struggle. Anxious to maintain its freedom against a crafty and malignant
prince, and his creature, the base-born bishop, the city split into two
parties, the patriotic _Eidguenots_, so called from their relying for
assistance on the Swiss Confederation, and the Savoyards, who were
nicknamed the Mamelukes (knaves). Something like half the population
were Savoyards by birth. Among the patriot party we find the "Children
of Geneva," a gay and somewhat noisy band of patriotic enthusiasts, who
loved fighting and did not fear death. At the head stood Thilibert the
witty hotspur, Francois Bonivard, Prior of St. Victor, and a noteworthy
Geneva chronicler, and Hugues Besancon, a clever statesman, and the
father and deliverer of his country. When Charles required the Genevans
to do homage they refused, answering sturdily that "Geneva would rather
go begging and be free." In 1519, during his sojourn in the city,
Charles punished with terrible rigour this bold stand for freedom; all
were cowed into submission except Berthelier, who scorned to "bend to a
man who was not his master." His head was one of the first to fall. But
executions of one kind or another were soon of almost daily occurrence
during Charles's stay. Four years later Charles and his beautiful bride,
Beatrix entered Geneva with great pomp, and the princess even remained
for the birth of her first-born. Charles desired the city to become
accustomed to royal splendour, and to feel real sympathy for a native
sovereign. But all his plans failed. By his eloquence and patriotism
Hugues melted the hearts of the men of Freiburg, and succeeded in
persuading them as well as the people of Bern to make an alliance with
his own city. This alliance checkmated the plans of Savoy. But the
success of the Genevans excited the jealousy of the "Ladle Squires."
This curious nickname was given to an extraordinary band of the gentry
and nobility living around Geneva. They met at a most frugal supper, and
vowed the destruction of the city. A dish of rice was being served by
the duke with a large spoon or ladle when one of the guests suddenly
brandishing the implement fiercely exclaimed, "With this I shall swallow
Geneva!" By an oath the men assembled bound themselves to seek the
destruction of the obnoxious city, and hung their ladles round their
necks in token of adherence. These "Seigneurs de la Cuiller," though
unable to carry out their design, were yet able to work much mischief to
Geneva, by cutting it off from the necessaries of life, and by keeping
up a desultory but none the less harassing warfare against it. More than
this, Bonivard was by order of the duke ousted from his living, and
thrown into the castle of Chillon, in 1530.[54] In this same year,
however, a new attack on the part of Savoy was checked by Bern and
Freiburg, and Charles was forced to sign the treaty of St. Julien,
guaranteeing the independence and freedom from molestation of Geneva. It
was stipulated that should the treaty be violated by Savoy it should
forfeit Vaud to Bern.
About this time Bern ventured on the introduction of the reformed faith
into French Switzerland, hoping thereby to deepen her interest in that
quarter. She found a suitable instrument in the person of Guillaume
Farel, a fiery Frenchman from Dauphine. The most intrepid and daring of
champions of the gospel, he had fled from his native soil to Switzerland
to avoid religious persecution, and had been expelled from Basel for his
fanaticism. Supported by "Leurs excellences les Messieurs de Berne," as
the government of that city was styled, he wandered about as an
itinerant reformer, visiting Vaud and Neuchatel. Through his efforts the
latter canton adopted Zwingli's doctrines, in 1530, Vaud obstinately
refusing the reformation, except in that portion of the district subject
to Bern. Farel's preaching always excited the mob, and his harangues
generally ended in a scuffle. He would often stop a priest on the road
and fling into the river the host or the relics he carried. He had even
been known to burst into a church during mass, and inveigh against
Antichrist from the pulpit. Buffetings and prison alike failed to stop
his efforts, for rough though his manner of controversy was, he was yet
deeply in earnest. Going to Geneva, in 1532, his very name so stirred
the Catholics there that he was obliged to flee for his life. The
Protestant party in the city were strong and well organised, and they
counted on the assistance of Bern, and that important state, anxious to
convert the whole west, if possible, threatened Geneva with her
displeasure should Farel not be favourably received. Thus Geneva was
suddenly called upon to decide between the friendship of Bern, and that
of Freiburg, where the Catholic party was dominant. Fear of Savoy
decided Geneva in favour of Bern, which certainly was a more powerful
ally than Freiburg. Furbity, an eloquent priest, who had been chosen to
controvert the reformers' teachings, was to be discharged, and Farel,
Fromment (another Frenchman), and Viret, a very able Vaudois, one of
Farel's disciples, were established at Geneva, in 1534, by the desire of
Bern. The new faith rapidly spread, and fresh attacks on the part of
Savoy against Geneva only served to promote its extension. A religious
discussion arranged by Bern, and conducted (on the reformed side) by
Farel, took place at Geneva, in 1535, and resulted in the full
establishment of the Zwinglian doctrine in that city. During the
disputations an embassy from the Bernese attended the city council to
make known the will of the ruling state, much after the manner of the
proud and austere Roman senators of old.
But neither the ousted Catholics nor Savoy was inclined to submit tamely
to this state of things. Geneva was a perfect hotbed of dissension. Duke
Charles laid siege to the city, both by land and by water. A sudden
change in French politics prompted Bern to show more active energy than
it had lately shown. Two claimants for the Duchy of Milan appeared,
Francis I. and the Emperor Charles V. To facilitate its conquest the
former also planned the annexation of Savoy, intending to include Geneva
as the key to Rhone valley. Bern thus seeing threatened the safety of a
city which it was itself coveting, declared war on Savoy, and marched
six thousand men into the Vaud country. The pretext set up by Bern was
that Savoy had violated the treaty of St. Julien. Vaud was seized
without striking a blow, and portions of Savoy, Gex, and Chablais, were
annexed. In great triumph the Bernese army entered Geneva, but fear of
France, and the proud and noble bearing of the Genevese, prevented the
Bernese from attempting to put into execution any plans they might have
had for annexing the republic. It was in this campaign that Bonivard was
rescued.
Great was the disappointment of Vaud to find that it had only changed
masters; had been rescued from the grasp of Savoy to fall beneath the
sway of Bern, though the latter master was certainly in every way
superior to the former. It will be well understood that this treatment
on the part of Bern would later on give rise to serious troubles. Indeed
to this day Vaud bears a grudge against her former master. However the
powerful canton set up order and discipline in the disorganized district
of Vaud, and gave it the _cachet_ of its exemplary administration. It
was divided into governmental districts and managed by eight Bernese
landvoegte. It agrees with the laws of Bern though its local
administration was left it. Every effort was made to establish the
reformed faith, and a disputation was held at Lausanne. In this Calvin
took a part, but not a prominent one. The result was, however, the
downfall of Catholicism in the district, deeply-rooted though it had
been. Schools were established, and the Academy was founded by Bern. In
this way the French position of the country was cemented to the eastern
half. It was not till the Great Revolution that the prerogatives of the
governing cantons were shaken, the immense wealth of the cathedral of
Lausanne went to fill the state coffers of Bern, and the funds of the
various churches were left to provide schools.
FOOTNOTES:
[54] For a fuller account of Bonivard the reader is referred to
Marc-Monnier's "Geneve et ses poetes." It is of course well known that
though Bonivard's adventures suggested the idea of Byron's beautiful
"Prisoner of Chillon," the story in the poem is almost entirely
fictitious. In truth, Bonivard was liberated by Bern in 1536, and set
himself to write the annals of his city of Geneva. He was married no
fewer than four times. He seems to have been frequently cited before the
Consistory for gambling and other like offences.
XXIV.
GENEVA AND CALVIN.
(1536-1564.)
Political and religious changes had brought about in Geneva a confusion
which Farel felt himself incapable of lessening. By vehement intreaties,
therefore, and even by threats, he induced Calvin to join him in his
missionary work, Calvin being already known to the world as the author
of "Institutio Christianae Religionis," a work that fell on men like a
revelation. John Calvin, or Cauvin, was born at Noyon, in Picardy, in
1509, and was a northern Frenchman of superior intelligence and
learning, but of a gloomy, austere disposition, with a large admixture
of fatalism in his views. Destined for the Church, he studied in Paris
at the early age of thirteen, but by his father's wish he changed his
intention, and applied himself to the study of law, at Orleans and
Bourges. To these latter studies he owed that wonderful facility in
systematic reasoning which is so noticeable in his writings. But the
death of his parent in 1531 brought Calvin once more to Paris, where he
speedily found himself drawn into the new religious movement which was
winning its way in France. Profound theological researches and severe
inward struggles caused his conversion to the reformed faith, in the
following year. In 1535 we find him at Basel, whither he had retired to
escape further persecution on account of his extreme views. Here he
published his "Christianae Religionis Institutio," which is his most
celebrated work, and which has shed undying lustre on his name.
Fascinating by its profound learning, its unflinching logic, and its
wonderful fervour, the book became at once a general favourite, and was
translated into all the civilized tongues. It is not necessary to do
more than place before the reader one or two essential features of this
great work. It is of mathematical exactness, and is the very base and
foundation of his remarkable religious system, while it likewise maps
out his scheme of reformation. This scheme was based on the doctrine of
predestination, a doctrine Calvin had embraced with eagerness.
Predestination was indeed with him a religious axiom, a self-evident
truth which neither needed proof nor admitted of dispute, and he made it
the corner-stone of his new religious system. His theory was that, of
men all equally guilty _a priori_, some had from the beginning of the
world been destined by God for eternal happiness, others for eternal
perdition. Who were the elect and who the rejected was left an open
question. However incompatible with humane feeling, however
irreconcilable with the doctrine of the redemption, this belief might
be thought by many, it yet sufficed for the eager minds of the sixteenth
century, earnestly seeking as they were some practicable and, as it
were, palpable, faith. Whatever the objections to the doctrine, it was
on this that the Calvinistic Church was built, and by its spirit that
that Church was swayed.
It was in 1536 that Calvin settled in Geneva. With Farel he undertook
the reorganization of the Church on the lines marked out in his
"Institutes," entirely sweeping away previous reforms. A "confession of
faith" was drawn up and subscribed to by the people, and a new Church
constitution was adopted which involved the establishment of a Church
censorship, or rather a Church police. The rigorous discipline enforced,
however, clashed with the Genevans' notions of present freedom, and the
civil magistrates stoutly contested the right of the pulpit to find
fault with the secular government, or interfere in the public
administration. For the Genevese were a gay and pleasure-loving people,
and they were moreover boisterous, undisciplined, and fond of
disputation. A bold stand was made against the "Popery on Leman Lake,"
by the national party. The spirit of opposition was quickened by the
disappointment of Bern at the overthrow of her reformation movement and
ritual,[55] and the immigration of French refugees who strengthened
Calvin's party. Bickerings, disorderly scenes, riots, both inside and
outside the churches, followed, and the direct disobedience of Calvin
and Farel to a civil decree of suspension prompted the government to
pass sentence of banishment against them in 1538. Amidst the revilings
and hootings of the mob they quitted Geneva, Farel going to Neuchatel,
where he remained till his death in 1565, and Calvin to Strasburg.
In this more tolerant German city he came into daily contact with the
workings of the Lutheran and Zwinglian professions. He attempted to
mediate between them with the view of reconciling their opposing views
on the Eucharist, but failed. He admired Melanchthon, but considered
that his temporizing measures resulted in laxity of discipline. He was
grieved, too, by the little regard shown to the clergy, and by their
dependence on the courts, and the contemplation of all this served to
confirm him in his own views. He never lost sight of the aim of his
life--to make the Genevan Church, which he loved as his own soul, the
rallying point for his persecuted countrymen. His plans were greatly
favoured by several circumstances: the quarrels convulsing Geneva during
his exile, and the incapacity of the new ministry there; above all, the
well-founded dread of Bern's supremacy. This fear brought into existence
the party nicknamed the Guillermins, from Guillaume Farel, which
literally drove the Genevans into the fold of Calvinism. Yet Calvin at
first hesitated to return. "Why should I replunge into that yawning
gulf," he writes to Farel, "seeing that I dislike the temper of the
Genevese, and that they cannot get used to me?" But believing himself
called by God, he yielded, and, amidst acclamations and rejoicings, he
was welcomed back to the city in 1541.
Speaking roughly Calvin began his reforms where Luther and Zwingli had
stopped; they had broken the ice for him, and shown him the way. He
demanded implicit and unquestioning obedience to the Divine Word, for
human reason, he said, was "as smoke in the sight of God." His aim was
to found a kingdom of God in the spirit of the ancient prophets, and
ruled by equally rigorous laws. Excluding the people from direct control
in church matters, he lodged the chief authority in the clergy, a class
which was also to have the preponderance in the state. By skilful
organization he established a theocracy with strong aristocratic
leanings, the democratic element being almost entirely excluded. Geneva
became indeed "the city of the spirit of stoicism, built on the rock of
predestination." But the most curious institution of the Calvinistic
Church was the _Consistoire_, a body of twelve chosen from the oldest
councillors and the city clergy, Calvin himself being usually at the
head. This tribunal was 01 authority in spiritual and moral, and in
public and private, matters alike. Calvin's intention was to change the
sinful city into a sanctified city--a "city of God." The members of the
Consistoire had power to enter private houses, and to regulate even the
smallest concerns of life, and they admonished or punished offenders as
they thought fit. Even the most trivial matters came within its ken; it
prescribed the fashions, even down to the colour of a dress, and fixed
the _menus_ of the table, not less than it enforced attendance at
religious worship. The table was by no means profusely supplied either,
only one dish of meat and one of vegetables being allowed, and no
pastry, and only native wine. We find girls cited before the Consistoire
for skating, a man for sniffing in church, two others for talking
business when leaving church. Every now and then Bonivard was brought up
for card playing, and other disorderly deeds. A hairdresser adorning a
lady's hair, together with the friends present, was sent to gaol. To the
Genevans theatre-going was the chief occupation in life, but
nevertheless theatrical performances were suspended, and remained so
till shortly before the advent of Voltaire, who, indeed, gloried in
leading back the strait-laced Genevans to worldliness and pleasure. But
not only was the theatre forbidden, but likewise dancing, games, and
music, except psalm-singing. No wonder the Muses left Geneva! Objects of
art, and even those of home comfort, were objected to by iconoclasts
like Calvin. The once gay Geneva sank into a dull, narrow-minded city of
the true Puritan type. Indeed, as is well known, she furnished the
pattern for later Puritanism. The Consistoire reserved to itself the
right of excommunication, that is, of exclusion from the Communion,
though secular or physical punishments were left to the Council.
The criminal history of the Genevan Republic reflects the temper of the
time, and the spirit of the ecclesiastical leaders. Vice was mercilessly
punished, and drunkenness, blasphemy, and unbelief were put in the same
category with murder. One reads with dismay of the state of terrorism
prevailing during the plague raging about the middle of the century.
Superstition was rife and increasing, and every kind of torture was used
to extort confessions from accused persons. Whilst the plague was at its
worst the sword, the gallows, the stake were equally busy. The jailor
asserted that his prisons were filled to excess, and the executioner
complained that his arms were tired. Within a period of three years
there were passed fifty-eight sentences of death, seventy-six of
banishment, and eight to nine thousand of imprisonment, on those whose
crime was infringement of the Church statutes. Offences against himself
personally Calvin treated as blasphemy, as he identified himself with
the prophets of old. Strange as this assertion is, it can be supported.
A single instance will suffice. One Pierre Amieaux, a councillor, had
once in company spoken of Calvin as a bad man. This the reformer
declared to be blasphemy, and refused to preach again till satisfaction
was done to him.[56]
In such manner was Geneva forced into obedience. However, there was one
powerful check on Calvin's progress, viz., the efforts of the national
party, the "Children of Geneva," as they called themselves, or the
"Libertines," as their opponents nicknamed them.[57] An excellent way of
neutralizing the influence of these, Calvin tells his friend Bullinger,
at Zurich, was to expel the natives and admit French _emigres_ to the
Genevan citizenship. "The dogs are barking at me on all sides," he
complains to the same friend, and now and then he made a clean sweep of
his adversaries. The Genevans naturally looked with disfavour on
Calvin's policy, objecting to the French refugees not so much from ill
will as from a natural dislike to leaving a city to which they were so
devotedly attached, and seeing the positions of honour and influence
taken up by the strangers. At last, exasperated beyond measure by the
admission of a fresh batch of refugees, the Libertines attempted a _coup
de main_ on the Calvin government, May, 1555. The attempt miscarried,
and the ringleaders were put to death or imprisoned, and most of the
rank and file expelled from the city. To fill the great gaps thus
caused, three hundred and fifty-nine French families were admitted
gradually to the citizenship, and in this way within a few years the
population increased from thirteen thousand to twenty thousand. Such
high-handed proceedings--wholesale proscriptions one might call
them--caused the wheels to run smoothly enough, and Calvin was now
completely master of the situation. The imprisonment and burning of
Servetus for denying the doctrine of the Trinity once more ruffled the
smooth surface of affairs, yet helped if possible to increase Calvin's
prestige and influence. Every one knows of the endless discussions that
have since taken place as to Calvin's part in putting to death the
learned and unfortunate Spaniard. But Calvin's own defence would seem
to show that it was he who was chiefly the leader in the matter.[58]
His pre-eminence now fully established and acknowledged, Calvin founded
the Academy, in 1559, in order to provide ministers for the reformed
churches generally. Learned French _emigres_ were appointed to the
professorships, and Theodore de Beze (Beza) was made rector, and the
institution became the glory of the city. From all parts sympathizers
flocked to Geneva--Italians, English,[59] Spanish, Germans, mostly
French and Italians, however--and churches to suit the different
nationalities sprang up. On Leman Lake they found another Rome, and
another inspired and infallible Pope, albeit a Protestant Pope. At the
first view of the sacred city they sank on their knees and sang songs of
joy and praise, as if they had sighted a new Jerusalem. Wittenberg had
witnessed similar scenes. No fewer than thirteen hundred French and
three hundred Italian families had made Geneva their second home, and
men of the greatest mark had settled there temporarily or for good.
Missionaries went to France to rally and strengthen the Huguenots, and
some two thousand communes were converted to the new faith. Religious
champions, like the intrepid John Knox, Peter Martyr, Marnix (de St.
Aldegonde), went to Scotland, England, or the Netherlands, to advance
the cause of Calvinism. To Geneva as their mother church may look
Puritans and Presbyterians.
Calvinism but little affected Switzerland at large during the lifetime
of its founder. Its absolutism and narrowness clashed with the milder
and more advanced, and, if one may say so, more ideal views of the
Zwinglian system. It was due to the conciliatory spirit of Bullinger and
to his noble efforts that the Churches of Zurich and Geneva--while other
countries were distracted with religious differences--drew together as
friends, and that their doctrines were blended in official "confessions"
of faith. Viret's attempts to plant Calvinism in Vaud failed, as did
those of Farel in Neuchatel.
And if Geneva did not regard her great master with affection, she bowed
before him in profound veneration. Without him the ancient, frivolous,
and quarrelsome city could hardly have kept at bay her many foes. But
trained in the school of Calvinism she gathered moral strength, and
became the "abode of an intellectual light that has shone for three
centuries, and that, though growing pale, is not yet extinguished."
[Illustration: THALER OF 1564.
(_Laus et gloria soli Deo optimo maximo._)]
[Illustration: THALER OF 1564.
(_Moneta nova Civitatis San Gallensis, 1564._)]
Calvin was a prodigious worker, a profound theologian, an accomplished
linguist, a statesman and organizer of consummate skill, and a most
excellent correspondent. Twenty-four printing-presses were kept at work
day and night multiplying his writings in different languages. No fewer
than 2,025 sermons of his have been collected, and 4,721 letters. For
the French language Calvin did much what Luther did for the German. His
frame, at all times weak, became still more enfeebled by continued
illness, and it seemed impossible that he should be physically fit to
labour as he did, but his religious enthusiasm was able to triumph over
bodily ailments. Bright, sparkling eyes lit up his pale and emaciated
features. Averse to earthly pleasures, careless of popular applause, of
strong and unbending will--though not devoid of deep feeling--he
commanded men's awe rather than their affection. His near personal
friends were devotedly attached to him, and on the death of his wife,
who sank when bereaved of her children, his tenderness breaks forth in
letters to his friends. "If I did not make a strong effort to moderate
my grief," he writes to Viret, "I should succumb." He died in May, 1564,
and even in his last moments had words of censure for those who had come
to take leave of him. His death is registered in these curious terms:
"Aujourd'hui spectable Jean Calvin s'en est alle a Dieu, sain et entier,
grace a Dieu, de sens et entendement." Beza was elected his successor;
and, less severe and more conciliating than his friend and predecessor,
he exerted great influence, both at Geneva and in the reformed countries
generally. Beza's death occurred in 1603.
FOOTNOTES:
[55] The Bern, that is, the Zwinglian, ritual preserved several things
which the French reformers rejected, amongst others, the four high fete
days, the baptismal font, and the use of unleavened bread in the
Communion.
[56] Amieaux was led in his shirt through the city, with a lighted torch
in his hand, and was required to confess his fault in three different
public squares.
[57] These "Lovers of Freedom" were stigmatized by the opposite party as
"men of loose morals," but of such there were not a few amongst the
Calvinists themselves.