 Eventually the Grand Council succeeded in protecting the liberty of its citizens by establishing union with the Old Swiss Confederacy (), by concluding on February 20, 1526 a treaty of alliance with Bern and Fribourg.On March 12, representatives of the other Swiss cantons appeared before the Grand Council in Geneva and swore to protect that republic as part of their confederation.Geneva, home of Calvinism, was one of the great centres of the Protestant Reformation.