Traffic absolutely necessary to the Forest Cantons for supplying
provisions.
[Pg 269]
XXIII.
THE REFORMATION IN WEST SWITZERLAND.
(1530-1536.)
The history of French Switzerland has not yet been touched upon,
and that for good reasons. It is difficult to realize that down even to
the sixteenth century the French Swiss were still languishing under
the ancient forms of feudalism, and this at a time when their German
brethren had long been enjoying the blessings of national
independence, and had filled the world with their military renown. But,
in truth, the French were slow to awaken to republican freedom, and
looked to East Switzerland rather than to themselves for deliverance
from political bondage. It is a remarkable fact that the Reformation
was made but with the assistance of those skilled statesmen, the
Bernese, the connecting link between the eastern portions of
Switzerland and the isolated west. That Bern rightly calculated on
benefiting by this junction is well known.
[Pg 270]
MINSTER, BERN
. (From a Photograph.)
[Pg 271]
Before passing to the Reformation itself, however, we must give a
slight sketch of the political condition at that time of Vaud and
Geneva, with which alone we have here any concern. Neuchâtel still
remained in reality a separate principality, though temporarily (1512-
1529) under Swiss rule. Vaud had in its time seen many masters
which may perhaps account for its backwardness in adopting home
rule. Its natural beauty and enjoyable climate have made it coveted at
all times, in ancient, in mediæval, and, as we shall see, even in
modern times. At first a scene of turmoil and tumult caused by the
quarrels of its powerful nobles, it sank beneath the sceptre of Savoy,
Peter, the eminent prince of Savoy—surnamed the "Petit
Charlemagne"—having succeeded in establishing his authority over
the native nobility. Once joined to Savoy, the fortunes of Vaud
naturally depended on those of the Savoy dynasty. Peter attempted
to annex the bishopric of Lausanne, but failing, Vaud was torn
asunder, and there existed side by side a spiritual and a temporal
lordship. Of the two portions that under ecclesiastical sway enjoyed
the less liberty. Lausanne was a place much frequented by pilgrims,
and was a mart for indulgences, but it possessed not a vestige of
autonomy. It lay "dormant at the base of its many churches." When in
the fifteenth century the power of the House of Savoy declined, the
Vaud country speedily fell into a condition of anarchy, the nobility at
daggers drawn against the burghers, and the mountain-dwellers at
deadly variance with the vine-tillers of the plain. But early in the
sixteenth century Lausanne was stirred from its lethargy by the
attempts of Charles III. of Savoy to obtain the overlordship of the city.
Thus
[Pg 272]
threatened, and torn by intestine quarrels, Vaud in its helplessness
seemed to invite the interference of Bern in this affair, and that city on
its part was only too glad of an occasion of interfering.
Geneva was Vaud's companion in trouble, threatened by similar
dangers, and torn by similar struggles. Here also the bishop was lord-
paramount, but in this case the stout-hearted burghers had wrested
from him a considerable amount of self-rule. Its inveterate enemy,
too, was the Duke of Savoy. But the men of Geneva loved
independence far too much to submit quietly to hostile
aggressiveness and encroachment; for centuries even they had kept
at bay the designing nobility. Yet at one time the Duke of Savoy had
arrogated to himself the rights of vicedom, that is, temporal justice of
the bishop as his vassal. Possessing thus temporal jurisdiction,
nomine episcopi, over the city, he was anxious to annex it altogether.
Geneva was almost entirely surrounded by Savoy territory. In the end
Savoy arrogated to itself the right of appointing to the see, and its
nominees were, it is needless to say, always members of its own
house. Boys of twelve or fourteen, bastard sons even, were not
unfrequently raised to the episcopal dignity. This did not add to the
peacefulness of the district, and the adherents of the respective
Savoy and Geneva factions went about armed to the teeth.
The accession of Charles III. in 1504 opened for Geneva a period of
struggle. Anxious to maintain its freedom against a crafty and
malignant prince, and his creature, the base-born bishop, the city split
[Pg 273]
into two parties, the patriotic Eidguenots, so called from their relying
for assistance on the Swiss Confederation, and the Savoyards, who
were nicknamed the Mamelukes (knaves). Something like half the
population were Savoyards by birth. Among the patriot party we find
the "Children of Geneva," a gay and somewhat noisy band of patriotic
enthusiasts, who loved fighting and did not fear death. At the head
stood Thilibert the witty hotspur, François Bonivard, Prior of St. Victor,
and a noteworthy Geneva chronicler, and Hugues Besançon, a clever
statesman, and the father and deliverer of his country. When Charles
required the Genevans to do homage they refused, answering
sturdily that "Geneva would rather go begging and be free." In 1519,
during his sojourn in the city, Charles punished with terrible rigour this
bold stand for freedom; all were cowed into submission except
Berthelier, who scorned to "bend to a man who was not his master."
His head was one of the first to fall. But executions of one kind or
another were soon of almost daily occurrence during Charles's stay.
Four years later Charles and his beautiful bride, Beatrix entered
Geneva with great pomp, and the princess even remained for the
birth of her first-born. Charles desired the city to become accustomed
to royal splendour, and to feel real sympathy for a native sovereign.
But all his plans failed. By his eloquence and patriotism Hugues
melted the hearts of the men of Freiburg, and succeeded in
persuading them as well as the people of Bern to make an alliance
with his own city. This alliance checkmated the plans of Savoy. But
the
[Pg 274]
success of the Genevans excited the jealousy of the "Ladle Squires."
This curious nickname was given to an extraordinary band of the
gentry and nobility living around Geneva. They met at a most frugal
supper, and vowed the destruction of the city. A dish of rice was
being served by the duke with a large spoon or ladle when one of the
guests suddenly brandishing the implement fiercely exclaimed, "With
this I shall swallow Geneva!" By an oath the men assembled bound
themselves to seek the destruction of the obnoxious city, and hung
their ladles round their necks in token of adherence. These
"Seigneurs de la Cuiller," though unable to carry out their design,
were yet able to work much mischief to Geneva, by cutting it off from
the necessaries of life, and by keeping up a desultory but none the
less harassing warfare against it. More than this, Bonivard was by
order of the duke ousted from his living, and thrown into the castle of
Chillon, in 1530.[54] In this same year, however, a new attack on the part of Savoy was checked by Bern and Freiburg, and Charles was
forced to sign the treaty of St. Julien, guaranteeing the independence
and freedom from molestation of Geneva. It was stipulated that
should the treaty be violated by Savoy it should forfeit Vaud to Bern.
[Pg 275]
About this time Bern ventured on the introduction of the reformed
faith into French Switzerland, hoping thereby to deepen her interest in
that quarter. She found a suitable instrument in the person of
Guillaume Farel, a fiery Frenchman from Dauphiné. The most intrepid
and daring of champions of the gospel, he had fled from his native
soil to Switzerland to avoid religious persecution, and had been
expelled from Basel for his fanaticism. Supported by "Leurs
excellences les Messieurs de Berne," as the government of that city
was styled, he wandered about as an itinerant reformer, visiting Vaud
and Neuchâtel. Through his efforts the latter canton adopted Zwingli's
doctrines, in 1530, Vaud obstinately refusing the reformation, except
in that portion of the district subject to Bern. Farel's preaching always
excited the mob, and his harangues generally ended in a scuffle. He
would often stop a priest on the road and fling into the river the host
or the relics he carried. He had even been known to burst into a
church during mass, and inveigh against Antichrist from the pulpit.
Buffetings and prison alike failed to stop his efforts, for rough though
his manner of controversy was, he was yet deeply in earnest. Going
to Geneva, in 1532, his very name so stirred the Catholics there that
he was obliged to flee for his life. The Protestant party in the city were
strong and well organised, and they counted on the assistance of
Bern, and that important state, anxious to convert the whole west, if
possible, threatened Geneva with her displeasure should Farel not be
favourably received. Thus Geneva was suddenly called upon to
[Pg 276]
decide between the friendship of Bern, and that of Freiburg, where
the Catholic party was dominant. Fear of Savoy decided Geneva in
favour of Bern, which certainly was a more powerful ally than
Freiburg. Furbity, an eloquent priest, who had been chosen to
controvert the reformers' teachings, was to be discharged, and Farel,
Fromment (another Frenchman), and Viret, a very able Vaudois, one
of Farel's disciples, were established at Geneva, in 1534, by the
desire of Bern. The new faith rapidly spread, and fresh attacks on the
part of Savoy against Geneva only served to promote its extension. A
religious discussion arranged by Bern, and conducted (on the
reformed side) by Farel, took place at Geneva, in 1535, and resulted
in the full establishment of the Zwinglian doctrine in that city. During
the disputations an embassy from the Bernese attended the city
council to make known the will of the ruling state, much after the
manner of the proud and austere Roman senators of old.
But neither the ousted Catholics nor Savoy was inclined to submit
tamely to this state of things. Geneva was a perfect hotbed of
dissension. Duke Charles laid siege to the city, both by land and by
water. A sudden change in French politics prompted Bern to show
more active energy than it had lately shown. Two claimants for the
Duchy of Milan appeared, Francis I. and the Emperor Charles V. To
facilitate its conquest the former also planned the annexation of
Savoy, intending to include Geneva as the key to Rhone valley. Bern
thus seeing threatened the safety of a city which it was itself coveting,
declared
[Pg 277]
war on Savoy, and marched six thousand men into the Vaud country.
The pretext set up by Bern was that Savoy had violated the treaty of
St. Julien. Vaud was seized without striking a blow, and portions of
Savoy, Gex, and Chablais, were annexed. In great triumph the
Bernese army entered Geneva, but fear of France, and the proud and
noble bearing of the Genevese, prevented the Bernese from
attempting to put into execution any plans they might have had for
annexing the republic. It was in this campaign that Bonivard was
rescued.
Great was the disappointment of Vaud to find that it had only
changed masters; had been rescued from the grasp of Savoy to fall
beneath the sway of Bern, though the latter master was certainly in
every way superior to the former. It will be well understood that this
treatment on the part of Bern would later on give rise to serious
troubles. Indeed to this day Vaud bears a grudge against her former
master. However the powerful canton set up order and discipline in
the disorganized district of Vaud, and gave it the cachet of its
exemplary administration. It was divided into governmental districts
and managed by eight Bernese landvögte. It agrees with the laws of
Bern though its local administration was left it. Every effort was made
to establish the reformed faith, and a disputation was held at
Lausanne. In this Calvin took a part, but not a prominent one. The
result was, however, the downfall of Catholicism in the district,
deeply-rooted though it had been. Schools were established, and the
Academy was founded by Bern. In this way the French position of the
country was
[Pg 278]
cemented to the eastern half. It was not till the Great Revolution that
the prerogatives of the governing cantons were shaken, the immense
wealth of the cathedral of Lausanne went to fill the state coffers of
Bern, and the funds of the various churches were left to provide
schools.
FOOTNOTES:
For a fuller account of Bonivard the reader is referred to Marc-Monnier's
"Genève et ses poètes." It is of course well known that though Bonivard's
adventures suggested the idea of Byron's beautiful "Prisoner of Chillon,"
the story in the poem is almost entirely fictitious. In truth, Bonivard was
liberated by Bern in 1536, and set himself to write the annals of his city of
Geneva. He was married no fewer than four times. He seems to have been
frequently cited before the Consistory for gambling and other like offences.
[Pg 279]
XXIV.
GENEVA AND CALVIN.
(1536-1564.)
Political and religious changes had brought about in Geneva a
confusion which Farel felt himself incapable of lessening. By
vehement intreaties, therefore, and even by threats, he induced
Calvin to join him in his missionary work, Calvin being already known
to the world as the author of "Institutio Christianæ Religionis," a work
that fell on men like a revelation. John Calvin, or Cauvin, was born at
Noyon, in Picardy, in 1509, and was a northern Frenchman of
superior intelligence and learning, but of a gloomy, austere
disposition, with a large admixture of fatalism in his views. Destined
for the Church, he studied in Paris at the early age of thirteen, but by
his father's wish he changed his intention, and applied himself to the
study of law, at Orleans and Bourges. To these latter studies he owed
that wonderful facility in systematic reasoning which is so noticeable
in his writings. But the death of his
[Pg 280]
parent in 1531 brought Calvin once more to Paris, where he speedily
found himself drawn into the new religious movement which was
winning its way in France. Profound theological researches and
severe inward struggles caused his conversion to the reformed faith,
in the following year. In 1535 we find him at Basel, whither he had
retired to escape further persecution on account of his extreme views.
Here he published his "Christianæ Religionis Institutio," which is his
most celebrated work, and which has shed undying lustre on his
name. Fascinating by its profound learning, its unflinching logic, and
its wonderful fervour, the book became at once a general favourite,
and was translated into all the civilized tongues. It is not necessary to
do more than place before the reader one or two essential features of
this great work. It is of mathematical exactness, and is the very base
and foundation of his remarkable religious system, while it likewise
maps out his scheme of reformation. This scheme was based on the
doctrine of predestination, a doctrine Calvin had embraced with
eagerness. Predestination was indeed with him a religious axiom, a
self-evident truth which neither needed proof nor admitted of dispute,
and he made it the corner-stone of his new religious system. His
theory was that, of men all equally guilty a priori, some had from the
beginning of the world been destined by God for eternal happiness,
others for eternal perdition. Who were the elect and who the rejected
was left an open question. However incompatible with humane
feeling, however irreconcilable with the doctrine of the redemption,
this belief
[Pg 281]
might be thought by many, it yet sufficed for the eager minds of the
sixteenth century, earnestly seeking as they were some practicable
and, as it were, palpable, faith. Whatever the objections to the
doctrine, it was on this that the Calvinistic Church was built, and by its
spirit that that Church was swayed.
It was in 1536 that Calvin settled in Geneva. With Farel he undertook
the reorganization of the Church on the lines marked out in his
"Institutes," entirely sweeping away previous reforms. A "confession of faith" was drawn up and subscribed to by the people, and a new
Church constitution was adopted which involved the establishment of
a Church censorship, or rather a Church police. The rigorous
discipline enforced, however, clashed with the Genevans' notions of
present freedom, and the civil magistrates stoutly contested the right
of the pulpit to find fault with the secular government, or interfere in
the public administration. For the Genevese were a gay and
pleasure-loving people, and they were moreover boisterous,
undisciplined, and fond of disputation. A bold stand was made
against the "Popery on Leman Lake," by the national party. The spirit
of opposition was quickened by the disappointment of Bern at the
overthrow of her reformation movement and ritual,[55] and the immigration of French refugees who strengthened Calvin's party.
Bickerings, disorderly scenes, riots, both inside and outside the
churches, followed, and
[Pg 282]
the direct disobedience of Calvin and Farel to a civil decree of
suspension prompted the government to pass sentence of
banishment against them in 1538. Amidst the revilings and hootings
of the mob they quitted Geneva, Farel going to Neuchâtel, where he
remained till his death in 1565, and Calvin to Strasburg.
In this more tolerant German city he came into daily contact with the
workings of the Lutheran and Zwinglian professions. He attempted to
mediate between them with the view of reconciling their opposing
views on the Eucharist, but failed. He admired Melanchthon, but
considered that his temporizing measures resulted in laxity of
discipline. He was grieved, too, by the little regard shown to the
clergy, and by their dependence on the courts, and the contemplation
of all this served to confirm him in his own views. He never lost sight
of the aim of his life—to make the Genevan Church, which he loved
as his own soul, the rallying point for his persecuted countrymen. His
plans were greatly favoured by several circumstances: the quarrels
convulsing Geneva during his exile, and the incapacity of the new
ministry there; above all, the well-founded dread of Bern's
supremacy. This fear brought into existence the party nicknamed the
Guillermins, from Guillaume Farel, which literally drove the Genevans
into the fold of Calvinism. Yet Calvin at first hesitated to return. "Why
should I replunge into that yawning gulf," he writes to Farel, "seeing that I dislike the temper of the Genevese, and that they cannot get
used to me?" But believing himself
[Pg 283]
called by God, he yielded, and, amidst acclamations and rejoicings,
he was welcomed back to the city in 1541.
Speaking roughly Calvin began his reforms where Luther and Zwingli
had stopped; they had broken the ice for him, and shown him the
way. He demanded implicit and unquestioning obedience to the
Divine Word, for human reason, he said, was "as smoke in the sight
of God." His aim was to found a kingdom of God in the spirit of the
ancient prophets, and ruled by equally rigorous laws. Excluding the
people from direct control in church matters, he lodged the chief
authority in the clergy, a class which was also to have the
preponderance in the state. By skilful organization he established a
theocracy with strong aristocratic leanings, the democratic element
being almost entirely excluded. Geneva became indeed "the city of
the spirit of stoicism, built on the rock of predestination." But the most
curious institution of the Calvinistic Church was the Consistoire, a
body of twelve chosen from the oldest councillors and the city clergy,
Calvin himself being usually at the head. This tribunal was 01
authority in spiritual and moral, and in public and private, matters
alike. Calvin's intention was to change the sinful city into a sanctified
city—a "city of God." The members of the Consistoire had power to
enter private houses, and to regulate even the smallest concerns of
life, and they admonished or punished offenders as they thought fit.
Even the most trivial matters came within its ken; it prescribed the
fashions, even down to the colour of a dress, and
[Pg 284]
fixed the menus of the table, not less than it enforced attendance at
religious worship. The table was by no means profusely supplied
either, only one dish of meat and one of vegetables being allowed,
and no pastry, and only native wine. We find girls cited before the
Consistoire for skating, a man for sniffing in church, two others for
talking business when leaving church. Every now and then Bonivard
was brought up for card playing, and other disorderly deeds. A
hairdresser adorning a lady's hair, together with the friends present,
was sent to gaol. To the Genevans theatre-going was the chief
occupation in life, but nevertheless theatrical performances were
suspended, and remained so till shortly before the advent of Voltaire,
who, indeed, gloried in leading back the strait-laced Genevans to
worldliness and pleasure. But not only was the theatre forbidden,