Chapter XI

BOLDNESS OF TWO HUGUENOTS IN PRISON AND BEFORE THE COURT OF LYONS.
(MAY TO JUNE 1534.)

[Sidenote: Discussion In The Garden.]

In the midst of these dangers and struggles the Huguenots were not to be consoled for the imprisonment of Maisonneuve. So long as the intrepid captain of the Lutherans was threatened with extreme punishment, the triumph of the evangelicals could not be complete. They feared generally a fatal termination, for Baudichon and Janin, far from yielding anything to their adversaries, were boldly spreading the knowledge of the Gospel in their prison. Janin was as much at his ease as if he had been in the streets of Geneva: at the jailer’s table, in the halls and galleries and elsewhere, the armorer argued about the faith. One day, meeting Jacques Desvaux, a priest of the diocese of Le Mans, Janin took him to task and tried to convert him to the Gospel. He spoke to him of the apostles and the saints, and showed him how they had always taught doctrines opposed to those of Rome. He did more. A garden was attached to the prison, and the prisoners were allowed to walk in it at certain hours. One day, shortly before the festival of the Rogations, Janin went into it, taking a French Testament with him, and began to read it. When he had done he left the book, not unintentionally, on a low wall, and went away. A priest named Delay (there was no lack of ecclesiastics in the archiepiscopal prison) passing near, observed the book, took it up, and, opening it, read: _The New Testament_. A Testament in French! Delay began to examine it: a number of prisoners, priests and others, gathered round him; he turned over the pages in search of the First Epistle of St. John, ‘because on that day the Church mentioned it,’ but could not find it.[555]

From the place in the garden to which he had retired, Janin saw Delay looking for something. Going up to him, the Genevese asked what he wanted. On being told, he took the book, immediately found the epistle (those laymen of Geneva knew their Bible better than the priests), and began to read the first chapter aloud, dwelling upon the words: _The blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin_. He stopped, and addressing the prisoners, explained the words, and drew their attention to two doctrines which, he said, can never be made to harmonize: that of the Bible, according to which we are cleansed _by the blood of Christ_; and that of Rome, according to which we are cleansed by meritorious works. ‘You explain the passage wrongly,’ exclaimed some of his hearers: ‘we must not follow the letter, but the moral meaning.’ It is an argument we have seen revived in more recent times. ‘You cannot understand that epistle,’ said a priest, ‘since you are obliged to read it in French.’—‘Surely I must read it in my own language,’ answered Janin, ‘for I do not understand Latin. God commanded his apostles to preach the Gospel to all creatures, and therefore in all languages.’—‘That is true,’ answered the priests: ‘_prædicate Evangelium omni creaturæ_; but it is also true that all good Christians draw near our mother, the Holy Church, to hear Scripture explained by the mouths of priests and doctors who, in this world, hold the place of the apostles.’ Janin, who, though honoring the special ministry of the Word, firmly believed in the universal priesthood taught by St. Peter,[556] exclaimed boldly: ‘I am just as much a priest as any man, and can give absolution. God has made us all priests. I can pronounce the sacramental words, like the other priests.’ And, if we are to believe his accusers, he added: ‘You may even utter them in the house, in the kitchen.’ He then began to repeat aloud: _Hoc est corpus meum_.[557] Janin was one of those daring spirits who imagine that the more they startle their hearers, the more good they do. Still, the ministers, Farel and Viret, had no warmer friend.

The prisoners who listened to him, wishing, perhaps, to prolong a discussion that amused them, started the huguenot again. ‘The Virgin Mary,’ began one. Janin, interrupting him, said: ‘The Virgin Mary was the noblest woman that ever existed in the world, inasmuch as she bore in her bosom Him who has washed us from our sins. But we must not pray to her or to the saints in paradise.’—‘And prayers for the dead,’ suggested another.—‘There is no need of them,’ said the armorer, ‘for as soon as we are dead, we are saved or condemned for everlasting, and there is no purgatory.’[558]

[Sidenote: Rogation Festival.]

On Monday, the 11th of May, the festival of the Rogations afforded the prisoners a spectacle calculated to break the uniformity of their lives. They proceeded to the garden, and presently a noisy crowd gave indications of the grand procession, which was now returning to St. John’s church, adjoining the archiepiscopal prison, whence it had started. The priests went first, with crosses and banners, reciting prayers or singing hymns; after them came the people. De la Maisonneuve and Janin said that such a ceremony was an abuse, and that it would have been far better to have given to the poor the money which those fine banners had cost. The procession having at last reëntered the church of St. John, the singing, shouting, and noise became insupportable, even in the garden. Baudichon, according to the evidence of one of his accusers, withdrew, saying: ‘Those people must be fools and madmen, or do they imagine that God is deaf?’[559]

The next day the festival continued, and just as the prisoners were going to dinner, the noise of singing was heard. It was a new procession. ‘Where do they come from?’ asked Maisonneuve. The jailer’s wife answered: ‘From the church of St. Cler.’ ‘And what have they been doing there?’ said Baudichon; ‘have they been looking for St. Cler? They will not find him or God either, for they are in Paradise; and it is great nonsense to look for them elsewhere.’[560]

On the 28th of May, the depositions made by the prisoners with reference to the language used on the Rogation days were read. ‘I would sooner be torn in pieces,’ said De la Maisonneuve, ‘than have uttered the words contained in that deposition.’[561] The Court having summoned the priest Delay before them, the latter declared that he adhered to the main points, _with the exception_ of the words ascribed to Baudichon. ‘He only said,’ continued Delay, ‘that it would have been better to give the poor the money paid for the banners. I did not hear him use the other words.’[562]

Janin, who had hitherto been the most ardent of the two prisoners, now began to grow dispirited, as is usual with such temperaments. He looked upon his condemnation to death as certain; and was quite unmanned by the thought that he would never see Geneva again. On Whitsunday, a turnkey having gone to fetch him from his dungeon to hear a mass which the other prisoners had asked for, Janin, far from refusing, did not betray the least sign of opposition during the service, but behaved himself decently, ‘which he had not been accustomed to do before,’ said one who was present. He quitted the chapel, dejected and silent. Just as he was about to re-enter his narrow cell, De la Maisonneuve came up: he knew the state of his friend’s soul and desired to cheer him. Leaning against the door, he said to Janin, who was already inside: ‘Do not fret yourself; be firm, and make no answer. I would sooner it cost me five hundred crowns, than that any harm should come to you or me. My lords of Berne will not suffer them to do us any mischief.’[563]

[Sidenote: Opinion Of Baudichon.]

Janin’s alarm was not, however, without foundation: false evidence multiplied. Louis Joffrillet accused De la Maisonneuve of having said to him at the door of his master’s shop: ‘Pshaw! if you were at Geneva I would give you a horse-load of relics for a dozen _aiguilettes_.... They sell relics there at the butchers’ stalls.’[564] On hearing the unbecoming words ascribed to him, Baudichon exclaimed: ‘That witness is a little brigand, a young thief; he has told a lie. I demand that he be detained, and (he added in great anger) I will have him hanged!’ Manicier, Joffrillet’s deposed that he had no recollection of such words being used by De la Maisonneuve.[565]

All these depositions, De la Maisonneuve’s courage, and the interest felt for him in high places, created a greater excitement every day in the second city of France. ‘There was much noise in Lyons about those two Lutherans of Geneva.’[566] Some eagerly took their part; others, who detested them, hoped to see them burnt. But as the two protestants had powerful protectors, the clergy dared not proceed to extremities without sufficient proof. The canons of St. John sent M. de Simieux, a gentleman of Dauphiny, who was related to one of them, to Geneva to try and hunt up some capital charge against Baudichon. De Simieux alighted at the Hôtel de la Grue, in the Corraterie, and immediately entered into conversation with the landlord, who promised to introduce him to some worthy people, from whom he would receive accurate information about that wretched Baudichon.[567]

Meanwhile, the gentleman amused himself by walking up and down in front of his lodging. Presently he saw fifteen persons, ‘of the most respectable of the city,’ approaching, who saluted him and said: ‘We have heard that you are come from Lyons; is it true that Baudichon is about to be released?’ De Simieux asked the gentlemen what they thought of the prisoner. ‘If he is discharged,’ said one of them, ‘we and all the Catholics in Geneva will be totally ruined and lost. His accomplices, the Lutherans of the city, have prepared their plan, and the only thing they are waiting for, before putting it into execution, is Baudichon’s release.’ ‘Yes, yes,’ said all the fifteen, ‘we are sure of it.’[568]

De Simieux asked them to specify some overt act. ‘On Corpus Christi day,’ said one, ‘as the procession was passing Baudichon’s house, his wife was at the window with her maid, and both were spinning with their distaffs. When Madame de la Maisonneuve saw the priests marching before her _all in white_, she exclaimed: “Look what fine _goats_!” ... as if a flock of those animals had been passing by twos before her.’[569] As this remark of the wife was not sufficient to burn the husband, De Simieux asked for something more. ‘It is notorious,’ they told him, ‘that Baudichon is the person most employed in seducing the city of Geneva to the Lutheran heresies; that it was he who caused the preachers to come; and that, if he is liberated, everybody will go over to his faith.’[570]

While this conversation was going on in a narrow street, an official interview of far greater importance was taking place not far off. Two ambassadors from the King of France had just arrived at Geneva, and the syndics who waited upon them declared they thought it very strange that messieurs of Lyons should presume to give them the law. The ambassadors promised to speak to the king on the subject.[571]

[Sidenote: Baudichon Locked Up.]

Meantime, matters were looking worse at Lyons. On Thursday, the 18th of June, Florimond Pécoud, the merchant, seasoned his deposition with some piquant expressions which he falsely ascribed to Baudichon. ‘Telling him one day that I had just come from mass,’ said Pécoud, ‘Baudichon made the remark: “And what did you see there? ... a slice of turnip, ... nothing more.”’[572] At these words the prisoner rose indignantly, and said to the judges: ‘I will not make any reply, I have made too many already,’ and proceeded to leave the hall. ‘We order you to stay,’ said the judges; but De la Maisonneuve would not stop. ‘Positively,’ said the judges, looking at each other, ‘he flees our presence.’ To the jailer who was sent after him to bid him return, he answered haughtily: ‘I am not disposed at present; let them wait until after dinner.’ Baudichon reappeared in the afternoon, but his anger had not cooled down. ‘I know that Pécoud,’ he said; ‘he has cheated the merchants, he has been a bankrupt, and his wife and he live by the debauchery of others. I guarantee to prove what I say.’

The next day there was a scene quite as lively. Maisonneuve having contradicted a witness: ‘I command you to sit in the dock,’ said the president. ‘I will not sit in the dock,’ answered the citizen of Geneva; ‘I have sat there too long.’ This was too much for the judges. The procurator-fiscal ordered Baudichon to be taken away and put in solitary confinement: no one was to speak to him. The prisoner was accordingly removed and locked up.[573]

The Court immediately increased the number of witnesses for the prosecution: it is useless to name them. De la Maisonneuve, more indignant than ever, thought it enough to say: ‘They are false witnesses, tutored to procure my death.’[574]

Such was indeed the intention of the Court, and, considering the power of the ecclesiastical tribunals, it seemed impossible they should fail to attain their end. De la Maisonneuve was not prepared to die. His knowledge of the Gospel had stripped death of its terrors in his eyes, but the work of his life was not terminated: the reformation of Geneva was not accomplished, there was still many a tough contest to be fought for liberty. A man of resolution was wanted at Geneva—a man to launch the bark with energy towards the happy shores it was to reach. That man was De la Maisonneuve.

On the 1st of July, seeing the eagerness of his adversaries, he petitioned the court to grant him an advocate. The judges would not consent: the prosecution was difficult enough already. ‘The case does not require it,’ said the procurator-fiscal, ‘the accused must answer by his own mouth. The said Baudichon is not an ignorant man; he is prudent and _astute_ enough in his business.’[575]

De la Maisonneuve could indeed speak freely in the uprightness of his heart; but a formal defence alarmed him. Anticipating, however, the unjust refusal of his judges, he had resolved to protest against it. Producing certain papers, he said, as he pointed to them: ‘This document was written by my own hand; I desire that it be inserted among the minutes of the trial, and propose to read it word for word.’ He was permitted to do so; upon which Baudichon, standing before his judges with the paper in his hand, reminded them of the fact of his unjust imprisonment, which had already lasted three months; contended that his judges had no authority to take cognizance of anything he had done out of the kingdom, and added: ‘I call upon you to do me speedy justice; if you refuse, I will prosecute each one of you, and force you to make compensation and reparation for the injuries I have suffered.... I appeal to his Majesty.’[576]

[Sidenote: Treatment Of Baudichon.]

The vicars-general could not believe their ears. What impudence! The accused presumes to attack the members of the Court, and his judges are to be put on their defence. Are they not the representatives of the Church? ‘You have no cause to complain of your long detention,’ they said. ‘It proceeds solely from your having refused to answer us. We cannot send you before the syndics of Geneva, because, as laymen, they have no cognizance of such matters. Besides, the king understands that you demur concerning the offences committed by you in the kingdom of France.’ Then pressing him with questions, they said: ‘Are you a Christian? What is your faith? Do you believe in the holy catholic Church? Do you obey our holy father the pope? We are judges of your faith, and we require you to answer, under pain of excommunication and other lawful penalties.’ ‘I will not answer,’ returned Maisonneuve, quite as determined as they, ‘and I appeal from your order to every court in the kingdom.’ After this answer, Baudichon, in the eyes of the Court, was nothing but an obstinate heretic. The inquisitor, Morini, conjured him to return to the catholic faith. It was useless.[577]

A man who struggled with so much courage against unreasonable judges, who, in their despotism, claimed the right to forbid him to display before God the faith, homage, and obedience which his conscience imposed upon him,—a man who, in the first half of the sixteenth century, bearded the inquisitors even in sight of the stake, as if his forehead had been made _of adamant, harder than flint_, deserves some respect from an easier age, which is no longer called to such combats, and which perhaps would be unable to sustain them.

Footnote 555:

MS. du Procès inquisitionnel de Lyon. Déposition Desvaux, pp. 99, 100;
Déposition Delay, pp. 112, 113.

Footnote 556:

1 St. Peter ii. 9.

Footnote 557:

MS. du Procès inquisitionnel de Lyon. Déposition Desvaux, pp. 100-103;
Déposition Delay, pp. 114, 115, 124.

Footnote 558:

Ibid. Déposition Desvaux, pp. 104, 105; Déposition Delay, pp. 116,
117.

Footnote 559:

MS. du Procès inquisitionnel. Déposition Desvaux, pp. 106, 107;
Déposition Delay, pp. 118, 119.

Footnote 560:

Ibid. Déposition Galla, pp. 148-151; Déposition de Gynieux dit Nego,
pp. 154-156.

Footnote 561:

Ibid. p. 121.

Footnote 562:

MS. du Procès inquisitionnel, p. 124.

Footnote 563:

MS. du Procès inquisitionnel. Déposition de Billet, pp. 127-129;
Déposition de Mochon, pp. 130, 131.

Footnote 564:

Ibid. Déposition de Joffrillet, pp. 136, 137.

Footnote 565:

‘Recors de tels propos et paroles.’—MS. du Procès inquisitionnel, pp.
138-140; Déposition de Manicier, p. 144.

Footnote 566:

Froment, _Gestes de Genève_, p. 241.

Footnote 567:

Froment, _Gestes de Genève_. The inn of La Grue was, it would seem,
the projecting corner house on the left as you go from the Rhone,
before reaching the museum.

Footnote 568:

MS. du Procès inquisitionnel, pp. 184-196.

Footnote 569:

MS. du Procès inquisitionnel, pp. 197, 198.

Footnote 570:

Ibid. pp. 198-200.

Footnote 571:

Registres du Conseil du 10 Juin, 1534.

Footnote 572:

Maisonneuve compared the host to a slice of turnip—one of the
commonest of things.—MS. du Procès inquisitionnel, p. 162.

Footnote 573:

MS. du Procès inquisitionnel, pp. 189-191.

Footnote 574:

Ibid. pp. 222-238.

Footnote 575:

MS. du Procès inquisitionnel, p. 246.

Footnote 576:

Ibid. pp. 247-250.

Footnote 577:

MS. du Procès inquisitionnel, pp. 251-259.