, a gentleman of Artois, and a man of great learning, was burnt
, a gentleman of Artois, and a
man of great learning, was burnt for being a Protestant,
at Paris, 1529. He was lord of a village, whence he took
his name, and for some time made a considerable figure at
the court of France, where he was honoured with the title
of king’s counsellor. Erasmus says, that his great crime
was openly professing to hate the monks and hence arose
his warm contest with William Quernus, one of the most
violent inquisitors of his time. A charge of heresy was
contrived against him, the articles of his accusation being
extracted from a book which he had published, and he was
committed to prison, but when the affair came to a trial,
he was acquitted by the judges. His accusers pretended
that he would not have escaped, had not the king interposed his authority; but Berquin himself ascribed it entirely to the justice of his cause, and went on with equal
courage in avowing his sentiments. Some time after, Noel
Beda and his emissaries made extracts from some of his
books, and having accused him of pernicious errors, he
was again sent to prison, and the cause being tried, sentence was passed against him; viz. that his books be committed to the flames, that he retract his errors, and make
a proper submission, and if he refuse to comply, that he
be burnt. Being a man of an undaunted inflexible spirit,
he would submit to nothing; and in all probability would
at this time have suffered death, had not some of the judges,
who perceived the violence of his accusers, procured the
affair to be again heard and examined. It is thought this
was owing to the intercession of madame the regent. In the
mean time Francis I. returning from Spain, and finding the
danger his counsellor was in from Beda and his faction, wrote
to the parliament, telling them to be cautious how they
proceeded, for that he himself would take cognizance of
the affair. Soon after Berquin was set at liberty, which
gave him such courage, that he turned accuser against his
accusers, and prosecuted them for irreligion, though, if he
had taken the advice of Erasmus, he would have esteemed
it a sufficient triumph that he had got free from the persecution of such people. He was sent a third time to
prison, and condemned to a public recantation and perpetual
imprisonment. Refusing to acquiesce in this judgment,
he was condemned as an obstinate heretic, strangled on the
Greve, and afterwards burnt. He suffered death with
great constancy and resolution, April 17, 1529, being then
about 40 years of age. The monk, who accompanied him
on the scaffold, declared, that he had observed in him
signs of abjuration which Erasmus however believes to be
a falsehood. “It is always,
” says he, “their custom in
like cases. These pious frauds serve to keep up their
credit as the avengers of religion, and to justify to the
deluded people those who have accused and condemned
the burnt heretic.
” Among his works are, 1 “Le vrai
moyen de bien et catholiquement se confesser,
” a translation from the Latin of Erasmus, Lyons, 1S42, 16mo. 2.
“Le Chevalier Chretien,
” In 1523, May 23, the parliament ordered the books of
Lewis de Berquin to be seized, and communicated to the
faculty of divinity, for their opinion. The book
” De abroganda Missa“was found upon him, with some others of
Luther’s and Melancthon’s books and seven or eight
treatises of which he was the author, some under these
titles
” Speculum Theologastrorum“” De usu & officio
Missae, &c.“” Rationes Lutheri quibus omnes Christianos
esse Sacerdotes molitur suadere,“” Le Debat de Pieté &
Superstition.“There were found also some books which
he had translated into French, as
” Reasons why Luther
has caused the Decretals and all the books of the Canon
Law to be burnt“” The Roman Triad,“and others. The
faculty, after having examined these books, judged that
they contained expressly the heresies and blasphemies of
Luther. Their opinion is dated Friday, July 26, 1523, and
addressed to the court of parliament. After having given
their censure upon each book in particular, they conclude
that they ought all to be cast into the fire that Berquiu
having made himself the defender of the Lutheran heresies, he ought to be obliged to a public abjuration, and to
be forbidden to compose any book for the future, or to
snake any translation prejudicial to the faith.
”