EXTREME PERIL.
(JANUARY TO FEBRUARY 1536.)
[Sidenote: GENEVA IN PERIL.]
The duke of Savoy was preparing to aim more decisive blows at Geneva. He
desired to satisfy the ancient ambition of his house, and to crush a
city which believed itself called upon to divorce from Rome the
populations scattered around her. In this he was animated by his wife,
Beatrice, a Portuguese princess, who was inspired by that religious
fanaticism which generally distinguishes the women of the Iberian
peninsula. The cities of Asti, Ivrea, and Verceil had fallen into the
hands of the house of Savoy, and Geneva was to experience the same fate.
The moment seemed favorable. Charles V. was preparing to destroy
protestantism: lansquenets, recruited by the emperor's brother, were
arriving from Germany, and the army which Charles himself was bringing
back from Africa, was moving towards the Alps. Letters from Berne
announced that the emperor and the duke would begin by reducing Geneva,
reformed Switzerland would follow, and last of all Lutheran Germany.
Thus the subjection of the city of the huguenots formed part of a
general plan. That mighty monarch, upon whose dominions the sun never
set, had determined to abolish the Reformation, beginning with this
city.
[Sidenote: GIANGIACOMO DE MEDICI.]
Charles III. had learnt that what had paralyzed his former efforts was
the error he had committed by not sending disciplined troops against the
huguenot city. He therefore determined on this occasion to select none
but veteran soldiers and to place them under the orders of one of the
boldest captains of the age, whose march should be accompanied with
plunder and devastation. A person of low birth, who had settled at
Milan, had acquired a small fortune by his industry. This man,
Bernardino Medici (a name not to be confounded with that of the Medicis
of Florence) had two sons, Giovanni Angelo, who became Pope under the
name of Pius IV., and Giangiacomo, a rash, enterprising, treacherous,
and cruel young man, whose ambition was insatiable and whose trade was
war. Having been sent to the castle of Musso on the lake of Como, by the
duke of Milan, with a letter charging the governor to put the bearer to
death, the cunning Giangiacomo had opened the letter, got together a few
companions, seized the castle, and made a small principality of it,
which he had increased little by little, by furious inroads into the
surrounding districts—the Valteline, the Milanese, Venetia, and even the
Grisons. The Swiss, with Nägueli at their head, marched against the
robber chieftain and destroyed his lair. From that time the daring
freebooter had carried his impetuosity and devastations elsewhere.
Portions of French Switzerland, on the side of the Jura, had been
ravaged by him. It was this Attila on a small scale whom Charles III.
selected to put at the head of the new campaign against Geneva. It was
not a question of merely taking the city, but of putting it in such a
position that it could never lift its head again; in short, of
destroying it. Giangiacomo was just the man for the work. At a later
period Charles V., wishing to employ him against the German Reformation,
created him marquis of Marignano, and gave him the command of the
artillery in his campaign against the Lutherans. For the present,
however, it was not Wittemberg but Geneva that Medici was to lay
waste.[696]
The duke of Savoy placed his general at the head of an army composed of
four thousand Italians,[697] besides Savoyards and Spaniards, stout,
strong fellows, most of them old soldiers. A considerable number of
armed men were summoned from the valley of the Leman to join Medici, and
thus double or even triple his forces. The warlike brother of the future
Pope Pius IV., supported by great princes, by the duke of Savoy and the
emperor, had no doubt of victory. He began his march along the valley of
the Leman.
The peril was great, but was everything lost? Was there not a power in
Geneva which had not been found in Verceil or Asti? 'There seem to be no
means of escaping from the hands of our enemies,' said the pious
Genevans; 'but our hope is in God, who will not suffer His holy name to
be blasphemed by infidels.'[698]
Berne had long closed her ears to the cries of Geneva. Baudichon de la
Maisonneuve had gone thither to point out the extremity to which his
country was reduced. At the moment when the peril had become greatest,
the Bear awoke, and prepared to descend from his mountains. Political
motives had no doubt something to do with this decision of the Council.
After the war in Burgundy, the 'pays romand' (the French-speaking part
of Switzerland) had attracted the attention of that powerful republic.
Somewhat later she had formed treaties of co-citizenship with Geneva and
Lausanne; and when she saw the king of France raising an army, and
moving it towards the Alps, she feared lest that prince should be
beforehand with her. But the solicitations of Baudichon de la
Maisonneuve, and the voices of the Bernese citizens who were for
independence and the Reformation, had, after God, the greatest share in
the decision of that state. The Bernese Council issued a proclamation to
the people, in which, after setting forth the peril of Geneva, they went
on to say: 'This matter touches, first of all, the glory of God, and
next it touches us.' 'We are ready,' answered the people, 'to sacrifice
our goods and our lives for the maintenance of the faith and of our
oaths.' Twenty thousand men offered to march. The change which now took
place in the councils of Berne was so unexpected that it was generally
ascribed to the direction of God. 'Berne, urged by the divine
inspiration, is moving,' wrote a pious Bernese to Bullinger, Zwingle's
successor at Zurich.[699] And that excellent Genevan, Porral, said in
the fulness of his joy: 'O God, I thank Thee for that Thou hast inspired
our citizens to give us help and comfort.'[700]
On the 16th of January a herald bore to the duke of Savoy a declaration
of war with fire and sword. Francis Nägueli was unanimously appointed
commander of the expedition. A decided Christian, a tried captain, and a
skilful negotiator, he was adored by his soldiers, who called him 'our
Franz.' From the twenty thousand men who offered themselves he selected
six thousand. He gave two orders. A new weapon was then succeeding the
halberds and the long swords; the arquebuses threw balls that struck the
enemy invisibly. Nägueli wished to have the advantage of that weapon.
'Bring _fire-sticks_,' he said. He moreover exacted strict discipline:
'Be orderly, just, and kind towards the peasantry, as well as fearless
in battle.'
[Sidenote: BERTHOLD HALLER.]
There was another man in Berne who had the cause of Geneva as much at
heart as Nägueli. The reformer, Berthold Haller, bowed down with
suffering, had only a few days to live. Yet as the army, before leaving
Berne, wished publicly to pray for God's help, he left his sick-bed with
some difficulty, and, supported by his friends, crawled into the
cathedral pulpit. That man, so mild, so timid, so mistrustful of
himself, showed on the approach of death an energy which had hitherto
been foreign to him. 'Men of Berne,' he said, with a voice almost
inaudible, 'be firm and courageous. Magistrates and people, officers and
soldiers, remain faithful to the Word of God. Honor the Gospel, by
behaving righteously, and follow up unshrinkingly for the love of God
your intention to snatch from the destruction that threatens them our
poor brethren of Geneva, hitherto sadly forsaken of men.'[701] Then
lifting his trembling hands towards heaven, Haller stretched them above
the silent army, and exclaimed, 'May God fill your hearts with faith,
and may He be your Comforter!' The whole army, the whole people, in the
city, in the canton, and even in the upper valleys among the perpetual
snows, repeated these words—the last the reformer uttered in
public—which became the watchwords of this holy war.
On Saturday (January 22d) six thousand men left the city, marching with
a firm step, not under their peculiar flags (for each city had its own),
but under that of Berne alone, a symbol at once of strength and unity. A
hundred cavalry and sixteen pieces of cannon accompanied the infantry.
They all wore a white cross on a red field; the old mark of the
crusaders was their only uniform. Haller's words had borne fruit. Those
children of the mountains went to the help of their brothers with
enthusiasm and with faith. The noble Nägueli rode at their head. He
desired to make an evangelical and Helvetic country of the beautiful
valley of the Leman. He was serious and silent, for he was meditating on
the means of freeing Geneva completely, but at the cost of as little
blood as possible. The soldiers marched after him, active and joyful, in
the midst of a crowd of men, women, and children collected from the
villages round about; and those bold Helvetians, with heads erect, made
the road echo with their songs of war. The Chronicle of old Switzerland
has preserved them for us:
Be silent, people all, and listen to my lay.
Sing, comrades, raise to heaven the well-known strain,
For the bear has left his mountain den, and following in his train
Stalk terror and alarm to all who try to bar his way.
With eager footsteps on he goes, the weeping ones to save,
Whom all the world hath left to sink unaided to the grave.
My gallant, gallant bear! God hath raised thee from the dead;
Bound in his chains, the scorn of men, the pope long held thee fast,
But Christ hath snapped thy bonds, and the night of slavery is passed.
Once more the light of day falls from heaven upon thy head.
What a crowd of joyous cubs swarms around thee in thy den,
For wondrous is the love God hath shown thee among men.
Cheer up, old mountain bear! and with head uplifted high,
Let him who tries to stop thee have a care!
Woe, woe to him that hateth thee, woe to the knaves who fear
To follow where thou leadest—to Rome and victory,
To dethrone the king of liars, at the hypocrites to laugh,
And their idolatries to scatter to the winds of heaven like chaff.
I await thee in the mountains, when the bloody strife is o'er,
And thou comest with the laurel wreath upon thy head;
Thou shalt drink our mountain streams, grassy meads shall be thy bed,
There thy wearied limbs shall rest, and thy heart be glad once more,
He who fighteth for the faith, findeth glory at the last,
And God shall crown the warrior for the dangers he has passed.[702]
[Sidenote: THE ARMY AT MORAT.]
On the first day the army reached the battle-field of Morat, which the
soldiers hailed with enthusiasm. The contingents of Bienne, Nidau, La
Neuville, Neuchâtel, Valengin, Château d'Œx, Gessenay, and Payerne,
burning with affection for Geneva and the Reformation, joined the
Bernese flag in the last-named town. Here the Avoyer de Watteville
passed this noble army in review on the 24th of January, and
administered the oath to it.
Geneva presented at this time a less showy spectacle. The famine, which
for some months had distressed the city, was now prowling like a ghastly
phantom in every street, frightening the women and children, and even
the men themselves. Cold and sickness, the inevitable consequences of
deprivation, filled the houses with suffering and mourning. These
adversities were like a fierce torrent that sweeps away everything it
touches. Even the brave began to grow dejected. At this conjuncture a
man arrived from Berne, the bearer of two messages. One, on paper, had
been given him to avert suspicion in case he should be stopped by the
governor of Vaud; it was a demand for Furbity's liberation. The other
message was to be made verbally. 'Detain me here a prisoner,' said the
Bernese, 'and put me to death, if my lords do not march out with their
army to help you.' The people of Geneva could not believe him. 'In three
days,' he added, 'you will see the castles of the country in flames.
That will be the signal of Berne's coming.'[703]
When there was no longer any doubt of the arrival of the liberators, the
Genevan population, so long afflicted, breathed and took courage. The
most energetic men did not want to wait until their allies had arrived.
Versoix, an important place belonging to the duke of Savoy, might stop
the Bernese army. Fourscore citizens, manning a few boats, attacked it
from the lake, put to flight the soldiers of Savoy by the fire of their
cannon, and entered the fortress. The granaries were filled with corn,
the cellars with wine, and the stalls with cattle: this was to the
hungry citizens like the scene in the camp of the Syrians at the gates
of Samaria.[704] The Genevese hastily removed to their boats all that
they could carry away, and returning to the city displayed their booty
in the market-place in the midst of an immense crowd. Wheat, barley, and
cattle were sold at a low rate. Everybody ran and bought what he wanted;
all rejoiced at this unexpected succor. And yet great danger still
impended over Geneva.
[Sidenote: COMBINATION OF PRINCES.]
It is true Berne was coming to her help; but more than that was required
to save the city. The emperor's plan was (as we have seen) to crush the
Reformation, which opposed his absolute sovereignty in Germany. It has
been said that Francis I., attracted by the offer of Milan, had shown an
inclination to let Charles V. do what he liked. Could Berne resist that
powerful monarch?[705] Would not the patricians, who more than once had
shown themselves very cold with respect to Geneva, be found returning to
their old system of compromises and delays? A great change in the
relations and projects of the princes could alone, as it would appear,
save the city. Now just at this very moment a series of events was
taking place that suddenly transformed the political aspect of Europe.
Catherine of Aragon, aunt of Charles V., died. In consequence of her
decease, the emperor relinquished his design of invading England, and
kept the duchy of Milan, which he had offered to the king of France to
induce him to combine against Henry VIII. Francis I., treated by the
emperor as a person of no importance, swore that he would be avenged.
But to reach Charles V. and seize Milan, it was necessary to march over
the body of his uncle, the duke of Savoy. He did not hesitate to let
this prince know 'how little he would be advantaged by not having France
for a friend.'[706] Now, if the duke of Savoy, prince of Piedmont, is
driven by the king of France beyond the Alps and further still, Geneva
is saved.
At the sight of the danger which threatened him, Charles III. would have
liked to renew the old alliance with his nephew; but the influence of
his wife, who had 'led him into this dance,'[707] kept him bound to the
cause of the emperor. In his embarrassment he formed a resolution that
was not devoid of a certain cleverness, and which would make the
conquest of Geneva and its annexation to the dominions of the emperor
inevitable. Charles III. offered to cede to Charles V., in exchange for
various Italian provinces, the western slopes of the Alps, 'all the
country he possessed from Nice to the Swiss League, including
Geneva.'[708] By establishing the house of Austria between himself and
France, the duke would raise an impassable barrier against his restless
neighbor, and at the same time gratify the taste of the house of Savoy,
which loved to extend itself on the side of Italy. By virtue of this
exchange, the states of Charles V. would have bordered France everywhere
from the Mediterranean to the North Sea. Francis I. was alarmed. 'I will
not permit the emperor,' he said, 'to set up such a _ladder_[709]
against my kingdom, in order to invade it from that quarter
hereafter.'[710] All his hesitation ceased, and he determined to carry
out without delay the plan he had formed of invading Savoy, Piedmont,
and the Milanese. Thus at the very moment when the duke was preparing to
crush Geneva, he saw a storm suddenly gathering which was at once to
drive him from both slopes of the Alps and save the little city. Let us
see whether such was really the result of that policy.
The Swiss army, commanded by Nägueli, had started from Payerne on the
24th of January and arrived the next day at Echallens, whence it was to
march on Morges. The contingents of Orbe and Lausanne, desirous of
taking part in the deliverance of Geneva, came to increase his force,
which was thus raised to about ten thousand men. Sebastian de
Montfaulcon, bishop of Lausanne, a proud, intriguing, domineering
priest, inflamed with anger at seeing his people declare for Geneva,
determined to raise troops to oppose the liberating army. His bailiff
and secretary, going into the steep and narrow streets of the city,
knocked at every door, and asked whether the inmates would take the side
of the bishop or of the burgesses. Montfaulcon himself set out for his
castle of Glérolles, near St. Saphorin, in order to stir up the
inhabitants of La Vaux. But Nägueli was to encounter in his march a more
formidable obstacle than Montfaulcon and his extempore soldiers.
Medici, informed of the march of the Bernese army, had determined to
attack it before it reached Geneva. He could see that if Nägueli were
once established in that city, it would not be easy to take it. The plan
of the Italian commander was to march by Thonon and Evian, carry his
soldiers across the lake, give battle to the Bernese, and, after
defeating them, turn upon Geneva, which would be incapable of resisting
him. The character and antecedents of the devastating condottiere were
sufficient to indicate the fate reserved for his conquest. The city
would have been pillaged, perhaps burnt, in conformity with the habits
of Giangiacomo.
[Sidenote: THE TWO ARMIES MEET.]
That formidable chief had crossed the lake with his army in boats from
Chablais, and had almost reached Morges; his intention being to give a
solid base to his operations, not only by being master of Morges, which
was under the duke's orders, but still further by taking possession,
with the bishop's help, of Lausanne, whose liberal citizens were ready
to join Nägueli. On the 27th of January, in the evening, a detachment
started for that purpose under the orders of the Sieur de Colloneys. But
the latter had not gone far when Medici perceived fires on the heights
near the villages of Bussigny, Renens, and Crissier; it was the Bernese
who were preparing to bivouac on the hills. The fugitive governor of
Musso had no idea that the enemy was so near. He had not yet taken up
his position and the Swiss were in sight. He called back the detachment,
and early next morning sent out some of his cavalry to reconnoitre the
Swiss army and skirmish with them. Nägueli, not doubting that the hour
of battle had arrived, drew up his formidable line on the heights of
Morges; all his men were full of ardor.[711] Medici also desired to
arrange his troops for the struggle, but was not blind to the
disadvantages of his position. Nägueli was on the heights, while the
Savoyard troops had their backs to the lake, into which they might be
driven. The general, sent by the duke of Savoy to destroy Geneva, looked
with astonishment at the army of the new crusaders. He found himself in
presence of that valorous Nägueli who, as captain-general of the
Leagues, had taken from him his castle of Musso and the lands he had
seized by stratagem or force. More than once this robber-chief had said:
'What neither the emperor nor the king of France could do, that Switzer
did.' And now, at the head of the troops of Piedmont and Savoy, and
supported by Charles V., the late castellan of Musso had flattered
himself with the hope of taking vengeance for the injury he had once
endured; but it was the contrary that happened. Instead of rushing
forward at the head of his veteran soldiers, he was confused; he
hesitated, and his heart seemed to fail him.
[Sidenote: FLIGHT OF MEDICI.]
How was that? Was it because the sight of the army of Berne in line of
battle intimidated him? Was it because the gentlemen of Vaud and Gex,
upon whom he had counted, remembering the valor of the Swiss at Gingins,
had no desire to risk the chance of receiving a second lesson, and kept
away? Was it because the reinforcements expected from Savoy had not
arrived? Or was it because bad news reached him from Chambery, informing
him that the duke could think of nothing but the defence of his
hereditary states against the king of France? All these reasons had
something to do with the trouble of the former castellan of Musso; but
the last was the strongest. What a vexation for Medici! He had vaunted
that he would put an end to the interminable existence of Geneva; and at
the first rencounter he has to retreat. He had reckoned on the pleasure
of destroying _a nest of heretics_, and he cannot prevent Nägueli's
saving it. At this critical moment, one of the most daring captains of
the age seemed to become one of the most cowardly. There are people who,
audacious in prosperity, lose their heads when the chances are against
them. The flotilla in which the commander of the troops of Savoy had
traversed the lake lay at anchor a little distance from Morges, on the
side of Lausanne. Medici deserted the field of battle without striking a
blow, and embarked a portion of his troops while the remainder stopped
in Morges, a fortified city. Nägueli, seeing that the enemy was
retiring, pushed the advanced guard of the Swiss down to the shore. The
Italian captain, desiring at least to burn a few cartridges, discharged
the guns of his fleet at the Bernese, who returned the fire; but it was
not difficult for the latter to get out of reach of the cannonade.
During this petty engagement, the Spaniards and Italians, who to the
number of about seven hundred had taken shelter in Morges, furious at
seeing the triumph of the protestants so near at hand, behaved in that
city, which belonged to the duke, as if they had been in a hostile town.
They rushed into the castle, broke open private houses, and even
pillaged the churches, everywhere committing the cruellest
outrages;[712] after which they opened the gate on the Rolle side, and
most of them ran away. Some escaped on horseback, 'and the rest, says
Froment, 'got off fighting with a two-legged sword.'[713] Medici sent
two or three boats to Morges to bring off those who had not decamped,
and then sailed away to Savoy. One might almost say that an invincible
angel of the Almighty, as in the days of Judah, had put the enemies of
the Word of God to flight.[714]
[Sidenote: THE POWER OF MORAL FORCE.]
The break-up was complete: a panic terror had fallen upon the soldiers.
The roads, the plain, the mountain paths were crowded with fugitives.
The motives that induced Medici to retire were doubtless unknown to his
troops; but there is another explanation, a moral explanation, of their
disorderly flight. The Italian bands had crossed the Alps because their
captains had promised to deliver up to them Geneva, whose wealth rumor
had greatly exaggerated. It was a very different motive that animated
the Swiss: they had left their mountains and their valleys to secure
national independence and liberty of faith in Geneva in opposition to
the pope, the bishop, and the duke. The Genevese themselves, in the
obstinate struggle they had maintained for so many years, were impelled
by the noblest motives. But moral principles give to an army a moral
energy which bands of pillagers cannot resist. There is no doubt that
Medici's condottieri were in many respects better soldiers than the
shepherds of the Alps or the shopkeepers of the little city; but the
latter had a holy cause to defend. Their glance sufficed to scare the
bandits, who, renouncing the plunder of the hostile city, pillaged the
towns of their allies and fled as fast as oars or legs could carry them.
On the 30th of January the Council of Geneva were able to enter the
following words on their minutes: 'Four thousand Italian and other
foreigners, who had made preparations at Morges for the defence of the
country (Vaud), made no resistance and fled like cowards without
striking a blow.'
But Nägueli might encounter adversaries more formidable than the
Italians of Medici. The chiefs of all the district lying between the
Alps and the Jura, not only those of Vaud, but of Gex, Chablais, and
other parts of Savoy, were a real power. It was not known at that time
what part they would take. Their absence from Morges might only have
been occasioned by delay. Might not the priests be found arousing their
parishioners and marching at their head, as they had done three months
before at the battle of Gingins? If the cavaliers of the Middle Ages
should unite with the mercenaries of the sixteenth century, it would be
all over with Geneva. But the victory gained at Gingins by four hundred
and fifty sons of the Reformation over three to four thousand nobles and
soldiers, had, as we have mentioned, spread terror throughout the
country. They called to mind that one had put seven to flight; that many
chiefs had fallen by the balls of those keen marksmen; and that a
hundred priests had bitten the dust. Hence it was that only a few of the
gentry had any idea of taking up the sword: the priests kept silence,
and even the intrepid baron of La Sarraz went and hid himself within the
walls of Yverdun. The real feat of arms that delivered Geneva was the
victory of Gingins, gained by the independent friends of the
reformation: the official expedition of Berne was the triumphal march
which gathered the fruits and wore the laurels.
Nägueli, who stopped in Morges until the next day, was aroused in the
middle of the night by his alarmed followers. The sentries at the harbor
had heard the noise of oars in the distance. Was the enemy returning
from Savoy in greater force? Each man held his breath, the sound drew
nearer, and presently a boat approached. It might perhaps be followed by
others; but no, it was alone, and brought letters for Medici which had
probably been delayed. Everything was seized, and from the dispatches
the Bernese general learnt that the count of Challans had dispatched to
the Italian commander a considerable reinforcement of cavalry and
infantry.
Nägueli, thinking to come up with this reinforcement near Geneva,
hurried forward to meet them. On the morning of the 30th of January he
started for Rolle; no obstacle retarded his march; nobles and soldiers
'had been reduced to dust by terror.'[715] The fields were deserted; the
small towns and villages were empty; fear of the Bernese had swept the
country. The general, in concert with his chiefs, had agreed that it
would be an unwise policy to neglect establishing peace in that district
with a firm hand, as well for the present as for the future. Another
principle also animated the Bernese: they wanted to extend the territory
of the Helvetic League and their own as far as the shores of Lake Leman.
Now so long as the power of the nobles of Vaud, who were strongly
attached to Savoy, remained unbroken, there would be perpetual
insurrections, and Berne would hardly be in a position to hold her own.
Nägueli was persuaded that the strength of the cruel chevaliers of those
valleys lay in their strongholds. 'If we want to drive out the wolves,'
he said, 'we must destroy their dens.' The castles of Rolle and Rosay
were reduced to ashes; and the Genevans, seeing in the darkness of the
night those distant flames, shouted with joy, '_They are coming!_'
Nägueli resumed his march, sparing the inhabitants, but everywhere
destroying the images. Passing near Nyon without attacking it, he moved
upon Divonne and Gex, important positions from which he desired to expel
the enemy before entering Geneva.
[Sidenote: FRANCOIS DE GINGINS.]
François de Gingins, lord of Divonne and Chatelard, who had at first
taken part in the blockade of Geneva, but had withdrawn his troops
during the frosts of December, had shut himself up in his castle of
Divonne on the hills which overlook that village. Nägueli desired to
treat with respect a nobleman whose ancestors had been counted from the
tenth century among the great vassals of the kings of Transjurassic
Burgundy, and who possessed an amiable character and pacific
disposition. Brought up by his maternal uncle, the count of Gruyères,
and afterwards appointed by the king of France page of honor in his
household, he had returned to his home and married his cousin Margaret,
daughter of Antoine de Gingins, president of the sovereign council of
Savoy. He had small liking for the priests, whose gross and often
immoral conduct offended him; but he was alarmed at the idea of being
unfaithful to the Church and feudalism, and after some hesitation
attached himself to Roman-catholicism and the duke.[716] Margaret had,
it is said, some share in the change which afterwards occurred in the
family. The ladies of the castles were generally superior to their
husbands; they were more accessible to religious impressions. While the
lord was away at tournaments or on warlike expeditions, the wife
remained mistress of the household, governed her children and servants,
and virtues were often developed in her which would have been vainly
sought for elsewhere. A son speaking of his mother, describes her
beauty, her features always tranquil, her brow armed with severe
chastity, her virtuous looks, her regulated conversation, her modesty,
her fear of God, and her charity.[717] It is thus we love to picture to
ourselves Margaret of Gingins.
The young lord of Divonne liked the neighborhood of Geneva and the
intelligence of its inhabitants, and, without being aware of it, the
cause of the Reformation had made some progress in his heart. In 1548 he
made over his four castles of Gingins, Divonne, Chatelard, and Sarraz to
his sons, and retired to Geneva, where he remained to the end of his
days.[718] Thus, in his person, peace was concluded between the
redoubtable gentlemen of the country and the city which they had so
harassed. Nägueli, aware of the good inclinations of the baron, did not
burn his castle, and was content with exacting from him a ransom of
three hundred crowns.
On Tuesday (February 1st) ten syndics of Geneva came to present the
Bernese general with the thanks of the city. While they were in
conference with him, a noise was heard in the castle. They all pricked
up their ears. The old abbot De Gingins, episcopal vicar of Geneva, who
had retired (as we have seen) into the Jura, to his isolated convent of
Bonmont, alarmed at the approach of the army, disturbed by the
recollection of his licentious life, and remembering that the Swiss had
no liking for wicked priests, a great number of whom had fallen at
Gingins, had taken refuge at Divonne in his nephew's castle, where he
believed himself safe from all harm. He kept quiet in a secret
hiding-place, greatly tormented by fear that the Bernese might discover
him. Some soldiers, who were ordered to search the castle, found him and
brought him more dead than alive before their general. As the latter
sharply reproached the lord of Divonne with violating their convention,
the alarm of the old sinner increased; but he began to breathe again,
when the general declared that he would be willing to release him for a
ransom of four hundred crowns. The poor abbot, though the fear of death
was passed, never recovered from his fright.
The Savoyard troops, whose arrival had been announced to Medici by the
count of Challans, had not appeared, and we may understand the reason.
Consequently, next morning (February 2d) Nägueli, finding that there was
no enemy to prevent his entering Geneva, divided his soldiers into three
corps: one was to reduce the country between the Rhone and the Jura as
far as the Fort de l'Ecluse, which it was to take; the other was to
march to Gex, and burn the castle; while the rest of the army started
for Geneva.[719]
[Sidenote: BERNESE WAR-SONG.]
The Genevans awaited with great impatience the arrival of their
liberators. The sun cheered with its beams the brightest of the days in
Genevese history. The snows which covered the mountains glittered in the
distance; but in the plain at their feet, flashes of light were observed
which delighted the citizens still more. 'Two leagues off,' says
Froment, 'we could see the arms glittering, which was a great joy to
us.' The young people ran forward to meet their deliverers, and in a
short time the Bernese army approached and passed through an
enthusiastic crowd stationed on both sides of the road. The leaders
Nägueli, Weingarten, Cyro, Diesbach, and Graffenried, came first on
horseback; then followed the bannerets, councillors, provosts, and other
members of the Councils of Berne; and last of all the liberating army,
seventeen pieces of artillery, and the companies of Neuchâtel, Lausanne,
and other places in Vaud. As the Bernese passed the gates and entered
the city, they sang aloud once more these strains to the glory of God:
When the people's heart is silent,
And their eyes are closed in death,
Then God, the great Deliverer,
Awakes them with a breath.
Proud as Egyptian Pharaoh
Was the Duke on Leman's shore,
For twice five tedious years his yoke
Geneva, groaning, bore.
A martyr to the faith, she flies
Panting and still oppressed.
The hour is come: 'Up, Judah, up!
Pass through the sea, and be at rest.'
Her voice among our mountains
Resounded, and her cry
Of anguish tired the echoes,
But no man made reply.
Deaf to Geneva's woes and sleeping
Among her meads Helvetia lay;
But our rocks at last are shaken;
With a shout the Bernese waken,
And to succor the oppressed
They march with dauntless breast:
The Bear alone to pity giveth way.
To the war the fierce old bear,
With his eager cubs, has gone:
Day of safety to God's children,
Day of gladness to each one.
Day of death to thee, rash prince,
Day of sorrow and of shame,
Day of fire which shall consume thee
With inextinguishable flame.
Expect not mercy, for thy crime
Has dried up mercy's spring;
My voice, once soft, now thunders loud,
And fierce remorse thy heart shall wring.
Berne, if thy heart could counterfeit,
If thy proud neck could bend;
If thy tongue, in honeyed accents,
Could kings, as gods, commend;
Then their haughty palace gates
Would before thee open wide,—
But Christ is thy salvation,
And His cup thy boast and pride.
They have left thee all alone,
Thy friends,—where are they flown?
In the battle no man fighteth at thy side.
Fear nothing! every coming age
Shall bless thy memory;
For twice ten days thy cry has been:
'We conquer or we die!'[720]
What feats have been accomplished
By thy arm! how many a town
And many a haughty ruler
Before thee hath gone down!
Burnt are their castles, and their gods
Low in the dust are laid;
While all men sing thy glory,
That knows nor spot nor shade.
Happy the people among whom
The great God loves to abide;
Who daily search the Lord's own book,
Who scorn the pope, who upward look
To Christ their heavenly guide.
They sheathe their swords, and turning
Their hearts to God above,
From morn to eve unshrinkingly
They trust upon His love.[721]
[Sidenote: TO GOD BE THE GLORY.]
'Geneva received her deliverers with great delight,' says an
eye-witness, 'and replied to their songs with cries of joy.'[722] The
barbarous captain, sent against the huguenots to destroy them, had
disappeared; the wild beast, after a roar, had returned hastily to his
den. Their goods, their liberty, their faith, their lives were saved.
Excited by this great deliverance, the Genevans were not satisfied
merely with expressing their gratitude to the Bernese, but looked
higher. They knew that a Supreme Power, an Infinite Love, holds the
affairs of this world in His hands. It was that faith which was to make
the little city grow, and they wished to give expression to it. The
council being assembled, they resolved to enrol in the annals of the
republic a testimony of their gratitude, and ordered these words to be
written:
'_The power of God has confounded the presumption and rash audacity of
our enemies._'[723]
Froment, too, an eye-witness of these things, wrote in his _Gestes
Merveilleux_ the following simple and touching words:
'_In the year 1536, and in the month of February, Geneva was delivered
from her enemies by the providence of God._'[724]
[696] Hieronymo Soranzo, _Relazione di Roma_.—Ripenmonte, _Historiæ
urbis Mediolani_.—Ranke, _Römische Päpste_.
[697] 'Die Soldaten, darunter 4,000 Italiäner.'—Stettler, _Chronik_,
p. 82.
[698] Beauregard, _Mémoire sur la maison de Savoie_, tom. i.
p. 324.—Froment, _Gestes de Genève_, p. 207.—C. Zwick to B. Haller,
le 12 Janvier 1536.
[699] Veluti numine quodam instinctus.'—Sulzer to Bullinger, le 11
Février 1536.
[700] Stettler, _Chronik_, p. 78.—Lettre de Porral.—Mémoire de
Pierre-Fleur, p. 140.
[701] 'Die armen, verlassen, Christlichen Mitbrüder zu Genf.'—
Kirchofer's _Haller_, p. 231.
[702] Werner Steiner, _Sammlung_.—_Le Chroniqueur_, p. 202.—Pierre-Fleur,
p. 143.—Stettler, _Chronik_, p. 81.
[703] Froment, _Gestes de Genève_, p. 208.
[704] 2 Kings ch. vii.
[705] Letter from the bishop of Lausanne to the bailiff of
Vevey.—Stettler, _Chronik_.—Mémoires de Pierre-Fleur, p. 145.
[706] Mémoires de Du Bellay, liv. v. p. 239.
[707] _Ibid._ p. 240.
[708] Mémoires de Du Bellay, liv. v. p. 240.
[709] Echelle.
[710] Mémoires de Du Bellay, liv. v. p. 240.
[711] 'Ihre Feinde unerschrocken anzugreifen.'—Stettler, _Chronik_,
p. 82.
[712] Chron. MSC. de Roset, liv. iii. ch. 59.—Savion, iii.
p. 175.—Stettler, _Chronik_, p. 82.
[713] 'En bataillant de l'épée à deux pieds.'—Froment, _Gestes de
Genève_, p. 209.—Registres du Conseil du 30 Janvier 1536.—Chron. MSC. de
Roset, liv. iii. ch. 59 and 60.
[714] 2 Kings ch. xix.
[715] 'Verstaubt mit solchem Schrecken.'—Stettler, _Chronik_, p. 512.
[716] Manuscript archives of the family of Gingins.
[717] Life of Guibert de Nogent.—Collection des Mémoires de M. Guizot,
tom. ix. p. 346.
[718] Manuscript archives of the Gingins family.
[719] Registres du Conseil du 2 Février 1536.—Stettler, _Chronik_,
p. 82.
[720] The army left Berne on the 22d of January and entered Geneva on
the 2d of February.
[721]
Die, dann, das Schwerdt verborgen,
Das Herz in Gott versenkt,
Die Gottheit lassen sorgen,
Am Abend wie am Morgen
Die alle Herzen lenkt.
Werner Steiner, MSC. Sammlung.—Froment, _Gestes de Geneve_,
P. 209.—Registres du Conseil du 2 Février 1536.
[722] MSC. de Roset, liv. iii. ch. 59.
[723] 'La puissance de Dieu a confondu la présomption et la téméraire
audace de nos ennemis.'—Registres du Conseil du 30 Janvier 1536.
[724] 'L'an 1536 et au mois de Février, Genève fut délivrée de ses
ennemis par la providence de Dieu.'—Froment, _Gestes de Genève_, p. 207.