held
by princes whose politics led them to oppose the Papacy. The teaching
of Calvin appealed more directly to the ignorant, for his creed was
stern and simple. The Calvinists even declared Luther an agent of the
devil, in striking contrast to their own leader, who was regarded as
the messenger of God. For such men there were no different degrees of
sinfulness--some were held to be elect or "chosen of the Lord" at their
birth, while others were predestined for everlasting punishment. It
was characteristic of Calvin that he called vehemently for toleration
from the Emperor, Charles V, and yet caused the death of a Spanish
physician, Servetus, whose views happened to be at variance with his
own!

The Calvinists generally held meetings in the open air where they could
escape the restrictions that were placed on services held in any place
of worship. The middle and lower classes attended them in large
numbers, and the new faith spread rapidly through the enlightened world
of Western Europe. John Knox, the renowned Scotch preacher, was a firm
friend of Calvin, and {101} thundered denunciations from his Scotch
pulpit at the young Queen Mary, who had come from France with all the
levity of French court-training in her manners. The people of Southern
France were eager to hear the fiery speech that somehow captured their
imagination. As they increased in numbers and began to have political
importance they became known as Huguenots or Confederates. To
Catherine de Medici, the Catholic Regent of France, they were a
formidable body, and in Navarre their leaders were drawn mainly from
the nobles.

Relentless persecution would probably have crushed the Huguenots of
France eventually if it had been equally severe in all cases. As a
rule, men of the highest rank could evade punishment, and a few of the
higher clergy preached religious toleration. Thousands marched
cheerfully to death from among the ranks of humble citizens, for it was
part of Calvin's creed that men ought to suffer martyrdom for their
faith without offering resistance. Judges were known to die, stricken
by remorse, and marvelling at their victims' fortitude. At Dijon, the
executioner himself proclaimed at the foot of the scaffold that he had
been converted.

The Calvinist preachers could gain no audience in Paris, where the
University of the Sorbonne opposed their doctrines and declared that
these were contrary to all the philosophy of ancient times.