VI. 1535. aons with the German protest ants. BOOK him of all the advantages which he expected to derive from his friendship. Paul, his successor, though attached by inclination to the imperial interest, seemed determined to maintain the neutrality suitable to his character as the common father of the contending princes. The king of England, occupied with domestic cares and projects, declined, for once, engaging in the affairs of the Continent, and refused to assist Francis, unless he would imitate his example in throwing off the papal suHis negoci-premacy. These disappointments led him to solicit with greater earnestness the aid of the Protestant princes associated by the league of Smalkalde. That he might the more easily acquire their confidence, he endeavoured to accommodate himself to their predominant passion, zeal for their religious tenets. He affected a wonderful moderation with regard to the points in dispute; he permitted Bellay, his envoy in Germany, to explain his sentiments concerning some of the most important articles, in terms not far different from those used by the Protestants a; he even condescended to invite Melancthon, whose gentle manners and pacific spirit distinguished him among the reformers, to visit Paris, that by his assistance he might concert the most proper measures for reconciling the contending sects which so unhappily divided the church ». These concessions must be considered rather as arts of policy than the result of conviction; for whatever impression the new opinions in religion had made on his sisters, the queen of Navarre and duchess of Ferrara, the gaiety of Francis's own temper and his love of pleasure allowed him little leisure to examine theological controversies. Irritates them. But soon after he lost all the fruits of this disingenuous artifice, by a step very inconsistent with his declarations to the German princes. This step, however, the prejudices of the age and the religious sentiments of his own a Freheri Script. Rer. German. iii, 354, &c. Sleid. Hist. 178, 183. Seckend. lib. iii, 103. Camerarii Vita Ph. Melancthonis, 12mo, Hag. 1655, p. 12. VI. 1535. subjects rendered it necessary for him to take. His close BOOK union with the king of England, an excommunicated heretic; his frequent negociations with the German Protestants; but, above all, his giving public audience to an envoy from Sultan Solyman, had excited violent suspicions concerning the sincerity of his attachment to religion. To have attacked the emperor, who on all occasions made high pretensions to zeal in defence of the Catholic faith, and at the very juncture, when he was preparing for his expedition against Barbarossa, which was then considered as a pious enterprise, could not have failed to confirm such unfavourable sentiments with regard to Francis, and called on him to vindicate himself by some extraordinary demonstration of his reverence for the established doctrines of the church. The indiscreet zeal of some of his subjects, who had imbibed the Protestant opinions, furnished him with such an occasion as he desired. They had affixed to the gates of the Louvre and other public places papers, containing indecent reflections on the doctrines and rites of the Popish church. Six of the persons concerned in this rash action were discovered and seized. The king, in order to avert the judgments which it was supposed their blasphemies might draw down upon the nation, appointed a solemn procession. The holy sacrament was carried through the city in great pomp; Francis walked uncovered before it, bearing a torch in his hand; the princes of the blood supported the canopy over it; the nobles marched in order behind. In the presence of this numerous assembly, the king, accustomed to express himself on every subject in strong and animated language, declared, that if one of his hands were infected with heresy he would cut it off with the other, and would not spare even his own children, if found guilty of that crime. As a dreadful proof of his being in earnest, the six unhappy persons were publicly burnt before the procession was finished, with circumstances of the most shocking barbarity attending their execution ©. < Belcarii Comment. Rer. Gallic. Sleid. Hist. 175, &c. ༄ ། 1555 BOOK claims upon the duke her brother, for her share in their father's succession. Being unwilling, however, to begin hostilities without some cause of quarrel more specious than these pretensions, many of which were obsolete, and others dubious, he demanded permission to march through Piedmont in his way to the Milanese, hoping that the duke, from an excess of attachment to the imperial interest, might refuse this request, and thus give a greater appearance of justice to all his operations against him. But, if we may believe the historians of Savoy, who appear to be better informed with regard to this particular than those of France, the duke readily, and with a good grace, granted what it was not in his power to deny, promising free passage to the French troops as was desired; so that Francis, as the only method now left of justifying the measures which he determined to take, was obliged to insist for full satisfaction with regard to every thing that either the crown of France or his mother Louise could demand of the house of Savoy. Such an evasive answer as might have been expected being made to this requisition, the French army, under the admiral Brion, poured at once into the duke's territories at different places. The countries of Bresse and Bugey, united at that time to Savoy, were overrun in a moment. Most of the towns in the duchy of Savoy opened their gates at the approach of the enemy; a few which attempted to make resistance were easily taken; and before the end of the campaign, the duke saw himself stripped of all his dominions but the province of Piedmont, in which there were not many places in a condition to be defended. The city of covers its liberty. To complete the duke's misfortunes, the city of Geneva, Geneva re- the sovereignty of which he claimed, and, in some degree, possessed, threw off his yoke, and its revolt drew along with it the loss of the adjacent territories. Geneva was at that time an imperial city, and though under the direct dominion of its own bishops, and the remote sove Histoire Genealogique de Savoye, par Guichenon, 2 tom. fol. Lyon, 1660, i, 639, &c. BOOK VI. 1535 reignty of the dukes of Savoy, the form of its internal constitution was purely republican, being governed by syndics and a council chosen by the citizens. From these distinct and often clashing jurisdictions, two opposite parties took their rise, and had long subsisted in the state; the one, composed of the advocates for the privileges of the community, assumed the name of Eignotz, or confederates in defence of liberty, and branded the other, which supported the episcopal or ducal prerogatives, with the name of Mammelukes, or slaves. At length, the protestant opi- 1532. nions beginning to spread among the citizens, inspired such as embraced them with that bold enterprising spirit which always accompanied, or was naturally produced by them in their first operations. As both the duke and bishop were, from interest, from prejudice, and from political considerations, violent enemies of the reformation, all the new converts joined with warmth the party of the Eignotz; and zeal for religion, mingling with the love of liberty, added strength to that generous passion. The rage and animosity of two factions, shut up within the same walls, occasioned frequent insurrections, which terminating mostly to the advantage of the friends of liberty, they daily became more powerful. The duke and bishop, forgetting their ancient contests about jurisdiction, had united against their common enemies, and each attacked them with his proper weapons. The bishop excommunicated the people of Geneva as guilty of a double crime; of impiety, in apostatizing from the established religion, and of sacrilege, in invading the rights of his see. The duke attacked them as rebels against their lawful prince, and attempted to render himself master of the city, first by surprise, and then by open force. The citizens, despising the thunder of the bishop's censures, boldly asserted their independence against the duke; and, partly by their own valour, partly by the powerful assistance which they received from the canton of Berne, together with some small supplies both of men and money, secretly furnished by the king of France, they defeated all 153 VI. 1535. BOOK his attempts. Not satisfied with having repulsed him, or with remaining always upon the defensive themselves, they now took advantage of the duke's inability to resist them, while overwhelmed by the armies of France, and seized several castles and places of strength which he possessed in the neighbourhood of Geneva; thus delivering the city from those odious monuments of its former subjection, and rendering the public liberty more secure for the future. At the same time, the canton of Berne invaded and conquered the Pays de Vaud, to which it had some pretensions. The canton of Friburg, though zealously attached to the Catholic religion, and having no subject of contest with the duke, laid hold on part of the spoils of that unfortunate prince. A great portion of these conquests or usurpations being still retained by the two cantons, add considerably to their power, and have become the most valuable part of their territories. Geneva, notwithstanding many schemes and enterprises of the dukes of Savoy to re-establish their dominion over it, still keeps possession of its independence, and, in consequence of that blessing, has attained a degree of consideration, wealth, and elegance, which it could not otherwise have reached". The empe ror unable duke of Savoy. Amidst such a succession of disastrous events, the duke to assist the of Savoy had no other resource but the emperor's protection, which, upon his return from Tunis, he demanded with the most earnest importunity; and as his misfortunes were occasioned chiefly by his attachment to the imperial interest, he had a just title to immediate assistance. Charles, however, was not in a condition to support him with that vigour and dispatch which the exigency of his affairs called for. Most of the troops employed in the African expedition, having been raised for that service alone, were disbanded as soon as it was finished; the veteran forces under Antonio de Leyva were hardly sufficient for the defence of the Milanese; and the emperor's treasury was f Hist. de la Ville de Geneve, par Spon, 12mo, Utr. 1685, p. 99. Hist. de la Reformation du Suisse, par Rouchat. Gen. 1728, tom. iv, p. 294, &c. tom. v, p. 216, &c. Mem. de Bellay, 181. |