[747] Registres du Conseil des 30 juillet et 25 août 1527. Journal de Balard, pp. 125, 126.
[748] 'Quot saxis, quot et pulveribus corpus oppressum.'—G. de Novigento, Opp. p. 507.
[749] Bonivard, Chroniq. ii. p. 473. Spon, Hist. de Genève, ii. p. 410. Gautier MS.
[750] Savyon, Annales, p. 139. Bonivard, Chroniq. ii. p. 474. Galiffe, Matériaux pour l'Histoire de Genève, pp. 427, 428, &c.
[751] Journal de Balard, p. 126. Bonivard, Chroniq. ii. p. 474. Mém. d'Archéol. ii. p. 12.
[752] Journal de Balard, p. 127. Registres du Conseil du 6 août 1527, La Sœur de Jussie, p. 4.
[753] John x. 12.
CHAPTER V.
EXCOMMUNICATION OF GENEVA AND FUNERAL PROCESSION OF POPERY.
(August 1527 to February 1528.)
THE Duke of Savoy was the wolf. When he heard of the bishop's flight, his vexation was greater than can be imagined. He had told the Bernese: 'I shall have Monsieur of Geneva at my will,'[754] and now the wily prelate had escaped him a second time. At first Charles III. lost all self-control. 'I will go,' he said, 'and drag him across the Alps with a rope round his neck!' After which he wrote to him: 'I will make you the poorest priest in Savoy;' and, proceeding to gratify his rage, he seized upon the abbeys of Suza and Pignerol, which belonged to La Baume. Gradually his anger cooled down; the duke's counsellors, knowing the bishop's irresolute and timid character, said to their master: 'He is of such a changeable disposition[755] that it will be easy to bring him over again to the side of Savoy.' The prince yielded to their advice, and sent Ducis, governor of the Château de l'Ile, to try to win him back. It appeared to the ducal counsellors that Pierre de la Baume, having fled from Geneva, could never return thither, and would have no wish to do so; and that the time had come when a negotiation, favourable in other respects to the prelate, might put the duke in possession of a city which he desired by every means to close against heresy and liberty.