Rise and Establishment of Protestantism at Geneva - James Aitken Wylie

Geneva. This small but ancient municipality was
seemingly on the point of being absorbed in the
dominions of the House of Savoy. Its history
appeared to be closed. The vulture of the Alps,
which had hovered above it for centuries, had but
to swoop down upon it and transfix it with his
talons.
At that moment a new life suddenly sprang up
in the devoted city. To preserve the remnant of
their franchises was not enough; the citizens
resolved to recover what liberties had been lost. In
order to this many battles had to be fought, and
much blood spilt. Leo X., about the same time that
he dispatched Tetzel to Germany to sell
indulgences, sent a scion of the House of Savoy to
Geneva (1513) as bishop. By the first the Pope
drew forth Luther from his convent, by the second
he paved the way for Calvin. The newly-appointed
bishop, known in history as the" Bastard of
Savoy," brought to the episcopal throne of Geneva
a body foul with disease, the fruit of his
debaucheries, and a soul yet more foul with
deceitful and bloody passions; but a fit tool for the
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