Suspicion , distrust , and terror now pervaded all classes of society . Amid the general alarm it was seen how deep a hold the Lutheran teaching had gained upon the minds of men who stood highest for education , influence , and excellence of character . Positions of trust and honour were suddenly found vacant . Artisans , printers , scholars , professors in the universities , authors , and even courtiers , disappeared . Hundreds fled from Paris , self-constituted exiles from their native land , in many cases thus giving the first intimation that they favoured the reformed faith . The papists looked about them in amazement at thought of the unsuspected heretics that had been tolerated among them . Their rage spent itself upon the multitudes of humbler victims who were within their power . The prisons were crowded , and the very air seemed darkened with the smoke of burning piles , kindled for the confessors of the gospel .
Francis I had gloried in being a leader in the great movement for the revival of learning which marked the opening of the sixteenth century . He had delighted to gather at his court men of letters from every country . To his love of learning and his contempt for the ignorance and superstition of the monks was due , in part at least , the degree of toleration that had been granted to the reform . But , inspired with zeal to stamp out heresy , this patron of learning issued an edict declaring printing abolished all over France ! Francis I presents one among the many examples on record showing that intellectual culture is not a safeguard against religious intolerance and persecution . France by a solemn and public ceremony was to commit herself fully to the destruction of Protestantism . The priests demanded that the affront offered to High Heaven in the condemnation of the mass be expiated in blood , and that the king , in behalf of his people , publicly give his sanction to the dreadful work .
The 21st of January , 1535 , was fixed upon for the awful ceremonial . The superstitious fears and bigoted hatred of the whole nation had been roused . Paris was thronged with the multitudes that from all the surrounding country crowded her streets . The day was to be ushered in by a vast and imposing procession . " The houses along the line of march were hung with mourning drapery , and altars rose at intervals ." Before every door was a lighted torch in honour of the " holy sacrament ." Before daybreak the procession formed at the palace of the king . " First came the banners and crosses of the several parishes ; next appeared the citizens , walking two and two , and bearing torches ." The four orders of friars followed , each in its own peculiar dress . Then came a vast collection of famous relics . Following these rode lordly ecclesiastics in their purple and scarlet robes and jewelled adornings , a gorgeous and glittering array .
" The host was carried by the bishop of Paris under a magnificent canopy , . . . supported by four princes of the blood . . . . After the host walked the king . . . . Francis I on that day wore no crown , nor robe of state ." With " head uncovered , his eyes cast on the ground , and in his hand a lighted taper ," the king of France appeared " in the character of a penitent ." -- Ibid ., b . 13 , ch . 21 . At every altar he bowed down in humiliation , nor for the vices that defiled his soul , nor the innocent
137