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

'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.

801'Et in domos et toros grassabantur.'— Geneva Restituda , p. 21.

802'Vix ac ne vix tot admissariorum prurentium ardores arceri poterant.'—Ibid.

803'Pro cerebro Petri pumex repertus.'—Ibid. See also Calvin's Inventaire des Reliques .

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.

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.

806'In exactionibus harpias, ad superbiendum tauros, ad consumendum minotauros.'— Geneva Restituta , p. 28.

807'Leur serait comptée pour deux.'—Registres du Conseil des 4 et 9 janvier 1530.

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.

809Registres du Conseil de Genève du 23 mai 1529. Journal de Balard , p. 229.

810Registres du Conseil des 23 et 24 mai 1529. Journal de Balard , pp. 331-336. Gautier MS.

811Registres 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.

812Archives de Turin, Correspondance romaine; Dépêches du 12 juillet 1529 et du 23 décembre 1530. Gaberel, Pièces Justificatives , p. 31.

813Archives de Turin, première catégorie, p. 11, nᵒ 63. Gaberel, i. p. 101.

Table of Contents

=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.' 814These 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. 815On 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

=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