History of the Rise of the Huguenots Volume I Part 29

[Footnote 467: See the remark of M. Nicola (Leber, Coll. de pieces rel.

a l'hist. de France, viii. 556).]

[Footnote 468: Crespin (fols. 91-94) gives an interesting report of some discussions of the kind. It may be remarked that the Archbishop of Aix, who was the prime mover in the persecution, had exposed himself to unusual censure on the score of irregularity of life.]

[Footnote 469: The remark is ascribed to Cha.s.sanee: "itaque decretum ipsi tale fecissent, eo consilio factum potius, ut Lutheranis, quorum mult.i.tudinem augeri quotidie intelligebant, metus incuteretur, quam ut revera id efficeretur quod ipsius decreti capitibus continebatur."

Crespin, _ubi supra_, fol. 98.]

[Footnote 470: Crespin, _ubi supra_, fol. 100.]

[Footnote 471: The ludicrous story of the "mice of Autun," which thus obtains a historic importance, had been told by Cha.s.sanee himself. It appears that on a certain occasion the diocese of Autun was visited with the plague of an excessive multiplication of mice. Ordinary means of stopping their ravages having failed, the vicar of the bishop was requested to excommunicate them. But the ecclesiastical decree was supposed to be most effective when the regular forms of a judicial trial were duly observed. An advocate for the marauders was therefore appointed--no other than Cha.s.sanee himself; who, espousing with professional ardor the interests of his quadrupedal clients, began by insisting that a summons should be served in each parish; next, excused the non-appearance of the defendants by alleging the dangers of the journey by reason of the lying-in-wait of their enemies, the cats; and finally, appealing to the compa.s.sion of the court in behalf of a race doomed to wholesale destruction, acquitted himself so successfully of his fantastic commission, that the mice escaped the censures of the church, and their advocate gained universal applause! See Crespin, fol.

99; De Thou, i. 536, Gamier, xxvi. 29, etc. Crespin, writing at least as early as 1560, speaks of the incident as being related in Cha.s.sanee's _Catalogus Gloriae Mundi_; but I have been unable to find any reference to it in that singular medley.]

[Footnote 472: De Thou, i. 539.]

[Footnote 473: This striking incident is not noticed in the well-known Memoirs of Du Bellay, written by his brother. The reader will agree with me in considering it one of the most creditable in Du Bellay's eventful life. Calvin relates it in two letters to Farel, published by Bonnet (Calvin's Letters, i. 162, 163-165). The reformer had had it from Du Bellay's own lips at Strasbourg, and had perused the letter in which the latter threw up his alliance with Montmian, and stigmatized the baseness of his conduct.]

[Footnote 474: De Thou, i. 539; Crespin, _ubi supra_, fols. 100, 101.--Historians have noticed the remarkable points of similarity this report presents to that made by the younger Pliny to the Emperor Trajan regarding the primitive Christians. Plinii Epistolae, x. 96, etc.]

[Footnote 475: Calvin's Letters (Bonnet), i. 228, 229. Strange to say, even M. Nicola, otherwise very fair, credits one of these absurd rumors (Leber, _ubi supra_, xvii. 557). While the inhabitants of Merindol entered into negotiations, it is stated that those of Cabrieres, subjects of the Pope, took up arms. Twice they repulsed the vice-legate's forces, driving them back to the walls of Avignon and Cavaillon. Flushed with success, they began to preach openly, to overturn altars, and to plunder churches. The Pope, therefore, Dec., 1543, called on Count De Grignan for a.s.sistance in exterminating the rebels. But the incidents here told conflict with the undeniable facts of Cardinal Sadolet's intercession for, and peaceable relations with the inhabitants of Cabrieres in 1541 and 1542; as well as with the royal letters of March 17, 1549 (1550 New Style), and the report of Du Bellay.

Bouche, on the weak authority of _Meynier_, De la guerre civile, gives similar statements of excesses, ii. 611, 612.]

[Footnote 476: Hist. eccles., i. 24; Crespin, fol. 101; De Thou, i. 539; Bouche, ii. 612. The last a.s.serts that this unconditional pardon was renewed by successive royal letters, dated March 17, 1543, and June 14, 1544; but that in those of Lyons, 1542, the king had meanwhile, at Cardinal Tournon's instigation, exhorted the Archbishop and Parliament of Aix to renewed activity in proceeding against the heretics. Ibid, ii.

612-614.]

[Footnote 477: Given in full by Crespin, _ubi supra_, fols. 104-110, and by Gerdes., Hist. Reform., iv. 87-99; in its brief form, as originally composed in French to be laid before the Parliament of Provence, in Bulletin de l'hist. du prot. francais, viii. 508, 509. Several articles were added when it was laid before Sadolet. Crespin, fol. 110.]

[Footnote 478: De Thou, i. 540; Crespin, fol. 110.]

[Footnote 479: Crespin, fols. 110, 111.]

[Footnote 480: Ibid., fol. 110.]

[Footnote 481: May 23, 1541. Bretschneider, Corpus Reform., iv. 325-328; Gerdes., iv. (Doc). 100,101. But when the Germans intervened later in behalf of the few remnants of the dispersed Waldenses, they received a decided rebuff: "Il leur repondit a.s.sez brusquement, qu'il ne se meloit pas de leurs affaires, et qu'ils ne devoient pas entrer non plus dans les siennes, ni s'embarra.s.ser de ce qu'il faisoit dans ses etats, et de quelle maniere il jugeoit a propos de chatier ses sujets coupables." De Thou, i. 541.]

[Footnote 482: Hist. eccles., i. 27, 28; Crespin, fol. 114.]

[Footnote 483: Vesembec, _apud_ Perrin, History of the Old Waldenses (1712), xii. 59; Garnier, xxvi. 23.]

[Footnote 484: Henry II.'s letters of March 17, 1549, summoning Meynier and his accomplices to the bar of the Parliament of Paris, state distinctly the motives of the perpetrators of the ma.s.sacre, as alleged by the Waldenses in their appeal to Francis I.: "Auquel ils firent entendre, qu'ils etaient journellement travailles et molestes par les _eveques_ du pays et par les _presidens_ et _conseillers_ de notre parlement de Provence, qui _avaient demande leurs confiscations et terres pour leurs parens_," etc. Hist. eccles., _ubi supra_.]

[Footnote 485: "Sur ce que l'on auroit fait entendre audit feu Seigneur Roi, qu'ils etaient en armes en grande a.s.semblee, forcant villes et chateaux, eximant les prisonniers des prisons," etc. Letters Patent of Henry II., _ubi supra_, i. 46; also, i. 28; De Thou, i. 541.

Notwithstanding the evident falsity of these a.s.sertions of Courtain, the parliament's messenger, writers of such easy consciences as Maimbourg (Hist. du calvinisme, liv. ii. 83) and Freschot (Origine, progressi e ruina del Calvinismo nella Francia, di D. Casimiro Freschot, Parma, 1693, p. 34) are not ashamed to endorse them. Freschot says: "_Nello stesso tempo_ che mandavano a Parigi le loro proposizioni, travagliavano ad accrescere le loro forze, non che ad a.s.sicurare il proprio Stato. Per il che conseguire avendo praticato alcune intelligenze nella citta di Marsiglia, s'avanzarono sin' al numero di sedici mila per impossessa.r.s.ene," etc. The a.s.sertions of so ignorant a writer as Freschot shows himself to be, scarcely require refutation. See, however, Le Courrayer, following Bayle, note to Sleidan, ii. 256. The impartial Roman Catholic continuation of the Eccles. Hist. of the Abbe Fleury, xxviii. 540, gives no credit to these calumnies.]

[Footnote 486: The substance of the royal order of January 1, 1545, is given in the Letters-Patent of Henry II., dated Montereau, March 17, 1549 (1550, New Style), which const.i.tute our best authority: "Le feu dit Seigneur permit d'executer les arrets donnes contre eux, revoquant lesdites lettres d'evocation, pour le regard des recidifs non ayant abjure, et ordonna que tous ceux qui se trouveraient charges et coupables d'heresie et secte Vaudoise, fussent extermines," etc. Hist.

eccles., i. 46.]

[Footnote 487: The names are preserved: they were the second president, Francois de la Fond; two counsellors, Honore de Tributiis and Bernard Badet; and an advocate, Guerin, acting in the absence of the "Procureur general." Letters-Patent of Henry II., _ubi supra_; De Thou, i. 541; Hist. eccles., i. 28.]

[Footnote 488: De Thou, _ubi supra_; Sleidan, Hist. de la reformation (Fr. trans. of Le Courrayer), ii. 252.]

[Footnote 489: The fleet carrying these troops, consisting of twenty-five galleys, was under the joint command of Poulin, Poulain, or Polin--afterward prominent in military affairs, under the name of Baron de la Garde--and of the Chevalier d'Aulps. Bouche, ii. 601. The Baron de la Garde is made the object of a special notice by Brantome.]

[Footnote 490: Crespin, fol. 115. Sleidan and De Thou give a similar incident as befalling fugitives from Merindol. Garnier, alluding to the absence of any attempt at self-defence on the part of the Waldenses, pertinently remarks: "On put connoitre alors la faussete et la noirceur des bruits que l'on avoit affecte de repandre sur leurs preparatifs de guerre: _pas un ne songea a se mettre en defense_: des cris aigus et lamentables portes dans un moment de villages en villages, avertirent ceux qui vouloient sauver leur vie de fuir promptement du cote des montagnes." Hist. de France, xxvi. 33.]

[Footnote 491: So say the Letters-Patent of Henry II.: "Furent faites defenses a son de trompe tant par autorite dudit Menier, que dudit de la Fond, de non bailler a boire et manger aux Vaudois, sans savoir qui ils etaient; et ce sur peine de la corde." Hist. eccles., i. 47; Crespin, fol. 115.]

[Footnote 492: Crespin, and Hist. eccles., _ubi supra_.]

[Footnote 493: Many, overtaken in their flight, were slain by the sword, or sent to the galleys, and about twenty-five, having taken refuge in a cavern near Mus, were stifled by a fire purposely kindled at its mouth.

Sleidan, ii. 255.]

[Footnote 494: Hist. eccles., i. 29; Crespin, fol. 116; De Thou, _ubi supra_; Sleidan, ii. 254. The deposition of Antoine d'Alagonia, Sieur de Vaucler, a Roman Catholic who was present and took an active part in the enterprise (Bouche, ii. 616-619), is evidently framed expressly to exculpate D'Oppede and his companions, and conflicts too much with well-established facts to contribute anything to the true history of the capture of Cabrieres.]

[Footnote 495: De Thou, i. 543; Sleidan, ii. 255. Of the affair at La Coste, the Letters-Patent of Henry II. say: "Au lieu de La Coste y auroit eu plusieurs hommes tues, femmes et filles forcees jusques au nombre de vingt-cinq dedans une grange." _Ubi supra_, i. 47.]

[Footnote 496: "Et infinis pillages etaient faits par l'es.p.a.ce de plus de sept semaines." Ibid, _ubi supra_.]

[Footnote 497: Hist. eccles., i. 30.]

[Footnote 498: Letters-Patent of Henry II., _ubi sup._]

[Footnote 499: At Geneva the fugitives were treated with great kindness.

Calvin was deputed by the Council of the Republic, in company with Farel, to raise contributions for them throughout Switzerland. Reg. of Council, May, 1545, _apud_ Gaberel, Hist. de l'eglise de Geneve, i. 439.

Nine years later the council granted a lease of some uncultivated lands near Geneva to 700 of these Waldenses. The descendants of the former residents of Merindol and Cabrieres are to be found among the inhabitants of Peney and Jussy. Reg. of Council, May, 10, 1554, Gaberel, i. 440.]

[Footnote 500: Bouche, ii. 620, states, as the results of the investigations of Auberi, advocate for the Waldenses, that about 3,000 men, women and children were killed, 666 sent to the galleys, of whom 200 shortly died, and 900 houses burned in 24 villages of Provence.]

[Footnote 501: Francis I., on complaint of Madame De Cental, whose son had lost an annual revenue of 12,000 florins by the ruin of his villages, had, June 10, 1545, called upon the Parliament of Aix to send full minutes of its proceedings. Bouche, ii. 620, 621.]

[Footnote 502: De Thou, i. 544.]

[Footnote 503: "Et sachant que la plainte en etait venue jusqu'a [notre]

dit feu pere, auraient envoye ledit De la Fond devers lui, lequel ...

aurait obtenu lettres donnees a Arques, le 18me jour d'aout 1545, approuvant paisiblement ladite execution; n'ayant toutefois fait entendre a notre dit feu pere la verite du fait; mais suppose par icelles lettres que tous les habitane des villes brulees etaient connus et juges heretiques et Vaudois." Letters-Patent of Henry II., _ubi supra_, i. 47; De Thou, i. 544.]

[Footnote 504: Letters-Patent of Henry II., _ubi supra_.]

[Footnote 505: De Thou, i. 544; Hist. eccles., i. 30. It is worthy of notice, however, that the letters of Henry II., from which we have so often drawn, and which would naturally have alluded to this incident, are silent in regard to the supposed change of view on Francis's part.]

[Footnote 506: De Thou, i. 545. Care was even taken to state that Guerin was punished for a different crime--that of forging papers to clear himself from accusations of malfeasance in other official duties than those in which the Waldenses were concerned, and which came to light in consequence of a quarrel between D'Oppede and himself. Garnier, xxvi.

40; Bouche, ii. 622. The leniency with which D'Oppede was treated may be accounted for in part, perhaps, by the fact that the Pope addressed Henry II. a very pressing letter in his behalf, as "persecuted in consequence of his zeal for religion." Martin, Hist. de France, ix.

480.]

[Footnote 507: "Mais, craignant ceux d'entre les juges qui n'etaient pas moins cruels et sanguinaires en leurs curs que les criminels qu'ils devaient juger, qu'en les cond.a.m.nant ils ne vinssent a rompre le cours des jugemens qu'euxmemes p.r.o.noncaient tous les jours en pareilles cause, et voulant aussi sauver l'honneur d'un autre parlement," etc. Hist.

eccles., i. 50.]

[Footnote 508: "Mais il fut saisi pen apres d'une douleur si excessive dans les intestins, qu'il rendit son ame cruelle au milieu des plus affreux tourmens; Dieu prenant soin lui-meme de lui imposer le chatiment auquel ses juges ne l'avoient pas cond.a.m.ne, et qui, pour avoir ete un peu tardif, n'en fut que plus rigoureux." De Thou, i. 545. See a more detailed account of his death, and the exhortations of a pious surgeon, Lamotte, of Aries, in Crespin, fol. 117. Other instances in Hist.

ecclesiastique.]