One would have thought that, as the head of the league against Geneva had fallen, the league itself would have been weakened; but, on the contrary, Pontverre's death added fuel to the rage of the brethren of the Spoon. Disorder and violence increased around the city, and the very next day, Sunday, the 3rd of January, the gentry, wishing to avenge their chief, kept the field everywhere. 'We will kill all the Genevans we can find,' said they.—'They fell upon the first they met, committing violence and murder.' It seemed as if Pontverre's soul had revived, and was impelling his former colleagues to offer sacrifices without number to his shade. An early attack was expected; the alarm spread through Geneva, and the council met. 'François de Ternier's death,' said one of the members, 'has thrown oil upon the fire instead of extinguishing it. Alone, we cannot resist the attack of Savoy and of the knights. Let us make haste to inform Berne and Friburg.'—'It is impossible,' said another councillor; 'all the gentlemen of Vaud are in arms; no one can cross the province. Our envoys would be stopped at Versoy, Coppet, Nyon, and Rolle; and whoever is taken will be put to death to avenge the fall of the illustrious chief.'
But a free people always finds citizens ready to sacrifice themselves. Two men stood up: they were two of the bravest huguenots, Jean Lullin and Robert Vandel. 'We will go,' they said. They embraced their relatives, and got into a boat, hoping to reach some place on the lake where they could land without danger. But they had hardly left the shore when they were recognised and pursued by some of the enemies' boats, well manned and armed. As soon as the two Genevans observed them, they saw their danger, and, catching up the spare oars, assisted the boatmen with their vigorous arms, and rowed off as fast as they could. They kept gaining on the Savoyard boats; they passed unmolested within sight of several harbours occupied by their enemies, and at last reached Ouchy, dripping with perspiration. The people of Lausanne, who were well disposed towards the Genevans, assisted them. They got to Friburg, 'by subtle means,' probably in disguise, and told their old friends of the increasing dangers to which the city was exposed, especially since the death of Pontverre.[799]
=THE SIRE DE VIRY.=
The place of the latter was now filled by the Sire de Viry, whose castle, like Pontverre's, was situated between Mont Salève and the lake (between Chancy and Léluiset), and whose family had always supplied Savoy with fanatical partisans. Viry was furious at the escape of Lullin and Vandel; and, accordingly, on the next day, the servants of these two Genevans, who had been ordered to take their masters' horses to Lausanne, having passed through Coppet, were thrown into prison by his orders. He did not stop at this. 'The gentlemen assaulted every Genevan they met with their daggers and battle-axes, striking them on the loins, the shoulders, and other parts, and many died thereof.'—'All the territory of Monseigneur of Savoy is in arms,' said people at Geneva in the beginning of March 1529, 'and no one can leave the city except at great risk.'
The ducal party, desirous of defying the Genevans in every way, resolved to send them, not a written but a living message, which would show them the fate that awaited them. On the 14th of March, the people who were leaving the church of Our Lady of Grace, saw a strange figure coming over the bridge of Arve. He had at his back a wooden plank reaching from his feet to above his head, to which he was fastened; while his outstretched arms were tied to a cross piece which was placed on a level with his shoulders. The gentlemen had thought it a pretty jest to crucify a Genevan, without doing him any great injury, and they left his feet at liberty, so that he could return home thus singularly arrayed. 'What is that?' asked the people, stopping at the foot of the bridge. They thought they recognised an inhabitant of the city. 'They have made a cross of him front and back,' said the spectators. The man came over the bridge, approached his fellow-citizens, and told them his story. 'I had gone to the village of Troinex on business, when the enemy caught me, trussed me up in this manner, and compelled me to return in this condition to Geneva.' The people hardly knew whether to laugh or be angry; however, they unbound their crucified fellow-citizen, and all returned together to the city.
This was only a little joke of the young ones among the knights; the Sire de Viry and his colleagues had more serious thoughts. The attack upon Geneva, resolved upon at the castle of Nyon, was to be put into execution. The lords issued with their armed retainers from all the castles in the great valley, and on the 24th of March some peasants from the banks of the Arve came and told the syndics that there was a great concourse of gentlemen and soldiers at Gaillard; that these armed men intended on the following night to secretly scale the walls of the city, and that there was a strong guard upon all the roads to detain everybody who ventured out of Geneva. At that time the whole garrison consisted but of fifty soldiers, 'keeping watch and ward by turns,' as Bonivard informs us. How was it possible to resist with such a few men? Yet two powers kept the walls: the energy of the citizens and the providence of God.
=THE DAY OF THE LADDERS.=
At midnight on Holy Thursday (25th of March), the knights of the Spoon, with about four thousand Savoyard troops and the fugitive mamelukes, moved forward as secretly as possible to take Geneva by surprise. The citizens, accustomed to false alarms, had not paid much attention to the warning they had received. At the head of the band that was to lead the assault were a certain number of men carrying long ladders which had been made at Chillon. The men-at-arms who followed them wore white shirts over their armour in order to be recognised in the darkness; they had even sent to their friends in Geneva certain tokens which the latter were to fasten to the ends of their spears in order that the assailants might know them in the confusion. The city clocks had struck two when a few Savoyards arrived at the foot of the wall: not a sound was heard, the night was dark, and everything promised complete success. Meanwhile the main body had halted a quarter of a league from the city, and hesitated to make the attack. Pontverre was no longer among them, and Viry had not inherited his influence. 'At the moment of execution, a spirit of fear fell upon the Savoyards,' says a chronicler; 'God took away their courage, so that they were not able to come near.'—'We are not strong enough to carry out our enterprise,' said one.—'If we fail,' said another, 'Messieurs of the Swiss League will not fail us.' They consequently withdrew, and, in order to conceal their disgrace, said that the duke or the bishop had forbidden them to advance. Might not the duke, influenced by the cantons, have really given them the order to retreat at the last moment? That alone appears to explain this retrograde movement. However, the Genevans ascribed their deliverance to a higher cause; they entered on the registers of the council the following simple words which we copy: 'The gentlemen (gentils) had undertaken to attack the city, which God has preserved hitherto.' The 25th of March was called the day of the ladders.[800]
[791] Bonivard, Chroniq. ii. p. 507. Gautier MS.
[792] Bonivard, Chroniq. ii. p. 517.