CALVIN DENOUNCES SERVETUS THROUGH WILLIAM TRIE TO THE ECCLESIASTICAL AUTHORITIES OF LYONS.

Calvin’s mind must have been immediately made up after perusing the ‘Restoration of Christianity.’ He would denounce its author as a heretic and blasphemer to the ecclesiastical authorities of France, and—Deus ex machina—an instrument was at hand to further his purpose. There lived at this time in Geneva a certain William Trie, a native of Lyons, a convert from the Romish to the Reformed faith, and, as proselyte, well known to Calvin. Trie, it would appear, had not been left altogether at peace in his new profession of faith. He had a relation, Arneys by name, resident in Lyons, who did not cease from reproaching him by letter as a renegade, and exhorting him to think better of it, and return to the faith he had forsaken. Trie would seem to have been in the habit of showing his letters to Calvin, and of having aid and advice from him in answering them; Calvin, it was said, upon occasion even dictating the epistles in reply. But now he could use the neophyte in his own as well as the general behalf, and set about the business forthwith under cover of a letter from the convertite Trie to his relation Arneys:—

Monsieur mon Cousin,—I have to thank you much for your fine remonstrances, and make no question of your friendly purpose in seeking to bring me back to the point from which I started. As I am not a man of letters like you, I do not enter on the points and articles you bring up against me. Not, indeed, but that with such knowledge as God has given me, I could find plenty to say in the way of reply; for, God be praised, I am not so ill-grounded as not to know that the true Church has Jesus Christ for its head, from whom it cannot be dissevered, and that there is neither life nor salvation apart from Holy Scripture. All you say to me of the Church, I therefore hold for phantasm, unless Christ, as having supreme authority, presides therein, and the Word of God is made the foundation of its teaching. Without this, all your formulas are nothing.... As to what you say about there being so much more of freedom, or latitude of opinion, with us here than with you, still we should never suffer the name of God to be blasphemed, nor evil doctrines and opinions to be spread abroad among us, without let or hinderance. And I can give you an instance which, I must say, I think tends to your confusion. It is this: that a certain heretic is countenanced among you, who ought to be burned alive, wherever he might be found. And when I say a heretic, I refer to a man who deserves to be as summarily condemned by the Papists, as he is by us. For though differing in many things, we agree in believing that in the sole essence of God there be three persons, and that his Son, who is his Eternal Wisdom, was engendered by the Father before all time, and has had [imparted to him] his Eternal virtue, which is the Holy Spirit. But when a man appears who calls the Trinity we all believe in, a Cerberus and Monster of Hell, who disgorges all the villainies it is possible to imagine, against everything Scripture teaches of the Eternal generation of the Son of God, and mocks besides open-mouthed at all that the ancient doctors of the Church have said—I ask you in what regard you would have such a man?... I must speak freely: What shame is it not that they are put to death among you who say that one God only is to be invoked in the name of Christ; that there is no service acceptable to God other than that which He has approved by His word; and that all the pictures and images which men make are but so many idols which profane His majesty?... What shame, say I, is it not, that such persons are not only put to death in no easy and simple way, but are cruelly burned alive? Nevertheless, there is one living among you who calls Jesus Christ an idol; who would destroy the foundations of the faith; who condemns the baptism of little children, and calls the rite a diabolical invention. Where, I pray you, is the zeal to which you make pretence; where are your guardians and that fine hierarchy of which you boast so much? The man I refer to has been condemned in all the Churches you hold in such dislike, but is suffered to live unmolested among you, to the extent of even being permitted to print books full of such blasphemies as I must not speak of further. He is a Spanish-Portuguese, Michael Servetus by name, though he now calls himself Villeneuve, and practises as a physician. He lived for some time at Lyons, and now resides at Vienne, where the book I speak of was printed by one Balthasar Arnoullet. That you may not think I speak of mere hearsay I send you the first few leaves as a sample, for your assurance. You say that our books, which contain nothing but the purity and simplicity of Holy Scripture, infect the world; yet you brew poisons among you which go to destroy the Scriptures and all you hold as Christianity. I have been longer than I thought; but the enormity of the case causes me to exceed I need not, I imagine, go into particulars; I only pray you to put it somewhat seriously to your conscience, and conclude for yourself, to the end that when you appear before the Great Judge you may not be condemned. For, to say it in a word, we have here no subject of difference or debate, and ask but this: That God himself may be heard. Concluding for the present, I pray that He may give you ears to hear, and a heart to obey, having you at all times in His holy keeping.

(Signed) Guillaume Trie.

Geneva, this 26th of February [1553].

This on the face of it is no letter from one young man to another. It is the artful production of the zealot and bigot in one, well informed of the antecedents of the man he is denouncing, and but poorly disguised by the name under which he is writing. The letter from first to last is Calvin’s, and was accompanied by the two first leaves of the newly printed book, the ‘Christianismi Restitutio,’ containing the title and table of contents, sufficient, as Calvin knew full well, to alarm the hierarchs of Papal Christianity, which in their estimation needed no restoration, and was indeed susceptible of none; whilst any discussion of such transcendental topics as the Trinity, Faith in Christ, Regeneration, Baptism, and the Reign of Antichrist, smacked at best of schism when undertaken by a layman even of orthodox views, but became flat blasphemy when treated by such a one in any adverse sense.

Cardinal Tournon, at this time Archbishop of Lyons, was the implacable enemy of all innovators, and in his zeal for what he believed to be the truth well disposed to resort to the severest measures against the spread of heresy, which to him and his co-religionists, then as now, was most especially embodied in the principles of Luther and Calvin’s Reformation. Exposed as were the south and east of France from their contiguity with Switzerland to infection of the kind, Tournon had not relied exclusively on himself and his own subordinate clergy as watchers over the faith of the district under his charge. He had further summoned to his aid one of the regularly trained inquisitors from Rome, Matthew Ory by name, who designated himself: PÉnitencier du Saint SiÉge Apostolique, et Inquisiteur gÉnÉral du Royaume de France et dans toutes les Gaules. This man, as we may imagine, had a real relish for his calling and was watchfulness itself in ferreting out heresy, as, with all of his kind, he was relentless in pursuing it to the death.

The notable letter of Trie to Arneys was immediately brought under the notice of the clergy of Lyons, as Calvin intended and foresaw that it would be; and by one of them, was communicated to Ory, the Inquisitor, and to Bautier, Vicar-General, and Canon of the Cathedral Church of Lyons. Here was work of more than common interest to the Inquisitor, who proceeded forthwith, under date of March 12, 1553, to write to Villars, Auditor of Cardinal Tournon, absent at the moment from Lyons, but no farther away than his ChÂteau of Roussillon, a few miles distant from Vienne.

The letter of Ory is highly characteristic of the jesuitical, stealthy, and underhand style of dealing with all that belongs to free thought and open speech. Premising a few sentences on indifferent and private matters, he comes anon to the real gist of his letter and says: ‘I would advise you in all secrecy of some books that are now being imprinted at Vienne, containing execrable blasphemies against the divinity of Jesus Christ and the Holy Trinity, the author and printer of which are both living among you. The Vicar-General and I have seen one of the chapters of this publication, and are of like mind about the propriety of your taking an early opportunity of conferring with Monseigneur (the Cardinal) and making him more particularly acquainted with the business; so that on your return home the necessary orders may be given by Monseigneur to M. Maugiron, the Vibailly of Vienne, and the police. So much at this time M. the Vicar-General desires that you should know through me; but you are to proceed so secretly that your left hand shall not know what your right is about—mais si secrÈtement que vostre main senextre n’entend point ce que c’est. Only whisper in the ear of Monseigneur and inform us if he has any knowledge of a certain Villeneufve, a physician, and one Arnoullet, a bookseller, both of Vienne, for it is to them that I refer.’

On the following day the Vicar Bautier left Lyons for Roussillon and saw the Cardinal, who immediately sent a letter to Louis Arzelier, Grand Vicar of the See of Vienne, summoning him to Roussillon. After a long conference, Arzelier was ordered to return to Vienne and deliver an autograph letter from the Cardinal to M. de Maugiron, Lieutenant-General of Dauphiny, in which however there is nothing said of the affair he has at heart (for this he will only trust to be communicated by word of mouth by M. the Vicar to M. the Lieutenant); but appealing to the known zeal of his correspondent for the honour of God and his church, and adding, in anticipation of what he knew would follow, a request that he should immediately summon the Vibailly to his assistance, in order that he, on his part, might undertake what M. the Vicar might see necessary to be done. Two things only are especially to be required of the Vibailly: the one that he use extreme dispatch, the other that the business be kept as secret as possible. Roussillon, March 15, 1553.

Acting at once on the advice of the Cardinal, Maugiron sent to the Vibailly, bidding him hold himself ready to act in a certain unspecified contingency. Next day, March 16, the two Vicars in company with the Vibailly proceeded to the office of the Sieur Peyrolles, Lay official of the Primate, before whom Bautier, as the party immediately interested in virtue of his office, made a deposition to the effect that within the last few days letters had been received from Geneva addressed to a personage resident in Lyons, in which great surprise was expressed that a certain Michael Servetus, otherwise called Villanovanus, should be then living unmolested at Vienne; that four printed leaves of a book written by the said Villanovanus had also been forwarded from Geneva and examined by brother Ory, Inquisitor of the Faith, by whom they had been found heretical; and, to conclude, that the Cardinal Archbishop, having been made acquainted with the matter, had written to M. de Maugiron requesting him to take cognizance of the business with all secrecy and dispatch. Bautier, at the same time, put in the Geneva letter of Trie, and the four leaves of the printed book entitled ‘Christianismi Restitutio,’ in support of his allegations; the letter of the Inquisitor and that of the Cardinal to Maugiron being added as further documents on which the Procurator of the King and the Justiciary were to proceed.

The judicial authorities of Vienne lost no time in obeying their instructions. On the same day they met at the house of M. Maugiron, and having consulted with him, they sent to M. Michel de Villeneuve, desiring his presence and saying they had something to communicate to him. Being from home when the message arrived, and not appearing for a couple of hours, the authorities were fearful that he had been somehow warned of the danger which threatened him and so had fled; but their fears were unfounded: he came at length, and with a perfectly confident air, it is said. The authorities informed him that they had certain informations against him which would make it necessary for them to visit and search his lodgings for books or papers of a heretical tendency. Villeneuve replied that he had lived long at Vienne on good terms with the clergy and professors of theology, and had never until now been suspected of heresy; but he was quite ready to open his rooms to them or those they might delegate, to make what search they pleased.

The Grand Vicar and the Vibailly, accompanied by the Secretary of the Cardinal Governor of Dauphiny, then proceeded with Villeneuve to his apartments, which adjoined and were among the dependencies of the archiepiscopal palace, and made a particular examination of his papers; but they found nothing more compromising than a couple of copies of his apology or pamphlet against the Parisian Doctors, of which they took possession.

Next day, the 17th, the Judges made a perquisition in the house of Arnoullet, the publisher and printer, in his absence, he being away at the time on business at Toulouse; and there also they had Geroult, the superintendent of the printing establishment, brought before them. After a lengthened interrogatory of the foreman, in which nothing was elicited, they proceeded to search the house and printing office, examining Arnoullet’s papers minutely, but without finding a word to compromise him in any way. The workmen on the establishment were then severally examined. They were shown the printed leaves of the ‘Christianismi Restitutio’ and asked if they knew anything of the book of which the leaves were a part; or if they recognised the type, or could give any information as to the books they had had a hand in composing or printing during the last eighteen months or so. But they all agreed in saying that the four leaves shown them had not been printed in the office; and among all the books that had issued from their presses during the last two years, a list of which was supplied, there was not one in the octavo form. The search and inquiry over, the officials had the entire staff of the printing establishment brought into their presence, and cautioned them against saying a word of all they had been asked about, on pain of being declared suspected or even convicted of heresy and punished accordingly.

On the 18th, Arnoullet, having but just returned from Toulouse, was visited and examined; but all the papers about him being found in order and his replies in complete conformity with those of his manager Geroult, he too was dismissed. The authorities found themselves at fault, but by no means satisfied that the information they had had from Geneva was groundless. An adjournment was therefore resolved on, an informal consultation being, however, held meantime at the archiepiscopal palace of Vienne. And it is not perhaps without significance that it is only now that we find the archbishop of Vienne, Pierre Paumier, named in connection with the proceedings, and his palace spoken of as the place of assembly. It was at this moment in fact that Paumier had the first intimation of what was going on. At the meeting it was decided that nothing had been discovered sufficiently positive to warrant the arrest of anyone.

The archbishop of Vienne, once made a party to the proceedings, appears to have taken up the case warmly. The known protector and frequent associate of Villeneuve the physician, he seems to have thought it incumbent on him to show the world that he had no sympathy with heresy, and nothing in common with a suspected heretic. He accordingly wrote immediately to Brother Ory, the Inquisitor, begging him to come to Vienne and have some conversation with him on matters touching the Faith. In the course of the interview which followed, Ory suggested that, in order to have further or more satisfactory information against Villeneuve, Arneys should be made to write again to his relation Trie at Geneva, and ask him to send the whole of the printed book from which the leaves already forwarded had been cut. Returning to Lyons, Ory himself, we must presume, dictated the letter which Arneys was required to write to his cousin Trie. This epistle unhappily has not reached us. It would have been both curious and interesting to have had the Inquisitor of three centuries and a half ago brought so immediately before us, as we should there have had him. But as Ory doubtless led the pen at Lyons, so did Calvin assuredly guide it again at Geneva in reply; and as his letter has been preserved, we come face to face with one who is still more interesting to us than brother Matthew Ory, Inquisitor of the kingdom of France and all the Gauls—with the great head of the Reformed Churches of France and Switzerland, at the zenith of his power, though not without misgivings as to its stability, zealous as brother Ory could have been in upholding the Faith as he apprehended it, and as ruthless as Cardinal Tournon in dealing with all who called it in question. The letter is to the following effect:—

Monsieur mon Cousin!—When I wrote the letter you have thought fit to impart to those who are taxed therein with indifference and neglect, I thought not that the matter would be taken up so seriously as it seems to be. My sole purpose was to show you the fine zeal and devotion of those who call themselves pillars of the Church, suffering as they do such disorder among themselves, yet persecuting so cruelly poor Christians who only desire to obey God in simplicity. As the instance was so notable, however, and I was advised of it, an opportunity presented itself, as I thought, of touching on it, the matter falling, as it seemed, fairly within the scope of my writing. But as you have shown to others the letter I meant for yourself alone, God grant that it tend to purge Christianity of such filth, of pestilence so mortal to man! If your people are really so anxious to look into the matter as you say, there will be no difficulty in furnishing you, besides the printed book you ask for, with documents enough to carry conviction to their minds. For I shall put into your hands some two dozen pieces written by him who is in question, in which some of his heresies are set prominently forth. Did you rely on the printed book by itself, he might deny it as his; but this he could not do if his own handwriting were brought against him. In this way, the parties you speak of, having the thing completely proven, will be without excuse if they hesitate further, or put off taking the steps required. All the pieces I send you now—the great volume as well as the letters in the handwriting of the author—were produced before the printed work; but I have to own to you that I had great difficulty in getting these documents from Mons. Calvin. Not that he would not have such execrable blasphemies put down; but that, as he does not wield the sword of justice himself, he thinks it his duty rather to repress heresy by sound teaching, than to pursue it by force. I importuned him, however, so much, showing him the reproaches I might incur did he not come to my aid, that he consented at length to entrust me with the contents of my parcel to you. For the rest, I hope, when the case shall have been somewhat farther advanced, to obtain from him something like a whole ream of paper, which the fine fellow—le Galand—has had printed. At the moment, I fancy you are furnished with evidence enough, and that there need be no more beating about the bush, before seizing on his person and putting him on his trial. For my own part, I pray God to open the eyes of those who speak of us so evilly, to the end that they may more truly judge of the motives by which we are actuated.

As I learn by your letter that you will not trouble me further with the old proposals, I, on my side, will do nothing to displease you; hoping nevertheless, that God will lead you to see that I have not, without due consideration, taken the step you disapprove. Recommending myself to your favour, and praying God to give you his, &c., I remain,

(Signed) Guillaume Trie.

Geneva, this 26th of March.

The art and purpose so plainly to be seen in the foregoing letter need not be dwelt on. Anxious to escape appearing in the odious light of informer, Calvin was still eager to furnish the zealots of the Church he had quitted himself, and by the heads of which he was looked on as standing in the foremost ranks of heresy, with evidence which he believed would assuredly bring the man he held in despite to a cruel death by fire. But Ory, whose special business was the prosecution of heretics, and who knew much better than Calvin what constituted evidence against them, was aware that the MS. book and the two dozen pieces, written as said by Michael Servetus, were not adequate to convict Michel Villeneuve of the charge against him. Handwriting, it seems, could be put out of court as evidence in cases of heresy, through simple denial on oath by the party accused. The point upon which evidence was particularly required, by Ory and his coadjutors, was in fact the printing of the book entitled the ‘Restoration of Christianity;’ and none of the pieces furnished gave any assurance either that Michel Villeneuve was the writer, or Arnoullet and Geroult the printers of this. Arneys must therefore be desired to write to Cousin Trie once more, and ask him to do his best with M. Calvin to furnish evidence of the kind required. So anxious indeed were Ory and his friends for this, that they despatched this, the third letter of Arneys to Trie, by a special messenger, who was ordered to wait and bring back the answer with all speed.

The answer came in due course, hardly, however, so soon as we can fancy it was looked for, but to the following effect:—

Monsieur mon Cousin!—I had hoped I should satisfy your demands, in essentials at least, by sending you, as I did, the handwriting of the author of the book. With my last letter, indeed, you will find an acknowledgement by the man himself of his real name, which he had disguised, and the excuse he makes for calling himself Villeneuve, when his proper name is Servetus or RevÉs. For the rest, I promise you, God willing, to furnish you, if need be, not only with the entire book he has just had printed, but with another in his handwriting, in addition to the letters [already forwarded]. I should indeed have already sent the book [in MS.] which I refer to, had it been in this city; but it has been at Lausanne these two years past. Had M. Calvin kept it by him, I believe he would long ago, for all it is worth, have returned it to the writer; but having lent it for perusal to another, it was, as it seems, retained by him. I have formerly heard Monsieur [Calvin] say that, having given answers sufficient to satisfy any reasonable man, to no purpose, he had at length left off reading more of the babble and foolish reveries, of which he soon had had more than enough, there being nothing but reiteration of the same song over and over again. And that you may understand that it is not of yesterday that this unhappy person persists in troubling the Church, striving ever to lead the ignorant into the same confusion as himself, it is now more than twenty-four years since he was rejected and expelled by the chief Churches of Germany; had he remained in that country, indeed, he would never have left it alive. Among the letters of Œcolampadius, you will see that the first and second are addressed to him under his proper name and designation: Serveto Hispano neganti Christum esse Dei Filium, consubstantialem Patri—To Servetus the Spaniard, denying that Christ is the Son of God, consubstantial with the Father. Melanchthon also speaks of him in some passages of his writings. But methinks you have really warrant enough in what is already sent you to dive deeper into the matter, and to put him on his trial. As to the printers of the book, I did not send you the table of contents as any proof that Balthasar Arnoullet and William Geroult, his brother-in-law, were the parties; but of the fact that they were so we are well assured, nor indeed will it be possible for them to deny it. The printing was probably done at the author’s expense, and he may have taken the impression into his own keeping; he must have done so, indeed, if you find it has left the premises of the persons named. I rather think I omitted to say that when you have done with the epistles, I beg you will be good enough to return them to me. And now, commending myself to your good grace, and praying God so to guide you that you may do all that is agreeable in his sight,

I am yours, &c.,
Guillaume Trie.

Geneva, this last day of March, 1553.

It must still be needless to say that neither is this any letter of young Trie. What could he have known of the printed works of Michael Serveto, alias RevÉs, or of his being condemned by the Churches of Germany—which by the way he never was—or of his expulsion from that country—which is also against the fact? What intimation could he have had that Œcolampadius had written to Servetus, the Spaniard, combating his heresies and that Melanchthon had mentioned him in sundry passages of his work, the ‘Loci communes’? Calvin, on the other hand, was not only well informed of much that had happened to Michael Servetus from the date of their meeting in Paris in 1534, even to the hour in which he was now writing by the hand of William Trie, but was himself the author of some of the statements put into the mouth of that worthy.64