He  met  with  a  hostile  reception,  as  also  did
Farel,  who  opened  a  conventicle  at  Aigle.  The
magistrates  and  clergy  ordered  the  expulsion
of  these  innovators.  The  Bernese  were  not
slow  to  avail  themselves  of  this  new  pretext  for
interference  in  the  affairs  of  their  derelict
neighbours.  They  sent  Rodolphe  Nagili,  one
of  their  most  energetic  captains,  to  Aigle  with
orders  to  protect  Farel  and  force  the  reformed
religion  upon  the  inhabitants.  This  was  not,
however,  to  be  done  all  at  once.  Farel  could
only  preach  with  the  sword  of  Berne  flashing
behind  him,  and  an  image-desecrating  expedition
met  with  a  stout  resistance.
Meanwhile  the  Duke  of  Savoy  had  pledged
Vaud  to  the  Bernese  as  a  guarantee  that  he
would  not  molest  Geneva.  In  1535  that  city
embraced  the  Protestant  creed.  This  was  more
than  her  suzerain  could  stand,  and  he  at  once
attacked  her.  The  patricians  of  Berne  were  not
the  men  to  miss  such  a  chance.  They  marched
an  army  into  the  Pays  de  Vaud  to  claim  fulfil-
ment of  the  pledge,  and  after  trifling  resistance
occupied  the  territory  as  far  as  the  Lake  of
Leman.  Lausanne  had  thrown  off  the  yoke
of  her  bishop  and  was  also  crushed  in  the  tight
embrace  of  the  bear  from  the  Aar.
