J. H. Merle D'Aubigné - History of the Reformation in Europe in the Time of Calvin (Vol. 1-8)

=ALEXANDER TORTURED.=

It was the custom to deliver sentence in the absence of the accused, and to inform him of it in the Conciergerie through a clerk of the criminal office. The idea occurred of pronouncing it in Alexander's presence; perhaps in his terror he might ask for some alleviation, and by this means they might extort a confession. But all was useless. The court made a great display, and a crowd of spectators increased the solemnity, to no purpose: Alexander Canus, of Evreux, in Normandy, was condemned to be burnt alive. A flash of joy suddenly lit up his face. 'Truly,' said the spectators, 'is he more joyful than he was before!' 582

The priests now came forward to perform the sacerdotal degradation. 'If you utter a word,' they told him, 'you will have your tongue cut out.'—'The practice of cutting off the tongue,' adds the historian, 'began that year.' The priests took off his sacerdotal dress, shaved his head, and went through all the usual mysteries . During this ceremony Alexander uttered not a word; only at one of the absurdities of the priests he let a smile escape him. They dressed him in the robe de fol —a garment of coarse cloth, such as was worn by the poorer peasantry. When the pious martyr caught sight of it, he exclaimed, 'O God, is there any greater honour than to receive this day the livery which thy Son received in the house of Herod?' 583

A cart, generally used to carry mud or dust, was brought to the front of the building. Some Dominicans, his former brethren, got into it along with the humble christian, and all proceeded towards the Place Maubert. As the cart moved but slowly, Alexander, standing up, leant over towards the people, and 'scattered the seed of the Gospel with both hands.' Many persons, moved even to tears, exclaimed that they were putting him to death wrongfully; but the Dominicans pulled him by his gown, and annoyed him in every way. At first he paid no attention to this; but when one of the monks said to him coarsely: 'Either recant, or hold your tongue,' Alexander turned round and said to him with firmness: 'I will not renounce Jesus Christ.... Depart from me, ye deceivers of the people!'

At last they reached the front of the scaffold. While the executioners were making the final preparations, Alexander, observing some lords and ladies in the crowd, with common people, monks, and several of his friends, asked permission to address a few words to them. An ecclesiastical dignitary, a chanter of the Sainte Chapelle, carrying a long staff, presided over the clerical part of the ceremony, and he gave his consent. Then, seized with a holy enthusiasm, Alexander confessed, 'with great vehemence and vivacity of mind,' 584the Saviour whom he loved so much, and for whom he was condemned to die. 'Yes,' he exclaimed, 'Jesus, our only Redeemer, suffered death to ransom us to God his Father. I have said it, and I say it again, O ye christians who stand around me, pray to God that, as his son Jesus Christ died for me, he will give me grace to die now for him.'

=ALEXANDER'S TRIUMPHANT DEATH.=

Having thus spoken, he said to the executioner: 'Proceed.' The officers of justice approached, they bound him to the pile and set it on fire. The wood crackled, the flames rose, and Alexander, his eyes upraised to heaven, exclaimed: 'O Jesus Christ, have pity on me! O Saviour, receive my soul!' He saw the glory of God; by faith he discerned Jesus in heaven, who received him into his kingdom. 'My Redeemer!' he repeated, 'O my Redeemer!' At last his voice was silent. The people wept; the executioners said to one another: 'What a strange criminal!' and even the monks asked: 'If this man is not saved, who will be?' Many beat their breasts, and said: 'A great wrong has been done to that man!' And as the spectators separated, they went away thinking: 'It is wonderful how these people suffer themselves to be burnt in defence of their faith.' 585

The Romish party having obtained this satisfaction, the political party thought only of overthrowing popery in one of the states of Germany, and of paving the way for its decline in the kingdom of St. Louis.

551Crespin, Martyrologue , fol. 111.

552Théod. de Bèze, Hist. Eccl. i. p. 9.

553Crespin, Martyrologue , fol. 107 verso.

554The words reform and reformed apply especially to the religious movement in France.

555Crévier, Hist. de l'Université de Paris v. p. 278.

556'Hos Beda vellet incendio tradere.'—Myconius to Bullinger, Ep. Helvet. Ref. p. 121, 8vo.

557'Edictum, omnem qui duobus testibus convinceretur lutheranus, statim exurendum esse.'—Bucer to Blaarer, Strasburg MSS.

558'Res erit non absimilis inquisitioni Hispaniæ.'—Ibid.

559'Nunc circa trecentos Parisiis jam captos.'—Bucer to Blaarer, Strasburg MSS.

560His letters are preserved in the Seminary at Strasburg.

561'Tum coegit Bedam ut privatim cum eis congredi oporteret.'—Letter of Oswald Myconius, Ep. Helvet. Ref. p. 121.

562'Pessime enim nugas suas ad scripturas Dei adhibuit.'—Ibid.

563'Inscitiam suam ostendere, quod et ei cessit in magnam ignominiam.'—Ibid.

564'Beda conjectus est in carcerem, accusatus criminis læsæ majestatis.'—Cop to Bucer, Strasb. MSS. See also H. de Coste, p. 77. Schmidt, p. 106.

565 Lettres de la Reine de Navarre , i. p. 299.

566'Prorsus liberatus est theologorum calumniis, ac decreto regis absolutus.'—Cop to Bucer, Strasburg MSS.

567'Quo multi commoti sunt et perturbati.'—Cop to Bucer, Strasburg MSS.

568Froment, Actes et Gestes de Genève , p. 76.—The Mint was near the present railway station.

569Crespin, Martyrologue , fol. 106.

570Froment, Actes et Gestes , p. 74.

571Ibid.

572Froment, Actes et Gestes , p. 75.

573Ibid. p. 74.

574Coste, Hist. de Le Picard , p. 46; Schmidt, Mémoires de Roussel , p. 107.

575Crespin, Martyrologue , fol. 106.

576Froment, Actes et Gestes , p. 75.

577 Actes et Gestes , p. 75.

578Froment, Actes et Gestes , p. 75.

579Ibid.

580Crespin, Martyrologue , fol. 107.

581Crespin, Martyrologue , fol. 107.

582Ibid.

583Crespin, Martyrologue , fol. 107. Froment, Actes et Gestes , p. 76.

584Ibid.

585Crespin, Martyrologue , fol. 107 verso. Froment, Actes et Gestes , p. 78.

Table of Contents

THE idea of correcting the errors of the Church without changing its government was not new in France. By the Pragmatic Sanction in 1269, St. Louis had founded the liberties of the Gallican Church; and the great idea of reform had been widely spread since the time of the council of Constance (1414), of Clemengis, and of Gerson. The two Du Bellays, with many priests, scholars, and noblemen, thought it was the only means of calming down the agitations of christendom, and Margaret of Valois had made it the great business of her life.

=INTERVIEW OF DU BELLAY AND BUCER.=

William du Bellay, on his way back from Augsburg, where he had delivered such noble speeches in favour of the protestant dukes of Wurtemberg, had stopped at Strasburg, and had several meetings with the pacific Bucer. His success in Germany, his conversations with the evangelical princes and doctors, who took him for as sound a protestant as themselves, had filled him with hope. In no place could those who desired to take a middle course meet with more sympathy than at Strasburg; there was quite a system of compromises there with the Swiss and with Luther; why not with Rome also? 'Since Luther will not give way in anything,' Bucer had said, 'I will accommodate myself to his terminology; only I will avoid every expression that may indicate a too local and too gross presence of the body of Christ in the bread.' 586Accordingly Bucer, with his pious and moderate friends Capito, Hedio, and Zell, received the diplomatic mediator with great pleasure. They retired to the reformer's library, where Du Bellay explained his great project with all the seriousness of a man convinced. 'It is a greater work,' he said to Bucer, 'than this union of Zwinglians and Lutherans which has hitherto been your sole and constant occupation. We wish to effect a fusion between catholicism and the Reformation. We shall maintain the unity of the former; we shall uphold the truth of the latter.' Du Bellay's plan was at bottom, we see, the same as Leibnitz endeavoured to get Bossuet and Louis XIV. to accept. Bucer was in ecstasies: it was what he had sought so long; the diplomatist appeared to him as if surrounded with a halo of glory. And hence he often said: 'If the Lord would raise up many men like this hero , the kingdom of Christ would soon come out of the pit.' 587According to Bucer, Du Bellay was meditating a very perilous but still a great enterprise: it was a labour worthy of Hercules.... The counsellor of the King of France was satisfied to find the great pacificator agreeing with him, and hastened to Paris, flattering himself that he would gain a victory more striking than that of Francis I. at Marignan, or of Charles V. at Pavia.