History of the Reformation in the Sixteenth Century Volume III Part 69

17.

[Sidenote: A CITY OF REFUGE--LOUIS BERQUIN.]

Lefevre, from excess of caution doubtless, wished to live unknown at Strasburg, and had taken the name of Anthony Pilgrim, while Roussel a.s.sumed that of Solnin. But the ill.u.s.trious doctor could not remain hidden; in a short time the whole city and the very children saluted the aged Frenchman with respect.[1063] He did not dwell alone; but resided in Capito's house with Farel, Roussel, Vedastus, who was eulogized for his diffidence, and a certain Simon, a converted Jew.

The houses of Capito, colampadius, Zwingle, and Luther, were then like inns. Such was at that time the strength of brotherly love. Many other Frenchmen were living in this city on the banks of the Rhine, and they founded a church in which Farel often preached the doctrine of salvation. This Christian society soothed the pain of exile.

[1063] Nam latere cupiunt et tamen pueris noti sunt. Capito to Zwingle, Epp. p. 439.

[Sidenote: COMPLAINT OF THE PRISONER--ERASMUS.]

While these brethren were thus enjoying the asylum offered them by fraternal affection, those in Paris and in other parts of France were exposed to great dangers. Briconnet had retracted; Lefevre had quitted France; this was no doubt something for the Sorbonne; but it had still to wait for the punishments that it had advised. Beda and his party had found no victims......one man exasperated them still more than Briconnet and Lefevre; this was Louis Berquin. The gentleman of Artois, of a more decided character than his two masters, omitted no opportunity of tormenting the monks and theologians, and of unmasking their fanaticism. Living by turns at Paris and in the provinces, he collected and translated the writings of Luther and Erasmus:[1064] he himself would compose controversial works, and defend and propagate the new doctrine with all the zeal of a new convert. The Bishop of Amiens denounced him; Beda seconded the charge; and the parliament had him thrown into prison. "This one," said they, "shall not escape us like Briconnet or Lefevre." In effect, they kept him in close confinement. In vain did the superior of the Carthusians and others entreat him to apologize; he boldly declared that he would not give way on a single point. "There seemed no way left," says a chronicler, "but to lead him to the stake."[1065]

[1064] Erasmus, Epp. p. 923.

[1065] Actes des Martyrs, p. 103.

Margaret, in consternation at what had happened to Briconnet, dreaded to see Berquin dragged to that scaffold which the bishop had so shamefully escaped. Not daring to visit him in prison, she endeavoured to convey a few words of consolation to him; and it was perhaps for him that the princess composed this touching complaint of the prisoner, in which the latter, addressing the Lord, exclaims:--[1066]

But yet, where'er my prison be, Its gates can never keep out Thee For instant where I am, Thou art with me.

[1066] Marguerites de la Marguerite des Princesses, i. 445.

But Margaret did not stop here; she instantly wrote to her brother, soliciting this gentleman's pardon. Happy would she be if she could deliver him in time from the hatred of his enemies.

[Sidenote: ERASMUS ATTACKED--HIS DEFENCE.]

While waiting for this victim, Beda resolved to intimidate the enemies of the Sorbonne and of the monks by crushing the most celebrated of them. Erasmus had taken up the pen against Luther; but that was of little consequence. If they can succeed in destroying Erasmus, with much the stronger reason would the ruin of Farel, of Luther, and of their a.s.sociates be inevitable. The surest way to reach the mark is to aim beyond it. When once Rome has placed her foot upon the neck of the philosopher of Rotterdam, where is the heretical doctor that can escape its vengeance? Lecouturier, commonly known by his Latin name _Sutor_ (cobbler), had already begun the attack, by launching from his solitary Carthusian cell a treatise overflowing with violence, in which he called his opponents theologasters and jacka.s.ses, charging them with scandalous crimes, heresy, and blasphemy. Treating of subjects which he did not understand, he reminded his readers of the old proverb: _Ne sutor ultra crepidam_, Let the cobbler stick to his last.

Beda hastened to the a.s.sistance of his brother. He ordered Erasmus to write no more;[1067] and taking up that pen which he had commanded the greatest writer of the age to lay down, he made a collection of all the calumnies that the monks had invented against the ill.u.s.trious philosopher, translated them into French, and composed a book that he circulated in the city and at court, striving to raise all France against him.[1068] This work was the signal of attack; Erasmus was a.s.sailed from every quarter. An old Carmelite of Louvain, Nicholas Ecmond, exclaimed every time he went into the pulpit, "There is no difference between Luther and Erasmus, except that Erasmus is the greater heretic;"[1069] and wherever the Carmelite might be, at table, in coach, or in boat, he called Erasmus a heresiarch and forger.[1070]

The faculty of Paris, excited by these clamours, prepared a censure against the ill.u.s.trious writer.

[1067] Primum jubet ut desinam scribere. Erasm. Epp. 921.

[1068] Ut totam Galliam in me concitaret. Ibid. 886.

[1069] Nisi quod Erasmus esset major haereticus. Ibid. 915.

[1070] Quoties in conviviis, in vehiculis, in navibus. Ibid.

[Sidenote: APPEAL TO THE KING AND THE EMPEROR.]

Erasmus was astounded. This, then, is the end of all his forbearance, and of even his hostility against Luther. He had mounted to the breach with greater courage than any man; and now they want to make him a stepping stone, and trample him under foot, that they may the more securely attack the common enemy. This idea disgusted him: he turned round immediately, and almost before he had ceased his attack upon Luther, fell upon these fanatical doctors, who had a.s.sailed him from behind. Never was his correspondence more active than now. He glances all around him, and his piercing eye soon discovers in whose hands depends his fate. He does not hesitate: he will lay his complaints and remonstrances at the feet of the Sorbonne, of the parliament, of the king, and of the emperor himself. "What is it that has kindled this immense Lutheran conflagration?" wrote he to those theologians of the Sorbonne, from whom he still expected some little impartiality; "what has fanned it, if not the virulence of Beda and his fellows?[1071] In war, a soldier who has done his duty receives a reward from his general; and all the recompense I shall receive from you, the leaders in this war, is to be delivered up to the calumnies of such as Beda and Lecouturier."

[1071] Hoc gravissimum Lutheri incendium, unde natum, unde huc progressum, nisi ex Beddaicis intemperiis. Er. Epp. p. 887.

"What!" wrote he to the parliament, "when I was contending with these Lutherans, and while I was maintaining a severe struggle by order of the emperor, the pope, and other princes, even at the peril of my life, Beda and Lecouturier attacked me from behind with their foul libels! Ah, if fortune had not deprived us of King Francis, I should have invoked this avenger of the muses against this new invasion of the barbarians.[1072] But now it is your duty to put an end to such injustice!"

[1072] Musarum vindicem adversus barbarorum incursiones. Ibid. p.

2070.

As soon as he found the possibility of conveying a letter to the king, he wrote to him immediately. His penetrating eye detected in these fanatical doctors of the Sorbonne the germs of the league, the predecessors of those three priests who were one day to set up the _Sixteen_ against the last of the Valois; his genius forewarned the king of the crimes and misfortunes which his descendants were destined to know but too well. "Religion is their pretext," said he, "but they aspire to tyranny even over princes. They move with a sure step, though their path is underground. Should the prince be disinclined to submit to them in every thing, they will declare that he may be deposed by the Church; that is to say, by a few false monks and theologians who conspire against the public peace."[1073] Erasmus in writing to Francis I. could not have touched a tenderer point.

[1073] Nisi princeps ipsorum voluntati per omnia paruerit, dicetur fautor haereticorum et dest.i.tui poterit per ecclesiam. Ibid. p. 1108.

[Sidenote: PARIS AND LORRAINE--ESCH IMPRISONED.]

Finally, to be more certain of escape from his enemies, Erasmus invoked the protection of Charles V. "Invincible emperor," said he, "certain individuals who, under the pretence of religion, wish to establish their own gluttony and despotism, are raising a horrible outcry against me.[1074] I am fighting under your banners and those of Jesus Christ. May your wisdom and power restore peace to the Christian world."

[1074] Simulato religionis praetextu, ventris tyrannidisque suae, negotium agentes. Er. Epp. p. 962.

Thus did the prince of letters address the great ones of the age. The danger was averted; the powers of the world interposed; the vultures were compelled to abandon a prey which they fancied already in their talons. Upon this they turned their eyes to another quarter, seeking fresh victims, which were soon found.

Lorraine was the first place in which blood was again to flow. From the earliest days of the Reform there had been a fanatical alliance between Paris and the country of the Guises. When Paris was quiet, Lorraine applied to the task; and then Paris resumed her labour, while Metz and Nancy were recovering their strength. In June 1525, Peter Toussaint returned to Metz, in company with Farel. They desired a hearing before their lordships _the Thirteen_; and this being refused, they appealed to the _eschevin_. Plans were already laid for throwing them into prison, when, fearful of danger, they quickly left the city, travelling all night lest they should be overtaken.[1075]

[1075] Chroniques de Metz, p. 823.

[Sidenote: ESCH IMPRISONED--SCHUCH AT NANCY.]

The first blows were destined apparently to fall on an excellent man, one of the Basle refugees, a friend of Farel and Toussaint. The Chevalier d'Esch had not been able to escape the suspicions of the priests in Metz. They discovered that he kept up a communication with the evangelical Christians, and he was imprisoned at Pont-a-Mousson, about five miles from Metz on the banks of the Moselle[1076] These tidings overwhelmed the French refugees and the Swiss themselves with sorrow. "O heart full of innocence!" exclaimed colampadius. "I have confidence in the Lord," added he, "that he will preserve this man to us, either in life as a preacher of righteousness, to announce His name, or as a martyr to confess him in death."[1077] But at the same time colampadius disapproved of the impetuosity, enthusiasm, and imprudent zeal which distinguished the French refugees. "I wish,"

said he, "that my very dear lords of France would not be so hasty in returning into their own country, before they had duly examined all things;[1078] for the devil is spreading his snares on every side.

Nevertheless let them obey the Spirit of Christ, and may this Spirit never abandon them."

[1076] Noster captas detinetur in Bundamosa quinque millibus a Metis.

col. to Farel, Epp. 201.

[1077] Vel vivum confessorem, vel mortuum martyrem servabit. col to Farel, Epp. 201.

[1078] Nollem carissimos dominos meos Galles properare in Galliam, &c.

Ibid.

There was, in truth, reason to fear for the chevalier. The fury of the enemy had broken out in Lorraine with redoubled violence. The provincial of the Cordeliers, Bonaventure Renel, confessor to Duke Anthony the Good, a man devoid of shame, and not very commendable on the score of morals, gave this weak prince, who reigned from 1508 to 1544, great licence in his pleasures, and persuaded him, almost by way of penance, to destroy the innovators without mercy. "It is enough for every one to know his _Pater_ and his _Ave_" this prince, so well tutored by Renel, would say; "the greater the doctor, the greater the disturbance."[1079]

[1079] Actes des Martyrs, p. 97

Towards the end of 1524 the duke's court was informed that a pastor named Schuch was preaching some new doctrine in the town of St.

Hippolyte, at the foot of the Vosges. "Let them return to their duty,"

said Anthony _the Good_, "or else I will march against the city, and destroy it by fire and sword."[1080]

[1080] Ibid. p. 95.

[Sidenote: HIS CONDEMNATION AND MARTYRDOM.]

Upon this the faithful pastor resolved to give himself up for his flock, and repaired to Nancy, where the prince was residing. As soon as he arrived he was thrown into a filthy prison, under the guard of brutal and cruel men; and Friar Bonaventure at last saw the heretic in his power. It was he who presided at the trial. "Heretic! Judas!

devil!" exclaimed he. Schuch, calm and collected, made no reply to this abuse; but holding in his hands a Bible, all covered with notes, he meekly yet forcibly confessed Christ crucified. On a sudden he became animated; he stood up boldly, and raising his voice, as if filled by the Spirit from on high, looked his judges in the face, and threatened them with the terrible judgments of G.o.d.

Brother Bonaventure and his companions, amazed and transported with rage, rushed upon him with violent cries, tore away the Bible from which he was reading this menacing language, "and like mad dogs," says the chronicler, "unable to bite his doctrine, they burnt it in their convent."[1081]

[1081] Actes des Martyrs, recueillis par Crespin, en Francais, p. 97.