Chapter 18

[172]Sec p. 125, note 2. These deputies had at first been most graciously received by the King of England. They held frequent conferences with his counsellors, at the house of Thomas Cromwell, regarding the object of their mission—the foundation of a defensive alliance between the German princes and the English monarch. Henry appeared favourable to the project. This was, however, but a political ruse; for, after having amused the deputies with fair words and pretended negotiations, he allowed them to depart.—See Seckendorf, lib. iii. sect. 19, parag. 73; and Burnet.

[173]The Act of the Six Articles, called theBill of Blood, promulgated the 28th April 1539. See Burnet,Hist. Ref.vol. i. pp. 256-260.

[174]William du Bellay, Lord of Langey, and Viceroy of Piedmont, then occupied by Francis I.

[175]Anne de Montmorency. He had been promoted to the office of Constable in 1538, for his able defence of Provence against the Imperialists.

[176]The Memoirs of Du Bellay furnish no information in regard to the discussions which are treated of in the close of this letter, and of which the Waldenses of Piedmont were the subject. William du Bellay was governor of Piedmont, which had recently been subjugated by Francis I., and did honour to himself by the generous protection which he extended to the Waldensian Churches.

[177]This word, as also several others, is effaced in the original.

[178]That meeting took place at Arnstadt, a town of the Thuringi. See Sleidan, lib. xii. p. 347.

[179]Joachim II., Margrave-Elector of Brandenbourg, (1534-1571.) After having shewn himself all along faithful to the cause of the Emperor, this prince established the Reformation in his States.

[180]Henry VIII. sought again at this time the alliance of the Protestant princes of Germany. He espoused (Jan. 6, 1540) Anne of Cleves, whom he repudiated some months afterwards.

[181]This prince, who at this time still wavered between Catholicism and the Reformed doctrines, succeeded his brother as Elector-Palatine, in 1544, and completed the work of the Reformation in his State.

[182]Here is the passage of the letter of Luther, containing a flattering allusion to the letter of Calvin to Sadolet: "Bene vale, et salutabis D. Joannem Sturmium et Joannem Calvinum quorum libellos cum singulari voluptate legi. Sadoletum optarem ut crederet, Deum esse creatorem hominum etiam extra Italiam. Sed hæc persuasio non penetrat corda Italorum, cum tam soli præ cæteris exuerint plane humanum sensum præ superbia."—Dr. Martin Luther'sBriefe, edit. de Wette, tom. v. p. 411.

[183]The preface of this Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans is dedicated to Simon Grynée, and contains an eulogium of Melanchthon, of Bucer, and of Bullinger, accompanied with the following reflections:—"God never designed in such a way to exercise liberality towards his servants, as that each should be endowed with a full and perfect understanding on every point; and doubtless, in this respect, he intended, in the first place, to keep us humble, and next of all to keep up and maintain the desire and the exercise of brotherly love and communion. On this account, since such is the case, we have no reason to expect, in this present life, to see what would otherwise be so desirable, that in the understanding and the exposition of certain passages of Scripture, there ever can be among us an out-and-out entire agreement, (in allusion to the sacraments,) yet we ought to be particularly careful, when we do depart from the opinion of those who have written before us, that we do so without being carried away by the silly appetite for saying something new," &c.—Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans, Geneva, in 4to, 1562.

[184]Minister of the Church of Neuchatel.

[185]The truce of Nice had for the moment reconciled Charles V. and Francis I.

[186]The Duke of Cleves had been put in possession of the town of Gueldres, notwithstanding the protestations of the Emperor, and with the tacit approbation of the French King.

[187]The King of France and the Emperor equally put forth pretensions to the possession of the Milanese.

[188]The town of Ghent having revolted, Charles V. sought permission from the French King to pass through France, in order to suppress more promptly the revolt. Francis consented, and, on the faith of his word, Charles did not hesitate to traverse the states of his rival. His expedition was a triumph. The two sovereigns made their formal entry into Paris, January 1, 1540.

[189]Amiens. The interview proposed in that town between the two monarchs did not take place.

[190]Charles, Duke of Savoy, dispossessed of the greater part of his territory by Francis I.

[191]The marriage of Calvin with Idelette de Bure did not take place till the following month of August.

[192]See the preceding Letter.

[193]Minister of the Church of Zurich.

[194]They are the two letters entitled: Epistolæ duæ, prima de fugiendis impiorum illicitis sacris, et puritate Christianæ religionis; secunda de Christiani hominis officio in sacerdotiis papalis ecclesiæ vel administrandis vel abjiciendis. Genevæ, 1537, in 8vo.

[195]This interview, which had been proposed to be held at Calais, in reference to fresh matrimonial projects of Henry VIII., did not take place, (see Hume, cap. xxxii.,) and after apparent hesitation on the part of the English monarch between an alliance with Francis I. and one with the Emperor, he turned to Charles V., sacrificing at once the friendship of the King of France and that of the German Princes.

[196]The citizens of Geneva, perceiving at length that their divisions were ruinous to their country, resolved in a General Council, assembled Feb. 1, 1540, to be at agreement with each other, and to live in unity together. The recall of the banished ministers put the seal to this reconciliation.—Ruchat,Hist. de la Réformation, vol. i. p. 137.

[197]The meeting at Smalkald took place the 1st of March, to draw up a form of agreement between the Roman Catholics and the Protestants.—Sleidan, book xii. p. 351. The meeting separated on the 13th April.

[198]The Chancellor Granvelle, father of the celebrated Cardinal Granvelle, minister and ambassador of Charles V.

[199]They were the Earls of Thierry of Mandersheit, and William Nuenar,magni consilii et dignitatis viri.—Sleidan, book xii. p. 352.

[200]See that answer related fully in Sleidan, book xiii. pp. 353-61.

[201]In the intense desire of concluding an agreement with the King of England, the German princes shewed their willingness to open a colloquy for that object, but these conferences did not take place, and the hope of a happy reconciliation between the churches of England and Germany was not realized.—Sleidan, book xiii. p. 361.

[202]Without doubt on the subject of the free proclamation of the Gospel in that town, then subject to England. It was not restored to France till 1558, by Francis of Lorraine, Duke of Guise.

[203]Gaspar, called Cormel, minister of Neuchatel.

[204]Peter Toussain, late canon of Metz and almoner to the Queen of Navarre. He was at this time minister of the Church of Montbeliard, which he administered till an advanced old age.

[205]William du Bellay, Viceroy of Piedmont.

[206]While he sought the alliance of the Protestant princes of Germany, Francis I. persecuted the Protestants in his own dominions with an extreme rigour, under the odious designation of Sacramentaries. The year 1540 witnessed numerous burnings at the stake, in the provinces of Dauphiny, Vivarais, at Paris, and in the valleys of Provence. There dwelt for many centuries a pastoral population, which was only known to the world by simplicity of manners and the purity of its faith. De Thou, liv. v. c. 7;Histoire des Martyrs, liv. iii. pp. 133-146. The Vaudois of Cabrières and Merindol, hated by the Roman Catholic clergy on account of their being estranged from the superstitions of the time, were devoted to death by the fanatical fury of the parliament of Aix. The arrêt, which condemned in the mass an innocent and inoffensive people to extermination, was dated 18th November 1540. The intercession of the Senate of Strasbourg, of the Swiss Cantons, and of the German princes, suspended the execution of it until the year 1545.

[207]A meeting was convocated for the month of July 1540, in the town of Haguenau, in order to prepare matters for a general conference between the Roman Catholic and Reformed theologians. See following letter.

[208]Ambroise Blaurer, minister and reformer of the town of Constance.

[209]Carlostad, the friend, and, at a later period, the hot-headed adversary of Luther. At this time he had retired to Basle, where he was settled as minister of St. Peter's. He died in 1541.

[210]Lazarus Baisius, a distinguished and learned man, ambassador of the French king at the Diet of Haguenau.

[211]Pont de Veyle, a small town of the Bresse, handed over at that time by the King of France to the Duke of Savoy.

[212]Andrew Zebedee, minister at Orbe, deposed by the Senate of Berne for having set himself in opposition, on some points, to the theology of Bucer.

[213]M. Du Tailly, a French gentleman, who had taken refuge at Geneva, a declared partisan of the Reformation and of Calvin, whose return he pressingly urged, as the following letter, taken from the MSS. of the Company of Neuchatel, sufficiently attests:—Monsieur Du Tailly to Farel.Very dear Brother,—At the suasion of the most of the good brethren hereaway, I have written to our good brother Calvin that there is a need of him to come to the help of his brethren of Geneva, without taking any heed to the injury which had been done to Jesus Christ in chasing him away, but that he will have to consider the desolation in which they are, and his own bounden duty; wherefore I have written to him to let me know his mind, before that they send away a deputation to him. I shall, besides, entreat of you on your part, that you do charge and persuade him what he ought to do. I say no more to you. Your letter has been very well taken by those hereabout, and I believe that it will greatly profit them, and they hold themselves specially bounden to you for having mind of them in their time of need, and by that shewing evidently that you are a true pastor, not of those who leave them exposed to danger. For the rest, the Lord has done his pleasure as concerning Sir Michel Balthazar. It is a great loss for the town so far as man can see. Nevertheless his will must be done, and none other. May the Lord enable you to persevere as you have begun. From Geneva, this 3d October 1540.—To the uttermost, your friend and brother,Du Tailly.

Monsieur Du Tailly to Farel.

Very dear Brother,—At the suasion of the most of the good brethren hereaway, I have written to our good brother Calvin that there is a need of him to come to the help of his brethren of Geneva, without taking any heed to the injury which had been done to Jesus Christ in chasing him away, but that he will have to consider the desolation in which they are, and his own bounden duty; wherefore I have written to him to let me know his mind, before that they send away a deputation to him. I shall, besides, entreat of you on your part, that you do charge and persuade him what he ought to do. I say no more to you. Your letter has been very well taken by those hereabout, and I believe that it will greatly profit them, and they hold themselves specially bounden to you for having mind of them in their time of need, and by that shewing evidently that you are a true pastor, not of those who leave them exposed to danger. For the rest, the Lord has done his pleasure as concerning Sir Michel Balthazar. It is a great loss for the town so far as man can see. Nevertheless his will must be done, and none other. May the Lord enable you to persevere as you have begun. From Geneva, this 3d October 1540.—To the uttermost, your friend and brother,

Du Tailly.

[214]Frederic Nausea, theologian, known by some writings of a controversial kind against the Lutherans.

[215]John Faber, Vicar-General of the Church of Constance, a renowned theologian of the Roman Catholic Church. In recompense of his zeal in opposing the Protestants, he obtained the Bishopric of Vienna.

[216]John Cochlæus of Nuremberg, one of the principal opponents and detractors of Luther, against whom he displayed more anger than skill in his warfare. He appeared at the Conferences of Worms and of Ratisbon, in 1541, and died in 1552. We have, of his writing, the "Libri duo Hussitarum Historiæ," Moguntiæ, 1549.

[217]The princes of the Empire, met at Nuremberg in 1524, had drawn up a list of the abuses of the Court of Rome, proclaimed the necessity of a Reformation, and appealed to a general council, interdicting, at the same time, the publication of any opinion contrary to the dogmas of the Church, previous to the convocation of that assembly.

[218]Repulsed at the same time in the requests which he had addressed to the Church of Neuchatel and to that of Strasbourg, Caroli had retired to Metz, from whence he wrote a letter to Calvin full of bravado and reproach, offering to be reconciled with him and Farel if they would procure him a benefice. The reply of Calvin, equally remarkable for power as well as charity, is a testimony of the moderation and of the wisdom of the writer.

[219]Hugh Latimer and Nicolas Saxton.

[220]The Edict of Fontainbleau, put forth the 1st of June 1540, called on the inquisitors, the bishops, and the parliaments to repress the crime of heresy, and by which it was assimilated to the crime of treason. The number of victims increased greatly on the promulgation of this edict, and the punishment was rendered more cruel by the atrocious tortures which preceded.

[221]Calvin, in the month of August 1540, had married Idelette de Bure, the widow of an Anabaptist of Liege, John Störder, whom he had brought back to the Reformed faith. He lived nine years with her in the most entire union, and remained a widower in the month of April 1549.

[222]Bucer was on the eve of setting out for the Conference of Worms, which he was to have attended, accompanied by Calvin.

[223]Marguerite, sister of Francis I. The letter to which Calvin here refers is unfortunately lost.

[224]The end is wanting.

[225]Directed on the back,—To the Magnificent and Honourable Lords Messieurs the Syndics and Council of Geneva.Two years had scarcely passed away since the banishment of Calvin, and already the victorious party, left to itself, had exhausted itself with its own excess and disorders. Of the four Syndics who pronounced the expulsion of the ministers, two were exiled to Berne; the other two had perished by a violent death.—Spon,Hist. de Genève, liv. i. pp. 280-282. Anarchy produced its ordinary fruit, regret for the absence of authority. Taught by severe experience, the people of Geneva demanded to have Calvin brought back again, and the new Syndics,—organs of the popular sentiment, sought to recall him.—Arch. of Geneva,Registres du Conseil, ann. 1540,passim.

[225]Directed on the back,—To the Magnificent and Honourable Lords Messieurs the Syndics and Council of Geneva.

Two years had scarcely passed away since the banishment of Calvin, and already the victorious party, left to itself, had exhausted itself with its own excess and disorders. Of the four Syndics who pronounced the expulsion of the ministers, two were exiled to Berne; the other two had perished by a violent death.—Spon,Hist. de Genève, liv. i. pp. 280-282. Anarchy produced its ordinary fruit, regret for the absence of authority. Taught by severe experience, the people of Geneva demanded to have Calvin brought back again, and the new Syndics,—organs of the popular sentiment, sought to recall him.—Arch. of Geneva,Registres du Conseil, ann. 1540,passim.

[226]The bearer of this letter was Amy Perrin, who sought anxiously to bring about the recall of the Reformer, whose most determined adversary he became some years afterwards at Geneva.—Spon, tom. i. p. 283. Note P.

[227]In accordance with the desire expressed by the ministers of the Church at Strasbourg, Calvin had repaired to the Diet at Worms, to assist at the conferences which were about to take place between the theologians of the two modes of worship. It was in this town that he received the deputies of the Council of Geneva, bearers of the following letter:—To Doctor Calvin, Minister of the Gospel.Monsieur, our good brother and special friend,—We commend ourselves very affectionately unto you, for that we are thoroughly informed that you have no other desire than the growth and advancement of the glory and honour of God, and of his sacred and holy word. On the part of our lesser, great, and general councils, (which hereupon have strongly admonished us,) we pray you very earnestly that you would transfer yourself hitherward to us, and return to your old place and former ministry; and we hope, with the help of God, that this shall be a great benefit, and fruitful for the increase of the holy Evangel, seeing that our people greatly desire you among us, and will conduct themselves toward you in such sort, that you shall have occasion to rest content.—Your good friends,The Syndics and Council of Geneva.This 22d October 1540.With the seal: Post tenebras spero lucem.

To Doctor Calvin, Minister of the Gospel.

Monsieur, our good brother and special friend,—We commend ourselves very affectionately unto you, for that we are thoroughly informed that you have no other desire than the growth and advancement of the glory and honour of God, and of his sacred and holy word. On the part of our lesser, great, and general councils, (which hereupon have strongly admonished us,) we pray you very earnestly that you would transfer yourself hitherward to us, and return to your old place and former ministry; and we hope, with the help of God, that this shall be a great benefit, and fruitful for the increase of the holy Evangel, seeing that our people greatly desire you among us, and will conduct themselves toward you in such sort, that you shall have occasion to rest content.—Your good friends,

The Syndics and Council of Geneva.

This 22d October 1540.

With the seal: Post tenebras spero lucem.

[228]The Conferences of Worms, where Melanchthon and Eck appeared as the principal actors, were in fact broken off at the request of the Emperor, and resumed with greateréclatthe year following at the Diet of Ratisbon. Calvin went thither, and his wonderful intelligence procured for him, on the acknowledgment of Melanchthon himself, the surname ofTheologian. He retraced the picture of that Assembly in several of his Latin letters, and above all, in the following writing:—"The Proceedings of the Imperial Diet held in the City of Regensbourg, otherwise called Ratisbon, the year one thousand five hundred forty and one, about the differences which are at present concerning Religion." Geneva, 1541.

[229]From the Assembly at Worms, where he sustained with Bucer and Melanchthon the weighty interests of the Reformation, Calvin cast a look of attentive regard on the humble parish of which he was the pastor at Strasbourg, and addressed to the Deacon Nicolas Parent, who was charged with the duty of supplying his place while absent, several letters, animated with the most lively interest in the spiritual wellbeing of his parishioners.

[230]Calvin had received at Worms the letter of recall and of the ambassadors of the Senate of Geneva. See the preceding Letter.

[231]Claude was the other deacon of the French Church at Strasbourg.

[232]See the note appended to the preceding French Letter. Nicolas Parent became, at a later period, minister of the Church of Neuchatel.

[233]Viret had gone for six months to Geneva; where he was further detained at the request of the Seigneury, and was not restored to the church at Lausanne until the 12th July 1542.—Ruehat, tom. v. pp. 161, 162.

[234]See the preceding letter.

[235]The Conferences at Worms had been transferred to Ratisbon by a decree of the Emperor.

[236]The Bernese Bailiffs of Gex and of Thonon had entered into possession of certain lordships belonging to the town of Geneva. The judges who were appointed to settle the dispute could not come to agreement among themselves, and the whole matter had been submitted to the arbitration of Basle.—Roset,Chronique Manuscrite, cited by Ruchat,Hist. de la Réf., tom. v. p. 148.

[237]The enemies of the Waldenses did not spare any amount of calumny in order to compass their ruin. In a Confession of Faith, published 6th April 1541, the Waldenses eloquently declared their respect for constituted authority, strikingly confirmed by their life and conversation. "As regards the magistrates," said they, "such as princes, nobles, and judges, we look on them as ordained of God, and willingly obey their laws and ordinances, paying the tributes, taxes, and tithes which they impose, ... rendering them honour and obedience in all matters not contrary to the will of God."—Bèze,Hist. Eccl.vol. i. p. 41.

[238]The Cardinal de Tournon, who uniformly displayed sentiments of the utmost hostility against the Waldenses.

[239]With consent of the nobles of Berne, and by request of Calvin, Viret had left the church at Lausanne to afford to that of Geneva the support of his talents and his zeal; but the return of Calvin alone could avail to terminate the crisis which his banishment had occasioned, and Viret, therefore, joined the Seigneury in entreating that he would resume his charge as minister at Geneva.—Spon, tom. i. p. 283. Note P. Calvin, at that time on his way to Ratisbon, freely poured out to his friend his doubts and difficulties on the subject.

[240]James Bernard, formerly a monk, converted to the Reform by the preaching of Farel and Viret, and a minister of the Church of Geneva during the exile of Calvin. Feeling his insufficiency and that of his colleagues, he had written a touching letter to the Reformer, to urge upon him to resume the direction of his former charge:—"Indeed," said he, "one Sunday lately, when I was preaching in the chapel of Rive, seeing our church desolate, and the people all in tears, I was impelled to exhort them earnestly to turn to God, and to entreat of him humbly, in Christ's name, that he would send them a faithful pastor, such as is necessary for the interests of his Church. Two days thereafter the Council of Two Hundred was assembled, and unanimously called for Calvin; on the following day the General Council met, and all, without one dissenting voice, cried, 'We must have Calvin, that wise and holy man, that faithful minister of Jesus Christ.'... Come, then, most honoured father; come, for you are ours."—Calvini Opera, tom. ix. p. 12.

[241]Calvin was setting out for the Diet at Ratisbon.

[242]James Bernard and his colleagues, appointed ministers of Geneva after the expulsion of Calvin, had, by their weakness and want of firmness, sanctioned the disorders against which Calvin, Farel, and Courault had opposed themselves in vain.

[243]While Calvin was present at the Diet of Ratisbon, the plague was raging in upper Germany and on the banks of the Rhine. It also visited Strasbourg, where the victims were numbered by thousands. Many of the friends of the Reformer fell under this scourge; Idelette de Bure, his wife, escaped by flight. Calvin, in writing to Farel, gives him some account of the ravages it had made at Strasbourg, and of the solemn conferences at which he assisted at Ratisbon.

[244]Claude Ferey, French refugee at Strasbourg. SeeCalvini Opera, tom. ix. p. 15, a letter of Claude Ferey to Farel.

[245]Louis and Charles de Richebourg, sons of M. de Richebourg, to whom the next letter is addressed.

[246]The two brothers, William and Louis of Bavaria, reigned in common in that country.

[247]Henry, Duke of Brunswick, unhappily distinguished throughout the whole of Germany by his turbulent spirit and disorderly conduct. He was deprived of his states in 1542 by the Elector of Saxony and the Landgrave of Hesse.

[248]Christopher of Wurtemberg, who succeeded Duke Ulrich his father in 1550.

[249]Gaspar Contarini, a prelate as remarkable for his moderation as for his enlightened mind and understanding. Legate of Pope Paul III. at the Diet of Ratisbon, he in vain attempted to bring the two parties to agreement, and died the year following, not without suspicion of poison.

[250]The Cardinal Morone, Archbishop of Modena, one of the most merciless persecutors of the Reformed in Italy.

[251]Henry of Brunswick maintained a very lively paper war against the Protestant princes of Germany before attacking them more openly. Luther replied to those attacks by one of his most virulent pamphlets,Hans Wurst, a name which the Germans use to designate their harlequin.—See Seckendorf, lib. iii. par. 93.

[252]George Martinuzzi, tutor of the young King of Hungary, John Sigismund.

[253]After the death of King Louis II. the crown of Hungary was long disputed between Ferdinand, the brother of Charles V., and John Zapoli. The treaty of Great Waradin (24th February 1538) guarantied the throne to the latter, but without reversion to his descendants. He died in 1541, leaving an infant in the cradle as his heir. His widow, yielding to the advice of George Martinuzzi, refused to cede the crown to Ferdinand, and called the Turks into Hungary.

[254]Sigismund I., King of Poland, (1506-1548.) This prince was continually engaged in strife with the Tartars of the Crimea, the Moldavians, and the Russians.

[255]An allusion to the state of bigamy in which the Landgrave of Hesse was then living, with theauthorizationof Luther, of Melanchthon, and of Bucer. The explanations given by Seckendorf (lib. iii. par. 79, addit. 3) are altogether ineffectual to clear up this affair—one of the scandals of the Reformation in Germany.

[256]There is little known concerning M. de Richebourg. It appears from the letter of the Reformer that he had been for some years separated from his sons Charles and Louis, who had repaired to Strasbourg, probably to finish their education. The plague, which raged in Alsace, carried off Louis, the younger of the two brothers, and his preceptor, both tenderly beloved by Calvin, who, from Ratisbon, where the sad intelligence had reached him, wrote this letter of Christian consolation to M. de Richebourg.

[257]Claude Ferey, so much regretted by Calvin, was tutor to the sons of M. de Richebourg, and a very distinguished professor of Strasbourg.

[258]Idelette de Bure, the wife of Calvin, Antony, his brother, and Marie, his sister, had quitted Strasbourg, to avoid the infection of the plague.

[259]One of the numerous French refugees, whom persecution had driven into Switzerland. He was a member of the Church at Neuchatel.

[260]Ulrich Chelius. See note 2, p. 160.

[261]The process between Geneva and Berne, submitted to the arbitration of the town of Basle.

[262]Julius Pflug, Canon, and afterwards Bishop of Numburg in Saxony, a learned man, and of conciliatory and moderate temper.

[263]John Gropper, Canon of Cologne. He was so far enlightened as to see and acknowledge the abuses of the Roman Church, but had not courage to go forward in the reform of them. He obtained the Cardinal's dignity, and was put to death in a strange and unusual manner, having been strangled with the strings of his Cardinal's hat. See BezæIcones.

[264]John Mayer, better known under the name of Eck, Doctor in Theology, celebrated on account of his controversies with Carlostadt and Luther.

[265]John Pistorius, superintendent of the province of Nidau. He was called to the Diet of Augsbourg in 1529, and died, in 1583, at a very advanced age.

[266]See the portrait of Eck which Mosellanus has sketched, cited by Seckendorf: "Big-bodied, broad-shouldered, stout-hearted, even to impudence, and more like the town-crier than a theologian—one whom you might rather expect to find figuring in the theatre than a Council;"—such was the principal adversary of the Protestants at the Diet of Ratisbon.

[267]Davus, the type of all insolent slaves in the ancient drama. Melanchthon writes, in speaking of Eck, "I do not think that any pious person could listen without horror to the sophisms and vain subtleties of that talking mountebank."—Seckendorf, iii. parag. 80, addit. 1.

[268]The Bishop George Martinuzzi, Waywode of Transylvania. He was feebly supported by the Turks, whom he had called into Hungary from hatred to King Ferdinand.

[269]Henry of Brunswick endeavoured to have himself appointed head of the Romanist League concluded at Nuremberg in 1538, in opposition to the Protestant League of Smalkald. Incited by a blind hatred of the Gospel, he is accused of having hired mercenary troops to lay waste the dominions of the Elector of Saxony.—Seckendorf, iii. parag. 86.

[270]John Frellon, a printer of Lyons.

[271]Martin Bucer.

[272]This was doubtless that gentleman of the chamber of King Francis I., to whom Œcolampadius wrote in 1524, to congratulate him on his sincere attachment to the Gospel. This gentleman is known only under the pseudonyme of Maurus Musæus,a secretis et cubiculo Regis Galliarum. See the letter of Œcolampadius in the Life of Gerard Roussel, by M. Schmidt. Strasbourg, 1845, in 8vo, App. No. 3, p. 179.

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