As the pope was won, it next became necessary to influence the emperor. That was an easier task for the duke, as Charles V. was his brother-in-law, and the empress and the Duchess of Savoy, who were sisters, and strongly attached to Rome, could write to each other on the subject. The protest drawn up at Spires by the evangelical princes, in April 1529, had irritated that monarch exceedingly; and he therefore prepared, in accordance with the oath he had sworn at Barcelona, to apply 'a suitable antidote against the pestilent malady under which christendom was suffering.' When Geneva was mentioned to him, his first thought was that it was a long way off; yet, as it was an imperial city, he determined to include it in the plan of his campaign, and resolved immediately to take a preliminary step to restore it to the papacy. On the 16th of July, 1529, the emperor dictated to his secretary the following letter, addressed to the syndics of Geneva:— '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. [Footnote 801: 'Et in domos et toros grassabantur.'—_Geneva Restituda_, p. 21.] [Footnote 802: 'Vix ac ne vix tot admissariorum prurentium ardores arceri poterant.'—Ibid.]