THE MILLENNIAL CITY 



463 



In 800, together with the rest of the ter- 

 ritory now embraced in Switzerland, it 

 was an integral part of Charlemagne's 

 dominions. Then for six centuries the 

 city's history presents no points of com- 

 pelling interest, the chief events being 

 a succession of struggles between the 

 prince-bishops and the counts of Gene- 

 vois and Savoy for ascendancy. 



A CITY OF GAYETY 



In spite of political turmoil within and 

 the constant danger of attack from with- 

 out, this was an era of gayety in Geneva. 

 Every one took life lightly. In the even- 

 ings, behind locked gates of the land for- 

 tifications and with the lake front pro- 

 tected by a row of stakes interwoven with 

 heavy chains, the Genevese made the nar- 

 row streets their drawing-rooms. Be- 

 neath the flare of flambeaux they held 

 high carnival, the women of exalted de- 

 gree mingling with the common folk and 

 dancing in the open with the gallants of 

 the day. 



The fact that during the day these 

 streets were filled with lepers and beggars 

 did not oppress the revelers. Nor was 

 the cost of living high, if we are to ac- 

 cept the testimony of travelers, in whose 

 diaries we find the entry that entertain- 

 ment could be had at such inns as the 

 Good Vinegar, the Hot Knife, or the 

 Crowned Ox for man and beast at five 

 pence a day ! 



THE SWISS CONFEDERACY a ERIEND IN 

 NEED 



Geneva probably would have been ab- 

 sorbed into the possessions of the Italian 

 House of Savoy at this period in her his- 

 tory had it not been for the assistance 

 from time to time of the cities of the 

 Swiss Confederacy. In the fifteenth cen- 

 tury Fribourg, a pros'perous cloth manu- 

 facturing community, formed a commer- 

 cial alliance with the Genevese, whose 

 fairs were famous throughout western 

 Europe. 



This alliance aroused the ire of the 

 reigning Duke of Savoy, who was the 

 father-in-law of Louis XI of France. 

 He induced that sovereign to forbid 

 French merchants to attend the Geneva 

 fairs, and at the same time to change the 

 time for holding the rival Lyons fairs, so 



that they would conflict with those of the 

 lake city. This was a serious blow and 

 very nearly effected the commercial ruin 

 of the Genevese. 



During the first quarter of the six- 

 teenth century, after the Reformation had 

 gained full headway in middle Europe, a 

 staunch Geneva patriot, Philibert Ber- 

 thelier, succeeded in concluding a de- 

 fensive alliance with Fribourg against 

 Savoy, but not without bitter opposition 

 from a strong ducal party in Geneva it- 

 self. The city was divided into two hos- 

 tile factions — the Mamelukes, adherents 

 of the Duke, and the Eidgenossen, or 

 partisans of the Swiss Confederacy. It 

 is interesting to note that from this term 

 Eidgenossen (literally, oath companions) 

 is supposed to have been derived the 

 word Huguenot, subsequently applied to 

 the French Protestants of the sixteenth 

 and seventeenth centuries. 



THE PRISONER OE CHILEON 



One of the most picturesque figures in 

 the history of Geneva during this period 

 was Berthelier's associate in arms, Fran- 

 gois de Bonivard, who, when his victori- 

 ous friends rushed into his dungeon at 

 Chillon crying, "Bonivard, you are free !" 

 responded with the query, "And Gen- 

 eva?" Upon being assured that his city 

 was also saved, he went home rejoicing. 



Bonivard was a man of many contra- 

 dictions. In inn and tavern he plotted 

 revolution with compatriots who styled 

 themselves the Children of Geneva. He 

 engaged in armed strife for the possession 

 of the priory of Saint Victor, and waged 

 guerrilla warfare against a band of young 

 "bloods" of Savoy, who called themselves 

 Knights of the Spoon because they wore 

 about their necks spoons with which to 

 "eat" Geneva when they should capture it. 



He bore with sangfroid his six years' 

 imprisonment in the Castle of Chillon, 

 four of which were spent in the dungeon 

 beneath the level of the lake, chained to 

 a pillar so that he could walk only three 

 steps back and forth. He defended him- 

 self against the charge of beating one of 

 his four successive wives by proving that 

 "she needed it," thereby causing the re- 

 proof of the council to be shifted from 

 his shoulders to hers, and in a subsequent 

 domestic tragedy played a chivalric role 



