Chapter VIII

A BOLD PROTESTANT AT LYONS.
(1530 TO 1534.)

Farel, who was so distressed by the long captivity of one of the members of his family, little suspected that a friend, loved by him as a brother, would ere long be in a dungeon. De la Maisonneuve, who traded in all sorts of merchandise, but particularly in silk fabrics, jewellery, and furs, had been in the habit of attending the fairs of Lyons for twenty years, and went there as often as three or four times a year. Of late, the frankness with which he maintained the evangelical doctrines had offended many persons, and thus paved the way for a catastrophe which now seemed inevitable. Courted by the merchants, esteemed by the magistrates, he was, on the other hand, in the bad books of the priests, and the priests were powerful.

[Sidenote: The Reliquary.]

One day, in the year 1530, when he was at Nuremberg on business, a rich merchant of that city, a sound protestant, who had no love for relics, had given him a valuable reliquary in payment of a debt.[508] As Lyons was noted for its devotion, Baudichon, who cared little for the object and looked at it only as an article of merchandise, thought it might fetch a good price in that city, and happening to go there not long after, offered the little box to a money-changer. He would have done better to have refused it at Nuremberg, but Christian wisdom was then only dawning upon him. The money-changer took up the article and examined it devoutly. On the top was an image of St. James in silver, ‘carefully wrought,’ and weighing about four marks. Underneath was the reliquary: a box of silver with a glass allowing the inside to be seen, and some little parchment labels indicating the names of the saints whose relics were contained within. The Lyons money-changer looked with adoration on the precious remains of St. Christopher, St. Syriac, and another. He took off his cap, made a bow to the relics, and kissed them devoutly; and as his wife and children had clustered round him with pious curiosity, he made each of them kiss the sacred remains. Turning to Maisonneuve, he said: ‘Sir Baudichon, I am surprised that you should bring me this relic in such a manner.’ Maisonneuve replied: ‘It is very likely they are the bones of some ordinary body which the priests give the people to kiss to deceive them.’ At these words, an apprentice, of the age of eighteen, a very bigoted youth, left the shop indignant, and sat down on a bench in the street. The changer having paid Baudichon seventy livres tournois for his merchandise, the huguenot departed. But as he was passing in front of the bench, the apprentice, unable to restrain his anger, insulted him. Maisonneuve was content to reply that if he was in Geneva, ‘he would give him relics for nothing.’ This affair began to make Baudichon suspected.[509]

Next year (1531), when Maisonneuve was again at Lyons, and dining at the table-d’hôte of the Coupe d’Or, he met with some merchants from the neighboring provinces, and particularly from Auvergne, whose inhabitants, upright and charitable, but ignorant and vindictive, were distinguished at that time by a credulous devotion, as excessive as it was superstitious. The Genevan did not scruple to declare his religious convictions boldly before them, and the bigoted Auvergnats were much surprised to hear him speak ‘_after his manner about the Gospel and faith during all the meal_.’ ‘Hold your tongue,’ they said, angrily, ‘if you were in our country, _you would be burnt_.’[510]

[Sidenote: Who Is Petrus?]

A year later (in 1532), also at fair time, De la Maisonneuve, Bournet, a broker to whom he had confided an article of jewellery for sale, Humbert des Oches, and other tradesmen were supping at the table-d’hôte of the Coupe d’Or. It was one of those days on which the Church forbids the eating of meat. Bournet had brought some fish, of which they all partook, and Baudichon among them. This surprised one of the guests, who asked him whether they eat meat at Geneva on fast days. ‘Certainly they do,’ he answered, ‘and if I were in a place where it could be got, I should make no difficulty about it, for God does not forbid it.’—‘The pope and the Church forbid it,’ returned Bournet, sharply. Baudichon declared that he did not acknowledge the pope’s power to forbid what God permits. ‘God said to St. Peter,’ rejoined Bournet, ‘“_Whatsoever thou shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven_” (Matthew xvi. 19). The pope is now in the place of St. Peter; therefore’....—‘The pope and the priests,’ retorted Maisonneuve, ‘are so far from being like St. Peter, that there are many among them who lead evil lives, and require to be set in order and reformed. The Word of God alone brings grace to the sinner.’ He then began to repeat ‘some passages from the Gospels _in the French language_,’ selecting those which announce Jesus Christ and the complete pardon he gives. Every Christian who proclaims the Gospel might, he declared, be God’s instrument to liberate souls from sin and condemnation; and then, growing bolder, he exclaimed: ‘I am _Petrus_; you (turning to Bournet) are _Petrus_. Every man is Peter, provided he is firm in the faith of Jesus Christ.’ All present were much struck with his observations, and the strange man became still blacker in their eyes.[511]

At the feast of the Epiphany in the year 1533, the brother of Lyonnel Raynaud, priest of the order of St. John of Jerusalem, and Messire Jean Barbier, of the cathedral of Vienne, arrived at the Coupe d’Or, with a clerk in attendance upon the latter. They sat down to table with the company. Everybody was speaking at once. One of the guests, however,—and he was usually among those who talked the most,—seemed absorbed in thought. De la Maisonneuve (for it was he) fixed his eyes on the priests of Vienne, and, after a few moments, said to them, ‘Can you explain to me why they put a certain cordelier to death at Vienne a few years ago?’ He alluded to Stephen Renier, of whom we have spoken elsewhere.[512] ‘He was a heretic,’ said Barbier, ‘and had taught endless errors at Annonay and elsewhere.’ De la Maisonneuve boldly undertook his defence. ‘You did wrong to put him to death,’ he said; ‘he was a truly good man, of sound learning, and one likely to produce great fruits.’ The strife began immediately. Baudichon affirmed that we were not required to keep the commandments of the Church, but only those of God; while the priest tried with all his might to prove that Baudichon was wrong. The Genevan grew more animated, and spoke with great boldness. This new kind of tournament absorbed all attention: the guests left off eating and drinking, fixed their eyes on the two champions, and opened their ears wide. A merchant of Vienne, one Master Simon de Montverban, an acquaintance of Baudichon’s, and whom the latter had often soundly beaten, observed to him: ‘You have found a man at last to answer you.’ But the Genevan replied so forcibly to the arguments of the Viennese, and the contest became so animated, that the three priests, suddenly rising from table, quitted the room hastily, and went into a separate chamber. ‘If this man were at Vienne,’ said Barbier, ‘I would have him sent to prison.’ The prison and the stake which followed it were safer arms than discussion.[513]

[Sidenote: Hostility To Baudichon.]

De la Maisonneuve, having returned to Lyons for the fairs of Easter and of August, met a considerable number of merchants at the Coupe d’Or, and immediately undertook to enlighten them, feeling that language was given for such purposes; but, as he feared also that his scattered remarks, if not followed up, would be insufficient to correct the tardiness of certain men, he determined to make use of various stimulants. Accordingly, he spared neither toil nor weariness. Simon de Montverban, who was there again, was struck with his zeal, and complained of it. ‘Whenever the merchants take their meals,’ he said, ‘whenever he meets them in the common hall, when they come in or go out, everywhere and always, Baudichon gets talking and disputing about the Gospel.’ No longer confining himself to questions of fasting or images, he went straight to what was essential: he put forward Scripture as the fountain of truth, and declared that every sinner, even the greatest, was saved through uniting himself by faith to Jesus Christ. People censured him in vain. In vain did two merchants, one named Arcon and the other Hugues, repeat to every body and to Baudichon himself that, if he was in their country, he would be burnt; the latter, who did not doubt them, continued his arguments. Lyons was a free city during the fair, and he took advantage of it to make the pure Gospel known. Simon de Montverban complained to the Genevan huguenot’s brother-in-law, an ardent papist, who made answer: ‘I wish that Baudichon had died ten years ago; he is the cause of all the troubles at Geneva.’[514]

De la Maisonneuve was again at Lyons at the feasts of All Saints (November, 1533) and Epiphany (1534). One evening, when a numerous company was supping at the inn, the conversation turned on the religious circumstances of the times. After listening a while, he exclaimed: ‘It is nonsense to pray to the saints, to hear mass, and confess to the priests!’ and proceeded to quote _the Gospels and the Apostles_ to prove what he said. ‘In our country,’ again asserted some who heard him, ‘at Avignon, at Clermont you would be sent to the stake!’ It was the burden of the old song, and they were only surprised that he was not burnt at Lyons. De la Maisonneuve, knowing well that it was out of their Roman piety that they wished to burn him, was content to smile. But his calmness excited the wrath of his fellow-guests. The merchants of Auvergne rose from the table in a fit of anger, and, addressing the hostess, desired she would not receive Maisonneuve in future. ‘If we find him here when we come again,’ they said, ‘we shall go and lodge elsewhere.’ The landlady promised the Auvergnats not to receive him in future.[515]

The Easter fair of 1534 was drawing near, and as it was the most considerable in the year, Maisonneuve did not want to miss it. But circumstances had become more threatening and rendered the journey dangerous. There were, as we have seen, in the castle of Peney on the Lyons road, and other strong places, traitors who had fled from Geneva, and carried off all the Genevans they could lay hands on. Baudichon’s friends wished him to put off this journey. ‘The fair is free (_franche_) to every one,’ he answered. ‘Ay!’ said Froment, ‘under the papacy there are many franchises for thieves, robbers, and murderers; but for the evangelicals all the liberties, franchises, and promises of princes are broken.’[516] Maisonneuve knew this well, yet he was not a man to be frightened. The report of his intentions having gone abroad, certain _traitors_ (as Froment terms the fanatical partisans of the bishop and pope) hastened to give their Lyons friends notice of Baudichon’s approaching arrival, conjuring them to get him put to death. ‘He was spied and _recommended_ to their care.’[517]

De la Maisonneuve, bearing Farel’s letters, started from Geneva in the morning of the 25th of April, and arrived at Lyons on the 26th, having no suspicion that his enemies were waiting for him and preparing his scaffold. He had with him Janin the armorer, his aide-de-camp in religious matters, who had supplied himself with evangelical books printed at Neufchatel to circulate them in Lyons. Baudichon, as usual, had alighted at the Coupe d’Or near St. Pierre-les-Nonnains, and was cordially received by the landlady notwithstanding the promise she had made the Auvergnats some months before. Janin stopped there also, and stored his evangelical books away in the room that had been assigned him.

The next day there was a great disturbance at the inn. The merchants had arrived from Auvergne, and one of the first persons they saw was the famous heretic!... The color rushed to their cheeks, and they had words with the hostess because she did not keep her promise. That they did not content themselves with mere words, is clear from events which followed. The bigots of France wished to share with the bigots of Geneva the honor of putting to death the captain of the Lutherans.[518]

Maisonneuve immediately began to look after Étienne de la Forge, in order to hand him the reformer’s letters; but on going to his house in the Place de l’Herberie, he learnt, to his great disappointment, that the Parisian merchant had not yet arrived.

[Sidenote: Baudichon And Janin Arrested.]

The enemies of the Reformation lost no time. Informations were sworn against Maisonneuve on the 27th of April, the day after his arrival, and the following morning, the 28th, the officers of justice arrested him and his friend Janin ‘by authority of the seneschal’s court of Lyons,’ and shut him up in the king’s prison. But this was not what the priests wanted. ‘These two men,’ they said, ‘being charged with offences against our holy faith, the interest of the king our lord, and the common weal, we demand that they be sent to the prison of the archiepiscopal see, and that they be tried before the ecclesiastical judges.’[519] The two prisoners were accordingly transferred to the archbishop’s prison. The great huguenot saw that he had fallen into a trap, and prepared to meet his enemies.

There was great agitation in the episcopal palace. That church of Lyons which had been the church of the primate of all the Gauls—of which thirty bishops had been canonized—which had supplied so many cardinals, legates, statesmen, and ambassadors—whose chapter, consisting of seventy canons, had included the sons of emperors, kings, and dukes among their number, and of which the kings of France were honorary canons—that church was about to have the glory of trying and putting to death the layman who was Farel’s right arm, as Jerome of Prague had been that of John Huss. All its dignitaries—the deans, chamberlains, wardens, provosts, knights, theologians, and school-men—all were talking of this fortunate circumstance. The clergy of the metropolitan church of St. John the Baptist, in particular, took an active part in the business, and the walls of that vast Gothic building echoed to the oft-repeated name of the captain of the Lutherans. On the 29th of April the members of the _inquisitional court_ assembled in the hall of justice of the episcopal prison, and, wearing their robes of office, took their seats on the judicial benches. They were Stephen Faye, official of the primacy, and Benedict Buatier, ordinary official of Lyons,—both of them vicars-general of the primate of France. The third judge was John Gauteret, inquisitor of ‘heretical pravity.’ Ami Ponchon, notary public, was to act as secretary;[520] and Claude Bellièvre, king’s advocate, was to aid them by his presence. The court being thus formed, they summoned before them Baudichon de la Maisonneuve, who declared his name, age (forty-six years), and condition, and the trial began.[521]

Footnote 508:

MS. du Procès inquisitionnel de Lyon, p. 147.

Footnote 509:

All those particulars, as well as those which follow, are taken
literally from the depositions of the witnesses, made on oath, before
the court of Lyons, and are to be found in pages 132-147 of the
official manuscript.

Footnote 510:

MS. du Procès inquisitionnel de Lyon, déposition de Pécoud, pp.
159-163.

Footnote 511:

MS. du Procès inquisitionnel de Lyon, pp. 209, 211, 217, 218.

Footnote 512:

Vol. i. p. 576.

Footnote 513:

MS. du Procès inquisitionnel de Lyon. There are three depositions with
regard to these facts: those of Barbier the priest, pp. 267-270; of
the furrier Simon de Montverban, pp. 274-278; and of friar Lyonnel,
pp. 305-312.

Footnote 514:

MS. du Procès inquisitionnel de Lyon, pp. 282-285.

Footnote 515:

MS. du Procès inquisitionnel de Lyon, pp. 298-300, 413-414.

Footnote 516:

Froment, _Gestes de Genève_, p. 241.

Footnote 517:

‘Iceluy fut épié et recommandé.’—Froment, _Gestes de Genève_, p. 241.

Footnote 518:

MS. du Procès inquisitionnel de Lyon, p. 424.

Footnote 519:

Ibid. p. 1.

Footnote 520:

All the procès-verbaux or minutes have his signature, with a curious
flourish (_parafe_) exactly alike on each.

Footnote 521:

MS. du Procès inquisitionnel, pp. 5-6.