FORMATION OF A CATHOLIC CONSPIRACY.
(LENT, 1533.)
Evangelical zeal was the occasion of the persecution. Its enemies were
angered; they could not understand the inappreciable life then
fermenting among their people. If a meeting was suppressed in one house,
it was held in another. 'They could not find any remedy against this.'
One, however, offered itself. A dominican monk, an inquisitor of the
Faith, had just arrived in Geneva. 'He is a great orator,' was the
report in the city, 'a fervent catholic, just the opposite of Bocquet.'
He had come to preach the Lent sermons in the greyfriar's stead, and
everybody hoped he would repair the evil the other had done. 'Deliver us
from this heresy,' said the heads of the Dominicans to him. The monk,
flattered by this confidence and proud of his mission, prepared a fine
discourse, and the next day or the next but one after Guerin's departure
he went into the pulpit. St. Dominic's church was crowded, and a good
many evangelicals, including Olivetan, were present. After a short
introduction the monk began with loud voice and ardent zeal to decry the
Bible, to abuse the heretics,[637] and to exalt the pope. 'He uttered
without restraint all that came into his head.' 'I will blacken them
so,' he had said, 'that they shall never be washed clean.'
[Sidenote: OLIVETAN BANISHED FROM GENEVA.]
Great was the excitement among the huguenots. 'If any one of us is so
bold as to move his lips,' they said, 'such a little liberty makes our
masters bawl out like madmen; but they are allowed to pour out their
poison and infect the world with it.' Olivetan, who was present during
the sermon, could hardly contain himself, but as soon as it was ended,
he got upon a bench, thinking it would be wrong of him not to make the
truth known. 'Master,' he said, 'I desire to show you honestly from
Scripture where you have erred in your discourse.' These words created
great astonishment. What! a layman presume to teach the Church.... The
priests and some of their creatures surrounded Olivetan, abused him,
pushed him off the bench, and would have beaten him. 'Whereupon up came
Claude Bernard, Jean Chautemps, and others, who took their friend away
from the monks and people who desired to kill him.'... But he did not
escape so easily: the council sentenced him to banishment, without
hearing or appeal. Everyone regretted him: 'He was a man,' they said,
'of such learning, godly life and conversation!' Olivetan was forced to
leave. Geneva, suffering under a violent commotion, cast off the
evangelists one after another, as the sea casts up the fragments of a
wreck.[638]
The clerical party was beginning to doubt whether these banishments were
enough.... When Farel was expelled, Froment appeared; when Froment had
got away, Guerin presided over a Lutheran sacrament; when Guerin had
been obliged to make his escape, Olivetan got upon a bench in the church
and publicly contradicted an inquisitor! He too was gone, but others
would not fail to come forward.... Canon Wernli, equerry De Pesmes, the
bold Thomas Moine, and other catholic chiefs, thought that an end should
be put to this state of things. The reformed saw the danger that
threatened them. Baudichon de la Maisonneuve consulted with his friend
Claude Salomon. They argued that as Friburg desired to enslave their
consciences, they ought to apply to Berne to deliver them. Salomon
wished to consult the Genevese councillors favourable to the Reform.
'No,' said Baudichon, 'let us ask nobody's opinion; let us do the
business alone. Which of the council would join us? John Philippe, John
Lullin, Michael Sept, Stephen of Chapeaurouge, Francis Favre, Claude
Roset? True, they are all friends of independence, but they have an
official position. If we apply to them, we shall only compromise them.
We are at liberty to expose our own lives, but not those of our friends.
Let us go to Berne alone.' Nevertheless two magistrates, Domaine d'Arlod
and Claude Bernard, were informed of their intention. They were
embarrassed, for they knew that such a step might cost the lives of
those who ventured it. The courage of the two patriots affected them.
'We believe we are following God's will,' said Maisonneuve. 'In that
case,' replied Arlod, 'we shall give you no instructions either verbal
or written, we shall only say: _Do whatsoever God shall inspire you to
do_.' It was with these words, recorded in the registers, that the two
Genevans departed for Berne.[639]
[Sidenote: BERNE AND LIBERTY OF WORSHIP.]
As soon as they arrived, they appeared before the council and explained
how the clergy were endeavouring to stifle the germs of faith in their
birth. The Bernese did not hesitate: greatly irritated by the violence
which the Genevans had used towards Farel,[640] in despite of their
letters of recommendation, they made answer that they would do
everything to support the Gospel in Geneva.
On the 25th of March the council of Geneva met. There was evidently
something new: many of the members wore an anxious look; others appeared
cheerful. Du Crest, the premier syndic, a man devoted to the Romish
Church, announced with an air of consternation, that he had just
received a letter from Berne in which the council of Geneva was severely
reprimanded. In truth, the Bernese did not mince matters: they
complained of the violence done to Farel and the persecution organised
in Geneva against the evangelical faith. 'We are surprised,' they said,
'that in your city the faith in Jesus Christ and those who seek it are
so molested.... You will not suffer the Word of God to be freely
proclaimed, and banish those who preach it.'[641]
This letter troubled the council. 'If we concede what Berne demands,'
they said, 'the priests will get up fresh disturbances. If we refuse,
Berne will break off the alliance, and the reformed will revolt.'
Whichever way they turned, danger seemed to threaten them. 'So that they
knew not what answer to give,' adds the register. Almost all of them
were enraged against Maisonneuve and Salomon. They were brought before
the council and confessed that they had gone to Berne and had solicited
the letter which had been sent. Upon this several mamelukes called out
'treason;' but the consciences of these two noble citizens bore witness
that they had served the cause of liberty and justice. They remained
firm, and the council, being disturbed and undecided, adjourned to the
next day the question of what was to be done.[642]
The agitation spread from the council-room to the chapter-house and into
the city. Everyone spoke about Berne's demand of full liberty for the
gospel. The canons, priests, and most devout of the laity were unanimous
for refusing; the daring Thomas Moine became the soul of this movement.
They resolved, upon his proposition, to intimidate the council and
obtain from it the total suppression of the evangelical meetings.
Forthwith the most zealous of the party went into the city and visited
from house to house.[643] At the same time Moine got a few of his
friends together and proposed to go to the council in a body: their
numbers, he doubted not, would overawe the syndics, and the catholics
would obtain their demands. This measure was resolved upon, and the
meeting fixed for the morrow.
[Sidenote: PROTEST OF THE TWO HUNDRED.]
Next day, when the council met, they were told that a considerable
number of citizens desired an audience. They were admitted, to the
number of about two hundred, including Thomas Moine, B. Faulchon,
François du Crest, Percival de Pesmes, and Andrew Maillard: their
countenances bore the mark of violent passions. 'Most honoured lords,'
said Moine, who was a clever speaker, 'notwithstanding the edict which
bids us live like brothers, many persons are endeavouring to sow
disorder and dissension among us. Some of them have gone to Berne, and
the lords of that place have written you a letter which disturbs all the
city.... Who are those guilty men who go and denounce their country to
the foreigner? Were they deputed by the council? What instructions did
they receive? What answer did they bring you? We beg to be informed on
these matters. We wish to know them, and whether anything has been done
tending to the ruin of the republic.'
The premier-syndic, amazed at such a speech, begged Moine and his
friends to retire, and the embarrassed council determined to
procrastinate.
'We will do everything in the world to bring this difficult matter
to a happy conclusion,' they answered. 'We will assemble the Sixty,
the Two Hundred, the heads of families, even the general council, if
necessary ... the whole republic. Rest content with this promise.'
'We have been deputed,' answered Moine, 'to demand that you should
produce before us those who went to Berne. We will not leave this room
until we have seen them. If you do not summon them, we will go and fetch
them.'
On hearing these words the council grew alarmed. What a disturbance and
what violence there would be in the council-chamber if the two huguenots
should appear before these excited catholics!... The syndics replied
that they would return an answer. This procrastination put the mamelukes
beside themselves. It was not Moine alone who protested: the two hundred
who surrounded him raised their hands and shouted in menacing tones:
'Justice, justice! Let us keep our promise to Messieurs of Friburg—that
Geneva would preserve the faith of its fathers.' The alarmed syndics
endeavoured by exceeding gentleness of manner (says a manuscript) to
appease the tumult; and the two hundred discontented catholics returned
to their homes with haughty look and resolute air. 'If the council
haggles any more,' they said, 'we will do ourselves justice!' In the
city, men said: 'We thought the catholics decrepid, downcast, asleep, or
dead ... but they are opening their heavy eyes; their strength is
returning, and the swift-flying vultures are about to pounce upon their
prey.'[644]
In fact, two of the syndics, and several councillors, with other laymen
of the catholic party and some priests, went into the city, and
endeavoured to persuade all they met to enter into the plot formed
against the Gospel. They told them that there was nothing to be expected
from the council. 'If the faith of our fathers is to stand, by our own
hands it must be supported,' they said. 'Hold yourselves in readiness to
march against the Lutherans.'
[Sidenote: AGITATION AGAINST THE LUTHERANS.]
The _Lutherans_, they said. It was indeed the Reformation that was then
stirring up all the wrath of the clerical party. Some of its members, no
doubt, hated liberty as much as the Gospel; but most of the catholics
would have tolerated the ancient franchises of the people. The point on
which they were all agreed was an unquenchable opposition to that new
doctrine which they called _Lutheranism_, Luther being in their opinion
its great apostle. This Lutheranism was fundamentally what was
afterwards named Calvinism, for Luther and Calvin were one in the great
evangelical principles. All the reformers preached in the sixteenth
century, in Europe, and particularly at Geneva, that the pure grace of
God was the only power of eternal salvation, and that the Church was
composed of all those who possessed true faith, and not of those who
slavishly adhered to a dominating hierarchy. The doctrines of
Lutheranism and of the Reform[645] might differ, in regard to certain
abstract questions, as touching the finite and the infinite, for
instance: Lutheranism might put in bolder relief the _immanence_ of God,
while the Reform inclined towards his _transcendance_, to use the
language of philosophers and theologians; but they were and they are
agreed in all that is essential; and it was these living doctrines that
a powerful party was endeavouring to expel from Geneva.
[Sidenote: SECRET PLOTS.]
On Thursday night the canons, priests, and chief 'partisans of the papal
religion,' as Wernli, De Pesmes, Moine, and their friends, met in the
vicar-episcopal's great hall. They arrived one after another, most of
them armed to the teeth, and breathing vengeance: the room was soon
filled, and many stood in the courtyard. Their intention was carefully
to arrange the plot that was to free them from the Reform. Some
huguenots, informed of the conspiracy, drew near to watch their
adversaries. The circumstances, the tumultuous crisis that was
approaching, the interests to be discussed, the violent passions with
which the two parties were animated, the late hour at which this
conference was held—all combined to render it a solemn one. Men's minds
became clouded, and certain huguenots of ardent imagination, who gazed
at a distance upon the walls behind which these plotters were assembled,
indulging in fantastic visions, fancied they saw the furies, torch in
hand, stirring up discord;[646] but they were merely monks clad in their
long robes, and holding the torches with which the hall was lighted. At
length the proceedings began.[647] Some of the speakers represented that
the number of rebels increased daily; that the sacerdotal authority
decreased proportionately; and that if things were allowed to go on so,
ere long nobody would take any account of the Church. 'Let us not lower
ourselves to dispute with heretics. Let us not wait for help from the
magistrates. The Council of Sixty is about to meet, but they will
hesitate just like the ordinary council. Those bodies are too weak; we
must act without the government; we are the strongest. If it comes to
fighting, the defenders of catholicism will be ten, perhaps twenty, to
one. When the evangelists are conquered, we will invite the bishop back,
who will return with all the banished mamelukes, and inflict on the
rebels the punishment they deserve. Geneva, preserved from the
Reformation, will no longer be able to spread it through the surrounding
countries, and will be in future ages the support of the papacy. Let us
execute justice for ourselves; let us fly to arms, ring the tocsin, draw
the sword, and call upon the faithful to march against those _dogs_, and
make a striking example of the two traitors who went to Berne. Let us
kill all who are called Lutherans, without sparing one;[648] which will
be doing God a good service. We are assured of the bishop's pardon: his
lordship has already sent us the pardons in blank. At the sound of the
great bell, let everyone go armed to the Molard, and let the city gates
be shut, so that nobody may escape.' This is what was said in the
vicar-episcopal's house. The leaders agreed upon the place of meeting,
the number of the armed bands, the names of those who should command
them, and the manner in which the reformed should be attacked;
everything was arranged. The assembly applauded; the conspirators,
raising their hands, bound themselves by a solemn oath to execute the
plan and to secresy;[649] after which they retired to take a brief
repose. The festival of Easter was approaching: more than two centuries
before, the Sicilian Vespers had filled Palermo and all Sicily with
massacre; the enemies of the Reformation in Geneva desired also to
celebrate the same festival with rivers of blood.
The Council of Sixty met the next day (Friday, 28th March 1533). Never
perhaps was there a body more divided. When the catholics demanded that
the promise made to Friburg should be kept, the huguenots represented
that if the council decided in favour of the Romanist party, not only
would the bishop resume his former power, but that having seen the
Reform on the brink of triumphing, he would throw himself into the arms
of Savoy, as the only power capable of saving the Roman faith. The
council, placed between these two fierce currents, remained in its usual
indecision, and declared in favour of neither. This was just what the
leaders of the Romanist party expected. Everything was prepared for
carrying out the _conspiracy_ (to use Froment's word) which had been
planned the night before.[650]
[Sidenote: THE PARTIES ASSEMBLE.]
The cathedral had been selected as the place of meeting. The first who
entered it was the valiant canon, Peter Wernli. He was armed from head
to foot, and advanced into the sanctuary as a general goes to battle.
Wernli handled the sword as well as his brother, who was a captain in
the service of the king of France. Gifted with the strength of a
Hercules or a Samson, he designed, like the first, to drive Cerberus out
of the city; and like the second, to pull down the pillars of the
temple. He said to those who had gathered round him in St. Pierre's: 'We
will cut off the heads of those who went to Berne and of all their
friends.' Three hundred armed canons and priests came after him, and
then a great number of their lay followers. 'The Lutherans threaten us,'
said some of these angry citizens; 'they want to rob the churches and
convents.' Such a tale could not fail to excite their minds still more.
The huguenots, informed of the plot arranged at the vicar-general's, and
observing the catholics making ready for the attack, saw at once that
their first act would be to seize Baudichon de la Maisonneuve, on
account of his journey to Berne, and inflict on him the fate of
Berthelier and Levrier. They therefore assembled to the number of sixty
around their friend to defend his life at the price of their blood. Some
of Moine's partisans went to inform the assemblage at St. Pierre's that
they had seen several persons enter Maisonneuve's house.
This information was a signal of battle to the conspirators. 'Forward!'
they cried: 'let us go and attack them!' Two catholics, friends of
peace, who happened to be in the church (B. Faulchon and Girardin de la
Rive), fearing a civil war, ran to the council. 'Both parties are under
arms,' they said; 'some at St. Pierre's, others at Baudichon's: the
first are preparing to march down against their opponents.... Should
they do so, there will be a great disturbance:[651] look you to it.' The
council, suspending all other business, ordered the four syndics to
proceed with the badges of their office, first to St. Pierre's (for the
aggressors were there), and next to Maisonneuve's, and command both
parties to return immediately to their homes.[652]
The task was a difficult one, but the four magistrates did not hesitate
to undertake it. Preceded by their ushers they entered the cathedral,
with the syndical staff in their hands. At the sight of them the crowd
grew calm. 'We desire to know,' said the premier-syndic, 'the cause of
this meeting.' The assembly answered with one voice: 'We are going to
fight the Lutherans who are assembled in the Rue des Allemands. They are
always keeping us in fear, and we must put an end to it. We can no
longer endure such a pest in the city.... They are worse than the
Turks.'[653]
[Sidenote: VANDEL WOUNDED.]
At this moment two of the reformed, uneasy as to what might happen,
approached the cathedral, and mounting the steps before the porch, stood
there some time, peeping into the church, undecided whether they should
enter. The priests and mamelukes perceiving them, exclaimed: 'Look at
the wicked wretches, they are come to spy the christians!' At last, with
more zeal than prudence, the two evangelicals entered. They were J.
Goulaz and P. Vandel, the latter a man of twenty-six, who had adopted
the Reform, but always retained a great affection for his old catholic
friends.[654] Addressing the syndics with great mildness, he said: 'Pray
put an end to this disturbance, lest worse should come of it.' When the
mamelukes heard his words, they became angry and drew their swords to
strike the two huguenots. Portier, the episcopal secretary, a violent
and fanatical man, seeing Vandel, exclaimed: 'How is it that you are
here, traitor!' Several of them rushed upon Vandel, threw him to the
ground, and trampled on him; Portier, drawing his dagger (_sanguidede_)
and seizing the young man 'in a cowardly manner by the back,' (says the
Council Register) stabbed him near the left shoulder, intending to kill
him. Vandel lay seriously wounded on the pavement of the cathedral 'with
great effusion of blood.'[655]
A crowd of priests immediately gathered round him and began to lament
loudly, not because a man had been stabbed, but because blood had
defiled the temple. 'Never after was bell rung or divine service
performed in that church, or even in the other churches, because the
mother-church was closed, until it was purified by My lord the
suffragan,' says Sister Jeanne.
Goulaz, it is reported, seeing his friend on the ground, ran off to the
evangelicals and told them all. Some of them, notwithstanding the danger
which they incurred, proceeded to the cathedral, and obtained the
syndics' permission to carry Vandel away. They removed him to
Baudichon's house, where they got him to bed. A few huguenots
constituted themselves his nurses, and as they looked on their pale and
blood-stained friend, they asked one another what would happen next.
[637] Lutheranos proscindentem.'—Turretini MS.
[638] Froment, _Gestes_, p. 49.—Gautier MS.
[639] Council Registers, 20th March, 1533.—Gautier MS.
[640] 'Violentia qua in Farellum sævitum.'—Spanheim, _Geneva
restit._ p. 57.
[641] Letter from Berne, 20th March, 1533.—MS. Archives of Geneva, No.
1090.
[642] Council Registers, 25th March, 1533.—Gautier MS.
[643] 'Accendunt clerici plebem sibi obnoxiam.'—Spanheim, _Geneva
restit._ p. 57.
[644] Council Registers, 26th March, 1533.—Gautier MS.; Roset
_Chron._ liv. ii. ch. ix.
[645] The word Reform is applied exclusively to the Franco-Helvetic or
Calvinistic portion of the Reformation.
[646] 'Nocte furiis facibusque strenue a clero subditis.'—Spanheim,
_Geneva restit._
[647] Froment, _Gestes_, p. 51.
[648] Froment, _Gestes_, p. 51.
[649] 'Solenni sacramento.'—Spanheim, _Geneva restit._
[650] Froment, _Gestes_, p. 50.—Roset MS., _Chron._ liv. ii.
ch. x.—Gautier MS.
[651] The register has the word _ovaille_ (ovallium), Council
Registers, 28th March, 1533.
[652] Roset MS. _Chron._ liv. ii. ch. x.—Gautier MS. Council Register
_ad diem_. La Sœur de Jussie, _Le Levain du Calvinisme_, p. 51.
[653] _Le Levain du Calvinisme_, p. 51.
[654] Galiffe, _Notices généalogiques de Genève_, I. p. 80.
[655] La Sœur de Jussie, _Le Levain du Calvinisme_, p. 52.—Froment,
_Gestes de Genève_, pp. 50-51.