[562] Edict of Fontainebleau, Dec. 11, 1547. Isambert, xiii. 37, 38.
[563] A singular illustration of this device is given in a letter recently discovered. In 1542 a printer, to secure for his edition of the Protestant liturgy and psalter a more ready entrance into Roman Catholic cities, added the whimsical imprint: "Printed in Rome, with privilege of the Pope"!—Naturally enough, this very circumstance aroused suspicion at the gates of Metz, and 600 copies were stopped. The ultimate fate of the books is unknown. Letter of Peter Alexander, May 25, 1542, Baum, Cunitz, and Reuss, Calvini Opera, vi. p. xv. A single copy of this Roman edition has recently come to light. It proves to be the earliest edition thus far discovered of Calvin's Strasbourg Liturgy, the prototype of his Geneva Liturgy. O. Douen, Clement Marot et le Psautier huguenot (Paris, 1878), i. 334-339; and farther on in note at the close of this chapter.
[564] Crespin, fols. 152-155. De Thou (i. 446) mistakes the date of the sentence of the Parliament of Paris, March 3, 1548 (1547 Old Style), for that of the execution. The awkward old French practice of making the year begin with Easter, instead of January 1st, has in this, as in many other instances, led to great confusion, even in the minds of those who were perfectly familiar with the custom. The "Histoire ecclésiastique," for instance, places the execution of Brugière in the reign of Francis I., whereas it belongs to the first year of the reign of his son. So does White, Massacre of St. Bartholomew, p. 19.
[565] Crespin, fol. 156.
[566] Inedited letter of Constable Montmorency of July 8, 1549, in the Bulletin de la Soc. de l'hist. du prot. fr., ix. (1860) 124, 125. "Voilà," says this document, "le debvoir où ledit seigneur s'est mis pour continuer la possession de ce nom et titre de Très-Chrestien."
[567] Hist. ecclés. des égl. réf., i. 50, 51. Crespin, fol. 157, etc. The registers of parliament can spare for the auto-da-fé but a few lines at the conclusion of a lengthy description of the magnificent procession, and inaccurately designate the locality: "Cette aprèsdinée fut faicte exécution d'aucuns condamnez au feu pour crime d'hérésie, tant au parvis N. D. que en la place devant Ste. Catherine du Val des Escolliers." Reg. of Parl., July 4, 1549 (Félibien, Preuves, iv. 745, 746).
[568] Anne Audeberte and Louis de Marsac. Hist. ecclés. des égl. réf., i. 52, 58; Crespin, fols. 156, 227-234.
[569] Isambert, Recueil gén. des anc. lois fr., xiii. 134-138. Of course the provision giving to church courts the right of arrest, so opposed to the spirit of the "Gallican Liberties," displeased parliament, which duly remonstrated (Preuves des libertez de l'ég. gall., iii. 171), but was compelled to register the law, with conditions forbidding the exaction of pecuniary fines, and the sentence of perpetual imprisonment.
[570] De Thou, i. 167. Hist. ecclés., i. 53.
[571] De Thou, ubi supra. Mézeray well remarks that the Protestants recognized the fact then, as they always have done since, in similar circumstances, that there is no more disastrous time for them than when the court of France has a misunderstanding with that of Rome. Abrégé chronologique, iv. 664.