DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.63221#0224
182
THE FRENCH RENAISSANCE
of 1534, the King, then at Blois, rose one morning to find
a placard against the Mass fastened on his palace wall;
similar posters were found throughout Paris and the pro-
vincial towns, and no one could discover their authors.
The King, equally outraged in his dignity and his faith,
decided on extreme measures. In January 1535, bare-headed,
with a taper in his hands, he led an expiatory procession.
It started from St. Germain 1’Auxerrois, and carried with it
the relics of all the shrines in Paris. On the night following,
after dining with the Bishop of Paris, Francis got up into
the pulpit before Court, Parlement and Ambassadors, and
pledged himself to stamp out heresy: he would slaughter
his own children, he said, if they showed any signs of Pro-
testantism. Margaret in alarm chose an orthodox Confessor
and took the Communion in public.
Auto-da-fes raged, and such were the excesses of the
King’s ‘‘execrable justice,” as the “Citizen of Paris” calls it,
that Paul HI himself was obliged to interfere. He wrote
a letter to Francis in June, begging him to stay his hand.
“No doubt,” said the Pope, “‘le Roi tres Chretien’ was
only doing his best to justify his title. And yet God, the
Creator, when He was in this world dealt more in mercy
than in justice, nor is it the duty of man to use severity.
It is double cruelty to burn a man alive, for otherwise he
might return to faith and law. And therefore”—ends the
mandate—“ the Pope requires the King to appease his fury...
and to pardon.”
When Popes begin to plead for tolerance, kings have no
choice but to obey. For three years there was a truce, of
which Margaret took advantage. She persuaded Francis to
THE FRENCH RENAISSANCE
of 1534, the King, then at Blois, rose one morning to find
a placard against the Mass fastened on his palace wall;
similar posters were found throughout Paris and the pro-
vincial towns, and no one could discover their authors.
The King, equally outraged in his dignity and his faith,
decided on extreme measures. In January 1535, bare-headed,
with a taper in his hands, he led an expiatory procession.
It started from St. Germain 1’Auxerrois, and carried with it
the relics of all the shrines in Paris. On the night following,
after dining with the Bishop of Paris, Francis got up into
the pulpit before Court, Parlement and Ambassadors, and
pledged himself to stamp out heresy: he would slaughter
his own children, he said, if they showed any signs of Pro-
testantism. Margaret in alarm chose an orthodox Confessor
and took the Communion in public.
Auto-da-fes raged, and such were the excesses of the
King’s ‘‘execrable justice,” as the “Citizen of Paris” calls it,
that Paul HI himself was obliged to interfere. He wrote
a letter to Francis in June, begging him to stay his hand.
“No doubt,” said the Pope, “‘le Roi tres Chretien’ was
only doing his best to justify his title. And yet God, the
Creator, when He was in this world dealt more in mercy
than in justice, nor is it the duty of man to use severity.
It is double cruelty to burn a man alive, for otherwise he
might return to faith and law. And therefore”—ends the
mandate—“ the Pope requires the King to appease his fury...
and to pardon.”
When Popes begin to plead for tolerance, kings have no
choice but to obey. For three years there was a truce, of
which Margaret took advantage. She persuaded Francis to