Durant W. The Reformation. A History of European Civilization from Wyclif to Calvin: 1300-1564

himself to reform that diocese in the spirit of his master. After four

years of zealous work he felt strong enough to venture upon

theological innovations. He appointed to benefices such known

reformers as Lefevre, Farel, Louis de Berquin, Gerard Roussel, and

Francois Vatable, and encouraged them to preach a "return to the

Gospel." Marguerite applauded him, and made him her spiritual

director. But when the Sorbonne- the school of theology that now

dominated the University of Paris- proclaimed its condemnation of

Luther (1521), Briconnet bade his cohorts make their peace with the

Church. The unity of the Church seemed to him, as to Erasmus and

Marguerite, more important than reform.

The Sorbonne could not stop the flow of Lutheran ideas across the

Rhine. Students and merchants brought Luther's writings from Germany

as the most exciting news of the day; Froben sent copies from Basel to

be sold in France. Discontented workingmen took up the New Testament

as a revolutionary document, and listened gladly to preachers who drew

from the Gospels a utopia of social equality. In 1523, when Bishop

Briconnet published on his cathedral doors a bull of indulgences, Jean

Leclerc, a woolcarder of Meaux, tore it down and replaced it with a

placard calling the pope Antichrist. He was arrested, and by order

of the Parlement of Paris was branded on the forehead (1525). He

moved to Metz, where he smashed the religious images before which a

procession was planning to offer incense. His right hand was cut

off, his nose was torn away, his nipples were plucked out with

pincers, his head was bound with a band of red-hot iron, and he was

burned alive (1526). `062239 Several other radicals were sent to the

stake in Paris for "blasphemy," or for denying the intercessory

power of the Virgin and the saints (1526-27).

The people of France generally approved of these executions; `062240

it cherished its religious faith as God's own revelation and covenant,

and abominated heretics as robbing the poor of their greatest

consolation. No Luther appeared in France to rouse the middle class

against papal tyranny and exactions; the Concordat precluded such an

appeal; and Calvin had not as yet reached the Genevan eminence from

which he could send his stern summons to reform. The rebels found some

support among the aristocracy, but the lords and ladies were too

lighthearted to take the new ideas to the point of unsettling the

faith of the people or the comforts of the court. Francis himself

tolerated the Lutheran propaganda so long as it offered no threat of

social or political disturbance. He too had his doubts- about the

powers of the pope, the sale of indulgences, the existence of

purgatory; `062241 and possibly he thought to use his toleration of

Protestantism as a weapon over a pope too inclined to favor Charles V.

He admired Erasmus, sought him for the new College Royale, and

believed with him in the encouragement of education and ecclesiastical

reform- but by steps that would not divide the people into warring

halves, or weaken the services of the Church to private morality and

social order. `062242 "The King and Madame" (Louise of Savoy), wrote

Marguerite to Briconnet in 1521, "are more than ever well-disposed

toward the reformation of the Church." `062243 When the Sorbonne

arrested Louis de Berquin for translating some of Luther's works

(1523), he was freed by Marguerite's intercession with the King. But

Francis was frightened by the Peasants' Revolt in Germany, which

seemed to have grown out of Protestant propaganda; and before

leaving for his debacle at Pavia he bade the prelates stamp out the

Lutheran movement in France. While the King was a captive in Madrid,

Berquin was again imprisoned, but Marguerite again secured an order

for his release. When Francis himself was freed he indulged in a

jubilee of liberalism, perhaps in gratitude to the sister who had so

labored for his liberation. He recalled Lefevre and Roussel from

exile, and Marguerite felt that the movement for reform had won the

day.

Two events drove the King back to orthodoxy. He needed money to

ransom the two sons whom he had surrendered to Charles in exchange for

his own freedom; the clergy voted him 1,300,000 livres, but

accompanied the grant with a request for a firmer stand against

heresy; and he agreed (December 16, 1527). On May 31, 1528, he was

dismayed to learn that both the heads on a statue of the Virgin and

Child outside a church in the parish of Saint-Germain had been smashed

during the night. The people cried out for vengeance. Francis

offered a thousand crowns for the discovery of the vandals, and led

a somber procession of prelates, state officials, nobles, and populace

to repair the broken statues with silver heads. The Sorbonne took

advantage of the reaction to imprison Berquin once more; and while

Francis was absent at Blois the impenitent Lutheran was burned at

the stake (April 17, 1529), to the joy of the attendant

multitude. `062244

The mood of the King varied with the shifts of his diplomacy. In

1532, angry at the collaboration of Clement VII with Charles V, he

made overtures to the Lutheran princes of Germany, and allowed

Marguerite to install Roussel as preacher to large gatherings in the

Louvre; and when the Sorbonne protested he banished its leaders from

Paris. In October 1533, he was on good terms with Clement, and

promised active measures against the French Protestants. On November 1

Nicholas Cop delivered his pro-Lutheran address at the university; the

Sorbonne rose in wrath, and Francis ordered a new persecution. But

then his quarrel with the Emperor sharpened, and he sent Guillaume

du Bellay, favorable to reform, to Wittenberg with a request that

Melanchthon should formulate a possible reconciliation between the old

faith and the new ideas (1534), and thereby make possible an

alliance of Protestant Germany and Catholic France. Melanchthon

complied, and matters were moving fast, when an extreme faction

among the French reformers posted in the streets of Paris, Orleans,

and other cities, and even on the doors of the King's bedchamber at

Amboise, placards denouncing the Mass as idolatry, and the Pope and

the Catholic clergy as "a brood of vermin... apostates, wolves...

liars, blasphemers, murderers of souls" (October 18, 1534). `062245

Enraged, Francis ordered an indiscriminate imprisonment of all

suspects; soon the jails were full. Many printers were arrested, and

for a time all printing was prohibited. Marguerite, Marot, and many

moderate Protestants joined in condemning the placards. The King,

his sons, ambassadors, nobles, and clergy marched in solemn silence,

bearing lighted candles, to hear an expiatory Mass in Notre Dame

(January 21, 1535). Francis declared that he would behead his own

children if he found them harboring these blasphemous heresies. That

evening six Protestants were burned to death in Paris by a method

judged fit to appease the Deity: they were suspended over a fire,

and were repeatedly lowered into it and raised from it so that their

agony might be prolonged. `062246 Between November 10, 1534, and May

5, 1535, twenty-four Protestants were burned alive in Paris. Pope Paul

III reproved the King for needless severity, and ordered him to end

the persecution. `062247

Before the year was out Francis was again wooing the German

Protestants. He himself wrote to Melanchthon (July 23, 1535), inviting

him to come and "confer with some of our most distinguished doctors as

to the means of re-establishing in the Church that sublime harmony

which is the chief of all my desires." `062248 Melanchthon did not

come. Perhaps he suspected Francis of using him as a thorn in the

Emperor's side; or he was dissuaded by Luther or the Elector of

Saxony, who said, "The French are not Evangelicals, they are

Erasmians." `062249 This was true of Marguerite, Briconnet, Lefevre,

Roussel; not true of the placardists, or of the Calvinistic

Huguenots who were beginning to multiply in southern France. After

making peace with Charles (1538), Francis abandoned all efforts to

conciliate his own Protestants.

The darkest disgrace of his reign was only partly his fault. The

Vaudois or Waldenses, who still cherished the semi-Protestant ideas of

Peter Waldo, their twelfth-century founder, had been allowed, under

royal protection, to maintain their Quakerlike existence in some

thirty villages along the Durance River in Provence. In 1530 they

entered into correspondence with reformers in Germany and Switzerland,

and two years later they drew up a profession of faith based on the

views of Bucer and Oecolampadius. A papal legate set up the

Inquisition among them; they appealed to Francis; he bade the

prosecution cease (1533). But Cardinal de Tournon, alleging that the

Waldenses were in a treasonable conspiracy against the government,

persuaded the ailing, vacillating King to sign a decree (January 1,

1545) that all Waldenses found guilty of heresy should be put to

death. The officers of the Parlement at Aix-en-Provence

interpreted the order to mean mass extermination. The soldiers at

first refused to obey the command; they were, however, induced to kill

a few; the heat of murder inflamed them, and they passed into

massacre. Within a week (April 12-18) several villages were burned

to the ground; in one of them 800 men, women, and children were

slaughtered; in two months 3,000 were killed, twenty-two villages were

razed, 700 men were sent to the galleys. Twenty-five terrified

women, seeking refuge in a cavern, were asphyxiated by a fire built at

its mouth. Protestant Switzerland and Germany raised horrified

protests; Spain sent Francis congratulations. `062250 A year later a

small Lutheran group was found meeting at Meaux under the leadership

of Pierre Leclerc, brother of branded Jean; fourteen of the group were

tortured and burned, eight after having their tongues torn out

(October 7, 1546).

These persecutions were the supreme failure of Francis' reign. The

courage of the martyrs gave dignity and splendor to their cause;

thousands of onlookers must have been impressed and disturbed, who,

without these spectacular executions, might never have bothered to

change their inherited faith. Despite the recurrent terror,

clandestine "swarms" of Protestants existed in 1530 in Lyons,

Bordeaux, Orleans, Reims, Amiens, Poitiers, Bourges, Nimes, La

Rochelle, Chalons, Dijon, Toulouse. Huguenot legions sprang almost out

of the ground. Francis, dying, must have known that he had left his

son not only the encompassing hostility of England, Germany, and

Switzerland, but a heritage of hate in France herself.

V. HAPSBURG AND VALOIS: 1515-26

-

It was not to be expected that so volatile a monarch would be

content to surrender all the hopes that had agitated his

predecessors for adding Milan, and if possible Naples, as brilliants

in the French crown. Louis XII had accepted the natural limits of

France- had recognized, so to speak, the sovereignty of the Alps.

Francis withdrew the recognition, and challenged the right of Duke

Maximilian Sforza to Milan. During several months of negotiations he

collected and equipped an immense force. In August 1515, he led it

by a new and perilous path- blasting his way across rocky cliffs- over

the Alps and down into Italy. At Marignano, nine miles from Milan, the

French knights and infantry met Sforza's Swiss mercenaries in two days

(September 13-14, 1515) of such killing as Italy had not known since

the barbarian invasions; 10,000 men were left dead on the ground. Time

and again the French seemed defeated, when the King himself charged to

the front and rallied his troops by the example of his daring. It

was customary for a ruler victorious in battle to reward special

bravery by creating new knights on the field; but before doing this

Francis, in an unprecedented but characteristic gesture, knelt

before Pierre, Seigneur de Bayard, and asked to be knighted by the

hand of the famous Chevalier sans peur et sans reproche. Bayard

protested that the King was ex officio the knight of knights and

needed no dubbing, but the young sovereign, still only twenty-one,

insisted. Bayard went through the traditional motions magnificently,

and then put away his sword, saying: "Assuredly, my good sword, thou

shalt be well guarded as a relic, and honored above all others, for

having this day conferred upon so handsome and puissant a king the

order of chivalry; and never will I wear thee more except against

Turks, Moors, and Saracens!" `062251 Francis entered Milan as its

master, sent its deposed Duke to France with a comfortable pension,

took also Parma and Piacenza, and signed with Leo X, in splendid

ceremonies at Bologna, a treaty and Concordat that allowed both Pope

and King to claim a diplomatic victory.

Francis returned to France the idol of his countrymen, and almost of

Europe. He had charmed his soldiers by sharing their hardships and

outbraving their bravery; and though in his triumph he had indulged

his vanity, he tempered it by giving credit to others, softening all

egos with words of praise and grace. In the intoxication of fame he

made his greatest mistake: he entered his candidacy for the Imperial

crown. He was legitimately disturbed by the prospect of having Charles

I, King of Spain and Naples and Count of Flanders and Holland,

become also head of the Holy Roman Empire- with all those claims to

Lombardy, and therefore Milan, for which Maximilian had so

repeatedly invaded Italy; within such a new Empire France would be

surrounded by apparently invincible enemies. Francis bribed and

lost; Charles bribed more, and won (1519). The bitter rivalry began

that kept Western Europe in turmoil till within three years of the

King's death.

Charles and Francis never ran out of reasons for hostility. Even

before becoming Emperor, Charles had claimed Burgundy through his

grandmother Mary, daughter of Charles the Bold, and had refused to

recognize the reunion of Burgundy with the French crown. Milan was

formally a fief of the Empire. Charles continued the Spanish

occupation of Navarre; Francis insisted that it should be returned

to his vassal, Henri d'Albret. And above all these casus belli lay

the question of questions: Who was to be master of Europe- Charles

or Francis? The Turks answered, Suleiman.

Francis struck the first blow. Noting that Charles had on his

hands a political revolution in Spain and a religious revolution in

Germany, he sent an army across the Pyrenees to recapture Navarre;

it was defeated in a campaign whose most important incident was the

wounding of Ignatius Loyola (1521). Another army went south to

defend Milan; the troops mutinied for lack of pay; they were routed at

La Bicocca by Imperial mercenaries, and Milan fell to Charles V

(1522). To cap these mishaps the constable of the French armies went

over to the Emperor.

Charles, Duke of Bourbon, was head of the powerful family that would

rule France from 1589 to 1792. He was the richest man in the country

after the King; 500 nobles were among his retainers; he was the last

of the great barons who could defy the monarch of the now

centralized state. He served Francis well in war, fighting bravely

at Marignano; less well in government, alienating the Milanese by

his harsh rule. Ill supplied there with funds from the King, he laid

out 100,000 livres of his own, expecting to be repaid; he was not.

Francis looked with jealous misgiving upon this almost royal vassal.

He recalled him from Milan, and offered him thoughtless or intentional

affronts that left Bourbon his brooding enemy. The Duke had married

Suzanne of Bourbon, whose extensive estates were by her mother's

will to revert to the Crown if Suzanne should die without issue.

Suzanne so died (1521), but after making a will that left all her

property to her husband. Francis and his mother claimed the property

as the most direct descendants of the previous duke of Bourbon;

Charles fought the claim; the Parlement of Paris decided against

him. Francis proposed a compromise that would let the Duke enjoy the

income of the property till his death; he rejected the proposal.

Louise, fifty-one, offered herself as a bride to the

thirty-one-year-old Duke, with a clear title to the property as her

dowry; he refused. Charles V made a rival offer: the hand of his

sister Eleonora in marriage, and full support, by Imperial troops,

of the Duke's claims. The Duke accepted, fled by night across the

frontier, and was made lieutenant-general of the Imperial army in

Italy (1523).

Francis sent Bonnivet against him. Marguerite's lover proved

incompetent; his army was overwhelmed at Romagnano by the Duke; and

in the retreat the Chevalier de Bayard, commanding the dangerous rear

guard, was fatally wounded by a shot from a harquebus (April 30,

1524). The victorious Bourbon found him dying under a tree, and

offered him some consolatory compliments. "My lord," answered Bayard,

"there is pity for me; I die having done my duty; but I have pity for

you, to see you serving against your King, your country, and your

oath." `062252 The Duke was moved, but had burned all bridges behind

him. He entered into an agreement with Charles V and Henry VIII by

which all three were to invade France simultaneously, overwhelm all

French forces, and divide the land among them. As his part of the

bargain the Duke entered Provence, took Aix, and laid siege to

Marseille; but his campaign was poorly provisioned, met unexpectedly

strong resistance, and collapsed. He retreated into Italy

(September 1524).

Francis thought it wise to pursue him and recapture Milan. Bonnivet,

foolish to the end, advised him to take Pavia first, and then come

upon Milan from the south; the King agreed, and laid siege (August 26,

1524). But here too the defense was superior to the offense; for

four months the French host was held at bay, while Bourbon, Charles of

Lannoy (Viceroy of Naples), and the Marquis of Pescara (husband of

Vittoria Colonna) gathered a new army of 27,000 men. Suddenly this

force appeared behind the French; on the same day (February 24,

1525) Francis found his men assaulted on one side by this unexpected

multitude, and on the other by a sortie from Pavia. As usual, he

fought in the van of the melee, and killed so many of the enemy with

his own sword that he thought victory assured. But his generalship was

sacrificed to his courage; his forces were poorly deployed; his

infantry moved in between his artillery and the foe, making the

superior French guns useless. The French faltered; the Duke of Alencon

fled, taking the rear guard with him. Francis challenged his

disordered army to follow him back into the battle; only the most

gallant of his nobles accompanied him, and a slaughter of French

chivalry ensued. Francis received wounds in the face, on the arms

and legs, but struck out tirelessly; his horse collapsed under him;

still he fought. His loyal knights fell one by one till he was left

alone. He was surrounded by enemy soldiers, and was about to be

slain when an officer recognized him, saved him, and led him to

Lannoy, who with low bows of respect accepted his sword.

The fallen King was confined in the fortress of Pizzighettone near

Cremona, whence he was allowed to send his oft quoted, oft misquoted

letter to his mother, who was ruling France in his absence:

-

TO THE REGENT OF FRANCE: Madame, that you may know how stands

the

rest of my misfortune: there is nothing in the world left to me but

honor and my life, which is saved ( de toute chose ne m'est demeure

que l'honneur et la vie, qui est sauvee ). And in order that in your

adversity this news might bring you some little comfort, I prayed

for permission to write you this letter... entreating you, in the

exercise of your accustomed prudence, to do nothing rash, for I have

hope, after all, that God will not forsake me.... `062253

-

He sent a similar note to Marguerite, who answered both:

-

MY LORD: The joy we are still feeling at the kind letters which

you were pleased to write yesterday to me and your mother, makes us so

happy with the assurance of your health, on which our life depends,

that it seems to me that we ought to think of nothing but of

praising God and desiring a continuance of your good news, which is

the best meat we can have to live on. And inasmuch as the Creator

has given us grace that our trinity should be always united, the

other two do entreat you that this letter, presented to you who are

the third, may be accepted with the same affection with which it

is cordially offered you by your most humble and obedient servants,

your mother and sister,

LOUISE, MARGUERITE

`062254

-

To the Emperor at Madrid Francis wrote a very humble letter

telling him that "if it please you to have so much honorable pity as

to answer for the safety which a captive king of France deserves to

find... you may be sure of obtaining an acquisition instead of a

useless prisoner, and of making a king of France your slave

forever." `062255 Francis had not been trained to misfortune.

Charles received the news of his victory calmly, and refused to

celebrate it, as many suggested, with a splendid festival. He

retired into his bedroom (we are told), and knelt in prayer. To

Francis and Louise he sent what seemed to him moderate terms for peace

and the liberation of the King. (1) France must give up Burgundy and

all claims to Flanders, Artois, and Italy. (2) All lands and dignities

claimed by the Duke of Bourbon must be surrendered to him. (3)

Provence and Dauphine should be made an independent state. (4)

France must restore to England all French territory formerly held by

Britain- i.e., Normandy, Anjou, Gascony, and Guienne. (5) Francis must

sign an alliance with the Emperor, and join him in a campaign

against the Turks. Louise answered that France would not yield an inch

of territory, and was prepared to defend itself to the last man. The

Regent acted now with an energy, resolution, and intelligence that

made the French people forgive her headstrong faults. She arranged

at once for the organization and equipment of new armies, and set them

to guard all points of possible invasion. To keep the Emperor's mind

off France, she urged Suleiman of Turkey to defer his attack on Persia

and undertake instead a westward campaign; we do not know what part

her plea played in the Sultan's decision, but in 1526 he marched

into Hungary, and inflicted so disastrous a defeat upon the

Christian army at Mohacs that any invasion of France by Charles

would have been deemed treason to Christendom. Meanwhile Louise

pointed out to Henry VIII and Clement VII how both England and the

papacy would be reduced to bondage if the Emperor were allowed all the

territory that he demanded. Henry wavered; Louise persisted, and

offered him an "indemnity" of 2,000,000 crowns; he signed a

defensive and offensive alliance with France (August 30, 1525). This

female diplomacy opened male eyes, and shattered Charles's confidence.

By agreement among Louise, Lannoy, and the Emperor, the captive King

was transported to Spain. When Francis reached Valencia (July 2,

1525), Charles sent him a courteous letter, but his treatment of his

prisoner went no further toward chivalry. Francis was assigned a

narrow room in an old castle in Madrid, under rigorous vigilance;

the sole freedom allowed him was to ride on a mule near the castle,

under watch of armed and mounted guards. He asked Charles for an

Durant W. The Reformation. A History of European Civilization from Wyclif to Calvin: 1300-1564

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