gainst the Holy Ghost and as subverting the foundations of the
Christian religion. Luther's sacramental dogmas and his repudiation of
monastic vows were refuted.

Nevertheless the reform movement continued. At this stage it was
urban, the chief centers being Paris, Meaux, and Lyons. Many merchants
and artisans were found among the adherents of the new faith. While
none of a higher rank openly professed it, theology became, under the
lead of Margaret, a fashionable subject. Conventicles were formed to
read the Bible in secret not only among the middle classes but also at
court. Short tracts continued to be the best {193} methods of
propaganda, and of these many were translations. Louis de Berquin of
Artois, [Sidenote: Berquin, 1490-1529] a layman, proved the most
formidable champion of the new opinions. Though he did little but
translate other men's work he did that with genius. His version of
Erasmus's _Manual of a Christian Knight_ was exquisitely done, and his
version of Luther's _Tesseradecas_ did not fall short of it. Tried and
condemned in 1523, he was saved by the king at the behest of Margaret.
[Sidenote: 1526] The access of rigor during the king's captivity gave
place to a momentary tolerance. Berquin, who had been arrested, was
liberated, and Lefevre recalled from exile. But the respite was brief.
Two years later, Berquin was again arrested, tried, condemned, and
executed speedily to prevent reprieve on April 17, 1529. But the
triumph of the conservatives was more apparent than real. Lutheranism
continued to gain silently but surely.

While the Reformation was growing in strength and numbers, it was also
becoming more definite and coherent. Prior to 1530 it was almost
impossible to tell where Lutheranism began and where it ended. There
was a large, but vague and chaotic public opinion of protest against
the existing order. But after 1530 it is possible to distinguish
several parties, three of which at first reckoned among the supporters
of the Reformation, now more or less definitely separated themselves
from it. The first of these was the party of Meaux, the leaders of
which submitted to the government and went their own isolated way.
Then there was a party of Erasmian reform, mainly intellectual but
profoundly Christian. Its leader, William Bude, felt, as did Erasmus,
that it was possible to unite the classical culture of the Renaissance
with a purified Catholicism. Attached to the churc