History of the Reformation in Europe in the Time of Calvin, Vol. 5 (of 8)Merle d'Aubigné, J. H. (Jean Henri)
History
History of the Reformation in Europe in the Time of Calvin, Vol. 5 (of 8)
Merle d'Aubigné, J. H. (Jean Henri)
Reformation
[607] He was probably the writer of a treatise entitled _Ordre et
manière d'enseigner en la ville de Genève, au collège_, recently
reprinted by Professor Bétant.
[608] Registres du Conseil des 27 Août, 7 et 17 Septembre, 29 Octobre,
12, 14 et 15 Novembre 1535.—Des Hôpitaux de Genève.—_Mémoires
d'Archéologie_, iii. pp. 155-366.
[609] 'Nothing that concerns mankind is indifferent to me.'
[610] Registres du Conseil des 12, 23, 24 et 29 Novembre, 6 Décembre
1535.
[611] Thourel, _Histoire de Genève_, ii. p. 163.
[612] Kirchhofer, _Farel_, p. 193.
CHAPTER VIII.
AN ENERGETIC CITIZEN CALLS SWITZERLAND TO HELP
GENEVA AND THE REFORMATION.
(SEPTEMBER AND OCTOBER 1535.)
[Sidenote: THE COMING TEMPEST.]
The joy which then filled Geneva was not to be of long duration. The sky
was fair, and yet certain signs indicated that the tempest was not far
off. The Reformation which had been accomplished excited the most
serious uneasiness at Turin, at Rome, and around the puissant Charles V.
Hitherto a few desultory attacks had been made against the city: its
territory had been laid waste, its provisions intercepted, and ladders
had been placed against its walls: but now a regular campaign was about
to be opened, and the enemy were decided not to lay down their arms
until they had taken it and transformed it into a popish and Savoyard
city. The partisans of Rome felt their danger; they saw that as Geneva
was at the gates of France, Italy, and Germany, if the Reformation was
settled there, it might compromise the existence of the papacy
itself.[613] Accordingly all their thoughts were bent on putting down
_the revolt_, though at the cost of much bloodshed, and of treating
Geneva as Alby, 'of holy and illustrious memory,' had been treated
formerly. Paul III., a friend of the world and of the fine arts, wished,
however, to employ milder means at first—to reduce the city by famine.
'These Lutherans of four days' standing,' he said, 'will soon be
disgusted with their heresy.' He was deceived, but the duke of Savoy did
not share his mistake. That prince, who showed a certain kindness
towards his party, was hard, violent, and merciless whenever Geneva was
concerned. He was to be the Simon de Montfort of the new crusade. 'It is
impossible,' people said, 'that the Genevans can hold out in the face of
the duke's alliances. On the one hand, there is his brother-in-law the
emperor, his nephew the king of France, his father-in-law the king of
Portugal, and his allies the Swiss; and then all his own subjects, who
hem in Geneva for two hundred leagues round, as wolves surround a fold
of helpless sheep. On the other hand, there is the pope, the cardinals,
the bishops, and the priests, whose favor and support the bishop of
Geneva possesses.'[614] The cabinet of Turin resolved, therefore, to set
to work. On the 30th of August the duke publicly proclaimed Geneva as
infected with the plague, forbade his subjects, under pain of death, to
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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