f Geneva. But now, although the heir of Gruyere was
among the nobles, the people joined the army of Berne and Fribourg which
marched to the aid of the rebellious city. Resorting to their old
pastime of devastation, the army of liberty burned chateau after chateau
in their march to Geneva, and uniting their forces with the rebels they
summoned the duke of Savoy to account for his responsibility in the
threatened attack. In an assemblage of the ambassadors of the ten
confederated cantons, the duke of Savoy secured his continued control of
Geneva, but paid dearly for it in the hypothecation to the greedy cities
of Berne and Fribourg of the whole of the Pays de Vaud. Following this
important concession, the victorious cities solemnly ratified their
treaties with Geneva, and with the establishment of religious reform,
which had developed simultaneously with the struggle for political
independence, Geneva finally succeeded in freeing itself from the rule
of Savoy. Catholic among the Catholics, Count Jean vigorously supported
the duke in the defence of their religion, and converted his chateau of
Oron into a refuge for the fugitives from the Lutheran persecution.
While the Bernois were breaking the sacred images and wrecking the
churches and chapels, Count Jean regularly maintained the celebration
of mass at Oron, and threatened to wreak vengeance upon the Lutheran
heretics who fell into his hands. Therefore, the Bernois, with
evangelical pronunciamentos, commanded him to desist, and under threat
of depriving him of the chateau and seigneurie of Oron, forced the
adoption in this Catholic stronghold of the Lutheran faith. At Gruyere
all the people were faithful, and in large numbers journeyed to
Fribourg, declaring they would die rather than abandon their religion.
At the warning that a band of Bernese Lutherans was preparing to invade
Gruyere, the Fribourgeois summoned the people to be ready at the sound
of the tocsin to take arms to repel them. Epidemics succeeded to these
alarms, the restless people continually demanded new concessions, and
finally the Bernois, openly declaring war upon Savoy, rapidly conquered
the long coveted Pays de Vaud and summoned the count of Gruyere to
acknowledge their sovereignty. When Count Jean stoutly rejected the
demands of the Bernois, they immediately threatened the invasion of his
estates; but their watchful rivals of Fribourg energetically protested,
and when an ambassador of Charles V arrive