The Short Chronicle: A Poor Clare's Account of the Reformation of Geneva available in Hardcover
The Short Chronicle: A Poor Clare's Account of the Reformation of Geneva
- ISBN-10:
- 0226417050
- ISBN-13:
- 9780226417059
- Pub. Date:
- 05/15/2006
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- ISBN-10:
- 0226417050
- ISBN-13:
- 9780226417059
- Pub. Date:
- 05/15/2006
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
The Short Chronicle: A Poor Clare's Account of the Reformation of Geneva
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Overview
First published in French in 1611, Jussie’s Short Chronicle is translated here for an English-speaking audience for the first time, providing a fresh perspective on struggles for religious and political power in sixteenth-century Geneva and a rare glimpse at early modern monastic life.
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9780226417059 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | University of Chicago Press |
| Publication date: | 05/15/2006 |
| Series: | The Other Voice in Early Modern Europe |
| Pages: | 208 |
| Product dimensions: | 6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.80(d) |
About the Author
Read an Excerpt
THE SHORT CHRONICLE
A Poor Clare's Account of the Reformation of Geneva
By Jeanne de Jussie THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO PRESS
Copyright © 2006 The University of Chicago
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-0-226-41705-9
Chapter One
THE SHORT CHRONICLE
PROLOGUE Jesus Maria Franciscus Clara
The following is a short chronicle containing a small part of what was done in Geneva because of Eidguenotry and heretics and the Lutheran sect, beginning in 1526, when the Holy Father Pope Clement VII was in the Holy Apostolic See, and the most illustrious, most high, powerful, and formidable Lord Charles III, and the most illustrious, excellent Lady Madame Beatrice of Portugal, his most noble wife, and the most excellent Louis, Monseigneur the Prince of the Piedmont, Philibert Emmanuel, Monseigneur the Lord of Bresse, and [4] the most excellent Lady Catherine Charlotte, their most noble children, were in the magnificent Duchy of Savoy. Also, the most high illustrious Count of the Genevois, Monseigneur Philippe of Savoy, the Duke of Nemours.
ALLIANCE AMONG GENEVA, BERN, AND FRIBOURG
In the year of the incarnation of Our Lord 1526, in the month of March, ambassadors from Bern and Fribourg renewed longstanding alliances with the town of Geneva, which was wickedly rebelling against the illustriousPrince of Savoy, completely rejecting his power and lordship and spurning all the nobles. At that time the Bishop of Geneva was a powerful lord named Pierre de la Baume, of the House of Montrevel in Bresse. People were saying he had agreed [5] to the alliance, which he suffered for later, along with the rest of the country, as you will see written below in part and in brief, since it is impossible to write even half of what happened.
FIFTY-TWO NOBLE BURGHERS OF GENEVA LEAVE THE CITY
The most prominent townspeople, wisely and sensibly considering the damage that could come from such an arrangement, did not agree to it, so at least fifty-two noble burghers, wealthy merchants, and lawyers left town, which greatly upset the citizens, and to get revenge they looted their houses and shops and sold all their property, furnishings, large wares, inheritances, and other priceless goods, to the great detriment and damage of the lords, merchants, and honorable people. And they called them traitors, saying they wanted to surrender the city to monseigneur and had written treacherous letters, which was not true. And they accused them of worse, saying they had made false measures for wheat and wine. But they could not prove it, and so to remain loyal to monseigneur, they left the city and were called banished and Mammelukes, the clergy and other people. And [6] from then on, more and more people started to hold grudges against monseigneur and to spurn the nobles and the clerics.
EVENTS OF THE YEARS 1526-28
In the year 1527, monseigneur forbade all of his subjects in all his lands, under great penalty, to bring any kind of supplies into the town. And that interdiction lasted from the Feast of Saint Luke until the Feast of the Conception of Our Lady, when all was dropped at the request of Bern and Fribourg and supplies returned as before. That whole year there was great dissension and hatred among the citizens and their neighbors. At that time, in the month of December, a very old and honorable burgher was put in prison, a rich merchant named Sire François Cartelier, who was accused of being a Mammeluke and held prisoner until the next March. He was ransomed at a high cost to Monseigneur of Geneva, and it was said that [7] the money was paid in measures of wheat. Nevertheless, he was condemned as a traitor by the judge of the high court of the city and sentenced to have his head cut off and his body quartered and put in the four corners of the city. And, indeed, he was turned over to the hangman, who promptly put a rope around his neck. But Monseigneur of Geneva's chief steward delivered him from the hands of the people who wished to slay him, and he was put back in prison villainously at the high court judge's orders and stripped of his robe and his cap, and the executioner was ordered to wear them as if they were his own, out of mockery. His family tried to buy them back for 13 écus au soleil, but the executioner would not give them up.
During Holy Week, they took the merchant out of prison and dragged him through the city by a halter, and little children mocked him and threw mud at him and spat in his face just like the Jews did to Our Lord. And, as [8] it was God's will, he escaped from their hands, and, old and feeble as he was, he fled, and no one could catch him. His family paid five thousand écus of ransom for him, and all his property was confiscated: his house, furnishings, fabric shop, and other possessions inside the city walls. He took refuge with his wife and children in Bourg-en-Bresse, and he died there in 1531. And he was found innocent of all the crimes he had been accused of by immoral envy.
That same year on the night of the Feast of Saint Peter ad Vincula, Monseigneur of Geneva, seeing the coming troubles, stole across the lake to take refuge in his Abbey of Saint Claude.
EVENTS OF THE YEAR 1529
Afterward, in the year 1529, some gentlemen formed a brotherhood they called the Brotherhood of the Spoon [9], and the leader of this group was Monseigneur [François de Ternier] of Pontverre, a noble knight, valiant and hardy in chivalry. Those gentlemen gathered in Nyon to pray to God for the service of the church and the deliverance of all their ancestors. And the week after Our Lord's birth, on a Saturday, the Feast of the Octave of Saint John [January 3], the Knight and Lord of Pontverre, Messire François, bid the nobles farewell to return home to Madame his wife, and he set off for Geneva with no ill intentions. When he was on the bridge over the Rhone, he was treacherously accosted and was unable to defend himself. His men fled. Seeing that he could not escape, he surrendered and begged them humbly for mercy. But the brazen Genevan men struck him all over and dealt him more than fifteen mortal blows to the stomach and then carried him to the chapel of a nearby hospital and killed him. It was said that after he was dead they cut him all to pieces and stuck three swords into his lower and private parts in great insult and mockery. He stayed there that whole night and the next day, which was Sunday [January 4], all day long until four o'clock in the evening, when he was taken and buried at the Franciscan monastery without [10] any rites because his family, mourning his death, did not come. After that terrible act a great disturbance and uproar arose among messieurs the nobles, not only his family but all the nobles of the land, against the Genevans, and so merchants did not dare leave the city to go about their business for fear they would be killed or robbed by those gentlemen and their men. However, the good prince saw to it that the merchants, who could hardly bear it, were not harmed as they came and went in his lands.
GARRISON OF THOSE FROM BERN AND FRIBOURG IN GENEVA
The next Lent eight hundred allied soldiers from Bern and Fribourg arrived. And they arrived in Geneva on Shrove Sunday and set up their garrison because the Genevans were afraid the people in the surrounding country would harm them, and they ate meat and all kinds of food during Lent, just like at other times, and they drove up the prices of all supplies. At that time, an agreement was reached [11] among monseigneur and the city and the Swiss, and everyone returned to their cities, including messieurs the nobles who had gathered in Gaillard to resist the Swiss at great expense to the surrounding countryside.
Also, from that first Sunday on, the clergy of the cathedral, parishes, and religious houses inside the city walls were forbidden to ring any bells from seven o'clock in the evening until seven o'clock in the morning, and they could not even sound the city clock. They did not ring the bells or say the "Ave Maria" after compline, which was very strange and seemed like a time of darkness.
GATHERING OF THE NOBLES IN GAILLARD
On Holy Wednesday [March 24, 1529] a great company of gentlemen gathered at the Castle of Gaillard, and they plotted among themselves to scale the city walls secretly at night. To do it they sent many soldiers out to the roads to detain everyone leaving the city and not let them go back in. [12] They were planning to attack the city at two o'clock in the morning on Holy Thursday, the Feast of the Annunciation of Our Lady. Monseigneur was warned about it, and the good, peace-loving prince sent out Monseigneur of Balleyson quickly and in great haste, and he went so swiftly that he reached Gaillard around midnight; he presented and showed the gentlemen his letters from monseigneur, which forbade anyone to proceed any further under penalty of death, which upset the nobles, for there were already at least ten thousand men ready to take action, on horse and on foot, and, very upset, they all followed the orders and went home, including the ones who were guarding the roads. From then on, the sisters of Saint Clare were not allowed to ring bells for matins, although they recited them at the usual hour of midnight, until the following Christmas [1529], when they asked messeigneurs of the Council to allow them to ring bells for matins, and their request was granted under the following conditions: that they not ring them very long and not as a signal. The poor sisters lived in great fear and subjection. God alone knows. [13]
SIEGE OF GENEVA BY THE NOBLES OF THE LAND
In the year 1530, in the month of September, the gentlemen gathered again, and without monseigneur's knowledge, they decided to frighten the city. They attacked the town on both sides of the Rhone and pillaged and carried off everything they could find that belonged to the Genevans known as Eidguenots. That is a German word, which means in French "good allies." And they also took away their livestock and caused great damage. The Genevans, who had been warned, prepared to defend themselves and quickly destroyed the bridge over the Arve. But it was soon repaired by the gentlemen who came in force to the faubourg of La Corraterie, near the Dominican monastery and next to Notre Dame de Grâce, and to [14] the faubourg of Saint Antoine, and they laid siege to the city from all sides, so that no one was able or dared to go out, although they did not hurt them because monseigneur, who had been warned, quickly sent out several lords of his house to put an end to the actions under penalty of death. At his orders the gentlemen left without doing any other harm. But, alas, it was to the great detriment of the land, as you will see. Because the Swiss Germans had already been told about the gathering, and according to honorable people, about twenty-five thousand of them, all warriors, came directly to Savoy in great fury and haste to help their allies in Geneva.
THE SWISS TROOPS DEVASTATE THE AREA AROUND GENEVA
On the Feast of Monseigneur Saint Francis [October 4, 1530] on a Tuesday at ten o'clock in the morning, the Swiss quartermaster arrived in Morges, a small city in the Vaud, to seek housing for the army, and when the soldiers arrived, they immediately went to the lake and drew in a huge ship loaded with at least a thousand golden écus worth of city property, which was being taken to the other side of the lake to Nyon and Thonon. But it was captured by the Swiss [15] and taken to Lausanne under their protection. On Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday [October 5-7], the two cantons of Bern and Fribourg arrived in Morges and did much damage. For when they left their lands and entered monseigneur's, they began to pillage, rob, and plunder the poor people, and they did not leave any wheat, wine, food, or furnishings in the houses, which was a very piteous thing. They pillaged and then burned the houses and castles of nobles everywhere, which was no small loss.
When the Bernese were in Morges, some of them were housed in the Franciscan monastery, and they did many great unspeakable evils and injustices. They profaned the holy ground by keeping up to two hundred cart horses in the cloister and the church. They slept in the dormitory of the monastery, and the poor monks slept on the cold ground. That night those Bernese, like evil heretics, figured out how to get into the choir of the church, and they went inside and built a big fire in the middle of the nave. Then, like disloyal dogs who were mad and out of their minds, they took the ciborium that held the most worthy sacrament of the precious body of Jesus Christ Our Redeemer and put it all in that big fire, and so they villainously scorned the price paid for our Redemption, just like Caiaphas' agents did when they [16] spat in His precious face and like Pilate's devilish minions did when they whipped and crucified Him so ignominiously.
Also, they destroyed the very lavish painting on the main altar and burned all the wooden statues. They smashed the window behind the main altar, which was beautiful and ornate. And in all the chapels where there were carved statues of the glorious saints, they destroyed and ruined everything, which was a lamentable thing to see. They did the same thing in all of the churches they could get into. Still not satisfied with those great injustices, those heretics smashed the sacristy and all the brand-new cabinets that were so well built as decorations for a house dedicated to God. They removed all the locks and ironwork and took all the decorations they found and carried off everything, including the convent clock and all the friars' dishes and linen, so that nothing remained but the empty building.
Also, they stripped and beat all the priests they found wearing long robes.
With the tips of their spears and swords, they poked out the eyes of all of the flat images in paintings and murals that they could not burn, and they [17] spat on them to efface and disfigure them; it was a shocking thing to see. They burned all the parchment books, the cantor's and others, and they plundered all the priests' houses and stole everything. What is more, they burned the monastery's lectern, which was very handsome. And in that city of Morges, and in others, they did more great injustices than anyone can tell or write.
Also, they pillaged and then burned the castle of Monseigneur of Vufflens, the Castle of Allaman, the Castle of Perroy, the one in Begnins, and a house belonging to Lord Andrieu Feste, who had a castle in Nyon. And on Saturday the seventh of October, that army left its quarters and headed straight for Rolle, two leagues from Geneva. They pillaged and burned the castle, which was very fine. Then on Sunday [October 9] they spent the night in Nyon, and they pillaged the churches and the Franciscan monastery there and burned and destroyed all the images. That Saturday [October 8] [18] evening some wicked Genevan men brought a company of those Swiss to plunder the Cistercian Abbey of Bellerive near Geneva, and they stole everything, even the church bell. Then they set fire to it, but Our Lord stopped them. The church did not catch fire but remained standing despite their efforts. The poor nuns escaped, disguised as poor wayward women, each to her family's house. Afterward the nuns came back to their convent to serve God as before. The poor nuns of Saint Clare in Geneva saw the abbey burning from their garden, and there can be no doubt but that it was a very piercing and painful sword to them and that they expected nothing less to happen to themselves. For those dogs desired nothing but to harass pious people and to abolish the state of virginity and divine worship.
On the following Sunday afternoon [October 9] a great proclamation was made to the sound of a trumpet [19] that all bakers should bake a great abundance of bread and that butchers should kill animals and get meat and necessary supplies ready.
On that Sunday evening the clergy decided to close the cathedral church of Saint Peter's and all the other churches and not to open them again to celebrate Mass or any other service until the Swiss went away, which is what was done. Monseigneur the vicar ordered all the treasures of the parish churches, convents, and monasteries to be carried to the cathedral church and hidden in the crypt so that the heretics could not get them, for it was well known that they would have destroyed everything. Brazen Genevan men got up on the city walls to look at the fire and smoke coming from the castles and churches burning around Geneva, coming from the Vaud because even though the air was fine and clear, it was clouded by the dark smoke. Some of them were upset and felt pity, others were joyful and laughed wickedly at it. [20]
PLEA FROM THE NUNS OF SAINT CLARE TO THE SYNDICS AND THE COUNCIL
The poor secluded ladies, the nuns of Madame Saint Clare, terribly frightened by those people and afraid they would hurt them, with the fury they were showing toward pious people, prayed tearfully night and day, and they gathered together in the chapter room to decide what to do about it. And they made a very humble plea to messieurs the syndics and councilors written by myself in the following manner and substance:
"Our magnificent and most honored lords, fathers, and good protectors, we have heard of the arrival of God's enemies in your town and of the evil and disrespectful things they are doing in the church of God and to pious people, and we are very afraid. We therefore beg you very humbly, kneeling prostrate on the ground with our hands folded in honor of Our Redeemer and His sorrowful passion and of His Virgin Mother and of Monsieur Saint Peter, Monsieur Saint Francis, and Madame Saint Clare and of all the saints in paradise, please to keep us in your safeguard and protection so that those enemies of God do not [21] violate or disturb us. For we do not want any innovation of religion or law or to turn away from divine service, but we are determined to live and die in our holy vocation here in your convent praying to Our Lord for the peace and preservation of your noble town, if you lords will agree to preserve and protect us all here as your ancestors have done; and if not, let us leave our convent and your town, to save ourselves and seek refuge elsewhere to observe divine service, and we will keep you, as our fathers, in our prayers there, and we ask you for your good will and for an answer."
The letter was presented on Thursday evening [October 6]. On Friday morning [October 7], three of the aldermen came to hear Mass at the convent, and after Mass they asked the father confessor and his associates to give the sisters their answer, saying, "Messieurs and the council have seen and considered the ladies' humble request, and they should not worry about anything because the city will take care of them and make sure that no harm comes to them, and they should also have no fear for their religion, for the city does not want to be Lutheran." [22]
The sisters were a bit cheered and, in this hope, remained in their convent.
DIVINE SERVICE AT SAINT CLARE
The next Monday [October 10], early in the morning, all the churches in town were closed, and there was no Mass or divine service, high or low, observed in them while those false heretical Swiss were there, except in the convent of Madame Saint Clare, whose church was closed to no one. The father confessor and his associates said Mass with open doors, and many good chaplains came secretly, carrying their priests' robes under their arms and putting them on in the convent, and all the clerics and monks carried weapons and arms to be first in the battle. Almost the whole city came there in great piety. The sisters still said divine service at the accustomed hours. But they did it hurriedly and without recitation, and the first two days they said it secretly in the refectory. But afterward they took heart and said it in the church because it was very strange to worship God in hiding and see Him reviled in [23] public. It is no wonder that the holy church allowed a ciborium to be placed in the hand of the statue of Madame Saint Clare because it was to her glory once again that no Mass or service was celebrated in any church inside the Genevan city walls except in her convent, where it was done without any opposition.
OCCUPATION OF GENEVA BY TROOPS FROM BERN AND FRIBOURG
On that Monday [October 10] at eight o'clock in the morning, the Swiss quartermaster came to find housing for the army, and he marked down a number for each house. At the poor sisters' convent he marked down three hundred. But the sisters wisely returned to the head captain and begged him to keep them away from those men and humbly reminded him of the danger he was putting them in, and out of pity he reduced the number and said they would have to house and feed thirty-five men and six horses. But Our Lord made sure they were all good Catholics from Fribourg, and they listened willingly to Mass and in great piety, and at the sisters' request they all stood at the door with their weapons to keep the heretics away so they would not hurt them during Mass, and they followed orders to let the people in. But although they were [24] Christians, they were also good plunderers, and they injured the poor people just like the others. The head captain of Geneva, named Bezanson, told the sisters to take down the large cross in front of the convent and the handsome crucifix above the door at the entrance to the convent and to hide them because those dogs would have chopped them to pieces. It was a very strange thing to hide the sign of our redemption.
(Continues...)
Excerpted from THE SHORT CHRONICLE by Jeanne de Jussie Copyright © 2006 by The University of Chicago. Excerpted by permission.
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Table of Contents
AcknowledgmentsSeries Editors' Introduction
Volume Editor's Introduction
Volume Editor's Bibliography
Note on Translation
The Short Chronicle
Series Editors' Bibliography
Index