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The Reformation in France: the early
days.
The story of Protestantism in France is greatly
overshadowed by the religious wars that raged on and off between 1562 and
1598. The St Bartholomews Day Massacre of the
Huguenots ( the French Calvinists) in 1572 is often held up as the main event but thousands died
for their faith long before, and after, that occurred. France is, however, entitled to be among the leaders of the
Reformation despite the wars and contests between the Guise family and
Catherine de Medici. Some five years or more before Martin Luther posted his
Theses in Wittenburg in 1517, another reformed monk, Jacques Lefevre,
(aka Faber Stapulensis) was preaching reform in Paris.
Lefevre was born about 1440 in Etaples,
Picardy, and was a Carmelite monk with a reputation for having an
enquiring mind. As a scholar he travelled abroad and studied history,
mathematics, philosophy and theology. He was also proficient in the
ancient languages of Greek and Hebrew as well as Latin. For his
attainments and leaning towards the Humanists of the day he was widely
admired. Even though in
late age, he was appointed Professor of Theology at the Sorbonne, Paris.
He had a presentiment that change was necessary and being open minded he
read the Bible in search of material for a treatise on the lives of the
saints. In so doing he was struck by the concept of salvation by
faith alone. In 1512 he published a commentary on the Epistles of St Paul
in which he declares
“It is God who gives us, by faith, that
righteousness which grace alone justifies to eternal life”.
With an
inevitability all its own he became a suspected heretic, but
continued to develop his ideas with his attentive pupils, including a
young William Farel, and Peter Robert Olivetan, a cousin of Calvin
and the translator of the first French Bible from the Lefevre original.
Farel soon also shrugged off his
obedience to Rome and began preaching alongside Lefevre. Their joint
efforts began to have a noticeable impact on the people of Paris. This
came to the attention of William Briconnet, Count of Montbrun and Bishop
of Meaux, who had returned from a visit to Rome somewhat disillusioned at
what he had seen there. The turning point for him was the Bible that
Lefevre gave him. As the most powerful and influential of the French
Reformers at that time Briconnet was able to influence change in his diocese directly
by issuing a mandate in October 1520 proclaiming about dissolute priests
and interdicting the Franciscan friars from the pulpits. He took
himself about among the people and, almost unprecedented at the time, he
preached from the pulpit, He soon established a seminary for tuition of
ministers of the New Testament at Meaux. Briconnet had many
influential friends, including the king, Francis I and his sister,
Margaret (Margot) de Valois. It was Briconnet`s gift of a Bible to Margaret that
brought her into the Protestant fold. But the narrow minded papist head of
the Sorbonne, Noel Beda, forced Farel and Lefevre to leave Paris for Meaux.
The capture of Francis I by the Emperor
at Pavia, in Italy left France under the regency of his mother Louisa of
Savoy, aided by the Chancellor – Antoine Duprat ( a newly rewarded and
highly avaricious cardinal) and Breda of the Sorbonne. The Valois family
had a long history of persecution of the Waldenses and to Louisa fell the
task of rescuing France from Protestantism. In 1523 she was given the
counsel of `use the stake`. But Parliament in the meantime summoned
Briconnet before it on 12 April 1523 and threatened burning. Briconnet
declined that fate, was fined and ordered to make three edicts at Meaux –
restore public prayer to the Virgin and saints, forbid buying and reading
books of Luther, and silence on the protestant preachers. Farel took
himself to Switzerland to continue his preaching; Lefevre went first to
Strasbourg then Nerac near Angouleme, the home of Margaret de Valois. A new hope for the
Reformation, John Calvin, arrived at La Marche College, Paris
about August 1523.
In France, darkness and intolerance
descended and the martyrs began to be burnt at the Place de Greve in Paris
( later to be the scene for Madame la Guillotine in the French
Revolution). The first was a young man named Pavane from Boulogne who at
first recanted on Christmas Eve 1524, but then resiled and was burnt.
Hundreds were to follow him. These included the lowly and the high born.
Of the latter Louis de Berquin, of the noble Artois family was one.
He was a man of letters who enjoyed books and learning who had a
dispute about the Gospels and turned to the Bible for reference. To his
surprise he found the doctrine of Luther revealed, not those of Rome, and was soon
converted. He urged the reformed creed on his tenants and through his
contacts became a prominent evangelist. But the Sorbonne papists took
their revenge in 1523 and he was arrested and tried for heresy. The king
intervened and he was released, But he was again seized, released and told
by the king to be more prudent. The third time he was seized there
seemed to be no escape, the king then being a prisoner of the Emperor,
Charles V, in Madrid. However, an order from Francis dated 1 April
1526 yet again secured release. Finally, as it turned out, he was
imprisoned in March 1529 to await trial. Whilst there he realised that he
had many incriminating papers at home and despatched a messenger with a
letter ordering the destruction of the papers. Unfortunately the messenger
collapsed, allegedly swooning through conscience at a roadside statue of
the Virgin. When his clothes were loosened the letter was found and read
and disclosed to the priests. Despite an appeal to the king then at Bois,
the papists hurried through the heresy charges, condemned him and executed
him at the stake on 22 April 1529. In death Berquin may well have
had the last word; presented as a spectacle of the power of Rome, he
dressed in a cloak of velvet, doublet of satin and damask, and
golden hose as if attending the king. When he went to speak his final words,
the papists, soldiers, and drum rolls drowned him out. The people did not
forget his treatment.
Meanwhile Francis I sought
German Protestant support against the Emperor and pursued a chimerical
union of Romanism and Protestantism as part of his design. The scheme was
supported in broad principal by the pacifist Bucer and Melanchthon who
were opposed to religious war. But the plan came to nothing save to raise
hackles all round. It contributed to the rash action by the French
Protestants to seek advice from Farel and others in Switzerland that
resulted in the vituperative placards against the mass that were
distributed throughout France on the night of 24 October 1534 [ Note: Some
historians say this took place on 18 October]. One was
even posted on the door to the King`s private apartments in the
Castle of Amboise which generated a furious response of “Let all be
seized , and let Lutheranism be totally exterminated.” The
bloodbath and martyrdoms in France began, hastened along by Beda at the
Sorbonne and the priests who spread gross lies and calumnies to maintain a
white hot indignation among the people. There then took place the
grotesque ceremonial burnings on 21 January 1535 that set the tone for the
decades that followed.
Another significant event
was the arrival of Catherine de Medici, bride of
Henry, the king`s second son. In a very short space of time Catherine, a
niece of Pope Clement VII and under his protection, was the de facto
ruler of France. First the Dauphin died and Henry her husband became heir.
Then Francis I died and Henry II was king, only to die; then within a year
so did his son Francis II (husband of Mary Queen of Scots),
leaving the weak minded younger brother Charles IX, as king.
Catherine faced these family disasters with equanimity and soldiered on,
determined that her family would survive. Although painted by history as
the Nemesis of Protestantism in France, Catherine was remarkably tolerant
given her family background, and worked hard to bring both sides together.
She summoned the Colloquy of Poissy in 1561;and was behind the Treaty of
St Germain, 8 August 1570, that mirrored the earlier Peace of
Amboise in 1563, allowing freedom of conscience and religion within
specified locations. There is some evidence that she did not order
the murder of all the Huguenots on St Bartholomews Day, 24 August, 1572,
but only agreed to remove the known leaders whom she believed were
plotting against the king. An excess of zeal, to say the least, by papist
supporters took her word literally and executed all and any they found
including some 1000 innocent, non Huguenot, residents of Paris.
[ Recommended further reading: Catherine
de Medici by Leonie Frieda, Wiederfeld & Nicolson,2003; Phoenix
paperback 2005
www.leoniefrieda.com ].
18/07/2011
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