The Escalade in Three Stages

For the people of Geneva the Escalade is the symbol of their independence. The Escalade (literally: "scaling the walls") marks the final attempt in a series of assaults mounted throughout the 16th century by Savoy which wanted to annex Geneva as its capital north of the Alps.

First stage - Scaling the ramparts

Duke Charles-Emmanuel of Savoy planned to take Geneva by surprise on the night of Saturday December 11th 1602. This in spite of his repeated avowals of peace. Accordingly, more than 2.000 men came on foot or on horseback from the neighbouring Savoyard towns of Bonne and La Roche and assembled just beyond the city walls at Plainpalais. They carried with them lengths of ladders which were about 5ft long and weighed 18lb. These they fitted together and raised against the city walls (now the site of the even-numbered buildings of Rue de la Corraterie).

The alarm was raised among the sleeping Genevans by a shot from a guard, Jacques Mercier, whose corporal, François Bousezel, was the first to be fatally injured while making the rounds of his watch. The Genevans hastened to arm themselves to defend their city. A chain of raised lanterns swiftly signalled the threatening danger, followed by a round of fire from the guard post at la Monnaie. The alarm was taken up by warning bells first from St. Peter's cathedral and then other churches throughout the city.

The entire population turned out to fight alongside the town militia and the full-time guard. The most famous expression of the people's solidarity is the soup kettle thrown onto the head of an invader by Catherine Cheynel, wife of Pierre Royaume and affectionately known to posterity as Mère Royaume. Furthermore Lady Piaget threw her keys to the defenders of Geneva so that they could counterattack the assailants from outside the inner city wall.

An explosive engineer, Picot, was to blow up the Porte Neuve gate, thus opening up the town to the massed troops. But the plan was thwarted thanks to the quick action of a soldier, Isaac Mercier, who had the wit to drop the portcullis. Seeing this, and realising that the attack had failed, the duke's troops swiftly retreated to their camps before daybreak.

Second stage - Churches and gallows

On Sunday morning Théodore de Bèze, rector of the Academy, and Simon Goulart, pastor of St.-Gervais, led the people in a service of worship and thanksgiving for their deliverance. The Genevans had lost in all eighteen men: their bodies were buried in the church of St. Gervais. Fifty-four enemy bodies were recovered from the streets and ditches at the foot of the ramparts. Thirteen prisoners, most of them of high birth, were tried, found guilty of "theft and brigandry", and hanged that same day: they were not deemed prisoners of war "since the Savoyard prince had sworn peace".

Third stage - Peace and European involvement

In the summer of 1603 the treaty of St. Julien, concluded with the aid of representatives from five Swiss cantons, marked the end of Charles-Emmanuel's numerous attempts to claim Geneva as his capital north of the Alps. Several impor-tant European monarchs brought pressure to bear on the conclusion of this treaty. Among them were the French king Henry IV (who had just signed the Edict of Nantes), Queen Elizabeth I of England and her successor James I, the Elector Palatine and the Duke of Württemberg.
Charles-Emmanuel's assaults in no way diminished the influence of Calvin, who had died in 1564. The Escalade came to embody Geneva's fervent spirit of independence and has become the city's national fête.