CHAPTER II. Some Account of Geneva-Farel's Arrival there-Sketch of Farel's LifeHis Labors at Geneva and Expulsion from that City-Froment succeeds him-Disturbances--Return of the Bishop-Guy Furbity-Dissolution of the Monasteries-Reformation established-Genevese ConstitutionCalvin joins Farel-Disputation of Lausanne-Anabaptists-Caroli-Accuses Calvin of Arianism-Caroli's Banishment and Apostasy-Calvin and Farel's Orthodoxy suspected-Their Scheme of Discipline-Manners of the Genevese-They revolt against the Discipline-French Intrigues -Synod of Lausanne-Inflexibility of Farel and Calvin-Their Banishment from Geneva-They appeal to the Synod of Zurich-Berne intercedes for them. In order that the reader may understand Calvin's position at Geneva, it will be necessary to explain the state of parties there, and the progress which the Reformation had made at the time of his arrival. Geneva, though nominally a fief of the German empire, had in reality been governed for several centuries by a bishop,' whose temporal authority was, however, controlled by certain lay assessors, as well as by the citizens, without whose consent, in general assembly, he could do nothing." The bishop acknowledged the Count of Geneva, or, rather, of the Genevois, as his feudal lord; and an officer called the Vidomine (vice-dominus) administered the law in the bishop's name, but as the representative of the count. The house of Savoy, having acquired the rights of the Counts of Geneva by the cession of Odon de Villars, in 1401, endeavored also to get possession of the temporal rights of the bishop. No serious attempts, however, appear to have been made on the independence of Geneva, till the time of Charles III., who, in 1504, succeeded to the just Duke Philibert. Charles found a willing tool in Bishop John, a natural son of Francis of Savoy. This prelate ceded all his temporal rights to the Duke of Savoy; but the general assembly having annulled his proceeding, a bitter and bloody persecution ensued. The city was divided into two factions; that of the Mamelukes, which espoused the pretensions of Savoy; and that of the 1 In an assembly of the burgesses in 1420, it was stated that the city had then been for more than four centuries under episcopal government. Spon, i., 171. 2 Bonnivard, apud Ruchat, i., 319. Gerdesius, ii., 364. patriots distinguished by the name of Eidgenossen. In order to shelter themselves from the aggressions of the duke, who frequently sought to attain his object by force of arms, the Genevese concluded a treaty of alliance and fellow-citizenship with Friburgh; to which, in 1526, they added another with Berne In the latter of these cities the Reformation had already been established through the exertions of Berthold Haller, who began to preach there in 1522;1 and it was this connection with Berne which laid the foundation of the Reformation at Geneva. But before giving an account of its progress there, it will be better to anticipate a little, and shortly to relate the issue of the struggle with the house of Savoy. Charles continuing to annoy Geneva, Berne and Friburgh took the field in 1530, in defense of their ally. The duke was compelled to sue for a peace, the articles of which, however, he contrived to evade. A few years afterward the progress of the Reformation among the Genevese not only deprived them of the alliance of Friburgh, but increased the displeasure of Charles; and in 1535 the abolition of Popery at Geneva, and formal suppression of the bishopric, roused him to still more vigorous attacks. For some time the Genevese had to bear the brunt of war unaided; but early in 1536 Berne sent an army of 7000 men to their assistance, which overran the Pays de Vaud, and in eleven days appeared before the gates of Geneva. The Savoyards fled without striking a blow; but the success of the victors was much facilitated by the circumstance of France having, at the very same time, declared war against Savoy. Francis I. had eagerly laid hold on the hesitation of Charles to allow the French troops to pass through his dominions, as a pretext, which he had long been seeking, for making war upon him. In two months the duke was completely stripped of his dominions, which he never regained, but died in exile in 1553;2 and thus Geneva was finally delivered from all apprehensions from that quarter. The profligate and tyrannical conduct of Peter de la Beaume, who, in 1522, had succeeded to John of Savoy in the see of Geneva, contributed to dispose the Genevese toward the Reformation. At first, indeed, that prelate seemed to favor the patriot party; and when, in 1527, he found it expedient to retire from Geneva, in order to avoid the anger of the Duke of Savoy, whom he had offended by pardoning some criminals,3 he formally ceded his civil jurisdiction to the 2 Ruchat, iv., 33. 3 Besson, Mémoires Ecclés., cited by Grénus, Fragm. Biogr., p. 145. 1 Scultetus, apud V. der Hardt, p. 49. SOME ACCOUNT OF GENEVA. 45 magistrates of Geneva. In his exile, however, he reconciled himself with the Duke of Savoy, endeavored to recall the cession he had made of his temporal rights, and early in 1528 even caused a revocation of it to be fixed on the church doors; but this impotent attempt only excited the ridicule. of the Genevese. In the same year the Mameluke party having persuaded the Archbishop of Vienne, the metropolitan of Geneva, to excommunicate that city, the indignation of the other citizens was roused to such a pitch, that, in a general assembly held on the 29th of December, they forbade, under rigorous penalties, the future recognition of the archbishop and his spiritual court, and even refused to obey any letters apostolical which might be addressed to them by their own bishop. Meanwhile, in conjunction with the Duke of Savoy, Peter de la Beaume resorted to all methods of annoying the Genevese. It was even discovered, from an intercepted letter, that he had joined the league of the Gentilhommes de la Cuillère, or gentlemen of the spoon: a conspiracy hatched among some of the principal inhabitants of the Pays de Vaud, with the design of blockading Geneva and starving the inhabitants; the members of which league, assisted by their dependents, waylaid, plundered, and in some cases even murdered, such of the Genevese as ventured beyond their walls. It was by two members of this league that Bonnivard, the prior of St. Victor, was seized in 1536, and, after being robbed, led to the Castle of Chillon, where, with the sanction of the Duke of Savoy, he was detained a prisoner, till the place was captured by the Bernese in March, 1536.o The hatred inspired by this conduct of the bishop was aggravated by the remembrance of his violence and profligacy, of which he had given a signal instance shortly before his departure from Geneva, by openly carrying off a young lady of good family, whom he detained in his palace till compelled to restore her by the mob which surrounded it.3 But though these occurrences tended to shake the allegiance of the Genevese toward their ecclesiastical government, and, consequently, toward the papal power generally, it was not till 1532 that there appeared among them any open manifestations in favor of the Reformed doctrines. It having been announced in that year that Pope Clement VII. was about to publish a Jubilee, placards were discovered in differ 1 Ruchat, ii., 27, et seq. 2 Régistres de Génève, 1 Avril, 1536. Spon, i., 141. ent parts of Geneva, promising a general pardon of sins on the sole conditions of repentance, and a lively faith in the promises of Christ. Peter Wernly, a canon of St. Peter's, but a native of Friburgh, having surprised one John Goulas in the act of affixing one of these placards to a pillar in that church, struck him, and drew his sword. Goulas also drew; a combat ensued, and Wernly was wounded in the arm. The council of Friburgh remonstrated that of Geneva replied that these proceedings had occurred without their knowledge, but added that they were resolved, like their allies at Friburgh, to live in the ancient religion; and, in proof of their sincerity, prohibited the placards by sound of trumpet.1 In the month of October of the same year, there entered Geneva a little man of mean appearance, with a vulgar face, a narrow forehead, a pale, but sun-burned complexion, and a chin on which appeared two or three tufts of a red and illcombed beard, but whose fiery eye and expressive mouth announced to the close observer a more remarkable character than his general appearance seemed to indicate.". He rode a fine white horse, and was accompanied by another man, mounted on a black one. It was William Farel, and his friend Anthony Saunier. They had been attending a synod of the Waldenses in the valleys of Piedmont, whence, at the instance of the Bernese council, and well furnished with credentials and letters of recommendation, they had bent their steps toward Geneva, to put their sickles into the harvest of the Lord. Farel's history is so bound up with that of Calvin that it will be proper to give a short account of him. He was born at Gap, in Dauphiné, in the year 1489, and was descended from a noble family which had some possessions in that province. The blind and unreasoning enthusiasm which formed the salient feature in his character, and which constantly demanded an object, had vented itself in early life in a superstitious observance of the more ascetic parts of papistry, and in an extraordinary veneration for the Pope's person, whom he regarded not merely as an agent appointed by God, but even as a sort of divinity. The nature of his education tended at first to increase this disposition. His early youth 1 Ruchat, iii., 174. Spon, i., 463. 2 Le Chroniqueur. Sœur Jeanne de Jussie records Farel's appearance at Geneva with a contempt inspired probably by his person: "Au mois d'Oc tobre vint à Genève un chétif malheureux prédicant nommé maître Guil. laume."-Kirchhofer, Leben Farels, i., 157. 3 Kirchhofer, i., 3. SKETCH OF FAREL'S LIFE. was a little anterior to the revival of sound learning; and at the High School of Paris he became imbued with the scholastic divinity and still more wretched philosophy of the age. At a later period, however, he was fortunate enough to become the pupil of Le Fèvre d'Etaples, at whose recommendation he began to study the Bible; and, in order to understand it the better, applied himself to the acquirement of Greek and Hebrew. Farel was soon struck with the difference between the precepts of Scripture and the practice of the Church; and the result was, his thorough conversion to the tenets of the Reformation. Meanwhile he had become, as we have seen, regent of the college of Cardinal Le Moine: a post of distinguished honor, and subsequently filled by Turnebus, Buchanan, Muretus, and other eminent men. When the perse cutions broke out he was forced to abandon this office, and, after a short residence at Meaux, repaired in February, 1524, to Basle. He had been there but a few days, when his restless zeal led him to publish a disputation, in which he engaged to maintain thirteen theses against the Roman Catholics. The bishop's vicar and the rector of the academy did all they could to hinder it, but Farel obtained the permission of the municipal council, and the disputation took place on the 15th of February.1 Farel had come to Basle brimful of indignation against Erasmus, who felt an aversion to this class of hot-headed Reformers, which he was at no pains to conceal. I abhor the evangelists," said he, as for other reasons, so because it is through them that literature is declining in every place, and entertained with coldness and contempt, and on the point of perishing; and without letters what is life? They love money and women, and despise all other things. We have been stunned long enough with the cry of Gospel, Gospel, Gospel. We want Gospel manners." To a man of cultivated taste, like Erasmus, it must have been painful to witness the havoc committed by the more fanatical Reformers. In a letter to Pirchheimer, describing the progress of the Reformation at Basle, he complains that pictures, statues, and other works of art, no matter what their merit or value, were sacrificed by their remorseless and indiscriminating zeal. The charge of discouraging literature must, however, be confined to the more violent section of the Reformers. Carlostadt, in Luther's absence, emptied the Gerdesius, ii., 269. These theses will be found in Kirchhofer, i., 22. 2 Jortin, Erasmus, i., 442. 3 See Ep. 1048. |