[607] He was probably the writer of a treatise entitled Ordre et manière d'enseigner en la ville de Genève, au collège, recently reprinted by Professor Bétant.
[608] Registres du Conseil des 27 Août, 7 et 17 Septembre, 29 Octobre, 12, 14 et 15 Novembre 1535.—Des Hôpitaux de Genève.—Mémoires d'Archéologie, iii. pp. 155-366.
[609] 'Nothing that concerns mankind is indifferent to me.'
[610] Registres du Conseil des 12, 23, 24 et 29 Novembre, 6 Décembre 1535.
[611] Thourel, Histoire de Genève, ii. p. 163.
[612] Kirchhofer, Farel, p. 193.
CHAPTER VIII.
AN ENERGETIC CITIZEN CALLS SWITZERLAND TO HELP GENEVA AND THE REFORMATION.
(September and October 1535.)
=THE COMING TEMPEST.=
The joy which then filled Geneva was not to be of long duration. The sky was fair, and yet certain signs indicated that the tempest was not far off. The Reformation which had been accomplished excited the most serious uneasiness at Turin, at Rome, and around the puissant Charles V. Hitherto a few desultory attacks had been made against the city: its territory had been laid waste, its provisions intercepted, and ladders had been placed against its walls: but now a regular campaign was about to be opened, and the enemy were decided not to lay down their arms until they had taken it and transformed it into a popish and Savoyard city. The partisans of Rome felt their danger; they saw that as Geneva was at the gates of France, Italy, and Germany, if the Reformation was settled there, it might compromise the existence of the papacy itself.[613] Accordingly all their thoughts were bent on putting down the revolt, though at the cost of much bloodshed, and of treating Geneva as Alby, 'of holy and illustrious memory,' had been treated formerly. Paul III., a friend of the world and of the fine arts, wished, however, to employ milder means at first—to reduce the city by famine. 'These Lutherans of four days' standing,' he said, 'will soon be disgusted with their heresy.' He was deceived, but the duke of Savoy did not share his mistake. That prince, who showed a certain kindness towards his party, was hard, violent, and merciless whenever Geneva was concerned. He was to be the Simon de Montfort of the new crusade. 'It is impossible,' people said, 'that the Genevans can hold out in the face of the duke's alliances. On the one hand, there is his brother-in-law the emperor, his nephew the king of France, his father-in-law the king of Portugal, and his allies the Swiss; and then all his own subjects, who hem in Geneva for two hundred leagues round, as wolves surround a fold of helpless sheep. On the other hand, there is the pope, the cardinals, the bishops, and the priests, whose favor and support the bishop of Geneva possesses.'[614] The cabinet of Turin resolved, therefore, to set to work. On the 30th of August the duke publicly proclaimed Geneva as infected with the plague, forbade his subjects, under pain of death, to have any communication with its inhabitants, and promised hospitality in his states to all who desired to escape from the pestilence. It was thought in Piedmont that only a few mischief-makers would remain, and that one bold stroke would make the ducal army master of the city. Everything was prepared in the states of Charles IV. to strike a decisive blow.[615]