Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 22.djvu/827

 1499-1648.] SWITZERLAND 791 Savoy, however, took up arms against Bern (1536), who overran Gex, Vaud, and the independent bishopric of Lausanne, as well as the Chablais to the south of the lake. Geneva was only saved by the unwillingness of the citizens. Bern thus ruled north and south of the lake, and carried matters with a high hand. Shortly after this John Calvin, a refugee from Picardy, was, when passing through "Geneva, detained by Farel to aid him, and, after an exile from 1538-1541, owing to opposition of the papal party, and of the burghers, who objected to Bernese rule, he set up his wonderful theocratic government in the city, pushing Zwingli's principles to their ultimate conclusions (see SERVETUS) (1553), and in 1555 expelling many who upheld municipal liberty, replacing them by French, English, Italians, and Spaniards as new burghers, whose names are still frequent in Geneva (e.g., Candolle, Mallet, Diodati). His theological views led to disputes with the Zurich Reformers, which were partly settled by the Consensiis Tigurinus of 1549, and more completely by the Helvetic Confession of 1566, which formed the basis of union between the two parties. By the time of Calvin's death (1564) the old faith had begun to take the offensive ; the reforms made by the council of Trent urged on the Catholics to make an attempt to recover lost ground. Emmanuel Philibert, duke of Savoy, the hero of St Quentin (1557), and one of the greatest generals of the day, with the support of the Catholic members of the League, demanded the restoration of the districts seized by Bern in 1536, and on October 30, 1564, the treaty of Lausanne confirmed the decision of the other Confederates sitting as arbitrators (according to the old constitutional custom). By this treaty Gex, the Genevois, and the Chablais were to be given back, while Vevey, Chillon, Lausanne, Yverdun were to be kept by Bern, who engaged to maintain the old rights and liberties of Vaud, which in 1565 were further placed under the special protection of France. Thus Bern lost the lands south of the lake, in which St Francis of Sales, the exiled prince-bishop of Geneva, at once proceeded to carry out the restoration of the old faith. In 1555 Bern and Freiburg, as creditors of the debt-laden count, divided the county of Gruyeres, thus getting fresh French-speaking subjects. In 1558 Geneva renewed her alliance with Bern, and in 1584 she made one with Zurich. The The decrees of the council of Trent had been accepted Counter f u iiy by the Catholic members of the League, so far as le ^ < ? r " relates to dogma, but not as regards discipline or the relations of church and state, the sovereign rights and jurisdiction of each state being always carefully reserved. The Counter Reformation, however, or reaction in favour of the old faith, was making rapid progress in the Con- federation, mainly through the indefatigable exertions of Charles Borromeo, from 1560 to 1584 archbishop of Milan (in which diocese the Italian bailiwicks were included), and nephew of Pius IV., supported at Lucerne by Ludwig Pfyffer, who, having been (1562-1570) the chief of the Swiss mercenaries in the French wars of religion, did so much till his death (1594) to further the religious reac- tion at home that he was popularly known as the " Swiss king." In 1574 the Jesuits, the great order of the reaction, were established at Lucerne; in 1579 a papal nuncio came to Lucerne ; Charles Borromeo founded the " Collegium Helveticum " at Milan for the education of forty-two young Swiss, and the Catholic members of the League made an alliance with the bishop of Basel ; in 1581 the Capuchins were introduced to influence the more ignorant classes. Most important of all was the Golden or Borromean League, concluded (October 5, 1586) between the seven Catholic members of the Confederation (Uri, Schwyz, Unterwalden, Lucerne, Zug, Freiburg, and Solo- thurn) for the maintenance of the true faith in their territories, each engaging to punish backsliding members and to help each other if attacked by external enemies, notwithstanding any other leagues, old or new. This league marks the final breaking up of the Confederation into two great parties, which greatly hindered its pro- gress. The Catholic members had a majority in the diet, and were therefore able to refuse admittance to Geneva, Strasburg, and Mtihlhausen. Another result of these religious differences was the breaking up of Appenzell into two bits (1597), each sending one representative to the diet " Inner Rhoden " remaining Catholic, " Ausser Rhoden " adopting the new views. We may compare with this the action of Zurich in 1555, when she received the Protestant exiles from Locarno and the Italian baili- wicks into her burghership, and Italian names are found there to this day (e.g., Orelli, Mural t). The duke of Savoy made several vain attempts to get hold of Geneva, the last (in 1602) being known as the "Escalade." In the Thirty Years' War the Confederation remained neutral, being bound both to Austria (1474) and to France (1516), and neither religious party wishing to give the other an excuse for calling in foreign armies, But the troubles in Rhsetia threatened entanglements. Austria wished to secure the Miinsterthal (belonging to the League of the Ten Jurisdictions), and Spain wanted the command of the passes leading from the Valtelline (conquered by the leagues of Rhastia in 1512), the object being to connect the Hapsburg lands of Tyrol and Milan. In the Valtelline the rule of the Three Leagues was very harsh, and Spanish intrigues easily brought about the massacre of 1620, by which the valley was won, the Catholic members of the Confederation stopping the troops of Zurich and Bern. In 1622 the Austrians conquered the Prattigau, over which they still had certain feudal rights. French troops regained the Valtelline in 1624, but it was lost once more in 1629 to the imperial troops, and it was not till 1635 that the French, under Rohan, finally succeeded in holding it. The French, however, wished to keep it per- manently ; hence new troubles arose, and in 1637 the natives, under George Jenatsch, with Spanish aid drove them out, the Spaniards themselves being forced to resign it in 1639. It was only in 1649-52 that the Austrian rights in the Prattigau were finally bought up by the League of the Ten Jurisdictions, which thus gained its freedom. In consequence of Ferdinand II. 's edict of restitution (1629), by which the status quo of 1552 was re-established the high-water mark of the Counter Reformation the abbot of St Gall tried to make some religious changes in his territories, but the protest of Zurich led to the Baden compromise of 1632, by which, in the case of disputes on religious matters arising in the "common bailiwicks," the decision was to be, not by a majority, but by means of friendly discussion a logical application of the doctrine of religious parity or by arbitration. But by far the most important event in Swiss history in Formal this age is the formal freeing of the Confederation from freedom the empire. Basel had been admitted a member of the e j!JL e e League in 1501, two years after the Confederation had been practically freed from the jurisdiction of the impe- rial chamber, though the city was included in the new division of the empire into "circles" (1521), which did not take in the older members of the Confederation. Basel, however, refused to admit this jurisdiction; the question was taken up by France and Sweden at the congress of Miinster, and formed the subject of a special clause in the treaties of Westphalia, by which the city of Basel and the other " Helvetiorum cantones " were declared to be " in the possession of almost entire liberty and exemption from the empire, and nullatenus subject