[884] Acts xvi. 23, 24.
[885] Revelation i. 15.
[886] Calvin.
[887] Registres du Conseil des 4, 7, 8 février 1532.
[888] History of the Reformation of the Sixteenth Century, bk. xv. ch. iii. Ruchat, ii. p. 83. Galiffe fils, B. Hugues, p. 442.
CHAPTER XIV.
AN EMPEROR AND A SCHOOLMASTER. (Spring 1532.)
=THE EMPEROR'S NEW SCHEME.=
JUST as the noble citizen, who had defended with such devotedness the independence of his country, had retired from the stage of the world, new plots were got up against Geneva; but new strength came also to her help. An emperor was rising against the city, and a schoolmaster was bringing it the everlasting Word.
The imperial court was then at Ratisbon, where the Germanic diet was to assemble. The Duke and Duchess of Savoy, who could not make up their minds to resign Geneva, had ordered their ambassador accredited to Charles V. to solicit the influence of that prince in order to induce the bishop, his partisan, to cede his temporal principality to the duke's second son. The duchess, who appears to have been anxious to bring about this cession, made every possible exertion to attain her object. The emperor, who was very fond of Beatrice, answered: 'I desire this arrangement, because of the singular love, goodwill, and affection I feel towards my dearly beloved cousin and sister-in-law.' He added, moreover, that he desired it also 'in the interest of the holy faith and for the preservation of mother Church.' He undertook to persuade Pierre de la Baume to transfer his temporality to the young prince; and, that he might bring the negotiation to a favourable issue, he applied to the Count of Montrevel, the head of the bishop's family. On the 14th of April, 1532, he dictated and forwarded the following letter to that nobleman: 'The emperor, king, duke, and count of Burgundy, to his very dear liegeman: We require and order you very expressly, that as soon as possible, and at the earliest opportunity and convenience, you proceed to the Bishop of Geneva, and tell him, as you may see most fitting, the desire we have that he should please our said cousins, the duke and duchess; employing with him soft words of persuasion, according to your accustomed prudence. He can all the easier yield to our prayer, because, as the successor-designate of the Archbishop of Besançon, he must necessarily leave Geneva to reside in that city.' The emperor, moreover, used his influence with the Marshal of Burgundy, the Baron of St. Sorlin, Pierre de la Baume's brother. The prelate was to be attacked on every side. Charles's recommendations could hardly have been more urgent if the safety of the German empire had been at stake.[889]