Note 83 — Chapter III

Adjoining the house of Baudichon, with one building between them, was a large mansion occupied by the Seigneur de Thorens, a strong partisan of the Reformation. He was a Savoyard, expelled from his country because of his religious principles. He acquired citizenship in Bern. The Bernese, on the eve of their embassy, which reached Geneva on Jan. 4th, had bought this house, and placed M. de Thorens therein, intending it to be a place where the Evangelicals could meet in safety under the protection of Bern. It is probable that in time of special danger the Evangelicals met there for public worship. When the Council of Freiburg objected to Farel’s preaching, the Council of Geneva replied that the services were held in the house of the deputies of Bern. Cf. Herminjard, Correspondance, etc. ix. 459, f., 489 f.; Jeanne de Jussie, Le Levain du Calvinisme, pp. 91, 106, 107 (where the poor nun describes the various ceremonies of the Reformed cult with all the venom and coarseness of sixteenth century Romanism); Baum, Procès de Baudichon de la Maisonneuve accusé d’héresie a Lyon, 1534 (Geneva, 1873), pp. 110, 111; Doumergue, Jean Calvin, ii. 126 f., iii. 196-98.