THE BATTLES OF GRANDSON.
(1531-1532.)
Farel's zeal was not cooled by the check he had received at Orbe; he saw
before him other places that must be evangelised. If he withstood the
ambitious demands of the new converts who, like Hollard, fancied
themselves more capable than they really were, and indiscreetly sought
for consecration to the holy office, he did but seek with more zeal for
servants of God, who possessed a spirit of strength, charity, and
prudence. Certain men appeared to him to have been ripened in France by
persecution. He invited into Switzerland Toussaint, Lecomte,
Symphoranus, Andronicus, and others. As soon as these brethren arrived,
he sent them into the harvest;[425] and frequently after fervent prayers
he seemed to see the whole valley enclosed between the Jura and the Alps
filled with the living waters of the Gospel. 'Of a truth,' said he, 'if
we look at the times that have gone before, the work of Christ is
glorious now.... And yet what roots remain to be torn up before the
field is ready to receive the divine seed.[426] What works to be
accomplished, what toils to be endured, what enemies to be overcome!...
We have need of labourers inured to labour.... I cannot promise them
mountains of gold,[427] but I know that the Father will never abandon
His own, and that He will give them an abundant harvest.'
[Sidenote: MALADY OF PETTY QUESTIONS.]
In Farel's heart overwhelming depression often followed close upon the
fairest expectations. One sorrow especially afflicted him: the malady of
petty questions seemed threatening to invade the new Church. At all
times narrow and ill-balanced minds attach themselves to certain details
in the doctrine of baptism, the Lord's Supper, the ministry, and so
forth: they are eager about _anise and cummin_[428] and by their minutiæ
encumber the kingdom of Christ. Farel, who with a holy doctrine and
unwearied activity combined a wise discernment and a large liberal
spirit, trembled lest this weakness of little understandings had crept
into the minds of the ministers to whom he addressed his call. There
happened to be at Strasburg just then a christian man named Andronicus,
whom the reformer desired to attract into Switzerland; but he wished to
know whether he was tainted with formalism or fanaticism—two evils which
sometimes met on the banks of the Rhine. He resolved to speak frankly to
him, and his letter shows us his opinion of the ministry: 'Dear
brother,' he wrote to Andronicus, 'do you possess Christ so as to teach
Him purely, apart from the empty controversies of _bread_ and _water_,
_taxes_ and _tithes_, which in the eyes of many constitute
Christianity?[429] Are you content to require of all that, renouncing
ungodliness and unrighteousness, they should arm themselves with faith,
and press to their hearts the heavenly treasure, Christ who sitteth at
the right hand of the Father? Are you ready to give to all authorities
what is their due—taxes, tithes—to pay them not only to the ungodly, but
also to the brethren? Do you seek Christ's glory only? Do you propose
simply to plant in their hearts the faith that worketh by charity? Are
you resolved to bear the cross? for, be assured, the cross awaits you at
the door. If you are ready to bear it, then, dear brother, come
instantly.' Such was the wise language of the most ardent of the
reformers.
[Sidenote: FAREL'S MODE OF RECRUITING.]
While Farel was thus loudly calling for new workers, he was getting rid
of the idle and cowardly, promising to all of them fatigue, insult, and
persecution: it was with such promises that the reformer levied his
soldiers. 'Do not look for idleness, but for labour,'[430] he said;
'only after fatigue will you find repose, and you will not reap until
after you have sown at your own cost. A wide door is opened, but no one
can enter except those who desire to feed the sheep and not to devour
them, and who are determined to reply with kindness to the insults with
which they are assailed. Labour and toil await you.[431] I can promise
you nothing but trouble.... If you will come with us, know that you are
entering into a hard service. You will have to fight not against craven
and disheartened adversaries, but against enemies brimful of decision
and strength. Be therefore a brave and noble soldier; attack the enemy
joyfully, and rush into the hottest of the fight, placing your
confidence in God, to whom alone belong the battle and the victory. It
is not we who fight, but the Lord.'[432]
But Farel called to the battle in vain: the timid recruits would not
join the army. He received some little help indeed, but what was that
for so great a work? Then his appeals grew louder. In the presence of
the gigantic Alps, this humble man rose like them: his language swelled
and resembled rather the cry of a soldier struggling in the midst of the
enemy's ranks, than the sweet and subtle voice of the Gospel of peace.
'We are in the thick of the fight,' he said; 'the conflict is terrible;
we are fighting man to man ... but the Lord giveth the victory to his
own.[433] Take up the sword, set the helmet on your head, buckle on the
breastplate, hang the shield to your arm, gird your loins; and being
thus armed with the panoply of God, rush into the midst of the battle,
hurl the darts, throw down the enemy on every side, and put all the army
to flight.[434]... But alas! instead of joining the soldiers of Christ,
instead of rushing into the Lord's battles, you fear the cross, and the
dangers that lie in wait for you. Preferring your own ease, you refuse
to come to the assistance of your brethren.... Is that the behaviour of
a christian?... The Holy Scriptures declare that the Lord will exact a
severe reckoning for such cowardice.... Beware lest you bury the talent
you have received.... Call to mind that you must give an account of all
those souls, whom tyranny holds captive in its gloomy dungeons. You can
set the light before their eyes, you can deliver them from their chains,
you must conjure them to throw themselves into the arms of Jesus
Christ.... Do not hesitate.... Christ must be preferred to everything.
Do not trouble yourself about what your wife wishes and requires, but
about what God asks and commands.'[435] More powerful solicitations had
never been made; there was a new Paul in the world at this time. At last
Farel's earnestness prevailed. Andronicus and others hastened to him,
and laboured with him in the country that stretches from Basle and Berne
as far as Geneva.
[Sidenote: FIRST BATTLE OF GRANDSON.]
Delighted at receiving such helpers, the reformer hastened to fresh
combats. Every parish, village, and town was to be won to Christ by an
obstinate struggle. There is no soldier that has fought more battles. We
can only find a parallel to Farel in the convert of Damascus. He took
with him De Glautinis, minister of Tavannes, in the Bernese Jura, who
had come to his help, and quitted Orbe, leaving on his left the
picturesque gorge of the Jura, where the village of St. Croix lies hid,
and over which soar the lofty tops of the Chasseron, and turned his
steps towards Grandson. Ere long he came in sight of the celebrated
walls of the old castle which stood near the extremity of the lake of
Neuchâtel. This place, which was about to become an evangelical
battle-field, had witnessed a far different struggle. Here, in 1476, the
Swiss had rushed from the heights of Champagne and Bonvillars, while the
terrible roaring of the bull of Uri portended death, and the cow of
Unterwald uttered its warning sound.[436] Here they bent the knee in
presence of the hostile columns, and rising with shouts of '_Grandson!_'
playing their fearful music, unfurling their ancient banners, and
guarding them with their long and formidable spears, they charged the
Burgundians with the rush of the tempest. Vainly did the commander of
the cavalry, Sire Louis of Château-Guyon, brother of the Prince of
Orange and of the Lord of Orbe and Grandson,—vainly did he spur his
large war-horse and charge impetuously at the head of six thousand
horsemen; vainly did he seize the banner of Schwytz, In der Gruob of
Berne had given him a death-blow, and the Burgundians, as they saw the
gigantic warrior fall, were struck with terror. Grandson as well as Orbe
were lost to the family of that hero, and the sovereignty of the two
towns passed to the cantons of Berne and Friburg. A panic spread through
the ranks, and Charles the Bold was forced to fly, leaving behind him
four hundred silk tents embroidered with gold and pearls, six hundred
standards, and an immense quantity of plate, money, jewels, and precious
stones. This vigorous attack and glorious victory, the fame of which
still remained in that peaceful country, was a type of the work that
Farel was to accomplish. By his means, Berne was about to strike at
Grandson as well as Orbe a more formidable enemy than the Lord of
Château-Guyon.[437]
On the shore of the lake at the entrance of the town stood the vast
convent of the Gray Friars. Farel and his friend De Glautinis, who
accompanied him, stopped before its walls and said to each other that to
this place doubtless the Lord had first directed their steps. They rang,
entered the parlour, and the superior of the monastery, Friar Guy Regis,
having asked them what they wanted, they begged him very coolly 'in the
name of the Lords of Berne,' to grant them the use of the church. But
Guy Regis, a resolute man and earnest priest, who knew all that had
happened at Orbe, was offended at such insolence. 'Heretic!' said he to
Farel. 'Son of a Jew!' exclaimed another monk. The reception was not
encouraging. The two ministers discussed with some friends of the Word
of God, what was to be done. 'Go to the priory on the hill,' said the
latter. 'As you bear a letter from Messieurs of Berne for the prior, the
monks will not dare refuse you.'
[Sidenote: THE BENEDICTINE CONVENT.]
Accordingly Farel, De Glautinis, and a few of the brethren, proceeded to
the Benedictine convent. They knocked and the door was opened; several
monks appeared. As they knew already something about the arrival of the
missionaries, they looked at them from head to foot, and Farel had
scarcely asked permission to preach, when a loud uproar arose in the
cloister. The sacristan hid a pistol under his frock, another friar
armed himself with a knife, and both came forward stealthily to lay
hands upon the _heretic_ who (according to them) was disturbing all the
churches. The sacristan arrived first; pointing the pistol at Farel with
one hand, he seized him with the other, and pulling him along,
endeavoured to drag him into the convent, where a prison awaited him. De
Glautinis observing this, sprang forward to rescue his friend, but the
other monk, arriving at the scene of combat, fell upon him, flourishing
his knife. Alarmed by the noise within the cloister, the friends of the
evangelists, who had remained at the door, waiting to know whether they
could hear Farel or not, rushed in and tore both him and his comrade
from the stout arms of the monks. The gates of the monastery were closed
immediately, and they remained so for a whole fortnight, so great was
the terror inspired by the reformers.
Farel seeing there was nothing to be done at Grandson just then,
departed for Morat, beseeching De Glautinis, whom he left behind him, to
take advantage of every opportunity to proclaim the gospel. The monks
entrenched within their walls, trembled, deliberated, kept watch, and
armed themselves against this one man, as if they had an army before
them. Convent gates and church doors were all close shut. De Glautinis,
finding that he could not preach in the churches, determined to preach
in the streets and in private houses; but he had hardly begun when the
monks, informed by the signals of their agents whom they had instructed
not to lose sight of the evangelist, made a vigorous sally. Guy Regis,
the valiant superior of the Gray Friars, the precentor, and all the
monks came to the place where De Glautinis was preaching, and boldly
placed themselves between him and his hearers: 'Come,' said the
superior, 'come, if you dare, before the king or the emperor. Come to
Besançon, to Dôle, or to Paris; I will show you and all the world that
your preaching is mere witchcraft. Begone, we have had enough of you.
You shall not enter the churches.' As soon as this harangue was over,
the monks capped it by roaring out: 'Heretic, son of a Jew, apostate!'
The troop having thus fired their volley, hastily retreated within their
walls.[438]
Some Bernese deputies, who chanced to be at Neuchâtel, hearing what was
going on at Grandson, went thither without delay. They did not wish to
force the people to be converted, but they desired that all under their
rule should hear the gospel without hindrance, and thus have liberty to
decide with full knowledge for Rome or for the Reformation. When the
Bernese lords arrived at Grandson, which is not far from Neuchâtel, they
ordered the conventual churches to be thrown open to the reformers. A
messenger was sent to Farel, who returned immediately, bringing Viret
with him, and from the 12th May the three evangelists began to preach
Sundays and week-days. The monks, surprised, irritated, and yet
restrained by fear of their dread lords, looked with gloomy eyes on the
crowd that came to hear the _heresy_. The superior of the Gray Friars,
who had a great reputation for learning, thought himself called upon to
resist the reformers. They had hardly left the pulpit when he entered
it, and thus Farel and Guy Regis attacked and refuted each other,
struggling, so to say, hand to hand. The evangelist preached grace, the
monk prescribed works; the former reproached his opponent with
disobeying Scripture, the latter reproached the other with disobeying
the Church. The monks went further still: they conjured the magistrates
to come to the defence of the faith, and the latter outlawed the
ministers, while the sergeants arrested them. The populace, seeing them
in the hands of the officers, followed them and covered them with abuse,
and they were shut up in prison.[439]
Thus the struggle descended to the people and grew all the warmer.
Parties were formed, bands were organised. The catholics, in order to
distinguish themselves, stuck fir-cones in their caps, and thus adorned
stalked proudly through the streets. Their adversaries said to them as
they passed: 'You insult Messieurs of Berne;' to which they arrogantly
answered: 'You shall not prevent us.'
[Sidenote: REINFORCEMENT FROM YVERDUN.]
The inhabitants of Yverdun, a neighbouring town, which eagerly espoused
the cause defended by Guy Regis, organised, not a troop of soldiers, but
a procession. It quitted the town and passed along the shore of the
lake; clerical banners instead of military colours waved above their
heads, sacred chants instead of drums and trumpets filled the air. At
last this curious reinforcement reached the city where such a fierce
struggle was going on. The catholics no longer doubted of victory. Men's
minds grew heated and their passions were inflamed. Farel and his
friends, having been set at liberty, a black friar named Claude de
Boneto stuck to the reformer and loaded him with abuse. The latter
undismayed said: 'Christians, withdraw from the pope who has laid
insupportable burdens on your back, which he will not touch with the tip
of his finger. Come to Him who has taken all your burden and placed it
on his own shoulders. Do not trust in the priests or in Rome. Have
confidence in Jesus Christ.'[440] The council of Berne took up the
defence of the evangelist, and condemned friar Boneto.[441]
As the support of Yverdun had produced no effect, help was sent from
Lausanne. On St. John's day (24th June) a cordelier arrived at Grandson
to preach in honour of the saint. The church of the Franciscans was soon
crowded, and Farel and De Glautinis were in the midst of the throng. The
strange things which the preacher said filled them with sorrow;
presently the reformer stood up, and (as was the custom of the times)
began to refute the monk. The latter stopped, and the eyes of the
assembly were turned upon the minister with signs of anger. The bailiff,
John Reyff of Friburg, a good catholic, unable to restrain himself,
raised his hand and struck Farel. This was the signal for a battle.
Judges, gray friars, and burgesses of Grandson, who had come armed to
the church, fell upon the two ministers, threw them to the ground, and
showered blows and kicks upon them. Their friends hastened to their
help, flung themselves into the midst of the fray, and succeeded in
rescuing the reformers from the hands of the riotous crowd, but not
before they had been 'grievously maltreated in the face and other
parts.' The grand banneret of Orbe saw it, and it is he who tells the
story.[442]
[Sidenote: THE SENTINELS.]
The evangelicals lost no time: one of them started off at once to see
the Sieur de Watteville, the avoyer of Berne, who chanced to be at his
estate of Colombier, three leagues from Grandson. That magistrate went
to the town, and wishing to put the inhabitants in a position to
exercise the right of free enquiry, according to the principles of
Berne, he ordered the cordelier and Farel to preach by turns, and then
went to the church, attended by his servant, with the view of hearing
both preachers. But there was something else to be done first. The
people were still agitated with the emotions of the preceding day, and
pretended that the reformers wanted to pull down the great crucifix,
which was much respected by all the city. Two monks, Tissot and Gondoz,
were distinguished by their zeal for the doctrines of the pope; sincere
but fanatical, they would have thought they were doing God a service by
murdering Farel. They had been posted as sentinels to defend the image
supposed to be threatened. Armed with axes hidden under their frocks,
they paced backwards and forwards, silent and watchful, at the foot of
the stairs which led to the gallery where the famous crucifix stood.
When the Lord of Berne appeared, one of the sentinels, seeing a strange
face, which had an heretical look about it, stopped him abruptly. 'Stand
back, you cannot pass this way,' he said, while his comrade rudely
pushed the Sieur de Watteville. 'Gently,' said the avoyer in a grave
tone; 'you should not get in such a heat.' The patrician's serving-man,
exasperated at this want of respect to his master, and less calm than he
was, caught the cowled sentinel round the body, and feeling the axe
under his frock, took it away and was about to strike him with it, when
the Bernese lord checked him. All the monks fled in alarm, and De
Watteville remaining master of the ground, placed his servant there on
guard. The latter, stalking up and down with the axe on his shoulder,
kept watch instead of the monks.
He had been there only a few minutes, when about thirty women, with
flashing eyes and sullen air, each holding her serge apron gathered up
in front, made their appearance and endeavoured to get into the gallery.
Some had filled their aprons with mould from their gardens, and others
with ashes from their kitchens, and with these weapons they were
marching to battle. Their plan was not, indeed, to engage in a regular
fight, but to lie in ambush in the gallery near the pulpit; and then as
soon as Farel appeared, to throw the ashes into his eyes and the earth
into his mouth, and so silence the fearless preacher of the Gospel. This
was their notion of controversy. The troop approached: the avoyer's
serving-man, firm as became a servant of my lord of Berne, was still
pacing to and fro, axe in hand. He perceived the feminine battalion,
immediately saw what was their intention, and advanced brandishing the
weapon he had taken from the monks. The devotees of Grandson, seeing a
Bernese instead of a gray friar, were alarmed; they shrieked, let go
their aprons, suffered the mould and ashes to fall upon the floor of the
church, and ran off to their homes.
[Sidenote: CONVERSION OF THE MONKS.]
The conspiracies of the monks and of the women being thus baffled, the
Bernese magistrate did not take advantage of it to make Farel preach
alone. He wished the balance to be even. The gray friar therefore and
the reformer quietly took their turns. Tissot and Gondoz, who had
stopped De Watteville, were imprisoned for a fortnight. The two monks,
recovering from their passion, began to consider what this _Lutheran
doctrine_ could be which possessed such stanch adherents. The reformers
visited them, and showed them much affection. The monks were touched,
they saw that the heresy of which they had been so afraid was simply the
all-merciful Gospel of Jesus Christ. They left the prison with new
thoughts, and two years later, says the banneret, 'they received the
Lutheran law, were made preachers, one at Fontaines, the other at
Chavornay, married, and had a large family of children.' In the days of
the Reformation, as in those of the apostles, it was often seen that
those who 'kicked against the pricks' obtained mercy and became heralds
of the faith.[443]
A last tumult was to cause the principles of religious liberty to be
proclaimed in Switzerland. It occurred at Orbe during the Christmas
holidays. The catholics, proud of the midnight devotions customary among
them at that season of the year, insulted the reformed: 'Go to bed,'
they said; 'while we are singing the praises of God in the church you
will be sleeping in your beds like swine.'... The reformers, who did not
like midnight masses with all their profanations, desired to take
advantage of the evening hours, when the cessation of labour gave an
opportunity of collecting a large congregation. At seven o'clock on
Christmas eve they asked the governor for the keys of the church: 'It is
not sermon time,' he answered, 'and you shall not have them.' They
rejoined that every hour, except at night, was sermon time; and being
determined to begin the evening services, they went to the church,
opened the doors, the preacher got up into the pulpit, and in a moment
the place was crowded. A few priests or bigots, peeping into the
building, exclaimed in surprise at the crowd: 'The devil must have sent
a good many there!' The minister (it may have been Viret) explained the
great mystery of faith, the coming of the Saviour, and asked his hearers
if they would not receive him into their hearts. The sermon had lasted
some time, and the clock struck nine. Immediately the bells rang, and
the catholics crowded into the church, although there was no service at
that hour.
The reformed, being unwilling to quarrel, retired home quietly; but a
mischievous fellow, who had crept into the assembly with the intention
of exciting the people, began to whisper to his neighbours that the
heretics were going to destroy everything at St. Claire. This was false,
but they believed it; the crowd deserted the altars, and, meeting with a
few reformers in the streets, knocked some down, and broke the heads of
others; the best known among them had already reached home, but the
catholic population assembled in front of their houses, and threw stones
at their windows. Viret departed for Berne with ten of the reformed, in
order to make his complaint.[444]
[Sidenote: FIRST ACT OF RELIGIOUS LIBERTY.]
A few days later, on the 9th January 1532, two hundred and thirty
ministers assembled at Berne, among whom was the wise Capito, and formed
a sort of council. Having most of them left the Romish church, they
desired liberty not only for themselves, but also for their adversaries.
The laymen were of the same opinion. Berne, the representative of
protestantism, agreed with Friburg, the champion of popery, on this
subject. 'We desire,' said the Bernese, 'that every one should have free
choice to go to the preaching or to mass.' 'And we also,' said the
Friburgers. 'We desire that all should live in peace together, and that
neither priests nor preachers should call their adversaries heretics or
murderers. 'And we also,' said the Friburgers. 'Nevertheless, we do not
wish to hinder the priests and preachers from conferring amicably and
fraternally concerning the faith.' 'Quite right,' said the Friburgers.
These articles, and others like them—the first monument of religious
liberty in Switzerland—were published on the 30th January 1532.[445] It
is to be regretted that this proclamation of the sixteenth century was
not henceforward taken as a pattern in all christian countries, and in
Switzerland, where it was drawn up. The order did not for long prevent
violent collisions.
We shall now leave this quarter, and follow elsewhere the great champion
of the Word of God, Farel; but we shall return here later. The
evangelical seed was to be sown still more abundantly in the Pays de
Vaud, and that soil, which appeared adverse at first, will produce and
has produced, in our days especially, the finest of fruits.
[425] 'Fratres qui huc venerunt in messem missi sunt.'—Farellus
Andronico, Jan. 27, 1531. Choupard MSS.
[426] 'Quam difficiles eradicatu supersunt radices, antequam novale
jaciendo semini sit idoneum.'—Farellus Andronico, Jan. 27, 1531.
Choupard MSS.
[427] 'Aureos montes polliceri nolo.'—Ibid.
[428] Matthew xxiii. 23.
[429] 'Sine vanis controversiis vel aquæ vel panis aut censuum aut
decimarum, in quibus pars Christianismum putat.'—Farellus Andronico.
Choupard MSS.
[430] Non est quod otium expectes sed negotium.'—Farellus Andronico,
Feb. 12, 1531.
[431] 'Labores plurimi.'—Ibid.
[432] 'Sed in ipso pugnæ æstu, robustos ac plenis viribus hostes alacer
aggrediaris, collocata in Deum fiducia, cujus est victoria sicut et
pugna; non enim nos pugnamus, sed Dominus.'—Farellus Andronico. Jan. 27,
1531. Choupard MSS.
[433] 'Pugnam fervere, cum hostibus consertas manus jungere, victoriam
suis impartire, sed non citra sudorem.'—Farellus Andronico, April 1531.
Choupard MSS.
[434] 'In medios hostes prosilire, jacula vibrare, hostes hinc inde
prosternere ac dissipare.'—Ibid.
[435] 'Nec tantopere curandum quid uxor velit et poscat, sed quæ Deus
ipse petat et jubeat.'—Farellus Andronico, April, 1531. Choupard MSS.
[436] Warlike musical instruments.
[437] Chronique de Neuchâtel. Chant de bataille, par un Lucernois.
Müller, _Hist. de la Conféd. Suisse_.
[438] _Chroniqueur_, p. 112.
[439] 'Duræchet, gebalgets, verschmæht.... Gott gelæstert.'—Berne to the
bailli of Grandson, June 7.
[440] _Sommaire_, etc. p. 181.
[441] The Choupard MS. gives the sentence of Berne under the date of
17th June 1531.
[442] _Mém. du Sire de Pierrefleur_, p. 167.
[443] Choupard MSS. Stettler MSS. _Mém. du Sire de Pierrefleur._
[444] _Mém. du Sire de Pierrefleur_, p. 74. Ruchat, iii. p. 45.
[445] _Mém. du Sire de Pierrefleur_, pp. 82-85. Choupard MSS.
Ruchat, iii. p. 47.