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Restitutio was printed early in 1553, a thousand copies of
it. They were sent in bales to Lyon, where they were to be
held until they could be put on sale at the Easter fairs there
and at Frankfurt, the great book markets of northern Europe.
Frellon, probably not foreseeing the consequences of his act,
at once sent a copy to Calvin, who could easily see from a
comparison of it with the manuscript which Servetus had sent
him, that both were from the same author. It would never do
to let such heresy be sown over Europe, to say nothing of
the disrespect shown himself in the letters the book contained;
and Calvin was quick to act. Now it happened that he had a
neighbor and confidential friend, one Guillaume Trie, a Protestant
refugee from Lyon, who was still in correspondence with a
Catholic relative there. To him Calvin related what he knew
of this new book and its author. Trie at once wrote to his
Catholic relative (it is hard not to believe that this was
done with Calvin’s knowledge and approval, for he had
himself previously denounced Servetus to the Archbishop of
Lyon as a heretic), saying to him that there was a heretic
in his vicinity who deserved to be burned alive for blaspheming
the Trinity and uttering other dreadful heresies; that his
name was Michael Servetus, though he now called himself Villeneuve;
and that he was living at Vienne as a physician. To clinch
the matter he enclosed the first four sheets of the Restitutio.
It came out as Trie (and Calvin) desired. The letter soon
reached the hands of the Inquisitor. Steps were cautiously
taken, Servetus was summoned before the authorities and questioned,
and his lodgings were searched. The printers were likewise
examined; but no evidence could be found, and the accused
were all discharged.
Trie was then written to for further proof of what he had
charged, and he produced it nothing loath, Calvin assisting.
He forwarded a number of letters which Servetus had written
to Calvin and marked confidential, and the copy of the Institutes
with Servetus’s notes on the margin, and later on also
the manuscript book which Servetus had sent Calvin some years
before. The judges examined these, found the evidence convincing,
and caused Servetus to be arrested and brought before them.
After artfully leading him on through questions as to his
former life and writings and meeting with some evasion, the
judges at length laid before him the letters written in his
own hand which he could not well deny, but signed Servetus,
thus identifying the Dr. Michel de Villeneuve before them
with the notorious heretic Michael Servetus. Realizing that
he was cornered, and grasping at any straw that might save
him from death, he made an artful equivocation, which, however,
did not deceive his judges. Before the examination was concluded
the court adjourned for the night. That evening Servetus sent
his servant from the prison to collect a large sum of money
owing to him, and the next morning at daybreak he made his
escape from prison — as was generally believed, not
without connivance on the part of influential friends. When
his escape was discovered, he was already well out of reach.
The trial went on without him, and dragged on for ten weeks.
The printers were discovered, and bales containing 500 copies
of the book were found at Lyon. Servetus was found guilty
of heresy and various related crimes, and was condemned to
be burned to death by a slow fire, along with his books. It
was not the custom in those times to put off the execution
of a capital sentence simply because the condemned could not
be found. An effigy of Servetus was therefore made that very
day, and after being first duly hanged, was burned, together
with his books, in the public square, whereat perhaps every
one was well enough satisfied save the Inquisitor —
and Calvin. The trial had been by the civil court. The ecclesiastical
court now proceeded to do its duty in trying Servetus on its
own account. Two days before Christmas it too found him guilty
of heresy, and again ordered his books to be burned. But it
was too late. Servetus had already met his fiery fate at Geneva
two months before.
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