The Sire de Pontverre, seeing the number of his enemies increasing,

spurred his horse, dashed through the crowd, and reached the Corraterie

gate, by which he desired to leave the city, and which led to the Black

Friars' monastery. But the Genevans had got there before him.... The

gate, alas! was shut. In this extremity, Pontverre did not falter. Close

at hand was the house, dependent on the hospital, the back gate of which

led outside the city, and by which he designed introducing the Savoyards

by night. Thanks to his horse, he was a little in advance of his

pursuers; he lost not a moment, he turned back, and reached the house in

question. To get at the door it was necessary to go up several steps.

The Genevans were now rushing after him in a crowd, shouting:

'Pontverre! Pontverre!'... The latter faced his enemies, and, without

dismounting, backed his horse up the steps, at the same time using his

sword against his pursuers. At this moment the syndic Ami Girard

arrived; he found the Sire de Simon, and the other horsemen who had

accompanied their chief, beset on all sides. The syndic begged that they

might not be hurt; and as the horsemen surrendered their arms, they were

lodged in a place of safety. Pontverre dismounted on reaching the top of

the steps, and, hoping to escape by the door we have mentioned, rushed

into the house. His face was covered with blood, for, says an

eye-witness, 'he had a sword-cut on his nose;' his eyes were wild; he

heard the feet of the huguenots close behind him. Had he no time to

reach the door, or did he find it shut? We cannot tell. Seeing that he

could not escape, he appears to have lost his presence of mind. Had he

still been himself, he would no doubt have faced his enemies and sold

his life dearly, but, for the first time in his life, he became

frightened; he dashed into one of the apartments, threw himself on the

floor, and crept hastily under a bed: a child might have done the same.

What a hiding-place for the most valiant knight whom the Alps and the

Jura had seen perhaps for centuries!

[Sidenote: THE DEATH-STRUGGLE.]

At this moment, the Genevans who were pursuing him rushed into the house

and began to search it; they entered the room where the man lay hid who

had threatened to swallow Geneva as if it were a spoonful of rice. At

their head was Ami Bandière, one of the huguenots who had been compelled

to flee to Berne at the same time as Hugues and the leaders of the

party—the man, it will be remembered, whose father and children had

appeared before the council in 1526, when it was necessary to defend the

huguenots who had taken refuge in Switzerland. Bandière, an upright,

determined, and violent man, an enthusiast for liberty, noticed the bed;

he thought that the proud gentleman might possibly be hidden beneath it.

'They poked their swords underneath,' says Bonivard, 'and the wretched

man hidden there received a stab.'[797] This was too much: the Sire de

Pontverre was aroused: being an active and powerful man, he rushed out

of his hiding-place in a fury, and, springing to his feet, seized

Bandière with his vigorous arms, threw him on the bed, and stabbed him

in the thigh with a dagger. The shouts now grew louder. If he had

surrendered no harm would have been done him; but Bandière's friends,

excited by the blood of their brother, were eager to avenge him. They

rushed upon Pontverre. Alone in the middle of the room, this athletic

man received them boldly: he swung his sword round him, now striking

with the edge, and now with the point; but a citizen, inflamed by anger,

aimed a violent blow at him, and the captain-general of the knights of

the Spoon fell dead. At this moment the syndic Ami Girard entered,

exclaiming: 'Stop! stop!' but it was too late.

Thus died François de Ternier, lord of Pontverre, whose ancestors had

always been enemies of Geneva, 'and who himself had been the worst,'

says one of his contemporaries. He fell a martyr to feudalism, say some;

a victim to his own insolence, say others. His sole idea had been to

ruin Geneva, to disperse its inhabitants, to throw down its walls; and

now he lay dead a few yards from the place where, in 1519, he was

present at the head of his troopers to take part in the murder of

Berthelier, and in the very place by which he had arranged to enter and

destroy the city by fire and sword.—'A memorable instance of divine

justice,' said some of the citizens; 'a striking deliverance for Geneva;

a terrible lesson for its enemies!' There is a great difference, it must

be observed, between the martyrs of liberty and right, and those of

feudalism and the papacy. Arbitrary power perfidiously seized the

greatest citizens, the Bertheliers and Lévriers, in the midst of an

inoffensive life, and put them to death by the vile hand of the common

headsman, after a sham trial, which was a disgraceful mockery of

justice; but it was only when provoked by the champions of feudalism,

and at the risk of their own lives, that the men of liberty struck their

adversaries. Pontverre died in a contest in which he had been the first

to draw the sword.

[Sidenote: HONOURS TO THE DEAD.]

As the Genevans wished to show every mark of respect to their dead

enemy, the council ordered that he should be buried with the usual rites

by the Franciscans in a chapel of the convent of Rive, which had been

founded by his family, and where some of his ancestors had been laid.

After this ceremony had taken place according to the forms of the Roman

ritual, an inquest was made into the cause of this tragical death, 'to

do justice therein, if there should be need.' All the cool-headed people

in Geneva were seriously grieved: 'Alas!' said they, 'what a pity that

he would not live in peace, for he was a virtuous cavalier, except that

he was so pugnacious! It would have been better to make him prisoner; it

would have been the means of obtaining a perpetual treaty!' The officers

of justice found letters on his person which had reference to the plot

hatched against Geneva, and in which the knights of the Spoon were

ordered to assemble 'with swords and spears' against the city. It was

made evident that he had been the chief of the bands which pillaged and

killed without mercy the citizens and inhabitants of the country, and

that he was to blame, having first wounded Bandière: the magistrates,

therefore, came to the conclusion that there were no grounds for

bringing any one to trial. The Sire de Simon and the other companions of

the famous captain were conducted uninjured to the frontier of

Savoy.[798]

One would have thought that, as the head of the league against Geneva

had fallen, the league itself would have been weakened; but, on the

contrary, Pontverre's death added fuel to the rage of the brethren of

the Spoon. Disorder and violence increased around the city, and the very

next day, Sunday, the 3rd of January, the gentry, wishing to avenge

their chief, kept the field everywhere. 'We will kill all the Genevans

we can find,' said they.—'They fell upon the first they met, committing

violence and murder.' It seemed as if Pontverre's soul had revived, and

was impelling his former colleagues to offer sacrifices without number

to his shade. An early attack was expected; the alarm spread through

Geneva, and the council met. 'François de Ternier's death,' said one of

the members, 'has thrown oil upon the fire instead of extinguishing it.

Alone, we cannot resist the attack of Savoy and of the knights. Let us

make haste to inform Berne and Friburg.'—'It is impossible,' said

another councillor; 'all the gentlemen of Vaud are in arms; no one can

cross the province. Our envoys would be stopped at Versoy, Coppet, Nyon,

and Rolle; and whoever is taken will be put to death to avenge the fall

of the illustrious chief.'

But a free people always finds citizens ready to sacrifice themselves.

Two men stood up: they were two of the bravest huguenots, Jean Lullin

and Robert Vandel. 'We will go,' they said. They embraced their

relatives, and got into a boat, hoping to reach some place on the lake

where they could land without danger. But they had hardly left the shore

when they were recognised and pursued by some of the enemies' boats,

well manned and armed. As soon as the two Genevans observed them, they

saw their danger, and, catching up the spare oars, assisted the boatmen

with their vigorous arms, and rowed off as fast as they could. They kept

gaining on the Savoyard boats; they passed unmolested within sight of

several harbours occupied by their enemies, and at last reached Ouchy,

dripping with perspiration. The people of Lausanne, who were well

disposed towards the Genevans, assisted them. They got to Friburg, 'by

subtle means,' probably in disguise, and told their old friends of the

increasing dangers to which the city was exposed, especially since the

death of Pontverre.[799]

[Sidenote: THE SIRE DE VIRY.]

The place of the latter was now filled by the Sire de Viry, whose

castle, like Pontverre's, was situated between Mont Salève and the lake

(between Chancy and Léluiset), and whose family had always supplied

Savoy with fanatical partisans. Viry was furious at the escape of Lullin

and Vandel; and, accordingly, on the next day, the servants of these two

Genevans, who had been ordered to take their masters' horses to

Lausanne, having passed through Coppet, were thrown into prison by his

orders. He did not stop at this. 'The gentlemen assaulted every Genevan

they met with their daggers and battle-axes, striking them on the loins,

the shoulders, and other parts, and many died thereof.'—'All the

territory of Monseigneur of Savoy is in arms,' said people at Geneva in

the beginning of March 1529, 'and no one can leave the city except at

great risk.'

The ducal party, desirous of defying the Genevans in every way, resolved

to send them, not a written but a living message, which would show them

the fate that awaited them. On the 14th of March, the people who were

leaving the church of Our Lady of Grace, saw a strange figure coming

over the bridge of Arve. He had at his back a wooden plank reaching from

his feet to above his head, to which he was fastened; while his

outstretched arms were tied to a cross piece which was placed on a level

with his shoulders. The gentlemen had thought it a pretty jest to

crucify a Genevan, without doing him any great injury, and they left his

feet at liberty, so that he could return home thus singularly arrayed.

'What is that?' asked the people, stopping at the foot of the bridge.

They thought they recognised an inhabitant of the city. 'They have made

a cross of him front and back,' said the spectators. The man came over

the bridge, approached his fellow-citizens, and told them his story. 'I

had gone to the village of Troinex on business, when the enemy caught

me, trussed me up in this manner, and compelled me to return in this

condition to Geneva.' The people hardly knew whether to laugh or be

angry; however, they unbound their crucified fellow-citizen, and all

returned together to the city.

This was only a little joke of the young ones among the knights; the

Sire de Viry and his colleagues had more serious thoughts. The attack

upon Geneva, resolved upon at the castle of Nyon, was to be put into

execution. The lords issued with their armed retainers from all the

castles in the great valley, and on the 24th of March some peasants from

the banks of the Arve came and told the syndics that there was a great

concourse of gentlemen and soldiers at Gaillard; that these armed men

intended on the following night to secretly scale the walls of the city,

and that there was a strong guard upon all the roads to detain everybody

who ventured out of Geneva. At that time the whole garrison consisted

but of fifty soldiers, 'keeping watch and ward by turns,' as Bonivard

informs us. How was it possible to resist with such a few men? Yet two

powers kept the walls: the energy of the citizens and the providence of

God.

[Sidenote: THE DAY OF THE LADDERS.]

At midnight on Holy Thursday (25th of March), the knights of the Spoon,

with about four thousand Savoyard troops and the fugitive mamelukes,

moved forward as secretly as possible to take Geneva by surprise. The

citizens, accustomed to false alarms, had not paid much attention to the

warning they had received. At the head of the band that was to lead the

assault were a certain number of men carrying long ladders which had

been made at Chillon. The men-at-arms who followed them wore white

shirts over their armour in order to be recognised in the darkness; they

had even sent to their friends in Geneva certain tokens which the latter

were to fasten to the ends of their spears in order that the assailants

might know them in the confusion. The city clocks had struck two when a

few Savoyards arrived at the foot of the wall: not a sound was heard,

the night was dark, and everything promised complete success. Meanwhile

the main body had halted a quarter of a league from the city, and

hesitated to make the attack. Pontverre was no longer among them, and

Viry had not inherited his influence. 'At the moment of execution, a

spirit of fear fell upon the Savoyards,' says a chronicler; 'God took

away their courage, so that they were not able to come near.'—'We are

not strong enough to carry out our enterprise,' said one.—'If we fail,'

said another, 'Messieurs of the Swiss League will not fail us.' They

consequently withdrew, and, in order to conceal their disgrace, said

that the duke or the bishop had forbidden them to advance. Might not the

duke, influenced by the cantons, have really given them the order to

retreat at the last moment? That alone appears to explain this

retrograde movement. However, the Genevans ascribed their deliverance to

a higher cause; they entered on the registers of the council the

following simple words which we copy: 'The gentlemen (_gentils_) had

undertaken to attack the city, _which God has preserved hitherto_.' The

25th of March was called _the day of the ladders_.[800]

[Footnote 791: Bonivard, _Chroniq._ ii. p. 507. Gautier MS.]

[Footnote 792: Bonivard, _Chroniq._ ii. p. 517.]

[Footnote 793: _Mém. d'Archéologie_, iii. p. 201.]

[Footnote 794: Bonivard, _Chroniq._ ii. p. 522.]

[Footnote 795: _Journal de Balard._ _Mém. d'Archéologie_, x. p. 189.]

[Footnote 796: July and December 1862, between radicals and liberals.]

[Footnote 797: 'A belles épées nues on fourgonna dessous, et le

malheureux qui y était caché reçut un coup d'estoc.']

[Footnote 798: Registres du Conseil _ad annum_. Bonivard, _Chroniq._ ii.

pp. 520-525. Spon, _Hist. de Genève_, i. p. 425. Savyon MS. Balard,

_Mém. d'Archéologie_, x. p. 189. _Le Levain du Calvinisme ou

Commencement de l'Hérésie de Genève_, par Révérende Sœur Jeanne de

Jussie, publié en 1853, par M. G. Revilliod, p. 11.]

[Footnote 799: Registres du Conseil des 2, 3 et 6 janvier 1529. _Journal

de Balard_, p. 189. Spon, _Hist. de Genève_, ii. pp. 422-426. Gautier

MS.]

[Footnote 800: Registres du Conseil du 25 mars 1529. _Journal de

Balard_, pp. 216, 219, 221, 222. Bonivard, _Chroniq._ ii. p. 533. La

Sœur de Jussie, p. 6.]

CHAPTER IX.

THE REFORMATION BEGINS TO FERMENT IN GENEVA, AND THE

OPPOSITION WITHOUT.

(APRIL 1529 TO JANUARY 1530.)

[Sidenote: SUPERSTITIONS IN GENEVA.]

While the men of the old times were taking fright and retreating, the

men of the new times were taking courage and advancing. They sat down at

the firesides of the burgesses of Geneva, and, leading the way to

religious conversation, gradually scattered new ideas in the city and

new seed in men's hearts. Of these _Lutherans_, as they were called,

some were Genevans, others Bernese; and the witty Bonivard occasionally

joined in this familiar talk. Some of them, truly pious men, told their

listeners that they ought to look for salvation to the cross alone, and

that, just as the sun transforms the earth and causes it to produce

fruit, so the light of the Gospel would transform their hearts and lead

them to perform new works. Others, who were sarcastic and simply

negative men, confined themselves to pointing out the abuses of Rome and

of its clergy. They said openly what hitherto they had dared to utter

only in secret. If they saw a cordelier passing, with ruddy face, long

beard, brown frock, and disgusting aspect, they pointed at him and said:

'These monks creep not only into the consciences of the citizens, but

into their houses, and defile the city by their scandals and

adultery.[801] Our grated windows and bolted doors can hardly keep out

their unbridled vices, and protect the chastity of our wives and

daughters.[802] God has given them up to the lusts of their hearts.'

Such conversations as these were continually taking place among the

Genevans and the Bernese during the interval between the reformation of

Berne and that of Geneva. When a Genevan invited a Switzer to his house,

the former would volunteer, after dinner, to show his guest the

curiosities of the city. 'We will first go and have a look at the church

of St. Pierre,' said he. 'See what a fine cathedral it is; admire these

pillars, these arches, that vaulted roof; but there are other things

besides. Here is a shrine containing an invaluable treasure—the arm of

St. Anthony.... On holidays it is brought out for the adoration of the

people, who kiss the relic with holy reverence. But,' added the Genevan,

in a whisper to his companion, 'this arm some people affirm to be only

one of the members of a stag. Come with me to the high altar; you see

the box in which the brains of St. Peter are preserved!... To doubt this

is a frightful heresy, and not to adore them abominable impiety; but ...

between you and me ... these brains of the apostle are only

pumice-stone.'[803]

[Sidenote: MONKISH TRICKS.]

Sometimes Swiss and Genevans crossed the river and climbed the street

leading to the ancient church of St. Gervais. 'What are those old women

about, putting their ears to that hole?' asked one of them. A number of

priests and women had collected there. 'The bodies of St. Gervais, St.

Nazaire, St. Celsus, and St. Pantaleon are buried under this altar,'

said the priests to the women. 'These holy bodies desire to quit their

vault; come and listen at this hole, and you will hear them.' The simple

women approached, and heard a noise like that of men talking together.

'We can hear them,' they said.—'Alas!' continued the priests, 'in order

to raise the body of a saint, we require bishops, ceremonies, silver

utensils, and we have nothing!' As they wished to deliver these holy

personages, these good women immediately cast their offerings into the

church box ... and the priests gathered them up. 'Do you know,' said a

huguenot, 'incredulous people affirm that the noise which proceeds, as

the priests say, from the conversation of St. Pantaleon and his friends,

is caused by certain pipes, cleverly arranged, which, immediately the

hole is opened and the air flows in, give out the sounds that are

heard?'[804]

'Have you ever seen souls out of purgatory? Nothing is easier at Geneva,'

said a huguenot after supper. 'It is quite dark; let us go to the cemetery,

and I will show them to you.... Here we are.... Do you see those little

flames creeping slowly here and there among the scattered bones?... They

are souls (the priests tell us) which, having left their place of

anguish, crawl slowly about the cemetery at night, and entreat their

relatives to pay the priests for masses and prayers to free them from

purgatorial fires.... Wait a little ... there is one coming near us ...

I will deliver it.' He stooped, and, picking it up, showed it to his

companions: 'Ha! ha! upon my word, these souls are curiously made ...

they are crabs, and the priests have fastened little wax tapers to their

backs.'[805]

'That is one of the tricks of our clergy,' said a learned huguenot.

(Bonivard often took part in these conversations.) 'They are buffoons in

their repasts, fools in all difficult discussions, snails in work,

harpies in exaction, leopards in friendship, bulls in pride, minotaurs

in devouring, and foxes in cunning.'[806]

The Genevans went further still. One day—it was Tuesday, the 4th of

January, 1530—when several huguenots had met together, and the relics

and impositions of the priests had formed the subject of conversation,

some of them, living in St. Gervais, indignant at the frauds of the

clergy, who metamorphosed the bodies of saints into mines of gold,

determined to protest against these abuses. They went out of the house

in a body, marched up and down the different streets, and, stopping at

certain places, assembled the people in the usual manner, when,

surrounded by a large crowd, they held (says the council register) 'an

auction of an unusual sort, by way of derision.' Perhaps they offered

the bodies to the highest bidder; but, in any case, they themselves were

sent to prison.

This scene had greatly amused the inhabitants of the suburb. Old

superstitions were giving way in Geneva and falling to the ground amid

the applause of the people. The huguenots claimed the right of free

inquiry, and desired that the human understanding should have some

authority in the world. These experiments of liberty, which alarmed the

Church, delighted the citizens. The inhabitants of St. Gervais, animated

with generous sentiments, went in great numbers to the hôtel-de-ville.

'We desire that the prisoners be set at liberty,' said they to the

syndics, 'and we offer to be bail for them.' The magistrates still clung

to the old order of things.—'I ought to reprimand you severely for your

disorders,' said the premier syndic. 'We will have no tumult or sedition

here. Let the relatives of the prisoners come before the council

to-morrow, and we will hear them.' On the 9th of January, the

Two-Hundred resolved to pardon the prisoners, and to tell them that this

folly, if they ever committed another like it, should count double

against them.[807]

[Sidenote: A NEGATIVE REFORM.]

The beginning of the Reformation at Geneva had a negative character. Men

everywhere in the sixteenth century felt the need of thinking and

judging.... The Genevans, more than others, wished to reform the abuses

which successive usurpations had introduced into the State: how could

they fail to demand a reform of the abuses introduced into the Church?

Not only isolated grievances and local annoyances, but popery itself,

would be struck down by a reform. This course, natural as it seemed, was

not the best, however. The external, that is to say, government, rites,

and ceremonies, are not essentials in christianity; but the internal,

namely, faith in the teaching of the Word of God, change of heart, and a

new life—these are essential. When we wish to reform a vicious man, it

is not enough to take off his filthy clothes and wash the dirt from his

face: his will must be transformed. At Wittemberg the Reformation began

in the person of Luther with the internal; at Geneva it began in the

huguenots with the external. This would have been a great disadvantage,

if religion at Geneva had not become, under the influence of Calvin, as

internal as in Germany. The Genevese reform would have perished if it

had preserved the character it assumed at first. But the tendency we

have pointed out was a useful preparation for that change which realises

the grand announcement of Christ: '_The kingdom of God is within you_.'

The bishop, who was still in Burgundy, desired neither internal nor

external reform. He was alarmed at what was taking place at Geneva, and,

finding himself unable alone to check the torrent which threatened to

sweep away both mitre and principality, he complained to the duke, the

emperor, and even the syndics. On the 8th of August, a messenger from

the prelate appeared before the council, and ordered them, in his name,

'to desist from what they had begun, and to send ambassadors to

Charles V., who would put everything to rights.' In October, the bishop,

annoyed that they paid no attention to his complaints, made fresh

demands, in a severe and threatening tone. He gave them to understand

that he would destroy Geneva rather than permit any abuses to be

reformed. His letters were read in the council, and their contents

communicated to the people. Threatened with the anger of the duke, the

pope, and the emperor, and reduced to the greatest weakness, what would

they do? 'Geneva,' they said, 'is in danger of being destroyed.... But

God watches over us.... Better have war and liberty than peace and

servitude. We do not put our trust in princes, and to God alone be the

honour and glory.'[808] With such confidence nations never perish.

[Sidenote: THE GENEVANS TRUST IN GOD.]

Geneva required it much. Her enemies said that violent revolutions were

at the gate; that they had begun in Saxony, where at least they had not

touched the political authority; while, on the contrary, in this city of

the Alps, civil revolution was advancing side by side with religious

revolution. The Swiss were beginning to be tired of a city so weak and

yet so obstinate, which had not strength to defend itself and too much

pride to submit. Excited and influenced by the Duke of Savoy, they

determined to propose a revocation of the alliance. This news spread

consternation through the city. 'Alas!' said the huguenots, 'if the

sheep give up the dogs, the wolves will soon scatter them;' and, without

waiting to receive notice of this fatal determination, the patriots

stretched out their hands towards that Switzerland from which the duke

wished to separate them, and exclaimed: 'We will die sooner!'... But, at

the same time, the few mamelukes who still remained in the city,

thinking that the end was at hand, made haste to join the ducal army.

The end seemed to be really approaching. On the 1st of May, an imposing

embassy from the five cantons of Zurich, Basle, Soleure, Berne, and

Friburg, arrived at Geneva, and was soon followed by delegates from

Savoy. The Genevans saw with astonishment the Swiss and the Savoyards

walking together in the streets, lavishing marks of courtesy on each

other, and looking at the huguenots with a haughty air. What! the

descendants of William Tell shaking hands with their oppressors! The

thoughts of the citizens became confused: they asked each other if there

could be any fellowship between liberty and despotism.... They were

forced to drain the cup to the dregs. On the 22nd of May the embassy

appeared before the council. Their spokesman was Sebastian de Diesbach,

a haughty Bernese, eminent magistrate, distinguished diplomatist, and

celebrated soldier. He refused to call the Genevans his co-burghers,

bluntly demanded the revocation of the alliance, and proposed a peace

which would have sacrificed the independence of the citizens to the

duke. At the same time he gave them to know that the Swiss were not

singular in their opinion, and that the great powers of Europe were

making a general arrangement. In truth, Francis I., changing his policy,

supported the demands of his uncle the duke, and declared that, in case

of refusal, he would unite the armies of France with those of Savoy.

Charles V. was quite ready to repay himself for his inability to destroy

the protestants of Germany, by indulging in the pleasure of crushing

this haughty little city. Even the King of Hungary sent an ambassador to

Geneva in the Savoy interest. Would this little corner of the world

presume to remain free when Europe was resolved to crush it under its

iron heel?[809]

While the powerful princes around Geneva were oscillating between two

opinions—so that at times it was hard to say whether Charles was for the

pope or against him, and whether Francis was for the protestants or against

them—the Genevans, those men of iron, had but one idea, liberty ...

liberty both in State and Church. The huguenots showed themselves

determined, and kept a bold front in the presence of the ambassadors.

'Take care, gentlemen,' said De Lussey, De Mezere, and others; 'we shall

first exercise strict justice against the city, and, if that is not

sufficient, strict war; while, if you restore to the duke his old

privileges, he will forgive everything, and guarantee your

liberties.'—'Yes,' added the Swiss, 'under a penalty of ten thousand

crowns if he does the contrary.' ... But, 'marvellous sight,' says a

contemporary, 'the more the ambassadors threatened and frightened, the

more the Genevans stood firm and constant, and exclaimed: "We will die

sooner!"'

[Sidenote: SWISS PROPOSE TO BREAK THE ALLIANCE.]

On the 23rd of May the Sire de Diesbach proposed the revocation of the

alliance to the Council of Two Hundred; and on the following day, the

council-general having been summoned, the premier syndic, without losing

time in endless explanations, plainly answered the deputies of the

cantons: 'Most honoured lords, as the alliance with the League was not

concluded hastily (_à la chaude_), we hope in God and in the oath you

made to us that it will never be broken. As for us, we are determined to

keep ours.' The magistrate then turned towards the people and said: 'I

propose that whosoever speaks of annulling the alliance with the Swiss

shall have his head cut off without mercy, and that whosoever gets

information of any intrigue going on against the alliance, and does not

reveal it, shall receive the strappado thrice.' The general council

carried this resolution unanimously.

Diesbach and his colleagues were confounded, and looked at one another

with astonishment. 'Did not Monsieur of Savoy assure us,' they said,

'that, except some twenty-five or thirty citizens, all the people were

favourable to him?'—'And I too know,' said a stranger, whose name has

not been handed down to us, 'that if the alliance had been broken, the

duke would have entered Geneva and put thirty-two citizens to

death.'[810] 'Come with us,' said the most respected men in Geneva; and,

laying their charters before the ambassadors, they proved by these

documents that they were free to contract an alliance with the cantons.

The delegates from Berne, Friburg, Zurich, Basle, and Soleure ordered

their horses to be got ready. Some huguenots assembled in the street,

and shouted out, just as the Bernese lords were getting into their

saddles: 'We would sooner destroy the city, sooner sacrifice our wives,

our children, and ourselves, than consent to revoke the alliance.' When

Diesbach made a report of his mission at Berne, he found means to gloss

over his defeat a little: 'There were a thousand people at the general

council,' he said with some exaggeration; 'only _one_ person [he meant

the president] protested against the rupture of the alliance; upon which

_all the rest joined in with him_!'... Did he not know that it was quite

regular for a proposition to be made by _one_ person, and to be carried

by a whole nation?[811]

[Sidenote: FIRMNESS OF THE GENEVANS.]

A new spirit, unknown to their ancestors, now began to animate many of

the Genevans. Ab Hofen's mission had not been without effect. Besides a

goodly number of persons, who were called indeed 'by the name of

Luther,' but whose sole idea of reform was not to fast in Lent and not

to cross themselves during divine worship, there were others who desired

to receive the Word of God and to follow it. The Romish clergy

understood this well. 'If these Genevans cling so much to the Swiss,'

said the priests at their meetings, 'it is in order that they may

profess _heresy_ freely. If they succeed, we shall perhaps see Savoy,

Aosta, and other countries of Italy reforming themselves likewise.'

The duke, being determined to extinguish these threatening flames,

resolved to claim the influence of the pope, with his treasures and even

his soldiers; for the _vicar_ of Him who forbade the sword to be drawn

possesses an army. Besides, Clement VII. was one of the cleverest

politicians of the age, and his advice might be useful. As Pietro

Gazzini, Bishop of Aosta, was then at Rome, the court of Turin

commissioned that zealous ultramontanist to inform the pope of what was

going on at Geneva. Gazzini begged an audience of Clement, and having

been introduced by the master of the ceremonies on the 11th of July,

1529, he approached the pope, who was seated on the throne, and,

kneeling down, kissed his feet. When he arose, he described all the acts

committed by the Lutherans at Geneva and in the _valleys of Savoy_. 'O

holy father,' said he, 'the dangers of the Church are imminent, and we

are filled with the liveliest fears. It is from Upper Burgundy and the

country of Neufchatel that this accursed sect has come to Geneva. And

now, alas! what mischief it has done there!... Already the bishop dares

not remain in his diocese; already Lent is abolished, and the heretics

eat meat every day; and, worse still, they read forbidden books (the New

Testament), and the Genevans set such store by them that they refuse to

give them up, even for money. These miserable heretics are doing extreme

mischief, and not at Geneva only; Aosta and Savoy would have been

perverted long since, had not his highness beheaded twelve gentlemen who

were propagating these dangerous doctrines. But this wholesome severity

is not enough to stop the evil. Although his highness has forbidden,

under pain of death, any one to speak of this sect and its abominable

dogmas, there is no lack of _wicked babblers_ who go about circulating

these accursed doctrines all over his territories. They say that his

highness is not their king; and, making a pretence of the great expenses

of the war, they vehemently call upon us to sell the little

ecclesiastical property we possess.... The duke, my lord and master, is

everywhere destroying this sect. _He is the barrier that closes Italy

against it_, and in this way he renders your holiness the most signal

service; but we need your help.' Gazzini closed his address with a

demand for a subsidy.

[Sidenote: BISHOP OF AOSTA AND THE POPE.]

Clement had listened with great attention; he understood the mischief

and the danger which the Bishop of Aosta had pointed out, and the

dignitaries and other priests around him seemed still more affected.

Thoroughly versed in philosophical and theological questions, endowed

with a perspicacity that penetrated to the very heart of the most

difficult matters, the pope saw how great the danger would be if

_heresy_ should find in the south, at Geneva, a centre that might become

far more _pernicious_ than even Wittemberg; he felt also the necessity

of having a prince, a zealous catholic, to guard the French and Italian

slopes of the Alps. This pontiff, perhaps the most unlucky of all the

popes, saw the Reformation spreading under his eyes over Europe without

having the power to stop it, and whatever he did to oppose it served but

to propagate it more widely still. Now, however, he met with a

sympathising heart. He wished to prevent Geneva from being reformed, and

to save a fortress from being delivered up to the enemy; while a

powerful prince offered to carry out the necessary measures. Clement

therefore received Gazzini's overtures very graciously; and yet he was

ill at ease. In the Piedmontese ambassador's speech there was a word,

one word only, that embarrassed him—the subsidy: in fact, he had not

recovered from the sack of Rome. Clement VII. replied: 'I look upon his

highness as my dearest son, and I thank him for his zeal; but as for

money, it is impossible for me to give him any, considering the

emptiness of the treasury.' Then, appealing to the wants of the Church

and the duty of princes, who ought to be ready to sacrifice for it their

wealth, their subjects, and their lives, the pope added: '_I pray the

duke to keep his eye particularly upon Geneva. That city is becoming far

too Lutheran, and it must be put down at any risk._'[812] Gazzini,

having been attended to the gates of the palace by the pontifical

officers, regretted his failure in the matter of the subsidy. His chief

object, however, had been attained: the papacy was warned; it would

watch Geneva as a general watches the enemy.

[Sidenote: INTERFERENCE OF THE EMPEROR.]

As the pope was won, it next became necessary to influence the emperor.

That was an easier task for the duke, as Charles V. was his

brother-in-law, and the empress and the Duchess of Savoy, who were

sisters, and strongly attached to Rome, could write to each other on the

subject. The protest drawn up at Spires by the evangelical princes, in

April 1529, had irritated that monarch exceedingly; and he therefore

prepared, in accordance with the oath he had sworn at Barcelona, to

apply 'a suitable antidote against the pestilent malady under which

christendom was suffering.' When Geneva was mentioned to him, his first

thought was that it was a long way off; yet, as it was an imperial city,

he determined to include it in the plan of his campaign, and resolved

immediately to take a preliminary step to restore it to the papacy. On

the 16th of July, 1529, the emperor dictated to his secretary the

following letter, addressed to the syndics of Geneva:—

'FAITHFUL FRIENDS,

'We have been informed that several preachers hold private and public

meetings in your city and in the frontier countries, that they propagate

the errors of Luther, and that you tolerate these proceedings. These

practices cause the Church most serious damage, and the pontifical

majesty, as well as the imperial dignity, is grievously insulted by your

conduct. Wherefore we order you to arrest the said preachers, and punish

them according to the tenor of the severest edicts. By this means you

will extirpate impiety from your country, and will do an act agreeable

to God and conformable to our express will.

'CAROLUS, Imp.'[813]

This letter, which savoured so strongly of the absolute monarch, excited

much astonishment in Geneva. The citizens did not deny that the emperor

might claim a certain authority over them, since theirs was an imperial

city. They have resisted the bishop-prince, they have resisted the duke:

will they also resist this powerful sovereign? His demand was clear, and

some of them said that to oppose so great a prince would be the height

of madness, in a little city of merchants. But the Genevans did not

hesitate, and, without any bravado, returned the emperor this simple

message: 'Sire, we intend to live, as in past times, according to God

and the law of Jesus Christ.'

Upon this, Charles promised to assist the duke with an armed force. The

pope, too, changed his mind, in spite of his refusal to Gazzini, and

found _in the emptiness of his treasury_ a subsidy of four thousand

Spanish livres. The two mightiest personages in christendom united

against this little city their influence, their excommunications, their

cunning, their wealth, and their soldiers; and everything was got ready

for the meditated attack.

[Footnote 801: 'Et in domos et toros grassabantur.'—_Geneva Restituda_,

p. 21.]

[Footnote 802: 'Vix ac ne vix tot admissariorum prurentium ardores

arceri poterant.'—Ibid.]

[Footnote 803: 'Pro cerebro Petri pumex repertus.'—Ibid. See also

Calvin's _Inventaire des Reliques_.]

[Footnote 804: 'Reperti tubi, tanta arte inter se commissi, ut excitatum

ab adstantibus sonum statim exciperent.'—_Geneva Restituta_, p. 26.

Registres du Conseil du 8 décembre 1535. Froment, _Actes et Gestes

merveilleux de la Cité de Genève nouvellement convertie à l'Evangile_,

publiés par M. G. Revilliod, p. 49.]

[Footnote 805: 'Sed his spectris, propius vestigatis, animæ crustosæ et

testaceæ deprehensæ ... ellychniis succensis dorsorum crustæ

alligatis.'—_Geneva Restituta_, p. 27. Froment, _Actes et Gestes de

Genève_, p. 150.]

[Footnote 806: 'In exactionibus harpias, ad superbiendum tauros, ad

consumendum minotauros.'—_Geneva Restituta_, p. 28.]

[Footnote 807: 'Leur serait comptée pour deux.'—Registres du Conseil des

4 et 9 janvier 1530.]

[Footnote 808: 'Melius est bellum cum libertate quam pacifica servitus.

Nolite confidere in principibus; soli Deo honor et gloria!'—_Journal de

Balard_, pp. 226, 264, 267. Registres du Conseil des 17 avril, 8 août,

17 octobre, 14 novembre, &c.]

[Footnote 809: Registres du Conseil de Genève du 23 mai 1529. _Journal

de Balard_, p. 229.]

[Footnote 810: Registres du Conseil des 23 et 24 mai 1529. _Journal de

Balard_, pp. 331-336. Gautier MS.]

[Footnote 811: Registres du Conseil des 23 et 24 mai 1529. _Journal de

Balard_, pp. 331-336. Gautier MS. Bonivard, _Chroniq._ ii. p. 535.

Galiffe fils, _Besançon Hugues_, p. 364.]

[Footnote 812: Archives de Turin, Correspondance romaine; Dépêches du 12

juillet 1529 et du 23 décembre 1530. Gaberel, _Pièces Justificatives_,

p. 31.]

[Footnote 813: Archives de Turin, première catégorie, p. 11, nᵒ 63.

Gaberel, i. p. 101.]

CHAPTER X.

VARIOUS MOVEMENTS IN GENEVA, AND BONIVARD CARRIED

PRISONER TO CHILLON.

(MARCH TO MAY 1530.)

[Sidenote: THE FISCAL'S COMPLAINTS.]

The courage of the defenders of catholicism in Geneva was revived by the

news they received from without; and the emperor, the pope, and the duke

declaring themselves ready to do their duty, the episcopal officers

prepared to do theirs also. But one circumstance might paralyse all

their efforts: 'God, of his goodness, began at this time,' says a

manuscript, 'to implant a knowledge of the truth, of his holy Gospel,

and of the Reformation in the hearts of some individuals in Geneva, by

the intercourse they had with the people of Berne.'[814] These huguenots

boldly professed the protestant ideas they had imbibed, and, though

possessing no very enlightened faith, felt a pleasure in attacking with

sarcasm and ridicule the priests and their followers. Curés and friars

waited every day upon the episcopal vicar, and complained bitterly of

these _Lutherans_, as they called them, who, in their own houses, or in

the public places, and even in the churches, as they walked up and down

the aisles, spoke aloud of the necessity of a reformation.[815] On the

22nd of March, the vicar, eager to do his duty in the absence of the

bishop, sent for the procurator-fiscal, and consulted with him on the

defence of the faith. The procurator appeared before the council.

'Heresy is boldly raising its head,' he said; 'the people eat meat in

Lent, according to the practice of the Lutheran sect. Instead of

devoutly listening to the mass, they promenade (_passagiare_) the church

during divine service.... If we do not put a stop to this evil, the city

will be ruined.... I command you, in behalf of my lord the bishop, to

punish these rebels severely.' The Berne manuscript adds, 'He made great

complaints, accompanied with reproaches and threats.' The Duke of Savoy

supported him by advising the council to take precautions against the

Lutheran errors that were making their way into the city. The

magistrates were fully inclined to check religious innovation: 'We must

compel everybody,' they said, 'to listen to the mass with respect.' The

huguenots pointed out the danger of attending in any degree to the

duke's wishes, for in that case he would fancy himself the sovereign of

Geneva. What was to be done? A man of some wit proposed a singular and

hitherto unheard-of penalty for suppressing heresy, which was adopted

and published in spite of the opposition of the most determined

huguenots: 'Ordered, that whoever eats meat in Lent, or walks about the

churches, shall be condemned to build _three toises of the wall_ of St.

Gervais.' The city was building this wall as a means of defence against

the duke.[816]

[Sidenote: THE HUGUENOTS SENTENCED.]

This decree raised a storm against the Roman clergy. There have been at

all times estimable men among the catholic priests, and even christians

who, with great self-sacrifice, have dedicated themselves to the

alleviation of human misery. The party spirit that represents a whole

class of men as hypocrites, fanatics, and debauchees, is opposed to

justice as well as to charity. It must be confessed, however, that there

were not at this time in Geneva many of those pious and zealous priests

who have been found in the Roman-catholic Church since it was awakened

by the Reformation. 'What!' exclaimed the members of council who

inclined towards protestantism, and saw their friends condemned, 'the

Church forbids us to eat food which God created for our use, and permits

priests to gratify an insatiable lewdness, against which God has

pronounced a severe condemnation!... Ha! ha! Messieurs du clergé, you

wish us to eat nothing but fish, and you live in habitual intercourse

with harlots.... Hypocrites! you strain at the gnat and swallow the

camel.' At the same time these citizens exposed the irregularities of

the priests and monks, pointed out their resorts for debauchery, and

described the scandals occasioned by their lusts. This description,

which every one knew to be true, made a deep impression. The good

catholics who were on the council saw the injury done to religion by the

immorality of the clergy; while certain practical men were inclined to

consider the great movement then going on in the Church as essentially a

reform of morals. 'The Lutheran sect increases and prospers,' said a

catholic councillor, 'because of the scandal of the priests, who live

openly with women of evil life.'[817]

[Sidenote: PRIESTS SENTENCED.]

The council sent for the vicar-general: 'We have a great complaint to

make,' they told him. 'No remedy has been applied to the depravity and

scandalous conduct of the ecclesiastics, who are the cause of all kinds

of irregularity. Exert your authority without waiting until the secular

power is compelled to interfere.' It would appear that, as the vicar

held out no great hopes of amendment, the council were of opinion that,

after condemning the laymen who walked about in the churches, they ought

also to condemn the priests who were caught in disorderly houses. One

councillor imagined it would be but fair to yoke, so to say, these two

different kinds of delinquents to the same car. A second resolution was

therefore adopted by the council, which, never losing sight of the

necessity of protecting the city against Savoy, ordered 'that the

priests should forthwith forsake their evil ways under penalty of

building three toises of the wall of St. Gervais, in company with the

others.'[818] Thus the forerunners of protestantism and the profligate

priests were ordered to labour together at the same task in the fosses

of St. Gervais. The latter were indignant at being placed in the same

rank with the former, and thought their dignity compromised by the

singular decree which forced them to supply the heretics with mortar. It

would appear, however, that the two orders were not very strictly

observed, that wicked ecclesiastics continued to gratify their

appetites, and that the wall advanced but slowly. 'The canons, priests,

and friars are incorrigible,' said the people; 'they are jovial fellows,

fond of drinking, and rear their bastard children openly. How can the

Church be scandalised at such a course of life, when even the popes set

the example?'[819]

Although this decree of the council showed great impartiality and a

certain amount of good sense, we cannot put in the same rank the two

classes whom it affected. The huguenots, seeing that the Holy Scriptures

call that a _doctrine of devils_ which commands men '_to abstain from

meats which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving_,'[820]

did what the Word of God directs, while the evil priests indulged in the

most scandalous disorders. Negative protestantism, however, is not true

piety; and hence it was that the evangelical christians of Zurich and

Berne, taking advantage of the frequent journeys the Genevans made to

these two cities on public or private business, were constantly urging

them to receive the true essence of the Gospel. In the visits they made

to each other, in their friendly walks on the shore of the lake of

Zurich or on the hills which overlook the Aar, these pious reformers of

German Switzerland said to the huguenots: '_The kingdom of God is not

meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy

Ghost._[821] Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God, but born as a man,

has become our Redeemer by his death and by his resurrection. He alone

satisfies completely the religious wants of mankind. Unite yourselves to

Him by faith, and you will experience in yourselves that the pure

religion of the Gospel is not only the first among all religions

professed by men, but, as coming from God, is perfect.'

[Sidenote: PLAN FOR PREACHING AT ST. VICTOR.]

The four Vandels, without entirely breaking with Rome, had been for more

than three years among the most decided of the so-called Lutheran party.

Hugues Vandel was sent into Switzerland as ambassador (this is the name

usually given to the envoys in the official documents of the period). At

Zurich, 'the Zwinglians gave him a hearty welcome;' the friends of

Haller did the same at Berne, where he happened to be in June 1530. All

of the evangelicals in these two cities were earnest in their wishes to

see a vital christianity displace the few negative reforms in Geneva.

'The majority in the city of Geneva would like to be evangelical,'

answered Vandel; 'but they want to be shown the way, and no one would

dare preach the Gospel in the churches for fear of Friburg.' What is to

be done? thought he. Day and night he tried to find the means of having

the Gospel preached to his fellow-citizens; at last a bright idea

suddenly occurred to him; he spoke about it to the Zwinglians at Zurich,

and to Berthold Haller at Berne; he wrote about it to Farel, to

Christopher Fabry, and also to his brother Robert at Geneva. His idea

was this: It will be remembered that St. Victor was a little independent

principality at the gates of the city. 'Suppose it were made over to my

lords of Berne,' said Vandel; 'they would like to have a bailiff there

and _a preacher who would be our great comfort_.' It is true that the

church of St. Victor was old, and would probably 'tumble down' erelong,

but Berne would be able to rebuild it. All the evangelicals of Geneva,

forsaking the mass in the city churches, and crossing St. Antoine, would

go in crowds to hear Christ preached in the church of Bonivard.... Thus

that Renaissance of which the prior was the representative, would be

truly for Geneva the gate of the Reformation. An event which had just

taken place may have suggested this idea to Vandel. It was a scheme

suggested by the pope, and carried out by the duke.[822]

Bonivard, deprived of his benefice at the time of Berthelier's death,

had recovered his priory but not his revenue. Endowed, as he was, with

resolution and invention rather than perseverance, holding that the

detention of his property by the duke was an injustice, desiring to be

restored to full possession of his little principality, and not a little

ashamed of having to tell his servant that he had nothing in his purse

when the latter came and asked for money to purchase the necessaries of

life—Bonivard had girded on his sword, taken a musquetoon, mounted his

horse, and, thus equipped and accompanied by a few men-at-arms, had made

several raids into the duke's territory to levy his rents. But he had to

deal both with the duke and the pope. He had been replaced in his priory

by the bishop and the council, but without the consent of the courts of

Rome and Turin, which had illegally despoiled him of it. Consequently a

pontifical proctor, attended by an escort, made his appearance to

prevent the prior from recovering his property. Bonivard, who was

naturally impetuous, looked upon this man as a robber come to plunder

him; he therefore rushed forward, caught up his arms, and discharged his

musquetoon at the Roman official. The latter, who was terrified, rode

off as fast as he could; for Bonivard with his firelock had wounded the

horse.[823] Both pope and duke were loud in their complaints, and

Clement even issued a brief against him. In consequence of this, the

council of Geneva forbade Bonivard to indulge in these military freaks;

and as he had no means of living, the magistrates granted him four

crowns and a half a month, to pay his expenses and those of his servant,

until he was in a better position. 'Alas!' said the prior, 'four crowns

a month! ... it is so little, that I can hardly keep myself and my

page.' However, he remained patient, but he was not left in peace.

The Roman proctor, taking up the matter again, claimed the priory, in

the name of Clement, on behalf of the priest who had been invested with

it after the death of the traitor Montheron. Bonivard, desiring to place

his benefice beyond the reach of fresh attacks, annexed it to the

hospital of Geneva, which was to receive the revenues for him as prior.

But the duke had other views. More than four hundred persons, carrying

arms, and assembling by night before the hôtel-de-ville, had demanded

justice on certain monks of St. Victor, who were accused of plotting to

betray the convent to the partisans of Savoy. Besançon Hugues and Thomas

Vandel, the procurator-fiscal, were the bearers of this request, and

Bonivard had the monks shut up in prison. When the duke was informed of

the annexation of the priory to the hospital of Geneva, his anger was

increased, for he had a great desire to possess St. Victor's, which

would give him a footing close to the gates of the city. His agents

therefore solicited the prior 'daily' to revoke this act, and promised

him 'seas and mountains' if he would consent; but Bonivard shook his

head, saying: 'I do not trust him!' Charles now determined to get rid of

a man who was an obstacle in his path in all his enterprises against

Geneva.[824]

[Sidenote: BONIVARD'S FILIAL AFFECTION.]

The prior, usually so cheerful, had been for some time dejected and

thoughtful. It was not only his priory, his poverty, and his enemies

that threw a shade over his countenance, formerly so animated: his

mother was seriously ill. To Bonivard filial piety was the most natural

of obligations, the first and sweetest form of gratitude. He thought:

'How correctly Plato writes that there are no Penates more sacred, there

is no worship more acceptable to the gods, than that of a father or

mother bending under the weight of years.' His Genevese friends, who

went daily to St. Victor's, observed his sadness, and asked him the

reason. 'Alas!' he said, 'I should like to see my aged mother once more

before she dies. I have not seen her these five years, and she is on the

brink of the grave.' To one of them who inquired where she was, he

replied: 'At Seyssel, in our ancestral house.' Seyssel was in the states

of Savoy, and Charles would not fail to have the prior seized if he

ventured to appear there.

Bonivard fancied, however, he could see the means of gratifying his

dearest wishes. He determined to take advantage of the solicitations

addressed to him by Charles to ask for a safe-conduct. 'I will go and

see my mother and brother at Seyssel,' he said, 'and ask their advice.

We will consult together on this business.' The duke sent Bonivard the

required passport, stipulating, however, that it should be available for

the month of April only. Charles, delighted at seeing Bonivard quit the

neighbourhood of Geneva and venture into the middle of his territories,

determined that if this journey did not give him the priory, it should

at least give him the prior.... Bonivard's friends, whose judgment was

not influenced by filial affection, were justly alarmed when they heard

of his approaching departure, and tried to detain him; he could think of

nothing, however, but seeing his mother before she died. He accordingly

departed, passed the Fort de l'Ecluse, the Perte du Rhone, and reached

the little town where the 'ancient dame,' as he called her, resided. The

mother, who loved the name, the talents, the glory, and the person of

her son, clasped him in her arms with fond affection; but her joy soon

gave way to fear, for she knew Charles's perfidy, she remembered

Lévrier's story ... and trembled for her child.[825]

[Sidenote: BONIVARD'S VISIT TO HIS MOTHER.]

Meanwhile Bonivard's enemies in Geneva had not delayed to take advantage

of his departure. Some of them were mamelukes. To embroil him with the

huguenots seemed likely to be of service to their cause; and they

therefore began to report in the city that he had gone to surrender St.

Victor's to the duke, and that he was betraying the people and revealing

their secrets. The intimate friends of the prior indignantly

contradicted the calumny; but his enemies continued repeating it, and,

as the most ardent men are often the most credulous, a few huguenots

gave credit to these assertions. Bonivard wrote to the council of

Geneva, complaining of the injury done him, and reminded them that there

was not a man in the city more devoted to its independence than himself.

What should he do? He was exceedingly embarrassed. Should he return to

Geneva? He feared the anger of those among the huguenots in whose eyes

it was a crime to go to Savoy. Should he remain at Seyssel? As soon as

the month of April was ended, he would be seized by the duke. His mother

conjured him to put himself out of the reach of his enemies, both duke

and Genevans....

'Et qui refuserait une mère qui prie?...

He determined to go to Friburg. The council of Geneva had indeed told

him not to disquiet himself about the foolish stories of his enemies,

and added: 'Let him come, if he pleases, and he will be treated

well.'[826] This was not a very pressing invitation, and Besançon

Hugues, the most influential man in the city, was against him. Hugues, a

catholic and episcopalian, might very well have no great liking for the

prior of a monastery who was coming round entirely to the new ideas. It

seems, however, that these catholic prejudices were mixed up with some

human weaknesses. 'Bonivard,' says a manuscript, 'often had disputes

with Besançon Hugues, who hoped to obtain for his son the investiture of

the priory of St. Victor.'[827] The prior was not ignorant of this

hostile disposition. 'Alas!' he said, 'a councillor, and he not one of

the least, is exciting the council and the people against me.' On the

other hand, he could not make up his mind to turn thoroughly to the side

of the Reformation; he still remained in the neutral ground of Erasmus,

and indulged in jests against the huguenots, which indisposed them

towards him. He belonged neither to one party nor to the other, and

offended both. He was not anxious, therefore, to return to Geneva just

now, fearing that his enemies would be stronger than his friends. The

month of April being ended, he begged the duke to prolong his

safe-conduct during the month of May, and it was granted. Bonivard now

took leave of his aged mother, whom he left full of anguish about the

fate of her son. She never saw him again.

The Count of Chalans, president of the council of Savoy, and friend of

the Bishop of Aosta, was, though a layman, as bigoted to

Roman-catholicism as Gazzini was, as a priest. At that time he was

holding a _journée_ or diet at Romont, between Lausanne and Friburg. The

avoyer of Friburg, who was Bonivard's friend, happening to be at Romont,

Bonivard repaired thither; and, related as he was to the nobility of

Savoy, he presented his homage to the count, who received him kindly.

Bonivard skilfully sounded De Chalans on what he might have to fear; for

once already, and not far from that place, he had been seized and thrown

into a ducal prison. The count pledged his honour, both verbally and in

writing, that he would run no danger in the duke's territories during

the month of May, and, he added, even during the month of June.

Bonivard, thus set at ease, began to reflect on his position. It was a

strange thing for a man, so enlightened as he was on the abuses of

popery and monasticism, to be at the head of a monastic body. Moreover,

in addition to the pope and the duke, he had a new adversary against

him. 'I fear the duke on the one hand,' he said, 'and on the other the

madness of the people of Geneva, to whom I dare not return without the

strongest pledges.'

[Sidenote: DETERMINES TO GIVE UP THE PRIORY.]

Bonivard, having weighed everything, determined upon a great sacrifice.

He started for Lausanne, and proposed to the Bishop of Montfaucon to

resign to him the priory of St. Victor, on condition of receiving a

pension of four hundred crowns. The bishop accepted the proposal,

provided Geneva and Savoy would consent. Bonivard thought this an easy

matter, and as René de Chalans was then holding another _journée_ at

Moudon, he determined to go thither to arrange the great affair. He

arrived on the 25th of May. The count received him courteously, and

appeared to enter into his ideas; but at the same time this lord and

certain officers of Savoy held several private conferences, the result

of which was that they sent a messenger to Lausanne. Bonivard was

invited to sup with the president, who gave him the seat of honour.

There was a large party, the repast was very animated, and the prior,

whose gaiety was easily revived, amused all the company by his wit.

There was, however, one officer at his highness's table who annoyed him

considerably: it was the Sire de Bellegarde, Lévrier's murderer. This

wretch, as if he desired to efface that disagreeable impression, was

most obliging and attentive. At last they left the table. There were so

many gentlemen assembled in the little town of Moudon, that all the

bed-rooms were occupied—so at least it was stated. Upon this,

Bellegarde, in a jovial tone, said to Bonivard: 'Well, then, my friend,

I will share my room with you.' Bonivard accepted the offer, but not

without some uneasiness. The next morning he prepared to set out for

Lausanne in order to arrange his business with the bishop. 'I am afraid

that you will lose your way, and that something may happen to you,' said

Bellegarde. 'I will send a servant on horseback along with you.' The

confiding Bonivard departed with the sergeant of his highness's steward.

Bellegarde varied his treachery. He had kidnapped Lévrier as he was

leaving the cathedral, and had conveyed him in person to the castle

where he was to meet his death. This time he preferred to keep out of

sight, and for that reason a message had been despatched to Lausanne.

After watching over Bonivard during the night, lest he should escape, as

Hugues had escaped from Châtelaine, Bellegarde took leave of him, giving

him a very courteous embrace, and strongly recommending him to the care

of the sergeant. The road from Moudon to Lausanne runs for about five

leagues through the Jorat hills, which at that period were wild and

lonely. Gloomy thoughts sprang up from time to time to disturb Bonivard.

He remembered how Lévrier had been seized by Bellegarde at the gates of

St. Pierre.... If a similar fate awaited him!... His confidence soon

revived, and he went on.

[Sidenote: BONIVARD TREACHEROUSLY KIDNAPPED.]

It was a fine day in May, this Thursday, the 26th. Early in the morning

Messire de Beaufort, captain of Chillon, and the Sire du Rosey, bailli

of Thonon, having received their instructions from Moudon, had quitted

Lausanne, followed by twelve to fifteen well-armed horsemen. On reaching

the heights of the Jorat, near the convent of St. Catherine, they hid

themselves in a wood of black pines, which still remains;[828] and there

both leaders and soldiers waited silently for the unfortunate Bonivard.

He was provided, indeed, with a safe-conduct from the duke; but John

Huss's had been violated, and why should they observe that of the prior

of St. Victor? 'No faith ought to be kept with heretics,' had been said

at Constance, and was repeated now at Moudon. Erelong De Beaufort and Du

Rosey heard the tramp of two horses; they gave a signal to their

followers to be ready, and peered out from among the trees where they

lay hid to see if their victim was really coming. At last the guide on

horseback appeared, then came Bonivard on his mule; De Bellegarde's

servant led him straight to the appointed place. Just as the unlucky

prior, wavering between confidence and fear, was passing the spot where

Beaufort, Du Rosey, and their fifteen companions were posted, the latter

rushed from the wood and sprang upon Bonivard. He put his hand to his

sword, and clapped spurs to his mule in order to escape, calling out to

his guide: 'Spur! spur!' But, instead of galloping forwards, the

sergeant turned suddenly upon the man he should have protected, caught

hold of him, and 'with a knife which he had ready' cut Bonivard's

sword-belt. All this took place in the twinkling of an eye. 'Whereupon

these honest people fell upon me,' said the prior when he told the story

in after years, 'and made me prisoner in the name of Monseigneur.' He

made all the resistance he could; produced his papers, and showed that

they were all in order; but his safe-conduct was of no avail with the

agents of Bellegarde and De Chalans. Taking some cord from a bag they

had brought with them, they tied Bonivard's arms, and bound him to his

mule, as they had once bound Lévrier, and in this way passing through

Lausanne, near which the outrage had been committed, they turned to the

left. The prior crossed Vaux, Vevey, Clarens, and Montreux; but these

districts, which are among the most beautiful in Switzerland, could not

for an instant rouse him from his deep dejection. 'They took me, bound

and pinioned, to Chillon,' he says in his _Chronicles_, 'and there I

remained six long years.... It was my second passion.'[829]

[Sidenote: THE PRISONER OF CHILLON.]

Nine years before, almost day for day (May 1521), Luther had also been

seized in a wood for the purpose of being taken to a castle; but he had

been carried off by friends, while _the prisoner of Chillon_ was

perfidiously taken by enemies. Bonivard, a reformer of a negative and

rather philosophical character, was much inferior to Luther, the

positive and evangelical reformer; but Bonivard's imprisonment far

exceeded in severity that of the Saxon doctor. At first, indeed, the

prior of St. Victor was confined in a room and treated respectfully; but

Charles the Good, after visiting him and holding some conversation with

him, ordered, as he left the castle, that the prisoner should be treated

harshly. He was transferred to one of those damp and gloomy dungeons cut

out of the rock, which lie below the level of the lake. It is probable

that the duke gave this cruel order because the prisoner, true to light

and liberty, had refused to bend before him. Bonivard's seizure was a

severe blow to his mother, to his friends, and even to the magistrates

of Geneva, who, on hearing of it, saw all the duke's perfidy and the

prior's innocence, and restored to him their affection and esteem. For

some time it was uncertain whether Bonivard was alive or dead; all that

people knew was that he had been seized, in defiance of the

safe-conduct, on the hills above Lausanne. However, John Lullin and the

other envoys of Geneva present at the _journée_ held at Payerne at

Christmas 1530, being better informed, did all in their power to obtain

the liberation of a man who had done such good service to liberty; but

the agents of Savoy pretended ignorance of the place of his imprisonment.

A brilliant existence was thus suddenly interrupted. What humour, what

originality, what striking language, what invention, what witty

conversations were abruptly cut short! Bonivard never recovered from

these six years of the strictest captivity. When he came out of Chillon

he was a different man from what he was when he entered it. He was like

a bird which, while giving utterance to the sweetest song, is caught by

a gust of wind and beaten to the ground; ever after it miserably drags

its wings, and utters none but harsh unpleasing sounds. St. Victor

wanted the _one thing needful_; he was not one of those of whom it is

said: _their youth is renewed like the eagle's_. The brightness of the

Reformation eclipsed him. The latter part of his life was as sad as his

early part had been brilliant. It would have been better for his fame

had he been put to death in the castle-yard of Chillon, as Lévrier had

been in that of Bonne.

[Footnote 814: Berne MS. _Hist. Helvet._ v. p. 12.]

[Footnote 815: Michel Roset, _Chroniq._ MS. liv. ii. ch. xiv.]

[Footnote 816: Registres du Conseil des 22 et 29 mars. Bonivard,

_Chroniq._ ii. p. 551. Berne MS. _Hist. Helvet._ v. p. 12.]

[Footnote 817: Bonivard, _Chroniq._ ii. p. 551.]

[Footnote 818: 'Quod presbyteri ab inde debeant relinquere eorum

lupanaria, lubricitates et meretrices, sub simili pœna (facere in muris

Sancti Gervasii tres teysias muri.)'—Registres du Conseil du 1ᵉʳ avril.]

[Footnote 819: Galiffe, _Matériaux pour l'Histoire de Genève_, ii. p.

vii. The note contains a long list of the illegitimate children of

popes, archbishops, inquisitors, and other churchmen.]

[Footnote 820: 1 Timothy iv. 1-3.]

[Footnote 821: Romans xiv. 17.]

[Footnote 822: Lettre de Vandel du 23 juin 1530. Galiffe fils, _Besançon

Hugues_, note to page 395.]

[Footnote 823: 'Procuratorem prosequentem scopettis invasisse, et equum

super quo fugiebat vulnerasse.'—Brief of Clement VII., dated January 24,

1528.]

[Footnote 824: Bonivard, _Chroniq._ ii. pp. 485, 547, 572. _Mém.

d'Archéologie_, tom. v. p. 162.]

[Footnote 825: Bonivard, _Chroniq._ ii. pp. 572,573. _Mém.

d'Archéologie_, iv. p. 171.]

[Footnote 826: 'Fuit lecta missiva Domini Sancti Victoris. Rescribatur

ei ut veniat, si velit, et illum bene tractabimus.'—Council Register,

May 2, 1530.]

[Footnote 827: Gautier MS. Bonivard, _Chroniq._ ii. p. 573.]

[Footnote 828: The convent of St. Catherine occupied the site of the

_Chalet à Gobet_, an inn situated on the road from Lausanne to Berne.]

[Footnote 829: 'Ce fut ma seconde passion.'—Bonivard, _Chroniq._]

CHAPTER XI.

THE ATTACK OF 1530.

(AUGUST, SEPTEMBER, AND OCTOBER.)

[Sidenote: ARREST OF THE FISCAL MANDOLLA.]

Bonivard's arrest was not an isolated act, but the first skirmish of a

general engagement. The duke and the bishop were reconciled, and their

only thought was how they could reduce Geneva by force of arms. A

singular resolution for a pastor! Fortunately for him, the Genevans gave

him a pretext calculated in some measure to justify his warlike cure of

souls.

The iniquitous conduct of the Duke of Savoy towards Bonivard refuted the

unjust accusations brought against him, and the Genevans at once

manifested their sympathy with the unhappy prisoner of Chillon. They

were indignant at the duke's violation of the safe-conduct that he

himself had given. 'You see his bad faith,' they said. Thinking that

when the innocent were put in prison, it was time to punish the guilty,

they determined to have their revenge.

There was at Geneva a man named Mandolla, a procurator-fiscal and

thorough-going partisan of the duke and the bishop. 'He was a bastard

priest of evil name and fame,' say the chronicles of the times, 'who

indulged in exactions, and in plundering and arbitrarily imprisoning

those who displeased him.' The vicar-general, Messire de Gingins, abbot

of Bonmont, an upright and benevolent man, often remonstrated with him,

but Mandolla answered him with insolence. Nor was this all; for, having

the temporal authority under his jurisdiction, he was continually

intriguing to deliver up Geneva to the duke. The citizens, irritated at

these encroachments on their rights, addressed several strong

remonstrances to the abbot of Bonmont against the foreign priest who was

trying to rob them of their independence. It was a serious accusation:

Mandolla's conscience told him it was just; he took the alarm, and,

wishing to escape justice, hastily quitted Geneva, and fled for refuge

to the castle of Peney.

The Genevans now complained louder than ever. 'Remove this thorn from

the city,' said they to the vicar-general. The abbot acknowledged the

justice of their demand, and the council, the guardians of the rights of

the city, came to his assistance; for they recollected how, at the

election of the syndics in 1526, that man had intrigued to carry the

list which contained the name of the infamous Cartelier. Some armed men

were sent to the castle of Peney, where they seized Mandolla, bound him

to a horse, as Lévrier and Bonivard had been bound, and on the 24th of

June he was brought back to Geneva, surrounded by guards who led him to

prison. A procurator-fiscal treated like a criminal! it was a thing

unprecedented. The people stopped in the streets as he passed, and

looked at him with astonishment. The unhappy Mandolla's mind was in a

state of great confusion. He wondered if they would avenge on him the

deaths of Lévrier and Berthelier and the captivity of Bonivard. He felt

that he was guilty, but trusted in his powerful protectors. His friends

did not, indeed, lose a moment, but wrote to the bishop, who was at

Arbois.

[Sidenote: THE BISHOP PLOTS AGAINST GENEVA.]

Mandolla had hardly been three days in prison, when 'a severe and

threatening letter' from the bishop arrived at Geneva. The prelate was

indignant that the citizens should dare lay hands upon a clerk, who was

one of his officers, and especially on that fiscal who, as Bonivard

says, _brought the water to his mill_. 'Not content with the

unseasonable innovations you have made in our jurisdiction,' he wrote to

the syndics on the 27th of June, 'you have caused our procurator to be

arrested in the discharge of his functions.... And you do not like to be

called traitors!... We condemn the outrage as much as if you had done it

to our own person. Set our fiscal at liberty, without any damage to his

person; make amends for the outrage you have committed; otherwise we

shall employ all the means God has placed in our hands to obtain

vengeance.' The council were greatly astonished on reading this letter:

'The bishop forgets,' they said, 'that this is a case simply of robbery

and treason. How long has it been the custom to threaten with the

vengeance of God and man the magistrates who prosecute a thief?'—'My

lord,' answered the magistrates, 'Mandolla you well know to be a traitor

and a robber.' And, giving no heed to the episcopal summons, they drew

up an indictment against the fiscal. When this was told to La Baume, he

could not contain himself. His twofold title of prince and bishop filled

him with pride, and he could not bear the thought that these citizens of

Geneva disregarded his orders.

This affair only served to hasten the execution of his plans. His mind

was full of bitterness on account of the heresy he had discovered in the

city, and he thought but of punishing those whom he looked upon as

traitors. It did not occur to the bishop that Geneva, after undergoing a

great transformation, was one day to become the most active focus of the

Reform. But, without foreseeing such a future, he thought that if the

Reformation were established there, as at Zurich and Berne, the

provinces of Savoy, and others besides, would erelong fall a prey to the

contagion. He made up his mind to oppose it in every way, and it must be

confessed that he had a right to do so; but two things are to be

regretted: the unholy mixing up of the catholic cause with that of a

traitor and thief, and the means that the prelate employed.

[Sidenote: THE BISHOP APPEALS TO THE KNIGHTS.]

These means he sought in violence. In order to punish the huguenots he

must have allies. Where could he look for them except among the knights

of the Spoon? As prince and bishop of Geneva, he would give a shape to

this fraternity, and organise it against his own episcopal city. He

forthwith entered into communication with its principal leaders: John de

Viry, sire of Alamogne; John Mestral, sire of Aruffens; John de

Beaufort, baron of Rolle; Francis, sire of St. Saphorin; the sire of

Genthod, a village situated between Geneva and Versoix; and especially

Michael, baron of La Sarraz, whom the bishop called 'his dearly beloved

cousin.' Without waiting for these powerful lords to attack the city, he

began to carry on a little war himself. He put into prison two Genevan

cattle-dealers, who chanced to be in the territory of St. Claude;

ordered the Genevan _goats and cows_ to be seized, which were grazing on

the hills of Gex; and posted armed men on all the roads leading from

Geneva to Lyons, with instructions to stop his _subjects_ and their

friends, and to seize their goods.[830]

After this little war, the bishop turned his thoughts to the great one.

At first he wished to set in motion his own vassals, friends, and allies

on the western slopes of the Jura. 'Brother,' said he to the Baron of

St. Sorlin, 'call out our Burgundians.' His negotiations with La Sarraz,

Viry, and others having succeeded, he issued a general appeal to the

knights of the Spoon. 'Gentlemen and neighbours of my episcopal city,'

he said, 'I have been informed of your friendly disposition to aid me in

punishing my rebellious subjects of Geneva. And now, knowing that it

will be a meritorious work before God and the world to do justice upon

such evil-doers, I pray and require you to be pleased to help me in this

matter.' Many of these gentlemen crossed the Jura to come to an

arrangement with him, and filled Arbois with their indignation.

The 20th of August was an important day at the residence of the

prince-bishop; he had determined to make war upon his flock, and this

moment had been chosen for the declaration. Pierre de la Baume was not

so cruel as his predecessor, the bastard of Savoy; but his irritation

was now at its height. If he chanced to meet any Genevans who addressed

him in respectful language, he would smile graciously upon them, but 'it

was all grimace,' says the pseudo-Bonivard.[831] When they had quitted

him, La Baume once more indulged in angry and threatening words. The

convents, the commandery of Malta, and the college of the canons of

Arbois were still more violent in their complaints. On the 20th of

August a meeting took place at the priory. The knights of the Spoon, who

had found the wine of Arbois excellent, arrived with their swords, their

coats of mail, and their cloaks. The bishop, proud of having such

defenders, invited them near the chair where he was seated, and

graciously handed them their commissions to make war upon his subjects.

'We, Pierre de la Baume,' they ran, 'bishop and prince of Geneva, having

regard to the insolence, rebellion, treason, and conspiracies that some

of our subjects of Geneva are daily committing against us and our

authority ... imprisoning our subjects and our officers without orders,

assuming our rights of principality, and threatening to do worse; ...

being resolved _to maintain our Church in her authority and to uphold

our holy faith_, have commissioned and required our friends and

relatives to aid us in punishing the rebels, and, if need be, to proceed

by force of arms.' (Here follow the names of these friends, the Baron of

La Sarraz, and the other lords mentioned above.) The prelate ended the

document by a declaration that these gentlemen 'had full authority from

him, and that, in confirmation, he had written these letters with his

own hand at Arbois, on this 20th of August in the year 1530.' He had

signed the papers: _Bishop of Geneva_. The gentlemen thanked the

prelate, promised to do all in their power, and, quitting Franche-Comté,

returned to their castles to make ready for the campaign, repeating to

one another, as they rode along, that it was very necessary to maintain

_the authority of the Roman Church_ in Geneva, and to uphold _the holy

faith_, and seeming very proud that such was the object of the crusade

they were about to undertake.[832]

[Sidenote: LUTHERANS IMPRISONED.]

The bishop's alarm was not without foundation. The huguenots, even those

most inclined to protestantism, did not possess much evangelical light;

they were struck rather with the superstitions of Rome than with their

own sins and the grace of God. There were nevertheless some Genevans and

a few foreigners living in Geneva, who displayed great zeal, and replied

to the bishop's violence by going about from place to place seeking to

enlighten souls. The gentlemen of Savoy, who had just made an alliance

with the bishop, had seen this with their own eyes. 'They enter the

cottages, and even venture into our castles,' said the knights,

'everywhere preaching what they call the Word of God.' The peasants

listened rather favourably to the addresses of these evangelists; but,

says Balard, 'the gentlemen could not be prevented from taking vengeance

on such excesses.' When any of these daring pioneers of the Reformation

arrived at a castle, or even at the village or town which depended on

it, the lord, exasperated that the heretics should dare come and preach

their doctrines to his servants and vassals, seized them and threw them

into his dungeons.

Some envoys from Friburg who were going to Chambéry, having halted on

the road at the castle of one of their friends, heard of these doings;

it happened, too, that some of these huguenot prisoners (they may have

come from Berne) were confined in the place at which they were stopping.

As the Friburgers, although good catholics, were not in favour of

employing brute force in matters of religion, they found means to touch

the hearts of their persecutors, and succeeded in having these fervent

evangelists set at liberty. They then continued their journey to

Chambéry. But the duke had hardly given them audience before he said to

them with bitterness: 'I have to complain, gentlemen, that you go about

in search of prisoners in my country, and that the people of Geneva are

trying to make my people as bad as themselves.... I will not put up with

such disorders.... I cannot prevent my nobles from taking

vengeance.'[833] But the Genevans were equally unwilling to submit to

the ill-treatment to which some of their number had been exposed, and

accordingly Robert Vandel and John Lullin were despatched in all haste

to Berne and Friburg to urge on the arrival of these noble auxiliaries.

It is probable, however, that certain serious rumours which were

beginning to circulate in Geneva were the principal cause of their

mission.[834]

It was the autumn of 1530, and as the chiefs of German catholicism had

assembled at Augsburg to deliberate upon the means of destroying

protestantism in the empire, the duke and the bishop, the two great

enemies of Geneva, appointed a meeting at Gex, at the foot of the Jura,

to deliberate on the means of expelling both liberty and the Gospel from

the city of the Leman. 'Lutheranism is making considerable progress in

Geneva,' said the bishop to the duke; 'attack the city; for my part I

will employ in this work the revenues of my see and of my abbeys, and

even all my patrimony.'[835] The duke might have had reasons for

delaying the war. His brother-in-law the emperor, and the other catholic

princes assembled at Augsburg, thought they could not be ready before

the spring, and desired that protestantism should then be attacked on

all points at once. But passion prevailed with Charles III. Aspiring to

the sovereignty of Geneva, it was important for him to play the

principal part in the attack against that city; and when once Geneva was

taken, he would prove to all the world that, in accordance with the

system of the cardinals, it would be necessary to establish there some

ruler more powerful than a bishop, in order to prevent future

revolts.[836]

[Sidenote: LA SARRAZ HEADS THE KNIGHTS.]

The Baron of La Sarraz was already at work; he was a man fitted to

succeed Pontverre. Prejudiced like him against Geneva, liberty, and the

Reformation, he was less noble, less virtuous, and less headstrong than

that unhappy gentleman, but surpassed him in genius and in ability. He

had sworn that either he or Geneva should give way and perish.... The

oath was accomplished, but not in the manner he had anticipated. The

knights of the Spoon, summoned by the bishop, excited by La Sarraz,

supported by the fugitive mamelukes, and approved of by the duke, took

the field immediately. They intercepted the provisions intended for

Geneva, and sharp skirmishes occurred every day. If any citizen went

beyond the walls to look after his farm or attend to his business, the

knights would fall upon him and beat him, shut him up in one of their

castle dungeons, and sometimes kill him. But all this was a mere

prelude. The bishop came to an understanding with the Baron of La

Sarraz, through his cousin, M. de Ranzonière. Another conference took

place at Arbois towards the middle of September 1530. After a long

conversation about the heresy and independence of Geneva, and the

strange changes and singular perils to which that city and the

surrounding provinces were exposed, they decided upon a general

attack.[837]

On the 20th of September, the men-at-arms of the knights of the Spoon,

the Burgundians of the bishop, and the ducal troops, made arrangements

to surprise Geneva. On the 24th of September, some well-disposed people

came and told the citizens that the Duke of Nemours was at Montluel in

Bresse, three leagues from Lyons, with a large army. It was the Count of

Genevois, younger brother of the Duke of Savoy, whom his sister, the

mother of Francis I., had created Duke of Nemours in 1515. He was, as we

have already remarked, an able man, and, even while courting the

Genevans, desired nothing better than to destroy their city. His sister,

Louisa of Savoy, whose hostile disposition towards the Gospel we have

seen, thought it a very laudable thing to crush a place in which the

protestants, persecuted by her in France, might find an asylum. The six

captains of Geneva, on hearing this alarming intelligence, assembled

their troops and addressed them in a touching proclamation. This was on

Sunday, the 25th of September. 'We have been informed,' they said, 'that

our enemies will attack us very shortly. We pray you therefore to

forgive one another, and be ready to die in the defence of your rights.'

The citizens unanimously replied to these noble words: 'We are willing

to do so.'[838]

[Sidenote: TROOPS MARCH AGAINST GENEVA.]

The next day, Monday, the 26th of September, a man of Granson, coming

from Burgundy, confirmed the news of the danger impending over the city.

'Everything is in motion on our side,' he told them. 'M. de St. Sorlin

has declared that _God and the world_ are enraged against Geneva (it was

the favourite expression of his family); companies of arquebusiers are

about to cross the Jura; the gentlemen of the Spoon are approaching with

a large number of armed men, and the day after the feast of St. Michael

they will enter Geneva by force, to kill the men, women, and children,

and plunder the city.' The man of Granson, at the request of the

syndics, hurried off to carry the news to Berne and Friburg.[839]

It was a singular thing, this expedition against Geneva in behalf of the

_holy faith_, for there was not a church in the city where mass was not

sung, and not one where the Gospel was preached. It was still a catholic

city; but, we must confess, it contained little really worthy of the

name, except old walls, old ceremonies, and old priests. Mass was

performed, but the huguenots, instead of listening to it, walked up and

down the aisles. The Reformation was everywhere in Geneva, and yet it

was nowhere. The bishop, the duke, and even the emperor, who were not

very acute judges, confounded liberty with the Gospel; and seeing that

liberty was in Geneva, they doubted not that the Gospel was there also.

[Sidenote: GENEVA BLOCKADED.]

On Friday, the 30th of September, the enemy's army debouched on all

sides of Geneva. The six captains of Geneva and their six hundred men

got their arms ready. At this moment envoys arrived from Friburg,

wishing to see, hear, and advise the councils. They had hardly entered

the city, when the troops of Savoy, Burgundy, and Vaud were seen

preparing to blockade it. A Friburg herald left immediately, to carry

the news to his lords; but at Versoix the ducal soldiers were on their

guard; the messenger was seized and conducted to the knight of the Spoon

who commanded in the castle. It was to no purpose that he declared

himself to be a Friburger: 'You wear neither the arms nor the colours of

Friburg,' was the reply; 'go back to Geneva.' And as the herald insisted

upon passing (he had had good reasons for not putting on his uniform),

the knights maltreated him and drove him before them close up to the

drawbridge of Geneva, insulting him from time to time in a very

offensive manner. The night was then approaching; the steps of the

horses and the shouts of the horsemen could be heard in the city; it was

believed that the assault was about to be made, and some citizens ran

off to ring the tocsin. The alarm continued through the night.

The enemy had pitched their camp at Saconnex, on the right bank of the

Rhone and the lake, about half a league from Geneva, in the direction of

Gex and the Jura. On Saturday, the 1st of October, they sallied forth

early in the morning, pillaged the houses round the city, set fire to

several farms, and returned to their camp: this was a petty prelude to

the meditated attack. At this moment a second herald, coming from

Friburg, was brought in. He had been stopped at Versoix, for nobody

could pass that post in either direction. The Friburgers, uneasy at

receiving no news from Geneva, had sent this man to learn whether their

friends were really in danger or not. 'What is your business?' asked the

officers. The herald, who had learnt the story of his colleague, had

recourse to a stratagem which the usages of war justify, but christian

truth condemns. 'I am ordered,' he said, 'to go and tell our ambassadors

that they must return immediately; and that if Monsieur of Savoy needs

the help of my lords of Friburg, they will assist him.' The Savoyards,

delighted at the mission of the Friburger, hastened to set him at

liberty; he went on to Geneva, and told the whole affair to the

ambassadors of his canton. The latter, extremely pleased at his

dexterity, asked him if he could once more make his way through the

triple barrier that the cavaliers had raised between Geneva and Friburg.

He was to report that the state of affairs was as bad as could be; and

that Geneva, attacked by superior forces, was on the point of falling.

'We have no time to write,' they added, for they feared their letters

would be intercepted; 'but we give you our rings as a token. Go

speedily, and tell the lords of the two cities (Berne and Friburg), that

if they wish to succour the city of Geneva, _they must do so now or_

_never_.' Prompt help from the Swiss could alone preserve the liberties

of Geneva. The cunning Friburger departed; but even should he succeed in

making his way through the Savoyard troops lying between Friburg and

Geneva, what might not happen before a Swiss army could arrive?[840]

The next day, Sunday, the 2nd of October, the episcopal army was put in

motion; it surrounded the city; a part of the Savoyard troops occupied

the suburb of St. Leger and the monasteries of St. Victor and Our Lady

of Grace; another part was drawn up opposite the Corraterie. The

Genevans could no longer restrain themselves: the gates of the

Corraterie were thrown open, and a number of the more intrepid sallied

out upon the Savoyards, who received them with their arquebuses: one

citizen was shot dead, and the others returned into the city. Erelong

similar skirmishes took place on every side, and the trainbands of

Geneva, firing upon the enemy from the wall, killed several of them.

Masters of the suburbs, the Savoyard army waited until night to make the

assault. _Death and plunder_ was the pass-word given by the leaders.

The situation of Geneva became more critical every hour. In the evening,

just as the bell was ringing for vespers, there was a gleam of light in

the stormy sky. Ambassadors arrived from Berne; they had passed through

the enemy's lines, doubtless in consequence of their diplomatic

character. They immediately visited their Friburg colleagues, who made

known to them all their fears: 'Yet a few hours more,' they said, 'and

Romish despotism will perhaps triumph over the Genevese liberties.' The

Swiss did not lose a moment, but despatched a herald, post-haste, to

demand immediate support. A part of the defenders of Geneva went to

their homes to take some slight repose.

[Sidenote: NIGHT ASSAULT.]

The night closed in, but a bright moon permitted every movement to be

observed which took place without the city. At midnight the moon set:

darkness and silence for some time reigned upon the walls. This was the

hour fixed for the assault. The bands of Savoy and Burgundy and the

knights of the Spoon moved forward without noise, and soon reached the

ditch, in readiness to attack the city. It was easy for them to break in

the gates and to scale the walls. The sentries on the ramparts listened,

and tried to make out the movements of the enemy. The Genevans were all

determined to sacrifice their lives, but they were too few to defend

their homes against such an army. They had to fear enemies still more

formidable. It was asserted that the governor of the Low Countries, the

pope, the Dukes of Lorraine and Gueldres, and the King of France were

all pushing forward troops against the city. The alarm had been given in

the courts of Europe by a recent act of the Landgrave of Hesse. He was

negotiating a treaty with the cantons of Zurich and Basle, by the terms

of which each of the contracting parties was bound to support the others

in case of violence against the cause of the Gospel. 'Might not Philip

do the same with Berne and Geneva?' said some. 'Might not the latter

city become an asylum of the Reformation in the south, for the

populations of the Latin tongue?... No time must be lost in destroying

it.'[841]

People were talking of these things at Augsburg. The protestant princes

and doctors had quitted that city, where the famous diet had just ended:

a month had been given them to become reconciled with Rome. But

Charles V., who did not reckon much upon this _entente cordiale_ between

the pope and Luther, had declared that he would terminate the

controversy with the sword, and had given orders to raise a powerful

army to crush both protestants and protestantism: that, however, was not

to be done before the spring of next year. One day, when the emperor was

conversing about Geneva with Duke Frederick and other catholic

princes,[842] despatches were brought him announcing the march of

different armed bodies against Geneva. Charles always displayed a

prudence and reserve in his plans, which proceeded as much from nature

as from habit. As his faculties had been developed slowly, he had

accustomed himself to ponder upon everything with close attention; he

had decided in particular that not a shot ought to be fired in Europe

against the protestants before the spring of 1531, and had instructed

his brother-in-law of Savoy to that effect. Accordingly, when he learnt,

in October, that an attack was preparing against Geneva, he gave

utterance to his vexation. 'Ha!' he exclaimed, 'the Duke of Savoy is

beginning this business too soon!'[843] 'These words give cause for

reflection,' said the deputies of Nuremberg, who reported them to their

senate. After Geneva, their own turn would come, no doubt.

[Sidenote: MYSTERIOUS RETREAT OF THE SAVOYARDS.]

Meanwhile, about one o'clock on a pitch-dark night, the troops of the

duke, the bishop, and the knights of the Spoon had come up close to the

ditch. But, strange to say, they remained inactive. They neither broke

down the gates nor mounted the walls: on the contrary, 'the nearer they

approached,' says Balard, who was in the city, '_the more their hearts

failed them._' Besides the knights of Vaud and the leaders of the

Burgundian bands, there were in the besieging army a certain number of

officers holding their commissions immediately from his highness the

duke. On a sudden these Savoyard captains drew back; they moved away,

and left the others at the edge of the ditch. This unexpected defection

surprised every one: the soldiers asked what it meant.... The troops

fell into disorder, a panic soon ran through their ranks, and in a

moment there was a general flight, their only exploit being the

plundering of the suburbs.

The officers of Savoy, as they retired, said that the duke 'had

commanded them to withdraw under pain of death.' He had indeed received

the emperor's orders not to begin the war before the spring; but he

could not resolve to arrange his plans in harmony with those of his

illustrious ally. Always anxious to make himself master of Geneva, he

had let things take their course. A more pressing message from the

emperor had arrived. The duke, much vexed, had communicated it with a

bad grace to his captains. Had it only reached them at the moment they

were making the attack? or did they hesitate at the very time when,

blinded by hatred, they were about to escalade the walls in defiance of

the orders of the puissant emperor? Had their courage failed them at the

last step? This seems the most probable conclusion. There is, however, a

certain mystery in the whole incident which it is difficult to

penetrate. Geneva, alone in the presence of a gallant and numerous army,

was defended during this memorable night by an unknown and invisible

power. The Genevans believed it to be the hand of the Almighty. Did they

not read in Scripture that a city, inhabited by the people of God,

having been compassed by horses, and chariots, and a great host, the

mountain round about was miraculously filled with horses and chariots of

fire in far greater numbers?[844] None of these indeed had been seen

upon the Alps, but the arm of the Lord had put the enemy to the rout.

'The bark of God's miracles' had been once more saved in the midst of

the breakers. The citizens reiterated in their homes, in the streets,

and in the council, the expression of their gratitude. 'Ah!' said syndic

Balard, 'the faint heart, the sudden discouragement of those who had

conspired against the city, came from the grace and pity of God!'[845]

The citizens wished to open the gates and follow in pursuit of the

enemy; but the ambassadors of Berne and Friburg restrained them. The

flight was so extraordinary that these warlike diplomatists feared that

it was a stratagem. 'You do not know,' they said, 'how great is the

cunning of the enemy. Wait until you receive help from our masters,

which we hope will soon arrive.'

[Sidenote: FIFTEEN THOUSAND SWISS ARRIVE.]

In fact, fifteen thousand of those soldiers who were the terror of

Europe were then entering the Pays de Vaud with ten pieces of cannon and

colours flying, and were marching to Geneva. Some of the citizens

regretted the arrival of these troops, who came (they said) when they

were not wanted, and who would be an expense to the city; but the more

far-sighted thought their presence still necessary. The enemies of the

new order of things still threatened Geneva on every side, and were even

in Geneva, always ready to renew the attack. It was necessary to put a

stop to the violence of these feudal lords and the intrigues of the

monks; it was necessary to free the country once for all from the

robbers who spread desolation all around; and the Swiss army was looked

upon as called to accomplish this work. This was also what the Bernese

and Friburgers said, and they spared no pains to deliver the inhabitants

of the shores of the Leman from their continual alarms. They did no harm

to the peasants, except that they 'lived upon the good man;'[846] but

they captured, plundered, and burnt the castles of the knights of the

Spoon. The garrisons fled at their approach, carrying away baggage,

treasures, and artillery across the lake to Thonon: boats were

continually passing from one shore to the other. The priests and friars

were not looked upon with very friendly eyes by the _Lutherans_, and

here and there they had their gowns torn; but not one of them was

wounded. One hundred and twenty Genevans, encouraged by this news, put

to flight at Meyrin eight hundred soldiers of Savoy and Gex.

At noon on Monday, the 10th of October, the Swiss army, with the avoyer

D'Erlach at its head, marched into Geneva. But where could they put

fifteen thousand soldiers in that little city? The citizens received a

great number; a part were quartered in the convents. 'Come, fathers,

make room,' said the quartermasters to the Dominicans. The monks gave up

their dormitories very unwillingly; but that did not matter: six

companies, '_all Lutherans_,' were lodged in the convent, and two

hundred horses were turned loose in their burial-ground to feed upon the

grass. The Augustine and Franciscan monasteries, as well as the houses

of the canons and other churchmen, were also filled with troops. These

men carried on the controversy in their own fashion—that is, in a

military and not an evangelical manner. A great number of them had to

bivouac in the open air. The Bernese artillerymen, who were posted round

the Oratory, situated between the city and Plainpalais, felt cold during

the night. They first began to examine the chapel, and then entered it,

and took away the altar and the wooden images, with which they made a

good fire. They were not, however, yet at their ease: these rough

Helvetians, having no desire to lie down or to remain standing all

night, broke up a large cross, and with the fragments made seats on

which they sat round the fire. Some Friburgers, observing what they

considered to be a sacrilege, went up to the Bernese and reprimanded

them sharply, asking them why they did not go and look for wood

somewhere else. 'The wood from the churches is usually very dry,' coolly

answered the artillerymen. These catholic Friburgers were no doubt

superstitious; but perhaps the Bernese were not very pious, and most of

them, while destroying the _idols_ without, left those standing that

were within.

[Sidenote: THE NUNS OF ST. CLAIRE.]

The Genevans anxiously looked about for quarters for their guests, being

unwilling to leave these confederates without shelter, who had quitted

everything for them. As the city was not large enough, the country was

laid under contribution. At the extremity of a fine promontory which

stretches from the southern shore into the lake, at Belle Rive, about a

league from the city, stood a convent of Cistercian nuns, staunch

partisans of the duke, and who were suspected of intriguing in his

favour, and of having been greatly delighted when the Savoyard army had

beleaguered the city not long before. 'Come with us,' said certain young

huguenots to a Swiss company bivouacking in the open air; 'we will

provide you comfortable quarters, situated in a beautiful locality.'

They marched off immediately. The nuns, whose hearts palpitated with

fear, were on the watch, and, looking from their windows, they saw a

body of soldiers advancing by the lake. Hastily throwing off their

conventual dress, they disguised themselves and took refuge in the

neighbouring cottages. At last the troop arrived. Were the Genevans and

Bernese irritated by this flight, or did they intend to follow the

custom of burning the houses of those who plotted against the State? We

cannot tell; but, be that as it may, they set fire to the convent, not,

however, to the church, and the house itself suffered but little, for

the nuns returned to it soon after. When the flames were seen from

Geneva, they occasioned much excitement; but nothing could equal that of

the sisters of St. Claire.[847] The poor nuns, huddling together in

their garden, looked at the fire with terror, and exclaimed: 'It is a

sword of sorrow to us, like that which pierced the Virgin.' They ran

backwards and forwards, they entered the church, they returned to the

garden, and fell down at the foot of the altar, and then, looking again

at the flames, devoutly crossed themselves. 'We must depart,' they said,

and immediately the best scholars among them drew up, as well as their

emotion permitted, a humble petition addressed to the syndics. 'Fathers

and dear protectors,' said they, 'on our bended knees and with uplifted

hands, we, being greatly alarmed, entreat you by the honour of our

Redeemer, of his virgin mother, of Monsieur St. Pierre, and Madame St.

Claire, and all the saints of paradise, to be pleased to allow us to go

out from your city in safety.' Three of the most devout members of the

council went to the convent to comfort them. 'Fear nothing,' they said,

'for the city has not the least intention of becoming Lutheran.'[848]

A certain consideration was shown towards the sisters, by requiring them

to find quarters for only twenty-five soldiers, all Friburgers, 'good

catholics,' says one of the nuns, 'and hearing mass willingly.' But

alas! the mass did not make them more merciful. 'They were as thievish

as the others,' says the same nun. Shortly after their arrival they

threatened to break down the doors and the walls, if the nuns did not

supply them with as much to eat and drink as they wanted. It is true

that the sisters put the soldiers upon spare diet, giving them only a

few peas.[849] This little garrison, however, was of advantage to the

church of St. Claire: it was the only place in Geneva where the Roman

worship was performed. The Friburgers, at the request of the sisters,

took post at the door, and prevented the _heretics_ from entering, but

gave admission _by order_ to all the priests and monks of Geneva who

showed themselves. The latter came dressed as laymen, carrying their

robes under their arms; they went into the vestry, put on their clerical

costume, entered the chapel, drew up round the altar, and chanted mass

_in pontificalibus_. When the service was over, the nuns congratulated

each other: 'What glory Madame St. Claire has over Madame Magdalen,

Monsieur St. Gervais, and even M. St. Pierre!' It was a great

consolation and indescribable honour to them.

The mass, however, was not to have all its own way in Geneva. The

Bernese desired to have the Word of God preached; consequently, on

Tuesday, the 11th of October, they proceeded to the cathedral with their

evangelical almoner, and ordered the doors to be opened. Some of them

went into the tower and rang the episcopal bells, after which the

almoner went up into the pulpit, read a portion of Scripture, and

preached a sermon. A great number of Genevans had gone to the church and

watched this new worship from a distance. They did not fully understand

it; but they saw that the reading of God's Word, its explanation, and

prayer were the essential parts, and they liked that better than the

Roman form. From that time, the evangelical service was repeated daily,

and 'no other bell, little or big, rang in Geneva.' The priests consoled

themselves by thinking that 'the accursed minister preached in German.'

The _German_, however, went further: he had brought with him some copies

of the Holy Scriptures in French, and French translations of several of

the writings of Zwingle, Luther, and other reformers; and when the

Genevans who had heard him without understanding him went to pay him a

visit, he gave them these books, after shaking hands with them, and in

this way prepared their minds for the work of the Reformation.

[Sidenote: CASTLES TAKEN AND BURNT.]

While these books might be producing some internal good, the Genevans

were anxious for another reform. They wished to purge the country of the

outrages, robberies, and murders which the nobility in the neighbourhood

of Geneva, still more than those in the Pays de Vaud, had made the

peaceful burghers endure so long. This also was a reform, though

different from that of Luther and Farel. 'Come along with us,' they said

to the terrible bands of Friburg and Berne, 'and we will lead you to

these brigands' nests.' The Swiss troops, guided by the Genevans,

appeared successively before the castles of Gaillard, Vilette,

Confignon, Sacconex, and others. They captured and set fire to many of

these haunts, where the noble robbers had so often hidden their plunder

and their prey. The terror of the partisans of the old order of things

now became extreme. The sisters of St. Claire thought that everything

was on fire round Geneva. 'Look!' said they, standing on the highest

part of their garden, 'look! although the weather is fair, the sky is

darkened by the smoke.' They fancied it was the last day. 'Of a surety,'

they added, 'the elements are about to be dissolved.' The desolation was

still greater in the country. The captain-general had issued an order

forbidding all marauding, but the soldiers rarely attended to it. The

peasantry were seen running away like sheep before the wolf; the

gentlemen hid themselves in the woods or the mountains; and several

noble dames, who had taken refuge in miserable huts, 'were brought to

bed there very wretchedly.'[850]

Although certain accusations have been brought against them, the nuns of

St. Claire were sincere in their devotion, and moral in their conduct;

and while the dissolute friars kept silence, these superstitious but

virtuous women appeared to stand alone by the side of popery in its

agony. Desiring to appease the wrath of heaven, they made daily

processions in their garden, barefooted in the white frost, chanting low

the litanies of the Virgin and the saints 'to obtain mercy.' They passed

all the night in vigils, 'praying to God in behalf of his holy faith and

the poor world.' After matins they lighted the tapers, and scourged

themselves; then bending to the earth, they exclaimed: _Ave, benigne

Jesu!_ 'hail, gentle Jesus!' Sister Jeanne affirms that by these means

they worked miracles. Indeed, one of the _mahometists_ (huguenots),

having flung a consecrated wafer into a cemetery, it could not be found

again: 'the angels had carried it away and put it in some unknown

place.'[851] It was not very miraculous that so small an object could

not be found among the grass and between the graves of a cemetery. A

miracle more real was worked.