There was a noble dame at Orbe, a native of Friburg, Elizabeth, wife of Hugonin, lord of Arnex, an honest and devout woman, but enthusiastic, violent, and fanatical. Elizabeth, being persuaded that the death of the reformer would be a very meritorious work, had assembled at her house some other bigoted women, had addressed them, and worked upon them, so that they had agreed to beat the reformer and even kill him: they only waited for an opportunity. The same day at four in the afternoon a city council was held at which the deputies of Berne and Friburg and even Farel also were present. When the council was over, the reformer came out: it was the moment that Elizabeth and her accomplices, informed of the circumstance, had selected to carry out their plot. A gentleman, Pierre de Glairesse, knowing the danger the evangelist ran, quitted the council after him, and begged permission to accompany him. Meanwhile the women who had left their houses were waiting for Farel in the middle of a street through which he must necessarily pass. Approaching them without any mistrust, they fell upon him unawares, 'and took him by the cloak _so gently_,' says the chronicler ironically, 'that they made him stagger and fall.' They then attempted to ill-treat him and beat him; but Pierre de Glairesse rushing in between them, took him out of their hands, and said, bowing to them very politely: 'Your pardon, ladies; at present he is under my charge.' They all let go of him, and Glairesse conducted him to the inn where My Lords of Berne awaited him. [Sidenote: FRIAR MICHAEL EXAMINED.] While Elizabeth was trying to kill the reformer, her husband, William of Arnex, as bigoted as herself, was pleading the cause of the monk. The mediators had ordered that Friar Michael should be put on his trial. He was taken to the castle in agitation and alarm, and the lords of Berne, bringing a criminal charge against him, said: 'You asserted that the poor in spirit are the monks.' _Friar Michael_: 'I deny it.' 'You said that to resist the pope, the bishops, and other ecclesiastics is resisting the commandment of God.' _Friar._ 'I deny saying it in those terms.' 'You said that few follow the new law, except a heap of lascivious monks.' _Friar._ 'I deny having said it in that way, and I named nobody.' 'You said that when priests marry, the women they take are not their wives but their harlots, and that their children are bastards.' _Friar._ 'I confess it.' 'You said that Mary was the treasure-house of graces.' _Friar._ 'I did.' 'You said the saints, like St. Anthony, expel and cure certain diseases.' _Friar._ 'I did.' 'You said that those who deny that the books of the Maccabees form part of Holy Scripture, are heretics.' _Friar._ 'I did.' 'You said that those who have adopted the new law have no good in them, and deny the articles of faith.' _Friar._ 'I did not.'[389]