored to health--Margaret
at Toledo--Her Eloquence and Piety--Admiration
she inspires PAGE 427
CHAPTER II.
MARGARET SAVES THE EVANGELICALS AND THE KING.
(1525-1526.)
Persecution in France--Berquin preaches at Artois--Opposition--Beda
examines Berquin’s Books--Berquin put in prison--Margaret
and the King interfere--Margaret’s Danger in Spain--The
King’s false Oaths--The Pope sanctions Perjury PAGE 445
CHAPTER III.
WILL THE REFORMATION CROSS THE RHINE.
(1525-1526.)
Passage of the Rhine at Strasburg--Count of Hohenlohe--Correspondence
between Margaret and Hohenlohe--Margaret’s
System--She invites Hohenlohe into France--Interdict against
Speaking, Printing, and Reading--Berquin’s Examination--Margaret
wins over her Mother in Berquin’s favour--Francis I.
forbids the Parliament to proceed--Henry d’Albret, King of
Navarre, seeks the Hand of Margaret--Her Anxieties PAGE 454
CHAPTER IV.
DEATH OF THE MARTYRS--RETURN OF THE KING.
(1526.)
Martyrdom of Joubert--A young Christian of Meaux recants--Vaudery
in Picardy--A young Picard burnt at the Grève--Toussaint
given up to the Abbot of St. Antoine--Toussaint’s
Anguish in his Dungeon--Francis I. restored to liberty--Petitions
to the King in favour of the Evangelicals--Francis objects
to Hohenlohe’s coming--The King’s Hostages--Aspirations of
Margaret’s Soul--The Prisoner’s Complaint--Thoughts of the
King about his Sister’s Marriage--New State of Things in
Europe PAGE 466
CHAPTER V.
DELIVERANCE OF THE CAPTIVES AND RETURN OF THE EXILES.
(1526.)
Deliverance of the Captives: Berquin, Marot--Michael d’Aranda
made a Bishop--Toussaint taken out of his Dungeon--Great
Joy at Strasburg--The Refugees in that City--Lefèvre and
Roussel welcomed by Margaret--Fruits of the Trial--Evangelical
Meeting at Blois--Toussaint at Court--Beginning of an
Era of Light--Francis comes to Paris to inaugurate it--Hypocrisy
of the Nobles and Prelates--Weakness of Lefèvre and
Roussel--Toussaint disgusted with the Court--May France
show herself worthy of the Word! PAGE 480
CHAPTER VI.
WHO WILL BE THE REFORMER OF FRANCE?
(1526.)
Will it be Lefèvre, Roussel, or Farel?--Roussel and the Princes of
La Marche--Farel invited to La Marche--Margaret as a Missionary--She
longs for Sanctification--The Gospel and the
Moral Faculty--Farel as a Reformer--Farel and Mirabeau--How
Farel would have been received--The Invitation to La
Marche comes too late--Berquin set at liberty--Will he be the
Reformer?--Marriage of Margaret with the King of Navarre--Aspirations
of the Queen--Everything in the World is
changing PAGE 495
CHAPTER VII.
CALVIN’S EARLY STRUGGLES AND EARLY STUDIES.
(1523-1527.)
A Professor and a Scholar--Calvin’s Arrival and Gratitude--Cordier’s
Influence on Calvin--Calvin enters the College of Montaigu--A
Spanish Professor--Calvin promoted to the Philosophy
Class--His Purity and Zeal--His Studies--A Breath of the
Gospel in the Air--Olivétan, Calvin’s Cousin--Conversations
between Olivétan and Calvin--Calvin’s Resistance--His Self-examination--His
Teachers desire to stop him--Calvin has
recourse to Penance and the Saints--His Despair PAGE 511
CHAPTER VIII.
CALVIN’S CONVERSION AND CHANGE OF CALLING.
(1527.)
The Prothonotary Doullon burnt alive--The Light shines upon
Calvin--He falls at the Feet of Christ--He cannot separate
from the Church--The Pope’s Doctrine attacked by his Friends--The
Papacy before Calvin--Was his Conversion sudden?--Date
of this Conversion--Regrets of Calvin’s Father--Gerard
Cauvin advises his Son to study the Law--Conversion, Christianity,
and the Reformation PAGE 527
CHAPTER IX.
BERQUIN DECLARES WAR AGAINST POPERY.
(1527.)
Order and Liberty proceed from Truth--Beda and Berquin--Berquin’s
Enterprise--Terror of his Friends--Beda confined in the
Palace--Berquin attacks Beda and the Sorbonne--Erasmus’s
Fears--He will not fight--Agitation of the Catholic Party PAGE 539
CHAPTER X.
EFFORTS OF DUPRAT TO BRING ABOUT A PERSECUTION--RESISTANCE OF
FRANCIS I.
(1527-1528.)
Louisa of Savoy and Duprat--Francis I. and the Sixteenth Century--Bargain
proposed by the Clergy--Margaret encouraged--Her
Walks at Fontainebleau--Her Accouchement at Paris--Martyrdom
of De la Tour--Margaret returns hastily to Paris--A Synod
in Paris--Duprat solicits the King--Synods in other parts of
France--Duprat and the Parliament reconciled--The King
resists the Persecution PAGE 549
CHAPTER XI.
FÊTES AT FONTAINEBLEAU AND THE VIRGIN OF THE RUE DES
ROSIERS.
(1528.)
Evangelisation by the Queen of Navarre--The Queen and the
Hunter--Le Mauvais Chasseur--Marriage of Renée with the
Duke of Ferrara--The King’s Fit of Anger--The Image of the
Virgin broken--Grief and Cries of the People--Efforts to discover
the Criminal--Immense Procession--Miracles worked by
the Image--The King gives the Rein to the Persecutors. PAGE 561
CHAPTER XII.
PRISONERS AND MARTYRS AT PARIS AND IN THE PROVINCES.
(1528.)
A Christaudin--Denis of Meaux--Briçonnet in Denis’s Dungeon--The
Hurdle and the Stake--The Holy Virtues of Annonay--Machopolis,
Renier, and Jonas--Berquin’s Calmness in the Storm--Berquin
arrested--Blindness of the Papacy--Out of Persecution
comes the Reformer PAGE 572
HISTORY
OF THE
REFORMATION IN EUROPE
IN THE TIME OF CALVIN.
BOOK I.
GENEVA AND THE FIRST HUGUENOTS.
CHAPTER I.
THE REFORMATION AND MODERN LIBERTY.
Facts alone do not constitute the whole of history, any more than the
members of the body form the complete man. There is a soul in history
as well as in the body, and it is this which generates, vivifies, and
links the facts together, so that they all combine to the same end.
The instant we begin to treat of Geneva, which, through the ministry
of Calvin, was to become the most powerful centre of Reform in the
sixteenth century, one question starts up before us.
What was the soul of the Reformation of Geneva? Truly, salvation by
faith in Christ, who died to save--truly, the renewal of the heart by
the word and the Spirit of God. But side by side with these supreme
elements, that are found in all the Reformations, we meet with
secondary elements that have existed in one country and not in another.
What we discover at Geneva may possibly deserve to fix the attention of
men in our own days: the characteristic element of the Genevese Reform
is liberty.
Three great movements were carried out in this city during the
first half of the sixteenth century. The first was the conquest of
independence; the second, the conquest of faith; the third, the
renovation and organisation of the Church. Berthelier, Farel, and
Calvin are the three heroes of these three epics.
Each of these different movements was necessary. The bishop of Geneva
was a temporal prince like the bishop of Rome; it was difficult to
deprive the bishop of his pastoral staff unless he were first deprived
of his sword. The necessity of liberty for the Gospel and of the Gospel
for liberty is now acknowledged by all thoughtful men; but it was
proclaimed by the history of Geneva three centuries ago.
But it may be said, a history of the Reformation has no concern with
the secular, political, and social element. I have been reproached with
not putting this sufficiently forward in the history of the Reformation
of Germany, where it had relatively but little importance. I may
perhaps be reproached with dwelling on it too much in the Reformation
of Geneva, where it holds a prominent place. It is a hard matter to
please all tastes: the safest course is to be guided by the truth of
principles and not by the exigencies of individuals. Is it my fault if
an epoch possesses its characteristic features? if it is impossible
to keep back the secular, without wronging the spiritual, element?
To cut history in two is to distort it. In the Reform of Geneva, and
especially in the constitution of its church, the element of liberty
predominates more than in the Reforms of other countries. We cannot
know the reason of this unless we study the movement which gave birth
to that Reform. The history of the political emancipation of Geneva is
interesting of itself; liberty, it has been said,[3] has never been
common in the world; it has not flourished in all countries or in all
climates, and the periods when a people struggles _justly_ for liberty
are the privileged epochs of history. One such epoch occurred at the
commencement of modern times; but strange to say, it is almost in
Geneva alone that the struggles for liberty make the earlier decades of
the sixteenth century a privileged time.
It is in this small republic that we find men remarkable for their
devotion to liberty, for their attachment to law, for the boldness of
their thoughts, the firmness of their character, and the strength of
their energy. In the sixteenth century, after a repose of some hundreds
of years, humanity having recovered its powers, like a field that had
long lain fallow, displayed almost everywhere the marvels of the most
luxuriant vegetation. Geneva is indeed the smallest theatre of this
extraordinary fermentation; but it was not the least in heroism and
grandeur, and on that ground alone it deserves attention.
There are, however, other reasons to induce us to this study. The
struggle for liberty in Geneva was one of the agents of its religious
transformation; that we may know one, we must study the other. Again,
Calvin is the great man of this epoch; it is needful, therefore, to
study the country where he appeared. A knowledge of the history of
Geneva before Calvin can alone enable us to understand the life of this
great reformer. But there remains a third and more important reason.
I am about to narrate the history of the Reformation of the sixteenth
century in the time of Calvin. Now, what chiefly distinguishes the
Reformation of Calvin from that of Luther is, that wherever it was
established, it brought with it not only truth but liberty, and all the
great developments which these two fertile principles carry with them.
Political liberty, as we shall see, settled upon those hills at the
southern extremity of the Leman lake where stands the city of Calvin,
and has never deserted them since. And more than this: earthly liberty,
the faithful companion of divine truth, appeared at the same time with
her in the Low Countries, in England, in Scotland, and subsequently in
North America and other places besides, everywhere creating powerful
nations. The Reformation of Calvin is that of modern times; it is the
religion destined for the whole world. Being profoundly spiritual, it
subserves also in an admirable manner all the temporal interests of
man. It has the _promise of the life that now is, and of that which is
to come_.
The free institutions of Protestant countries are not due solely to the
Reformation of Calvin: they spring from various sources, and are not of
foreign importation. The elements of liberty were in the blood of these
nations, and remarkable men exerted a civilising influence over them.
Magna Charta is older than the Genevese Reform; but we believe (though
we may be mistaken) that this Reformation has had some small share in
the introduction of those constitutional principles, without which
nations can never attain their majority. Whence did this influence
proceed?
The people of Geneva and their great doctor have each left their stamp
on the Reformation which issued from their walls: Calvin’s was truth,
the people’s, liberty. This last consideration compels us to narrate
the struggles of which Geneva was the theatre, and which, though almost
unknown up to the present hour, have aided, like a slender brook, to
swell the great stream of modern civilisation. But there was a second
and more potent cause. Supreme among the great principles that Calvin
has diffused is the sovereignty of God. He has enjoined us to _render
unto Cæsar the things that are Cæsar’s_; but he has added: ‘God must
always retain the sovereign empire, and all that may belong to man
remains subordinate. Obedience towards princes accords with God’s
service; but if princes usurp any portion of the authority of God, we
must obey them only so far as may be done without offending God.’[4] If
my conscience is thoroughly subject to God, I am free as regards men;
but if I cling to anything besides heaven, men may easily enslave me.
True liberty exists only in the higher regions. The bird that skims the
earth may lose it at any moment; but we cannot ravish it from the eagle
who soars among the clouds.
The great movements in the way of law and liberty effected by the
people in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, have certain
relations with the Reformation of Calvin, which it is impossible to
ignore.
As soon as Guy de Brès and many others returned from Geneva to the
Low Countries, the great contest between the rights of the people and
the revolutionary and bloody despotism of Philip II. began; heroic
struggles took place, and the creation of the United Provinces was
their glorious termination.
John Knox returned to his native Scotland from Geneva, where he had
spent several years; then popery, arbitrary power, and the immorality
of a French court made way in that noble country for that enthusiasm
for the gospel, liberty, and holiness, which has never since failed to
kindle the ardent souls of its energetic people.
Numberless friends and disciples of Calvin carried with them every
year into France the principles of civil and political liberty;[5] and
a fierce struggle began with popery and the despotism, of the Valois
first, and afterwards of the Bourbons. And though these princes sought
to destroy the liberties for which the Huguenots shed their blood,
their imperishable traces still remain among that illustrious nation.
The Englishmen who, during the bloody persecution of Mary, had sought
an asylum at Geneva imbibed there a love for the gospel and for
liberty. When they returned to England, a fountain gushed out beneath
their footsteps. The waters confined by Elizabeth to a narrow channel,
rose under her successors and swiftly became an impetuous roaring
flood, whose insolent waves swept away the throne itself in their
violent course. But restored to their bed by the wise hand of William
of Orange, the dashing torrent sank into a smiling stream, bearing
prosperity and life afar.
Lastly, Calvin was the founder of the greatest of republics. The
‘pilgrims’ who left their country in the reign of James I., and,
landing on the barren shores of New England, founded populous and
mighty colonies, are his sons, his direct and legitimate sons; and that
American nation which we have seen growing so rapidly boasts as its
father the humble reformer on the shores of the Leman.
There are, indeed, writers of eminence who charge this man of God with
despotism; because he was the enemy of libertinage, he has been called
the enemy of liberty. Nobody was more opposed than Calvin to that moral
and social anarchy which threatened the sixteenth century, and which
ruins every epoch unable to keep it under control. This bold struggle
of Calvin’s is one of the greatest services he has done to liberty,
which has no enemies more dangerous than immorality and disorder.
Should the question be asked, How ought infidelity to be arrested? we
must confess that Calvin was not before his age, which was unanimous,
in every communion, for the application of the severest punishments. If
a man is in error as regards the knowledge of God, it is to God alone
that he must render an account. When men--and they are sometimes the
best of men--make themselves the avengers of God, the conscience is
startled, and religion hides her face. It was not so three centuries
back, and the most eminent minds always pay in one manner or another
their tribute to human weakness. And yet, on a well-known occasion,
when a wretched man, whose doctrines threatened society, stood before
the civil tribunals of Geneva, there was but one voice in all Europe
raised in favour of the prisoner; but one voice that prayed for some
mitigation of Servetus’s punishment, and that voice was Calvin’s.[6]
However inveterate the prejudices against him may be, the indisputable
evidence of history places Calvin among the fathers of modern liberty.
It is possible that we may find impartial men gradually lending their
ear to the honest and solemn testimony of past ages; and the more the
world recognises the importance and universality of the Reformation
which came forth from Geneva, the more shall we be excused for
directing attention for a few moments to the heroic age of this obscure
city.
The sixteenth century is the greatest in Christian times; it is the
epoch where (so to speak) everything ends and everything begins;
nothing is paltry, not even dissipation; nothing small, not even a
little city lying unobserved at the foot of the Alps.
In that renovating age, so full of antagonist forces and energetic
struggles, the religious movements did not proceed from a single
centre; they emanated from opposite poles, and are mentioned in the
well-known line--
Je ne décide pas entre Genève et Rome.[7]
The Catholic focus was in Italy--in the metropolis of the ancient
world; the evangelical focus in Germany was transferred from Wittemberg
to the middle of European nations--to the smallest of cities--to that
whose history I have to relate.
When history treats of certain epochs, as for instance the reign of
Charles V., there may be a certain disadvantage in the vastness of the
stage on which the action passes; we may complain that the principal
actor, however colossal, is necessarily dwarfed. This inconvenience
will not be found in the narrative I have undertaken. If the empire
of Charles V. was the largest theatre in modern history, Geneva was
the smallest. In the one case we have a vast empire, in the other
a microscopical republic. But the smallness of the theatre serves
to bring out more prominently the greatness of the actions: only
superficial minds turn with contempt from a sublime drama because
the stage is narrow and the representation devoid of pomp. To study
great things in small is one of the most useful exercises. What I
have in view--and this is my apology--is not to describe a petty city
of the Alps, for that would not be worth the labour; but to study in
that city a history which is in the main a reflection of the history
of Europe,--of its sufferings, its struggles, its aspirations, its
political liberties, and its religious transformations. I will
confess that my attachment to the land of my birth may have led me to
examine our annals rather too closely, and narrate them at too great
length. This attachment to my country which has cheered me in my task,
may possibly expose me to reproach; but I hope it will rather be my
justification. ‘This book,’ said Tacitus, at the beginning of one
of his immortal works, ‘was dictated by affection: that must be its
praise, or at least its excuse.’[8] Shall we be forbidden to shelter
ourselves humbly behind the lofty stature of the prince of history?
Modern liberties proceed from three different sources, from the union
of three characters, three laws, three conquests--the Roman, the
German, and the Christian. The combination of these three influences,
which has made modern Europe, is found in a rather striking manner in
the valley of the Leman. The three torrents from north, south, and
east, whose union forms the great stream of civilisation, deposited
in that valley which the Creator hollowed out between the Alps and
the Jura that precious sediment whose component parts can easily be
distinguished after so many ages.
First we come upon the Roman element in Geneva. This city was for
a long while part of the empire; ‘it was the remotest town of the
Allobroges,’ says Cæsar.[9] About a league from Geneva there once
stood an antique marble in honour of Fabius Maximus Allobrogicus,
who 122 years before Christ had triumphed over the people of this
district;[10] and the great Julius himself, who constructed immense
works round the city, bequeathed his name to a number of Roman
colonists, or clients at least. More remarkable traces--their municipal
institutions--are found in most of the cities which the Romans
occupied; we may be permitted to believe that Geneva was not without
them.
In the fifth century the second element of modern liberties appeared
with the Germans. The Burgundians--those Teutons of the Oder, the
Vistula, and the Warta--being already converted to Christianity,
poured their bands into the vast basin of the Rhone, and a spirit
of independence, issuing from the distant forests of the north,
breathed on the shores of the Leman lake. The Burgundian tribe,
however, combined with the vigour of the other Germans a milder and
more civilising temperament. King Gondebald built a palace at Geneva;
an inscription placed fifteen feet above the gate of the castle,
and which remains to this day, bears the words, _Gundebadus rex
clementissimus_, &c.[11] From this castle departed the king’s niece,
the famous Clotilda, who, by marrying Clovis, converted to Christianity
the founder of the French monarchy. If the Franks then received the
Christian faith from Geneva, many of their descendants in the days of
Calvin received the Reformation from the same place.
Clotilda’s uncle repaired the breaches in the city walls, and having
assembled his ablest counsellors, drew up those Burgundian laws which
defended small and great alike, and protected the life and honour of
man against injury.[12]
The first kingdom founded by the Burgundians did not, however, last
long. In 534 it fell into the hands of the Merovingian kings, and
the history of Geneva was absorbed in that of France until 888, the
epoch when the second kingdom of Burgundy rose out of the ruins of the
majestic but ephemeral empire of Charlemagne.
But long before the invasion of the Burgundians in the fifth century, a
portion of Europe, and Geneva in particular, had submitted to another
conquest. In the second century Christianity had its representatives
in almost every part of the Roman world. In the time of the Emperor
Marcus Aurelius and of Bishop Irenæus (177) some persecuted Christians
of Lyons and Vienne, in Dauphiny, wishing to escape from the flames and
the wild beasts to which Rome was flinging the children of God, and
desirous of trying whether their pious activity could not bear fruit in
some other soil, had ascended the formidable waters of the Rhone, and,
coming to the foot of the Alps--refuge and refugees are of old date in
this country--brought the gospel thither, as other refugees, coming
also from Gaul, and also fleeing their persecutors, were fourteen
centuries later to bring the Reformation. It seems they were only
disciples, humble presbyters and evangelists, who in the second and
third century first proclaimed the divine word on the shores of the
Leman; we may therefore suppose that the Church was instituted in its
simplest form. At least it was not until two centuries later, in 381,
that Geneva had a bishop, Diogenes,[13] and even this first bishop is
disputed.[14] Be that as it may, the gospel which the refugees brought
into the valley lying between the Alps and the Jura, proclaimed, as it
does everywhere, the equality of all men before God, and thus laid the
foundations of its future liberties.
Thus were commingled in this region the generating elements of modern
institutions. Cæsar, Gondebald, and an unknown missionary represent, so
to speak, the three strata that form the Genevese soil.
Let us here sketch rapidly a few salient points of the ancient history
of Geneva. The foundations upon which a building stands are certainly
not the most interesting part, but they are perhaps the most necessary.