History of the Reformation in Europe in the Time of Calvin, Vol. 6 (of 8)

by J. H. Merle d'Aubigné

At the same time that Calvin’s reputation was rising in other countries, the judgment formed at Geneva of the men who had compelled him to quit the town was daily becoming more unfavorable, and ere long opinion was altogether opposed to them. ‘The time was come,’ says Theodore Beza, ‘when the Lord had determined to have pity on the Church of Geneva.’[823]

BERNE AND GENEVA.

When, in 1536, the Bernese had repulsed the troops of Savoy and insured the independence of Geneva, an arrangement was effected between these two states respecting five or six villages belonging to the priory of St. Victor, of which Bonivard had been the last prior. Geneva had claimed the sovereignty, and had conceded to Berne the rights of ancient custom which had belonged to Savoy. The treaty not being sufficiently clear, the Bernese claimed prerogatives which the Genevese disputed with them. Consequently, on March 6, 1539, the council of Geneva sent to Berne Ami de Chapeaurouge, Jean Lullin and Monathon, all three of them opponents of Calvin. The first two had indeed been syndics in 1538, and as such had taken the lead in the banishment of the reformers. They were to settle the matters in dispute, but ‘without infringing on the franchises of the town or on the treaty of 1536.’ These delegates signed at Berne, on March 30, a treaty comprising twenty-one articles, ‘the most part of which,’ says the syndic Gautier, who is moderate in his account, ‘were humiliating to the Genevese, and deprived them of their rights over those territories.’ The first article of the treaty said in fact, ‘To us of Berne the chief lordship, that is to say, the sovereignty over men and goods, is entirely to belong.’ The three Genevese were far less clever as politicians than the Bernese, and we prefer to attribute their error to their inferior diplomatic skill rather than to treason. On their return to Geneva they merely reported to the council ‘that they had done their work well (avaient bien besogné), and that the contract entered into would shortly be brought to Berne.’ It was strange that these plenipotentiaries not only should not present the treaty, but still more should not state viva voce what it contained. ‘As they had trifled with the orders which they had received,’ says Gautier, ‘they were afraid of being completely ruined if they gave an exact account of their management, and they hoped by delaying the matter to obliterate the recollections of what might be criminal in their proceedings.’[824] They reckoned among the members of the council many of their kinsfolk and friends. Their word was taken. These three councillors, the signatories of the articles, were consequently called the Articulants; and the people, adopting a word almost the same in sound and more familiar to them, called them the Artichauts (Artichokes). This designation was extended to the whole party opposed to Calvin, which was at this time in the ascendency.[825]

About two months later a Bernese bailli (De Thiez) having caused a man belonging to the estates of St. Victor to be put to the torture, the council of Geneva complained of it, and the bailli immediately justified himself by appealing from them to the treaty concluded at Berne. The Genevese magistrates, who were not acquainted with it, sent Monathon to procure it. He brought it back, but it was in German! The document was returned, in order to be translated into French; and when the articles were at last read in the council many murmured, and said that most of those points were contrary to the rights and the prerogatives of the town. The three deputies justified themselves by asserting that this document was not the one which they had signed. This statement was credited. The council declared that it did not accept the paper, and decreed that the three articulants should return to Berne to demand explanations. But in vain did the two councils implore and even command Lullin to go; he declared that he would sooner quit the town than consent to be a delegate to Berne. He had private reasons for not having a mind to this mission. Three other notables were associated with De Chapeaurouge and Monathon. The two articulants represented to the Bernese that they had not heard the articles couched in such terms. But the Bernese replied that it was the genuine treaty, and that they would have the council of Geneva cited before judges charged to investigate the difficulties existing between the two towns, in order to get it condemned to sign and seal the treaty. Lambert, one of the deputies who had accompanied Monathon and De Chapeaurouge to Berne, heard, in a conversation with some people of the town, that at the time of drawing them up, Jean Lullin had consented to the articles in German, and had got them passed by his colleagues without telling them in French what they contained. From this one must infer that Jean Lullin, the only one of the three who knew German, remained responsible. The other two, however, still lay under the imputation, it must be confessed, of incredible thoughtlessness. On April 6 the deputies made their report to the council.

QUARREL ABOUT THE TREATY.

The Bernese, sure of their case, continued to enforce their rights of sovereignty, and took pleasure in annoying the Genevese in various ways. They even carried their ill-will to the length of cruelty. Two murderers, subjects of St. Victor, having been condemned by the Genevese magistrates to be beheaded, the Bernese bailli substituted the rack, and sent to Geneva the executioner’s bill to be paid. Discontent with the government party was increasing from day to day. People said that the treaty made at Berne was an act of treason. Was it possible that after having ruined religion by expelling Farel and Calvin, the same party should ruin the state as well, by sacrificing its most precious rights? Some went farther still. Bonnet, a member of the Two Hundred, exclaimed, ‘The council mean to deliver up the town to the lords of Berne.’ For this rash speech he was put in prison.[826] But it served to increase the prevailing irritation. Many members of the Two Hundred, among whom was Claude Bonna, declared to that council that they would never allow the articles drawn up at Berne to receive the seal of the republic. The matter at stake was the maintenance of the honor of Geneva, her pre-eminence and the justice of her cause, perhaps of her very existence. The friends of Calvin declared that the powerful town of Berne should not trample their country under foot. The opposition to the government had become so strong that, in the sitting of August 25, all the members of the Two Hundred cried unanimously, ‘We will not submit to these articles, considering that they are opposed to our liberties, our franchises, and our good customs.’[827]

The Bernese, annoyed and irritated by the constant refusals of Geneva, announced at the beginning of January 1540 that, having an authentic document, they summoned their allies of Geneva to Lausanne, for the 29th of the month, in order that the cause might be decided by judges, two from each town. Geneva, on the 21st, named De la Rive and Gerbel to go to Lausanne with five assistants. On the 25th the general council rejected the treaty, prohibited the deputies from accepting a judicial decision, and ordered them to say to the Bernese that the people would set fire to the city rather than accept the articles. Matters got worse and worse. Berne was inflexible. On the 26th, at nine o’clock in the evening, a Genevese, Béguin, arrived at full speed from Lausanne with important despatches. The general council, assembled on the following day, was greatly excited by them. They caused the three articulants to be arrested, and Béguin was instructed to inform the Bernese. But the latter commanded their judges to proceed, and the Genevese were condemned for contumacy to seal the treaty and to pay the costs. The gravity of the situation was at length understood at Geneva. The very day, January 27, on which the judgment was delivered at Lausanne, the general council, suddenly convoked by the tones of the great bell at one o’clock in the morning, had decreed that the deputies should sit as judges. But when this news arrived sentence was already given. They had dispensed with the Genevese.

INDIGNATION AT GENEVA.

Great was the consternation at Geneva. On Sunday, February 1, it was resolved to close all dissension at home by a general reconciliation, in token of which the citizens took each other by the hand. Chapeaurouge, Lullin, and Monathon were set at liberty on giving bail, and Jean Philippe was named captain-general. This internal peace, brought about by the war with which they were menaced from without, was solemnized by a procession of the people to the sound of the drum through the whole town. The ministers urged the appointment of a day of prayer to celebrate and confirm the reconciliation. But this peace was not rooted in the depth of their hearts. ‘Nevertheless,’ says Rozet, ‘people still heard talk of several fights in the town,’ and the son of the captain-general killed a citizen. The more violent men, when they saw the dangers to which the treason or the thoughtlessness of the articulants exposed them, exclaimed, ‘Cut off their heads, pack them all three in one trunk, and send them to Berne.’[828]

‘Meanwhile,’ says a contemporary biographer, ‘the Lord was about to execute his judgments at Geneva in expressly punishing those who while they were syndics had been the cause of driving away Farel and Calvin.’[829] The councillor De Watteville, De Diesbach, and De Graffenried, deputies of Berne, on April 16, declared to the Two Hundred that the Bernese wished nothing so much as to give pleasure to Geneva, and that, without taking advantage of the sentence pronounced at Lausanne, they offered to discuss the affair anew. The general council having been convoked on April 25 to decide the matter, no way was found of coming to an understanding. These interminable disputes with Berne (it took years to settle the question) had aroused the anger of the Genevese against the articulants who were the cause of them. They believed these men to be more culpable than they really were. The assembly was in violent agitation. Groups were formed, and transports of wrath burst forth. ‘Justice! justice on the traitors!’ they cried. They demanded that, before any deliberation, these deputies should be again committed to prison. The three culprits were themselves present in the council. The captain-general, Jean Philippe, going up to them advised them in a whisper to go out instantly and make their escape. The Little Council ordered their immediate incarceration. They had signed the undertaking to appear when called for; but overcome with fright, they disguised themselves and quitted the town in great haste, thus violating the pledge which they had given. When the lieutenant went to their homes to arrest them, they had disappeared. The tidings were at once carried to the general council. ‘Let them be summoned to appear by sound of trumpet,’ said a citizen, ‘and let seals be affixed on their houses.’ ‘Yes! yes!’ cried the people; ‘so be it!’ The assembly of the people being dissolved, a great concourse of citizens surrounded the town hall and demanded justice with loud voices. The public crier, traversing the streets, summoned the three deputies to appear in three hours, in default of which they would be immediately brought to trial. The Bernese having expressed to the council their astonishment that this citation had been made without a word said to them about it; ‘Ah!’ was the reply, ‘if we are slow to execute the decision of the general council, the people will fall on us!’ The general irritation extended at the same time to the pastors who had taken the place of Farel and Calvin. These men were alarmed at it, and, on April 30, presenting themselves before the council, they made a statement of the reproaches which were heaped on them, and requested their discharge. After turning away from the reformers, people were now turning to them again. ‘At this time,’ says Rozet, a poor woman, a foreigner, went about the town crying, What God keeps is well kept.’[830]