MARGARET OF NAVARRE.

245

Briçonnet. Lefèvre translated the New Testament from the Vulgate, and, in a commentary on the Gospels, explicitly pronounced the Bible the sole rule of faith, which the individual might interpret for himself, and declared justification to be through faith alone, without human works or merit. It seemed as if Meaux aspired to become another Wittenberg.1 At length a commission of Parliament was appointed to take cognizance of heretics in that district. Briçonnet, either intimidated, as Beza asserts, or recoiling at the sight of an actual secession from the Church, joined in the condemnation of Luther and of his opinions, and even acquiesced in the persecution which fell upon Protestantism within his diocese.2 Lefèvre fled to Strasburg, was afterwards recalled by Francis I., but ultimately took up his abode in the court of the King's sister, Margaret, the Queen of Navarre.3

Margaret, from the first, was favorably inclined to the new doctrines. There were two parties at the court. The mother of the King, Louisa of Savoy, and the Chancellor Duprat, were allies of the Sorbonne. They were of the class of persons, numerous in that age, who endeavor to atone for private vices by bigotry, and by the persecution of heterodox opinions. Margaret, on the contrary, a versatile and accomplished princess, cherished a mystical devotion which carried her beyond Briçonnet in her acceptance of the teaching of the Reformers. But this very spirit of mysticism, or quietism, produced in her mind an indifference as to external rites and forms of

1 Henri Martin, Histoire de France, viii. 149.

2 Beza, Histoire Eccl. d. Églises Ref. au Royaume de France, livre i. (1517). The last books of this work are by another hand, but written under the oversight of Beza. Herzog, Real-Encycl. art. “Beza."

3 The middle path which Roussel and others, who accepted the doctrine of justification by faith, but remained in the Roman Catholic Church, endeavored to take, is exhibited by Schmidt in his work, Gérard Roussel, prédicateur de la Reine Marguerite de Navarre (1845), and in the articles, by the same author, in Herzog's Real-Encycl., “Briçonnet,” “Gérard Roussel," and "Margaretha von Orleans."

ecclesiastical order; so that while she received the Protestant idea of salvation by faith, and of the direct personal communion of the soul with Christ, she was not moved to withdraw from the mass, or separate formally from the old Church. There was a warm friendliness for the Reforming preachers, a disposition to protect them against their enemies, a type of piety that no longer relished the invocation of saints, and of the Virgin, and various other peculiarities of the Catholic Ritual, yet left the sacraments and the polity of the Church unassailed. The passionate attachment of Margaret to her brother, of which so much has been said, illustrates her nature, in which sensibility had so large a place.1 The authoress of a religious poem, the "Mirror of the Sinful Soul," which was so Protestant in its tone as to excite the wrath of the Sorbonne, and of many devotional hymns; she also composed, in her later days, the "Heptameron," a series of tales in the style of Boccaccio, in which the moral reflections and warnings are a weak antidote to the natural influence of the narratives themselves.2 Before the death of her first husband, the Duke of Alençon, and while she was a widow, she exerted her influence to the full extent in behalf of the persecuted Protestants, and in opposition to the Sorbonne. After her marriage to Henry d'Albret, the King of Navarre, she continued, in her own little court and principality, to favor the reformed doctrine, and its professors. Occasionally her peculiar temperament led her to entertain hospitably

1 See the judicious remarks of Henri Martin, viii. 83, n. 4. M. Genin, in his Supplément à la notice sur Marguerite d'Angoulême, which forms the preface to the Nouvelles Lettres de la Reine de la Navarre, has given an improbable version of this "triste mystère," which attributes a culpable intention to the sister. An opposite view is presented by Michelet, La Réforme, p. 175.

2 See the brief but admirable remarks of Professor Morley, in his interesting biography of Clement Marot (London, 1871), i. 272. It is a curious illustration of the manners of the French nobility at this time, that Margaret should be the writer of these stories, and that her daughter, the virtuous and noble Jeanne d'Albert, should have published them in the first correct edition. See Merle d'Aubigné, History of the Reformation in the Time of Calvin, ii. 170.

RELIGIOUS TENDENCIES OF FRANCIS I.

247

enthusiasts who concealed an antinomian license under a mystical theory of gospel liberty. Calvin wrote to her on the subject, in consequence of her complaint respecting the language of his book against this sect. He somewhere speaks of her attachment, and that of her friends, to the Gospel, as a platonic love. Yet, the drift of her influence appears in the character of her daughter, the heroic Jeanne d'Albret, the mother of Henry IV., and in the readiness of the people, over whom Margaret immediately ruled, to receive the Protestant faith. Her marriage to the King of Navarre, and retirement from the French court were preceded by the return to England of one of the young ladies in her service, Anne Boleyn, whose tragical history is so intimately connected with the introduction of Protestantism into England.2

Francis I., whose generous patronage of artists and men of letters, gave him the title of "Father of Science," had no love for the Sorbonne, for the Parliament, or for the monks. He entertained the plan of bringing Erasmus to Paris, and placing him at the head of an institution of learning. He read the Bible with his mother and sister, and felt no superstitious aversion to the leaders of reform. He established the college of "the three languages,” in defiance of the Sorbonne. The Faculty of Theology, and the Parliament, found in the King and court a hindrance to their persecuting policy. It was in the face of his opposition that the Sorbonne put the treatise of Lefèvre on their list of prohibited books. It was not through any agency of the King that the company of reforming preachers in Meaux was dispersed. The revolt of the Constable Bourbon made it necessary for

1 The treatise, Contre la Secte Fantastique et Furieuse des Libertines qui so disent Spirituels (1544). Calvin's Letter is in Bonnet, i. 429.

2 The Letters of Margaret have been published by M. Génin, Lettres de Marguerite d'Angoulême (1841); Nouvelles Lettres de la Reine de Navarre (1842). To the first of these collections is prefixed a full biographical introduction Her character and career are described by Von Polenz, Gsch. d. Französisch. Prot., i. 199 seq.

Francis to conciliate the clergy; and the battle of Pavia, followed by the captivity of the King, and the regency of his mother, gave a free rein to the persecutors. An inquisitorial court, composed partly of laymen, was ordained by Parliament. Heretics were burned at Paris, and in the provinces. Louis de Berquin, who combined a culture which won the admiration of Erasmus, with the religious earnestness of Luther, was thrown into prison. The King, however, on his return from Spain, at the earnest intercession of Margaret, set him free. The failure of Francis, in his renewed struggle in Italy, emboldened the persecuting party. Berquin, who had commenced a prosecution against Beda, the leader of the heresy-hunting commissioners appointed by the Sorbonne, was again taken into custody, and this time perished, before the King could interpose to save him. The theological antagonists of Reform went so far as to endeavor to put restrictions upon the professors in the college for the ancient languages, and even to lampoon, in a scholastic comedy, the King's sister, against whom they threw out charges of heresy, besides condemning her book, the "Mirror of the Sinful Soul." Francis was, at this time, holding a conference with Clement VII., in Provence, and on his return was extremely indignant at the treatment of his sister. He authorized Gérard Roussel to preach freely in Paris; and when Beda raised an outcry against his sermons, Francis caused Beda to be banished and prosecuted for sedition. He died in prison, in 1537.

At this moment it seemed doubtful what course France would take in the great religious conflict of the period. In 1534, Henry VIII. separated England from the Papacy, and made himself the head of the English Church. This event made a profound impression throughout Christendom. Since the Diet of Worms, the Papacy had lost the half of Germany and of Switzerland, then Denmark (in 1526), then Sweden (in 1527), and now England.

ROME, THE RENAISSANCE, THE REFORMATION.

249 The Netherlands were deeply agitated, and the conflagration which Luther had kindled was spreading into Italy and Spain. The Teutonic portion of Christendom was lost to Rome; what would be the decision of the Romanic nations? It was inevitable that all eyes should be turned to France, and to its King. Early in 1534, the Landgrave of Hesse came to negotiate in person with Francis. Margaret corresponded with Melancthon, whom she was desirous of bringing to France. The Landgrave restored the Duke of Würtemberg to his possessions, and in Würtemberg the two forms of worship, Lutheran and Catholic, were made free. Francis I. had approached nearer to the Protestants; and the death of Clement VII., in September of this year (1534), had released Francis from his political ties with the Medici and the Papacy. The violent spirit of the champions of the Papacy in Paris, the offensive proceedings of monks in Orleans and elsewhere, had produced a reaction unfavorable to their cause.

An eminent modern historian of France has depicted the three rival systems, Rome, the Renaissance, and the Reformation, which were presented to the choice of France, and were represented in three individuals, who happened to be together for a moment in Paris - Calvin, Rabelais, Loyola." This interesting passage of Martin suggests a few observations which, however, are not wholly in accord with his own. Calvinism was a product of the French mind. In its sharp and logical structure it corresponded to the peculiarities of the French intellect. In its moral earnestness, in its demand for the reform of ecclesiastical abuses, it found a response in the consciences of good men. But Calvinism was the radical type of Protestantism; it broke abruptly and absolutely with the past, and must for this reason encounter a vast might of opposition from traditional feel1 Henri Martin, viii. 180.

2 Ibid., 184.