PLANS OF THE EMPEROR, THE DUKE OF SAVOY, AND THE BISHOP
AGAINST GENEVA.
(1530-1532.)
Just when the Gospel was about to enter Geneva with Farel and Saunier,
the bishop-prince was making new exertions to recover his power. A
crisis was approaching: a decisive step must be taken. Which shall have
supremacy in the church—the bulls of the pope or the Scriptures of God?
Which shall have supremacy in the state—slavery or liberty? Great powers
had determined to oppress this little city; but humble servants of God
were about to enter it one after another, and planting there the
standard of Christ, secure the victory to independence and the Gospel.
[Sidenote: BELLEGARDE'S AUDIENCE WITH CHARLES.]
The Duke of Savoy, desiring to inflict a fatal blow on Geneva, had
invoked the co-operation of the most powerful monarchs of Europe, and
despatched to Charles V., then at the diet of Augsburg, the usual
minister of his tyranny, the man whom he had employed to put Levrier to
death, and to capture Bonivard. As soon as Bellegarde reached Augsburg
(11th September 1530) he waited on the Sire de Montfalconet, who at that
time discharged the office of grand equerry to His Majesty, and who 'had
great credit with the emperor, so that, nothing was kept secret from
him.'[480] Enemies whom the duke had at the imperial court had created a
very unfavourable impression of this prince; Bellegarde accordingly gave
a pension of 300 crowns to the equerry, who earnt them under the
circumstances we are describing, by following the envoy's instructions.
The latter, being impatient to draw the emperor into the plans concocted
for seizing Geneva, begged Montfalconet to ask his master at what hour
he would be pleased 'to permit him to pay his respects.' 'Tell him,'
said Charles, who had on his hands all the affairs of protestantism and
Germany, 'tell him that in consequence of my many engagements he must
wait a couple of days.' Bellegarde did so, and on the third morning
attended punctually in the emperor's chamber. Very impatient to see the
puissant monarch, he was rehearsing what he had to tell him about
Geneva, when instead of His Majesty he saw Montfalconet enter the room
alone with this message: 'The emperor desires me to say that for the
present you must only hand in his highness's letter, as well as that
from his most dread lady; and he will give you an audience directly
after.' The ambassador was much vexed at the delay; but to console him
the equerry confidentially informed him of the great trouble the
protestants of Germany were giving Charles. 'I assure you the emperor is
in such a condition,' he said, 'that it is impossible for him to bring
the affairs of the empire into anything like a reasonable state. He has
therefore forsaken the counsels of men to have recourse to the Lord
only. As the _help_ of the world fails me, said His Majesty this morning
(14th September), I hope Divine Providence will come to my assistance.
The emperor then confessed, and retired into the oratory of the palace
to receive the sacrament. He has also ordered that prestations
(confessions, communions, and prayers) should be made in every place
where there are any devout people.'
While these two individuals were talking Charles came out of his
oratory. M. de Bellegarde made him a low bow, humbly presented him the
compliments of the duke and duchess, and handed him the letters. The
emperor, who was busy, told him to return the next morning at his levée.
Bellegarde did not fail, and Charles received him with much kindness.
'Give me news of his highness's health,' he said, 'and also of madam my
good sister (Duchess Beatrice), and of my nephew monsieur their son.'
Bellegarde answered his questions, and then made all the communications
to the emperor with which the duke had charged him. He hoped the emperor
would immediately enter into conversation with him about the plans
formed against Geneva, but it was not so. 'I am very glad,' said
Charles, 'that the duke has sent you to me; but, considering my great
occupations, be so good as to draw up a memoir of what you think most
expedient for the despatch of the business that brings you here, and
then deliver it to my lord Grandvelle.'
Here was a fresh delay. The minister's answer, considering the numerous
offices he filled, had to be waited for; yet Bellegarde spoke seven
times with Charles V., 'each time giving his majesty some little
information about the duke's affairs.' But the emperor, while appearing
to listen to the disputes between Geneva and Turin, frequently had his
thoughts elsewhere. He was tormented with the state of the empire, and
did not conceal it from his brother-in-law's envoy. 'I do not mean,' he
said one day to Bellegarde, 'that the duke shall be either dismissed or
ejected; but the diet (of Augsburg) is all in confusion and broken up. I
have no great hopes.... It is a long while since I have found the
princes of Germany thus dilly-dallying, putting me off from day to day,
so that I am quite out of hope, and my head is confused.... Ah! if it
pleased God that other princes were of my opinion.... Christendom would
not be in such confusion.' These are the very words his majesty was
pleased to use, adds Bellegarde in his memoir. He was surprised at them.
That man who knew so well how to put one of his adversaries in prison
and another to death, was astonished that so mighty a prince as Charles
should not adopt an equally simple and expeditious method. He ventured
to give the emperor a little advice. He had learnt that the strength of
the protestants was in their union. 'Sire,' he said, 'break up the
alliances, as well past as future, which have been formed to your great
prejudice, and whose consequences are so dangerous.'—'At present,' said
Charles, 'there is no time. I cannot now reduce the princes and cities
of Germany that are opposed to the faith; but I am determined not to
abandon the work, and when I have completed it, what concerns his
highness (be sure you tell him) will not be forgotten.' This then was
Charles's plan: first to crush the protestants of Germany, and then the
huguenots of Geneva. In his opinion these were as dangerous for the
Latin races as the former for the Germans.
[Sidenote: THE EMPEROR'S ANSWER.]
At last, on the 6th October, Grandvelle, chancellor of the empire
(he was the father of the famous cardinal), accompanied by the
commander ——,[481] had an interview with Bellegarde, and gave him the
emperor's answer. 'With respect to Geneva, his majesty thinks that to
avoid falling into the danger which the duke has at all times feared and
avoided, no part or parcel of his states must become Swiss. You must
take all the more precaution, because the nature of the cantons is
always to extend and grow larger, and the rebellion and stiff-necked
obstinacy of messieurs of Geneva will incline them to plunge through
despair into this accursed error.[482] That would cause loss and damage
to the duke, and little credit to the emperor, considering that Geneva
is a fief of the empire. Here is the expedient the emperor has hit upon.
He orders both the duke and Geneva to lay before him within two months
their titles, rights, and privileges, and his majesty will then decide.
As for the prelates, the bishop, and the canons, the emperor recommends
both them and the duke to bring their quarrels to an end. By so doing
the duke will get rid of a great load of trouble, and will have the
prelates better under his direction and obedience.' After a few other
communications, the chancellor withdrew with the commander, and
Bellegarde immediately sent off a despatch conveying this decision to
the duke.
[Sidenote: BELLEGARDE'S LETTER.]
The Sieur de Bellegarde left Augsburg not long after, and returned to
Turin, determined to urge his master more than ever to destroy
independence and the Reformation in Geneva at one blow. What he had seen
at Augsburg, and the dangers with which German protestantism threatened
the supremacy of the pope and of the emperor, had increased his zeal.
The institutions of the middle ages seem to have had at that time no
friend more fanatical and no champion more zealous than the active,
intelligent, devoted, cruel courtier who had put Levrier to death at the
castle of Bonne. 'My lord,' he said to the duke, 'consider the peril to
which you are exposed in this business of Geneva, either because of the
neighbours who are so near, and are ravening wolves, or because of the
little faith the world now has in all the qualities, sound right, and
reasons a man may have. What will happen if we do not remain masters in
the struggle with this new sect? What vexations, losses, and cares, you
know that better than I do. They want to keep you in good humour, my
lord, but it is only the better to make game of you, and to increase at
your expense, on this side of the mountains or on that—everywhere, in
fact. You have documents in your chamber to show that the Genevans used
to pay you toll and subsidy; that they helped to portion the daughters
of your house; and, further, that they gave your predecessors aid in
time of war, and that in time of peace they appealed to them in their
suits and sentences.... And now what have they done? They have deprived
you of the vidamy, they have taken from you the castle on the island,
they have committed much injustice to the prejudice of your rights, and
have been guilty of murder and other intolerable evils.... Worse
still ... they are joining _that perverse sect_ in order to complete
their ruin.
[Sidenote: HIS PLANS AGAINST GENEVA.]
'But we shall soon put an end to it all, my lord. You have an emperor at
your service on whom everything depends. Will they dare be wicked and
rebellious in his presence?... Firstly, the emperor will replace them
under your authority, as you and your ancestors had them.... Next, for
their rebellion and the crimes they have committed, he will condemn them
to be deprived of some privilege—of that which is most injurious to you.
Finally, he will build for you, for your government, a castle or
fortress in the city, in whatever part you like, and exact from the
Genevans for the support of the garrison a tax to be paid every year.
The city will thus be kept well in subjection. As for the bishops, the
emperor will command them to pay you the respect which belongs to the
holy empire, as being its representative; he will order them to obey you
like himself, and will restore them to all obedience towards you ...
considering also that _the time approaches_ for their _general
reformation, as is but reasonable_. And if the said people of Geneva
will not obey (as their unreason may incline them) the emperor will put
them under the ban of the empire as rebels, and you shall seize them....
_You will make them your subjects entirely, confiscating all their
privileges and possessions_; and thus you will be for ever established
rightfully in Geneva.'[483]
We should not perhaps have quoted the words of the Sieur de Bellegarde
at such length, if the document from which they are extracted had not
been hitherto unknown. His allegations were false. No presents had ever
been made by the city of Geneva to the dukes of Savoy without a special
act declaring that the liberality was spontaneous and without prejudice
for the future. The vidamy was a fief conferred by the bishop, which
made the holder of it an officer of the latter. Lastly, the dukes of
Savoy were not vicars of the emperor. But if Bellegarde's allegations as
to the past were false, his schemes as to the future were outrageous. A
strong fortress shall be built in Geneva, the citizens shall pay the
garrison, and a brutal serfdom shall withdraw them from that _perverse
sect_ and keep them for ever in strict obedience under the yoke of their
master! As for the bishops, they shall be compelled to obey the duke,
especially as the time of _their general reformation_ approaches! It
would appear, then, that in the sixteenth century already _reason_ (as
Bellegarde says) demanded the abolition of the temporal power of
ecclesiastical princes. Were they more advanced then than in our days? I
think not. This rude policy aimed merely at substituting the despotism
of princes for the despotism of bishops, as being stricter and more
effectual. Lastly—the end crowns the work—if the Genevans resist, they
shall be conquered, and all their power and property confiscated. In
this manner, concludes the advocate of these revolutionary measures, the
rights of his master will be for ever secured. This is what Geneva had
to expect from Savoy; what had it to hope from the bishop?
Pierre de la Baume, indignant at the duke's pretensions, had said to him
one day proudly: 'I am subject only to the pope.'[484] He had lately
softened down, in appearance at least, and was drawing nearer to Savoy,
so that the Genevans said: 'Our prince is reconciled with our
enemy.'[485] We are now transported into quite another sphere. If the
duke wished to reign by force, the bishop desired to use stratagem. The
pastor of Geneva was not in a position to build a fortress in the middle
of the city; it was by means of negotiations and intrigues that he would
crush the Reformation and liberty. The lion was succeeded by the
serpent. Pierre de la Baume, knowing the influence Besançon Hugues had
over his fellow-citizens, solicited his help. He wrote to him, during
the last year of Besançon's life, a series of letters we have also had
the good fortune to discover.[486] The bishop and the citizen of Geneva
were not such good friends as they had been. The former addressed many
reproaches to the latter, either because Hugues was dissatisfied on
political grounds, or perhaps because his catholicism had cooled down a
little in his frequent interviews with the reformed of Berne.
[Sidenote: THE BISHOP'S SECRETARY IN GENEVA.]
On the 11th of April 1532, the bishop, then at Arbois, impatient to
recover his former power in Geneva, resolved to open the campaign, and
wrote to Hugues: 'Besançon, I have always done for you everything that I
could; you have seen it by the results; I do not speak to reproach you,
but I am astonished that you should requite me so ill. If you had as
good an affection for me, as I have given you opportunity, you would
have _barked_ (aboyé) so well, that my authority would not have fallen
to its present depression, and I should not have the trouble, which I
must take, of restoring it. I well know the excuses that you can
make.... None is so deaf as he that will not hear. Nevertheless I have
trusted in you, and I still trust in your well-known fidelity. So act, I
pray, that I may have cause to continue it. In a little time I shall
send one of my people to Geneva on business; you will hear the rest from
him. I pray God that He will give you, Besançon, all that you
desire.'[487] Ten days later, Machard, the bishop's secretary, came from
Arbois to Geneva, charged with a political mission, and bearer of
another letter for Hugues, which, either on account of the delicate
matters to which it related, or because Machard was to explain them
verbally, is rather obscure. Hugues hastened to read the prelate's
missive: 'I send my secretary,' said De la Baume, 'on certain business,
which I have instructed him to communicate to you first. You will give
credit to what he says in my name as if I said it myself. I desire that
the affair in question may come to a good end, in order to gratify the
princes from whom it proceeds (the emperor and the duke, no doubt). Set
a willing hand to it, so that there may be friendly relations between me
and my subjects and the said princes, which is a thing of no trifling
consequence to all the republic.'
Hugues did not care to enter into the plans formed by the bishop in
accord with the princes; so that when Machard returned to Arbois and
made his report, his master was much annoyed. He complained of the
excessive boldness and strange insubordination of the Genevans, and
wrote bitterly to the ex-syndic. 'Besançon,' he said, 'the news that you
have given me of Berne are a little compensation for the insolence and
ill practices that you and my subjects show towards my officers,
usurping my jurisdiction under the shelter of certain words that you
have uttered before the general council.... I intend to uphold this same
jurisdiction in opposition to you.... Indeed I have done so against
greater folks.... I hope that you will return to your duty and become my
subjects once more. That will give me the opportunity of being a good
master. Otherwise do not trust to me.... Matters shall not remain where
you have left them. Communicate this to my subjects, if need be.'
[Sidenote: THE BISHOP'S ANGER.]
The bishop was angry with Geneva, as this letter shows—sometimes more,
sometimes less, but always restless and agitated. One day he was told of
something Hugues had said which delighted him; not long after he would
hear of something the Genevans had done that increased his anger. About
the 13th May when he was informed that Hugues had displayed a very good
feeling towards him, the prelate was quite delighted, and wrote to him:
'I have been informed of your intention to declare everywhere the wrong
that my subjects are doing me. You will show me, I hope, by good
actions, when I shall require it of you, that you are not a man of _two
words_.' But ere long other tidings reached the bishop. He was filled
with trouble, fear, and pain; and gave way to all the emotions of a
restless and suspicious policy. He had fits of anger; he became rash,
violent; then he would suddenly collapse; he had neither strength,
feeling, nor courage. In general, however, it was indignation that
prevailed in him. Not one of his officers or of the canons (for there
was a collegiate church at Arbois) understood him, or consoled him, or
encouraged him. He was alone ... and vented his agitation in his
apartments or in his gardens. 'I think the answers made by my subjects
very strange,' he said, 'I should be sorry to be angry with them.'[488]
A few days later he wrote: 'I am quite amazed.... It seems that my
subjects do not understand their business.... If they do not mend, I
shall be forced to proceed in another way ... which will displease
me.... It seems to me that they would do well to obey their lord, and
not act the prince.... It cannot last.'[489]
[Sidenote: LETTER TO HUGUES.]
But it did last. Geneva, where they were listening to Olivetan, where
they were placarding everywhere, by the side of the pardon of Rome, 'the
great general pardon' of Jesus Christ, where the council unanimously
ordered the Gospel to be preached 'according to the truth, without any
mixture of fable;'[490]—Geneva, whatever Pierre de la Baume might say or
do, was separating from the bishop and the pope. On the 3d September
(1532), the bishop, more exasperated than ever, wrote again to Besançon
Hugues, but with an increase of ill-humour. 'I am displeased with the
way my subjects treat me from day to day, declaring that they will rise
against my authority.... That will last as long as it can.... I have
always been long-suffering; but now it would be better for me to be
angry.... If I attempt to do anything from which the Genevans will reap
neither pleasure nor profit ... they must not be surprised.... Certainly
I have little to thank my servants or my friends for serving me so
badly.... I think, Besançon, that you desire what is right, but I should
like to see the fruits. The people always find excuses in you.... They
say that I have allowed their proceedings.... I do not understand that
_dance_, and I affirm that I said nothing with that intention, from
which may God keep them.
'THE BISHOP OF GENEVA.'[491]
It was reported at Geneva that the bishop was willing to make some
concessions, that he had said so privately, and the huguenots took
advantage of it to assert their independence. On the 28th November
Pierre de la Baume wrote to Besançon Hugues from the Tour de Mai:
'Besançon, I have seen what you wrote touching the mode of proceeding
against my authority and to the detriment of my church. I know whence
that comes ... except that I have always been given to understand that,
according to the common opinion, my subjects would have been much better
guided and would have obeyed me better than they have done, if you had
been willing to set your hand to it, as you had promised me,
endeavouring to procure the peace of the city, which suffers the
greatest loss on my part. As to what you write about being under my
displeasure, the only regret I feel as regards you is that you have not
been willing to do what you promised. The recompense I made you was to
the end that you might keep my possessions in peace, but they are more
than ever in war. It is entirely your fault if my jurisdiction is not
still kept up. I write to you in order that you may perform your
duty.... You will do me a pleasure: I would not have so many words to be
without result.... As for me I am accustomed to do _something
vigorously_.... _I shall consider what it must be._'
Such are the threatening words which close the correspondence of Pierre
de la Baume with Besançon Hugues. Until now all traces of this great
citizen had been lost after the 26th September 1532. If the letter we
have just given belongs to this year, that limit would be shortened by
two months. He must have died between the 28th November 1532 and the
18th February 1533.[492]
Thus the bishop, continually engrossed with Geneva, thought of nothing
but recovering his former power. But the independence of that city had
enemies more formidable still. Charles V. had ordered the Genevans to
drive the Reformation from their walls. 'Full of anxiety for your soul's
health,' he wrote to them, 'and learning that certain new opinions and
sects are beginning to swarm among you,[493] we exhort you seriously not
to admit them, to extirpate them, and to set about it with the utmost
diligence, not to permit anything to be taught among you in the
leastwise opposed to the decrees and traditions of your ancestors; on
the contrary, to preserve with unshaken constancy the faith, rites, and
ceremonies that you have received from your fathers. You will thus
receive a worthy reward from Almighty God, and will merit from us every
sort of gratitude.' Geneva had not obeyed the orders of the puissant
emperor. The affairs of Germany had at first prevented him from
constraining the little city to follow his sovereign orders, which even
the barbarous tribes of the new world obeyed. But now the treaty of
Nuremberg was signed; Charles having come to terms with the protestants
of Germany might easily keep the promise he had made to his
brother-in-law through Bellegarde, and assist him against the huguenots
of Geneva.
[Sidenote: FREEDOM IN SIGHT.]
The perfidious murderer of Levrier was beginning to hope that it would
be possible to found a stronghold in Geneva, with its ditches and lofty
walls, flanked with towers and bastions, and a strong garrison of
halberdiers, arquebusiers, and artillerymen, who would keep the city and
country in complete subjection under the yoke of their master. When
Gessler was sent in the name of Austria to destroy the liberties of the
Swiss, did he not build a fortress above Altorf—_Zwing-Uri_, the yoke of
Uri? and had not the free children of those mountains to atone for the
smallest sparks of independence by long and costly imprisonment in
gloomy dungeons? Had not Pharaoh set the example in Egypt?... Why should
not they do the same to subdue the huguenots? Fortresses, cannons,
arquebusses, chains ... this was what Geneva had to expect. Before any
great length of time the Genevans were really to see a formidable force
marching against them, commissioned to carry out the plans of the
emperor and the duke. But God's providence had always kept the city, and
at this very moment a new force, the pledge of liberty, was about to be
given it. The Gospel of the Son of God was about to enter its walls. But
_he whom the Son maketh free, shall be free indeed_.
[480] We have found among the archives at Turin (No. 49, bundle 12) the
_Mémoire de M. de Bellegarde au sujet de l'audience qu'il a eue de
S.M. Impériale touchant les différends que S. A. avait avec ceux de
Genève_. This manuscript of about 25 pages has supplied us with the
particulars in the text.
[481] The name is illegible in the manuscript, but it looks like
_Conmes_.
[482] Is the Reformation or union with Switzerland meant here? probably
both of them.
[483] MS. _Memoir of Bellegarde_, Turin Archives.
[484] Turin Archives, No. 19, bundle 12.
[485] Ibid. 12th category, bundle 3.
[486] Ibid. 12th category, bundle 4. The handwriting is almost as
illegible as that of Bellegarde's memoir.
[487] Turin Archives.
[488] Letter dated the eve of Pentecost.
[489] Dated 1st July.
[490] Vol. II. book III. chap. xv. pp. 615-634.
[491] Turin Archives.
[492] In a document at Basle under the latter date, the _late_
(feu) Besançon Hugues is mentioned. Galiffe, _Hugues_, p. 459.
[493] 'Novas quasdam opiniones et sectas apud vos pullulare
cœpisse.'—Turin Archives. We found this letter, which appears to have
been hitherto unknown, in the national archives at Turin. Geneva, bundle
12, No. 47.