Chapter II

TWO REFORMERS AND A DOMINICAN IN GENEVA.
(JULY TO DECEMBER 1533.)

The bishop had fallen from his throne, and with him had expired a despotism which offensively usurped the liberties of the people; the lawful magistrates once more sat in their curule chairs, with liberty and justice at their sides. They investigated the cases of the citizens whom Pierre de la Baume claimed to get rid of without the formality of trial. The only man who could be accused of Wernly’s death was Pierre l’Hoste, and he had taken refuge in the Dominican church, where the bishop had not cared to follow him. The syndics went to the church; the poor wretch, shaking in every limb, clung vainly to the altar, and cried out: ‘I claim the privileges accorded to this sanctuary.’ He was arrested and the inquiry commenced. It proved the innocence of the imprisoned Huguenots, and showed that the disturbance in which Wernly fell had been caused by the violence of the canon himself, who was armed from head to foot, and had taunted his adversaries with loud cries. The magistrates, however, thought that the blood of the victim called for the blood of him who had shed it. Pierre l’Hoste, the carman of the city, denied striking the fatal blow, but confessed that he had struck Wernly: he was condemned and beheaded. All the other prisoners were released.

But there was no relief to Claudine Levet’s sorrow; her husband was still confined in Castle Gaillard, and the governor refused to release him. The council entreated the Bernese deputies in Geneva to intercede in behalf of the prisoner, and on the 4th of September, one of them, accompanied by J. Lullin and C. Savoye, having gone out to Ville-la-Grand, about a league from the city, Aimé Levet was surrendered to them.[406]

[Sidenote: Froment And Alexander Arrive.]

While this pious man lay in the Gaillard dungeons, the insults heaped upon him, the harshness of the prison, and the almost certain death which threatened him, had given his faith a new life; so that when the castellan had released him from his bonds, he inwardly vowed that he would make his deliverance accelerate the triumph of the Gospel. He had scarcely reached home, when he wrote to Anthony Froment, the evangelist, whose church had been the market-place, and whose pulpit a fishwife’s stall, and conjured him to return. The latter did not hesitate, and knowing that the struggles which awaited him there were beyond the strength of one man, he invited one of the brethren from Paris, and at that time in the Pays de Vaud to accompany him. This was Alexander Canus, called also Dumoulin. One day, therefore, Aimé and Claudine Levet saw the two evangelists arrive. One lodged with them at St. Gervais on the right bank, and the other at Claude Salomon’s, near the Molard, on the left bank; being thus quartered in the two parts into which the city was divided, they could share the labor.

Salomon, who shared with Levet the honor and danger of receiving the evangelists, was as gentle as his friend Maisonneuve was quick and often violent. One day, shortly after the bishop’s flight, the latter saw in front of him in the street two of the bishop’s partisans, whom he suspected to be getting up some conspiracy; his blood boiled at the sight, and he exclaimed: ‘there are so many traitors here.... My fingers itch to be at them.’[407] A sense of duty, however, restrained him, and he did nothing. But Salomon was calm and full of charity and compassion: he felt none of these passing ebullitions, and thought only of visiting the sick and the poor, and sheltering strangers whom the Romish persecutions drove to Geneva. ‘These poor refugees,’ he said, ‘are more destitute than all the rest.’ His wife, ‘neither dainty nor nice,’[408] lavished her cares on them. They were the Gaius and Dorcas of Scripture.

[Sidenote: Order To Preach The Scriptures.]

Froment and Alexander, quartered on both sides of the Rhone, preached the Word in private houses with such power that the new faith extended far and wide, ‘like the layers of a vine;’[409] the old stocks producing young shoots, which took root and formed other stocks. The priests were alarmed, and exclaimed that if those doctrines continued to be so preached, all the country would soon be infested with the sect. They applied to the bishop, who was at his castle of May—restless, agitated, and reproaching himself with his disgraceful flight. Wishing to redeem that fault, he replied on the 24th of October, forbidding any preaching in Geneva except according to ancient custom. The exulting priests presented these episcopal letters to the council. The bishop’s cowardly behavior had estranged the magistrates. ‘_Preach the Gospel_,’ answered the council, ‘_and say nothing which cannot be proved by Holy Scripture_.’ These important words, which gave the victory to the Reformation, may still be read in the official minutes.

Great was the joy among the reformed. They saw in these words a decree which made evangelical Christianity a lawful religion[410] at Geneva (as at Rome in the third and fourth centuries), and authorized them to form a Church which should be free without being dominant. The same fact has reappeared at other times and in other countries. From that day, all who had any leaning towards the Gospel would go to the house of Maisonneuve or of some other huguenot leader, and sit down in the largest room. Presently the preacher would enter, take his place before a table, and usually (as it would seem) under the mantel-piece of the large projecting fireplace. He would then proclaim the Word of God. These evangelists ‘_did not fret themselves_,’ they did not speak with bitterness like some others, and make a great noise; but invited souls to approach Christ without fear, because he is _meek and lowly in heart_; and such simple genial preaching attracted all who heard it. The bishop exclaimed that it was only ‘painted language,’ and ‘sham tenderness;’ but the number of hearers became so considerable that the two missionaries were forced to preach in the streets and cross-ways of the city at the Molard, the foot of Coutance, and other places. As soon as they appeared anywhere a numerous assembly gathered round them, the hearers crowded one upon another, and the living words addressed to them bore more fruit than scholastic or trivial sermons delivered in fine churches to hearers dozing in comfortable seats. ‘These preachings in houses, streets, and cross-ways,’ said Froment himself, ‘are not without danger to life, but are a great advancement to the Word, and detriment to popery.’[411]

The catholic party became alarmed; their leaders met, and the procurator-fiscal with the bishop’s officers and the priests, who were ‘greatly envenomed against the two reformers,’[412] resolved to apprehend them. Whenever a meeting was formed, the sergeants came upon it unexpectedly. ‘But as soon as they saw the levelled halberds, the faithful, greatly increased in number, did their duty, surrounded their ministers, and helped them to escape.’ In consequence of this, the episcopal police went more craftily to work: they kept watch upon the ministers, and came upon them when they were alone, ‘aiming at nothing less than their lives.’[413] But these efforts of the priests increased the respect men felt for the evangelists. ‘Such persecutions,’ said the huguenots, ‘are a sign by which we may know that the ministers are excellent servants of Christ.’[414]

The bishop, vexed at having left his episcopal city, could find rest nowhere. At one time he was at the Tower of May, at another at Lons-le-Saulnier, now at Arbois, now elsewhere. The thought that two reformers had come to take his place in Geneva disturbed him; and when he found that the citizens paid no attention to his strict prohibition of Gospel preaching sent on the 24th of October, his exasperation was at its height. ‘We must apply an heroic remedy to the disease,’ he said, and on the 20th of November he dictated letters patent addressed to the procurator-fiscal.

[Sidenote: Gospel Preaching Forbidden.]

The Great Council met on the 30th of November to hear the letters read. ‘We command,’ said the bishop, ‘that no one in our city of Geneva preach, expound, or cause to be preached or expounded, secretly or publicly, or in any manner whatsoever, the _holy page_, the _holy Gospel_,[415] unless he have received our express permission, under pain of perpetual excommunication and a fine of one hundred livres.’ The Two Hundred were astounded, the evangelicals were indignant, and the better catholics hung their heads. A bishop to forbid the preaching of the _holy page_, of the _holy Gospel_! ... to forbid it too in the very season (Advent) when it was usual to proclaim it! To excommunicate all who preach it! To forbid its being taught _in any manner whatsoever_! To forbid them to talk of it in courts or gardens, or elsewhere! Not a room, not a cellar, kitchen, or garret was excepted! The Apostle Paul declares, however, that _the Gospel of Christ must not be hindered_. The emotion of the Two Hundred was so great that all deliberation became impossible; ‘_the whole council rose and went out_,’ we read in the minutes of the sitting. Such was the mute but energetic reply made by Geneva to its bishop.

In the city the emotion was still greater, and vented itself in murmurs and sighs, and also in ironical jests. ‘Have you heard the news?’ said the huguenots: ‘the bishop is going to issue an order with sound of trumpet, forbidding us to speak either good or evil of God and Christ.’ The silly prohibition was like oil thrown upon the fire: the preachings became more frequent, and even the indifferent began to read the Scriptures. Froment and his friends distributed evangelical books in abundance: first the New Testament, then various treatises recently composed, such as _La Vérité cachée_, _La Confrérie du Saint-Esprit_, _La Manière du Baptême_, _La Cène de Jésus-Christ_, and _Le Livre des Marchands_.[416] De Vingle, the printer, and one of his men, named Grosne, helped them in this work. But the papists sometimes treated the colporteurs roughly; a gentleman of the neighborhood, having caught Grosne on the high road, cut off his ears.[417] This had no effect; the people thirsted for the truth, and all were eager to hear the Word of God.

The leaders of the episcopal party, seeing that nothing could stop these _prêcheurs de cheminées_ (chimney-preachers) and their hearers, looked about for a preacher whose energetic eloquence might rekindle the expiring Roman fervor,—one of those stout champions who can deal heavy blows in serious contests. For three or four centuries the Dominicans had played, as inquisitors, the chief parts in the papacy; they were skilful, eloquent, shrewd in government, persevering in their designs, inflexible in dogma, prodigal of threats, condemnations, and the stake. There was much talk in Savoy, and even in Geneva, about one of them,—a doctor of the Sorbonne, named Guy Furbity,—‘a great theologian,’ they said, ‘an enthusiastic servant of the pope, a sworn enemy of the Reformation, daring and violent to the last degree.’[418] Just then he was preaching at Chambéry and Montmeillan, charming all hearers. The Genevese catholics petitioned the Sorbonne for this great preacher. Such a rock, transported to the valley of the Leman, would, they thought, check the devastating torrent of reform. Their prayer was granted, and Furbity flattered himself that he was going to win a fairer crown than all his predecessors. Proud of his order, his reputation, and his Church, he arrived in Geneva with haughty head, glaring eyes, and threatening gestures; one might have imagined that he was going to crush all his adversaries to powder. ‘Ah! those poor Lutherans,’ he said disdainfully, ‘those poor chimney-preachers!’ ‘He was in a passion,’ says Froment.[419] The huguenots said, as they pointed him out, ‘Look at that Atlas, who fancies he carries the tottering Church of the Roman pontiff on his shoulders.’[420]

[Sidenote: Furbity Abuses Bible-Readers.]

A plot had been formed, of which Furbity was to be the chief instrument. The syndics, Du Crest, Baud, Malbuisson, and many other good Genevans had been gained over by the priests to the cause of the pope, and by this means the latter held in their hands the council, the treasury, the artillery, and, in one word, the city property, besides the ignorant populace.[421] The Sorbonne doctor had hardly alighted at the convent of his order when a deputation from the canons came and asked him to preach in the cathedral and not in the Dominican church. ‘The sermons delivered at St. Pierre’s, said the monks, ‘will produce a greater sensation.’—‘Very good,’ said Furbity, ‘I promise you that I will cry out pretty loudly against the modern heretics.’ It was objected that it was contrary to the established custom to have such preachings in the cathedral. ‘We will put him there by force of arms,’ answered the churchmen, ‘and he shall say what he pleases.’

On the morning of Sunday, the 30th of November, a certain number of priests and laymen armed themselves; and the zealous Furbity, taking his place in the middle of the band, proceeded to the cathedral. ‘Really,’ said some of the Genevese with astonishment, ‘he is going to preach by main force.’ But he restrained himself that day, and he met with no opposition. The next day, Monday, he went to work in earnest. His sermon was a continued declamation, full of pompous phrases extolling the papacy, and of invectives against the preachers. ‘In the pulpit he behaves like a madman,’ said Froment, who was present; ‘he roars without rhyme or reason.’ But the bigots were in ecstasies. ‘Have you heard Dr. Furbity?’ they said in the city. On Wednesday an immense crowd assembled to hear him. The Dominican went into the pulpit resolved to crush the heretics, as his patron, St. Dominick had done before him.

He imagined that his great business was to lower the Bible and then to exalt the pope, and he set to work accordingly. ‘All who read the Scriptures in the vulgar tongue,’ he said, ‘are gluttons, drunkards, debauchees, blasphemers, thieves, and murderers.... Those who support them are as wicked as they, and God will punish them. All who will not obey the pope, or the cardinals, or the bishops, or the curates, or the vicars, or the priests, are the devil’s flock. They are marked by him, worse than Jews, traitors, murderers, and brigands, and ought to be hanged on the gallows. All who eat meat on Friday and Saturday, are worse than Turks and mad dogs.... Beware of these heretics, these Germans, as you would of lepers and rottenness. Have no dealings with them in the way of business or otherwise, and do not let them marry your daughters. You had better give them to the dogs.’[422]

Among the evangelicals who listened to this string of abuse was one Janin, a man of small stature, a maker of pikes, halberds, javelins, and arrows, whence he was usually called the _collonier_, or armorer. His activity was indefatigable; he was present everywhere; he held discussions in private and preached ‘to companies, urging with all his might’ those who listened to him to embrace the faith which Luther had found in the Holy Scriptures.[423] Having gone to St. Pierre’s, he sat down near some good catholics, among others Pierre Pennet, whose brothers were soon to become famous in Geneva for their zeal in behalf of the Romish faith. Janin, unable to put up with such insulting language, became restless, and exclaimed that the preacher did not know what he was saying. The catholics around him, annoyed at being disturbed in their devotions, said: ‘Begone; one preacher is enough here.’[424] But they had some trouble to make him hold his tongue. A more telling interruption was to disturb the orator before long.

[Sidenote: Furbity Challenges The Lutherans.]

The Dominican saw clearly that abuse alone would not restore the papacy; its fundamental doctrines must be established, and this he undertook to do in other discourses. Continuing to insult the reformers as ‘wretches who, instead of wearing the _robe_, are dressed like _brigands_,’ he maintained that priests only, by virtue of the sacramental institution, could bring souls into communion with God. He even used language that must have sounded strange to the worshippers of Mary. ‘A priest who consecrates the elements of the Sacrament,’ he said, ‘is above the Holy Virgin, for she only gave life to Jesus Christ once, whereas the priest creates him every day, as often as he likes. If a priest pronounces the sacramental words over a sack full of bread, or in a cellar full of wine, all the bread, by that very act, is transformed and becomes the precious body of Christ, and all the wine is changed into blood—which is what the Virgin never did.... Ah! the priest! ... you should not merely salute him, you should kneel and prostrate yourselves before him.’

This was not enough; the Dominican thought it his duty to establish the doctrine of transubstantiation, on which the dignity of the priest is founded. He exclaimed: ‘We must believe that the body of Jesus Christ is in the host in flesh and bone. We must believe that he is there as much as he was in the Blessed Virgin’s womb, or on the wood of the true cross. We must believe it under pain of damnation, for our holy theological faculty of Paris at the Sorbonne, and our mother the holy Church, believe it. Yes; Jesus Christ is in the host, as he was in the Virgin’s womb, ... but small ... as small as an ant. It is a matter that admits of no further discussion.’

Whereupon the Dominican, satisfied that he had gained a signal victory, indulged in the impetuosity of his clerical haughtiness, and, pouring out a torrent of insults, exclaimed: ‘Where are those wretched Lutherans who preach to the contrary? Where are these heretics, these rascals, these worse than Jews, Turks and heathens?... Where are these fine _chimney-preachers_? Let them come forward, and they shall be answered.... Ha! ha! They will take good care not to show themselves, except at the chimney-corner, for they are only brave in deceiving poor women and such as know nothing.’[425]

Having spoken thus, the monk sat down, proud of his eloquence. A great agitation prevailed in the congregations; the reformers were challenged to the combat; the people wondered whether they would reply to the challenge. There was a momentary pause, when Froment rose, and standing in the middle of the church, motioned them with his hand to be silent. ‘For the love of God,’ he said, ‘listen to what I have to tell you!’ The congregation turned their eyes on the person who uttered these words, and the evangelist, with sonorous voice, exclaimed: ‘Sirs, I offer my life—yea, I am ready to go the stake if I do not show, by Holy Scripture, that what Dr. Furbity has just said is false, and the language of Antichrist.’ He then adduced scriptural authorities against the Dominican’s assertions. ‘It is the truth,’ exclaimed the reformers; and some of them looking towards the monk, called out: ‘Let him answer that.’ Furbity, astonished at hearing himself refuted by such plain passages, dared not rise, but remained fixed to his seat, hiding his head in the pulpit. ‘Let him answer,’ shouted the huguenots on all sides: their shouts were useless.

[Sidenote: Tumult In The Church.]

The canons and their friends, finding their oracle was dumb, ventured upon a controversy which was much more in their line. They drew their swords (priests often wore swords in those times), and approaching Froment, exclaimed: ‘Kill him—kill the Lutheran!... Ah! the wretch! he has dared take our good father to task.’ Nothing but death could expiate the crime of a layman who had ventured to contradict a priest. There was only one point on which these churchmen were not agreed: it was whether they should _burn_ or _drown_ the evangelist. Some shouted: ‘Burn him—burn him!’ and others: ‘To the Rhone with him!’—‘There was no small commotion,’ writes Froment. Just as the priests were about to carry him off, Baudichon de la Maisonneuve, Ami Perrin, Janin le Collonier, and others rallied round him like a body-guard, wishing to get him out of the church. This did not calm the tumult; the people ran after him, and the magistrates would have arrested him. ‘They crowded upon one another,’ says Froment, ‘either to see him, or to strike him, or to carry him off.’ The tumultuous crowd made a last effort to lay hold of the evangelist, just as they reached the great doors of the cathedral. Baudichon de la Maisonneuve observing this, halted, drew his sword, and, facing the rioters, cried in a loud voice: ‘I will kill the first man that touches him. Let the law prevail; and if any one has done wrong, let him be punished.’ The catholics, intimidated by Maisonneuve’s look, shrank back; and Froment’s friends, taking advantage of this favorable moment, dragged him away from his enemies. Then, ‘the women, as if they were mad, rushed after him with great fury, throwing many stones at him.’[426] The huguenot Perrin, more politic than evangelical, alarmed at the tumult, said to Froment: ‘We have spoilt the business; it was going on very well, and now all is lost.’ _The other_ (by which words Froment indicates himself), sure of his cause, answered simply: ‘All is won!’ The future showed that he was right. When Froment arrived at Baudichon’s house,—the usual asylum of the friends of the Gospel,—Le Collonier took him up to the hayloft and carefully hid him under the hay. De la Maisonneuve and Janin had afterwards to pay dearly for their kind offices. The latter had scarcely quitted the loft when Claude Baud arrived with his officers and his halberds. ‘They searched the house all over, and even thrust their spears into the hay, but finding nobody they withdrew.’[427]

Alexander, who had not spoken in the church, had accompanied his friend as far as the great doors. Seeing Froment led away by Janin, and believing him safe, he halted ‘at the top of the steps in the midst of the people,’ and, not permitting himself to be intimidated by the popular fury, he exclaimed: ‘He very properly took him to task. Doctor Furbity has preached against the holy books; he is a false prophet.’ The syndics, pleased to catch one at least, carried Alexander off to the town-hall, and some demanded that he should be sentenced to death. The sage Balthasar resisted this: ‘It was not this man who caused the uproar,’ he said. ‘Besides, he is a Frenchman; and the King of France may perhaps take _some opportunity_ against our city if we put his subjects to death.’ The two ‘_Mahometists_’ were banished for life from the city, under pain of death; and, at the same time, it was agreed that the Advent preachers should be told ‘to preach the Gospel only, in order to avoid disturbance.’

Alexander was conducted by the watch out of the city to a place called La Monnaye, where, seeing the crowd following him, he turned towards them and said: ‘I shall not take my rest like a soldier whose time of service is over.’ He then addressed the crowd for two hours, and many were won to the Gospel. De la Maisonneuve having returned home, went in search of Froment in the hayloft; and as soon as it was night, the two friends quitted Geneva secretly, took up Alexander at La Monnaye, and then all three set off for Berne.

Footnote 406:

Registre du Conseil des 6, 7, 8, 12, 17, Août et 4 Septembre
1533.—Froment, _Gestes de Genève_, p. 60. Roset MS. liv. iii. ch. xvi.

Footnote 407:

‘La main me fourmille que je n’agisse contre les traîtres!’

Footnote 408:

‘Nullement délicate ni mignarde.’—Froment, _Gestes de Genève_, p. 68.
Registre du Conseil du 12 Octobre 1535.

Footnote 409:

‘A la façon des provins.’

Footnote 410:

Religio licita.

Footnote 411:

Froment, _Gestes de Genève_, p. 66.

Footnote 412:

‘Fort envenimés contre les deux réformateurs.’

Footnote 413:

‘Ne voulant pas moins que la _jacture_ de leur vie.’

Footnote 414:

Froment, _Gestes_, p. 66.

Footnote 415:

‘Neminem clam, palam, occulte vel publice sacram paginam, sacrum
Evangelium exponere aut alias quomodocumque dicere.’—Gaberel, _Lettres
patentes de l’Evêque. Pièces justificatives_, i. p. 42.

Footnote 416:

The Hidden Truth. The Brotherhood of the Holy Ghost. The Manner of
Baptism. The Supper of Jesus Christ. The Tradesmen’s Book.

Footnote 417:

MS. du procès inquisitionnel de Lyon, pp. 6 et 7.

Footnote 418:

Berne MSS. _Hist. Helv._ v. 12.

Footnote 419:

‘Il était enflambé.’—Froment, _Gestes_.

Footnote 420:

‘Velut alter Atlas qui instanti causæ catholicæ succollaret.’—_Geneva
Restituta_, p. 63.

Footnote 421:

Froment, _Gestes de Genève_, pp. 66-68. La Sœur Jeanne, _Levain du
Calvinisme_, p. 70.

Footnote 422:

See the documents attached to the trial, in the Registres du Conseil
du 27 Janvier 1534.

Footnote 423:

‘Prêchant à des compagnies induisant de toute sa possibilité, &c.’—MS.
du procès inquisitionnel de Lyon, p. 29.

Footnote 424:

Ibid. p. 37.

Footnote 425:

Froment, _Gestes de Genève_, pp. 69-71. Gautier MS.

Footnote 426:

‘Les femmes comme enragées . . . de grande furie, lui jetant force
pierres.’—Froment, _Gestes merveilleux de Genève_, pp. 71-74. Sœur
Jeanne, _Levain du Calvinisme_, p. 70. Gautier MS.

Footnote 427:

Registre du Conseil du 2 Décembre 1533.