LIBRARY 
 
 PRINCETON. N. J 
 
 No. Case, -■::^-0- . 
 
 No. Shelf, £- 
 
 No. Book JX^^-- 
 
'MM IBAILSEIL, ILS 
 ( 1)11X10(5 the Attack ) 
 
 Rfili^ioiis Tract Society 1859 . 
 
A HISTORY 
 
 YAUDOIS CHURCH 
 
 FEOM ITS ORIGIN, 
 
 AND OF THE 
 
 YAUDOIS OF PIEDMONT 
 
 TO THE PRESENT DAY. 
 
 AiS^TOIlS'E MONASTIEE, 
 
 rOEMEELY PASTOR IX THE CAXTON' DE VAUD, AXD A XATIVE OF THE VAUDOIS 
 VALLEYS OF PIEDMOXT. 
 
 ^Translatcti from t\)t jhtnd). 
 
 A NEW EDITION. 
 
 LO]S"DOjS^: 
 THE RELIGIOUS TRACT SOCIETY, 
 
 56, PATERNOSTER EOW ; 65, ST. PAUL's CHURCHYARD ; AND 164, 
 PICCADILLY ; AND THE BOOKSELLERS. 
 
 ilDCCCLIX. 
 
DEDICATION. 
 
 riiOTECTOES and Eenefactors of the Yaiidois ! Princes, 
 Magistrates, and Christians of every denomination, rank, 
 order, condition, and sex, who by a gracious dispensation 
 of Providence, and the effect of a fervent Christian charity, 
 have co-operated in past ages, and who still co-operate, for 
 the preservation of the feeble remnant of the Yaudois of 
 Piedmont ! 
 
 Permit the humble Author of this History, himself a 
 son of the Yaudois church, the exti'aordinary vicissitudes 
 of which he has here attempted to describe — ^permit him 
 to be the organ and interpreter of the sentiments that 
 animate this scanty but grateful population towards their 
 charitable protectors and benefactors. Pennit him to be 
 the echo of the benedictions and prayers which incessantly 
 arise, on theii' behalf, from the hearts of mere simple and 
 obscure men, who still live under the cross, surrounded by 
 snares, seductions, and dangers, contraiy to the benevolent 
 intentions of their revered and beloved sovereign. 
 
 May the memorj^ of those powerful, glorious, and 
 charitable protectors and benefactors, who have entered 
 into rest, be blessed for ever ! 
 
IV DEDICATION. 
 
 May the most precious blessings, temporal and eternal, 
 of our great God and Saviour Jesus Christ, continue to rest 
 abundantly on those who are now living, and on their 
 children and descendants to the remotest generations ! 
 
 These sentiments and wishes — a feeble token of their 
 gratitude — truly animate the hearts of the Yaudois of the 
 Piedmontese Alps towards their generous protectors and 
 benefactors past and present, and are shared and expressed 
 on this occasion, mth profound respect, by one of their 
 number, in the name of all. 
 
 A^^T. MO]^ASTIER, Pastok. 
 
 Lausanne, 
 Oct 17, 1846. 
 
# PEIITGBTOII 
 
 
 -^ r n ■^Ti 
 
 'i:> 
 
 To demonstrate theii- close connexion with the primitive 
 church founded by the apostles, to establish theii' right to 
 call themselves a faithful church, and even to be regarded 
 as forming the true chiux-h of the Lord Jesus Clmst on 
 earth, the evangelical churches appeal to the conformity of 
 theii' doctrines, their worship, and their internal life Avith 
 the pictm^e the l^ew Testament gives us of the primitive 
 church, and with the precepts, rules, and regulations taught 
 by this same word. This internal argument is, in fact, the 
 most important on this question ; it has an irresistible force, 
 and is of itself sufficient. 
 
 Yet there is an external argument, which, T^-ithout being 
 conclusive, has a certain value; and which, if we are to 
 believe the enemies of the evangelical churches, is altogether 
 wanting to them, namely, antiquity of existence. You are 
 but of yesterday, cries the Eomish chuix-h in a tone of 
 ii'ony and triumph. You forsook the mother church by a 
 revolution, which you pompously term a Eefonnation ; but 
 if truth be on your side, it must be very modern. An 
 existence of little more than thi^ee centuiies is a very recent 
 title, when it relates to pretensions of i)rofessing eternal 
 tmth. To dare a conflict with Eome, you require what 
 she possesses, and what you are destitute of, an ancient and 
 venerable origin. IS'ow, this attribute of the truth is not 
 so completely wanting to the evangelical churches as might 
 at first seem to be the case. The Yaudois chiuTh is a link 
 that unites them to the primitive chui'ch. By means of it 
 they establish the anterior existence of their constitution, 
 doctrine, and worship, to that of the papistical idolatries 
 and errors. Such is the object of the work we now lay 
 before the public. It is intended to prove by the fact of 
 the uninteiTuptcd existence of the Yaudois church, the 
 perpetuity of the primitive church, represented in the 
 present day not only by the church of the Yaudois valleys 
 of Piedmont, but by all her sister evangelical churches, 
 founded solely on the word of God. 
 
 ^ In wiiting this work on an essential part of ecclesiastical 
 history, its author has had in view the glory of his Saviour. 
 He considers that however humble and"^ despised these 
 
VI PEEFACE. 
 
 Yaudois may have been in the eyes of the world, forgotten 
 by some, hated and persecuted by others, their history 
 exhibits and presents to the imitation of "the faithful, some 
 of the essential characteristics of the true disciples of Jesus 
 Christ, faith, fidelity, humility, detachment from the world, 
 perseverance and resignation under the most painful trials. 
 
 He also believes that the development of this history 
 will demonstrate the Lord's faithfulness to the humble 
 members of his church, the "^dsdom of his plans and 
 intentions in their favour, the power he puts forth when 
 he purposes to deliver them, and the efficacious consola- 
 tions he grants them under their trials. It will moreover 
 show, he may venture to hope, that the Head of the 
 church has fulfilled the j)romise he made that '^ the gates 
 of hell shall not prevail against it," and that in this 
 History of the preservation of evangelical truth in the 
 midst of darkness, it may be perceived to His glory, that 
 '' God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to 
 confound the wise ; and God hath chosen the weak things 
 of the world to confound the things which are mighty; 
 and base things of the world, and things which are 
 despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are 
 not, to bring to nought things that are," 1 Cor. i. 27, 28. 
 
 The author does not flatter himself that he has pro- 
 duced a perfect work ; the subject was difficult, particularly 
 in Avhat related to ancient times. The materials to be 
 consulted were immense ; while continual concealment, 
 partial judgments, and incomplete recitals veiled the 
 truth at every step in Catholic writings. ^Nevertheless, 
 he thinks that he has brought forward some new facts of 
 great importance, and esjDecially that he has contributed to 
 a satisfactory demonstration of the ancient origin of the 
 Yaudois church. 
 
 This has been a labour of love. A Yaudois by birth, 
 by his affections, by all his associations, a Yaudois too, he 
 trusts, by his faith, the author has devoted more than 
 ten years to accomplish the wish of his life — the com- 
 position of a brief History of the Yaudois Chub.ch. 
 In its preparation and arrangement, he has called in the aid 
 of one of his dear sons, who is his constant assistant in his 
 pastoral functions. 
 
 May this little work contribute to the glory of our great 
 God and of our Saviour Jesus Christ ! Amen. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 Dedication ^",7^ iii 
 
 Peeface V 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 STATE OF THE CHRISTIAN CHUKCH AT THE ACCESSIOK" OF THE EMPEEOE 
 CONSTANTINE. [a.D. 306.] 
 
 The great progress of the gospel during the fii-st three centimes — Obstacles 
 to its promulgation — The pure and lively faith of beUevers dm-ing that 
 period — The primitive constitution of the chm-ch undergoes some alteration 
 in the episcopate — Commencement of the liierarchy — Places and nature of 
 puhUc worship — Alteration in reference to baptism and the Lord's supper — 
 Internal dissensions — Heresies — The pui-e faith triumphant — Sects . 1 
 
 CHAPTEK ir. 
 
 CHAIfGES IN THE BOCTEIITES, WORSHIP, AKD LIFE OF THE CHUKCH, AFTEK 
 THE TIME OF CONSTAJfTIXE. [fBOM A.D. 337.] 
 
 A glance at the preceding state of the church— The peace it enjoyed opened 
 the door for alterations — Arianism — Pelagianism — Dissensions and la- 
 mentable consequences — Constantine's protection of the chm-ch baneful — 
 Fatal to the clergy fi-om the snares of wealth — The church sinks by its de- 
 pendence on the emperor— He elevates the episcopate— The bishop of Rome 
 — The numerous converts from paganism bring their superstitions with 
 them into the chm-ch — The new ceremonies become estabhshed on the inva- 
 sion of the Ijarbarians — The authority of the Holy Scriptures weakened — 
 Doctrines modified and altered— Introduction of the mass and many errors 4 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 OPPOSITION WHICH THE NEW DOCTRINES AND CEREMONIES ENCOCNTEEED IN 
 
 THE CHURCH. 
 
 This opposition is manifested— From what quarter first — Noticed by pope 
 Celestru in Gaid— Shows itself in Lombardy in the instance of Vigilantius — 
 Continued in France, under Serenus— In Germany — Epistle of Zachai-y— 
 Reflections — Opposition against images under Charlemagne — Episcopate 
 of Claude of Tm-ui — Notice of Claude— Passages from liis writmgs— Cha- 
 racter of his ministry — Effects of it in the Vaudois vaheys — Considerations 
 in support — Testimonies 9 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 VESTIGES OF THE FAITHFUL CHURCH IN THE TENTH AND ELEVENTH 
 CENTURIES. 
 
 Traces of continued conflict— State of society in the ninth, tenth, and eleventh 
 centmies— The clergy, absorbed by worldly interests, encroach on the civil 
 power, and neglect spu-itual interests — Their errors and ignorance— Pro- 
 gress of superstition — Rome and the chm-ch a prey to anarchy— State of the 
 eleventh century— Rome, and its eflorts to raise and to extend its power — 
 
X CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 THE VATJDOIS AND THE EEFOEMATIOK AT THE BEGINNING OF THE SIX- 
 TEENTH CENTUET. 
 
 Small number of the Vaudois — Reduced to conceal themselves or to dissemble 
 — When at the worst, the Reformation begins — Glance at the Reformation — 
 Eagerness of the Vaudois to gain information respecting it— Martm of the 
 vale of Lucema — Morel of Merindol, and Masson of Burgundy in Switzer- 
 land and Germany — A document wliich gives an account of the state of the 
 Vaudois — Advice asjied— Affecting and kind reply of QEcolampadius— Bucer 
 and Capito visited — Sympathy and agreement of the reformers with the 
 Vaudois — Return of the two Vaudois— Masson a martyi- — Answer of the 
 reformers carefully examined — Synod of Angrogiia in 1532, to dehberate 
 upon it— Decision of the Synod — Decision on the public service — all dissimu- 
 lation branded — Disagreement — Relation between the Vaudois and the 
 churches of Bohemia and Moravia Fage 136 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 IMMEDIATE EFFECTS OF THE UNION OF THE VAUDOIS CHUECH WITH THE 
 EEFOEMED CHUECH. 
 
 Renewal of persecution in Provence— of Bersour in Piedmont — Martyr — Ces- 
 sation of the persecution — Martin Gonin a martyr — The first French Bible 
 printed at Neufchatel, at the expense of the Vaudois — Zeal for Divine ser- 
 vice in pubhc— The use of the French langnage instead of the Vaudois — 
 Occuijation of Piedmont by France rather favourable to the Vaudois cause 
 — Complamts of Belvedere— Persecution of the Vaudois of Provence — Their 
 final destruction — Tranquil state of the Vaudois of Piedmontr— Temples built 
 in the valleys— Sever ai martjrrs at Chambery — Danger incun-ed l^y two 
 pastors — Several pastors arrive in the valleys — A challenge and discussion 
 — Attempts of the parhament of Turin against the Vaudois — Baronius — 
 Sartohe and VaraUle martyi's— a tliird escapes— New menaces against the 
 Vaudois without effect — Measures in. their favour 150 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 THE VAUDOIS, ONCE MOEE UNDEE THE EULE OF THEIE LEGITIMATE PEINCE, 
 AEE PEESECUTED WITH THE UTMOST EIGOUE. 
 
 Return of the Vaudois under the rule of Savoy — Emmanuel — Phihbert pul)hshes 
 a persecutmg edict in 1560 — The inquisition active in the plain — Martyrs at 
 Carignan, Meane, Barcelonette — Measures taken by the Vaudois — Cruelties 
 — The duke's commissioners to the valleys — The monks of Abbadie and 
 their victims — Momentaiy concession of the duke — Mission of Poussevin — 
 Pubhc disputation — Final measui^es— Preparations for defence — The count 
 La Trinite comes to the vaUeys with an army — Has recom'se to a stratagem 
 — Removes the notables — Increasing oppression — Alhance with the vaUey of 
 Clusone — the Vaudois attacked again and again in their refuge of Pra-di-torre 
 always conquerors — Truce— Signing of the treaty of peace — Basis of the 
 future relations of the Vaudois to their sovereign 170 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 DESTEUCTION OF THE VAUDOIS COLONIES IN APULIA AND CALABEIA. 
 
 State of the colonies — Influence of the Reformation — Request for a pastor from 
 Geneva — Mission and success of Pascal — Persecution— Svu^Diises— Horrible 
 punishments — Total destruction of the colonies— Martyrdom of Pascal 203 
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 THE BENEFITS OF THE PEACE ATTENDED WITH GEEAT EVILS. 
 
 The valleys relieved in their disti'css — Annoyances on the part of the priests- 
 Unjust order— Intrig-ues — The valleys mider the governor Castrocaro— Em- 
 iDassies from the princes of the Palatinate and Saxony — Persecution in the 
 marquisate of Saluzzo— St. Bartholomew — Attack on the valley of Perosa 
 
CONTEXTS. XI 
 
 —Death of the good duchess Marsraret — Eeisn of Charles Emmanuel— The 
 valleys imder French dominion— Then- return to that of Savoy — Means em- 
 ployed to bring over the Yaudois to poper^'— The exiles — Mai-t\Tdom of 
 Coupia — The Yaudois mihtia ia the field— Fiiie, on accoimt of cemeteries — 
 The valley of Perosa occupied by the duke's troops — Secret practices of the 
 inquisition— Abduction of children— The Yaudois on their fi'ontiers — Ineffec- 
 tual attempt to estabhsh the monks and the mass in the Yaudois conununes 
 — Invasion of Piedmont by the French— A dreadful plague carries off half 
 the population Fage 210 
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 THE VArnOIS, CALTJMNIATED AT COUET, AEE MISUXDEHSTOOD AlfD 
 ILL-TEEATED. 
 
 Unjust complaints against them — Letters patent refused — Complete and final 
 expulsion of the Yaudois from the valley of the Po— Disputation with the 
 priests — Plan for the Propagation of the Faith and the Extirpation of Here- 
 tics— Strokes ready to faU discovered in. time 2^ 
 
 CHAPrER XXIII. 
 
 CErELTIES COMMITTED BY THE PAPISTS IX THE VALLEYS. 
 
 Expulsion of the Yaudois from the plain of Lucema — The Piedmontese army 
 in the valleys — Massacres — Heroic conduct of Janavel— The Yaudois under 
 arms — Truce — Embassy from the Swiss evangehcal cantons — Pleasures of 
 Great Britain and other Protestant powers — Collections — Conferences at 
 Pignerol— Mediation of France — Signing of the treaty .... 262 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV. 
 
 PEBSECUTiox a:nt) emigbatio^". [1656—1686.] 
 
 Erection of the fort of La Torre — Yexations committed by the garrison — Con- 
 demnation of the distinguished Yaudois — Order for the cessation of aU reli- 
 gious services at San Giovanni — Resistance of the Synod — Leger condemned 
 to death— De Bagnols — The exiles — An army surjOTses San Giovanni — Ge- 
 nerosity of the Yaudois — Defeat of the army — Mediation of France — Pro- 
 ceedings of the evangehcal cantons— Conference — Charter of 1664, denomi- 
 nated that of Turin — Arbitration of Louisxrr. — Peaceful times — Revocation of 
 the edict of Nantes —Requirement of the king of France — Edict for the abo- 
 Ution of evangehcal worship — Emljassy of the Swiss cantons — Pi'oject of 
 emigi'ation — Indecision of the valleys — Attacks upon them by Catinat and 
 the army of Savoy — Submission of the Yaudois —Their imprisonment — • 
 Leidet a mai-tyi*- Negotiations of the cantons for the release of the prisoners, 
 and their departure for Switzerland — State of the Yaudois in thefortresses — 
 Their travelling in the depth of water, and their arrival at Geneva . 292 
 
 CHAPTER XXV. 
 
 THE VATjDOIS EEFUGEES IN SWITZEELAJTD AND GEEMANT EETrHN, IN" ASMS, 
 TO THEIE COUNTEY, AND OBTAIN PEACE. [1686 — 1690.] 
 
 Their arrival at Geneva — Distribution in Switzerland — Project and first attempt 
 for returning to the valleys — Offers of the elector of Brandenburg and the 
 German princes — Hem-i Amaud — Second attempt — Departure of the Yaudois 
 for Brandenburg, the Palatinate, and Wirtemberg — Retiun of the greater 
 part to Switzerland — Third attempt— The Yaudois having assembled in the 
 wood of Prangins, cross the lake — Enter Savoy— Defeat an armed force at 
 Salabertrand— Enter victoriously into then- valleys — Difficulties of their 
 situation — Cruel measure — The Yaudois masters of the upper valleys attack 
 that of Lucema — Conquerors, afterwards repulsed — Retire to the heights — 
 Desertions — Forced successively, they take refuge in BalsUle — Attacked in 
 vain before winter — Providential supply — Sufferings— Attempt at negotia- 
 tion — Attack of Balsille—Siesre— Wonderful flight — Good news— Peace — Re- 
 turn of the prisoners— Bobbio restored to the Yaudois — Amaud before the 
 duke — Address of Yictor Amadeus — Yaudois in the service of the duke — 
 B«tum of the scattered Yaudois to their vaUeys 329 
 
Xll CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER XXVI. 
 
 THE VAUDOIS IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY ANB DUEIN& THE FRENCH 
 REVOLUTION, [1690—1814.] 
 
 The Vaudois under the banners of their prince— Their re-estaljhshment in 
 their heritages - Their numbers— Edict of 1694— Exile of the French Protes- 
 tants domiciled in the valleys— Colonies of Wirtemberg— Death of Amaud 
 — Attempts at oppression — Intermission — Foreign subsidies — Siege of Turin 
 in 1706— Victor Amadous in the valleys— Devotedness of the Vaudois- New 
 vexations — Expulsion of the Vaudois from Pragela — The French and those 
 who had become Catliohcs — Edict of 20th June, 1730— Summary of the edicts 
 concerning the Vaudois— Eifects of the French revolution — Guard of the 
 frontiers by the Vaudois — Unjust suspicions of their fidelity — Project of a 
 massaci-e rendered abortive — Ai-rests — Petition to the king — Shght favours — 
 Revolutionary spu-it in Piedmont— Aljdication of Charles Emmanuel— New 
 state of the Vaudois— The Austro-Russians in Piedmont— Carmagnola — 
 Wounded French — Bagration— Re-union of Piedmont to France — Misery to 
 the valleys — Distress of the pastors — Allotment of rents, and funds for tlieir 
 use — New consistorial arrangement — Earthquake — Sketch of the rehgious 
 state of the Vaudois— MM. Mondon, Geymet, and Peyran — New field opened 
 for the activity of the Vaudois Page 378 
 
 CHAPTER XXVII. 
 
 THE VALLEYS SINCE THE GENERAL PEACE. [1814—1846.] 
 
 The restoration— Conduct of the valleys in 1814 and 1815— Deception— Edict 
 which replaced them in their ancient condition— Measures taken in conse- 
 quence—Temple of San Giovanni — Question of the revenues of the Romish 
 clergy— Salaries allowed to pastors— Pastoral letters of the bishops of 
 Pinerolo — Charles Felix— Charles Albert — Cessation of abuses— Restrictions 
 — Foreign benefactors of the Vaudois— Frederic William iii.— Count deWal- 
 burg— Evangehcal chapel at Turin— Foundation of two hospitals for the 
 valleys— Collections — Fimds formed at Berlin — EngUsh benefactors — College 
 of La Torre— Schools — Walloon Committee— Swiss cantons— Erection of the 
 convent of La Torre— Anxieties in the valleys— Visit of Charles Albert to his 
 subjects 412 
 
 A WORD TO MY DEAR FELLOW-COUNTRYMEN OF THE VaUDOIS VALLEYS . 425 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 Pieces given in the Appendix to the original work— The Three Catalogues 
 — The Noble Lesson 427 
 
 A Geographical and Statistical Description op the Valleys of 
 Piedmont — Geography 428 
 
 The Valley of San Martino— The Half Valley of Perosa— The Valley of 
 Lucema 430 
 
 STATISTICS. 
 
 Population— Climate and productions— Rehgious administration of the 
 Vaudois valleys . . , 431 
 
HISTOEY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE VAUDOIS CHURCH. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 STATE OF THE CHRISTIAX CHrECH AT THE ACCESSIOZ^ OF 
 A^ THE EMPEROU COXSTAXTIXE. [a.D. 306.] 
 
 IsoT three centimes from the death and resiuTection of the , 
 Saviour had passed away, before the good news of salvation \ 
 through him was spread over all the pro^THces of the \ 
 Roman empire, and received Avith joy by a considerable 
 part of their population. Faith in Jesus, the Son of the 
 living God, was proclaimed from the shores of the Red sea 
 to those of the Atlantic ocean ; fr^om the banks of the Xile 
 to those of the Ebro, the Rhone, the Rhine, the Danube, 
 and the Euphrates; in all the countries washed by the 
 waters of the ]y!editeiTanean, even to the most retired 
 valleys of the Iberian mountains,^' of the Alps, Hemus, 
 and Atlas, and especially through all the cities that were 
 scattered over this immense tract. 
 
 The gradual extension of the Christian religion was not 
 accomplished without conflict and suifering on the part of 
 its professors. Its progress fii'st irritated, and then 
 alarmed, those who were attached to national traditions, 
 dissolute manners, and the worship of false gods, as it did 
 the suspicious and tjTannical government of the Roman 
 emperors. The Christians were very soon regarded as 
 enemies of their country and rebels, and as such were 
 exposed to the most terrible pei^ecutions. Thousands and 
 hundreds of thousands were destroyed by fire and sword, 
 
 * pSTamely, the Pj-renees and their oflfshoots.] 
 
 B 
 
2 HISTORY OF THE YAIIDOIS CHURCH. 
 
 by instruments of torture, and by the fangs of wild beasts 
 in the amphitheatres. But as the grain of corn falls into 
 the ground and increases a hundredfold, so the blood of the 
 martyi^s became the seed of the church ; the faith of 
 Christian confessors spoke to the heart, and won more 
 souls to the service of their Lord than the terrors of punish- 
 ment could drive from him. 
 
 During the first three centuries, the church was com- 
 posed, for the most part, . of persons firmly convinced of 
 the truth of its doctrines, and who showed forth, by a 
 pure, holy, and devoted life, the virtues of Him who had 
 called them out of darkness into his marvellous light. 
 The contempt and hatred with which the Christians were 
 treated by the pagans, preserved them in general from a 
 pernicious alliance "svith the vicious and indifferent ; and by 
 breaking the ties which might have held them fast to a 
 seducing world, purified their faith, and united them more 
 closely to one another, and to their Saviour. 
 
 The constitution of the church remained nearly the same 
 as in the apostolic age.^'* Every believer was an active 
 member of the Christian community, which was under the 
 guidance of one or more pastors, whose special ofiice it was 
 to preach the word, and watch over souls. The pastor of a 
 Christian community, or one of them, if there were several 
 pastors, bore also the particular title of Bishop, that is, 
 Overseer, on account of the inspection which it became him 
 to exercise over all the members of his fiock, and the influ- 
 ence that was conceded to his piety and example. But 
 though this distinction exposed its possessor to greater 
 danger in times of persecution, it is evident that many of 
 those who obtained it did not entirely escape the seductions 
 of pride and ambition. The pastors of the larger churches 
 soon obtained, or preferred, the title of bishop to that of 
 elder, and easily assumed a supremacy over their fellow- 
 labourers in the work of the ministry. The fi'aternal 
 connexion that subsisted between the apostles and the 
 companions of their work, as that of St. Paul with Sylvanus 
 and Timothy, was very soon succeeded by a dangerous 
 
 * [A few passages in the first and second chapters, and other places, relating 
 to the early constitution of the church, its officers, rites, and connexion with 
 civil governments, which, accorchng to the rules oftheRehgious Tract Society, 
 are retained without alteration, must be regarded as containing the individual 
 \'iews of the author.] 
 
IXTEEXAL DISSEXSIOXS. 3 
 
 hierarchy. Still, the injuiy which this tenclencj- might 
 have inllicted on that Chi'istian libert}- and brotherhood 
 wliich were then so conspicuous, was considerably lessened 
 by the individual activity which the difficult position of the 
 chuix'h, in the midst of pagans, imposed on each of its 
 members. 
 
 Another danger, arising fi*om within, also tlu-eatened the 
 constitution and life of the church, in this prosperous period 
 of its existence, namely, the pre-eminence acquired by the 
 bishops of Antioch, Alexandria, Carthage, and Eome, over 
 the other bishops, and the ill use they often made of the 
 deference that was yielded to them by courtesy. The 
 bishop of Eome especially took the precedence of all the 
 other bishops, on many occasions, and even aspu-ed to a 
 certain authority in matters of religion. But these preten- 
 sions encountered resistance in the rivalry of other apostolic 
 or metropolitan churches, and in the independent nature of 
 the Christian life. 
 
 The Christian worship preserved its primitive simplicity. 
 It was held in private houses ; and often in secret or in 
 deserts. Some places of worship, however, had been 
 erected at the close of the third centuiy. Prayers, the 
 singing of hymns, reading the Scriptui-es, preaching, and 
 the celebration of the Lord's supper, were the ordinary acts 
 of divine service. The Christians, who had mtnessed the 
 pompous ceremonial of j^aganism, and regarded idolatry 
 with detestation, excluded all images from their places of 
 meeting, and every idle ceremony from their worship. 
 Nevertheless, some observances, such as the use of white 
 vestments, unction, and the presence of sponsors, were in- 
 troduced at the administi^ation of baptism; and the holy 
 supper, celebrated in remembrance of those who had died 
 in the Lord, and as a sign of perpetual communion ^dth 
 them, sometimes degenerated into a ceremony for their 
 su2^posed advantage. 
 
 In relation to doctrine, the chiux-h had ah*eady to sustain 
 severe contests both without and within : without, against 
 the attacks of pagan philosophers and Jews : but especially 
 within, against the erroi*s that were often propagated by 
 men of piety, who were under the influence of some invete- 
 rate notion, some peculiar opinion, not in conformity with 
 the true faith, according to the belief of the church. Prom 
 
 B 2 
 
4 HISTOEY OF THE VAIJDOIS CHITRCII. 
 
 being isolated partisans of a new doctrine, they rapidly 
 became leaders of a sect, by the impression which their 
 talents, powers of persuasion, and the very singularity of 
 their sentiments, made on men whose turn of mind, dis- 
 positions, and circumstances, were similar to their own. 
 But diversities of doctrine, heresies, and the formation of 
 sects within the pale of the visible church, ought not to 
 astonish those ^v]lo are aware that an ardent imagination, 
 the pride of reason, and particular prejudices, prevent men 
 from seeing the truth; and that the profession of the 
 gospel has not alwaj^-s eradicated these unhappy disposi- 
 tions from persons who, wishing ''to be something," cannot 
 consent to be classed among ''the poor in spirit." 
 
 Let us not be smprised, then, that the Cliristian church 
 of the first three centuries had to defend the truth against 
 heresies brought forth and nourished in her bosom : let us 
 only rejoice in her victories ; for invigorated from on high 
 by her Divine Leader, to whom she applied with coniidence 
 in all her sorrows and conflicts, no less than in the days of 
 her prosperity, she retained, in the faith and love that are 
 in Christ Jesus, the form of sound doctrine ; she kept that 
 good thing which was committed unto her. 
 
 The formalism and asceticism of the Ebionites ; the 
 efforts of the Gnostics to transport the agitated soul beyond 
 the natural limits of this world, their pretensions to ex- 
 plain everything, and their ambitious sj)eculations, gave 
 way, like the dualism of the Manicheans, to the power of 
 simple faith in Jesus Christ, and of the Christian life 
 which it supports. Reduced to the state of mere sects, 
 they served as beacons, to warn believers of the danger of 
 wandering beyond the limits that are fixed by the written 
 word. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 THE CHANGES IN THE DOCTHINES, WORSHIP, AND LIFE OF 
 THE CHURCH, AFTER THE TIME OF CONSTANTINE. [fROM 
 
 A.D. 337.] 
 
 The germs of numerous errors may be detected in the ^^re- 
 ceding period, but they were checked and arrested in their 
 progress ; on the one hand, by the abundance of healthy, 
 
ARIAXISil PELAGIAXISiT. 
 
 vigorous, and fn.iitfLil plants which covered the soil of 
 the chui-ch, and on the other, by the little time and space 
 which incessant persecutions allowed to perverse or am- 
 bitious spirits for the formation and propagation of their 
 opinions. 
 
 But no sooner was a season of external peace granted to 
 the church, along ^vith numerous temporal advantages, than 
 the Christian Kfe, sound doctrine, and di^dne worship were 
 deteriorated. Arius, a presbyter of Alexandria, about the 
 year 318 or 321, put forth a system of doctrine which goes 
 to shake the veiy foundations of the gospel, by denpng the 
 divinity of Christ, and regarding him only as the first and 
 most excellent of created beings. From its first rise, this 
 heresy, which reduces the faith of the gospel to a very in- 
 considerable thing, and sets the mind of man at ease, was 
 welcomed by many with enthusiasm. Condemned at the 
 council of Xice (a.d. 325), victorious under Constantius, 
 combated afi'esh and with success by those who remained 
 faithfal to the apostolic doctrine, it nevertheless saw its 
 principles adopted by numerous sections of the church. 
 Professed in succession by the Yisigoths, Tandals, Suevians, 
 and Burgundians, it invaded Italy, Greece, Gaul, Spain, 
 and Africa. 
 
 Besides many other errors, which cannot be here enume- 
 rated, there arose one, in the year 412, of which the eff'ects 
 were scarcely less deplorable than those of Arianism. This 
 was the doctrine of Pelagius, a British monk, on fi^e ^vill,\ 
 which ascribed to every man the liberty [power] of deter- ;1 
 mining himself for good, as easily as for evil, and saw in 
 the dominion of sin nothing more than a habit fi*om which 
 the will could release itself. This docti^ine, by attributing 
 too much power to man, and denying his inability to efi'ect 
 his own salvation, nullified, or at least greatly impaii-ed, 
 the doctrine of redemption by Jesus Christ, disowned 
 regeneration, and presented sanctification in a false light. 
 This system, a little modified, and with something more of 
 a Christian colouiing, obtained many partisans, in spite of 
 the powerful opposition of Augustin, bishop of Hippo ; and 
 the merit of good works, which it favoui'ed, insensiblywas 
 received into the belief of a great many churches, especially 
 in the east and in France. 
 
 Endless disputes, and deplorable conflicts, in the majority 
 
6 HISTORY OF THE VAUDOIS CHUECH. 
 
 of churches, and between different churches, were the result 
 of all these novel doctrines. It is almost needless to add, 
 that true faith necessarily declined, continually showed less 
 vigour, and was everywhere more uncommon. 
 
 One great event exerted a powerful influence on the 
 destinies of the church, namely, the protection which an 
 emperor, Constantino the Great, granted to the Christians, 
 and the position in which he placed Christianity, by sub- 
 stituting it for paganism, and declaring it to be the religion 
 of the state. Though certain advantages, such as liberty 
 of worship, and freedom from persecution, were gained for 
 the Christians by this event, yet it cannot be denied that 
 great evils followed in its train. 
 
 Favoured by the emperor, put in possession of the pagan 
 temples, and of the honours and credit formerly granted 
 to the priests of idolatry, and loaded with wealth, the 
 bishops were soon assailed by all the temptations of ambi- 
 tion, of the love of the world, and of power. Every func- 
 tionary of the church, treading in the same path, saw his 
 own consideration increased by the external advantages 
 thus held out, and, like his superiors, was eager to grasp 
 them. The distinction between the ecclesiastics and lay 
 members became more established. The dignitaries of the 
 church adopted a particular costume. Simplicity and 
 humility gave place to vanity, ambition, and pride, and 
 the ecclesiastical profession was entered by numbers for 
 the sake of the temporal advantages that were attached to 
 it.* 
 
 Another great evil, also, which resulted from the new 
 position in which the church was placed by the emperor's 
 protection, was this protection itself. For to accept a pro- 
 tector, is just so far to acknowledge dependence upon him.f 
 Men think they have obtained a stay and defence, and find 
 themselves oppressed by a yoke. The Christian church 
 soon perceived this to be the result. The emperors inter- 
 
 * To understand how the power of the episcopate estabhshed and settled 
 itself, and how such a hierarchy as that of the Roman Cathohc clnu'ch was 
 organized, we refer the reader to Beugnot and A. de Saint-Priest, who explain 
 in what way, after the jiatronage granted to the chm-ch by Constantine, the 
 patrician body by degi-ees usmiied the episcopate, thus confii-mmg its pre- 
 eminence in the chui'ch and in the state, and laying the foimdations of the 
 [Roman] Catholic hierarchy. (Vide Semem-, t. xiv.. No. 33, pp. 258—261.) 
 
 t Another most lamentable consequence of such protection is, that men are 
 impelled to uphold by carnal weapons what is to be propagated and defended 
 only by spiritual means, siich as the faith, etc. 
 
CHAlJfGES IX DOCTRINES, WORSHIP, ETC. 7 
 
 fered in the choice of the metropolitan bishops, seciu'ed 
 their submission, and on more than one occasion, by means 
 of their numerous dependents, influenced the decisions of 
 the councils. 
 
 In return for the advantages which the emperors derived 
 from the submission of the bishops of Eome, we find that 
 they supported the pretensions of the latter to pre-eminence 
 over all other bishops, and facilitated their success. Ev 
 their assistance, the bishops of Eome obtained a general 
 recognition of their title, and their claim to be the popes, 
 or fathers of Christendom. 
 
 The public services of the church, likewise, were affected 
 by this substitution of Christianity for paganism as the 
 state-religion. The worshippers of idols, who, yielding to 
 the force of events, made a profession of the gospel, brought 
 their superstitions with them into the chiu'ch. It was 
 thought necessary to make some concessions to them. 
 The temj)les were adorned ; recoiu'se was had to the mag- 
 nificence and pomp of the ancient rituals, both Jewish and 
 pagan, from which were borrowed emblems, images, statues, 
 vestments, altars, sacred vases, and ceremonies.^* 
 
 Upon every invasion of the barbarians, accessions were 
 made to the ritual. It was imagined that these rude and 
 ignorant tribes, the terror of the civilized world, and count- 
 less as the trees of the forest, could not be softened by the 
 simple preaching of the gospel, and that the only pacific 
 means of inducing them to receive it was the ceremonial 
 splendour of a pompous worship. 
 
 In this manner, under the influence of a complication of 
 causes, in a time of political troubles, which paralysed the 
 minds and the efforts of the truly pious, (always few in 
 number,) that idolatrous ritual which invaded the Latin 
 or Eoman church, established and developed itself, and has 
 been perpetuated to the present day. 
 
 The authority of the holy Scriptiu^es was weakened by 
 the intrusion of apocry][jhal books into the canon of inspired 
 A^T.itings ; by the increasing importance and value attached 
 to the opinions of the fathers, or ancient ecclesiastical 
 ^vriters ; by the pretensions of councils to fix the sense of 
 the sacred text in an exclusive manner ; and, lastly, by the 
 
 * The cross being adopted as a standard, quickly became an object of wor- 
 ship, as his banner was for the Roman soldier. 
 
8 HISTORY OF THE VATJDOIS CHURCH. 
 
 usurpation of spiritual power by the popes, in their pre- 
 tended quality of successors of St. Peter and St. Paul. 
 
 The foundations of the Christian faith having been dis- 
 turbed, the doctrines of the church underwent continual 
 modifications, and a ritual of man's devise supplanted the 
 ''worship of God in spirit and in truth." We shall not 
 enter into the history of these changes ; they have only an 
 indirect connexion with our narrative, that is, in conse- 
 quence of the resistance made to them by the faithful. 
 Eor enabling us to understand subsequent events, it will be 
 sufficient to recollect that the worship of images was gene- 
 rally introduced, and became an essential part of the 
 Pomish religion. The mass, originally designed to com- 
 memorate the sacrifice of the Saviour, gradually became 
 itself a pretended sacrifice, though an unbloody one, of the 
 body of Christ, for the remission of the sins both of the 
 living and the dead. Twenty popes, probably, have contri- 
 buted to form the canon of the mass, each one of them 
 devising some new forms, some additions to its ceremonial. 
 Having commenced so promising an undertaking, why 
 should they stop short? Th3y proceeded to invent pur- 
 gatory, indulgences, penances, vigils, fastings. Lent, dis- 
 pensations, auricular confession, extreme unction, absolu- 
 tion, and masses for the dead — all but so many means of 
 entangling souls, and holding them in a fatal security, as 
 well as of attracting to the church a tremendous authority 
 and boundless wealth. 
 
 Lastly, by the doctrine of the real presence of Jesus 
 Christ in the sacrament of the supper, and the adoration 
 of the host, the church fell back into idolatry. Composed 
 of the ruins of Jewish formalism, pagan superstitions, disfi- 
 gured fragments of the gospel, mixed with human specula- 
 tions and reveries, the Latin Catholic, apostolic, and Poman 
 church has for ten or twelve centuries been toiling to collect 
 together, arrange, amend, and settle this strange medley, 
 which she has decorated with the imposing title of one 
 and infallible. 
 
OPPOSITION IS MANIFESTED. 
 
 CHAPTEU III. 
 
 THE OPPOSITION WHICH THE NEW DOCTHINES AND CEREMONIES 
 ENCOUNTERED IN THE CHURCH. 
 
 The right patli of sound doctrine, the puiity and simplicity 
 of the " life hidden with Christ," were not abandoned by 
 the church without a long resistance from the sound part 
 of its members. AMio can recount all the eiforts made to 
 avert so great a calamity? A\Tio can tell all that was 
 attempted to prevent such a shipwreck — to arrest this sad 
 catastrophe? The documents which have come doAvn to 
 us on this subject are very few; and they have reached us 
 only through the medium of the dominant party. '^\'^e are 
 reduced to glean on the field the few ears which they have 
 failed to remove out of sight ; and often, it must be con- 
 fessed, we have foimd the ground totally bare where we 
 should have rejoiced to collect a sheaf. 
 
 Resistance to the encroachments of error of all kinds 
 often proceeded from the higher ranks of the church, but 
 more fiTquently from the inferior orders. It was organized 
 not only in the convocations of bishops, but also in the 
 common assemblies of Christians, in the hearts of simple 
 priests or humble la^Tnen. 
 
 ^ope Celestin i., writing to the bishops of Yienne and 
 ISTarbonne, in France, between a.d. 423 and 432, complains 
 of men having granted permission to foreign priests to 
 preach as they pleased, and to agitate '' unlearned ques- 
 tions,'" which introduced dissensions into the church.^' He 
 aifects not to specify the object of his complaints; yet, 
 from the conclusion^ of his letter, we learn that the point 
 in question relates to the saints, and that the i^reachers he 
 had in view were not favom^able to the eiTors in vogue on 
 that head. '^ Yet," said he, ''we ought not to be asto- 
 nished if they attempt such things towards the living, who 
 endeavour to destroy the memory of our brethren who are 
 
 * The snme pope, in a second letter to the same prelates, again denounces 
 other priests who have not been brought up in the church, who came from 
 some remote country -svith foreign manners, who understand the Scriptures 
 according to the letter, who preach novel doctrines, and refuse penance (no doubt 
 absolution) to the dying. (Delectus Actorum Ecclesise imiversahs, 1. 1. pp. 
 181, 182.) 
 
 B 3 
 
10 HISTORY OF THE VAUDOIS CHrECH. 
 
 now at rest." Prom this language we maj^ infer that tlie 
 Gallic chnrclies were not then favourable to images and the 
 invocation of saints, and that a considerable number of 
 priests courageously withstood the entrance of this false 
 doctrine.^' 
 
 About the same time, toward the end of the fourth cen- 
 tury, another fact, while it confirms what we have stated 
 respecting the Gallic churches, shows also that in Lombardy 
 there were believers who opposed the use of images, and 
 other novelties. Vigilantius, a well-infonned man, though 
 Jerome asserts the contrary, a native of Comminge, in 
 Aquitaine, had exercised the functions of a priest at Bar- 
 celona or its neighbourhood. During his travels in the 
 east, he fell in with St. Jerome. This celebrated recluse 
 in vain attempted to convince Yigilantius, and to bring him 
 over to his opinions respecting relics, saints, images, and 
 prayers addressed to them, tapers that were kept burning 
 at the tombs, j)ilgrimages, fasts, the celibacy of priests, a 
 solitary life, etc. Yigilantius remained immovable. On 
 his return, this opponent of the new doctrines appears to 
 have fixed himself in Lombardy, where he found a refuge, 
 probably in the vicinity of the Cottian Alps.f Jerome 
 himself gives us this information in one of his epistles to 
 Eiparius : ''I saw, a short time ago," he says, '^that mon- 
 ster Yigilantius. I would fain have bound this madman 
 by passages of holy writ, as Hippocrates advises to con- 
 fine maniacs ^^dth bonds; but he has departed — he has 
 withdrawn — he has hurried away — he has escaped; and 
 from the space between the Alps, where Cottus reigned, 
 and the waves of the Adriatic, his cries have reached me. 
 Oh infamous ! he has found, even among the bishops, 
 accomplices of his wickedness. ";]: 
 
 We see b}^ this passage, that the bishops of Lombardy 
 approved of Yigilantius, and joined him in opposing the 
 above mentioned errors. In Lombardy it would appear 
 that many churches had, more or less, preserved sound 
 doctrine. 
 
 The long and persevering resistance of one part of the 
 
 * Delectus Actorum, etc., t. i. pp. 177, 178. 
 
 t The Cottian Alps are to the north of Mount Viso, and among these the 
 Vaudois valleys are situated. 
 
 X Hieronymus ad Eiparium, contra Vigilantium, t. ii., p. 158, etc. 
 
EPISTLE OF ZACHART. 11 
 
 church to the encroachments of the errors of the Romish 
 chiu'ch, is unquestionable; for, at the close of the sixth 
 century, we find that Serenus, bishop of Marseilles, had 
 succeeded in banishing images fi'om his diocese. A\^e learn 
 this fact from a letter of pope Gregory the Great, who was 
 pope from a.d. 590 to 604: ''We have been apprised," 
 he says, " that, animated by an inconsiderate zeal, you have 
 broken in pieces the images of the saints, on the plea that 
 they ought not to be adored. In truth, we should have 
 entirely approved of your conduct, had you forhidden their 
 heing adored ; but we blame you for ha^-ing broken them 
 in pieces. . . . For it is one thing to adore a painting, 
 and another to learn by its history the proper object of 
 adoration."-'' 
 
 This letter shows, not only that the worship of images, 
 and consequently several other deviations from sound doc- 
 trine, had not yet entirely j)ervaded the chiux'h, but that 
 the pious popes hesitated to recommend them under their 
 most censurable form. 
 
 Towards the middle of the eighth century, the struggle 
 of the faithful against these errors still continued. AVe 
 see it carried on between the French prelates and Boniface, 
 the apostle of Germany. Claude Clement, Sidonius, Tir- 
 gilius, Samson, and Aldebert at theii' head, reproached 
 Boniface with jDropagating the following errors : — the 
 celibacy of the priests; the worship of relics; the adoration 
 of images ; the supremacy of the popes ; masses for the 
 dead; purgatory, etc. For this reason, Eoman Catholic 
 authors accuse them of heresy, and reproach Aldebert 
 especially, for condemning as useless the imposition of 
 hands, the sign of the cross, and other ceremonies afready 
 adopted at baptism. 
 
 The tenth epistle of pope Zachary to Boniface is so ex- 
 plicit on the existence, in the chiu-ch, of a strong opposition 
 to the encroachments of the Eomish ritual, aad of a different 
 and more evangelical worship, that we cannot forbear citing 
 it: — ''As for the priests," he says, "whom your fraternity 
 report to have foimd {who are more numerous than the 
 Catholics) wandering about, disguised under the name of 
 bishops or priests, not ordained by Catholic bishops, who 
 deceive the people, perplex and trouble the ministers of the 
 
 * Delectus Actorum, etc., t. i., p. 4nl3. 
 
12 HISTOEY OF THE YAUDOIS CHrECH. 
 
 church, they are false vagabonds, adulterers, murderers, 
 effeminate, sacrilegious h5q)ocrites, the greater j^art tonsured 
 slaves who have fled from their masters, servants ofthede^T.1 
 transformed into ministers of Christ, who live as they list, 
 being without bishops, having partisans to defend them 
 against the bishops, that they may not attack their irregular 
 lives, who meet in separate assemblies, with persons that 
 abet their proceedings, and exercise their erroneous minis- 
 try not in a Catholic church, but in strange places, in the 
 cellars of country-people, where their stupid folly may be 
 concealed from the bishops."^' 
 
 We do not think it necessary to clear the priests who are 
 here spoken of from the charges of adultery and murder, 
 sacrilege and hj^pocrisy. Every one knows that the writers 
 of the llomish church have never spared injurious epithets 
 and calumnies when their adversaries were concerned. It 
 is enough that we have ascertained, by the letter even of a 
 pope, the existence, in the eighth century, of priests and 
 Christians united in religious assemblies who were not in 
 subjection to the see of Rome. 
 
 jS^or must we omit to notice the vigorous opposition 
 that was made in the dominions of Charlemagne to the 
 decisions of the second council of Nice, a.d. 787, in favour 
 of the worship of images. These decisions, and others 
 also on the sign of the cross, were rejected by the council 
 of Frankfort, a.d. 794, in spite of the representations of 
 the pope's legates. The prelates of the second council of 
 jSTice having anathematized those who refused to worship 
 images, Charlemagne observed, that, ''in so doing, they had 
 anathematized and branded as heretics their o^vn fathers, 
 and as they had been consecrated by them, their consecra- 
 tion was null, and therefore they were not themselves true 
 priests."! 
 
 One of the most striking facts to illustrate the resistance 
 made by the faithful church to the introduction of those 
 errors of which Rome was the centre, is the episcopate of 
 Claude of Turin. It is a beacon which illumines the night 
 of those remote times, and reflects afar its brilliant and 
 beautiful light. By its brightness we discern in the dis- 
 tance the Yaudois valleys, where the sacred flame of the 
 
 * Sacro-sancta Concilia, studio Pli. Labbei, t. v., col. 1519. 
 t Dupin, Nouvelle BibUoth., etc., t. v., p. 148, 
 
NOTICE OF CLArDE. 13 
 
 gospel which Claude had revived and maintaiiied, continued 
 to pimiy the heart, when the humid mists of the Eoman 
 heresy had extinguished it in the ojDen country. 
 
 Claude,* at fii'st chaplain of Louis le Debonnaii'e, while 
 Charlemagne was still li"sdng, was nominated by Louis to 
 CU; the bishopric of Turin, about the year 822, under the pon- 
 tificate of Pascal I., who died May 13, 824, and adminis- 
 tered in that diocese till 839, the time of his death, as it is 
 believed. An eloquent preacher, and profoimdly conversant 
 with the Scriptures, he exercised an active and successful 
 ministry for seventeen years ; and what forms a most pro- 
 minent feature in his labours, he banished all images from 
 the basilicks [chiuThes]. Being censured b}' the abettors 
 of a worship unknown to the primitive chui'ch, he ^vrote 
 several books to refute his foreign opponents. These ^vritings 
 are lost, with the exception of the fragments which have 
 been preserved by his opponent, Jonas d' Orleans. Although 
 incomplete and perhaps mutilated, they form a splendid 
 testimony of the doctrine that was preached for seventeen 
 years in the same countries where we fijid it, at a later 
 period, professed by the Yaudois. The jDassages we are 
 about to cite will prove that Jonas d' Orleans did not make 
 too great a concession when he allowed that Claude had 
 some knowledge of the Holy Scriptures. 
 
 The work of Claude of Tui^in which Jonas d' Orleans, as 
 well as Dungal, has thus preserved for us, is entitled, 
 " Apologetic Eeply of Claude, Bishop, to the Abbot Theo- 
 demir." 
 
 " I have received," he says, "by a certain country car- 
 rier, {portitorem,) your epistle, full of prate and nonsense, 
 in which you declare that you have been troubled, because 
 a report has been spread to my discredit fi^om Italy thi'ough 
 all Gaul, and even as far as Spain, that I preach in order 
 to form a new sect, contrary to the rule of the Catholic 
 faith, which is totally false ; but it is not strange if the 
 members of Satan speak of me in this manner, since they 
 called our Lord a seducer and demoniac. For I, who 
 remain in the imity, (of the chiux-h,) and proclaim the 
 truth, aim at forming no new sect ; but, as far as lies in my 
 
 * Some account of Claude may be found in Maxima Biblioth., P. P., t. xvi., 
 p. 139, etc. He was a Spaniard and not a Scotchman, as was Claude Clement, 
 mentioned above [p. 11.]. 
 
14 HISTORY OP THE VAUDOIS CHTJECH. 
 
 power, I repress sects, schisms, superstitions, and heresies ; 
 I have combated, overthrown, and crushed them, and, by 
 God's assistance, I shall not cease to do so to the utmost. And 
 since, .contrary to my wishes, I have been charged with the 
 burden of a bishopric, and sent by the pious Louis, a son 
 of God's holy church, and have arrived in Italy, I have 
 found at Turin all the basilicks filled Avith execrable im- 
 purities and images, contrary to the commands of the truth 
 (of the gospel) ; and as I alone have overturned all these 
 things that others adore, it is against me alone that they 
 are embittered. Por this they have all opened their mouths 
 to calumniate me ; and if the Lord had not been on my 
 side, they would probably have devoured me alive. The 
 prohibition so clearly expressed, Thou shalt not make unto 
 thee the likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that 
 is in the earth beneath, etc., applies not only to the like- 
 nesses of strange gods, but also to those of celestial beings, 
 and whatever the human mind can invent in honour of the 
 Creator. 
 
 '' We do not pretend, say those against whom we defend 
 the church, that the image we adore has anything divine, 
 but we adore it with the respect due to that which it repre- 
 sents. To this we rejjly : if the images of the saints are 
 adored with a diabolical worship, my adversaries have not 
 abandoned idols, but only changed their names. If, then, 
 you draw or paint upon the walls the images of Peter, 
 Paul, Jupiter, Saturn, or Mercury, these are neither gods, 
 nor apostles, neither one nor the other are men ; the name 
 is changed; but the error remains and continues always 
 the same, inasmuch as they have an image of God deprived 
 of life and reason, instead of images and animals, or, which 
 is nearer the truth, instead of wood and of stone. 
 
 ''It deserves to be well considered, that if men ought 
 not to adore and serve the works of God's hands, there is 
 much stronger reason for not adoring or serving the works 
 of men's hands, not even with the adoration due to those 
 whom it is pretended they represent ; for if the image that 
 you adore is not God, you ought by no means to adore it 
 Avith the adoration offered to saints, Avho make no preten- 
 sions to divine honours. 
 
 "We ought, then, carefully to bear this in mind, that 
 all those who pay diAdne honours, not only to visible 
 
PASSAGES FKOil THE WRITINGS OF CLAUDE. 15 
 
 imaf^es, but to any creature, whether celestial or terrestrial, 
 spiritual or corporeal, and who expect from it the salvation 
 which conies from God alone, are of that class whom the 
 apostle describes as serving the creature more than the 
 Creator. 
 
 '* ^Miy do you humble and bow yourself before vain 
 images ? "Why bend your body before idols that are with- 
 out sense, terrestrial, and base? God has created you up- 
 right, and while the animals are prone toward the earth, he 
 would have you raise your eyes to heaven, and fix your 
 regards on the Lord. Thither you must look ; thither you 
 must lift uj) your eyes. It is on high that we must seek 
 after God, that we may learn to wean ourselves from earth. 
 Haise, then, your heart to heaven. ^Tiy prostrate yourself 
 in the dust of death with the insensible image that you 
 serve ? A\Tiy deliver yourself to the devil for it, and with 
 it ? Keep the elevation in which you were bom ; maintain 
 yourself such as God made you. 
 
 '' But let us hear what the miserable followers of false 
 religion and superstition say. It is in memory of our 
 Saviour that we serve, honour, and adore the cross either 
 painted or erected to his honour. jSTothing, then, pleases 
 them in our Sa^-iour but that which pleased the impious, 
 the opprobrium of his sufferings, and the ignominy of his 
 death. They believe respecting him what the wicked 
 believe, both Jews and pagans, who reject his resurrection, 
 and only regard him as tortured, and who, in their heart, 
 always tliink of him in the agony of his suffering, ^vithout 
 thinking of what the apostle said, and without understand- 
 ing that expression, ' Though we have known Christ after 
 the flesh, yet now henceforth know we him no more,' after 
 that manner. 
 
 " Such persons must be told, that if they are disposed to 
 adore every piece of wood that is cut in the fonn of a cross, 
 because Christ was hung on the cross, that there are many 
 other things that had a connexion with Christ in the days 
 of his flesh, which are fitter objects of adoration. 
 
 " In fact, he remained scarcely six hours suspended on 
 the cross, while he passed nine months in the virgin's 
 womb ; let us, then, adore virgins, because a virgin gave 
 bii'th to Jesus Christ. Let us adore mangers, because soon 
 after his birth he was laid in a manger ; let us adore old 
 
16 HISTORY or THE YAUDOIS CHUECH. 
 
 swaddling clothes, because lie was wrapped in such. Let 
 us adore ships, because he often sailed in a ship ; he taught 
 multitudes out of a ship ; he slept in a ship ; and was in a 
 ship when he ordered his discijiles to cast out the net in 
 which the miraculous draught of fishes was caught. Let 
 us adore asses, because he entered Jerusalem mounted on 
 an ass. Let us adore lambs, because it is written of him, 
 * Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of 
 the world.' But these abettors of unsound doctrine prefer 
 eating the living lambs, and adore those painted upon walls. 
 Let us adore lions, for it is written of him, ' The Lion of 
 the tribe of Juda, the Root of David, hath prevailed.' Let 
 us adore rocks, since, after being taken down from the 
 cross, he was placed in a sepulchre hewn out of a rock ; 
 and the apostle says of him, ' That rock was Christ.' But 
 Clirist is called a rock, a lamb, a lion, figuratively, and not 
 in a literal sense. Let us adore the thorns of the bramble, 
 because a crown of thorns was placed on his head, during 
 his passion. Let us adore reeds, because they furnished 
 the soldiers with an instrument for striking him. Lastly ; 
 let us adore spears, because one of the soldiers pierced his 
 side with a spear, and out of it there came blood and 
 water. 
 
 ''AH this is ridiculous; and we would much rather 
 lament it, than write it. But we are obliged to answer 
 fools according to their folly, and to hurl against hearts of 
 stone, not the darts or maxims of the word, but missiles of 
 stone. Be converted, ye prevaricators, who have with- 
 drawn yourselves from the truth, and who love vanity, and 
 have become vain ; Avho crucify the Son of God afresh, and 
 expose him to open shame ; who have thus led a multitude 
 of souls to become associates of demons, and who, turning 
 them away from their Creator, by means of your detestable, 
 sacrilegious images, have cast them down, and precipitated 
 them into eternal damnation. 
 
 '' God commands one thing, and these jDeople do another. 
 God commands to bear the cross, not to adore it. These 
 persons would adore it, while they bear it neither cor- 
 poreally nor spiritually. To serve God in this manner is 
 to forsake him. He has said himself, ' Whosoever will 
 come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, 
 and follow me ;' doubtless because he who docs not renounce 
 
PASSAGES FE0:M THE WKITIXGS OF CLArDE. 17 
 
 himself, does not approach to Him who is above him, and 
 he cannot seize that which passes by him, if he has not 
 learned in good time to distinguish it. 
 
 " But as to your saying, that I prevent men from going 
 en pilgrimage to Rome, in order to do penance there, you 
 accuse me falsely. For I do not approve [nor disapprove]^- 
 of that journey, because I know that it does not injure all, 
 nor profit all.^ I wish, in the first place, that you would 
 ask yourself, if you acknowledge that to go to Eome is 
 doing penance, why, for so long a time, have you danmed 
 so many souls whom you have kept in your monastery, and 
 have even received to do penance there, obliging them to 
 serve you, instead of sending them to Rome ? You say, in 
 fact, that you have a huncbed and forty monks, that have 
 all come to you to do penance, who have devoted them- 
 selves to the^ monastery, and not one of whom have you 
 allowed to go to Rome. If it be so, that men must go to 
 Rome to do penance, and yet you have prevented them, 
 what will you say to this declaration of the Lord, ' AYhoso 
 shall ofi'end one of these little ones which believe in me, it 
 were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his 
 neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea.' 
 There can be no greater ofi'ence than to hinder a man from 
 following a road that may conduct him to eternal happiness. 
 
 " We well know that this sentence of the gospel is very 
 ill understood : ' Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I vdll 
 build my chiuxh ; . . . and I will give unto thee the keys 
 of the kingdom of heaven.' On account of these words of 
 the Lord, an ignorant multitude, neglecting all spiritual 
 understanding, persist in betaking themselves to Rome, in 
 order to obtain eternal life. He who properly understands 
 the keys of the kingdom of heaven, does not seek for the 
 local intercession of St. Peter. In fact, if we examine the 
 force of our Lord's words, he did not say to St. Peter alone, 
 ' AMiatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in 
 heaven, and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be 
 loosed in heaven.' In truth, this ministry belongs to_ aU the 
 true inspectors and pastors of the church, who exercise it as 
 long as they are in tliis world ; and when they have paid the 
 debt of death, others succeed in theii- place, and enjoy the 
 
 * [Nee approbo, nee improbo.— Gieseler, vol. ii., § 1, p. 102, 4tli ed. ; Band. 
 ii.j Abtheilimg i.] 
 
18 HISTOKY OF THE VATJDOIS CHUECH. 
 
 same authority and power. You may add the example of 
 David, ' Instead of thy fathers shall be thy childi-en, whom 
 thou mayest make princes in all the earth.' 
 
 " Return, blind mortals, to your light ! Return to Him 
 who ' lighteth every man that cometh into the world.' This 
 ' light shineth in darkness, and the darkness comprehended 
 it not.'^' Hearken every one of you, who, not seeing or not 
 regarding the light, walk in darkness, and know not whither 
 you go, because that darkness has blinded your eyes ; foolish 
 men ! who, by going to Rome, seek the intercession of the 
 apostle, hear what St. Augustine says, in his ninth book on 
 the Trinity. Come with me and consider why Ave love the 
 apostle. Is it on account of his human countenance, which 
 we well know ? Is it because we believe that he was a 
 man ? ]^o, certainly ; for then we should no longer have 
 anything to love, since the man exists no longer ; his soul 
 has quitted his body. But we believe that what we loved 
 in him still lives. If the believer must believe God when 
 he promises, how much more when he swears and says, 
 ' Though Noah, Daniel, and Job were in ' that town ; that is 
 to say, if the saints whom you invoke were filled with a 
 sanctity, a merit, and a righteousness as great as what 
 those persons possessed, they should ' deliver neither son 
 nor daughter.' And for this purpose he has declared it, 
 namely, that no one may put confidence in either the 
 merits or the intercession of saints ; since if he himself does 
 not persevere in the faith, in the righteousness, and in the 
 truth, in which they persevered, and by which they pleased 
 God, he cannot be saved. As for you who seek the inter- 
 cession of the apostle by a pilgrimage to Rome, hear what 
 St. Augustine, so often quoted, f says against you. Hear 
 this, ye perverse people ; fools as ye are ; take warning 
 once more : ' He that planted the ear, shall he not hear ? 
 He that formed the eye, shall he not see ? He that 
 chastiseth the heathen, ... he that teacheth man know- 
 ledge, shall not he know ?' 
 
 "The fifth thing with which you reproach me is, that 
 you are displeased because his apostolic lordship [dominus 
 
 * This passage reminds us of the device on the escutcheon of the Vaudois 
 and their lords, a lamj) hghted in the dark, with these words, — Lux lucet in 
 tenehris : " The hght shineth in darkness." 
 
 t This expression, " so often quoted," seems to indicate that the quotation 
 from Claude, in Jonas d' Orleans, is incomplete. 
 
CHAEACTEH OF CLAUDe's MINISTRY. 19 
 
 aposfolicus) Tras exasperated against me, (tliiis yon speak 
 of the deceased bishop of Rome, Pascal,) and that he had 
 honoured me with my appointment. Bnt since the term 
 apostolic in some degree means the gnardian of an apostle, 
 ha certainlj* is not to be called apostolic who merely occu- 
 pies the apostle's seat, but he who fuiiiis the functions of 
 the apostle. As for those who occupy that seat without 
 fulfilling its duties, the Lord has said, ' The scribes and the 
 pharisees sit in Moses' seat : all therefore whatsoever they 
 bid you observe, that observe and do ; but do not ye after 
 their works ; for they say, and do not,' "'^'' Matt, xxiii. 2, 3. 
 
 This letter, if read attentively, clearly shows the Chris- 
 tian and eminenth' evangelical character of Claude. We 
 here see that the source whence he derived his courage and 
 fidelity was the word of God ; and we may conclude, from 
 the continual use made of the Scriptures in his writings, 
 that he preachedf and circulated them in his diocese ; that 
 he must have given a fresh impulse to the study of holy 
 writ, prompted the ministers of religion to teach nothing 
 but what it contained, and conducted the sheep that were 
 entrusted to his care to the one heavenly Shepherd who 
 could feed them, and save them for ever. 
 
 It is easy to imagine the immense influence which such 
 a man must have exerted during an episcopate of seven- 
 teen years. And even if persons could succeed in proving, 
 which is not possible, that his work was isolated, without 
 antecedent preparatory circumstances, and without any 
 remarkable ulterior consequences ; — if it could be shown 
 that the bishops who followed him all laboured to destroy 
 it, it would not be less certain that it once existed ; and the 
 possibility, or rather the probability, will remain, that it 
 was perpetuated after him in many hearts, in some parts, 
 at least, of his vast diocese ; in the valleys of the Yaudois 
 Alps, for example, which were less exposed than the open 
 country to the sudden irruption of the papal authority. 
 
 But this extravagant supposition of a ministration of an 
 unusual character, is untrue and untenable. Claude was no 
 innovator. His work was not isolated. All the accounts 
 we have given of the resistance of the faithful church prove 
 
 * Maxima Biblioth., P. P., t. x\d., col. 139—169, etc. 
 
 t In doing so, he conformed to ttie decision of tlie council of Frankfort, a.d. 
 794*, as any one may be convinced by a reference to its acts 
 
20 HISTORY OP THE VAUDOIS CHTJECH. 
 
 this. It was in the same, or the neighbouring countries, 
 that Yigilantius had found a refuge among bishops who 
 professed, like himself, a doctrine opposed to the worship 
 of images and saints, to ceremonies at tombs, to pilgrim- 
 ages, to fasts, to the celibacy of priests, and to a monastic 
 life. Let us not forget that Serenus, on the other side of 
 the Alps, at the beginning of the seventh century, accom- 
 plished a work similar to that of Claude, in the diocese of 
 Marseilles ; that in the eighth century many French prelates 
 opposed the introduction of the same errors, and the altera- 
 tions in doctrine that Boniface preached. And, lastly, it 
 is to be remembered that the majority of the bishops in 
 the wide domains of Charlemagne, of which Turin and 
 Piedmont formed a part, resisted in the council of Frank- 
 for (a.d. 794) the solicitations, prayers and orders of 
 the pope's legates, and rejected the same worship of images 
 which Claude banished from his diocese.-'' 
 
 ]^o ; the labours of the pious bishop were not isolated. 
 At that very time, the conflict against the errors of Rome 
 was vigorously carried on in diiferent countries ; and if the par- 
 tisans of the worship of images had sometimes the victory, 
 as it appears they had under the episcopate of Claude's pre- 
 decessor, it was soon disputed, and often reversed. Father 
 Pagi himself, in his " Chronological and Critical Abridg- 
 ment of History," citing Dionysius of Padua, after having 
 made some rather curious acknowledgments respecting the 
 introduction of images, f and the pretended motives which 
 justified it in the eyes of Poman Catholics, confesses, " that 
 it is by no means proved that this (the introduction of 
 images) prevailed in all places, nor in the same manner ; 
 but it was effected in one place sooner, in another later, 
 according to the ability and disposition of the people, and 
 according as those who directed them judged it seasonable ;" 
 — {expedire judicahant. ) \ 
 
 * It is worthy of notice, that Agobard, archbishop of Lyon, shared entirely 
 in the views ofhis contemporary Claude, as liis wiitings assert. (Vide Maxima 
 BibUoth., P. P., t. xvi., col. 241, etc.) 
 
 t He acknowledges " that in the first ages of Christianity the nse of sacred 
 images was not frequent," (he ought to have said, "was not known;") he adds, 
 " that the motive or reason for then- introduction was that they were regarded 
 as a means of edification, and of spreading Christianity ; that their adoption 
 was reasonable when the superstitious regard for idols, formerly concealed in 
 the heart, was no longer to be feared." Not a word of the proliibition con- 
 tained in the word of God against it. 
 
 + Breviarium historico-chronologicum, etc. R. P. Pagi, t. i., P. 521—524, 
 §.22. 
 
COXSIDEEATIOIN^S IX SUPPORT OF CLAUDe's MINISTRY. 21 
 
 But the very words of Claude, in Ms letter to the abbot 
 Theodeniii', show us most clearly that the bishop of Turin 
 merely carried on a work that had been already begun : '' I 
 do not teach a new sect," he writes ; ^' I, who remam in the 
 unity [of the chiu'ch], and proclaim the truth. But, as far 
 as it depends on me, I have suppressed sects, schisms, 
 superstitions and heresies ; I have combated, crushed, and 
 overturned them; and, by God's help, I will not cease to 
 overturn them to the utmost of my power." ^lio does 
 not see, that in opposing the worsliip of images within his 
 diocese, Claude believed that he remained in the unity of 
 the church ; that he was defending the truth— the ti'uth 
 that was still known and revered ? Who does not see, that 
 in reforming abuses that were already inti-oduced, Claude 
 wished to repress a sect, gaining ground, perhaps, but still 
 a sect, to combat schism,— to ariTst superstition and heresy ? 
 The strong language that Claude employs to designate 
 the partisans of image-worship, and the energy of his 
 remonstrances, show us a man who rather attacks his 
 enemy than defends Hmself ; so well guarded did he feel 
 himself to be from danger by the mere strength of his posi- 
 tion. The contempt with which he speaks of the preten- 
 sions of Rome, and of the pope himself, ^^ whom he compares 
 to the scribes and pharisees sitting in Moses' seat, is an 
 index not only of his corn-age, but of his power. 
 
 Lastly; what completes the demonstration that the 
 laboui's of Claude were not those of an isolated innovator, 
 without predecessors in the diocese itself, or beyond it, is, 
 his complete success. The images were taken from all the 
 basilicks, to the great annoyance, it is true, of those who 
 exhibited them ; but without any serious opposition being 
 raised from any quarter. It would even appear, that as he 
 speaks only of their expulsion from the basilicks, the 
 worship of images had not reached the country places, but 
 only Turin, and perhaps the larger cities in the diocese. 
 It is obvious, that a work accomplished with scarcely any 
 opposition, in a wide tract of coimtry, supposes the mass of 
 the clergy and the church to be in its favoui' ; and if we 
 recoUect that Claude fiUed the bishopric for at least fifteen 
 years, we must be convinced that his zeal and fidelity, 
 
 * It may be inferred that the title of Fope was not then prevalent, or Claude 
 would not have failed to make some aUusion to it. 
 
22 HISTOET OF THE VAUDOIS CHTJECH. 
 
 seconded by an intelligent and devoted clergj^, by the love 
 of the believers and the conscience of the people, mnst have 
 given an impnlse to the cause of sound doctrine and the 
 Christian life, which could not be checked all at once. 
 
 It may not be uninteresting to add to the foregoing the 
 testimony of a modern Piedmontcse author: " Be that as 
 it may," he tells us, ''this bishop of Turin, a man of 
 eloquence and austere manners, had a great number of 
 partisans. These persons, anathematized by the pope, and 
 persecuted by the lay princes, were chased from the open 
 country, and forced to take refuge in the mountains, where 
 they have kept their ground from that time, always checked, 
 but always endeavouring to extend themselves."^' 
 
 CHAPTER lY. 
 
 VESTIGES OF THE FAITHFUL CHURCH IN THE TENTH AND 
 ELEVENTH CENTUEIES. 
 
 The episcopate of Claude of Turin seems, at the first 
 glance, to be the last striking instance of the opposition of 
 the sound part of the Christian church to the encroachments 
 of the errors that were propagated in the west. In fact, 
 from Claude of Turin to the writings of the Yaudois, that 
 is to say, from the first half of the ninth century to the 
 commencement of the twelfth, the history of the faithful 
 church offers but few prominent and well-ascertained facts ; 
 yet it is not entirely destitute of them. Intelligent study 
 and conscientious investigation bring to light scattered facts 
 which at first seem like traces half effaced, but in which 
 we soon recognise the vestiges of a church oppressed but 
 always militant. These facts, impressed on the course of 
 the world, at unequal intervals, and often in different 
 places, converge towards a centre, and lead us back to 
 countries in which we shall shortly find an evangelical 
 church, exhibiting a mature Christian life, according to the 
 doctrine of the apostles. 
 
 It is here necessary to take a survey of this epoch. 
 
 The end of the ninth, the whole of the tenth and eleventh 
 
 * M^moires Historiques, par le marquis Costa de Beauregard, t. ii., p. 50. 
 
THE CLEEGY. 23 
 
 centuries, \rere times of incessant trouble ; an epoch when 
 a new social system, was gradually rising on the ruins of 
 the old, which had been overtiu^ned by a succession of 
 calamities. The invasions of the Goths, Franks, Lombards, 
 and all the ferocious hordes of the north, designated by the 
 general name of barbarians, had been checked. The "vic- 
 torious sword of Charlemagne had diiven them back to the 
 frontiers. But the efforts of this great prince to reconsti- 
 tute society on a solid basis, had only a momentary success. 
 On his decease, interminable wars began afresh, under his 
 sons and their successors, between the old and new popula- 
 tion of his vast empire. The maritime invasions of the 
 !N^ormans and the Saracens aggravated the general con- 
 fusion. The elements of ancient civilization, though feeble 
 and exhausted, still combated against the vigorous elements 
 of the turbulent and savage life of the barbarians. 
 
 From this chaos a new social system arose, or rather 
 society reconstructed itself in a new form, the feudal 
 system. On all sides, society, after being shattered in 
 pieces, was forming itself anew in a multitude of small, 
 obscure, isolated, rival societies, obejing their chiefs, the 
 lords of the soil, who were linked to one another by the 
 complicated relations of suzerain and vassal. 
 
 In the conflict of aims which marked these times, the 
 clergy were not forgetful of their temporal interests. The 
 bishops and abbots also sought to emancipate themselves 
 fi'om the civil power. They desired to combine with their 
 spii'itual authority the civil juiisdiction over the cities and 
 rural districts of their dioceses and parishes. In a word, 
 they claimed the power, the rank, and the honours of lords, 
 counts, and princes of the empii-e ; and they gained their 
 object. 
 
 But it will be easily comprehended that such ambitious 
 projects impelled the clergy to a life of worldly agitation, 
 military enterprises, intrigues, and passions, which diverted 
 their attention fi'om the duties of piety, and of meditation 
 on the truths of rehgion. The superior clergy aspired only 
 to power, riches, and pleasiu-e. All their thoughts were 
 bent on their proud pretensions, on luxury and worldliness. 
 The inferior clergy, in their turn, became lax, and did not 
 always preserve even a decent exterior. They were sunk, 
 moreover, in the grossest ignorance. The monks, especially. 
 
24 HISTORY OF THE VAUDOIS CHTJECH. 
 
 became the instruments of knavery, and the encouragers of 
 debauchery. The light of the gospel was hid under a 
 bushel. Ileligion, akeady deteriorated by the controversj^ 
 respecting images and the worship of saints, became conti- 
 nually more obscure, and Avas at last reduced to gross 
 superstition. In the tenth century these evils were at their 
 height, so that it has justly been styled the iron age. 
 
 During the Avhole of this period Rome was a prey to 
 anarchy ; di\T.sion paralysed its force and activity. History 
 shows us that the parties which existed in that city con- 
 tended for the papal throne. The popes who were chosen 
 spent their lives in defending their nomination, in com- 
 bating their antagonists, and in strengthening their own 
 party. But taking advantage of some favourable juncture, 
 the vanquished party regained the ascendancy, chose a new 
 pope, and deposed the old one, who often was imprisoned 
 and put to death. The majority of the popes in these 
 times were undeserving of any respect ; some were absolute 
 monsters. Scandalous proceedings of the same kind dis- 
 turbed most of the dioceses. 
 
 The eleventh century resembled the preceding in its 
 general features. The same spiiit of insubordination and 
 corruption, of ambition, voluptuousness, and luxury in the 
 superior clergy, prevailed ; •'' the same relaxation of manners, 
 the same grossness in the inferior clergy and the convents ; 
 among all classes an ignorance almost beyond belief. 
 
 Nevertheless, some laudable efforts were made. Schools 
 began to flourish about the year 1050 in Italy. Literature 
 reappeared in France, after the example of Spain. The 
 tendency of Rome, in this age, was to regain the ground it 
 had lost in the preceding, and to bring under the papal 
 authority not only the ecclesiastical power, the bishops and 
 abbots, and even councils, but the political power likewise, 
 kings and emperors. It is not oiu* present business to trace 
 the history of those encroachments which began to be made, 
 in the ninth century, upon the Carlo\T.ngian race, and were 
 carried to the greatest lengths in the eleventh century, by 
 Hildebrand, against the unfortunate Henry iv., emperor of 
 Germany : it is sufficient to state, that during the eleventh 
 century, as was the case during the preceding and the end 
 
 * It was about tliis time that councils had to fix the number of horses to be 
 used by j)relates on then- journeys. 
 
HATTO DI YEECELLI. 25 
 
 of the ninth, the attention of the heads of the Koniish 
 chiux'h was diverted from the scattered remnants of the 
 faithful church, preoccupied as they were with their own 
 temporal interests, and the dangers and advantages of their 
 position, while the whole social system was dissolving, and 
 about to be settled on a new basis. 
 
 It will not be thought strange, that during this imhappy 
 season of trouble and conflict, both political and ecclesias- 
 tical, when scarcely an individual in the Latin church en- 
 gaged in the conscientious search after evangelical truth, 
 the documents essential for a history of the struggle of the 
 faithfal church should be few and of very little service ; the 
 struggle itself having everywhere ceased, and the truth, 
 where it still existed, no longer being noticed or attacked, 
 on account of the general preoccupation of men's minds 
 with worldly interests. 
 
 Having made these preliminar}- remarks, we proceed to 
 examine the small number of documents known to us, which 
 serve as distant landmarks to point out the Yaudois of the 
 valleys of Piedmont, as successors and continuators of the 
 primitive and faithful chui'ch. 
 
 The reader will bear in mind all that has been said in the 
 preceding chapter. We have seen that in the diocese of 
 Turin, in a.d. 839, the year of the decease of its worthy 
 bishop, the gospel was preached and professed in its purity, 
 and with fideKty. 
 
 The existence of a number (greater or less) of Christians, 
 separated from Home, in the north of Italy, is clearly as- 
 certained by the epistles of Hatto, who, in the year 945, 
 held the diocese of Yercelli, situated between Turin and 
 Milan. The letters of this bishop have been preserved. 
 In some of them, he speaks of persons who had left the 
 church, and describes them as being in the neighbourhood 
 of his own diocese. The doctrinal and other points which 
 he specifies as separating them from the church of which 
 he was a bishop, appear to be those which were held by the 
 Yaudois. 
 
 These coincidences of place and doctrine are of great 
 interest : they draw oiu' attention to those districts where 
 Claude of Turin laboured as a faithful shepherd of Jesus 
 Christ, and confii^m the fact that the little lamp of truth, 
 once lighted in these parts, was never extinguished. 
 
 c 
 
26 HISTOEY OP THE VAUDOIS CHTJECH. 
 
 The very words of Hatto sufficiently indicate, that the 
 e^-il of which he complains was considerable, for he was 
 sensible of it within his ovm diocese. Listen to one of his 
 complaints: "Hatto to all the faithful of our diocese. 
 Alas! there are mani/ among you who turn our sacred 
 worship into ridicule ! Alas ! that these miserable offenders 
 have separated themselves from our holy mother chiu'ch 
 and the clergy, by whose means alone you can attain salva- 
 tion."-^ 
 
 This quotation proves, — 1. That these *' miserable of- 
 fenders," as the bishop of Yercelli was pleased to call the 
 remains of the faithful church, were separated from the 
 holy mother church, and the clergy of that church ; that 
 consequently their existence out »f that church was an ab- 
 solute fact, of which we must take note: 2. That the 
 effects of this existence of a Christian church, separate from 
 the pretended holy mother church, had been felt even within 
 the diocese of Vercelli ; and that the worship of saints, 
 which had abeady been in much repute, as well as other 
 vanities and errors, had received a check from that quarter ; 
 which shows that the light which shone in the darkness 
 was not so very faint. 
 
 A passage from an author of the eleventh century may 
 be considered as referring to the same subject. Pietro 
 Damiano, Avriting in a.d. 1050, to Adelaide, countess of 
 Savoy (of Susa properly) and duchess of the Subalpines,f 
 complains that the clergy in the domains of this princess 
 did not observe the ordinances of the church. J 
 
 The chronicle of the monastery of St. Thron, in Belgium, 
 written by the abbot Radulph, or Eodolph, between a.d. 
 1108 and 1136, contains a most important article. The 
 chronicler, speaking of a country which he was anxious to 
 visit when he should cross the Alps, on his way to Eome, 
 describes it as a country polluted by an inveterate heresy, 
 respecting the body of our Lord : " Moreover, he heard 
 that the land to which he had intended to travel was polluted 
 Avith an inveterate heresy respecting the body and blood of 
 the Lord."§ 
 
 * Dacherii Spicilegium, t. viii., p. 110, as quoted by Dr. Gilly. 
 t Piedmoiitese. 
 
 X Opera Damiani, p. 566 ; Gilly's Researches, p. 88; Memoires Hist, par le 
 marqms Costa cle Beaui-egard, I., p. iii. 
 § " Pra^terea terrain, ad quam ulterius disposuerat peregrinari, audiebat 
 
BRUNO d'asti. 27 
 
 Tliis passage is important, as marking the locality of the 
 heresy; it was a country {terram); and a country at the 
 passage of the Alj)s, on the way to Rome. 'No doubt the 
 designation is vague in one sense, but it is very precise in 
 another,-^ in characterizing it as being in the Alps, or at 
 the foot of the Alps ; a description wliich perfectly agrees 
 with the Yaudois valleys. But more especially, this 
 c-ountr}' is represented as '' polluted with an inveterate 
 heresy," {polliitam esse inveteratd hceresi.) This reproach 
 is of great importance for our object. It demonstrates that 
 tliis heresy was of ancient date, as having had its seat in 
 that country, from which it could not be expelled, for it 
 was inveterate [inveterata). It proves that the heresy in 
 this country was not confined to a few isolated individuals, 
 but existed among the people in general, since the whole 
 country was polluted {^"pollutani) with it. The point on 
 which the passage is less precise, is the doctrine which it 
 terms heretical. It seems to consider it as relating only to 
 the Lord's supper; but this would veiy properly mark the 
 church of the Vaudois, who, as we shall see in the sequel, 
 rejected the sacrifice of the mass. 
 
 Another testimony worthy of attention is taken from the 
 writings of a man born in the neighbourhood of the valleys, 
 namely, Bruno d'Asti, bishop of Segni, and abbot of Mont- 
 cassin, about the year 1120. ^Tiat he says relates not 
 only to a disgraceful traffic in sacred things — to simony, but 
 to the general corruption of the church in his time, and 
 especially to the existence of the active promoters of a 
 more Christian life ; in other words, the existence of a 
 faithful church. We translate the passage : " "We have 
 said," Bruno remarks, ''that from the time of St. Leo, 
 about A.D. 460, the church was already so corrupted, that 
 it was difficult to find an individual not guilty of simony, 
 or who had not been ordained by simoniacs ; also up to 
 the present day we meet with persons who, by erroneous 
 reasoning, and not understanding the organization of the 
 chiu-ch, maintain that the priesthood has failed in the 
 church since that time."f 
 
 pollutam esse inveterata hseresi de corpora et sanguine Domini." Spicnegimn 
 Dacherii, t. \'ii., p. -493; GUly, p. 88. 
 
 * That is, to every one wlio knows that it is necessary to cross the Alps ia 
 taking siich a iomTiev. 
 
 t :\Ia,xima Biblioth., P. P., t. xx., col. 1734. 
 
 C 2 
 
28 HISTOEY or THE YAUDOIS CHUECH. 
 
 Bruno d'Asti has not named the Yaudois, but he has 
 marked them with sufficient exactness ; for while he con- 
 founds the pope St. Leo with another more ancient Leo, he 
 quotes a claim formally set forth in the writings of the 
 Yaudois, and repeated in those of their opponents; and 
 he seems to allude to one of their best-established 
 traditions, namely, that according to which the Yaudois 
 trace back their belief to Leo, an associate and contemporary 
 of Sjdvester, bishop of Eome in the time of the emperor 
 Constantine, as we shall see further on. 
 
 These expressions of a man who was born in the neigh- 
 boui'hood of the Yaudois valleys, which he uses while 
 attempting to refute an opinion that still had currency 
 among them conformably to their tradition, will doubtless 
 carrj^ great weight with all reflective persons. 
 
 These various facts forcibly demonstrate the existence, in 
 the tenth and eleventh centuries, of a church distinct from 
 the Roman, in the north of Italy, 
 
 To these ancient testimonies we shall add that of a 
 modern author, the marquis Costa de Beauregard. Tliis 
 testimony is of so much greater importance, because M. 
 Costa, as a Catholic, cannot be suspected of favouring the 
 cause of the Yaudois, and as a Savoyard of noble birth, a 
 friend of historical inquiiies, and an author occupied on 
 the history of his native country, he has had the oppor- 
 tunity of consulting all the documents in the archives. He 
 expresses himself as follows : ''To fill up the measure of 
 these evils, they fought with one another on account of 
 religious opinions ; and carried on their controversies while 
 surrounded by depravity and the grossest ignorance. 
 Arianism was widely spread through Savoy, and Mani- 
 clieism in Piedmont."^' In the tenth century, we see a 
 count of Turin and a bishop of Asti joining in arms to 
 exterminate the Manicheans who were assembled in the 
 Langhes, pursuing them Avith fire and sword, and com- 
 mitting them and their villages to the flames. 
 
 '' The sectaries who took in France the name of Albi- 
 genses, were called in Italy Pater ini, Cathari, or Gazari, 
 names equivalent to that of Puritans . They afterwards j oined 
 themselves to the religionists in the valleys of Pinerolo. 
 
 * In the following chapter we shall state our opinion respecting the Mani- 
 cheans of that period. 
 
ATTEiEPTS TO PEOPAGATE PUKE DOCTEIXE. 29 
 
 ''There exists also a chronicle of Era-Dolcino, a heretic 
 of the eleventh centuiy, containing some notices of the 
 Manicheism of which he was an ardent propagator in 
 Biella, ]S^ovarra, and Yercelli, and the dogmas of which 
 are in part still held by the Protestants in the valleys of 
 Pinerolo."* 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 THE EELIGIOrS ilAXIFESTATIOXS OF THE ELEVENTH CEXTTJET. 
 
 "We mnst now adduce certain facts that occurred in the 
 eleventh centiuy, which indicate an unquestionable re- 
 ligious activity in the propagation of sound evangelical 
 doctrines. Before enumerating such as have come to our 
 knowledge, it will be proper to remind our readers that 
 eveiy manifestation has an origin, and every event its 
 cause ; that, consequently, the religious manifestations of 
 the eleventh centiuy, like those of succeeding ages, so re- 
 markable for their evangelical character, also had theirs. 
 
 "Without doubt, the word of God read and meditated 
 upon, in different places, by sincere, humble, and believing 
 men, was able to produce, in these times of darkness, effects 
 analogous to those which it produced at a later period in 
 the hearts and lives of a Luther, a Lefe^TC, and a Zi^ingle ; 
 but if, in these religious manifestations of the eleventh cen- 
 tury, we find indications leading us to suppose or perceive 
 that many of them had their source and origin in the Alps 
 which separate Italy fi'om France, we shall have a new 
 proof of the continued existence of an evangelical, faithful 
 church in those countries. 
 
 Certainly, all the facts adduced will not have the same 
 force, or be equally con-v^incing ; but when united and taken 
 in connexion with what has been already said, they will 
 add strength to the precediag proofs. 
 
 It must also be recollected that these facts have come 
 down to us only in the writings of the adversaries of these 
 
 * Memoires Hist., par le marquis Costa de Beauregard, t. i. pp. 46, 47, pre- 
 face, pp. siii. and xiv. 
 
30 HTSTOET OF THE VAUDOIS CHTJRCH. 
 
 manifestations, throiigli the medium of men who have ill 
 understood them — who have often misrepresented them, 
 and who have suppressed what it was their interest to con- 
 ceal, in order to extenuate the criminality of their own 
 degenerate and persecuting church. 
 
 The following are some of these facts : — 
 
 In the year 1017 according to some, or 1022 according 
 to others, a religious manifestation attracted attention. 
 Persons distinguished by the regularity of their lives, their 
 knowledge, and their position in society, were accused of 
 heresy at Orleans. They were fourteen in number, in- 
 cluding a nun. The clergy were strongly represented, for 
 six of these people were canons of Sainte Croix; among 
 whom the names of three are preserved, Lisoius, Heribert, 
 and Etienne. One of them had been confessor to queen 
 Constance. It was stated that they had held their peculiar 
 views for some time, and that while remaining in outward 
 connexion with the church, they celebrated a religious 
 ser\'ice in private. It was agreed on all hands, that they 
 had been gained over to heresy by a female who came from 
 Italy. IIa\dng been tried by a synod assembled for the 
 piu'pose, they were condemned to the flames, because they 
 would not abjure or retract their pretended errors.^' 
 
 Pleury, a Catholic author, having spoken in detail of 
 these sectaries, adds, ^'The adherents to this sect, who 
 were found elsewhere, particularly at Toulouse, were 
 burned, as is testified by Ademar, a monli of Angouleme, 
 and a writer of that age." 
 
 The same Ademar, a contemporary of these pretended 
 heretics, expresses himself as follows : — ''These emissaries 
 of Antichrist were spread through difi'erent parts of the 
 west, and carefully concealed themselves, seducing as many 
 as they were able, both men and women. "f 
 
 In support of these facts. Usher, archbishop of Armagh, 
 in Ireland, in the seventeenth century, cites a passage from 
 the History of Aquitaine, by P. Pitherus, in these words : 
 '' All at once the Manicheans appeared in Aquitaine, (Gas- 
 cony,) seducing people of every class, and drawing them 
 away from truth into error .... so that they have turned 
 
 * Usserius, Gravissimse Qusestionis, pp. 279, 280. Histoire G^n^rale du 
 Langiiedoc, t. ii. pp. 155, 156. 
 t Fleury, Histoire Ecclesiastiqiie, t, xiii., p. 416, etc. 
 
MANIFESTATIONS AT CHALONS-SUE-MARNE. 31 
 
 aside many simple persons from the faith." After men- 
 tioning the heretics of Orleans, and Toulouse, he repeats 
 vhat ^ye have quoted fi^om Ademar."^' 
 
 JS^early at the same epoch, a.d. 1025, other sectaries 
 were discovered at Arras, at the northern extremity of 
 France, in Flanders. According to Dupin, a Catholic theo- 
 logian of the seventeenth century, it was reported to Gerard, 
 bishop of Cambray and Arras, but residing in the latter 
 city, that '^ some persons had come from Italy, who had 
 introduced a new heresy. They said that they were dis- 
 ciples of Candulph or Gandulph, who had instructed them 
 in the commandments of the gospel and the apostles ; add- 
 ing, that they received no other scriptures, but observed 
 these exactly." A synod was called. The accused parties 
 were not condenined to the stake, because they abjured 
 their new belief, and retiu-ned to the bosom of the church. f 
 
 Turin, also, had its heretics; in 1030, according to the 
 account of Pierre de Yaux-Cernay, cited by M. Charles 
 Victor Goguet, in the ''Dissertation on the Albigenses," 
 which he laid before the faculty of theology at Strasburg, 
 in 1840. 
 
 Eadulph Glaber, a wiiter of the eleventh century, tells 
 us that in the year 1028 a sect found their way into the 
 chateau of Monteforte, in the diocese of Asti, in Piedmont, 
 who re^vived pagan and Jewish rites, or rather those of the 
 Manicheans, according to Muratori. The bishop of Asti, 
 and his brother the marquis of Susa, in conjunction with 
 other prelates or lords of the province, had made many 
 attacks upon them without success. But Landolfo the 
 elder states that Eribert, or Aribert, archbishop of Milan, 
 happening to be at Tiuin, caused one of these heretics, 
 named Gerard, to be apprehended, and having learned 
 from him that he held Manichean doctrines, sent troops 
 against the chateau and took it. A lew of the heretics 
 abjured their tenets ; the rest were burned alive in the 
 Place du D6me.| 
 
 Other heretics were discovered in the diocese of Chalons- 
 sur-Mame, about the year 1046, as we see by a letter of 
 Eogerius n., bishop of Chalons, to Wazo, bishop of Liege. 
 
 * Usserius, etc. p. 279. 
 
 t Dupin, Nouvelle Biblioth., t. viii., pt. ii., p. 127. 
 
 j Bossi, Stx)ria d'ltalia, t. xiv., p. 187, etc. 
 
32 HISTORY OF THE VAUDOIS CHURCH. 
 
 He accuses them of following the perverse doctrine of the 
 Manicheans, and of holding secret conventicles. He asserts 
 that if rude and ignorant men joined this sect they very soon 
 became able to speak better than well-educated Catholics, 
 so that their unpremeditated talk seemed superior to the 
 true eloquence of philosophers. He also remarks, that 
 heretics might be known by their pallid countenances. "^ 
 
 In the synod assembled at Rheims, in 1049, under pope 
 Leo IX., the new heretics who had made their appearance 
 in Gaul were excommunicated. 
 
 Radulph Ardens also mentions that Manichean heretics 
 polluted the territory of Agen, about the end of the eleventh 
 century, but he leaves us in ignorance of the characteristics 
 and circumstances of this religious manifestation.! 
 
 We might specify some other religious movements ; for 
 example, that which took place at Goslar, in Germany, in 
 1052, in consequence of which the emperor Henry iv., 
 who was visiting that city during the Christmas holidays, 
 caused those who were convicted of heresy to be appre- 
 hended, for the purpose, he said, of striking terror, and 
 preventing others from falliiig into the same errors. But 
 it is suflicient for our present purpose to have cited the 
 foregoing facts.;]: 
 
 It would be desirable to know exactly the doctrines pro- 
 fessed by these men whom the church of those times 
 branded with the name of heretics, and put to an ignomi- 
 nious death. They would throw much light on the ques- 
 tion which now occupies us, that is, the spiritual relationship 
 which possibly existed between the religious manifestations 
 we have been detailing, and the Christians in the north 
 of Italy, in the mountains of the diocese of Turin, who 
 have been already mentioned, and will come again under 
 our notice. Contemporary authors, it is true, have at- 
 tempted to give an account of the tenets of these heretics; 
 but judging of those times even by our own, and looking 
 at the manner in which the Eomish church speaks of the 
 reformers of the sixteenth century, and of their lives and doc- 
 trines, though the Protestant churches were then existing, 
 and consequently at hand to correct distorted facts, what 
 
 * Recneil des Historiens des Gaiiles, t. xi., p. 11, by Anselm. 
 t Usserius, etc., p. 281. 
 
 t Centariat. Magdeb., Cent, si., col. 246. Recueil des Historiens des Gaules, 
 t. xi., p. 20. 
 
ABSURD ACCUSATIONS EEFUTET). 33 
 
 can be expected from these same partisans of Eomish' 
 errors, when they report to us the tenets and lives of 
 martp's who have had no one to defend their memoiy, and 
 to protest against the unjust censures with which they 
 have been branded ? Did they understand the proper cha- 
 racter of those manifestations ? "W^ill they initiate us into 
 the real faith and practice of their victims ? On these points 
 we are very sceptical. 
 
 Let the reader judge for himself, from a fragment which 
 is communicated by a Catholic writer of integrity — Fleury. 
 He quotes a contemporary of the heretics of Orleans, and 
 other sectaries of that age, all of whom he terms ]Mani- 
 cheans : '' These persons," he says, '' assemble on certain 
 nights in a specified house, each one with a lamp in his 
 hand, and recite the names of demons in the form of a litany, 
 till, all at once, they see a demon descend in the shape 
 of a small animal. Immediately all the lights are put 
 out, which is the signal for general debauchery with the 
 females present : one of the ofi'spring of this intercourse, 
 when eight days old, is brought into the midst of their 
 assembly, thrown into a large fire, and burned to a cinder. 
 They collect these ashes, and preserve them with as much 
 veneration as Christians preserve the body of Jesus Christ, 
 as the viaticum [last sacrament] for the sick. Such was 
 the magical wtue of these ashes that it was almost impos- 
 sible to convert any one who had swallowed the smallest 
 particle of them." 
 
 '' This story," adds Fleury, ''is so similar to the calum- 
 nies cast on the primitive Chiistians, that it seems a mere 
 imitation ; and yet, such is the accoimt given by a contem- 
 porary author. Another writer says that they carried with 
 them the powder of dead infants, and if they could make 
 persons take any of it, they would directly become Mani- 
 cheans, like themselves."^'' 
 
 This acknowledgment of the Catholic historian, riemy, 
 will serve to show the want of correctness that must be 
 expected in documents which so grossly distort historical 
 truth. Can we credit a statement of the docti^ines at- 
 tributed to the parties by such ^Titers ? 'Ko ! this would 
 be to acquiesce in the calumny and injustice that have been 
 heaped on men who deserved to be better spoken of. They 
 
 * Fleury, Hist. Eccles., t. xiii., p. 416. 
 
 c 3 
 
34 HISTOEY OF THE YAUDOIS CHURCH. 
 
 were reproached with the name of Manicheans, but we do 
 not believe that they deserved it. The forcible expressions 
 and energetic language with which they described the 
 opposition made to God, and to the work of Christ by the 
 prince of darkness, the prince of this world, the prince of 
 the power of the air, Satan, the chief of the rebel angels, 
 who works in the children of disobedience, who goes about 
 as a roaring lion seeking to devour the children of God, 
 who attempts to seduce even the elect ; — yes ! this effort of 
 the pretended heretics to exhibit in strong colours the war 
 waged by the wicked one against the living and true God, 
 against our Lord and Saviour, may have been called Dualism 
 and Manicheism by men devoted to a material and idola- 
 trous worship of God, angels, and saints. So there are 
 men in our day who reject the doctrine of the existence of 
 Satan and his opposition to the work of Jesus Christ, 
 because they think that they see in it a denial of the power 
 of God, — Dualism and Manicheism ; and especially because 
 they do not believe, or do not know the word of God which 
 reveals this melancholy truth. 
 
 We believe, then, that these so-called heretics were friends 
 of the gospel, who, themselves illumined by the light that 
 was almost everywhere hid under a bushel, attempted to 
 replace it on a candlestick, but whose efforts were rendered 
 abortive by that thick darkness in which Europe was en- 
 veloped. The following are some fragments of their doctrine, 
 as given by a contemporary author, quoted by Fleury. Those 
 who are taught of God will here recognise the lessons of the 
 gospel in spite of the unfavourable form under which they are 
 presented to us : " They affirm that baptism does not wash 
 away sin ; that the body and blood of Jesus Christ are not 
 made by the consecration of the priest ; that it is useless to 
 pray to saints, whether martjn^s or confessors ; lastly, that 
 works of piety are a useless labour, from which no recom- 
 pense can be expected, and no punishment is to be feared 
 for the most criminal pleasures." '■•' 
 
 A fragment of a history of Aquitaine, published by 
 Pistorius and quoted by Usher, attributes the following- 
 errors to heretics in the time of king Robert and of pope 
 Benedict viii. : — " They deny baptism, the sign of the 
 holy cross, the church, and the Redeemer of the world 
 
 * Fleury : the same reference as before. 
 
SOTJUCES OF THIS EELIGIOUS MOVEMENT. 35 
 
 himself, the honour clue to the saints of God, lawful 
 marriages, and the use of meats." The heretics of Orleans, 
 Toulouse, and other places, are also called Manicheans in 
 this document.-'' 
 
 JS^atalis sums up the errors of the heretics of Arras in 
 these few words : '^ The heretics deny the mystery of holy 
 bajDtism, the sacraments of the eucharist, penance, holy 
 orders, and marriage. They admit of no worship to confes- 
 sors, no veneration for the Saviour's cross, the images of 
 saints, churches, and altars. They deny purgatory, and say 
 that Christian burial is of no advantage to the deceased."! 
 
 We find it also stated in Dupin, ''that they attach no 
 value to bells, nor to unction, nor to exorcism. "| 
 
 Eadulph Ardens, according to Usher, speaks thus of the 
 Manicheans of Agennois : '' They falsely pretend to follow 
 the lives of the apostles, saying that they may not lie, nor 
 swear at all."§ 
 
 It now remains to deduce some inferences from the fore- 
 going facts. 
 
 We follow the traces of the church that continued faith- 
 fid to evangelical doctrines. We seek for them in the dark 
 ages ; and we at once find religious manifestations, which, 
 although misrepresented by the reports of victorious adver- 
 saries, exhibit to our view an opposition to the superstitious 
 worship of a degenerate church, a return to evangelical 
 doctrines, a life of self-denial, charity, truth, and purity, to 
 the example of the apostles, whom they professed to take 
 as their models. Although stigmatized by prejudice, igno- 
 rance, and hatred, these religious movements appear to us 
 to be genuine. We believe that we discover among them, 
 imder the rubbish with which they have been covered, 
 sometliing more than materials for the fire, — ^hay, wood, 
 and stubble ; we catch a glimpse of gold, silver, and precious 
 stones, built upon the true foundation. 1 Cor. iii. 12. 
 
 If now we endeavour to ascend to the soui'ces of these 
 religious manifestations, we perceive that if some are indi- 
 genous, if they seem to have issued from the very soil over 
 which their subsequent course was directed, yet there are 
 other springs which must be traced up to the distant and 
 
 * TJsserius, etc., p. 279. 
 
 t R. P. Natalis Alexandri, etc., t. vii., p. 82. 
 
 t Dupin, Nouvelle Biblioth,, etc., t. viii., pp. 127, 128. 
 
 § Usserius, etc., p. 281. 
 
36 HISTORY OF THE YAT7D0IS CHURCH. 
 
 solitary valleys, where those gushing streams that afterwards 
 watered the plains, displayed their wild beauty under the 
 ancient shade of the lofty Alps, far away from the observa- 
 tion of the world. 
 
 'No doubt, God has preserved, in all places, in his church, 
 when invaded by error and idolatry, some faithful ones, who 
 have not wholly bowed the knee to Baal. Such in France, 
 in the eleventh century, was the illustrious Berenger, prin- 
 cipal of the school of Tours, of whom Teoduin, bishop of 
 Liege, speaks, in a letter addressed to king Henry : — " The 
 report," he writes, " is spread through Gaul and in all 
 Germany, that Bruno, bishop of Angers, and Berenger, of 
 Tours, have revived the ancient heresies, maintaining that 
 the Lord's body is not so much his body as the shadoAV 
 and figui'e of his body, destroying lawful marriages, and 
 abolishing, as far as lies in their power, the baptism of 
 infants. ""^^ 
 
 But there can be no doubt that the evangelical truth 
 which sought to manifest itself, was also conveyed to 
 diiferent places, by persons who were not natives of the 
 districts in which they propagated it. 
 
 In fact, this heresy, almost the same wherever it appeared, 
 is often ascribed to the seductions of numerous emissaries 
 of Antichrist, spread through different parts of the west, 
 active and insinuating men, who seduced the people imper- 
 ceptibly, etc. 
 
 On these data, we think it must be admitted that this 
 heresy, in many places where it existed, was the work of 
 special emissaries, or, to use the proper term, missionaries. 
 But we see by the writings of the Yaudois, which will be 
 fuU}^ noticed in the sequel, that the missionary work was 
 held in honour among them, and even engaged the special 
 attention of their synods, since a fund was set apart for 
 persons who were employed in such expeditions. This 
 fact, confirmed by various other testimonies of their adver- 
 saries, tends to support the position we are maintaining. 
 But more than this. Italy is pointed out, on two occasions, 
 as the native country of these abettors of heresy. We have 
 just seen it asserted, that the heretics of Orleans had been 
 won over to heresy by a woman from Italy ; and that the 
 movement in Arras was owing to the teachings of some 
 
 * Fleiiry, Hist. Eccl^s., etc., t. xii., p. 575. 
 
THE POWEK OF FAITH. 37 
 
 persons cIcToted to the study of the Scriptures, who also 
 came from Italy >' 
 
 It was then, not impossible, and, in our opinion, it is 
 probable, that the religious movement which took place in 
 the eleventh century, and was unjustly taxed vrith Mani- 
 cheism, was in a great measure a radiation of the light pre- 
 served in the diocese of Claude of Tmin, on the Italian side 
 of the Alps. We believe, therefore, that the religious 
 manifestations we have been mentioning, go to prove the pre- 
 servation of a faithful church in the bosom of the Italian 
 Alps. But we shaU shortly lay before our readers additional 
 and more conclusive evidence. 
 
 CHAPTEPt YI. 
 
 EELIGIOrS MANIFESTATIONS OF THE TWELFTH CENTIIEY. 
 
 The little success of the attempts made in the eleventh 
 century to establish in the western church the pure doc- 
 trines, and to revive the spirit of the gospel, might lead us 
 to apprehend that the cause of truth was entirely and 
 everywhere suppressed, and that fi'om the thinned ranks of 
 the remnant of the faithful chui'ch there would arise no 
 more courageous adversaries of error and superstition. 
 After so many unfortunate attempts, there seemed to be 
 no probability of success ; why, then, should any one ad- 
 vance in a path leading to certain destruction ? But Chiis- 
 tian faith hopes when, humanly speaking, there is no hope. 
 She hopes, because she trusts in her Divine Leader. She 
 expects victory, not fi'om an ann of flesh, but from the 
 power of Him who says to her, " Cry aloud, spare not. 
 — Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the 
 world." Impelled by faith, and fortified by hope, the 
 redeemed servant of Christ does not ask, " Are there many 
 of us ?" Sufacient for him is the promise of his Lord and 
 Saviour ; and alone, if so it must be, he consecrates his life 
 
 * Ecrits des Vaudois, livre de la Discipline, (Writings of the Vaudois, book 
 of Discipline,) ch. iv., second pai-agraph.— Leger, etx;., pt. i., p. 192.— Perrin, 
 Hist, of the Vaudois, ch. iv. 
 
38 HISTORY OF THE YAUDOIS CHURCH. 
 
 to the work of the ministry, and the salvation of souls. 
 The fear of death and outrage cannot deter him. Like 
 Paul, he goes forth for the conquest of the world in the 
 name of Jesus Chiist. His credentials and apology for 
 such boldness are comj)rised in these few words : — " I be- 
 lieve, therefore have I spoken." 
 
 This taith was not wanting to the feeble -remains of the 
 faithful church. If the lamp of truth, which was still 
 burning in by-places was small, its flame was yet bright 
 and well fed. In the year 1100 the church of the Yaudois 
 valleys set forth its belief and discipline, and reflected its 
 life, in writings with which we shall make our readers 
 acquainted, -with a clearness and precision that by no means 
 indicate a recent origin. We need not, then, be astonished 
 to see, at this same period, evangelical missionaries coming 
 from these countries, or their vicinity, to carry on the 
 work of their predecessors. 
 
 Two men especially attract our attention, Pierre de Bruis 
 and Henry, his fellow-labourer. The first was a priest ;^* 
 the second was often designated '^the false hermit." They 
 began to disseminate their doctrines in La Septimanie, 
 which, according to Dupin, included Dauphine and ^Pro- 
 vence. From Provence they passed into Languedoc and 
 Gascogne, whence their so-called heresy penetrated into 
 Spain and England, etc.f 
 
 Before we follow them into their field of labour, and 
 inquire what doctrine they taught, it "^ill be desirable to 
 acquaint ourselves with their origin, which is already seen 
 to be of importance. Pierre de Bruis was a native of 
 Dauphine, and Hemy an Italian. In the preceding chapter 
 we have seen that several religious manifestations had 
 emanated from Italy. We have observed, in chapter iv., 
 that the provinces at the foot of the Alps, the districts of 
 Yercelli, Piedmont, and Astesan, were infected with Ma- 
 nichean heresy, — that is, in our view, with evangelical 
 doctrines. Henry, the false hermit, the companion of 
 Pierre de Bruis, is surnamed the Italian, which we confess 
 does not prove that he belonged formerly to those districts 
 that were accused of heresy ; nevertheless, this supposition 
 
 * It would be interesting to know the exact nature of liis priesthood ; whether 
 he had received orders from a known superior, or whether he was one of those 
 who were persecuted, and sometimes caUed acephalous, {acephales,) headless. 
 
 t Centur. Magdeb., Cent, xii., col. 832. 
 
PIERRE DE BRriS AND HENRY. 39 
 
 docs not appear extravagant, especially if we reflect that 
 the connexion between Henry and Pierre de Bruis, and the 
 conformity of their docti'ine, will be explained hj the fami- 
 liar intercourse that Dauphine always maintained with 
 Piedmont, and the Yaudois valleys in particular. In the 
 twelfth century, these relations became more intimate than 
 ever, since Dauphine possessed some valleys on the eastern 
 side of the Alps, (valleys which make a part of Piedmont 
 at the present time, ) as may be seen in the letters-patent of 
 the year 1155, by which the emperor Frederic granted to 
 the dauphin the right of coining money at Cesane, in the 
 valley of Susa.^'' We also find that the valley of Pragela, 
 or Clusone, belonged to Dauphine. Thus the Yaudois 
 valleys were wedged in by Dauphine, by which they were 
 bounded on three sides. On the basis of these geographical 
 and political facts, nothing is easier than to explain the 
 origin of the doctrine preached by Pierre de Bruis of 
 Dauphine, and by Henry the Italian, as well as their inti- 
 mate comiexion. More than this : if we trace with atten- 
 tion the labours of these two illustrious missionaries, scru- 
 tinize their lives, and examine their doctrines, we shall be 
 satisfied of their affiliation to the religious movement of the 
 subalpine countries, which has already been discussed, but 
 of which a fuller account will be given in the chapters 
 relating to the doctrine and life of the ancient Yaudois. 
 
 Few particulars have come down to us respecting the 
 conflicts and sufferings of one of these distinguished 
 servants of the Lord Jesus Christ, namely Pierre de Bruis. 
 It is only knoT\Ti that, after preaching and laboimng to 
 establish and extend the Saviour's kingdom, for twenty 
 years, he received the crown of martyrdom, by being burned 
 to death at St. Gilles, in Languedoc, a.d. 1126.f 
 
 More details are known respecting the adventiu^ous life 
 of Henry. After having laboured for some time in concert 
 with Bruis, he parted from him, for what reason we are 
 not informed. "VYe may suppose that their work being 
 weU advanced, it was thought advisable that they should 
 proclaim separately the good news of salvation and 
 regeneration, for the conversion of a greater number. 
 Henry at first directed his ste]3s towards Lausanne. He 
 
 * Histoire du Dauphine, Geneve, chez Fabry, 1772, t. i., passim, and p. 93, etc. 
 t Centui-. Magdeb., Cent, xii., col. 832. 
 
40 HISTORY OF THE VAUDOIS CHUECH. 
 
 came at a later period to Mans, with two other Italians. 
 They travelled, barefooted, in all weathers, each carrying a 
 staff, surmounted with a cross. The exact time of Henry's 
 arrival at Mans is uncertain: DupiUi gives the year 1110. 
 Authors are better agreed as to the effects of his preaching 
 in this city. Henry obtained from Heribert, who was 
 bishop of Mans, and just on the point of leaving the place, 
 permission to preach in the churches during his absence. 
 His preaching made a powerful impression on his hearers. 
 The people were fascinated. But the clergy, who at first 
 approved and welcomed their foreign brother, were not 
 slow to change their opinion, when they felt their personal 
 credit diminished. The captivating orator was prohibited 
 from preaching any more. The people in vain expressed 
 their disapprobation of this step, and threatened that they 
 would have no other pastor. Henry, though loved and 
 supported by the multitude, was obliged to give way and 
 depart. From Mans he proceeded to Poitiers ; then, as 
 some say, to Perigueux; afterwards to Bourdeaux, Toulouse, 
 and the parts where he had already laboured with Bruis."^"' 
 
 In the year 1134, having been arrested by order of the 
 archbishop of Aries, he was conducted by that prelate to 
 the council of Pavia, which was held that same year. 
 Henry was condemned as a heretic by that assembly, and 
 imprisoned. By some means, however, he regained his 
 liberty, and apjD eared again in the south of France. There 
 he was opposed by St. Bernard, abbot of Clairvaux, an 
 eloquent and energetic man, who had gained a high 
 reputation b}' the superior management of his convent, by 
 his zeal, by different miracles of which he had the credit, 
 and by his victory over Abailard, whose condemnation he 
 obtained at the council of Sens, in 1140. By the efforts of 
 this abbot and the legate Alberic, who were sent to 
 Toulouse, in 1147, to repress heresy, Henry was delivered 
 into the hands of the bishop of that city, and conducted, 
 the following year, to the council of Pheims. Being con- 
 demned a second time, he was again thrown into prison, 
 where he soon died, after more than forty years of toil and 
 labour for the cause of the pure gospel. Many of these 
 facts are contained in the letter of St. Bernard to Ilde- 
 
 * Dupin, Notivelle Bibliotli., t. ix., p. 101. Eecueil des Historiens des 
 Gaiiles, xiv.j p. 430. Admonitio prasvia — Gieseler, p. 4i2. 
 
DEATH OF HENRY. 
 
 41 
 
 phonse or Alphonse, count of Toulouse and St. Gilles, 
 ^viitten at the time of his mission. If the injustice of the 
 abbot of Clairvaux towards his enemies were not well 
 known, we should be astonished to find him atti^ibuting 
 Henry's abrupt departm^e from many cities, in which he 
 had sojourned, to prosecutions for acts of immorality; but 
 we well know that it was for his preaching and so-called 
 heresy that this confessor of the faith was persecuted and 
 forced to make his escape.^' 
 
 The success of Pierre de Bruis and Henry was astonish- 
 ing. The work in which they laboured, seconded by 
 brethren whose names have not come down to iis, was 
 rapidly consolidated, and spread into many distiicts, in 
 spite of the efforts of part of the clergy and the popes to 
 destroy it; until at last, in the thii^teenth century, the 
 Homan pontiffs raised against it those brutal and bloody 
 persecutions, kno^ii imder the name of the crusades against 
 the Albigenses. 
 
 The regions traversed by Pierre de Bruis and Henry soon 
 swarmed with heretics, even in those parts where they had 
 been partiallv checked. For example, at Perigueux, a city 
 which Hemw passed thi'ough in his way from Poitiers to 
 BoiuTleaux, there were found, in 1140, and thi'oughout the 
 countiy, Heribert informs us, a great number of heretics, 
 who professed to lead an apostoKc Kfe. Another contem- 
 porary author, the abbot Morgan, the annalist, relates, that, 
 about the year 1163, heretics of the same sort, who aspired 
 also to lead an apostoKc life, had made great progress in 
 Perigord.f 
 
 At Toulouse, and other places where the new docti^e 
 had been sown, the efforts of St. Bernard, who opposed it, 
 had at first some success, particularly at the moment when 
 the infant church was deprived of its leader, Henry, who 
 died in prison. The Catholic chuix-hes, heretofore deserted, 
 were again filled ; the heretics concealed themselves ; the 
 preachSig of the abbot of Clairvaux and his pretended 
 mii-acles, seemed to have subdued the common people. 
 
 * D. Bemardi Epistola, 241— Acta Episcop. Cenomanensiiim, cap. xxxiii — 
 Mabillionis Analecta, t. iii., p. 312.-PetmsClimiacensism Maxima Bibhoth 
 P. P., t. xxii., cols. 8G1, 1034.— Histoire du Languedoc, etc.,t. u., p. iU-U.- ite- 
 ceuil des Historiens des Gatdes, t. xii. p. 547, etc. ^ • ..i ^ 
 
 t ^laV^mioms Analecta, t. iii., p. 467.-Histoire du Languedoc, etc., in the 
 preamble of Book xix. 
 
42 HISTORY OF THE VAUDOIS CHURCH. 
 
 This state of things, however, did not last long. The 
 historians of Languedoc admit this. *' St. Bernard had the 
 happiness," they say, ''to lead back to the faith those who 
 had wandered ; but in spite of all his care the heresy of the 
 Henricians secretly kept its hold, and, some years later, it 
 revived with so much vigour as at last to cause extreme 
 desolation."*^ 
 
 The importance of this fact is confirmed by the acts of 
 the council assembled at Tours, in 1163. The fourth 
 canon, in which it is enjoined on the bishops of Toulouse 
 and the neighbouring places, to have a watchful eye over 
 heretics, mentions them in the preamble in the foUoTvdng 
 terms: — "Eor a long time, in the neighbourhood of Tou- 
 louse, there has arisen a damnable heresy, which, gradually 
 spreading like a cancer, has already infected Gascogne and 
 many other provinces."! 
 
 In A.D. 1165 or 1176, (authors differ as to the date,)J a 
 council, held at Lombers, summoned before it certain 
 heretics, who had been discovered in the province of Tou- 
 louse, and were known by the title of ''good men" (honi 
 homine!^.) After being examined in the presence of Peter, 
 archbishop of Narbonne, Gii'ard, Albi, Gaucelin, Lodeve, 
 and other bishops, they were pronounced heretics, and 
 handed over to the secular power. The chief among them 
 was called Olivier. They were numerous. The nobility 
 partook of their opinions. 
 
 "But the condemnation of these heretics," we are told 
 by the Benedictine historians of Languedoc, " did not stop 
 their progress, either in the province or in foreign lands ; 
 they spread especially in Burgundy and Flanders, under 
 the name of Poplicans." "In fact," they say in another 
 passage, " the error made such astonishing progress, that 
 it gained over the greater part of the ecclesiastics and the 
 nobility of high, and part of low Languedoc. Eajnnond, 
 count of Toulouse", a prince zealous for the faith, resolved 
 to remedy the evil. . Recollecting the services of Saint 
 Bernard, which had been rendered thirty years before to 
 count Alphonse, his father, he applied to the chapter 
 general of Citeaux, assembled in September, 1177, and 
 
 * Histoire du Languedoc, etc., t. ii., p. 447. 
 t Ad Labbeum. . . Concil., t. x., col. 1419. 
 
 t According to Usher it was in 1176 ; according to the Recueil des Historiens 
 des Gaules, in 1165. 
 
DOCTEINES OF PIEREE DE BEUIS AXD HENEY. 43 
 
 besought that body to come to his succour. ' This heresj^' 
 added he, 'has prevailed to such a degree, that it has 
 caused division between husband and ^vil'e, father and son, 
 mother-in-law and daughter-in-law. Persons of the priestly 
 order have suffered themselves to be corrupted ; the churches 
 are forsaken and fallen into ruin ; they refuse to administer 
 
 baptism ; the eucharist is treated as an abomination 
 
 As for myself — I who am armed "svith two swords, and 
 consider it my glory to be thereby appointed the avenger 
 and the minister of God's ^T:ath — I seek in vain for the 
 means to put an end to such great evils, and I confess that 
 I am not strong enough to accomplish the object; for the 
 most distinguished of my subjects have been seduced, and 
 have carried away mth them the greater part of the people. 
 .... I therefore humbly implore your succoiu', counsel, 
 and prayers, to extii'pate this heresy.' "^'' 
 
 At a later period, the same count Raymond adopted the 
 very principles which he had at first disowned, and sacrificed 
 for them his property and estates in the terrible crusade 
 that was made against his people and himself. 
 
 "W^e shall not undertake to recount the subsequent history 
 of the so-called heretics of Languedoc and the neighbouring 
 provinces ; such a topic deserves to be treated of separately, 
 as has been done already by various authors, to whom we 
 refer the reader. For our present puqjose it is sufficient to 
 have shown the connexion of the religious movements in 
 the south of France, during the twelfth century, with the 
 similar manifestations of the preceding century, and with 
 the religious state of some countries in the north of Italy, 
 particularly Piedmont. 
 
 But before dismissing this subject, we have to give an 
 account of the doctrines, which, according to the reports of 
 their adversaries, were preached and propagated by Pierre 
 de Bruis, Hemy, and their fellow-laboiu'ers, in the countries 
 above mentioned. 
 
 Peter the Yenerable, abbot of Clugny, attributes to 
 Pierre de Bruis the five following points of doctrine, 
 which he states in his ninth letter, entitled, '' Against 
 the Petrobrusians," and addressed to the archbishops of 
 Aries and Embrun, as well as to the bishops of Gap and 
 Die. 
 
 * Histoire du Languedoc, etc., t. ii. pp. -i — 46. 
 
44 HISTORY OF THE TAUDOIS CHURCH. 
 
 (i.) He (Pierre de Bruis) denies that children, before 
 they arrive at years of intelligence, can be saved by bap- 
 tism, or that the faith of another person can be useful to 
 them, since, according to those of his opinion, it is not the 
 faith of another which saves, but the faith of the individual 
 with baptism, according to our Lord's words : ^' He that 
 believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that 
 belie veth not shall be damned." 
 
 (ii.) The second point consists in this — that we ought 
 not to build either temple or church, but Ave ought to over- 
 turn the existing edifices of this kind ; that consecrated 
 places are not necessary for Christian devotion, because 
 God, who is invoked, understands and hearkens to those 
 who are worthy of being heard, whether in a tavern or a 
 church, a market-place or a temple, before an altar or in a 
 stable. 
 
 (iii.) The third article enjoins the cutting in pieces of 
 the sacred crosses and burning them, because they have the 
 form of the instrument which was made use of to tortiu"e 
 Jesus Christ, and so cruelly to deprive him of life ; the cross 
 is not Avorth}^ of adoration or veneration, or any kind of 
 supplication ; on the contrary,, by way of retribution for the 
 sufferings and death of Christ, it merits all dishonour, such 
 as being cut in pieces and burned. 
 
 (iv.) Bruis not only denies that the true body and blood 
 of the Lord are offered daily and continually in the church 
 by the sacrament, but declares that this sacrament is 
 nothing, and ought not to be offered to God. 
 
 (v.) He (Bruis) ridicules sacrifices, prayers, alms, and 
 other good works performed by li^dng believers on behalf 
 of such as are deceased, and affirms that these things caimot 
 be of the slightest use to the dead. 
 
 ''I have answered these five points," says the venerable 
 Peter, ^' according as God has granted me grace, in the 
 letter which I have addressed to your holinesses."^' 
 
 The venerable abbot goes on to say, — '' But after the 
 zeal of the faithful, in burning Pierre de Bruis, near St. 
 Gilles, had taken vengeance for the fii'e which he had 
 lighted, and which had consumed the cross of the Lord ; 
 after this impious maA had passed from the fire of the pile 
 
 * Maxima Biblioth, P. P., t. xxii., col. 1033.— [Also Gieseler's Lelirbuch der 
 Kirchengeschichte, vol. ii., pt. 2, p. 524. Third edition. Bonn. 1832.] 
 
HERETICS ALOXG THE EHINE. 45 
 
 of faggots to eternal fire, the heir of his heresy, Henry, 
 -v^ith I know not what other j)ersons, so far from correcting 
 his diabolical doctrine, endeavoiu-ed to confirm it, and, as I 
 have seen in a volume, which they say proceeded fr'om his 
 lips, he has published not only these five points of doctrine, 
 but a great many more."* 
 
 AVe have read a letter of later date, to the above mentioned 
 prelates, in which the venerable Peter refutes the pretended 
 false doctrines which he had just enumerated, describing 
 their diabolical tendency in still stronger terms ; but ex- 
 cepting some new developments, and a critique on church 
 music, the two letters appear to us to be nearly the same.f 
 
 The !Magdeburgh Centuriators, who have extracted and 
 collected the different points of doctrine professed by the 
 heretics of the south of France, in the twelfth century, 
 mention some other articles of faith beside ; for examjole, on 
 the Lord's supper, ''That the bodj' and blood of Christ 
 were not offered in the theatrical mass, and that it was not 
 an oblation made for the salvation of souls ; that the altars 
 ought to be destroyed ; that the doctiine of the change in 
 the sacramental elements is false ; that the sacred supper 
 ought not now to be given to men, because it was once 
 given by Chi^ist to his apostles," Evident^, this last 
 opinion is incoiTectly reported, since, as we shall see by the 
 testimony of St. Bernard, the so-called heretics of the south 
 of France partook of the supper. It certainly related to 
 the expiatory sacrifice of Jesus Christ, which was offered 
 only once, and which need not and cannot be repeated. 
 
 On ^Marriage : "That the priests and monks ought to 
 marry, rather than be the prey of lust, or give themselves 
 up to impuiity." 
 
 On Chants and Instruments of ]\Iusic : " That God is 
 mocked by the chants which the priests and monks repeat 
 in the temples ; that God cannot be appeased by monkish 
 melodies." 
 
 On Meats : " That it is allowable to eat meat on Sundays 
 and other days." 
 
 On the Holy Scriptures : ''A rimiour is prevalent," said 
 
 * [Gieseler, p. 527.] Maxiina Biblioth., ibid., col. 1034. The reader is re- 
 quested to take particulai- notice of these ex|3ressions, as they prove the close 
 coiuie:?don that subsisted between Pierre du Bniis and Homy, and the identity 
 of theh doctrine. 
 
 t Maxima Biblioth., ibid., cols. 1036, 1048—1076. 
 
46 HISTOEY OF THE VATJDOIS CHTJECH. 
 
 the abbot of Clugii}", " that they do not receive the whole 
 canon ; that is to say, all the writings of the Old and 'New 
 Testament;" he also said, ''that they received only the 
 Gospels." 
 
 But here we beg to observe, that so grave an accu- 
 sation as that urged by the venerable Peter against the 
 heretics, of not receiving the whole canon of Scripture, rests 
 on a very weak foundation, nothing more than " a prevalent 
 rumour." Such a charge requu'es much stronger evidence 
 than mere rumour to establish it. 
 
 He also says, " They believe in one canon; they do not 
 grant the same authority to the fathers as to the Holy 
 Scriptures."^' 
 
 The same centuriators have also extracted from the 
 writings of St. Bernard the errors which he noticed in the 
 apostolic heretics. We translate the passage : 
 
 " The Apostolicals or Henricians ; their doctrines, ac- 
 cording to St. Bernard, as far as they can be ascertained, 
 are : 
 
 (i.) " That infants ought not to be baptized. 
 
 (ii.) " That they (the apostolicals) have the power of 
 consecrating daily the body and blood of Christ at their 
 table, to nourish themselves, since they are themselves the 
 body of Christ and his members. f 
 
 (iii.) " That virgins alone are allowed to marry, because 
 God created man and woman virgins. 
 
 (iv.) " That continence must be sought by marriage. 
 
 (v.) ''That the fire of purgatory does not exist. The 
 reason is, that the soul when separated from the body passes 
 into a state of repose or danm.ation. 
 
 (vi.) " That we must not pray for the dead. 
 
 (vii.) "That we ought not to ask for the intercession 
 of departed saints. 
 
 (viii.) " That a man who lives in sin ought not to be 
 a bishop. 
 
 (ix.) " That it is not lawful to eat milk, nor what is 
 made from it, nor an^^hing that comes by procreation. 
 
 (x.) "They do not acknowledge the church, nor the 
 
 * Centur. Magdeb. xii., col. 832, etc. 
 
 t We read in the thirteenth sermon of Ekbert, abbot of St. Florin, the fol- 
 lowuia: words relative to the heretics of Cologne, of the same jDeriod: *' They 
 say that they alone make the body of the Lord at their tallies. But they use 
 the words with a dou^ljle meaning- ; for they do not intend the true body of 
 Christ, but they caU their own flesh the body of Christ." 
 
HEEETICS ALONG THE EHINE. 47 
 
 pontificate ; but assert that they, themselves, are the 
 chiuTh. 
 
 (xi.) " That swearing or oath-taking is forbidden." 
 St. Bernard cites besides, several other points of doc- 
 ti^ine and opinions of the apostolicals. Among other things 
 he says, ''That they depreciate the orders of the church; 
 they do not receive its institutions ; they despise its sacra- 
 ments, and do not obey its commandments." He remarks 
 that these doctrines have been collected by his own research, 
 partly fi'om altercations or disputes, and partly from the 
 lips of those who had returned to the papal church. On 
 the other hand, we may remark that there is reason to ap- 
 prehend that prejudice and animosity have more than once 
 led to incorrect and unfavourable reports of the doctiines 
 of those who were looked upon as heretics. The reader 
 will have already had reason to make this observation for 
 himself; for evidently many of the heretical opinions 
 as given by Pierre de Clugny and St. Bernard are incom- 
 plete, and presented in a false light; and we need only 
 compare analogous opinions together, to be con\inced that 
 such is the case. 
 
 A contemporary' author, whom we have already men- 
 tioned, Heribert, a monk of Angouleme, says of the heretics 
 of Perigord and Perigueux in pai-ticular : ''In the country 
 of Perigueux, a multitude of heretics have appeared, who 
 pretend to lead an aj)ostolic life. They neither eat meat 
 nor chn'rik wine oftener than once in three days, and then 
 very moderately. They bend their knees a hundred times 
 a day. They do not take money. Their sect is very per- 
 verse and secret. They set no value on the mass, and say 
 that the wafer is not to be taken, but a bit of bread. 
 They adore neither the cross, nor the image of Jesus 
 Christ; but rather hinder those who would. A great 
 many people have been already seduced ; not only nobles 
 who abandon their wealth, but also scholars, priests, monks, 
 and friars."^'' 
 
 The annalist de Morgan, in Thomas Gale, under the date 
 of the year 1163, expresses himself nearly in the same 
 manner. He adds a remarkable instance of the power of 
 persuasion, and of the Christian life wliich they possessed ; 
 it is the only one we shall report : "If ignorant persons," 
 
 * MabiUionis Analecta, t. iii., pp. 4&7 — iS3. 
 
48 HISTORY OF THE YAITDOIS CHURCH. 
 
 he says, ''come to them, at the end of eight days they 
 become so accomplished, that they cannot be surpassed 
 either in information or exemplary conduct.""^' 
 
 The religious and evangelical movement did not remain 
 confined with the limits of the south of France. Mani- 
 festations very similar, although presenting, as they are 
 reported, some points of difference, appeared along the 
 Rhine, in Flanders, Burgundy, Lower Britanny, and else- 
 where. Evervin, writing to St. Bernard about the heretics 
 discovered at Cologne, of whom a great number were burned, 
 and the rest returned to the church, expresses himself as 
 follows: ''You know, my lord, that, on returning to the 
 church, they have told us that they are a very great multi- 
 tude, spread almost everywhere, and that they have in 
 their ranks some of our ecclesiastics and monks. And 
 those who have been burned, have urged in their defence, 
 that this heresy has been propagated secretly from the 
 times of the martyrs to the present day, and has existed in 
 Greece and some other countries." 
 
 This spiritual soldier}^, armed against error for the 
 triumph of truth, gradually recruited its ranks through a 
 long course of time, with prudence and a somewhat timid 
 sagacity, and at last, as we have already seen, ventured on 
 a more open warfare, in j^roportion as it saw its forces 
 increase. Home itself, the residence of the pope, the for- 
 tress of superstition, saw its enemy pass through its gates, 
 and preach within its walls. In 1128, a foreign preacher 
 excited as much surprise, as admiration or hatred, by his 
 discourses. His name was Arnulph : his origin was never 
 known. But thus much may be affirmed, that a Yaudois 
 missionar}^ would not have preached otherwise than he did. 
 Let us hear the report made of him by Trithemius : "At 
 this time, under pope Honorius ii., a certain priest, named 
 Arnulph, came to Rome, a man of great devotion, and a 
 distinguished preacher. While he proclaimed the word of 
 God, he rebuked the dissoluteness, the libertinism, the 
 avarice, and the extreme haughtiness of the clergy. He 
 exhibited, for universal imitation, the poverty and life of 
 spotless integrity of Jesus Christ and his apostles. In 
 truth, his preaching was approved by the Roman nobility, 
 as that of a true disciple of Jesus Christ. But, on the other 
 
 * Recueil des Historiens des Gaules, t. xiii., p. 108. 
 
ABAILAJEID AISD AENAUD OF BEESCIA. 49 
 
 hand, it exposed him to the intense hatred of the cardinals 
 and the clergy, who seized him by night, and put him to 
 death secretly."^'' 
 
 In the ranks of the antagonists of Eome, of superstition, 
 and of immorality, might be also seen men whose principles 
 were, perhaps, not always founded on a simple faith in the 
 pure gospel of Clirist. Such was Abailard, in Trance ; such 
 was Arnaud of Brescia, in Italy. The latter dared, like 
 Amulph, to attack Home in Eome itself. One word on 
 his life and labours. Being a native of Brescia (Brixia), in 
 Lombardy, he might have obtained a knowledge of the 
 Vaudois doctrines, though history does not expressly affirm 
 it. AYe are simply told that he was brought up in France, 
 near the famous Abailard. His career was fall of adven- 
 ture, and his labours seem to have been as much political 
 as religious. On returning to his native country, having 
 taken the habit of a monk, he began to preach. Having 
 been excommimicated by the Lateran Council, under Inno- 
 cent II., in the year 1139, he was obliged to take to flight. 
 He retired to Zurich, in Switzerland, and there propagated 
 his principles. Being denounced by St. Bernard to the 
 bishop of Constance, he Avas disturbed in his retreat, and 
 passed again into Italy. He was at Eome, in 1145, in 
 the time of Eugenius in. St. Bernard of Clairvaux once 
 more "s^Tote against him to cardinal Guide, warning him 
 that " his conversation was honey, and his doctrine poison." 
 " He has," he added, " the head of a dove, and the tail of 
 a sequent." In his letter to the bishop of Constance, 
 St. Bernard had involuntarily borne a favourable testimony 
 to his enemy, when he said, ''I wish that the doctiine of 
 Amaud of Brescia was as sound as his life is austere ; 
 and, if you would know him, let me tell you that he is 
 neither gluttonous nor a wine-bibber ; only, like the devil, 
 he hungers and tliii^sts for the blood of souls." This refers 
 to Ai-naud's zeal for converting the world to his doctrines. 
 In his preaching he dwelt incessantly on the crying abuse 
 of the power and wealth of the clergy. According to 
 Otho of Freisingen, Arnaud declared, "that priests who 
 had landed property, bishops who possessed the revenues 
 of vacant benefices {regales), and monks who had estates, 
 
 * Trithemius, or Chronica insignis, p. 157. — Leger, etc., pt. i., p. 152, who 
 reports the facts a httle difFerently, according to Platina. 
 
 D 
 
50 HISTOEY OF THE YATJDOIS CHrRCH. 
 
 could not be saved ; ^^ that all these things belonged to the 
 sovereign, and that he ought not to grant them to any 
 but laymen." The poet Gunther adds, ''that Arnaud 
 despised the delicate meats, the splendid vestments, the 
 misplaced pleasantries and boisterous mirth of the clergy, 
 the ostentation of the pontiffs, the dissolute manners of the 
 abbots, and the pride of the monks." 
 
 After having succeeded in concealing himself a long time 
 at Eome, where his political opinions were much relished 
 by the citizens, he was at last arrested in 1155, and burned 
 there by order of the prefect Peter. His ashes were 
 thrown into the Tiber, to prevent his disciples from 
 making relics of them.f 
 
 AU these antagonists of Rome, who sustained the cause 
 of truth in the twelfth centmy, and who were connected 
 with each other by an analogous or common origin, as 
 well as by features of resemblance of more than one kind, 
 received from their enemies particular denominations, 
 besides the common appellation of heretics. It would 
 appear, also, that they were sometimes designated by 
 names of their own choosing. Branded, in the eleventh 
 century, with the name of Manichcans, as favourers of 
 ancient heresies ; in the twelfth centmy, they were called 
 Apostolicals, from their professing to lead lives worthy of 
 the apostles. St. Bernard always gives them this title 
 ironically, whether speaking of the disciples of Pierre de 
 Bruis and Henry, or of the sectaries of Cologne. In 
 the second half of the twelfth century, new designations 
 were added to the preceding, according as the stream 
 of pretended heresy flowed through new countries, and 
 as some particular circumstance modified the course of 
 this reformation more in its appearance than in realitj^. 
 In various places, they bore the name of Cathari, or 
 Purists, on account of the purity to wliich they aspired. | 
 In Flanders, they were called Piphles, a word of unknown 
 etjTuology ; in many parts of Prance, Texerans, or Tisse- 
 rands (weavers), from the trade to wliich many of them 
 belonged. The heretics of Aquitaine, who passed over to 
 England about the year 1160, were called Poplicans, as 
 
 * This is entirely in accordance with the principles of the apostohcals or 
 Vandois. 
 t Otho of Freisingen, p. 248. — Natahs, t.vii.,pp. 88, 89. — Dupia and Flemy. 
 X The details are given in Usher, p. 269, etc. 
 
DESIGN- ATIOIfS GIYEX TO HERETICS. 51 
 
 well as those of Yezclay ; perhaps, because, in attacking 
 pharisaic formalism, they insisted much on the humility, 
 penitence, and faith of the publican in the gospel. The 
 title Patarins, or Paterins, given in Italy and also in France 
 to these same persons, was derived from the name of a 
 quarter in Milan to which the married priests were ba- 
 nished, in 1058, to celebrate their worship ; ^ or rather it 
 is a synonym with persecuted, or those reserved for per- 
 secution, from the verb ^^rt^/, wliich signifies to suffer.j It 
 appears that they designated the heretical travellers, or 
 missionaries, by the nickname Passagins.j They were 
 also called Good Men {honi homines) in Germany and 
 Prance. According to Gretser, when the innovators of 
 Mayence were put down, the Inquisition demanded of 
 them, ''How often have you confessed to the heresiarchs, 
 that is, those good-men who come to you secretly, pre- 
 tending that they are called, in the apostles' stead, to go 
 thi'ough all the world from place to place, to preach, to 
 shrive, etc, ?" § The same good-men were also called Per- 
 fect {perfecti) by those of the same faith ; a term indicating 
 their superiority over simple believers, who were designated 
 by the name of The Consoled {consolati), on account of 
 the peace of heart which the gospel communicated to 
 them. II The reproachful name of Insabbates (mentioned 
 for the first time by Eberard de Bethune under this 
 form ; Xabatatenses, from xahatata, a kind of wooden 
 sandal, ) was also given them ; because, said father Xatalis, 
 they celebrate no sabbath or feast-days, and do not dis- 
 continue their work on the days consecrated among the 
 [Roman] Catholics to Christ, the blessed virgin, and the 
 saints.^ 
 
 It was more usual in the following century, though 
 several examples may be cited in the twelfth, to designate 
 the friends of alleged novel doctrines by the names of 
 their country or particular leaders. Such were the names 
 — ^heretics of Provence, Toulouse, Agen, and Picardy; 
 
 * According to Sigonius, De Regno Italico, book ix. 
 
 t According to De Vineis, Epist., book i., epist. 27 or 96. 
 
 J Usher, p. 306. 
 
 § Maxima Biblioth., P. P., t. sxiv., col, 1520, etc — Historiens des Gaules, 
 t. xiii,, p. 173, 
 
 II Usher, p. 293. 
 
 •l Maxima Bibhoth., P, P.,t, xxiv,, cols, 1520, 1572, etc.— P. XataJis Alexandri, 
 etc., t, \'ii., pp. 94-, 95, 
 
 D 2 
 
52 HISTOET OF THE VAUDOIS CHUECH. 
 
 Albigenses, Lombards, Bohemians ; Petrobrusians, from 
 Pierre de Bruis ; Henricians, from Hem.y ; Arnaldists, from 
 Arnaud of Brescia ; Arnoldists, from a companion of Yaldo ; 
 Leonists, from Leon, etc. 
 
 Lastly, and speciall)^, we must mention that denomination 
 which is the most celebrated and most worthy of our best 
 attention — we mean that of Yaudois, which was constantly 
 given by [Roman] Catholic authors from the thirteenth 
 century, not to any one of the subdivisions of the alleged 
 heretical sect, but to the whole sect. A single testimony, 
 amongst many, will suffice to convince us of the generality 
 of this designation : it is a work which was written about 
 the year 1254, by a celebrated inquisitor, Eainier, or 
 E,einier Sacco, of the order of preaching friars, who per- 
 secuted the Christians who were opposed to Rome. This 
 work, which treats of all the heresies and pretended 
 impieties that were attributed to the Cathari, Paterins, 
 Toulousians, Albigenses, Passagins, Poor Men of Lyons, 
 Arnaldists, etc., in a word, to the sectaries of the twelfth 
 century, is entitled, Lkre de Rainier, de Vordre des 
 precheurs, contre les heretiques Vaitdois (Valdenses), 
 ['' Book of Rainier, of the order of preachers, against the 
 Yaudois heretics."] Prom this we infer, that, from the 
 commencement of the thirteenth century, the name of 
 Yaudois served to designate all the pretended heretics of 
 the age. 
 
 Moreover, an author of the twelfth century, Bernard de 
 Poncald {Fontis-ccdidi, warm-spring), near Saint Pons, in 
 Languedoc, who wrote, according to Dupin, about the year 
 1180, gives the name Yaudois to the same heretics who 
 are called Good Men in the acts of the Council of Lombers. 
 "These Yaudois," he says, ''although condemned by the 
 same sovereign pontiff (Lucius ii.), continued to diffuse 
 with surpassing audacit}-, far and mde, through all the 
 world, the poison of their perfidy. This is why Bernard, "^^ 
 lord archbishop of Narbonne, opposed them (at the Coun- 
 cil of Lombers, when bishop of Lodeve,) in the name of 
 the church, as a fortress ; in fact, having assembled a 
 considerable number of the clergy and laity, monks and 
 
 * This Bernai'cT Gaucelin, bishop of Lodeve, conducted the cause at Lombers 
 against the Good Men, and pronounced the sentence. He ):)ecanie archbishop 
 of Narbonne in 1181. He does not appear in any other councils. See His- 
 toriens des Gaules, t. xiv., p. 430. 
 
THEEE ETYilOLOGIES PROPOSED. 53 
 
 seculars, he brought them to trial. In a word, after their 
 cause had been examined with great care, they were con- 
 demned." The collection of the Historians of Gaul {His- 
 toriens des G aides), in a summary which precedes the acts 
 of the council, confirms, in part, the facts abeady men- 
 tioned.* 
 
 This name of Yaudois (Yaldenses) given to heretics in 
 the south of France, by an author of the same age and 
 country, is an additional proof of the common origin of the 
 religious manifestations on this side and beyond the AIjds, 
 a confirmation of what we have stated, at the beginning of 
 this chapter, of the intimate connexion of Pierre de Bruis 
 and Henry with the Christians of the valleys of Piedmont, 
 with the inheritors of the principles of Claude of Turin and 
 the friends of Yisilantius. 
 
 CHAPTER YII. 
 
 origij!^ of the ]S^AME vaudois. 
 
 HisTOEicAL clearness, and, what is still more important, 
 truth, equally demand an exact knowledge of the origin of 
 the name Yaudois, which was given to reputed heretics of 
 the twelfth and following centuries, in Prance, the north of 
 Italy, and Germany. 
 
 Three principal etymologies have been proposed. Ac- 
 cording to some, it is derived from Yaldo, whose disciples 
 were called the Poor Men of Lyons, with which epithet it 
 may be considered as sj-non^mious ; according to others, 
 Yaudois is derived from vaux (valleys), as Yallenses from 
 the Latin word vallis, a valley, and Yaldenses (most gene- 
 rally used) from vallis densa, a thick, or shaded valley. 
 Lastly, in the opinion of others, the name Yaudois was a 
 term of reproach, sjTionymous with sorcerer. 
 
 Let us examine each of these etymologies. Alain de 
 rile, or de Lille, who lived at the end of the twelfth 
 century, ■]- and the beginning of the thirteenth, according to 
 
 * Maxima Biblioth., P. P., t. xxiv., jap. 1585, 1586. 
 
 t AccordiBor to Bossuet, he died in 1202 ; according to Xatalis, in 1181 ; Cave 
 says that he flourished in 1215 ; and Visch, that he died in 1294. 
 
54 HISTOEY OF THE YATJDOIS CHUHCH. 
 
 the most coniinon opinion, expresses himself as follows : — 
 ''There are certain heretics who pretend to be just, while 
 they are wolves in sheep's clothing . . . They are 
 called Yaldenses, from the name of their leader, Yaldus." 
 
 Pierre de Yaux Cernay, or Sernay, an author known at 
 the beginning of the thirteenth century, speaks, in his 
 History of the Albigenses [Ilutoire des Albigeois), of the 
 Yaudois who were spread among them. '' There are be- 
 sides," he says, ''the heretics called Yaldenses, after the 
 name of one Yaldius, of Lyons. "^' 
 
 This author notices, as one of the four marks Avhich 
 distinguish the Yaudois, the sandals which they wore after 
 the manner of the apostles. But this usage may 1/e traced 
 back to a date much more ancient than he assigns to it, in 
 referring it to Yaldo ; since the companions of Henry, the 
 promoters of the sect of the Albigenses, wore them, as well 
 as the Yaudois missionaries, and were often called Xabata- 
 tenses, from xahatata, as we have remarked in the j^receding 
 chapter. 
 
 Later [Roman] Catholic authors have agreed in admitting 
 this etymology, which we rej ct with good reason, as will 
 be seen. But before adducing our proofs, it will be proper 
 to state what we know about Yaldus, or Yaldo, and his 
 work. 
 
 Pierre, a merchant and citizen of Lyons, called also by 
 historians Pierre Yaldo, Yaldus, Yaldius, Yaldensis, or Yal- 
 decius,! and Yaldesius, having been deeply affected by the 
 sudden death of one of his friends, in a party of pleasure, 
 formed the resolution of renouncing the world, and labour- 
 ing thenceforth only for his salvation. | Luther, the cele- 
 brated reformer of Germany in the sixteenth centurj^, 
 entered a convent, and devoted himself to the concerns of 
 religion, in consequence of a similar event. § Pierre gave 
 his utmost attention to the reading of the Bible ; it is even 
 said that he translated some books of it from the Latin 
 into the vulgar tongue. He also applied himself to the 
 study of the Fathers. Stephanus de Borbone, or de Bella- 
 
 * Petri Monachi, coenobii valliiim Cernaii, etc. — Historia Albigensium, cap. 
 ii., apud Duchesne. 
 
 t According to Usher, p. 159. 
 
 X This is Rahiier's opinion, wliichwe follow. Polichdorf, and an anonymous 
 wiiter in the collection of the Historiens des Gardes, report the fact differently. 
 
 § Consult Merle D'Aubigne's excellent work on the Reformation [published 
 by the ReUgious Tract Society.] 
 
YALDO. OQ 
 
 villa, who giyes lis these particulars, adds : '' This citizen 
 of Lyons) having often read these sentences and engraven 
 them in his memorj-, determined to seek after that evan- 
 gelical perfection which the apostles had practised. Havin«^ 
 sold all his goods in contempt of the world, he distribute d 
 the money he had gained to the poor, and dared to usurp 
 the office of the apostles, preaching the gospel and the 
 tilings he had committed to memory, in the sti'eets and 
 public places. He encouraged men and women to do the 
 same, whom he collected around him, and confirmed in the 
 knowledge of the gospel. He sent men of all trades, even 
 the meanest, into the surroimding coimtiy, to preach. 
 These men and women, ignorant and illiterate, running 
 over the country, gaining admission into town-halls ; and 
 preaching in public places, and even in churches, excited 
 others to do the same."^' 
 
 Detachment from the world, and zeal for the advance- 
 ment of the kingdom of Christ according to the gospel, 
 were the characteristics of the religious movement that 
 was abetted by PieiTe, the merchant of Lyons. It was in 
 allusion to the fii'st of these peculiarities, the most striking 
 in the eyes of the devotees of the world and of wealth, that 
 the disciples of a man who had reduced liimself to poverry 
 in order to follow Jesus Christ were called the Poor Men 
 of Lyons. Their great success in the conversion of souls, 
 the truly apostolic life of the former merchant, quickly 
 drew on himself and his adherents a violent persecution. 
 Anathematized and prosecuted bj' Jean de Bollesmanis, or 
 Bellesmains, archbishop of Lyons, Pierre made his escape 
 into Picardy, where he remained awhile. He then mth- 
 drew into Yindelicia, the present Siiabia and Bavaria, where 
 he sojourned a long time; at last, he went into Bohemia, 
 and there ended his days.f 
 
 Pierre, the merchant of Lyons, may be regarded as the 
 most eminent continuator of the laboiu-s of Pierre de Bniis 
 and Hemy. 
 
 AVe now resume our inquiry respecting the name Vau- 
 dois, which [Eoman] Catholic ^Titers have derived fi'om 
 
 * Maxima Biblioth., P. P., t. xxv., p. 264. — Stephaniis de BorboDe (or de 
 Bella\'LlIa) Liber de septem Donis Spuitus Sancti, pt. iv., cb.. xxx. ; in Echard, 
 t. i. 
 
 t Usher, p. 266, wbo quotes Tbuanus (De Tliou) Hist., c v. 
 
56 HISTORY OF THE YATJDOIS CHTJECH. 
 
 Valdo, as if lie had been the leader of the Yaudois sect, 
 and the author of this reputed heresy. 
 
 The Yaudois, they assert, received their name from that 
 of Yaldo. 
 
 (i.) We observe, that in the canons of councils, and 
 other official documents relative to the disciples of Pierre, 
 the merchant of Lyons, these persons never receive the 
 appellation of Yaudois, but are always designated by the 
 name of the Poor Men of L^^ons ; the name Yaldo is never 
 mentioned further. A treatise of an anonymous author, 
 quoted in Martene, on the heresy of the Paores of Lyons, 
 never gives the name ofYaudois to Pierre's disciples; more- 
 over, it never gives him the name Yaldo, but always that 
 of Valdensis, that is, the Yaudois, which is very different ; 
 for this designation, being equivalent to an adjective, would 
 mark the origin of the religious opinions of the person to 
 whose name it is affixed. 
 
 (ii.) In the next place we remark, that Pierre, the mer- 
 chant of Lyons, was not the originator of the religious move- 
 ment which appeared in Prance before the commencement 
 of the twelfth century, since he did not preach till about 
 the year 1180; and if the reputed heretics of Agen, Tou- 
 louse, Albi, and other places, were called Yaudois, this 
 - name could not have been given them on account of Yaldo, 
 as he was not their leader. 
 
 (iii.) The name Yaudois could not be derived from that 
 of the merchant of Lyons, for the name Yaldo never be- 
 longed to him. In his time, about the year 1 1 80, it was 
 still the custom to have only one name, that given at 
 baptism, for family names had not then been brought into 
 use : it is true that a particular designation was often 
 added to the baptismal name, that, for instance, of a per- 
 son's residence or profession. By this qualif3dng epithet, 
 the individual in question was sufficiently distinguished 
 from every other ; but our supposed leader of the sect 
 of the Yaudois, whose name was Pierre, is ordinarily dis- 
 tinguished by one of the following qualifications, — 
 Pierre, a citizen of Lyons ; Pierre, a merchant, or trader 
 of Lyons. 
 
 It has been said that the appellation Yaldo, sometimes 
 and subsequently given to Pierre, indicates the place of his 
 origin, and may be considered as synonymous with native 
 
TALDENSES EEROXEOUSLY DEEm:D PEO])! VALDO. 57 
 
 of Yaud, or VaJdum, or Vaudram, which might have been 
 a Lj'omiese town. But why this double designation of 
 jDlace ? Pierre was sufficiently, and very properly, distin- 
 guished by that of citizen, or merchant, of Lyons, as he 
 really was. Besides, Yaldo would be ver}- incorrectly de- 
 rived from Yaldum, or A'audram, even on the gratuitous 
 supposition that he was a native of such a town. The right 
 word would have been Yaldunensis, or Yaudramensis. And 
 even if this name Yaldo had been taken from the place of 
 his birth, why all this uncertaint}" in the designaHon and 
 orthography ? For PieiTe is called Yaldo, Yaldus, Yaldius, 
 Yaldensis, Yaldecius, and Yaldesius, etc."^-* 
 
 A siu-name so undecided, so varied in its form, so rarely 
 employed diu'inghis lifetime to designate Pierre, f the mer- 
 chant of Lyons, cannot be regarded as the root of a name 
 so precise and invariable as that of Yaudois, given to the 
 reputed sect that invaded France, Germany, Italy, Spain, 
 etc., in the twelfth century ; while this uncertainty in the 
 pronunciation and orthography of the appellative Yaldo, 
 may be easily accoimted for, if we take it to be a siu'uame 
 synonymous with Yaudois, an adjective equivalent to — the 
 Yaudois. 
 
 (iv.) A comparison of dates brings us to the same result, 
 showing us that the Yaudois heretics, in Latin ValJenses, 
 or Valdenses, were so known and designated before the 
 time of Yaldo. 
 
 It is a well-authenticated fact, that it was the archbishop 
 Jean de Bollesmanis, or Bellesmains, who anatlismatized 
 Yaldo and his disciples ; and it is certain that th:.; prelate 
 obtained the see of Lyons in 1181, the date of the sitting 
 at Yerona, of the council which, under Lucius in. con- 
 demned, for the first time, the Poor Men of Lyons. 
 
 It was not, then, earlier than the year 1181 that the 
 heretics could be called Yaudois, from their supposed leader, 
 Yaldo. But we can cite two authors who mention the 
 Yaudois prior to the date of 1181. One of them is Eberard 
 de Bethune, who, according to Duj)in, floimshed in the 
 year 1160, and who, speaking of heretics, says, "Some of 
 them call themselves Yallenses, because they live in a 
 
 * Usher, p. 159. 
 
 t We suppose that it may have been so used during his Ufetime, but we 
 have no proof of it. 
 
 D 3 
 
58 HISTORY OF THE VATJDOIS CHUECH. 
 
 vale of sorrow or tears, and bring the apostles into 
 derision."''"' 
 
 The other writer, Bernard, abbot of Foncald, before 
 quoted, thus expresses himself on the same subject :f — 
 ' ' AVhile pope Lucius, of glorious memory, presided over 
 the holy lloman church, new heretics suddenly raised their 
 heads, who received a name that was an omen of their 
 future lot, being called Yaldenses, from a dark, dense 
 valley, because they are involved in deep and thick shades. 
 These heretics, although condemned by the sovereign 
 pontiff above named, have, with unparalleled audacity, 
 not ceased to emit their perfidious poison, far and vnde, 
 throughout the world." The author of these lines having 
 dedicated the book from which we have taken them to 
 Lucius III., who was pope from 1181 to 1185, and men- 
 tioning another pope of the same name, already deceased, 
 of glorious memory, must allude to events that happened 
 before 1144, the date of the death of Lucius ii.J The 
 Yaldenses or Yaudois, were, therefore, ah^eady known by 
 this name before 1144, and, consequently, long before 
 Peter Yaldo, since he was not persecuted for heresy till 
 after 1181, under Jean de Bellesmains, who anathematized 
 him, and was only made archbishop of Lyons at this latter 
 date.§ 
 
 But, in the comparison of these particulars, we have 
 something more than mere dates to go upon. The testi- 
 monies of Eberard de Bethune and of Bernard de Foncald 
 demonstrate, in another way, the baselessness, the vanity, 
 and nullity of the [E-oman] Catholic opinion which derives 
 the Yaudois heresy, and the name of Yaudois, from Yaldo ; 
 so that even if it were possible to throw a doubt on the 
 preceding evidence, by arguing the uncertainty of this or 
 the other date, it would not be less certain than two authors 
 prior to Pierre Yaldo (or contemporary, or even posterior, 
 if you 2:)lcase — it signifies little), in naming the sect of the 
 
 * Maxima BMioth., P. P., t. xxiv. 
 
 t [Gieseler's] Lehi-buch der Kirchengeschichte, vol.ii., pt. ii.,p. 562, 3rd ed., 
 Bonn, 1832. 
 
 X A letter from a bishop of Liege to the same pope (LiTcius ii.) describes the 
 heretics as " ancient enemies," who have spread themselves from Mount 
 Guimar into Prance, and who have a settled organization and ecclesiastical 
 discipline; but he gives them no particular name. Martene and Durand, 
 Veterum Scriptormn et Monmnentoriim, t. i., col. 777. 
 
 § Beruai-d, in Maxima Bibhoth., P. P., t. xxv. 
 
TESTIirOXIES OF EBERAED AXD BEEXARD DE FOXCALD. 59 
 
 Yauclois, make no mention of Yaldo ; and so far from 
 derh-ing the name of these sectaries from the name of one 
 of their leaders, they assign it a totally different and local 
 origin. We say then to our opponents, If you admit that 
 the ^vritings of Eberard and Bernard are prior to Yaldo and 
 liis laboiu's, then you must also admit, since these authors 
 name the sect of the Yauclois, that it was prior to Yaldo, 
 and could not derive its name from his. But if you main- 
 tain that Eberard and Bernard Tvere contemporaries of 
 Yaldo, or posterior to him, j'ou must admit that since they 
 attribute another origin to the sect of the Yaudois, and had 
 better means of ascertaining the truth than you have, the 
 name Yaudois was not derived fi'om Yaldo. 
 
 We think, then, we have proved that the name Yaudois, 
 given by [Eoman] Catholic writers to Christians, who 
 were regarded as heretics in the twelfth centiuy, was not 
 derived from the name of Yaldo. AYe rather believe that 
 Pierre, a citizen and merchant of Lyons, was called Yaldo, 
 on account of the resemblance of his laboiu's to those of the 
 Yaudois ; perhaps, also, because he had been received into 
 their communion, and instructed in part by them, — a con- 
 jectiu'e neither impossible nor improbable, but which we 
 shall not pursue any further.-'' 
 
 The [Eoman] Catholic opinion on the origin of the name 
 Yaudois is, therefore, en'oneous. 
 
 Another etymology of the name Yaudois has been given. 
 Eberard de Bethune, about the year 1160, says : — '' Certain 
 heretics call themselves Yallenses (from rallis, a valley), 
 because they dwell in a vale of sorrow or tears ;" and Ber- 
 nard de Eoncald, about a.d. 1180, says, ''They were called 
 Yaldenses (fr-om vallis densa, a shady valley, ) because they 
 were enveloped in deep and thick darkness." Among the 
 modems, Leger, in his " General History of the Yaudois'' 
 {Histoire Generale des Yaudois), derives the name Yaudois 
 from Yaux or Yal ; and an ancient pastor of the valley of 
 San llartino, within the precincts of the Yaudois valleys, 
 
 * This is the opinion of a Roman Catholic Piedmontese historian, who is no 
 friend of the Vaudois ; we mean M. Charles Botta, who thus exjoresses himself 
 in his remarkable History of Italy : " The Vaudois were thus called, either 
 because they dwelt iu the VaUeys, or because Valdo, a celebrated lieresiarch 
 of the twelfth century, coromuriicated his name to them after embracing their 
 opinions." The anonymous writer, quoted by Martene, appears to have taken 
 the same view as ourselves, siace he caUs the leader of the sect, Valdensis — 
 the Vaudois. 
 
60 HISTOET OF THE VAUDOIS CHUECH. 
 
 has declared that, according to tradition, the valley in which 
 he dwells was once called Val Omhreuse (shady valley). 
 Without absolutely rejecting an etjonology which is founded 
 on the nature of the locality inhabited by the Yaudois, and 
 even acknowledging that there is an apparent foundation 
 for it in the Latin words, Vallenses and Valdenses, yet, as 
 far as the Trench word, Vaudois, is concerned, we are in 
 favour of the derivation given in '' The JS^oble Lesson." 
 
 In fact, this venerable and original monument of the 
 ancient Yaudois church — '' The JSToble Lesson" — assigns 
 another etymology to the name Yaudois, the third to which 
 we have referred, and the last that we have to examine. 
 This precious mtness of the Yaudois faith, which is of the 
 date 1100, expresses itself, in verses 368 — 372, in the fol- 
 lowing manner : — 
 
 [" Si n'i a alcun bon, que ame et tema Yeslm Xrist, 
 Que non voiha maudire, ni jiirar, ni inentir, 
 Ni avoutrar, ni aucir, ni penre de I'autruj-, 
 Ni venjar se de li seo enemis 
 nil dion qu'es Vaudes, e degne de punir."*] 
 
 Which we translate thus : — 
 
 " If there be any one who loves and fears Jesus Christ, 
 Wlio will not curse, nor swear, nor he. 
 Nor be unchaste, nor kill, nor take what is another's, 
 Nor take vengeance on his enemies. 
 They say that he is a Vaudes and worthy of punishment." 
 
 Por a long time, this word Yaudes was taken to be only 
 a variation of Yaudois ; but it is now acknowledged to 
 contain a cruel reproach, and to be equivalent to an 
 accusation of sorcery. The word Yaudes has, in fact, in the 
 Romance language, the meaning of sorcerer, and has not 
 yet ceased to be used in that sense in the patois of the can- 
 ton de Yaud. 
 
 This^ interpretation is also supported hj other proofs. 
 Rubis, quoted by Perrin, says in express terms : " When 
 they speak of a sorcerer, they call him Yaudes." We read 
 in Mezeray's History of France, in reference to Joan of 
 Arc, then m the power of the English, a.d. 1430, " Those 
 members of the LTniversity who remained at Paris, the base 
 slaves of English t5T:"anny, immediately urged that she 
 might be handed over to the ecclesiastical power to bring 
 her to trial as a Yaudoise — enchantress, heretic, impos- 
 
 * See the original in Giesler, p. 561 ; HaUam's Middle Ages, with variations 
 from Leger (p. 28), iii., 470 ; and in Morland's History of the EvangeUcal 
 Chui-ches of Piedmont, foL, Lond., 1658, p. 114. 
 
PEEFERABLE ETYltOLOGY OF THE WOED TArDOIS. 61 
 
 tor, etc." The epithet Yaiidoise is placed here close by that 
 of " enchantress."^' 
 
 The monk Belvedere, in his report to the illustrious 
 congregation for the propagation of the faith {de iwopagandd 
 fide), printed at Tui^in in 1631, charges the Yaudois with 
 sorcery, in the following passage : " The unfortunate 
 valleys of Lucema, Angrogna, San Martino, and Perosa, 
 owing to the vicinity of France to Italy, or to the mountains 
 which naturally render them very strong, have always been 
 subject to various plagues, either heretical locusts, or infidel 
 cateriDillars, blight, or sorcery."t 
 
 We see clearly, by this account of a Eomish inquisitor, 
 that the valleys where the principal remains of the Yaudois 
 chmx-h at present exist, were accused of having been always 
 infected with sorcery, etc. 
 
 In the times of ignorance, fanatical priests have accused of 
 secret intercourse with the spirits of darkness those whom 
 an enlightened faith or unbelief caused to withdraw from the 
 [Eoman] Catholic churches. J The Eomish superstition — 
 and a cruel system of persecution very often, for the pur- 
 pose of exciting an ignorant people to frenzy — designated as 
 sorcerers, men whose lives were perfectly free fi'om the sen- 
 timents and actions imputed to them.g Is^ow, since it is a 
 certain fact that the Yaudois have often been held up to 
 popular hatred as sorcerers, can we be suriDrised if at a 
 time when superstition and ignorance were at their height, 
 the tenth and eleventh centuries, a name so odious was 
 generally given to them, and was not withdrawn ? How- 
 can we refuse to credit such a misapplication of the epi- 
 thet, when we read in an anonymous author, quoted by 
 Martene and Diu'and, and who wrote about the year 1447, 
 '' that the Yaudois, by means of diabolical spells, assembled 
 
 * Mezeray, Histoire de France, ii., 17. 
 
 t Les fortunate valli de Lucema, Angrogna, S. Martmo, e Perosa, per la 
 %^cinanza deUa Francia c'ha coU' Italia, oper la proportione di montuosi siti 
 Che gli danno natural fortezza, sempre sono state soggette a varj flagelli ai 
 eretiche locuste, o d'infidi bruchi, rubigni, o cavallette." Belvedere, cli. xiv., 
 p 242. 
 
 + Costa de Beauregard quotes from Duboulay (t. iv.) an account of a concu- 
 l)ine of a heresiarch monk, Dolcino, an eager propagator of Manicbeism in 
 Bielli, Novan-a, and Vercelli, in tbe sLxteenth centmy, who passed for a witch, 
 and adds that both were dismembered, cut in pieces, and burned, (t. i., p. 47.) 
 
 S What Christian does not know that the Son of God was called a Samaritan 
 b>y the Jews, and that they even said of him that he had a demon, and expeUed 
 demons by the Prince of demons ? 
 
62 HISTORY OF THE VATJDOIS CHUECH. 
 
 suddenly by night, being speedily transported, in great 
 numbers, to some forest or lonely place."* 
 
 The origin attributed to the name Vaudois, in " The 
 E'oble Lesson," appears then to us to be justified by facts. 
 It would be interesting and satisfactory, no doubt, to know 
 at what period the little faithful church received a name 
 equally unjust and odious ; but on this point proofs are 
 wanting. All we know is, that it was prior to the twelfth 
 century, as it is mentioned in '' The JS'oble Lesson," which 
 was written, as the author himself intimates, in the year 
 1100. 
 
 CHAPTER yill. 
 
 THE VATJDOIS OE PIEDMONT IN THE TWELFTH CENTUIIY. 
 
 Having given an account of the religious movement 
 which agitated Prance and other countries in the eleventh 
 and twelfth centuries, and which, as we have seen, pro- 
 bably took its rise in the Alps situated between France and 
 Italy, we must return to the Yaudois valleys, to resume the 
 thread of their particular history, to recount their tradi- 
 tions, and to explain the state of their church. 
 
 Let us first notice some historical facts. Without going 
 back to the documents cited in chapters iii. and iv., which 
 attest the existence of a so-called heretical church in the 
 bosom of the Alps, from the fourth century, we shall only 
 remind the reader that at the commencement of the twelfth 
 century, and long before Yaldo's time, the Chronicle of 
 Saint Thron, in Belgium, written between 1108 and 1136 
 by the abbot Eadulph, mentions a region of the Alps as 
 polluted by an inveterate heresy ; and that Bruno d'Asti, 
 about the year 1120, speaks of the Yaudois, though not 
 designating them, it is true, by this name, but with sufiicient 
 details, particularly in what he says of their traditions, to 
 enable us to recognise them without difiiculty. 
 
 To these testimonies, which are given at length in chap- 
 ter IV., we add the following. 
 
 * Veterum Scriptorum et Monumentorum, a Martene et Durand, t. v., 
 col. 501. 
 
TESTIXOXIES OF HOXOEirS AXD EBEEAED. 63 
 
 Honorius, a i^riest of Autim, at the beginnini^ of the 
 twelfth centiuy, speaks of certain heretics, whom he calls 
 Montani, or Mountaineers, and describes in these few 
 words: "The Mountaineer heretics are thus named from 
 the mountains. In the times of persecution they concealed 
 themselves in the mountains, and separated from the body of 
 the church." 
 
 Eberard de Bethune, about the year 1160, expresses 
 himself in terms but slightly different on the same subject : 
 "The)* are called," he says, "Mountaineers; because, in 
 a time of persecution, they concealed themselves in the 
 mountains, and for this reason they erred in relation to the 
 Catholic faith." And although this last author does not say 
 that the heretics, whom he calls Yallenses in the twenty- 
 fifth chapter of his book, and represents as missionaries 
 come from a valley of tears, are the same as those whom he 
 calls Montani, or Mountaineers, in the twenty- sixth chapter, 
 yet he says nothing to the contrary ; for Eberard, in the 
 long list he has made out of all possible sorts of heresy, 
 passes over in silence the Yallenses whom he had before 
 named, and cites only the Montani. This omission of the 
 Yallenses can only be accounted for on the suxDposition that 
 the Yallenses are the same as one of the classes of heretics 
 whom he there names and describes. This is exceedingly 
 probable, considering the resemblance of the signification 
 in the names Montani, Mountaineers, and Yallenses, that is, 
 inhabitants of the valleys ; and likewise, considering the 
 analogy of the details he gives of the persecutions suffered by 
 the Mountaineers, and those which afilicted the inhabitants 
 of the vale of sorrow, or of tears. 
 
 We may further add, that the name Montani was given 
 to a people of Liguria, established in the Alps, adjacent to 
 the Yagienni (at present the inhabitants of the marquisate 
 of Saluzzo), and bordering on the Yaudois valleys.* 
 
 And we need not be astonished that, according to this 
 last explanation, the so-called Yaudois heresy should have 
 extended more to the south in the mountains of Liguria, 
 just as we have seen, in chapter iv., that it extended more 
 to the east in Biella and ^^ovarra; for nothing is more 
 
 * For Honorius, see Maxima Biblioth., P.P., t. xx., col. 1039; for Eberard, 
 t. xxiv., cols. 1575—1577; for Montani, see Geographia Antiqua Cellarii, t. i., 
 p. 518 ; or Plinii Geog., cap. xs. 
 
64 HISTOEY OF THE VAUDOIS CHUECH. 
 
 certain. Let our readers only call to mind what we have 
 said of its conquests in Astesan, in the tenth centurjr. "We 
 shall elsewhere have an opportunity of proving, by fresh 
 details, this extension of the Yaudois church beyond the 
 limits within which it is confined at the present day. 
 
 An ancient ^Titer, Gioifredo, informs us that the Yaudois 
 heresy, which he erroneously supposes to have proceeded 
 from France, had already extended, in the year 1198, not 
 only into the valleys of Angrogna, Lucerna, and San Martino, 
 in the diocese of Turin, but also into the plain. " JS"ot 
 content," he says, ''with remaining hid in the caverns of 
 the mountains, they (the Yaudois) have had the audacity 
 to sow false doctrine in the plains of Piedmont and Lom- 
 bardy, fixing a centre at Bagnolo, from which circumstance 
 it is believed that some of them have acquired the denomi- 
 nation of heretics of Bagnolo," (Bagnolenses,) as Rainier 
 Sacco writes, about the year 1250. This is why James, 
 bishop of Turin, desirous of expelling this pestilence from 
 his diocese, organized a persecution against them, after 
 having obtained for that purpose, in the year 1198, a decree 
 of the emperor Otho iv., to which we shall again refer in 
 the sequel. "^^ 
 
 Should it appear surprising that the Yaudois sect, or 
 rather, the remains of the faithful church, could maintain 
 itself so long without severe persecution, in the ancient 
 diocese of Claude of Turin and elsewhere, in spite of the 
 oppressive tendency of the E-omish church, we must repeat 
 what we have said before, in chapter iv., of the political 
 agitations and contests in the tenth and eleventh centimes, f 
 during which the attention of the heads of the Eomisli 
 church were turned away from the scattered remains of 
 the faithful church, preoccupied as they were with their 
 worldly interests, and with the dangers and advantages of 
 their position as secular princes. 
 
 One general cause which also favoured the preservation 
 of various small companies of the faithful church, was the 
 inherent vital power of Chiistian principle, which is such 
 
 * See Gioffredo, Storia delle Alpi Maritime, in Monmnenta Historige Patrige, 
 t. iii., p. -iSy ; cit. Spondanus, an. 1198. 
 
 t The agitations and contests were carried to the greatest lengths in Pied- 
 mont and Lombardy, where, to the elements of discord existing among in- 
 numerable petty sovereignties, were joined the efforts of a number of free 
 cities, wliich aimed at repelling these vexations for their own preservation. 
 
CIECTMSTAXCE rECrLIAR TO THE YArDOIS VALLEYS. 65 
 
 that it cannot be altered or perverted wherever it has spread 
 its roots, except by a very slow process. 
 
 Other special causes were combined with this general 
 and powertiLL one. Thus, in the first place, the innovations 
 adopted in the popish chui'ch, in regard to images, the 
 mass, the real presence, etc., took a considerable time 
 to spread themselves, as histoiy shows. In the second 
 place, for a long time, nothing more was attempted than 
 insensibly to undermine the ancient doctrines, to apologize 
 for novelties, and to refute those who attacked the innova- 
 tions. We may cite, as examples of this fact, the writings 
 of St. Jerome against Yigilantius, of Jonas of Orleans 
 against Claude of Tmin, of Pascase Eatbert against the 
 ancient doctrine of the euchaiist, maintained a long time 
 after by Berenger of Tours, and others. In the thii^d place, 
 for a long time it was thought suf&cient to excommimicate 
 and anathematize heretics, or those who were thought to 
 be such. Of this the councils famish numerous examples. 
 In course of time they proceeded to much greater lengths ; 
 they shut up in cloisters and subjected to severe penance 
 those whom they deemed opponents. But it was hardly 
 till after the power of the popes had reached its height, in 
 the time of Gregory vii. (Hildebrand), that here and there 
 a few persons of note, holding opposite opinions, perished 
 by a violent death, either by fire or sword. But systematic 
 persecutions, such as the crusades and the horrible incjuisi- 
 tion, are not of earlier date than Innocent in.* 
 
 It is, then, easy to understand how fidelity and truth 
 could be so long maintained, especially where cii'cumstances 
 were favourable. 
 
 It vnH be proper here to notice a circumstance of high 
 importance, which serves forcibly to explain the fact of the 
 preservation of evangelical truth, from the time of Claude 
 of Turin, in the territory which is still occupied by the 
 Yaudois ; it is this, that in the most remote feudal times 
 these valleys were governed by a powerful lord, who held 
 his domains directly of the empire, and was himself imbued 
 
 * This remark may enable oiir readers to miderstand how, in proportion as 
 the power of Rome, founded on falsehood by the spuit of falsehood, was able 
 to maintain itself, it indulged in that excess of tyranny and barbarous cruelty, 
 by which so much innocent blood was spilt from the' time of Innocent iii. to 
 Innocent xi., under whom the revocation of the Edict of Is antes and the dis- 
 persion of the Vaudois took place in 1685 and 1686. 
 
66 HISTOET OF THE TATJDOIS CHUECH. 
 
 witli Yandois doctrines. This Yciy important fact is re- 
 corded in the work we have already cited of a [Roman] 
 Catholic author, who was better qualified than any other 
 person to ascertain its truth — the marquis Costa de Eeaure- 
 gard. These are his words : " Besides the earldoms (conites) 
 which sprang from the great marquisates, we cannot doubt 
 that there were others of very ancient date, created by the 
 emperors in favoiu- of the principal barons of this country, 
 and that they had only the simple titles of counts granted 
 to some lords who held them inmiediately of the emperor. 
 Such were the counts of Castellamonte, Blandra, Lucerna, 
 and Piossasque, to whom the Picdmontese history gives 
 this qualification, from the eleventh and twelfth centuries." 
 
 According to this evidence, the counts of Lucerna, lords 
 of the valleys,^' held immediately of the empire, and were, 
 consequently, independent of every neighbouring prince; 
 and so Httle was their power inferior to that of the counts 
 and marquises in the vicinity, that in their valleys, which 
 their natural position rendered easy to defend, they could 
 protect their vassals against every foreign invasion. The 
 same author adds, "We do not see, however, that the 
 princes of Achaie, who lived so near them (the Yaudois), 
 persecuted them. It is even believed that some of the 
 counts of Lucerna, immediate vassals of the empire and 
 principal lords of these valleys, at a very ancient period, 
 shared their belief, f 
 
 In the absence of other historical documents | the 
 armorial bearings of the house of Lucerna are sufficient, it 
 appears to us, to prove the fact just stated. They are 
 symbolical; they present a flambeau {lucerna) emitting 
 a brilliant light in the midst of darkness. The surround- 
 ing device is explanatory — Lux lucet in tenelris, '■'•The light 
 shmeth in darhness.^^ These armorial bearings and this 
 device, which the Yaudois of the valle^^s, even to this day, 
 love to regard as theirs, attest, by their symbolical signi- 
 
 * Or, at least, of the valley of Lucerna. 
 
 t Let it be recollected that this was also the case with the counts of 
 Montfort m Astesan. See Memohes Historiques, etc., t. i., p. 64, t.ii., p. 51. 
 
 % One dociunent, which certainly exists, would interest the Vaudois in more 
 than one respect, namely, the treaty by which the comits of Lucerna. and the 
 marfjuis of Angrogiia submitted to the house of Savoy. The conditions of 
 this deed were certauilj^ favourable to the Vaudois. These were the franchises 
 and religious hberties which they have always claimed, but, for the most part, 
 in vain. 
 
APPEAL TO TEADITIOX. 67 
 
 fication, the antiqiiitj' of evangelical truth in the valleys of 
 Piedmont. They attest that from the time when the name 
 of Lncerna was given to the most considerable part of these 
 valleys, and to its then count, that is, from the tenth or 
 eleventh century, according to the testimony of the marquis 
 Costa, a long time before Valdo, the light of the gospel 
 shone in darkness, in the midst of the Romish superstitions 
 which had spread over almost all the kingdoms of the 
 west. 
 
 We believe, then, that we have proved, as far as the 
 absence of more precise docimients will permit, that the 
 Yaudois of Piedmont are not a sect which owes its origin 
 to Valdo, an accidental phenomenon of the twelfth century, 
 an isolated religious movement, but a branch of the primi- 
 tive chiu'ch preserved by a striking Divine intervention, 
 flourishing apart in the midst of the rubbish which had 
 covered the trunk that once noiuished it, and had crushed 
 and withered all the other branches. The chuix-h of the val- 
 leys was a young infant, that had escaped, unperceived, from 
 the disaster which deprived its parent of life, and had lived 
 concealed in desert places, among the valleys and rocks, till 
 the day when it involuntarily attracted attention ; while its 
 sisters, magnificently attired, forgot in slavery and cor- 
 ruption the memory of their pious and faithful mother; 
 and, by their levity and dissoluteness, forfeited the incor- 
 ruptible inheritance which the Lord intended to have 
 secured to them by his atoning death. 
 
 For further illustration of the subject, we proceed to 
 report the traditions of the Vaudois church. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 TEADITIONS OF THE VAUDOIS WHICH ATTEST THEIE 
 ANTIQUITY. 
 
 The Yaudois have a twofold tradition respecting their 
 origin : one, more general ; the other, more in detail ; and 
 both very exact. 
 
 In all the persecutions they have passed through, from 
 
68 HISTOET OF THE VATJDOIS CHrECH. 
 
 the fifteenth century and later, in the appeals they have 
 made at different times to their sovereign, the Yaudois have 
 always, as formerly, maintained that the rehgion they fol- 
 lowed had been preserved from father to son, and from 
 generation to generation, from time immemorial : Da ogni 
 tempo, e da tempo immemoriale, (" from all time, and from 
 time immemorial,") is the language of their appeals. 
 
 Moreover, not only the Vaudois of Piedmont, but all 
 those who have laid claim to the name, in all places, have 
 constantly maintained that they received their way or 
 religious belief from Leon, an associate and contemporary 
 of Sylvester, bishop of Rome, under the emperor Constantino 
 the Great. 
 
 This tradition, under its second form, is more precise 
 than the first, and rests on a historical basis. We read, in 
 fact, in the Fasciculus Temporum, ''The temporalities of 
 the church which the prelates began to possess about this 
 time, (the time of Sylvester and Constantino,) often occa- 
 sioned violent altercations among the doctors; some as- 
 serting that it was just and advantageous for the church to 
 have an abundance of temporal goods and worldly honours, 
 and others maintaining the contrary." Leon was one of 
 the latter, and would have preferred Christian liberty, with 
 poverty, to a rich benefice, the possible cause of servility 
 and dissoluteness. "^^ This tradition agrees with what Ho- 
 uorius d'Autun and Eberard de Bethune, in the twelfth 
 century, tells us of the Mountaineers (Montani;) that is, 
 as we believe, of the Yaudois : '' That, in the times, of per- 
 secution, they concealed themselves in the mountains, and 
 separated themselves from the body of the church, or 
 wandered from the Catholic faith." 
 
 Should any one hesitate to regard this quotation as a 
 confirmation of tradition, we would appeal to another by 
 father Moneta, professor and inquisitor at Bologna, about 
 the year 1244. Speaking of the Yaudois, in whom he was 
 disposed to see only recent sectaries, this author expresses 
 himself as follows : — ''It is evident that they take their 
 origin from Yaldecius, a citizen of L^'ons, who commenced 
 this work a little more or less than eighty years ago : thus 
 they are not the successors of the primitive church, and 
 therefore not the church of God. But if they assert that 
 
 * Fasciculus Temporum, in Pistorio, t. ii., p. 47. 
 
EAINIER SACCO CALLS THEil LEOXISTS. 69 
 
 theii' way was prior to Yaldo, let them show it by some 
 testimony."^' 
 
 By this passage we see, that if Moneta combats the 
 antiquity of the Yaudois church, he nevertheless testifies 
 that these reputed innovators regarded themselves as suc- 
 cessors of the primitive church, as the church of God, 
 and consequently maintained that their way was prior to 
 Yaldo. This quotation clearly shows that about the year 
 1244, eighty years or more after Yaldo, the Yaudois of 
 Piedmont refused to admit the recent origin that was 
 assigned them, and took their stand on a direct descent 
 from the j)rimitive church. 
 
 A second inquisitor, Peter Polichdorf, a German, ac- 
 cording to some, a contemporary of Moneta, according to 
 others, a century later, also says :—" The Yaudois heretics, 
 those childi-en of iniquity, falsely pretend before foolish 
 people that theii' sect has continued since the time of pope 
 Sylvester ; that is to say, when the church began to possess 
 temporalities."! 
 
 The inquisitor Ptainier Sacco, a violent opponent of the 
 Yaudois Cathari, among whom he had lived some years 
 before entering the order of preaching friars or dominicans, 
 and who wi'ote about the year 1250, not only speaks of this 
 tradition, but gives many particulars besides, respecting the 
 sect of the Leonists. After saying that of the seventy sects 
 that were formed without the church, there only remained 
 four, of which that of the Leonists was one, he adds : — 
 ''Of all the sects that exist or have existed, there never 
 has been one so pernicious to the church as that of the 
 Leonists ; and that for three reasons : first, because it is the 
 most ancient, since, as some assert, it has been preseiwed 
 from the time of Sylvester,— according to others from 
 the days of the apostles ; secondly, it is the most widely 
 spread, — ^in fact, there is hardly a country where it is not to 
 be found ; thii^dly, while all other sects strike with hoiTor 
 those who hear them, on account of their awful blasphemies 
 against God, this of the Leonists manifests a great appear- 
 ance of piety, inasmuch as its members live justly before 
 
 * Venerabilis P. Moneta adversus Catharos et Valdenses, lib. v., cap. i., sec. 
 4, Romee, 174>3. • o-q 
 
 t Maxima Bibliotli., P. P., t. xxv., m proefat., cap. i. p. ^/». 
 
70 HISTOEY OF THE YArDOIS CHUECH. 
 
 men, have true faith in God, and believe all the articles of 
 the creed>' 
 
 jS'otmthstanding the intentional or involuntary confusion 
 of llainier in designating sects, confounding what he ought 
 to sei^arate, and separating what he ought to unite, and 
 although, in this particular case, he appears to confound 
 the Leonists with the Poor Men of Lyons, there can be no 
 doubt that, in what he says about the Leonists, in the pas- 
 sage just quoted, he had in view, not the disciples of Yaldo, 
 or Poor ]\Ien of Lyons, (since he assigns to the Leonists an 
 origin prior to these last by several centuries,) but the 
 Yaudois, whom the [Eoman] Catholics of his time already 
 affected to confound mth the Poor Men of Lyons. Every- 
 thing, in fact, that he says of the Leonists perfectly corre- 
 sponds with what we know of the history and tradition of 
 the Vaudois, and with what we shall exhibit in the sequel 
 of their doctrine and piety. 
 
 The etymology of the name Leonists is altogether favour- 
 able to our views ; we cannot perceive in it a derivative 
 from Lyons, while it seems perfectly natural to derive it 
 fi^om Leon, with whom the Yaudois connect their religious 
 opinions. 
 
 Lastly, the tradition which we have reported of the 
 origin of the Yaudois, is confirmed by an archbishoj^ of 
 Tuiin, Claude de Seyssel, who from 1517 to 1520 occu- 
 pied the diocese in which the Yaudois valleys are situated, 
 and who had the means of acquiring an exact knowledge of 
 their opinions. But as he only repeats what is known to 
 us, and treats it as a fable or a tale, Ave shall spare our 
 readers the quotation of the passage. f 
 
 This tradition has also been preserved in the evangelical 
 churches, the descendants of those of the valleys ; in Bohe- 
 mia and Moravia, for instance. | 
 
 But wo shall not dwell longer on this point : it is 
 enough that we have well established its certainty. The 
 value of such a tradition, to wliich the wi'itings of the Yau- 
 
 * Maxima Bibliotli., P.P., t. xxv., caps. v. and ^d., p. 261, etc. 
 
 t R. P. Claudii Seysselii, archiep., Taitrin. adversus errores et sectam Val- 
 densiuni Tractatus, c. i. 
 
 X Such a tradition is reported in the work entitled Histoire des Fersecutions 
 de VEqllse de Boheme de SQi a 1632 (History of the Persecutions of the Church 
 of Bohemia, from 894 to 1632). 
 
TArDOIS WIlITrN'GS SEXT TO PERKIX. 71 
 
 dois allude,^- as a proof in fovoui' of the antiqiiity of their 
 church, ^sill a^Dpear indisputable to every honest and intel- 
 ligent person. 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 weiti:n"gs of the tatjdois. 
 
 A STRiETXG testimony to the antiquity of the Yaudois 
 church exists in the original manuscripts which it pos- 
 sesses from the year 1100 to 1230; the greater part of 
 them fifty years prior to the religious manifestation in 
 which Pierre Yaldo took the lead. These works in verse 
 and prose, in the Eomance or Yaudois language, form the 
 stock of a great number of similar productions, animated 
 with the same spirit, written in the same dialect, or in 
 Latin, at different periods, but almost all prior to the 
 Reformation of the sixteenth centuiy. 
 
 To Leger, the historian and Yaudois pastor, we are 
 indebted for the preservation of these precious memorials 
 of the piety and ancient origin of the Yaudois church. 
 Foreseeing, probably, the storm that was rising against it, 
 and which, after giving portentous tokens of its approach 
 duiing his life, terminated in the lamentable catastrophe of 
 1686, Leger collected the ^^itings of the Yaudois and sent 
 them, in 1658, to Sii' Samuel :Morland, the English ambas- 
 sador at the court of Turin, who brought them to England, 
 and deposited them in the libraiy of the university of Cam- 
 bridge. Leger made a second collection, but smaller, 
 which he deposited himself in the library of Geneva.f 
 
 Above forty years before, about the year 1602, a number 
 of Yaudois writings had abeady been sent to P. Perrin, by 
 direction of a synod held in the valleys ; they had been 
 coUected particularly in the valley of Pragela. This author 
 has preserved a list of those that were in his possession.^ 
 
 * An aUusion is made, amongst others, to this tradition, in the -i09th verse 
 of " The Noble Lesson," in this expression, " AU the popes from byivester to 
 
 t A catoloffue of both is given in an appenchx to the original of this work. 
 
 t This hst^is also in the same appendix. Leger, part i., p. 74 ; V i.^^aux, a 
 pastor who exercised his ministiy in the valleys for forty years from lo.39, col- 
 lected, accorchng to Perrin, many manuscripts in his tune. It is to this good 
 
72 HISTOEY or THE VArDOIS CHUECH. 
 
 The general character of these writings is doctrinal and 
 practical ; some are controversial. Their doctrines are ex- 
 pounded in a very simple manner. We find there neither 
 theological formulas nor systematic exposition, unless in 
 the Catechism and Confession of Faith. Revealed truths 
 are generally announced in their scriptural form. Instead 
 of comments on grace, election, and predestination, these 
 profound mysteries are taught in the terms which the Holy 
 Spiiit has chosen. In such a frequent and faithful use of 
 passages of Holy Scripture, the Yaudois barhes, or pastors, 
 showed great wisdom. Although written at a period of 
 general darkness, we can detect nothing exaggerated, 
 nothing superstitious, in these documents of the religious 
 life of the Yaudois. The moderation and propriety of 
 their language, even on controverted topics, which are 
 frequently touched on, never leaves them, and is more 
 striking, since these qualities are extremely rare among 
 their adversaries. Their spirit is a truly Christian spiiit. 
 
 It is also to be observed in the ancient writings of the 
 Yaudois, that doctrine, so far from being separated from 
 morality, gives it constant support. Faith and piety, the 
 contemplation of divine truths, and a life of obedience and 
 devotedness to the Saviour, are invariably united in their 
 literary j)roductions. They treat all Christian subjects with 
 gravity and a practical aim ; the natural corruj)tion and misery 
 of man, the remission of sins by the work of Jesus Christ, 
 the fear and love of God, charity and brotherly love, for- 
 giveness and endurance of injuries, watchfulness and prayer, 
 humility, contempt of the world, detachment of the affec- 
 tions from earthly objects, patience, resignation under the 
 evils of life, the duties of pastors and spiritual guides,^' of 
 husbands and wives, of parents and children. There must 
 have been a profound knowledge of the gospel, a develop- 
 ment of vital piety and Christian intelligence, in order to 
 
 servant of God," says Perrin, " that we are indebted for the collection of these 
 ancient works of the Vaudois ; for he gathered as many as he could find, and 
 carefully preserved them. At the close of his life, he gave to certain indivi- 
 duals the memoirs he had prepared respecting the Vaudois, and all the old 
 books he had got together in the valleys." Vignaux himself says, " We have 
 at hand some ancient books of the Vaudois, containing catechisms and ser- 
 mons written in the vulgar tongue, wliich contams notlung that makes for the 
 pope or popery. It is wonderful how they could see so clearly, in a time when 
 the darkness was more intense than that of Egypt." — Perrin, Geneva, 1619. 
 
 * They had and still have elders in every division of the parishes, whose 
 busmess it was to presei-ve order and to afford consolation to the afflicted. 
 
THEY AliE VAUDOIS WKITIXGS. 73 
 
 reach so high a standard of ti^uth and morals at the end of 
 the eleventh centuiy. 
 
 Some of the Yaudois treatises are altogether polemical 
 Ihe critical position of these evangelical Christians, exposed 
 to the attacks of the Eomish church, rendered controversv 
 unavoidable. They Tvere obliged to defend their faith and 
 to explam their doctrines. Besides theii- Confession of 
 J^aith and their Catechism, the Yaudois barbes composed 
 polemical works on antichi'ist, imaginaiy purgatory, true 
 purgatory, the invocation of saints, etc. 
 
 Ainong the original works of the ancient Yaudois, we 
 must reckon a translation of the Eible into the Eomance 
 language. The numerous quotations made fi^om it in '' The 
 mUe Lesson," in the - .inticlmst," and other treatises of 
 that period, are proofs of it. Eut there is stiU more positive 
 ^^n • ^ • f ^'' <ieclares that he possessed it. In the Librarv 
 at Cambridge, manuscripts of the books of the Bible, or of 
 detached chapters, are deposited; and the Hbrary at Gre- 
 noble boasts of having a complete manuscript of the ]N"ew 
 Testament in the same dialect : there also exists a copy at 
 n i'^ • ^^'"^'^ ^^^"^ informs us, that at the Eomish coun- 
 cil, Held m 1179, under pope Alexander in., certain Yau- 
 dois presented to that pontiff a volume wiitten in the old 
 ±reiich ^Gauloise) language, (then the Romance,) which 
 contained the text of the Psalms and several books of the 
 Uld and ^ew Testament, with a commentaiy.^- 
 
 The important question of the authenticity of these 
 writings will occupy oui' attention for a short time. It 
 divides Itself into two principal points— theii- origin and 
 tneir date. ° 
 
 Everything goes to prove the Yaudois origin of these 
 wntings. It was among the Yaudois, and nowhere else, 
 that they were preserved and afterwards coUected. From 
 whom did they receive them, and what motive could they 
 have lor adopting the works of foreigners ? These moim- 
 tameers were not devoted to Hteratui'e. The writings they 
 possessed and preserved could only be their own. These 
 books expressed nothing, more or less, than the behef and 
 pious mtentions of the Yaudois believers through aU ages. 
 
 ihe greater part of these wiitings is in the Yaudois 
 language, a particular dialect of the Romance, as Raynouai'd 
 
 * Uslier, p. 286. 
 
74 HISTORY OF THE YAUDOIS CHFECH. 
 
 observes, who studied it carefully and profoundly. But 
 this Eomance language, in the Vaudois dialect, continued 
 to the Eeformation the constant language of the inhabitants 
 of the valleys, the only one used in their religious services ; 
 and it is still employed, in the present day, as a patois by 
 the common people.^' We do not know that the Yaudois 
 E-omance dialect has been spoken anywhere else. The 
 writings, therefore, that have been collected among the 
 Vaudois, and in their dialect, can only be theirs. 
 
 Lastly, it is a fact attested by history, that the ancient 
 Vaudois wrote books. An anonymous author of the thu"- 
 teenth century says positively, in speaking of the Vaudois, 
 " They have invented certain verses (measures), which 
 they call the thirty degrees of St. Augustine, in which 
 they teach, in some degree, the practice of virtue and to 
 avoid vice, and have adroitly introduced their rites and 
 heresies, that they may be learned more readily and im- 
 pressed more strongly on the memory, as we recommend 
 for the use of the laity the creed and the Lord's prayer; 
 they have also invented other attractive wiitings {beaux 
 Merits) with the same design. "f 
 
 It is also stated, as we have seen, by Peter the Venerable, 
 abbot of Clugny, that Henry, the false hermit as he was 
 called, who, as we think, was very probably a Vaudois, 
 wrote a book containing his opinions. But, as he has not 
 given any further description of it, we have no means of 
 judging whether this work was one of those in the cata- 
 logue, in the appendix before mentioned. But from what 
 Peter the Venerable has said, we may, at least, infer that, 
 in his time, certain writings, called heretical, were extant; 
 that is, at the commencement of the twelfth century.;}: 
 
 The second question to be discussed, in order to demon- 
 strate the authenticity of the writings of the Vaudois, 
 relates to the dates they bear. It may be put in this 
 form, — Are the writings of the Vaudois of the dates they 
 profess to be ? Do their superscription and composition 
 agree ? 
 
 * Particularly in retired places, where the inhabitants have less intercourse 
 with the Piechnontese. 
 
 t D. Martene, Thesaurus Novus Anecdotorum, t. v., autore anonymo, Trac- 
 tatus de Hseresi Pauperuni de Lugduno. The close of the article entitled, De 
 Studio Pervertendi. 
 
 X Petri Vener. Epist., quoted above. [See pp. 44, 45.] 
 
EAYNOTJARD. 75 
 
 Among the ancient "writings of the Yaudois, five only 
 have dates affixed to them. " The Noble Lesson" and the 
 Catechism bear date a.d. 1100;*' the Treatise on Anti- 
 christ and the Confession of Faith have that of 1120 ; and 
 the Treatise on Purgatory that of the year 1126. Many 
 moral j)oems, which Raynouard assigns to the epoch of 
 " The jSToble Lesson," are without date, as well as the 
 other manuscripts, one only excepted, which bears the 
 date of 1230. 
 
 The date of the Romance translation of the Bible must 
 necessarily be earlier than that of all the other Yaudois 
 writings, because there are scarcely any which do not 
 contain passages from it. 
 
 This circumstance, that five or six Yaudois manuscripts 
 only have dates, is particularly favourable to their authen- 
 ticity. If they had been affixed after the appearance of 
 the writings, and without foundation, we do not see why 
 the author of such a fraud should not have made use of it 
 in reference to a greater number, or even to all. 
 
 We, moreover, appeal to the testimony of Raynouard, in 
 favour of the correctness of these dates. It is known that 
 this modern writer has applied himself specially to the 
 study of the Romance language, of which the Yaudois is 
 a particular dialect, not differing from the rest, as, for 
 example, the Provencal, excepting in certain terminations 
 and some other slight peculiarities. Raynouard has proved 
 the antic[uity of this Romance language. He has demon- 
 strated its existence from the time of Charlemagne, in most 
 of the countries that submitted to this prince, from the 
 Rhine to Rome. He has explained its formation, and 
 composed a grammar of it, with numerous examples. IS^ow, 
 among these we have remarked a great number which are 
 taken from the writings of the Yaudois, either their poetical 
 pieces, or their translation of the ]N"ew Testament. f Thus 
 the antiquity of the writings fr'om which these examples 
 are taken is demonstrated. The author, it is true, does 
 not express himseK categorically, excepting on the date of 
 *' The IS'oble Lesson;" but we may judge, by the place he 
 
 * " The Noble Lesson" contains its date in the following words, translated 
 
 literally from the oriorinal: — "Eleven hundred years are now entirely past, 
 since the hour was written," (v. 6). See the Appendix. [Hallam's History 
 of the Middle Ages, iii., 467.] 
 t These examples will be found, t. i., pp. 112, 113. 
 
 E 2 
 
76 HISTOEY OF THE VAUDOIS CHUECH. 
 
 assigns in his work to the principal Yaudois documents, 
 that he admitted the correctness of the dates they hear, 
 and that he also considered many of their other writings to 
 be very ancient ; for, in his Introduction on the Trouba- 
 dours, after the pieces collected under the title of '' Actes et 
 Titres" (Acts and Titles), from a.d. 960 and the following 
 years, and which come down to 1080, he points out the 
 Vaudois poetry, as forming a continuation of them in the 
 order of time : hence we are authorized to believe that he 
 judged not only those writings in verse of the Yaudois, 
 wliich bear the date of the twelfth centmy, but also many 
 others of their poetical pieces, to be very little later than 
 the year 1080. 
 
 E-ajmouard was so convinced of the antiquity of the 
 Yaudois writings, that he has made use of them to prove 
 the converse of our proposition; that is, to support his 
 demonstrations on the language he had been studying. 
 ''If we reject," he says, ''the opinion of the existence of 
 a primitive E-omance language, that is, of an intermediate 
 idiom, which, by the decomposition of the language of the 
 Romans, and the establishment of a new grammatical 
 system, furnished the common type from which the 
 different idioms of Latin Europe have been modified, it 
 will be difficult to explain how, in the valleys of Piedmont, 
 a people separated from others by their religious opinions, 
 by their manners, and above all by their poverty, have 
 spoken the Romance language from a very ancient period, 
 and have made use of it to preserve and transmit the tradi- 
 tion of their religious doctrines, a circumstance wliich 
 attests the high antiquity of this idiom, in the country 
 which this people inhabit."'^' 
 
 The author goes on to say, " The poem of the 'Nobla 
 Leyczon' bears the date of the year 1100. The sect of 
 the Yaudois is, then, much more ancient than has been 
 generally believed." And a little after : " The date of the 
 year 1100, which we find given in this poem, merits all 
 confidence. Persons who read it with attention will perceive 
 that the manuscript has not been interpolated, etc. Lastly, 
 the very style of the work, the form of the versification, the 
 agreement of the two manuscripts, (that of Cambridge and 
 that of Geneva, ) and the kind of various readings they pre- 
 
 * Rayiiouard, t. ii. Introduction, p. cxxxvii. 
 
" THE NOBLE LESSOR. 77 
 
 sent, all unite in favour of the authenticity of this poetical 
 composition." 
 
 If Eaj-nouai'd, on account of the main object he had in 
 view, has expressed himself more explicitly about the date 
 of the Yaudois poems, yet he has equally acknowledged the 
 antiquity of their prose wiitings : — " The treatise on Anti- 
 chiist," he says, " bears the date of the year 1120." 
 
 Thus we see that this distinguished writer, without pre- 
 judice or any interested motive, and having only in ^dew 
 the Romance language, after a long and profound study of 
 the ancient religious documents of the Yaudois, pronounces 
 them authentic, and confirms the correctness of their dates. 
 Such a decision appears to us to be of very great weight. 
 
 AYe ought not to omit, moreover, the remark, that " The 
 JSToble Lesson" contains proofs of the coiTectness of the 
 date it bears. Let us cite an example. AYe find such a 
 proof in what it says in the 384tli and follo^dng verses, 
 particularly in the 396th : '' He (the sinner) makes terms 
 with the priest, to obtaiii absolution." The absolutions for 
 money were granted in the most scandalous manner in the 
 eleventh century, according to the Benedictines, the authors 
 of the ''Literary History of France," who, in speaking of 
 that period, say in so many words, — ''By means of a sum 
 of money, the greatest offenders found priests who would 
 readily give them absolution." jS'ow it was at the latter 
 end of this centuiy that the author of '' The ]S^oble Lesson" 
 wrote. ^'' 
 
 If the authority of Raynouard puts the correctness of 
 the date of the Yaudois poems beyond a doubt, we are 
 able, in our tui'n, to bring forward, as in the case of '' The 
 IN^oble Lesson," internal evidence of the authentic date of 
 one of the prose ^Titings, that, namely, on Antichrist ; it 
 is this : — 
 
 Having defined Anticluist, the author continues, — '' Such 
 is the man : accomplished in sin, he exalts himself above all 
 that is called God, and that is worshipped ; he is opposed 
 to all truth, and is seated in the temple of God, that is, in 
 the chuiX'h, making himself to be God ; he comes with all 
 sorts of seductions for those that perish. And since this 
 rebel has akeady reached his perfect state, we are no longer 
 to wait for him, (or to seek out who he is,) for by God's 
 permission he has reached old age, since he already shows 
 
 * Histoire Litteraire de France, t. Xii., pp. 5, 6. 
 
78 HISTORY OF THE VAUDOIS CHURCH. 
 
 signs of decrepitude. In fact, his power and authority are 
 diminished, and the Lord Jesus destroys this rebel by the 
 breath of his mouth, by means of many men of good will, 
 and causes a power to interfere which is opposed to him 
 and to his adherents ; he overtlirows the places in which he 
 dwells, and his possessions, and causes division in that city 
 of Babj^lon, where each successive generation has acquired 
 a fresh vigour of maliciousness." 
 
 The Antichiist of the Yaudois treatise is the Komish 
 religious system, its agents and its ritual, the pope, and the 
 idolatry of wliich he is the centre. History shows that in 
 the year 1120, the time when this work was composed, the 
 Romish system had attained its height, and was beginning 
 to decline, for a while at least. In the person of Gregory 
 VII, — the ancient monk, Hildebrand — the papacy attained 
 its greatest power, and displayed the most audacious pre- 
 tensions. It was towards the close of the eleventh century, 
 that is, on the 25th of January, 1077, that the temporal 
 power humbled itself before the usurped authority of the 
 pretended successor of St. Peter, when the unfortunate 
 emperor, Henry iv., for a long time the most powerful 
 prince in Europe, waited for three days, fasting and 
 standing barefoot in the snow, till the proud rival of his 
 power deigned to pardon him, take off his excommunication, 
 and restore to him the right of governing his own dominions. 
 
 The victory of Rome was complete under Hildebrand, 
 but their maturity of power bordered closely on decay, 
 as the treatise on Antichi'lst expresses it in the passage 
 quoted above : — " The rebel has reached old age, and 
 already shows signs of decrepitude." In fact, what does 
 history tells us? Henry iv., deceived in his attempt at 
 a generous reconciliation, again seized the crown which 
 Hildebrand believed he had wrested fi'om him, collected an 
 aimj, made himself master of Rome in 1084, established 
 pope Clement iii., by whom he was crowned afresh, and 
 drove Gregory vii. into exile, who died at Salerno. Lite- 
 rally, ''Jesus," as the passage we have quoted asserts, 
 " slew this rebel Antichrist by the breath of his mouth, by 
 means of many men of good will, and by causing an anta- 
 gonist power to interfere." Rome was then closely pressed 
 by a long siege, and, having been taken by assault, " the 
 places where Antichrist dwelt were overthrown." 
 
 Henry v., like his father, defended the imperial crown 
 
OBJECTIONS AND EEFTJTATIONS. 79 
 
 against the renewed pretensions of the popes who succeeded 
 Hildebrand. In the year 1111, he came to Home at the 
 head of a numerous army, overawed the city, and threw 
 Pascal II. into prison. The treaty of peace with this pope 
 having been annulled when he regained his liberty, after the 
 emperor's departure, Henry marched a second time to 
 Eome, entered it in triumph, drove out his adversary, and 
 nominated another pope, Gregory viii., who crowned him 
 a second time. Eome still struggled, and, after Pascal's 
 death, attempted to appoint his successor without the 
 emperor's concurrence in the person of Gelasius ii. But 
 this new pope was driven from Eome, and Henry's nominee, 
 Gregory, kept possession of the papal throne, by the will 
 of the emperor. This took place in 1118. 
 
 There can be no doubt that the Yaudois treatise on 
 Antichrist alludes to these events : the very terms of the 
 passage to which we have referred are evidence of this. 
 The date of 1120, which the treatise bears, cannot, then, 
 be fairly disputed, supported as it is by so striking a 
 historical agreement. 
 
 Some objections have been raised r. gainst the authenticity 
 of the dates of the Yaudois wiitings ; and although, alter 
 what has just been said, they will not possess much weight, 
 we feel it right to examine them. 
 
 It has been remarked, that in some Yaudois treatises, 
 particularly in that on Antichiist, the quotations of passages 
 from the word of God have the notation of chapters and verses, 
 besides that of the book ; and it has been thence inferred 
 that the origin of the writing was much more recent than 
 that indicated by the date, since it can be shown that the 
 division of the Bible into chapters and verses was not made 
 before the tliirteenth century, about the year 1250. But, 
 for this objection to have any force, it must be proved that 
 the manuscripts on which this discrepancy is charged are 
 the very originals ; since, on the other hand, if they are 
 only copies of a more recent date, we may readily imder- 
 stand, that, for the instruction of their readers, the copyists,* 
 who, T\ithout doubt, were the barbes, or Yaudois pastors, 
 availing themselves of theu" acquaintance ^vith tliis useful 
 di^dsion, added the notation of the chapters and verses, 
 
 * Adinitting that there might have been other copyists beside the barbes, it 
 cannot be doubted, from the fact of then- employment, that they possessed the 
 requisite knowledge. 
 
80 HISTORY OF THE YAUDOIS CHUECH. 
 
 mthout thereby subjecting the text to any falsification or 
 deterioration. We have a stronger warrant for admitting 
 this explanation, because all the quotations are not accom- 
 panied with the notation of chapters and verses, which 
 would probably have been the case, had this useful addition 
 been made by the author himself. 
 
 That the writings of the Yaudois were in fact often 
 copied, is what we should suppose, from the habitual and 
 almost daily use made of them by the catechumens of the 
 pastors, by the pastors themselves in their ministerial 
 labours, and by the believers in general, who sought for 
 weapons against their adversaries in the arsenal of their 
 national and religious literature, as well as in the Bible. 
 But as regards one work, " The Noble Lesson," a different 
 solution may be given of the difficulty. Raynouard has 
 settled, that the two manuscripts extant of this poem were 
 copied at distant intervals, or from different manuscripts, 
 because in one the preposition avee {loith) is expressed by 
 mi, and in the other by cum ; and he concludes that the 
 Cambridge manuscript, which has always au, is more an- 
 cient than that of Geneva, which has cmnJ^ 
 
 The authenticity of some books has also been disputed, 
 because they contain quotations from the fathers. This re- 
 mark applies particularly to the tract on purgatory of the 
 date 1126. The ancient Yaudois, it is said, acknowledged 
 in matters of faith no authority but that of the Bible ; they 
 never cited the fathers ; therefore the tract on purgatory is 
 not genuine. But it is easy to reply, that, maintaining 
 their principle perfectly inviolate, that the Bible alone is 
 of authority in matters of faith, the Yaudois could demon- 
 strate the error of their adversaries on purgatory and other 
 points, b}^ appealing to the testimony of those fathers of the 
 church, on whom the Roman catholics principally rested 
 their doctrine. 
 
 An anonymous and quite modern author has made 
 another more serious objection against the tract on purga- 
 tory, although, by a strange mistake, he imagines that he 
 is urging it against the work on Antichrist. He justly 
 observes, that the Yaudois writing at the beginning of the 
 twelfth century quotes a more recent work, namely, the 
 
 * The prepositions au and con are both in use at the present day, in different 
 locahties, but with precisely the same signification. Au mi, con mi, both mean, 
 with me. 
 
OBJECTIONS AXD EEFUTATIOXS. 81 
 
 MiUeloqiiium of St. Aiigiistin, which is a compilation 
 from the wiitiiigs of that father made by one Augustinus 
 Triumphus, who appeared with applause at the Sorbonne, 
 and at the council of Lyons in 1274. Certainly this 
 objection is very forcible and startling ; how can it l3e met 
 and refuted? By the mention of a very simple fact, 
 ah-eady stated, namely, that the writings of the Yaudois 
 were often copied, and sometimes, we may add, with con- 
 siderable vaiiations. It has been proved, in fact, that the 
 extracts published by Leger from the Purgatoiy, and which 
 gave rise to the objection, were taken fi-om an abridgment, 
 and not from the original treatise, which is of far greater 
 extent ; a treatise which exists among the manuscripts in 
 the library of Geneva, and is numbered 208. The author 
 of the abridgment has cited the Milleloquimn, which doubt- 
 less was at hand ; while the original treatise frequently 
 quotes St. Augustin himself, at one time from his book on 
 the sacraments, at another from his work on the doctrines 
 of the gosj)el, and again from a discourse on the words, 
 '^ Drimkards shall not inherit the kingdom of God." Here 
 it is that the passage occurs, '' My brethren, let no man 
 deceive himself; there are only two places," (that is, para- 
 dise and hell,) '' the thii'd (pui'gatory) does not exist at all," 
 etc. Any one may convince himself of the fact. 
 
 Do not the numerous quotations from St. Augustin, in 
 this treatise, authorize us in supposing that the anony- 
 mous author of the twelfth century, quoted above and 
 printed in Martene, refers to it when he mentions a Yaudois 
 writing called '' The Thirty Degrees of Saint Augustin ?" 
 And then, what will the objection raised against it signify ? 
 
 Lastly, it has been remarked, that these wiitings speak 
 of the persecutions endured by the Yaudois ; and hence it 
 is inferred that they could not be productions of the twelfth 
 century, since they were not persecuted in theii' valleys till 
 a much later period. But this objection falls to the ground, 
 if, on the one hand, we reflect that there might be persecu- 
 tions of which history has preserved no record ; and on the 
 other, if it be granted that the heretics destroyed by fire 
 and sword, at Asti, Orleans, Toulouse, Arras, and other 
 places, in the eleventh centiuy, were regarded as brethren 
 by the Yaudois. 
 
 The authenticity of the Yaudois wiitings of the vear 1 100, 
 
 E 3 
 
82 HISTORY OF THE VATJDOIS CHFECH. 
 
 1120, 1126, and 1230, being once admitted, we believe it is 
 in our power to deduce from them the antiquity of the 
 church from which they proceeded. It is not, in fact, at 
 its first rise, that a religious society exhibits its doctrines 
 and its practice in munerous writings ; for, before opinions 
 are reduced to formal statements, they must be settled and 
 fixed in the minds of men ; and so, also, before those cha- 
 racteristics, whether general or particular, that compose the 
 life of a society are committed to writing, the facts from 
 which they are deduced must have had time to take place. 
 In a word, it is not at the epoch of its formation, but at 
 that of its full growth and maturity, that a religious society 
 abounds in books of edification, instruction, and contro- 
 versy, and in Christian poetry. It appears to us, then, to 
 be demonstrated, that in the year 1100, the date of the 
 poem of '' The IN'oble Lesson" and of the Vaudois Cate- 
 chism, the church of the valleys, far from being merely in 
 the dawn of evangelical light and in the first stages of its 
 development, had already attained the age of strength and 
 reflection ; and since no fact is mentioned in history which 
 explains in what way the Yaudois doctrine penetrated into 
 the valleys, during the two or three preceding centuries, 
 while many facts render its existence probable from the 
 time of Claude of Turin, and even earlier, it follows that 
 the Yaudois church, which produced such remarkable 
 writings at the commencement of the twelfth century, was 
 a continuation of that which this faithful bishop instructed. 
 She had lived in obscurity, training and fortifying herself, 
 preparing for the combat, from the days of this pious 
 successor of the apostles till those in which a Pierre de 
 Bruis, a Heiuy, and so many other courageous disciples of 
 Christ, were seen descending from the mountains, bringing 
 with them the fragrance of the pure gospel ; and till the 
 appearance of these religious writings in the Eomance 
 language, which were designed to proclaim the truths of 
 revelation, and to hold up to imitation the holy life of the 
 children of God. From being feeble and- timid, the Yau- 
 dois church became strong and courageous. Repose no 
 longer suited her fidelity. She renounced it in publishing 
 her thoughts ; she did more — she proceeded to make a 
 succession of sacrifices in order to achieve the triumph of 
 the truth ! 
 
THEIR RTJLE OF FAITH. 83 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 THE BELIEF OF THE YArDOIS. 
 
 The belief of the Vaiidois has, like their waitings, a strongly 
 marked character of fidelity to the Scriptures, and thus is 
 found to be in harmony, on all essential points, with the 
 faith of the primitive church, and the different eTangehcal 
 churches to which the reformation gave birth. 
 
 A complete and minute parallel between the Yaudois 
 doctrines and those of the primitive church would detain us 
 too long ; we must confine ourselves to the j^rineipal features. 
 
 And in the first place, we remark, that the Yaudois 
 remained faithful to the pure tradition of the church of the 
 fij'st ages, in what concerns the source and rule of the 
 Christian faith. With them the source of the truth was 
 entirely and only in the word of God ; and they recognised 
 as such, the canonical books of the Old Testament, which 
 the Jews had already received as inspired, and the books of 
 the New Testament, such as were generally in use. As to 
 the books which the Jews have transmitted to us as apo- 
 cryphal, they said, '^ We read them for the instruction of 
 the people, but not to confirm the authority of the doc- 
 trines of the church."^ 
 
 As to the rule of their faith, they rejected every point of 
 doctrine which did not appear to them conformable to the 
 instructions and spirit of the word of God ; at the same 
 time, they professed to believe and observe everything 
 which it reveals and ordains. This mse and faithful rule 
 served them as a fence against error, and an answer to the 
 attacks of their adversaries. Prove by the Holy. Scriptures 
 that we are in error, (they said to such persons, ) and we are 
 ready to submit. From the most remote period this de- 
 claration, always the same in spirit, if not in express terms, 
 was one of the distinctive features of their religious phy- 
 siognomy. Taking literally that injunction of the Spirit of 
 God respecting revealed truth, ^' Ye shall not add imto the 
 word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish 
 aught from it;" the ancient Yaudois constantly rejected 
 doctrines that were based on authority and human tradi- 
 
 * See Confession of Faith, Article iii. 
 
84 HISTOBT OF THE YAUDOIS CHrECH. 
 
 tion ; they repelled, with holy indignation and horror, 
 images, crosses, and relics, as objects of veneration or wor- 
 ship ; the adoration and intercession of the blessed virgin 
 Mary and the saints; they consequently rejected the feasts 
 consecrated to these same saints, the prayers addressed to 
 them, the incense and tapers that were burned in their ho- 
 nour ; they likewise rejected the mass, auricular confession, 
 purgatory, extreme unction, and prayers for the dead, holy 
 water. Lent, abstinence from meat at certain times and on 
 certain days, imposed fasts and penances, processions, pil- 
 grimages, the celibacy of the clergy, monkery, etc., etc. 
 Their declaration on these points is as explicit as it is 
 strong. 
 
 '' We have always believed," they say in their Confession 
 of faith of the year 1120, (articles 10 and 11,) " that all 
 things invented by men, such as the feasts and vigils of the 
 saints, holy water, abstinence on certain days from meat and 
 other kinds of food, and, in short, all such things, and espe- 
 cially masses, are an abomination, which ought not to be 
 mentioned in the presence of God. We hold in abomina- 
 tion human inventions as antichristian ; inventions for 
 which we are disturbed, and which are prejudicial to 
 liberty of spirit." 
 
 We nowhere find that the Yaudois occupied themselves 
 with the vain questions that have often been agitated mth 
 warmth, such as the perpetual virginity of Mary, and her 
 pretended dignity as mother of God, her nativity, assump- 
 tion, and other such points, of which no mention is made 
 in the Holy Scriptures. 
 
 The Yaudois subscribed, moreover, to the articles of the 
 Apostles' Creed. We read at the head of their confession 
 of faith — '' We believe and maintain fij^mly all that is con- 
 tained in the twelve articles of what is called the Apostles' 
 Creed, regarding as heresy whatever is not conformable to 
 it." They also received the Athanasian Creed, which is 
 found among the manuscripts in their language, and the 
 decisions of the first four general councils, as not departing 
 from the rule of doctrine maintained among them, namely, 
 the word of God.^' 
 
 To specify the belief of the Yaudois on some fundamental 
 points, we add that their faith in God is scriptural. '' We 
 
 * See Leger, vol. i. p. 116. 
 
STJBMISSIOX TO CIYIL ATJTHOEITT. 85 
 
 believe in one God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit," they 
 say in art. 2 of their Confession, *' This God, all-powei-ful, 
 all-^se, and all-good, has made all things by liis good- 
 ness." (Ai't 3.) 
 
 In reference to man they express themselves thus : '' God 
 formed Adam in his image and in his likeness ; but thi'ough 
 the malice of the de\il, and by Adam's disobedience, sin 
 entered into the world, and all are sinners in Adam and by 
 Adam." (Art. 4.) 
 
 They received the doctrine of redemption in its simpli- 
 city and pimty. With them, salvation is gratuitous; it 
 is a gift of God through the work of Jesus Christ, a gift 
 granted to all those who believe. '' AYe believe," (say they, 
 art. 7,) *' that Christ is to us life, truth, peace and right- 
 eousness, Shepherd and Advocate, sacrifice and Priest ; that 
 he died for the salvation of all believers, and rose again for 
 our justification." 
 
 Their belief respecting the state of men after death is 
 perfectly conformable to the gospel. We read in the 9th 
 article of their confession of faith, *'We believe, like- 
 wise, that after this life there are only two abodes (places) ; 
 the one for those who are saved, which we call paradise, 
 and the other for the lost, which we call hell ; we deny 
 altogether that purgatory di-eamt of by Antichrist, and 
 imagined contrary to the truth." 
 
 The Yaudois admitted only the two sacraments instituted 
 by Jesus Christ, namely, baptism and the holy supper, 
 which they administered conformably to their institution. 
 ''We believe," they say in art. 12, "that the sacraments 
 are signs or visible forms of invisible graces. We main- 
 tain that it is good for the faithful sometimes to use these 
 said signs or visible forms, if it can be done ; and yet we 
 believe and maintain that the faithful may be saved without 
 receiving the said signs, if they have neither place nor 
 means for using them." And they add (art. 13), ''We 
 have known no other sacraments besides baj)tism and the 
 eucharist." 
 
 The Yaudois were not forgetful of one essential point 
 for the true disciples of Jesus Chidst, submission to the 
 civil power, and which it was desirable to specify, in order 
 to shut the mouths of gainsayers who charged them with 
 not recognising the authority of the magistrate. " We 
 
86 HISTOEY OF THE VAUDOIS CHUECH. 
 
 are bound," they declare, in art. 14, ''to honour the 
 secular power by submission, obedience, good-will, and the 
 payment of tribute." After the example of the first 
 Clu^istians, and according to the order of their Divine 
 Master, they rendered to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, 
 and to God the things that are God's. 
 
 Such, in the eleventh and twelfth centuries, was the 
 belief of the Vaudois, as exliibited in their writings, from 
 the year 1100 to 1126, and in their other treatises. 
 
 It may, perhaps, be noticed, that no mention is made in 
 a special mamier of some particular doctrines, such as 
 election, predestination, and grace. This silence seems to 
 show, that they followed and received in simplicity of heart 
 the declarations of Scripture, without indulging a desire to 
 penetrate these profound mysteries. 
 
 To complete this brief exposition of the doctrine pro- 
 fessed by the ancient Yaudois, it remains for us to lay 
 before our readers some of the opinions that have been 
 passed upon them, and the accounts which have been 
 given by Catholic writers, their adversaries. Certainly, as 
 might be expected, the Yaudois doctrines have not been 
 presented by them in an advantageous light, and very 
 often they have been distorted; nevertheless, it is not 
 difficult to distinguish the truth in their statements from 
 the error or falsehood. 
 
 One of these adversaries of the Yaudois, father Richini, 
 accuses them of maintaining that it is not necessary to 
 confess to men, but that it is sufficient to confess to God ; 
 that external penances are not necessary for salvation ; and 
 that when the sinner repents of his sins, whatever may be 
 their number, if death surprises him in this state, he goes 
 straight to paradise. 
 
 Though it is not probable that the Yaudois expressed 
 themselves in terms so little befitting the subject as the 
 preceding, yet we acknowledge that the doctrine thus an- 
 nounced was essentially theirs. 'Not having seen in the 
 Holy Scriptures the obligation of confession to the priest, 
 or of penances, they confined themselves to confession 
 of sins to God, on which they insisted with so much the 
 more force; and they believed, according to the gospel, 
 that a sincere repentance, united to a living faith in the 
 Saviour, sufficed to obtain from the Divine mercy the 
 
ACCUSATIOXS OF THEIK ADYEESAEIES EXAMINED. 87 
 
 pardon of sin, and an entrance into the kingdom of 
 heaven. 
 
 According to father Eichini, the Yaudois also said, — 
 ''that all good men are, as such, priests; and that every 
 individual in a state of grace has as much power to grant 
 
 absolution as we acknowledge the pope to possess 
 
 They despise the absolutions and excommunications of the 
 church, saying that none but God is able to excommuni- 
 cate." The most ancient authors express themselves in 
 the same manner.-'' 
 
 This statement is correct ; the Yaudois acknowledging 
 in no man the right to absolve sins otherwise than by de- 
 claring to every believer that Christ has delivered liim from 
 condemnation, could afiirm that every believer had as much 
 right as any one, whoever he might be, consequently as 
 the pope himself, to declare the believer absolved or saved, 
 by announcing to every contrite and believing heart the 
 benefit of the death of Jesus Christ. As to the pretended 
 right which the E-omish chiuxh arrogated to itself of binding 
 or absolving, we may see the ^dew taken of it by the Yaudois, 
 by reading in " The Xoble Lesson" of the year 1100, from 
 verse 378 to the 413th, and in the treatise on Antichrist of 
 the year 1120, to the fifth and sixth paragraph. f 
 
 " They ridicule the papal indulgences," Eichini says 
 again, '' absolutions, the power of the keys conferred on the 
 church, the dedication and consecration of churches or 
 altars, calling these ceremonies feasts of stones. They say 
 that the whole earth is equally consecrated and blessed of 
 God; for this reason they acknowledge no peculiar sacred- 
 ness either in cemeteries or churches." 
 
 It is well known that the Yaudois were often reduced to 
 the precarious state of the fii^st Christians. The congre- 
 gation met in the first place that offered, oftentimes under 
 the vault of heaven, in a desert, in woods, or in caves. 
 They never imagined that the temple imparted sanctity- to 
 the persons assembled, nor that any value could be attached 
 to the mere building ; for the whole earth belonged to the 
 Lord. Jesus taught the Samaritan woman by Jacob's well, 
 and his disciples on a mountain, by the sea-shore, or in a 
 
 * Richini, Dissertatio sectmda, cap. iii. de Valdensibus in libros Moneta. — 
 Rainier and Polichdorf, c. xxxiii.— Eberard, cap. xii.— Moneta, liv. v., cap. 5. 
 ■ t See the Appendix to the original work. 
 
bo HISTORY or THE VATJDOIS CHUECH. 
 
 ship, as well as in the temple at Jerusalem. If the Yaudois 
 condemned the dedication and consecration of churches or 
 altars, designating them "feasts of stones," it was because 
 the presence of the Lord consecrates the church ; and it is 
 by prayer, and not by ceremonies, that this blessing is 
 obtained. As for cemeteries, they could hold them in little 
 esteem, on account of the purity of their faith and their 
 exalted hopes. Of what importance could the place of rest 
 for their mortal remains be to them, while expecting the 
 resiuTCction ? Their only desire was, that their souls might 
 be admitted into the presence of their Lord ; yet it is loiown 
 that the Albigensian Yaudois, the disciples of Pierre de 
 Bruis and Henry, had cemeteries. 
 
 In the Gestes of Toulouse, Mcolas Bertrand says posi- 
 tively, on the authority of Guillaume de Puylaurens : — 
 ''As to the ceremonies and rites of the church, they reject 
 them entirely, and make them an object of derision; for, 
 according to Eainier, they ridicule altars and their conse- 
 cration, vases and sacred furniture, sacerdotal ornaments, 
 wax-tapers, incense, holy water, and other religious rites. 
 They not only reject saints' days, but also theii' invocation; 
 they despise relics, and the canonization of saints; and 
 refuse all credence to the miracles which God works at their 
 tombs by their intercession. They affirm that there is no 
 being but God, to whom every kind of adoration is due ; 
 accordingly, they proscribe all adoration and honoiu* ren- 
 dered to the cross — to what we believe to be the body of 
 Jesus Christ, to saints and their images."^' 
 
 It would seem, by this account, as if the Yaudois, in 
 combating Romish errors, em^^loyed no weapons but those 
 of derision and contempt ; but this is plainly an exaggera- 
 tion, as any one may con\T^nce himself, by taking a glance 
 at their ^Titings. The knowledge of the truth imparts a 
 better inspiration to its defenders. Severity of language is 
 often united with the persuasive efforts of charity ; and if 
 irony sometimes escape the lips, it is by accident and in 
 the presence of hypocritical adversaries. 
 
 Catholic wi^iters have also said, '' The Yaudois ridicule 
 religious singing and Divine service, and say that it is 
 
 * Richini, loc. cit. — Polichdorf, clis. xvi., xx., xxii., xxiii., xxxiii. — Bernard 
 de Foncald, ch. xii. — Ermangard, ch.s. viii., ix. — Eberard, ch. xvii. — Moneta, 
 liv. v., chs. i., ii., iii., viii., and x. 
 
ACCTJSATIOXS OF THEIE ADVEESAHIES EXAMINED. 89 
 
 insulting to God to sing what vre msh to utter to him, as 
 if he could not understand our prayers without our chant- 
 ing them." 
 
 This account is incoiTect ; the Vaudois could not object 
 to singing in churches, and psalms and hymns ; for they 
 would have condemned what God has ordained in his word, 
 to which they were so submissive. Besides, we cannot 
 doubt that they themselves would have admitted, as an act 
 of worship, the singing of God's praises, since any one may 
 see, in the library at Geneva, man}^ hymns of the ancient 
 Yaudois, forming in the whole a considerable collection 
 (the Geneva manuscript.) It cannot, then, be questioned 
 that the censures they expressed related to the abuses of 
 the Romish church in singing in an unknown tongue, and 
 in substituting masses, and other chanted services, for acts 
 of worship in " spirit and in truth." 
 
 *' The Yaudois," it is also said, "maintain that those 
 who do not observe the prescribed fasts, and who eat meat 
 according to their own pleasure, commit no sin, provided 
 they do not give offence to others : thus, in private, they 
 eat meat on any day and in any place whatever, provided 
 no one takes offence at it.""^ 
 
 This testimony is honoiu'able ; it confirms our con- 
 ^'iction that the Yaudois had no other rule of faith than 
 the word of God, and they knew how to unite charity and 
 truth. 
 
 Eichini says again, " They accuse of sin whoever jDro- 
 nounces or executes a capital sentence ; they regard as 
 homicides and reprobates those who preach crusades against 
 the Saracens or Albigenses." Eainier reports (chap, v.) 
 that the Yaudois regard the pope and all the bishops as 
 homicides on account of the wars {i^ropter lella.) Moneta 
 treats the same subject at length, in his fifth book, 
 chap, xiii. 
 
 Must the first proposition be understood as expressing 
 an absolute disapproval of capital pimishment ? We know 
 not how to understand it otherwise. But it is, at least, 
 very striking to see this important question already re- 
 solved by the Yaudois of the twelfth century. As to the 
 censiu^e passed on those who excited others to war, and 
 particularly on the pope and bishops who preached in 
 
 * Ibid. 
 
90 HISTORY OF THE VATJDOIS CHUECH. 
 
 favour of the crusades, and took part in many other wars, 
 we find it perfectly in harmony with what we know of the 
 reverence of the Yaudois for the spirit of the gospel. 
 
 An old anonymous writer, already quoted, thus expresses 
 himself : — " The Yaudois afiii'm, that the clergy and priests 
 who have riches and possessions are childi-en of the devil, 
 and the creatures of perdition. They condemn as guilty of 
 sin those who pay them tithes and make them offerings. 
 They say that this is, as it were, fattening lard." 
 
 Eainier discusses this question more at length. He 
 writes: — " These heretics teach that we ought not to pay 
 tithes, because they were not paid in the primitive church : 
 that priests and monks ought not to have prebends nor 
 possessions ; that bishops and abbots ought not to enjoy the 
 revenues of vacant bishoprics; that they ought not to 
 divide among themselves land and population; that it 
 was wi^ong to endow monasteries and chiu"ches, and to 
 make wills in their favour; that churches ought not to 
 possess any revenue, but that the clergy ought, after the 
 example of the apostles, to labour with their own hands 
 tor their livelihood."^' 
 
 As it is true that the Yaudois taught and practised 
 detachment from the world ; that they censiu^ed avarice, 
 covetousness, worldliness, and sensuality, and that their 
 barbes or pastors laboiu^d with their own hands for their 
 subsistence ; as it is undeniable that the Romish clergy of 
 the middle ages thought more about getting rich and en- 
 joying themselves than being models of Christian virtue ; it 
 may be easily understood and explained how the Yaudois 
 indulged in no measured reproaches, and perhaps some- 
 times exaggerated, in its application, a principle that in 
 itself was just. 
 
 As to the authority of the church in matters of faith, it 
 is very true that the Yaudois refused to every ecclesiastical 
 or other body, and to every individual, the right of fixing 
 the sense of Scripture in an absolute manner, — of imposing 
 their interpretation as a rule of faith ; in a word, of adding 
 to, or taking from the word of God, under the pretext of 
 giving it greater clearness. But it is an exaggerated state- 
 ment to pretend that the Yaudois made no account of 
 councils and the fathers of the church. Their writings 
 
 * Richini, ibid,— Polichdorf, ch, i.— Eberard, ch. x.— Moneta, liv. v., ch, 8. 
 
GENERAL STJEYEY. 91 
 
 prove that they cited them, not, it is true, as a rule of 
 faith, but as a support and confirmation of their manner 
 of viewing ti'uth confonnably to the Holy ScriptuiTS. 
 
 It cannot, then, be denied that the Vaudois doctrine 
 ■was pure, as far as it is given to human weakness to ex- 
 press it, since it flowed only fi'om the word of God, 
 received with a humble and submissive heart. 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 THE MOBAL AND BJELIGIOUS LIFE OF THE VAITDOIS. 
 
 ''Every good tree bringeth forth good fruit," said the 
 Head of the church, oiu- Lord Jesus Christ (Matt. ^ii. 17.) 
 According to this invariable rule, a church that pretends to 
 be foimded on the word of truth ought to give proof of its 
 being so, by institutions, usages, and practices, in which 
 faith, humiJjt}', zeal, the love of God and one's neighbour, 
 renunciation of the world, purity of heart, and all the other 
 fruits of the Spirit, are exhibited. Such vii'tues were not 
 wanting to the Yaudois church. We shall have occasion 
 to point out numerous and sublime examples of them in 
 the course of this history, as the facts come under our 
 notice. Eor the present, we shall describe the organiza- 
 tion of the ancient Yaudois church, and the principal 
 features that distinguish it. 
 
 One imquestionable proof of the piety of the Yaudois 
 church is the stiict and eminently evangelical discipline 
 which it established. This Discipline has been handed 
 down to our times, having been preserved in the habits 
 and obedience of all, been laid down in authentic statutes, 
 and copied in ancient manuscripts. AYithout being able to 
 assign a precise date to the copy of it which we have, and 
 which the historian Leger has preserved for us, we can 
 affirm that it was prior to the Eefbnnation, as is shown by 
 the testimony of the reformers Bucer and Melancthon who 
 approved of it.^*' 
 
 Its simplicity and severity also attest its antiquity. 
 
 * Leger, Histoii-e Generale, part i., pp. 190—199. 
 
92 HISTOET OF THE VAUDOIS CHTJECH. 
 
 ^' Discipline," as the document from which, we are extract- 
 ing asserts, ''is an assemblage of all the moral doctrine 
 taught by Jesus Clirist and the apostles, showing to each 
 individual the manner in which he ought to live and walk 
 worthily in the righteousness which is by faith, agreeably 
 to the calling he has received, and what ought to be the 
 communion of the faithful in the same love of good, and 
 the same departure from evil." 
 
 " To attain this object, the church has pastors who 
 direct it. Great care is exercised, so as not to consecrate 
 any to this office but true believers." In fact, the 
 aspirants to this important charge were required to give 
 proof of their humility and sincere desire to consecrate 
 themselves to the work of the ministry. The barbes,* or 
 pastors, trained their successors : — "We give them lessons," 
 they sa}^ in their Discipline; ''we make them learn by 
 heart the whole of St. Matthew and St. John, and all 
 the canonical epistles, a good part of the wiitings of 
 Solomon, of David, and the prophets. And afterwards, if 
 a good testimony is borne to their character, they are 
 admitted by the imposition of hands to the office of 
 preaching." The right of consecrating them was vested 
 in the pastors. " Among other powers which God has 
 given his servants, he has given them power to choose 
 leaders (pastors) who may govern the people, and to 
 appoint elders to their offices, according to the diversity of 
 their employments, in the unity of Christ, as the apostle 
 proves in his ejDistle to Titus (chap. i. 5) : ' For this cause 
 left I thee in Crete, that thou shouldest set in order the 
 things that are wanting, and ordain elders in every city 
 as I had appointed thee.' " 
 
 As to the discipline of the pastors, it is said : — " When- 
 ever any one of our pastors has fallen into any disgraceful 
 sin, he is expelled from our society, and the office of 
 preaching is taken from him." As to their support, it is 
 said: — " Our food and clotliing are supplied and given to 
 us gratuitously, and in the way of alms, as much as is 
 
 * The title Barhes, anciently given to the Vaudois pastors, is synonymous 
 with the word uncle. It is now no longer given to them. L^ger says that 
 after the year 1630, when the plague had carried off all the Vaudois barbes 
 with the exception of two (or three), Genevese and French pastors were intro- 
 duced, whom the people saluted respectfully hy the title of Monsieur le pasteur. 
 Nevertheless, the word barbe is not quite obsolete ; it is still used as a term 
 of respect in addressing an old man, etc. 
 
jriSSIONAEIES. 93 
 
 needed, by the good people whom we teach." The barbes, 
 moreover, all applied themselves to some useful art, par- 
 ticularly medicine and siu'gery. 
 
 No hierarchichal distinction was established; the only 
 difference that existed between the pastors was that arising 
 fi'om age, or services performed, and personal respect. 
 
 '' The barbes usually assembled once a year in a general 
 synod to consult respecting the affairs of their ministry, 
 most frequently in the month of September," says our 
 historian, Gilles. ''In these synods," he adds, "they 
 examined and admitted to the holy ministry such students 
 as appeared qualified, and also named those who were to 
 travel to distant chiurches."'^' We learn in the sequel, that 
 the space of time ordinarily assigned to their mission was 
 two years. They were to remain in their distant stations, 
 till other pastors came to take their places. The pastors 
 who were fitted for these expeditions undertook them 
 courageously, although they were often exposed to much 
 danger. 
 
 Gilles states further, in speaking of times not so ancient : 
 " They also had extraordinary meetings by deputies from 
 all parts of Europe, where Yaudois churches existed. 
 Such was the synod held at Laux (Laos), in the valley of 
 Clusone, in the time of our immediate ancestors, when one 
 hundred and forty pastors of the Yaudois met together 
 from different countries."! 
 
 These facts are confirmed by many writers. In the 
 bull of pope John xxii., addressed to Jean de Badis, 
 inquisitor in the diocese of IMarseilles, at the beginning of 
 the fourteenth century, we read among other things : — " It 
 has come to our ears, that in the valleys of Lucerna, Perosa, 
 etc., the Yaudois (Yaldenses) heretics have increased and 
 multiplied, so as to form frequent assemblies in a kind of 
 chapters, in which they meet to the number of five 
 hundred." It can only be to the synods that this passage 
 refers. 
 
 Tradition reports that the school of the Yaudois barbes 
 
 * When did this long-established practice commence ? It would be very 
 interesting to have some iaformation on this point. It would perhaps account 
 for the existence of so many unknown priests who are often referred to in this 
 document. 
 
 t Gilles, Histoire Ecclesiastique, pp. 16, 17. Geneva, 16J4. 
 
94 HISTORY OF THE VAUDOIS CHUECH. 
 
 was in a retired glen, the Pra-di-torre, in the centre of the 
 mountains of Angrogna. 
 
 It appears that some pastors were married; while the 
 greater part were not so, though not on account of its 
 being prohibited, but that they might be more free for the 
 service of the Lord.* 
 
 The elders {^regidors) were chosen by the people (and 
 from among the people) to collect the alms and offerings. 
 The money they received was taken by them to the general 
 council, and there, in the presence of all, handed over to 
 their superiors. One portion was reserved by the latter 
 for those who were to go to distant parts as the messengers 
 of Christ, as vn.ll be mentioned afterward, (chap, xiii.,) 
 and another was appropriated to the poor. A third part 
 was allotted to the support of the barbes. 
 
 The instruction of the children formed an important 
 part of the Discipline. '' Children," it is said, '' must be 
 rendered spiritual towards God, by means of discipline and 
 instruction. He who instructs his son confounds the 
 enemy, and when the father dies he may almost be said 
 not to be deceased, for he leaves behind him a li^dng like- 
 ness. Therefore instruct thy son in the fear of the Lord, 
 and in the way of holy habits, and of the faith. Further- 
 more, hast thou daughters ? watch over them, lest they err. 
 For Dinah, Jacob's daughter, corrupted herself, from having 
 exposed herself to the eyes of strangers." 
 
 Fraternal correction was established as well as ecclesias- 
 tical. '' Correction is to be administered in order to 
 inspire fear, and to punish those who are not faithful, and 
 that they may be delivered from their wickedness and 
 restored to sound doctrine — to faith, charity, hope, and 
 everything that is good." Firmness, prudence, and cha- 
 rity were observed in the administration of reproof. If the 
 offender resisted brotherly exhortations, and his fault had 
 been serious and public, should he refuse to amend, eccle- 
 siastical penalties were inflicted on him. He might be 
 deprived ''of all assistance from the church, of the minis- 
 try, of the fellowship of the church, and of union with it." 
 
 The frequenting of taverns, " those foimtains of sin and 
 schools of the devil, where he works miracles of his o^vn 
 kind," were prohibited, as well as dancing, ''which is a 
 
 * Gilles, Ibidem. 
 
KlfOWLEDGE OF THE BIBLE. 95 
 
 procession and pageant of the evil spiiit. In the dance, 
 the devil tempts men by means of women in three ways — 
 by touch, sight, and hearing. In the dance, God's ten 
 commandments are broken ; the hearts of men are intoxi- 
 cated with temporal joys; they forget God, they utter 
 nothing but falsehood and folly, and abandon themselves 
 to pride and cupidity." 
 
 The Discipline regulated marriage, and required the con- 
 sent of parents ; and, in short, recapitulated in a smnmary 
 mamier the principal rules of Christian conduct contained 
 in the gospel. 
 
 An ecclesiastical organization so powerful, and so con- 
 formed to the spiiit of the gospel, could be derived only 
 fi-om one source ; namely, an acquaintance with the word 
 of life, and an habitual submission to its precepts thi'ough 
 faith. 
 
 A familiar acquaintance with the Bible, and submission 
 to its teachings, formed, in fact, the distinctive feature of 
 the ancient Yaudois. The investigation of the Holy Scrip- 
 tures was not the duty or the privilege of the barbes alone 
 and their pupils ; the layman, the laborious rustic, the 
 humble artisan, the mountain cowherd, the mother of a 
 family, the young girl watching the cattle and working the 
 while with her spindle, studied the Bible attentively and 
 conscientiously. The inquisitor Rainier reports that some 
 of the common people could repeat the whole of the book 
 of Job, which is certainly not an easy task, and many of 
 the psalms. The same author puts into the mouth of a 
 Yaudois missionary the follo^\TJig words : ''Among us, it 
 is an unusual thing if a woman cannot rej)eat, as well as 
 a man, the whole of the text in the vulgar tongue." 
 Assuredly Eainier could not have made such assertions 
 ^Hthout foundation. 
 
 So laborious and general a study of the word of God 
 among a people, forms of itself alone the indication of 
 a character deeply serious and reflective, and eminently 
 moral. It implies a wide development of reUgious senti- 
 ment, as well as ancient and venerable habits of piety. 
 A fruit of faith, it is like fruits which have in themselves 
 the germ of a plant of the same kind ; it possesses, in its 
 turn, the principle of its reproduction, at the same time 
 that it nourishes souls who are already rendered fruitful. 
 
96 HISTOET OF THE VAUDOIS CHUECH. 
 
 Yes ; the constant study of the Bible, which is a work of 
 faith to the believer, becomes, to him who witnesses it, seed 
 which will germinate in due time, while it continues to be 
 also vital nourishment to the faith that is still weak. 
 
 One of the agents of Eome in the persecutions against 
 the Yaudois, the inquisitor E-ainier Sacco, has done them 
 justice, in his book against the Yaldenses, when he says, 
 " The heretics may be known by their manners and their 
 language ; for they are well-ordered and modest in theii' 
 manners ; they avoid pride in their dress, the materials of 
 which are neither expensive nor mean. They do not 
 engage in mercantile pursuits, in order that they may 
 avoid temptations to falsehood, swearing, and fraud. They 
 live by their labour as artisans ; their men of learning are 
 likewise shoemakers. They do not amass wealth, but con- 
 tent themselves with what is necessary. They are chaste, 
 especially the Leonists. They are temperate in eating and 
 drinking. They do not frequent taverns or dances, and are 
 not addicted to other vanities. They are on their guard 
 against the indulgence of anger. They labour constantly. 
 They study and teach ; they also pray, but little. 
 They may be known also by their concise and modest 
 discourse ; they guard against indulging in jesting, slander, 
 or profanity. "■^•' 
 
 We claim also the testimony of St. Bernard. The 
 heretics of whom he speaks are not, it is true, the Yaudois 
 of the valleys of Piedmont, but the}^ are, as we think has 
 been proved, their disciples, their childi*en and bretliren in 
 the faith, their companions in labour — those who in the 
 south of France were called Apostolicals, because they 
 aspired, like every Christian friend of the gospel, to repro- 
 duce, in their language and actions, the doctrine and life of 
 the apostles. Along with reports dictated by prejudice 
 and the ill-mil of a partisan of Rome, the writings of 
 St. Bernard contain some remarkable concessions. Re- 
 proaching the heretics for refusing to take an oath, he asks 
 them on what passage of the New Testament they support 
 their practice. And then he acknowledges that " they 
 glory" (though erroneously in his opinion) "in following 
 it to every iota." This single feature says much. Men 
 
 * Maxima Biblioth, P. P., t. xxv., clis. iii. and vii., cols. 263, 264, 272.— See 
 also a similar passage by another author, col. 275. 
 
TESTIMONY OF DE THOr. 97 
 
 who studied scrupulously to follow the gospel, and who for 
 conscience' sake, and to obey their Lord, refused to take 
 an oath, could not but be moral men. St. Bernard, carried 
 away by his prejudices, accuses '' this wicked heresy of 
 being skilful in l}ing not only in speaking, but also in the 
 actions of the life. If you ask," he says, *Svhat is its faith? 
 nothing is more Christian ; if you ask, what is its manner 
 of life ? nothing is more irreproachable. And it proves 
 what it says by the effects. In testimony of his faith, you 
 see a man frequent the chiu-ch, honour the priests, make 
 liis offerings, confess, and partake of the sacraments. 
 AVhat can be more faithful ? ->' In regard to life and man- 
 ners, he strikes no one; he cii'cimivents no one; he does 
 not exalt himself above any one. Fastings render him 
 pale ; he never eats the bread of idleness, but laboui^s with 
 his own hands for his liveliliood."f 
 
 An archbishop of Turin, Claude de Seyssel, who, about 
 the year 1517, endeavoui'ed to di'aw the Yaudois of the 
 Piedinontese valleys within the pale of the Eomish chuixh, 
 attests, that " as to their life and manners, they were irre- 
 proachable among men, applying themselves with all their 
 power to the observance of the commandments of God.":J: 
 
 De Thou, in his Universal History, has preseiwed the 
 account given to Francis i. by Guillaume du Bellay de 
 Langey, who had been commissioned by that prince to 
 collect information respecting the Vaudois of Provence, 
 Merindol, Cabrieres, etc., colonies of the Yaudois of Pied- 
 mont. '' He found," says the author, '' by the most exact 
 scrutiny, that those who were called Yaudois were persons 
 who, for tlu'ee centuries, had received from certain lords 
 some uncidtivated lands on certain conditions; who, by 
 indefatigable labour and constant cultivation, had made 
 them fertile in com and pasturage ; that they knew how 
 to endure toil and privations with patience; that they 
 abhorred quarrels and law-suits ; that they were compas- 
 
 * This would be scarcely honourable for the Vaudois ; but we may venture 
 to say, that the imputed fact was only true for a short time, or in individual 
 cases. The Chiistians mentioned here 1iy St. Bernard were, perhaps, only 
 recently converted when he came to Toulouse and other places, and he has 
 attributed to the generahty what was true only of persons who were timid and 
 imperfectly convinced. It should be particularly obsei-ved, that Rome was 
 not yet entirely sunk in its errors and sui^erstitions, since heretics were per- 
 mitted to preach, as Henry at Mans, etc. 
 
 t Divi Bernardi Opera; Parisiis, 1548, Sermo 65, pp. 170 and 171. 
 
 t Leger, pt. i., p. 184. 
 
 F 
 
98 HISTORY OF THE VAUDOIS CHURCH. 
 
 sionate towards the poor ; that they paid with much exact- 
 ness and fidelity tribute to the king and the dues to their 
 lords; that their continual prayers and the innocence of 
 their manners made it sufficiently aj)parent that they 
 honoured God sincerely." "^ 
 
 Lastly, a Piedmontese historian, Botta, in speaking of 
 more modern times, remarks, " In short, the Vaudois, 
 whether it was the effect of their religion, of their poverty, 
 of their feebleness, or of the persecutions which they 
 endiu'ed, have preserved integrity of manners, and it can- 
 not be said that they threw off the reins of authority in 
 order to yield to the impetuosity of the passions." f 
 
 After these various proofs and all these testimonies, it 
 must be acknowledged that the ancient Yaudois honoured 
 by their character, their words, and their life, the profes- 
 sion they made of submitting in all things to the gospel. 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 THE MISSIONARY ZEAL AND PROSELYTISM OF THE ANCIENT 
 
 VAUDOIS. 
 
 A PROMINENT feature in the religious physiognomy of the 
 ancient Vaudois, and one which merits special attention, is 
 their spirit of proselytism and their missionary zeal. In 
 this respect, also, the Vaudois church resembled that of the 
 first Christians. 
 
 With a deeper sense of the blessedness of knowing and 
 serving God, according to the pure gospel of Jesus Clmst, 
 the more that the adjacent countries were continually sink- 
 ing lower into the errors and superstitions of Rome, the 
 Vaudois church was sensible of the duty that resulted from 
 her position and her obligations to her supreme Head. She 
 was aware that if she had received and preserved the faith 
 by the reading and preaching of the word of life, she was 
 also bound, in gratitude to the Saviour, and from love to 
 her brethren who were plunged in error, to make known to 
 them that gospel which is " the power of God unto salva- 
 
 * Histoire Universelle, par De Thou, Bale, 17-42, t. i., p. 539. 
 t Storia d'ltalia di Carlo Botta, Parigi, 1832, t. i., 369, 370. 
 
SPIRIT OF ritOSELTTlSM. 99 
 
 tion to eveiy one that believeth;" in a word, to fulfil the 
 duty expressed by the apostle of the Gentiles, and even lonpj 
 before by king David, in these words, " I believed, ^nd 
 therefore have I spoken," 2 Cor. iv. 13; Psa. exvi. 10. 
 
 The church which engraved on its seal a torch burning 
 in darkness, with this motto. Lux liicet in tenehris, — 
 (''the light sliineth in darkness,") this church was not 
 unmindful to put in practice the Saviour's injimction, on 
 "v^^hich that image was founded, and which is thus expressed : 
 '' iS^either do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, 
 but on a candlestick ; and it giveth light unto all that are in 
 the house. Let vour light so shine before men," Matt. v. 
 15, 16. 
 
 Bernard de Foncald, a E-onian Catholic author of the 
 twelfth century, speaking of the members of the Vaudois 
 sect that were spread through France, says, " They* all 
 2^reach here and there, without distinction of age or sex ; 
 and maintain that every one who knows the word of God 
 ought to spread it among the people and preach it." An 
 anonpnous writer of the following century expresses him- 
 self in these terms in his treatise on the heresy of the Poor 
 Men of Lyons : '' They (the Yaudois) emj)loy all their zeal 
 in drawing numbers with them into error. They teach 
 very yoimg girls the Gospels and the Epistles, that they 
 may be habituated to embrace error fi'om their infancy; 
 and when they have learned a little in these books, they use 
 their utmost efforts to teach it to others, wherever they may 
 happen to be, if they consent to hear them favourably."*-' 
 
 It was, no doubt, a dread of the efforts of this well known 
 spirit of proselytism, which induced the magistrates of 
 Pinerolo, in the year 1220, to prohibit the inhabitants of 
 that city and its enwons, at the risk of a penalty, from 
 showing hospitality to a Yaudois man or woman. f 
 
 It is also an incontestable fact, that the Yaudois churcli 
 sent out numerous and active missionaries in all directions. 
 The ancient Discipline of the evangelical churches of Pied- 
 mont, cited at length in the preceding chapter, is a proof of 
 it ; for it tells us that a part of the money collected by the 
 elders was placed by them in the hands of their superiors, 
 
 * Maxima Biblioth., P. P. xxiv. cols. 1586—1600. In Martene, etc Tracta- 
 tus de Hgeresi pauperum de Lugdiino, auctore anonymo. 
 t Liber Statutonun civitatis Pinaroli. Augiistse Taurinorum, anno 1603. 
 
 F 2 
 
100 HISTORY OF THE VAUDOIS CHURCH. 
 
 Avho distributed it to those who went to distant parts. 
 Gilles, in his Ecclesiastical History, gives some interesting 
 details and facts relative to the Yaudois missionaries, at a 
 more recent period, it is true, but yet prior to the Reforma- 
 tion. These details illustrate the application and develop- 
 ment of the very brief article in the Discipline, which 
 was itself, no doubt, a summary of the ancient practice of 
 the church. 
 
 The same writer states that the barbes in theii' ordinary 
 synods " examined and admitted the students who were 
 eligible for the sacred ministry, and nominated those who 
 were to travel and to go to distant churches in Calabria, 
 Apulia, Sicily, and other parts of Italy, and also in other 
 countries. This mission was ordinarily for two years, and 
 continued till the places were supplied with other pastors, 
 sent*by another synod of the Yalleys." 
 
 He adds, in the following chapter (iii.), ''it (the sj-mod,) 
 generally sent them out two and two ; one, who was more 
 familiar with the places, roads, persons, and affairs, and 
 the other belonging to the newly- chosen, in order that he 
 might acquire practical knowledge," etc.*'' 
 
 The author likewise informs us that a minister of the 
 same name as himself, Gilles, was more than once employed 
 as a missionary in Calabria, about the time when the Ee- 
 formation broke out. Gilles adds, on this subject, a singular 
 fact, which we think worth recording. " The pastors," he 
 says, "who were fitted for foreign service, readily under- 
 took it, although generally attended with considerable dan- 
 ger, because it was for the honour of God and the salvation 
 of men : the barbes also accustomed their disciples, from 
 the first, to such implicit obedience that none of them 
 would have dared to attempt anything important without 
 the advice and permission of their leaders."! 
 
 We conceive that this entire submissiveness of the younger 
 barbes to the more aged and to the leaders, has led Roman 
 Catholic authors into an error, and made them believe 
 that the Yaudois had a clerical hierarchy, like themselves, 
 of bishops, etc. But nothing in their history or writings 
 authorizes us to believe in the existence of any other dis- 
 tinction among the barbes, excepting that of age, expe- 
 rience, and personal qualities, which determined their 
 
 * Gilles, pp. 16, 17, 20, etc. t Ibid, p. 16, 17. 
 
TESTIMONY OF KAINIEK. 101 
 
 choice of leaders as circumstances might require, as is still 
 practised, aud no doubt was always practised, in this 
 chui'ch. 
 
 In support and confinnation of what has been said of 
 the missionary zeal of the Yaudois, we may refer to the 
 religious manifestations of the eleventh and twelfth cen- 
 times, called forth by some well-known foreigners, as 
 PieiTe de Bruis and Henrj', for example; others by un- 
 known indi"ST.duals, as the female who came from Italy, 
 to whom the heresy at Orleans is attributed. 
 
 Even their adversaries acknowledge the fact. Thus 
 Eberard de Bethiuie, speaking of the Vallenses, whom he 
 also calls Xabatatenses says, ''They cannot visit and sec 
 foreign countries, without endeavouring to pass for so 
 many Christs,"^' that is,' he says, for Christians, disciples 
 of their Master. We attach the same meaning to the 
 following passage from Bernard de Foncald : ''These 
 Yaldenses, although condemned by the same sovereign 
 pontiff (Lucius ii.), continued to pour forth, ^yiih daring 
 effrontery, far and wide, all over the world, the poison of 
 their perfidy." f 
 
 Mapee is till more explicit, when, speaking of the 
 Yaudois who appeared at the Lateran council in 1179, 
 he adds, "These people have no settled home anywhere; 
 they travel here and there, two and two, barefooted, in a 
 woollen dress, professing nothing, and having all things 
 common like the apostles." :j: 
 
 The inquisitor Sacco (or Eainier) fiuTiishes many similar 
 testimonies on the same subject. We wiU only mention 
 one, which is very much to the point. He tells us that the 
 Yaudois missionaries gained access to the higher classes 
 by going about as pedlars. " They offer for sale to people 
 of quality ornamental articles, such as rings and veils. 
 After a purchase has been made, if the pedlar is asked, 
 ' Have you anything else to sell ? ' he answers, ' I have 
 jewels more precious than these things ; I would make you 
 a present of them, if you would promise not to betray me 
 to the clergy.' Ha\dng been assured on this point, he 
 
 * We see, that the missionaries had been obliged to abandon the clerical 
 costume here, and had adopted another, perhaps, as they beUeved, in imita- 
 tion of Christ. 
 
 t Maxima Bibhoth., P. P., t. xxiv., col. 1572, 1586. 
 
 t Usher, pp. 269, 270. 
 
102 HISTORY OF THE VAFDOIS CHTJECH. 
 
 says, ' I have a pearl so brilliant that a man, by means of 
 it, may learn to know God; I have another so splendid, 
 that it kindles the love of God in the heart of him who 
 possesses it,' and so forth. He speaks of pearls meta- 
 phorically; then he repeats some portion of Scriptiu'e 
 with which he is familiar, — such as that of Saint Luke, 
 ^ The angel Gabriel was sent,' or the words of Jesus Christ 
 in John xiii., ' Before the feast,' etc. 
 
 " When he has succeeded in gaining the attention of his 
 hearer, he passes on to that passage in Matt, xxiii. and 
 Mark xii,, ' Woe unto you that devoiu' widows' houses,' 
 etc. If asked to whom these denunciations are to be 
 applied, he says, ' To the clergy and the religious orders.' 
 Then the heretic compares the state of the E-omish church 
 with his own. ' Your doctors,' he says, ' are ostentatious in 
 their dress and their manners ; they love the highest seats 
 at table (Matt, xxiii.) and desire to be called masters 
 (Rabbi) ; but we do not seek such masters.' And again : 
 * they are unchaste ; but each one of us has his wife, with 
 whom he li\'es chastely.' And again : ' they are the rich 
 and avaricious, to whom it is said, ''Woe unto you, rich 
 men : who have here your reward." Eut as for us, wc' 
 are content if we have food and raiment.' And again : 
 ' they are like the voluptuous, to whom it is said, " Woe 
 unto 3''ou that devour widows' houses," etc. We, on the 
 contrary have, in one way or another, enough for our 
 wants. They fight, stir up wars, kill and bum the poor. 
 It is of them it is said, he that ''taketh the sword shall 
 perish by the sword." We, on the contrary, endiu^e perse- 
 cution from them, for righteousness' sake. They wish to 
 be the only teachers : and thus it is to them it is said, 
 ''Woe be wito you who hold the key of knowledge." Among 
 us, the women teach as well as the men, and a disciple of 
 seven days' old instructs another. Among them it is a rare 
 thing to find a doctor who knows literally three consecu- 
 tive chapters of the JN^ew Testament ; but among us there 
 is scarcely a woman who does not loiow as well as any man 
 how to repeat the whole of the text in the vulgar tongue. 
 And because we possess the true Christian faith, and all 
 teach a pure doctrine, and recommend a holy life, the 
 scribes and pharisees persecute us to death, even as they 
 treated Christ himself. 
 
TESTIMONY OF ECKBERT. 103 
 
 " 'Besides this, " They say and do not; they lay heavj- 
 burdens on men's shoulders, and will not themselves move 
 them -wdth one of their fingers ;" but as for us, we do what 
 we teach. The}' strive to keep human traditions rather 
 than the cormnandments of God ; they observe fasts, feast- 
 days, times and seasons of presenting themselves at chiux-h, 
 and many other rules of mere human prescrijDtion ; we 
 persuade men only to observe the doctrine of Christ and 
 his apostles. In like manner, they load penitents Avith 
 heavy punishments, wliich they do not touch -with their 
 fingers ; we, on the contrary, after the example of Christ, 
 say to the sinner: "Go and sin no more;" and we remit 
 all their sins by imposition of hands ; and at death we 
 send their souls to heaven ; * whilst as for them, they send 
 all souls to hell ! ' 
 
 " After this or some such address, the heretic says to 
 his hearer : ' Examine and consider which is the most per- 
 fect religion and the purest faith, whether ours or that of 
 the Eomish church, and choose it, whichever it may be.' 
 .... And thus, being turned from the Catholic faith by 
 such errors, he forsakes us. A person who gives credit to 
 such discourse, who imbibes errors of this kind and be- 
 comes their partisan and defender, concealing the heretic 
 in his house for many months, is initiated into all that 
 relates to their sect,"f 
 
 The foregoing details can leave no doubt respecting the 
 existence of Yaudois missionaries and the sj^irit of prose- 
 lytism which animated the whole church. We shall have 
 more than one occasion to refer to this characteristic in the 
 course of this history. 
 
 Eckbert, or Egbert, j' an author of the middle of the 
 twelfth centiuy, whose writings are valuable to any one 
 who can discriminate between facts and suppositions, or 
 the false applications by which they are disfigured, con- 
 firms what the Yaudois have told us respecting their mis- 
 sionaries. In Ms first sermon against the Cathari, who 
 
 * We have seen that the doctrine of the Vaudois was conformal)le to the 
 gospel ; it is represented con-ectly in the accounts aheady given, but here it is 
 distorted. The Vaudois never remitted sins even to a penitent sinner, still 
 less to him who was not so ; but declared that Christ remits them to the true 
 behever, and so likewise as to admission into heaven. 
 
 t Reinerus, Maxima BibUoth., P. P., t. xxv., col. 275, and following. 
 
 X He was abbot of St. Florin, near Treves. The Cathari, or Vaudois, of 
 whom he speaks, were discovered m the country bordering on the Rhine. 
 
104 HISTOEY OP THE TAFDOIS CHURCH. 
 
 are no other than the Yaudois, speaking of those among 
 them whom he calls the elect, and others call perfect, and 
 who, we helieve, were the barbes, he expresses himscK in 
 these terms : '' They send out from among all these elect 
 those who appear fitted to uphold their error, either where 
 it exists already, or to extend and disseminate it where it 
 is as yet unknown."^' 
 
 M. Planta, in his History of the Helvetic Confederacy, 
 quotes a passage from the Chronicle of the Abbey of 
 Corbie, taken from a manuscript which he believes was 
 written about the beginning of the twelfth century. This 
 quotation, while interesting as an example of missionary 
 zeal, is also an additional proof of the antiquity of the 
 Vaudois church of the Alps, as Hallam remarks in his 
 Yiew of the State of Europe during the Middle Ages. 
 " Some laics of Suabia, Switzerland, and Bavaria, persons 
 seduced by the ancient race of simple men who inhabit the 
 Alps and their vicinity, and Avho love ancient things, 
 wished to abase {Jkumiliare) our religion and the faith of 
 all the Christians of the Latin Church. Merchants belong- 
 ing to the people of these Alps who commit the Bible to 
 memory, and who have an aversion to the rites of the 
 church which they call new, often find their way from 
 Switzerland (ex Suicia) into Suabia, Bavaria, and northern 
 Italy. They refuse to honour {venerari) images, they have 
 an aversion to relics, they live on vegetables, rarely eat 
 meat, and some of them never. We therefore call them 
 Manicheans; some of these persons having come to them 
 from Hungary, etc.f 
 
 We cannot conclude this subject without recalling to 
 mind a fact which we have already noticed in chapter iii., 
 as well as in chapters v. and vi. of this history ; namely, 
 the appearance in different places, during more than three 
 hundred years, of priests or foreign preachers, unknown, 
 but pointed out to the attention and inspection of the pre- 
 lates, as not belonging to any church, nor being subject to 
 any spiritual chief; on which account they are often called 
 Acephali [headless]. In our opinion, these men, or at 
 least many among them, might be the emissaries or rather 
 
 * Maxima Biblioth., P. P., t. xxiii. col. 602. 
 
 t History of the Helvetic Confederacy, by Planta, vol. i., pp. 179, 180 Qx 93, 
 4to. edit.], quoted by HaUam, [iii., 467.] 
 
THE VAUDOIS IN FEANCE. 105 
 
 the missionaries, of the faithful churches — of the Yaiidois 
 chiu'ch, for example — still surviving in various places the 
 general apostasy, the Eomish heresy. These priests, with- 
 out a name, and Tvithout an ordination, approved of by the 
 apostate chiu'ch, were, perhaps, the spiritual guides sent to 
 rouse the zeal and reanimate the drooping faith of scattered 
 flocks, as well as to win new souls to Christ. Such were 
 the priests twice denoimced by Celestin to the prelates of 
 Gaul; those denounced to Zachary by Boniface of Germany ; 
 the acephalous clerks anathematized in the coimcils of 
 Mayence or Arras in the year 813, of Pavia in 850 and 
 855, and of Melphi, a city of La Pouille, in 1090 ; in short, 
 an Amulph, a Pierre de Bruis, a Henry, and many others.^'' 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 PEESECUTIOX OF THE VAUDOIS IX THE THIETEEXTH 
 
 CEXTUEY. 
 
 At the beginning of the thirteenth centur}', the number of 
 Yaudois Chi-istians was considerable in all parts; but, as 
 we have shown at the end of chapter vi., they were known 
 imder different names, derived from theii^ particular leaders, 
 or owing as much to ill will as to certain circiunstances. 
 
 In France, the work begim by Pierre do Bruis and by 
 Heniy, received a new impulse from PieiTo Valdo or Pienx' 
 the Yaudois. The preaching as well as the exemplary self- 
 denial and charity of this faithful and pious servant of 
 Jesus Christ, combined with the labours of his disciples, 
 who were branded with the honourable name of the Poor 
 Men of Lyons, had rendered essential service to the cause 
 of Chiistian truth. General attention was directed to 
 these manifestations. The effect they produced was so 
 powerful, that the remembrance of former ones was in a 
 measure effaced ; and most persons living at the time make 
 mention only of PieiTC Yaldo and his disciples. The state 
 of religious affairs when he appeared was not recollected : 
 the relation in which he probably stood to the Yaudois who 
 
 * For the Councils see the Magdeburgh Centizriators, Cent, ix., cols. 369, 
 370, 419, 420.— Delectus Actorum Ecclesise Univ., 1. 1., pp. 750, 922, 1555. 
 
 F 3 
 
106 HISTOKY OF THE VAUDOIS CHURCH. 
 
 had preceded him was not suspected ; and by an egregious 
 mistake, some through ignorance, and others by an inex- 
 plicable confusion, made him the chief of the Yaudois sect, 
 to which he was only affiliated, though inferior to none of 
 its members in activity. At the beginning of the thirteenth 
 century, the zeal of the Poor Men of Lyons, joined to the 
 efforts of the Petrobrusians, the Heniicians, and other 
 sectaries, had remarkably increased the numbers of the 
 Yaudois in almost all the pro^dnces of Prance. 
 
 Germany, as well as Italy, abounded with many enemies 
 to Pome. They belonged to all classes of society. Among 
 them were to be found nobles, plebeians, clergy, monks, 
 persons belonging to the religious orders, townspeople and 
 peasants. Triteme, who states this fact, informs us that, 
 at the date of the year 1229, the Cathari — a subdivision of 
 the Yaudois, as we have seen in chapter vi. — were spread, 
 though secretly, through Germany and Italy, in Lombardy 
 especially, in such numbers that, as was said by some 
 belonging to them, they could travel fi^om Cologne to 
 Milan, and be hospitably received every night on their road 
 by members of their fraternity."^* 
 
 One of them, mentioned by the name of IlciUre Nouveau 
 {New Master), and who suffered martyi'dom at Yienna, in 
 Austria, in the year 1299, averred that in that same coun- 
 try, in Bohemia and the adjacent districts, they amounted 
 to more than 80,000. Our readers will recollect that Pierre 
 Yaldo, when obliged to flee from Lyons, after having spent 
 some time in Picardy, in Yindelicia, took refuge in Bohemia, 
 where he ended his days. 
 
 The inquisitor Painier Sacco informs us, also, that Italy 
 in his time, about the year 1254, was filled with Cathari. 
 Besides the Bagnolensian heretics,! (so named from Bag- 
 nolo, a city situated in the vicinity of the present Yaudois 
 valleys,) Painier speaks of the Cathari of Mantua, Brescia, 
 Bergamo, and the duchy of Milan. He mentions also those 
 of Yicenza, Plorence, and the valley of Spoletto. After 
 enumerating sixteen churches belonging to the Yaudois 
 Cathari, established through all Europe as far as Constan- 
 tinople, he adds, that if their number (the number of the 
 perfect, without doubt, that is, of the principal among 
 
 * Triteme, pp. 224-232. 
 
 t This fact is confirmed by Gioflfredo. Storia delle Alpi Maritime ; — in Monu- 
 menta Historiaj Patiiee, t. iii., p. 488. 
 
DECREE OF OTHO IV. IN PIEDMONT. 107 
 
 them,) did not exceed four thousand, the believers (that 
 is, no doubt, all who were affiliated to them,) were innu- 
 merable. Besides, many of these churches, which he places 
 in France, as the Albigensian, he names those of Bulgaiia, 
 Sclavonia, etc."^'' 
 
 A movement so general and so opposed to the Romish 
 worship could not fail to excite great indignation in the 
 bosom of the pope, the prelates, and the clergy. Yery soon 
 a cry of wrath and vengeance resounded from the south to 
 the north, and the persecution, which had hitherto been 
 only partial and local, extended to all points. Superstition 
 trembled for its altars, its images, and its false miracles. 
 Ignorance was offended with evangelical light. Wounded 
 pride and avarice anticipated the ruin of the credit and 
 revenues of the clergy. A war of extermination could alone 
 save the Romish establishment from the terrible blow with 
 which it was threatened by the efforts of the Yaudois 
 Christians for the propagation of pure doctrine, by the 
 example of their self-denying lives, their charity, their 
 purity, and their good works. The prelates and the pope 
 therefore invoked the assistance of the temporal power, and 
 by its aid laboured to destroy their enemies ; nor did they 
 stop till they saw themselves masters, and supposed they 
 had suppressed or annihilated them. 
 
 All the particulars of this work of iniquity have not 
 come down to us. The cries of many of its victims never 
 reached beyond their prison-walls, or the crowd that assem- 
 bled round their funeral pile. The correspondence of Rome 
 and the archives of the inquisition contain many a secret 
 and abimdant details which have not transpired. On many 
 points, we are acquainted with only some isolated facts. 
 
 To begin with one of these facts, not very ciiTumstan- 
 tially given, but relating to the eountiies most fi-equently 
 mentioned in this work, the Yaudois valleys of Piedmont, 
 we shall cite the first decree of persecution of which we 
 know, obtained sj)ecifically against the Yaudois by the 
 Roman clergy, and emanating from the imperial power. 
 It is dated a.d. 1198. Otho iv., when he visited Rome in 
 order to be crowned by the pope, glinted it at the request 
 of James, bishop of Turin. The following are the prin- 
 cipal passages, translated from the Latin : 
 
 * Maxima Biblioth., P. P., t. xxv,, col. 269, and following. 
 
108 HISTOEY OF THE VAITDOIS CHURCH. 
 
 " Otho, by the grace of God august emperor, to his 
 well-beloved and faithful bishop of Turin, grace and good- 
 will, etc. It is our wish that all those who do not proceed 
 in the right path, and who strive to extinguish in our 
 dominions the light of the Catholic faith by their perverse 
 heresj^, should be punished mth imperial severity, and that 
 in all parts of the empii^e they should be separated from 
 intercourse with the faithful. By the authority of these 
 presents we enjoin you, in reference to the Yaudois heretics 
 ( Valdenses), and all those who sow the tares of falsehood 
 in the diocese of Turin, and who attack the Catholic faith, 
 teaching any perverse error whatever, that you expel them 
 from the whole diocese of Turin, supported by the im- 
 perial authority. To tliis end we confer upon you, 
 etc., etc."-'* 
 
 "What use the bishop of Turin made of the powers thus 
 granted to him is not known, but we cannot doubt that he 
 persecuted those against whom he obtained this commis- 
 sion, and that the heretics of Bagnolo and their neigh- 
 bours in the Yaudois valleys, as well as those who were 
 settled in the open country, were subjected to its severities. 
 
 The ordinance of Count Thomas of Savoy, and the magis- 
 trate of Pinerolo, of the year 1220, already cited in a pre- 
 ceding chapter,! might be introduced here under the head 
 of persecutions, since it prohibited every inhabitant of that 
 city and its environs from showing hospitality to the 
 Yaudois, either men or women. This severe measui'e 
 shows the state of proscription in which the Yaudois of 
 this part of Piedmont were placed, whenever they ventured 
 beyond their valleys. 
 
 Some isolated* facts which have escaped oblivion, make it 
 apparent that religious persecution was carried on with 
 vigour in other parts of Italy. Thus we read of a female, 
 called Tedesca, or la Tedesca (the German) "whose punish- 
 ment by fire occasioned great tumults at Parma in 1277, 
 during which the convent of the dominican inquisitors was 
 piUaged. In the district of Domo-d'Ossola, in 1307, the 
 
 * Taken from Spondanus in the year 1198, and the archives of Turin. See 
 Monum. Hist. Patriae, t. iii., p. 488. 
 
 t It may be inferred, we tliink, from this quotation, that Thomas, who had 
 taken a part in the crusade against the Albigenses, and who left the Vaudois 
 of the Piedmontese vaUeys undisturbed, as it appears, was not yet their 
 sovereign. It would be much later that the marquis of Lucerna submitted to 
 the house of Savoy. 
 
MEANS OF CONVERSION. 109 
 
 lieresiarch Dolcigno was pursued sword in hand, mth liis 
 numerous partisans and followers, and was accused of re- 
 viving the sect of the Cathari and the Paterins. Having 
 assembled to the number of three hundred, they were 
 attacked and defeated, and their leader burned/''' 
 
 But the greatest severity of the church of Rome was 
 exercised on the fiiends of the gospel to the west of the 
 Alps, the disciples of Pierre de Bruis, Henry, and Pierre 
 Yaldo. Its concentrated rage was especially let loose for 
 a niunber of years over the beautiful champaigne country 
 watered by the Tarn and other tributary streams of the 
 Garonne in the vales of the Durance, and the plains washed 
 by the lower Phone and the waves of the Mediterranean. 
 It assailed without pity those conscientious and enlight- 
 ened men, who only aimed at offering to God a pui'er 
 worshij) than had been taught them by the Pomish priests. 
 These cruel persecutions are known by the name of the 
 crusades against the Albigenses ; a name taken from the 
 city and territory of Albi, one of the principal centres of 
 the Yaudois sect in the south of Prance. 
 
 It forms no part of our plan to give the liistory of this 
 gi'eat act of iniquity : such a subject requires a separate 
 treatise ; and we refer our readers, for the details, to the 
 historians who have written expressly upon it. We confine 
 ourselves to noticing the means employed by the coiu^t of 
 Home and their results. 
 
 It was by carnal weapons that the pretended vicar of 
 Jesus Christ and his clergy undertook to bring back the 
 heretics within the pale of the Pomish church ; while the 
 apostle who won the greatest number of souls to the 
 Christian faith, the apostle Paul, exclaimed, " We do not 
 war after the flesh ; for the weapons of our warfare are not 
 carnal," 2 Cor. x. 3, 4 ; and Jesus Christ said to St. Peter, 
 who wished to employ the sword, not to assail opponents, 
 but to defend the beloved person of his Divine Master, 
 " Put up again thy sword into his place," Matt. xxvi. 52. 
 Pope Innocent ni. began the work by combining persua- 
 sions with menaces ; appeals to Roman Catholic fidelity, 
 with insinuating measures of the most able and refined 
 policy towards the reigning princes. The selection of agents 
 who were perfectly adapted for such a mission, seemed to 
 
 * Bassi, Storia d'ltalia, t. xv., p. 391—520. 
 
110 HISTOET OF THE VAIJBOIS CHTTKCH. 
 
 assure him of success. They were, in the first instance, 
 Eainier and Guy, monks of Citeaux, who were sent in 1198, 
 with the title of legates, into the infected countries. In 
 1204, Innocent joined to them Pierre de Castelnau, arch- 
 deacon of Maguelone, with full powers. But whatever 
 pains they took, however pressing their exhortations, or 
 severe their menaces, their mission was attended with little 
 success, till the Spaniard, Dominic Gusman, who thence- 
 forward became so celebrated, began to give a new direction 
 to theii" proceedings. 
 
 " Considering," says father Tournon, in his Life of Do- 
 minie, '' that the -sdolent methods which had hitherto been 
 adopted against the apostates, had only served to iiTitate 
 them ; that the luxury and self-indulgence of the Catholics 
 scandalized both the friends and enemies of the church ; 
 that the Albigenses on the contrary, by a pious exterior, 
 conciliated the confidence of the people and the esteem of 
 the great ; that the cupidity and dissolute conduct of those 
 (the priests) whose profession engaged them to the greatest 
 sanctity, formed a deadly taint which caused their religion 
 to be blasphemed, while the heretics, believing they might 
 discredit the doctrine of those whose manners could not be 
 respected, made use of this state of things to cherish in 
 ignorant persons that spirit of revolt with which they had 
 inspired them against their legitimate pastors; Dominic 
 concluded that he must make use of persuasion and example 
 rather than terror, and tread in the steps of the apostles, 
 by preaching and living like them, always travelling on foot 
 like St. Peter and St. Paul, without equipage, money, or 
 provisions. He had no doubt that such a line of conduct 
 would prejudice people in their favour, and would gradually 
 reform the manners of the clergy, and confound the hypo- 
 crisy of the heretics."* 
 
 This advice was followed ; bishops and legates them- 
 selves became missionaries, and not without some success. 
 They did not even shrink fi'om public disputes. But the 
 method of persuasion being too slow to satisfy the extrava- 
 gant hopes that were entertained, and deviating too much 
 from the exclusive and tyrannical proceedings of Borne, the 
 legates had recourse to excommunications and the employ- 
 ment of force. 
 
 • Tournon, Yie de St. Dominique, liv. v. p. 36, 
 
DOMINIC. 1 1 1 
 
 Everything being prepared, Innocent launched his thun- 
 ders against Eavniond, count of Toulouse, whom he ex- 
 communicated, and abused him in an outrageous manifesto. 
 He, at the same time, urged the king of France, the dukes, 
 piinces, and lords of that country and the neighbom^hood, 
 to a crusade against the heretics ; exciting them by the 
 promise of plunder, besides magnificent and eternal rewards 
 in heaven for the blood of the martp^s which they should 
 shed. In obedience to his orders, in the year 1209, a hun- 
 di^d thousand crusaders* at least, under the conduct of 
 the count de Montfort, commander-in-chief of the army, 
 and Amahie, abbot of Citeaux, the pope's legate, invaded 
 the heretical territory of Languedoc. 
 
 Dominic, iiTitated by the little success of his eloquence, 
 now loudly demanded the infliction of temporal chastise- 
 ments on those whom he was unable to convert. With a 
 crucifix in his hand, he showed himself in the midst of the 
 soldiers, dressed in a long white robe and black mantle, as 
 the inexorable messenger of war, or rather as the befitting 
 agent of Antichrist. To hear him, it was by fii^e and 
 sword that heaven was to be avenged. When, in the first 
 campaign, Beziers was taken and sacked, in the heat of the 
 massacre, even the canons, who were walking in procession 
 to meet the crusaders, were involved in the same fate as the 
 heretics. " Kill them all," said Amalric, the faithful legate 
 of a pitiless pope; ''kill them all; the Lord knoweth 
 them that are his I" From the banks of the Rhone to 
 those of the Lot, fimeral piles were continually biuning. 
 The confiscation of their property, tortures, horrible tor- 
 ments and flames, were reserved for all those jDrofessing the 
 so-called heretical doctrine, whom the sword and lance had 
 not slain on the field of battle. 
 
 While bands of ferocious and greedy warriors attacked 
 the strong places, the chateaux and cottages of the Albi- 
 gensian sectaries, Foulques, bishop of Toulouse, and his 
 associates of Languedoc, Dominic and his disciples, skilful 
 and ^villing instruments of Antichrist, spied out by means 
 of their emissaries, and denounced, examined, and con- 
 demned unfortunate persons, without number, whoni they 
 tore from their families. 
 
 * Some writers give a much higher estimate of the numbers of this anny. 
 
112 HISTOHY OF THE VAUDOIS CHUECH. 
 
 Years of experience having shown what signal services an 
 association of intriguing monks, accusers, and persecutors, 
 could render to the cause of religious oppression, Innocent 
 III., in the year 1215, at the council of Lateran, approved 
 of the plan which Dominic laid before him of founding an 
 order of mendicant monks and preaching friars, for the 
 conversion and suppression of the enemies of the church ; 
 and in the following year, Honorius in., the successor ol 
 the sanguinary Innocent, confirmed the institution, and 
 constituted the order. These preaching friars were, at a 
 later period, called Dominicans, from the name of their 
 founder, and received special privileges for the extirpation 
 of heretics. '^' 
 
 To spy out and discover the unbelievers, to convince 
 them of their errors, to j)ersuade them to return into the 
 pale of the church, and, if they refased, to draw up the 
 indictments, to arrest the accused, to conduct the criminal 
 proceedings, to pass sentence, and cause it to be executed 
 by means of the secular power ; such were the functions 
 which were delegated to this order, from which the ever- 
 execrable tribunal of the inquisition shortly arose. 
 
 Prom the year 1215, the Dominicans, in conjituctionwith 
 the bishops, began to celebrate with pomp those acts of 
 faith, {auto-da-fe,) as they were called by a deplorable 
 abuse of language, in which they exhibited the persons 
 condemned before a crowd of spectators, and then burned 
 them with apparent devotion, according to the customary 
 ceremonial in the most solemn rites of Roman Catholicism. 
 Ye holy martyrs of the Christian faith ! dying of want in 
 prisons,! ^^ ^^ ^^ rack, or crowded on the funeral-piles, 
 you were judged, like your Divine Master, worthy of 
 suffering, victims of the hatred vowed by h}^ocrisy and 
 superstition against the truth. Like Jesus, your Saviour, 
 accused of blasphemy, and condemned by the leaders of his 
 people, at the very time when he proclaimed before them 
 the accomplishment in his own person of the prophecies 
 and promises, you, his faithful disciples, were declared 
 
 * About the same time St. Francois d'Assise founded a second order of 
 mendicant monks, known by the name of Minor Friars and Franciscans. 
 They showed themselves to be worthy rivals of the Dominicans. 
 
 t One of the most barbarous pimishments consisted in immuring (emmitrer) 
 —that is, inclosing the suiTerer within four waUs, and feeding him scantily 
 through a wicket, or even lea\i.ng him to perish with hmiger. 
 
THE INQUISITION. 113 
 
 worthy of death, and devoted to the eternal fire reserved 
 for the impenitent, when you were endeavouring to do 
 honour to the light of the gospel, and were confessing the 
 name of Jesus, the King of glory, in opposition to the Ibl- 
 lowers of Antichiist ! Holy martyrs, treading in the steps 
 of Stephen, we trust that, in the midst of your sharpest 
 sufferings, when the flame glowed around your scorched 
 and palpitating limhs, you were able to behold, like the 
 faithful deacon of Jerusalem, the heavens open and the Son 
 of Man standing at the right hand of God! Your last 
 looks Avere those of gratitude, and your last Avords, while 
 here below, those of triumphant faith. Honoured be yoiu' 
 ashes scattered to the winds ! venerated be the remembrance 
 of your fidelity ! and, above all, God grant that your per- 
 severance, in confessing his name by a worship in spirit 
 and in truth, and your fidelity, even to martp^dom, may 
 not be a lost example to us ! 
 
 To attain the end for which their order was instituted, 
 and to show themselves worthy of the confidence reposed 
 in them, the Dominicans, equally malignant and fanatical, 
 went through the towns and districts of Languedoc, estab- 
 lishing provisionary tiibunals of the inquisition in different 
 places. They had the barbarity to decide that the chikben 
 of heretics, if above seven years old, might be sentenced to 
 be bm-ned to death, as having, at that time of life, reached 
 the age of reason. Cardinal Conrad, the new legate of the 
 pope in 1222, ardently upheld this sanguinary tribunal. 
 The fiuy of the inquisitors being increased by his support, 
 exasperated the people of Languedoc to such a pitch, that 
 they ran to arms on all sides. Conrad, wielding the 
 thunderbolts of Rome, laimched forth excommunications, 
 called the faithful to his banner, invoked the aid of war 
 and destiiiction, and preached a new crusade against the 
 Albigensian Yaudois. 
 
 Raymond vi. was dead, and so was his enemy, Simon de 
 Montfbrt ; their sons, Raymond a'II. and Amanri, crossed 
 their swords against one another on the field of battle, 
 as their fathers had done. Louis viii., king of France, 
 placed himself at the head of the friends of the pope, who 
 committed unheard-of cruelties in every quarter. Louis ix., 
 whom Rome has canonized under the title of St. Louis, 
 followed in the same track. Having obtained the submis- 
 
114 HISTOEY OF THE VAL'DOIS CHURCH. 
 
 sion of the count of Toulouse and his principal allies, the 
 ancient supporters of the Albigensian Yaudois, he issued a 
 strong ordinance against all heretics. They were put out 
 of the i^ale of the common law, deprived of their civil and 
 political rights, and prosecuted. Large sums were oifered 
 to persons for laying informations against them, or arresting 
 them. The council of Toulouse, of the year 1229, took 
 similar measures in reference to the ecclesiastical admi- 
 nistration and the rights of the church. It specially inter- 
 dicted la^mien fi'om keeping in their possession the books 
 of the Old and IS^ew Testament, with the exception of the 
 Psalms. The}" were forbidden, above all, to translate any 
 part of them into the Komance language. 
 
 Heres^^, notwithstanding, was not destroyed; it even 
 made progress in some parts of the desolated countries. 
 Gregory;' ix., the Roman pontiff, attributed the ill success 
 of the measures against it to the negligence of the bishops, 
 who were more occupied about their temporal affairs than 
 the welfare of their flocks. He resolved, therefore, to take 
 from them the cognizance of the fact of heresy, and to vest 
 it solely in the preaching friars ; this immense power he 
 granted by a decree dated April 12, 1233, to the disciples 
 of Dominic, in the diocese of Toulouse principally, and 
 in the archbishoprics of Boui'ges,-'- Bordeaux, Aix, Arks, 
 Auch, Narbonne, Vienne, and Embrun. He placed the 
 inquisitors under the special protection of the counts of 
 Toulouse, Foix, and other lords, as well as the seneschals 
 of France ; requiring the latter to render their assistance 
 whenever it was called for. As a sequel to this ordinance, 
 tribunals of the inquisition were established and made per- 
 manent at Toulouse, Carcassone, Avignon, Montpellier, 
 Albi, and Cahors. Their authority was everywhere re- 
 cognised, and even at the last creation of the parliament at 
 Toulouse, in 1444, their sentences were executed without 
 appeal. 
 
 Is it necessary to add, that the Dominicans showed them- 
 selves worthy of the pontifical confidence ? They displayed 
 unequalled zeal, indescribable severity, limiting themselves 
 to no rule, or rather breaking all rules. They dived into 
 the secrets of families, set relations and friends against one 
 another, exasperated and overwhelmed all generous minds 
 
 * Places, no doubt, where the progress of heresy was most strongly marked. 
 
THE YAUDOIS OF GEEMANY. 115 
 
 with anguish. Thus they at last obtained their end. Tlie 
 prisons were crowded with victims, and often required to be 
 enlarged ; funeral piles were reared in all parts. Every 
 one who did not renounce his convictions, or who did not 
 succeed in concealing liimself, or dissembling his belief, 
 perished in the flames, or pined away in a dungeon. It is 
 estimated, that, in the first fifty years of this centuiy, a 
 million of Albigenses lost their lives, victims of the hatred, 
 barbarity, and superstition of the E,omish church. 
 
 These statements are mostly taken from the History of 
 the Inquisition in France, by M. cle la Mothe-Langon, 
 Paris, 1829. 
 
 Alas ! in exterminating or imprisoning the majority of 
 the Yaudois Chiistians, and in giving them no rest in the 
 very spots where their labours had been most successful, 
 their j^ersecutors succeeded in stopping the progress of that 
 glorious awakening which the return to the Holy Scrip- 
 tures, and to the sound and ancient doctrine of the gospel, 
 had produced. They flattered themselves, no doubt, that 
 they had stifled it altogether. 
 
 In such results, the court of Eome rejoiced ; she hastened 
 to prosecute her infernal work, and to employ the same 
 means in all places where heresy was informed against, 
 wherever the secular power submitted to be the intrument 
 of her vengeance, and the exterminator of its own subjects. 
 
 The Yaudois of Germany had also their turn, and could 
 not escape persecution. Eighty persons were apprehended 
 in Strasburgh alone, of whom the greater part were de- 
 livered to the flames. The famous inquisitor, Conrad de 
 Marpurg, adopted a sui'e method of convicting the accused, 
 by subjecting them to the ordeal of heated iron. In the 
 year 1233, a great number of heretics were biu-ned in differ- 
 ent parts of Germany by the exertions of this preaching 
 monk and inquisitor, who at last paid for the sufierings he 
 had inflicted by a violent death. In the course of this 
 centuiy, the same punishments were often renewed. Mat- 
 thew Paris reports, that, in the year 1249, four hundred 
 and forty-three heretics were condemned to the flames in 
 Saxony and Pomerania. 
 
 Among the victims belonging to Germany, to the 
 astonishment of the spectators, an inquisitor, the monk 
 Echard, an ancient persecutor of the Yaudois, took his 
 
116 HISTORY or THE VAUDOIS CHURCH. 
 
 place at the stake. During the veiy time that he was 
 putting interrogatories to persons accused of heresy, the 
 Spirit of God touched his heart; their constancy in the 
 midst of their sufferings made him ;^deld to the gospel : an 
 illustrious triumph of the faith ! — We are without infor- 
 mation as to what took place in Italy. 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 THE VAUDOIS, RETREATIISTG FROM PERSECUTION, FOUND 
 COLONIES IN THE ALPS. 
 
 The Vaudois, jDcrsecuted in the south of Prance with 
 unparalleled and incessant violence, sighed after some re- 
 pose. Many of them had found a temporary refuge in 
 the domains of the king of Aragon ; others had migrated 
 into different provinces of Prance, as Picardy, Burgund}^, 
 Lorraine, Alsace ; into different parts of Germany ; into 
 Bohemia especially, and even into Poland ; others had taken 
 refuge in Lombardy and the Italian cities which were more 
 2:>articularly under the influence of the Ghibelines, and 
 where, consequently, the papal power had less influence, and 
 where intestine dissensions, as well as external contests, 
 left the clergy no leisure for indulging in persecution.^' 
 
 A great number took refuge in that part of the Alps 
 which forms the frontier of Prance and Italy, the same 
 Yaudois valleys where the pure doctrine of the gospel had 
 been preserved from before the time of Constantino, and 
 had been propagated far and wide by its missionaries during 
 the preceding centuries. They filled with their weeping 
 families the valleys of Lucerna, Angrogna, and San Martino, 
 that of Pragela or the Clusone, the high valley of the Po, 
 those of Susa, Praissiniere, and I'Argentiere, the. vale of 
 Loyse (or Louise) or Pute, where theii^ brethren in the 
 faith had been abeady established for centuries, and where 
 we shall very soon meet with them again. 
 
 * Perrin, Histoire des Vaudois, pp. 233 — 246. Histoke de I'lnquisition en 
 France, par de la Mothe-Langon, t. ii., p. 587. 
 
SITUATION OF THE COLONIES. 117 
 
 The multitude of the refugees in that quarter became so 
 large, that the land could not support them. It was 
 necessary to plan new migrations to find an outlet for this 
 superabundance of population. Diiferent causes, which oui- 
 distance from this period and the want of documents pre- 
 vent our appreciating, dii'ected numbers of the Yaudois 
 towards the southern extremity of Italy, to Apulia and 
 Calabria, in the kingdom of Xaples."^'' 
 
 This settlement of the Yaudois in Apulia is mentioned in 
 a report as recent as 1489, by the legate dc Capitaneis, to 
 the archbishop of Embrun, in which he notices similar 
 establishments in Liguria and Italy, adding this fact, that 
 when the Yaudois (whom he incoiTcctly represents as 
 coming from Lyons) decided on forming them, there were 
 more than fifty thousand of them in the Alps, on the con- 
 fines of Dauphine, and in the dioceses of Embrun and 
 Turin, f 
 
 An ordinance of the emperor Erederick ii., dated at 
 Padua, in the year 1244, supports our account. '' We 
 ought to pursue them," it says of the Yaudois, "with so 
 much the more vigour, the more audaciously they set them- 
 selves to oppose Christianity and the Roman church by 
 their superstitions on the confines of Italy and Lombardy, 
 where we know, fi'om certain information, that their malice 
 lias committed the greatest ravages : they have already 
 spread themselves even into our Idngdom of Sicily. "| 
 
 The province of Calabria, in. the kingdom of ^N'aples, 
 where the Yaudois founded one of their principal colonies, 
 is a beautiful country, ])rotected by mountains, and formed 
 of smiling valleys and fertile plains. Orange-trees and 
 olives display their fruit not far from chesnuts and larches. 
 The persons who were sent to explore the district came 
 back equally satisfied Avith its fertility and the conditions 
 of settlement oifered by the lords of the soil. An advan- 
 tageous treaty for the colonists was soon concluded, and a 
 considerable number of Yaudois prepared for their depar- 
 ture. The young people married before they emigrated. 
 
 On theii' arrival, they founded in the neighbourhood of 
 Montalto a town called Borgo d'Oltramontani, or Oltro- 
 
 * Hist, de rinquisition en France, t. ii., p. 613. GiUes, Hist. Eccles., p. 18. 
 t Taken from Leger, Hist. Generale, t. ii., p. 22, 
 J Hist, de rinquisition en France, t. ii., p. 538. 
 
118 HISTORY OF THE VAUDOIS CHTJKCH. 
 
 montani ; that is, the town of the TJltramontanes, because 
 the new settlers originally dwelt beyond the Appenines. 
 The stream of emigration continning to flow in the same 
 direction, the Yandois built, at a little distance from the 
 first town, another called San Sesto, afterwards the site of 
 one of their most celebrated churches. They also founded 
 Argentine, La Ilocca, Yacarisso, and San Yincente. At 
 length, the marquis Spinello permitted them to build 
 Guardia, a walled city, which has retained the name of 
 (xuardia-Lombarda, situated on an eminence near the sea ; 
 and he granted important privileges to the inhabitants, so 
 that, in time, it became opulent and considerable. The 
 Yaudois, or Ultramontanes as the natives called them, 
 increased greatly, and prospered for a length of years in 
 their happy colony. 
 
 More than a century later, about the year 1400, in con- 
 sequence of the severities practised by the inquisition in 
 Provence and Dauphine, under the eyes of the popes at 
 Avignon, the Yaudois who had fled from these provinces 
 into the valleys, determined on a new emigration into 
 the kingdom of Naples, where they founded in Apulia, 
 the five small cities of Monilone, Montanato, Paito, 
 La Cella and La Motta. Lastly, about the year 1500, 
 the Yaudois of Fraissiniere and other valleys, to escape 
 persecution, established themselves in the neighbourhood 
 of their brethren, in the valley of Yolturata. Thus we 
 may understand how, from these different centres, the Yau- 
 dois could spread themselves all over the kingdom of 
 !N^aples, and even to Sicily. We shall give an account, in 
 the sequel, of their lamentable end."^' 
 
 These colonies maintained direct and constant relation 
 with the Yaudois of the valleys, who provided them with 
 pastors, according to the decision of thcfr synods. Accord- 
 ing to their established custom, the barbes, or pastors, 
 undertook thefr distant journey by two and two — one of 
 them advanced in years, already acquainted mth places and 
 persons, and experienced in practical matters ; the other 
 younger, in order to be trained to his vocation. Both in 
 going and returning they visited the faithful who were 
 scattered through the towns and country places of Italy, 
 exhorting and consoling them; a proceeding not entirely 
 
 * GUles, Histoii-e Eccles., p. 18, and follomng. 
 
NEW COLONIES IN PEOVENCE. 119 
 
 unknown to their adversaries.* The barbes of the valleys 
 possessed a house in each of the cities of Florence, Genoa, 
 and Yenice,t and probably elsewhere ; but it was onlj^ at 
 intervals, when the pastors were passing through on their 
 missionary travels, that the faithful of these cities and 
 other places fully enjoyed an evangelical ministry; while, 
 according to all appearance, the colonies of Apulia and 
 Calabria retained for a continuance, till they were replaced, 
 the pastors who had been sent to them by a preceding 
 synod. 
 
 At a period not exactly known, towards the end of the 
 thirteenth century, perhaps at the commencement or in the 
 course of the fourteenth century, the Yaudois of the valleys, 
 to remedy the inconvenience resulting from their being- 
 crowded within too small a compass, turned their thoughts 
 again towards Provence, which many of their forefathers 
 had been forced to quit during the crusades against the 
 Albigenses. Fertile though uncultivated lands in the in- 
 habited valleys that border on the river Durance to the east 
 of Cavaillon, having been granted to their deputies by the 
 proprietors on advantageous conditions, they sent thither 
 the surplus of theii^ population. Their industry, integrity, 
 and exemplary conduct were recompensed by unexampled 
 prosperity.;]: Cabrieres, ^Merindol, Lormarin, Cadenet, 
 Gordes, towns of considerable size, were successively 
 founded and enlarged by them. Such was their prosperity, 
 that when Francis i, caused them to be persecuted and 
 massacred by the infamous d'Oppede, in the year 1545, 
 not less than twenty-two towns, villages, and hamlets were 
 destroyed. 
 
 It will appear from this recital, that the Yaudois church, 
 
 * GiUes relates that a barbe of his name having gone into a church at 
 Florence, heard a monk who was preaching exclaim : " O Florence ! What 
 does Florence mean ? The flower of Italy. And so thou wast tUl these Ultra- 
 montanes persuaded thee that man is justified by faith, and not hj works ; 
 and herein they he." — Gilles, p. 20. 
 
 t In the hst which Perrin gives of the barbes about the year 1602, we find 
 among those whose memory was preserved for more than three hundred years, 
 one named Jehan, from the vaUey of Lucema, who was suspended for some 
 fault from his office for seven years, during which time he stayed at Genoa, 
 where the baibes had a house, as they also had a handsome one at Florence. 
 — Pen-in, p. 66. 
 
 X The exact date of the fotmding of these colonies is uncertain. According 
 to Camerarius, who reckons that they had in his time existed two hundred 
 years, they must have been formed in 1345. De Thou assigns them a dura- 
 tion of thi-ee himdred years, which would place their origin as far back as 
 about 1245, (Camerarius de Excidio, etc. ; and De Thou, i. 293.) 
 
120 HISTORY OF THE VAUDOIS CHURCH. 
 
 in spite of the dreadful persecutions it had endured, espe- 
 cially in the south of Trance, was yet so strong and nume- 
 rous, and spread over so many places, that it might have 
 been hoped that the sound doctrine and purity of worship 
 transmitted by its means from the times of Constantino the 
 Great, would long maintain the struggle against the efforts 
 of Babylon the Great ; but the hour was come when Rome 
 proceeded to attack the Yaudois of the Alps in their retreats, 
 and thus threatened a fatal blow to the militant, and already 
 much enfeebled, church. 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 PIRST PERSECUTIONS KNOWN, AGAINST THE VAUDOIS OF PIED- 
 MONT, IN THE FOURTEENTH AND FIFTEENTH CENTURIES. 
 
 The churches of Vaudois origin being in ruins in the south 
 of France, and on the point of dissolution wherever the 
 emissaries of Rome had free access, the moment seemed 
 come for pursuing these defenders of the evangelical faith 
 to extremities among the retired moiuitains, in the bosom 
 of which a considerable jDart of them lay, as it were, 
 entrenched. They occupied, halfway between Turin and 
 Grenoble, the two declivities of the Alps which incline to 
 the east and west of the snowy peaks of the mountains 
 Genevre and Yiso. Their humble dwellings, erected on 
 the sides of the mountains either in groups or scattered, 
 reached to the bottom of the valleys. To the west, among 
 the woods of the high Alps of Dauphine and Provence, the 
 most elevated and retired valleys were inhabited wholly, or 
 at least in great part, by the Yaudois. In the diocese of 
 Embrun, in particular, there was not a valley without some 
 of their churches. But the most noted were, the High 
 Yalley of the Durance, and the adjacent glens of Argentiere, 
 Eraissiniere, and Loyse, or Pute. 
 
 To the east, all the glens and valleys which descend from 
 the High Alps to the plain towards Pinerolo and Saluzzo, 
 those which are watered by the Clusone and the Ger- 
 manasca, the Pelice and the Grana, tributaries of the Po, 
 and by the Po itself — ^namely, the vale of Pragela, the 
 
PEESECFTION UNDER CLEMENT YI. 121 
 
 valley of San Martino, the vale of Angrogna, the valley 
 of Lucema, that of the Po, and of Bagnolo, etc., were 
 then, and had been for centnries, the earthly fatherland of 
 the faithful Yaudois of Piedmont. 
 
 Into these ancient and venerable retreats of the jDure 
 faith, the pretended ^icar of Jesns Chi'ist, the Saviour of 
 the world and the Prince of peace, planned to cany a cruel 
 persecution. This scourge had already approached several 
 times, and caused many tears in the distinct of Embmn, 
 and, no_ doubt, in the"^ plains of Piedmont also, though 
 histoiy is silent respecting it. But the hour was come For 
 it to burst on the mountain region of the ancient diocese of 
 Claude of Turin, — the very spot where the light of truth 
 was still biuTiiu";. 
 
 Pope John xxii., desirous of prosecuting the work 
 begun by Innocent iii., and to do it systematically, ordered 
 Jean de Badis, inquisitor at Marseilles, to join 'his efforts 
 M-ith those of Albert de CasteUatio, who resided in Pied- 
 mont in the same capacity. In his bull, dated in the year 
 1332, this pope directed his legate's attention to the Yal- 
 denses, or Yaudois, of the valleys of Lucerna and Perosa. 
 He complained of the increase of these heretics, of their 
 frequent meetings in the form of chapters, (probably by 
 this term he meant their synods,) at which as many as five 
 hundi-ed persons were often present. He accused "^them of 
 having killed the rector Guillaume, after mass, in a place 
 that he caUs Yilla,^*' and of having risen against the inqui- 
 sitor De CasteUatio, when about to exercise his office. 
 A detailed account of this first attempt at persecution 
 against the valleys of Lucerna and Perosa has not come 
 down to us. AU we know of this expedition, as having 
 reaUy occurred, is, that De Badis succeeded in enti'apping 
 Martin Pasti'e, one of the Yaudois leaders, whom he sent 
 to Marseilles and imprisoned; but, by the pope's orders, 
 he recalled him to Piedmont, to be judged by Albert de 
 CasteUatio and subjected to tortiu^e, if' needful, "'ui order to 
 denounce his associates.! 
 
 In 1352, pope Clement vi. gave it in charge to lYiUiam, 
 
 * Rorengo says that Guillaume was slain at AngrosTia, where he was rector, 
 and that he was taken off for ha\-ing given information of the heresy to Castel- 
 latio. We can assert that there is no locahty at Angrogna answering to the 
 name of Villa, but there does exist a town called Villaro to the west of La Torre, 
 
 t De la Mothe-Langon, t. iii., p. 217.— Leger, pt. ii., p. 20. 
 
 G 
 
122 HISTORY OF THE VAUDOIS CHIJECH. 
 
 archbishop of Embrun, and Pierre de Mont, Franciscan 
 friar and inquisitor, to extinguish heresy. The lords, 
 judges, and consuls (syndics) of the province were invited 
 to lend him their aid. 
 
 But, once more, the results did not answer the expecta- 
 tions of the pontiff. (De la Mothe-Langon, t. iii., p. 256.) 
 In page 254 of the same work, we meet with a strange 
 letter ^T:'itten to the same pope, which might have occa- 
 sioned the persecution which he undertook, after he had 
 been ten years in the pontificate. Yet, as this possibility 
 is not expressed, we shall content ourselves with having 
 referred to the letter. 
 
 The pope also urged the dauphin, Charles of France, 
 Louis, king of JN'aples, and queen Joanna, his wife, to per- 
 secute the heretics. This latter circumstance serves to 
 confii'm the fact of there being Yaudois colonies in the 
 kingdom of IS^aples ; for why should the pope address this 
 prince, if there were no heretics in his dominions ? The 
 invitation addressed to the queen of Naples, who possessed 
 territory in the marquisate of Saluzzo, near the vallej^s, 
 adds a fresh presumption to the evidence we have already 
 given of the existence of the Yaudois in many parts of this 
 marquisate.'^' 
 
 These solicitations, also, of the court of Avignon had not, 
 at this time, the results that were hoped for. 
 
 Two years later, James, prince of Acqui, of the house of 
 Savoy, ordered Balangero and Ueto Borengo to imprison 
 those of the Yaudois sect who had been discovered in the 
 valley of Lucerna and the neighbouring valley s.f 
 
 Urgent appeals for the destruction of heresy were con- 
 tinually addressed by the papal court at A^dgnon to the 
 secular authorities. But, far from displaying the requisite 
 zeal, both magistrates and people seemed to lean to the 
 side of clemency. Gregor}'- xi., when writing, in 1373, to 
 Charles v., the king of France, to complain of his officers 
 for thwarting the inquisitors in Dauphine, says, ''They 
 put obstacles in the way of the inquisitors, forcing them to 
 hold their tribunal in places exposed to the attacks of the 
 enemies of the faith ; not permitting them to institute pro- 
 
 * Monumenta Historiae Patrise, t. iii., p. 860. 
 
 t This fact shows that the marquises of Lucerna had at that time made their 
 submission to the house of Savoy. Histoire de la Ville, etc., de Pignerol, t. iii., 
 p. 35. 
 
PERSECUTIOX COXTINrES. 123 
 
 ceedings against the heretics ^vithout the concurrence of the 
 civil judges, and constraining them to reveal the secrets of* 
 their proceedings. They release condemned sectaries from 
 prison; they even refuse to take an oath to act against 
 these obstinate people. Lose no time," he adds, '^ to 
 rectify such proceedings, under pain of draT\-ing down 
 upon you the indignation of the holy apostles Peter and 
 Paul." '' 
 
 But though the inquisitors, who were commissioned to 
 extirpate the Yaudois faith, were often ill seconded, yet 
 they made many victims, and caused much suffering. 
 
 These incessant severities and excessive acts of violence 
 impelled the Yaudois, in 1375, to make some deplorable 
 reprisals. They attacked the city of Susa, forced the con- 
 vent of the Dominicans, and put the inquisitor to death. 
 They are like"\vise accused of having taken the life of 
 another inquisitor of Turin, perhaps near Bricherasco, at 
 the entrance of the valley of Lucema.f 
 
 The great schism in the church of Pome, which took 
 place in 1378, by the election of two popes. Urban vi. at 
 Pome, and Clement vn. at Avignon, did not occasion any 
 abatement in the persecution. The inquisitor, Borelli, 
 having in vain cited all the inhabitants of Praissiniere, 
 Argentiere, and the vale of Loyse, to his tribunal, caused 
 a great number to be arrested. By his orders one hundred 
 and fifty Yaudois men were brought to Grenoble and burned 
 alive, besides many women, girls, and even young children, 
 all of the vale of Loyse. In the valleys of Argentiere and 
 Fraissiniere, eighty victims, men and women, were handed 
 over to the secular power ; and such was the determination 
 to punish them, that, in many cases, they were executed 
 without any other sentence than a general declaration of 
 being criminals famished by the holy office. " There is 
 evidence," writes a catholic author, '' that many accused 
 persons were thrown into prison only for the purpose of 
 seizing on their propert3\ Blood or gold," he adds ; " this 
 is what the inquisition required." % 
 
 * De la Mothe-Langon, t. iii., pp. 270, 271. It may easily be imagined that 
 the interests of the seculkr princes did not always coincide with those of the 
 pope. 
 
 t Ibid., p. 278.— Monumenta Historise Patriae, t. iii., p. 861 .— Rorengo, ta 
 I'Histoire de Pignerol, by Massi, t. ii., p. 35. 
 
 X Ibid., p. 289.— Perrin, Hist, de Vaudois, p. 114. 
 
 G 2 
 
124 HISTOKY OF THE VAUDOIS CHURCH. 
 
 The same inquisitor, Borelli or Borille, has been accused 
 of having practised great cruelties in Susa, at the head of 
 an armed troop, and particularly of having laid waste the 
 valley of Pragela, or Clusone, in the dead of winter, at the 
 Christmas of the year 1400. The Yaudois historians lay 
 the odium of this attack on people belonging to the valley 
 of Susa."^' The peaceable inhabitants of Pragela, unex- 
 pectedly assailed, at a season of the year when they fancied 
 themselves protected by the snows which covered the 
 ridges and declivities of the mountains, could only flee with 
 the utmost haste, men, women, and children, to the heights 
 and rocky steeps. The fugitives, being pursued without 
 intermission till nightfall, fell, many of them by the sword 
 of the enemy, or were taken prisoners ; others, still more 
 wretched, perished miserably of hunger and cold on the 
 rocks, covered with snow and ice. The most numerous 
 company fleeing in the direction of Macel, in the vale of 
 San Martino, passed the night on a lofty mountain, on a 
 spot still called the Albergan, or the Refuge. The heart 
 is pained at the recital of their sufferings. Let it suffice 
 to say, that in the morning fifty poor little children (some 
 say eighty) were found dead with cold; some in their 
 cradles, others in the frozen arms of their poor mothers, 
 lifeless like themselves. f 
 
 The popish troops, who had passed the night in the 
 dwellings abandoned b}^ the unfortunate inhabitants of 
 Clusone, the next day took the road to Susa, laden with 
 plunder, and destroying what they could not carry off. 
 They are charged with having hung on a tree a poor aged 
 Yaudois woman. Marguerite Athode, whom they met with 
 on the mountain of Meane. 
 
 This bloody incursion, when it was noised abroad, ter- 
 rified the people of Dauphine and Piedmont, and at the 
 same time roused their indignation. They manifested 
 their sentiments with so much energy, that the pope 
 enjoined on the inquisitor to moderate his zeal and to 
 exercise more prudence, from an apprehension that heresy 
 might make still greater progress. This general dissatis- 
 faction and these remonstrances lead us to suppose that 
 even the Eoman Catholic population had suffered from this 
 
 * The storm came thence, but they may have been ignorant of its cause, 
 t De la Mothe-Langon, t. iii., p. 295.— Perrin, p. 116.— Leger, part ii., p. 7. 
 
OEDEES OF lOLANTE. 125 
 
 expedition, in which no particular care had been taken to 
 spare them. 
 
 It wouhl seem that the persecution directed against the 
 Vaudois died a^yaJ at the beginning of the fifteenth cen- 
 tury, to be revived, at the close of it, with fresh violence. 
 
 About the year 1460, the archbishop of Embrim commis- 
 sioned the Franciscan monk, John Yeleti, or Yeileti, to take 
 measures against the survivors in Fraissiniere, Argentiere, 
 and the vale of Loyse. He discharged his mission with so 
 much barbarity, partiality, and bad faith, that he irritated 
 and troubled the whole comitr^^, and complaints were made 
 against him to king Louis xi. In the examination of 
 accused j^ersons, he altered and dictated their answers to 
 liis questions without scruple. For example : if an accused 
 person were asked — Do you believe that, after the sacra- 
 mental words have been pronounced by the priest at mass, 
 the body of Christ is in the host ? if the Yaudois replied, 
 JSTo ; Yeleti would write down or dictate, The accused con- 
 fesses that he does not believe in God. This iniquitous 
 priest made many faithfiil disciples of the Lord pass 
 through the fire.* 
 
 Under the government of Louis of Savoy, between 1440 
 and 1465, twenty-two females, denounced as Gazaris, or 
 Yaudois, were burned at Coni, as having relapsed. They 
 belonged to Bemezzo (Burnecium), a town of the neigh- 
 bourhood, in which, according to the expression of a Roman 
 Catholic Pieclmontese author, the heresy of the Poor Men 
 of Lyons was rank. We notice this fact, because it is one 
 of a small number, and among the last of those which show 
 that the Yaudois church formerly extended in Piedmont, 
 towards the south, far beyond its present limits. f 
 
 At the instigation of Giovanni Compesio, and of the 
 inquisitor Andi'ea di Aquapendente, who, on Xov. 28, 1475, 
 had published very severe bulls against the Yaudois, the 
 duchess lolante, a French princess, Avidow of Amedee-le- 
 Bienheureux, and guardian of his son Charles, ordered, in 
 January, 1476, the governors of Pinerolo and Cavor, and 
 the podesta (the head of the police) of Lucerna, and her 
 other officers in these distiicts, to take active measures 
 for the suppression of heretics. In her ordinance, the 
 
 * De la Mothe-Langon, t. iii., loc. cit. 
 t Rorengo, iii I'Histoire de Pigiierol, t. ii. 
 
126 HISTORY OF THE VATJDOIS CHUKCH. 
 
 duchess thus expresses herself: '' It is oiu* pleasure that 
 the inhahitants of the valley of Lucerna especially may 
 be able to enter {venire possint) into the bosom of the 
 holy mother church." The expression enter (not return) 
 might lead us to suppose that up to this time there had 
 not yet been any thought of denying the simultaneous 
 and prior existence of the Yaudois church with that Of 
 Home."^' 
 
 These orders were executed, and it frequently happened 
 that the Yaudois, when they ventiu'ed beyond their valleys 
 for commercial or other purposes, were seized and delivered 
 to the inquisitors, who did not fail to put some of them to 
 death. The consequence was, that there was hardly a 
 city in Piedmont in which some of their number were not 
 punished. Jordan Tertian, a barbe, or pastor, was burned 
 at Susa. Hippolyte Roussier mounted the funeral pile at 
 Turin. Yillermin Ambroise was hung at the defile of 
 Meane, and so was Anthoine Hiun. XJgon Chiamp of 
 Penestrelles was taken at Susa, and brought to Turin. 
 There, being tied to a stake, his bowels were taken out 
 and placed in a large vessel : his martyrdom was soon 
 accomplished.! 
 
 But what could these single acts of severity effect towards 
 satisfying the impatience of Rome? How could a little 
 blood appease the wrath of the irreconcileable enemy of the 
 Yaudois — an enemy who could put on a level with crimes 
 punishable by the edge of the sword or by fire, the claim 
 of evangelical Chiistians to think for themselves, and the 
 assertion of the right of examination in matters of faith ? 
 Having commenced the application of her op])ressive sys- 
 tems to the worthy and timid inhabitants of the neigh- 
 bouring valleys with some partial success, how could the 
 persecuting church stop in her career ? Her pride was 
 interested in continuing the war which her jealousy, her 
 thirst of power, her avarice and her hatred, had begun. 
 But, to render her triumph certain, it was necessary that 
 the attack, from being partial, local, crafty and slow, should 
 become general, violent, rapid, and terrible. An expedi- 
 tion of the same kind as that which annihilated the Albi- 
 genses, was resolved upon against these thousands of 
 
 * Raccolta degli Editi, etc. ; Stamperia Sinibaldo, etc. 
 t L^ger, part ii., p. 7. 
 
CRFSADE OF ALBERT DE CAPITANEIS. 127 
 
 labourers and herdsmen, whose firm and unwavering faith 
 had resisted the assaults of the Eomish superstition, as the 
 lofty summits of their moimtains withstood the threatening- 
 storms, and the shock of winds and tempests. 
 
 Innocent vni., a worthy successor of that Innocent iii.^ 
 who proclaimed the first crusade against the Christians, 
 charged Albert de Capitancis, archdeacon of Cremona, 
 ^vith the execution of his cruel projects, and gave him the 
 inquisitor Blaise de Bena, of the order of preaching monks, 
 as his coUeague. He accredited them to the king of France 
 and the duke of Savoy, as weU as to aU the lords, as nun- 
 cios and apostolic coimnissioners in their domaiA, and espe- 
 cially in Dauphine and Piedmont, to proceed against that 
 most pernicious and abominable sect of mischievous persons, 
 called Poor Men of Lyons, or Yaudois, " which," he says 
 in his bull, " has unhappily for a long time been prevalent 
 in Piedmont and the neighboui'ing parts." And though 
 he acknowledges that the objects of his wrath possessed an 
 appearance of sanctity, he orders them to be crushed like 
 venomous snakes, and to be exterminated if they refuse to 
 abjure.*''' 
 
 The papal buU promised, as a recompense to all those 
 princes, lords, or others, Vv^ho should arm themselves with 
 the buckler of the orthodox faith, and bring help to the 
 aforesaid legates, plenary indulgence, remission of their sins 
 once in theii' lifetime, and the same in the article of death; 
 and, what was not less tempting, it granted pennission to 
 each person to appropriate to himself any possessions of 
 the heretics, whether lands or goods. f 
 
 Yery soon nothing was heard of but the bull of Inno- 
 cent vin. All the countiies that bordered on the Cottian 
 Alps resounded with it. At Embrun, Susa, Pinerolo, Turin, 
 Yienne in Dauphine, Lyons, and even at Sion in Yalois, 
 nothing was talked of but the approaching crusade .^ The 
 whole population was roused. Charles viii., king of 
 Prance, and Charles ii., duke of Savoy, ^ sanctioned the 
 expedition, and the lords made preparations for it. A 
 numerous army was on the march to smi'ound the fortress 
 of heresy on aU sides, and attack it simultaneously. Albert 
 de Capitaneis, armed with sufficient powers, called forth, 
 
 * Extract from the bull of Innocent viii., L^ger, part ii. p. 8. 
 t Ibid. 
 
128 HISTOEY OF THE VAUDOIS CHUECH. 
 
 urged, and directed the crusaders. Who could hope to 
 escape a heart so hard, and a hand so strong ? 
 
 The year 1488 was destined to be a time of sore distress 
 to the Vaudois, and of everlasting shame to E-ome. De 
 Capitaneis had two bodies of soldiers under his orders : one, 
 formed in France, was designed to invade the valleys of 
 Dauphine, and to come in aid of the other, which, setting 
 out from Piedmont, was to surround the eastern valleys, and, 
 approaching the French frontiers in a semicircle, would 
 destroy all the heretics on its way. 
 
 The first of these divisions, commanded by count de 
 Yarax, lord*of La Palu, and royal lieutenant, ascended the 
 mountains of Dauphine, and invaded the vale of Loyse. 
 All the horrors of war fell at once on the affrighted inha- 
 bitants of this valley. The papists treated them with 
 unparalleled barbarity. Those who were first slain by the 
 sword were the most fortunate. Those who made their 
 escape to the recesses of the rocks and the depths of 
 caverns, known only to the inhabitants of the valleys, were 
 pursued thither ; large fires were kindled at the entrance of 
 their hiding-places, and left them only the choice between 
 a horrible massacre from without, or death by suffocation 
 if they remained within. The greater part resigned them- 
 selves to the latter. It is reported that four hundred 
 young children were found stifled in these caverns, and that 
 three thousand persons perished in these terrible encoun- 
 ters. The misfortunes of the vale of Loyse spared the 
 repetition of them to the neighbouring valle3^s of Argentiere 
 and Fraissiniere. Seeing no hope of safety but in ener- 
 getic resistance, they guarded the passes, defended them- 
 selves valiantly, and very soon saw their persecutors retreat 
 for a time. 
 
 A corps detached from the army that was assembled in 
 Dauphine, on the western side of the Alps, crossing the 
 elevated defiles of the mountains, came suddenly by Cesane, 
 on the eastern side, into the valley of Pragela, or Clusone, 
 the most northern of all the Yaudois valleys. The hostile 
 force, falling unexpectedly like an avalanche on a people 
 occupied as usual in their peaceful labours, surprised them 
 without the means of defence, threw them into consterna- 
 tion, laid waste and ravaged their towns, pillaged their 
 cottages, and massacred the inhabitants. The fugitives 
 
ATTACK OX THE VALLEYS. 129 
 
 themselves were not able to escape the fiuy of their pur- 
 suers. As in the vale of Loyse, inflammable materials 
 Avere heaped at the enti'ance of the caverns, to which they 
 had retreated from the fiuy of theii' pitiless adversaries ; 
 and if they tried to escape from the flames that devoured, 
 or the smoke that stifled them, they were instantly slain by 
 the sword. Of all the valley of Pragela, the villages of 
 Fraisse and Meane suffered the most. JSTevertheless, the 
 inhabitants of Clusone, recovering from their first alarm, 
 organized themselves at different points, fell, in their turn, 
 on their enemies, and succeeded in repulsing them. 
 
 The army collected in Piedmont, by the urgent appeals 
 of the pope's legate, Capitaneis, and destined to extiipate 
 the Yaudois heresy fi'om the valleys of San Martino, Perosa, 
 and Lucerna, as well as Pravilhehn and other places in the 
 valley of the Po, was now ready to invade these unhappy 
 counti'ies. It is asserted that there were not less than 
 eighteen thousand men in the ranks, besides a great number 
 of Piedmontese, who followed them, in order to merit the 
 plenary indulgence promised by the pope, and to take their 
 share in the plunder. 
 
 JS^o record has been preserved of all the particular acts 
 of this great persecution ; so that we cannot even name all 
 the places laid waste, or all the Yaudois churches that were 
 destroyed. But it is ver^- probable that, from this epoch, 
 the ruin must be dated of numbers of the Yaudois, in the 
 towns and villages of the plain of Piedmont. 
 
 As for the attacks on the valleys, strictly so called, we 
 possess more details. It appears that one division of the 
 army penetrated with no great difficulty into the valley of 
 Lucerna. This was too large, and the ground too little 
 broken for men unaccustomed to war to oppose effectively 
 the enti'ance of a numerous body of soldiers, well armed 
 and disciplined. San Giovanni, La Torre, Yillaro, Bobbio, 
 and all their hamlets, were occupied by the enemy. God 
 alone knows all that was inflicted on those who had not 
 escaped in time. 
 
 Bobbio is the last "v-illage in the plain of the valley of 
 Lucerna, peacefrilly seated in the midst of chestnut-trees and 
 vines, surrounded by beautiftil and gently-sloping meadows, 
 at the base of gigantic mountains, through which the Pelice 
 forces its way, and rolls along murmuring and covered 
 
 G 3 
 
130 HISTORY or THE VATJDOIS CHURCH. 
 
 with foam. From this fertile spot, rich in the beauties of 
 natnre, bnt then laid waste by greedy and pitiless soldiers, a 
 defile open« to the north between the rocks. The mountain- 
 path tracked upon it by herdsmen rises to the ridge of 
 Mount Julien, (Giuliano,) which, not far from the formid- 
 able i3eaks of the French frontier to the west, and the 
 "heights of the valley of Angrogna to the east, separates the 
 valley of Lueerna, on the south, from that of San Martino 
 on the north. Following its course, always in a northerly 
 direction over the ojDposite slope, across pasture-land and 
 woods, we descend at last to the hamlets of the comm.une 
 of Prali, scattered over a plain inclosed by steep mountains. 
 It was to this spot, and through the pass we have been 
 describing, that seven hundred men, detached from the 
 papal army which occupied the valley of Lueerna, brought 
 all the horrors of war. They had hoped to siu-prise this 
 peaceable district, which, from its position at the extremity 
 of the valley of San Martino, and out of any direct road, 
 might have thought itself secure from attack. For an 
 instant the invaders might suppose they had succeeded. 
 They had reached the hamlet of Pommiers, when they 
 found themselves assailed by the united Pralins with a 
 courage so impetuous, that they could make but little re- 
 sistance. Fatig-ued by a long and rapid march over roads, 
 uneven, slippery and steep, astonished at meeting, instead 
 of affrighted and suppliant fugitives, armed men full of 
 ardour, and some of them urged on by gloomy desperation, 
 they soon gave way, and were all cut in pieces, save one, 
 an ensign. During the massacre, he escaped along the 
 torrent, which he reascended, and concealed himself under 
 a great mass of snoAV, in a cavity which had been formed 
 by the melting of the snow, (for it was summer,) and there 
 he remained till cold and hunger forced him to descend 
 and implore mercy from those whom he would have mas- 
 sacred. His request was readily granted. The Praliris, 
 appeased by their success, allowed him to go in peace, to 
 announce the defeat and death of all his companions. 
 
 The efforts of the crusading army were directed prin- 
 cipally to the vale of Angrogna, which might be regarded 
 as the heart of the valleys ; and was doubtless then, as on 
 many other occasions, the place of refuge, and the fortress 
 of the affrighted inhabitants. This glen, a lateral and 
 
ATTACK OX THE VALLEYS. 131 
 
 northern branch of the valley of Lueerna, descends from 
 the north and "svest, where the sharp ridges of Soiran, 
 rinfernet, and the Eons, separate it from the Alpine pastm-es 
 of the valley of San Martino towards the south-east, and 
 opens hy an abrupt bend to the south into the valley of 
 Lueerna, to the east of the town of La Torre. The spinal 
 ridge of rocks and peaks which, from the Eous on the west, 
 inclines eastward, and terminates in the magnificent Tan- 
 dalin, with its pp-amidal sides, closes the glen on the 
 south, and separates it from the valley of Lueerna, as far 
 as the spot where it merges into that valley. On this side 
 it is impregnable. From the heights of Sou'an, on the 
 north, the chain of mountains which separates the vale of 
 Aiigrogna from the valley of San Martino and the half-val- 
 ley of Perosa, lies to the south-east, flattened and uniform 
 all the way from Mount Cervin. It is called the Sea of 
 Angrogna. It turns, at last, towards the south, and de- 
 scends in an undulating manner from the heights of 
 Eoceamaneot upon the sides of San Giovanni, and is lost 
 in the valley. On the declivity of this chain first towards 
 the south, and then the west, the principal hamlets of the 
 valley are situated on gentle slopes. This vast plain, with a 
 regular siu^face, cleared of woods, and covered with pasture- 
 land in the higher parts, inclines afterwards more decidedly, 
 subdivides and breaks in the lower part into diversified 
 ridges, shaded by a forest of magnificent fruit-trees, and 
 terminates by precipitous ravines in the torrent of Angrogna 
 at the bottom of the valley. The road which leads from 
 La Ton^e to the populous hamlets scattered over these fertile 
 slopes, follows the windings of the river, undulating and 
 bending, according to the inclination of the hills, on the 
 left bank, half-way up. 
 
 To attack Angrogna on this side would have been foUy. 
 The steeps, the bends, the rents of the ground, fuiTowed 
 with streams, as well as the shelter of the chestnut and 
 wahiut trees, with their thick foliage, which perpetiially 
 intercept the view, would expose an army to continual 
 sui-prises, and enable a small number of resolute men to 
 stop it at every step, and would subject it to perpetual 
 losses, and to be attacked and hurled down the precipices 
 which are all along the road. 
 
 Eut if the valley of Angrogna could not be forced on this 
 
132 HISTORY OF THE VAUDOIS CHUJICH. 
 
 side, it might be by gaining the high plateau by means of 
 the gentle declivities which rise from the plain of San 
 Giovanni, at the entrance of the valley of Lucerna, in a 
 northerly direction, towards the Sea of Angrogna, by the 
 heights of Roccamaneot, Once arrived there, a hostile 
 troop is master of the higher plateau. No obstacle opposes 
 its march, till it reaches the rocks which inclose the retired 
 vale of Pra-di-torre : it may then rush down, like a devas- 
 tating torrent, on the hamlets it overlooks, and which have 
 no further means of natural defence. 
 
 It was by the latter road we have been describing that 
 the army of crusaders prepared to invade the central valley 
 of Angrogna. They left their quarters, and prepared to 
 climb, by the declivity of San Giovanni, the southern side of 
 the hills, directing their march towards the upper plateau 
 and rock of Roccamaneot. On these hills, the poor Yau- 
 dois had to sustain a very severe combat. They prepared 
 for it by prayer. Their enemies, as they advanced, saw 
 them prostrate, and heard the petitions they offered aloud 
 to God. The papists ridiculed them, being full of con- 
 fidence in their o^vn numbers, equipments, and valour. 
 But the Divine mercy secured the victory to the smaller 
 number; God hearkened to those who relied upon him. 
 Among the assailants, one of the principal leaders, Le 
 jSToir, of Mondovi, another Goliath defjdng Israel, boasted, 
 with horrible blasphemies, of the carnage he would make 
 among these heretical herdsmen, when, having raised his 
 visor on account of the heat, and to show his contempt, he 
 was struck between the eyes by an arrow discharged loj 
 Peiret Pevil, of Angrogna. He fell; and his death so 
 terrified his companions in arms, already surprised and 
 embarrassed by the obstinate resistance of the Yaudois, 
 that they turned their backs on those whom they had before 
 despised, and fled with much loss. The joy felt for so 
 great a deliverance was expressed on the field of battle, 
 and in all the valley, by thanksgivings and hymns of 
 praise. 
 
 The enemy, irritated by their loss, and ashamed of the 
 defeat, having reassembled all their forces, again assailed 
 the valley of Angrogna, and made themselves masters of 
 all the plateau and the hamlets on the left side of the 
 torrent as far as Eocciailla, a mass of rocks which descends 
 
ATTACK OX THE TALLEYS. 133 
 
 abriiptlj^ from the neighbouring heights of La Yachere, 
 southward to the very bed of the toiTent, and separates the 
 lower and cultivated valley of Angrogna fi'om the upper. 
 This latter valley is perfectly alpine in its character, and 
 has the form of an immense funnel, broken on the eastern 
 side ; it is bounded on the south by the sharp ridge of the 
 majestic Yandalin, on the west by the snow}^ simimits of 
 Sella Yeglia and the Rous, on the north by the frightful 
 rocks of the Infernet and Soiran, and on the east b}- the 
 Rocciailla, a mass of rocks not very pointed, but steep and 
 rugged, which confine the torrent of the Angrogna at its 
 outlet. 
 
 In the centre of this funnel is an extensive meadoAV, 
 bounded on one side by the torrent, and on the other by 
 some buildings; it is the Pradutoiu-, or Predutoui' — Pra- 
 di-toiTe — so celebrated in Yaudois history. On this spot, 
 according to tradition, was once situated that celebrated 
 school of the barbes, or pastors, which preserved the holy 
 doctrine of the primitive church imdefiled and pure, which 
 fed the flame of evangelical truth in these retired mountains, 
 and diffiised its light to a distance by means of its mission- 
 aries. This retired glen, fertile in its lower parts, was 
 chosen in almost all the persecutions as a last earthly re- 
 fuge,^'' with some other spots equally inacccessible. Thither 
 the population of Angrogna, and the fugitives who had 
 joiued them, hastily betook themselves, and crowded their 
 iamilies into it, with the little property they were able 
 to save. 
 
 In ascending the lower valley of Angrogna, as was done 
 by the victorious army of the pajDists, the only way of 
 reaching the Pra-di-torre was through a defilef at the foot 
 of inaccessible rocks, which only open wide enough for the 
 passage of the torrent and a narrow road. It was in this 
 contracted gorge, between Eocciailla and the Angrogna, that 
 the victorious bands entangled themselves. The more 
 advanced were on the point of penetrating into the refuge 
 of the Yaudois, the Pra-di-torre, when all at once they were 
 enveloped in a thick fog. They could not distinguish a 
 single object, nor tell whereabouts they were ; they dared 
 
 * Pra-di-torre was not the only place whicli served as a retreat, but all the 
 low neighbouring country, which includes Ciauvia, Chiot, Chaudet, etc. 
 
 t The enemy attempted aftenvards to peneti-ate by other roads, but with the 
 same ill success. 
 
134 HISTORY OF THE VAFDOIS CHURCH. 
 
 not advance for fear of a surprise, but halted in a state of 
 extreme disquietude. At this juncture, the Angrognines, 
 emboldened by this interposition of Providence in their 
 favour, issued forth from all their retreats, vigorously 
 attacked their perplexed aggressors, whom they defeated, 
 put to flight, and jDursued. Profiting by the knowledge 
 they possessed of the locality, they soon came up Avith 
 them, by crossing the rocks, and took them in flank. The 
 fugitives choking up the narrow road, were crowded toge- 
 ther, and in pressing forwards precipitated one another over 
 the rocks into the foaming waters. The fog, the precipices, 
 the rocks, and the torrent, made more victims on that day 
 than the swords of the Yaudois. The number of deaths 
 was very considerable. Tradition has preserved a faithful 
 memorial of one of the men whom the hand of God smote 
 in this defeat — a captain Saguet, or Saquet, of Polonghera, 
 in Piedmont, a man of colossal size, who filled the ak with 
 his blasphemies and his menaces against the Yaudois. His 
 foot slipped over the edge of a rock, he fell into the boihng 
 waters of the Angrogna, was carried away, and thrown by 
 them into a whirlpool or basin, which still goes by his 
 name ; Tempi Saquet. 
 
 Many other assaults were made on the Yaudois in their 
 difl'erent retreats. It is known that the valleys of Perosa 
 and San Martino sufiered from the cruelties of the army of 
 the legate Capitaneis. Pra^dlhelm, in the valley of the Po, 
 was also attacked. Much blood was shed in these repeated 
 combats. The unfortunate inhabitants were oppressed with 
 grief, and recovered very slowly from their disasters ; yet the 
 course of years has succeeded in effacing the recollection of 
 the greater number of the scenes of desolation which de- 
 formed this 23eriod. This, however, is well known, that God 
 everywhere succoured his children ; and that after this army 
 had for a twelvemonth hovered over these valleys and the 
 adjacent parts, like a menacing tempest, the prince of 
 Piedmont, Charles ii.,^' ]Dut an end to a war so injurious 
 to his subjects. This young prince, only twenty years of 
 age, being desirous of peace, expressed his displeasure at 
 this cruel conflict, and sent proposals of peace to the 
 Yaudois. He entrusted this mission to a bishop who 
 
 * Gilles attributes this peace to diike Philip, but he is mistaken, for this 
 prince was then in France, and did not begin to reign till 1496. 
 
VAUDOIS OF THE TALLEY OF THE PO. 13o 
 
 came to Prassuit, a hamlet of the ralle}- of Angrogua, to 
 confer with the mountaineers. The prelate assured them 
 of the good- will for their sovereign, and of the kindly recep- 
 tion he was ready to give them ; and succeeded in per- 
 suading them to send a deputation. 
 
 The Yaudois sent twelve of the principal persons among 
 them to Pinerolo, whom the duke graciously received. He 
 questioned them for a long time, and, after hearing theii- 
 answers, candidly declared that he had been misinformed 
 both as to their persons and their belief. He wished to 
 see theii' chikben ; for it had been certified to him that they 
 were all born with some monstrous deformity, such as one 
 eye in their foreheads, four rows of black teeth, and other 
 things of that sort. "WTien he found that those who were 
 brought to him were beautiful and well made, he could not 
 repress his indignation at having been so grossly imposed 
 upon. Being imdeceived as to his opinion of his Yaudois 
 subjects, he accepted the gift which the deputies offered 
 him in the name of the people, conni-med them in theii' 
 privileges and accustomed liberties, •>' and promised that 
 they should be unmolested in future. 
 
 Such was the issue of this cruel crusade of the year 
 1488, undertaken in the name of a merciless religion, and 
 which owed its termination to the sense of justice in a 
 T^ise prince. Alas! how frequently shaU we have occa- 
 sion to see the same facts and the same characters present 
 themselves again, Avith only some variation of circimi- 
 stances. Cakimny has been but too often a weapon in the 
 mouth of Eome to destroy the faithful Yaudois. 
 
 After the peace of 1489, several years passed away in 
 tranquillity for those of the Yaudois who sui'vived the cruel 
 persecution we have been narrating. But the year 1500 
 Avas marked by a most violent attack on the Yaudois in the 
 upper valley of the Po, in the marquisate of Saluzzo. Theii' 
 neighbours, the Yaudois of Bagnolo, so numerous, and 
 formerly so weU known, had now entirely disappeared. 
 The story of theii^ misfortunes has not come down to pos- 
 terity. "We know not when or how they ceased to exist ; 
 but the arm which effected theur extirpation could be no 
 
 * We feel certain that these privileges and hberties were those renewed br 
 the marquises of Lucema in favour of their subjects, when they submitted to 
 the house of Savoy. 
 
136 HISTOEY OF THE YAUDOIS CHURCH. 
 
 other than that which decimated the valleys. The same 
 spirit of darkuess infused thoughts of destruction into the 
 heart of Marguerite de Foix, Avidow of the marquis of 
 Saluzzo, against her Yaudois subjects of Pravilhelm, the 
 Biolets and Bietone, in the upper valley of the Po. Being 
 assailed and persecuted with unceasing rancour, these poor 
 people saw no hope of safety but in flight. They retired 
 to the valley of Lucerna. From that place they addressed 
 petitions to their sovereign, for five years, to be reinstated 
 in their dwellings and possessions. Yain hope ! The only 
 reply was the dishonourable proposal to sell their souls by 
 accepting popery. Such a mercenary and criminal pro- 
 ceeding was foreign to their simplicity : they demanded 
 justice, and that being refused, they resolved upon taking 
 it by force. Perhaps, in doing so, they went bej'-ond the 
 bounds of Christian moderation. Under the conduct of 
 one of their number, an intrepid man, they unexpectedly 
 returned in arms to their ancient dwelling-places. Sword 
 in hand, they drove away the papists who had established 
 themselves there, and struck such terror into the surround- 
 ing population, that, expecting repose only by a compro- 
 mise with the legitimate and ancient inhabitants of the 
 contested territory, and recollecting, no doubt, the friendly 
 relations that had formerly existed between them, they 
 joined in imploring from their sovereign the free return of 
 the Vaudois to their villages. This was granted, as well 
 as the enjoyment of their liberties in what concerned their 
 faith. 
 
 Thus the persecutions raised against the Yaudois, who 
 were faithful to the religion of their fathers, terminated for 
 a time.* 
 
 CHAPTER XYII. 
 
 THE VAUDOIS AND THE REFORMATION AT THE BEGINNING OF 
 THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY. 
 
 The peace of 1489 could not heal all the wounds in- 
 flicted on the Yaudois by persecution. It is true that 
 the kind language of the duke of Savoy had at first excited 
 
 * Our authorities for this part of the narrative are the works of De la Mothe- 
 Langon, Perrin, and Gilles. 
 
SMALL XUMBEE OF THE YArCOIS. 137 
 
 hopes in manj' hearts ; but it was too soon perceived that 
 the new state of things was very uncertain and precarious. 
 The Yaudois population was considerably diminished in 
 the valleys. Could it be otherA^T.se, after so many con- 
 flicts and massacres? And in the towns and villages of 
 the plain of Piedmont, where some Yaudois churches had 
 existed, cruel persecution had destroyed them : it had slain, 
 dispersed, or diiven into concealment, their members and 
 adherents. The loss of so many friends and brethren was 
 most mournful, and the ruin of so many Yaudois con- 
 gregations, that ^^'ere lights in the midst of darkness, was 
 irreparable. If the Yaudois churches in the bosom of the 
 Alps could henceforth have been secui'e from the snares of 
 the enemies of their faith ! but their plots, though more 
 concealed, were not the less kept in operation. Instead of 
 crusades, with an armed force, which were susj)ended for a 
 time, omng to the humanity or policy of the prince, the 
 Romish clergy had recourse to secret manoeuvres, the 
 employment of underhand methods, and the regular agency 
 of the tribunals of the inquisition. These latter, by virtue 
 of the privileges granted by the civil authority, had the 
 right of judging special cases of heresy which might occui'. 
 The external situation of the Yaudois, already decimated, 
 weakened, and impoverished by the war of 1488, was there- 
 fore very precarious, not'svithstanding the peace concluded 
 with their sovereign. In such times, when disasters had 
 been succeeded by an uncertain peace, or one which gave 
 little confidence to the enfeebled population, if no event, 
 nor any new incentive occurred to invigorate their depressed 
 energies, a torpor seized them; the dread of fi'esh misfortunes, 
 if any exertion were made, paralysed their members, and 
 a cowardly desire of repose made even slavery acceptable. 
 
 Such was the lamentable condition of the Yaudois j)opu- 
 lation of the Piedmontese valleys after the peace of 1489, 
 enfeebled, impoverished, decimated, in di'ead of fresh per- 
 secutions. A timid spectator of the isolated sufferings of 
 those of her sons who ventiu'ed into the plains of Piedmont, 
 and were arrested by the inquisition,^' the Yaudois church, 
 
 * Perrin, in his Histoire des Vaudois, says, (p. 165,) " The monkish inquisi- 
 tors always conunenced law proceedings against those whom they could lay 
 hold of, and particularly lay in wait for them at a certain convent, (no doubt 
 the convent of I'Abbadle,) netir Pinerolo, from which they delivered them to 
 the secular power. 
 
138 HISTOEY OF THE VAUDOIS CHURCH. 
 
 while seeking an alleviation of her sorrows in the pro- 
 mises and kind language of her prince, was threatened in 
 her interior life. A great number of her members, occu- 
 pied with their temporal interests, and forgetting the 
 Saviour's injimction on the duty of confessing his name, 
 had recourse to shamefal and criminal dissimulation. In 
 order to be shielded from all interruption in their journeys 
 on business, they obtained from the priests, who were settled 
 in the valleys,^' certificates or testimonials of their being- 
 papists. To claim them, they frequented the Eoman Catholic 
 churches, were present at mass, confessed, and had their 
 children baptized by the priests. It is true that they 
 fancied that they palliated their fault by saying to them- 
 selves, when they entered the temples of the enemies of 
 their faith, ^'Cave of robbers, may God confound thee ! " 
 It is true that they also attended the preaching of the 
 barbes, or Yaudois pastors, and submitted to their cen- 
 sure, f But these precautions, far from acquitting them, 
 made their dujolicity, and their divided heart, and the 
 severe judgment which their own consciences passed upon 
 their conduct, more striking. The Yaudois church, in 
 tolerating so great a scandal, evidently suffered a stream of 
 impurity to flow into the channels of her spiritual life, 
 which had been hitherto nourished by the pure water of 
 the word of God alone. She manifestly incurred the risk of 
 altering her faith, and modifying the profession of it. 
 
 But the invisible Head of the church, the Lord who had 
 redeemed her by his blood, watched over this feeble but 
 ancient portion of his inlieritance with love. As a friend 
 never shows himself more faithful than in the moment of 
 danger, nor more tender than in the hour of affliction, so 
 the Lord Jesus came to deliver the Yaudois church when 
 her temptations were aggravated, and to console her under 
 all her sufferings, by announcing his triumph over anti- 
 christ in the E,EFOEMATio]sr. How much is contained in 
 that single word ! 
 
 '^ Reformation !" It expresses nothing less than a deep, 
 radical, and complete renovation of the form, constitution. 
 
 * It is very doubtful wliether there were other ministers, excepting at La 
 Torre, Lucerna, and Bricherasco. This would form the subject of an inter- 
 esting investigation, 
 
 t Gilles, p. 28. 
 
GLANCE AT THE EEFOEMATION. 139 
 
 and life of the chiux-h ; nothing less than a return to its 
 primitive state ; than a rc-establishment of doctrine, morals, 
 and divine service on the foundations laid by our Lord him- 
 self and the apostles, and an aspii^ation after a new life of 
 faith, self-denial, charity and holiness ; in one word, a life 
 hid with Christ in God. For a long time, even in the 
 chui'ch of Eome itself, reform had been talked of : princes, 
 magistrates, men of science and letters, ecclesiastical per- 
 sons, and nimibers of the faithful among the laity, had at 
 different times demanded it : even the assembly of bishops 
 at the council of Constance wished to attempt it, but 
 always in vain. The evil was too great ; the plague too 
 deep and inveterate ; the body itself too tainted, for the cui*e 
 to be attempted in good faith and with, the consent of all its 
 members. Every one was sensible of the evil, and marked 
 its symptoms, but no one in the chiu'ch pointed out its 
 true cause. a^o one was for applying to it the only 
 efficacious remedy, namely, the faithful preaching of the 
 word of God. The youngest child among the Yaudois 
 could have indicated it; but for the Romish church to 
 discover the remedy, and consent to employ it, needed a 
 direct intervention of Divine Providence ; for how could the 
 cruel persecutors of the Albigenses and Yaudois, of her 
 own accord, seek for the cure in the very book which had 
 animated, and still sustained and consoled the objects of her 
 hatred ? 
 
 This miracle of mercy God was pleased to effect in 
 many places, and in more than one heai-t at once, that the 
 glory might redound to him, and not to any human being. 
 He awakened the love of the truth, and excited here and 
 there a sj)irit of inquiry, which for a long time had been 
 unknown in the Eomish church. He put into the hands of 
 men " after his own heart " the text of the holy Scriptures, 
 and revealed the meaning to them by his Spirit. In 
 France an old man, a distinguished doctor ; in Germany, a 
 young monk, Martin Luther, concerned for his own salva- 
 tion, in a convent in Saxony; in S^uitzerland, Zwingli, a 
 young cure, devoted to his pastoral duties, at Glaris, in the 
 bosom of the Alps, and afterwards to the office of preacher 
 in the celebrated abbey of jS^otre-Dame-des-Ermites, (our 
 Lady of the Hermits, ) or of Einsiedlen, re-established simul- 
 taneously, by the sole study of the Bible, and without being 
 
140 HISTOEY OF THE VAUDOIS CHURCn. 
 
 privy to one another's labours, the vital doctrines of the 
 gospel."^' 
 
 'No sooner were they initiated into evangelical truth, and 
 regenerated by it, than these men, blessed from on high, 
 had only one desire, that of glorifjdng God, by communi- 
 cating to others, their friends, their relations, and their 
 contemporaries the grace which had been sho^vn to them. 
 In their familiar conversations, they excited great interest 
 in recounting the providential circumstances by which God 
 had put into their hands the sacred text, and opened their 
 hearts to its insjDirations. By these recitals, they produced 
 in many souls the lively and profound emotions which they 
 had themselves experienced; the joy, the ecstasy, the alarm, 
 the penitence, and the gratitude, which by turns had taken 
 possession of their own minds in reading the declarations 
 of God's word. By their preaching and public instructions, 
 these illustrious reformers, above all those of Germany and 
 Switzerland, had poured streams of light, and infused a 
 vital warmth, into a multitude of sincere hearts. By their 
 publications, by their commentaries, and especially by the 
 translation, printing, and dissemination of the holy Scrip- 
 tui'es, they had brought within the reach of all those who 
 possessed some elementary instruction, and, through them, 
 M^ithin every one's reach, the knowledge of God and of his 
 Christ, according to the gospel. 
 
 The light was replaced on the candlestick. By its vivid 
 and pure radiance the superstitions, the idolatry, the errors, 
 and the vices of Home, appeared in all their deformity. 
 Thousands of sincere souls turned from the way of destruc- 
 tion in which their blind leaders had hitherto kept them, 
 and advanced with joy, confidence, and hope, in the paths 
 of the gospel. 
 
 The Reformation had extended itself in Germany and 
 Switzerland ; it had tried its strength at Paris, Meaux, and 
 various other places, when the report of its operations 
 resounded as far as the Yaudois churches of Piedmont, 
 Dauphine, and Provence. These ancient churches, isolated, 
 surrounded by enemies, weakened, and somewhat discou- 
 raged by persecution, were roused at the consolatory news 
 of a retui'n to the word of God, to the doctrine of salvation 
 
 * See Merle D'Aubigii<5's History of tlie Reformation of the Sixteenth Centmy . 
 
DOCUMENT GIYIXG AX ACCOUXT OF THE YArDOIS. 141 
 
 by faith in Jesus Christ, and to a purer life, in countries 
 heretofore papal. They hastened to collect certain infor- 
 mation, and to enter into connexion with their new brethren. 
 As early as the year 1526 the barbe (or pastor) ^lartin, of 
 the valley of Lucerna, had returned from one of these joiu'- 
 neys of inquiiy, and brought back many books printed by 
 the refonners. This fact is proved by the deposition of one 
 Bartolomeo Fea, who lived near Pinerolo, but, having been 
 cast into prison on account of his religion, confessed to the 
 inquisitors that the aforesaid barbe Martin, on his return 
 from German^', had called at his house, shown him the 
 books which he brought back, and given him a wonderful 
 account of the reformation that had taken place. ^'' 
 
 Of all the joui^neys of the Yaudois barbes at this period, 
 that of Georges Alorel, of Merindol, and Pierre Masson,t 
 a native of Burgimdy, is the best known. Having been 
 deputed by the Yaudois churches of Provence and Dauphine:|: 
 to ^isit the reformers of Switzerland and Germany, they 
 held a conference ^ith the brethren of Xeuchatel, Morat, 
 and Berne, with Berthold Haller, and doubtless, also, with 
 William Farel;§ and in the month of October, 1530, they 
 presented to (Ecolampadius, the reformer of Bale, a long 
 document in Lathi, in which they gave a complete account 
 of their ecclesiastical discipline, worship, manners, and 
 docti'ine, requesting, at the same time, his advice on seve- 
 ral points. 
 
 This document, marked by a humility and openness of 
 heart not common even among brethren in the faith, throws 
 great light on the internal state, at that time, of the Yaudois 
 churches in the south-east of Prance. It is also probable 
 that this state was more or less that of their neighboui's, 
 the Yaudois churches in Piedmont, but perhaps in a less 
 degree of declension. The precediag accounts give us a 
 glimpse of this ; the sequel will render it certain. 
 
 The exposition made by the barbe Morel, and which may 
 be found in Scultetus, or'in Euchat, shows that there was 
 among the Yaudois of that time a sensible inferiority in 
 
 * Gilles, p. 30. 
 
 t G-. Morel's companion is called Latome by Scultetiis. 
 
 + Perrra asserts positively that they were sent by the Vaudois churches of 
 France, and not by all the Vaudois churches. 
 
 § [See the Life of WUHam Fai-el, from the German of the Rev. Melchjor 
 Kirchhofer ; pubUshed bv the Rehgious Tract Society, London, 1837, pp. 102 
 —104, 271.] 
 
142 HISTORY or THE VAUDOIS CHURCH. 
 
 their acquaintance with saving truth, and especially in the 
 profession of evangelical faith, if we compare them with 
 their ancestors, such as they are made known to us by 
 history, and the religious writings of the twelfth century.^' 
 The information given by Georges Morel respecting the 
 barbes, or pastors of the Vaudois churches, agrees in general 
 with what we know of their ancient discipline. Yet we 
 may trace indications in his statement of a certain unset- 
 tledness or uncertainty on some points of doctrine or dis- 
 cipline, an imperfect acquaintance with the Scriptures, and, 
 as it strikes us, a limited knowledge of their very inter- 
 esting religious literature. 
 
 The candidate for the pastoral charge, having been em- 
 ployed in agricultural labour, or as a herdsman, till the 
 age of twenty-five or thirty, came before the barbes, and 
 made known his wishes. If the inquiry respecting his 
 character proved satisfactory, he spent the winter months 
 for the next three or four years in self-improvement : he 
 learnt by heart the Gospels according to Matthew and 
 John, the catholic (or general) Epistles, and a good part of 
 those of St. Paul. After this, he had to pass a year or two 
 in retirement. In this part. Morel speaks of sisters, or virgins, 
 living together in perpetual celibacy, and says that it was 
 to the place where these resided that candidates were sent, 
 to prepare in silence for the functions of the sacred ministry, 
 to which they were afterwards appointed, by partaking of 
 the eucharist and imposition of hands. This kind of reli- 
 gious society of females is a fact without parallel in the Yau- 
 dois history, and, if it be true, would prove, in conjunction 
 with the celibacy of the barbes, then generally practised, 
 that Romish notions had become considerably prevalent at 
 this period, at least in the churches of Provence. 
 
 The holy ministry, as it appears, was exercised in faith 
 and love. The doctrine taught was, for the most part, the 
 same as in remote times ; it was always, in essential points, 
 evangelical. Yet it would appear that, in what regards 
 the acceptance of salvation, and the internal life of the 
 Christian, the barbes at that time aUowed an immense share 
 to the human will. "We believe," say they, ''that all 
 men have naturally some gift, which God has bestowed 
 
 * Scultetns Annalium Evangelii, etc., Heidelbergfe, 1618, t. ii., p. 294.— 
 Eucliats Hist, de la Reformation de la Suisse, t. ii., p. 319, and follomng. 
 
(ECOLAMPADirS. 143 
 
 Oil them, one man more, and another less ; so that men 
 can do something b}^ this power which is given them, but 
 especially when God stimulates and excites it, as he says 
 himself: * Behold, I stand at the door, and knock.' " 
 Moreover, they did not admit predestination, excepting 
 ^dth certain explanations, which reduced it to be nothing 
 more than an anticipated view of human intentions and 
 actions by the omniscience of God. 
 
 Some Homish tendencies are also perceptible, such as 
 auricular confession, but ^dthout superstition or tp'anny. 
 They asked the reformers whether it was proper to have 
 degrees of dignity among ministers of the word of God, 
 such as bishops, priests, and deacons ? whether the dis- 
 tinction of sin, as original, venial, and mortal, were correct ? 
 whether it was allowable to pray for the dead ? which were 
 the ceremonial, and which the civil precepts? Avhether 
 these ordinances were entirely abolished by the coming of 
 Jesus Christ? They rejected pui'gatory, as a fiction of 
 anticlirist ; also, all the inventions of men, such as saints' 
 days, vigils, holy water, abstinence from meat at certain 
 times ; and, in particular, they looked upon the mass as a 
 horrible abomination before God. But they tolerated one 
 great evil : through weakness and fear of theu' persecutors, 
 they had their children baptized by the priests, and com- 
 mimicated at the mass. 
 
 The injustice and cruelty of their enemies having brought 
 the Yaudois into numberless dangers, and occasioned their 
 adoption of particular modes of acting, Georges Morel in- 
 fXuired whether open force or stratagem could be autho- 
 rized in cases where life and property were endangered ? 
 He also proposed the question, whether it was allowable 
 for the faithful (Yaudois) to plead before unbeHe\'ing 
 (Roman Catholic) judges ? 
 
 OEcolampadius, like the other refonners, beheld with 
 deep emotion and delight their foreign brethren, deputed 
 by the ancient Yaudois churches, the small remnant of 
 evangelical Cliristians who had escaped, as by mii^acle, from 
 the persecutions of Rome. With all his colleagues, he 
 blessed God for the preservation of these disciples of the 
 truth ; these lowly flocks, scattered at the foot and in the 
 bosom of the Alps ; saved with difficulty from the snares 
 that were constantly laid for their lives as weU as their 
 
144 HISTOEY OF THE VAUDOIS CHUECH. 
 
 souls. These sentiments are expressed in the answer of 
 the reformer of Bale to the Yaudois of Provence, dated 
 October 13, 1530. '' It is not," he tells them, '' without 
 a lively sentiment of joy in Christ that we have learned 
 from Georges Morel who takes such faithful care of your 
 salvation, what are your religious belief and worship. We 
 render thanks to our most gracious Father that he has 
 called you into such marvellous light, dimng ages in which 
 such thick darkness has covered almost the whole world, 
 under the empire of antichrist. We acknowledge also that 
 Christ is in you ; we therefore love you as brethren ; and 
 (xod grant that we may be able to testify the affection of 
 our hearts by its fruits !" 
 
 To these expressions of kindness and proofs of attach- 
 ment, the reformer felt himself impelled to add some 
 Christian observations and counsels of truth, which fidelity 
 demanded of him : '' As we approve of many things among 
 you, so there are several which we wish to see amended. 
 We are informed that the fear of persecution has caused 
 you to dissemble, and to conceal your faith. Now you 
 know that with the heart man believeth unto righteousness, 
 and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation ; but 
 that those who are ashamed of Christ before the world, will 
 not be acknowledged by him before his Father. Because 
 our God is truth, he will be served in truth ; and as he is 
 a jealous God, he will not permit his own people to put 
 themselves under the 5^oke of antichrist, — for there is no 
 concord between Christ and Belial. You commune mth 
 unbelievers ; you take part in their abominable masses, in 
 which the death and passion of Christ are blasphemed. 
 For when they boast of making satisfaction for the sins 
 of the living and the dead by their sacrifices, what is the 
 consequence, unless it be that Christ has not made satisfac- 
 tion by his one sacrifice ? that Christ is not what his name 
 of Jesus signifies, that is, a Saviour, — and that he died for 
 us in vain ? And in saying Amen ! to their prayers, do we 
 not deny Christ ? How many deaths would it not be better 
 
 to sufifer ? I know your weakness ; but it becomes 
 
 those who know they have been redeemed by the blood of 
 
 Christ to be more courageous It is letter for us to 
 
 die than to he overcome ly temptation.^'' 
 
 fficolampadius replied in the spirit of the reformation to 
 
MASSON A MARTYE. 1-1.5 
 
 all the other questions which they had proposed to him, 
 giA^ng the required explanations and counsels. It is not 
 necessary to detail them here. Suffice it to say, that the 
 doctor of the Ecformation and the pastor of the ancient 
 Yaudois church, felt themselves to be brethren, and the 
 Lord gave them the unity of the Spirit in the bond 'of 
 peace. 
 
 From Bale, the two deputies of the Yaudois went to 
 Strasburg, to confer with Bucer and Capito. They took 
 a letter of reconnnendation to the former fi'om (Ecolam- 
 padius, dated Oct. 27, 1530. 
 
 This direct communication of the Yaudois barbes 'with the 
 reformers of Switzerland and Strasburg has still a veiy 
 legitimate interest for us in the present day. It is delight- 
 ful to see that the conscientious study of the word of Grod 
 led the reformers, when they left the Eoman church, to 
 reconstiiict a church wliich, from its first formation, won 
 the esteem and sympathy of the ancient Yaudois churches, 
 which had preserved the doctrine and worship of the first 
 ages of Christianity as pure, at least, as it was in their 
 power to do. It is equally instructive to see the reformed 
 churches, which it has been attempted to depreciate, by 
 calling them new, confirming by their unity of faith, and 
 even by theii' community of forms, with the Yaudois 
 churches, the antiquity of their doctrine, worshij), and 
 ecclesiastical organization. Some slight differences on 
 secondary points, which have been noticed, do not weaken 
 this assertion any more than some slight symptoms of 
 decline in a little persecuted flock would. 
 
 The two Yaudois barbes having fulfilled their mission, 
 and being furnished with the answer of Qiiolampadius, set 
 out on their journey homewards. One of them, Pierre 
 Masson, could not escape suspicion ; he was waylaid and 
 arrested at Dijon, imprisoned, and condemned to death. 
 Georges Morel was more fortunate, and passed unnoticed 
 with his letters and papers, and arrived safely in Provence.* 
 
 The answer of G^colampadius produced a powerful im- 
 pression throughout the Yaudois churches. The pastors 
 of the valleys discussed among themselves, and in con- 
 ferences with their neighboiu's, the questions of wliich it 
 treated. As some diversities of opinion still existed, and 
 
 * Perrin, p. 216. 
 
 H 
 
146 HISTORY OF THE VAUDOIS CHURCH. 
 
 it was thoiiglit proper to rc\dsit the reformers of Germany 
 and Switzerland several times, it was also decided to con- 
 voke a synod, in order to terminate the business. All the 
 Vaudois churches were to be represented in it. The Swiss 
 pastors were in\dted. A great number, convened at Grandi- 
 son, in French Smtzerland, chose as their representative 
 William Farcl, that bold and faithful reformer, and Antony 
 Saunier, both natives of Dauphine.*' 
 
 The presence of Farel at the Yaudois S3rnod is confirmed 
 by the deposition of a Vaudois, who was cast into prison 
 by Bersour, in the persecution of 1535. Jeannet Peyrel, 
 of Angrogna, deposed that he had kept guard for the 
 ministers who taught the good law, who were assembled in 
 the town of Chanforans,f in the centre of Angrogna, and 
 said that amongst others there was one called Farel, who 
 had a red beard, and a beautiful white horse, and two others 
 accompanied him, one of whom had a horse almost black, 
 and the other was very tall, and rather lame, j' 
 
 The synod met in Angrogna, at the place called Chan- 
 forans, and commenced its sittings September 12, 1532. § 
 It was solemn and decisive. All the questions had been 
 sufhciently matured ; they were then debated very freely 
 for six days. II At length the synod, or assembly of the 
 barbes and heads of families, prepared a short confession of 
 faith, which may be considered as a supplement to the 
 ancient confession of faith of the year 1120, wliich it does 
 not contradict in any point. It consists of seventeen 
 articles, which are as follows :^\ 
 
 " 1. We believe that divine worship ought to be per- 
 formed in spirit and in truth, for God is a Spirit, and desires 
 that those who worship him should do so in spirit and in 
 truth. 
 
 "2. That all those who have been, and shall be saved, 
 have been chosen hj God before the foundation of the 
 world. 
 
 * Riichat, t. iii., p. 176 and 557. 
 
 t Now a lone house, near Odins, towai'ds Le Serre. 
 
 t Gilles, p. 40. 
 
 § Perrin misdates it Sept. 12, 1535, since the Vaudois chiu'chwas at that time 
 harassed with persecution. Leger, pt. i., p. 95, is equally wrong in fixing it 
 December 12, 1532. Tliis time of the year would have been far too severe for 
 the journey of the Swiss deputies and of so many pastors from beyond the 
 Alps. 
 
 II Gilles, p. 41. 
 
 i[ L^ger, pt. i., p. 95. Copied from a manuscript in the Ubrary of the 
 University of Cambridge. See also Gilles ; and Perrin, p. 157. 
 
DECISION OF THE SYXOD. I47 
 
 ''3. That it is impossible that those who have been 
 ordained (elected) to salvation should not be saved. 
 
 '; 4. That whoever establishes the fix>e-wiU of man denies 
 entirely the predestination and grace of Grod. 
 
 "5. That no work is good but that which God has com- 
 manded, and none bad but what he has forbidden.* 
 
 ''6. That a Christian may swear by the name of God 
 without contravening what is mitten in Matthew v. 34, 
 pro^^ded that he who swears does not take the name of the 
 Lord m vain. It is not taken in vain when the oath tends 
 to the glory of God and the welfare of one's neighbour. 
 Moreover, an oath may be taken before a magistrate, because 
 he who fills the office, whether he be a believer or un- 
 believer, holds his power of God. 
 
 ''7. That auiicular confession is not commanded of God' 
 nor appointed by the Holy Scriptui'es ; that the ti'ue con- 
 fession of a Chiistian is to confess to God alone, to whom 
 belong honour and glorj^ ; that there is another sort of con- 
 fession, which is, when any one seeks reconciliation with 
 Ills neighbour, spoken of in Matthew v. ; a third sort of 
 c^ession is, when any one has committed some public 
 offence, and confesses it also publicly. 
 
 ''8. That on Sundays we ought to cease from oui' earthly 
 labom^s, from zeal for God and love towards oui' servants, 
 and that we may apply om^selves to hearing the word of 
 God. 
 
 ''9. That a Chiistian is not permitted to avenge himself 
 m any manner on his enemy. 
 
 ''10. That a Chiistian may exercise the office of a magi- 
 strate over other Christians. 
 
 ''11. That the Scriptures do not fix any time for a 
 Christian's fasting. 
 
 "12. That marriage is not forbidden to any one, in any 
 condition whatever. 
 
 "13. That whoever forbids marriage teaches a diaboKcal 
 docti'ine. 
 
 "14. That whoever has not the gift of continence ought 
 to marrj', 
 
 "15. That the ministers of the word of God ought not 
 
 " *A "^^®,^^o^ Jaeger, pt. i., p. 95, and Perrin.-Gilles adds the foUo\ving words. 
 And that man can do things indifferent which God has not forbidden, 
 according to the occasion, as he can also refrain from doing them " 
 
 H 2 
 
148 HISTOEY OF THE VAUDOIS CHFECH. 
 
 to be transfeired. from cue place to another, unless for some 
 great good to the church. 
 
 " 16. That it is not incompatible with apostolic com- 
 munion that the ministers possess some private property to 
 support their families. 
 
 'M7. Touching the sacraments: The Holy Scriptures 
 show that Jesus Christ has left us only two sacraments — 
 baptism and the eucharist, or the holy supper ; that we 
 partake of the latter in order to tcstifj^ that we persevere 
 in the holy faith according to our baptismal engagement, 
 and to celebrate the remembrance of the sufferings of Jesus 
 Christ, who died for our redemption, and has washed us 
 from our sins hj his precious blood." 
 
 The sjTiod of Angrogna also adopted a decisive resolu- 
 tion for the well-being of the Yaudois church, which had 
 been compromised for a number of years by the fear of 
 persecutions. It was decreed by common consent, tliat 
 they should cease entirely from all the arts of dissimulation 
 by vrhich they had hoped to escape the notice of the enemies 
 of the faith ; that henceforth they would take no part in 
 any of the poj)ish superstitions ; that they would not 
 acknowledge as a pastor any priest of the Uomish church, 
 and never have recourse to his ministrations in any case, 
 or under any circumstances. They likevtdse resolved to 
 cease from all concealment in their religious assemblies ; 
 that the worship should be carried on openly and publicly, 
 in order to give glory to God.^' 
 
 These resolutions met with some opposition in the synod, 
 on the ]3art of some barbes, who were either friends of the 
 ancient order of things, or timid. Two of them, of foreign 
 extraction, Daniel de Valence and Jean de Molines, mth- 
 (h'ew without authority from the general assembly, and made 
 their complaints to the churches of Bohemia and Moravia. 
 
 Relations equally ancient and close united the Vaudois 
 of France and Piedmont to the evano-elical Christians of 
 Bohemia and Moravia. The origin of these latter is pro- 
 bably to be dated from the end of the twelfth century, the 
 times of Pierre Yaldof and his immediate disciples, the 
 Poor Men of Lyons. Being driven about by persecution, 
 and dispersed in various places, they had become, in the 
 
 * GiUes, p. 30. 
 
 t On Pierre Valdo and his disciples, see ch. vii. of tMs history. 
 
CHURCHES OF UOnEMIA AND MOKAVIA. 149 
 
 hands of God, the means of revival and union for churches 
 that were still governed by the word of God, in the bosom 
 of which they had found a refuge ; and thus, amongst 
 others, for the churches of Bohemia and for the ancient 
 Vaudois churches in the valleys of the Alps. It was in 
 Bohemia that Yaldo himself terminated Ids admirable and 
 useful career.-'' He found a Christian church there, which, 
 like those of the Sclavonian race, had received Clmstianity 
 through the medium of the Greek chiux-h, and Avhieh, like 
 all her sisters, abhorred the yoke and errors of Home. 
 Attached to the Holy Scriptures, which she read in an ex- 
 cellent Sclavonian translation, the language of the country, 
 the church of Bohemia had welcomed with a cordial feeling 
 of Christian brotherhood, Pien-e Yaldo and his friends, who 
 had been persecuted for their fidelity to the word of God ; 
 and, o'wing to the well-kno^\-n acti^-ity of the Poor M^en of 
 Lyons, and the journeys of the Yaudois barbes, who 
 travelled in all directions to evangelize their brethi^en, the 
 churches of Bohemia, and, at a later period, those of Moravia, 
 entered into strict fellowship A\ith the Yaudois churches of 
 France and Piedmont. And, once brought into connexion 
 with one another, these two churches, both daughters of 
 the primitive church, loved each other as two sisters, and 
 never ceased to interchange proofs of their affection. 
 
 In the instance now before us, the chuixhes of Bohemia 
 and Moravia testified their cordial affection and esteem for 
 the Yaudois church by their general coimsels, given in the 
 spirit of the gospel. It is evident by the letter they Avrote, 
 and which the two dissatisfied barbes brought back the 
 follo^ong year, (1533,) that these churches had been 
 but imperfectly informed ; but we may at least infer from 
 its contents that they always felt a liTcly interest in the 
 spiritual welfare of their Yaudois brethi-en. The latter, 
 fi'om regard to their brethix^n of Bohemia and Moravia, held 
 a s^mod in the vale of San Martino, the loth of August, 
 1533; and after having confirmed the resolutions of the 
 synod of the preceding year, decided on communicating 
 them, with suitable explanations, in a fraternal letter to the 
 churches of Bohemia and Moravia. In consequence of this, 
 
 * Does not Valdo's retiring to Boliemia authorize us to believe that a con- 
 nexion had akeady existed between the chui'ch of Bohemia and the \ auacis 
 chiu-ch ? 
 
150 HISTORY OF THE YAUDOIS CHURCH. 
 
 Jean de Molines and Daniel de Valence left the valleys, 
 never to return. 
 
 This strenuous but ineffectual opposition of the two 
 barbes, who were, moreover, not natives of the Yaudois 
 valleys, rendered the intimate agreement of the spirit of 
 the Reformation with that of the Yaudois still more appa- 
 rent. The ancient and venerable Yaudois church, still 
 faithftd, in its somewhat impaired old age, to the true 
 apostolical traditions, came forward gladlj* to hold out the 
 right hand of fellowship to her younger sister, the offspring 
 of the conscientious study of the Bible. They recognised 
 each other as children of the same Father — as servants of 
 the same Lord ; they embraced one another, feeling them- 
 selves to be one in God's sight; and acinic wledging, with 
 transports of delight, that thus blended they were the beloved 
 spouse of Jesus Christ. 
 
 Glory be to God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. 
 Amen ! 
 
 CHAPTER XYIII. 
 
 IMMEDIATE EFFECTS OF THE U:N^I0]Sr OF THE VAUDOIS 
 CHURCH WITH THE REFORMED CHURCH. 
 
 The resolutions adopted at the s}Tiod of Angrogna in 
 1532, and conffrmed the following year, were soon put in 
 practice. Repentance for preceding acts of dissimulation 
 stimulated ardent minds to give proofs of the sincerity of 
 their love to God, and their attachment to his word. A 
 clearer view of their duty strengthened the laith of the 
 feeblest : a zeal, that had been languishing for some years, 
 revived afresh in all hearts. A Christian life, not entirely 
 new, but renovated, circulated faithfully through all the 
 branches of the Yaudois churches. Barbes and private 
 Christians supported one another, and rendered mutual aid 
 in realizing the same desire — that of glorifying their Saviour 
 in the midst of idolaters. Their ardent wish was to rej)ro- 
 duce in their actions the device engraved to this day on the 
 seal of the Yaudois chiu'ches of Piedmont — a light shining 
 
PvENEWAL OF PEESECl^TION. 151 
 
 in darkness. Proofs in coiifii'matioii of this zeal are not 
 wanting : we shall adduce them in theii- proper order. 
 
 And first of aU let us mention an external, but veiT 
 convincing proof : the renewal of persecution on the part 
 of the papists. Religious animosity never pursues the 
 lukewarm ; it is never roused by the sight of timid men 
 who dissemble, and whose sole aim is to escape observation. 
 Resistance and opposition alone provoke it; antagonism 
 inflames it. Two years had not elapsed after the sjmod 
 of Angrogna, when persecution began ; at first in Provence, 
 in the year 1534, at the instigation of the bishops of 
 Sisteron, Apt, and CavaiUon, and in the following year in 
 Piedmont, by the endeavour's of the archbishop of Turin 
 and the inquisitor of the same city. The duke of Savoy, 
 Charles iii., yielding to theii' solicitations, referred the 
 cruel oface of pui'suing the pretended Yaudois heretics to a 
 nobleman in their neighbourhood, the lord of Rocheplatte, 
 Pantaleon Bersour, who, from his frequent residence at 
 his chateau of Mirandol, (Mirandeul,) or in the city of 
 Pinerolo, at the entrance of the valley of Perosa and not 
 far from that of Lucema, had greater facilities than any 
 other person of knowing the places, the cii'cumstances, and 
 the men. 
 
 For the purpose of obtaining all the information possible, 
 Bersoiu', fm-nished with ducal letters for the parliament of 
 Provence, betook himself to the dioceses of that pro\-incc 
 in which persecution had recommenced. Having obtained 
 copies of the depositions relative to the accused, as well as 
 permission to assist at the subsequent examinations, he 
 fiu-nished himself by this means with very precise data 
 relative to the late events, and the persons who were the 
 most devoted to the interests of evangelical religion in the 
 valleys of Piedmont. Por, as we have abeady said, the 
 Yaudois of the domains of the duke of Savoy maintained a 
 constant connexion with those of Dauphine and Provence, 
 and theii' barbes often passed the Alps to edifj- the 
 churches of their brethren. It was even found that many 
 of the persons who had been apprehended on the charge ot 
 heresy were Piecbnontese subjects, refugees in Prance, and 
 that one of them who died in prison was from Rocheplatte, 
 a lordship peopled with Yaudois, and belonging to the 
 ducal commissioner. 
 
152 HISTORY OF THE VAUDOIS CHUECH. 
 
 On his return to Piedmont, Bersour laid before the inqui- 
 sitors the list of denounced or suspected Yaudois, and 
 received from the duke Charles, by letters patent of August 
 28, 1535, an order to proceed forthwith to inflict punish- 
 ment on the offenders. Having assembled a troop of about 
 five himdred picked men, foot and horse soldiers, he made an 
 inroad on the valley of Angrogna, penetrating it by way of 
 E-ocheplatte, through roads which were well known to him. 
 But the enterprise was not more than half successful. The 
 disturbed and threatened population had placed scouts, who 
 gave information of the approach of the invader soon enough 
 to dispute the victory, and to snatch part of the boot}'' from 
 him, as well as the prisoners made at the first onset. Strong 
 remonstrances having been addressed to him by the countess 
 Blanche, widow of the count of Lucerna, and lord of An- 
 grogna, who reproached him with not having respected the 
 memory of her husband, and with having treated him, 
 herself, and their chikh*en witli insult, in assailing her sub- 
 jects without her knowledge, Pantaleon Bersour ceased his 
 attacks on that side and among the mountains, to fall upon 
 the districts of the plain instead, which were inhabited by 
 Yaudois. AYith th^se unfortunate persons he filled his cha- 
 teau at Mirandol, the prisons and convents of Pinerolo, and 
 the inquisition of Turin, where Benoit de Solariis with his 
 assessors conducted criminal proceedings against them. A 
 great number of them suffered in the flames. The words 
 of one of these martyrs of the faith deserve to be preserved. 
 Catelan Girardet, who had been arrested at Pevel, in this 
 same year, 1535, was led to punishment. When he reached 
 the pile, he asked for two stones. Having received them, 
 he rubbed them violently one against the other, and said to 
 the attentive spectators, who were astonished and curious 
 to know his motive for so strange an act, '* You think to 
 abolish our churches by j^our persecutions, but you can no 
 more do it than I can destroy these stones with my hands, 
 or eat them." 
 
 The persecution would have raged much longer, if poli- 
 tical circumstances had not at all at once put an end to it. 
 Prancis i., king of Prance, laying claim to certain rights in 
 Piedmont on behalf of his mother, the queen Louisa, sister 
 of duke Charles, and demanding a passage for an army 
 intended to recover Milan, had met with a refusal, and pre- 
 
MARTIX GONIX A 3IAETYR. 153 
 
 pared to enter his uncle's domains by main force. The 
 fears which so dangerous a situation excited in the duke's 
 goveniment, forced him to give an order which huma- 
 nity and sound policy would have pre\'iously dictated, — 
 namely, to stop the persecution against the Yaudois. In 
 fact, it was important for him not to alienate entirely the 
 attachment of the population that was settled on the frontier 
 of his enemy, and who occupied the usual passes of the 
 Alps, and had it in their power either to sun-ender them, 
 and thus inflict a severe blow on their imprudent sovereign, 
 or to defend them with tried fidelity, and to be a substitute 
 in their valleys for a body of troops which he might then 
 send elsewhere. Thus Ber soma's persecution was suddenly 
 stopped. 
 
 One unfortunate effect for the Yaudois valleys, of the 
 ruptm-e otherwise so favoiu'able for their cause, between 
 their sovereign and the king of France, was the arrest and 
 death of one of their best pastors, Martin Gonin, of An- 
 grogna. He had gone to Geneva, at the beginning of 1536, 
 to confer there on ecclesiastical affairs with some learned 
 theologians, and to make a purchase of books. He was 
 endowed with superior talents and some rare qualities, and 
 though only thii^ty-six, had abeady ti'avelled and laboiuTd 
 much for the churches, in Piecbnont and elsewhere. But 
 on his return, he was arrested in Dauphiiie ; being a Pied- 
 montese, he was taken for a spy, sent to observe the pre- 
 parations for war in France. The parliament of Grenoble 
 having pronounced him innocent, he was on the point of 
 being released ; but the jailer, on searching him, found some 
 papers relative to religion : he was thereupon again impii- 
 soned and brought to trial for this latter fact. When ex- 
 amined on his belief, he made a frank and um^eserved con- 
 fession of it, and he resisted, at the same time, all importu- 
 nities and solicitations to induce him to change his religion, 
 and was condemned to be cbrowned in the Isere. This 
 barbarous sentence was executed on the night of April 26, 
 1536. It was apprehended, that if it had taken place in the 
 day-time, the gentleness and pious discourse of the martp- 
 would have moved and shaken the resolution of the specta- 
 tors. The death of tHs faithful servant of God was deeply 
 regretted in the valleys, where he was justly appreciated, 
 and where the want of pastors began to be felt. 
 
 H 3 
 
154 HISTOKT OF THE VAUDOIS CHURCH. 
 
 The commitments to prison, and the punishments inflicted 
 for two years on the Yaudois of France and Piedmont, are 
 not the only proofs that we have of the increase of Christian 
 life among them in consequence of their intercourse with the 
 reformers. They gave another striking proof of it, during 
 the very time of their persecution, in defraying the cost of 
 the first edition of the French Bible. They contributed for 
 this object fifteen hundred gold crowns, — a considerable sum 
 at that time, and especially for a small population of country 
 people and herdsmen. It was at the synod of Angrogna, 
 in 1532, in the presence of Farel and Saunier, deputies 
 from the Swiss churches, that in consequence of the scarcity 
 of manuscripts of the sacred books, and the increasing diffi- 
 culty of copying them, the resolution was passed for trans- 
 lating into French and printing the sacred Scriptures, both 
 of the Old and 'New Testament. P. Robert Olivetan, a 
 relation of the celebrated Calvin, the reformer of Geneva, 
 was commissioned to undertake this work. This Bible was 
 printed in folio, and in black letter, at l^eufchatel in Switzer- 
 land, in the year 1535, by Pierre de Wingle, commonly 
 called Piccard. The Yaudois spirit, that attachment to 
 the word of God which in former ages was manifested by 
 the pains taken by individuals to commit whole books to 
 memory, now reappeared in every heart, renewing its youth, 
 and eager to avail itself of the recent invention of the press, 
 to facilitate, for all who knew how to read, the possession, 
 at a trifling expense, of a copy of the Holy Scriptures."^' 
 
 Another proof of the increase of the Christian life among 
 the Yaudois, is, on the one hand, the zeal displayed in 
 preaching pure doctrine, and on the other, the eagerness of 
 the people in coming to hear it. It would be difficult to 
 decide which showed the most courage and self-denial — the 
 preachers who sought to do good to souls, or the hearers, 
 hungering for the bread of life, flocking to their faithfal 
 shepherds, mthout dread of committing themselves, often 
 even at the peril of their lives. The country people came in 
 crowds to the appointed places of meeting. By degrees the 
 citizens and inhabitants of the j)lain resorted thither. Even 
 the lords protected the evangelical faith, and openly de- 
 clared themselves in its favour. In a short time the barbes 
 
 * Perrin, Hist, des Vaudois, p. 161— Gilles, ch. vii. pp. 43, 44— Ruchat, Re- 
 formation, etc., t. iii., pp. 176—403. 
 
OCCUPATION OF PIEDMONT BY FRANCE. 1.^.3 
 
 A\'orc not sufficiently mimerous for their work and the new 
 cares which claimed their attention. Those among them 
 whose office it was to instruct and train candidates for tlic 
 sacred ministry, '^' were obliged to cease from this employ- 
 ment, in order to give themselves entirely to preaching and 
 the care of souls. They soon found it necessary to have 
 recourse to foreign academies belonging to the reformed — 
 that of Geneva, for example — either to send thither young 
 Taudois who had devoted themselves to the evangelical 
 ministry, or to obtain additional pastors from thence, who 
 were now required on account of the increasing nimiber 
 of the congregations and hearers of the truth. 
 
 From this period may be dated the use of the French 
 language in the worship of the Yaudois valleys of Piedmont. 
 Hitherto it had been carried on in the common language of 
 the country, that is, in the Romance language, in which all 
 their ancient writings were composed. Henceforth the 
 French was generally employed,! ^^^^ ^^® editions of the 
 Bible printed at the expense of the Yaudois and circulated 
 in their houses were in this language, and the body of 
 pastors likewise spoke it, owing either to their origin, or 
 the course of their studies. | 
 
 The religious movement which had commenced at the 
 synod of Angrogna, in 1532, extended and strengthened 
 itself still more when the political differences between Pied- 
 mont and France supervened, and particularly when the 
 latter power invaded and occupied the territory of the 
 former. The attention of the govemment being absorbed 
 by concerns which seemed more pressing, it neglected for 
 years to watch or to check the proceedings of the Yaudois ; 
 and it was not roused till the papists, surprised, confounded, 
 and in-itated by the success of the once oppressed church, 
 raised the ciy of alarm. The priests who had been pre- 
 viously settled in the valleys, § having lost all hope of ever 
 seeing the people brought under Eomish domination, and 
 judging that for the future no fuiiher revenue would be 
 obtained from them, voluntarily withdrew in despair ; and 
 with them went the mass. That these happy results took 
 
 * This fact e\idently implies the existence of that school of thebarbes in the 
 Pi'a-di-Torre, which we have before mentioned, 
 t In civil affairs the Italian langiiasre was used. 
 X GOles, chs. vii., viii. — Perrin, p. 161. 
 § It is still a question in what part of the valleys they were established. 
 
156 HISTOEY OF THE YAUDOIS CnURCH. 
 
 place is not denied by Eoman Catholic writers ; so far from 
 it, they complain of them bitterly. This is done by father 
 Belvedere, in his report, addressed in 1636, to the Congrega- 
 tion for the propagation of the feith, in which he makes many 
 mistakes, and, amongst others, has this absurdity, — that the 
 reformer Parol had been appointed governor of the valleys 
 by a count of Wurtemberg, in the name of the king of 
 France, and had persecuted the papists. But, however 
 singular the explanations he gives of the facts that he 
 reports may be, the latter fully confirm all that we have 
 stated. Among other things, he says expressly: ''The 
 heresy had reached such a height in the valley (of Lucerna), 
 that from all parts of Piedmont, subject to the king, people 
 came to hear the preachers, contrary to the king's wish, 
 who either was ignorant of it, or pretended to be so."-^ 
 
 But, while the Yaudois of Piedmont enjoyed the respite 
 which political commotions had obtained for them in their 
 religious concerns, and made use of it to consolidate and 
 extend their church, they received most melancholy in- 
 telligence respecting their brethren the Yaudois of Pro- 
 vence, of which we shall now proceed to give an account. 
 (See what has been already said in ch. xv.) 
 
 The reader will recollect, no doubt, those flourishing 
 Yaudois churches, founded in Provence, at the end of the 
 thirteenth century, in the valleys that border on the Dur- 
 ance, to the east of Cavaillon. Here were situated the 
 towns and ATiUages of Cabrieres, Merindol, Lormarin, Cade- 
 net, Gordes, and many others besides, as celebrated for their 
 long prosperity and high reputation, as for the terrible 
 persecution which put an end to their existence. 
 
 Abeady, at the beginning of the sixteenth century, efforts 
 had been made to prejudice king Louis xii. against them. 
 They had been represented to him as infamous people, who, 
 having separated from the church of Rome, lived in the 
 commission of all kinds of abominations. But the king, 
 having sent to these places two honourable men, in whom 
 he placed confidence, namely, his confessor Parvi, and Adam 
 Pumee, master of requests, who made a favourable report 
 of the manners and piety of the people, gave orders that 
 they should be left undisturbed. f 
 
 * Gilles, c. \ni., p. 45— Perrin, p. 161. 
 t La Mothe-Langou, t. iii., p. 425. 
 
PEESECUTIOX OF THE VAUDOIS OF PROVENCE. 1,37 
 
 In the year 1534, imder Francis i., the searohin'^s, 
 punishments, and imprisonments on religious accounts were 
 begun anew. The parliament of Aix, at the instigation 
 of the bishops of Sisteron, Apt, and Cavaillon, had proceeded 
 with rigour against the Yaudois of these countries, as we 
 have mentioned a few pages before. The parliament 
 allowed itself to be so deceiyed and blinded by intrigue, 
 calunmy, and fanaticism, that in 1540 it condemned tlie 
 Yaudois to general destruction, to the loss of life and pro- 
 perty, and their country to be made a desert. The benevo- 
 lent intervention of Guillaume du Bellay, lord of Langey, 
 and governor of Piedmont, since it had been occupied by 
 the French, retarded the execution of the ordinance. He 
 had the courage to represent to the king the injustice of 
 this barbarous decree. He showed that it would affect a 
 worthy population, who were distinguished among other 
 virtues for temperance, chastity, patience, fidelity to their 
 prince, industiy, hospitality, and a genuine piety devoid of 
 superstition. Enlightened by the judgment of this honoiu'- 
 able lord, Francis i. refused to confirm this sentence. But 
 as irritating calimmies were spread without ceasing against 
 the unfortunate Yaudois, and false rumours designedly 
 circulated, till they reached the ears of the king, accusing 
 this peaceable people of plots against the government, of 
 clandestine armaments, and even of levpng troops with the 
 intention of getting into Marseilles, it might be anticipated 
 that the fatal blow would soon be struck. The drawn sword 
 and lighted torch which Romish hatred waved in menace 
 over the heads of its victims only waited the signal for 
 general havoc. At last it was given. ^' 
 
 Francis i., at the instigation of one of the princes of the 
 Eomish chuiT-h, a pretended successor of the apostles, the 
 odious cardinal de Tournon, decreed the punishment of the 
 Yaudois of Provence. On the fii'st news of this alarming- 
 project, the evangelical cantons of Switzerland vainly inter- 
 ceded in the most urgent manner Avith the king ; all the)' 
 obtained was a dry answer not to meddle with the afi'airs of 
 his government, any more than he would trouble himself 
 about theii's. Calvin, the illustrious reformer of Geneva, 
 would have gone and thrown himself at the feet of the 
 French monarch, but had been taken ill, and Farel was too 
 
 * Leger, pt. ii., p. 330.— Gilles, p. 47. 
 
158 HISTORY or TUE VAIJDOIS CHTJECH. 
 
 niuch. oppressed by the infirmities of age to undertake the 
 journey. Yiret, one of the reformers of the Pays de Yaud, 
 set out to request favour for his co-religionists, bearing with 
 him letters of recommendation, not only from the reformed 
 states of Switzerland, but also from the Protestant states of 
 the league of Smalkald. But all these efforts at mediation 
 were useless.-'' 
 
 The order for destroying the heretics of ProTence having 
 been once issued, no time was lost in putting it into execu- 
 tion. A hard-hearted, avaricious man, irritated, moreover, 
 it is said, because a lady who possessed the seignorial right of 
 many of the Vaudois villages had refused him her hand — 
 John Moinier, baron d'Oppede, first president of the parlia- 
 ment of Provence, and royal lieutenant of the province, in 
 the absence of count de Grignan, marched against the 
 innocent people whom he had disgracefully calumniated. 
 At the head of a troop of the militia of Provence, besides 
 two thousand regular soldiers, and accompanied by commis- 
 sioners, nominally his colleagues, but in reality quite under 
 his influence, he attacked his devoted victims in April, 1 545. 
 These poor people, whom he had represented to the king 
 as armed rebels, fiu-nished with all the munitions of war, 
 and entrenched in places difficult of access, never dreamt of 
 defending themselves ; they saw no safety but in flight. 
 
 A modern author gives the following account of this 
 atrocious transaction : — " The shrill outcries," he writes, 
 " the blasts of the savage horns and other signals in use at 
 this period, to announce the approach of a hostile force, 
 warned the Vaudois in the different villages and hamlets, of 
 the coming of the terrible Oppede. Every one abandoned 
 his home, leaving his little fortune in it : each wished to 
 save his aged father, his wife, his children, and nothing 
 more. They hastened to the mountains or the neighbour- 
 ing rocks, or the bottom of precipices, without sparing a 
 thought on what they had left, or rather hoj^ing that the 
 love of plunder would detain their persecutors, and turn them 
 aside from the pursuit. 
 
 ' ' During this time, the Catholic army set fire to the houses, 
 filled up the wells and fountains, tore up the vines, cut down 
 the trees, left not one stone on another, sparing neither 
 gardens, nor hospitals, nor bridges, in a word, nothing that 
 
 * Paichat,*t. v., p. 253. 
 
PEESECTJTIOlSr OF THE VAUDOIS OF PROVENCE. 159 
 
 existed in this imfortimate coimtiy. The Vaudois, dying 
 with hunger and sorrow, exhausted with fatigue and want, 
 continued their uncertain march. In a short time, the 
 women, chikben, and old men, overcome by fatigue, were 
 forced to stop. They were abandoned in despair y^ and yet 
 some hope was indulged that all Chi'istian chanty would not 
 be extinguished in the heart- of these devout assassins, that 
 they would not dare to butcher weakness, innocence, and 
 decrepitude. A Piedmontese soldier unexpectedly foimd 
 this troop of wretched fugitives in a kind of plain, and fi^om 
 the mountain above rolled down stones to warn them of the 
 approach of the band of murderers commanded by the baron 
 de la Garde. But no strength was left to the remains of this 
 Yaudois troop, — they stirred not, but awaited their fate with 
 resignation. The soldiery, guided by the monkish inquisi- 
 tors,! rushed upon the women, whom they treated with such 
 licentious indignity that the greater number died on the 
 spot, without a wish to survive their honour; the rest 
 perished of sufferirig and hunger, after having been stripped 
 even of their last garment. 
 
 The expedition commenced on the 14th of April, with 
 the sacking of Cadenet. On the 16th, they set fire to the 
 villages of Pepin, La-Mothe, and Saint Martin, belonging 
 to the countess of Ceudal (the same who had refused her 
 hand to Oppede.) There the poor labourers were slain 
 without making resistance ; . as to the females, the young 
 were violated, and the pregnant women, with the children, 
 were massacred. Prom some they cut off their breasts; 
 the elder children and mere babes might be seen dying of 
 hunger on the corpses of their mothers, for the baron 
 d' Oppede had interdicted all jDersons (under paia of being 
 hung), from furnishing provisions to any one of this 
 accursed race. The population of these places were swept 
 entirely away, either by the flames or the sword. Only 
 those were saved alive who were destined to work in the 
 galleys. 
 
 On the 1 7th of April, Oppede, at the head of a body of 
 
 * Gilles says, p. 49, that they were about five hundred. 
 
 t Gilles, m his histoiy, mentions this fact as ha\ang occiured after the 
 destruction of the villages, which is very probable. To be just, we ought to 
 add that he does not relate these indignities ; that he says on the contrary, 
 that one of their leaders prevented them at this time from coramitting those 
 abominable acts which they perpeti'ated elsewhere. 
 
160 HISTOEY OF THE VAIJDOIS CHFRCIT. 
 
 Piedmontese, who had been formed into regiments at the 
 expense of France, advanced towards the villages of Lorma- 
 rin, Yille-Laure, and Trezemines, which were burned by his 
 orders on the following day ; while the wretches who came 
 from Aries on this sacrilegious crusade set fire to Genson 
 and Laroque, on the other side of the Durance. Oppede, 
 whose approach justly inspired terror, found in Merindol 
 only one young man, Maurisi Blanc, a half-witted lad, who 
 surrendered to a soldier on conditions of being allowed to 
 ransom himself for two crowns. Oppede, apjoarently 
 assenting to these terms, paid the two crowns, and claiming 
 Blanc as his own, caused him to be tied to a mulberry tree, 
 and shot. 
 
 The two hundred houses which formed the village of 
 Merindol were entirely razed, after having been set on fire 
 on the 18th. Cabrieres still remained: it was a large 
 fortified town, and situated three leagues from Cavaillon. 
 The inhabitants had closed the gates : cannon were brought 
 to force them open on the 19tli. On the first discharge of 
 artillery, those who were in the place cried out to the 
 besiegers that they made a show of resistance not from a 
 spirit of disobedience to the king's orders, but only to 
 protect themselves from the first attack of a furious soldiery, 
 and that they would voluntarily surrender themselves, pro- 
 vided their lives were guaranteed, and that they might be 
 allowed free egress to go to a foreign laud, to pray according 
 to their own "vdews. The lord of Cabrieres accompanied 
 the assailants. He made terms for his vassals, and was 
 promised tliat their cause should be carried before the 
 parliament, and that no violence should precede the judicial 
 decision. The terms of capitulation being concluded, 
 Cabrieres surrendered. Oj)pede, no longer concealing the 
 black villany of his heart, caused all the men to be 
 seized, to the number of sixty. They were led to an 
 adjacent meadow, and by his orders cut in pieces. '^ Cut 
 in pieces," we say, — for they cut ofi^ their heads and limbs, 
 uttering all the while the most horrible blasj)hemies and 
 shouts of victory. The females of all ages, with child or 
 not, were shut up in a barn, which was then set on fiiT. 
 One soldier, touched with pity, (and who therefore must 
 have been an indiff'erent Catholic,) made an opening in the 
 wall, that they might save themselves ; but his comrades 
 
THA::ariLLiTY of the vaudois of piedmont. 161 
 
 pushed them back into the flames with their pikes and 
 halberds. Many Vaudois were found alive in caves, where 
 they had concealed themselves. They were brought out 
 into the great hall of the chateau, and massacred in the 
 presence of the baron d'Oppede. Eight hundred persons 
 of both sexes had sought an asylum in the church ; the 
 dissolute rabble of Avignon, who had run together to take 
 part ill the pillage and murder, received the commission to 
 massacre them all without mercy. 
 
 Similar enoiTuities were committed in La Coste, and m 
 all other parts of the country inhabited by the Yaudois. 
 It is too painful to continue the recital. One fact, however, 
 may be mentioned. Some who were concealed in retirt^d 
 places implored Oppede to be content with taking their 
 property, and to allow them to retire to Geneva. His 
 answer was, '' I will send you to dwell in hell with devils, 
 you, yom- wives, and your children ; so that no memorial of 
 vou shaU be left." 
 
 Twenty-two Yaudois ^-illages were burned ; nearly five 
 thousand persons lost their lives ; seven hundred men were 
 sent to the galleys. The name of Yaudois disappeared 
 from Provence. 
 
 A general cry of indignation was raised throughout 
 France ; but the cardinal de Tonmon became the apologist 
 of the assassins to the king. Yet it is said that Francis' 
 conscience was oppressed and tonnented by the deed, and 
 that on his death-bed, two years after, he expressly enjomed 
 his son, Henry n., to chastise its perpetrators. Most of 
 them, however, escaped punishment.^' 
 
 While the Yaudois of Provence experienced the utmost 
 severity of a government enslaved to the priests of Rome, 
 and violently prejudiced against evangelical^ truth, the 
 Yaudois of Piedmont enjoyed a far better position. 
 
 The authority of Francis i. in Piedmont being an usurpa- 
 tion, this prince, who persecuted the reformed in his own 
 hereditary- kingdom to the utmost, was obliged to x>roceecl 
 with more caution against the pretended heretics of his 
 new domains, lest his violence should serve as a pretext for 
 rebellions, and consequently lead to complicated embarrass- 
 ments. :N'ot but that, at intervals, harsh measures had 
 
 * La Mothe Langon, t. ii., pp. 429-412.- GiUes, ch. vii., p. 47.-Rucliat, t. 
 v., p. 253. 
 
162 HISTORY OP THE TAUDOIS CHUECH. 
 
 been adopted, and some had even suffered death..'^' But 
 compared with what took place elsewhere, the external 
 position of the Vaudois church in Piedmont was favourable. 
 As to its interior life it was most satisfactory, and left 
 nothing- to be desired, as we said at the beginning of this 
 chapter. During the first twenty years of the French 
 occupancy, from 1536, the Yaudois, or, which is the same 
 thing, the Christian spirit, was so spread or manifested, not 
 only throughout all the extent of the valleys, but tlirough 
 all Piedmont, that there were few towns or villages of any 
 importance where some of their brethren or friends were 
 not to be found, and among them even lords and persons 
 of distinction. 
 
 The concourse of hearers who flocked fi-om all the 
 hamlets of the valleys and different places in lower Pied- 
 mont round their pastor for instruction and edification, 
 became go great, that it was impossible to avoid something 
 like display in the assemblies of the faithful. The meetings 
 were become entirely public, conformably to the decision of 
 the synod of Angrogna in 1532, when they took the last step 
 in this act of fidelity by constructing temples. Before that 
 time they had held their meetings either at the houses of 
 the barbes, or of private individuals, or in the open air. It 
 was at Angrogna, that bulwark of the Yaudois church, that 
 the first temple was built in the place called San Lorenzo. 
 Soon after another was erected in the same commune, 
 but higher up in the vallej^, at a place called Le Serre, 
 about half an hour's walk from the former. In the same 
 year (1555) several other communes of the vale of 
 Lucerna put their hand to the work for the same purpose ; 
 and in 1556, several temples were raised in the valley of 
 San Martino for the Yaudois, or evangelical worship. 
 
 While many hearts rejoiced, in 1555, and rendered lively 
 thanks to God for the building of these edifices, many 
 were also grieved, and many tears were shed, in the same 
 year, at the news of the martp'dom of two of their dear 
 pastors.f Being natives of France and refugees at Geneva, 
 they had responded to an appeal from the valleys, and 
 
 * It is alleged that Francis i. replied to the humble appeals of these pre- 
 tended heretics, that he would not bm-n them in France to support them iu 
 the Alps. L^ger, t. ii. , p. 28. 
 
 t They were Jean Vernou, of Poitiers, and Antoine Labori, of Quercy. 
 
daxgkPl ixcfreed by tavo pastors. 163 
 
 had come there to exercise their ministrs', and subse- 
 quently undertook a joiuncy to Geneva. On their return 
 from this city to their faithful flocks, in company with 
 three ^ French Protestants, they were arrested at the Col 
 de Tamiers, in Savoy, and suffered martyrdom at Chambery, 
 towards the end of Apiil, 1555, after having avowed theii- 
 fiiith and obtained a glorious victor}^ over all temptations. 
 Some weeks before, the parliament of Turin had burned in 
 the castle yard, in this last-mentioned city, the bookseller 
 Barthelemi Hector, of Poitiers, whom some persons of the 
 higher ranks in the Yaudois valley of San Martino had 
 deKvered to the inquisition on the charge of having come 
 to sell Genevese books in the valley. His sincere answers 
 and courageous confession of faith affected the hearts even 
 of some of his judges. But the cold and selfish considera- 
 tions of the world dictated the sentence of death. The 
 multitude who surrounded his funeral jnle testified their 
 lively interest by many tears ; and from their midst might 
 be heard miumurs and invectives not a few, against the 
 monks and inquisitors. 
 
 Two other ministers also, about the same time, were 
 exposed to imminent danger in Savoy. The barbe Gilles, 
 of the Gilles family, on his return fi^om the colonies of the 
 kingdom of iSTaples, having passed through Yenice, and 
 cleared the frontiers of Germany, was bringing Etienne 
 ^oel, a Frenchman, from Lausanne to the valleys. One 
 day they fell in with a company of officers of justice at an 
 inn. Being compelled, by the artfid ci\ilities of the chief 
 of the archers, to sup with him, they had great difficulty 
 not to commit themselves in answering his wily questions 
 about their occupations and the object of their journey. 
 Perceiving, on rising from table, that they had not laid 
 asleep all the suspicions of their examiner, and that he 
 seemed hardly willing to postpone fiu-ther interrogatories to 
 the next day, they proposed retiring to rest, with the view 
 of proceeding on theii' route vrithout delay. Their com- 
 passionate host being well rewarded, gave them some 
 addresses, and having let them out privately, they gained 
 the fields, the woods, and the mountains, and ^ happily 
 reached the valleys, praising God for so great a deliverance. 
 
 * Guiraud Tauran, of Cahors, Jean Frigulet, of Nismes, doctor of laws, and 
 Bertrand Bataille, a student of Gascony. 
 
164 HISTORY OF THE YArDOIS CHUECH. 
 
 jSToel Ts^as nouiinatcd pastor of Angrogna, and Gillcs of 
 Yillaro. 
 
 At this period, several pastors, most of tliem French, but 
 some Italians, arrived in the valleys. One of the former, 
 Humbert Artus, a little after his installation at Bobbio, was 
 one day surrounded b}" the magistrate, monks, and other 
 papists of the place, eager to enter into a debate with him, 
 and conducting themselves very tumnltuously. But when 
 he required that the discussion should be in due form and 
 order, and offered to mamtain it in Latin, Greek, or 
 Hebrew, whichever they chose, and on any subject they 
 pleased, these eager gainsayers withdrew in confusion, and 
 left him in peace. 
 
 The year 1556, the twentieth of the Erench domination 
 in Piedmont, was. marked by an attempt to bring the mass 
 of the Yaudois within the j)ale of the Romish church, by 
 the joint influence of persuasion and threats. The parlia- 
 ment of Turin, besides being promjDted by the pope's 
 agents, and the orders of Henry ii., king of Prance, had 
 lately heard of the erection of Yaudois temples in various 
 parts of the valleys. Indignant at this audacious pro- 
 ceeding, they devolved the business of repressing heresy on 
 two of their members, the president de Saint Julien and 
 the councillor de Ecclesia (della Cliiesa), who set out on 
 their mission in March, with a numerous retinue. In the 
 valley of Pcrosa, where at that time there was no pastor, 
 and everybody fled at their approach, they found not a 
 single person to converse with. Having reached the 
 valley of San Martino, they there published an edict 
 menacing those who should resist, but conciliating and 
 flattering those who should hasten to make their sub- 
 mission. Ha^dng met with no success, they descended to 
 Pinerolo, where they caused a number of accused persons 
 to be brought before them, several of whom they condemned 
 to various punishments. It was on this occasion that ii 
 labourer whom they asked why he had brought his child 
 for baptism to the temple at Angrogna, replied, — because 
 baptism was there administered according to the institution 
 of Jesus Christ. This same man being ordered to have 
 his child re-baptized immediately, and having obtained 
 permission to pray before he gave his answer, embarrassed 
 de St. Julien extremely, when he said to him after praying, 
 
TAULIAMEXT OF TVIIIX. 
 
 165 
 
 '' C- pleased first to give me a ^vi'iting, signed with your 
 own hand, by which you absolve me from the sin I may 
 commit in re-baptizing my child, and take upon yourself 
 the punishment I may incur before God." The president, 
 astonished at this language, contented himself with saying 
 coldly "I have my o^ii sins to answer lor, ^^ithout 
 charging myself with yours. Take yourself out of my 
 sight." Departing immediately, the poor man was not 
 troubled again about the matter.^* 
 
 Wi^hin«- to iDroduce a deep impression on the valley 
 of Lucerna, the commissaries made their appearance at 
 in-rogna, accompanied by a great number of lords priests, 
 and monks, besides theh' ordinary attendants. i he pre- 
 sident, after visiting the two temples, ordered one ot the 
 monks to preach. The pastors and people were obhged to 
 listen to a discourse which urged them to become obedient 
 to Eome ; and when they requested that a pastor might 
 speak in reply, they were met by a refusal. The president 
 then addressed the assembly in the names of the king, the 
 marshal de Brissac, his lieutenant in Piedmont, and the 
 parUament of Turin ; he summoned them to turn papists 
 and to deliver up their pastors, threatening them m case 
 of refusal, with similar ruin to that which had destroyed 
 their brethren in Provence.f ... , 
 
 To all this, the people, worthy of theii^ pious ancestors, 
 replied with the most admirable simplicity and hdeiity 
 that they were resolved to live agreeably to the word ol 
 (lod, in obedience to all their superiors, m aU things pos- 
 sible, so that God were not wronged; that f to their 
 vcli-ion, if it could be proved by the word of God that 
 they were in error, they were ready to acknowledge it. 
 The president, on the foUowing days, went through the 
 Yaudois communes in the valley of Lucerna. Things took 
 c^xactly the same coiu^se there as in Angrogna. I^either 
 threats nor caresses could lead astray the descendants ol 
 so long a series of pious servants of God. 
 
 This general appeal having been unsuccessful, h>t. Julien 
 
 * Le^er, pt. ii., p. 28. whom we have foUowed in this 
 
 t Seethe suinmaiy of the echct m Gmes whom we na ^^,,,^p ^ ,,. ^^e 
 
 fact, p. 58. In the foUowmg P^" wf coXIfon Sth, conformable in 
 Vaudois churches, and Partictilarly a W cordession oi^ , 
 other respects to what we know ol the Vaudois. teee aiso i. ^ , i 
 106, 107. 
 
166 HISTORY OF THE VAUDOIS CHURCH. 
 
 had recourse to special measures with iudi^dduals. lie 
 seut for the principal persons separately, flattered them, 
 made them tempting offers, or tried to terrify them by 
 threats ; hut all in vain. He addressed himself a second 
 and a tliird time to the communes, but they remained 
 immovable. Their answers were always dignified, firm, 
 and respectful. Their actions evinced true Clnistian 
 courage. Alwa3's and universally they refused to give up 
 their ministers and schoolmasters. .'^'' 
 
 Little satisfied with the result of his efforts, the president 
 St. Julien made his way back to Turin with his colleague, 
 della Chiesa. Their report rendered no assistance to the 
 deliberations of the parliament, who, not knoAving what to 
 do, sent the above-named commissioners to France, to lay 
 the answers of the Vaudois before the king and his council, 
 and to give all requisite explanations by v/ord of mouth. 
 As the royal mil was not known by the parliament till 
 after the lapse of a year, the churches of the valleys enjoyed 
 during that term the delightful fruits of peace, contrary to 
 the desires and attempts of their adversaries. 
 
 An enemy more dangerous to their souls than persecution 
 itself sought to instil a subtle and mortal poison into the 
 consciences of the Vaudois believers and the Protestants 
 scattered through Turin and the other towns or villages of 
 Piedmont. This Avas Dominic Baronius, of Plorence, a 
 popish preacher. This man, for a long time not understood, 
 condemned in his book on the Pomau Constitutions, and in 
 other works, the principal errors of his church, and approved, 
 almost without exception, of the truths proclaimed by the 
 Vaudois and reformed churches. But notwithstanding this, 
 he endeavoured to persuade persons that, according to times 
 and places, it was allowable to conceal one's belief by taking 
 a part in contrary practices, even, for example, to go to 
 mass, provided that it was disapproved of entirely, and 
 sound doctrine held. Such principles might have stifled 
 the germ of spiritual life in many hearts too much inclined 
 to worldly prudence, if the prayers and representations of 
 the pastors of the valleys, as likewise the letters of the 
 ministers of Geneva, and especially a book written by one 
 of them, the Italian Celse Martinengo, had not refuted such 
 
 * Gilles, p. 58.— L%er, pt. ii., pp. 106, 107. 
 
S-VKTOIRE AXD AAEAILLE. 167 
 
 Avrctclied doctrines, and combated such lax and degrading 
 scntinients. 
 
 The glorious death of t\ro raartjTS of the Christian faith 
 proclaimed still more loudly the duty of confessing one's 
 belief in the face of persecutors. One of these faithful 
 witnesses of the tmth was Xicolas Sartoire, of Quiers, in 
 Piedmont, a young man at that age when life appears most 
 attractive, and a student educated at the expense of tht^ 
 republic of Berne, who came to pass a few weeks in his 
 native country, by way of relaxation li'om his studies. He; 
 had scarcely stepped across the frontier when he was 
 arrested, and instead of the pleasm-e he anticipated he had 
 to prepare to ascend a burning pile. They sought to make 
 him deny his faith, and laid snares for his youth : but he 
 preferred death and the peace of God's chosen to a life 
 gained by unfaithfulness. In spite of urgent appeals fi-om 
 Berne to obtain his release, he was burned at Aosta, on the 
 
 4th of Mav, 1557. 
 
 The second martyr was fifty years old. His character 
 had been matured by reflection, by observation of human 
 actions, and the study of the word of God ; his name was 
 Geofroi Yaraille. He was a native of Busca, in Piedmont, 
 and by birth a papist. His father had even been distin- 
 guished among the leaders of the army that laid waste the 
 valleys in 1488. The only son of a persecutor, Geofroi 
 became a monk, and was sent as a popish preacher to 
 travel through Italy, and in this capacity became the com- 
 panion of Ochino, of Sienna, the foimder of the order of the 
 Capuchins. At this period, while preaching to others, he had 
 already detected many enters in the Pomish religion. He 
 was attached to the pope's legate in France, was honoured, 
 and enioyed several benefices, and resided for a long time 
 at the court of the king, till the year 1556, when unable 
 any longer to hide from himself the eiTors of the Koman 
 system, and unmlhng to risk his salvation, he quitted the 
 legate and retired to Geneva. Here he continued to gam in- 
 struction in the truth and in the proper method of teaching 
 it till he received ordination by imposition of hands for the 
 evangeUcal ministry, in 1557. At this time, the evangehcal 
 chui'ch of San Giovanni, in the valley of Luceraa, was m 
 want of a pastor. Yaraille was sent there, and preached for 
 some months with great success. Having been imited to 
 
168 IIISTOEY OF THE VAUDOIS CHURCH. 
 
 Busca, his native place, in the enAdrons of wliich there were 
 a few believers, he quitted the valleys for a few days, as he 
 intended, but never saw them again, for he was arrested on 
 his return, on the information of the monks, who were on 
 the watch for him. While a prisoner on Ms parole at 
 Barge, he might have escaped if he had thought of nothing 
 but his life. He even prevented the Yaudois of Bibbiana, 
 who were his parishioners, from coming to rescue him, 
 telling them to leave the matter with God. At Turin, the 
 archbishop, the president St. Julien, and other personages of 
 rank who had kno"\^m him, made use of every expedient to 
 induce him to return to the Boman church. It is needless 
 to say that they lost their time. Abandoning all hope of 
 gaining him by promises, his judges condemned him to de- 
 gradation and the flames ; and this sentence was carried 
 into effect at Turin, March 29, 1558. His firm and joyful 
 countenance, as he went to death, the grave and pious 
 address he made at the place of execution, astonished his 
 adversaries as much as the}^ animated and edified the minds 
 of those who were disposed to listen to the truth. He was 
 first strangled, then burned. 
 
 A good old man, who had already suffered much for the gos- 
 pel, was forced to assist at the punishment of Geofroi Yaraille; 
 after Ivhich he was scourged and marked mth a hot iron. 
 
 About the same time, another minister of the valley of 
 Lucerna, returning to Geneva, was arrested at Susa, and 
 brought to Turin. But on the day fixed for his martyr- 
 dom, one of the executioners feigned illness; the other, 
 after ha^dng inflicted punishment on some malefactors, and 
 fearing he should be forced to execute the minister, ab- 
 sconded ; the German executioner refused to do it, so that 
 the execution was put off; and a fortunate circumstance 
 having occurred, the pastor succeeded in making his escape 
 and returned to his friends. 
 
 In the month of March, 1557, however, the commis- 
 sioners St. Julien and Chiesa arrived from France, and came 
 back to Pinerolo, with fresh directions to continue and finish, 
 if possible, the work they had undertaken in the preceding 
 year; namely, the intimidation and the forced return^ of 
 
 * AVe have seen that the word " return," which the CathoUcs are fond of 
 nsing, is quite inapphcable. The Vaudois must have left that chiu'ch before 
 they could be said to retiu-n to it; but this was not the case. 
 
XEAV MEASUEES AGAIJv'ST THE TAUDOIS. 169 
 
 the Taudois churches within the pale of the lioman church. 
 At Pinerolo, they cited into their presence the notables of 
 the valleys, communicated to them the king's order to sub- 
 mit to the papal yoke, and gave them only three days to 
 make their decision. Ha^T.ng gained nothing by this step, 
 they went from place to place, assembling everywhere a 
 general council of the heads of families, and communicated 
 to them, with many threats, the express will of the king. 
 But everywhere they received the same answer ; a protesta- 
 tion of submission to the sovereign in temporal affairs, and 
 a declaration of firm and inviolable fidelity to God, accord- 
 ing to the teachings of his word, in matters of religion. 
 
 In the hope of accomplishing their purpose by rigorous 
 measures against the most considerable persons in the val- 
 leys, they ordered the pastors, schoolmasters, and notables 
 of the communes (to the number of forty-three for the val- 
 ley of Lucema,"^*) to appear before them at Turin, on the 29th 
 of !March, 1557, under pain of terrible punishments if they 
 failed. The -s-ictims thus marked out, not venturing to go 
 near a city which had been fatal to so many of the faithful 
 Yaudois, and having sent only an epistle in their stead, an 
 order was issued by the parliament to seize the pastors and 
 schoolmasters of the three valleys, and biing them prisoners 
 to Turin ; threatening the syndics with the loss of their 
 property and lives if they did not deliver them up. 
 
 The danger, certainly, was great; but God, whose mercies 
 are infinite and his providence admii^able, watched over his 
 servants. The king of France had too many afi'airs on hand 
 to dream of occupying the valleys with a military force, 
 
 * It may be interesting to the descendants of many of these notables to find 
 here the names of their ancestors who were marked as victims on account of 
 their evangehcal beUef : 
 
 From Angi-ogna — Noel, minister ; Jean Dubroc, schoolmaster, and his assist- 
 ant Paul Ghiot; Laurent Rivoire, Jean Stringj^, Guillaimie Malan, Antoine 
 Odin, Laurent Viton alias Peron, Antoine Fraschia, George Monastier, Isaac 
 Musset, Francois Tussiane, Colet Buflfa, George Stale, Pierre Berlin. 
 
 From San Giovanni— Simon Appia, Antoine Daniel, Barthelemi and Jafre 
 Danna, Jean Malanot, Guillaume Thurin, Antoine Simond, Francois Daniel, 
 and Guillaume Gu-ardet. 
 
 From Rora— Artuset Durand, Etienne Durand, Jacques Morgha, Jacques 
 Mirot, Jacques Mairrauda, Louis ilirot. 
 
 Fi'om Bobbio— M. Himabert Artus, minister; Jean Bodet, Antoine Bodet, 
 Jacques Bonjour, and Jacoljin Rua. 
 
 From Villai'o— Gille or Juhano Dughet, preacher ; Peiron Moussa.Guillamne 
 Pelenc, Jacques Alaisan, Claude Rambaud, Baithelemi Viton, Jacques and 
 Ciabert Dalmas. 
 
 ilany of these names are preser\-ed in families to the present day ; some are 
 mdely spread. 
 
 I 
 
170 HISTORY OF THE VAUDOIS CHURCH. 
 
 and of persecuting mth an armed band. The Protestant 
 cantons of Switzerland, moreover, at the solicitation of 
 Farel and Theodore Beza, interfered hj wi^iting to the par- 
 liament of Turin and the marshal de Brissac, and by an em- 
 bassy to the king, and thus obtained a suspension of the 
 decree against the Yaudois. The princes of Germany 
 adopted similar measures. Our friends of the valleys, 
 favoured by these circumstances, enjoyed some respite 
 diuing the latter part of the ^French domination in Pied- 
 mont, that is to say, till 1559.* 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 THE VAUDOIS, ONCE M0E,E TJNDEE THE EULE OF THEIE LEGITI- 
 MATE PEINCE, AEE PERSECUTED WITH THE UTMOST EIGOUR. 
 
 After having been subject to Prance for three-and- twenty 
 years, Piedmont was restored to its legitimate sovereign on 
 the 3rd of April, 1559, by the treaty of Chateau Cambresis, 
 with the exception of Turin, and three strong cities in the 
 neighboiu'hood, with their territory. Thus the Vaudois 
 valleys were once more under the dominion of the house of 
 Savoy. The reigning duke, Emmanuel Philibert, who, in 
 1553, succeeded his father Charles iii., (author of the per- 
 secution of Bersour,) was a prince justly esteemed, and as 
 much distinguished by his valour as by superior talents 
 and the wisdom of his administration. He had just married 
 Margaret, sister of the king of Prance. This princess, 
 instructed in the excellence of evangelical principles by her 
 illustrious relations, Margaret, queen ofXavarre, andHenee 
 of Prance, daughter of Louis xii., was well disposed towards 
 .the reformed. The Yaudois might, therefore, hope for 
 tranquil times and the enjo^^ment of the worship of their 
 forefathers. 
 
 But in making the terms of peace, the contracting parties 
 entered into reciprocal engagements to combat the reforma- 
 tion and to destroy heresy. The reign of Emmanuel Phili- 
 bert, consequently, could not be established, without lead- 
 
 * Gilles, p. 70. — We have generally followed this author in the narrative 
 contained in this chapter. For the mediation on behalf of the Vaudois, see 
 Ruchat, t, vi., pp. 195, 196. 
 
THILIBEET PUBLISHES A PEESECTTIXG EDICT. 171 
 
 ing to religious persecution. Deplorable and disgraceful 
 necessity, if it were so ! It is also certain, and thelfact has 
 been established in the preceding chapter, that the Yaudois 
 doctrine was no other than that of the reformation ; that it 
 gradually spread through Piedmont, during the French 
 domination, and that in the valleys especially, as at its 
 beginning, the so-called heretical chui^ch had very much 
 increased, and had substituted a general and public profes- 
 sion for its ancient system of dissimulation. The clamours 
 of the zealous papists, who felt wounded in their belief, and 
 imtated by the success of the friends of the Bible ] the 
 alanns of devotees ; the incessant lamentations of the super- 
 stitious partisans of images ; the discontent of many lords, 
 who were disquieted about the effects which the religious 
 changes among their vassals might have on their revenues ; 
 and lastly, and above all, the complaints of the priests, 
 whose influence diminished as much as their income ; — all 
 these accused the brave Yaudois to the government of the 
 young duke, and sought only for vengeance under the mask 
 of religion and justice. We may believe that the judgment 
 of the prince was in favour of a peaceable and moderate 
 administration, and that the wish of his heart, enlightened 
 by the gentle representations of his consort, would have 
 led him to spare his inoffensive subjects. But being 
 personally ignorant of that piety which is according to the 
 truth, and brought up in the errors of Eome, how could he 
 resist the solicitations of the inquisition, the prelates, and 
 the pope's nuncio, with the lords of the court, and the am- 
 bassadors of France, Spain, and various Italian princes in 
 coalition against the Yaudois ? 
 
 F'rged on by so many enemies of the gospel, Emmanuel 
 Philibert, after reigning a year, published on the 1 5th of 
 February, 1560, at Xice, where he resided, (Tui^in being 
 still in the hands of the French, ) a persecuting edict against 
 the Yaudois and the refonned in his domains. It prohi- 
 bited every one of his highness' subjects from going to 
 hear the non-catholic preachers in the vaUey of Lucerna, or 
 any other place, under pain of a fine of a huncbed dol- 
 lars of gold for the fii^st offence, and of being sent to the 
 gaUeys for life, for the second. Half of the fine was pro- 
 mised to the informer. ]!*^ew ordinances followed very soon 
 after, increasing in severity ; and, among others, one enjoin- 
 
 I 2 
 
172 HISTORY OF THE YArDOIS CHURCH. 
 
 ing attendance at mass, under pain of being condemned to 
 the flames. The execution of these edicts was confided to 
 a prince of the blood, Philip of Savoy, count de Raconis, a 
 cousin of the duke, and to George Coste, count de la 
 Trinite. To carry on the legal proceedings, there were 
 joined with them Thomas Jacomel, inquisitor-general, a 
 cruel, licentious man, and councillor Corbis, in whom 
 violence had not extinguished sensibility, as he j)roved by 
 resigning his commission after having been present at some 
 scenes of barbarity, and the provost-general of justice.-'' 
 They began the enforcing of the ordinance of persecution 
 at Carignan ; and first of all on a stranger, in order to strike 
 terror into the numerous members of the reformed church 
 in that opulent cit}'. His name was Mathimn.f After 
 having confessed his belief, he was sentenced to be burned, 
 according to the terms of the edict, if in three days he did 
 not retract and consent to go to mass. His faithful wile, 
 Jane, obtained leave to see him, wishing, she said, to speak 
 to him for his good. She had scarcely entered his cell, 
 when, like the courageous mother in the book of Maccabees, 
 she exhorted her husband in the presence of the commis- 
 sioners to persevere in the profession of his faith for the sal- 
 vation of his soul ; not to trouble himself about anything 
 relating to this world, not even his punishment, which 
 would not last long, nor his leaving her a widow and deso- 
 late ; for she was resolved to go mth liim to death, if such 
 were the will of God. The threats of the commissioners 
 could not shake either her or her husband. She even ob- 
 tained leave, by her entreaties, to suff'er punishment on the 
 same day, and on the same pile, with her husband. 
 
 The faithful in Carignan, and in a multitude of other 
 places, persecuted to the extreme, fled to Turin, then 
 belonging to Trance, or elsewhere. Their property was 
 confiscated ; but they saved their lives, for a time at least. 
 It is melancholy to add, but truth requires it, that many 
 abjured their religion through fear of death, and to preserve 
 their fortunes for their children. 
 
 The executioners of the vengeance of Rome pillaged the 
 districts of Meane and Mattis, in the vicinity of Susa, which 
 
 * L^ger, pt. ii., p. 34— Gilles, ch. xL, pp. 72, 73. See the same author for all 
 that foUows. 
 
 t He is caUed Marcellin in a letter -written to a lord of Geneva, by Scipio 
 Lentullus, a pastor of the valleys at that period. — (Leger, pt. ii., p. 3i.) 
 
MEASTJEES TAKEX BY THE YAUDOIS. 173 
 
 were peopled ^dth Yaiidois. They condemned the inhabit- 
 ants to the galleys, or to other punishments, and biu-ned the 
 worthy minister to death slowly at a small fire. The 
 valley of Barcelonette, and other places that had lately 
 submitted to the duke, experienced similar treatment. 
 
 Gradually, the persecution which was raging all round 
 the valleys approached the ancient fortress of evangelical 
 truth. Accounts from all quarters of the devastations, con- 
 fiscations, arrests, ignominious sentences, pimishments, and 
 abjurations, reached this region, which was destined to the 
 same evils. In so critical a juncture, the pastors and prin- 
 cipal persons of the valleys met together to advise on means 
 for warding off the danger, if possible. They implored 
 with ardent and humble prayers the direction of the Spirit 
 of God and the effects of his all-powerful grace. It was 
 then decided to write to the duke, the duchess, and the 
 council, to lay before them the state of affairs, and the 
 justice of their cause, and to implore the clemency of a 
 sovereign whom they had never intentionally offended. 
 
 In the letter to their prince, they claim from his justice 
 the right granted to every accused person, even the most 
 criminal, — that of being heard before they were condemned. 
 They then solemnly protest their attachment to the true 
 faith, and to the pure and spotless religion of the Lord 
 Jesus Christ. They declare that the doctrine they followed 
 was that of the prophets, the apostles, of the council of 
 Xice, and Athanasius ; that they voluntarily received the 
 decisions of the four principal councils and the writings of 
 the ancient fathers of the chmxh, in every point in which 
 they did not depart from the analogy of faith. They aver 
 that they rendered most heartily the obedience due to their 
 superiors, and that they sought peace with theii' neighboiu^s. 
 That, as regarded their opinions, they by no means refused 
 instruction ; that, so far fi-om opposing a free council, in 
 which every question should be debated and detemiined by 
 the word of God, they desired it with all their heart, and 
 prayed God to dispose the prince to grant one. They then 
 implore their sovereign to consider that the religion they 
 followed was not a new one, as some persons would have 
 him believe, but that it was the religion of their fathers, 
 grandsires, and still more remote ancestors, and of their 
 predecessors the holy martp's, confessors, prophets, and 
 
174 HISTOEY OF THE YAUDOIS CHUECH. 
 
 apostles. Tlicy then make mention of these confessions of 
 faith, saying- that they had proposed it to the examination 
 of the doctors of every university in the Christian world, 
 with a promise of renouncing every error that might be 
 found ill it, if it could be proved by the word of God ; but 
 that not one had been pointed out to them. Consequently, 
 they requested to be tolerated. " In the name of the Lord 
 Jesus," they write, "we request, that if in us or in our 
 religion any error or fault be found, it should be shown to 
 us ; but if we have the truth, pure and irreproachable, it 
 should be left to us pure and entii-e. One tiring is certain, 
 most serene prince, that the word of God will not perish, 
 but will abide for ever. If, then, oiu* religion is the pure 
 word of God, as we are persuaded it is, and not a human 
 invention, no human power will be able to abolish it. 
 This is what Gamaliel urged in defence of the apostles, and 
 every one must acknowledge its truth. ' Hefrain from these 
 men,' said he : ' and let them alone : for if this counsel or 
 this work be of men, it will come to nought : but if it be 
 of God, ye cannot overthrow it ; lest haply ye be found 
 even to fight against God,' Acts v. 38, 39." 
 
 The courageous Yaudois then remind their prince that it 
 had been in vain attampted in former times to destroy the 
 religion of their ancestors by persecution, and they conjui'e 
 him not to join with those who had stained their hands 
 with innocent blood. They promise to render him entire 
 fidelity and perfect submission in everything which would 
 not affect their faith, wishing to '' render unto Ceesar the 
 things which are Caesar's and unto God the things that are 
 God's." " And we pray with aU our heart," they add, 
 " that our all-good and all-powerful God may please to pre- 
 serve your highness in all prosperity." The letter was 
 signed in the name of the inhabitants of the valleys of 
 Lucerna, Angrogna, Perosa, San Martino, and innumerable 
 other inhabitants of the country of Piedmont. 
 
 The letter addressed to the duchess was in a different 
 style : it contained no ai^ology. The writers expressed 
 much confidence in her. They spoke to her as a protec- 
 tress and a friend. They detailed the sufferings which the 
 disciples of the word of God had ah-eady endured at Carig- 
 nan and other places, and the terrible threats with which all 
 those were visited who would not consent to attend at mass ; 
 
MEASURES TAKEN BY THE VAUDOIS. 175 
 
 and, in imploring her benevolent and powerful mediation 
 with the prince, her consort, they reminded her of the 
 examples of Esther and other pious women, and of other 
 believers who had saved the persecuted children of God. 
 
 The letter addressed to the council reiterated the consi- 
 derations and petitions contained in the letter to the duke, 
 enforced by iresh. arguments. It dwelt on the obligation of 
 Christians to prevent the effusion of innocent blood, and of 
 the account they must render of their administration to 
 God. It urged them to remember what God had said and 
 done on account of the blood of one righteous man, Abel, 
 and to consider what he would do for the blood of so great 
 a number of the faithful whom they were persecuting to 
 death. Finally, it claimed for themselves. Christians 
 secluded in their mountains, the same tolerance that was 
 granted to Jews and Saracens in the most considerable 
 cities of Piedmont. 
 
 The Yaudois added to this letter an apology or defence 
 of their religion, as well as of their present and past con- 
 duct. They victoriously refuted some unjust accusations 
 and calumnies. They also sent their confession of faith. 
 
 It was no small difficulty for men who were regarded as 
 worthy only of contempt and reprobation, and given up 
 beforehand to the executioners of justice, to get their justi- 
 fication and requests safely into the hands of their prince 
 and princess, who had been imposed upon by misrepre- 
 sentations. One of their two fiiends, who had visited Xice 
 for this pm^pose, de Castillon, allowed himself to be dis- 
 mayed by the apprehension of affronts and insults. But 
 the other, Gilles of Bricherasco, being kindly received by 
 the count de Eaconis, did not leave his residence tiU he had 
 placed all the documents in the hands of the duchess, Avith 
 the assui^ance that she would lay them before the duke. 
 The Taudois also requested the intercession and good offices 
 of one of these lords, the count Charles of Lucema, lord of 
 Angrogna. 
 
 But while the deputies of the Yaudois repaired to Nice, 
 and during the three months which elapsed before Gilles 
 had delivered the letters to Margaret of France, the state 
 of things, which was already so thi'eatening, became 
 worse, and the hatred felt against the friends of the Bible 
 manifested itself by acts of violence. Some of the lords of 
 
176 HISTOKY OF THE YAUDOIS CHTECH. 
 
 the country were the fu'st to become agents of persecu- 
 tion, and rivalled the inquisitor and his tools in barbarity. 
 "WTiile the Dominican, Jacomel, and the councillor Corbis, 
 who were established at Pinerolo, signified by letters to the 
 Vaudois that it was their duty to submit to the church of 
 Eome, and to go to mass, and the count de Ptaconis entered 
 into a conference at San Giovanni, in April, 1560, with the 
 syndics and ministers, without any other result than an 
 exchange of words, several lords ill-treated their vassals 
 and neighbours on account of their religion. In the valley 
 of Luccrna, great complaints were made of count Guillaume, 
 who with some friends, and at the head of his servants, 
 arrested and denounced the Vaudois who attended their 
 own places of worship ; particularly those of Bibbiana, 
 Campiglione, and Fenile. He turned this proceeding into 
 a trading speculation, receiving for his trouble half the fine 
 of a hundred gold dollars imposed by the edict on every 
 delinqn.ent when convicted for the first time. 
 
 In the valley of San Martino, two brothers, Charles and 
 Eoniface Truchet, (or Truquet,) incessantly harassed the 
 Yaudois in their seigniory of Rioclaret. They were im- 
 pelled by hatred of evangelical religion. Even during the 
 French domination, they did all in their power to hinder 
 the public performance of religious services. These were 
 the persons who arrested, and delivered up to the inquisi- 
 tion, the bookseller Hector, who was burned at Tiuin. 
 They had latterly made two attempts to seize the pastor. 
 The first time, they left him for dead in the arms of his 
 faithful parishioners, who fought for him ; and the second 
 time, they would have arrested him in the temple itself, 
 having already laid hands on him, but for the determined 
 resistance of the congregation. The edict of persecution 
 liad been solicited by them. They had even obtained per- 
 mission to raise a hundred men, and to employ them in 
 forcing the heretics to submission. 
 
 Accordingly, in the month of April, 1560, they made a 
 sudden assault on the hamlets in the commune of Hio- 
 claret, which were scattered over the sides of the moun- 
 tains, ravaging and slaughtering. The day had scarcely 
 dawned ; the terrified inhabitants rushed out of their 
 dwellings, the greater part without clothes, uttering cries 
 of alarm to warn their brethren, and sought a refuge on 
 
MEASUEES TAKEX BY THE VArDOIS. 177 
 
 the heights that were still covered with snow. The minis- 
 ter escaped, but not without great difficulty; and while 
 the population, driven away by the discharge of musketry, 
 were destroyed by cold and hunger in the retreats of the 
 woods and rocks, their impious assailants loaded themselves 
 "^'ith their property in the forsaken cottages. A minister 
 of the valley, soon after his return from Calabria, heai^ing 
 of the invasion, wished to go and console his brethren in 
 distress, but was discovered, seized and conducted to the 
 abbey of Pinerolo, where Jacomel and Corbis condemned 
 him to the flames with another man belonging to the 
 valley of San Martino. The fugitives, however, beheld the 
 dawn of deliverance, on the fourth day ; four hundi-ed of 
 their brethren in the vale of Clusone, subjects of France, 
 being moved with compassion at the news of their mis- 
 fortune, crossed the mountains, and threw themselves on 
 the hostile troop and dispersed it. The two Truchets were 
 exasperated, and repaired to IS'ice, complained to the duke, 
 and requested succour. Everything was promised them. 
 They were also permitted to rebuild the castle of Perrier, 
 which had been destro^-ed by the French twenty years 
 before, and to place a garrison in it. The personal circum- 
 stances'^ of these lords alone stopped the explosion of their 
 wrath for a time.f 
 
 Towards the end of the month of June, Philip of Savoy, 
 count de Eaconis, and chief commissioner, came a second 
 time into the valley of Lucema, accompanied by his col- 
 league, the coimt de la Trinite. Ha^dng assembled the 
 ministers and the syndics, they informed them that their 
 letters had been sent to Rome by the duke, who waited for 
 the pope's reply. Then addressing the leading men of the 
 communes, they insinuated that persecution would cease 
 immediately, and the prisoners be set at liberty, if the 
 churches would consent to hear the preachers whom the 
 duke should send to them, and if they withdi-ew the right 
 of preaching fi^om their pastors, while they made trial of 
 the former. The sjTidics replied, on the spot, to the first 
 point : if the proposed preachers announced the piuT word 
 of God, they would hear them; but if other^^^se, they would 
 not. As to the second point, they requested that they might 
 
 * They were taken by the Turks at sea, near Nice, but afterwards ransomed* 
 t Gilles, ch. xiii., p. 88, etc. 
 
 I 3 
 
178 HISTORY OF THE VAIJDOIS CHURCH. 
 
 have till the next day to consider it. Their answer was, 
 that they could not silence their pastors, as long as they 
 were ignorant whether the new preachers were the true 
 servants of God, and ministers of the pure gospel of truth : a 
 prudent and wise answer, and worthy of pious magistrates. 
 They likewise refused to send back those of their pastors 
 who were foreigners. As the commissioners of the duke 
 required an answer in writing to their demands, the council 
 of the communes assembled on the 30th of June, and gave 
 one drawn up in decided terms, and yet with all the respect 
 and courtesy due to the dignity of i^e prince to whom it 
 was addressed. The dissatisfaction of the commissioners 
 v/as excessive. In their wi'ath, they republished the edicts, 
 and the persecution broke out more violently than ever. 
 
 Among the greatest enemies whose fury the Yaudois had 
 to dread, the monks of the abbey of Pinerolo must not be 
 forgotten. ]S^ot content with living in opulence, it was at 
 all times a special gratification to them to hunt the Yaudois. 
 The present moment seemed to them particularly well 
 suited for doing it on a large scale. Tor this purpose, they 
 took into their pay a numerous band of wretches, who 
 frequently made incursions on the evangelicals of the val- 
 ley of Perosa, and of Saint-Germain in particular, a village 
 only about a league and a half distant from Pinerolo. In 
 one of their expeditions they succeeded but too well. 
 Having gained over a man who was well known to the 
 pastor of this latter place, they sent this traitor very early, 
 before day, to the parsonage, requesting the attendance of 
 the faithful pastor in an urgent case, who suspected no 
 danger till it was too late ; that is, when he saw himself 
 surroimded by the cut- throats of the abbe3^ He attempted 
 to save himself by flight, and, at the same time, aroused 
 the villagers by his outcries. Alas ! it was too late. He 
 was hit, wounded, and carried off. Many of his faithful 
 parishioners were also taken with him, and several women. 
 Some were massacred in attempting to rescue him from the 
 soldiers. The pastor, a few days after, was tied to the 
 stake. By a refinement of cruelty, and for the amusement 
 of the spectators, the poor female prisoners were forced to 
 carry the faggots to the fire which was to consume their 
 spiritual guide. The Bomish priests needed no instruction 
 in the methods of inflicting suffering. 
 
MONKS OF ABBADIE AND THEIR VICTIMS. 179 
 
 The mercenaries of the abbey of Pinerolo, (de rAbbadic/j 
 about three himcbed strong, made fresh expeditions against 
 Saint-Germain, and laid it waste. Thej- also attacked 
 Yillaro of the Pcrosa, not far fi'om it, and the neighbouring 
 villages, Prarustin and San Bartolomeo. They extended 
 their incursions as far as Penile, Campigiione, and other 
 places in the plains, at the opening of the valley of 
 Lucerna. Plunder was their favourite occupation. The 
 prisoners were for the most part sent to the galleys. Their 
 approach was the signal for a general flight. The perse- 
 cuted peasantry hardly ventured to reap the crops. Famine 
 and sore distress were spread over all parts of the Yaudois 
 mountains in the direction of Pinerolo. 
 
 These assassins, hired by the monks, in due time, how- 
 ever, met with their match. The inhabitants of the valley 
 of Lucema, moved with compassion for the calamities of 
 their brethren, first formed a plan for protecting them, by 
 means of a strong detachment of aiTaed men, who should 
 keep guard while the persecuted people got in. their harvest, 
 and put their affairs in order. Complete success crowned 
 theii' efforts ; but, after their departure, the depredations 
 began afresh, till one day the people of Angrogna, who 
 were reaping their fields on the heights that overlook Saint- 
 Gennain, heard a discharge of musketiy, and perceived a 
 numerous body of armed men making their way to the 
 village that lay at their feet. As soon as the cry of alann 
 was raised by their brethren, the Angrogniues, well-armed, 
 rushed into the plain, like an overwhelming avalanche. 
 Having divided themselves into two bands, while one put 
 the papists to flight, the other took possession of the bridge 
 over the Clusone, to cut off their retreat. The enemy, thus 
 siuToimded and beaten, had nothing left but to abandon 
 their dead and wounded, and to throw themselves into the 
 stream. Fortunately for them, the waters were low, o"\ving 
 to the dryness of the summer; yet many perished, being 
 struck by the shots that were fired from the banks. The 
 Angrognines, on reckoning their number, found that they 
 were about four hundred strong, and were on the point of 
 marching to the abbey of Pinerolo, to deliver their captive 
 brethren, which could have been easily done, as was after- 
 wards known, since the monks and their people, being 
 panic-stricken, had quitted the convent and taken refuge in 
 
180 HISTOEY OF THE YATJDOIS CHTTECH. 
 
 tlie city. But the want of an experienced leader, and 
 prudential considerations, restrained them from venturing 
 into the stronghold of their infuriated enemies, who had 
 already sounded the tocsin in their villages, and would soon 
 do the same in Pinerolo. 
 
 The Vaudois of the valley of Perosa, on the left side, 
 who were subject to Prance, also had their troubles at this 
 period. They were obliged sometimes, like their neigh- 
 boiu-s, to have recourse to arms to defend themselves.* 
 
 Nevertheless, the duke and his council were seriously 
 occupied vtdth the requests and representations which the 
 poor Yaudois had addressed to them in the spring. The 
 duke, imagining that his religion was the best, and that 
 its excellence could be demonstrated by sufficient reasons, 
 and unquestionably also by the Holy Scriptures, to which 
 the Yaudois always appealed when they spoke of defending 
 theirs, was inclined to agree to holding conferences in 
 which well-informed Catholics might demonstrate the truth 
 of the Poman religion, and the error of the Yaudois wor- 
 ship, f This proposal had been communicated to the pope, 
 but did not meet with his approbation. The pontiff replied 
 that he would never consent to make the points of his 
 religion matters of debate ; that the constitutions of the 
 Ptoman church must be admitted absolutely, without dis- 
 pute or exceptions ; and that nothing remained but to 
 proceed with the utmost rigour against the recusants ; that 
 he would consent to send a legate with theologians to 
 instruct the penitent, and to absolve those who abjured 
 heresy, but that he was not sanguine of great results from 
 this method ; that it would be most expedient to proceed 
 against them in the way of pimishment, and even by force 
 of arms. He ojffered the duke his assistance, if required. 
 
 The pope's ad\T.ce was adopted by the council. They 
 only modified it on one point. It was thought proper that 
 the ecclesiastical commissioner should attempt to convince 
 the Yaudois of their errors, and to instruct them, before 
 proceeding to the last extremities. Por this mission, a 
 man of note among his equals was chosen, though his merit 
 
 * Gilles, pp. 94, 95. 
 
 t Botta himself says, " H duca, desideroso di non far sangue, penso d'insti- 
 tuire un colloquio, per cvii sperava dipotergli acquistare alia religione dei piu." 
 " The duke, desu-ous of not shedding blood, thought of appointing a con- 
 ference, by wliich he hoped to gain them over to the rehgion of the many." — 
 Storia d'ltaha, t. ii., p. 423. 
 
MISSION OF POUSSETIN. 181 
 
 "was not equal to his reputation, namely, Antoine Pousse- 
 vin, commander of Saint- Antoine-de Fossan. He came to 
 the valleys, furnished with very extensive powers, and anti- 
 cipating an easy triumph. He preached with much parade 
 at Cavor, Bibbiana, and Lucerna, making great preten- 
 sions, and poiuing forth a stream of threatenings and invec- 
 tives against the evangelicals. At San Giovanni, where he 
 had called together the syndics and ministers of the valley 
 of Lucerna, he thought to con"ST.nce those present by the 
 word of God, by proving to them that it made mention of 
 the mass, in using the word massah, which signifies to 
 consecrate. He maintained that since the Holy Scriptures 
 contain the word massah, in the sense of consecrating, the 
 mass is taught in the Holy Scriptures. The ministers 
 Avhom he flattered himself he had crushed and reduced to 
 silence by this argument, had no difS.culty in proving to 
 him that the quotation was not correct — that there is no 
 mention of the mass in the sacred text — that the word 
 massah never has this sense — and especially that the Bible 
 nowhere teaches the doctrines represented or set forth in 
 the mass, such as the repetition of our Lord's sacrifice, the 
 adoration of the host, and many other errors. 
 
 Poussevin, who had not expected to find in these despised 
 ministers theological and biblical knowledge of which he 
 himself was destitute, abruptly closed a discussion which 
 he could not maintain with honour, and, huiTied away by 
 passion, indulged in reproaches and thi^ats. The nobles 
 and officers of justice who accompanied him were ashamed 
 of his ignorance ; they were also deeply humbled by the 
 marked inferiority in wliich this discussion placed their 
 religion as well as their priests. 
 
 These occun^ences took place in the course of the months 
 of July and August. 
 
 A little later, probably in the beginning of September, 
 the Yaudois, understanding what sad results would be 
 likely to follow from the report Poussevin would give of 
 his ill success to the court, availed themselves of the duke's 
 retiuTi to the north of Piedmont, to wiite to him again, and 
 appeal to his justice and compassion. They also addressed 
 Eenee of France, widow of the duke of Fen^ara, an en- 
 lightened princess, and fi-iendly to the reformation, im- 
 ploring her to intercede in their favour, in her journey to 
 
182 HISTOEY OF THE YAUDOIS CHUECH. 
 
 the court of Piedmont ; but the irritation was too great at 
 head- quarters. It was there thought that too much con- 
 sideration had been shown towards obstinate religionists; 
 and that it would be right to compel them to abjure. 
 
 From the month of October a report spread through the 
 valleys that the duke was levying and assembling troops to 
 exterminate the inhabitants. The Piedmontese who were 
 connected with the Yaudois, urged their relations or friends 
 to abjure or to make their escape while there was yet time. 
 The count Charles of Lucerna also sought, by a clever 
 manoeuvre, to lead his vassals of Angrogna into a criminal 
 defection, to the dismissal of their pastors, the admission 
 of new preachers, and the celebrating of the mass in their 
 commune. A convention had even been signed, when the 
 people acknowledged their fault and disavowed all that had 
 been done. 
 
 It only remained to prepare for the storm that was 
 gathering and muttering as it approached, and was soon 
 to burst on the valleys. The pastors and principal persons 
 assembled repeatedly, and deliberated as to what measures 
 it would be desirable to take, in order to avoid the total 
 ruin with which they were tlii*eatened ; and, first of all, 
 being convinced that God alone could deliver them, and 
 that their only refuge was in his mercy and grace, they 
 decided not to countenance any measure that would be 
 prejudicial to his honour, or opposed to his word. They 
 agreed to exhort every one to apply to God seriouslj^, with 
 true faith and sincere repentance, as well as by humble and 
 ardent prayer. Pelative to precautionary measures, they 
 decided that every family should collect their provisions, 
 clothes, and utensils, and carry them away, together with 
 all infirm persons, to the most elevated dwellings at the 
 foot of the heights and crags. At length, about the end of 
 October, at the approach of the papist army, they held a 
 public fast, and on the following Sunday partook of the 
 Lord's supper. At this solenm juncture, the people were 
 evidently strengthened from on high. They were resigned 
 to the trials with which it pleased God to visit them for 
 the holy cause of his gospel. In the cottages and on the 
 mountain-tracks, as they were removing from their homes, 
 these martyrs of the truth might be heard encouraging one 
 another with edifying discourses and sacred songs. 
 
COrXT DE LA TRINITE. 183 
 
 As to making a defence, there was a diversity of opinion. 
 Some urged that they should not use arms till the last 
 extremity, when they were pursued to their hiding-places 
 on the mountains. Others were in favour of an immediate 
 resistance, alleging that it was the pope, with his satellites, 
 rather than their prince, who made war upon them, since, 
 as it was affirmed, he engaged to pay a great part of the 
 expense of the expedition ; ^' and as to bloodshed, if there 
 were any, the guilt would lie not on those who defended 
 their lives, their families, and their religion, but on those 
 who attacked them unjustly. Xot to be mlling to defend 
 themselves till they were reduced to their last asylum in 
 the mountains, when the enemy would have pillaged and 
 destroyed everything in the hamlets below, would be to 
 destroy themselves without remedy, since no means of 
 subsistence would then be left. They earnestly besought, 
 therefore, that they should defend themselves as soon as 
 the enemy entered the valleys, while trusting in God, the 
 protector of the oppressed. This ox^inion prevailed, and 
 they prepared for the combat. 
 
 On the 1st of ]S'ovember, the Piedmontese army, of at 
 least four thousand infantry, and two hundred horse, f 
 composed in part of officers and soldiers who had grown 
 old in the wars of their sovereign with France, and com- 
 manded by the count de la Trinite, arrived at Bibbiana 
 on the Yaudois territory, and the next day conmienced 
 operations in the valley of Lucerna, by an attack on the 
 heights of Angrogna, nearest to San Giovanni. To oppose 
 these experienced and disciplined troops, the Yaudois had 
 only a small number of men, badly armed, without order or 
 militaiy science, having on their side, besides the assistance 
 of Heaven, nothing but their native courage, their knowledge 
 of the locality, and the habits of mountaineers ; for although 
 the total population of the Yaudois valleys at that time 
 amounted to eighteen thousand souls, :j: it is a well-known 
 fact that their anned men did not exceed twelve hundi-ed, 
 who were, moreover, scattered at great distances from one 
 
 * " Fifty thousand, dollars per month, and the relinquishment for one year 
 of the revenue of all the ecclesiastical propei-ty in the domains of his highness." 
 — Gilles, ch. xviii., p. 115. 
 
 t These are the numbers given by the pastor of San Giovanni, Scipio Len- 
 tulus, in his letter to a lord of Geneva. — Leger, pt. ii., p. 35. 
 
 1 See the above-mentioned letter of Lentnolus. 
 
184 HISTORY OF THE YArDOIS CHURCH. 
 
 another iu their three valleys. To the attack on the heights 
 of Angrogna, by a body of twelve hundred Piedmontese, 
 they could only oppose two hundred men, got together very 
 hastily. These, nevertheless, did their duty so well that 
 the enemy sounded a retreat, leaving more than sixty dead 
 on the field, while the Yaudois lost only three ! * The 
 same day, the army occupied La Torre, a small tovYn on the 
 plain, in the heart of the valley of Lucerna, and peopled for 
 the most part by Roman Catholics. La Trinite put the castle 
 in repair, which was situated to the north, on a hill at the 
 entrance of the valley of Angrogna, and which had been 
 destroyed by the Prench during their occupation of the 
 country. He placed a strong garrison in it, which became 
 notorious for its cruelties. He also occupied the castle of 
 Yillaro, in the same valley ; that of Perosa, in the vallej^ 
 of the same name ; and that of Perrier, in the valley of San 
 Martino. The main body of the army was at La Torre, 
 whence it would advance to the north on Angrogna, to the 
 west on Yillaro and Bobbio, and to the south on Pora. 
 To the east, San Giovanni, Bibbiana, etc., were already 
 occupied. 
 
 On Monday, the 4th of ]^ovember, La Trinite made 
 another attempt, by an expedition to La Combe, a popu- 
 lous hamlet on the height which commands Yillaro, whither 
 the inhabitants of this commune had withdrawn their 
 families and effects ; but his troops were obliged to retreat 
 with loss, as well as at Taillaret, a mountain hamlet on the 
 north-west of La Torre. In these combats, the Yaudois gave 
 proof of their military capacity, and of their courage and 
 fixed resolution to die rather than surrender their families 
 to the enemy. The general perceived that he could make 
 little progress, unless he made use of artifice and policy. 
 He had discovered in these mountaineers such sincerity 
 and good-nature, joined with an ardent desire for peace — 
 such a total ignorance of intrigues, and a confidence so 
 extraordinary in the good faith of others — that he saw at 
 once the use which might be made of these qualities. 
 Having skilfully set Jacomel, the inquisitor, to work, and 
 especially Gastaud, his private secretary, .who pretended to 
 love the gospel, the count was not ashamed to deceive the 
 principal persons of Angrogna, whom he had sent for, 
 
 * According to the same letter. 
 
COUXT DE LA TEIXITE. 185 
 
 repeating to them the pretended language of the duke and 
 duchess, most flattering to themselves, and, at the same 
 time, the best adapted to laj- their susf)icions asleep ; leading 
 them to suppose, that, by means of certain compliances, 
 eyer}i;hing might be arranged amicably. He thus suc- 
 ceeded in making them de^^osit, in the house of one of their 
 sjTidics, some of their arms, which he seized, to allow 
 the celebration (merely for fomi's sake as it was pre- 
 tended,) of a mass in the temple of St. Laurent, at 
 Angrogna, and to lead liim, a hostile general, to Pra-di- 
 torre, a natural fortress, their ordinary refuge in times 
 of persecution. Certainly the people of Angrogna dis- 
 played a superabundance of coniidence or of simplicity. 
 To crown the whole, he induced them, and, after their 
 example, the other communes, in spite of the opposition 
 of some intelligent men, and of the greater part of the 
 ministers, to send the principal persons of their valleys 
 as a deputation to the duke, then residing at Yercelli, 
 (Turin being still in the power of the French) in order to 
 obtain peace. 
 
 By this artifice, the count de la Trinite gained more 
 than one point. He laid asleep the vigilance of these poor 
 people ; he weakened their resolution by the hope of peace ; 
 he deprived them of their best coimsellors, and prevented 
 them doing anything against him, for fear of putting in 
 peril the negotiation, and even the lives of their chiefs, 
 who were actually in the hands of the papists. On the 
 other hand, by these measures, the count imposed no 
 constraint ujDon himself, and was left quite free in his 
 movements, as we shall soon see. 
 
 Scarcely had the deputies left for Yercelli when the 
 coimt began again to molest the people of Taillaret, a large 
 hamlet in the commune of La Torre, situated to the north- 
 west, at the foot of the majestic Yandalin. This locality 
 is of peculiar importance in time of war, being at the 
 junction of the mountain roads, which foiin a commimi- 
 cation between the higher hamlets of YiUaro and the town 
 of La ToiTe, and likewise between these same hamlets and 
 to^TL, and the glen of Pra-di-torre, in the valley of Angrogna. 
 Complaining of the want of respect shown to him, and of 
 threats against his people, (in the style of the wolf in the 
 fable,) he requii'ed, first of all, that they should humble 
 
186 HISTOSY OF THE VAUDOIS CHUKCil. 
 
 tliemselves before him; then that they should surrender 
 all their arms ; then he pillaged all theii' dwellings, no 
 doubt, in order that they might be abandoned, and that the 
 road to the mountains might be left open to him. He also 
 made a great number prisoners. He acted in the same 
 manner in the hamlets of Yillaro. The oppression became 
 such, that at La Torre, under the very eyes of the general, 
 nothing was secure ; and the evangelical inhabitants of the 
 town endeavoured to secrete themselves, their ^AT.ves, and 
 their daughters, Tvith whatever they could carry away, in 
 the caverns of the rocks, although it was winter. Others 
 more fortunate found an asylum in the neighbouring com- 
 munes. The soldiers tracked them to their hiding-places. 
 Let us mention one instance. They found in a cavern 
 an aged man, a hundred and three years old, and his grand- 
 daughter, who took care of him. After having killed 
 the venerable man, they would have violated the girl, 
 but she sprang over the precipice, preferring death to dis- 
 honour. 
 
 La Trinite also exacted a contribution of six thousand 
 dollars from the valley. He then required the dismissal of 
 the ministers ; at least, he said, till the return of the 
 deputies. They were obliged, or rather thought they 
 were obliged to consent. He hoped to be able to make 
 himself master of their persons on their departure ; but 
 the Yaudois took such precautions, that they conducted 
 them in safety, even across the snows and the high passes 
 of Giidiano, and then through the vale of San Martino to 
 theii' brethren of Pragela in the French territory. Stephen 
 Noel, pastor of Angrogna, alone was excepted, as by favour 
 of the count, who pretended to hold him in high esteem. 
 But it was soon seen that this was done only in the hopes 
 of carrpng him off with greater certainty. The scheme 
 happily failed, thanks to the attachment of JS^oel's pa- 
 rishioners, who protected him against the soldiers sent to 
 seize him, and conducted him out of their reach. 
 
 At last, the count de la Trinite, having destroyed all the 
 wine and all the crops that he could not carry away with 
 him, and having broken in pieces all the mills he could lay 
 hands on, led his armj into winter- quarters in the plain, 
 lea^king strong garrisons in the forts and castles of La 
 Torre, Yillaro, Perosa, and Perrier. 
 
INCREASING OPPEESSION. 187 
 
 During their leader's absence, these garrisons committed 
 all kinds of cruelties and atrocities. But it is more cre- 
 ditable to be silent upon them than to relate them. 
 
 The inhabitants of the valleys waited with great im- 
 2)atience for the deputies who had been sent to Yercelli, lor 
 the purpose of obtaining an honourable capitulation. At 
 length, tidings came of their retm-n to theii' beloved moun- 
 tains, to the bosom of their families, and their persecuted 
 brethren. But it was seen, even before they uttered a 
 syllable, by theii' appearance of son^ow, and their downcast 
 looks, that they brought no good news, that they had been 
 cruelly deceived, that they were ashamed of themselves 
 and of the part they had been made to act. Gastaud, the 
 count's secretary, they said, had frightened them, and made 
 them present to the duke a letter totally different fi'om the 
 one which their brethren of the valleys had charged them 
 to deliver. They had been made to ask pardon of his high- 
 ness and of the pope's legate. During the six weeks of 
 their sojourn at Yercelli, they had been continually worried 
 b}^ the monks. They had been loaded ^dth insults and 
 thi^eats, till they felt th'emselves consti-ained to promise to 
 go to mass. They brought back a formal order to the 
 Yaudois commimes to receive the priests, to contribute to 
 their support, and to consent to the Eomish worship, and 
 consequently to the introduction of the mass, under pain 
 of a general extermination. 
 
 AYhat was to be done? Their situation had become 
 worse than before. There remained only to choose between 
 apostasy with peace, but at the price of thek soul's salva- 
 tion, and fidelity to God, his word, and the apostolic church, 
 Avith a prospect of terrible and immediate sufferings, but 
 with the approbation of conscience, and the hope of the 
 crown of life in heaven Avith the Lord. Placed between 
 these two alternatives, the people chose the good part. 
 They preferred life eternal to the good things of the present 
 world. They rejected the disgraceful conditions which had 
 been imposed upon them in the name of the prince. They 
 recalled theii^ pastors, and again held di\'ine service pub- 
 licly, and in the usual form. AYhere the introduction of 
 some images into the temple had been allowed, as for 
 example at Bobbio, they pulled them do^vn with indig- 
 nation. Everywhere the generous intention was decidedly 
 
188 HISTOET OF THE VAUDOIS CHUECII. 
 
 manifested of suffering everything, even to burning, flight, 
 mid death, rather than deny the faith of their fathers. 
 
 The pastors also received in these critical circumstances 
 letters full of affection and Christian sympathy from their 
 brethren in foreign parts. The assm^ance of a lively 
 interest which they conveyed to them, the knowledge of 
 the prayers that were offered up for them in various places, 
 the advices of the purest brotherly love, and the exhorta- 
 tions to look alone to God for deliverance, — all these testi- 
 monies did them good ; they felt themselves less alone in 
 the conflict. 
 
 The sincere attachment which their neighbours and 
 brethren in the faith of the vale of Clusone, or Pragela* 
 had always sho^\Ti them, both in brighter days and in times 
 of distress and persecution, but particularly in the latter, 
 suggested a renewal of their ancient union. Deputies 
 from the three valleys crossed the moimtains, covered with 
 snow, and brought proposals of alliance to the communities 
 in Clusone, whom their sovereign, Francis i., king of 
 France, had also issued orders to persecute. The alliance 
 was accepted without hesitation, and immediately ratified. 
 It was agreed to render mutual succour with all their dis- 
 I)osable means, whenever their ancient apostolic church 
 should be persecuted. The fidelity of the contracting par- 
 ties to their respective sovereigns f was, however, carefully 
 reserved. The messengers from the valleys of Lucerna, 
 Perosa, and San Martino received the oath of their brethren 
 in Dauphine, who in their turn sent deputies to receive the 
 oath of their allies. They arrived by way of Giuliano at 
 Bobbio, where the alliance was unanimously sworn to by 
 the assembly of all the heads of families. On the next 
 day, they were spectators of the first aggressive act of these 
 peaceable men, who, in the hope of peace, had always 
 hitherto kept strictly on the defensive. All the people of 
 the western hamlets in the valley of Lucerna rushed down, 
 like one of their mountain torrents, on the fortress of Yil- 
 laro, and demanded the release of their relations who were 
 confined in its dungeons. The gentry of the district who 
 
 * A valley to the north of the three Vaudois valleys of Piedmont : the vale of 
 Clusone, is the continuation of the valley of Perosa.— See the map. 
 
 t Although the vale of Clusone is on the eastern side of the Alps, inclosed 
 in the Piedmontese possessions of the house of Savoy, it anciently made a part 
 of Dauphine, and still belonged at that time to France. 
 
ATTACKED I>' TnEIR EEFTJGE OF PEA-DI-TORRE. 189 
 
 were in the castle, aided the garrison in making a \igorous 
 defence. The Yaudois wanted artillery and other means 
 for ctmying on a siege. One division of them had to 
 guard the road to La Torre, for they there fought thi-ee 
 times in foui' days ^vith the troops which the commandant 
 of the castle in the latter place had sent to succour his 
 companions in arms. The besieged, however, being ill 
 suppHed with provisions, and above all m want of water, 
 were obliged to capitulate on the tenth day. They surren- 
 dered the fortress, which was immediately demohshed, and 
 thought themselves weU off in being conducted to their 
 advanced posts, and escaping with their lives. 
 
 In the interval, the deputies of all the communes had 
 met and ratified the alliance ^vith an oath, promising 
 mutual succour, and engaging to determine on nothing 
 Avithout consulting one another. Among the measures ot 
 detail which they adopted, we must not omit noticing the 
 lew of a chosen troop of one hundi'ed musketeers for con- 
 stant seiwice, and destined to hasten to any point where 
 an attack was thi'eatened, and on that account caUed " The 
 riyino- Company." It is also worthy of notice and com- 
 mendation that two pastors were appointed to attend them 
 alternatelv in aH their expeditions, to remind them ol their 
 Chiistian^ duties, to check aU excess, and regularly to 
 celebrate religious service. . r. x-u ^ 
 
 It was quite time to prepare for the warfare ; for the count 
 de la Trinite haxiag heard of the siege of YiUaro, hastened 
 to coUect his troops that were scattered in winter- quarters 
 over thp plain, and to throw them into the vaUey of Lucema. 
 Having arrived on February 2nd, 1561, the day after the 
 surrender of the fortress, he renounced for a time his pui- 
 pose of taking vengeance on the further end of the valley ; 
 but, after having again tried, though uselessly, to divide his 
 adversaries, by making offers and promises to the^people ot 
 Ano-rogna, he resumed Ms preparations against the citadel 
 of these mountains ; we mean, the higher part of the valley 
 of Angrogna, caUed the Pra-di-torre. This spot, celebrated 
 in the history of the vaUeys,* is in the shape of an immense 
 funnel, of which the sides are of different heights, and which 
 is much broken on one of them. It is girt on the north 
 by the high rocky cliffs of I'lnfernet and bou^an, which 
 
 * See ch. xvi. 
 
190 HISTOEY OF THE VATJDOIS CHURCH. 
 
 separate it from the vale of San Martino ; on the west by 
 the impassable chain of the snowy mountains of the Rora, 
 and the indented peaks, rivalling the Vandalin, which enve- 
 lope the alpine valley of La Sellaveilla, with its summer 
 cottages ; on the south by the sloping sides of the superb 
 Yandalin, which sinks by sudden declivities to the wide 
 table-land of Costa-Roussina, whence it descends on the 
 south towards Taillaret, and the plain of La Torre ; lastly, 
 on the east, by pasture-lands, more or less inclined, and by 
 a mass of rocks, called Rocciailla, which, although inferior 
 in height to the proud peaks in the vicinity, form, never- 
 theless, an insurmountable barrier between the foot of Mount 
 Cervin, on the north, and the torrent of Angrogna, on the 
 south. Between these lofty mountains and La Rocciailla, 
 a meadow called the Pra, or Pra-di-torre, with its small 
 town, is stretched by the side of a pure and murmuring 
 stream, and on all sides, on the slopes, the little domains 
 with their rustic buildings surrounded b}^ orchards. This 
 district is thickly peopled in summer, though much less in 
 winter ; but it had not ceased to be so in the rigorous 
 months, from the end of 1560 and the commencement of 
 1561. The return of the count de la Trinite to the valleys 
 caused the inhabitants of Angrogna immediately to take 
 refuge in their ancient asylum. A mill was already in 
 existence there for the use of the locality, and they pra- 
 dently constructed a second.^' 
 
 The enemy, clearly perceiving that the asylum of the 
 Pra-di-torre was (so to speak) the heart of the valleys, and 
 that the only method of inflicting a fatal wound was to 
 make themselves masters of it, directed all their efforts to 
 this quarter. After two successive attacks on the lower part 
 of Angrogna, the first, fruitless, by the Sonnagliettes, or Poc- 
 camaneot, and the second, made on difterent sides at once, 
 with large forces and complete success, although dearly 
 purchased, the count de la Trinite was master of the country 
 as far as Pocciailla and La Cassa. Then, after having set 
 fire to all the hamlets, without being able, however, to burn 
 down the two temples, he assaulted the Pra-di-torre on the 
 14th of February, at thi-ee diff'erent points; namely, by its 
 natural entrance on the south-east, along the torrent and at 
 the foot of Pocciailla, by the heights which separate it on 
 
 * Gilles, ch. xxiii., p. 142. 
 
ATTACKED IX THEIR REFUGE OF rRA-DI-TORRE. 191 
 
 the north-cast from the valley of Pramol, and on the north, 
 by those of the valley of San Alartino. The attack by the 
 ordinarj^ road on the south-east, was announced by the 
 conilagration. At the sight of the flames, consuming the 
 forsaken hamlets, the refugees might suppose that the army 
 was approaching ; they would perhaps have thi'0"\vn them- 
 selves in a mass in this dii'cction, if they had not suspected 
 a feint, and recollected that at all events a few men would 
 suffice to defend so narrow a passage. They were not mis- 
 taken. The attack on this side was only feigned. Six 
 musketeers stopped and put to flight the hostile detachment. 
 Another division which suddenly appeared on the plateau 
 of La Yachere, to the north-east of Ilocciailla, coming from 
 Pramol,"^ where it had passed the night, met with the same 
 fate. But while our warlike peasantiy were pui'suing them, 
 there was descried in the direction of the Pra-di-torre, on 
 the ridges of the high mountains wliich separate it on the 
 north from the vale of San Martino, a considerable body of 
 soldiers rapidly descending. A cry of alarm was raised. 
 The defenceless multitude addressed a fervent prayer to 
 God, and while some ran to give notice to their principal 
 force, which was occupied in pursuing the fugitives on the 
 side of La Yachere, only twenty-five or thirty men went up 
 to meet the enemj'. Being very soon rejoined by their 
 victorious brethren and by the Plying Company, they fell 
 on their knees, in sight of the papists, praying God to 
 succour them, and then assailed their adversaries so im- 
 petuously that they fled panic-stricken before them. Twice 
 the unfortunate soldiers, fatigued by an extraordinary and 
 forced march over the slippery turf or the rolling stones of 
 the mountain, tiu^ned about, preferring to fight rather than 
 to clamber up the same endless declivities which they had 
 just descended ; and twice, terrified by the spiiit and rising 
 courage of the Yaudois, they again fled and dispersed in all 
 directions. The strong-limbed, practised mountaineers soon 
 came up to them, and despatched them. The slaughter 
 was great, and would have been greater still if the chaplain 
 of the Flying Company had not checked it whenever he 
 could make his voice heard. 
 
 * In making this ctrcnit by St. Germain and Pramol, the enemy had gone 
 round the dangerous passage of La Cassa, a little to the east, composed of the 
 debris of broken and scattered rocks. 
 
192 HISTOEY OF THE VAUDOIS CHURCH, 
 
 This combat cost the lives of two of the principal officers 
 in the count's army. One, Charles Truchet, lord of Rio- 
 claret, who had persecuted his own vassals as w^e have 
 seen, and was one of the promoters of this war, was first 
 struck to the ground by a stone from a sling, and being 
 left by his men, had his head cut off with his own sword. 
 He was lamented b}^ his general and the army, for he was 
 valiant and experienced. The other officer, Louis de Mon- 
 teil, who was among the first that fled, had already passed 
 the summit of the mountain, when a young man of eighteen 
 came up ^\ith him in the snow, refused his ransom, and 
 killed him. 
 
 Thus the hopes of the papists, relative to this great 
 enterprise, vanished. God granted the victory to his 
 children. The pastors, and all who were unable to tight, 
 never ceased, from morning to evening, to call upon his 
 name, — like Moses, Hur, and Aaron, when Israel fought 
 with Amalek. In the evening, the air resounded in all 
 directions with songs of praise and expressions of gratitude 
 to God. By this victory, the Yaudois gained considerable 
 booty in arms, clothing, and warlike stores. 
 
 Not having been successful at the Pra-di-torre, La Tri- 
 nite, who had already burned the greater part of the ham- 
 lets of Angrogna, vented his wrath on some villages in the 
 vale of Lucerna. He surprised the village of Hora, com- 
 posed of eighty families, and situated in a glen behind the 
 mountain which rises on the right bank of the Peliee, to the 
 south of La Torre and Yillaro, and which, inclining towards 
 the east, pours its waters into the river just named, a little 
 way from the town of Lucerna ; yet, in spite of the forces 
 which the general sent, he did not make himself master of 
 the village till the third day ; and such was the determined 
 courage of as many of the inhabitants as could bear arms, 
 and particular!}^ of the Plying Company, who were sent to 
 their aid, that all the families, and even some of their goods, 
 were saved, and brought across the snow by dangerous 
 paths to Yillaro, where they were received with the most 
 cordial hospitality. 
 
 Yillaro had also been pointed out by the count to his 
 officers as a place to be attacked. His army moved from 
 La Torre in three divisions ; the main body consisting of 
 infantry, by the high road ; the cavahy with the pioneers. 
 
ATTACK ON THE EEFrGE OF PEA-DI-TOERE. 193 
 
 and some light troops along the Pelice, in the plain ; the 
 third column followed, on the other side of the river, the 
 path which goes behind La Torre and passes between Bobbio 
 and Yillaro. The duke's troops had the advantage of being 
 in an open country. The Yaudois were obliged to give 
 way on all points. Perhaps they were too much bent on 
 defending some advanced x>osts. At this time, they were 
 tiu-ned, and obliged to retreat, with some loss, abandoning 
 Yillaro, to take a position among the vineyards at the 
 entrance of La Combe, which the enemy was never able to 
 force. They beheld their large and beautiful village bui^ned 
 before their eyes; but considered themselves as less un- 
 fortunate, in tids disaster, than if the enemy had established 
 and fortified themselves in their abodes. 
 
 La Trinite continued his ravages to the further end of 
 the valley, pillaging, burning, and slaughtering. He even 
 attempted to attack, with considerable forces, the higher 
 hamlets in the commune of Yillaro ; but he was compelled 
 to give up the attempt, and to retire mth loss. 
 
 The end of February was now come. The count, seeing 
 his army much reduced, spent a month in reinforcing it. 
 Xew troops arrived every day at head-quarters. The duke 
 of Savoy even obtained from the king of France ten com- 
 panies of foot-soldiers, and some other choice ti'oops.'^' A 
 body of Spaniards also joined the standard of persecution, 
 so that from four thousand men, which composed the army 
 of La Trinite at first, the numbers rose to about seven 
 thousand. It included in its ranks the nobility of the 
 country. At the head of such a fine army, the count 
 thought himself sure of success, and his first eff'orts were 
 dii-ected against the heart and bulAvark of the valleys, the 
 asylum of all the fugitives, the celebrated Pra-di-torre. 
 On the 17th of ITarch, he attacked it on the east, by the 
 road along the torrent, below Eocciailla, by the brow and 
 ridge of the mountain to the north-east of the same Eoc- 
 ciailla, where the Yaudois had erected, over all the breadth, 
 a formidable rampart,! ^^^ ^J ^^ intermediate path a little 
 below this last, a dangerous path across the rocks, and 
 
 * See Leorer, who quotes tlie Histoire Universelle of d'Aubigni. (Lc-ger, pt. 
 ii.. pp. 36, 37; Gilles, ch. xxv., p. 150.) 
 
 t There was at this pomt a natm-al rampait. La Cassa, aheacly mentioned ; 
 another rampart was raised on the Gavia, commanding the post ; and a thii'd 
 on the other extremity of La Vachere, called the bai-ricades. 
 
 K 
 
194 HISTOET OF THE VATJDOIS CHUKCH. 
 
 which, on that account, the Yaudois had not thought of 
 lining mth defenders. The enemy had well-nigh penetrated 
 by this narrow passage, for all the forces of the Yaudois 
 were collected at the principal places of defence ; happily, 
 the enemy was perceived in time and repulsed. Beaten 
 at once, at all the three points of attack, the general saw 
 his best officers killed before his face, and his choice and 
 renowned troops decimated. He gave up, therefore, the 
 design of continuing the assault on the following days, 
 although he had made preparations for so doing, and re- 
 treated the same evening mth his harassed army and the 
 wounded, leaving a great number dead at the foot of the 
 rampart and on all the approaches. 
 
 While the defeated army was making a hasty retreat, 
 the Yaudois might have caused it irreparable loss by 
 attacking it in the defiles across the torrents, or along the 
 precipices ; and this was the wish of a great many. But 
 the principal leaders, and especially the ministers, were 
 totally averse from it, reminding them that it was agreed 
 to employ arms only to defend their lives, and to use them 
 only as long as they were threatened. Admirable mode- 
 ration ! and the more exemplary, since those towards whom 
 it was exercised were devoid of pity. 
 
 The success of this affair restored courage and hope to 
 the Yaudois. Their enemies, on the contrary, were dis- 
 concerted, and cast down. "God fights for them!" they 
 exclaimed; and these words were echoed through Pied- 
 mont. Even the count appeared desirous of peace, and 
 made proposals for a treaty with these invincible peasants. 
 They replied that they also wished to see the war at an 
 end, and followed by an honourable peace, which should 
 allow them to serve God with a good conscience. But they 
 did not dare to trust him, after having been duped more 
 than once by his fair words, and having even experienced 
 that he talked of peace when he was meditating the most 
 violent attacks. They showed more confidence in Philip 
 of Savoy, count of Raconis, who, although chief commis- 
 sioner of the persecution, seemed to disapprove of this war. 
 They received his envoy favourably, — the same Gilles of 
 Bricherasco, who had succeeded in placing their complaints, 
 requests, and apologies, in the hands of the princess of 
 Savoy, at Mce, in the preceding year ; but a most melan- 
 
ATTACK OX THE REFUGE OF PEA-DI-TOERE. 195 
 
 choly event oeeiuTed to interrupt this negotiation. Gilles, 
 although it Avas gro^Wng late, wished to return the same 
 evening to the count's quarters. They gave him an escort; 
 but ha^dng dismissed it too soon, he was killed by two 
 men of Angrogna, who met him. The measures they at 
 once adopted towards the count de Eaconis, and the im- 
 mediate siuTender of the offenders, fi'eed the Yaudois 
 authorities from all suspicion of being implicated in the 
 act : but for a time it interrupted the negotiations. 
 
 Dm-ing this parley, the count's army marched to the 
 valley of San Martino, to raise the siege of the castle of 
 Perrier, which was closely invested by the Vaudois of the 
 vicinity, and by theii^ neighbours and allies of the valley of 
 Clusone. At its approach the besiegers retired, with tiieir 
 brethiTU of the lower villages, to the hamlets in the upper 
 part of the valley, where they successfully defended them- 
 selves for a month, and then had the satisfaction of seeing: 
 the enemy retire. 
 
 The Yaudois, who had retreated into the most rugged 
 and savage localities, pressed and crowded into a few huts 
 with all theii' families, saw their provisions rapidly diminish, 
 wliile, at the same time, the number of their fugitive brethren 
 who resorted to them in quest of shelter and food, increased. 
 It might have been aj)prehended that famine would come, 
 in addition to so many other sufferings, to weaken their 
 bodies and discourage their hearts ; but He who fed 
 Elijah by the brook Cherith, supplied the wants of his 
 servants who had taken refuge among the sources of their 
 mountain-ton^ents, and replenished the vessels of the widows, 
 the children, and the poor, with ilom' and oil, according to 
 theii' desire, as he once did lor the pious widow of Zarephath. 
 
 The genial mildness of spring began to be felt even on 
 the mountains. But wliile the sovereign Benefactor and 
 Disposer of all things was awakening creation to new life, 
 and shedding fertility over the earth, the cruel count de la 
 Trinite was only j^lanning how to destroy God's noblest 
 creatures, and moisten the soil with their blood. He 
 longed, at any cost, to penetrate the asylum of the Pra- 
 di-torre, to quench his thirst in a stream of blood, like a 
 famished wolf, who, with open jaws and parched tongue 
 hanging from his mouth, prowls for days, with fury in his 
 heart, round a multitude of sheep and lambs, in a well- 
 
 K 2 
 
196 HISTORY OF THE VAUDOIS CHrRCH. 
 
 inclosed fold, seeking for some opening by which to enter 
 in. Such an entrance the count hop(;d. that he had found 
 at last. He planned to surprise the Pra-di-torre through 
 the hamlet of Taillaret, which, it may be remembered, is 
 situated to the north of La Torre, on the south side of a 
 moderately elevated plateau, at the foot of the eastern side 
 of Yandalin, Avhich plateau separates the valley of Lucerna, 
 and the commune of La Torre in particular, from the higher 
 vale of Angrogna, on the Pra-di-torre. To succeed on this 
 side, it was absolutely necessary to reach the plateau of 
 Costa Eoussina unobserved, with the whole of the forces 
 employed, before the alarm could be given ; otherwise the 
 troops would be liable to be assailed from the higher 
 ground, and infallibly driven back, while climbing up a 
 slope of more than two leagues in length. The woful end 
 of Truchet and his division, who were cut in pieces in a 
 like situation, by a small number of herdsmen, was a suf&- 
 cient lesson. It was therefore necessary, if possible, to 
 lay asleep the vigilance of the people of Taillaret and their 
 neighbours. The count, whom it cost but little to play the 
 hypocrite, persuaded some influential individuals of Tail- 
 laret, and in particular captain Michael Peymondet, to 
 come and see him, having sent them the necessary passport. 
 He flattered their vanity by saying that the duke esteemed 
 them, and would give them proofs of liis good-will if they 
 would lay down their arms and cease to exhibit distrust 
 and a spirit of revolt by the incessant patrols they so unne- 
 cessarily kept up. He assiu^ed them, that if they remained 
 quiet, he would prevent the soldiers from giving them the 
 least vexation ; but, on the contrary supposition, he would 
 punish them with the utmost rigour. 
 
 The vanity of these poor people being thus ^vrought 
 upon, they promised to remain quiet, and they kept their 
 word, notwithstanding the warnings and reproaches of the 
 minister of the Plying Company, to whom they gave an 
 account of their journey. The minister, foreboding what 
 would happen, collected his company of musketeers at La 
 Combe di Villaro, placed sentinels, and sent messengers in 
 diff'erent directions to announce an impending attack : in 
 fact, at daybreak, the small corps of picked men who had 
 already rendered such great services to the Yaudois cause, 
 were warned by the advanced sentinels that the papists 
 
ALWAYS CONQUERORS. 197 
 
 Avere marching on Taillaret. They immediately sot out 
 by a dangerous road, along slopes and precipices, with 
 the intention of coming above Taillaret, where they would 
 overlook the enemy. Nevertheless, the latter, in several 
 bands, siu'prised all the small towns in this extensive quar- 
 ter. A regiment of Spaniards were distinguished for their 
 excesses. The credulous Eej-mondet escaped, not "svithout 
 difficulty, with his wdfe and her newly -born infant. The 
 troops reach the plateau. The Yaudois musketeers could 
 not arrive in time. From the summit of the mountain, the 
 enemy saw before them, to the north, the large and deep 
 oval of the Pra-di-torre. In less than an hour, descend- 
 ing by the slopes of Barfe, they would have reached the 
 dwellings on the south side. But they preferred follow- 
 ing a path which would allow them to attack the Pra-di- 
 torre from above ; this proved their destmction. The 
 Yaudois had finished their customary morning prayer, 
 when, almost at the same time, their sentinels gave notice 
 of the enemy's approach at three points ; by the plateau on 
 the south, which we have just mentioned, and on the east 
 by the two roads to the north and south of Eocciailla. 
 Twelve men only threw themselves forward to meet the 
 column issuing from the plateau by the narrow path, and 
 they were sufficient to stop it. 
 
 A traveller little accustomed to a mountainous tract, 
 would advance T\ith hesitation and trembling on a path 
 scarcely visible down a steep declivity. The steps of the 
 great part of the duke's soldiers were not more firm; they 
 halted, therefore, when they saw their narrow passage stop- 
 ped by six resolute men ; and stones, and fragTaents of rocks, 
 which six others were detaching fr-om the neighbouring 
 heights to roll upon them, threatening to hiud them down 
 T\T.th one boimd into the ravine. But their heai'ts failed 
 them entirely when they saw the agile and intrepid moun- 
 taineers running in constantly increasing numbers to the 
 aid of their advanced guard. They turned their backs and 
 fled precipitately to the plateau, where some of their ti'oop 
 were resting. In the meanwhile, the Plying Company ad- 
 vancing along the flank of the Yandalin, gained the heights 
 which overlooked the plateau, and screening themselves 
 behind large trees, rocks, and low walls that separated 
 the pasture lands, opened a close and deadly fire. The 
 
198 HISTOEY OF THE VAUDOIS CHURCH. 
 
 popish troops, crowded together and exposed, lost a great 
 number, while the sharpshooters of the mountains had only 
 three killed. At last, having made another attempt to act 
 on the offensive, they retreated, not by way of Taillaret, 
 which would have been too exposed, but across the sum- 
 mit of the mountain which sinks insensibly, and directing 
 their course to La Torre, which, owing to its small breadth, 
 was more easily defended. 
 
 As to the two columns which were advancing by An- 
 grogna, as they were not to act alone, but simply to sup- 
 port the attack made on the side of Taillaret by causing a 
 diversion, they retreated as soon as they saw their com- 
 panions in arms put to flight on the neighbouring mountain. 
 
 Such was the issue of the last attack made on the Yau- 
 dois in this campaign. The count de la Trinite, probably 
 fearful, after so many reverses, of being attacked in his 
 quarters at La Torre by the warlike mountaineers, broke 
 up his encampment the same night and retreated to Cavor 
 with a part of his troops. From that place, he threatened 
 again to ravage the whole country, to destro}^ the corn in 
 the blade, the vines, and the trees ; but a dangerous illness, 
 which brought him to the brink of the grave, prevented the 
 execution of his evil designs. During his compulsory in- 
 activity, the Yaudois renewed their relations "Vidth Philip of 
 Savoy, count de Raconis, which had been interrupted by 
 the murder of Gilles of Bricherasco. This prince, who, in 
 the discharge of his office, as chief commissioner, had always 
 given proofs of moderation, showed himself favourable to 
 peace. He consented to transmit to the duchess the desires 
 and request of her persecuted subjects, for the purpose of 
 obtaining conditions such as their consciences could accept. 
 Having received the necessary powers for negotiating, the 
 count de E,aconis displayed a confiding benevolence which 
 shortened the negotiation, and after a month of preliminary 
 conferences, brought about an agreement which settled all 
 the questions at issue, and was signed by both parties. 
 
 A general pardon was granted to all persons in the val- 
 leys and elsewhere, who had taken arms against his highness 
 and against their particular lords on account of religion. 
 
 The liberty of assembling in the customary places to hear 
 sermons, and to perform all the acts of their religion, was 
 granted to the greater part of the communities of the three 
 
TREATY OF PEACE. 199 
 
 T alleys,'^' and likewise of building edifices for this purpose. 
 But the right of preaching and holding meetings was for- 
 mally denied beyond the limits indicated in the capitula- 
 tion. XeTcrtheless, the ministers were authorized to make 
 pastoral ^dsits to such of their people as were residents in 
 places where they had not the public exercise of their reli- 
 gion,! provided these visits were made with j)rudence and 
 discretion. It was specified that the answers which the 
 Yaudois might give, when interrogated, concerning their 
 faith, were not to be regarded as an infraction of the pre- 
 sent treaty, nor as preaching for the piu-pose of making 
 proselytes. 
 
 All the fugitives of the said valleys, and all those who 
 had abjured, or promised to abjure, before the war, were 
 permitted to return to their houses with their families, and 
 to enjoy the free exercise of their religion. Their goods 
 were to be restored to them ; all those, at least, which had 
 been taken from them in the course of the war. A similar 
 promise was made to the inhabitants of the valley of 
 Meane, and of St. Barthelemi. 
 
 Restitution was guaranteed to all, by legal means, of 
 their movables and cattle (excepting what had been carried 
 off" by the soldiers) as well as the redemption of the articles 
 sold at the same price as the jDiu'chasers had paid for 
 them. The same right was secui'ed to the Eoman Catho- 
 lics against the Yaudois. 
 
 To the Yaudois:|: all fi-anchises and immunities were 
 confiiTued, as well as all privileges, whether granted by his 
 highness, or his predecessors, or by the lords, provided 
 they were vouched by public documents. 
 
 * The places where the Vaudois were authorized to hold their religious 
 assembhes were the follo^ving :— in the vaUey of Lucernu, Angrogna, Bobbio, 
 YiUaro (with this condition, "that if the sovereign should Iniild a fort in this 
 place, the reh.aious meetings should no longer he held in the town, but in one 
 of the hamlets', or some other place approved by the inhabitants) Val-C4uichard, 
 Rora ;— in the commune of La Torre, the hamlets of TaiUaret and La Rua cli 
 Boneti (the town of La Torre was excluded) ;— in the vaUey of San Mariinu, 
 Praah, Rodoret, Macel, ManeiUe ;— in the vallev of Perosa, Peui, a hamlet of 
 the parish of La Perosa ; le Grand-Dublon (a hamlet of the parish of Pinachel, 
 St. Germain (in the quarter of Dormillouse), Rocheplatte (in the Gaudens). 
 The right of meeting in the temples was refused to those of San Giovanni, of 
 the to-«Ti of La Torre, of Bibbiana, Rioclaret, etc. 
 
 t The capitulation mentions especially those of the commime of il^ane, as 
 well as those of Saint-Barthelemi, near Rocheplatte, as authorized to enjoy 
 this privilege. 
 
 t In the capitulation no particular name, as for example that of Vaudois, is 
 given to those ^\-ith whom it is made. They are only described as inhabitants 
 of the valleys {ceux des vallees.) 
 
200 niSTOET OF THE VAUDOIS CHTJECH. 
 
 The proper administration of justice was promised to 
 them. 
 
 A list of the fugitives who were to return was to be pre- 
 pared and transmitted to his highness. 
 
 The duke reserved to himself the liberty of erecting a 
 fortress at Villaro ; but he gave, at the same time, the 
 assurance that it should not be employed to the prejudice 
 of the property and consciences of the people of the valleys. 
 
 The duke also required the aforesaid to dismiss such of 
 their pastors as he named ; but, in return, he permitted 
 them to fill up their places. He excluded, however, the 
 pastor Martin, of Pragela, from their choice. 
 
 The right of celebrating the mass and other services of 
 the E-orndsh worship in all the parishes of the valleys was 
 renewed by his highness ; but the liberty of not being pre- 
 sent at them was granted, in return, to those of the op- 
 posite religion, while they were under obligation not to 
 molest those who wished to attend such ser^dces. 
 
 All the expenses of the war were remitted to the afore- 
 said, as well as the eight thousand dollars which they owed 
 his highness out of the sixteen thousand which they had 
 engaged to pay. 
 
 All the prisoners that remained in the hands of the 
 soldiers were to be released for a moderate ransom : all 
 those who had been sent to the galleys for their religion 
 were to be set at libertj^ gratuitously. 
 
 Permission was granted to all the inhabitants of the 
 valleys of Meane, and other places mentioned in the capi- 
 tulation, except the ministers, to stay, to come and go, to 
 buy, sell, and traffic in the dominions of his highness, 
 provided their settled residence was within their limits, "^ 
 and that they abstain, in their journeys, from controversy, 
 preaching, and holding assemblies. 
 
 This treaty of peace was signed at Cavor the 5th of 
 June, 1561, in the name of the duke, by Philip of Savoy, 
 count de E-aconis, and in the name of the communities of 
 
 * The history of Pinerolo mentions, after this article, a supplementary article 
 which is not found in the copy given by L^orer. The substance of it is, that a 
 Vaudois might obtain a dweiling beyond these limits, in the domains of his 
 highness, if he foiind emplo;>Tnent there as a servant or farmer, or if he acquired 
 property there, provided he did not hold rehgious meetings, etc. This article, 
 not known to L^ger, and quoted by a Roman CathoUc author, is not without 
 its importance. — See Storia di Pinerolo, Torino, 1834, t. iii., p. 54. 
 
BASIS OF FUXrEE EELATIO^'S TO THEIR SOVEEEIGX. 201 
 
 the valleys, by two pastors, Francois Yal, minister of Yil- 
 laro, and Claude Berge, minister of Taillaret, and by two of 
 the principal deputies, George Monastier, syndic of An- 
 grogna, and Michael Eeymondet, envoy of Taillaret.*^'' 
 
 Such was the arrangement which was effected, thanks to 
 the noble and generous heart of the distinguished Em- 
 manuel Pliilibert, seconded by his royal consort, Margaret 
 of France, by the honourable Philip of Savoy, count de 
 Raconis, and certainly by the majority of a just and en- 
 lightened council. "WTiether we call it a compact, a treaty, 
 or a patent, matters little ; the essential point is, that the 
 contract took effect according to the engagement of the 
 parties who signed it. To call such an act (which was one 
 of clemency, it is true, but also of justice,) " a blameable 
 weakness," as is done by the liistorian Botta, because the 
 duke of Savoy permitted the consent of his Yaudois sub- 
 jects to regulate and determine the points of this arrange- 
 ment, appears to us a criticism as ill-founded as it is un- 
 just ; for why should a sovereign not allow his people to 
 express their adhesion to the solemn act which regulates 
 their relations to him ; especially when, being of different 
 religions, the matter in hand is to' settle a mode of living 
 which may harmonize his rights with the discharge of the 
 duties which they feel themselves obliged to render to God ? 
 Far from being chargeable with weakness, the prince who 
 condescends to the religious wants of his subjects only 
 shows himself just ; and if he consent to grant them gua- 
 rantees b)^ an agreement signed by the two parties, he 
 gives a proof of high wisdom, and places himself in the 
 elevated and glorious position of father of his people. 
 Certainly the house of Savoy never had to regret the polic)' 
 it followed on this occasion. If, in order to meet the 
 requirements of Rome, it has often persecuted its Yaudois 
 subjects, by afterwards treating them with kindness, it so 
 won their hearts, that their attachment, fidelity, and de- 
 votedness to it has never failed. f 
 
 Botta further remarks, that although the duke adhered 
 to the edict for some years, he would never ratify it, nor 
 
 * Leger, pt. ii., p. 38. The other deputies were Rambaud, of Villaro ; Arduinc, 
 of Bobbio ; Jean Malanet, of San Giovanni ; Pierre Pascal, of the valley of Saa 
 ilartino ; and Thomas Roman, of Saint-Germain, for the valley of Perosa. 
 
 t Storia d'ltaha da Carolo Botta, t. ii., p. i2S, etc. . Paris : 1832. 
 
202 HISTORY OF THE VAUDOIS CHURCH. 
 
 cause it to be registered by the senate and by the court of 
 exchequer, — a formality indispensable for giving it the 
 form of an edict to be observed. But this argumentation is 
 strange. The authenticity of the treaty cannot be denied ;^' 
 and its actual observance, had it been for ever so short a 
 time, is equally a sufficient proof to establish its validity. 
 The sequel of this history will show, moreover, that it 
 became the basis of the ordinary relations between the 
 civil authorities and the inhabitants of the valleys. It is 
 lamentable that recourse should be had to such a subter- 
 fuge, when it is so essential that the word of a prince 
 should be treated with respect and confidence. All ho- 
 nour to Emmanuel Philibert, who during his whole life 
 was faithful to the agreement which was made in his 
 name ! 
 
 But though the two parties immediately interested agreed 
 to the convention, finding it to be for their mutual advan- 
 tage, there was one person who felt highly displeased : 
 this was the pope, to whom the duke communicated the 
 transaction. The Roman pontiff complained bitterly. He 
 thought that this ''pernicious example" of tolerance would 
 find imitators, and that by their lax indulgence, heresy 
 would take perpetual root in the many kingdoms placed 
 under his crosier. The monks and priests of Piedmont 
 made themselves very busy, and if they did not succeed in 
 breaking the treaty, they at least retarded or shackled its 
 execution; particularly in what concerned the restitution 
 of the confiscated! or pillaged goods, and the liberation of 
 the prisoners, particularly those who had been sent to the 
 galleys. Nevertheless, Philip of Savoy, count de Raconis, 
 having agreed to lay the grievances of the Yaudois before 
 the duchess, that excellent princess, after consulting with 
 the venerable pastor, Noel of Angrogna, obtained the 
 redress of all their wrongs and the strict execution of the 
 treaty. 
 
 The persecution lasted fifteen months, seven of which 
 were spent in obstinate warfare. 
 
 We now leave the valleys of Piedmont, and transport 
 
 * L^ger gives in his history irrefragable proofs of the legal validity of this 
 document ; pt. ii., p. 200, etc. 
 
 t This restitution met with obstacles, especially at Bibbiana, Fenile, and ' 
 Campiglione, small towns in the valley of Lucerna, at the extreme frontier 
 towards the plain. 
 
STATE OF THE COLONIES. 203 
 
 ourselves to one of their ancient colonies, in Calabria, to be 
 A\T.tnesses of its entire destruction.** 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 DESTEUCTIOX OF THE VAUDOIS COLONIES IX APVLIA AND 
 
 CALABRIA. 
 
 The religious life wliicli the Reformation had awakened 
 in the ancient Yaudois churches of the Alps, manifested 
 itself, though more slowly, among their colonies in the 
 kingdom of Xaples. The evangelical docti'ine, constantly 
 taught for three centuries by the Yaudois barbes in their 
 regular missions among their brethren of Apulia and 
 Calabria, had maintained in the hearts of this persecuted 
 race an indestructible aversion from Romish errors, at the 
 same time that it gave their manners a character of mild- 
 ness, sobriety, chastity, and fidelity, which struck all 
 persons in their vicinity, though a certain timidity or 
 prudence constrained them, in the presence of the enemies 
 of their faith, to conceal part of their sentiments, and of 
 their acts of worship. Xo district was more peaceable or 
 flouiishing in the whole kingdom of Xaples than that which 
 was inhabited and cultivated by the Yaudois of Calabria, 
 not far from Montalto, and of which San Sesto and Guardia 
 were at that time the most remarkable places. The inde- 
 fatigable acti^-ity of these labourers, their order, their good 
 manners, while they were a source of happiness for them- 
 selves, had gained for them the favour of their lords, who 
 derived considerable advantages fi'om them, — such as higher 
 rents, and much greater security than from any other of 
 their vassals. *' The clergy and priests alone," says an 
 ancient author, " complained that they did not live like 
 other people in matters of religion ; that they made none of 
 their children priests or nuns ; that they gave themselves 
 no concern about chants, wax-tapers, lights, bells, or even 
 masses for their dead ; that they built temples without 
 ornamenting them with any images ; they never went on 
 
 * For the whole of this chapter see GiUes, chs. xi. to xs\'iii, Leger, pt. ii., 
 pp. 29—40. 
 
204 HISTOET OF THE VAUBOIS CHUECH. 
 
 pilgrimages ; they had their children instructed by unlaiown 
 foreign schoolmasters, to whom they showed much more 
 respect than to themselves, papng them (the clergy) 
 nothing hut the tithes, just as they had agreed with their 
 lords. They suspected that these said people had some 
 particular belief, which prevented them from connecting 
 themselves or mixing with the original inhabitants of the 
 country, and that they were bad Roman Catholics." Never- 
 theless, the abundance of the tithes, and the regularity of 
 their payment, added to the dread of displeasing the lords, 
 had restrained the suspicious and irritable zeal of the 
 priests of the country.^' 
 
 But at the news of the triumphs of the Reformation, the 
 noise made by its doctrines, and the profound emotion they 
 excited in Italy, suspicion was again awakened, and 
 marked with a restless eye the most trifling proceedings 
 of intelligent and generous men. The inquisition, watch- 
 ing its 'prej, followed like bloodhounds the traces of the 
 numerous writings, and especially of the sacred books, 
 which were circulated in all places by the recent invention 
 of printing ; and when the Yaudois colonies of Calabria 
 awoke from their slumbers, agitated by the gales of the 
 spirit of life which blew from the north, they were 
 encountered by the ferocious aspect of their sworn foe, 
 watching every step they took, and seeking to penetrate 
 into their most secret thoughts. 
 
 Being informed by the barbes who were sent to them,f 
 of the courageous resolutions of the synod of Angrogna, in 
 1532, and feeling constrained to glorify their Saviour openly 
 by the example of the reformed churches, as well as by 
 that of their brethren of Piedmont, the Yaudois colonies of 
 Calabria wished to associate with the barbe Etienne Negrin, 
 who had come to them from the valleys, a minister ordained 
 at Geneva, above all others the city of the Reformation. 
 They deputed for this purpose one of their principal men, 
 Marco Uscegli, who, on reaching the city of Calvin, spoke 
 on behalf of the Italian church, and obtained what he 
 desired for it. A young Piedmontese, named Jean Louis 
 Pascal, was then finishing his studies at Lausanne ; he had 
 
 * See Perrin, Histoire des Vaudois, p. 197. 
 
 t See Chapter xvii. — The minister Gilles, ancestor of the historian, was the 
 last of these barbes who could return in peace to the vallej-s. 
 
PEESECTJTIOX. 205 
 
 quitted popery for the gospel, and _ the military scrTice for 
 that of the Lord Jesus Christ. Ey general consent he was 
 appointed for the perilous mission in Calabria.*' He set out 
 wdth XJscegli, leaving his betrothed bridef at Geneva, whom 
 he was never more to see in this world. 
 
 Pascal's energetic ministry was not in vain. His preach- 
 ing took possession of the souls of his hearers. The light 
 so often hid under a bushel was now placed on a candle- 
 stick ; but its splendour, beneficial to the sound eyes of the 
 true believers, irritated the diseased organs of the papists, 
 and alarmed the principal lord of the Vaudois of Calabria, 
 the marquis of Spinello. Eoused by the outcry raised by 
 the bigots of his religion, and perhaps feaiing lest he should 
 himself be suspected of heresy if he did not act, the marquis, 
 who had been heretofore so indulgent, now had recourse to 
 measures of severity. He cited before him the principal of 
 his vassals along vrith Pascal. He censui-ed and thi-eatened 
 them, and cast the faithfal pastor and his friend Uscegli 
 into the dungeons of Foscalda. This was in 1558, or 1559. 
 The diocesan bishop of Cosenza, not being contented T\'itli 
 these arrests, took the matter into his own hands. He 
 attempted a forced conversion of the prisoners, if that were 
 possible ; and at the same time persecuted the destitute 
 flock, in spite of the secret efforts of the marquis to turn 
 his blows aside. 
 
 The apprehension of Pascal, and the perseverance of the 
 faithful Calabrians in the evangelical doctrine having 
 attracted the attention of the pope, his holiness delegated 
 cardinal Alexandria., inquisitor-general, to put an end to 
 heresy in the kingdom of jS^aples. The first essay at forced 
 conversion was made in the spring of 1560, at San Sesto, 
 a considerable town in the neighboui'hood of Montalto. 
 Promises, exhortations, and threats were alternately em- 
 ployed : nothing was neglected to overawe or seduce the 
 inhabitants ; but rather than attend at mass they all fled 
 together to a wood in the moimtain. The inquisitors, 
 imable to pursue them instantly, betook themselves with 
 
 * M. I. P. M * * *, in an article on the Vaudois of Calabria, in the Reviie 
 Suisse, (Lausanne, 1839, t. ii., p. 691,) asserts, on the authority of a Grison 
 minister of that period, that Pascal set out for Calabria, accompanied by 
 another pastor and fr«"o schoolmasters. 
 
 t [Her name was Camilla Guerina. See M'Crie's History of the Reforma- 
 tion in Italy, p. 283.] 
 
206 HISTOEY OF THE YATJDOIS CHTJECH. 
 
 all speed to the Yaudois city of Guardia, about twelve 
 miles distant. Having shut the gates, they assembled the 
 population, and falsely announced the return of the inhabi- 
 tants of San Sesto to the pale of the Romish church. They 
 pretended to love them, and pressed them to imitate so 
 excellent an example. The marquis of Spinello joined his 
 entreaties to those of these deceitful ^vretches, and promised 
 them new temporal advantages; and these poor people, 
 deceived and surprised, yielded and promised to comply 
 with the demands made upon them. The truth, however, 
 soon became known to them, and a considerable part 
 escaped and proceeded to join the fugitives of San Sesto. 
 Two companies of soldiers were sent in pursuit of them. 
 In vain the unfortunate beings begged them to come to 
 terms with them, and allow them to emigrate ; they were 
 only answered by denunciations of death. Thus constrained 
 to defend themselves by arms, they j^iit their enemies to 
 flight. 
 
 This victory gained them some days of repose ; but it 
 brought into Calabria the viceroy in person, at the head of 
 a considerable number of troops. The fugitives were tracked 
 in the woods by dogs trained for the purpose, to the foot of 
 trees in which they had taken refuge, or to the copses and 
 pits where they were secreted. Scarcely any escaped, but 
 all were either taken prisoners or killed. While the viceroy 
 threatened universal destruction, the inquisitors affected 
 compassion, and were lavish of their expressions of peace, 
 and thus drcAV the credulous people into their snares, who, 
 as the chronicler Gilles says, thinking to escape the fuiy of 
 the lion, threw themselves into the jaws of the serpent. 
 
 When these double-faced men had, hj their artifices, 
 got possession of more than sixteen hundi^ed persons, they 
 threw aside the mask and the executions began. They 
 wished to fix on their victims the odium of lewdness, and 
 therefore put them to torture, hoping to force from them 
 the confession that in their religious assemblies they were 
 guilty of detestable impurities. But the patience of the 
 tortured bafiled their ^dle design ; no one confessed. Charlin 
 expired on the rack itself; his bowels being forced out. 
 Yermincl, who had even consented to apostatize, was kept 
 for eight hours on an instrument of torture, called a hell, 
 without being prevailed upon to confess to such infamous 
 
HOREIBLE rUNISHMEXTS. 207 
 
 calumnies. ^larcon, the father, was beaten with iron chains, 
 and then killed. One of his sons had his throat cut ; and 
 the other was precipitated from a liigh tower. Bernard 
 Conte, for having thrown away from him a cnicifix which 
 they wished him to hold, was led to Cosenza, and there, 
 covered Tsath pitch, he was burned like a pine-torch; a 
 honid punishment, copied from Xero. Sixty women were 
 tortured : some of them were burned ; others died of their 
 wounds ; the most beautiful disappeared. Eighty-eight 
 men of Guardia were butchered at Montalto, by order of 
 the inquisitor Panza. '' I confess," says a witness of this 
 scene, a Roman Catholic, in a letter which has been pre- 
 served to us,"^" " I can only compare these executions to a 
 slaughter-house. The executioner came, and called out 
 one of the unfortunate creatures, and having wrapped his 
 head in a cloth, led him to a spot adjoining the house, made 
 him fall on his knees, and cut his thi'oat with a knife. 
 Then, taking off the bloody veil, he came for another 
 prisoner, who underwent the same fate ; in this manner 
 eighty-eight persons were butchered. I leave your imagi- 
 nation to picture this horrible sight. At this very moment 
 I can hardly restrain my tears. jS^o one can ever describe 
 the meekness and patience with which these heretics suffered 
 such a martyrdom and death. A small number of them, 
 when at the point of death, declared that they embraced 
 the Catholic faith ; but the greater part died in their in- 
 fernal obstinacy. All the old men ended their lives Avith 
 an imperturbable calmness ; only the yoimg manifested 
 some agitation. A shudder comes over my whole frame 
 when I picture to myself the executioner with the bloody 
 knife between his teeth, holding the dripping napkin in his 
 hand, entering the house, and, with his arms covered with 
 blood, seizing the prisoners one after another, as a butcher 
 goes and takes the sheep he is about to slaughter." 
 
 Their bodies, when quartered, were fastened to stakes all 
 along the road from Montalto to Chateau-Yilar, a distance 
 of thirty-six miles, for the terror of heretics, and the satis- 
 
 * See tliis letter in Porta, Historia Reformationis Rhetige, t. ii., pp. 310—312 
 and in Pantaleon, Reriim in Eccles. Gestarum, pp. 337, 33S. The author of the 
 letter also says, " These people were originally from the valley of Angrogna, 
 near Savoy f and ta Calabria they call them Ultra-Montanes. They still 
 occupy four cities in the kingdom of Naples ; but I have not learned tliat they 
 conduct themselves amiss. (See the article on the Vaudois by M. I. P. M * * *, 
 in the Revue Suisse, t. ii., p. 707.)— [See also M'Crie'sHistoiy of the Reforma- 
 lion in Italy, p. 263.] 
 
208 HISTOET OF THE YAUDOIS CHUECH. 
 
 faction of the Catholics. Those who were not massacred, 
 and yet would not abjure, were sent to fill the Spanish 
 galleys. Some only escaped by flight and reached the 
 valleys, (the women dressed as men,) when the persecution 
 described in the preceding chaj)ter was at its height ; some, 
 still later, after incessant dangers, being forced to travel 
 only by night, very frequently to go up the course of rivers 
 till they could meet with fords, scantily fed on seeds, roots, 
 fraits, and what they could get as alms, or purchase in out- 
 of-the-way places. Many of them were stopped on the 
 road and delivered up, the order having been given through- 
 out Italy, to all officers of police, lightermen, bargemen, 
 and others, not to allow to pass, and to every innkeeper, 
 not to lodge any stranger presenting himself without a 
 certificate from his parish priest, attested at each stage of 
 his journej^ from the place of his setting out. 
 
 The churches of the Yaudois valleys mourned over those 
 of Calabria that were thus destroyed ; especially the pastors 
 who had exercised their ministry among them, and who 
 knew each of the \dctims whom the survivors named to them. 
 Their hearts were melted with sorrow when they learned 
 the fate of their colleague, Etiemie J^egrin, who, after 
 having resisted all the solicitations and seductions of the 
 priests in the prison of Cosenza, died of starvation or of 
 other secret tortures. As to Louis Pascal, he consummated, 
 after all the others, at the stake at Rome, in the presence of 
 the pope, the cardinals, and an immense concourse of spec- 
 tators, the sacrifice which he had begun in separating him- 
 self, for a time as he suj)posed, from his betrothed, to visit 
 Calabria. Neither flatteries nor importunities; nor the 
 continual threats of a crowd of monks and priests ; nor the 
 bodily sufferings he endured in damp prisons, where he was 
 not even allowed straw ; nor the prayers and tears of a 
 dear brother-''' who remained a papist, who implored him to 
 recant, and to tempt him more stronglj^, offcTed him half his 
 property ; nor the sad remembrance of a tender friend, who 
 though not yet espoused, would by his death be left, as it 
 were, a Avidow ; no human power, — in short, nothing could 
 move this faithful and tried soul. It was decided at last to 
 
 * His brother thus whites : " It was hideous to see him, bareheaded, his arms 
 and hands tied so tightly with small cords tliat they penetrated the flesh, as 
 if he were about to )je led to the gibl^et. Seeing him in tliis state, and going 
 fonvard to embrace him, in my distress I fell to the gi'ound, by which I in- 
 creased his sulfermg."— Crespin, Histoire des Mai-tyrs, fol. 520.— M'Crie, p. 285. 
 
HOEKIBLE PUlTISHlVrENTS. 209 
 
 pimisli him -w-ithout waiting any longer. The pope deter- 
 mined to give himself the pleasure of being present at the 
 last moments of so obstinate a heretic, who had constantly 
 called him antichrist. 
 
 On Monday, the 9th of September, 1560, an excited 
 multitude might be seen eagerly pressing towards the court 
 of the castle of St. Angelo. A scaffold, and close by a pile 
 of fagots, had been akeady placed there. In the immediate 
 Ticinity, rose an amphitheatre of richly decorated benches, 
 on which were seated his holiness the pope, vicar of Jesus 
 Christ on earth, the cardinals, the inquisitors, with priests, 
 and monks of all kinds in great numbers. AMien the martyr 
 to Chiistian ti'uth appeared, dragging himself along with 
 difficulty under the weight of his chains, liis enemies, who 
 watched ail his motions and the play of liis features, ready 
 to exult in the least symptom of weakness, could not detect 
 in his countenance any change or fear. There was the same 
 mild and resigned expression which had never left him 
 during the whole time of his long imprisonment. Having 
 arrived at the scaffold, and taking advantage of a short 
 interval of silence, he declared to the people that if he were 
 put to death it would not be for any crime, but for having 
 confessed vrith purity and boldness the doctrine of his Divine 
 Master and Saviour Jesus Christ. " As to those," he went 
 on to say, " who hold the pope to be God upon earth and 
 vicar of Jesus Christ, they are strangely mistaken, seeing 
 that in everything, and everywhere, he shows himself to be 
 a mortal enemy of His doctrine and true service, and of pure 
 religion, and by his actions that he is manifestly the real 
 antichrist." He could say no more. The inquisitors gave 
 the signal to the executioner, who, raising Mm from the 
 ground, put an end to his life by strangulation. His body 
 was tMoAvn on the funeral pile and soon reduced to ashes. 
 " The pope," says a historian, " must have wished himself 
 elsewhere, or that Pascal had been dumb, or the people deaf; 
 for he said many things against the pope, according to the 
 word of God, which displeased him exceedingly. Thus 
 this man died, calling on God with so ardent a zeal that he 
 deeply moved the assistants at his execution, and made tjie 
 pope and his cai^dinals gnash their teeth."* 
 
 * Crespin, Hist, des Martyrs, fol. 520.— Perrin, Hist, des Vaudois, et des 
 Albigeois, p. 207. 
 
210 HISTOEY OF THE VAUDOIS CHUECH. 
 
 _ The Yaudois churches of Apulia and some other pro- 
 vinces of Naples, not having displayed any extraordinary 
 zeal, escaped the suspicious notice of Borne. Those of 
 their members who had real piety, were not slow in dis- 
 posing of their property and taking refuge in a safe place. 
 All the rest bent their heads before the storm and aban- 
 doned the profession of the gospel. At the present day, we 
 should seek in vain, in these countries, for vestiges of the 
 once flourishing Yaudois colonies. "^^ 
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 THE BENEFITS OF THE PEACE ATTENDED WITH GEEAT 
 
 EVILS. 
 
 The peace signed at Cavor on the 5th of June, 1561, by 
 Philip of Savoy, and the deputies of the valleys, had dis- 
 sipated many fears, and restored tranquillity to a desolated 
 country. The hearts of mothers no longer failed them at 
 the very name of soldiers, and the prospect of hateful and 
 agonizing scenes no longer drew their restless and stealthy 
 glances to their offspring. The aged people were once 
 more led, ^dth slow and feeble steps, from their hiding- 
 places in the mountains. The joy of returning to the 
 places where they had passed their infancy under the 
 vines on the hill-side, or the shade of the chesnut-trees, 
 brought smiles on their faces again. Sons and fathers hung- 
 up their weapons, and their warlike hands once more took 
 the spade and sickle for their peaceful occupations. But 
 the signing of the treaty, though it had allayed many fears, 
 had not healed all their wounds; some were too deep. 
 The distress most generally felt, was increasing want. 
 Seven months of unsparing warfare on the part of the 
 papists had impoverished every family. Y^hole villages 
 and countless hamlets had been consumed by the flames, 
 and were only a heap of ruins. They had to be rebuilt, 
 
 * For the whole of this chapter consult Botta, Storia d'ltaha, t. ii., p. 430, 
 and foUoAving : — Gilles, Hist. Eccles., ch. xxix. — Leger, Histoire G^n^rale, pt. 
 ii., p. 333.— Perrin, Histoire des Vaudois, p. 199.— Revne Suisse, t. ii.— Crespin, 
 fol. 515, etc. 
 
mfJUST OEDEE. 211 
 
 but everytliing "was wanting. The provisions of the pre- 
 cedino; year had come to an end. The time for sowing 
 corn was past. The harvest approached, but there was 
 hardly anything to reap, for only the heights had been 
 cultivated and the best lands had been left tallow. To this 
 destitution was added the difficulty of pro^-iding for the 
 maintenance and establishment of the Calabrian fugitives, 
 who came to the valleys stript of everything. 
 
 In this state of things, and by the ad^-ice of the church 
 of Geneva, the churches of the valleys had recourse to the 
 chmty of their brethren in Switzerland and Germany. 
 John CaMn exerted himself for them ^vith great zeal. 
 Their deputies were everywhere received with interest, and 
 had the consolation of collecting sums adequate to relieve 
 their most pressing necessities. The elector palatine made 
 the largest donation. ^N^ext to him may be mentioned the 
 duke of AYurtemburg, the marquis of Baden, the evan- 
 gelical cantons, with Berne at their head, the church of 
 Strasburg, and a great number of others, among which the 
 churches of Provence may be specially noticed. France 
 would have sent much more, if the collections made in dif- 
 ferent places had not been checked by internal troubles. 
 
 In addition to the daily trials caused by theii' actual 
 indigence, they had to endure various annoyances from the 
 priests and monks. They provoked the pastors to disputes 
 on religion. An exchange of letters took place, and be- 
 came a pretext for violent measures. The Vaudois were 
 accused of fomenting discord, and the civil authorities, 
 deceived by false reports, published on the 6th of May, 
 1563, a mandate prohibiting the Catholics from holding 
 any relation or intercourse with the heretics. But as this 
 vexatious measure occasioned inconvenience to the pa- 
 pists — as much to the monks themselves as to the poor 
 Yaudois — the gentry of the country and neighbom-hood ap- 
 pealed to the duke and procured a modification of the de- 
 cree.^*' On the market-day, July 9th, it was annoiuiced at 
 Lucema that his highness did not mean that commercial 
 deaKngs should cease between the professors of the two reli- 
 gions, "but only that they should abstain fi'om controversy. 
 
 * In fact, bvthis measure, the markets of many small towns on the frontiers, 
 and even in Pinerolo, found themselves deprived of a proper supply of pro- 
 visions, etc. 
 
212 HISTORY OF THE YATIDOIS CHmCH. 
 
 The enemies of the Yaudois were not willing to consider 
 themselves defeated. Pretending that the treaty of peace 
 had not been exactly observed in all points by the people 
 of the valleys, they endeavoured to foment intrigues against 
 them at court, and to impose upon the duke by false 
 reports. On the faith of their calumnious representations, 
 the go\'ernment thought of restricting the liberties of the 
 Yaudois by severe measures, and, for the execution of its 
 designs, chose Sebastian Gratiol, of Castrocaro, a Tuscan 
 by birth, a man worthy of such a charge. He had served 
 against the Yaudois as colonel of the militia in the last 
 persecution, under the count de la Trinite. Having been 
 taken prisoner in one encounter, he had been honourably 
 treated and released out of respect to the duchess, to whose 
 retinue he pretended to belong. Being deeply mortified at 
 finding himself in the hands of these rustic mountaineers, 
 and at owing his liberty to their generosity, he thought 
 himself fitted to act the part of an oppressor, and succeeded 
 in getting himself appointed, first of all, commissioner of 
 the duke in the vallej^s, and soon after governor of the 
 same. Two contrary influences contributed to his eleva- 
 tion : the support of the archbishop of Turin, to whom he 
 had promised to do everj^thing for the conversion of the 
 Yaudois to popery, and the recommendation of the pious 
 princess, the protectress of the valleys, to whom he 
 managed to recommend himself, and whose vigilance he 
 deceived by false rej)resentations. 
 
 The first words of Castrocaro on his arrival in the valley 
 of Lucerna, in the spring of 1565, were threatening. The 
 duke, he said, retracted the concessions which he had made 
 in the treaty of peace. But the churches having appealed 
 to his highness, the commissioner modified his language, 
 and only insisted on the immediate signature of an engage- 
 ment, drawn up by himself, which tended considerably to 
 restrict the liberties of the churches and of private persons. 
 In case of refusal, the cavalry were immediately to enter 
 the valleys and renew the war. 
 
 In so critical a position, the churches conducted them- 
 selves with wisdom, combining prudence with firmness in 
 their answers, and a respectful tone with sound arguments. 
 The latter, however, would, according to all appearance, 
 have had little weight, if the excellent j^rincess, whom God 
 
PRINCES OF THE TALATIXATE AXD SAXONY. 213 
 
 had placed near the duke as their safeguard, had not again 
 interceded in their favour. Yet the answer in which she 
 acquaints the churches with the success of her intervention, 
 and the abandonment of the demands which had so greatly 
 disquieted them, indicates too great confidence in the craftv 
 individual who was imposed on the valleys as governor. 
 
 Castrocaro being established with a strong garrison in 
 the castle of La Torre, in the valley of Lucerna, only kept 
 too well the promises he had made to the archbishop. He 
 ordered the pastor of San Giovanni to refuse the holy sup- 
 per to many who came from lower Piedmont and apjDlied 
 for it. He requii^d the chiu'ch at Bobbio to dismiss their 
 pastor, on the pretext that he was a foreigner. Then, on 
 the refusal of its noble-hearted members, he pronounced 
 their sequestration, and forbade every person under his juris- 
 diction from having the least connexion or intercourse with 
 them. He imprisoned, fined, or ill-treated in some other 
 way, all who did not comply with the slightest intimation 
 of his wishes. He vexed the pastors : one of the most 
 respectable, Gilles, on his return from Geneva through 
 Dauphine, was arrested as a conspirator by the soldiers of 
 the governor, thrown into a dungeon, loaded with irons, 
 and then conducted to Turin by the archers and a detach- 
 ment of cavahy. 
 
 Intolerance and religious oppression were felt not only 
 in the valleys of Lucerna, Angrogna, and San Martino, (the 
 greater part of the valley of Perosa on the left side was 
 then subject to France,) but in all the towns of Piedmont 
 where the reformed were to be found. An edict, published 
 the 10th of June, 1565, enjoined them to attend mass, 
 or to leave the dominions of his highness within two months. 
 '' The duke no longer wishes to allow two religions in his 
 coimtiy," was the chancellor's answer to some reformed 
 members of the noble family of Solari. In fact, a great 
 number of them had to choose between exile and a prison. 
 
 The hearing and sight of so many grievances, and espe- 
 cially the dread of still greater, dictated an extreme measure 
 to some of the Yaudois and their friends ; they implored 
 the intercession of the Protestant princes of Germany, and 
 especially of the electors of the Palatinate and Saxony, with 
 the duke. These generous defenders of the faith sent as 
 an ambassador for this pui'pose, to his highness of Savoy, 
 
214 HISTOEY OF THE VAUDOIS CHURCH. 
 
 John Junius, councillor of state of the elector Palatine, and 
 a man of piety, and experienced in business. He arrived at 
 Turin in Eebruary, 1566. A strange proceeding, and con- 
 trary to the law of nations, soon taught him the zeal, or 
 rather madness, which operated against those who were not 
 papists. Barheri, the fiscal general, no sooner heard that 
 the secretarj^ of the embassy, David Chaillet, was a minister 
 of the gospel, than he proceeded to put him under arrest 
 in his hotel. It is right to say that the councillor .Junius, 
 having immediately complained of this gross infraction 
 of the law of nations, and demanding reparation for the 
 insult committed against his prince in the person of one of 
 the members of his embassy, obtained his immediate libera- 
 tion, and the arrest of Barberi. But this unheard-of act 
 served as the basis and argument of the remonstrances 
 which the delegate of the Protestant courts of Germany 
 made on the part of his masters to the court of Savoy, on 
 the subject of the persecutions against the Yaudois and the 
 reformed in general. The government of Turin was not 
 pleased with these officious interventions. JN^evertheless, 
 the duke promised some relaxation in the measui-es taken 
 against the reformed in Piedmont, and throughout his do- 
 minions in general. He also assured the ambassador, that 
 the conditions of the treaty of peace, made -with the inha- 
 bitants of the valleys, should be strictly observed. The im- 
 mediate result was the liberation of some prisoners — of the 
 respectable minister Gilles in particular — to the great joy of 
 the members of his church, his colleagues, and all the people. 
 How little dependence could be placed on the promises 
 of the court of Turin to the Protestant ambassador appeared 
 soon after his departure. He had scarcely cleared the fron- 
 tier, when Castrocaro issued two ordinances in the valley 
 of Lucerna, one of which enjoined on every inhabitant, or 
 native of any place not under his government, to leave the 
 country on the morrow, rmder pain of death and the con- 
 fiscation of his property. The other ordinance prohibited 
 the reformed of Lucerna, Bibbiana, Campiglione and Penile, 
 from coming to the preaching at San Giovanni, under the 
 same penalties. The castle of La Torre was soon crowded 
 with prisoners, who could never deem it their duty to obey 
 such orders. A deputation to the court and the interces- 
 sion of the good duchess once more diverted the storm. 
 
PRINCES OF THE TALATIXATE AND SAXOXY. 215 
 
 The dungeons were opened, the accused returned in peace 
 to their habitations, and the ordinances fell into oblivion.* 
 Castrocaro would not suffer himself to be stopped by the 
 obstacles opposed to his zeal in high quarters. He did not 
 the less pursue the course of his oppressive attempts, con- 
 formably to his secret engagements. He had already en- 
 deavoured, but, thanks to the intervention of the duchess, 
 without success, to restrain a custom established from time 
 immemorial, that of synodical meetings of the pastors and 
 deputies of the parishes of all the Yaudois churches, both 
 those of the Piedmontese valleys, and those of Dauphine and 
 other places.! l^ot being able to prevent the sjmods, he 
 attempted to alter theii' character, and to cramp the liberty 
 of the members, as well as the discussions and votes, by 
 being there in person. His presence in the sjmod of Bobbio 
 was protested against, but in vain ; Castrocaro remained in 
 the assembly. 
 
 The persecution was also renewed against the reformed 
 in lower Piedmont, Barcelonetta, and other places. It be- 
 came, indeed, so violent, that a great number of these poor 
 people took refuge for a time at Yars, Guillestre, Fraissi- 
 niere, and the other valleys of the Upper Dauphine. 
 
 The news of these proceedings, so little in conformity 
 with the promises made to councillor Junius, was brought 
 to the princes who had sent him as ambassador to Turin, 
 and excited their sti'ong displeasure. The elector Palatine 
 complained to the duke of Savoy. The historian Gilles 
 has preserved the remarkable letter which that prince wrote 
 on this occasion ; it is as remarkable for the elevation of 
 its views, as for the nobleness and piu-ity of its sentiments. 
 It is a glowing defence of liberty of conscience; an eloquent 
 pleading in favour of toleration ; and, at the same time, an 
 act of homage to the Chi'istian faith, an appeal to the con- 
 science and justice of the duke, and a serious warning of 
 the judgment to come. '' Let your highness," it is there 
 
 * Under Castrocaro's administration the fortress of Mirebouc was erected, 
 at the bottora of the valley of Lucema, in the commune of Bobbio, on the 
 frontiers of France, at the foot of the Col de la Croix. 
 
 t The marquisate of Saluzzo, for example.— A general Vaudois s.\Tiod, hke 
 those to which we have aUuded, was held at the end of May, 1567, at V illaret, 
 in the vale of Clusone or Pra<jela, in Dauphine, to adopt resolutions and mea- 
 sm-es of safetv, occasioned by the fear of the passage, m the vicinity ot the 
 vaUeys, of the 'anny of the duke of Alva, in its march to Flanders, -bee (^lUes, 
 eh. XXXV., p. 238. 
 
216 HISTORY OF THE TArr.OTS CHTJIICH. 
 
 said, '^ know that there is a God in heaven, who not only 
 contemplates the actions, but also tries the hearts and reins 
 of men, and from whom nothing is hid. Let your high- 
 ness take care not voluntarily to make war upon God, and 
 not to persecute Christ in his members ; for if he permit 
 this for a time, in order to exercise the patience of his 
 peoj^le, he will, nevertheless, at last chastise the persecu- 
 tors by horrible punishments. Let not your highness allow 
 yourself to be misled by the seducing discourses of the 
 papists, who, perhaps, will promise you the kingdom of 
 heaven and eternal life, provided that, by some means or pre- 
 text, you banish, imprison, and at last exterminate these 
 Huguenots, as they now call good Clmstians ; for assuredly- 
 no one can enter the kingdom of heaven by cruelty, inhu- 
 manity, and calumny. Another way must be followed in 
 order to enter in. . . . Persecution, moreover, will 
 never advance the cause it pretends to defend. So far 
 have those who have afflicted Christians, who have tor- 
 mented and exiled them, or taken away their lives, been 
 from annihilating them, that, on the contrary, they have 
 increased their numbers ; so that the adage has been con- 
 stantly verified — The ashes of the martja^s are the seed of 
 the Christian chui'ch. For the church resembles the palm- 
 tree, which rises higher the more it is confined. Let your 
 highness consider that the Christian religion was estab- 
 lished by persuasion and not by violence ; and as it is certain 
 that religion is nothing else than a firm and enlightened 
 persuasion of God, and of his will, as revealed in his word 
 and engraven in the hearts of believers by the Holy Spirit, 
 it cannot, when once rooted, be torn away by tortures ; for 
 believers will rather endure any pimishment and suffering 
 whatever, than do anything which in their esteem is con- 
 trary to piety." 
 
 We do not laiow what was the moral effect of this letter 
 on the duke's mind. Possibly it contributed, in some 
 degree, to a more moderate system which prevailed in the 
 government of the valleys, during a series of years, even 
 when the king of Prance had given the signal and example 
 of persecution to the utmost, in causing the blood of his 
 Protestant subjects to flow like a river on the evening of 
 St. Bartholomew. 
 
 The Yaudois churches in the marquisate of Saluzzo, to 
 
MAEQUISATE OF SALrZZO. 217 
 
 the south of the valley of Liieerna, on the l3anks and near 
 the sources of the Po, had shared the fate of the tLi-ritory, 
 and had been for many years under the dominion of 
 France. Owing to the arrangements of every kind, which 
 the interests of the French policy prescribed, in the admi- 
 nistration of a country of foreign maimers and language, 
 on the other side the Alps, the reformation, or, ^\-hich is 
 the same thing, the Yaudois chuix-h, made rapid progress 
 there. Congregations, or churches, more or less numerous, 
 had been formed in most of the cities of the marquisate, 
 and in a great number of ^dllages. Active andf devoted 
 pastors visited frecjuenth- and in rotation those places where 
 they did not reside. They amounted, in 1567, to nine. 
 For the safety of their persons they were generally obliged 
 to have recourse to precautionaiy measm-es in their journey 
 for evangelizing, and in their meetings. The chuix-hes 
 retired in the mountains, as that of Aceil, enjoyed more 
 liberty. At Pravilhelm particularly, an ancient and venerable 
 stock of the Yaudois church in those parts,^-' the preaclung 
 of the word and the administration of the sacraments were 
 openly performed, and with full security. Accordingly, 
 people resorted thither fi^om all quarters for this pur[oose. 
 But ordinarily, in all other places, the religious services 
 were performed in private houses and small assemblies. 
 
 The Eomish clergy were ii-ritated at the progress of the 
 refoi-mation ; but being restrained, in the overflowings of 
 their jealousy, by the royal intention of not distiu^bing the 
 peaceable and prudent members of the refoiTaed church in 
 the exercise of theii' worship, they had recourse to a 
 dexterous method of weakening them. Knowing that the 
 greater number of the pastors were not natives of the 
 king's dominions, they sought and obtained from the dulvc 
 de jS'evers, the governor, an edict, dated the 19th of 
 October, 1567, ordering all those of the reformed religion, 
 living in the country but not subjects of the king, to leave 
 it, both themselves and their families, in three days, under 
 pain of death and the confiscation of their property. The 
 measm-e did not attain the end proposed; the pastors, 
 faithful to theii' duty, continued their evangelical labours 
 in secret. Two of them, it is true, having been discovered, 
 were cast into prison, where they remained more than four 
 
 * See, on this subject, the end of the sixteenth chapter. 
 
 L 
 
218 HISTOEY OF THE VATJDOIS CHrECH. 
 
 years : after which, on the urgent remonstrances made at 
 court by the minister Galatee, and in the name of the 
 churches of the marquisate, they were set at liberty. 
 
 The 5'ear 1572 was now arrived. If we except some 
 arbitrary and rigorous acts, occurring from time to time, as 
 well as an habitual restraint and inspection, the Yaudois 
 and reformed churches, as well in the marquisate as of the 
 valleys, and of Piedmont properly so called, enjoyed some 
 degree of tranquillity. The news of the approaching mar- 
 riage of the sister of the king of France with the young 
 king of IS'avarre, who was at the head of the Protestant 
 party in Prance, seemed to indicate a reconciliation in the 
 minds of the two great parties, and to be the omen of a 
 better future; when, all at once, at the beginning of 
 September, the report of the horrible massacres committed 
 over the whole extent of that kingdom passed over the 
 mountains with the raj)idity of the wind, and filled the 
 hearts of all the reformed with anguish and terror. All the 
 persons of greatest note and influence in the ranks of their 
 brethi'en had been perfidiously murdered, most of them in 
 their beds, on that detestable night of St. Bartholomew. 
 The butchery was continued on the following days.^'' 
 
 The lieutenant-governor of the king's domains in Pied- 
 mont, Louis de Birague, had also received orders to put to 
 death the principal members of the reformed church in his 
 government; but it was decided. to put off their execution, 
 owing, we are happy to believe, to the judicious and cha- 
 ritable suggestions of the archdeacon of Saluzzo. This 
 ecclesiastic had pointed out the complete disagreement 
 between these last cruel orders and the preceding ones, 
 which enjoined the release of the two ministers, and a 
 tolerant and mild mode of dealing with the reformed. He 
 had, therefore, proposed to proceed no further than arrest- 
 ing the principal persons, saying that they could be 
 executed at any time afterwards, if his majesty required it. 
 This prudent and humane advice was adopted ; but on the 
 first arrests, the greater part of the suspected persons with- 
 drew and retired to some place of safety. A royal message, 
 enjoining the authorities to put a stop to every execution, 
 if it were not too late, and to adhere to the preceding 
 
 * It is believed that more than a himch-ed thousand Huguenots (the name 
 given in France to the reformed) were massacred on that occasion. 
 
ATTACK ON THE TALLEY OF TEROSA. 219 
 
 ordinances relating to the reformed, arrived a few days 
 after, and put things on the same footing as before. 
 
 The news of the enormities of Saint Bartholomew were 
 no sooner Iviio-wn in Piedmont (subject to the duke of Savoy) 
 than the zealous papists made great demonstrations of joy, 
 and taunted the reformed, telling them that their God was 
 no more and their ruin was at hand. The language of 
 Castrocaro, the governor of the valleys, caused the people 
 great anxiety. They accordingly lost no time in removing 
 their families and most valuable effects to their accustomed 
 hiding-places in the moimtains. The men alone remained 
 on the watch in their homes, their hearts oppressed, and 
 finding repose only in praj-er; but the duke, who ap- 
 peared not to approve of the system of assassination bj- 
 which France was sullied, no sooner became aware of the 
 distrust of the Yaudois, than he assui^d them of his pacific 
 disposition, and invited them to return to their dwellings 
 and resume their occupations, which they did. 
 
 At tills jimcture, the governor of the French territory on 
 the other side the Alps, Louis de Bii^ague, attempted to 
 deprive the inhabitants of the Yaudois vallej' of Perosa 
 (which came under the dominion of France in 1562) of the 
 public exercise of their religion. The churches remon- 
 strated, supporting themselves on the fact that the king, 
 on their annexation to France, had recognised their privi- 
 leges and liberties both ecclesiastical and political, and 
 guaranteed their exercise. ISTot being able to persuade 
 them to yield, Bii^ague had recourse to force ; yet fearing 
 lest the Yaudois valleys, which still remained under the 
 house of Savoy, should succour their brethren in distress, 
 he obtained an injunction from the duke against their inter- 
 ference. But while the brave Yaudois, faithful to their 
 traditions, and the examples they had so often given, 
 expressed in their reply their settled intention to respect 
 their sovereign's will in all that regarded his interest and 
 his glory, they showed themselves not less decided to serve 
 God invariably, and to maintain by every means in their 
 power the religion that was menaced in the rights and per- 
 sons of their brethren of the valley of Perosa. The new 
 governor for the king of France, Charles de Bii^ague, imme- 
 diately renouncing the measures of persuasion which his 
 deceased brother had attempted, assembled his troops, and 
 
 L 2 
 
220 HISTORY OF THE YATJDOIS CHUECH. 
 
 in July, 1573, made an attack on the village of Saint- 
 Germain. Five poor villagers were immediately taken 
 prisoners, and conducted to Pinerolo. Some days after, 
 they were condemned to be led back to their own neigh- 
 bourhood, and there to be hung. The very day on which 
 these live men were seized, the people of Angrogna, led on 
 by the valiant Pietro Praschi, rushed from their heights 
 into the plain to succour their brethren, and, having joined 
 them, repulsed the enemy. In the course of the following 
 day, the Yaudois forces were so increased by the quotas of 
 all the communes of the valleys, that they were able to 
 make head against the two French divisions from Perosa 
 and Pinerolo, which assailed them at the same time. After 
 upwards of a month had been spent in ineffectual attacks 
 and a valiant defence, peace was longed for as much in one 
 camp as the other, and accordingly the terms were easily 
 settled. To satisfy the claims of propriety, or rather to 
 save appearances, it was agreed that the Yaudois of the 
 ■valley of Perosa should present a petition to obtain peace 
 and the exercise of the religion which their fathers, as they 
 expressed it, had followed from time immemorial. They 
 engaged also to suspend their public worship for a month, 
 and, what wa^ more serious, though not irremediable, to 
 dismiss their pastor, Guerin.^'* On these conditions, the 
 Yaudois of the valley of Perosa obtained the preservation 
 and guarantee of their customs, and particularly of the 
 treaty made between the duke of Savoy, their ancient lord, 
 and the Yaudois valleys, of which they formed a part. In 
 this manner terminated, to the satisfaction of all parties, 
 the conflict called the war of La Ptadde, from the name of 
 the officer who commanded the Prench troops. 
 
 During these troubles, and in the vicinity of the dis- 
 turbed districts, the Yaudois church, by the zeal of this 
 same pastor Guerin, whom his people sacrificed for the 
 sake of peace, had obtained a remarkable moral success, 
 which was, without doubt, the cause of his removal. 
 
 Pramol, the different hamlets of which occupy the centre 
 of a solitary valley to the north-west of Saint- Germain, 
 between the Sea, or ridge, of Angrogna, towards the south, 
 and the last ramifications of the mountains of the valley of 
 
 * Guerin, nevertheless, was not lost to tlie valleys j lie only took charge of 
 another parish. 
 
DEATH OF THE GOOD DUCHESS SIARGAEET. 221 
 
 San Martino to the north — Praniol had hitherto contained 
 "u-ithin its precincts some papists and a parish priest ; hut 
 Guerin having gone thither one Sunday to celebrate divine 
 service, adfc'ssed the priest who had just finished the mass, 
 and asked him if he had the courage to maintain that the 
 mass he had chanted was good ? The poor man appearing 
 greatly embarrassed at this appeal, Gueiin, who did not 
 wish it to be thought that he would take advantage of an 
 adversary imprepared and siu'prised, left him, saying that 
 on the following Simday he would demonstrate by the 
 word of God, and even by the missal he made use of in 
 chanting the mass, that it was full of en'ors. On the fol- 
 lowing Sunday, when the minister came to Pramol, he 
 found neither priest nor mass. The pope's servant had 
 fled from the combat. Guerin, in a conversation Avith the 
 forsaken flock, urged them to admit light into their con- 
 sciences, and offered to be their guide in the study of the 
 word of salvation. These men, already half-persuaded, 
 resorted assiduously to his house at La Balma, between 
 Pramol and Saint-Germain, and in a little time all declared 
 themselves for the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. The 
 evangelical population being considerably increased by this 
 conversion of the papists of the valley, Pramol was from 
 that time formed into a parish, and provided A\ith a special 
 pastor. 
 
 On the occasion of the troubles of Perosa, and the 
 succour which the Yaudois of the valleys of Lucema, 
 Angrogna," and San Martino had brought to their brethren 
 in distress, Castrocaro renewed his measui-es of severity; 
 but the favour of the duchess caused them to be revoked, 
 or at least weakened their effect. This was the last time 
 that ^largaret of France, duchess of Savoy, gave to the 
 despised and oppressed Yaudois a signal proof of her 
 benevolent regard. This enlightened and compassionate 
 princess dared to undertake and maintain the arduous 
 office of a mediator till her death, which took place the 19th 
 of October, 1574. It was no doubt to her, under God, 
 that the Yaudois owed the comparatively mild conditions 
 which were granted them diuing the stormy period, 
 marked by the persecution and death of so many of their 
 reformed brethren in Prance, Spain, Italy, and elsewhere. 
 After the death of the duchess, Castrocaro' s credit dimi- 
 
222 HISTOUY OF THE VArDOlS CHUECH. 
 
 nished rapidly at court ; for every one knew that, though 
 she had sought to temper his zeal against the Yaudois, yet 
 it was to her that he was indebted for his nomination, and 
 for retaining the government. Expressions of discontent 
 were heard in every quarter. The lords of the valleys, 
 who had seen with so much regret their authority weak- 
 ened, and their position lowered by his elevation, plotted 
 against him. An occasion of preferring an accusation soon 
 offered itself. An officer of Castrocaro, at the head of a 
 troop of soldiers, assassinated, it was said, by his orders, 
 a captain Malherbe, who had alwaj^s shoTVTi a coolness 
 towards the governor, and, on the contrary, a strong 
 attachment to the gentry in the valley. Although a 
 Vaudois, captain Malherbe was always esteemed hj the 
 duke for his valoiu*. The relations of the deceased having 
 made a complaint, and the lords seconding it to the utmost 
 of their power, the cause of Castrocaro took an unhappy 
 turn for him. He strove for some time, it is true, against 
 his adversaries, among whom he counted the archbishop of 
 Turin, who was irritated because, in spite of his secret 
 promises, he had not reduced even a single Yaudois com- 
 mune to embrace popery, nor deprived the Yaudois of any 
 of their rights. It was in vain that, in order to regain the 
 prelate's good graces, he attempted to re-establish tithes in 
 favour of certain priests, and dexterously to support the 
 Jesuit Yanini, who was too feeble, notwithstanding his 
 presumption, to contend in public with the pastors; it 
 was in vain that, to render himself of importance, he 
 sanctioned unfavourable rumours, and sowed disquiet among 
 the Yaudois, that he might blacken them in his reports : 
 the fall of this clever adventurer was resolved upon. 
 
 A new prince had taken the direction of affairs ; Charles 
 Emmanuel, at the age of nineteen, succeeded his father, 
 Emmanuel Philibert, who died the 30th of August, 1580. 
 Having no reason for upholding a man who was justly 
 accused of malversation, the abuse of power, rapine, and 
 even of murder, as much by those he governed as by his 
 equals, the young duke consented to his arrest, and en- 
 trusted it to the count of Lucerna, whom he nominated 
 governor in his stead. Castrocaro ended his days in 
 prison. 
 
 About this time, and for a series of years, the Yaudois 
 
FRENCH DOMINION IX THE TALLEYS. 223 
 
 churclics of Daiipliine, situated to the west and north of 
 the Piedmontese YaUcys, in those, namely, of Queiras, 
 Chateau-Dauphin, Cesane, Oulx, and others besides, were 
 often assailed, and so ill-treated by the papists, that, in 
 some places, they could onh' assemble by night to attend to 
 religious worship ; and when these churches, asjiiring to 
 the measui'e of liberty then general in France, endeaYoured 
 to shake oif the tyranny of their Roman Catholic neigh- 
 bours, Yiolent means were employed for their destniction, 
 and ^AT.th so much the greater alacrity, as the position of 
 their elcYated and retired Yalleys rendered it im2)ossible to 
 obtain the help of their distant brethren. The aid of 
 their allies and co-religionists of the Piedmontese Yalleys 
 was not howeYer wanting, and often extricated them from 
 the greatest difficulties. But perhaps the zeal with wliich 
 thcY hastened to succour their brethren in distress dege- 
 nerated sometimes into a passion for war; but we shall 
 not follow the Yaliant captain Praschi and his companions 
 in the contests they maintained together with and for their 
 brethren of Dauphine ; for, after much blood had been spilt 
 on both sides in Yarious encounters, tilings assumed the 
 position which they had before. 
 
 In 1592, the Yaudois Yalle^^s, which had enjoyed a con- 
 siderable share of tranquillity for some years, were suddenly 
 occupied, as well as a part of the plain, by a Prench army, 
 under the orders of the sire de Lesdiguieres, an able and 
 courageous general, who had lately taken Upper Dauphine 
 fr'om the leaguers, or Catholic party. During their occujja- 
 tion, this general fortified Bricherasco, at the entry of the 
 Yalley of Lucerna, re-established the castle in the latter place, 
 and pulled doAYu those of La Torre and Perosa. The gentry 
 and inhabitants of the Yalleys were forced to take an oath of 
 fidelity to the king of France. They did it with reluctance, 
 after many remonstrances, and a refusal at first. The country 
 was occupied only two years. At the end of 1594, Lesdi- 
 guieres was obliged to retreat, haYing lost the important 
 post of Bricherasco, and the duke again took possession of 
 this part of his domains. But, as if it had not been enough 
 for the poor Yaudois to haYe been biu'dened with quartering 
 soldiers and military contributions, with haYing enduiTd 
 all kinds of eYil, eYen pillage and incendiarism,^'" it was for 
 
 * La ToiTe, diiring the siege of Bricherasco, by the duke, was sucldeiily 
 
224 HISTOET OF THE TArDOIS CHUECH. 
 
 a while in contGiiiplation to punish them for the oath they had 
 taken to the crown of France, at the same time as their lords 
 and other papists did, to whom, nevertheless, it was never 
 impnted as a crime. Happily, there were conscientious men 
 in the duke's council, who, knowing that the Yaudois had 
 in the first place taken advice at Turin, and that they had 
 acted as they had done with the tacit authority of the 
 duchess (the duke was then fighting in Provence), and her 
 council, succeeded in their explanations and apologies, 
 though not without difficulty. 
 
 The noise of anns, the tumult of the soldiery, the com- 
 plaints which arose on their passing through the country, 
 were succeeded by the sound of animated voices — a tumult 
 of ecclesiastics, monks, and priests, declaiming, complaining, 
 urging, deafening, disputing, recriminating, sometimes in- 
 sulting, and, what is worse, fomenting hatred, distrust, and 
 divisions, ha^dng recourse to deception and intimidation, and 
 even to persecution, which they accomplished in the silent 
 obscurit}^ of dungeons. The young duke had, it is true, 
 in passing through the valle}^ of Lucerna,* encouraged his 
 faithful Yaudois subjects by saying, — "Be faithful to me 
 and I will be a good prince and even a good father to 3^ou ; 
 as to liberty of conscience and the exercise of your religion, 
 I wish to make no innovation ; I will make no alteration in 
 the mode of living to which you have hitherto been accus- 
 ■^omed ; and if any persons attempt to trouble you, come to 
 me, and I will see to it." But the duke was not able to refuse 
 his clergy authority to send a mission, and even regular 
 missions to the valleys ; and nothing more was necessary to 
 create troubles and sufferings in abundance among the 
 inhabitants. 
 
 The archbishop of Turin visited the vallej'S with a 
 numerous retinue. Great eff'ects were looked for from his 
 presence. The Yaudois, it was thought, dazzled by the 
 splendour that surrounded a prince of the church, would 
 throw themselves at his feet; or at least, if they still 
 delayed their passage to popery for a while, they would 
 lend a favourable ear to missionaries under his. high 
 
 assaulted, pillaged, and partly bru-ned, by a division of Spaniards, who, on 
 their return, also set on fire various parts of San Giovanni. 
 
 * "Wlien Charles Emmanuel was on a journey to the fortress of Mirebouc, a 
 deputation of the Vaudois waited upon him at Villar, to pay him homage ; and 
 on that occasion he uttered these excellent sentiments. 
 
MEA15-S rSED TO BRIXG OYER THE YArDOIS TO POPEEY. 225 
 
 patronage, and appointed by him. Some of these mission- 
 aries were Jesuits in the Yalley of Lucema ; others, reYcrend 
 Capuchins, in the Yalleys of Perosa and San Martino. 
 
 These serYants of the . pope did not spare themselYes. 
 They were eYerywhere, in public assemblies, in pnYate 
 houses, in shops, in fields, on the roads. They entered into 
 discussions with eYOiy one, passing as rapidly from one 
 hearer to the next as from one subject to another. There 
 was nothing but perpetual ^Yrangling. The ministers had 
 yielded to the temptation to reply ; they OYen thought that 
 their honour and their office engaged them to take part in 
 these contests. But they soon perceiYed that they were 
 spent in words, Yrithout any real edification, owing to the 
 Yersatility of their adYersaries in changing the ground of 
 debate, when they felt that which they were upon failing 
 them. The shafts of truth were scattered without hitting 
 the mark. The ministers then resolved only to hold discus- 
 sions at regular and public sittings, on a subject announced 
 with precision, and they kept to this resolution. The first 
 of these disputations was held at San GioYanni, in 1596, at, 
 which the count of Lucema presided. The turn it took 
 was so decidedly against the Jesuits, that the count being 
 urged to speak his sentiments and to give his reasons to 
 the minister, had recoui^se to an CYasion, and precipitately 
 closed the debate. "^ 
 
 In the Yalleys of Perosa and San ^Mai-tino, the Capuchin 
 fathers were equally busy, especially as they felt themselves 
 supported by having the duJie's ti^oops in the neighbour- 
 hood, who were fighting in the vale of Clusone with those 
 of the king of Prance. Among other things, they succeeded 
 so far that the governor of Pinerolo undertook to deprive 
 a large nimiber of evangelicals at Pinache of the use of their 
 temple, ravaged the village, and sent the father and brother 
 of the pastor Ughet, who had escaped them, to prison at 
 Turin. Others also were sent, and many died there. They 
 obtained their release with difficult}', and rarely Tvithout 
 abjuring. The pastor of Pravilhelm, Antoine Bonjoiir,who 
 was shut up in the fortress of Pevel, was more fortunate, 
 
 * " Kyou were disputing," he said, " about the qualities of a good horse or 
 a good sword, I would give you my opuiion, for I understand something about 
 such things ; but I do not understand youi' controversies, and therefore do 
 not wish to intermeddle with them. Besides, I must tell you that I have his 
 highness's orders to go immediately to Tui'in," etc. 
 
 L 3 
 
226 HISTORY OF THE TAUDOIS CHUECH. 
 
 for, having let himself down the wall, he gained the woods, 
 and then the mountains, and returned in peace to Bobbio, 
 his native place, where he was settled as pastor till his death. 
 
 The Capuchins, who were sent to the valleys of Perosa 
 and San Martino, being filled with presumption, wished 
 also to have the honour of a public disputation at Saint- 
 Germain, in 1598, but they had not much reason to con- 
 gratulate themselves on the result. They then had recourse 
 to a more skilful method for making proselytes, and less 
 likely to compromise themselves. They informed the evan- 
 gelicals with an air of mystery, that there were serious and 
 alarming designs on foot against them, which would sud- 
 denly be carried into effect. This confidential communica- 
 tion, which they begged them to keep secret, lest any harm 
 should come to its authors for their charitable imprudence, 
 had no other object, they said, but to induce those who 
 were interested to turn to the right side before it was too 
 late. These rumours, it can scarcely be doubted, occa- 
 sioned many fears, but they had not the effect which their 
 authors expected. 
 
 The monkish missionaries, being dissatisfied "with their 
 fruitless eff'orts, thought of another method, the force of 
 which they perceived, and which from that time has been 
 too much practised to the detriment of the honour of those 
 who use it, and of the religion which could sanction it. 
 They attached themselves to persons in debt, or in bad cir- 
 cumstances, burdened with a family, and of little integrity, 
 promising them a sum of money, and further assistance, if 
 they abjured the gospel. They also promised a full pardon 
 to persons who, by their crimes', were exposed to the ven- 
 geance of the laws, if they would go to mass. This immoral 
 expedient was the most successful. The Vaudois would 
 have consoled themselves for the loss of unworthy men Avho 
 were only a disgrace to their church, if their children had 
 not also been dra"s^Ti ^vith them into the abyss of error by 
 their apostasy. Two persons of a higher class, one of Pra- 
 mol, the other of the valley of San Martino, also abjured : 
 the first, in order to avoid the punishment which threatened 
 him for abuse of authority and acts of extortion ; the second 
 from vanity, being flattered by the attentions of the gentry 
 and magistrates of the country. These defections served at 
 least to show the Yaudois into what new dangers pride, 
 
THE EXILES. 227 
 
 the loYC of money, and every immoral act, miglit precipi- 
 tate them. 
 
 Towards the end of the year 1599, the duke, having 
 taken a jom^ney to France, the adversaries of the Yaudois 
 thought it was a favourable opportunity for molesting them. 
 They ^-ished to oblige them to keep the popish festivals in 
 some places where it had never been the practice to- do so, 
 and they shut np the schools in other parts. On the least 
 resistance, the people were dragged to prison, from which 
 they could be released only by paying a fine, or by promis- 
 ing to go to mass. An enterprising man, moreover, named 
 Ubeiiin Braide, was appointed parish priest at La ToiTe, 
 who claimed fi'om the evangelicals the tithes from which 
 they had been freed since 1561, and on their refusal caused 
 their goods to be seized by the officers of justice. The 
 irritation produced in many quarters was excessive. An 
 outbreak was expected. But a deputation sent to the duke, 
 who was then in Savoy, produced a redress of these griev- 
 ances. The priest, having been defeated in liis claims, a 
 calm seemed to be restored. But some ill-ach-ised young 
 men, by their reprehensible conduct, reldndled the fire that 
 was scarcely concealed among the ashes. One evening they 
 terrified the priest by their cries, after he had retired to 
 his parsonage ; and fearing some act of vengeance, he took 
 refuge with a gentleman in the neighboiu'hood. 
 
 The afikir was regarded as criminal. An investigation 
 took place. The young men, who were well known, were 
 to be conducted to Turin. On the anival of a detachment 
 of archers, they took to flight. Xot making their appear- 
 ance in court, they were condemned for contumacy, and 
 banished from the duke's territories. Tliis event was a 
 source of great sorrow to the pastors, the watchful guardians 
 of the public morals, and a prolonged source of trouble, and 
 even of offences and crimes ; for these youths, being con- 
 strained to flee from their homes, and having no regular 
 means of subsistence, often claimed by force what they 
 could not obtain by good-will. Some abandoned people, 
 many of whom were papists, took advantage of the general 
 confiision to commit crimes in secret, which they hoped 
 would be attributed to these outlaws. 
 
 A melancholy event at the beginning of this century 
 showed the extent of that popish arrogance which would 
 
228 HISTOET OF THE TAUDOIS CHTJRCH. 
 
 not allow an evangelical Christian even the right of answer- 
 ing, in his own defence, those who disputed the excellence 
 of his religion. A worthy merchant of La Torre, named 
 Conpin, being at Asti, in 1601, for the fair, was led on, one 
 evening at supper, by the questions of the other guests, to 
 avow himself a Yaudois, and to deny the real presence of 
 the Saviour in the eucharist- Being denounced as a crimi- 
 nal, although he kept within the limits of defence allowed 
 by the treaty of 1561, he was thrown into prison, from 
 which no representations made by his relations and friends, 
 and by the churches, even to the duke himself, could gain 
 his release. The inquisition would not let go its prey till 
 deprived of life, nor even then ; for when the martyr was 
 found dead in his cell, his remains were publicly burned. 
 During the two years of his captivity, this humble and sin- 
 cere Cliristian was not shaken in his faith for a moment, 
 but edified to the last those who were admitted to see him. 
 He was astonished himself at the unexpected power which 
 was communicated to him, and at the clear, precise, and 
 evangelical answers with which God inspired him in the 
 presence of his judges. 
 
 The same year on which Coupin was arrested, that is, in 
 1601, an order was given to all the evangelicals of the mar- 
 quisate of Saluzzo"^"' to quit the domains of his highness 
 within two months from the publication of the edict. They 
 were allowed to dispose of their property within the same 
 period. Alas ! several gave up their faith and became 
 papists ; nevertheless, a great number of families preferred 
 .T)beying God, and passed over to France or Switzerland. 
 Some succeeded in settling themselves in the valleys. The 
 ancient Vaudois churches of the marquisate, at Pravilhelm, 
 and others in the mountains, were at last left in repose, 
 after having shared for some time the general tribulation. 
 
 The efforts of the papists did not stop here. They 
 endeavoured, both by flatteries and threats, to induce the 
 members of the Vaudois church to abjure who were settled 
 in the town of Lucerna, as well as in those of Bibbiana, 
 Campiglione, and Fenile, on the confines of Piedmont, where 
 they did not enjoy the right of holding their worship in 
 public. Ponte, the governor of the province, in order to 
 
 * This marquisate was ceded to Piedmont by France in that year, by the 
 treaty of Lyons. 
 
MEANS rSED TO BRING OVER THE VArDOIS TO TOrERY. 229 
 
 intimidate them, gave notice to the recusants bj' edicts 
 issued with the greatest publicity, of the expiration of their 
 tenn for remaining in the coimtiy. The archbishop of 
 Tiu'in, who "vvas on the spot, called the parties interested 
 before him, flattered them with smooth speeches, or sought 
 to shake their faith by arguments, which, no doubt, he 
 thought plausible. For this latter purpose, and to please 
 them, without maturely considering the danger his cause 
 would inciu-, he even challenged a public disputation, 
 which took place at San Giovanni between his delegate 
 Marchesi, professor and rector of the Jesuits at Timn, and 
 the pastor, Auguste Gros, an ancient popish professor, con- 
 verted long before, and a man of talent, infoiination, and 
 great piety. This dispute, which confii-med the Yaudois 
 who were present in their faith, Avas not renewed, though 
 the minister was perfectly willing, as it had not produced 
 the results which the archbishop hoped for. 
 
 The town of Lucema not having been included in the 
 treaty of 1561, the Yaudois who had settled there and did 
 not abjiu"e their religion, had to fix themselves elsewhere. 
 Those who were settled at Bibbiana, Campiglione, and 
 Penile, conformably to the treaty, would not be persuaded 
 to leave them. To overcome this repugnance, recourse 
 was had to a method which only priests, more concerned 
 about their own interests than their sovereign's honour, 
 could devise. They persuaded the duke to interfere per- 
 sonally ^ith the most respectable persons, and to add to 
 his preceding acts the weight of his direct influence ; the 
 urgency of kind expressions ; and the irresistible authority 
 of a request fi'om his lips. L^nthinking men ! not to see 
 that on the most favourable supposition, that of success, 
 the prince would lose more than he gained ; that by 
 inducing his subjects to deny their faith, he would shake 
 his own throne, since fidelity to a sovereign, just and legiti- 
 mate as it is, cannot be more so than that which is due to 
 God, and, moreover, is only strong and dui'able so far as it 
 rests on religious belief. And in case of a result unfa- 
 vourable to their schemes, that of resistance on the part of 
 a Yaudois to the moral pressure exercised upon him by 
 his prince, would not the majesty of the throne be com- 
 promised by a fi'uitless attempt on the conscience of a 
 subject, and the person of the priace be exposed to a severe 
 
230 HISTORY OF THE YAIJDOIS CHUECH. 
 
 judgment from him who would have wished to be always 
 able to respect it ? 
 
 On an appointed day, four persons of the greatest con- 
 sideration among the Yaudois of Bibbiana, who, by their 
 influence, according to what their adversaries said, had 
 hitherto rendered the united efforts of the iiTitated governor 
 and the insinuating archbishop useless, were sent for to 
 Turin, in the name of the prince, and introduced, one after 
 another, into his presence. The fii^st, named Valentin 
 Boule, or BoUa, after listening to the affectionate language 
 of his higliness, expressive of an earnest desire that he 
 should embrace his religion, respectfully supplicated his 
 sovereign to permit him to remain faithful to God, accord- 
 ing to his word. Is it necessary to add, that the duke 
 ceased to urge him, and allowed him to withdraw, saying, 
 '^ You would certainly have given me great pleasure in com- 
 plying with my remonstrance, but I do not wish to do 
 violence to your conscience." Yalentin Bella having 
 departed without being able to exchange a word with the 
 three others, it was falsely represented to them that their 
 brother and friend had 3T.elded to the duke's desire, and 
 pledged himself to abjure. Deceived by this account, and 
 disconcerted by the apparent defection of him whom they 
 considered as the most faithful, they promised, one after 
 another, to do what was desired so ardently. A part of 
 their friends at Bibbiana followed their example ; yet 
 several afterwards returned to the church. 
 
 Some time after, the same expedient was tried with some 
 influential persons among the Yaudois of Pinache, in the 
 valley of Perosa, after the governor Ponte and the arch- 
 bishop had used their utmost efforts with the people in 
 general. The three Yaudois who appeared before the duke, 
 namel}', Michael Gilles, Jean Micol, and Jean Bouchard, 
 remained firm in the faith, as did also the greater part of 
 their brethren of Perosa and of the Yal Clusone, in sj^ite 
 of the various means which were set at work to inveigle 
 them into 2)opery. In order to seduce the poor during the 
 great dearth in the year 1602, the archbishoj) promised 
 food in plenty for those who would go to mass. He spared, 
 in fact, neither corn, nor money ; yet he made little 'pro- 
 gress by this immoral enticement. He also prevented 
 those Yaudois from being employed as reapers, in the 
 
MEANS rSED TO BEIXG OVER THE TAUDOIS TO POPERY. 231 
 
 plain, who were not proyided with a certificate signed by 
 liimself. 
 
 One more example of the indirect means of conversion 
 employed by the papists may be given. Under the pre- 
 tence that the numerous Yaudois whose houses were si- 
 tuated on the great road along the Perosa gave offence to 
 the passengers, they caused an edict to be issued which for- 
 bade them ti'om dwelling there any longer, and ordered them 
 to retire to the other side of the river, towards Praraol. It 
 must be added, however, that on the urgent remonstrance 
 and prayers, proceeding both from the victims of the mea- 
 sure and fi'om their neighbour's who belonged to the Roman 
 chiu'ch, the excution of it was at fii^st susjiended, and 
 finally abandoned. 
 
 It will be imderstood, moreover, that the government 
 and the duke himself, frequently impelled by the contri- 
 vances of the priests to measures and acts that ^^'ere of little 
 avail for the conversion of the Yaudois to popeiy, and not 
 appreciating the motives of conscience which prompted the 
 latter to resistance, were ill-satisfied with the small heed 
 given to their desires and wishes. The troubles occasioned 
 by the young men who were outlawed for their imprudent 
 conduct to the priest of La Torre, and were now wandering 
 fugitives, living at hazard from day to day on charity or 
 plunder — ti'oubles and disorders, which the pastors could 
 not prevent — were represented to the prince as s^Tiiptoms 
 of revolt against his authority, and were made use of to ex- 
 cite him to the most rigorous measures. Even the destruc- 
 tion of the churches was talked of. 
 
 The Yaudois, having received from various quarters 
 advice to keep themselves on their guard, comprehended 
 all the greatness of the danger; but instead of having 
 recourse to means of human defence, they had only one 
 thought, that of imploring the assistance (so often expe- 
 rienced) of their heavenly Protector, being fully persuaded 
 of the ti'uth, that " except the Lord keep the city, the 
 watchman waketh but in vain," (Psa. cxxvii. 1.) They 
 exhorted the people to repentance, and to amend their 
 ways in several respects. The ablest pastors for the occa- 
 sion visited the chiux-hes, papng special attention to those 
 that were in the most unsound state. They also adcbcssed 
 the least culpable of the banished, and appealed to their 
 
232 niSTORT OF the YArDOIS CHITECH. 
 
 better sentiments. More than all, they humbled them- 
 selves by a solemn fast, on the 11th and 12th of August, 
 1602. Shortly after, the governor of Turin, with the 
 provost-general, and a great company of officers of justice, 
 arrived in the valley of Lucerna. They came to jndge the 
 banished individuals, whom the communes were ordered to 
 give up. In place of these men, they mshed to send a 
 petition for his highness to the governor' which he refused. 
 He published some severe orders, and departed.^* 
 
 The Yaudois then had recourse to the mediation of count 
 Charles, of Lucerna, principal lord of one of the valleys, 
 and who was in favour at court. They also sent a deputa- 
 tion, charged with presenting a petition, in writing, to his 
 highness, from the valleys, in which they set the facts in 
 their true light, complained of the calumnies by which 
 their enemies aimed to render them odious in the eyes of 
 their prince, and appealed Avith confidence to his bene- 
 volence, as well as to his high sense of justice. But, who 
 can believe it ? to be presented to the prince, the petition 
 required to be modified in its form, and even in its sub- 
 stance. They were forced to express themselves, as if 
 guilty of culpable actions ; but, in spite of these alterations, 
 nay, perhaps in consequence of them, its success was very 
 partial. 
 
 Wliile the churches were preparing to draw up a new 
 address to the duke, some facts occuiTed which were not 
 adapted to re-establish tranquillity. The Yaudois of 
 Pinache, in the valley of Perosa, not having been able for a 
 long time to obtain justice in reference to a temple of which 
 the use was disputed, seized on that of Dublon, to which 
 they had an equal right, giving up to the papists, in return, 
 their claim to the former. Threats and some vexation fol- 
 lowed, but without any disastrous issue. At Lucerna, on a 
 market-day in March, 1603, six of the outlaws were recog- 
 nised. Being surrounded and attacked in a narrow street, 
 they made their way tlirough by force of arms, killing, 
 amongst others, a captain Crespin. One of them having 
 fractured his thigh in leaping from a wall, was taken, 
 tried, and condemned to be quartered. A company of 
 infantry were brought to attend the execution, and after- 
 
 * On Ms arrival at Tmin he was arrested and disgraced, but for reasons 
 foreign to our history. 
 
THE OrXLATVS. 233 
 
 wards remained for several months, to protect Lucema 
 against the dreaded attacks of the outlaws. 
 
 In the month of April, the valleys received the happy 
 news, that, through the intercession of coimt Charles of 
 Lucerna, the duke Charles Emmanuel had granted the 
 gTeater part of their requests, especially the pardon of the 
 outlaws, with the exception of some, who were specified. 
 This result gave them great joy, but only for a short time; 
 for it was soon perceived that all difficulties were not 
 removed. How was it possible that this should be the 
 case, when it seemed to be an admitted i)rinciple, in trans- 
 actions Avith the Yaudois, to consider the concessions and 
 promises made to them as matters that seemed at the 
 time mi avoidable, and only granted until an opportunity 
 should arise for revoldng them, or hindering their per- 
 formance ? 
 
 The body of infantiy stationed at Lucema brought 
 trouble into the valley by an expedition against Bobbio, in 
 which it might have been cut in pieces by the mass of 
 people it drew together, and whom the prudent efforts of 
 some of the Yaudois could scarcely restrain. These military 
 disturbers of the public peace might think themselves 
 fortunate, after the flight of their captain, and the deplo- 
 rable death of some of their comrades, that they were 
 allowed to give up their arms and surrender themselves 
 prisoners. In the end, at the request of comit Emmanuel, 
 of Luceraa, and out of respect for the sovereign, they were 
 set at liberty, and received back their arms a few days 
 after. 
 
 At length, after a new mission of the count Charles to 
 the valleys, in company A\ith the provost-general of justice, 
 a removal of all difficulties was effected. A temple was 
 granted to the people of Pinache. The outlaws were par- 
 doned, T\ith the exception of five, and the valleys engaged 
 to pay a fixed sum, by way of amends for insults to the 
 jDopish temples, which were attributed to the Yaudois. 
 
 Days of peace succeeded to the melancholy times that 
 had just passed. They were not marked by any extraor- 
 dinary events. The church of La Torre enlarged its temple, 
 notwithstanding the opposition of the papists, thanks to 
 the fiiendly inteiposition of the duke. In the year 1605, 
 many people were canied off in the valleys by dysentery, 
 
234 HISTOEY OF THE TATJDOIS CHUECH. 
 
 among others Dominique Yignaux, the pastor of Yillaro, a 
 native of Penasac, in Gascony, a noble by birth and beha- 
 viour, of pure morals, a man of letters, a good theologian, 
 and generally emploj^ed in the more important affairs of 
 the churches. To him was confided the task of collecting 
 the original writings of the Yaudois, in the Eomance or 
 Yaudois language, and in Latin, ^'' which were transmitted 
 to Pierre Perrm, pastor in Dauphine, agreeably to the re- 
 solution of the synod of France, to assist him in his 
 researches on the history of the Yaudois. 
 
 In 1611, the vallej^s were alarmed by the appearance of 
 a large body of French troops, in the service of Savoy, who 
 remained a month in the valley of Lucerna, and committed 
 some excesses there. 
 
 In 1613, and the following year, the Yaudois were them- 
 selves called to take up arms for the service of their prince. 
 Thej^ furnished several companies of militia, who acquitted 
 themselves with credit at the siege of Saint Damian, in 
 Yercelli, and elsewhere. They were allowed to meet to- 
 gether, morning and evening, to oifer their accustomed 
 devotions. In many places, especially in the cities, thejr 
 were received with friendship. Their hosts questioned 
 them on the points-of their religion, and expressed a desire 
 to know the truth ; and some even showed that they were 
 not unacquainted with it. But, in more retired places, the 
 inhabitants fled at their approach, and feared to furnish 
 them with lodgings ; for, as in former ages, j)opisli super- 
 stition rejiresented them as one-eyed monsters, and deco- 
 rated their mouths with four rows of long, black teeth, 
 intended to chew the flesh and bones of little children, 
 whom, it was said, they were fond of broiling on the coals. 
 
 The population of San Giovanni increased greatly, and 
 being straitened in the locality where they usually per- 
 formed Divine service, built a much larger temple. But 
 a powerful influence at the court caused it to be closed. f 
 
 * See ch. x., above. 
 
 t Divine ser\-ice was, no donbt, anciently celebrated at San Giovanni, since 
 a pastor resided and ministered there specialty ; the count de Raconis himself 
 was present at the preaching at SanGiovaimi, in 1560, before the persecution, 
 (see GUles, p. 96 ;) and it was most frequently to San Giovanni that the evan- 
 gehcals of Lower Piechnont, Campiglione, Bil)biana, etc., came to partake of 
 the Lord's supper, of which Gilles has given the special proofs, (p. 195.) 
 
 It is true that the treaty of 1561 does not mention San Giovanni among the 
 parishes that had a right to a temple, but the liberty of assembling there for 
 pubhc worship had been granted to the members of that chm-ch. It would 
 
FIXE Oy ACCOrXT OF CEMETERIES. 235 
 
 The same spirit deprived the Vaudois at Campiglione of 
 the use of their ancient cemetery adjoining; that of the 
 papists. The valleys had even to pay six thousand half- 
 ducats to prevent the employment of more severe measures, 
 occasioned by an attempt at interment by force of arms 
 in the disputed cemetery. 
 
 The payment of this considerable sum very nearly pro- 
 duced disunion in the three valleys ; those of Perosa and 
 San Martino having refused to pay their quota to that of 
 Lucema. They were not, however, slow to perceive that, 
 if they followed out this selfish system, they would become 
 isolated from one another, and offer an easy prey to their 
 common enemy, who was always on the watch. In fact, 
 the valley of Lucema having to pay to the authorities a 
 fi'esh sum, which was claimed without any reasons founded 
 on justice, it transferred to the ducal chamber (rather by 
 coercion, it pretended) its claims on the contributions which 
 were due to it from the other valleys. The Vaudois com- 
 munes thus found themselves constrained to pay, by fear of 
 the supreme authority, what they should have consented to 
 give from good-^\T.ll, out of love to their brethren and the 
 common welfare. 
 
 The officers of the chamber incessantly claimed the pay- 
 ment of the debt. In a general assembly of the overseers 
 of the communes of the valley of Perosa, called to clear 
 themselves from a grave charge, the abstraction of accoimts 
 sealed and left in trust with some of them, the papists 
 (who were alone involved, since to them alone the ab- 
 stracted documents had been entrusted) advised the Yau- 
 dois to unite with them in preparing a joint petition, in 
 which they should state the demands of both parties, and 
 should ofi'er in compensation a round sum of three thou- 
 sand half-ducats, to be paid by all jointly. The Taudois 
 overseers flattered themselves with obtaining, by their 
 union ^vith the papists and the protection of the distin- 
 guished patrons whom their friends had at court, a remis- 
 sion of their debt and a confiiTaation of their liberties. 
 They hoped, also, by this step, which appeared to them 
 well plamied, to wipe out the remembrance of some little 
 
 seem that the locality appropriated to meetings for worship, was in the dis- 
 trict of Appia, since'the public disputations in 1596 and 1602 were held there, 
 as mentioned by Gilles. (pp. 306, 3-i9.) 
 
236 HISTOET OF THE YATJDOIS CHTJECH. 
 
 acts of resistance to authority which had occurred in main- 
 taining their privileges. These acts were, the deliverance 
 of the minister Chanforan, who was being removed from 
 his post and taken to Pinerolo, for having displeased the 
 reverend Capuchins of Perrier, in a debate with them ; and 
 the opposition which the Yaudois of Pinache had made to 
 the officers of justice in a distant locality, who, not being 
 aware that custom had authorized the Yaudois to work 
 within their limits on the popish holidays, were about 
 to apprehend some workmen, who were occupied in build- 
 ing a belfry. Being carried away by the fair speeches 
 of their popish colleagues, the Yaudois overseers gave their 
 signatures, but without the knowledge of the pastors and 
 people of the churches, to a petition, in which the cause 
 they professed to serve occupied a very insignificant place. 
 PuU of blind confidence, they left to the governor of the 
 castle, a wily papist, the conduct of the negotiations and 
 the verbal communications. 
 
 Is it wonderful that the result deceived their hopes and 
 threw them into new perplexities ? The answer, which 
 favoured the papists, put the tliree thousand half-ducats 
 entirely to the account of the evangelicals; moreover, it 
 condemned them to demolish six of their temples, under 
 the pretence that they were without the limits, which was 
 not the case. Such were the bitter fruits of the divided 
 state of the valleys, and the union of the Yaudois with the 
 enemies of their religion. But the people of the valley of 
 Perosa had not reached the end of their sufierings. An 
 explanatory memorial, in which they requested milder con- 
 ditions, by some fatal negligence was not presented in time. 
 The order to demolish at least the belfry of Pinache having 
 been repeated in the interval by the governor of Pinerolo, 
 without its being attended to, the Yaudois relying on their 
 petition, and taking no further trouble about it, while their 
 enemies laboured in an underhand manner against them, 
 the prince, to whom they had been misrepresented, pre- 
 pared to punish them severel5^ This took place in 1623. 
 
 At the beginning of 1624, a peremptory order to demo- 
 lish the six temples reached the communes, accompanied by 
 threats, that, if not immediately complied with, recourse 
 would be had to arms. Towards the end of January, a 
 regiment of French troops, occuj)ied one of the great 
 
OCCUPATION' OF THE YALLEY OF PEROSA. 237 
 
 Yauclois Yillages in the Yalley of Perosa, namely, Saint- 
 Germain, to the north-west of Pinerolo, at the opening of 
 the Yale of Pramol, on the right bank of the Clusone. 
 Very soon after, the whole Yalley was occupied by a total 
 force of six or scYcn thousand soldiers. In the pei'plexity 
 into which the Yalley of Perosa was thrown by tliis sudden 
 iuYasion, the other Yalleys, and CYcn that of Clusone, 
 (Pragela,) then belonging to Prance, did not abandon it. 
 AMiatcYer obstacles were attempted to be put in the AYay on 
 the part of the duke and the lords, numerous detachments 
 of resolute men, traYcrsing the mountains coYcred Yrith 
 snow, were still continually hastening to the spot fi'om all 
 points of the Yalleys. But what reasonable hope could be 
 entertained of diiYing out of the countiy an anny so large 
 and so well disciplined as the duke's ? Accordingly, they 
 were soon obliged to decide on the cruel extremity of 
 demolishing the six temples. They consoled themselYcs 
 a little with the hope of soon rebuilding them after the 
 departui'e of the troops, which had been settled ^Yith Syllan, 
 the ducal commissioner. But the count TafB.n, who com- 
 manded the army, appeared to consider his mission as by 
 no means terminated ; he required the Yaudois to lay down 
 theii' arms, and particularly to take down the barricades 
 and other means of defence, behind which they were 
 enti'enched on the heights of Saint-Germain, at the entrance 
 of the Yale of Pramol. Such a demand betrayed his ul- 
 terior designs, and they refused to accede to it. A sharp 
 skiiToish followed, but, ^^ith all theii' efforts, the papists 
 could not force a passage. Their situation was anything 
 but adYantageous to themselYes ; they were in the depth of 
 winter, badly lodged, and part of them not at all ; often 
 -\Yithout fire or shelter, in the midst of the snow, which this 
 year was deeper than usual, haYing before them Yigorous 
 adYcrsaries, whose numbers had increased continually since 
 the assault on the banicades. Under such cii'cimistances, 
 a couYcntion was easily concluded between count Taffin and 
 the chiefs of the Yalleys, in the presence and by the good 
 offices of count Philip, of Lucema. The anny retired, and 
 the deputies of all the communes of the Yalley of Perosa 
 appeared before his higliness, to make the best apology 
 they could, and obtain their pardon, as well as permission 
 to rebuild their temples. 
 
238 HISTOET OF THE TArDOIS CHUECH. 
 
 From time to time, the inquisition found means of 
 making a victim of some one or other. Its aim was 
 chiefly against the converts from popery vrho had taken 
 refuge in the valleys. It apprehended them, whenever, 
 deceived by apparent peace, they ventured into Piedmont. 
 Thus Sebastien Basan died in Turin at the stake, in 1623, 
 besides Louis Malherbe who ended his days in prison, in 
 1626. And many others groaned for years in dungeons, 
 or, after struggling for release, perished most frequently 
 the victims of secret outrage, unpitied and unknown ! 
 
 A monk, father Bonaventure, attempted a new kind of 
 warfare. His manners were familiar and caressing, and he 
 thus made himself agreeable to children, and succeeded in 
 carrying off several hojs of ten or twelve years old, in the 
 villages below the valley of Lucerna, bordering on Pied- 
 mont, (Bibbiana, Penile, Campiglione and others,) where 
 from ancient times Yaudois and papists had lived inter- 
 mixed. The chikben were never restored to their relations. 
 And, whatever steps were taken, no better answer could be 
 obtained from the civil authorities than that these acts 
 were imputable to none but the monks, and that they 
 knew not what to do in the business. 
 
 Many Vaudois, from the same villages in the plain of 
 Lucerna were also cast into prison, under the pretence that 
 they li\'ed beyond the proper limits, though this was not 
 the case. In the measures taken with the senator Barberi 
 and his assistants, to deliver the prisoners, we may be 
 assured that these pretended officers of justice went beyond 
 their commission, and aimed as much, at least, at extorting 
 some ransom, and levying contributions, as at indulging 
 their religious hatred and that of their friends. 
 
 A threatened invasion of Piedmont by a Prench army, 
 under the orders of the marquis d'Uxel, in 1628, gave an 
 opportunity to the Yaudois to prove their fidelity to their 
 sovereign, and to receive, in their turn, a proof of the full 
 confidence they inspired. The guard of many passes of 
 their mountains, which were particularly threatened, was 
 entrusted to them ; and it was granted to their urgent 
 request to serve alone, without being mixed with other 
 troops of his highness. Their companies were all com- 
 manded by officers taken from their own ranks and chosen 
 by them ; the superior officers alone belonged to the regular 
 
rXEFFECTUAL ATTEMPTS TO ESTABLISH THE MONKS. 239 
 
 army. Only a small number of engagements took place, 
 in which the army of L'xel were worsted, and wliich 
 ended in his retreat. 
 
 At this period the earl of Carlisle, ambassador from the 
 king of Great Britain to the diike of Savoy, heard from the 
 lips of his higliness the testimony of his satisfaction mth 
 his fiiithlul subjects of the valleys, while he also avowed 
 his fixed intention of giving them proofs of it. 
 
 But though Charles Enunanuel cherished the best senti- 
 ments towards the Yaudois, the warm partisans of Rome, 
 invested with high dignities, abused their authority and 
 the name of their prince, by secretly introducing into the 
 valleys the in-econcileable enemies of the evangelical church, 
 the pope's light cavalry, the monks. 
 
 Already a similar attempt had been partially made at 
 the end of the last century, and had led to the settled 
 establishment of the Capuchins at Perrier, a popish town 
 in the valley of San Martino. But, this time, nothing less 
 was thought of, than to endow every Yaudois commune 
 with a convent. To gain the consent of the inhabitants, 
 all sorts of methods were adopted without scruple. At 
 Bobbio, intrigue predominated ; at Angrogna, ostentation, 
 splendour, and threats ; at Eora, violence. The prior of 
 Lucerna, Marco Aurelio Horenco, or Rorengo, at the head 
 of the priests, the count of Lucerna, the most powerful of 
 the lords of the valley, and the count Eighiuo Roero, in 
 the name of the government, spared no pains to accomplish 
 their object. They even prociu-ed the interference of the 
 heir apparent, the prince of Piedmont, Yictor Amadeus. A 
 letter was sent in his name to every conunune, in which he 
 promised liberal distributions of corn and rice, (the winter 
 of 1628, 1629, was severe, and attended with a general 
 dearth;) for these provisions and their distributors, who 
 were to be monks, he required a house to be provided by 
 the commune. But whatever effort was made at Angrogna, 
 no hospitality could be obtained for them, not even for a 
 single night. After staying some time at Bobbio, Yillaro, 
 and Rora, they were obliged to yield to the general ^ill, 
 and depart. As they resisted expulsion rather obstinately 
 in the last-named place, some women earned them a part 
 of the road in their arms. Similar attempts proved abor- 
 tive in the valley of Perosa, at Saint- Germain, and Pramol. 
 
240 HISTOEY OF THE TAUDOIS CHURCH. 
 
 Thus the mass could not be celebrated in any part of the 
 Yaudois communes, unless, perhaps, we except San Giovanni 
 and the town of La Torre, in which evangelical worship 
 was not tolerated. In this last place the monk Bonaven- 
 ture, (whom Gilles calls the standard-bearer of the whole 
 legion,) collected and settled all his fraternity. It is not 
 unimportant to remark here, that at this period the Romish, 
 or popish worship, had no officiating minister, nor temple, 
 nor altar, in almost the whole region of the Yaudois 
 churches of the three valleys. 
 
 The valleys had scarcely recovered from the disquiet 
 " which the efforts of the monks and their powerful protec- 
 tors had excited, when the arrival of a Prench army before 
 Pinerolo, in the spring of 1630, threw them into the great- 
 est 23er2)lexity. Marshal Schomberg, who commanded it, 
 required prompt submission to his sovereign. The troops 
 under his orders pillaged and laid waste the accessible parts 
 of the three valleys. He had just reduced Pinerolo and 
 its citadel, which had been garrisoned by the Yaudois 
 militia. He akeady occupied Ericherasco, within a league 
 of San Giovanni, with a thousand horse and fifteen thou- 
 sand foot. The last of the four days of deliberation, 
 granted very reluctantly to the Yaudois, drew to a close, 
 and still they were deliberating. The succour promised by 
 his highness, whom they had informed of the danger, was 
 not arrived ; on the contrary, a report was abroad that the 
 duke had di'awn off his troops behind the Po. By this 
 movement the valleys were given up to the enemy. They 
 decided, therefore, to submit, conjointly with their papist 
 lords, though on the condition that their militia should not 
 be obliged to bear arms against his highness out of their 
 territory. Among the fifteen articles of capitulation, signed 
 and sworn to a little after, there was one which the prior 
 of Lucerna, deputed by the clergy of that valley, had 
 attempted first to exclude, and then to modifj', but without 
 success. It specified, that persons of the 'reformed religion 
 should enjoy to the utmost the rights which were guaran- 
 teed by the edicts in Prance, as to the exercise of their 
 religion, and that no one should trouble them in any manner 
 on account of it. With these conditions the three valleys 
 would have scarcely known any other evils, during the 
 occui^ation of their country by the Prench, which lasted 
 
A DEEADFFL PLAGITE. 241 
 
 for a 5'ear, excepting those occasioned by the continual 
 passing of troops from France to Piedmont, and the tran- 
 sport of large militarj' stores, if God had not ^^sited them 
 with one of the severest trials he had ever sent them, — a 
 contagious and epidemic malady, brought, as it appears, 
 from Trance by the army, and designated a plag-ue by con- 
 temporary historians. 
 
 The first cases were noticed at the beginning of May, 
 1630, in the valley of Perosa ; then in that of San Martino ; 
 a little after in that of Clusone or Pragela ; and still later 
 in the valley of Lucema. The pastors and deputies of the 
 churches met at Pramol, to concert measures against so 
 terrible an evil, and neglected nothing that could tend to 
 check its progress. They provided, amongst other things, 
 for the purchase of medicine, as well as for regular and 
 sufficient assistance for the poor. It was also their "^^-ish to 
 celebrate a general and public fast ; but not seeing how it 
 would be possible to do it with solemnity, in the midst of 
 such a bustle of troops, \dctuallers, men of business, and 
 others, coming and going, they confined themselves to what 
 each pastor might effect in his own chiu'ch by exhortations 
 to repentance, both in public and private. The malady 
 extended its ravages, and raged fuiiously. In certain 
 localities, all the houses contained some either dead or 
 dying. The want of provisions, which was very sensibly 
 felt at the beginning of the year, increased every day, and 
 they knew not where to procure a supply. The state of 
 the atmosphere contributed also to extend the evil. In 
 July and August, the heat was excessive. The latter month 
 was the most disastrous : in that short space of time, seven 
 pastors were carried off by the plague. Four others died 
 in the preceding month ; the twelfth died in the folloT\ing 
 month, as he was preparing to set out for Geneva, whither 
 he was deputed, in order to obtain new pastors. There 
 remained only three, besides one invalid, eighty years old,* 
 Happily, by a providential dispensation, they belonged to 
 different va'Ueys ; so that each valley having its own pas- 
 tor, neither was entirely destitute of religious aid ; and the 
 more so because, "s\ithout fearing that death which con- 
 tinually threatened them, they multiplied themselves, so to 
 I speak, by redoubled zeal in the discharge of their duties. 
 
 * Antoiae Bonjour, the ancient pastor of Pravillielra. 
 
242 HISTORY OF THE VAUDOIS CHTJECH. 
 
 They travelled from village to village, preached in the open 
 air to the healthy, and visited hundreds of dying persons 
 in their homes. They were frequently called themselves to 
 watch, in their dwellings, at the bedside of beloved rela- 
 tions. The only pastor remaining in the valley of Lucerna, 
 Pierre Gilles, pastor of La Torre, (author of a highly-valued 
 history of the Yaudois churches,^' which we have constantly 
 had before us in preparing the present work,) lost no less 
 than four sons, full of promise. 
 
 Though the plague was somewhat diminished during the 
 winter, it broke out again in the spring, and extended to 
 the more elevated villages, which it had before sj)ared. At 
 last it ceased all at once in July, 1631, having lasted 
 upwards of a year. Half of the population had disappeared. 
 The greater part of the husbands living had lost their 
 wives, almost all the married women were widows, and 
 the unmarried orphans. Grandfathers and grandmothers, 
 laden with years, who had before counted with joy their 
 numerous children and grandchildren, the support and 
 hope of their old age, remained alone. The heart was 
 wrung at hearing the cries of little beings, now orphans, 
 repeating, in a sad and exhausted tone, the beloved names 
 of their parents, whose prolonged absence they could not 
 account for. 
 
 The proportion of deaths was nearly the same through- 
 out ; it amounted to one-half of the population, both Vau- 
 dois and papists. The valley of San Martino estimated its 
 loss at fifteen hundred Vaudois, and one hundred papists ; 
 that, of Perosa at more than two thousand Yaudois ; the 
 church of Rocheplatte at five hundred and fifty, which 
 must be added to the preceding. The dead in the valley 
 of Lucerna, including those of Angrogna, amounted to 
 about six thousand Yaudois, of whom eight hundi'ed were 
 in the commune of La Torre. This will make a total of 
 more than ten thousand Yaudois carried off in one year by 
 the mortality. A considerable number of families became 
 entirely extinct. "\Ye have not reckoned the foreigners in 
 the valleys, who had come in quest of the pure mountain 
 air to prolong thek lives, and obtained nothing fr-om the 
 
 * Histoire Eccl^siastique des Eglises Reformees, recueillies en quelques 
 vallees du Pidmont, autrefois appelees Eglises Vaudoises, etc., pai' Pierre 
 Grilles, pasteur de la Tour. Geneve : chez Jean de Touiiies, 164!i. 
 
AGAIN Els'JOY SOME DAYS OF PEACE. 243 
 
 soil but a grave. Hundreds more lost theii- lives. Soldiers, 
 sutlers, poor persons, whom the plague had struck with 
 death in by-paths, lay there, infecting the air AWth their 
 corpses. In various places, they set fire to the houses, 
 containing several dead persons, rather than mter them. 
 Towards the end of the autumn, in many parts of the 
 country, might be seen corn in the fields, grapes on 
 the vines, and all kinds of fruit in the gardens, going to 
 decay, because there was no one to gather or get them in. 
 Excellent lands remained fallow. The wages of laboui'crs 
 rose prodigiously, on account of the scarcity of hands. 
 
 In the midst of so many evils, one thing alone, but that 
 the best, prospered, — *' godliness ;" that precious fruit 
 which hath the '^ promise of the life that now is, and of 
 that which is to come." " The zeal of the people," says 
 Gilles, in his simple language, ''to be present at the 
 preaching in the open country, here or there, was ver^- 
 great ; and eveiy one marvelled and praised God for the 
 help he gave us amidst such sharp and terrible afflictions." 
 
 Diu'ing the plague, the death of the duke Charles 
 Emmanuel occurred. He had reigned fifty years, and had 
 generally shown himself favourable to his faithful Yaudois 
 subjects ; as much at least as the incessant intrigues of 
 their enemies would allow. 
 
 The news of the peace concluded between the king of 
 France and the duke of Savoj' came also to reviye their 
 spirits, which had been cast down by so many successive 
 shocks. The valleys, towards the close of the year, came 
 again under the dominion of the house of Savoy, with the 
 exception of that portion of the valley of Perosa which is 
 situated on the left bank of the Clusone, which was left to 
 the French, as well as Pinerolo. 
 
 It seemed that Avar and pestilence, those scourges of 
 God, being once removed from these plains and desolated 
 valleys, it would be possible for the survivors to recover 
 gradually from their sufferings, allay theii' fears, and again 
 enjoy some days of calm and peace. And so it was. All 
 ties were re-established, and new ones were foimed by 
 numerous marriages. So many persons left alone in the 
 world cbew near to each other, and sought for mutual con- 
 solation. Laboiu" resumed its actiAity, words of hope were 
 heard on the high Alps, among the groups reclining under 
 
 H 2 
 
244 HISTOET OF THE YAUDOIS CHTIECH. 
 
 the shade of the lofty chesnut-trees, in their leism^e hours, 
 or as they sat round the blazing fire in their cottages at 
 nightfall. 
 
 But their troubles were not yet over. The youthful 
 generation, which had escaped from the plague, had again 
 to bear all that the most cruel barbarity could invent. 
 Meanwhile, it was being trained to patience, in the midst 
 of previous vexations and intrigues either concealed or 
 avowed, which we shall proceed to narrate in the following 
 chapter."^' 
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 THE VATJDOIS, CALUMNIATED AT COUET, AEE MISUNDERSTOOD 
 AND ILL-TEEATED. 
 
 The first care of the Yaudois churches in 1631, on their 
 being placed again under the rule of the house of Savoy, 
 was to send a deputation to his highness Yictor Amadous i., 
 commissioned to request, after offering their homage and 
 congratulations, the general confij^mation of their privileges, 
 and in particular of the favours and concessions granted 
 by his august father, in the year 1603, and confirmed in 
 1620. This step was not only dictated by propriety; it 
 was become indispensable on account of the virulence with 
 which the priests and other papists sought to injure them, 
 and accused them to his highness. Success was delayed. 
 The deputies were, it is true, received with kindness by 
 their sovereign, but the confirmation of their privileges was 
 deferred till after the examination of some points which they 
 were accused of having transgressed or neglected. But 
 although it was easy to explain the facts in question, months 
 and years passed away without their being able to obtain the 
 desired confirmation. The commissioners delegated by the 
 court had evidently concerted to stifle or conceal the truth, 
 with the intriguing papists who stirred the fire, at the head 
 of whom was Eorenco, or Rorengo, the zealous prior of 
 
 * For the narrative in this chapter, see Gilles, ch. sxx— Ix. 
 
UNJUST COMPLAINTS AGAINST THEM. 245 
 
 Lucema. These men, blinded by passion, -^cre always 
 raising fresh difficulties. 
 
 They maintained that the residence of the Yaudois in 
 Lucema was of recent date, although the oldest papists of 
 the place were ready to bear witness that from their earliest 
 infancy, they had seen the same families established there, 
 whose domicile was now disputed. It is true, and we have 
 remarked it in the preceding chapter, that for some years 
 they had forced the Yaudois to leave this town, whither 
 they afterwards returned to settle. The right of residence 
 was equally contested in reference to the Yaudois of Cam- 
 piglione, Fenile, and Bibbiana. Nevertheless the demon- 
 stration of theii' rights was easy. They had on their side 
 the fact of uninterrupted residence, and the letter of the 
 treaty of 1561, which, T\T.thout naming, sufficiently pointed 
 them out, as moreover was proved by the lists then forwarded 
 to the count de Raconis. 
 
 The same adversaries charged it as a crime on the Yau- 
 dois that they had purchased the property of Roman Catho- 
 lics ; while they could prove their right by a great number 
 of ancient as well as modem deeds, documents perfectly 
 regular, dra^Ti up by notaries and sanctioned by judges, 
 both of the Roman religion. Lastly, they seemed to dislike 
 the employment of evangelical schoohnasters, as if this had 
 been a novelty in the valleys, though it could be proved 
 that the Yaudois churches had had them fi'om the remotest 
 antiquity. The particular object these intiiguing papists 
 had in view, on this last point, was to substitute their 
 monks for the evangelical schoolmasters. But in one of 
 the great conferences with the deputies of the valleys, at 
 which the duke's commissioner presided, for the settlement 
 of this affair, an old man of Bobbio, Pierre Pavarin, on 
 hearing the offer proposed to them by his highness, of send- 
 ing at his expense some reverend fathers, well-informed 
 and modest, and far superior to their present teachers, to 
 keep the schools, could not restrain his feelings, but 
 exclaimed, " Do they ^dsh us to send our chilch'en to the 
 schools of the monks ? For myself, I would rather see my 
 children burned to ashes than taught by such people I" 
 There was nothing, down to the modest and single church- 
 bell of San Giovanni, which these intenneddling papists 
 did not make a point of dispute. They wanted nothiiig less 
 
246 HISTOET OF THE VATJDOIS CHIJECH. 
 
 than to reduce this bell to silence, or to confiscate it for 
 their own nse, that they might ring it on their holidays to 
 the great annoyance of the Yandois. But the people of San 
 Giovanni, who from ancient times had made use of it for 
 their meetings and for other purposes, defended their right 
 to it so well that it could not be withheld. They had hoped 
 to obtain as full success on other points, but Fauzon, the 
 duke's commissioner, listened more readily to the insidious 
 discourses of the papists than to the voice of justice. They 
 even made a difficulty of allowing M. Etienne Mondon, the 
 only Yaudois of his profession who had escaped the plague, 
 to practise as a notary, and refused to admit any other to 
 this office, which, nevertheless, they had filled from time 
 immemorial. The brothers Goz (Gos), one a doctor of law, 
 the other of medicine, both refugees from the marquisate 
 of Saluzzo, had just been directed by the duke to remove 
 out of La Torre and the valley of Lucerna. What well- 
 founded hope of obtaining the ducal sanction for the ancient 
 concessions could be maintained when intolerance was seen 
 to threaten everything, and to give already palpable proofs 
 of its return ? It was useless to expect the letters patent 
 which had been solicited. They were not forwarded. 
 
 So far from it, the persecution which openly raged against 
 the Yaudois of Saluzzo,*" who were then under the same 
 prince, served to enlighten those of the three valleys res- 
 pecting the nature of the designs that were forming against 
 them. In the mountains of Saluzzo, towards the sources of 
 the Po, at the foot of Mount Yiso, there were left some 
 remains of the ancient Yaudois churches. Their isolation 
 in these elevated glens, their possession of the soil from 
 time immemorial, their peaceable manners, and their calm 
 but determined resistance to popish seductions, as well as 
 attempts at oppression, had preserved them from the ruin 
 which had overtaken all the other churches in the marqui- 
 sate. Pravilhelm, Biolets, Bietone, and some other places 
 in the neighbourhood of Paisana, still rejoiced in the pure 
 light of the gospel of Jesus Christ. But the plague had 
 reduced their numbers one half. Their resistance could no 
 longer be apprehended. An edict, dated September 23, 
 
 * All these difficulties and pretensions disclose a settled desie^n to oppress 
 and intimidate the Vaudois more and more, and finally to destroy them. Eveiy 
 act of persecution was a step tn advance towards this crisis. 
 
 I 
 
THEIR EXPULSION FEOM! THE VALLEY OF THE TO. 247 
 
 1633, left them only the choice between popery and exile. 
 Two months were allowed them to dispose of their property 
 and leave the country, if they would not abjure. 
 
 They and their friends of the valley of Lucema solicited, 
 but in vain, the withdi'awal or modification of the edict. 
 The bishop of Saluzzo, a great orator, came to Paisana, and 
 attempted to move the principal persons whom he had sent 
 for by fair speeches ; but fidelity to God rose superior, in 
 these sincere hearts, to the calculations of interest and the 
 love of their native country. Although the fatal term 
 approached without their having effected the sale of their 
 houses and lands, and winter was just at hand, almost all 
 made up their minds to depart. Their brethren of the 
 valley of Lucerna held out their arms to them. They began 
 their march, taking with them their cattle and whatever 
 else could be carried away. They were distributed among 
 the villages and hamlets of their friends and bretliren, and 
 there heard of the demolition of their ancient dwellings 
 by the monks of Paisana. All hope of return was thus 
 taken from- them. This odious act was superfluous. The 
 Yaudois of Saluzzo felt themselves stronger, and conse- 
 quently happier for thefr imion with those of Lucema. 
 As they heard the approaching thunders of persecution, 
 and beheld the Eomish lightnings flash around them, they 
 and their brethren had a presentiment of the Di^"ine good- 
 ness for thefr common safety, in thefr being thus brought 
 together. 
 
 Two of their number, having returned, a little while after, 
 to attend to thefr afiafrs in the marquisate, were recognised 
 and imprisoned. One, named Julian, redeemed himself by 
 a considerable ransom ; the other, named Peillon, died in 
 the gallej's, stedfast in the faith. Of all the enemies of 
 the Yaudois, none were more active, and none more for- 
 midable than the priests and monks, as we have already 
 seen. They were especially so at the period now imder our 
 review. From them proceeded the opposition to the renewal 
 and observance of the concessions and privileges afready 
 granted to the Yaudois. Among all these ecclesiastics, none 
 made themselves so conspicuous as the prior of Lucerna, 
 Marcus Aurelius Eorenco, and the prefect of the monks, 
 Theodore Belvedere. To attain their end more surely, by 
 influencing the public opinion, they had recourse to the 
 
248 HISTOEY OF THE VATJDOIS CHURCH, 
 
 press. The former, Eorenco, publislied, in 1632, under the 
 title oi Breve Narrazione, etc., (''A brief Narrative of the 
 introduction of Heresy into the Yalleys,") a book which 
 calumniated the religion and lives of the reformed Chris- 
 tians, and especially the Yaudois. He had collected in it 
 the edicts against the Yaudois, extorted, in fact, from their 
 sovereign by the manoeuvres of their enemies, and, for the 
 most part, revoked shortly after, by the justice and en- 
 lightened benevolence of the princes of Savoy ; and although 
 the author spoke of certain concessions made to the Yau- 
 dois, he did so only in an uneomiected, incomplete, and 
 partial manner. The pastor Yalere Gros prepared an 
 answer, which was never printed, owing to the perfidious 
 advice of some false popish friends, and particularly the 
 commissioners delegated to the valleys, who asserted that 
 it was not necessary, since their adversary's book had made 
 a very slight impression in high quarters ; which was false. 
 E-orenco, encouraged by this success, published, in 1634, 
 in concert with Belvedere, the prefect of the monks, Bes 
 Lettres Apologetiques, ('' Apologetic Letters,") exhibiting 
 but little knowledge or little conscience, which abounded 
 with raillery against the Yaudois because they could not 
 answer what was in the first book. On this occasion, the 
 historian Pierre Gilles, pastor of La Torre, entered the lists. 
 He refuted the two preceding books in his Considerations 
 sur les Lettres Apologetiques, ('* Considerations on the Apo- 
 logetic Letters.") The two popish authors replied, in 1636, 
 by a Latitt work, with a very pompous title. Who could 
 resist this ''Tower against Damascus" this "Portress of 
 the Uoman church against the incursions of the Calvinists ?' ' 
 Such boldness was reserved for the same soldier of Christ, 
 against whom particularly the Romish shafts had been dis- 
 charged. Gilles published, in opposition to "The Tower 
 against Damascus," his work, entitled " The Evangelical 
 Tower," solid and well built on the true foundation, on the 
 corner-stone, which is Christ. The j^i'efect of the monlvs 
 published, lastly, a work in Italian, dedicated to the Con- 
 gregation for the Propagation of the Paith, at Pome, on the 
 state of the Yaudois church, on their dicipline, doctrine, 
 and ceremonies ; a book stufied with lies and calumnies, in 
 which he obliquely insinuated the necessity of their exter- 
 mination. Gilles refuted this also, with care, chapter by 
 
DISPUTATIONS WITH THE PRIESTS. 249 
 
 chapter, in a work of deep and minute investigation. But 
 the accusations were better received by Italian readers than 
 their refutation, and, lamentable to say, secretly excited 
 them to hatred and persecution. Who can say how far these 
 monkish productions paved the way for the great and di'ead- 
 ful persecution which broke forth some years later ? 
 
 An edict sunilar to that which had expelled the Yaudois 
 of Pravilhelm, Biolets, and Bietone, from their villages, 
 now spread terror thi'ough the valley of Lucema. The 
 few Yaudois families residing at Campiglione, a town in 
 the plain, still included in the valley of Lucema, received 
 an order to leave their homes finally, within four-and- 
 twenty hours, and to retire elsewhere, under pain of death 
 and the confiscation of their goods. All obeyed, and Cam- 
 piglione no longer mmibered a Yaudois among its inhabitants, 
 llany families also quitted Bibbiana at the same time.^' 
 
 In the parts where they had succeeded in establishing 
 themselves, as at Perier and La Torre, the monks could not 
 remain at rest. They often acted like hired disturbers of 
 the peace. For example, — in the month of May, 1636, the 
 monk Simond assailed some peaceable Yaudois, whom he 
 found in the market-place of La Torre, with gross abuse ; 
 and then, holding a gilt crucifi:x in his hands, he feU on his 
 knees, uttering ciu^ses against the refonned kings and 
 princes. Evidently he hoped to irritate the bystanders, 
 both by his crucifix, before which he knelt, and by his 
 unseemly language. But knowing too well the craft of men 
 of his stamp, they restrained themselves, and for their 
 justification went to complain of his proceedings to a magi- 
 strate. This was the same monk Simond who raised a riot 
 at Lucema, against Antoine Leger, the pastor of San Gio- 
 vanni, because he had ventiu^d into this popish town, in 
 order to \isit a parishioner who was dangerously ill, which 
 was permitted by the convention of 1561. The alarm 
 being given, the Yaudois ran together from every quarter 
 to succour their pastor, who, by their care and exertions, 
 escaped from danger. 
 
 Animated disputes, either by word of mouth or in writ- 
 ing, were carried on from time to time. Public discussions 
 also took place by the instigation of the fiery Eorenco and 
 
 * Leger, pt. ii., p. 63. 
 
 M 3 
 
250 HISTOEY OF THE VATTDOIS CHIJECH. 
 
 a monk sent from Eome. These were regarded by the pas- 
 tors and the faithful Yaudois, as omens that their inveterate 
 enemies were preparing for ruder attacks, as sudden showers 
 show the approach of tempestuous weather. 
 
 The sky was soon completely overcast. Besides the diffi- 
 culties which the busy hatred of the popish clergy was con- 
 tinually raising, the debates on religion, the obstacles to 
 individual prosperity, and to the free enjoyment of their 
 homes, consecrated by long use and the concessions of their 
 sovereigns, the hindrances, above all, to the instruction of 
 the young and to the exercise of religious liberty in certain 
 communes, — besides all these impediments, wliich were ob- 
 jects of great solicitude to the conductors of the churches, 
 there were added political and civil difficulties of immense 
 weight. The duke, Victor Amadous i., died in October, 1637. 
 The regency of his son, a boy five years old, which had been 
 committed to his widow Christina of Prance, was claimed 
 by the cardinal Maurice of Savoy, aided by his brother 
 Thomas, both brothers of the deceased, and consequently 
 uncles of the 3"oung prince. These princes, being supported 
 by Spain, seized on Piedmont. Even Turin opened its gates 
 to them. The duchess and her children crossed the Alps 
 and took refuge in Savoy. The cause of the regent mother 
 seemed lost in Piedmont. It was at this critical moment, 
 when all had abandoned it on this side the Alps, that the 
 valleys, maintaining, even in the misfortunes of their sove- 
 reign, their traditionary fidelity, declared their firm resolu- 
 tion to uphold the rights of their duke and his mother. For 
 this they were cruelly treated, especially the inhabitants of 
 Lucerna, by their lord the marquis of Lucerna and An- 
 grogna, who had taken sides with the princes Maurice and 
 Thomas. Expecting to be attacked by the joint armies of 
 the princes and of Spain, they thought it their duty to take 
 precautionary measures, to preserve themselves for their 
 sovereign; in particular, they created military officers. Ow- 
 ing to this energetic attitude, they were not attacked, and 
 even rendered eminent service to their prince ; for they kept 
 open the passes of the Alps, hj which the Erench army, 
 under the order of count Harcourt and marshal Turenne, 
 penetrated into Piedmont, and ha^^ng driven out the 
 Spanish army, procured peace, and put the young duke, 
 
ANTOTNE LEGER. 251 
 
 under the regencj- of his mother, in full possession of his 
 dominions >' 
 
 It does not appear that the regent felt much indebted to 
 the Yaudois valleys for theii' fidelity, or that she so much 
 as noticed it. For scarcely was she again in possession of 
 power than her government began to treat them with 
 rigour. Perhaps it was found easier to revive the tradi- 
 tionaiy method of persecution than to enter on the untrod- 
 den path of justice and truth. There are, moreover, persons 
 to whom gratitude is not considered as due, and who are 
 treated harshly just because their oppressors are unwilling 
 to acknowledge their obligations to them. 
 
 The temple of San Giovanni, which had been re-opened, 
 was again closed. A commissioner was sent to drive away 
 to the left bank of the Pelice all the Yaudois who were 
 settled on the right bank, at the opening of the valley, 
 at Lucema, Bibbiana, and Penile, and to make those who 
 were established at Bricherascof return within the limits. 
 One of the pastors, Antoine Leger, uncle of the liistorian, 
 who had taken the most active part in the measiu-es of 
 defence in favour of the regency of the duchess against the 
 princes of Savoy, was cited to appear before the tribunal at 
 Turin. Being warned in time that his life was aimed at, 
 he did not go there ; and notwithstanding the efforts made 
 on his behalf by the churches and many persons of distinc- 
 tion who esteemed him, he was sentenced to death for con- 
 tumacy, and his property confiscated. A victim of his fide- 
 lity, he left his coimtry for ever and betook himself to 
 Geneva, the city of Protestant refugees, where he was 
 appointed pastor and professor of theology and the oriental 
 languages. I It may be noticed, in passing, that the adver- 
 saries of the Yaudois made it a part of their system to get 
 rid of every man of eminence who appeared in the valleys. 
 By this sentence of death pronounced against the most dis- 
 tinguished person that the Yaudois churches possessed, they 
 were deprived of an able, prudent, and pious coimseUor at 
 the very juncture when he was most needed. The times, 
 
 * Leger, pt. ii., pp. 69, 70.— Gilles, whom we have preferred to follow hitherto, 
 closes his history in the year 1643. For the fi;tru-e we follow Leger. 
 
 t At this time"^ there were forty-seven Vaudois families at Lucema and its 
 neighV)Oiu'hood ; thu-ty-five at Bibbiana ; thirty-thi-ee at Femle ; and nine at 
 Biicherasco. (See Memoire de Rorenco, Storia di Pinerolo, t. iii., p. 201.) 
 
 t Leger had been tutor in the fanuly of the ambassador of HoUand, at Con- 
 stanttaople, for many years. 
 
252 HISTOUT OF THE VATJDOIS CHUECH. 
 
 in fact, were more serious than ever, for a board specially 
 charged with taking cognisance of heresy had jnst been 
 formed at Turin by the regent. Cardinal Maurice of Savoy"^ . 
 was the president, and the archbishop of Tuiin vice-presi- 
 dent. It was, no doubt, by desire of this board, ordinarily 
 called by the simple designation of 11 Congresso, (The Con- 
 gress,) that the duchess published, in 1644, the regulations 
 respecting the honours due to the crucifix, the keeping of 
 holidays, the burials of the Yaudois, etc. ; and she delegated, 
 in 1646, the prior Eorenco, to re-establish in the valley of 
 Lucerna, the ruined churches, (popish churches which had 
 never existed but in the imagination of the friends Rome.) 
 The board underwent a transformation some time after the 
 jubilee of 1650, when the Council for the Propagation of 
 the Faith and the Extirpation of Heretics, sitting at Rome, 
 decided on the formation of auxiliary councils of the same 
 name in the metropolitan cities, in some of which the par- 
 liaments also held their sittings. 
 
 These secondary councils, under the immediate direction 
 of that at Rome, directed in their turn the inferior boards, 
 and all the numerous agents distributed through the dif- 
 ferent places of their district. This organization left no- 
 thing to be desired in reference to its completeness, the 
 unity of spirit which presided in it, the promptitude and 
 secresy of its acts, as well as the activity and fanatical zeal 
 of its members. The pope was well served, and the 
 machine of destruction was as well constructed as it was 
 sharp and well furnished. To combine the most numerous 
 and efficacious modes of action, the provincial councils were 
 advised to organize committees of females, whose special 
 business would be to collect the large funds that would be 
 required to purchase the conversion of certain heretics, and 
 to cover the expenses of the agents. They were also, by 
 means of their spies, who were most frequently female- 
 servants, sick-nurses, and persons in attendance, to pene- 
 trate into the households of heretics, in order to make use 
 of the slightest tendency to disunion, to induce the discon- 
 tented to abjure. 
 
 The Council for the Propagation of the Faith and the 
 Extirpation of Heretics, had its seat at Turin, under the 
 
 * We may infer that the cardinal had withdrawn from the regency, by im- 
 posing conditaons on Christina. 
 
COUNCIL FOR THE PROPAGATION OF THE FAITH, ETC. 253 
 
 presidency of the archbishop, and in his palace. But the 
 most active and influential member of this assembly was 
 a layman, — a lord of the court, the marquis Pianezza, one of 
 the most crafty and cruel of men. His wife presided at 
 the female committee, and impressed upon it an activity 
 equal to that of her husband. 
 
 No sooner was it constituted, than the new council set 
 itself vigorously to work. Severe orders, or to speak more 
 truly, unjust and cruel orders were drawn up and sub- 
 mitted to Charles Emmanuel ii., for signature. This inex- 
 perienced prince, — only sixteen years old, but declared of 
 age two years before, in 1648, — was under the direct in- 
 fluence of his mother, who approved of these opjDressive 
 measures. A compliant magistrate, .the auditor Andrea 
 Gastaldo, was chosen, and sent to the valleys to put them 
 into execution. According to his instiiictions, which 
 have been preserved, he was to drive back to the moun- 
 tains the whole Yaudois population, not only on the right 
 bank of the Felice, where they formed the minority, but 
 also in the large commune of San Giovanni, where they 
 constituted almost the whole, and in the town of La Torre, 
 where they were the majority. He was to confiscate all 
 the lands and houses in these places which their Yaudois 
 possessors had not disposed of to the papists within fifteen 
 days, unless they became papists themselves ; in that case 
 their goods would be restored to them. Every Yaudois 
 who bore fire-arms was to be treated as a criminal. The 
 communes of Angrogna, Yillaro, Bobbio, Eora, etc., were 
 to fui'nish, within the term of three days, a house where 
 the missionary fathers might lodge and celebrate mass. 
 Einally, the communes were to be prohibited from granting 
 a dwelling to any foreign heretic, imder pain of a fine on 
 the commune of two thousand gold crowns, and of death 
 and confiscation of his property, to the foreigner. By this 
 last measure they hoped to deprive the valleys of pastors, 
 for the future at least. These orders bore the date of 
 ]May 15, 1650, and the signature of the duke Charles 
 Emmanuel.* 
 
 The auditor Gastaldo began to fulfil his commission with 
 brutality, granting in his manifesto only three days to the 
 Yaudois in the denounced localities, to choose between 
 
 ♦ Storia di Pinerolo, etc., t. iii., pp. 212—216. 
 
254 HISTORY OF THE YATJDOIS CHTJECH. 
 
 deatli and dispossession, or abjui'ation.* This part of the 
 decree was, nevertheless, not carried into effect at that 
 time ; for which delay we can suppose no other reason than 
 the difficulty of accomplishing this barbarous work; the 
 means of coercion not being yet sufficiently prepared, and 
 also the preference that was given to the establishment of 
 the monks and of the popish worship in all the communes. 
 The other part of the orders of the board was fully and 
 promptly executed, to the great sorrow of all the faithful. 
 Eora, Angrogna, Yillaro, and Bobbio saw the zealous satel- 
 lites of the pope established in the heart of their popula- 
 tion, and the office of the mass, so hateful to the Yaudois, 
 acquire a firm footing there. Henceforward, on this soil, 
 sanctified from time immemorial by the word of truth, by 
 the pure preaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ, error 
 would have its ritual and idolatry its altars : the true 
 worshippers of God would see walking in their midst the 
 priests of images and saints, the suppliants of Mary : 
 they must be doomed to hear that incense is agreeable to 
 God, and that Latin litanies and chants are the prayers 
 and songs that he delights in. Those whom the splendour 
 of a pompous and outward ritual could not seduce, were to 
 be allured by the promise of the pardon of their sins after 
 confession, or won over by money, flatteries, and worldly 
 honours; and those who were not carried away by the 
 example of their brethren, threats, fines, prisons, torture, 
 and the sword would reduce to silence. In a few months, 
 at least in a few years, the victory of the pope would be 
 complete, f 
 
 Such were the hopes of the Council for the Propagation 
 of the Faith and the Extirpation of Heretics. But it was soon 
 seen that all the means of persuasion, seduction, and inti- 
 midation, had no effect on men so enlightened and conscien- 
 tious as were the leaders of the chiuThes, or on the main 
 body of the Yaudois, whom their traditions of fidelity to the 
 gospel, and sound religious instruction, had fortified gene- 
 rally against apostasy. The Council not succeeding in the 
 Propagation of the Faith, the first purpose and object of its 
 labours, decided on attempting the second, the Extirpation 
 of Heretics. Nothing was wanting but to seize a favourable 
 
 * L^ger, pt. ii., p. 73. 
 
 t Rome always cherishes such hopes. 
 
STROKES READY TO FALL DISCOTERED IN TIME. 255 
 
 opportunity, or to make one, if it did not offer itself. In 
 the space of some years, the council created several, of 
 Trhich we shall give an account, but which did not produce 
 all the results desired, until the day when these men, panting 
 for blood, found at last the means of quenching their burn- 
 ing thirst in the streams which they caused to flow. 
 
 The first farom^able occasion which the coimcil thought 
 they had found for the extirpation of the Yaudois had been 
 contriyed at Yillaro, by a creatui^e of the marquis of Pianezza, 
 named Michel Berti'am Yilleneuve. This man had been 
 saved by this lord from prison, fi^om which his father, who 
 had been accused, like himself, of coining base money, had 
 escaped only by poisoning himself. Being settled at Yillaro, 
 and pretending a lively indignation at the introduction of 
 the monks and their officers into that town, he excited the 
 people to violence in an imderhand manner, constantly 
 repeating that such a nest of vipers as these fathers should 
 not be allowed in a place where no one could recollect 
 having seen a papist reside, much less their missionaries. 
 He played his part so well that the pastor's wife and two 
 persons of respectability in the place, named Joseph and 
 Daniel Pelenc, ardent young men, adopted these views, and 
 at last induced the pastor, named Manget, to coincide with 
 them ; who, nevertheless, was not disposed to act excepting 
 so far as the churches of the valley might give their consent. 
 "With this view, he requested the moderator, or ecclesias- 
 tical president of the managing committee of the Yaudois 
 churches, to assemble the deputies of the communes and the 
 pastors, for an important object. The assembly was held at 
 Bouisses, in the commime of La Ton-e, March 28, 1653. 
 They heard T\dth surprise Manget's proposition, to diive 
 away the monks from Yillaro, those insolent strangers, 
 whose convent, a focus of intrigues, and unjustly esta- 
 blished, might, if it met with no opposition, become a fire 
 as dangerous to the Yaudois church as it was hostile to it. 
 But, though experiencing much annoyance from the pre- 
 sence and attempts of the monks, the assembly did not relish 
 his proposal, nor the expedient by which he wished to ren- 
 der this attempt less culpable, which consisted in commit- 
 ting it to the women. Jean Leger, pastor of San Giovanni, 
 who became known at a later period, by his history of the 
 Yaudois churches, showed himself worthy of the confidence 
 
256 HISTORY OF THE VAT7D0IS CHUECH. 
 
 wliich the people placed in him by calling him, though still 
 young, (he was only thirty-eight,) to the difficult and im- 
 portant post of moderator. Leger, as a faithful subject, 
 demonstrated the injustice of the proposed measure, by 
 citing the 19th article of the treaty of 1561, which re- 
 served to the prince the liberty of having mass celebrated 
 in places where there was preaching, without at all obliging 
 the Yaudois to be present at it. 
 
 ISTevertheless, the imprudent Manget, carried away by a 
 bitter zeal, and blind to the consequences of a criminal 
 enterprise, agreed to the expulsion of the monks, whom his 
 friends, misguided like himself, terrified that same evening ; 
 and his wife so far forgot herself as to carry to the infuri- 
 ated men the matches for setting fire to the bundles of 
 hemp that were heaped together on purpose, which soon 
 spread the fire and consumed the convent. 
 
 The unfortunate pastor of Yillaro had allowed his impru- 
 dence and bad faith to go so far as to make his headstrong 
 friends believe that the assembly of Bouisses had approved 
 and ordered the expulsion of the monks and the burning of 
 their residence. This report spread from place to 4)lace, 
 with the news of the event of which it was the commentary. 
 In this way it reached the ears of the formidable marquis 
 Pianezza, and his associates of the Council for the Propaga- 
 tion of the Paith and the Extirpation of Heretics. They 
 appeared as much irritated as they must secretly have been 
 gratified. They had at last an opportunity ; here was not 
 only a pretext, but a reason, a motive as plausible as just, 
 for inflicting punishment. The pimishment ought to be 
 proportioned to the offence. Utter ruin would not be too 
 great a chastisement for incorrigible men who, after having 
 resisted the appeals of the Romish church, had outraged 
 her ministers, profaned her mysteries, and burned her holy 
 places; and, in fact, the duchess gave instant orders to 
 assemble all the troops of the State, and forthwith despatched 
 colonel Tedesco, an enterprising and courageous officer, at 
 the head of five or six thousand troops, (both horse and 
 foot,) to surprise the populous town of Yillaro and reduce 
 it to ashes. 
 
 On his part, the young and prudent moderator had no 
 sooner heard the reports which attributed to the conference 
 at Bouisses the order to burn the convent and expel the 
 
STEOKES KEADT TO FALL DISCOVEEED IN TIME. 257 
 
 monks, than he went, accompanied by the principal persons 
 of his church, and of those in the neighbourhood, to the 
 magistrate of the valley who resided at Lucerna, and there 
 protested his innocence, and that of his colleagues and the 
 entire conference, and even of the majority of the inha- 
 bitants of Yillaro ; the deplorable acts of expulsion and 
 incendiarism having been committed both by the will and 
 act of only a small number of offenders. Leger and the 
 deputies, his colleagues, offered, in the name of their 
 chiu'ches, to render every assistance in bringing the crimi- 
 nal parties to punishment. They begged, in return, that 
 favour might be shown to the innocent. These declarations, 
 di'awn up as an authentic act, were taken at the same time 
 to Tiu-in by one of the lords of Lucema. 
 
 jSTevertheless, on the 26th of April, while the men of the 
 valley were, according to custom, at the market of Lucema, 
 the count Tedesco hastened to attack Yillaro, at the head 
 of two hundred horsemen, well moimted, followed verj'- 
 closely by the rest of his troops. Such was his expedition, 
 that he passed through Fenile, Bibbiana, San Giovanni, and 
 La Torre, and found himself at the gates of Yillaro .^^'ithout 
 having met the slightest resistance. 
 
 The devoted town would have been lost beyond recovery, 
 if God, in his mercy, had not caused torrents of rain to fall ; 
 which so completely soaked the equipments of the cavahy 
 that hardly a single musket was in a state to answer the well- 
 sustained &e of a little troop of about twenty-five men, 
 vrho, forming just in time at the entrance of the town, 
 dared to make resistance.^' The rain continuing to fall, 
 the day di'a^\dng to a close, and the alaiTQ being given 
 thi^ough all the valley, the count found himself obliged to 
 sound a retreat, and returned the same evening to Lucema, 
 without having been assailed or interrupted on his march. 
 
 The next day all the Yaudois of the valley were under 
 arms. The most ominous reports came from Piedmont. 
 It was said that different bodies of soldiers were on their 
 march, who meant to make a temble example of the inha- 
 bitants. The leading men of the communes and the pastors 
 assembled in haste. The deputies of the lower places, 
 
 * But it must be observed, that the position was very favourable for making 
 a defence ; the approach was practicable only by a narrow road, bounded by 
 steep declivities, and presenting an exposed bend. 
 
258 HISTORY OF THE VATJDOIS CHTJECH. 
 
 particularly those of San Giovanni, were for submission, 
 because their property and families were already in the 
 power of the army ; but prayer having restored calmness 
 to the assembly, and the news received from various places 
 and friends, as well as the exhortations of Leger and others 
 having shown the certainty of a massacre, they united in 
 the same determination to defend themselves even to death. 
 
 This resolution astonished the count Tedesco. He 
 clearly saw that his progress in the valley would be marked 
 by streams of blood. The road which he must take was 
 in every part commanded by the mountain heights. To 
 manoeuvre slowly formed no part of his plan. He had not 
 made the necessary preparations for a slow or complicated 
 expedition : he consented, therefore, to a cessation of 
 hostilities. It was agreed that the communes should sign 
 a declaration similar to that which some of their leaders 
 had laid before his highness ; that they should protest their 
 innocence in reference to the expulsion of the monks and 
 the burning of the convent; that they should supplicate 
 their sovereign to confine himself to punishing the authors 
 of the outrage ; that, finally, they should ask pardon for 
 having taken arms to defend themselves, since they could 
 not believe that it was the will of their sovereign that they 
 should be exterminated. 
 
 Count Christophe, of Lucerna, who had consented to 
 carry the act of submission of the Yaudois communes to 
 Turin, brought back the promise of a general amnesty and 
 the confirmation of their grants, on condition of the 
 actual surrender of the minister Manget and his wife, as 
 well as the re-establishment of the missionary fathers in a 
 house to be provided by the commune of Yillaro. A depu- 
 tation also was required to appear at court, to request 
 pardon for having taken arms. 
 
 These conditions having been fulfilled,^* the count Tedesco 
 retired with his army ; and on their departure the dread of 
 the most heart-rending scenes was also withdrawn for a 
 few months. 
 
 * One of these conditions, that which obUged the commune of VUlaro to 
 provide a house for the monks, being contrary to tlie letter of former treaties, 
 which stipulate that the communes should be at no exj^ense on account of the 
 Romish worship, the difficulty was got over in the following manner : The 
 cotmt Tedesco took by force, in the name of her liighness, a house belonging 
 to Jacques Ghiot, and placed the reverend fathers" in it. The mdi\idual, no 
 doubt, received compensation from the commune. L^ger, pt. ii., p. 78. 
 
STEOKES HEADY TO FALL DISCOVEEED IX TIME. 259 
 
 Eut the valley of Liicema did not long enjoy an undis- 
 turbed tranquillity. At the beginning of 1654, it was 
 suddenly menaced with all the hoiTors of war by the artful 
 contrivances, it cannot be doubted, of the princess who held 
 the reins of government, though her son had akeady been 
 declared of age. The duchess had consented, for a con- 
 siderable sum of money, to receive into winter quarters in 
 her domains the aimy of Trance in Italy, commanded by 
 marshal De Grance. She assigned the Yaudois valleys and 
 a few of the neighbouring communes for it. Two regiments 
 were at first distributed in the valley of Lucerna, already 
 biu'dened by the constant presence of the Savoy squadron, 
 who were billeted upon individuals, and in part maintained 
 by them, both men and horses. This pressure on their 
 means, although great, would have been borne with 
 patience, out of submission to the "svill of the prince, but 
 on all sides it was whispered that it was against the inten- 
 tions of the duchess that the French ti'oops of Grance were 
 establishing themselves in the country; that the duchess 
 esteemed the valleys too highly to believe that they would 
 admit foreign troops among them without her precise orders 
 and sign-manual ; that to receive them would be to expose 
 themselves to be treated as rebels and traitors after their 
 departure. These disquieting rumours were spread by the 
 monks and popish lords, who professed to be well informed 
 as to the state of things. Their object was gained; the 
 people of the valley took up arms to drive back the French. 
 To appease them the prefect, Ressan, wrote to the overseers 
 that the marshal had the approbation of her highness ; but 
 his secretary immediately came and informed them that 
 this letter had been forced from him, and did not express 
 the truth. The communes of La Toitc, Bobbio, and Yillaro, 
 not being yet occupied, persisted in their refusal. The 
 prefect pretended to be iiTitated by the contempt shown to 
 his letter, and encouraged the marshal, a hot-headed man, 
 to collect his army, in order to biing the dogs {les harhcts)"^ 
 
 * An epithet of contempt, synonymous with ehien, (dog,) which the Pied- 
 montese papists give to the Vaudois. Perhaps originally it was derived from 
 the title barbe, given by the Vaudois to their pastors before the Reformation, 
 and aftei-wards to old men in general. In the latter case it is synonj-mous 
 with oncle, (imcle.) The papists generahzed the title, and apphed it to all the 
 Vaudois, after having shghtly altered it, to make it richculous. However, 
 the word barle, (signifying sir, or uncle,) is also in use among the Carhohcs of 
 Piedmont. 
 
260 HISTOET OF THE VAUDOIS CHURCH. 
 
 to their senses. No sooner said than done. On the 2nd 
 of February, Grance appeared before La Torre with all. his 
 troops. The men of the valley hastened to stop his 
 passage, — a dangerous attempt in the plain, since they were 
 destitute of artillery and cavalry, with which the enemy 
 was provided. The firing was just about to open, when a 
 French reformed captain, named de Corcelles, catching sight 
 of the moderator, Jean" Leger, rode up to him. Leger, 
 laying hold of his horse's tail, crossed over mth him to 
 the army standing in battle array, and threw himself at the 
 feet of the marshal, just as he had finished giving his last 
 orders, and explained to him, in a rapid manner, the 
 scruples of his fellow-citizens. " Obtain," he said, " only 
 a single line from her royal highness to testify that 
 she consents to the quartering of these troops, and then 
 the valleys are at your discretion. They will be patient 
 even if you march over their bodies, provided they do not 
 incur the anger of their prince." These words perfectly 
 describe the complete submission of the Yaudois to their 
 sovereign in all matters not affecting their religious faith. 
 The marshal, says Leger, cursed the pestilent fellows that 
 fomented such troubles, and consented to suspend his 
 operations till the return of a courier, who was despatched 
 immediately to Turin, and brought back in the morning 
 a letter from the duchess to the valleys, authorizing the 
 cantonment of the French troops. The valley of Lucerna 
 had not less than four regiments quartered upon it, of 
 which one alone counted about three thousand men. 
 
 The intention of destroying the Yaudois was thus de- 
 feated a second time ;^ but it could not always be so, as 
 we shall be convinced to our astonishment and poignant 
 sorrow. 
 
 Let us first call to mind a conspicuous fact in the whole 
 history of the Yaudois; I mean, their fidelity to their 
 sovereign, and their entire and prompt obedience to his 
 orders, as Avell as to his laws, in everything that did not 
 affect their duties to God, according to the holy gospel of 
 
 * In the follo^ralg year, after the massacres, L(5ger, conversing with marshal 
 Granc^ at Paris, heard him express himself tlnis : — •' Reverend sir, I now know 
 very well, and I discovered'^t before, that they wished to make use of me to cut 
 all your tln-oats, and then to cut off my own head, when the duchess told me 
 to lodge my troops ui the valleys ; and yet they were threatened -svith the total 
 loss of her favour if they received them, as you yourself informed me, in good 
 time, before the town of La Torre." See L^ger, pt. ii., p. 81, 
 
MACHIXATIOXS OF EOME. 261 
 
 Jesus Clirist. Of this they gave proof on many occasions ; 
 and again in the instance of defending the regency against 
 the princes in coalition with the Spaniards ; and lastly, in 
 risking their being massacred by the army of Grance, 
 rather than submit themselves to a stranger, contrary to 
 the pleasure of their sovereign. 
 
 Let us also notice that the young duke confirmed their 
 former pri^T-leges, in 1653, by three decrees, and by a 
 fourth in the month of May, in 1654, to the same effect. 
 It is true that the subordinate agents raised one obstacle 
 after another to the confi.rmation of these decrees, opposing 
 new difficulties of a formal kind as soon as the preceding 
 were removed, so as to prevent the registration of the 
 documents. 
 
 i^evertheless history has established the fact, that down 
 to the period at which we are arrived, excepting the mis- 
 demeanor committed at Yillaro by some imprudent indi- 
 viduals, and which could not without injustice be attri- 
 buted to the general body, the conduct of the Yaudois 
 towards the authority of their prince was free from all 
 reproach, and even exemplary. It was not, then, for 
 political reasons, as the ministers of the sovereign at a later 
 period pretended, that the edge of the sword at last fell on 
 so many victims. The fact, moreover, of the existence at 
 Turin, from the year 1650, of a Council for the Propagation 
 of the Faith and the Extirpation of Heretics, is attested by 
 the very wording of a proclamation of Gastaldo, dated 
 Lucerna, the 31st of May, 1650, and pm^iorting that only 
 those persons would be exempt fi^om pimishment who 
 could prove that they had become CathoHcs before the 
 above-named council, established at Turin by his royal 
 highness. This fact of itself suffices to explain everytliing ; 
 and when it is attempted to heap accusations, more or less 
 plausible, on the Yaudois, shows with so much greater 
 force, in the absence of political pretexts, that the terrible 
 persecutions that ensued were the result of the machina- 
 tions of Rome. And who can be surprised ? Those who 
 know its history, or who have seen the operations of this 
 corrupt church, know that one of the proofs of the ciu'se it 
 has received from the Lord is, that it is constrained by its 
 own principles, and forced by the spirit that aniniates its 
 most faithful agents, to persecute to the utmost, as irrecon- 
 
262 HISTOEY OF THE VATJDOIS CHURCH. 
 
 cileable enemies, worthy of the severest punishments, the 
 most faithful confessors of the name of Jesus Christ, the 
 most zealous friends of his word, the holiest men, and the 
 purest churches. 
 
 Eut we check ourselves. Let us leave the judgment 
 of this church to the Lord, for to him alone belongeth 
 
 vengeance 
 
 CHAPTEE XXIII. 
 
 CRUELTIES COMMITTED BY THE PAPISTS IN THE VALLEYS. 
 
 The storm was followed by a calm. Events, it appeared, 
 had not favoured the design of extirpating the heretics ; 
 and the Vaudois, reposing in their valleys, already indulged 
 the hope of better days, and hastened to request the regis- 
 tration by the senate of the four decrees by which, in 1653 
 and 1654, the duke had confirmed their privileges. But 
 how far were they from perceiving the real state of things, 
 and susjiecting the dreadful catastrophe that awaited them ! 
 Eor while, under various pretences, their requests were set- 
 aside, or the consideration of them deferred, the agents of 
 Eome at the court of Turin, in conjunction with the chief 
 members of the government, were secretly plotting fresh 
 schemes, worthy of the powers of darkness that inspired 
 them. Xo time was lost in forming their plan ; they adopted 
 an old project already sketched, in 1650, in a manifesto 
 of the auditor Gastaldo, intended to restrain the Vaudois 
 within narrower limits, and to oppress them more severely 
 than ever. 
 
 In consequence of these deliberations, and furnished with 
 new powers, the lawyer Gastaldo, auditor of the exchequer, 
 conservator-general of the holy faith, commissioned to 
 enforce the observance of the orders published against the 
 pretended reformed religion of the valleys of Lucerna, 
 Perosa, and San Martino, and delegated for this special 
 object by his royal higliness, proceeded to Lucerna, and 
 there published, on the 25th of January, 1655, the follow- 
 ing cruel order: — " It is enjoined and commanded on all 
 persons, heads of families, of the pretended reformed reli- 
 gion, of every state and condition without exception, 
 inhabitants and landowners of Lucerna, Lucernetta, San 
 
THEm EXPITLSION FEOM THE TLAO OF LrCERN.V. 
 
 263 
 
 Giovaimi, La Toitg, Bibbiana, Fenile, Campiglione, Bri- 
 cherasco, and San Scconclo/^ to ^itbcbaw from the afore- 
 said places and temtories, and to leave them ^vith all their 
 families, within the space of three days fi'om the pubhca- 
 tion of the present edict, in order to settle within the 
 localities and limits tolerated by his royal highness, accord- 
 ino-to his good pleasure, and which are Bobbio Aillaro, 
 iSo-roo-na, llora, and the district of Bonnets, buch per- 
 ;on1 as° refuse to obey these orders, and are found beyond 
 the aforesaid Hmits, will incur the penalty of death and the 
 confiscation of all theii' property, unless witbm the next 
 twenty days they declare before us (Gastaldo) that they are 
 Catholics, or that they have disposed of theu' property to 
 CathoUcs " The manifesto contains the strange and incre- 
 dible assertion, that neither his highness nor his pre- 
 decessors ever designed to grant the inhabitants of the 
 yaUeys more extensive Hmits than those laid down in the 
 present edict ; that the claim of the Yaudois to more ex- 
 tensive limits was an encroachment; that this encroach- 
 ment constituted a crime, and that those who had committed 
 it were liable to punishment.! -u . „ 
 
 An order which forcibly expeUed whole famihes by hun- 
 di^eds, in three days, and in the middle of winter, even had 
 it been legal, and been brought about by the bad conduct of 
 the condeinned parties, would stiU have been a cruel order. 
 Imagine the distress of fathers and mothers compeUed 
 at once, without any previous warning, to leave the abode 
 which they had buHt, or received by inheritance from their 
 parents, where they had brought up_ then^ chilcfren stored 
 their c^ops, and were li™g happUy in the fear of the Lord 
 and enioying the light of his countenance. See them now 
 Sng AYhfther ai^e we to go? what is to become of us? 
 must we then quit everything? abandon ox- goods o^ 
 hearths? renounce so many earthly blessings ?-One_v^^ay 
 alone was left them of avoiding such comiolete rmn J5y a 
 cruel refinement of compassion, Gastaldo had pointed it out 
 to them ; it was apostasy. Become a papist, invoke ttie 
 .^ihi and the sainti, prostrate thyself before graven images, 
 
 were directed against it, as being the most consulera^ history, he can 
 
 t If the reader recoUect the contents of Chap, viii.oitmb ^^ 
 
 decide for himself how fai' this charge of encroachment is weU tomiaea. 
 
264 nisTOEY OF xnE yaudois chuece:. 
 
 attend the mass, adore the host, confess to the priest, oifer 
 him gifts, and thou shalt preserve thy house, thine orchard, 
 thy vines, and fields, — at the cost of thy immortal soul ! If 
 all received strength fi^om above, we might hope, no doubt, 
 that faith in the Saviour, and the expectation of future 
 blessedness would gain in theii' hearts the victory over the 
 love of earthly things. But who would venture to expect 
 such faith and self-renunciation from all, or even fi^om the 
 greater number ? And then, the infirm and aged, and the 
 sick, and the multitude of little chilcben — what will become 
 of them ? how can they be removed ? what course are they 
 to take ? in what villages of their sympathising brethren 
 must a refuge be sought for them, and with them ? Only let 
 the reader imagine himself a witness of the anguish, the 
 embarrassment, the fears and lamentations of the victims 
 devoted to the direst evils by popish cruelty. It is now the 
 most inclement season of the year ; it snows on the moun- 
 tains, while in the valleys the flakes are turned into rain 
 which penetrates through everything. The hour of depar- 
 ture is arrived : the cruel Gastaldo has marked it. Those 
 who delay will have their goods confiscated, and receive 
 themselves the sentence of death. What will be your deci- 
 sion, ye men of peace, who sigh for rest ? Oh victory of 
 faith ! — the love of God has triumphed in their hearts ! . . 
 They depart, carrying as they are able, whatever is most 
 precious to them. Often, instead of articles of absolute 
 necessity, with which they would have loaded a mule, here 
 and there belonging to more wealthy families, they place 
 upon its back the weak old man of eighty, the sick, taken 
 from his bed, or children too young to walk. Ye holy fami- 
 lies, beaten by the storm, frozen by the cold, advancing 
 with confidence, though uncertain what awaits you in the 
 future, we behold you with reverence, we follow you with 
 love ! May the recital of your suiferings transmit to your 
 descendants, in the present day, the glorious example of 
 your faith and your sacrifices ! 
 
 The pastor of the majority of these victims, the histo- 
 rian, Jean Leger, is at a loss, in his narrative, sufficiently 
 to express his admiration of the goodness of God, w'ho in 
 so great a multitude of persons, allowed not one to do 
 violence to his conscience. '^' All preferred the prospect of 
 
 * Fifteen hundred at least ; probably two thousand. 
 
THE EXILES. 265 
 
 misery and sufferings of every kind to tlie peaceable pos- 
 session of their houses and goods at the cost of abjuration. 
 They took for their motto, he exclaims, the words of Holj- 
 Writ in reference to the sacrifice of Isaac ; ** In the mount 
 of the Lord, it shall be seen." 
 
 The exiles were received with compassion by their bre- 
 thren in the tolerated villages ; they gave them a place by 
 their firesides ; and crowded themselves to lodge them ; the 
 table was spread for all ; they shared with them the dish of 
 parched com or polenta, boiled chesnuts, butter, and milk. 
 To welcome them, the cup of red wine went round from hand 
 to hand, while they listened to their melancholy story. 
 
 But this was not all. An attempt was made to soften 
 Gastaldo. A humble petition was presented to the duke. 
 Alas! all was useless. The petition was rejected; the de- 
 puties retui'ned in consternation. '' The mass, or exile" — 
 was all the answer they received. IS^o other alternative was 
 left them. 
 
 But not allo^dng themselves to be baffled, the three 
 valleys persevered in presenting memorials in behalf of their 
 persecuted brethren. They knocked at every door. Their 
 principal letters to the dowager duchess, to the duke, and 
 to the man on whom their fate seemed chiefly to depend, 
 on account of the influence he possessed and the powers he 
 was invested with, we mean, the marquis do Pianezza, have 
 been preserved. They represent, with all possible respect, 
 that, from time immemorial,^' they had dwelt in those 
 plains from which they had just been expelled ; that the 
 treaty of 1561, which had refused to the Yaudois the liberty 
 of preaching in most of the communes in question, had 
 nevertheless recognised their residence in them ; that this 
 latter privilege had been established by very ancient authen- 
 tic acts, and had been constantly guaranteed in later con- 
 cessions, that their expulsion from the places of their birth 
 and the communes of their ancestors could not consequently 
 be effected without violating the most explicit and venerable 
 documents, and infiinging a right hitherto undisputed. 
 But these representations were not listened to. Even ac- 
 cess to the throne of their sovereign was shut against the 
 Yaudois. Gastaldo declared that it was so ; and they were 
 
 * Leger remarks that the Vaudois inhabited these parts before Piedmont 
 belonged to the house of Savoy. 
 
 N 
 
266 HISTORY OF THE YAUDOIS CHURCH. 
 
 soon convinced that this was the case. Neither their peti- 
 tions nor their deputations were admitted. It was required 
 of them that they should petition for favour, and leave the 
 conditions of it entirely to the good pleasure of his highness. 
 This was, in fact, the only means of bringing them to 
 abjure. Yet, whatever was done, this point could not be 
 gained. In all their petitions, and all their promises of 
 submission, they constantly renewed the maintenance of 
 their ancient privileges, and especially that of liberty of 
 conscience. And on these wishes and reservations being 
 rejected, they supplicated their prince to allow them to 
 leave his dominions in peace. 
 
 These urgent entreaties and conditions irritated the 
 council. Their situation, already very critical, had been 
 aggravated by imprudences, which calumny was quick in 
 taking advantage of. Some of the exiles from Bibbiana 
 and other villages in the plain of Lucerna, having heard 
 that certain Piedmontese robbers were lajdng waste their 
 property and plundering their houses, returned thither to 
 assure themselves of the truth of the report, and to protect 
 their property. Their ancient lords, and especially count 
 Christophe, of Lucerna, pretending sentiments of bene- 
 volence, encouraged them to look after their dwellings, 
 and not entirely to abandon the cultivation of their lands, 
 provided, however, their families kept away. The auditor 
 Gastaldo, it was added, saw no harm in their doing so. This 
 language was like a bait which the angler puts on his hook 
 to entice and catch the voracious fish. The Vaudois of San 
 Giovanni, La Torre, Lucerna, Bibbiana, and other places, 
 too anxious to preserve their unprotected property, did not 
 see that they gave their enemies a handle for accusing them 
 of transgressing their sovereign's edict, which they did not 
 fail to do. Word was sent to the count that they resisted, 
 and persisted in their obstinacy. Their imprudence was 
 even described as outrageous rebellion. 
 
 A murder committed on the person of the priest of Fenile, 
 one of the communes from which the Yaudois had been 
 expelled, was at once attributed to the revenge of the barbets. 
 The real authors of the assassination were soon j)ui'sued by 
 the relations of the deceased and cast into prison. They 
 were the lord of Fenile, Ressan, prefect of justice of the 
 province, one of the most ardent enemies of the Yaudois, 
 
THE EXILES. 267 
 
 his secretaiy Dagot, and a celebrated bandit named Bcrru. 
 Nevertheless the hasty nimoiir had akeady filled all Pied- 
 mont \vith the imputation of this crime to the detested 
 barbets, though the real criminals were suspected. The 
 mischief was done ; calumny had gained its end.'^^ The 
 Yaudois were in the judgment of the Piedmontese, not only 
 heretics, enemies of the virgin and the saints, but also rebels 
 against their prince, and assassins. The punishments they 
 deserved from the avenging justice of their sovereign, it 
 was thought, could never be severe enough. 
 
 At length, the persecutors of the Yaudois had attained 
 their object; the Council for the Propagation of the Faith 
 and the Extirpation of Heretics had won the consent of the 
 duke and his family, as well as the general approbation. 
 The hour was come to strike a great blow, to extii'pate 
 heresy in a day. The marquis of Pianezza, the soul of the 
 council, assembled his troops while he deceived and quieted 
 the deputies from the valleys at Tuiin. 
 
 All the disposable tix)ops were secretly prepared for the 
 expedition, and to these were added some companies of 
 Bavarians. At the request of Charles Emmanuel, six regi- 
 ments of the French army crossed the Alps, then covered 
 with snow, besides an Irish regiment of papists who had fled 
 before Crom^'ell. It is even said that banditti, a^^pre- 
 hended criminals, and other abandoned wretches were 
 allowed to follow the army with a promise of pardon and 
 plunder if they acquitted themselves well. 
 
 The marquis of Pianezza continued to the last to amuse 
 the Yaudois deputation, to whom he had long promised an 
 audience, which he put off from one day to another, and at 
 length fixed for April the 17th, 1655. But while they 
 were knocking at his door, at the houi' appointed, and David 
 Branchi of San Giovanni and Francois Manchon of the valley 
 of San Martino, were told that they coiJd not yet speak to 
 his excellency,! the deceiver Pianezza, who had set ofi" at 
 
 * Berru even dared to assert that he had been hired by the pastors Leger 
 and Michelin, to commit this mm-der. But in the conferences held during the 
 month of August, at Pinerolo, in the presence of the French ambassador and 
 the Swiss deputies, Leger confounded his calumniators by demonstrating his 
 perfect innocence as well as that of his colleague, and by offering to clear up 
 the aflfair at Pinerolo, on the French territory where they should bring Berru 
 himself, whom they had just apprehended in the valleys. But the Piedmon- 
 tese papists declined the offer sajdng it was needless ; that Leger was free from 
 all suspicion, etc., and that Berru ought to be dehvered to the ordmarj- judges. 
 
 t Thev would, no doubt, have been aorested themselves, shortly after, if a 
 
 N 2 
 
268 HISTORY or the taudois church. 
 
 night, was entering the valley of Lucerna at the head of an 
 army which, the next day, counted not less than fifteen 
 thousand men, according to the statement even of the 
 enemy. 
 
 San Giovanni and La Torre, which had been abandoned 
 by the Vaudois ever since the manifesto of Gastaldo, were 
 taken possession of without any trouble, as were also all 
 their ancient dwellings in the villages of the plain. It is 
 hardly necessary to add that every place was pillaged. The 
 poor exiles and their brethren from Bobbio, Yillaro, and 
 Angrogna, sorrowfully kept themselves in safe places on the 
 heights, whence they could see the troops scattered over the 
 plain and ravaging it. Their sentinels kept watch night 
 and day. The aggressive intentions of the papists were too 
 evident for the Yaudois to hesitate about defending them- 
 selves. The mountaineers resolved to sell their Kves dearly. 
 As early as the 1 9th of April, they were fiercely assailed in 
 many places, at San Giovanni, La Torre, Angrogna, and the 
 hills of Bricherasco, all at the same time. Although Yerj 
 inferior in numbers, they repulsed the regular troops at 
 every point. On the 20th, the attacks were renewed, but 
 with no better success. 
 
 The marquis of Pianezza thereupon called in stratagem 
 and deceit to his aid. He convened the deputies of the 
 communes of the valley of Lucerna, to meet him at the 
 convent of La Torre on Wednesday the 21st, early in the 
 morning, and pacified and encouraged them. He repre- 
 sented that he was merely in pursuit of those obstinate 
 individuals who had resisted the orders of Gastaldo ; that, 
 as for all the rest, they had nothing to fear, provided, that, 
 as a mark of obedience and fidelity to the prince, they would 
 consent to receive and lodge a regiment of infantry and two 
 companies of horse soldiers, in each of their communities, 
 for two or three days. Some soothing words lessened in 
 the minds of the deputies the painful impression which these 
 proposals at first made. A sumptuous entertainment pro- 
 vided for them with apparent kiadness by the artful vice- 
 president of the Council for the Extirpation of Heresy, 
 succeeded in convincing them of the sincerity and benevo- 
 lence of his intentions. On returning to their communes, 
 
 lord, a friend of the Vaudois had not whispered to them, " The marquis is 
 gone to the v^eys, be ofl"!"^ 
 
THE PIEDMONTESE AEMY IX THE VALLEYS. 269 
 
 they inspired their brethren with similar confidence, in spite 
 of the efforts of several clear-sighted men, the pastor Leger 
 in particular. 
 
 The whole army, accordingly, put itself in motion, on 
 the 22nd of April, to occupy the Yaudois communes. The 
 regiments first took possesion of the large to^Tis of Yillaro 
 and Bobbio, in the plain, as well as of the lower hamlets of 
 Angrogna. At the same time, they seized upon the principal 
 passes, and meeting with no obstacle, penetrated while day- 
 light allowed, as far as the hamlets in the higher valleys. 
 Thus instead of a few regiments and squadrons, the whole 
 army lodged and established itself in the habitations of the 
 credulous Yaudois. Their reliance on the word of other 
 people, and respect for their sovereign, were their ruin. It 
 is sad to think that sentiments so honoui^able should often 
 become a cause of destruction. 
 
 The eagerness of some of the soldiers to execute the orders 
 that had been secretly given them, apprised the akeady 
 suspicious Yaudois of what they had to fear. One troop 
 hastened to climb the heights above La Torre, in order to 
 penetrate into the quarter of the Pra-di-torre, that natural 
 citadel of Angrogna, so often mentioned in the preceding- 
 persecutions ; on their way up, these madmen set fire to all 
 the houses, and moreover, massacred all the unfortunate 
 beings they could lay hands upon. The spectacle of these 
 flames, the sound of the cries and screams of the victims 
 whom they stabbed or pursued, left no doubt of their inten- 
 tions. The alarm, '' Save himself who can ! the treason is 
 out!" resounded from one extremity of the valley to the 
 other. In the valley of Angrogna, most of the men had 
 time to escape to the mountains and to save a good part of 
 their families, by favour of the darkness. They passed over 
 to the side of the mountain opposite to that on which their 
 hamlets were situated, as far as that part of the valley of 
 Perosa, which belonged to France, and where they felt 
 themselves safe. The sick and aged were obliged to remain ; 
 many women also and their children stayed with them. 
 
 The soldiers, on the day of their arrival, and the follow- 
 ing, were very pacific. They seemed only intent on pro- 
 viding themselves with refreshments. They lavishly used 
 the provisions stored up by the refugees of San Giovanni, 
 Pibbiana, and other towns in the plain. Tl^y exhorted 
 
270 HISTORY OF THE VATTDOIS CHTJRCH. 
 
 those who were in their power to recall the fugitives, assur- 
 ing them that they would receive no injury, so that there 
 were some credulous enough to entangle themselves again 
 in the snares from which they had already escaped. 
 
 The troops conducted themselves in the same manner in 
 the communes of Villaro and Eobbio, and in all the western 
 hamlets they occupied. But, neither the poor inhabitants 
 of these places, nor the persons who had taken refuge 
 among them, had equal facilities with those of Angrogna 
 for escaping. They had but two outlets to make their way 
 to France, the defile of La Croix, and the defile of Giuliano 
 (Julian), which opens upon Prali, whence they might reach 
 Abries, all covered with deep snow; the first, moreover, 
 guarded by the fort of Mirebouc, or Mirabouc, situated 
 half way through the pass, and the other two prodigiously 
 long and difficult, especially in the middle of winter in these 
 Alpine countries. 
 
 The circumstances not appearing to promise a more fa- 
 vourable opportunity for the duke's troops, and as delay 
 might frustrate their evil project, Saturday, the 24th of 
 April, 1655, was chosen for the execution of the orders of 
 the Council for the Propagation of the Faith and the Extir- 
 pation of Heretics. 
 
 How shall we rehearse such a tragedy ? It is Cain a 
 second time shedding the blood of his brother Abel. 
 
 '' The signal having been given on the eminence near La 
 Torre, called Castelus" (this is the account of Leger, an 
 eye-witness of these horrors,) " almost all the innocent crea- 
 tures who were in the power of these cannibals had their 
 throats cut like sheep in a slaughter-house ; what do I say ? 
 they were not put to the sword like conquered enemies to 
 whom no quarter is given ; nor executed by the hands of 
 public executioners, like the most infamous criminals, for 
 massacres of this kind would not have sufficiently signalized 
 the zeal of their general, nor gained credit enough for those 
 who executed his orders. 
 
 " Children, cruelly torn from their mother's breast, were ' 
 seized by the feet, and dashed and crushed against the 
 rocks or walls, which were often covered with their brains, 
 while their bodies were cast away on the common heaps : 
 or, one soldier seizing one limb of these innocent creatures, 
 and another taking hold of the other, would tear them 
 
MASSACRES. 271 
 
 asunder, then throw them at each other, or beat their 
 mothers with them, and at hist hurl them into the fields. 
 
 ** The sick and aged, both men and women, were either 
 burned in their houses, or literally cut in pieces, or tied up, 
 stripped of their clothes, like a ball, with their head between 
 their legs, and thrown over the rocks, or rolled down the 
 sides of the mountains. After violating females, young and 
 old, they forced flints into their bodies, or gunpowder, to 
 which they set fire ; others they impaled, and in this 
 horrible position, placed naked as crosses by the way side. 
 Others were mutilated in various ways, and even portions 
 of their bodies were fried and eaten by these cannibals. 
 
 ''As for the men, some were cut up while still lining, 
 one member after another, like meat at the shambles. 
 Others were hung up so as to* outrage all decency, or 
 scorched alive, etc,"^'' 
 
 *' The valleys resounded with such mournful echoes of 
 the lamentable cries of the wi^etched victims, and the shi-ieks 
 wrung from them by their agonies, that you might have 
 imagined the rocks were moved with compassion, while the 
 barbarous perpetrators of these atrocious cruelties remained 
 absolutely insensible. 
 
 ''It is true that many of these bloody rufiians of Pied- 
 mont, who were without children, on seeing these sweet 
 creatures, beautiful as little angels, instead of kilKng them, 
 carried them to their homes. It is also true that, whether 
 from hopes of obtaining a ransom or other motives, they 
 spared some of the higher classes, both men and women ; 
 many of whom perished miserably in prisons. f 
 
 " After the general massacre, the soldiers went in pursuit 
 of the fugitives who had not been able to pass the frontier, 
 and were wandering in the woods and mountains, or were 
 languishing destitute of fire and food in remote sheds, or 
 ill caves of the rocks; death in its most dreadful forms 
 piu^sued them. Alas, for those who were discovered and 
 
 * The details of these atrocities are given in Leger's History, pt. ii., pp. 116 
 — 139, after having been collected and committed to writing by a notaiy on the 
 testimony of eye-witnesses questioned in all the valleys by L^ger, on the re- 
 turn of peace. i u ■ ♦ 
 
 t The merciless marquis of Lucema and Angrogna had the barbarity w 
 leave the cori^ses of those who had died in the dungeons in the im^dst of the 
 prisoners. We may imagine what they must have suffered in their health and 
 feelings, expecting every day to die, and forced to breathe, eat, and sleep, 
 during the heat of simimer by the side of dead bodies in a state of putrefaction. 
 — Leger, pt. ii., p. 139. 
 
272 HISTORY OF THE YATJDOIS CHURCH. 
 
 taken! "When the houses of their victims had been 
 pillaged, the soldiers made it an amusement, or shall we 
 say, considered it a duty, to reduce them to ashes : villages, 
 hamlets, temples, lone houses, barns, stables, "^^ buildings 
 great and small, were all consumed. The beautiful valley 
 of Lucerna, with the exception of Villaro and some buildings 
 reserved for the Irish cut-throats, whom they thought of 
 settling there, all these districts, hitherto resembling the 
 rich soil of Goshen, were now more like the burning brick- 
 kilns of Egyj)t. 
 
 *' It was then," exclaims Leger, " that the fugitives, 
 who had been snatched like brands out of the fire, could 
 address God in the words of the 79th Psalm. 
 
 ' O God, the heathen are come into thine inheritance ; 
 Thy holy temple have they defiled ; 
 They have laid Jerusalem on heaps. 
 The dead bodies of thy servants have they given 
 To be meat unto the fowls of the heaven. 
 The flesh of thy saints 
 Unto the beasts of the earth. 
 
 Their blood have they shed hke water round about Jerusalem ; 
 And there was none to bury them,' etc." 
 
 " Our tears are no longer of water," wrote the Yaudois 
 fugitives of Pinache to the Swiss evangelical cantons on the 
 twenty- seventh of April ; ** they are of blood ; they do not 
 only obscure our sight, they choke our poor hearts; our 
 hands tremble, and our heads are stunned by the blows 
 we have just received; strangely troubled, moreover, by 
 fresh alarms, and by the attacks made upon us, we are 
 prevented from writing to you as we wish ; but we pray 
 you to excuse us, and to collect, amidst our groans, the 
 meaning of what we would fain utter." f 
 
 The court of Turin, in a manifesto published in Prench, 
 Latin, and Italian, denied the greater part of the facts 
 above narrated. The Roman Catholic historians have 
 accused Leger of exaggeration in his recitals. We can 
 imagine how a crime, after its commission, excites even 
 in its authors and approvers an involuntary horror. Con- 
 science protests; pride feels the ineffaceable blot on the 
 honour of the guilty parties, and strives to veil it, by 
 denying its reality. But the crime was not of that kind 
 which could be concealed. Hundreds of victims had been 
 
 * Every property of any considerable size, and remote, had its barn and 
 stable, 
 t See Dieterici die Valdenses. Berlin, 1831, p. 66, 
 
MASSACRES. 273 
 
 seen lying mutilated, dishonoured, unburicd, in the fields 
 and on the roads ; their names, and the manner of their 
 death, were carefully noted. Why should thousands ot 
 lamilies put themselves in mourning if this account were 
 an exaggeration? Why did the commanding officer of 
 a French regiment, the sieur du Petitbourg, whom the 
 marquis of Pianezza, in his manifesto, calls a man of 
 honoui% worthy of credit, resign his commission after the 
 events in the vaUey of Lucerna, if it were not, as he has 
 declared in an authentic document, that he would not be 
 again present at such disgraceful scenes ? "I have been a 
 witness," he says, " of numerous acts of extreme violence 
 and cruelty exercised by the outlaws of Piedmont and the 
 soldiers on persons of every age, sex, and condition, whom I 
 have seen massacred, dismembered, hung, burned, violated, 
 besides numerous dreadful conflagrations. When they 
 brouo-ht persons to the marquis of Pianezza, I saw him 
 crive "orders to kill them all, because his highness would not 
 have people of that religion in any part of his domimons.' - 
 The eyes of Protestant Europe were, moreover, assured 
 of the reality of these atrocities. The ambassadors of the 
 evano-elical cantons of Switzerland, of the United Provmces 
 of HoUand, and of England, established and declared it. 
 Theii' despatches, the letters of their governments, and their 
 proceedings with the duke of Savoy attest it, as also the 
 fiistory published by sir Samuel Morland, the envoy 
 extraordinary of the Protector, a personage distinguished 
 for his noble quaUties of heart and mind, and who visited 
 the spot soon after the massacres. 
 
 The only community in all the valley of Lucerna that 
 escaped the vengeance of the army was the smaUest, called 
 Rora, consisting of only twenty-five famihes, situated to the 
 south of YiUaro and La Torre, on the right side of the 
 Pelice, among the mountains, where it fonns a retu'cd glen 
 between two low ridges, which descend to the east ol the 
 maiestic pile of Eriolant. We may penetrate into this 
 hollow by two roads, one which goes up from Lucerna, and 
 the ordinai-v wav, and which winds in places precipitously 
 above the mountain toriTiit, called the Lucerna; the other, 
 which proceeds from the borders of the Pehce, and by the 
 
 * See the authentic declaration of these horrors given by M. du Petitbour 
 commanding officer of the regiment of Grance, m Leger, pt. u. p. lio. 
 
274 HISTOEY OF THE VAUDOIS CHUKCH. 
 
 paths going from Bobbio and Yillaro, leads with, difficulty 
 along rapid slopes turned to the north, passes by the foot of 
 steep rocks, and when it reaches the top of the ridge goes 
 down again into the lonely valley of Eora. Although 
 spared at first by the army, this little commune was not 
 forgotten ; for in spite of the reiterated promises of its lord, 
 the count Christophe of Lucerna, in the name of the 
 marquis of Pianezza, on Saturday the 24th of April, the 
 day of the great massacre of the Vaudois, foiu- or five 
 hundred soldiers received orders secretly to climb the 
 path described above, which would bring them by the 
 mountain of Rummer to Rora. They would have taken the 
 district by surprise if, through the Divine mercy, they had 
 not been discovered at a distance by a noble-hearted man, 
 Joshua Janavel, who had left his residence at Les Yignes, 
 near Lucerna, and had retired to Rora with his family. 
 He was keeping watch on the rocks with six men. At the 
 sight of the danger, instead of taking to flight, he advanced 
 and lay in ambush in an advantageous spot. A sudden 
 discharge of all the pieces of this little troop levelled six of 
 their enemies to the ground, and terrified the head of the 
 di-vdsion so much the more, as they could not see the 
 persons who had fired upon it, and consequently could not 
 tell their number. The soldiers, ah'eady prevented from 
 keeping together by the inequalities of the road, were 
 thrown by this occurrence into the utmost disorder. They 
 fell back, rolled one over another, struck by the balls of 
 Janavel and his six companions. They fled, without 
 having the courage to face their pursuers for an instant, 
 leaving, besides the first six, fifty-three or fifty-four others 
 dead, lying on the path or in the precipices. 
 
 The poor people of Rora, having escaped the danger, 
 betook themselves to their count and the marquis of 
 Pianezza to exculpate themselves, and to complain. To 
 lull them into a false security, they were told that no 
 division of the arm}^ had marched against them ; that those 
 who had attacked them could only be Piedmontese robbers, 
 whom they did well to chastise, and that strict orders would 
 be given that no one should trouble them in future. But 
 as it is a principle of popish morality, not to keep faith 
 with heretics, on the very next day six hundred soldiers, 
 chosen as the best fitted for mountain warfare, took a route 
 
HEROIC DEFENCE OF JAXAVEL. 275 
 
 somewhat different, by the Cassulet. Thej- did not escape 
 the IjTix-eyed Janavel. This valiant and prudent wamor 
 watched the movements of his perfidious enemy, at the 
 head of twelve herdsmen anned with fusils, pistols, and 
 cutlasses, and six others equipped only Avith slings and 
 flints, which they knew how to use very effectively. Placed 
 betimes, in ambush in flank and fi'ont, at a very advanta- 
 geous spot, they poured on the head of the colimin a shower 
 of balls and stones, of which each one struck down its man. 
 The enemies, terrified by so rude an assault, and not 
 knowing how to get out of the defile, nor how to pursue, 
 amidst thickets and rocks, combatants who were generally 
 invisible, sought safety in flight, leaving, as on the pre- 
 ceding day, from fifty to sixty corpses. 
 
 It would seem ahnost incredible that the count of 
 Lucema should attempt to represent a second time to his 
 vassals that the attack originated in a mistake, and that the 
 like thing should not happen again. AMiat meanness, 
 joined to such cruelty ! On the ibllo^ing day, from eight 
 to nine himdred men siurounded Rora anew, and set fire 
 to all the houses they could reach. It was to be feared 
 that no one would escape ; but Janavel and his men, seeing 
 the soldiers disband themselves, too eager for plunder and 
 too sure of their victory, attacked them so com'ageously, 
 and, with God's aid, so successfully, in a place called 
 Damasser, that the whole division fell back by Pianpra 
 upon La Toitc and Yillaro, abandoning their booty and the 
 cattle they had taken, which had hampered them, and was 
 a principal cause of their defeat. 
 
 Imtated by these checks, Pianezza ordered a fourth 
 attack, for which he assembled all his disposable troops, as 
 well as aU the armed men that could be obtained fi'om 
 Bagnolo, Barge, Famolasc, Cavor, and other places; but 
 on the day appointed, the troops fi'om Bagnolo, commanded 
 by the impetuous and cruel Mario, being at the rendezvous 
 before the rest, who stiU delayed theii' coming, Maiio, 
 urged on by his hatred of the barbets, and by the ambition 
 of reaping the glory of the expedition, set out at the head 
 of his band, a troop of Irishmen and some other detach- 
 ments, and reached without opposition the hamlet of 
 Rummer, where the families belonging to Rora had taken 
 refuge. There Janavel' s seventeen comrades again managed 
 
276 HISTORY OF THE VAUBOIS CHURCH. 
 
 to choose their point of defence so well, that they could not 
 be forced, and after a long and obstinate resistance they 
 saw signs of confusion and discouragement arising in the 
 enemy's ranks. At this decisive moment, it pleased God 
 to sow terror in the hearts of these troops that a few hours 
 before were so proud and confident. They iled, leaving 
 sixty-five dead on the spot. Their dismay was increased 
 by the very effect of their hasty flight; and then, on 
 arriving at a place called Petrocapello, where they hoped to 
 be able to take breath, the unexpected attack of Janavel 
 and his heroes, who had pursued them, completed their 
 rout. Unable to escape with sufficient speed by the narrow 
 road which goes by the Lucema, the wretched men pressed 
 on one another, and fell from rock to rock into its waves. 
 This was the fate of the great Mario himself, who was 
 pulled out of the water only to die at Lucerna in inex- 
 pressible anguish, tormented in his last hours by the recol- 
 lection of the crimes he had committed in this valley. 
 
 After so long a combat,, and a deliverance so miraculous, 
 Janavel and his troop, harassed with fatigue, were seated 
 on a height, and were refreshing themselves by a slight 
 repast, when they observed a small body of soldiers from 
 Yillaro climbing the mountain, and hoping, no doubt, to 
 take them in the rear, placed, as they imagined, between 
 two fires. They hastened to put themselves in an advan- 
 tageous position. Their enemies, as they advanced, per- 
 ceived them, and sent a detachment to reconnoitre. The 
 Yaudois allowed them to advance, and when challenged, 
 instead of giving the countersign, of which they were igno- 
 rant, beckoned to them to come on. The soldiers, taking 
 it for granted that they were papist peasants belonging to 
 the expedition, pressed forward, and many met their death 
 by point blank shot. Those whom the balls had missed fled 
 with all their might, and threw the main body into disorder, 
 which was exposed in a disadvantageous position on 
 account of its decKvity, and all joined in the flight, without 
 any of them having time to notice the number of their con- 
 querors, who killed many more. After this fresh success, 
 Janavel having assembled his troops on a rising ground, 
 invited them, as he always did, to fall down with him on 
 their knees, and return hearty and due thanks to Grod, the 
 Author of their deliverance. 
 
HEROIC DEFENCE OF JAXATEL. 2/7 
 
 Three days after, the marquis of Pianezza summoned the 
 people of Rora, with tenible threats, to attend mass within 
 four-and-twenty hours. " We prefer death to the mass, a 
 hundred thousand times," was theii' reply. At length, the 
 marquis, for the purpose of reducing five-and-twenty families, 
 did not think it too much to assemble eight thousand 
 soldiers and two thousand popish peasants. He divided 
 this aiTuy into thiTe bodies, of which two were to penetrate 
 into the district by the two roads already mentioned, namely, 
 by the road of the Villar and that of Lucema. The thii'd 
 crossed the mountains which separate Eora from Bagnolo. 
 Alas ! while Janavel and his devoted troop made all possible 
 resistance to the first division which presented itself, the two 
 others reached the place where the poor families had taken 
 refuge, and inflicted on them all the horrible cruelties we 
 have akeady enumerated, and which oui* pen refuses to 
 describe a second time. Old age, infancy, or sex, far from 
 being a safeguard, seemed only to excite the fury and base 
 passions of these men, whom no discipline kept in check. 
 A hundred and twenty-six persons met with an agonizing 
 death. The ^viie and thi'ee daughters of the captain Janavel 
 were reserved for prison, as well as some refugees of the 
 hamlet of Les Yignes in Lucema. Such houses as were still 
 standing, were set on fii'e after everything valuable had been 
 removed. The conquerors divided the booty among them- 
 selves. 
 
 Janavel and his friends had escaped the disaster. Pian- 
 ezza probably fearing the resentment of men who had nothing 
 more to lose, wrote to the hero of Rora, offering him his 
 own life and that of his vrife and daughters if he renounced 
 his heresy, but threatening him on the contraiy, if he per- 
 sisted in it, with the loss of his head, and that liis family 
 should be burned to death. Far from being subdued by 
 these menaces, this man, worthy of the name of Vaudois, 
 replied, " That there were no torments so cruel, nor death so 
 barbarous, which he could not prefer to abjuration ; that if 
 the marquis made his mfe and daughters pass thi'ough the 
 fire, the flames could only consume their poor bodies ; that, 
 as for their souls, he commended them to God, trusting 
 them in his hands equally with his o\vn, in case it were His 
 pleasure that he should fall into the hands of the execu- 
 tioners." One of his little boys, eight years old, had escaped 
 
278 HISTORY OF THE VAUDOIS CHURCH. 
 
 the massacre. Janavel, almost destitute of provisions, 
 powder and ball, made his way with his troop through the 
 snows of the lofty mountains in the neighbourhood, carrying 
 his child on his back, and having deposited him at Queyras, 
 on the French territory, and rested a few days, he and his 
 men repassed the lofty Alps, bringing with him a smaller 
 number of refugees well armed. They returned to increase 
 the little Vaudois army, which, since the massacres, had 
 been forming on the mountains of Bobbio, Yillaro, and 
 Angrogna. 
 
 During these conflicts at Rora, the other valleys had also 
 been threatened. The lords of San Martino had done their 
 utmost to induce its inhabitants to make their submission 
 and abjure the faith of their fathers, warning them seriously 
 that a division of the army would invade and punish them 
 if they refused to yield. Far from complying, they took 
 up arms and succeeded by their courage in warding off the 
 evils which had crushed the valley of Lucerna. The valley 
 of Perosa also suffered ; but its calamities were far less 
 aggravated than those we have described in the preceding 
 narrative. 
 
 Meanwhile, those who had escaped from Eora, Bobbio, 
 Angrogna, La Torre, and San Giovanni, with whom were 
 joined a few of their brethren from the other valleys, had 
 armed themselves, and formed when they were all assembled 
 together (not a very frequent occurrence), a body of about 
 five hundred combatants. In most of the encounters, they 
 mustered not above half this number, and often hardly one 
 third. This little army, master of the mountains which were 
 abandoned by the enemy after all the villages and hamlets 
 upon them had been burned, was continually scattered 
 abroad, either to obtain subsistence or to avoid danger, and 
 then reassembled to fall unexpectedly on detached bodies of 
 the Piedmontese army, which was stationed in the towns, 
 villages, and hamlets, at the entrance of the valley of Lu- 
 cerna. The Yaudois fought several battles in the latter days 
 of May, and in the months of June and July. They obtained 
 even considerable success under the conduct of the valiant 
 captains Janavel and Jayer. This latter officer was from Pra- 
 mol. In one of their expeditions, they surprised the town of 
 San Secondo, which was filled with their enemies. By the aid 
 of casks, which they had found in the first houses that were 
 
THE VAUDOIS UNDER AHMS. 270 
 
 stormed, and rolled before them as a protection, they aj)- 
 proached so near the fortress into which the governor had 
 retired, that they burned the gate by means of bundles of 
 "sdne-branches which they set on fire. They did tlie same 
 at the door of a large hall, in which the soldiers, pressing 
 one upon another, had taken their last refuge. These 
 unfortunate creatures, mostly Irishmen, whose cruelty had 
 been unparalleled in the massacres, could excite no pity in 
 those whose sisters, daughters, and wives they had disho- 
 noured, and whom they had deprived of fathers, mothers, 
 and childi'en. They considered that they treated them with 
 sufficient lenity by putting them at once to the sword, with- 
 out any preparatory torture except the thought of death. 
 Yery differently from their enemies, they spared the lives of 
 the aged, of children, and the sick, and respected the females 
 here as in all other places. In this manner they acted 
 during the whole course of the war. Only, either by way of 
 reprisal, or to deprive their enemies of this post, they set 
 jBre to the town, after having taken out whatever could be 
 carried away, a booty in which they found part of that which 
 had been taken from themselves. The Irish regiment lost 
 several hundred men by this defeat : the Piedmontese 
 troops sustained about an equal loss. 
 
 Encoiu'aged by this success, the little Yaudois army 
 dared to approach Bricherasco, and to ravage the cottages 
 or siuTounding dwellings.^' The alarm having been given 
 by a signal agreed upon, they saw themselves assailed by 
 all the Piedmontese forces in the neighbourhood, ])oth horse 
 and foot. As they retreated in good order, they often 
 charged the enemy with advantage, and retired with, only 
 one killed and a few wounded. Shortly after this gallant 
 troop appeared before the town of La Ton-e, which was 
 fortified, and kept the garrison there in check. From the 
 mountains of Angrogna, its head-quarters, it sent out a 
 sti'ong division to attack the town of Crussol, in the upper 
 valley of the Po ; at their approach, the inhabitants, who 
 had done much mischief in the massacres, fled, abandoning 
 their flocks, which the Yaudois drove to the Alps of Yillaro.f 
 They found among the booty many of their own cattle. 
 
 * It must not be forgotten that those troops hafl no other supply of provi- 
 sions for their daily wants than what they prociu-ecl by such excursions. 
 
 t One object of this expedition was to procure a fresh supply of cattle in lieu 
 of those they had lost dui-ing the massacres. 
 
280 HISTOEY OF THE VAUDOIS CHTJECH. 
 
 IS'otwithstanding the absence of the brave layer, who 
 was engaged elsewhere, Janavel made a sudden attack on 
 Lucerna ; but after two unsuccessful assaults he retreated, 
 the garrison having been reinforced by a regiment, of which 
 he was not aware on his arrival. 
 
 Being attacked himself by three thousand of the enemy, 
 on one of the heights of Angrogna, and having on his side 
 only three hundred defenders, he still made head against 
 them, and repulsed all their attempts. And when the 
 assailants retired, about two o'clock in the afternoon, having 
 lost, by their own confession, more than five hundred men, 
 Captain Jayer suddenly appeared with his troop. The joy 
 of his return raised the courage of the Yaudois beyond all 
 bounds. Without thinking of their fatigue, they rushed 
 into the plain, threw themselves with fury on their enemies, 
 who were retreating, some to La Torre, others to Lucerna, 
 and slew fifty of their men, besides three officers of distinc- 
 tion. But, sad to relate, at the end of this fierce combat, 
 the brave, the valiant, the pious Janavel fell. A ball passed 
 through his breast. They expected every moment that he 
 would breathe his last. He desired to speak to Jayer, who 
 succeeded him in the command. He gave him some advice 
 before he was carried to a distance from the field of battle 
 to Pinache, in the valley of Perosa, within the French ter- 
 tory, where by degrees he recovered. 
 
 This day was destined to be a day of mourning for the 
 valleys. Forgetting the counsel given by the (apparently) 
 dying Janavel not to undertake anything more that even- 
 ing, and as if it had not been enough to beat the enemy 
 on their retreat, Jayer, too impetuous, and deceived by a 
 traitor, who led him to expect immense booty in the direc- 
 tion of Ousasq, advanced, at the head of a hundred and 
 fifty picked men, to throw himself into the hands of his 
 enemies. Having already pillaged and burned some cot- 
 tages on the heights, he suffered himself to be led on by 
 the traitor, with fifty of his men, towards some houses, 
 where he was, all at once, surrounded by the Savoy cavalry, 
 who having received an intimation of his coming, were 
 waiting in ambush for him. Overpowered by numbers, 
 Jayer died as a hero, together with his son, who never 
 quitted his side, and all his companions, only one excepted. 
 He killed three ofi&cers, and fell, alter a long defence, 
 
THE YAUDOIS TTNDEIl ARMS. 281 
 
 covered with wounds. Leger has described him in the fol- 
 lowing words : ''A great captain, worthy of being held in 
 remembrance ; zealous for the service of God, alike capable 
 of resisting allurements and threats ; courageous as a lion, 
 and meek as a lamb, rendering God alone the praise of all 
 his victories : his character would have been complete had 
 he known how to curb his adventurous boldness." 
 
 The valleys, disheartened for a brief interval, were re- 
 animated by the voices of captain Laurent, of the valley of 
 San Martino, and of a brother of Jayer, and of several 
 others. In a conflict maintained by theii' little troops 
 against six thousand of the enemy, they slew two hundred 
 men, among which was the lieutenant-colonel of the Ba- 
 varian regiment ; but on their side they lost the excellent 
 captain Bertin, of Angrogna. 
 
 At the beginning of July, the Yaudois had the satisfac- 
 tion of seeing the arrival of many of their brethren in 
 arms from Languedoc and Dauphine ; one of them, named 
 Descombies, an experienced and renowned officer, was soon 
 after made commander-in-chief. Colonel Andrion, of Ge- 
 neva, who had distinguished himself in France and Sweden, 
 as well as in the valleys, arrived at the same time.'^' The 
 moderator, Leger, just returned from a long and rapid 
 journey, which he had been making in France and Switzer- 
 land, on behalf of the valleys, proceeded immediately, with 
 colonel Andrion, to the mountain of Angrogna, called La 
 Tachere, where the little Yaudois army had thrown up some 
 entrenchments. The enemy, as if they had had notice of 
 their arrival, and to prevent the impulse which it might 
 give to the energy of these persecuted herdsmen, went up 
 to take them by surprise, very early on the follo^-ing morn- 
 ing, with all their forces, among whom were some fresh 
 troops. The Yaudois, being timely warned by their scouts, 
 were able to concentrate themselves in the fortified position 
 of Casses.f The duke's army divided into four bodies, of 
 which one remained in observation as a reserve, made the 
 assault on three points at once, almost incessantly for 
 nearly ten hours, and at last, breaking through the biirri- 
 
 * M. de Barcelona also came thither from the Pays de Vaud. (Re^nie Suisse. 
 Lausanne, 1840, iii. 270.) 
 
 t A remarkable succession of fragments of rocks scattered over a long sur- 
 face, forming, with the dechvity of the mouiitain from which they had been 
 detached, a barrier veiy difficult to pass. 
 
282 HISTORY OF THE VATJDOIS CHURCH. 
 
 cades, forced the Yaudois to retreat, pursuing tlieni with 
 the cry of ''Victory! victory!" to the foot of the last 
 fortified height, on which they took refuge as their last 
 earthly asylum. But their heavenly Protector so strength- 
 ened them, that although the enemy often attacked them 
 at the distance of a pike's length, they defended themselves 
 mthout abandoning the post. Their supply of powder and 
 ball began to fail, which would have been fatal, had they 
 not at the instant had recourse to their slings, and also 
 rolled down fi-agments of rock, which, often splitting in 
 pieces in their rapid course downward, struck even the 
 furthest detachments. JSToticing at last some hesitation 
 and disorder in the enemy's ranks, they sallied forth at 
 once from their entrenchment, a pistol in one hand, and a 
 cutlass (a cubic in length, and two or three fingers broad,) 
 in the other, and struck such terror in the exhausted popish 
 troops, that they sounded a retreat. More than two hun- 
 dred soldiers were slain, and as nianj severely wounded. 
 The Bavarian regiment lost some of its best officers. 
 
 It was on the return of these disappointed troops, and at 
 the sight of the wounded and the dead, that the syndic 
 Bianchi of Lucerna, although a papist, playing on the nick- 
 name of barbets, (synonymous with dogs,) given to the 
 Yaudois, exclaimed, ''Formerly the wolves devoured the 
 dogs, but now the time is come for the dogs to devour the 
 wolves ;" a speech that cost him his life. 
 
 On the 1 8th of July, at night, the Yaudois army, at least 
 eighteen hundred strong, owing to the reinforcements from 
 France, of whom between sixty and eighty were horsemen 
 lately mounted, invested the town of La Torre, and would 
 probably have taken it by assault, and the fort too,"^' if the 
 new general Descombies, who commanded for the first 
 time, had better understood the ardour and intrepidity of 
 the mountaineers under his orders. He lost time in recon- 
 noitring the fort. The alarm was given, the Piedmontese 
 regiments, in garrison at Lucerna and elsewhere, arrived, 
 and the enterprise failed. Nevertheless, captain Belin and 
 lieutenant Peironnel, (also called Gonnet,) forced the wall 
 of the convent of the Capuchins, took possession of it, and 
 
 * The fort here spoken of was not that situated to the north of the town, the 
 niins of which are still to be seen ; it was a fortified place, situated within the 
 town itself, and which had been raised during the war. Leger, pt. ii., p. 26.1. 
 
EFFECT PRODUCED BY THE MASSACRES. 283 
 
 set it on fire, as they did the rest of the towTi, made prison- 
 ers of some reverend fathers, and did not retire till the 
 enemy's reinforcements, joining the beaten troops of La 
 Torre and those of the fort, pressed them on every side. 
 
 General Descombies, full of confidence in his little aiTay, 
 was about to make another attack on the fort of La Torre, 
 intending to march afterwards on Lucerna, when a truce 
 was concluded, and after a while a treaty, which put an 
 end to all the military operations of the Vaudois. But, 
 before speaking of this negotiation, we must go back a 
 little, to show the effect produced by the massacres and 
 persecutions of the Yaudois on the Protestant populations 
 of Europe and their governments. 
 
 A cry of reprobation had resounded throughout all the 
 reformed countries, on hearing the bloody recital of the 
 cruelties inflicted on their brethren in the valleys of Pied- 
 mont. A thrill of horror pervaded the whole Protestant 
 body. Bitter tears were shed at the remembrance of the 
 dead ; and at the recital of the woes endured by the sur- 
 vivors, the necessity of coming to their aid seized all hearts, 
 both of rulers and their subjects alike. It is a fact deserv^- 
 ing of perpetual record, that the reformed nations were 
 moved as the heart of one man, and presented to their 
 brethiTn in the faith a beautiful exam])le of Christian 
 charity. Almost all the churches humbled themselves 
 before God by a solemn day of fasting and prayer in refer- 
 ence to the valleys ; liberal collections were made at the 
 same time in every district, to foi^nish those who had 
 escaped with the means of subsistence, in that total des- 
 titution to which the fiuy of their enemies had reduced 
 them, to rebuild their houses that had been bui^ned down, 
 to procure agricultural implements, and the necessary sup- 
 ply of cattle of which they had been deprived. 
 
 But what would this succour have availed, to whatever 
 extent it had been given, if the poor persecuted Vaudois 
 had been left without protection, under the hea^y- and 
 painful yoke of iron which galled their neck ? Something 
 more was needed than pecuniary aid, or than letters ot 
 sympathy and consolation ; it was requisite that Chi'istian 
 charity should be shown, by direct application to the Pied- 
 montese government, to obtain from it assurances and 
 guarantees of peace in reference to the oppressed. 
 
284 HISTORY OF THE VAUDOIS CHURCH. 
 
 TMs interference of Christian charity was spontaneous, 
 as it ought always to be, like all the fruits of the gospel. 
 The court of Turin persisted in attributing it to the 
 requests, complaints, and entreaties made by the valleys to 
 the reformed governments. This is to misconstrue, or not 
 to know, the force of the brotherly love that unites the 
 disciples of the truth, it is even to doubt the heart of man ; 
 for where Christian sentiments might not have been power- 
 ful enough to inspire generous efforts in behalf of brethren 
 in misfortune, humanity alone would have dictated them. 
 It is true that the valleys made their tried friends in Swit- 
 zerland acquainted with their alarming situation. Could 
 they help doing so ? Are our tears to be concealed from 
 our most intimate friends ? It is possible the Vaudois had 
 anticipated, that they had even hoped, that their brethren 
 would raise their voices in their behalf. But who could 
 blame them for so doing ? Is it required that the unfor- 
 tunate should renounce all hope of exciting the sjonpathy 
 of others ? Does the recital of his misfortunes constitute 
 a crime? ISTone but a tyrant will pretend that it does. 
 For if so, every letter of a victim would be an accusa- 
 tion ; every lamentation of an oppressed people, a cry of 
 rebellion. 
 
 The honour of the first movement in favour of the 
 persecuted Yaudois, belongs to the evangelical cantons of 
 Switzerland. Their religious zeal and their charity shone 
 with the purest lustre ; their anxiety had been manifested 
 before the massacres. In fact, scarcely had they been 
 informed of the cruel order published by Gastaldo, when 
 they wrote to the duke, on the 6th of March, a most 
 respectful letter, in which they entreat him to allow his 
 Yaudois subjects to remain in their ancient habitations, and 
 to insure them liberty of conscience by the maintenance of 
 their hereditary privileges.^' And when the news of the 
 massacres reached them, rapid and overpowering as a tliun- 
 derbolt, they forthwith, on the 29th of April, appointed a 
 fast and collections through all their territories, and on the 
 
 * In the answer of the duke to the evangehcal cantons, he accuses the Vau- 
 dois of a fact which was slanderously imputed to them, of a farce acted at La 
 Torre, by children, on Christmas day, 1654, in a masquerade, where an ass 
 cut the principal figure. It was afterwards proved that these children were 
 papists, and thus the Vaudois were cleared from the charge of insulting theii* 
 neighbours in their reUgion. L6ger, pt. ii., p. 203, 204, 
 
GKEAT BE.ITAIX AND OTHER PROTESTANT POWERS. 285 
 
 next day they informed the Protestant powers, in pathetic 
 epistles, of what had occnrred in the Yaudois valleys of 
 Piedmont, calling upon them to interest themselves in their 
 future fortunes. As for themselves, without waitin^i^ for 
 the effect of their suggestions, they deputed colonel de 
 Weiss (or de Wyss), of Berne, to the court of Turin, with 
 directions to place in the hands of the dowager duchess, 
 and of Charles Emmanuel, a letter of intercession in favour 
 of their afflicted hrethren. 
 
 The Swiss deputy accompKshed little by his mission ; 
 he was received, it is true, by their highnesses, but was 
 referred, for negotiations, to the deceitful and fanatical 
 Pianezza, wdth whom he could make no arrangements. 
 This man attempted to employ him to disarm the per- 
 secuted Yaudois ; but de "Weiss, not being able to guarantee 
 them an honourable treaty, things remained in the same 
 state in which he foimd them. At all events, he ascertained 
 the real state of affairs by personal observation. He re- 
 turned soon after to render an account of his mission to his 
 superiors. 
 
 The evangelical cantons, far from being discouraged by 
 having obtained nothing, resolved to send an embassy to 
 offer their mediation between the two parties actually in 
 arms, and which should strive to obtain for the Yaudois, 
 from the duke, liberty to dwell in any part of the valleys, 
 the restoration of their possessions, and the free exercise of 
 their religion. The cantons, by fi^esh communications, in- 
 formed the Protestant states of the situation of the Yaudois, 
 as well as the steps which their deputies were going to 
 take, and irndted them to support theii' intervention by 
 letters, or still better, by ambassadors. 
 
 All the Protestant powers answered to this appeal. Be- 
 sides the collections which they ordered in all their towns 
 and country places, they all ^Tote to the duke of Savoy to 
 entreat him to act differently with his subjects of the Pro- 
 testant religion. The king of Sweden, the elector Palatine, 
 the elector of Brandenbiu'gh, the landgrave of Hesse Cassel, 
 gave special proofs of theii' great zeal in the management 
 of this affair ; but the greatest efforts proceeded from the 
 cantons already named, fi'om Great Biitain, then imder the 
 protectorate of Cromwell, and the United Pro\-inces of 
 Holland. England, still agitated by its own religious move- 
 
286 HISTOEY OF THE VAUDOIS CKUECH. 
 
 ments, entered warmly into the case of the Yaudois, ftxsted 
 and made liberal collections. Oliyer Cromwell displayed 
 great zeal, wrote to the Protestant states, and interfered by 
 an embassy, first to Louis xiv., allied to the house of Savoy, 
 and whose regiments had taken part in the massacres, and 
 afterwards to Charles Emmanuel. Sir Samuel Morland, a 
 young diplomatist equally intelligent and pious, attempted 
 to interest the French monarch in giving succour to the 
 victims of his own soldiers, and received at least some 
 promises. On his arrival at Turin, at the end of June, he 
 obtained an audience, and having expressed a severe judg- 
 ment on the atrocities committed, he claimed from the 
 justice and generosity of the prince, in the name of his 
 government, gentler measures, and the re-establishment of 
 the Yaudois in the enjoyment of their property, their 
 ancient privileges and their liberties. 
 
 While Sir Samuel Morland was on his way to Geneva, 
 towards the end of July, the lord protector of Great Britain 
 sent a new plenipotentiary to Turin, sir — Dunning, who 
 alter having seen sir Samuel Morland, was directed to visit 
 Piedmont, in company with him and Mr. Pell, the English 
 resident in Switzerland, in order to conduct the settlement 
 of the affairs of the Yaudois and bring them to a successful 
 termination. 
 
 At the same period, the states-general at the United 
 Provinces, deputed for the same object, M. Yan Ommeren, 
 with orders to act in concert with the English ambassador 
 and the evangelical cantons. The latter had already des- 
 patched their ambassadors at the commencement of the 
 month. They did not meet sir Samuel Morland, who had 
 returned from Geneva by another road. Sir — Dunning 
 and M. Yan Ommeren arrived in Switzerland still later. 
 The embassy of the evangelical cantons found itself there- 
 fore alone in the effort to accomplish this difficult mission. 
 This was a great evil. The absence of the envoys of Great 
 Britain and the United Provinces gave a decisive influence 
 to the Roman Catholic party, represented by the ambassa- 
 dor of the king of France, and permitted the hasty con- 
 clusion of an arrangement which was far from advantageous 
 to the poor Yaudois. 
 
 While on their way, the Swiss ambassadors were informed 
 that the mediation of the king of France in the affairs of the 
 
MEDIATION OF FRANCE. 287 
 
 Yaudois had been accepted by the duke, nevertheless they 
 continued theii' journey, and met with an honourable recep- 
 tion. This embassy consisted of Solomon Hirzel, Stadt- 
 holder of Zimch, Charles de Bonstetten, baron de Vaumar- 
 cus, etc., counsellor of Berne, Benedict Socin, counsellor of 
 Bale, and Jean Stockar of Schaffhauscn, formerly a magi- 
 strate of Locarno. Under pretence that the acceptance ot 
 the mediation of the king of France would not allow^ an 
 aiTangcment to be made with any other party, the court of 
 Turin would not enter on the discussion of the subject with 
 them, but allowed the ambassadors to follow the negotiation, 
 and to interest themselves about the Yaudois. The dejDuties, 
 in consequence, betook themselves to Pignerol, at that time 
 a city belonging to France, some leagues fi'om the valleys, 
 which the ambassador of France, de Servient, had assigned 
 to the parties for their abode. 
 
 The arrangement was a work of labour. The first fort- 
 night in August was spent in recriminations and explana- 
 tions, in animated debates, in suing for their Kberties on the 
 part of the Yaudois, in insidious proposals from some dele- 
 gates of the court, and in friendly offices on the part of the 
 evangelical commissioners. -'' At last, on the 1 8th, the agree- 
 ment was concluded, and the peace signed. The conditions 
 would have been doubtless more advantageous to the 
 Yaudois, if the ambassadors of Great Britain and the United 
 Provinces, as well as those of the evangelical cantons, had 
 been present. Sir Samuel Morland, it is true, w^'ote from 
 Geneva to the Swiss deputation, requesting them to protract 
 the negotiations, and if possible, to put off the conclusion 
 of the treaty till their arrival, which would be at no distant 
 time. But it is doubtful whether these diplomatists would 
 have been allowed to exercise any direct interference, since 
 the mediation of the king of France had been accepted by 
 the duke, and the Protestant princes themselves had 
 solicited the concurrence of that ambitious monarch who 
 
 * The narrative of the negotiation would have been very instructive and 
 useful. It would have set in a clear Ught the intentions of those hard-hearted 
 men who felt no regret but that of not having been able to get rid of the barbets ; 
 but we have abstained from speaking of it at length, because our narrative is 
 already too full of harrowing scenes, and atrocious acts which provoke indig- 
 nation, and if multiphed, would banish aU charity from our hearts. 
 
 The king's representative, Servient, endeavoured to entangle the Vaudois 
 deputies and to gain their consent to proposals of which he concealed the 
 bearing, and which tended to destroy them. See, for instance, his conduct in 
 reference to the fort of La Torre, in Leger, pt. ii., p. 264. 
 
288 HISTOEY OF THE YAI7D0IS CHFECH. 
 
 now claimed to act alone. Moreover, the deplorable state 
 of the valleys required a speedy settlement. Plundered, and 
 a prey to all the miseries of war, they sighed after repose. 
 Their families, without provisions and without homes dur- 
 ing two months, could wait no longer. Their representa- 
 tives, with the pastor Leger at their head, all persons in 
 whom they could confide, thought they did well in accept- 
 ing conditions which, without being entirely satisfactory, 
 secured to them a dwelling-place in the greater part of their 
 ancient limits, the sale of their goods in some localities 
 which it would be necessary to leave, and the free exercise 
 of their religion throughout the whole extent of the new 
 limits, besides exemption fi'om all imposts for a certain term 
 of years. The release of all the prisoners, including the 
 children who had been carried off, and a full amnesty, were 
 also stipulated at the same time. 
 
 The districts which the Yaudois were interdicted from 
 settling in, and in which they must dispose of all their 
 goods, were the following communes, mostly popish, in the 
 plain of Lucerna, and specified in Gastaldo's order, namely, 
 Lucerna, Lucernette, Bibbiana, Penile, Campiglione, Gar- 
 sillana. Permission was granted them to reside in La Torre 
 and San Giovanni — an amendment of Gastaldo's edict — but 
 with the reservation that the temple of San Giovanni was 
 not to be within the commune, and that there should be no 
 preaching in that commune, any more than in the town of 
 La Torre. San Secondo was closed against the Yaudois, but 
 the possession of Prarustin, Saint Barthelemi, and Poche- 
 platte, was allowed them, as in times past, together with 
 the exercise of their religion in those villages. Liberty to 
 dwell in the city of Bricherasco might be obtained by special 
 license. These alterations excepted, the limits remained 
 the same as before. The other communes of the valleys 
 of Lucerna and Angrogna, Perosa, and San Martino, re- 
 tained their privileges. 
 
 The duke reserved to himself the right of celebrating 
 mass, and placing priests or monks in whatever places he 
 thought proper ; but in return he guaranteed to all liberty 
 of conscience, and the exercise of their worship, within the 
 new limits. A separate article confirmed the ancient fran- 
 chise, the prerogatives, and privileges granted and settled 
 in times past. The act was attested by the duke's signa- 
 
GREAT BEITAIX AXD OTHEE PllOTESTANT PO^VERS. 289 
 
 ture, and that of some of his ministers. The numerous 
 dej)utation from the valleys also signed it. It was ratified 
 by the senate and chamber. 
 
 IS^otwithstanding the ui'gent request of the deputies from 
 the valleys, no mention was made in the act of the inter- 
 cession of the Swiss embassy, as the French ambassador 
 refused his consent that any other name than his master's 
 should weaken, by sharing it, his title of mediator. 
 
 The Yaudois suffered two other mortifications — that of 
 seeing themselves described in the preamble of the treatj' 
 as rebels, to whom their prince had graciously remitted the 
 punishment which their offences deserved ; and, secondly, 
 of reading in the printed edition of this charter an article 
 expressing the consent of the valleys to the erection of a 
 new fort at La Torre, shamefully interpolated, in order to 
 effect the ruin of the poor Yaudois. All their deputies 
 protested against tliis infamous trickery. The 8wiss am- 
 bassadors, who were present at the treaty, declared they 
 had no recollection of such an article. Moreover, during 
 the whole of the negotiation, they had insisted on the 
 demolition of the existing fort, which was promised them. 
 They even at one time manifested an intention of not 
 leaving Tmin till they had been apprised that the de- 
 molition had been begun. 
 
 We should have preferred passing over in silence such a 
 misdeed ; but the mention of it was requisite in order to 
 understand subsequent events. 
 
 The plenipotentiaries of Great Britain and the United 
 Provinces, who had been detained in Switzerland by busi- 
 ness during the negotiation at Pinerolo, felt great dis- 
 satisfaction on learning that it was tenninatcd; for they 
 wished to obtain better conditions for the Yaudois. They 
 exerted themselves to induce the evangelical cantons to 
 make fresh proposals to the duke, with a view to revise 
 and modify the treaty or charter of Pinerolo. But the 
 war which broke out between the Catholic and evangelical 
 cantons would not allow the latter to involve themselves in 
 fresh perplexities. The commissioners of Great Britain 
 and the United Provinces then turned towards Paris, and 
 solicited fr^om Louis xiv. the revision of the treaty, of 
 which he was the mediator. The king did not absolutely 
 refuse. M. de Bais was sent to the valleys and to the 
 
 
 
290 HISTOEY or THE VAUDOIS CHUECH. 
 
 court of Turin to collect fresh information ; but it is pro- 
 bable that this mission was undertaken merely to save 
 appearances. One thing is certain, that nothing came of it. 
 Louis xiY. and Charles Emmanuel were quite of one mind. 
 
 It now remains for us to state the amount, as near as 
 may be, of the sums collected, in the Protestant states, in 
 aid of the desolated valleys, and the use that was made 
 of it. 
 
 On the 25th of July, the sums received from France 
 amounted to 200,000 francs. From the beginning of 
 March, 1655, to the 1st of l^ovember, 1656, the Yaudois 
 had received from France, England, Holland, and Switzer- 
 land, upwards of 504,885 francs, and from the city of 
 Zurich alone 3778 florins."^ 
 
 It would appear, however, that the sum total was even 
 more than this. We are led to believe so from the fact stated 
 by Leger, — that of the collections made in England, the 
 Protector deducted and pledged the state for £16,000 ster- 
 ling,! equal to 400,000 French francs, the interest of 
 which was to be employed to pension the pastors, school- 
 masters, and students of the valleys, etc.;}: If a sum of 
 400,000 francs could be deducted for an object which was 
 not strictly identical mtli that for which the collections 
 were made, their amount must necessarily have been at 
 least as much again, and even more than that.§ And if 
 to the 400,000 or 500,000 francs which must have been 
 sent from England, we add the 200,000 sent by the French 
 Protestants in the month of July, 1655, and the sums 
 which came from Switzerland, Holland, and Germany, we 
 shall have a total sum of more than a million francs. 
 
 It was thought proper at the time, for prudential reasons, 
 which may easily be imagined, not to publish to the world 
 the large amount of donations sent by the charity of the 
 Protestants. I^evertheless, accounts carefully prepared 
 
 * Revue Smsse, t. iii., p. 273, for this last sum. 
 
 t M. George Lowtlier says " more than fr^velve thousand pounds sterhng." 
 
 X This sum was lost, in great part, on the accession of Charles ii., who 
 would not acknowledge the engagements of the Protector as valid. 
 
 § In fact, the smn total of the Enghsh contributions is reckoned at 917,784 of 
 French francs, including the above sum of 400,000 francs. (See " Cathohcism," 
 etc., by George Lowther, vol. i., p. 294, pubhshed in 1827.) 
 
 [The Protector gave 2000/. out of his own private pm-se. The sum total of 
 the collections arnounted to 38,241/. 10s. 6d., of which the cities of London and 
 Westminster contributed 9384/. 6s. lid. Jones's History of the Waldenses, 
 2nd ed., 1816, vol. ti., pp. 345, 367. The sums collected in each county through- 
 out England and Wales are given in Morland's EQstory, p. 588.] 
 
COLLECTIONS. 29 ] 
 
 were rendered by the consistories of Geneva and Grenoble, 
 to whom all the sums had been sent, and who supenntendcd 
 their disti'ibution by commissioners. These officci-s, in 
 concert with the general assembly of the valleys, had 
 determined what coui'se to pui-sue in the distributions ; they 
 formed a scale of division according to the losses sus- 
 tained and the cii'cumstances of the conmiunes, as well as of 
 individuals, leaving to competent persons appointed by 
 the communes the particular appraisement of damages and 
 estimate of the relief needed. Lastly, a commission of four 
 members, all sti'angers to the valleys, was employed for 
 three whole months in revising all the accounts of distri- 
 bution, visiting the places, and there, in the presence of the 
 assembled commune, hearing the appeals and giWug the 
 final decision. The proceedings of this commission were 
 afterwards approved, and all the accounts adopted, by the 
 consistories of Grenoble and Geneva, aftei-wards by the 
 synod of Dauphine, and lastly by the national synod of 
 Loudun. 
 
 jSTevertheless, strange and calumnious reports were put 
 in circulation to the discredit of liiose members of the 
 valleys who took part in the management of this business. 
 The principal promoter of these falsehoods was a man 
 named de Longueil, once a Jesuit, a pretended convert to 
 the gospel, to whom the school at Yillaro had been 
 intmsted. The second person was the same Bertram 
 Yilleneuve who had been bribed by Pianezza, and in 1653 
 had almost effected the iniin of the valleys by proposing the 
 expulsion of the monks from Yillaro, and the burning of 
 their dwelling. These men contiived their plot in secret, 
 conjointly with two other accomplices. They made the 
 envious and discontented — a class of people that always 
 abound when anything is to be given away — believe that a 
 considerable sum was left, wliich the chief persons in the 
 valleys had set apart for themselves, and which, if divided 
 amongst all, would give each one a dividend of five hundred 
 livres at least, perhaps fifteen hundi'ed. The credulous 
 people, whom these deceivers had filled with discontent, 
 deputed some of their number to make a complaint to the 
 French synods; but the examination which was made 
 afresh of all the accounts confounded the accusers, and 
 wiped away all suspicion fi'om the accused. Yet so iadus- 
 
 2 
 
292 HISTOEY OF THE VAUDOIS CHURCH. 
 
 triously had the enemies of the Yaudois propagated this 
 calumny, that it was still credited by a number of dis- 
 trustful persons. The European public, even the Pro- 
 testant part of it, gave a partial credit to it, which sensibly 
 injured the Vaudois when they were visited with new deso- 
 lations in 1663 and 1664. 
 
 The wicked one did not mean that the vivid interest 
 which all the reformed churches had latterly taken in the 
 persecuted inhabitants of Piedmont should become strength- 
 ened.* 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV. 
 
 PERSECFTIOJSr AND EMIGEATION, 1656 1686. 
 
 If the foregoing period has presented us with a melancholy 
 spectacle, and filled our ears with the machinations of the 
 great, the furious outcries of Pomish assassins, and the groans 
 and sobs of victims, that on which we are entering will be 
 hardly less distressing; Though less bloody, it will exhibit 
 new proofs of the inveterate hatred which the Council for 
 the Propagation of the Eaith and the Extirpation of Heretics 
 cherished against the poor peaceable mountaineers, — a 
 hatred which could not be extinguished but by the re- 
 moval and ruin of those who were the objects of it. 
 
 The ambassadors of the evangelical cantons of Switzer- 
 land had recrossed the Alps, carrying with them the 
 consoling remembrance of the efforts they had made to 
 obtain a tolerable peace for their brethren in the valleys. 
 Some verbal promises of the agents of the court had given 
 them a hope that the treaty in which they had concurred 
 would be executed in a comprehensive and liberal manner. 
 Moreover, it had been agreed that the fort of La Torre 
 should be demolished at as early a period as would consist 
 with the honour of the duke, who was not to appear 
 submissive to his subjects. But the facts by no means 
 corresponded with the words. Not only the clauses of the 
 charter of Pinerolo that were most unfavourable to the 
 Vaudois were maintained in all their rigour, but all haste 
 was made to execute the article which had been deceitfully 
 
 * See Gilles, ch. Ix. — Mi, ; Leger, pt. ii., pp. 57—260 ; for all this chapter. 
 
TEXATIONS COinnXTED BY Xni: GARRISON. 293 
 
 foisted into the printed copies, and which, contrary to the 
 promises that had been made to the Swiss embassy, declared 
 that a fortress should be built on the ancient site of the 
 castle of La Torre, demolished by the French in 1593. The 
 deputies of the erangelical cantons had not yet (piittcd 
 Turin when the works were abeady begun, and the founda- 
 tions of a formidable fortress laid on the very spot 
 where the soldiers of the count de la Trinite had committed 
 so many acts of violence, and whence Castrocaro had issued 
 his commands over the whole valley. Hirzel and his 
 colleagues, having received timely information, demimded 
 an explanation. They were told that what had been done 
 would not last long, and would never be finished; tliat 
 these works were merely to save the duke's honoiu\ 
 
 Faithful to the traditional Helvetic loyalty, the ambas- 
 sadors, incapable themselves of deceiving, did not suspect 
 falsehood in a government which pledged its Avord. They 
 therefore encouraged the disturbed and anxious Yaudois, 
 and advised them to be patient and submissive.* The 
 Yaudois were certainly not quite so confiding : experience 
 of the past, and the nearness of the danger, served to 
 enlighten them ; yet they submitted, habituated as they 
 were to bow to the will of their sovereign on all points not 
 within the province of religion. The works were pushed 
 on Avith so much vigour, that, before winter, the place was 
 in a state of defence, and in the following year the fortifi- 
 cations were fijoished. 
 
 If the erection of a citadel occasioned the Yaudois serious 
 apprehensions for the futui'e, the powerful garrison that 
 was placed in it became an immediate and constant source 
 of humiliation, injury, and vexation. The soldiers com- 
 mitted all sorts of excesses, and seemed sure of impunity in 
 most cases. It constituted their amusement to lay waste 
 the orchards and vineyards, to enter the houses, seize upon 
 whatever they pleased, glut themselves with wine and 
 provisions, to spoil or scatter on the ground what they 
 could not caiTy away, to iU-trcat those who attempted _ to 
 protect their property, and to conduct themselves with 
 indecency towards the females, old and young. To strike 
 ^-ith the sabre, to discharge fire-anns, to take what was 
 
 * Hirzel wrote in 1662 to L^ger, " We have been too weU ^ght by expe- 
 rience the deceitful practices of this court." L^ger, pt. ii., p. -60. 
 
294 msToiiY OF the yaudois chuech. 
 
 not their own, to outrage the weaker sex, were daily occur- 
 rences : even rape and assassination were committed. When 
 complaints were made, they led to no result. ''Seize the 
 offenders, bring them to me, and I engage to punish them," 
 said the commandant De Coudre ; hut when, one day, some 
 peasants brought before him two soldiers whom they had 
 apprehended in the act of robbing a house, and ill-treating 
 its owners, the commandant sent them to prison, only to 
 release them as soon as the complainants had turned their 
 backs. Informations laid before the j)resident Truchi, or 
 the magistrate, even when accompanied with the necessary 
 documents stating the nature of the offence, and describing 
 the culprits, remained without effect. In consequence, on 
 several occasions, the Yaudois, irritated with the increasing 
 audacity of their bad neighbours, might be seen defending 
 their threatened property, or recovering it with their own 
 hands, when they found themselves the strongest. 
 
 To this permanent source of disquietude another was 
 very soon added. Accusations, without reason, were made 
 against persons of note. The Council for the Propagation 
 of the Faith and the Extirpation of Heretics, could invent 
 no more certain method of getting rid of men whose influ- 
 ence they feared, or to intimidate such as might be disposed 
 to tread in their steps. Accordingly, all at once thirty-eight 
 persons in the valley of Lucerna received orders to proceed 
 to Turin, to answer such questions as should be put to 
 them. The valiant captain Janavel, the hero of Eora, was 
 one of them. The first two summonses contained no 
 explanation. The thii'd and last alone mentioned the crime 
 imputed to them, and denounced their condemnation for 
 contumacy if they refused to present themselves. This 
 mode of proceeding was contrary to the grants and privi- 
 leges of the valleys, confirmed by the charter of Pinerolo. 
 Eegularly they were not bound either on a first or second 
 suit for a criminal or civil cause to answer elsewhere than 
 before their own tribunals. To this first reason for not 
 appearing at Turin might be added a second, of much 
 greater importance. The Inquisition had its seat at Turin. 
 The right it always arrogated of seizing its victims w^herever 
 it found them, in spite of the safe conduct of princes, and 
 of removing them from their jurisdiction, to treat them as 
 it pleased in its own dungeons, was well known. Every 
 
EELIGIOUS SERVICES FOEBIDDEN AT S.VX GIOVANNI. 29') 
 
 one knew vrhat was to be expected, wliethcr from its justice 
 or its mercy. Alas for the ^ man who became ac(iuaintcd 
 with either the one or the other ! We need not be sur- 
 prised, then, that of the thirty-eight accused i)crsons, only 
 one, John Fina, of La Torre, surrendered himself into the 
 hands of the senate at Turin ;* the rest declined doing so. 
 They were condemned for contumacy, some to the galleys, 
 others to death. The property of all was conliscatcd, and 
 a price was set upon their heads. It was forbidden to 
 grant them an asylum : an order was given to hunt them 
 do^vn at the sound of a bell, whenever the presence of any 
 one of them was made known. This sentence served as a. 
 pretext for the soldiers at the fortiTss of La Toitc to enter 
 any private dwelling by force, and to commit a thousand 
 exactions. 
 
 From this time, the valleys were filled with trouble and 
 disti'ess. 
 
 Hitherto the Yaudois had enjoyed the free exercise of 
 their religion, and satisfied with that, they were resigned 
 to the evils we have mentioned, sufiiciently happy to be able 
 to worship God according to their consciences. But their 
 hearts were harassed with apprehensions, when, in 1657, 
 through the whole extent of the church and the commune of 
 San Giovanni, all public exercise of religion was forbidden ; 
 not only the sermons which were interdicted by the charter 
 of Pinerolo, but catechisms, prayers, and even schools. The 
 valleys justly took the alarm at this prohibition. The 
 charters and ducal concessions all set forth that the usual 
 exercises were maintained in all the places where they were 
 practised at the date of the promulgation of the said con- 
 cessions or charters. But aged men, a hundred years old, 
 besides the authentic acts and protocols of general councils, 
 cbawn up in the presence of the lords and judges of the 
 place, attested that the chuix-h of San Giovanni had always 
 enjoyed the privilege of public religious sen-ices, like the 
 other parts of the valleys. Hitherto there had been no 
 dispute, excepting about the erection of a temple, to whidi 
 the authorities were opposed, without ever denpng to the 
 inhabitants of San Giovanni their ancient right of assem- 
 bling for the exercise of their religion. If, then, the church 
 
 * He remained one year in prison, after which he was released, \Tithout 
 ha\'ing been confronted with his accuser. L^ger, pt. ii., p. 2&9. 
 
296 HISTORY OF THE VAUDOIS CHTJECH. 
 
 of San Giovanni, and the other chm^ehes of the valleys, 
 allowed all evangelical or Yaudois worship to be abolished 
 in San Giovanni without making any resistance, what would 
 soon become of the other churches ? For who could doubt 
 that the success obtained over one of the most enlightened 
 and firmly-established churches, would encourage the Coun- 
 cil for the Extirpation of Heretics to impose the same pro- 
 hibition on all the rest ? 
 
 The Yaudois church, whose very existence was put in 
 jeopard}'- by this attempt on its liberties, held a synod to 
 deliberate on the measures its present situation called for. 
 The assembly held in March, 1658, at Pinache, decided on 
 addressing a petition to his royal highness, and on writing 
 to his ministers, humbly to request the revocation of the 
 severe orders proscribing all religious services in San Gio- 
 vanni. It seemed also desirable to engage the good offices 
 of M. Servient, the French ambassador, as mediator of the 
 charter of Pinerolo, and those of the evangelical cantons 
 who had taken so much interest in it. It was, moreover, 
 decided that the pastor of San Giovanni ought to continue 
 the performance of the usual religious services there, since 
 their cessation might be detrimental to their liberties. 
 Lastl}', knowing that the Lord of heaven and earth could 
 alone bless their design, and insure success to their mea- 
 sures, the assembly ordained a solemn day of fasting and 
 prayer, during which no one, the infii'm excepted, should 
 leave the temples from sunrise to sunset. In thus resolving 
 to defend the liberty of worship that had been attacked 
 in the church of San Giovanni, we can affirm that the 
 churches of the valleys were not led away by a narrow or 
 cavilling spirit, nor by blind ambition, nor by the vanity 
 of their pastor Leger, as their adversaries affirmed. They 
 judged that it would have been criminal in them to allow 
 the liberty of serving God according to the rules of their 
 ancient faith, to be taken from them by men. 
 
 We shall not enter into the details of the petitions ad- 
 dressed to their sovereign, nor of the memorials forwarded 
 to his ministers. The cause of the church of San Giovanni 
 was defended on the ground of right according to the prin- 
 ciples laid down in the ducal grants and charters. All that 
 could be advanced in favour of the menaced church was 
 said ; but in vain. The resolution, it appeared, had been 
 
LEGEK CONDEMNED TO DEATH. 297 
 
 taken beforehand, to seize again, by these means, an occa- 
 sion for troubling the valleys. Nevertheless, there was 
 probably some hesitation in high places, respecting- tlie 
 opportuneness of the occasion, and the ulterior maniur of 
 proceeding with the recusants. Perhaps, also, and we are vcrj- 
 ready to believe it, the recollection of the recent intercession 
 of the Protestant states fettered the impatient movements 
 of the council for the propagation of the lloman faith. AVe 
 are led to think so from the part which the embassy of the 
 evangeKcal cantons, on retiu^ning to their native country-, 
 continued to take in the affaii^s of the Taudois. They 
 wrote, for this purpose, on the 30th of ^N'ovember, 1657, to 
 Servient, the ambassador of Prance at Turin, the mediator 
 of the charter at Pinerolo, and to the two principal agents 
 of the duke in this affair, to commend the unfortunate 
 Yaudois to their justice and equity. 
 
 To put down the resistance of these poor people, they 
 sought at first to gain Leger. A count of Saluzzo repaired 
 to the valleys, and requested a conference Avith him ; which 
 Leger would not grant, except in the presence of the deputies 
 of his own church and of the other churches. This attempt 
 being rendered abortive by the firmness of the pastor, was 
 soon followed bj^ threatening citations, requiring the said 
 Leger to render an account of his conduct at Tmin. The 
 tliird citation specified his crime. He was accused of having 
 assumed the fimctions of a pastor, of having taught certain 
 docti'ines, and kept a school at San Giovanni, in the house 
 of the commune. Six of the piincipal persons among his 
 parishioners were cited with him. Their crime consisted 
 in having been present at rehgious services conducted by 
 their pastor. This took place in May, 1658. Their know- 
 ledge of the manner in which the authorities were accus- 
 tomed to proceed in similar cases, as well as the unlimited 
 confidence placed in judges, who were almost all meml)ers 
 of the Council for the Extirpation of Heresy, deterred every 
 one of the accused fi'om going to Tuiin. None of their 
 friends advised them to do so. The churches wrote in 
 their favour to the count and to the judges. They addres.sed 
 several letters to his highness himself. A milder sentence 
 might have been expected. But, after about three years of 
 waiting, applications, and deputations, a sentence of death 
 was pronounced against Leger, and ten years' confinement 
 
 3 
 
298 HISTORY OF THE VAUDOIS CHUECH. 
 
 in the galleys for the other accused parties. The property 
 of all was to be confiscated. "With this sentence hanging 
 over him, Leger, by concealing himself, and continually 
 changing his place of refuge, succeeded in remaining for 
 some months longer in his native country, till towards the 
 end of 1661, when the valleys deputed him to interest the 
 evangelical cantons and the Protestant states in their cause. 
 He was instructed to request them to employ their inter- 
 cession with the duke, and their good oflS.ces with the king 
 of France in his capacity of mediator of the charter of 
 Pinerolo, to obtain the consent of Charles Emmanuel to 
 examine for himself the complaints of his Yaudois subjects, 
 and to judge respecting them, without leaving them at the 
 discretion of the Council for the Extirpation of Heretics. 
 
 Hardly was Leger's departure to the cantons and evan- 
 gelical states known, than a sentence of death still more 
 cruel was pronounced upon him.'^* He was hung in effigy ; 
 his houses were razed to the ground ; and his propert}^, 
 which was considerable, was confiscated. The house of the 
 valiant Janavel, who was at that time a fugitive, was in like 
 manner demolished. 
 
 The ducal government resisted all attempts at an accom- 
 modation ; and, however conciliatory were the letters of the 
 Protestant princes, f which colonel Holzhalb, of Zurich, the 
 envoy of the evangelical cantons, presented to his royal 
 highness with those of his superiors, in July, 1662, they 
 produced no eff'ect. Charles Emmanuel replied that he had 
 exactly fulfilled towards his Vaudois subjects all theii' char- 
 ters ; and representing them as being charged with crimes, 
 declared them to be undeserving of intercession. It would 
 seem that the duke of Savoy, surrounded by the members 
 of the Council for the Extirpation of Heresy, believed that he 
 was acting in full accordance with his rights, and imagined 
 that his subjects in the valleys were rebels, because they 
 would not consent to the loss of some of their principal 
 religious liberties. 
 
 * He was to be strangled. ; then Ms body was to be linng by one foot on a 
 gibbet for four-and-twenty hours ; and lastly, his head was to be cut off and 
 pubUcly exposed at San Giovanni. His name was to be inserted in the Ust of 
 noted outlaws : his houses were to be burned, etc.— Leger, pt. ii., p. 275. 
 
 t The principal letters were from the elector palatine, the elector of Bran- 
 denburgh, the landgrave of Hesse, and the states-general of Holland. Leger 
 not having been able to visit England, the king of Great Britain had not in- 
 terposed.— L^ger, pt. ii.; pp. 277—282. 
 
THEIR INVOLVED SITUATION. 299 
 
 Moreover, at the moment when Charks Emmanuel made 
 this answer to the envoy of the evangelical cantuns, liis 
 minister Pianezza, whose influence over him was unbounded, 
 had just obtained, by his intrigues, a success which autlio- 
 rized him to persist in his policy, imd to relincpiish nothing 
 of his pretensions. By the intei-vention of the popish ad- 
 vocate, Bastie, of San Giovanni, in whom the Yaudois of that 
 commune had some confidence, he had made them believe 
 that by consenting to an act of submission they would obtain 
 the religious liberty they wished for. These simi)le-minded 
 men, easily imposed upon, had at last, although with reluc- 
 tance, written and signed two documents, namely, a promise 
 that they would not catechise or perform other religious ex- 
 ercises in the commune of San Giovanni ; and, in the second 
 place, a petition in which they requested that they might 
 continue these practices as heretofore. At the same time, 
 they sought for some commercial and other pri-\-ileges. Bastie 
 had solemnly engaged not to give up their promise till the 
 decree sought for in their petition had been granted and 
 placed in their hands. But the contrary of what was 
 pledged to them actually took place. Pianezza retumed 
 the promise, and contemptuously rejected the request, when 
 he had read the second article which spoke of religion. 
 ITpon this, the Yaudois were advised to present another 
 petition, in which no mention should be made of their reli- 
 gion ; and they were at the same time promised that then 
 all they wished for would be granted, and that they would 
 be left undisturbed. But, ashamed and mortified at having 
 been deceived on this point, they refused to make any fur- 
 ther concessions. They had already placed themselves in 
 a wi-etchedly false position by the imprudent promise depo- 
 sited in the hands of the pi4me minister. They were not 
 disposed to put the finishing stroke to the catastrophe by 
 fresh imprudences, which their cra% enemies knew well 
 how to turn against them. 
 
 If the Yaudois aff'airs made little progress at court, if 
 the efforts of their friends there were fruitless, their situation 
 was not more improved in the valleys. On the contrary-, it 
 became continually more involved, in consequence of the 
 violent measures of the governor of the fort of La Torre, 
 and by the reprisals in which the exiles indulged. 
 
 The commandant De Coudi^e was succeeded by an officer 
 
300 HISTORY OF THE VAUDOIS CHUECH. 
 
 named De Bagnols, who had signalized himself by his cruel 
 zeal in the massacres of 1655. The friendship of the mar- 
 quis of Pianezza, his godfather, and his near relationship to 
 the count Ressan, well known for his hatred to the Yaudois, 
 and by his success against them in the valley of Barcellonette, 
 had procured his nomination to this post, for which he was 
 so well suited. This officer fully justified the confidence 
 placed in him by his distinguished patrons : he behaved so 
 violently and unjustly that the count of Saluzzo, in his 
 Military History,*^ allows that ''this governor abused his 
 power, and gave the Yauclois just grounds of complaint." 
 He had scarcely arrived when he imprisoned a great number 
 of unfortunate persons, and treated them with harshness. 
 He also commissioned an officer of justice to force alleged 
 confessions from them, and to oblige them by some means 
 or other to sign them under the promise of bettering their 
 position, but in reality to establish their criminality by 
 reciprocal accusations. De Bagnols, moreover, relaxed the 
 discipline of the soldiers, who indulged with impunity in 
 outrages of every kind. He did more ; he established at 
 Lucerna a noted bandit, Paol (Paolo, or Paul,) de Berges, 
 who had been condenmed for murder, but pardoned on the 
 occasion of the marriage of his highness. This man of 
 blood having gathered round him about three hundred vil- 
 lains, plundered the valleys in concert with the troops in 
 the fortress. Such was the terror inspired by Paol de 
 Berges and De Bagnols that in that year, 1662, the inhabit- 
 ants of San Giovanni, La Torre, Bora, and Les Vignes of 
 Lucerna being panic-stricken, took to flight the instant they 
 had finished the harvest. 'No one felt secure in any part 
 of the lower valley. Whole families retired daily to the 
 high mountains, into the woods, or to the French territory in 
 Pragela, or to Queiras. On their dej^arture, the garrison 
 carried ofi" the wine and oil, and the best of whatever was 
 left by the fugitives; the neighbouring j)apists took the 
 remainder. Then, as if by withdrawing, the unhappy vic- 
 tims of oppression had committed a crime, De Bagnols 
 issued orders in the name of his bigness. May 19, 1663, 
 that all such persons should return, under severe penalties 
 in case of disobedience, within three days, and surrender 
 
 * Histoire Militaii'e du Piemont, (Military History of Piedmont,) Turin, ISIS, 
 t. ii., p. 336. 
 
THE EXILES. 301 
 
 themselves at the fortress, -svithout nnj' exception of age, 
 sex, or condition. The knowledge of the sutfcrings that so 
 many victims would endure, crowded in the foil of La 
 Torre, prevented the majority from thinking of going 
 thither ; but some individuals ventured to return to their 
 homes, for the sake of being allowed again to cultivate their 
 lands. But how bitterly they repented ! They were imme- 
 diately surrounded. Etienne Gay was beheaded; his brotlier 
 was wounded and dragged into the fortress with some women 
 and girls, who there suffered unspeakable toraients. And 
 rather later, when a similar order had been pu])lished on 
 the 25th of June in the same year, and some credulous 
 householders had retui'ned to their own friends, they were 
 perfidiouslj' surrounded and menaced with death, not only 
 by the troops of the governor, but also by an amiy assem- 
 bled for their desti'uction. 
 
 The vigour previously displayed against a great number 
 of the A'audois condemned for contumacy, and latterly 
 against the persons dwelling in the vicinity of the fortress, 
 had forced the former to take arms for the protection of 
 their lives, which were in constant jeopardy, and the second 
 to join themselves in great numbers to the exiles whose 
 courage excited their o^vn. Joshua Janavel, the hero of 
 Eora, who had been condemned to be quartered, and then 
 to have his head exposed on an eminence, saw gathered 
 round him exiles and fugitives whom Ids great coui-age, 
 intrepidity, prudence, and consummate experience had tilled 
 with confidence. Amounting now to two or thi'ee hundred, 
 they presented, either in small detachments, or in one body,^ 
 an armed resistance, which was fonnidable to the troops of 
 De Bagnols and Paol de Berges ; sometimes even, throwing 
 themselves suddenly on their enemies, they met with signal 
 success. Thev were also seen, it is time, attacking the 
 peaceable inhabitants of Bricherasco, at Bibbiana, for I'xam- 
 ple, and even pillaging the churches of their adversanes ; 
 so that frequently the reproach was cast upon the exiles of 
 leading the lives of banditti.. But we must not forget, in 
 judging of their conduct, that they were quite homeless, and 
 that the feeling of the injustice with which they were 
 treated, as well as the prospect of the ruin to which their 
 valleys were devoted, did not always allow of their practis- 
 1112: the moderation that was desii'able. 
 
302 HISTORY OF THE YAUDOIS CHFECH. 
 
 While the commandant of the fortress of La Torre or- 
 dered the fugitive families to return to their homes, Jana- 
 vel exerted his influence to prevent their doing so : but 
 before the 25th of June, which was the fatal term, arrived, 
 and the number of those who had returned could be ascer- 
 tained, an army commanded by the marquises of Fleury 
 and Angrogna, appeared at the entrance of the valley of 
 Lucerna, and surrounded San Giovanni. The Yaudois, till 
 then undecided, could no longer doubt of the intention to 
 destroy them, and took arms, having placed their families 
 in security in those distant places to which they had retired 
 in preceding persecutions. 
 
 Whatever accusations have been brought against the Vau- 
 dois, whatever ajDpearance of imprudence may have marked 
 their conduct in the judgment of certain persons, yet their 
 history contains facts which demonstrate their probity and 
 their sincere and affectionate desire of always pleasing their . 
 prince. We shall here give a striking example of this. 
 The Yaudois population in arms closed against the duke's 
 troops the passage which led to the bottom of the valley of 
 Lucerna, which rendered it impossible to convey supplies 
 to the fort of Mirebouc, situated in the mountains, towards 
 the French frontier, and then destitute of provisions and 
 miKtary stores. The duke's generals called together the 
 principal persons of the communes, and requested them to 
 give their sovereign a proof of their submission and good 
 intentions, by escorting a convoy which was on its way to 
 the fortress, assuring them that if they consented, peace 
 would soon be re-established. It is difficult to believe so 
 extraordinary a fact, but the proposal was actually com- 
 plied with. The devoted Yaudois feared less to risk their 
 own safety, than to appear to distrust their prince, and 
 to refuse to give him a pledge of their love. They con- 
 ducted the convoy to its destination, and the fortress which 
 closed against them the passage to Trance was victualled 
 by their own good offices.* 
 
 Their devotedness was scarcely noticed by their enemies, 
 who were accustomed to attach little value to the best 
 words or the noblest actions of those whom they believed 
 worthy of the greatest evils as heretics ; for while the 
 
 * Some weeks later they consented to guard another convoy, tliough a war 
 of extermination was then beiag waged against them. 
 
DEFEAT OF THE AIIMY. 303 
 
 Vaudois, trusting in the promise that had hoen made to 
 them, were preparing to come down again from the moun- 
 tains and biing back their families to the phdn, De Fleun- 
 marched into the heart of the vaUeys with the inti'ntion (»f 
 attacking the heights of La Yachere, between Angrogna antl 
 Pramol, where their principal fortifications and their best 
 entrenchments lay.^ On the 6th of July, at day-break, 
 the enemy ascended the mountains at four different i)oints, 
 San Secondo, and Bricherasco, La Costiero de San Gioyanni, 
 and Le Chabas (Ciabas.) The first two divisions under the 
 orders of Fleiuy, forniing an effectiye force of four thousand 
 men, met on the hill of Plans (Plans), between the yalleys 
 of Lucerna and Perosa, and there fortified themselves by 
 an entrenchment of turf, the height of a man, before 
 they attempted to force the narrow pass called the Gate 
 of Angrogna, which was occupied by a detachment of 
 Vaudois. f The two other diyisions, of the same strength, 
 commanded by De Bagnols, climbing to the lower plains of 
 Angrogna, on the side of San Gioyanni and La Toitc, di'oye 
 before them the six or seyen hundred mountaineers that had 
 been collected, with some diffi-culty, at this point ; but when 
 they reached the rocks and ruins of Ptoccamaneot, cele- 
 brated ah'eady for more than one yictor}*, the Vaudois 
 posted themselyes adyantageously, stopped the enemy, 
 wearied them out, decimated their ranks, strewed the 
 ground with their corpses, and when their courage failed 
 and they began to retreat, charged them in their turn, and 
 pursued" them to the plain, on which they dared not to 
 venture in sight of the reserye of cayalry that was stationed 
 there. 
 
 Haying left a party to keep watch on these heights, they 
 directed their course towards Plans, where De Fk-urj- had 
 entrenched his diyision. But the little detachment at the 
 Gate of Angrogna no sooner saw their brethi-en at their 
 side, than two of their number, Boirat of Pramol and 
 another, crawling on all fours, and concealed by a rock, 
 approached the camp, killed each a sentinel, cleared the 
 rampart, slew four more of the enemy, and kept shouting, 
 ''Forwards! VictorjM" The Vaudois, roused to enthu- 
 
 * In the war of 1655, Pianezza was never able to capture them, 
 t By forcing this passage, the enemy could attack the defenders of Rocca- 
 maneot in the rear. 
 
304 niSTOET OF THE YAUDOIS CHURCH. 
 
 siasm, followed in their footsteps with unparalleled ardour. 
 The Piedmontese army, surprised and disconcerted, could 
 not form their ranks, and sought for safety in a rapid flight. 
 Their generals, the marquises of Fleury and Angrogna, 
 Leger tells us, "■ fearing the bite of the dogs (the barhets), 
 were not the last to run away." The number of men slain 
 in the rout was considerable. 
 
 The vanquished army took their revenge some days after. 
 They surprised and massacred a detachment of five-and- 
 twenty men at Rora. They burned down between twenty 
 and thirty houses that formed the hamlet of Sainte Mar- 
 guerite, in the commune of La Torre. JN^evertheless, these 
 little successes could not make up for the losses sustained 
 at E-occamaneot, Plans, and other jDlaces besides. The 
 command of the army was taken from the marquis de 
 rieury, and given to the marquis de St. Damian. The 
 army itself was reinforced. But while it was repairing its 
 losses and recovering from its fatigues, negotiations were 
 entered upon at Paris and Turin in favour of the Yaudois. 
 
 The duke of Savoy chagrined with the turn the Yaudois 
 affairs had taken, so little to the credit of his policy or his 
 military skill, fearing also the friendly intervention of the 
 Protestant powers, appeared desirous that the king of 
 France, whose feelings against the evangelicals agreed with 
 his own, and who already in 1655 had been, by his ambas- 
 sador, arbitrator of the treaty of Pinerolo, should again offer 
 his mediation in the present posture of affairs. Servient, 
 who had been charged with the former mediation, received 
 in consequence, orders to betake himself to Turin, and to 
 effect an accommodation between the parties. This was 
 about the end of the summer of 1663. 
 
 But, on the other hand, the friends of the Yaudois were 
 not aslcej). The evangelical cantons, in agreement with 
 the Protestant powers, sent, on their part, ambassadors to 
 Turin, to take in hand the defence of their brethren in the 
 faith. The Swiss deputies, Jean Gaspard Hirzel, a dis- 
 tinguished magistrate of Zurich, and colonel de Weiss, a 
 senator of Berne, arrived in the course of JS^ovember, 1663, 
 at Turin, where, without losing time, they interceded in- 
 favour of the poor inhabitants of the valleys, and requested 
 favourable conditions for them. The court consented to 
 their amicable intervention as friends and advocates of the 
 
COXFEREXCES. 30/5 
 
 Yaudois, but would not accept them for arbitrators. The 
 valleys, although rejoiced at the presence of such protectors, 
 hesitated about sending deputies to Tui'in, where the Inqui- 
 sition might lay hold of them in spite of their safe conduct. 
 Yet they decided on not losing so good an opportunity of 
 negotiating peace. 
 
 The delegates of the yalleys, on their arrival, requested 
 a suspension of hostilities during the whole period of the 
 negotiation. Without refusing it, the court made as a con- 
 dition of it, that the villages of Pranistin and St. Barthe- 
 lemi should be given up to the troops ; a point to which the 
 delegates had not power to assent. The conferences then 
 began, leaving this important question undecided. This 
 was imj)rudent ; for eight days had not elapsed, wlien the 
 news reached Turin, of a battle fought on the 25th of De- 
 cember, along the whole extent of the Yaudois lines. The 
 marquis of Saint Damian, strengthened by the anival of 
 fresh troops, had attacked simultaneously all the points of 
 approach to the valley of Angrogna, from St. Germain 
 in the vale of Perosa, to TaiUeret in the valley of Lueenia. 
 More than twelve thousand men had attacked twelve or 
 fifteen hundred. The Piedmontese had been repulsed ^vith 
 loss in all their attempts to peneti^ate the mountains. In 
 spite of their numerical superiority, they had always been 
 driven back upon one another ; but they had been com- 
 pletely successful in their attack on the villages situated 
 at the foot of the moimtains. They had made them- 
 selves masters of St. Germain in the valley of Perosa, 
 having attacked it fi^om the French territory, — an in- 
 fraction of which the Swiss dei^uties complained after- 
 wards in a memorial to Louis xiv. ; and had occujned 
 Pranistin, St. Barthelemi, and Rocheplatte. _ This affair 
 deprived the Yaudois of all their positions in the open 
 country ; but it demonstrated, like the prcA-ious attempt, 
 the impossibility of driving them out of their fastnesses in 
 the mountains. 
 
 On hearing of this combat, the delegates of the valleys at 
 Turin reques'ted that they might rejoin their families. The 
 Swiss deputies, on their part, made strong repr(>sentations to 
 the ministers of his royal highness, who consented at last to 
 sign a truce for twelve days; a truce which was continued 
 fi^om week to week till the conclusion of the negotiations, 
 two months later, in Pebruary, 1664. 
 
306 HISTOEY OF THE VATJDOIS CHUECH. 
 
 The conferences began at Turin at the Hotel-de-Ville, on 
 the 17th of December, 1663. There were eight of them in 
 all. On the part of the duke, there were present the pro- 
 moter of the war, the author of the massacres of 1655, the 
 formidable and sagacious marquis of Pianezza, and the coun- 
 sellors of state, Truchi, De Gresy, and Perrachino, who had 
 already represented his highness at the conferences ofPine- 
 rolo, nine years before. The ambassadors of the evangeli- 
 cal cantons were present as witnesses and advocates of the 
 valleys, who were represented by eight delegates, of whom 
 two were pastors.^' It was agreed that everything which 
 was proposed and answered, on both sides, should be com- 
 mitted to writing, and signed hj a secretary of his highness 
 and by the secretary of the Swiss embassy, | The duke's 
 ministers did their utmost to convict the Yaudois of rebel- 
 lion. With this view, they imputed all the crimes commit- 
 ted by the exiles to the whole population, making no distinc- 
 tion whatever between them : at least they wished to make 
 the latter responsible for all the acts of violence committed 
 by the former, alleging that they ought to have delivered 
 them up, had they disapproved of them. This mode of 
 arguing was specious, but nothing more. Por if the duke's 
 troops could not master these determined men, how could 
 people who were of unwarlike habits and badly armed ? 
 
 The minister of his royal highness also made it a crime, 
 that the Vaudois had quitted their houses and withdrawn 
 to the mountains, that they had not returned home when 
 they had received orders to that effect ; and lastly, that they 
 had defended themselves and resorted to arms. Here it 
 was not difficult for the oppressed to prove that they had 
 been forced to these extreme measures by the violence of 
 power, and in particular by the vexations, injustice, and 
 cruelties of the governor De Bagnols and his soldiery. 
 
 It appeared difficult to effect an accommodation between 
 the parties, the duke' s ministers being disposed to regard the 
 Yaudois only as rebels; and the Yaudois, in their turn, feel- 
 
 * Pierre Baile, minister at St. Germain ; David Leger, minister at Chiots 
 in the valley of San Martino ; Jacques Bastie, of San Giovanni ; Andre 
 Michelin, of La Torre ; David Martinat, of Bobbio ; Jacques Jahier, of Pramol ; 
 Francois Laurent, and his son David. Afterwards the minister Ripert took 
 the place of Ledger. 
 
 t Their proceedings were published at Turin the same year, under the title 
 of Conferences faites a Turin, etc. (Conferences held at Tui'in), by Jolin 
 Sinibaldo, 1664. 
 
AEBITEATION OF LOUIS XIV, 307 
 
 ing themselves in danger of becoming ^-ictims, and requir- 
 ing the strongest guarantees to give them confidi'nce. 
 
 At last, by the persevering efforts of the Swiss ambassii- 
 dors, some points were settled which seemed as the basis of 
 the edict of pacification or charter, which Charles Emma- 
 nuel granted his Yaudois subjects on Tebi-uary 14, KiCi. 
 In its form and terms, this act was an anmesty. The sove- 
 reign consented to pardon. Yet, for the sake of his repu- 
 tation, and to maintain his authority, he required a satisfac- 
 tion and a guarantee of obedience on the part of the Yau- 
 dois. But out of respect for the princes and republics that 
 had interceded for them, and particularly on account of 
 the mediation of the king of France, his roj-al highness 
 consented to submit the decision of these two points to his 
 most Christian majesty, Louis xiv. 
 
 By this new act, all the Yaudois, excepting a list of 
 persons formerly condemned, thirty-six or thirty-seven, 
 were pardoned, and admitted to the benefit of the charter of 
 Pinerolo in 1655. For greater clearness, the third article 
 of the aforesaid charter, relative to San Giovanni, which 
 had been interpreted so differently by the two parties, was 
 explained in this sense : — " Eveiy religious ser^•ice, sermon, 
 catechism, prayers, school, excepting family worship, is 
 forbidden throughout the whole extent of the commune : 
 no pastor can be admitted to reside in it, though families 
 may receive his visits twice a year, and the sick according 
 to their need. In case of necessity, in one of these visits 
 the pastor may sleep a night in the commune. The school, 
 if the parents do not prefer sending their childi'en to that 
 which the duke intends to establish, must be removed to 
 Chabas, in Angrogna." An article of the charter imposed 
 the obligation of obtaining the prince's consent for ever)- 
 foreign pastor who might be called to the valleys, and who, 
 besides, would be obliged to take an oath of fidelity. As 
 for the rest, these restrictions excepted, liberty of worship 
 was insured by the charter of Turin, as by the former one, 
 to the ancient churches of the valleys. 
 
 It will be obvious, that though apparently the new edict 
 placed the Yaudois in the same situation as that secured by 
 the charter of Pinerolo, which was inferior to the preceding, 
 they had, in fact, lost many of their privileges. The evan- 
 gelical public worship had been entirely and expressly taken 
 
308 HISTOET OF THE VAUDOrS CHTJRCH. 
 
 away from the chiu'ch of San Giovanni, as well as its school. 
 The admission of the necessary pastors had been limited. 
 Still, if by these new and disadvantageous conditions, the 
 affairs of the valleys had been definitively arranged, some- 
 thing would have been gained ; but we must not forget that 
 the charter of Turin placed it in the power of the king of 
 France to determine what satisfaction aud what guarantee 
 of obedience the Yaudois ought to give their sovereign. 
 
 This important point was debated in the course of May, 
 after the departure of the Swiss ambassadors, at Pinerolo, 
 a city at that time belonging to the French, before M. 
 Servient, ambassador of Louis xiv., by the duke's mini- 
 sters and the delegates of the valleys. The satisfaction 
 claimed by the duke of Savoy was a pecuniary one. His 
 agents presented a schedule of claims amounting to more 
 than two million francs, for the charges of the war and the 
 extraordinary expenses of the state, besides damages done to 
 the communes and private Catholics. What a sum for poor 
 husbandmen and shejDherds, at the end of a war which had 
 laid waste their fields, dispersed their cattle, and burned 
 many of their villages, which were scarcely rebuilt since 
 their almost total destruction nine years before ! — Two 
 million francs for a population of only five thousand souls ! 
 a demand fraught with ruin ! 
 
 As to the guarantees of obedience claimed for the future, 
 they were six in number, of which we shall only mention 
 tliree. The duke demanded, (i.) that his popish delegate 
 should be present at all the synods, and other assemblies of 
 the same kind; (ii.) that the ministers should cease from 
 occupying themselves with civil affairs, and that the com- 
 munes should not discuss together their civil and political 
 interest, but only separately; (iii-) that three or four 
 towers similar to the Tourras de Saint-Michel should be 
 built at the expense of the valleys, to be garrisoned by a 
 sufficient number of soldiers, at the expense of the aforesaid 
 valleys, to put down revolt, should it be required, and to 
 maintain free communication from one valley to another. 
 
 When the evangelical Swiss cantons had been informed 
 of the demands of the court of Turin, and were apprised 
 that all the documents relative to this affair were to be 
 submitted to Louis xiv. himself, they svrote to this 
 monarch in favour of their clients, and sent to the king of 
 
ARBITRATION OF LOUIS XIV. SO'J 
 
 England and the states-general of Holland an account of 
 what had transpired, which led to similar movcineuts to 
 their own on the part of these states. Such zeal and inter- 
 vention from such high quarters exerted, no douht, a happy 
 influence on the arbitration of a monarch who was other- 
 wise so little disposed to favour oppressed Protestants. In 
 his perplexity respecting the duke, a long time elapsed 
 before he arrived at a decision, which, after about three 
 years, he gave on Januaiy 18, 1667. Moreover, idthough 
 he proceeded on the admission of the culpability of the 
 Yaudois, by condemning them to make a pecuniary satis- 
 faction to their sovereign, and guarantees of obedience for 
 the futiu'e, yet, in fixing the indemnity and the proofs of 
 submission, he made such abatements from the demands 
 of the duke's government, that in fact the rights of the 
 Vaudois rather gained by it than received an injur)-. 
 Instead of the two million jfrancs or more, at which the 
 satisfaction had been estimated, Louis xiv. fixed it at fifty 
 thousand Piedmontese li^Tes, payable in ten years. As for 
 the guarantees of obedience, the Yaudois were required to 
 give an act of submission duly attested and confinned by 
 an oath ; they were also to consent to the presence of a 
 ducal commissioner in their sjTiods, and to some other 
 particulars. 
 
 As for the rest, Charles Emmanuel did not abuse his 
 victory. Ear from that, this prince, more enlightened, it 
 would seem, as to the real interests of his government, imd 
 more free, since the death of his mother Christina, to follow 
 the generous movements of his own heart, rendered justice 
 to his Yaudois subjects. He recollected the zeal they had 
 displayed for his cause in 1638, 1639, and 1640, when a 
 great part of his subjects had taken sides with his uncles 
 against him. Einally, the war which he had to carrj- on, 
 in 1672, against the Genoese, and in which the Yaudois, 
 flocking to his standard at the first appeal, ser^'ed him 
 with extraordinary devotedness and the greatest courage, 
 completely brought back his heart to his faithful subjects. 
 Satisfied with their conduct, he assui'ed them of his entire 
 approbation, in a letter full of kindness, — a restorati^•e balm 
 for the deep wounds that fanaticism and the malice of his 
 servants had inflicted. The Yaudois, happy to possess a 
 place in the affections of their sovereign, hoped to live a 
 
310 HISTORY OF THE VATJDOIS CHURCH. 
 
 long time in peace under his paternal sceptre ; but he died 
 on the third of June, 1678.-'' 
 
 The Yaudois continued to enjoy some years of peace, 
 under the regency of the duchess, the widow of Charles 
 Emmanuel, and under the government of their son, Yictor 
 Amadous ii. It was at this time that they gave a fresh 
 proof of devotedness to their prince, in marching against 
 the banditti of Mondovi, and assisting in bringing them to 
 submission ; but at the very time when they might reason- 
 ably have indulged the delightful expectation of a durable 
 peace, they saw themselves all at once menaced with the 
 greatest misfortunes, and dragged into ruin. Barbarous 
 orders spread terror through the valleys. Yery soon they 
 had no choice between apostasy and death under a thousand 
 forms, or exile. 
 
 Let us describe these melancholy scenes, and their 
 origin : 
 
 A monarch to whom the world has given the name of 
 Great, Louis xiv., who reigned over the country on the 
 western side of the Piedmontese Alps, the powerful king- 
 dom of France, attempted to atone for the vices of his 
 dissolute life by the forced conversion of the Protestants in 
 his kingdom to poj)ery. Such an undertaking could not fail 
 to assure him of plenary indulgence from the sworn foe of 
 evangelical Christians, namely, the pope of Eome; and 
 while he deprived his subjects belonging to the reformed 
 religion of all their civil rights, and revoked the edict of 
 Nantes by which they were guaranteed, while by these 
 cruel measures he drove to apostasy, or forced into exile, 
 the worthiest part of the French nation, he urged his 
 neighbour, the young duke of Savoy, to abolish also the 
 Yaudois church. 
 
 Yictor Amadous, though young, had sufficient penetration 
 to shrink from coming to such extremities with subjects 
 who were serving him faithfully. f He generously and in 
 a Cliristian spirit resisted this pernicious temptation, until 
 
 * He was only forty-one years old. On his death-bed, with a sentiment of 
 affecting humility, he gave orders to admit all persons indiscriminately into 
 liis chamber, in order, said he, that people may know that princes die like 
 other men. 
 
 t Arnaud, whose testimony certainly cannot be suspected, gives this cha- 
 racter of him in the preface to his Histoire de la Glorieuse Rentree des Vaudois 
 dans lem-s VaUees, (History of the glorious Retm'n of the Vaudois to theii- 
 Valleys,) printed in 1710, and reprinted at Neufchitel, by Attrnger, 1845. 
 
ABOLITION OF EVANGELICAL WORSHir. 311 
 
 M. dc Eebenac Feuquiercs, the French ambassador, liavin"- 
 told him one day that the king his master would find the 
 means of di-iving away these heretics with fourteen thou- 
 sand men, but that he would keep the vallej's they inhabited 
 for himself, he was obliged, by this kind of menace, to 
 take other measures; and judging that it concerned his ovn\ 
 honoui' and interest to prevent a foreign power from gi^'ing 
 laws to his own subjects, he preferred persecuting them 
 himself. A treaty was concluded on this footing. Louis 
 XIV. promised an armed force to reduce them. 
 
 The valleys had a presentiment of their fate, when, a few 
 days after the news of the revocation of the edict of Xantes 
 (October 22, 1685), they heard on Xovember 4th a procla- 
 mation prohibiting every stranger from staying there more 
 than three days without the governor's permission, and 
 every inhabitant fi'om lodging them under pain of severe 
 chastisement. But what was their alarm when all at once 
 from one end of the valleys to the other the alarming words 
 of the edict of January 31, 1686, resounded, ordaining the 
 complete cessation of every religious sei'vice except the 
 Eomish, under pain of death and the confiscation of pro- 
 perty ; the demolition of the temples of the so-called 
 reformed religion ; the banishment of the ministers and 
 schoolmasters, and in future the baptism of all the children 
 by the popish priests, who were to educate them in the 
 Eomish religion. This effect annulled all the liberties ac- 
 knowledged and confirmed by the house of Savo}' from age 
 to age, and from reign to reign, since the valleys had come 
 under their sway from the beginning of the thirteenth cen- 
 tury. All hearts were oppressed by unspeakable teiTor. 
 No traditions or recollections could produce an edict equally 
 iniquitous. The vaUej's had never been menaced with so 
 great a danger ; never, at least with one so imminent. If 
 they were unable to alter the duke's determination by their 
 enti^eaties, nothing remained but to take anns and defend 
 themselves even to death : for the Yaudois, descendants of 
 the martyrs, would not think of apostatizing. But it was 
 in vain that they supplicated their prince : their natural 
 protector, ordained by God to defend the oppressed, to 
 administer justice, remained deaf to their cries. Some delay 
 in the execution was all they could obtain. Despairing 
 of bending the duke, seeing the French and Piedmontese 
 
312 HISTOET OF THE VAUDOIS CHUECH. 
 
 troops concentrating themselves on the confines of their 
 valleys; and lastly, hearing the insulting menaces of the 
 papists in the vicinity, they took some defensive precau- 
 tions, and prepared for resisting in case of an attack. 
 
 Meanwhile the news of the almost incredible edict of the 
 31st of January, excited in all the Protestant countries 
 indignation and pity. The German princes, Holland, and 
 England, wrote to the duke. The evangelical cantons of 
 Switzerland, whose friendship and protection had already 
 proved so useful to the Yaudois, did not act inconsistently 
 with their previous conduct. Having addressed a letter to 
 the duke, which remained unanswered, they decided, in an 
 assembly held at Baden in February, 1686, on sending an 
 ambassador to Turin, to take in hand the defence of their 
 brethren in the faith. The counsellors of state, Gaspard de 
 Muralt of Zurich, and Bernard de Muralt of Berne, chosen 
 for this mission, arrived at their destination at the begin- 
 ning of March. They assigned as a reason for their inter- 
 vention, not only the agreement of their faith with that of 
 the Yaudois, but the interest they took in what concerned 
 the charters of 1655 and 1664, which were in part the fruit 
 of their mediation, but which the edict of January 31st 
 annulled. In the memorial they presented, they urged in 
 favour of their oppressed brethren the pressing motives of 
 tolerance. Especially they founded a cogent argument on 
 the historical view of the question. They represented that 
 the churches of the valley of Piedmont had never separated 
 from the religion of their prince, since they had lived in 
 that which they had received from their fathers more than 
 eight centuries ago, and which they professed before passing 
 under the domination of Savoy ; that the ancestors of his 
 royal highness having found them in the possession of their 
 religion, had maintained it by various concessions, princi- 
 pally by those of 1561, 1602, and 1603, confirmed in 1620, 
 at the price of six thousand half-ducats ; all these acts 
 establishing, as a perpetual and irrevocable law, the right 
 of the Yaudois to exercise their very ancient religion. 
 They also called to mind, that in spite of the error of Gas- 
 taldo and the trouble excited by his ordinance, the father 
 of his highness had acknowledged and confirmed the pri- 
 vileges of the Yaudois by two solemn, perpetual, and irre- 
 vocable charters of the years 1655 and 1664, confirmed 
 
PROJECT OF EMIGRATION. 31. '3 
 
 in due form. The ambassadors finally appealed to the 
 engagements which the predecessors of his highness had 
 made in the face of Europe, when they had been stdicitxjd 
 hj kings, princes, and republics to confimi to the Yaudois 
 their religious privileges. The memorial also showed that 
 the Yaudois had never given any subject of complaint which 
 could justify such a decree.^* 
 
 The reply made by the marquis de St. Thomas, in the 
 name of his sovereign, to the memorial, contained a humi- 
 liating confession. This minister of foreign affairs declared 
 that his master was not at liberty to retract or modify his 
 decree; that there were engagements which he could not 
 break ; that the neighboui'hood of a powerful monarch who 
 was jealous of the deference paid to him, imposed on the 
 duke the line of conduct he followed. The letters of the 
 Protestant princes were not able to turn Yictor Amadous 
 from the projected persecution. f 
 
 The Swiss ambassadors had received orders from their 
 lords, if they could not procui-e the withdi-awment of the 
 decree, or its being considerably modified, then to try to 
 obtain leave for the Yaudois to emigrate to foreign coun- 
 tries. The court of Turin being sounded on the subject, 
 seemed not to oppose it, and consented that the deputies 
 should make the proposal to the valleys. 
 
 The assembly of the delegates of the communes } heard, 
 with great pain, the report made to them by the ambas- 
 sadors of the desperate condition of their affairs, and the 
 wholly novel proposal of emigrating in a body. The Yau- 
 dois had believed that the reformed powers of Europe would 
 obtain the guarantee of their liberties ; and instead of 
 this efficacious succoui', there seemed no hope of deliverance 
 but in abandoning their native soil. ^Tiat resolution could 
 they adopt ? What part could they choose ? They con- 
 sulted their good friends the ambassadors. By them they 
 were advised, though with pain, to emigrate, fr-om a con- 
 viction that in the presence of the united forces of Savoy 
 
 * The historian Botta, who is not very favourable to the Vaudois, says that 
 not only were they innocent this time, but they had even deserved well of the 
 government. Storia d'ltalia, v. vi., p. 340. 
 
 t See the History of the Negotiation. 
 
 t We are not informed where this assembly was held, but the correspon- 
 dence of the Vaudois, always dated from Angrogna, sufficiently mdicaies that 
 the different assemblies were held in that place. 
 
 P 
 
314 HISTOEY OF THE YAUDOIS CHURCH. 
 
 and France, tlie Yaudois had no chance of escaping dreadful 
 and final ruin. 
 
 While the ambassadors returned to Turin, and conferred 
 with the duke's ministers, the Yaudois communes assem- 
 bled at AngTogna on March 18, (28th,) 1686, and delibe- 
 rated. If the consideration of an unequal and bloody war 
 influenced them to emigrate ; on the other hand, they could 
 not tliink without despair of quitting the country of their 
 fathers, the soil of their infancy, the land of martyrs. The 
 love of their native country, joined with religious recollec- 
 tions, the glorious and venerable traditions of the Yaudois 
 church, bound them to their rocks. Uncertain, and divided 
 in opinion, they at last decided on communicating their 
 perplexities in writing to the ambassadors, and committing 
 themselves to the direction of their prudence. 
 
 After considering this letter, the ambassadors requested 
 that the Yaudois might have permission to leave the domains 
 of his royal highness, and to dispose of their property. 
 But without any fresh reason, by a sudden change of policy, 
 the duke refused to treat with the embassy, and required 
 the Yaudois to come themselves with an act of submission, 
 and request leave to emigrate. Evidently, the court being 
 chagrined at the turn the affair had taken, wished not to 
 be fettered, as would have been the case in treating with 
 the Swiss, but to retain the power of imposing on their 
 suppliant subjects conditions they would not have dared to 
 off'er to their advocates. Although the ambassadors might 
 have considered themselves as insulted by the refusal of the 
 court to treat with them respecting the emigration, their 
 prudence did not abandon them; their benevolence sus- 
 tained them. They obtained, at all events, from the 
 ministers of his highness, permission to regulate the terms 
 and clauses of the submission. But Avhen they had pro- 
 posed them to the valleys, the latter were divided in opinion, 
 and sent deputies to Turin, who were not all of the same 
 mind. Five of them were authorized to make an act of 
 sub inission, as well as to ask permission to leave the country, 
 and to dispose of their property. The sixth, deputed from 
 Bobbio, San Giovanni, and Angrogna, was to confine him- 
 self, besides submission, to request the revocation of the 
 edict of the 31st of January. The ambassadors, finding 
 themselves greatly embarrassed by this division in the 
 
DECISION OF THE VALLEYS. 315 
 
 Yaudois communes, sought to gain time from the court 
 diu'ing which the discordant deputies might aj)})!}- for fresh 
 instructions.*' But this inten^al was soon gone. The 
 enemies of the Yaudois were on the alert, and Victor Ama- 
 dous published on the 9th of April, a new edict, declared 
 to be final. 
 
 By this act, which put an end to all ulterior negotiations, 
 since it settled beforehand all the points under discussion, 
 nothing was left to the Yaudois, but to choose between 
 entire submission to the absolute and arbitrary will of their 
 sovereign, and an exile encompassed with dangers, snares, 
 and perplexities. According to the edict, it was lawful for 
 the greater part to remain in the valleys, (the prince, how- 
 ever, reserving to himself the right of exiling such as he 
 pleased,) but on the following conditions: — The Yaudois 
 were to lay down their arms, and retire each one to his own 
 house ; they were to engage in no tumults ; they were not 
 to hold more assemblies than had been usual. The damages 
 sustained by the missionary fathers, by the Catholics and 
 the Catholic converts, were to be made good by means of the 
 property of the said professors of the so-called reformed 
 religion. The edict of the 31st of January was in other 
 respects confirmed. As to those who wished to leave the 
 duke's domains, they were allowed to carry away with them 
 such of their effects as they chose, and to sell their goods 
 to the Catholics, or to cause them to be sold by a small 
 number of agents in the three months following their depar- 
 ture. They were to travel in companies, and imder the 
 inspection of the authorities. The places of departure, and 
 days of assembling together were fixed. 
 
 "WTiatever was the intention that dictated this decree, 
 whether it was hoped or not that the Yaudois woidd be 
 di^-ided by offering them two methods instead of one, of 
 exti-ication from their embarrassments, the relinquishment 
 of their religious assemblies, or of their native soil; this end, 
 at all events, was not attained. Far fi'om dismiiting them, 
 the decree combined them all in one sentiment, that of 
 remaining and defending themselves. For they saw in 
 different parts of the ordinance, the intention of getting rid 
 of a certain number among them, and of forcing the rest to 
 
 * They returned with the same instructions ; the three communes persisteil 
 in maintaining their views. 
 
 p 2 
 
316 HISTORY OF THE VAT7D0IS CHtTRCH. 
 
 embrace popery. For why was the decree of the 31st of 
 January maintained, which obliged the valleys to demolish 
 their temples, if the court seriouslj^ consented to their depar- 
 ture ? Why should the duke reserve to himself the power 
 of dismissing whom he pleased, unless on the supposition 
 that the greater number would remain ? E\ddently it was 
 not his wish that all the Yaudois should leave ; and on the 
 other hand, measures were taken for preventing the celebra- 
 tion of the evangelical worship ; was not this equivalent to 
 saying, that the untractable alone were to be dismissed from 
 the territory, and that the rest would be forced to embrace 
 popery ? This was the general opinion.^* Driven to such 
 extremities, they had no choice but to j)ersevere in an armed 
 resistance. Prej)arations were accordingly made for the 
 contest ; but the ministers were first requested to preach to 
 the people, and to administer the Lord's supper to them 
 on the following Sunday, which was Easter day. 
 
 Unfortunately, the seeds of disunion were sown among 
 the Yaudois. The valley of San Martino was disposed to 
 submission and exile. The church of Yilleseche, in parti- 
 cular, wrote to the ambassadors that they had decided, and 
 requested them to obtain a safe-conduct for their members. 
 The duke refused ; the application, he said, had not been 
 made in time. 
 
 The ambassadors, who seeing the inutility of their medi- 
 ation, were preparing to depart, received again before their 
 departure two letters, dated from Angrogna, addressed, one 
 to the evangelical cantons in the name of the Yaudois, the 
 other to the ambassadors in the name of the pastors : 
 affecting letters, in which gratitude was shown in lamenting 
 the little benefit that had resulted from the interference of 
 the cantons and their deputies. Certainlj-, in reading them, 
 their generous benefactors could not say that they had been 
 labouring for the imgrateful. 
 
 Meanwhile, Yictor Amadous repaired to the camp formed 
 in the plain, at the foot of the Yaudois Alps, where he had 
 assembled his guard, all his cavalry and his infantry, as well 
 
 * The following fact confirmed their suspicions : — About fifteen householdei'S 
 having requested, soon after the promulgation of the edict, to leave the duke's 
 domains, could not obtain permission ; and as the most of them refused to 
 apostatize, they were sent to prison, where some died, and others were not 
 released till nine months after, with the other prisoners. — Hist, de la Persecu- 
 tion, p. 14. 
 
CATINAT AND THE ARilY OF SAVOY. 317 
 
 as the militia of Moudovi, Barges, and Bagnolo, besides a 
 great number of foragers. He also reviewed the French 
 troops under the command of Catinat. These were com- 
 posed of some regiments of cavalry, seven or eight battalions 
 of infantry who had crossed the mountains, and a part of 
 the garrisons of Pinerolo and Casal. 
 
 On the part of the Yaudois, there were two thousand five 
 hundred men under arms. They had made in each of their 
 valleys some entrenchments of turf and rough stones. ^ If 
 they* had concentrated their forces, instead of scattering 
 them ; if they had abandoned their advanced posts to retire 
 into the retreats of the mountains ; above all, if they had 
 been of one mind as to the course to be pursued ; if they 
 had had at their head experienced men of coui'age and 
 influence, like a Leger or a Janavel ; if, at least, they had 
 not nimibered among their ranks the iiTcsolute, the cowardly, 
 and probably the treacherous, the issue would have been 
 different ; but in the actual state of things it could not be 
 otherwise than disastrous. 
 
 On the 22nd of April, the popish army began its march, 
 divided into two bodies; the duke's troops entered the 
 valley of Lucerna, led by their general, Gabriel of Savoy, 
 the duke's uncle. The French troops, commanded by 
 Catinat, took theii' route through the vaUeys of _ Perosa 
 and San Martino. We shaU begin with narratmg the 
 operations of these latter. .-,11.^1 
 
 Setting out before day they ascended along the left bank 
 of the Clusone : having arrived opposite the large tillage ot 
 St Germain, Catinat detached a division of infantry' and 
 cavaK, with orders to drive away the Yaudois from this 
 localitv, while he continued his march. About two hundred 
 of the Yaudois ver^- soon retired behind the entrenchments 
 they had raised on the side of Pramol. There the French 
 colonel, de YiUevieiUe, met with an invincible resistance 
 His soldiers, in the proportion of six to one, fought without 
 success for ten hours, and then fell back. Seemg this, the 
 little Yaudois troop pursued, routed, and chased them as 
 far as Clusone. YiUevieiUe threw himseU with seventy 
 men into the temple of St. Germain. Being summoned to 
 surrender, he constantly refused, even on honourable capi- 
 tulation. His retreat would have been forced, it night had 
 not come on, during which fi-esh troops arrived from Pineroio 
 
318 HISTOEY OF THE YAUDOIS CHUECH. 
 
 to liis aid. The loss of the rrench, in killed and wounded, 
 amounted to five hundred. 
 
 Catinat pursued his march, and invested the valley of 
 San Martino. On the next day, the 23rd, he attacked 
 E-ioclaret ; which was without defence, as was the whole 
 valley, the inhabitants having reckoned on the benefit of 
 the edict of April 9, as they had communicated through 
 the ambassadors that they would submit and resign them- 
 selves to exile. They did not know that their submission 
 had been rejected. The French, irritated by the defeat of 
 their troops at St. Germain, of which the news had just 
 reached them, were not content with pillaging, burning, and 
 violating ; they massacred without distinction of sex or age, 
 with unheard-of fury, all who had not escaped by flight 
 from their barbarity. Catinat, leaving a part of his troops 
 in the valley of San Martino, where they put all to fire and 
 sword, then crossed the mountains on his left, and fell upon 
 the valley of Pramol, which his soldiers treated in the same 
 manner. On hearing of these excesses, the two hundred 
 Yaudois who were entrenched behind St. Germain, towards 
 Pramol, seeing themselves cut oiF, made haste to quit a 
 post now useless, and rejoined, in the district of Peumian, 
 those of their bretlii'on of Pramol, St. Germain, Prarustin, 
 and Pocheplatte, who were assembled there. 
 
 While all this was going on, the army of Savoy attacked 
 the valley of Lucerna. When it reached San Giovanni, on 
 April 22, it swejDt away, by the fire of its artillery and the 
 charges of the cavalry, all the advanced corps of the Yau- 
 dois, and then attacked the valley of Angrogna, defended 
 by five hundred mountaineers. These brave men having 
 taken refuge in the entrenchments they had cast up in a 
 place called the Casses (Cassa), and on the heights of La 
 Yachere, which had already witnessed so many terrible com- 
 bats, resisted for a whole day all the duke's forces. But, 
 on the 24th, having learned that the valley of San Martino 
 had surrendered, and that the French, abeady masters of 
 Pramol, were about to attack them in the rear, the Yaudois 
 sent a flag of truce. The general Gabriel, of Savoy, pro- 
 mised to admit them to the benefit of the edict of April 9, 
 if they submitted. And as they still hesitated, he wrote a 
 note, signed with his own hand, in the duke's name, in the 
 following terms : " Lay down your arms immediately, and 
 
SrBMISSIOX OF THE TAUDOIS. 310 
 
 trust yourself to the clemency of his royal highness. On 
 these conditions, be assiu'cd he will show you favour, and 
 that you shall not be injured either in your ovm persons, or 
 in that of yoiu' ^VNives and children." On this promise the 
 Taudois laid doA^-n their arms, and the Piedmontese army 
 occupied theii' entrenclunents. 
 
 Xevertheless, under the pretext of conducting them to 
 the duke for the purpose of making their submission, they 
 brought all the ablebodied men to Lucerna, where tliey 
 kept them as prisoners. The abandoned soldiery, masters 
 of the hamlets, indulged meanwhile in all the irregular acts 
 of the most shameful licentiousness and the most teriible 
 brutality. The same scenes passed at Pra-di-torre, the 
 ancient bulwark of the yalleys, whither the inhabitants of 
 Angrogna, San Giovanni, and La Torre had withdraA\Ti their 
 most valuable effects. There also the Yaudois trusted to 
 a faithless proposal, and saw themselves unworthily treated, 
 they and their families being alike defenceless. It was the 
 same with fifteen hundred persons who were collected at 
 Penmian, near Pramol, some refugees at Ciamprama and 
 Geymets, retired localities in La Toito ; and, in a word, to 
 avoid repetitions, throughout all the valleys. All the 
 detacliments, even those which were entrenched in the 
 strongest places, were alarmed at finding themselves isolated 
 in the midst of a population who submitted themselves in 
 succession. Uneasy in regard to the future, they lent an 
 ear to the fair words and promises of their enemies, and 
 surrendered themselves, one after another. The Yaudois of 
 Bobbio were the last to surrender, and not without ha\-ing 
 made a brave defence. They laid down their arms on the 
 rocks of Yandalin. 
 
 AYe shall not soil our pages by detailing the honible 
 deeds committed by the soldiers of Catinat on the weaker 
 sex at Penmian, after the departure of their commander; 
 nor by the recital of those with which the duke's troops, 
 especially the bands of Mondovi, disgraced themselves at 
 Angrogna, and in the valley of Lucerna. These atrocities, 
 which too much resemble those of the persecution of 1655, 
 have been detailed in the authentic work already cited, en- 
 titled, Ristoire de la Persecution des Valleys du Piemont 
 en 1686 (Historv of the Persecution of the Yalleys of Pied- 
 mont in 1686),"'pi'iiited at Rotterdam in 1689. Suffice it 
 
320 HISTOET OF THE VATJDOIS CHURCH. 
 
 to say, that the generals in the war against the Yaudois, 
 always regarded the wives and daughters of their enemies 
 merely as victims for their licentious soldiers, and the 
 old men and children as playthings on which to try their 
 swords. 
 
 From all quarters, armed bands conducted prisoners to 
 Lucerna. They had been promised, that, after having per- 
 formed an act of submission before his royal highness, they 
 should be sent to their homes where they would decide 
 either for exile or popery. Instead of this, they saw them- 
 selves separated from one another, sons from their fathers, 
 husbands from their wives, parents from their children, and 
 conducted to fortified places. Twelve thousand persons,^' 
 men, women, and children, were, in the course of a few 
 days, dragged from their native soil, distributed in thirteen 
 or fourteen fortresses, where we shall soon see they endured 
 a thousand evils. About two thousand children, abducted 
 from their parents, were at the same time dispersed through- 
 out Piedmont among the papists. 
 
 Many executions also took place. We shall only give 
 that of the minister Leidet, of Prali. After passing many 
 months in prison, fed on bread and water, having one foot 
 fastened in heavy wooden stocks, which prevented his lying 
 down, he was condemned to death, as if he had been taken 
 bearing arms, which was not the case, for he was found 
 under a rock, singing psalms. The monks, who allowed 
 him no rest, for they came every day to worry him (so to 
 speak) about his faith, and to provoke him to a disputation, 
 were determined to have the pleasure of tormenting him in 
 his last moments. Having been present when his sentence 
 was read, which the martjT heard without agitation, the 
 monks would not leave him, and gave him no rest all day, 
 though he entreated them, saying that he wished to pray to 
 God with freedom of spirit. Moreover, they returned on 
 the morrow at daybreak to harass him again. Yet they 
 could not disturb his peace. As he came out of his prison, 
 he spoke of the twofold deliverance he was about to enjoy, 
 namely, that from the captivity which he had so long en- 
 dured within those narrow walls, and that which death 
 
 * These are the numbers given in the Hist, de la Persecution. Amaud 
 raises them to fourteen thousand, a number which corresponds better with 
 that stated to the Swiss ambassadors to the Valleys. (See Histoirede laNego- 
 ciation, p. 63.) 
 
LEIDET A MAETYE. 321 
 
 would give his soul, free from that moment to ascend 
 to heaven! He -went to execution with holy exulta- 
 tion. At the foot of the scaffold he made a long and 
 admirable prayer, which deeply affected the attendants. 
 He borrowed his last words from his Redeemer ; '* Father," 
 he cried, ''into thy hands I commend my spirit." 
 
 Thus Victor Amadeus succeeded. From the gardens of 
 the palace of Lucema, whither he had come to enjoy tlie 
 victory, he could behold the ravages made by his triumpliant 
 army. The fields that lay before his eyes were deserted, 
 the hamlets on the sides of the mountains, the smiling 
 villages, with their green bowers and rich orchards, no 
 longer contained one of their ancient inhabitants; the 
 valleys no longer resonnded with the bleatings of the 
 flocks and the voices of the shepherds; the fields, the 
 meadows, the vineyards, the alpine pasture-lands, scenes 
 once so beautiful, — all these districts, so happy in the 
 previous spring, were reduced to one vast solitude, di'cary 
 as the wildest rocks. Holy hymns would no more be 
 heard there to celebrate the Author of so many wonders. 
 The cultivators of these beautiful regions were some of 
 them dead, and their carcasses scattered over the soil ; 
 others were crowded in dungeons, ignorant of each other's 
 lot ; others, again, were children delivered to the mercy of 
 strangers, who never ceased to persecute these poor crea- 
 tui-es till they had forgotten their parents, their country-, 
 and their religion. Alas! what bloody outrage had this 
 people committed against their prince to be thus treated ? 
 Were they a ferocious tiibe, addicted to robbery, pillage, 
 and assassination ? Thou, Lord, knowest ! they rever- 
 enced thy name; they only asked permission to obey 
 thy precepts ; they loved their prince ; his honour and glorj- 
 were dear to them. Faithfnl, devoted, submissive to his 
 laws, they only did not prefer him to Thyself, and never 
 resisted his will but when he attempted to draw them away 
 from that worship which they had rendered to thee for ages. 
 
 Upon the most remote Alps, in the midst of forests, and 
 in holes of the rocks, a few persons, had, nevertheless, 
 succeeded in concealing themselves, liring by stealth on 
 the remnants of their pro\'isions, and on what they could 
 find around their retreats: and when the French had 
 retired ^ith the bands of Mondovi, and a part of the 
 
 p 3 
 
322 HISTORY OF THE VATJDOIS CHUECH. 
 
 Piedmontese troops, these unfortunate people issued from 
 their hiding-places. They soon collected together, and 
 rendered assistance to each other. Being often obliged 
 to descend to the inhabited places to seek for food, they 
 rendered themselves formidable. The armed force which 
 frequently chased them, could neither intimidate nor lay 
 hold of them. Their boldness accordingly increased. Unable 
 to defeat them, their enemies offered them passports, on 
 condition of their emigrating. The}^ only consented when 
 hostages had been given them, which one band guarded 
 while another travelled, and when some of their relations, 
 prisoners in the fortresses, had been permitted to go with 
 them. They reached Switzerland in three detachments, in 
 the course of JSTovember.^* 
 
 The evangelical cantons of Switzerland, although their 
 interference had been unavailing, and they had not been 
 able to save their brethren in the faith from the catastrophe 
 that had befallen them, never ceased to feel a lively in- 
 terest on their behalf. They supplicated God for them on 
 an extraordinary fast- day, and ordered collections through 
 all their territory.! They redoubled their importunity mth 
 the court of Turin; and as they had been informed that 
 the count de Govon, the resident of Savoy in Switzerland, 
 had received power to treat with them, they charged two 
 deputies with this mission, after having deliberated on the 
 basis of this negotiation, in their assembly at Aran, in 
 September, 1686. The plenipotentiaries agreed, subject to 
 ratification, that all the prisoners should be set at liberty, 
 decently clothed, conducted to the borders of Switzerland 
 at the expense of the duke, and that those who still wan- 
 dered on the mountains should receive passj)orts lor the 
 same destination. The Swiss, on their part, engaged to 
 receive them, and keep them in the heart of their country, 
 so that they might not return. The ratification of the 
 convention was immediate on the part of the Swiss ; it was 
 less readily given by the duke, who nevertheless signed it. 
 
 The decision of the evangelical cantons of Switzerland 
 is above all praise. They charged themselves entirely 
 
 * Dieterici, die Waldenser, p. 136. — Boyer, p. 260.— Hist, de la Persecution, 
 p. 27. — Archives de Geneve, register of the 26th November, 1686, p. 306. We 
 there read that eighty Vaudois, men, women, and cliildren, had just arrived. 
 See the same for the other detachments. 
 
 t Extracted from the public register of Berne. Li^i'e des Mandats, p. 726. 
 
THEIR STATE IX THE FORTRESSES. 323 
 
 ^vith an imfortimate people. They had some thousands 
 of siekl}', suffering, and dejected persons to feed, lod.^c, and 
 maintain. AVhat a burden for their slender means I It is 
 tme they might calculate en succoui- fi'om the Protestants 
 of Eui'ope, but they knew not to what amount. One 
 source was di'ied up, namely, in France, whence the 
 persecuted Protestants had escaped by thousands in quest 
 of an asylum, and sometimes even of bread. England, 
 where a Eoman Catholic king, James ii., favoured the 
 religion of the pope, and which was itself engaged in 
 opposing his pretensions, had not sufficient liberty to make 
 collections in favour of those whom it formerly protected. 
 Holland and Germany alone, although worn out by long and 
 expensive wars, could still in some degree assist the unfor- 
 timate people whom they had often supported in their 
 distress. The cantons acquainted them with their inten- 
 tions, and expected a favourable answer. The elector of 
 Braudenburgh, Frederick William, was the first who replied 
 to theii* appeal ; the states of Holland followed ; and after 
 them several German princes, who vrill be named in their 
 proper place. In passing, let us pay our first tribute of 
 admiration to these Swiss cantons, who, from their 
 proximity to the valleys, were called on, prior to all their 
 other brethren, to give proof of their sincere charity to the 
 suffering disciples of Christ. 
 
 The autumn was di^a^ving to a close, the snow already 
 whitened the summits of the alpine passes : it would soon 
 cover all the heights, and threaten with its avalanches and 
 whiiiwinds imprudent or late travellers. Yet the Yaudois 
 were still in prison. According to the best accounts, there 
 were, in the spring, from twelve to fourteen thousand in 
 confinement. They could not all be restored to liberty, for 
 akeady five hundred of them had been placed beyond the 
 jurisdiction of the duke. This piince, desirous of showing 
 his gratitude for the succour afforded him by the king of 
 France, had sent this number of his subjects as a present to 
 his most Christian majesty, who had deposited them in his 
 galleys at Marseilles.* A great number of those who were 
 left in the fortresses died in them, of chagrin or disease. 
 A change of situation so complete had brought to the grave 
 men accustomed to inhale the mountain breezes, to live in 
 
 * See Dieterici, p. 123. 
 
324 HISTORY OF THE VATFDOIS CHUECH. 
 
 the fields, or herdsmen's cottages, and above all, to liberty. 
 Bad water, scanty fare, confinement in narrow rooms, l}dng 
 on the hard bricks with which they were paved, or on 
 straw reduced to powder or rotten, the suff'ocating heat of 
 summer, the chilliness of the nights as soon as winter came, 
 and the vermin that covered their emaciated bodies, had 
 aggravated the morbid tendencies of many, and produced 
 epidemic disorders. Seventy-five sick persons had been 
 found at a time in one room. Moreover, they received 
 little or no medical aid. It is said that many children with 
 the small-pox died from exposure to the rain. If the Yau- 
 dois wanted aid for their suffering bodies, to make up for 
 that, they were constantly beset by the monks. Certain 
 it is, that of twelve thousand who entered the prisons, not 
 more than tliree or four thousand emigrated to Switzerland. 
 "What became of the rest? The greater part had died; 
 others turned Catholics."^' Many children and young per- 
 sons had been taken away ; lastly, a considerable number 
 of adults were condemned for their lives to the fortifications 
 and the galleys. 
 
 As to the rest, there is one fact which famishes decisive 
 proof of the determined intention of the Piedmontese go- 
 vernment to treat the miserable remains of the Yaudois 
 with the utmost rigour ; and that is, the hindrance put in 
 the way of their departure, and the manner in which it 
 was at last effected. It was winter, a season in which no 
 one, unless as a matter of necessity, would attempt to cross 
 the Alps. This observation, which is true in our days, 
 notwithstanding the excellent roads now made across the 
 mountains, would be particularly so two centuries ago, 
 when the means of communication were so inferior to what 
 they have since become. A journey which some robust 
 persons would not have attempted without hesitation, on 
 account of the perils of the season, the ice and snows, it 
 was cruel and barbarous, to force thousands of men, en- 
 feebled by disease and imprisonment, to undertake, in the 
 depth of winter, across the Alps ; and also old men, worn 
 down by sufferings as well as by years, besides women 
 and children of the tenderest age. It was to consent be- 
 
 * Those who apostatized were in hopes that their goods would be restored, 
 to them, which was not the case. These persons were mostly distributed 
 through the province of VerceUi. (Hist, de la Persecution, p. 32.) 
 
THEIR TRAVELLING IN THE DEPTH OF WINTER. 325 
 
 forehand to the death of a multitude of them, and even 
 to insure it. Spirit of Papal Home, how many victims hast 
 thou made ! 
 
 It may perhaps be said, not without foundation, that in 
 choosing this season, the ministers of Victor Amadiiis 
 reckoned on the discouragement that "would seize the un- 
 fortunate exiles, in the prospect of the sufferings and perils 
 that awaited them, which might induce them to apostatize, 
 and thus retain them in the duke's domains. But if the 
 end was praiseworthy, were the means so ? !N"o man of 
 the slightest humanity, and much more, no Christian, could 
 assent to this. 
 
 The intention of retaining within the duke's dominions 
 these poor prisoners, who for eight months had been de- 
 prived of their liberty, appeared evident from the means 
 that were employed to damp their courage. Proclamation 
 was made, it is true, that all, even those who had promised 
 to abjure, were at liberty to depart ; but, as the accounts 
 state, it was attempted to allure by promises, or to deter by 
 a description of the dangers of all kinds, that they might 
 expect on the road. Many, in fact, suffered themselves to 
 be dissuaded. But nothing could stop the general move- 
 ment. Yet a great number of children, who, although scat- 
 tered through Piedmont, had heard of the proclamation, 
 were prevented from rejoining their parents, when they 
 made the attempt. Moreover, the proclamation was not 
 published in the prisons of Lucema ; it was only posted up 
 in the market-place ; so that those who were detained in 
 this town could not avail themselves of the liberty that was 
 granted them. The prisoners, also, who groaned in the 
 deep dungeons of Asti, were detained, as well as their 
 parents, who waited for them in the citadel of Turin. AVithin 
 the walls of the latter place nine pastors, with their fami- 
 lies, were enclosed ; of whom mention will be made in the 
 sequel. 
 
 The Yaudois travelled in companies, escorted by the 
 officers and soldiers of the duke. They were promised 
 decent clothing, but only a small number of pairs of stock- 
 ings and of jackets were distributed among them. The two 
 following facts will suffice to depict the situation of these 
 unfortunate beings. At Mondo\-i, it was five o'clock in the 
 afternoon, at Christmas, when their liberation was announced 
 
326 HISTORY OF THE YAUDOIS CHUECH. 
 
 to the prisoners, but with the addition that if they did not 
 set out forthwith, it would be out of their power altogether, 
 as the order would be revoked the next day. Pearfal of 
 losing the favourable opjDortunity, these unfortunate persons, 
 wasted by disease, set out on their march by night and 
 walked four or five leagues thi'ough the snow, and in the 
 most intense frost. This first march cost the lives of a 
 hundred and fifty of them, who died on the road without 
 their brethren being able to give them any aid. 
 
 The other fact was this. A troop of prisoners from 
 Tossan having passed a night at jN^ovalese, at the foot of 
 Mount Cenis, some of them, on setting out again, remarked 
 to the officer who conducted them that a storm was rising on 
 the mountain. In the Alps, during the winter season, per- 
 sons never expose themselves to these storms without 
 bitterly repenting. The Yaudois, to whom fi'om their habits 
 of observation the danger was obvious, begged that their 
 march might be suspended, out of pity for so many weak 
 and exhausted persons who were to be found in their ranks. 
 If their request caused delay, they would not ask for food. 
 They saw less danger in going without food than in travel- 
 ling at such a season. The officer refused. The company 
 was forced to proceed on its march, and eighty-six sunk in 
 the drifted snow, and were frozen to death ;^' they were the 
 aged and sick, women and little children. The bands that 
 followed, and merchants that passed that way some days 
 after, saw the bodies stretched upon the snow, the mothers 
 still pressing their children in their arms. The SavIss com- 
 missioners, of whom mention mil soon be made, requested, 
 when they returned to Turin, that measures might be taken 
 to bury the bodies as they became exposed to view. 
 
 Yet we do not say, (God forbid!) that all the officers 
 were like this one. There were several who displayed great 
 humanity in the accomplishment of their painful task. 
 
 The news of such sufierings endured in the prisons and 
 on the journey, brought by the first detachment of the 
 unfortunate Yaudois, no sooner came to the knowledge of 
 the magistrates of the cantons than, moved with pity and 
 following the inspirations of Chiistian charity, they sent 
 commissioners to the sj^ot, who were directed to relieve the 
 
 * Besides the eighty-six Yaudois, six of the duke's guards, with the drummer 
 lost their hves. (Letter of M. Truchet, iii the Ai'cliives of Berne, mark C.) 
 
THEIE TRAVELLING IN THE DEPTH OF WIXTr.U. 327 
 
 exiles by all possible means. These agents with the per- 
 mission of the Piedmontese authorities, stationed tlu msclves, 
 in the beginning of February, along the road to Tui-in ; one 
 at Chambery or Annecy, another at St. Jean de Mami- 
 enne, a third at Lans le Bourg ; a fourth at Suza. Their 
 names were, lioy, lord of Eoniainmotier, Forestier of Cully, 
 Panchaud of Merges, and Cornilliat of ^N'yon. Their cor- 
 respondence with the government of Beme shows that they 
 were well qualified for the eoumiission entrusted to tlieir 
 care. Each one, at his station, provided the unfortunate 
 Yaudois, on their arrival, during their short stay, and on 
 their departure, ^^ith every comfort which sickness, fatigue, 
 age, feebleness, or the inclemency of the season could call 
 for. To fiu'nish the means of transport to all, medicines 
 and warm clothing to others, money to a great number ; to 
 give to all consolation and encoui'agement, such was the 
 task in the performance of which these benevolent indivi- 
 duals gained the praise of their superiors and the profound 
 gratitude of the exiles. By their attentions, multitudes who 
 were weak, exhausted, and dejected, acquired strength and 
 courage, and were enabled to rejoin their bretkren, whom 
 otherwise they would never have been in. a state to follow, 
 and consequently would have seen no more. On many 
 occasions, they accompanied one and another band to their 
 destination, when the care of the sick and the numerous 
 childi'en required their presence. Their inquiries and pro- 
 tests led also to the liberation of the greater number of the 
 children and girls that had been taken away from their 
 parents, while they were travelling. 
 
 Towards the middle of February, when the principal 
 bands of the Yaudois had passed, •>' two of the commission- 
 ers, Messieiu's Eoy and Forestier, confomiably to the in- 
 sti'uctions of their superiors, repaired to Timn to solicit the 
 liberation of the remaining prisoners, namely, the ministers 
 and theii^ families, as well as those who had taken up aims. 
 They also claimed the children who had been taken away 
 during the preceding distui'bances. 
 
 The presence of the commissioners at Turin produced 
 imtation. Such urgency was looked upon with an evil eye. 
 The Romish propaganda took offence at it. The Yaudois 
 
 * The last reached Genera at the end of Februaiy ; after this the commis- 
 sioners Panchaud and Cornilliat returned home. 
 
328 HISTOEY OF THE VAUDOIS CHURCH. 
 
 pastors, who before could sometimes leave the prison under 
 the inspection of an officer, no longer received this indulg- 
 ence.^' The numerous barbets, or Vaudois footmen, whom 
 the gentry placed in a livery behind their carriages, were 
 no longer to be seen. All the claims for the abducted 
 children were disregarded. The commissioners only ob- 
 tained leave to visit the ministers, and that in the presence 
 of several officers. But, as if the interest shown towards 
 them was a sufficient reason for tightening the bonds of the 
 prisoners, the next morning three pastors and their families, 
 with a malefactor fromMondovi, were sent away to the castle 
 of Kice. On the following day, three other pastors, with their 
 families, were despatched to Montmeillan. The malefactor 
 of Mondovi was not forgotten. The commissioners, having 
 been apprised of the departure of the first and second, 
 watched in the neighbourhood of the citadel for the setting- 
 out of the last. At the head of the procession was the 
 bandit in chains ; then came a cart with the children and 
 the sick ; next the three ministers and their wives on foot, 
 accompanied by a sergeant-major. Dii-ecting their course 
 to the Po, they embarked on it for the castle of Yercelli. 
 The commissioners were scarcely allowed to exchange a 
 few words with them, and to furnish them with what 
 money they had. The father of the minister Bastie, sixty- 
 five years old, and in bad health, was separated from his 
 son, and remained in the citadel, with one person of his 
 family to assist him.f 
 
 It was not that the duke's council had resolved on the 
 destruction of these faithful pastors ; they had even pro- 
 mised to release them in course of time ; but they dreaded 
 their influence on the exiles, and wished to keep them apart 
 for some time longer.;}: 
 
 The efforts to obtain the return of the young children 
 who were taken from their parents at the time of their 
 imprisonment, remained without success. The commis- 
 sioners returned in the course of May, 1687, having had 
 
 * There were nine in the citadel of Turin, (besides their families, consisting 
 of forty-seven persons); they were Malanot; Jahier, of Pramol; Laurent; 
 Giraud ; Jahier, of Rocheplatte ; Cliauvie, Bastie, Leger, and Bertrand. 
 
 t See the Letter of April 2, (12th,) 1687, from the Commissioners to their 
 Excellencies. Mark C of the Archives of Berne. 
 
 t Among the Vaudois pastors after their return, we find six of those here 
 mentioned, Bastie, L^ger, Giraud, Malanot, and the two Jahiers. The names 
 of the others do not occur again, to om* knowledge. 
 
THEIR AEEIYAL AT GENEVA. 329 
 
 the satisfaction, if not of saving all the unfortunate victims 
 of oppression for whom they laboui'ed, yet of preventing 
 very great evils, and becoming, to a great number, a 
 support against discoui'agcment, an aid in distress, guides 
 to brave the storm, and skilful pilots, to bring with a 
 friendly hand the almost ship'^Tecked bark into port. 
 Christ, the head of the church, had promised faithful 
 protectors and sympathizing brethren for his witnesses 
 while bearing the cross. Switzerland was the asylum 
 where, by their care, the children of the martyrs, the 
 descendants of the primitive Christians, came to sit down 
 by the side of the sons of fi-eedom, in the dwellings of the 
 disciples of the reformers, Calvin, Yiret, Farel, Zwingle, 
 fficolampadius, and Haller, ancient and revered Mends of 
 their fathers. 
 
 Hasten hither, mountaineers of the Yaudois Alps, dis- 
 owned by your sovereign ! come ye families reduced by 
 the sword of your persecutors ; parents desolated by the 
 loss of your children, torn from your arms by the cruel 
 hand of antichrist ! come, ye enfeebled old men, ye widows 
 in tears, and ye children left desolate or orphans ! Beyond 
 the limits of your ungrateful country, Christ your Sovereign, 
 your Husband, your Brother, waits for you. His brethren, 
 who love you for his sake, and because they recognise in 
 you that faith which dwells in them also, receive you with 
 open arms. 'W'^eary travellers, a day of rest awaits you — a 
 blessed station on the road watered with tears, which 
 nevertheless leads you to heaven ! 
 
 CHAPTEE XXV. 
 
 THE VAUDOIS EEFTJGEES IN SWITZERLAND AND GERMANY 
 RETURN IN ARMS TO THEIR COUNTRY AND OBTAIN PEACE. 
 
 (1686—1690.) 
 Two thousand six hundred Yaudois, men, women, and 
 children, were received within the walls of hospitable 
 Geneva.* About one hundred and sixty, in two or three 
 bands, had reached that city before them in the preceding 
 
 * This is the number stated in the letter of March 19, (29th,) 1687, addressed 
 from Switzerland to the marquis de St. Thomas, the duke s mmister at Turin. 
 Archives of Berne, mark C. 
 
330 niSTOET OF THE YATJDOIS CHUECH. 
 
 autumn. A nearly equal number, retarded by sickness, 
 abduction, or imprisonment, gradually joined the main 
 body, which, with all these additions, never reached three 
 thousand ; the feeble remnant of a jDopulation of from four- 
 teen to sixteen thousand. Moreover, they were either sick 
 or worn out "wdth fatigue and anxiety, and the greater part 
 indifferently protected against the rigours of winter^' by 
 the old garments they had worn in prison. There were 
 some whose lives ended at the very moment their liberty 
 began, and who expired between the two gates of the city ; 
 but in proportion as the wounds to be dressed were deep 
 and alarming, the Genevese charity exerted itself to meet 
 the exigencies of the case. The population hastened forth 
 to meet the exiles as far as the bridge of the Arve, which 
 is the frontier. The magistrates were obliged to prohibit 
 persons from going out of the city in this manner, on 
 account of the embarrassment which resulted from this 
 eagerness. It was a point of contention who should have 
 the honour of lodging one of these persecuted Christians. 
 The greatest invalids and sufferers were taken by prefer- 
 ence.! If they had any difficulty in walking, men carried 
 them in their arms into their houses. Their hosts, as well 
 as the committee of the Italian Exchange, provided clothes 
 for all. If Geneva did so much for the Yaudois, it was 
 because she believed that by the presence of these martyrs 
 she would receive in spiritual blessings more than she 
 could render to them in temporal aid. 
 
 One scene, which was repeated every time a new com- 
 pany of exiles entered the citj^, deeply touched the hearts 
 of the bystanders, namely, the search made by the first and 
 last comers for their relations, the questions they put and 
 the answers they received respecting the fate of a father, 
 a mother, a husband, a wife, or of brothers, sisters, and 
 children, whom they had not seen for ten months. We 
 can scarcely tell which answer was the most overwhelming, 
 '' Your father died in prison," " Your husband has become 
 a papist," " Your child has been carried away," or " No 
 one has heard a word about the person you are inquiring 
 for." It was not only bread, and clothing, and an asylum, 
 
 * The joui'ney was made in Januaiy and February, 1687. The duke had 
 clothed a small part of them, very indifferently. 
 
 t Amaud says, " The Genevese contested with one another who should 
 take hom.e the most destitute." 
 
DISTEIBUTIOX IX SWITZERLAND. 331 
 
 which these cliildren of the Alps had need of, thej- wanted 
 also sincere fi'icnds to moiu-n with them and console them 
 in their afflictions. 
 
 If they met with sympathizing hearts at Geneva, thev 
 also found many in the cities and countrj' places of Pro- 
 testant Switzerland and Geimany, where the Christian 
 brotherhood received them ;-•' for they coidd not remain at 
 Geneva. The treaty concluded by the evangelical cantons 
 with the duke, for the emigration of the Yaudois, specified 
 their withdi-awment from the frontiers. Consequently, in 
 proportion as they recovered fi'om their fatigue, thej' were 
 transported to the Pays de Yaud, and thence by Yverdon,f 
 by the lakes and rivers, into the interior of Switzerland. 
 
 The evangelical cantons, Berne especially, had already 
 supported thousands of the French refugees.]: These 
 victims of the cruelty of Louis xiv., were, one-fourth or 
 one-thii'd of them, assisted hj public and private charity. 
 The Yaudois, therefore, being quite destitute of everything, 
 gave occasion for a superadded expense to the state and 
 people, which was a heavy charge ; but wise measures had 
 been taken. Beme, for example, had made preparations 
 from the moment that emigration had been decided upon. 
 Five thousand ells of linen had been made into under gar- 
 ments ; an equal quantity of the common woollen stuffs 
 of Oberland had been used to prepare warm outer gannents. 
 Hundi'eds of pairs of shoes were laid up in the depots. 
 The bailiffs, being informed betimes of the wish of their 
 excellencies, had stimulated (if, indeed, that were neces- 
 sary) the generous sentiments of the communal administra- 
 tions and of individuals. Another fast in Februtiry, 1687, 
 at the moment when the great body of the exiles entered 
 Geneva, had prepared their hearts by the inspirations of 
 religion. Another collection had been made at the same 
 time. The reformed Swiss received ^Wth open arms their 
 brethi-en of Piedmont, as they had already received those 
 
 * A Vaudois, the author of the " Histoire de la Persecution des Valines du 
 Piemont," printed at Rotterdam in 1689, from which we have taken most of 
 the preceding details, expresses his gratitude in these words—" With respect 
 to the Vaudois, as well as other refugees, we may say that Switzerland was a 
 secure haven, formed by God's own hand, to save from shipwreck those who 
 were exposed to the waves of persecution. 
 
 t M. Louis du Thon, of Yverdon, was charged by their excellencies with 
 pro'viding the means of transport. 
 
 X Among these were many Vaudois from Pragela.Queyras, and other valleys 
 in Upper Dauphine. 
 
332 HISTORY OF THE YAUDOIS CHXJECH. 
 
 of France ; and with still greater compassion, for the Yau- 
 dois needed it more. The evangelical cantons distributed 
 the refugees among them in a fixed proportion. Zurich 
 took thirty per cent. ; Bale, twelve ; Schaff hausen, eight ; 
 Saint-Gall, Outer Appenzel, the Grisons, and Glaris also 
 received some. Berne took charge of forty-four per cent. ; 
 part of whom were placed at Bienne, J^euville, and in the 
 district of Neufchatel. 
 
 The degree of charity, doubtless, was not the same every- 
 where. We must even confess that in some places it was 
 constrained, being called for by the authorities. Some 
 Piedmontese refugees complained ; not all who employed 
 them as workmen, always treated them well. Possibly, 
 too, the kind reception given them in some places may have 
 rendered them less contented in others ; and, above all, 
 languor and a longing for their native country, may have 
 sometimes produced bad humour or despondency. Yet 
 the generality of the exiles showed themselves sensible of 
 kindness and grateful. '' We have no language strong 
 enough," said those of them who afterwards went to Bran- 
 denburg, ^' to express our gratitude for your favours. Our 
 hearts, penetrated with all your acts of kindness, will 
 publish in distant parts the unbounded charity with which 
 you have refreshed us and supplied all our need. We 
 shall take care to inform our children, and our children's 
 children, that all our posterity may know, that, next to 
 God, whose tender mercies have preserved us from being 
 entirely consumed, we are indebted to you alone for life 
 and liberty."* 
 
 While these victims of a fanatical policy rested under 
 the roof of Christian hospitality, the question of their 
 future residence seriously engaged their protectors in Ger- 
 many, Holland, and Switzerland.! The elector of Bran- 
 denburg and several German princes opened their states to 
 them. In Holland, they spoke of facilitating their emigra- 
 tion, in a body, to the Cape of Good Hope or to America. ;|: 
 
 * Letter of July 26, 1688, signed in the name of the Vaudois, assembled in 
 the territory of Lenzburg, by Daniel Fomeron and Jean Jalla. Ai'chives of 
 Berne, mark D, 
 
 t England governed by a popish prince, James ii., who was soon to be 
 driven from the throne for his attempts at religious oppression, was not, and 
 could not be at that period, an effective protector of the Vaudois. 
 
 X Letter from the pastor Bilderdeck to the Vaudois. See Beattie's Views of 
 the Valleys, London and Paris, 1838, p. 118. 
 
DESIEE TO EETURX TO THE TALLETS. 333 
 
 The echo of these friendly voices brought their proposals 
 to the ears of the Yaudois, and tilled their hearts with 
 disquietude. When, in the preceding year, the S^^^ss 
 deputies had proposed to them the abandonment of their 
 native countiy, as the only means of escaping still greater 
 e^ils, a numerous party among them were energetically 
 opposed to such a step. They never consented, till, 
 having been prisoners for months in the fortresses of Pied- 
 mont, nothing remained to them but to apostatize or to 
 emigrate. Now that dungeons, and their prolonged ab- 
 sence from their beloved native countrj', had only increased 
 their affection for it, they felt intense agony at the thought 
 that they should never see it again, and that they should 
 be compelled to renounce it for ever. Certainly, they 
 retiu'ned thanks to God, and blessed their brethren, for 
 having obtained their liberty, for having fed and consoled 
 them, and for offering them houses and lands again ; but 
 the places in which love to God and Christian charit}- 
 offered them an asylum, could not occupy in their imagina- 
 tion the place of their native soil. A foreign land, however 
 benevolent the inhabitants might be who would consent to 
 share it with them, could never be the same to them as 
 their own country-, the land of their fathers. They could 
 not forget those spots the scenes of their childhood, which 
 the habit of beholding had identified (so to speak) with 
 their o^vn being; the paternal roof, full of the most 
 delightful recollections; the shade of the fig-trees and 
 chcsnuts, the fields, the patches on the hill-side they had 
 cultivated, the majestic moimtains, the green pastures 
 where they had fed their flocks; their hearts were de- 
 lighted with cherished images and recollections, which had 
 increased doubly in value in their eyes. Ye Chiistians of 
 Smtzerland, GeiTaany, Holland, and England, benefactors 
 of the Yaudois, be not offended at this apparent indiffer- 
 ence to your countn', for you also have each a countiy that 
 is dear to you ! And thou, Lord of heaven and earth, 
 canst thou disapprove the preference they give to the 
 country where their ancestors adhered faithfully to thee in 
 the fkst ages of the church of thy Son ? Their desire to 
 serve thee still on the soil of Christian liberty, surrounded 
 by the tombs of the martyrs, their progenitors, and to 
 re-light in these revered spots the torch of thy gospel, that 
 
334 HISTORY OF THE YAUDOIS CHURCH. 
 
 its flame may still shine in darkness, will it not be agree- 
 able to thee ? What shall we say ? Does not theii' design 
 come from thee ? Doubtless, thou art not willing that the 
 testimony rendered to the faith by the ancient Vaudois, 
 should be weakened by the permanent removal of their 
 children from the country in which they bore that tes- 
 timony. 
 
 The desire of the Vaudois to return to their native 
 country, though deeply cherished by them all, was only 
 by degrees formed into a project, in proportion as they 
 believed in the possibility of its realization. The minister 
 Arnaud, who, in the sequel, was the leader of the enter- 
 prise, was probably its originator ; but, in the first account 
 that was given of it, it was attributed to the fervent zeal of 
 the hero of E,ora, the intrepid Janavel, who had retired to 
 Geneva, after a capital sentence had menaced his life. 
 Geneva, believing its honour engaged to the duke, banished 
 him from its walls ; but he soon returned thither. 
 
 The first attempt of the Yaudois to return to the valleys 
 necessarily failed at its outset, from its being made so 
 much at hazard, without precaution, without leaders, and, 
 we may say, without arms. Those who engaged in it came 
 in an irregular manner from their cantonments at Zurich, 
 Bale, Argovie, and Neufchatel, to Lausanne and its environs, 
 about the end of July, 1687, mthout having taken any 
 of the preliminary measures necessary for such an expe- 
 dition. Their numbers, moreover, were inconsiderable; 
 only about three hundred and fifty. Being stopped by 
 the chief magistrate of Lausanne at Ouchy, where they 
 attempted to embark, they submitted, sorely against their 
 will, to the order for returning to the places from whence 
 they came. 
 
 Though in this instance unable to succeed, the Yaudois 
 did not abandon their design. They perceived that it had 
 been badly managed; that it was necessary to mature a 
 plan, to make preparations for it, and then to execute it 
 simultaneously and secretly, under the direction of their 
 chiefs. This method they actually pursued. Their first 
 care was to send three men^' to discover by-roads, by 
 
 * One belonged to the valley of San Martino, another to Queyras, the third 
 to the valley of Pragela. The fact, that of the thi-ee, two were Frenchmen from 
 vaUeys near those of our friends, shows that the number of Protestants of 
 these Fi-ench valleys of Pragela and Upper Dauphine, who had fled from per- 
 
OFFER OF THE ELECTOR OF BRANDENBURG. 335 
 
 ^\idch they could return to the valleys. It was desirable 
 to avoid populous localities, to follow by preference the 
 higher valleys and the elevated ridges, to pass tlie rivers 
 near theii* sources, and then reaching their destination, to 
 engage their fi-iends secretly to prepare bread,* and to 
 deposit it in convenient places. Such were the principal 
 directions and instructions these persons received. 
 
 While the three spies were ftilfilling their mission, at 
 the peril of their lives, the cantons, dissatisfied witli the 
 attempt of the Yaudois, which might have compromised 
 them ^ith the duke of Savoy, continued the former nego- 
 tiations with the German princes lor the emigration of their 
 guests, whose presence was now become inconvenient. 
 
 The elector of Brandenburg, Frederick-William, who was 
 called by his contemporaries the Great Elector, a prince 
 whose memory both the Yaudois and the French Protest- 
 ants will bless for ever, was not content with interceding 
 with the duke of Savoy on behalf of his oppressed brother 
 Protestants, he showed himseK ready to receive a pait of 
 the remains of their population, and wrote for subsidies on 
 their behalf to the prince of Orange, to the states-general 
 of Holland, to the city of Bremen, and to the elector of 
 Saxony, as well as to England. It only remained to com- 
 pute the number of the emigrants. Of two thousand six 
 hundred and fifty-six Yaudois distributed among the can- 
 tons, the elector consented to take charge of about two 
 thousand ; the aged and the sick were to remain in S\^'it- 
 zerland. Such were the arrangements settled at Berlin, in 
 concert with the deputy of the cantons, counsellor Holzhalb 
 of Zurich. 
 
 But the Yaudois, full of the project of returning to their 
 native land, showed little eagerness to accept the asylum 
 which the benevolence of the great elector offered them at 
 Stendal, in the vicinity of the Elbe, to the north of Magde- 
 burg. They were alarmed at the thought of being fixed 
 at such a distance from their ancient countiy. The climate 
 and the language also made them hesitate. The measures 
 taken by the evangelical cantons and the Yaudois delegates 
 had also inclined the hearts of the elector Palatine, the 
 
 secution, was considerable. They now thought of establishing themselves in 
 the Piedinontese valleys. 
 
 * In the high Alps bread is only made once a year. It becomes as hard as 
 a stone, and is kept like biseuit. 
 
336 HISTOEY OF THE VATJDOIS CHUECH. 
 
 count Waldeck, and the duke of Wii'temberg to place lands 
 capable of cultivation at the disposal of the exiles of the 
 valleys. But, although the spring of 1688 had now arrived, 
 the Yaudois could not resolve to separate themselves, and 
 to settle in these distant colonies. '' It seemed that these 
 unfortunate people," said Remigius Merian, resident of the 
 elector of Brandenburg, at Frankfort, ''changed their plans 
 every day, and could decide on nothing. They were always 
 longing after their own country and people. They under- 
 valued the favours offered them by princes."^' 
 
 ISTevertheless, being obliged by their position to make their 
 choice, they decided at last, that one part of them, about a 
 thousand, should repair to Brandenburg, but that the 
 others should distribute themselves in the Palatine and 
 Wirteniberg, not to be too far removed from the dominions 
 of the duke of Savoy; for they had not forgotten their 
 secret project. How is it possible, when religious recollec- 
 tions and exile render your country doubly dear to you, to 
 turn away your gaze from the distant mountains that envi- 
 ron it? The captives of Babylon exclaimed, '' If I forget 
 thee, Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning. 
 If I do not remember thee, let my tongue cleave to the roof 
 of my mouth," Psalm cxxxvii., 5, 6. 
 
 The chamberlain de Bondelly had arrived with a com- 
 mission to conduct the thousand Yaudois to their destina- 
 tion. The death of his master the great elector Prederic- 
 AYilliam, the protector of the persecuted Protestants, formed 
 no obstacle to their departure, Prederic iii. his successor, 
 having shown his readiness to receive the inheritance of 
 charity which his father had bequeathed to him. 
 
 On the other hand, the three spies had returned, f Their 
 report on the state of the valleys, at that time inhabited by 
 strangers, and on the road to be taken in returning thither, 
 induced the directors to hold a council, in which it was 
 resolved to make a second attempt through the valleys, the 
 great and little St. Bernard and Mount Cenis. Bex, a 
 little town at the southern extremity of the state of Berne, ;[: 
 at the foot of the mountains, near a bridge over the Rhone, 
 
 * Dieterici, die Waldenser, etc. p. 145. 
 
 t They had been exposed to imininent danger. They were arrested in the 
 district of the Tarentaise. Eight days they "remained in prison, but at last had 
 the good fortune to be set at hberty. 
 
 J It now makes a part of the canton of Vaud. 
 
SECOND ATTEMPT FOtt RETURNING TO THE VALLEYS. 337 
 
 Avas chosen as the place of rendezvous. The time fixed was 
 the 9th or 10th of June, 1688. 
 
 At the head of the movement was a man, whose name 
 has resounded far and wide, and will be transmitted to the 
 most distant posterity, a man fitted both for peace and war; 
 a humble minister of the Lord, and commander of an army; 
 copious and eloquent in language emiched by the iloly 
 Scriptures, when he applied himself to teach and exhort ; 
 full of unction and fervour when on his knees he suj^plicated 
 the Father of mercies for his depressed chui'ch ; brief and 
 decided in tone when he directed the march, or gave orders 
 in the tumult of battle : such a man was Arnaud. A native 
 of the vicinity of Die, in Daupliine, Henri Arnaud, one of 
 the most esteemed pastors of the Yaudois church, had with- 
 drawn himself at the time of the general disaster of 1686, 
 being too prudent and too clearsighted to suiTcnder himself 
 to the duke's troops.'^' And when the residue of the people, 
 to whom he had consecrated his life, were released from 
 prison, he joined them. He sojoiu'ned at XeulVhutel "sWth 
 a part of his people. His genius and resolute character 
 marked him out to the Yaudois, as the man around whom 
 they ought to gather, as the living soul of their people, — 
 in one w^ord, as their chief. It was to him, in fact, that 
 the general confidence gave the command of the enterprise 
 for a long time projected, and which was now ripe for 
 execution. 
 
 The most courageous Yaudois had quitted theu' canton- 
 ments and traversed Switzerland by night, thi'ough b}Toads, 
 and repaired to Bex, the general rendezvous. But however 
 secret their march, it could not be concealed from^ the 
 senates of Zurich and Berne, nor from the council of 
 Geneva, who suddenly were informed that sixty Yaudois 
 who served in the ganison had just deserted, and entered 
 the Pays de Yaud. Their project being thus di%-ulged, was 
 thwarted. A bark laden with arms did not reach Yilleneuvi-, 
 where they were waiting for it. The chief magistrate of 
 Aigle, being apprised by their excellencies, was obliged to 
 conform to theii' orders and stop the expedition. It also 
 met with other insiu-moimtable obstacles. The inhabitants 
 of Yalais in agreement with the Savoyards, ha^-ing, on tlie 
 
 * He Tvas present at the affairs of St. Germain, when tAVO hundred Vaiidois 
 made so gallant a defence. 
 
 Q 
 
338 HISTOKY OF THE VATJDOIS CUTJECH. 
 
 first rumour, occupied the bridge of St. Maurice, the key 
 of the pass, had both of them by their signals roused all 
 Chablais, and put Yalais on its guard. The fatal order for 
 stopping their march was given with all the kind considera- 
 tion possible to six or seven hundred Yaudois, who were 
 then assembled in the temple of Bex, by the generous Fr. 
 Thormann, magistrate or governor of Aigie. He addressed 
 them with tears in his eyes, showing them that their pro- 
 ject having taken wind and their adversaries being in arms, 
 it would be rash to think of going any further, and that 
 their excellencies could not permit it without laying them- 
 selves open to the charge of violating treaties. He did 
 justice to their zeal; and, in order to incline their hearts to 
 patience and trust in God, under their trials, he reminded 
 them that the Lord, who is attentive to the desires of his 
 children, and holds the times in his own hand, knew well 
 how to bring about the favourable moment. This sensible 
 and friendly discourse having somewhat calmed tlieir spirits, 
 their pastor and leader, Arnaud, led them to entire submis- 
 sion by a sermon on the affecting words of the Savioui' — 
 'Tear not, little flock," Luke xii. 32. 
 
 The Yaudois being conducted to Aigie, and lodged with 
 private individuals, took a grateful leave of this humane 
 governor, who lent them two hundred crowns to assist those 
 of them in returning who lived in the furthest parts of 
 Switzerland. They felt how much they were indebted to 
 him, when they saw themselves repulsed from Yevey, where 
 they were even refused provisions, and when they found 
 themselves treated with severity, all along the road, by 
 order of the coimcil of Berne, who were disj)leased, as may 
 be easily imagined, with an expedition which compromised 
 their honour, since there were not wanting persons at Tiu'in 
 to suspect them of being accomplices. This was actually 
 the fact; but the cantons cleared themselves entirely of 
 such an imputation. 
 
 As to the persons engaged in this attempt, who were 
 banished for some time to the Isle of Bienne (St. Pierre,) 
 they received orders two months afterwards from the assem- 
 bled cantons, to resume their route to the north of Switz- 
 erland, Zurich, and Schaffhausen, and to accept, notwith- 
 standing the opposition many continued to show, the 
 charitable oifers of the German princes. More than eight 
 
EETUHN OF THE GIIEATEK TAET TO SWITZERLAND. 339 
 
 hundred persons, men, -women, and children, embarked on 
 the Rhine, to be conveyed to the ek'ctorate of Brandenburg. 
 And while the French commandant do Brissac tired at their 
 boats, Frederic in. prepared to give them a cordial reception. 
 A separate part of the town of Stendal was given them for 
 a residence ; they were amply supplied with all the comforts 
 of life. They were allowed to have, not only their own 
 pastor and schoolmaster, but also their own municipal 
 magistrates and judges. Eight hundred Yaudois were to 
 till and sow the rich lands of the Palatinate, which the 
 elector, Philip AVilliam of Xeuburg, had ])ut at their dis- 
 posal. Seven hundi'ed were settled in Wirtemberg. A 
 few hundreds remained in Switzerland, particularly in the 
 Orisons. Arnaud, after having superintended this distri- 
 bution, which he could not but deplore, set out, in company 
 with a Yaudois captain,* for Holland, to consult respecting 
 his secret project with prince AYilliam of Orange, who was 
 more conversant than any other man with public affairs and 
 the politics of Europe. This prince, who in the following 
 year ascended the throne of England in the place of the 
 papist James ii., encouraged the persevering Amaud, and 
 led him to hope that circumstances would be very favour- 
 able to his enterprise. He advised him, meanwhile, to keep 
 the Yaudois as much united as possible. 
 
 In fact, scarcely had a few months passed away, when 
 the situation of political affairs favoured the accomplish- 
 ment of Arnaud' s project. War broke out, Oermany was 
 invaded in the autumn of 1688, and the French army over- 
 ran the Palatinate. The Yaudois who were there, dreading 
 these Frenchmen who had done so much mischief in their 
 valleys, retired before them, and retook the road to Switz- 
 erland. A part of those in Wii'temberg did the same. 
 The evangelical cantons, affected by their new sufferings, 
 gave them a kind reception; Schaffhausen, particularly, 
 where they obtained a temporary settlement. They were 
 soon distiibuted in their ancient allotments, even in districts 
 where the French language was spoken ; as at Xeuville and 
 Neufchatel. The intervention of Holland was perhaps not 
 useless, in these times, for the poor exiles, tossed about by 
 political storms at a distance from their native land. M. 
 de Convenant, deputed by the states general, requested the 
 
 * Baptiste Bess on of Saxi Giovanni. 
 
 Q 2 
 
340 HISTOET OF THE VAUDOIS CHTJECH. 
 
 cantons at the beginning of 1689 to continue their protec- 
 tion to the Vaudois till his Britannic majesty, William of 
 Orange/* could provide for their settlement in his new 
 dominions. Thus protected, the children of the valleys 
 waited for the important hour of their departure, gaining 
 an honest livelihood, with their own hands, chiefly among 
 the peasantry. Everywhere justice was done to their acti- 
 vity and probity. The only misdemeanor of which any 
 one of them was accused, was the carrying off a musket ; 
 and this after some time was restored. 
 
 The dawn of their deliverance, so impatiently longed for, 
 at last appeared on the political horizon, inviting the Yau- 
 dois to depart and to re-enter their own country in arms. 
 Savoy was stripped of troops; Victor Amadeus having 
 withdrawn them to Piedmont, where he needed them. 
 France, attacked by the emperor and by the Dutch, to whom 
 England, now governed by William in., would soon be 
 joined, having itself to defend, could farnish no succour to 
 the duke of Savoy against the Vaudois, who, when once 
 more entrenched in their mountains, would know how to 
 defend themselves, till their powerful protectors could obtain 
 an honourable capitulation for them. 
 
 Eeeling secure on the side of their adversaries, the Vau- 
 dois needed only to be on their guard against their friends, 
 whose political relations constrained them to put obstacles 
 in the way of their departure. The undertaking was cer- 
 tainly difficult ; but if secrecy could be preserved, it was 
 not impossible. The experience of two abortive attempts 
 had taught silence and extraordinary prudence. Yet some 
 suspicions were excited at Berne, and orders were given to 
 the chief magistrate at Chillon and Aigie, at Nyon and 
 some other places, in case the Vaudois should attempt a 
 passage, as in the preceding year. Berne also caused Ar- 
 naud, who was residing at Neufchatel with his wife, to be 
 watched. This enterj)rising leader, however, took his pre- 
 cautions so well, made his preparations with so much ability, 
 and gave his orders with such precision, that in spite of the 
 watchfulness of the authorities, he perfectly succeeded. 
 
 The place of rendezvous appointed for the scattered 
 Vaudois was a forest of considerable size called the wood of 
 
 * The prince of Orange landed in England in Nov. 1688, and was crowned 
 April 11, 1689, 
 
WOOD OF PRANGINS. 341 
 
 Prangins, situated on the borders of tlie lake Lenian, in the 
 vicinity of the little town of Xyon, on the confines of tlie 
 Bernese Territory.* The extent of the forest, its isolated 
 position along the banks facing the Savoyard coast, from 
 which it was not above a league distant, rendered it 
 preferable to eveiy other point. The time fixed for the 
 gathering was equally well chosen. They took advan- 
 tage of the solemnity of a general fast, which, keeping the 
 population in the temples and the interior of the villages, 
 prevented them from noticing the armed travellers, and 
 rendered it very difficult to call out the militia of the 
 country, in case the authorities wished to oppose either the 
 gathering or the embarkation. 
 
 The movement of several hundreds of anued men could 
 not be concealed so entirely that the magistrates should 
 receive no notice of it ;f but the care taken by the bands to 
 
 * This district now forms part of the canton of Vaud. 
 
 t On the 14th of August, 1639, early in the morning, the chief magistrate of 
 Lausanne, M. Sturler, was informed that one hundred and eighty Piedmon- 
 tese, armed, had ai-rived at Vidy, and kept themselves concealed while waiting 
 to embark. Major de Crousaz was sent to them, with orders to give up their 
 undertaking, and to return home. The major sent back three boats, which 
 were already at hand. The Piedmontese were irritated, but promised never- 
 theless to retrace their steps. The same magistrate received at midnight the 
 deposition of two peasants of Romanel, near Lausanne, who declared that a 
 troop of five hundi-ed men, led by an officer on horseback, marching very 
 qtiickly and in silence, had passed by their viUage towards the side of the lake. 
 He learned, by his agents, that four hundred of these men had embarked in 
 boats that came from the side of Geneva. The next day he found that they 
 came from near Nyon. The others had disappeared. 
 
 At Morges, a town on the borders of the lake of Geneva, about fifteen or 
 twenty miles from Nyon, on the 15th, a fast day, at the hour of afternoon ser- 
 vice, that is at one o'clock, the magistrate of "this to^vn was informed that a 
 gi-eat number of Piedmontese were secreted in the copses below Allaman. He 
 immediately rode thither with some persons belonging to the place, and satis- 
 fied himself that there were about three hundred men there, armed with good 
 firelocks. They declared their intention of going that evening to the wood of 
 Nyon. The magistrate ^vl■ote to the chief magistrate of Nyon, and wished to 
 arrest them, but of the hundi-ed he thought he had made prisoners he could 
 only secm-e seventeen. Not satisfied with this attempt, he called out the 
 militia, and went to the wood of Nyon, where he found nobody. He also 
 caused the boats to be seized. 
 
 The magistrate of Nyon, M. Steiger, who, agreeably to the orders he had 
 received from Berne in'^the preceding month, had prohibited all boatmen from 
 taking any Piedmontese to Geneva or Savoy under pain of death, was informed 
 on the evening of the 15th by the magistrate of Morges of what had taken 
 place. He sent a strong detachment of mihtia to the bridge of Promonthoux 
 to watch for the arrival of the detachments of Piedmontese which were said 
 to be in a wood of chesnut trees under St. Bonet and Bursinel, or m the copse 
 of Allaman, and had been also seen near the gibbet of RoUe. This watch was 
 renewed on the next day, the 16th of August. He sent a guard also to the 
 entrances to the wood of Prangins. On the loth, at evening, and particularl;y 
 on the 16th, the magistrate of Nyon gave notice to all the mihtia of the baih- 
 \N-ick, even those of the mountain, to be, on the 17th of August, at five o clock 
 in the morning, at the guardhouse of Nyon, to march and take all the I led- 
 montese they could find in the wood of Prangins prisoners ; but in the mght 
 
542 HISTOET OF THE TAUDOIS CHUECH. 
 
 conceal their march into the wood, and particularly their 
 staying on the distant lands of the chief magistrate of 
 Morges till the decisive moment, the evening of the 16th 
 of August, when they entered unperceived into the baili- 
 wick of Nyon and the wood of Prangins, at a time when 
 they were supposed to he far oiF, as the distance was 
 thought to he too great for their arrival there; by such 
 precautions the measures were thwarted, which the magi- 
 strates had hastened to take. All sources of apprehension 
 were not yet removed. Scarcely had the principal brigades 
 reached the wood of Nyon in the evening, when they saw 
 persons landing from a multitude of boats, whose curiosity 
 had brought them there to ascertain if the reports in cir- 
 culation were well founded. This circumstance, which 
 might have been fatal to them, and obliged them to em- 
 bark much sooner than they had expected, before all their 
 own people had arrived, tui-ned out very advantageously for 
 them, by putting at their disposal means of transport which 
 they would otherwise have been without. 
 
 It was between nine and ten o'clock, in the evening of 
 the 16th of August, 1689, the day after the fast, that 
 Henri Arnaud gave the signal for their departure -'' by 
 falling on his knees on the margin of the lake, and invoking, 
 in a loud voice, the all-good and all-powerful God, who, in 
 their distresses, had remained their safeguard and their 
 hope. Fifteen boats unmoored, laden with the greater 
 part of the little army. A gust of wind, which for a 
 short time dispersed some of them, brought them within 
 sight of a Geneva boat that contained eighteen of their 
 people. Ko sooner had they reached the opposite shore 
 than the transports pushed off again, in quest of those 
 who might be waiting for them ; f but of the fifteen boats, 
 three only reached the wood of Prangins in the night, and 
 
 of the 16th and 17th the Piedmontese, knowing- what measures had been taken, 
 embarked, although they were not all assembled. 
 
 A letter from the syndics of Geneva, of the 15th of August, announced to 
 their excellencies that in the night sLxty Vaudois had left for Nyon or Lau- 
 sanne in several boats. (Archives de Berne, mark D.) 
 
 * How inscrutable and unfathomable are the ways of God ! How did it 
 come to pass that in the midst of such a movement, in some sense contrary to 
 their plan, the Vaudois, so coimteracted, set out in the numbers most con- 
 venient, according to all appearance ? 
 
 t To the number of six or seven himdred, if we may rely on the declaration 
 of the secretary Baillival, who had surprised them, and who employed many 
 exhortations, reproaches, and menaces to turn them from their purpose.— 
 (See the report of the magistrate of Nyon in the Archives of Berne, mark D.) 
 
CEOSS THE LAKE LEMAX. 343 
 
 brought over a fresh detachment to the Savoy side. * The 
 others disappeared. By this mishap, two hundred men 
 remained on the Swiss side. It may be presumed that 
 they were not the most ardent to engage in the stnigglc. 
 Many of them were not even armed. Arnaud also regretted 
 the loss of a score of men, who reached ^^lorges too late, 
 where they were stopped and prevented from joining him. 
 All these men, however, regained their asylum in the can- 
 tons ; but the loss most lamented was that of a hundred 
 and twenty brave men coming from the Grisons, St. Gall, 
 and Wirtemberg. They were arrested in the small popish 
 cantons by the desire of the coimt de Govon, the resident of 
 the duke of Savoy, who had got tidings of their setting 
 out, and they were sent to the prisons of Turin, where they 
 remained till the peace. The Vaudois who were settled 
 at Neufchatel, and left it only on the 16th, also failed to 
 reach the rendezvous, as well as the captain Bourgeois,! who 
 was to have commanded the expedition.^ 
 
 'Nine hundred men had effected the passage of the lake, — 
 a small company to attempt making their way through an 
 unfi'iendly population, and thousands of soldiers entrenched 
 behind streams of water, or in fortified positions ; a com- 
 pany, on the other hand, far too numerous for the slender 
 means of sustenance to be found in the bj'-places tlu^ough 
 which they intended to go ; an untrained assemblage, 
 
 * One of the boatmen of Nyon, named Signat, a native of Tonneins, in 
 Guienne, a man zealous for religion, and a refugee, was left on the Savoy side 
 by the other boatmen, while he was taking leave of his friends from the valleys. 
 In vain he ran to the shore, calling after his comrades, who went off vriih his 
 boat. " Come with us," said his new friends, " and we \viU give you a good 
 house in heu of your Uttle boat." He accordingly set out \nth them. 
 
 t Captain Bourgeois, of Yverdun, or Neufchatel, an officer of merit, who 
 had been requested by Amaud to take the command of the httle Vaudois army, 
 was absent from the rendezvous. Being suspected of cowardice, he ^vished 
 to clear himself from this injurious imputation, and to rejoin Amaud. He 
 collected a thousand Piedmontese, Swiss, and French, (the latter were the 
 most numerous,) and crossed the lake at Vevay on September Uth, in the 
 same year. He had some success in Chablais ; but it was impossible for him 
 to restrain his undisciplined troops, who gave themselves up to drinking and 
 plunder, instead of marching onwards. When they arrived at Faucigny they 
 would not go any fm-ther. The Savoyard troops guarded all the mountain 
 ridges and passes. Being driven back on Geneva, and transported to the 
 Swiss tenitorj^ by vessels from that city, they disbanded. Captain Bourgeois 
 was aiTested by order of their excellencies, condemned to die, and beheaded 
 at the harbour of Nyon in March, 1690. " All eyes but his own were bathed 
 in tears," says a "manuscript account.— Gnmer, in Vuhiemin, Historj' of 
 Switzerland, v. xiii. 
 
 X The sources from which we have taken the foregoing accounts are the 
 archives of Berne, Vaud, and Geneva ; the Histoire de la Rentree dcs Vaudois, 
 (History of the Return of the Vaudois,) by Amaud, of which there are two 
 editions, one very rare, of 1710, the other printed at Neufchatel, in late.— 
 Dieterici die Waldenser, Berlin, 1831, 
 
344 HISTOET OF THE VATJDOIS CHUECH. 
 
 formed of persons of every age, hardened, it is true, by 
 toil, but yet strangers to military discipline and manoeuvres. 
 What could become of them, exposed as they would be to 
 incessant privations and fatigues ; to scorching heat diuing 
 the day, and frost at nights, most frequently without 
 shelter, through rain, through inhospitable tracts and 
 deep defiles, by the sides of precipices, and over rocks 
 crowned with eternal snow ? They are aware of all this, 
 these inheritors of the Vaudois name, and of the glory and 
 sufferings of their fathers. Now alone on the strand of 
 the lake they have just crossed, they tread on the soil 
 which they are about to bathe with their sweat and their 
 blood. No illusion deceives them. The hard reality, 
 with its dangers and privations, is before their eyes, stern as 
 truth. But no one draws back ; no one is startled. The 
 love of their country influences them; the hope of return 
 to the places of their birth, where from time immemorial 
 their fathers raised on high the standard of the truth 
 which is in Jesus Christ, animates them with unshaken 
 confidence. The prize of the conflict seems to them 
 worthy of the greatest sacrifices. It is a terrestrial native 
 land, to the recollection of which they have attached their 
 faith and hope of salvation, by an association of ideas 
 easily to be accounted for in men fall of the religious 
 traditions of their ancestors. In setting out, sword in 
 hand, to reconquer it, their hearts are at ease, for their 
 cause is just. They seek for nothing but what they have 
 been deprived of by deceit or violence.'"^' Thus, in former 
 ages, Israel seized the sword and buckler to maintain his 
 right to the possession of the Holy Land. And these sons 
 of the Yaudois, could they abandon, without remorse and 
 without a struggle, their right to the land of the martyrs, 
 their ancestors,— to their unquestionable heritage ? Their 
 presence on the Savoy side, at the entrance to the domains 
 of their prince, is their answer ; and as to the means of 
 execution, they wish to employ none but such as are 
 peaceful. They carry arms only to defend themselves if 
 attacked, or if their passage be opposed. They desire to 
 remain under the observation of God the righteous Judge, 
 
 * It cannot be said that the court of Turin kept its promises to the Vaudois, 
 when MM. de Muralt, the deputies from the evangehcal cantons, negotiated 
 the conditions of enaigration ; nor those that piince Gabriel of Savoy made in 
 the name of the duke, liis nephew, to induce the Vaudois, who were not yet 
 conquered, to lay dowTi their arms. 
 
TAKE A SOUTHWAKD DIRECTION. 345 
 
 and beneath his holy protection. They hope to be able to 
 repeat on their maix-h and in eveiy encounter, like the 
 childi-en of Israel, " Jehovah is oui' Banner." 
 
 Between Nernier and Yvoire, two towns of the Chablais, 
 facing the wood of Prangins, Arnaud, the leader, landed 
 from his fi'ail bai'k -with fourteen companions, and his tirst 
 care was to place sentinels at all the avenues, and to 
 marshal his troops as they disembarked. He then di\ided 
 his nine hundi^ed men into twenty companies, six of which 
 were composed of the French of Dauphine, adjoining the 
 valleys,^-' and of Languedoc ; thirteen others were of different 
 Yaudois communes ;f and the last of volunteers, who were 
 not willing to make a part of the preceding. They fonned 
 tiu'ee bodies, an advanced guard, a centre, and a rear- 
 guard, according to the tactics of regular troops, Avhich 
 were always observed by the Yaudois in their marches. 
 Two ministers, beside Arnaud, were with the little army, — 
 Cp'us Chyon, formerly pastor of Pont-a-lloyaus, in 
 Dauphine, and Montoux, of the valley of Pragela. The 
 first, Chj^on, was soon separated from the expedition. 
 Having repaired with too much confidence to the fu'st 
 village,:]: to obtain a guide, he was taken prisoner, and led 
 to Chambery, where he remained till the peace. 
 
 The army once organized, and in a condition to defend 
 themselves if the enemy aj)peared, bent their knees before 
 the Lord, on whom the success of their enteiprise depended, 
 and ardently invoked his all-powerful aid. They then took 
 a southward direction, in order to pass over the little moun- 
 tain range that separates Chablais ii'om Paucigny ; — Yvoire 
 being threatened, opened its gates and gave them a free 
 passage. The villages tlii'ough which they passed never 
 di-eamed of making resistance. Some gentry, as well as 
 subaltern magistrates, whose persons they secured as 
 hostages, were obliged to follow, and served as guides, 
 till they were replaced by others. Nevertheless, they 
 
 * Namely, the valley of Clusone, or Praorela, of Queyras, of Embninois, etc. 
 Their captains were caUed Martin, Privat, Lucas, Turel, Foufrede, and Chien. 
 
 t Angi'oarna had three companies, whose captdins were Lam-ent Buffa, 
 Etienne Frasche, and Michel Bertin ; San Giovaimi two companies, under the 
 captains BeUion and Besson ; La Toi-re one, under Jean Frasche ; Villai-o one, 
 under Paul Pelenc ; Bobbio two, under the captains Martinat and Mondon ; 
 Prarustin one, imder Daniel Odin ; St. Germam and Pramol one, mider cap- 
 tain Robert; Macel one, under Phihp Tron-Poulat; Prali one, under captaiii 
 Peyrot. 
 
 X Probably at Nemier. 
 
 Q 3 
 
346 HISTOET OF THE VAUDOIS CHUECH. 
 
 performed, these coercive measures with so much address, 
 and the discipline of the army was so strict, that the 
 apprehensions at first felt by the inhabitants of the open 
 country soon subsided, and the peasants with their 
 ministers might be seen approaching and quietly watching 
 the troops as they filed off, and even saluting them by 
 saying. May God go with you ! The parish minister of 
 Filly opened his cellar, and supplied them with refresh- 
 ment, without receiving any remuneration. But very soon, 
 while ascending the mountain by the path which leads to 
 Boege on the Menoge, in Eaucigny, the encounter they had 
 with the gentry, whom, notwithstanding their threatening 
 tone, they made prisoners, and then with two hundred 
 armed peasants, under the command of the governor of 
 Boege and a quarter-master, whose resistance was next to 
 nothing, showed them nevertheless the necessity of being 
 beforehand with the inhabitants. They perceived that 
 if arms were generally taken up, the expedition would be 
 exposed to great danger. They therefore employed a slight 
 stratagem : they made one of the gentry who were kept 
 as hostages write the following letter from Boege: '* These 
 persons have arrived here to the number of two thousand ; 
 they have requested us to accompany them, that we may 
 be able to give an account of their conduct, and to assui-e 
 you that it has been perfectly regular ; they pay for every 
 thing they take, and all they ask is a free passage. We 
 beg you, therefore, not to sound the tocsin, or to beat the 
 drum, and to withdraw your people in case they should be 
 under arms." This letter, signed by all the gentry and 
 sent to the to"s\Ti of Yiu, in Paucigny, where they arrived 
 at nightfall, had a very good effect ; and on their march 
 they met with no more resistance ; on the contrary, they 
 found the people eager to furnish whatever they asked for, 
 even to saddle-horses and wagons. A similar letter sent 
 to St. Joyre prepared a good reception for the weary 
 travellers. But to gain time, they pushed on. It was 
 only at midnight that they stopped in an open field and 
 rested a little notwithstanding the rain. 
 
 The next day did not pass quite so peaceably. Cluse, a 
 walled city, obstructed the narrow passage between the 
 mountain to the north, and the impetuous Arve on the 
 south. The inhabitants in arms lined the trenches ; the 
 
DIFFICtTLTIES OF THEIR SITUATION. 347 
 
 mountaineers ran together, shouting out abuse. The firm- 
 ness of the Yaudois, who resolved to force a passage, and 
 the intervention of the hostages, who trembled for tlieir own 
 safety, led to a capitulation. The gates were opened, and 
 provisions were sold. The little army continued its marcli 
 southward, on the east bank of the Aiwe, at the foot of 
 contiguous mountains from whose declivities thej- might 
 have been crushed, by rolling down fragments of rock, and 
 reached by way of Maglan the great bridge of St. Mar- 
 tin, facing Salenches. ^Tiile still at a great distance 
 they had seen on the other side a horseman riding at full 
 speed, and concluded that he was going to give the alarm 
 in the town, the chief place in Faucigny. Having advanced 
 within a hundred paces of a great wooden bridge, flanked 
 by many houses, and easily defended, the Yaudois halted 
 and formed in close columns for the attack. But faithful 
 to their rule never to seize by force what they could obtain 
 willingly, they requested a passage over the bridge and 
 through the city. The town-council, avoiding giving a 
 precise answer, gained time, and collected six liundrcd men. 
 At the sight of the latter, the Yaudois knew what they 
 had to do, and, in an instant, they had crossed the bridge, 
 and set themselves in order of battle. Their antago- 
 nists retreated behind the hedges, without firing; our 
 waniors of two days old left them in peace, in theii' 
 tiuTi, then resumed their march, and, quitting the val- 
 ley of the Arve to plunge into a defile which opened to 
 the south of Salenches, passed the night at Cablau, 
 where they wanted a sufficient supply of provisions, and 
 could scarcely dry theii' gannents, soaked with the rain 
 that had been falling incessantly since the preceding even- 
 ing. Nevertheless these poor people blessed God that they 
 had so far marched successfully, ^dthout fighting or loss 
 of men, over bridges and through defiles where a few 
 courageous defenders could have done them irreparable 
 injury, and that he had granted them a peaceful night 
 after so much fatigue and anxiety. 
 
 Eest was very necessary for them ; for they were about 
 to face physical'difficulties of which the prospect might have 
 shaken the courage of persons quite unfatigucd and free from 
 anxiety ; how much more men who for a number of days 
 and nights had known no rest or sleep but what they could 
 enjoy during their brief halts, exposed to the injuries of the 
 
348 HISTOET OF THE VAFDOIS CHUECH. 
 
 atmosphere, and for the last eighteen hours to rain, — not 
 to mention the mental disquietude which scarcely allowed 
 them to close their eyes ? Now they had reached the foot 
 of the gigantic Alps, — those masses which have braved the 
 winds and storms of centuries, whose heads are hoary with 
 eternal snows, and whose precipitous sides only offer in 
 their rents or accidental slopes, a few perilous paths by 
 which the traveller cannot advance without difficulty. They 
 were come into the presence of the monarch of European 
 mountains, the majestic Mont-Blanc ; the Vaudois had to 
 bend their steps over the undulating folds of his mantle 
 of forests, and of rocks surmounted with silver snows, 
 hollowed out with dazzling glaciers and torrent waterfalls ; 
 they came hither not to admire the wonderful works of God, 
 nor to refresh their hearts by this sublime spectacle, but 
 to shun cities and men, to breathe at liberty as they 
 marched on rapidly, like the chamois bounding from cliff to 
 cliff on the heights above them, or as the eagle that soared 
 over their heads. They were arrived at the spot, where 
 the Alps to the west of Mont-Blanc change their direc- 
 tion all at once by an obtuse angle, and instead of stretch- 
 ing westward descend in a zigzag to the south. N'umerous 
 valleys are spread out at their base, separated from one 
 another by lateral branches of the principal chain. To 
 the summit of these lateral branches it was necessary 
 for our nine hundred travellers to ascend from the bot- 
 tom of the valleys, in order to descend again into the 
 opposite valley. This fatiguing labour was to be their 
 daily task for eight days, one excepted. Often they could 
 scarcely find an3^thing to maintain them excepting milk 
 and cheese, and the frozen water of the mountains. The 
 rain frequently beat upon their backs bent with fatigue, 
 and their suffering feet slipped many times in a day upon 
 the snows and in the stony ravines. We shall not recount 
 their sufferings in detail ; they would fatigue the reader. 
 Let it suffice to give a general idea, by this description of 
 the route they followed. 
 
 From Cablau, in the mountains to the south of Salenche, 
 the little army ascended to the valley of Megeve, at the 
 foot of Mont Joli, which bounds it to the east, and sepa- 
 rates it from that of Mont-Joie or Bonnant, and after 
 having passed the first defile, where they refreshed them- 
 selves in the herdsmen's huts, they descended into the 
 
DIFFICrLTIES OF THEIR SITUATION. 349 
 
 valley of Haute-LucG, to ascend immediately on the left, 
 to the east, a precipitous mountain, whose aspect in- 
 spii'cd horror, but which must unavoidably be crossed by 
 whoever would enter the valley of Bonnant, to pass next 
 throup;h the defile of Bonhomme, as was the design of our 
 travellers. At the sight of this awful mountain,* the 
 courage of many failed. In various places, the road was 
 he^TL out of the rock : they were obliged to ascend and 
 descend as if by a ladder suspended over the precipices. 
 ''Arnaud," says the author of the ''Glorieuse Rentree," 
 C Glorious RetiuTL,"! ) ^' the zealous and renowned leader 
 of this little flock, restored, by his holy and excellent 
 exhortations, the courage of those who followed him. But 
 this was not all ; the descent was still more painfid and 
 dangerous than the ascent. To effect it, it was neccssaiy 
 almost always to sit and slide down precipitously, without 
 any other light than the reflection of the snows and glaciers 
 of Mont-Blanc, which rose before them.:J: It was not till 
 late at night that they reached the shepherds' huts,§ in a 
 place deep as an abyss, barren and cold, where they could 
 not make a fire except by um'oofing the hovels to take the 
 
 * Which the author of the Rentr^e calls the mountain of Haute-Luce, from 
 the name of the village at its foot, but which, without doubt, is either the Col- 
 Joli, (7240, high,) or the Col de la Fenetre, or Portetta, as it was named to 
 Mr. Brockedon, who has visited these countries, and followed the same road 
 as the Vaudois. - (See Picturesque Views of the Vaudois Valleys, by Beattie, 
 p. 16S.) It is difficult, perhaps impossible, to detenrdne thi-ough which of 
 these two defiles the Vaudois passed ; they could not teU themselves, being 
 obhged, owing to the thick fog, to commit themselves to a guide whom they 
 disti-usted and were obhged to threaten, and who, perhaps in revenge, led 
 them through the most difficult roads. 
 
 t It is not probable that Amaud, to whom is attributed the compilation of 
 the Glorieuse Rentree, would speak thus of himself. But possibly this eulo- 
 gium is quoted from the journal of young Paul Renaudin, (or Reynaudin,) of 
 Bobbio, which Amaud might have reproduced in the text- The author of the 
 Glorieuse Rentree acknowledges, in fact, that this journal, written with great 
 fidehty and exactness, furnished him with many exceUent materials for his 
 history. The aged Joshua Janavel, who lived at Geneva, might have heard 
 before' his death the manuscript of his young compatriot read to him, which 
 would excite the hvehest emotions. Paul Renaudin left Bale, where he was a 
 student, to join the army. He returned to his studies after the peace, and died 
 pastor of Bobbio. (Histoire de la Glorieuse Rentree, edition of 1710, pp. 69 
 and 175 ; or the edition of 1845, pp. 65 and 131.) See, also, the learned essay 
 on the Vaudois which is preserved in the hbrarj' at Bale. 
 
 t The summits and glaciers of the Miage, Trez-la-tete, etc. 
 
 § The author of the Rentree beheves that these huts were those of St 
 Nicolas de Verose ; in which opinion he is probably mistaken, for he describes 
 the place as in a deep hoUow, Uke a desert and cold abyss, while St. Nicolas is 
 a large village in a hvely situation on the hiU-side of Mont-JoU. The huts in 
 which our travellers foiind such a miseraV;le lodtring were probably some near 
 St. Nicolas, but situated higher up in the vallev, at the foot of the pass of Bon- 
 homme. Mr. Brockedon, quoted by Dr. Beattie in the Picturesiiue Views of 
 the Vaudois Valleys, as ha\Tng visited these districts by a Vaudois itinerary, 
 believes that these huts, of which the Rentree speaks, were those of the Barme. 
 
350 HISTORY OF THE VAT7D0IS CHURCH. 
 
 wood, which in return exposed them to the rain which 
 lasted all night. So many hardships determined captain 
 Chien, belonging to one of the six Trench companies, to 
 desert, taking a horse along with him. He was of a delicate 
 constitution. 
 
 On the fourth day the little army passed through the 
 defile of Bonhomme, which separates the pro^'ince of Pau- 
 cigny from that of Tarentaise, the basin of the Arve from 
 that of the Isere. They ascended the mountain up to their 
 knees in snow, while a heavy rain was falling. They had not 
 been "^^thout fear of having their passage disjDuted, for they 
 knew that in the preceding year, at the report of their first 
 attempts, fortifications and entrenchments had been con- 
 structed in these places, with embrasures and coverings, in 
 a position so advantageous that thirty persons would have 
 sufficed, our friends said when they saw them, to stop their 
 passage and destroy them. They praised God most heartily 
 that all these works had been abandoned. From the heights 
 of Bonhomme they descended into the valley of the Yersoi, 
 where their resolute appearance overawed the peasantry 
 who had assembled by the command of their lord to oppose 
 their passage. In the evening they reached Sey on the 
 Isere, and meeting there with a plentiful supply of pro- 
 visions, they encamped not far from the town. The fifth 
 day spent in going up the Isere had nothing remarkable, 
 unless, perhaj)s, the excessive earnestness with which some 
 gentlemen of Sainte-Foi wished to detain and lodge them ; 
 a politeness which rendered them suspected, and procured 
 them the advantage of travelling in company with the other 
 hostages. The number of these persons was now very 
 considerable; but their lot was not so melancholy as to 
 prevent their repeating with good-humour their accustomed 
 saying when they saw some person of consequence coming 
 towards them, *' Here is another handsome bird for our 
 cage !" This evening for the first time in eight days and 
 eight nights, Arnaud and Montoux, his colleague, were 
 lodged, supped, and rested in peace three hours. 
 
 On the following day, they ascended Mount Iseran, from 
 which the Isere takes its rise. Some shepherds, who had 
 regaled them with milk on these mountains covered A^dth 
 cattle, warned them that on the other side of Mount Cenis 
 some regular troops were waiting for them, determined to 
 oppose them. This news, far from alarming them, inflamed 
 
DIFFICULTIES OF THEIR SITrATION. 351 
 
 their courage ; for, knowing that the issue of battles depends 
 on God, for whose glory they had taken arms, they doubted 
 not that he would open a passage for them, whoever nii"-ht 
 attempt to close it. 
 
 Having reached Maui-ienne in the evening, the little 
 army on the seventh day ascended Mount Cenis, whore 
 the}' seized all the post-horses, so that the news of their 
 coming could not be transmitted very rapidly. A small 
 division also laid hands on some mules laden with the bag- 
 gage of the pope's nuncio in France, cai'dinal Angc Ilanuzzi, 
 who was returning to Italy ; but the muleteers haWng com- 
 plained to the officers, they caused all the booty to be 
 restored. Only a watch could not be recovered.* Having 
 ended this affair, the army took the route of the little 
 Mount Cenis, leaving the most fi-equented road to the h.'ft, 
 and descended by the pass of Clairee,f into the valley of 
 Jaillon, having wandered out of the way in a mist and over 
 the snow with which the earth was covered. Many passed 
 the night wretchedly in the woods. The main body had 
 no advantage over them, except that of warming and drying 
 themselves round some fires. 
 
 When on the eighth day, leaving the valley of Jaillon, 
 the Yaudois wished to press on to Chaumont, where they 
 hoped to pass the Doire, (Doria Hiparia,) one league above 
 Suza, and for this purpose were seeking for an outlet fi-om 
 the narrow valley in which they had passed the night, they 
 found the enemy in possession of the heights. A part of 
 the French garrison of Exilles, and a great number of 
 peasants, occupied an advantageous post which commanded 
 the path along which they must go. Captain Pelcnc, who 
 was sent to treat with them, ha^-ing been kept ])risoner, the 
 advanced guard, a hundi'cd strong, set forward, but being 
 immediately repulsed by a shower of balls, grenades, and 
 stones, they forded the Jaillon, and defiled on the right 
 bank, protected by a grove of chesnut trees. Yet the 
 examination of the places inspiring some fears as to ulti- 
 mate success, they decided on regaining the heights they 
 had descended. This last resolution filled the hostages 
 
 * The prelate's correspondence was also missing. It seems that it came 
 into the hands of the king of France, which sorely displeased and vexed the 
 cardinal, as he felt himself committed by it. But the Vaudois always asserted 
 their entire ignorance of the affair. 
 
 t This is :Mr. Brockedon's opinion, who has carefully sm^eyed these places. 
 The author of the Eentree gives another name to this mountain, that of Tour- 
 lier. 
 
352 HISTORY or the vaudois church. 
 
 with despair, worn out as they were with fatigue. '^ Eather 
 put us to death," they cried. Many of them were left 
 behind. The Yaudois themselves did not accomplish 
 it without great difficulty. Forty men lost their way ; 
 among others, the French captains Lucas and Privat, who 
 were never heard of again ; besides two good surgeons, 
 Jean Malanot, taken by the Piedmontese,^* and then con- 
 ducted to the prison at Tuiin, and JeanMuston, taken by 
 the French, and sent to the galleys, where he ended his 
 days. As they re -ascended the defile of Claire e, the 
 trumpets were sounded for a long time in order to collect 
 the wanderers, and to indicate to all the right direction. 
 They even waited full two hours, and then, being pressed 
 for time, resumed their route, although a considerable 
 number were missing. 
 
 From the summit of the mountain, where the little army 
 had avoided an encounter with two hundred soldiers of the 
 French garrison of Exilles, they proceeded through the 
 defile of Touillc, to the west, against Oulx, situated also in 
 the valley of the Doire, but several leagues above Suza. 
 Arnaud's intention was to pass the river at the bridge of 
 Salabertrand, between Exilles and Oulx. The night had 
 already overtaken them while they were still on the 
 mountain. ]N^ear a village, a league from the bridge they 
 hoped to force, a peasant whom they asked whether they 
 could get any provisions by pajdng for them, replied very 
 coolly, '^ Come on, they will give you all you want, and are 
 preparing you an excellent supper !" These words, from 
 the tone in which they were uttered, seemed rather threaten- 
 ing. But there was now no time to hesitate. After taking 
 refreshment in the village, they renewed their march, and 
 half a league from the bridge they saw before them about 
 six-and-thirty fires, an indication of rather a large encamp- 
 ment ; a quarter of an hour afterwards the vanguard came 
 upon an advanced post. 
 
 Every one perceiving that the critical hour on which 
 the success or ruin of the expedition depended was come, 
 listened to the prayer with deep attention ; then, under 
 favour of the night, they advanced to the bridge. To the 
 cry of '' Who's there ?" they answered, " Friends," — a sus- 
 
 * It appears that the Piedmontese cavahy of the count de Verrue, who 
 occupied Suza, was also in the field ; but the gi'eater part of the troops were 
 French. Each nation guarded its own prisoners. — See Histoire Mihtaire, 
 (IVIilitary History,) by the count of Saluzzo, t. v., pp. 6, 7. 
 
DEFEAT AX ARllET) FORCE AT SALABERTRAND. 353 
 
 jDicious answer, to "which the enemy's only rejjly was 
 "Kill! kill!" accompanied T\4th a tremendous tu-e for a 
 quarter of an hour ; which, however, did no harm, Arnaud 
 having at the first shot ordered the men to fall on the 
 ground. But a division of the enemy who had followed the 
 Yaudois having taken them in the rear, they found them- 
 selves placed between two fires. In this critical moment, 
 some of them, feeling that they must risk everj'thing, 
 shouted, " Courage ! the bridge is won !" At these words 
 the Yaudois rushing forwards headlong, sword in hand and 
 with fixed bayonets, on the passage marked out for their 
 valour, carried it, and vigorously attacking the entrench- 
 ments, forced them at once. They pui'sued their enemies 
 so closely as to seize them by the hair. The \'ictory was so 
 complete that the marquis de Larrcy, who commanded the 
 French, and was himself wounded in the arm, exclaimed, 
 '' Is it possible that I have lost the battle and my honour?" 
 In fact, two thousand five himdred soldiers, firmly en- 
 trenched, that is, fifteen companies of regular troops and 
 eleven of militia, without reckoning the peasantr}' and the 
 troops that attacked the Yaudois in the rear, were defeated 
 hj eight hundred men worn out with fatigue, as well as 
 novices in the art of war. The hand of God did this. 
 The Yaudois had only ten or twelve wounded, and fourteen 
 or fifteen killed, the French acknowledged a loss of 
 twelve captains, besides many other officers, and about six 
 hundred soldiers. This combat was advantageous for the 
 hostages, who, almost all, availed themselves of it to make 
 theii' escape. Of thirty-nine there remained only six of 
 the most aged. 
 
 The moon had risen, the enemy had disappeared. The 
 Yaudois provided themselves with military' stores and other 
 booty. They longed to take some repose ; but pmdence 
 dictated their departure, for which Arnaud gave orders. 
 Having thro^vn into the Doire a part of what they could 
 not cany away, they collected what powder remained, and, 
 on going away, set what they left on fire. To the tremen- 
 dous explosion that followed, and resounded to a distance 
 among the mountains, was added the sound of the Yaudois 
 tnimpets and the acclamations of the conquerors, who threw 
 their caps in the aii' as a sign of gladness, and exclaimed, 
 '' Thanks be to the Lord of hosts, who hath given us the 
 victon' over all our enemies." 
 
354 HISTOEY OF THE YAtTDOIS CHTJUCH. 
 
 But if the joy were great, so also was the fatigue : to such 
 a degree, indeed, that the greater part were overpowered 
 with sleep ; and yet it was necessary to advance, and, if 
 possible, ascend the mountain of Sci, which separated them 
 from Pragela, that they might not be surprised the next 
 morning by all the forces which the enemy had in the 
 valley of the Doire. But, with all the care of the rear- 
 guard to arouse the sleepers and make them march, twenty- 
 four remained behind and were taken prisoners — a loss 
 which, added to the forty that missed their way in the 
 ravines of Jaillon, deeply affected the army, otherwise so 
 elated with their great success. 
 
 The next day, the ninth since they set out, was a Sun- 
 day. The dawn appeared as they reached the summit of 
 Sci ; and when they were all assembled, Arnaud, with a 
 fall heart, pointed out to them in the distance the tops of 
 their mountains, A single valley only separated them — 
 that of Pragela or Clusone, well known of yore, peopled 
 throughout with Yaudois from time immemorial, who had 
 long been united to those of Piedmont by alliances, by a 
 similar ecclesiastical organization, and by a common synod. 
 It was long ago a place of refuge for them in the perse- 
 cution of 1655. It would still have been so if his most 
 Christian majesty had not caused all the evangelicals to 
 disappear, some years since, either by emigration or ab- 
 juration. It was not in a temple of any one of those once 
 evangelical villages that our travellers Avere able to retiu'n 
 thanks to God for the numerous proofs of his infinite com- 
 passion ; it was on the solitary Sci, under the vault of the 
 heavens, encii'cled by a vast horizon of mountains, lighted 
 up by the dazzling rays of the rising sun. On this spot the 
 conductor of this little band, Arnaud, on his knees like all 
 around him, humbled himself with them before the Eternal, 
 adoring and blessing him for their deliverances. All, after 
 having confessed their sins, looked up with confidence to 
 God, the Author of their salvation, and rose filled with 
 fresh courage. Some hours after, they passed the Clusone, 
 rested at La Traverse, and slept at the village of Jaussaud, 
 at the foot of the defile of Pis. 
 
 The tenth day was spent • by our travellers in the defiles 
 of the mountains which unite the valley of Pragela with 
 that of San Martino. A detachment of Piedmontese soldiers, 
 which guarded the pass of Pis, took flight at the sight of 
 
CRTTEL MEASUKE. 355 
 
 our intrepid band. The latter, constrained by their })riva- 
 tions to provide for the wants of the present niuiuent as 
 well as those of the futui'e, felt authorized to cai)ture a 
 flock of six hundi-ed sheep, which were feeding on their 
 route; they restored, however, a small number for some 
 money. The rest, slaughtered the next day and eaten 
 "without bread, furnished an acceptable repast. 
 
 On Tuesday, the 27th of August, 1689, the valiant 
 troops who had crossed the lake of Geneva eleven days 
 before, and surmounted immense obstacles with self- 
 denpng constancy, set foot in the first Yaudois village, 
 Ealsille, at the north-west extremity of the valley of San 
 Martino. Solemn moment ! luiiting the pleasant and pain- 
 ful recollections of the past with the fears and disquietudes 
 of the futui'e. Everything reminded them of happy days 
 that were no more, but which might possibly be renewed. 
 But, whatever might be the issue of their bold entei-jmse, 
 everything announced to them that, for a long time yet, 
 privations and a deadly struggle awaited them. They 
 knew it, and were prepared for it. The repulse at the 
 Jaillon, the glorious affair at the bridge of Salabertrand, 
 and the effects of exhaustion and drowsiness at the ascent 
 of Sci, had deprived them of almost a hundred imd fifty 
 men. Many who were wounded in the passage of the 
 Doire had remained behind on the French tcn'itory; 
 traitors, and minute search, had delivered them up to the 
 royal vengeance. Lastly, desertion had taken from the 
 amiy, during the last night, tAventy of their defenders, 
 probably Frenchmen of Pragela or of Dauphine, whom the 
 "sicinity of theii' native countr}^ detached fi-om the common 
 entei-prise. Oui' heroic mountaineers were thus reduced to 
 about seven hundred, while severe conflicts with thousands 
 of disciplined soldiers awaited them. 
 
 It is important to form a just idea of their situation, 
 rendered so critical by their small numbers, to find some 
 apology for a cruel measure which the instinctive desire to 
 preserve theii' own lives forced upon the Yaudois. The 
 impossibility of guarding their prisoners, combined "snth 
 the imperative necessity of concealing fi'om their enemies 
 their route and numerical weakness, constrained them to 
 grant no quarter to the unfortunate soldiers or peasants 
 whom the events of war threw into their hands. It was 
 
356 HISTORY or the taudois chuech. 
 
 on the Alp"^ of the Pis, that the first execution began : six 
 soldiers of the duke's guard were put to death. f At 
 Balsille, forty-six militia-men of Cavor, besides two apos- 
 tate peasants, were led two and two to the bridge of the 
 Germanasco, executed, and then thrown into the whirlpool 
 below. We must state, however, that thenceforward, the 
 army never treated so many prisoners with such severity, 
 and that only guides suspected, or apostate peasants, and 
 some military men occasionally, were the victims of this 
 terrible regulation. 
 
 From the northern valley, of which the village of Balsille 
 occupied the western extremity, Arnaud with his troops 
 descended at first along the torrent as far as Macel, into 
 another part of the upper valley of San Martino, into the 
 valley of Prali, (or the Prals,) which touches Prance on the 
 west and joins the former on the east, above Perrier, form- 
 ing as far as Pomaret only a deep furrow traversed by the 
 Germanasco, with some slopes leading down to its two banks. 
 The little army, for greater security, and that it might 
 better explore the country, divided itself into two bodies, 
 of which one passed by the mountain to Eodoret, and the 
 other to Pontaine by the base of the valley. They nowhere 
 met with soldiers, but only some Savoyards, new inhabitants, 
 whom they captured. On reaching the hamlet of Guigou 
 they were rejoiced to find the temple of Prals still standing. 
 They pulled down the ornaments placed in it by supersti- 
 tion. Then the seven hundi'ed warriors, laying down their 
 arms, and crowding to the inside and before the porch, sang 
 the seventy-fourth Psalm, wliich begins thus : 
 
 " O God, why hast thou cast iis off for ever ? 
 Why doth thine anger smoke against the sheep of thy pasture ?" etc. 
 
 They also sang the hundred and twenty-ninth Psalm : 
 
 ^' Many a time have they afflicted me from my youth, may Israel now say : 
 Many a time have they afflicted me from my youth : 
 Yet they have not prevailed against me," etc. 
 
 In order to be heard hj those within as well as those 
 without, Arnaud stood upon a bench placed in the doorway, 
 and took for his text some verses of this latter Psalm. 
 
 * The term Alp is given by the Vaudois to the high pasture lands in which 
 are the shepherds' huts. 
 
 t When exliorted to pray, these poor ignorant papists asked how it was to 
 be done ! (See Glorieuse Rentree.) 
 
ATTACK ON LUCEEXA. ,357 
 
 At the sight of this temple, on hearing these sacred 
 songs, and listening to the preaching of this servant of 
 God surrounded ^vith dangers, many were reminded of the 
 last pastor who had preached in these places — the blessed 
 Leydet, sur[3rised by the papists as he sang psahns under a 
 rock, and who died a martjT in 1686, confessing the name 
 of the Savioirr. Everything here, past and present, united 
 to fill the assembly with deep emotion, and to make 
 them seek from on high the help of which they felt the 
 need. 
 
 Being assured that the upper villages of the valley of 
 San Martino, thinly inhabited by a small number of papists, 
 were stripped of troops, these con<|uerors of their native 
 soil hastened to pass into the valley of Lucema by the pass 
 of Giulian, which they found occupied by two hundred 
 soldiers of the guards. To attack them in spite of their 
 bravadoes,^' force their entrenchments, and put them to 
 flight, was the work of an instant. Tliis action only cost 
 the life of a single Yaudois. The fugitives lost their am- 
 munition, provision, and baggage, — an agreeable booty for 
 the conquerors, who also slew about thirty-one men in the 
 pursuit. The little army rushing downi fi'om the mountains 
 into the large valley of Lucerna, took Bobbio, which lies at 
 the bottom, by surprise, and drove away the new inhabit- 
 ants. Then passing for a day from the fatigues of marching 
 and conflict to more peaceful scenes, they transformed 
 themselves either into a religious assembly, and listened 
 with earnestness to the exhortations of one of their pastors, 
 M. Montoux, or into a national coimcil, deliberating on 
 their interests, and imposing laws on themselves, the 
 guarantee of order and justice. An oath of union and 
 fidelity to the common cause, their re-establishment in the 
 heritage of their fathers, with the practice of their holy 
 religion, was taken, as in the sight of the living God, by the 
 pastors, captains, and others officers, towards all the privates, 
 and by the latter towards the former. They also swore to 
 consider the booty as common property, to reverence the 
 name of God, and to labour to recover their brethren from 
 the thraldom of cruel Babylon. Four treasurers and two 
 
 * " Come on, come on, barbets (dogs) of the devil," cried the soldiers, "we 
 occupy all the passes, and there are three thousand of us." Their sentinel 
 shouted, " "Who's there ? K you do not speak, I fire." (VUe Gloneuse Rentr^e.) 
 
358 HISTORY or the vatjdois chtjech. 
 
 secretaries were chosen to take charge of the booty, and 
 a major^* and an adjutant appointed over the companies. 
 
 The large town of Yilkiro, in the midst of the valley of 
 Lucerna, was attacked as Bobbio had been ; and at first the 
 enemy fled, some to the valley of Guichard on the right 
 bank of the PeKce, others to the convent, where they were 
 closely pressed. But a considerable reinforcement of regular 
 troops having come to their succour, the Yaudois were forced 
 to retreat upon Bobbio, and eighty of them could only escape 
 by dispersing themselves over the Yandalin, the limit of the 
 Alps of Angrogna, and then rejoining each other at a dis- 
 tance from the main body. Montoux, the second pastor, 
 being separated from his people under similar circumstances, 
 was surrounded by the enemy, and sent to prison at Turin, 
 where he remained till the peace. Arnaud three times 
 gave himself up for lost, three times he prayed with six of 
 his men, and three times God averted the fatal blow. At 
 last, this chief, whose life was so precious, gained the ridge 
 on which eighty of his men had halted. 
 
 This defeat occasioned a change in their tactics. The 
 first eight days of their return, the Yaudois, acting on the 
 offensive, had successively beaten every corps of the enemy 
 they had met on their march. Henceforward they attacked 
 more rarely, and then only convoys, advanced-posts, or 
 detached columns. Being reduced to act on the defensive, 
 they entrenched themselves in mountainous retreats of 
 difficult access, in natural fortresses that might be easily 
 defended, while their detachments scoured the country to 
 obtain pro^dsions. It was on the declivities of their moun- 
 ^tains, in the centre of their verdant pastures, once covered 
 with their flocks, but now solitary, that they sold their 
 lives dearly. Decided, at least, to die in their heritage on 
 their widowed and desolate soil, thej would not lay down 
 their arms, except with their last groan, or for peace, if 
 their prince offered them an honourable one. 
 
 Abandoning, therefore, the hope of keeping their ground 
 in their ancient villages of the rich valleys of Lucerna, 
 renouncing even the possession of Yillaro and Bobbio, the 
 Yaudois retreated to the heights of this last district to the 
 granges of the Serre-de-Cruel, a locality naturally fortified, 
 whither they carried their sick and wounded. The eighty 
 
 * Captain Odin. Arnaud was commander-in-cliief. 
 
EETIRE TO THE HEIGHTS. 359 
 
 men who had taken refuge in the Alps of Ang^rogna, having 
 received a reinforcement, formed an active brigade, alwavs 
 on the alert, making incursions on the hamlets and villages 
 of this glen, and engaging in several skirmishes : amongst 
 others, one near la Yachere and Mount Cer^'in. In this 
 last, they made head against six hundred men, killed a 
 hundi-ed of them, and lost themselves only four. But they 
 suffered great privations. Often they had nothing to eat 
 but wild fruits. Twenty-nine men returned one evening 
 with no food but a few nuts, with which they were forced 
 to content themselves. A detachment which rejoined the 
 flying camp before the combat we have just mentioned, had 
 passed two days without anything to eat ; yet thej* could 
 not give each one a piece of bread to revive him larger than 
 the palm of the hand. On the evening of the same day, 
 all these refugees, in the rocks near a small hamlet called 
 Turin,-'' thought themselves well off with a supper of raw 
 cabbages, which they did not dare to cook for fear of being 
 discovered. The next day, at Crouzet, also in the valley of 
 San Martino, they had nothing to appease their hunger 
 and recruit their strength but a soup made ■v\dth cabbages, 
 peas and leeks, without salt, fat, or any seasoning, wliich, 
 nevertheless, they swallowed very eagerly. 
 
 However, the little army here and there got hold of some 
 better provisions, which they partly kept in reserve and 
 partly used. Being stationed at Prali for two days, they 
 cut down all the wheat they could find,f and hastened to 
 have it ground at the mills in that place. I In the midst 
 of these conflicts and labours, religious duties were not 
 neglected. Arnaud administered the holj- supper to the 
 troops who accompanied him. He also visited the distiict 
 of Bobbio, to attend to the same sacred ordinance with the 
 Yaudois who lived there. 
 
 The little army was left in possession of the valley of San 
 Martino by the retreat of the Piedmontese troops of the mar- 
 quis de Parelle, who, at his departure, had burned le Perrier. 
 Taking advantage of this, the Yaudois proceeded to get in 
 
 * Riere Fayet, in the valley of San Martino. 
 
 t The rye could not be cut at this height before the month of September. 
 
 i It was then, no doubt, that the expedition took place which is mentioned 
 in the second part of the " Glorieuse Rentree," (p. 160 of the edition 1/10 and 
 p. 122 of the edition 1845,) when fiftv men went into Qneyras, a Prcnch valley, 
 and carried off seven or eight hundred sheep, and some heifers, of which tbey 
 restored a small part. 
 
360 HISTORY OF THE VAUDOIS CHTJECH. 
 
 all the standing com, thresh, and transport it to the retired 
 village of Rodorct, where they established their magazine. 
 It was also the vintage season in the lower parts of the 
 valley, as well as the time for gathering walnuts, apples, and 
 chesnuts.*' The flying camp, always vigilant and active, 
 captured some large convoys of provisions and wine ; so that, 
 if no misfortune happened, the future, as far as regarded the 
 means of subsistence, was by no means to be dreaded. 
 
 The general satisfaction was disturbed at the moment by 
 the desertion of captain Turel, a Frenchman, who, although 
 brave and estimable, gave up the hope of final success, and 
 persuaded four of his friends to go off with him. The un- 
 fortunate man only escaped the privations he dreaded, to 
 endure a horrible punishment. Having been seized at 
 Embrun, he was broken on the wheel alive, at Grenoble, 
 among twelve wretched beings, of whom six were hung on 
 his right and six on his left.f 
 
 The body of Vaudois that was left on the heights of 
 Bobbio, though considerably weakened by the succours 
 sent to the division that overran the valley of Angrogna, 
 and particularly by the larger force that had entered the 
 valley of San Martino, did not remain inactive. They 
 burned and destroyed the convent abandoned at Villaro, 
 that, on the enemy's return, it might not be made a 
 fortress. They reduced Eora to ashes, pulled do"s\Ti the 
 popish temple, killed more than thirty persons, and took 
 away much booty. But when the Piedmontese troops, 
 stationed in the valley, had received reinforcements large 
 enough to cover the mountains with their soldiers, the 
 Yaudois found themselves obliged to abandon their refage 
 at Serre-de-Cruel, after having set it on fire, and to with- 
 draw to a more secure asylum — Pausettes, at the foot of 
 I'Aiguille, a height easily defended, in the rocks of which 
 
 * Chesnuts make an important part of the winter provisions in the valleys 
 of Piedmont. 
 
 t Here the First Part of the " Glorieuse Rentr^e" ends, which is a record of 
 +hirty-one days to the 16th of Sei^tember, taken from the joui-nal of young 
 Renaudin. 
 
 The Second Part, if we are not mistaken, is the original work of Ai'naud 
 himself; the general style is more concise; it is that of a leader who knew 
 how to estimate the course of events, and, placing himself above the actors, 
 felt himself authorized to distribute praise or blame. The pious reflections 
 on the providential dealings of a merciful God are also those of a man deeply 
 convinced, as Ai-naud was, that the work he had undertaken proceeded from 
 the Most High, and could not be caiTied on without his constant support. 
 
DESEETIOXS. 361 
 
 they constructed a few hovels, to stow the pro\'isions they 
 had brought from Prali in safety. 
 
 In more than one affair, the Yaudois, hunted like deer, 
 made their pursuers repent of their boldness. Sometimes 
 they even resumed the offensive, as at Sibaut, where the 
 sixty brave men who were stationed at Pausettes, forced 
 the entrenchments, behind which a body equal in number 
 had mounted guard. They thi^ew the captain and some of 
 his men do^no. the rocks. Altogether the enemy's loss 
 amoimted to thirty-four, without the Yaudois losing a man ; 
 but very soon losing theii' courage at the sight of so many 
 enemies, they abandoned their new refuge, the fortifications 
 of Pausettes, and lastly the impregnable post of Aiguille,* 
 leaving all their winter provisions at the mercy of the 
 soldiers, who scattered some over the ground, and set fire 
 to the depots that contained the rest. Even their flocks 
 were taken from them. Being pursued from rock to rock, 
 and forced to hide themselves in dismal recesses, on the 
 brink of precipices, or in frozen caverns, deprived of their 
 magazines, and unable to procure food, except at the peril 
 of their lives, they would have come to a miserable end if 
 Providence had not constantly watched over them, and at 
 last enabled them to rejoin the main body, whose scene of 
 action lay in the valley of San Martino. 
 
 As the foregoing recital intimates, in the autumn, numer- 
 ous battalions apj^eared in the valleys, both Piedmontese 
 and French ; the former under the command of the marquis 
 de Parelle, lieutenant-general, the latter under that of 
 M. de rOmbraille. Their troops covered all the villages 
 and all the passes, with the exception of a few scattered 
 hamlets and byways. The vale of Rodoret being attacked 
 in the middle of October (at the same time as the position 
 of Aiguille) by a troop of the enemy, had been found 
 untenable. Desertion had begun again among the Prench 
 refugees. ^N'either the fear of perishing miserably like 
 Tiu^el, nor nobler feelings could detain captain Ponfrede, 
 with his lieutenant and twenty soldiers, who escaped to 
 Pragela, where they were soon arrested, and then hung. 
 The situation of the Yaudois army was certainly most 
 critical, piu'sued as it was, incessantly, by a force twenty 
 times its superior. 
 
 * In the middle of October. 
 
 B 
 
362 HISTOET OF THE VAUDOIS CHURCH. 
 
 Accordingly on the 22nd of October, two thousand Trench 
 having passed from Pragela into the valley of San Martino, 
 and pitched their camp at Champ-la-Salse, the small rem- 
 nant of the Yaudois held a councH at nightfall, at Eodoret, 
 as to what stej) it would be most proper to take. It was 
 evident that, in the presence of so many enemies, this 
 post after a while would be untenable. But whither 
 were they to retreat? Some advised the mountains of 
 Eobbio ; others suggested following the steps of the valiant 
 captain Buffa, to the heights of Angrogna. Although the 
 latter proposal seemed to be most generally acceptable, the 
 partisans of the former were unwilling to accede to it. 
 Division crept in among the chiefs : things seemed tending 
 to certain ruin. At this critical moment, the pious Arnaud 
 proposed that they should join in prayer to God, and 
 without waiting for their reply, he invoked Him who is 
 the Author of Avisdom, prudence, and union ; then, after 
 having seriously and warmly exhorted his companions to 
 sacrifice their particular views to the judgment of others, 
 he advised the adoption of a third plan, that of retreating 
 to Balsille ; a proposition which gained all their suffrages 
 so completely, that the same night, two hours before day, 
 they were on their march thither. Wishing to avoid 
 meeting their enemies, they passed through places so 
 dangerous that it was often necessary to use both hands 
 and feet, to keep their footing.^* The general attention 
 was so much occupied at such seasons that the hostages 
 escaped after having bribed their guards. 
 
 The reader vnll recollect the position of the village of 
 Balsille, on the Germanasque, at the habitable extremity of 
 the north-west of the vale of San Martino, separated from 
 the valley of Pragela by the defiles of Damian (or Dalmian,) 
 and Pis, in the same direction, and by that of Clapier 
 towards the east. The principal group of houses is near 
 the torrent at the foot of the mountains, at Avhich the 
 gradual slopes have an eastern aspect. A stone bridge, 
 near which is a mill, unites the two parts of the village, 
 situated to the east, at the foot of the steep rocks of 
 
 * " He who lias not seen these places," Arnaud exclaims, " cannot well 
 imagine the clangers ; and he who has seen them will no doubt consider tliis 
 march as a fiction and a romance, but it is nevertheless pure truth ; and it 
 may be added, that when the Vaudois saw them again by day, as happened 
 many times afterwards, their hair stood on end," etc. (V. Glorieuse Rentr^e.) 
 
REFUGE IX BALSILLE. 363 
 
 Giiignevert, Trhich rises towards the Avest, and is thickly 
 wooded at its base. Prom this natural wall, a rock pro- 
 jects against the river and over the dwellings, sufficiently^ 
 elevated, flattened, and in some places divided into terraces, 
 forming finite a natural fortification. Three fountains supply 
 it with water. It was on this rock that the Vaudois posted 
 themselves, with a firm resolution of waiting steadily for 
 their enemies without wearying themselves, as they had so 
 often done, with running fi'om moimtain to mountain. To 
 maintain their position, they began to form entrenchments, 
 made covered ways, ditches, and walls, and dug more than 
 fourscore cabins in the earth, surrounding them with 
 channels to carry off the water. After the morning 
 prayer,-'' those who were appointed went to labour at the 
 fortifications. The entrenchments consisted of cuttings 
 one above another. They made as many as seventeen 
 where the ground was the least inclined, and disposed them 
 in such a manner that when necessary they could retreat 
 from one within the other ; so that if the besiegers carried 
 the first, the second remained ; then the third, and so on, 
 till they reached the summit of the rock. They drew out 
 of the Germanasque the millstone which the proprietors, 
 named Tron-Poulat, had thi^own in on quitting the place 
 three years before, and set the mill at work, which was of 
 great service.f A little fort was also constructed above 
 the castle we have described, on a rock higher up, but 
 contiguous, though separated itself from the mountain 
 towards the top by a rent, where they made a triple 
 entrenchment. Lastly, on a lofty ridge, commanding the 
 works, as well as the valley, they left a constant watch, to 
 give notice of the least movement of the enemy. 
 
 The Yaudois had not commenced these laboiu^s more 
 than three or four days when the French battalions, who, 
 not having met with them at Eodoret, could only lay hands 
 on their abundant stock of provisions, penetrated into the 
 valley, coming from Prali, besides some other troops of the 
 same nation, commanded by M. de TOmbraiUe. In a short 
 time, the Yaudois saw themselves inclosed on all sides; 
 
 * Amaud preached twice a week, once on Sunday, and again on Thursday. 
 Every day, morning and evening, he also assembled his companions for prayer, 
 in which "they joined on their knees, and with theii' faces on the ground. 
 
 t They also took advantage of the mill at Macel whenever they could. 
 
 E 2 
 
364 HISTORY OF THE YAUDOIS CHrRCH. 
 
 their advanced post at Passet, which, covered the entrance 
 of Balsille, was at the same time captured by a stratagem, 
 though without any loss on their part, and on the 29th of 
 October the enemy advanced to attack the castle. For 
 this purpose they filled the woods, mtli which the mountain 
 on which Balsille rests is covered, with detachments, which 
 blockaded them from Friday to Sunday evening, and which 
 suffered extremely, the snow falling incessantly. A hot 
 skirmish, in which they lost at the passage of the bridge 
 sixty men killed, and as many wounded, at last proved to 
 them the impossibility of forcing a position so well en- 
 trenched and defended. All their summonses to surren- 
 der had been rejected. The Yaudois had not lost a single 
 man. 
 
 In the course of ISTovember, as a part of the rrench 
 troops had already retired much discouraged, De TOmbraille 
 having learned, by the report of an apostate who had 
 visited Balsille, that the mill of Macel was often employed 
 by the men of the castle, sent five himdred soldiers thither, 
 who, after all, captured only one man, and killed two. 
 These were French refugees. The survivor, who had only 
 gone out, the day he was taken, to nurse his two sick 
 friends, and to bring them back to the castle, had to 
 carry their heads to La Perouse to head-quarters. His 
 edifying discourses so much interested the judge of the 
 place, although a Poman Catholic, that he endeavoured to 
 obtain his pardon from the inflexible Ombraille, but in 
 vain. His constancy in the profession of his faith, his 
 calmness in ascending the fatal ladder,"^' j)roduced a powerful 
 impression on the people of Pragela, the witnesses of his 
 execution, and who had for the most part changed their 
 religion from timidity. 
 
 Whether the season was too far advanced, or the position 
 of Balsille appeared too strong to be carried by the means 
 they had at their disposal, their enemies abandoned the 
 upper glens of all the valley of San Martino, Macel, La Salse, 
 Eodoret, and Prali, burning almost all the houses, granges, 
 and corn-stacks, carrying away or destroying the stores of 
 wheat and other eatables, and calling out to the Yaudois to 
 have patience and wait for them till Easter. Having 
 
 * He was hung at the castle of Bois in Pragela, from which it is supposed 
 that he belonged, to that district. 
 
SFFFERHs^GS. 365 
 
 retired into better cantonments, they had their advanced 
 posts at Maneillc and Perrier. 
 
 Owing to this withdrawal of their enemies, the Vaudois 
 felt perfectly free in their movements. The first months 
 of their retiu'n to their native land had been spent, it is 
 true, in privation and suffering, in the midst of daily con- 
 flSSts; but at least they, the ancient proprietors of the 
 soil, had remained masters of it. God who had protected 
 them at the time of their first danger, and who had brought 
 them to that inclement season of the year in which no one 
 would ventiu-e to attack them in their mountains, could not 
 he still deliver them in days to come ? They were there- 
 fore, if not happy, yet thankful and inspired with hope. 
 Desertion rather than death, had a little thinned their 
 ranks : their numbers howi^Ter, in the valley of San 
 Martiuo, still amounted to fourhundred, without reckoning 
 the little division which had fixed , itself on the mountains 
 of Angrogna, and one or two little bands in the wilds of 
 the glen Guichard or among the alpine rocks of Bobbio. 
 
 One thing made them anxious; their means of sustenance. 
 AYhere could they be found? The enemy, besides destroy- 
 ing everything they could when they retired, had closed 
 against them all the avenues to inhabited places. A 
 gracious Providence had provided for their need, by cover- 
 ing the fields of rye with snow, ripened in September, but 
 wliich the papist cultivators in their flight had not reaped, 
 and which they themselves had cut only in part, in order 
 to withcbaw them from the notice and devastation of the 
 soldiers. Ptcmaining untouched under this protective 
 covering, they furnished a wholesome and abundant nutri- 
 ment to the recluses of Balsille who reaped them, during 
 the winter. Moreover strong detachments, making sudden 
 incursions into the valleys of Pragela and QuejTas, brought 
 in salt, butter, wine, and other provisions. Prom these 
 various sources their subsistence was secured. 
 
 Those most to be lamented among the Yaudois were 
 they whom the course of war, or some imprudence, had 
 placed at a distance from their brethi'en. The following 
 fact wiU show what they suffered. A band of twelve, who 
 had concealed themselves in a cave or isolated grotto, 
 behind L'Essart, in the disti'ict of Bobbio, were constrained 
 by hunger to come out and procure provisions. On return- 
 
366 HISTOEY OF THE TAUDOIS CHUECH. 
 
 ing to their as^^lum, tliej^ thought that the traces of theii' 
 footsteps in the snow might be perceived, and decided on 
 seeking for a new one in La Biava difficult of access. 
 Scarcely had they set out when they saw behind them a 
 troop of one hundred and twenty -five peasants, who in 
 less than a quarter of an hour would have surprised and 
 surrounded them; therefore, throwing away their little 
 baggage immediately, they made haste and reached a ridge 
 above, from which they fired so accurately on the assail- 
 ants, that of the first fifteen shots thirteen took effect ; and 
 when the jjeasants asked for a parley, and an honourable 
 retreat on both sides was agreed upon, they acknowledged 
 twelve dead and thirteen wounded : not one of the twelve 
 Yaudois was hurt. Their victory, neverthelesss, did not 
 relieve them from trouble for more than a daj^, or even 
 a shorter time ; for on returning towards evening through 
 the bypaths to La Biava, they were every moment exposed 
 to destruction among the precipices under their feet. The 
 situation of their new refuge left nothing to be desired in 
 point of security. They might have passed months there 
 without being pursued; but after two days they were 
 diiven from it by the intensity of the cold. Accordingly 
 they again descended into less savage parts, to seek for a 
 milder climate, or a better abode, in the midst of new 
 dangers. Saddened by suffering, but animated with stern 
 resolution, they were proceeding on their way, when they 
 met an armed band. In a moment, they retreated behind 
 a house, and their fire killed one man, an enemy as they 
 supposed ; when to their great grief, mingled with livel}' 
 joy, they recognised the party to be composed of their 
 Yaudois brethren. "With tears in their eyes they ran to 
 meet them. They went on together through the pass 
 Giulian, and at last found in the castle of Balsille the rest, 
 protection, subsistence, and security which the twelve 
 fugitives had almost despaired of. 
 
 The winter passed peaceably at Balsille in the work of 
 erecting defences, in lading in a stock of pro\dsions, and in 
 anticipations of the future, regulated by the confidence in 
 God which the pious Arnaud sought to cherish in all by 
 his firm bearing, his conversation, and the exercises of 
 worship. The monotony of their life was interrupted only 
 by the friendly visits and messages of relations, or of 
 
ATTEMn AT NEGOTIATION. 367 
 
 officers in the duke's sei-vice. All these proceedings 
 tended to the same end, intimidation. The desire was to 
 induce the Taudois to arrange for a final withdrawal from 
 their native soil. For this purpose it was sought to excite 
 their fears by confidential communications respecting the 
 lot that awaited them. A numerous army would suiTound 
 and desti'oy them in the spring ; if they were wise, they 
 would accept terms while they could be granted. They 
 were conjured not to risk any longer the cause of their 
 relations who were detained in the prisons, nor the interests 
 of those who, having become papists, dwelt in their ancient 
 villages; and were implored also to think of their wives 
 and children whom they had left in Switzerland, and who 
 would be deprived of their natural protectors by their 
 inconceivable and imprudent pertinacity. They were re- 
 proached also for their attempt, as if it had been an act 
 of rebellion, a crime against their lawful sovereign. The 
 last argument was the only one which deserved a formal 
 answer on the part of men who, submitting to all personal 
 sacrifices, could not be turned from their enterprise by the 
 consideration of the sufierings of individuals. Arnaud 
 explained himself many times on this point, and particu- 
 larly in a letter which the council of war, of which he was 
 president, wrote to the marquis de Parelle, begging him to 
 lay the contents before the duke. Its statements were as 
 follows : 
 
 ^' I. That the subjects of your royal highness, dwelling 
 in the valleys, were in possession of the lands to which they 
 lay claim and which belonged to them from time immemo- 
 rial, and that these were left to them by their ancestors. 
 
 ''II. That they always punctual^ paid to his royal 
 highness all the imposts and taxes he was pleased to lay 
 upon them. 
 
 '' III. That they always rendered faithful obedience to 
 the orders of his royal highness, in all the commotions that 
 have taken place in his dominions. 
 
 '' lY. That in the last commotions'^' excited against his 
 faithful subjects at the instance of others, and not of his 
 royal highness, f there was not so much as a single criminal 
 
 * This refers to the persecution of 1686, as a consequence of which they were 
 obUged, as we have seen, to emigrate to Switzerland, 
 t At the suggestion of the king of France. 
 
368 HISTOEY OF THE YAI7D0IS CHTJECH. 
 
 process in the valleys, but each one was occupied in living 
 peaceably in his own house, rendering to God the adoration 
 which all his creatures owe him, and to Caesar what belongs 
 to him ; nevertheless, a people so faithful, after having 
 endured manj^ sufferings in the prisons, were dispersed and 
 sent wandering over the world. It could not be thought 
 strange that this people should long to return to their own 
 country. Alas ! the very birds, creatures destitute of 
 reason, return in their season to seek their nests and their 
 dwelling-places without being hindered from so doing ; and 
 shall men be hindered, who are created in the image and 
 likeness of God? The intention of the Yaudois is not to shed 
 human blood, except only in self-defence ; thej will injure 
 no one. If they remain on their own lands, it is to be, as 
 before, with all their families, good and faithful subjects of 
 his royal highness, the sovereign prince whom God has 
 given them. They will redouble their prayers for the pre- 
 servation of his roj'al highness and all his royal house, and 
 above all, to appease the anger of the Most High, who 
 appears to have a controversy with the whole earth. "'^' 
 
 As the Yaudois could not make an unconditional sub- 
 mission, and the hour was not yet come in which the 
 prince would acknowledge the justice of their cause, the 
 negotiations were interrupted after some conferences, and 
 led to no result. 
 
 AYhen the snows had begun to melt in the upj)er valleys, 
 and the roads underneath the mountains might be con- 
 sidered as passable, French troops might be seen directing 
 their march towards Balsille, at the bottom of the valleys of 
 San Martino and of Pragela, through the pass of Clapier 
 and that of Pis. Those who made their way through this 
 latter passage remained two days on the mountain in the 
 snow, and without fire, for fear of being discovered. The 
 soldiers were obliged to crowd closely together, in order to 
 keep themselves warm while they were waiting for orders 
 to renew their march and invest the place. ■ 
 
 We have described the position of the castle, and the 
 artificial means of defence which were added to those 
 afforded by nature. Yet there was one more which we 
 have not yet mentioned, because it was formed during the 
 winter. Access to the place not being possible with any 
 
 * Europe was distracted by a general war. 
 
ATTACK OF BALSILLE. 369 
 
 chance of success for the assaihmts, except on the side 
 of a stream which ran at the foot of the castle where the 
 ground is not so steep, Amaud had fortified this part with 
 special care. He had planted strong palisades and raised 
 small parapets, T\'ith trees disposed in snch a manner that 
 the arms and boughs were towards the enemy, and the 
 trunks and roots towards the Yaudois ; and to make them 
 finn they were covered Avitli large stones, so that it was not 
 easier to move them than to scale them. 
 
 The distinguished De Catinat, lieutenant-general of the 
 armies of France, commanded the troops assembled round 
 Balsille, amounting to twenty-two thousand men ; namely, 
 ten thousand French, and twelve thousand Piedmontese : 
 too large a body, certainly, to make the assault, but of 
 whom two-thirds were to be employed in investing the place 
 and guarding all the passages, in order to make prisoners 
 of the five hundi-ed men who were besieged, if they should 
 attempt to escape. Catinat, in haste to go elsewhere, hoped 
 to accomplish the aff'air in one day.* 
 
 The firing began on Monday morning. May 1, 1690. 
 The dragoons, who were encamped in a wood on the left of 
 the castle, crossed the river, and placed themselves in 
 ambush all along its bank, under a shower of balls and 
 with great loss of men. Some hundreds of the duke's 
 soldiers remained without stirring from their first position. f 
 The major part of the enemy's forces approached the ruins 
 of Balsille as far as the foot of the rock, but they quickly 
 retreated, leaving many dead on the spot, and caiTjdng 
 away a number of wounded. An engineer:|: having 
 observed the approaches to the chateau with a spy-glass, 
 and noticing, as he thought, that the weakest part was on 
 the right, a picked corps of the regiment of Artois, five 
 hundred strong, was dispatched thither for the assault. 
 Seven hundred peasants of Pragela and Queyras followed, 
 
 * A letter ■written by an eye-witness, •u'ho sensed in the duke's army, and 
 which is quoted in the " Glorieuse Rentree," speaks of Catinat as having 
 directed the operations in person. We are disposed to beUeve him. Amaud, 
 who out of respect, perhaps, for so great a name, does not name him in nar- 
 rating the assault, says nevertheless, some pages further, " Catinat, who had 
 experienced the valour of the Vaudois, did not judge it expedient to expose 
 his person a second time."— Glor. Rent., p. 306, ed.l710 ; and p. 197, ed. 1845. 
 
 t On the mountain, at the back of which the fortress lay which they were 
 to attack, bvit which they thought impregnable. They fired, nevertheless ; 
 Catinat waited for their firing to order the assault on the castle. 
 
 X As we are disposed to think, this was no other than Catinat himself. 
 
 K 3 
 
370 HISTOET OF THE VATJDOIS CHURCH. 
 
 to pull down the palisades and the parapets. On the 
 signal being given, and amidst the general firing of seven 
 thousand soldiers drawn up in line of battle, the picked 
 battalion rushed forward to the entrenchment marked out 
 with unparalleled ardour. They thought that they should 
 only have to clear away the boughs that were heaped 
 together, in order to have an open path ; but they soon 
 perceived that the trees were immovable, and, as it were 
 driven into the soil by the mass of stones that were heaped 
 upon them. The Yaudois seeing that they could not 
 accomplish their object, and were advanced very near, 
 opened such a \T.gorous fire, the young men loading the 
 muskets which the more experienced discharged with a 
 sure aim, that, though the snow was falling and wetted 
 their powder, the ranks of the assailants were evidently 
 thinned ; and when confusion began to spread among the 
 victims of the assault, the Yaudois made a fierce sally, 
 pursuing and cutting in pieces the remains of these picked 
 troops, of which not above ten or a dozen escaped, with the 
 loss of their hats and weapons. Their commander, De 
 Parat, being wounded in the thigh and arm, and having 
 been found among the rocks, was made prisoner with two 
 sergeants, who remained faithfully by his side to take care 
 of him. Strange to say, the Yaudois had not one either 
 killed or wounded ! The enemy retreated in consternation 
 the same evening ; the French to Macel, the Piedmontese, 
 who had remained quiet spectators of the engagement, to 
 Champ-la- Salse. Three days after, the enemy passed into 
 the Prench territory (the vale of Pragela) to recruit them- 
 selves, firmly resolved to return and avenge such an afi'ront, 
 and to die rather than abandon their enterprise. The same 
 day Arnaud delivered a very powerful discourse, and was 
 himself so deeply afiected that neither the flock nor their 
 pastor could refrain from tears. 
 
 On strij)ping the dead bodies, charms were found upon 
 them, or supposed preservatives against the attacks of the 
 evil one and death ; precautions that were judged indis- 
 pensable by men who had been taught to believe that the 
 barbets had dealings with the devil.* 
 
 * Most of these charms or amulets were printed. The following is a speci- 
 men : " Ecce crufcem Domini nostri Jesn Clu'isti, fugite partes adversse ; vici 
 leo de tribn Juda, radix David, Allel. AUel., ex S.Anton. De Pad., homo natus 
 est in eaj Jesus, Maria, Franciscus, sint roihi salus." i. e. " Behold the cross 
 
SIEGE OF BALSILLE. 371 
 
 Catinat, deeply mortified by the check he had received, 
 made all the necessary preparations for taking signal 
 vengeance ; but he did not judge it expedient to risk a 
 second time his oAvn person, and his hopes of a French 
 marshal's baton ; he therefore left the execution of the 
 enterprise to the king's ambassador at the court of Savoy, 
 the marquis de Feuquieres. 
 
 On Satiu'day, the 10th of May, the advanced guard gave 
 notice of the approach of the enemy. Immediately the 
 outposts were abandoned, and all fell back into the castle. 
 They gave up with regret the exercises of preparation for 
 the holy supper, of which they had intended to partake 
 the next day, being AYhitsunday. The same evening, the 
 enemy encamped close at hand ; this time there were only 
 twelve thousand soldiers and fourteen hundred peasants. 
 Ha^^-ing been formed into five divisions, they completely 
 surrounded the place ; two were stationed in the valley at 
 Passet, and at the foot of the mountain near La Balsille ; 
 the three others on the heights in the ^-icinity of the fort, 
 one at Clos-Dalmian, the other a considerable way up the 
 rocks, the last in the woods beyond the castle, at Serre de 
 Guignevert. Dispensing T^ith the tactics of a siege, they 
 approached the castle within musket-shot, entrenching 
 themselves behind some good parapets; for, besides 
 pioneers in great numbers, and soldiers, either for mus- 
 keteers or for digging trenches, all the rest employed 
 themselves in making fascines and carrying them to the 
 extremities of the works. Ey day, it was impossible to 
 attack their works ; for no sooner did the enemy catch 
 sight of a Yaudois cap, than they let off a hundred fire- 
 locks without running any risk on their part, protected as 
 they were by sacks of wool and by their parapets. But 
 scarcely a night passed without some sallies being made by 
 the besieged. 
 
 Seeing that the discharge of musketry answered no end 
 but to waste powder and shot, De Feuquieres jDlanted a 
 cannon* on a level with the castle, on the mountain of 
 
 of our Lord Jesus Christ ; flee, ye adversaries ! I, the Lion of the tribe of 
 Judah, the Root of David, have conquered. Alleluia, Alleluia. From Saint 
 Anthony of Padua, a man who was bom in it ; Jesus, Maria, Franciscus, may 
 they be my salvation." 
 
 * We may judge of the cahbre of the cannon by this fact :— About 1811, in 
 removing the earth on the site of the castle, a ball was fotmd weigliing about 
 eleven pounds of twelve ounces, that is, about eight pounds avondupois. 
 
372 HISTORY OF THE VAUDOIS CHrECH. 
 
 Guignevert ; he then hoisted a white flag, and after that 
 a red one, to intimate to the besieged that unless they 
 requested peace they could expect no quarter. They had 
 already been invited to surrender, and had answered, that 
 "not being subjects of the king of France, and that 
 monarch not being master of the country, we cannot treat 
 "^^dth his officers. Being in the heritage left us by our 
 fathers from time immemorial, we hope by the aid of him 
 who is the Lord of hosts to live in it and die in it, should 
 only ten of us be left ! Discharge your artillery, our rocks 
 mil not be terrified, and we will listen to it." 
 
 The next day the camion thundered all the morning; 
 the balls made a breach in the walls, and orders were given 
 for the assault in three points. One column marched up 
 by Clos-Dalmian ; a second by the ordinary approach ; and 
 the third by the stream, without caring for the fire of the 
 besieged, nor for the stones they rolled do\\Ti upon them. 
 The enemy, moreover, protected their men by a shower of 
 balls, which, nevertheless, by a miracle of the Divine good- 
 ness, killed none in the castle. But the Yaudois assailed 
 at once from so many quarters, and by forces so dispropor- 
 tionably greater than their own, saw themselves comj^elled 
 to evacuate their lower entrenchments. Before quitting 
 them they put to death their prisoner, M. de Parat, who, 
 when informed of their intentions, replied, " I pardon you 
 my death." 
 
 Balsille could not be defended much longer. The watch 
 placed upon an elevated summit had been driven ofi" by the 
 enemy, who had fired upon it from the neighbouring rocks. 
 According to all appearances, the fortress as well as the 
 upper entrenchments must soon be forced. Happily, the 
 day was drawing to its close. One means only of safety 
 was left to the Yaudois — fiight. It was a difficult matter, 
 for they were surrounded on all sides by the enemy. If 
 they had for a moment indulged the hope of succeeding 
 during the darkness, they lost it as soon as they beheld the 
 great fires which were lighted every evening and cast a 
 bright glare all round. Nothing was left for them but to 
 die. The French were rejoicing at the prospect of seeing 
 them march to execution : the cords for tying and hanging 
 them all were quite ready ; but if that Providence which 
 had hitherto delivered them from the hands of their enemies, 
 
I WOISTDEEFUL FLIGHT. 373 
 
 liad permitted them now to be driven to the last extremity, 
 it Tras only for the 2:»urpose of making them more sensible 
 witli -^'liat care He watched over their preservation. In 
 fact, a thick fog came on before night, and captain Poulat, 
 who belonged to Balsille, ha^HLng offered to be their guide, 
 they prepared to follow him. An attentive examination of 
 the enemy's posts, by means of their fii'es, had indicated to 
 this leader (who was perfectly familiar with the localities, 
 the undulations and inclinations of the ground,) the jDOssi- 
 bilitj' of escaping, if God peiTiiitted it, though by a frightful 
 road along a ravine or precipice which he pointed out. 
 "Without hesitation they descended in file, tlirough a fissure 
 of the rocks, the greater part of the time sitting and sliding 
 down, or going on their knees, laying hold of branches of 
 trees or of bushes, and resting for a few moments. Poulat 
 and those who were with him at the head groped with their 
 feet, purposely made bare, as well as with their hands, 
 lengthening or gathering up their bodies, to make sure of 
 the nature and firmness of the ground on which they were 
 about to trust themselves : all in their turn imitated the 
 movements of those who preceded them. The approaches to 
 the castle were so well watched that they could not entirely 
 avoid coming into the neighbourhood of some of the soldiers 
 on guard. Accordingly so it happened ; they passed close 
 to a Trench patrol just as he was going his rounds : and, 
 unfortunately, at that instant, a Yaudois trying to help 
 liimself with his hands, let fall a small kettle he was carry- 
 ing, and which as it rolled attracted the attention of the 
 sentinel. Immediately he gave the challenge, '' Who goes 
 there?" "But," says Amaud humorously, in his nan^a- 
 tive, "this kettle (which fortunately was not like one of 
 those that the poets feign as giving oracles in the forest of 
 Dodona) making no answer, the sentinel thought he was 
 mistaken, and did not repeat his challenge." Having 
 reached the foot of the precipice, the Yaudois, descending 
 the steep slopes of Guignevert, directed their coui'se south- 
 ward towards Salse. It was now two hours after daybreak, 
 and they were still ascending by steps which they hoUowed 
 out in the snow. Then the enemy, who were encamped at 
 Lautiga under the rock where the Yaudois had placed 
 their mountain watch, discovered them, and cried out that 
 the barbets had made their escape. 
 
374 HISTOET OF THE YAUDOIS CHTJECH. 
 
 A detachment in pursuit followed at their heels. The 
 Vaudois descended to Pausettes, or Salse, on the other side 
 of the mountain, where they rested and took refreshment. 
 They did the same at Eodoret, wliither they next betook 
 themselves. They were no sooner on their march again 
 than they perceived on the heights behind them a column 
 of the enemy, taking the road to Eodoret. Penetrating 
 theii' design, the Vaudois ascended the summit of Galmon, 
 between Eodoret and Prali. They halted there for two 
 hours, during which they made a review, the sick and 
 wounded were sent to a declivity called Le Yallon, with 
 the surgeon of M. de Parat, under the guard of some of 
 the strongest. They then descended rapidly on the side of 
 Prali, concealed themselves in the wood of Serrelemi, where 
 they waited for the night. A fog fortunately^ rising, they 
 resumed their march, and ascended to the hamlet called La 
 Majere, where they were disappointed in finding no water; 
 but Heaven taking pity on them, sent them rain, which in 
 this retreat was as useful and seasonable, as on other occa- 
 sions it had been inconvenient and injurious. 
 
 On the next day, the 16th, they reached Prayet; then 
 crossing the valley below Prali in a fog, they entered the 
 rocky mountains and precipices which, from Pons on the 
 south, descend and divide themselves towards the north. 
 They j)assed on to Poccabianca (a white rock, with a quarry 
 of fine marble, ) and halted for the night at Payet, a lateral 
 glen of the valley of San Martino. 
 
 On the 17th, as the enemy were already on their track 
 at Pouet, they left the mountain to the south and invaded 
 Pramol. There they came into conflict mth the inhabitants, 
 and some soldiers entrenched in the churchyard, killed fifty- 
 seven men, and burned the village. They had to lament on 
 their own side three wounded and as many killed, without 
 reckoning one of their wives (though very few of them were 
 there) who was struck at the very moment she was carrying 
 some straw to smoke those persons who had taken refuge 
 in the temple. They captured the commandant de Vignaux, 
 with three lieutenants. The first of these ofiicers informed 
 Arnaud, when he delivered up his sword, that Victor 
 Amadous would have to decide in three days either to con- 
 tinue his alKance with Prance, or to join the coalition which 
 the emperor, one part of Germany, Holland, England and 
 
EETT7EN OF THE PEISOXERS. 375 
 
 Spain, had formed against Louis xiv. Amaud, who by 
 his secret relations w^ith the prince of Orange, now become 
 king of England, had been initiated into European politics, 
 but duiing his isolation in Balsille had been debarred from 
 any certain intelligence, perceived in an instant how much 
 depended for himself and his troop on the resolution the duke 
 might take. He saw it would be either their ruin or deliver- 
 ance. To foresee what the determination of the prince would 
 be, was impossible : he waited for it with intense anxiety. 
 
 On the folloAving day. May the 18th, 1690, being Sunday, 
 in a higher hamlet of Angrogna, (probably Les Bouils,) 
 whither the Yaudois had repaii'ed on quitting Pramol, the 
 decision taken by Victor Amadous was announced to them, 
 and peace was offered them in his name by two individuals 
 of San Giovanni and Angrogna, whom they well knew, 
 MIE. Parender and Bertin, sent for this pui'pose by the 
 baron de Palav acini, a general of the duke. 
 
 "V\Tio can imagine the joy of these poor people whom a 
 war of nine months had weakened and reduced to two -thirds 
 of their original number, whom famine pursued, and who, 
 chased from their last asyliun, tracked like game from rock 
 to rock, from valley to valley, could only exjDect death or 
 perpetual imprisonment ? Xews so unexpected might have 
 been fatal to many by exciting their sensibility too strongly, 
 and transporting them at once, without any intermediate 
 steps, from the gloomiest resolutions to the most delightful 
 hopes, if the fear that it was premature had not repressed 
 the first impulses of their joy. 
 
 But gradually events occurred to confirm the fact. The 
 Piedmontese garrison of the town of La Torre, captured, 
 under the eyes of the Yaudois, the French detachment of 
 Clerambaud, which in pursuit of these latter, had entered that 
 place to refresh themselves. At the same time, provisions 
 were distributed in the duke's name to these poor fugitives 
 from Balsille, who eight days before had been doomed to 
 death. The village of Bobbio was put into theii' hands and 
 entrusted to their protection. A little while after, they 
 witnessed the arrival of the ministers Montoux and Bastie, 
 captain Pelenc, the surgeon Malanot, and twenty others 
 who, released from the prisons at Turin, hastened to meet 
 their brethren with transports of joy. It is told that 
 on this occasion the prince kindly addressed them, and said 
 
376 HISTORY OF the vatjdois chtjech:. 
 
 that lie would not prevent them from preaching anywhere, 
 even in Turin. They also saw themselves treated with 
 confidence. The commandant of the troops of his royal 
 highness called for their co-operation, and, in conjunction 
 with the duke's troops, they passed through the defile of 
 La Croix, assisted in beating the enemy, burned Abries, and 
 returned to Bobbio laden with booty. They attacked the 
 Prench troops entrenched in the forts of San Michel of 
 Lucerna, and of La Torre. Success crowned the arms of 
 their prince whom they were now happy to serve. 
 
 One of their captains having made an inciu'sion into 
 Pragela and seized a courier with letters for the king of 
 France, Arnaud, who had informed the baron Palavicini of 
 the occurrence, received orders to bring the desjDatches to 
 him, and accompanied this general-in-chief to his royal 
 higliness. Victor Amadeus ii. received the Yaudois depu- 
 tation with cordiality. ''You have," he said, ''only one 
 God and one prince to serve. Serve God and your prince 
 faithfully. Up to the present time we have been enemies ; 
 henceforward we must be good friends ; others have been 
 the cause of your misfortunes ; but if, as you ought, you 
 hazard your lives in my service, I will also hazard my life 
 for you ; and as long as I have a morsel of bread, you shall 
 have your share of it." 
 
 If political interests had reconciled Yictor Amadeus to 
 his unfortunate subjects of the Yaudois valleys, if the 
 necessity of defending his frontier, joined to the want of 
 experienced soldiers, made him confide that post of honour 
 to these very men whose character and sentiments he had 
 misapprehended, we must still acknowledge that the sight 
 of their devotedness to his cause and their exemplary 
 fidelity touched his heart, and won his afifection for them. 
 This prince, enlightened as to the disposition and wishes 
 of his subjects in reference to religion, gave them his 
 esteem, and did not withdraw it. It is true, it was not 
 till some years after, the 13th (23rd) May, 1694, that the 
 act of pacification respecting the Yaudois affairs was pro- 
 claimed ; nevertheless from the first day that the off'er of 
 peace was made, the reconciliation was sincere and complete 
 on both sides. 
 
 The confidence of the prince was not limited to com- 
 mitting the guard of the frontiers to a band of the once 
 
 I 
 
 I 
 
 1 
 
' rvETTJEN OF THE SCATTERED V.VrDOIS. 377 
 
 proscribed Yaudois, nor his esteem to granting the rank of 
 colonel to their cliief, Arnand; his justice crowned their 
 wishes by consenting to the return of theii' families to the 
 valleys, as well as their reinstatement in their ancient 
 heritage. At the beginning of July, the indefatigable 
 Arnaud traTclled in all haste to Milan, to meet the Yaudois 
 bands who were exjDected there. '^' These were without 
 doubt composed of exiles that had remained in the north 
 of Switzerland, the Grisons, and Wirtemberg, and who, 
 being informed of the favourable disposition of Yietor 
 Amadous rejoined their brethi^n, bringing with them their 
 -^-ives and childi'cn whom the latter had confided to their 
 generous hosts, when they set out eleven months before for 
 the conquest of their native countiy. From the lofty 
 mountains of Switzerland, they descended to the friendly 
 plains, whose sovereigns, like their o^ti, were members of 
 the coalition. 
 
 We regret the want of precise information respecting the 
 return of the Yaudois who were domiciled in western 
 Switzerland, those of jS'eufchatel for instance, who arrived 
 too late at the wood of Prangins for embarking.f But 
 what does it signify? It is sufficient to know that the 
 generality of the members of this great family, with few 
 exceptions, directed their footsteps to the country of their 
 fathers. This was the case with even those at the greatest 
 distance. The elector of Brandenburg, who had received 
 them into his dominions with so much cordiality, and had 
 incurred great expense in their settlement, did not hesitate 
 to make fresh sacrifices in order to gratify the wish of 
 their hearts. He generously furnished them mth the means 
 of returning home.;j: 
 
 To do entire justice to the good faith of Yietor Amadous 
 we ought to add that he not only allowed all the exiles to 
 return, but consented that those Yaudois whom distress 
 
 * See Arnand's letter to the governor of Aigle.— V. Glorieuse Rentr(?e. 
 
 t Amaucl'swife was atNeufchritel,asappears from the letterabove-mentioned. 
 
 i Their passport is dated the end of August, 1690. (See Dieterici, p. 290.) 
 Nine hundred and fifty -four set out : only eight hundred and forty-fom- had 
 anived there, and some of these remained in their new coimtiy ; among others 
 two preachers, a Jacob and a Da\-id Bayle. (Dieterici.) This difference between 
 the number of those who set out, and those who had anived natiu^ally prompts 
 the question, "Whence did this difference arise? Among the conjectm-al 
 answers that may be given to it tliis appears the most simple and probaljle, 
 that many of those who at first had refused to set out for Brandenbiu-g, after- 
 wards decided to do so. 
 
378 HiSTOKT or the vaudois chitech. 
 
 had enslaved for a time to the Eomish worship should 
 return to the faith of their pious ancestors and their 
 heroic brethren. Availing themselves of his benevolence, 
 and making use of their liberty, a great number of young 
 persons of both sexes, who had been forced to enter into 
 the service of the rich Piedmontese in order to save their 
 lives, as well as the children who were abducted at the 
 time of the imprisonment in 1686, and of the emigration in 
 1687, hastened to the places of their birth to seek their 
 relations, and to profess once more a faith the recollections 
 of which still filled their hearts. 
 
 After four years of cruel and painful separation, how 
 happy were they to see themselves again in that beloved 
 country which they had recovered, but where they had 
 everything to re-establish ! As when Israel released from 
 captivity returned to the land of their fathers to rebuild 
 Jerusalem, to restore its temple and its worship and to 
 cultivate its long-abandoned fields that they might present 
 their tithes to Jehovah, so this feeble remnant of the 
 Vaudois, without laying aside the weapons that were 
 necessary for the defence of their prince, took the trowel, 
 the spade, and the plough, rebuilt their thatched cottages, 
 repaii'ed their temples and their villages, recognised, and 
 sowed their fallow ground, and with grateful and loving 
 heart returned thanks to the all-wise, all-good, all-powerful 
 God, who having made them pass through severe but 
 salutarjr trials, had restored to them, on the soil of their 
 fathers, the liberty of serving him with a pui'e worship, 
 conformable to his word. 
 
 CHAPTER XXYI. 
 
 THE VAUDOIS UST THE EIGHTEENTH CENTFEY, AND DUEING 
 THE FEENCH EEVOLUTION. 1690 1814. 
 
 ^' Seeve God and your prince faithfully;" such was the 
 principal passage and substance of the adcbress of Victor 
 Amadous ii. to the Vaudois chiefs, when he declared that 
 he would grant his afi'ection as well as protection to their 
 people. Words delightful to their ears ! for if they brought 
 
' TNDEK THE BAXXEES OF THEIR PKIXCE. 379 
 
 luiclcr thcii' notice a duty which in their last amied conflict 
 had undergone a forcible interruption, they specified in the 
 first place tliat duty ■\^hich claimed the preference to it. 
 The duke himself placed fidelity to God before that which 
 related to his own person. Their past conduct thus received 
 its justification in the judgment even of him who was most 
 interested, next to themselves, that there should be no 
 reciuTence of conflict between the two duties. The Mure, 
 in its turn ofi'ered them some secuiity, since the prince _ of 
 his own motion assigned to the two great duties which 
 should govern the life of a Christian citizen, the same order 
 as that in which the Yaudois had always placed them, when 
 they supported them by an appeal to the apostolic injunc- 
 tion, '' Fear Ood, honoiu' the king," 1 Peter ii. 17. 
 
 The Yaudois, grateful to their sovereign for the return of 
 his benevolence, endeavoured to give him palpable proofs of 
 theii^ sincerity ; and, in the fii^st place, by shedding their 
 blood for him. They hastened to his standard at the first 
 call, without sparing themselves. " They were a great 
 support to the duke of Savoy, when the war with France 
 broke out," says a Piedmontese author, Charles Botta, who 
 is far from being prejudiced in their favour.* The count 
 of Saluzzo, in his Military History of Piedmont, expresses 
 himseK as follows : — " These mountaineers hastened to join 
 the marqids de Parelle who had not long before attacked 
 them, and the skinnishes on the mountains cost the enemy, 
 whom they drove from Lucema, more than a thousand 
 men. ' ' f The marquis Costa de Beauregard, in his ' ' Histori- 
 cal Memoir's of the House of Savoy," {Jllemoires ITistonqties 
 sur la Mai son de Savoie,) speaks of the braveiy of the 
 barbets, who rendered themselves formidable to the French. J 
 He even passes an eulogium on their conduct at the siege 
 of Coni, in the foUowing year. " This fortress," he says, 
 " invested fi^om the commencement of the campaign, was for 
 a long time defended only by its own inhabitants and some 
 troops of peasants from the neighbouring districts, among 
 others by eight hundred Yaudois under the command of a 
 chief celebrated among them." 
 
 ^Tiile the military force of the valleys distinguished 
 itself in the defence of towns as well as in the field of 
 
 * Storia d'ltalia, t. vii. p. 20. 
 t Histoire Jlilitaire, t. v. p. 13. % Tome iii. pp. 33— il. 
 
380 HISTORY OF THE VATJDOIS CHURCH. 
 
 battle,^' and thus fulfilled the wish expressed to their leader 
 Amaud by their prince, the latter interested himself ac- 
 cording to his promise in the establishment of the Yaudois 
 families, and gave the necessary orders for that purpose. 
 ^Nevertheless, the resumption of their ancient inheritance 
 was not so easy in point of law as the simple act might 
 have been, for this property had changed masters. One 
 part had been ceded to religious corporations ; another part 
 sold to individuals ; a third had been let on a lease. It 
 was desirable to make an amicable arrangement with the 
 various holders of the property ; and the prince acted 
 accordingly. 
 
 It would be interesting to know the numbers of the 
 Vaudois who established themselves in their burned or half- 
 deserted villages ; but the exact data are wanting. All that 
 we know is, that, during the years immediately following, 
 the number of Yaudois able to bear arms did not exceed a 
 thousand or eleven hundred. f And taking into account 
 the very small proportion of children to adults, on their 
 return, we can scarcely suppose the population more than 
 three or four thousand persons. There was, however, in a 
 short time, a rapid increase, the effect of numerous mar- 
 riages and births, as is attested by some of the parish 
 registers. J To the account of the Yaudois we must also 
 add, in order to have the real number of the evangelical 
 professors who came to repeople the valleys, some thou- 
 sands of French from Pragela, DaujDhine, and elsewhere, 
 some of Avhom had deserved this favour by fighting in the 
 ranks of the Yaudois, under the conduct of Arnaud ; and 
 others, attracted by their brethren and friends, had joined 
 them, desirous as they were to live in countries bordering 
 on the parts from which Louis xiv. had driven them. 
 
 Yictor Amadeus, who regretted having been deprived, by 
 
 * At Marsaille— a battle lost, it is true, by the duke and his aUies— the Vau- 
 dois captains were Inabert, Peyrot, Combe, and Caffarel. (Storia di Pinerolo, 
 1836 ; t. iv. p. 140.) 
 
 t Letter translated from the Dutch, sent from Zurich to their Excellencies 
 at Berne. (Archives de Berne, mark E.) 
 
 X In the resfister of births, in the church of Angrogna, it is stated that from 
 the month of August, 1690, to January 1st, 1697, there were 95 marriages and 
 143 births in this very large commune. 
 
 It is also stated that at this latter date there remained in the commune, 
 thirty-eight or forty men who had been at Balsille ; that 100 persons of Angrogna 
 had retm-ned from Piedmont, and that during these six years seventy persons 
 of aU ages and both sexes died. (It is not mentioned in this document whether 
 any women, childi'en, and other persons, retui-ned from Switzerland.) 
 
EDICT OF 1694. 381 
 
 a persecution equally unjust and impolitic, of a faithful and 
 courageous people, and who now wished to see them acquire 
 some consistence, permitted the establishment of these 
 strangers, Avho assimilated themselves to his subjects. 
 
 The manifesto, which was intended to determine the 
 position of the Yaudois in the state, to recognise theii^ right 
 to the possession of the territory, and to guarantee the 
 exercise of their religion, was, we may easily imagine, a 
 docimient as difficult for the sovereign to draw up as to 
 publish, on account of the constant opposition of their 
 inveterate enemies, the papists, especially the jDnests and 
 their agents. Nevertheless, the real ser\-ices they had 
 rendered to their prince in this war were too recent, and 
 "those that were still expected from their zeal too necessary, 
 to allow the refusal of this authentic act. An edict of 
 pacification was therefore published; but care was taken 
 to grant the Yaudois no new advantage. They were put 
 on the same footing on which they stood before the events 
 that led to their exile. The edict, which is dated 13 (23) 
 May, 1694, contains in substance the recognition of their 
 legitimate establishment in the land of their ancestors, and 
 their hereditaiy possessions ; the revocation of the edicts of 
 January and April, 1686 ; ^vith a general and complete 
 amnesty, and the promise of the favour of their prince. 
 It obtained, moreover, all the legal sanctions of registration 
 that were necessary to render it effectual. "^^ That the 
 Yaudois, however, did not obtain their re-settlement with- 
 out meeting with impediments is proved by the fact that 
 pope Innocent xii., in a bull of the 19th of August, of the 
 same year, 1694, declares the ducal edict respecting the 
 Yaudois to be null and void, and enjoins on his inquisitors 
 to pay no regard to it in the piu'suit of these heretics. 
 But the senate of Turin, in decided harmony with the will 
 of the prince, confii-med, by their rescript of the 31st of 
 August, the validity of the edict of May 13 (23), and 
 prohibited the pope's bull. 
 
 However ill-disposed certain persons might be, the 
 Yaudois colony would have advanced rapidly to prosperity 
 
 * This fact is not without importance. The history of former periods shows 
 us that many decrees of his royal highness were not effective, owing to their 
 not being entered in the registers of the Senate. (For the Edict, see Storia di 
 Pinerolo, iv. 141, and especially Duboin, Raccolta, etc., Turin, 1826, t. ii. 
 p. 109 to 278, which contain the edicts relating to the Vaudois.) 
 
382 HISTORY OF THE VAUDOIS CHURCH. 
 
 and risen from its ruins, protected as it was by the good- will 
 of its sovereign, if politics, with their sinister means, their 
 temptations and cruel reservations, had not given it a fatal 
 blow. Victor Amadeus, seduced by the brilliant promises 
 of Louis XIV. who restored to him his lost provinces and 
 requested his daughter's hand for his grandson, the heir 
 presumptive to the crown of Prance, consented to break his 
 engagements with his allies and to place himself under the 
 patronage of the great king. If, in accordance with the 
 conditions of the treaty, Victor Amadeus remained faithful 
 to his pledge to maintain the Yaudois in their heritage, and 
 if he protected them against their inveterate enemy, the real 
 author of the frightful calamities of 1686, yet he consented, 
 alas ! to rigorous measures against the French belonging 
 to the reformed church who were settled in the valleys, 
 with whom he had made, it is true, no express engagement, 
 but whom five years' residence might authorize to consider 
 themselves as his new subjects. It was stipulated in this 
 treaty, concluded secretly at Loretto at the beginning of 
 1696, — 1, That the inhabitants of the Vaudois valleys 
 should have no communication or connexion with the sub- 
 jects of the great king in matters of religion ; and, 2, That 
 the subjects of his most Christian majesty who had taken 
 refuge in the valleys should be banished. 
 
 In conformity with this treaty those of the French 
 reformed settled in the vallej^s, who had enlisted in the 
 Yaudois army, in the service of the duke, were obliged to 
 quit the camp at Frescarole, and pass into Switzerland. 
 They reached the Trench part of the canton of Berne at the 
 beginning of August. Others followed them in the month 
 of September."^' In the course of 1698, and not before, the 
 terms of the treaty were fully executed. In the interval, 
 apart from the efforts made to lead back to popery, by 
 working on their fears, those who had returned to the 
 Yaudois faith ; to alienate family property by marriages 
 with Catholics ; and to prevent the valley of Perosa from 
 being peopled with Yaudois, — scarcely any change was per- 
 ceptible in the valleys. f But on the 1st of July, 1698, the 
 duke of Savoy published the twofold decree which his 
 
 * Archives of Berne, mark E. 
 
 t Ai-naud's letter, dated from La Torre, 1697, to M. Walkenier, ambassador 
 to the Swiss from the Low Coimtries.— (Aj'chives de Berne, mai-k E.) 
 
EXILE OF THE FEEXCH PROTESTANTS. 383 
 
 powerful neighbour had wrested from him ; namely, pro- 
 hibiting the Yaudois from having any connexion, in reli- 
 gious matters, with his French subjects, and ordering the 
 latter to leave the valleys "within the space of two months, 
 under pain of death and confiscation. This edict forcibly 
 expelled seven pastors, who came originally from Pragela 
 and Dauphine, — Montoux, the companion ofAmaud, Pap- 
 pon, Giraud, Joiuxlan, Dumas, Javel, and, lastly, Henri 
 Arnaud himself. In fact, Ai^naud was a Frenchman, from 
 the environs of Die. Had it been otherwise, some reason 
 probably would have been found for getting rid of him, for 
 jealousy and calumny pui'sued him with their envenomed 
 tongues. The accusation was wickedly renewed against 
 him of wishing to form a republic, although his part in 
 civil aifairs was confined to settling the difi'erences which 
 sometimes arose in families, in rebuilding houses, or in the 
 division of property on the unexpected return of some rela- 
 tion. His person was too highly venerated, his counsels 
 were much valued, and followed too promjDtly, to render 
 it surprising that umbrage should be taken at a man so in- 
 fluential among his adopted people. His name, celebrated 
 by the remembrance of his exploits, by his enterprising 
 genius and heroic firmness, as well as by his talents and 
 virtues as a pastor, made him an object of dread to a party 
 destitute of generosity, who in the councils of the prince 
 secretly excited hatred against the evangelicals. It was 
 with a heavy heart that the friend, the leader, the hero, 
 the beloved pastor of the Yaudois, quitted for ever these 
 churches to which he had consecrated his Kfe, and for whose 
 re-establishment he had not feared death on the field of 
 battle. Three thousand Frenchmen, refugees fr'om Pragela, 
 Dauphine, and elsewhere, withdrew with him fr'om the 
 valleys, where after cruel persecutions, they had found for a 
 few years an imperfect repose. 
 
 Geneva, which had admitted within its walls the un- 
 fortunate Yaudois twelve years before, again charitably 
 received these new guests, until their departure for Switzer- 
 land and Germany. Arnaud entered it on the 30th August, 
 1698. The companies of the other exiles followed during 
 the first days of Setember.* 
 
 Always prompt in his measures, Amaud had scarcely 
 
 * Archives of Berne, mark E ; correspondence of Geneva. 
 
384 HISTORY OF THE VAUDOIS CHUECH. 
 
 arrived, when he set out to solicit an asylum for his 
 brethren from the Protestant courts of Germany. Writing 
 from Stuttgard, he had the pleasure of announcing to the 
 Bernese magistrates that the duke of Wirtemberg was 
 favourable to the exiles, and would admit them within his 
 territories. 
 
 They left, and this time without the hope of ever return- 
 ing to their inhospitable valleys. The love of the Lord and 
 Christian charity upheld their tottering steps. At one of 
 their halts, at Knittlingen on the road from the Rhine to 
 Maulbronu, a few leagues only from their destination, they 
 took jDossession of the soil by depositing in it the remains 
 of one of their faithful pastors, named Dumas, to whom 
 death had scarcely given time to reach a place of refuge 
 before he departed.'"' 
 
 It was on the west and north of Stuttgard that the 
 emigrants from the Yaudois Alps established themselves 
 and founded their colonies, to which, from recollections at 
 once mournful and ■ delightful, they gave the names of 
 villages in the valleys of Perosa and Pragela which they 
 had been obliged to quit. In the district of Maulbronu 
 Yillar, (more commonly Gross Villar, that is Great Villar,)f 
 Pinache, and Serres, j' Lucerna or Wurmberg, Le Queyras, 
 a quarter in the town of Diirrmenz,§ and Schoenberg, to 
 which Arnaud, who settled there as pastor, gave the name 
 of Muriers;[| Perouse,^ in the district of Leonberg; jN^eu- 
 
 * We are indebted for these particulars, as well as for many others respect- 
 ing the Vaudois settlements in the south-west of Germany, to the kindness of 
 oiir fellow-coimtryman and friend, M. P. Appia, pastor of the French church at 
 Frankfort-on-Main. The valleys of Piedmont nvimber him among the worthiest 
 of their sons, and one of theii' most devoted counsellors. I hope this humble 
 and faithful servant of God will bear with tliis pubhc expression of respect 
 which his character claims ; we are prompted to it by personal regards and a 
 conviction of its truth. 
 
 t In course of tune, this village contained a thousand Vaudois, and thus, no 
 doubt, acquired the name of Great Villar. At the present time, the village is 
 much less populous, and one-third, or perhaps one-half of its fa mil ies are of 
 German extraction. The last Vaudois pastor in this parish was one of the 
 name of Mondon, at the beguining of tliis century. He was a native of the 
 valleys. 
 
 X This latter place is sometimes called Sarras. 
 
 § At Diirrmenz the emigrants bmlt, in 1700, a street in a straight hne, which 
 they called Queyi'as, in remembrance of the valley of that name in Upper 
 Dauphine. The chapel of ease belonging to the parish is at a hamlet called 
 Sangach, which the Vaudois pronounced Sinach. 
 
 II Schoenberg is now only a subiu-b of Diirrmenz. 
 
 T[ Now a village of 500 souls which retains no vestiges of a Vaudois settle- 
 ment beyond the names of the families and of the locahty, such as Sartaz, 
 PinadeUa, Grands-Ordons, Petits-Ordons. 
 
' YATJDOIS COLONIES OF AVIHTEMBEEG. 385 
 
 Hengstett, which they called Bourset,^'' in the district of 
 Calw; Mentoiile^t now Xordhausen, in the district of 
 Brachenheim ; La Balme, now called Palnibach, mth ]Mout- 
 schelbach, between Pforzheim and Dourlach ; Waldensberg, 
 in the county of AVaechtersbach, (Isemburg.) A certain 
 number of families established themselves at AValdorf, a 
 village in the ancient principality of Isemburg. The land- 
 grave of Hesse-Darmstadt offered also an asylum to some 
 of Arnaud's companions in Eohrbach, Wembach, and 
 Halm, also at Iveltersbach ; the prince of Hesse-Hom- 
 burgh at Dornholzhausen, and the count of Hanau in his 
 own residence. 
 
 On the soil of Germany, these victims of the fanatic 
 hatred of Louis xiv. experienced no recurrence of sufferings 
 such as those they formerly endured. Protected by the 
 august princes of the Protestant faith, and treated by them 
 with equity and kindness, like their other subjects, they 
 have lived in prosperity and peace. 
 
 Down to the commencement of the present century, the 
 Yaudois colonies of Wirtemberg governed themselves, as 
 far as regarded ecclesiastical affairs, by means of a presby- 
 terian synod. Conformably to the ti*aditions of their 
 church, they provided at their own expense the means of 
 worship and instruction, and paid for the rejDairs of the 
 temples, parsonages, and school-houses, as well as the 
 maintenance of the schoolmasters and pastors ; a consider- 
 able charge upon their poverty, which was lightened how- 
 ever by the contributions of English charity. For a long- 
 time they had the pleasure of being watched over by pastors 
 of their own or of the mother-country, and of listening to 
 their instructions in the language of their ancestors. But 
 for many years they have been under the control (though 
 un^^dllingly for the most part, and with a constrained submis- 
 sion) of the superior consistory of Stuttgard. Hencefor- 
 ward, the language of their worship and schools is German, 
 and the national element is lost. Li a short time their 
 separate history will end, if it have not done so akeady. 
 
 * Neu-Hengstett is only a poor commune of about 400 souls, all acrricultura! 
 labourers. The last Vaudois pastor was named Gejononat, whom many per- 
 sons still remember. He came from the valleys. 
 
 t Founded by the Vaudois of Montoul, Fenestrelles, andUsseauxin Pi-agela, 
 not being able to agree on the name of the settlement, the prince of Wirtem- 
 berg called it Nordiiausen. 
 
 S 
 
386 HISTOEY OF THE VAUDOIS CHURCH. 
 
 The Yaudois patois is almost forgotten, though, it may he 
 in use in a certain number of villages.* Very soon, it is to 
 he feared, nothing but the naraesf of families and those of 
 villages and particular localities will recall the origin of 
 these men of the south, whose swarthj^ complexion and 
 black hair will no longer serve to distinguish their de- 
 scendants. 
 
 In one of these colonies, Schoenberg, near Diirrmenz, 
 the hero of the Vaudois terminated his career. Preferring 
 the exercise of his pastoral functions to military honours 
 and glory, Henri Arnaud declined the pressing invitations 
 of William in., king of England, who had sent him a 
 colonel's brevet and the offer of a regiment. He wished 
 to forget, as a humble presbyter, the art of war and gene- 
 ralship together with the remembrance of his exploits. 
 Wholly devoted to the work of the ministry, to the preach- 
 ing of the gospel, to consoling the poor and the afflicted, he 
 applied liimself to lead the flock committed to his charge 
 no longer into their ancient country, as when he reconquered 
 the Vaudois soil at the head of nine hundred valiant men, 
 but to the heavenly abodes, in the footsteps of the Head 
 and Saviour of the church. 
 
 Having been twice married, and the father of three sons 
 and two daughters, he died at Schoenberg on the 8th of 
 September, 1721, at the age of fourscore years, leaving a 
 very inconsiderable patrimony to his children, — an evident 
 proof, that in his connexions with the great in this world, 
 as well as in his enterprises, he had forgotten himself 
 while seeking oiAj the general good. 
 
 Within the humble precincts of a temple with walls of 
 clay, and a bell whose sound was never heard bej^ond the 
 cherry-trees of the village, gratitude and respect have 
 assigned an honourable place to the mortal remains of this 
 great man, for whom the modest crook of a shepherd of 
 souls had a stronger attraction than an elevated rank in the 
 
 * In 1820, a schoolmaster, originally from the settlemient of Serres, con- 
 versed at Lausanne in the patois, which he pfeneraUy used, with the students 
 from the Vaudois valley, and was understood by them. The pastor Appia, in 
 two visits which he paid to the Vaudois settlements of Wu-temberg, in 1845 
 and 1846, ascertained, that though in many villages, such as Serres and 
 Pinache, all the famiUes stiU speak their ancient idiom ; at other places, such 
 as Perosa, it is entirely forgotten. 
 
 t Among the names well known in the Vaudois vaUeys and in Pragela, are 
 those of Ravou-e, Mondon, Geymet, Vole, Poet, Peyrot, Clapier, Pascal, Jom'- 
 dan. Carrier, Jouvenal, etc. 
 
ATTEMPTS AT OPPEESSIOX. 387 
 
 army, than honour and glory, or than the favour of courts. 
 His ashes repose at the foot of the communion-table. An 
 engTa\dng-, hung under the desk of the pulpit, exhibits the 
 features which distinguished the hero of Salabertrand and 
 Balsille ; while a Latin inscription engraven on the stone 
 that covers his tomb recalls his exploits. The following is 
 a translation : 
 
 '' BENEATH THIS TOMB LIES HEXRI AENAUD, 
 
 PASTOR, AXI) ALSO MILITARY COMMANDER, OF THE 
 
 PIEDMONTESE YAUDOIS." 
 
 In the centre of the monument — 
 
 " Thou seest here the ashes of Arnaud, but his achieve- 
 ments, labours, and undaunted courage no one can depict. 
 The son of Jesse combats alone against thousands of 
 foreigners ; alone he terrifies their camp and leader. He 
 died Sept. 8, and was buried, 1721. 
 
 " AGED LXXX." 
 
 The Yaudois population of the valleys of Lucerna, An- 
 grogna, Perosa, and San Martino, now considerably dimi- 
 nished by the forced emigration of three thousand French- 
 men, whose presence during many years had filled uj) the 
 immense vacancies made by persecution, had themselves to 
 sufi'er, at times, measures severe and vexatious, as Avell as 
 prejudicial to their prosperity. Although it appeared cer- 
 tain that Yictor Amadous was not unfavourably disposed 
 to the Yaudois, yet an underhand and concealed war was 
 made upon them. Contrary to the terms of the edict for 
 their re-estabhshment, the children of the Yaudois who had 
 been dispersed over Piedmont were tampered with and 
 tm^ned from the faith by promises of marriage and other 
 means of seduction, or by acting on their fears by threats. 
 Under the pretext of the incompatibility of Protestantism 
 and Popery, and at the instigation of Prance, their next 
 neighbour,^*' endeavours were made to prevent the Yaudois 
 of the half- valley of Perosa from entering into possession of 
 their property on the left bank of the Clusone, and estab- 
 lishing themselves there. Payment in full was claimed out 
 of their slender means, of all the taxes and imposts since 
 
 * It must lie recollected that France at that time possessed the valley of 
 Pragela, the eastern part of the valley of Perosa and Pinerolo. 
 
 s 2 
 
388 HISTOEY OF THE VATJDOIS CHTJECH. 
 
 their expulsion in 1686, and consequently during the 
 period which they had spent in foreign lands, and in which 
 their property was possessed by others. Ancient debts, 
 also, which they supposed were extinguished, were laid to 
 their account, amounting, with some fresh items, to 450,000 
 French francs, for which interest was required at three per 
 cent. It was an additional misfortune that the imposts 
 had been considerably increased, and were exacted with 
 rigour. While they were not required from the Catholics, 
 the Vaudois, who were unable to discharge them, were 
 immediately ejected. Popish missionaries traversed the 
 villages and mountains, directing their efforts chiefly to poor 
 families, whom they too often succeeded in di^awing into 
 apostasy. Sometimes, the vague rumour of a new and 
 immediate forced emigration was spread from place to place, 
 and filled their hearts with anxiety ; at other times, they 
 were calmed and consoled by being assured that the duke 
 was most kindly disposed towards his Yaudois subjects. 
 They were never allowed to repair or rebuild the churches 
 that had been injured or pulled down, and the severe 
 measures taken against the French part of the population 
 prevented their having a sufficient number of ministers. 
 This want would have been unsupplied if the canton of 
 Eerne had not sent some preachers, by permission of the 
 duke."^' 
 
 At the end of 1698, the situation of the Yaudois appeared 
 so precarious that one of their pastors, Blachon, expressed 
 in a letter his fears that such a state of things could not 
 last a year, and as it concerned himself, he saw no safety 
 but in emigration. The Yaudois at this period, after the 
 departure of the French Protestants, were reduced to the 
 number of eleven hundred men able to bear arms. Such 
 were the effects of the return of Yictor Amadeus to an 
 alliance with France. Political considerations overpowered 
 the better feelings of his heart. The Yaudois were victims 
 to his plans of aggrandizement. 
 
 An alteration in the politics of the court of Savoy, at the 
 commencement of the eighteenth century, led to a slight 
 amelioration in the condition of the valleys. Yictor Ama- 
 
 * At that time, the following emineiit men were among the pastors of the 
 vaUeya : Jacob Dubois, Philippe Dind, Isaac Senebier, Joseph Decoppet, 
 Philippe Dntoit, and Abram Heniiod. — (Extract from the pai-ish registers of 
 the -s-alleys.) 
 
' rOREIGX SUBSIDIES. 389 
 
 dcus Gscapod from the infliieiice of Louis xiv. on tlie occa- 
 sion of the Spanish succession, and entered into a league 
 with the emperor of Germany and the two great Protestant 
 powers, England and Holland, to make war on the French 
 monarch. It may he supposed that in the correspondence 
 of the allied cabinets, and in the conferences of the ambas- 
 sadors, the affairs of the Yaudois came under discussion, 
 and that the intercession of the Protestant courts was not 
 unavailing. The secret articles of the preceding treaty of 
 alliance, signed at the Hague, in 1691, were no doubt 
 confirmed, by which the duke of Savoy guaranteed to the 
 Yaudois the exercise of their religion. This prince also 
 approved of the protection granted by these two powers to 
 the churches of the valleys, and peiTaitted the transmission 
 of foreign subsidies intended to aid their poverty. A few 
 words on this subject may be properly introduced here. 
 
 Queen Mary, the consort of AVilliam iii., king of 
 England, had formed a fund, — the interest of which 
 was then and is still called, the Poyal Subsidy, for the 
 purpose of paying the salaries of the pastors of the 
 valleys, and also those of the colony of Wirtemberg.* 
 The states-general of Holland employed the interest of a 
 fund obtained by collections throughout the states, as well 
 as the amount of annual collections, for the payment of 
 the salaries of schoolmasters, gratuities to superannuated 
 pastors, and to the widows of pastors, for relie\'ing the poor 
 of each church, and also for the support of a Latin school. 
 And as we are now on the subject of gifts of Christian 
 charity made at this time, or a few years before, for the 
 suffering Yaudois, we must not forget the bursaries appro- 
 priated by the evangelical cantons of Switzerland to the 
 students of the valleys in some of their academies ; namely, 
 one at Bale, five at Lausanne, and two at Geneva. In this 
 last city, one was paid by the state out of the funds of the 
 general hospital ;f the second proceeded from a donation 
 
 * It has been said that since the wars at the beorinning- of this centmy, the 
 pastors of the Vaudois settlements in Wirtemberg cease to receive their salaries 
 from England. Those of the valleys are still indebted to it for a part of their 
 maintenance. We may add that in 1770, the hberal collections made in Great 
 Britain permitted an augmentation of the pastors' salaries in the valleys. The 
 interest of this latter fund bore the name of the National Subsidy, to distin- 
 gvtish it from the Royal Subsidy furnished by the crown. 
 
 t This bursary ceased in 1798 ; those of Lausanne were partially interrupted, 
 and afterwards re-estabhshed for a time. 
 
390 HISTORY OF THE TAIJDOIS CHUECH. 
 
 made by M. Clignet, postmaster at Lcyclcn, and entrusted 
 to the Committee of the Italian Exchange.* 
 
 While the valleys, in consequence of their prince's taking 
 a part in the coalition against France, felt themselves less 
 oppressed h}' the restraints of a hateful fanaticism which 
 that power then displayed towards evangelical Christians, 
 their militia, enlisted under his banners, acquitted them- 
 selves with the greatest credit. The war that Victor 
 Amadeus had to sustain against his ancient alty was long 
 and disadvantageous to his arms. His personal courage, 
 his perseverance in the contest, and great efforts could not 
 save him from being crushed under the strokes of his for- 
 midable neighbour. He saw himself deprived of the 
 greater number of his fortified places, and at last, in 1706, 
 was besieged in his capital, Turin. The recital of the 
 vicissitudes of this siege docs not enter into the plan of 
 this history, yet we must mention an episode in it which 
 is strictly connected Avith our subject. The labours of the 
 siege were suddenly interrupted by the flight of the duke of 
 Savoy, who left the city at the head of a body of cavalry. 
 The French general, the duke de la Feuillade, pursued him 
 with a party of the besiegers, reckoning upon getting pos- 
 session of his person. In fact, more than once Victor 
 Amadeus was closely pressed, and in imminent ' danger. 
 Having almost reached Saluzzo, he proceeded to the left of 
 the Po, and took refuge in the moimtains, among his 
 faithful Vaudois. Let us here quote the words of the count 
 de Saluzzo, who was, after all, no great friend to the Vaudois : 
 
 ''The object of Victor Amadeus was," he says, ''to en- 
 courage M. de la Feuillade to run after him. He fell back 
 to Lucerna. The Vaudois joined him in great numbers. He 
 was so well fortified in the position he chose, that the French 
 general, after advancing as far as Bricherasco, gave up the 
 design of encoimtering him."f The Piedmontcse historian 
 notices the fact of the stay of Victor Amadeus in the midst 
 of the Vaudois, and the zeal of the latter to surround his 
 person, in order to defend him unto death; but he does 
 not say, what, nevertheless, we cannot pass over in silence, 
 that the duke reposed at night under the roof of a Vaudois, 
 
 * These details are extracted from a little work, entitled, Le Livre de Famille, 
 (The Family Book,) Geneva, 1830, by the ancient moderator of the Vaudois 
 churches, P. Bert, who, from his oflETce, might be expected to know them. 
 
 t Histoire Militaire, t. v., p. 189. 
 
XEW VEXATIONS. 391 
 
 in the midst of the humble f)opulation of Rora. Thus this 
 enlightened prince appreciated and estimated at its proper 
 value the honesty and perfect fidelity of his evangelical 
 subjects, whom the popish perfidy and hatred of Louis xi\., 
 though they had been so long attached to him, had repre- 
 sented as enemies of his person and kingdom, and whom 
 he had treated with excessive rigour twenty years be- 
 fore. The confidence displayed on this occasion hj Victor 
 Amadeus did as much honour to his judgment as to 
 the simple and faithful men to whom it was given. The 
 family of Durand Canton, to whom the privilege belonged 
 of offering hospitality to their sovereign^ preserve irrefrag- 
 able proofs of it ; namely, the goblet and silver ser^dce he 
 made use of, which he left as a memorial of his "s-isit, as 
 well as an authentic act, authorizing the family who received 
 him to bury their dead in their garden. Duiing the retreat 
 of the French, who were at last beaten by prince Eugene 
 under the walls of Tiu'in, and constrained to flee after having 
 raised the siege of that city, the Yaudois gave a second 
 mark of devotion to their sovereign, by not sj)aring them- 
 selves in the pursuit. ''The French army," says the 
 count of Saluzzo; " took the route to Dauphine, which it 
 did not reach without experiencing fresh losses, having 
 been continually harassed on its march by the Yaudois 
 soldiers, under the command of colonel de Saint-Amour."* 
 The peace of Utrecht in 1713, so advantageous to Yictor 
 Amadeus, whose dominions it increased, while putting 
 on his head a royal crown, that of Sicily, exchanged 
 some years afterwards, rather by constraint, for that of Sar- 
 dinia, tended inevitably to bring back that attention and 
 activity to the interior which had been expended outwardly 
 on a contest of the most serious importance. Political pre- 
 judices were again in action against the existence of a reli- 
 gious confession diff'erent fi-om that of the generality. The 
 secret enemies of the Yaudois and of the reformed religion 
 impelled the government to some vexatious and even unjust 
 measures. In the first class we may mention the obliga- 
 tion imposed on all the Yaudois churches to observe as holy- 
 days all the numerous festivals ordained by the Eomish 
 chiu-ch, contrary to their ancient usages, and notwithstand- 
 
 * Histoire Militaire, t. v., p. 212. The Vaudois sigrnalized themselves by 
 other feats of arms in the first half of the eighteenth centuiy . 
 
392 HISTOET OF THE YATJDOIS CHUECH. 
 
 ing the absence of antecedent legal arrangements ; so also 
 the difficulties, or rather direct hindrances, put by the 
 custom-house in the way of the admission of the books 
 necessar}^ for the services of religion ; and the refusal 
 to admit any Yaudois to the office of notary : also 
 many grievances which have been constantly repeated since 
 that time. Another measure taken against the Yaudois 
 may be cited as evidently unjust, namel}^, that which con- 
 strained the Yaudois parents, whose child might have passed 
 over to popery, to provide him with a maintenance, or to 
 give him his legal portion, both of personal and real pro- 
 perty; an unjust measure, for it tended to weaken parental 
 authority, to give an advantage to vicious and rebellious 
 children, and to reduce aged persons to indigence, by 
 depriving them of property without which they could not 
 make shift to live. These exactions and severities drew 
 forth complaints from the population of the valleys. They 
 had recourse to the benevolence and justice of their sove- 
 reign ; but whatever methods they took, however humble 
 the petitions they addressed to him, no success attended 
 their efforts. 
 
 At this juncture, a monarch, whose august house had 
 constantly given the Yaudois proofs of its enlightened and 
 Christian benevolence, Prcderic William i., king of Prussia,^* 
 
 * The letter of the Idng of Prussia to the king of Sarthnia : — " Sir, my 
 Brother,— Affected as I am with the present moirrnful situation of the Protes- 
 tant chni'ches in the valleys of Piedmont, I cannot forbear addressing these 
 lines to you on theii' l^ehalf, hoping that yom* majesty will receive them more 
 favourably, since you wiU. easily judge by the affection you feel towards those 
 who profess the same religion as yourself, that I must have the same tender 
 regard for the said chm-ches, and that their preservation and tranquillity can 
 never be indifferent to me. 
 
 " I cannot beheve that the complamts of these poor churches have reached 
 jour majesty, or if they have, that they have been represented so as to do 
 them complete justice ; for every one knows that your majesty is too generous 
 to be able to refuse remedjong the grievances of a people who, on many im- 
 portant occasions, have shed their blood and sacrificed their property in the 
 service of your majesty, and that with so much bravery and fidehty that your 
 majesty has always appeared satisfied. 
 
 " Relying on these testimonies, I promise myself that your majesty will be 
 well plensed, as I earnestly entreat, to contmue yoiu' roynl protection and 
 benevolence to the aforesaid Protestant churches, and allow them peaceably 
 to enjoy the edicts already published in then favour, and especiaUy that of the 
 23rd of May, 1694, in contravention of which it has been attempted to olihge 
 the said Protestant churches, under rigorous penalties, to observe all the feasts 
 appointed by the Romish church, winch is a proceeding dnectly conti'ary to 
 that liberty of conscience, of which, as your majesty knows, no prince can 
 deprive his subjects without committing extreme violence, and without 
 encroachhig even on the rights reserved for the Divine Majesty, to whom 
 alone belongs the dominion over the hearts and consciences of men. 
 
 " The ordinance pul:)lished under youi* majesty's name, that the Protestant 
 
I NEW TEXATIOXS. 393 
 
 interceded in their favonr in the beginning of the year 
 1725. The ans^^-er of Victor Araadens, although evasiye, 
 expressed friendly dispositions towards them. These were 
 also shown in a subsequent act, which will soon come under 
 our notice, without its being possible to say that they 
 materially modified the condition of the victims of popish 
 prejudices, or that they much weakened the opposition of a 
 jealous religion, which never ceased to hold uj) to their prince 
 as dangerous subjects men whose blood had recently been 
 spilt in his service. The principles of an enlarged tolera- 
 tion never prevailed in the administration of the Vaudois 
 aifairs, and at this time so much the less, when the govern- 
 ment was resolved to take very severe measures against the 
 evangelical Christians of another part of his majesty's states, 
 namely, that of Pragela, annexed to the Piedmontese terri- 
 tory by the treaty of Utrecht. 
 
 In spite of the fiuy of Louis xiv., and the violent emi- 
 gration to which, in 1698, he had forced more than three 
 thousand Protestants of that country, there still remained 
 in the valley of Pragela some hundreds of persons who 
 although less fervent in their faith, and less disposed to 
 sacrifice their lives for it, either by exile, or openly con- 
 fessing their religion, nevertheless preserved in secret the 
 hopes, the belief, and the worship of the gospel. Passing 
 under the dominion of Savoy in 1713, and seeing that their 
 brethren in the faith and neighbours in the valleys of 
 Lucema and San Martino enjoyed the exercise of their 
 religion, they took courage, put off all dissimulation, and 
 assembled frequently for edification in the temple of their 
 brethren. For some time, their return to the faith of their 
 
 Vaudois must furnish the children who have abjui'ed the religion of then- 
 fathers with a maintenance, or give them their legal share of the real and 
 personal property of their parents, cannot be less severe nor less contrary than 
 the above-mentioned Divine and human laws, since it inspires Protestant 
 children with sentiments of insubordination and withdraws them from the 
 obedience due to their fathers and mothers, reducing the latter at the same 
 time to an impossibihty of maintaining themselves ; especially when their 
 property hes entirely in land, or they are constrained to part with many por- 
 tions of their property, to make them over to their childi'en, who may have 
 been seduced to abandon the Protestant rehgion. 
 
 " I beg also your majesty to be assured that of aU the marks of friendship 
 you are able to give me, that of paying attention to my intercession for the 
 said Protestant churches will always be to me the most agreeable, and the one 
 for which I shall feel most sensibly obhged. I shall with pleasiu-e avail myself 
 of every opportunity to testify my lively gratitude, and to prove to your majesty 
 the sincerity and high consideration with which I am, etc., 
 
 "Berlin, Jan. 6, 1725." " Fbedeeic William. 
 
 (Vide Dieterici, p. 396.) 
 
 s 3 
 
394 HISTOEY OF THE YAUDOIS CHURCH. 
 
 ancestors was unnoticed, both by the Yaudois and their 
 neighbours. But Romish susceptibility and the traditional 
 policy of the government now took the alarm at their bold- 
 ness, and brought it to an issue in 1730. An edict con- 
 strained them to choose between a fresh abjuration and 
 exile. A friendly attempt at mediation on the part of the 
 king of Prussia with the king of Sardinia could not ward off 
 the bloAv."^' Three himdred and sixty individuals, recovered 
 from their former fall, and animated with the love of the 
 Lord, not feeling themselves at liberty in their consciences 
 to deny their faith, decided on the latter alternative. They 
 arrived in the Pays de Yaud in the course of May, 1730. 
 The government of Berne received them with the same 
 charity which it had displayed towards their unfortunate 
 brethren in the preceding century. A part of them settled 
 there ; f the rest rejoined their relatives who were settled in 
 Wirtemberg or elsewhere. 
 
 All the friends of the gospel in Pragela did not emigrate. 
 The weak dissembled afresh, and went to mass. In secret, 
 they continued to read the word of God. After the end of 
 the century, the author of this work, then a student, having 
 requested hospitality at a house in the valley, met with a 
 cordial reception as one preparing to be a minister of the 
 gospel. " We have the Bible, — we read it," they said, and 
 placed the precious antique volume before him. It is not 
 very long since that the popish authorities, jealous of the 
 sacred book, seized and burned all the copies they could, 
 discover in the valleys. The last victory over the truth — 
 to burn the Bible in the nineteenth century! — Spirit of 
 Eome, thou art alwa^^s the same. 
 
 In this same year, 1730, Yictor Amadous ii. was urged 
 by the Prench court to severe measures against the Prench 
 Protestants who had taken refuge in the valleys, and by 
 pope Clement xii. to punish the relapsed and renegades, 
 with the threat, that if his wishes were not complied with, 
 he would dissolve the advantageous concordat that then 
 existed between him and the court of Turin. Being thus 
 
 * Dieterici, pp. 398, 399. 
 
 t We find in the lists published by M. Dieterici, p. 404, names that stiU exist 
 in the Canton de Yaud, and in the neighbom-ing cantons, such as Bermond, 
 Guvot, Papon, Jannin, Perrot, Turin, Chailler, etc. Many other names are 
 the same in the Canton de Yaud as in the Yaudois valleys ; such are those of 
 Ganin, Buffa, Chauvi, Goimet, Barloz, Bonnet, Bonjom-, Blanched, Odin, 
 Malan, Combe, etc. 
 
SrilMAEY OF THE EDICTS COXCEKXIXG THE VAFDOIS. 395 
 
 prompted, Yictor published on tlie 20th June a severe 
 edict against three classes of persons, in which also are to 
 be found some arrangements respecting the churches of the 
 valleys. The French Protestants, whom the toleration 
 granted to the Yaudois and their vicinity to them had 
 attracted thither, were ordered to leave his majesty's domi- 
 nions ^^-ithin six months under pain of flogging, and after- 
 wards five years at the galleys. The Yaudois who should 
 give them an asylum would receive the estrapado"^' for the 
 first off'ence, and for the second a public flogging. Catholics 
 who had embraced Protestantism, and Yaudois who had 
 become Catholics, but had returned to their former profes- 
 sion, were to receive a similar sentence. The same threats 
 were held out to those who should conceal them. In vain 
 the compassionate monarch who reigned over Prussia 
 requested a full toleration in favour of the converts from 
 Catholicism, referring on their behalf to the edict of paci- 
 fication of 1694: Yictor Amadeus remained inflexible.! 
 About five hundred proselytes, now stedfast and unflinch- 
 ing at the thoughts of exile, took, at the beginning of the 
 winter of 1730, the road to Geneva, where they arrived in 
 the course of December. 
 
 As to the arrangements in the edict of the 20th of June, 
 respecting the ancient churches of the three Yaudois valleys, 
 it was decreed that conformablj^ to the edict of 1620, their 
 members should enjoy the right of working in their houses, 
 with closed doors, on Catholic feast-days, and that they 
 might from time to time obtain from magistrates of this 
 religion permission to be employed on pubKc works when 
 similar permission was granted to the Catholics ; that the 
 acquisition of real and personal property was lawful for 
 them within the limits, and that as to their properties 
 beyond these, the senate would decide according to reason 
 and justice ; ;|: that the cemeteries of the Yaudois were to 
 be at a distance from dwelling-houses, or the public roads, 
 and without inclosures ; that, however, no alteration should 
 be made in the state of those of Eora, La Torre, Yillaro, 
 and Bobbio. A subsequent article decreed that the funeral 
 processions might be as numerous as they pleased ; that no 
 
 * A ptmishment in whicli the person was raised by his hands tied behind 
 his back, and then let fall with a shght concussion, once, twice, or more, as 
 the case might be. 
 
 t Correspondence of the king of Prussia and the king of Sardinia in Dieterici, 
 p. 398. 
 
 X That is, according to their notions of what was proper. 
 
396 HISTOET OF THE TAUDOIS CHrECH. 
 
 new temple should be built, tbeir number remaining the 
 same as before 1686; tbat, however, the cahane (cottage or 
 thatched house; this is the name the edict gave to the 
 temple of St. Barthelemi) might be kept standing, but 
 without being enlarged or repaired ; that the pastor should 
 not live in its vicinity, but return and fix himself at Eoche- 
 platte, as in ancient times ; *"^' the Yaudois were authorized 
 to have schoolmasters taken from among themselves and of 
 their religion, provided they admitted into their schools 
 none but Yaudois children, under a penalty of twenty-five 
 crowns of gold for every Catholic child they should admit, 
 and banishment in case of a second ofience ; provided, it 
 was further enacted, that the said schools were held in the 
 quarters where the fewest Catholics dwelt : finally, in a 
 concluding article, it was absolutely forbidden to admit the 
 people of Pragela into the temples of the valleys. 
 
 We may be convinced by the preceding account, that 
 Yictor-Amadeus, though personally recovered from his pre- 
 judices against the Yaudois, and convinced of their fidelity 
 as well as of the other moral qualities that distinguished 
 them, did not grant them much greater liberties than his 
 predecessors. Yet, if he did not show entire tolerance, if 
 he established restrictions of many kinds on the extension, 
 rather than on the maintenance of the Christian faith, and 
 the increase of the evangelical population in the three 
 ancient valleys and in that of Pragela, we must allow that 
 it was owing to the incessant solicitations of the eternal 
 enemies of the Yaudois and the requirements of his warlike 
 and powerful neighbour of Prance. Let us acknowledge 
 that if he could not do more for his subjects, whose services 
 and characters were misapprehended, he had at least the 
 merit of fixing definitively, with a firm hand, the civil and 
 religious positions of the Yaudois, by confirming the ancient 
 edicts which determined it, and promulgating new ones. 
 Ey these measures, if the condition of the descendants of 
 the martyrs remained low, humbled, and straitened, yet it 
 escaped, for ever it may be hoped, from arbitrariness and 
 nncertainty. 
 
 Under the reign of Charles Emmanuel iii., who ascended 
 the throne in 1730, on the voluntary abdication of his 
 father, Yictor-Amadeus ii., the senate of Turin published, 
 
 * These restrictions respecting St. Barthelemi have ceased. 
 
EFFECTS OF THE FEEXCH KEV0LT7TI0X. 397 
 
 iu 1 740; a summary of the edicts concerning the Yaudois, 
 in tTventy-six articles, to serve as a guide to the judicial 
 and executive authorities. This publication might be con- 
 sidered as a new royal benefit. For if it notified to the 
 magistrates the restrictions imposed on the civil and reli- 
 gious liberties of the Yaudois, it established on the other 
 hand the rights that were conceded to them by their 
 sovereign, and thus rendered their position more stable for 
 the future. 
 
 Henceforward under the reign of Charles-Emmanuel iii., 
 and after that, under Yictor Amadeus iii., who took the 
 crown in 1773, until the time of the French revolution, 
 few striking events interrupted the course of the uniform 
 life of the inhabitants of the valleys. We may, however, 
 cite as a title to the favour of their sovereign, the brilliant 
 courage which they exhibited at the siege of Coni in 1747, 
 and at the battle of Assiette in 1747, which was lost by 
 the French ; renowned actions which have claimed the 
 praises of military men,^'' as well as the esteem of Charles- 
 Emmanuel III., who called them his brave and faithful 
 Yaudois. f Why are we obliged to add, in spite of the 
 proofs of love and devotion on the part of the subjects, and 
 of esteem on the part of the sovereign, the Yaudois fre- 
 quently saw their children taken away by the artifices of 
 priests and monks, sometimes even by violence, without 
 any possibility of obtaining justice ; and themselves forced 
 to contribute to the expenses of the Eomish worship, to 
 pay tithes, first-fruits, and other things besides to parish 
 priests, j contrary* to the express words of the royal edicts, 
 which relieved them fi'om such burdens. 
 
 Such was the success which the papal power had obtained 
 in the valleys, when, in 1789, the sound of the first move- 
 ment of the French revolution was heard in Piedmont. 
 The Alps could not arrest the progress of the new ideas, 
 which, after fermenting and thi'eatening for a long time, at 
 length found vent in a sudden explosion. Attractive and 
 dazzling theories, promises of liberty and happiness, pro- 
 claimed in tones that were everywhere audible, inflamed 
 
 * Histqire Militaire, by the count of Saluzzo, t. v., p. 213. 
 
 t This royal expression was quoted, with the facts we have naiTated, in a 
 petition presented, tu 1814., to count Cenitti, minister of liis Sardinian majesty. 
 
 % Tableau du Piemont (Picture of Piedmont) , by Maranda, Timn, the year xi., 
 p. 32. Memoirs and petitions presented in 1814 to count Cerutti. 
 
398 HISTOET OF THE TAUDOIS CHUECH. 
 
 the minds of men, and wrapped their hearts in 2)leasing 
 illusions. In their conversations, in the social circle, nothing- 
 was talked of but the events that were transpiring beyond 
 the Alps. A pastor of the valleys ventured to make an 
 allusion to them, in a sermon preached before the assembled 
 synod, in the autumn of the same year, 1 789. His brethren, 
 being disturbed at the possible effects that so im]3rudent a 
 discourse might produce on public opinion, as well as the 
 evils which it might bring on the Vaudois population from 
 the ruling powers, exerted their right of discipline, and 
 suspended the indiscreet orator from his functions for six 
 months. This decision was equally wise and just ; for the 
 preacher had violated his duty as a subject of the king, by 
 attracting attention to questions hostile to his government, 
 and as a pastor, by introducing politics into the pulpit. 
 
 Such a fact sets in a clearer light than any words would 
 do, the spirit that animated the valleys at this critical epoch. 
 The emotions of the heart spoke in favour of the new j)rin- 
 ciples proclaimed in Trance; but a sense of duty to the 
 authorities prevented the faithful subject from receiving 
 and propagating them. The heart in some persons pre- 
 vailed over a traditional submission. Nevertheless, we 
 shall not depart from the truth in saying, that it would 
 have been difficult, under such circumstances, for men so 
 little favoured by the government as the Yaudois had been, 
 to have given greater proofs of prudence and moderation. 
 Perceiving the delicacy of their situation, they took the 
 greatest pains to prevent and to avoid everything that 
 might commit them. 
 
 This conduct insured to them the confidence of their 
 sovereign, who, in 1792, called them to take arms for the 
 defence of their frontiers. And, when in the following 
 year, Yictor Amadous in., being despoiled by the French 
 of two of his most beautiful provinces. Savoy and Mce, 
 resolved to act on the offensive and attack the enemy, he 
 entrusted the protection o'f the valleys of Lucerna and 
 San Martino to the fidelity of the Yaudois, commanded by 
 one of their officers, colonel Maranda, under the orders of 
 general Gaudin, also a Protestant and a Swiss. "^^ 
 
 The French, who were aware how precarious and exposed 
 the situation of this poor people had been, believed that 
 
 * From Nyon, on the lake of Geneva. 
 
PKOJECT OF A MASSACRE. 399 
 
 thcv *oul<l find no difficnlty in impellmg them to l■e^olt 
 to rmTondcr the passes, and to make common cause with 
 hem They were deceived. The Vandois esteemed fidelity 
 tothdroath, ereniB theii- depressed condition, preferable 
 the spknd d hopes of civil, political, and rehgious libc-rty 
 ? acnuLed by peijury. Yet this admirable conduct could 
 uofslCe calumny, nor stifle all suspicion How could it 
 be credUed Aat men, so often ill-treated on account of 
 fteir re Ig on, woidd refrain from avenging themselves and 
 iXse the emancipation that was promised them? They 
 we acc^-dingly; accused of lenchng an ear to the pro- 
 nose's of the enemy. Some unfortimate facts gave a colour 
 th semmonrs. The Vaudois militia ^ad given way at 
 to tnese iiimou jiirahouc, at the bottom of the 
 
 ""7 ^Tt lie™. S^ the gor?e of he only pass that leads 
 ; France hSrendereS;* and though L- investigation 
 ordered on this occasion had proved in the clearest manner 
 theTnnoeence of the inhabitants of the valleys, f the exas- 
 peration residting from these suspicions had grown to such 
 fheioit that, by the aid of fanaticism, it ripened among 
 ?he papistsof the environs into the detestable project of 
 TJonA St. Bartholomew, of which the Vaudois of San 
 Giovanni and La Torre were to be the ^'ctims^ 
 
 All the men of these two communes, able to bear arms, 
 were onlh^ mountains occupied in guarding the fron lei^; 
 lonrr^maLd in their dwellings on the I^am bu th 
 wniiAPTi iTid cMldi^en, with the sick and aged, leeoie 
 JZL:f The enterprise, therefore wa. not a dangerous 
 nnp On the night of the 14th and 15th ot May, l/Jo, 
 "troop of assassins assembled at Lucema, intending at 
 a ' ven s°o.„al to invade these two districts and put all to 
 fire ^d sword. The plot had been so --fly arranged 
 that not a Yandois knew of it. Two Catholics, one an 
 ecclesk tic, the respectable Brianza, the parish priest of 
 L™, akd captaii Odetti, of Cavor, gave them notice of 
 
 * A S^lss officer, na^ed ^^^^^Z'of'S^e'^6.eltr^o ctlSi S 
 was badly pro^ided ^^1tll the ^^ans of defence Une o ^^^ ^^.^^^ 
 
 when the match was applied, on ^l^e fpproacn ui ^ ^ ^ Piedmontese 
 
 was composed of one-half company ^^J^^^^^^l^^^^B^tiS timid, he acted, 
 invahds."^ Mesmer was ^^^tmiKlatecy nd cap^atecL m ^ ^^^^ ^^ ^^^ 
 
 nevertheless, ^vith good faith ; for f™/X^._^'^^e^^ V. Tableau du Pi4- 
 
 Tm-in to explam his conduct, and wab theie beneaueu. 
 
400 HISTOEY OF THE YArDOIS CHrECH. 
 
 it. The latter, Avhen he reached the house of his friend, 
 M. Paul Yertu, at La Torre, said, on entering, '^ I am 
 come here to defend you and yoiu's, to the last drop of my 
 blood." He then detailed the dreadful plot in which he 
 had refused to take a part. Several messengers were 
 immediately despatched to the mountains, to the husbands 
 and brothers of the intended victims. General Gaudin, 
 when urged to let them fly to the defence of their families,- 
 refused to believe in the existence of so odious a project; 
 but the list of the conspirators, to the number of more 
 than seven hundred, which was placed before his eyes, put 
 an end to his incredulity. Yet if on the one hand he 
 could not resolve to deprive so many innocent creatures of 
 their natural defenders, on the other, he knew not how to 
 detach a sufficient force from his division without exposing 
 himself to be overpowered by the French, or how to allow 
 the Yaudois to withdraw without awakening the suspicions 
 of the Piedmontese troops with whom they were associated. 
 A stratagem relieved him from his embarrassment. On 
 the evening of the fatal night, towards the close of the day, 
 a false alarm was given ; a shout resounded on the heights, 
 ''The French ! the French!" followed very soon by 
 '' Sauve qui pent!" (''Save himself who can!") The 
 Yaudois first quitted their elevated post, and in the midst 
 of a sharp fire of musquetry sounded a retreat as if the 
 enemy were pursuing them. The Piedmontese troops, who 
 were stationed between them and the bottom of the valley, 
 seeing this, began in their turn a retrograde movement, and 
 threw themselves into La Torre and San Giovanni, which 
 they occupied for the night. The conspirators, frightened 
 at the pretended aggression of the French, abandoned their 
 infernal project. Gaudin being called to Turin to render 
 an account of his conduct, justified himself by presenting 
 the proofs of the conspiracy and the list of the conspirators. 
 The documentary evidence could not be rebutted ; it was 
 absolute. But he was at the same time withdrawn from 
 the valleys, and not long after dismissed from the service ; 
 his superior humanity lost him the confidence of the court. 
 Of the assassins, not one was punished; none of them 
 were even sought for. 
 
 The government being disquieted and suspicious, and 
 imagining that the French were in communication with the 
 
PETITION TO THE KIXG. 
 
 401 
 
 vaUeys, thought it needful to take very seyere measures 
 A Yaudois, named Davit, an artilleiy officer of colonel 
 Fresia's who had succeeded general Gaudin m the com- 
 mand was given up by his superior to a court-martial and 
 hun-'as a traitor. The two officers of the highest rank in 
 the Yaudois miHtia, colonel Maranda and major Goante 
 ^ere also thrown in prison. Other aiTests were talked oi 
 as about to take place; but the two accused individuals 
 were able to demonstrate their own innocence, as weU as 
 that of their friends and companions. 
 
 The liberation of Maranda and Goante, their restoration 
 to their place, and the superseding of colonel Presia, (who 
 had been detested ever since the execution of Davit,) bv 
 a Swiss officer, general Zimmennann,* calmed the agitated 
 and timid spii^its in the vaUeys, by showing that the 
 o-ovemment, being now better informed as to the real 
 facts of the case, had renounced its unjust suspicions, or 
 at least its severity. Confidence was soon restored. Zim- 
 mermann, though a Roman CathoHc, succeeded in gaining 
 the general affection. 
 
 The Yaudois, taking advantage of the favourable moment 
 when the coui-t was convinced of their innocence, accepted 
 the offer made by the general of becoming their agent 
 there Through liis intervention they transmitted to their 
 sovereign a petition, in which, after just protestations of 
 attachment to his person and dynasty, they requested the 
 redress of certain abuses and some amelioration m their 
 political condition. Their application was not altogether 
 unsuccessful. The duke of Aosta, the king's younger son, 
 then stationed at Pinerolo, at the head of a division of the 
 army, ti-ansmitted a most gracious answer to the petitioners 
 in which it was said, that the constant and distmgmsiied 
 proofs thev had given of attachment and fideUty to their 
 sovereions', and the sentiments they had recently expressed 
 in offenng to join with aU possible zeal the force intended 
 to repel the enemy, had disposed the king to receive their 
 memorial favourably. Nevertheless, a compliance with the 
 request for an equality of political rights with those ot his 
 other subjects, was deferred tiU the arrival of peace, f 1 rom 
 
 * A native of Lucema, formerly colonel of the Swiss gnarcls at Paris He 
 hadts?Jped the massacre of the 10th of Angust, and had lately entered the 
 
 'TweS'S'y'ask, would not this concession in our times, if made to a 
 
402 HISTORY OF THE YAUDOIS CHUECH. 
 
 this time, however, permission Yras generously granted to 
 have physicians of their own religion ; measures were pro- 
 mised to be taken against the abduction of children, which 
 was frequently practised, as well as the introduction of 
 unfit Catholics into the councils of the commune, and the 
 abolition of charges and imposts that aifected the Yaudois 
 alone. We perceive that the royal favours did not go 
 beyond the most ordinary requirements of justice, and 
 yet the prince, and even the Vaudois themselves, considered 
 them as gracious gifts, it having been so much the practice 
 to treat the Yaudois as intruders, barely tolerated, and to 
 consider their sharing in the principal advantages which 
 all the rest of their fellow-subjects enjoyed as an extra- 
 ordinary benefaction. 
 
 Peace arrived in the spring of 1796; but it was a dis- 
 astrous peace, ^' which wrested from the king some of his 
 most beautiful provinces, and prostrated him under the 
 overwhelming influence of the French republic and the 
 young general of the army of Italy, ]^apoleon Bonaparte. 
 A new Idng, Charles Emmanuel iv., ascended the tottering 
 throne of his deceased father, on October 10, 1796. This 
 was the moment for granting his faithful subjects the 
 political equality which they sought, and which their loyal 
 services deserved. The British ambassador seized this 
 juncture to make a representation in their favour ; but all 
 he could obtain was a confirmation of the inconsiderable 
 concessions that were granted three years before. jN'o ! 
 we are mistaken; the royal missive, or "billet," as this 
 official document was termed, contained an additional 
 favour — permission to repair the temples ! to enlarge them, 
 if required ; and, (can it be credited ? for it was a generous 
 act,) to remove them to more commodious sites, provided 
 their number were not increased, and notice were given to 
 
 population who have always been devoted to their sovereign, and who are 
 reduced to the necessity of seeing their active youth annually dispersed to a 
 distance, be pohticaUy more useful to the state than troublesome or dangerous ? 
 Is it to be dreaded on rehgious gi-ounds, when we see everywhere else Catho- 
 lics and Protestants living together in peace ? 
 
 * An ai-mistice was at fii-st concluded on April 28, 1796, at Cherasco, by 
 general Bonaparte, the conqueror, to the king's plenipotentiaries. Peace was 
 signed soon after. The king ceded to France the duchy of Savoy and the 
 county of Nice ; he consented to the destruction of the forts of Susa and 
 Brunette, and granted to France, during the war, the occupation of Coni, Tor- 
 tona, and Alexandria, as well as the free passage of the French troops in their 
 marches. Hist, de la Revol. Fran?., par Thiers. 
 
' ABDICATIOX OF CHARLES EMIMANUEL. 403 
 
 the intcndant of the province, in order that he might give 
 the necessary directions. '''' 
 
 It was impossible but that the presence of the French 
 army (it is well known that the armj' of Italy numbered 
 in its ranks the most enthusiastic revolutionists) would 
 excite the Piedmontese to aim at shaking off the yoke of 
 feudal servitude, and acquiring all the 2)olitical privileges 
 proclaimed in France as the inherent right of man. A 
 secret agitation was rapidly succeeded by tumultuary move- 
 ments in to^vns and country places, as far even as Mon- 
 caKer, at the very gates of Turin. Truth requires us to 
 avow that the valleys were not entirely strangers to them, 
 A company of revolutionists, f of the valley of Lucema, 
 repaired to Campiglione, the chateau of the marquis of 
 Rora, one of their principal lords, and requested the aboli- 
 tion of his feudal titles. *OIy fi'iends," he replied, with 
 admii-ablc presence of mind and coiu^teousncss, ''if there 
 be any of my titles that you do not like, I will abandon 
 them most cheerfully, with the exception of one, which 
 you shall not deprive me of, I mean my title of friend of 
 the Yaudois, and my ancient affection for my dear and 
 brave Yaudois!" These words, so opportunely uttered, 
 were enough to disarm them. They retired, without com- 
 mitting the slightest outrage. 
 
 General Zimmermann was sent to the valleys, ostensibly 
 to hear the wishes of the communes, but in reality to 
 observe how things stood ; and received orders, soon after 
 his arrival, to make some arrests. In Piedmont the court 
 had had recourse to executions, by way of examj)le. But 
 the warrior showed himself to be the friend of peace. In 
 his report, he recommended the adoption of mild measures, 
 and he had the satisfaction of seeing them approved ; the 
 valleys escaped imprisonments and executions. 
 
 The complicated difficulties of the times rendered the 
 weight of his crown insupportable to Charles Emmanuel. 
 He signed a solemn act of abdication on December 9th, 
 1798. France left him the possession of Sardinia. From 
 that day. Piedmont was regarded and administered as a 
 French province. This event, in which moreover the 
 Yaudois had taken no part, put them in a position they 
 
 * Royal letter, Aug. 26, 1797. 
 
 t This company was composed of Catholics as well as Vaudois. 
 
404 HISTOET OF THE TATJDOIS CHUECH. 
 
 had never before enjoyed, and which they had never dared 
 to expect. In one day, and as if by magic, they beheld the 
 downfall of all the prohibitory, humiliating, and restrictive 
 laws under which they had so long groaned. The barrier 
 which had inclosed them within such narrow limits, which 
 had condemned them to be crowded in some isolated valleys, 
 was thrown down. A free field was opened to their industry 
 and activity which hitherto had been shackled. From 
 being despised pariahs, barbets, hated and kejDt at a dis- 
 tance as malefactors, they saw themselves placed on an 
 equal footing with their haughtiest persecutors. A people 
 who had been regarded as intruders, and were tolerated only 
 at pleasure, were now become citizens like the rest. Men 
 who had been treated as spurious children of the state had 
 at length obtained a recognition of their legitimac5\ In one 
 day, and by a single act, without their will being consulted, 
 every species of liberty had been secured to them; and 
 what was more precious to them than all the rest, they 
 were put in possession, without any reserve, of that religious 
 liberty, the right of serving God according to their con- 
 sciences, for which they had toiled and shed their blood for 
 centuries. 
 
 But as if to instruct them that the preservation or pros- 
 perity of the Christian life is not dependent on political cir- 
 cumstances, scarcely was the French domination established 
 in Piedmont before it was exposed to the most imminent 
 dangers. The army of Italy being attacked in the spring 
 of 1799 by Suwarrow, at the head of the Russians and 
 Austrians, was forced to retreat precipitately in the midst 
 of a population excited against it, and soon roused to fimati- 
 cism. At this difficult moment, the Yaudois remained 
 faithful to the power at that time established, and obeyed 
 the orders of their superiors to descend into the plain with 
 the other troops, and assail Carmagnola, the head-quarters 
 of the insurgents. The action opened with a terrible 
 discharge of artillery; and although the insurgents had 
 intrenched themselves in a convent, where they illuminated 
 the Madonna,^' they were crushed by the bravery of the 
 Vaudois and the regular troops. General Freissinet levied 
 
 * A Madonna is an image of the holy vii'gin. It is almost needless to say 
 that the Roman Cathohcs worship images, and look upon anj^ injury done to 
 them as sacrilege. 
 
THE WOUXDED FREXCH. 405 
 
 a militaiy contribution. This expedition was cliarged as a 
 crime on the Vaudois ; they were accused of sacrilege and 
 pillage. But how could they be held responsible for a 
 combat in which they engaged only in obedience to the 
 military' authority which they still recognised? As to 
 sacrilege, could any one seriously accuse them of it? Ought 
 they to have retreated without fighting, and received a mur- 
 derous fire from the convent without returning it, merely 
 because a Madonna with lighted tapers had been placed in 
 front? As to the forced contribution levied by the French 
 general, we know not how it can be imputed to them. If 
 any individual cases of violence are referred to, supposing 
 them to have occiuTcd, all the Yaudois would regret them. 
 
 A second fact has been imputed to them as a crime ; let 
 the reader judge : we give it without comment. Three 
 hundi-ed wounded French, coming fi'om Cavor and flee- 
 ing before the Austrians, arrived, towards the end of 
 May, in wagons, at the village of Bobbio, the extreme 
 frontier of the valley of Lucerna, on the side of France, 
 in a shocking state of destitution and sufiering. The 
 pastor of the place, Eostaing, a respectable old man, 
 assisted by his wife, relieved the most pressing wants of 
 these unlbrtunate beings as far as he could. A calf, twenty- 
 five loaves, and some wine, all that his presbytery contained, 
 were furnished them by his care. The parishioners supplied 
 what was deficient from their slender means. The sores of 
 the wounded were dressed and bound ; after which hundreds 
 of men carried them into France in their arms, or on their 
 shoulders, a distance of ten leagues, over a lofty defile, 
 along precipices, and in the midst of snows which were 
 impassable to beasts of burden. "^^ The Yaudois never 
 quitted them till they had deposited them in safety, in the 
 hands of their fellow-countrjTnen. This fact was notified 
 to the French army in an order of the day by general 
 Suchet,f who sent a copy of it to the pastor with a very 
 flattering letter. 
 
 This generous action, joined to the vigorous resistance 
 which the Yaudois, faithful to their oaths, made to the last 
 
 * Colonel Maranda, in his work, " Tableau du Piemont," claims the honoui- 
 of the plan which was put ia execution under his direction by the pastor 
 Rostaing. It may be as he says ; nevertheless the devotedness of the pastor 
 and the people of Bobbio is not the less admirable. 
 
 t Dated at the head-quarters at La Pietra, 3rd Frimaire, year 8. 
 
406 HISTOEY OF THE VAUDOIS CHURCH. 
 
 against the invasion of tlie Aiistro-Eussian army, and to 
 their defence of the government which had taken refuge at 
 Perrier, would have brought on them the greatest misfor- 
 tunes if God had not sent the prince Bagration fi'om the 
 centre of Russia to protect them. In the midst of the 
 furious clamours of the Piedmontcse, who longed to lay 
 waste the valleys with fire and sword, this prince, an aide- 
 de-camp of Suwarrow, was able to ascertain the real state of 
 things ;'^- he understood and appreciated the line of conduct 
 pursued by the Yaudois. " They are under the protection 
 of the marshal," (Suwarrow,) replied a Russian officer to 
 the head of the supreme council at Turin, who was reproach- 
 ing and threatening the deputies of the Vaudois valleys, 
 "we have nothing to do with your Piedmontese anti- 
 pathies." 
 
 So far from undertaking an^rthing against them, the 
 Russians even left them their arms, to defend themselves 
 in case of an attack ; nothing was required of them but a 
 simple promise not to employ them against the allied 
 troops. 
 
 Tlie Yaudois, for about a year, remained placed between 
 the belligerent armies. Their mountains resounded with 
 the tramp of foreign troops ; and more than once with a 
 vigorous discharge of musketry. They escaped, however, 
 from greater evils which menaced them. 
 
 The year 1800 arrived. The first consul of the French 
 republic, another Hannibal, crossed the Alps at the head of 
 a great army, to throw himself on the Austrians and Pied- 
 montese, who fancied themselves in security, and to snatch 
 from them a victory at Marengo, on the 14th of June, and 
 with it the possession of the richest provinces. Piedmont 
 once more passed under the domination of the Prench, and 
 the Yaudois immediately enjoyed the privileges of which- 
 they had only just caught a glimpse. 
 
 But this return to liberty was not, after all, a return to 
 prosperity and happiness. All the plain and the valleys 
 presented at this time a more wretched spectacle than can 
 easily be imagined. An extreme scarcity, added to the 
 pillaging of the soldiers and the rapacity of the commis- 
 saries, both French and Austrian, had raised the price of 
 
 * It is not impossible that England had recommended the Vaudois to the 
 protection of the generals of the aUied powers. 
 
ALLOTMENT OF EENT AISTD FTniTDS FOR THEIE. USE. 407 
 
 provisions so extravagantly, that hardly any money could 
 procure them. The poor only existed in misery, while 
 numbers died of hunger. 
 
 In these circumstances the financial position of the 
 pastors became very critical. The Royal English Subsidy, 
 which fomied the largest part of their income, had been 
 withdra"s^Ti from the time they became the subjects of 
 France. The English Xational Subsidy continued to reach 
 them but irregularly ; the share of each amounted to about 
 five hundred Irancs. This was all their salary ; too little, 
 certainly, for the wants of a family. The devotedness of 
 their parishioners exerted itself to assist them. In more 
 than one locality, the elders of the church might be seen 
 busy in calling at houses to procure a supply of bread for 
 the pastors. On hearing of these pressing necessities, the 
 executive commission of Piedmont took measuiTS, well 
 intended, but far from politic. It will be recollected that 
 Roman Catholic parishes had been formed throughout the 
 whole extent of the valleys, notwithstanding the extreme 
 fewness of the flocks, and property and rents had been 
 assigned to the officiating priests. The executive commis- 
 sion provided in a different manner for their support ; and 
 remitted the administration of these properties and rents, 
 with some small deductions, to Yaudois moderators, to 
 defray the expenses of worship and instruction. The 
 administration of the popish institution for Vaudois cate- 
 chumens at Pignerol,* and its dependencies, was also 
 entrusted to them as a pledge that henceforth the evangelical 
 people of the valleys would not have to dread the seductions 
 and violence of the papists ; thus giving some little satis- 
 faction to the wounded feelings of the Yaudois, by putting 
 the persecuted in possession of the house of their spiritual 
 oppressors. It is lamentable that they should have pro- 
 vided in this manner for the maintenance of the pastors 
 and schoolmasters ; the Catholics looked upon it as an act 
 of spoliation and hostility. This opinion was no doubt 
 unjust, since the decision was made by the existing autho- 
 rities, composed moreover of Catholics, and not by the 
 Yaudois; but although it was certainly lawful for the 
 
 * In this institution the Vaudois children who had been abducted from theii' 
 parents were instructed in popeiy, as well as all those persons who could l)e 
 seduced by any means to the Romish faith. Since the restoration, it has been 
 used for its original purpose, at least as far as regards the latter class. 
 
408 HISTOKY OF THE VATJDOIS CHURCH. 
 
 authorities, to give satisfaction to a Christian church that 
 had been long oppressed, it would have been much better 
 to have done it in a manner less irritating towards the party 
 that was thus humiliated. As for the rest, it is merely an 
 act of justice to state that during the whole time of the 
 French domination, the pastors and their flocks never gave 
 occasion to the priests or their parishioners to complain of 
 their conduct. 
 
 The ecclesiastical administration of the valleys remained 
 the same during the first years of the reunion with France ; 
 it continued as in time past in the hands of the consistories, 
 the synod, and the table, or superior executive commission. 
 It was not till 1805, when the emperor was on his way to 
 Turin, that the assimilation of these churches to the other 
 Protestant churches of the French empire was projected,'^ 
 and some months later it was definitively settled by a 
 decree of the 6th of Thermidor,f in the year 13. Accord- 
 ing to this decree the diff'erent churches Avere arranged in 
 three consistories ; namely, those of La Torre, Prarustin, 
 and Yilleseche. The first comprised the parishes of La 
 Torre, Villaro, Bobbio, and Rora. The second, those of 
 Prarustin, Angrogna, and San Giovanni. The third, those 
 of Yilleseche, Pomaret, St. Germain, Prali, Maneille and 
 Pramol. This organization lasted as long as the valleys 
 were subject to France. 
 
 During this period, the Yaudois, heretofore crowded 
 within narrow limits, came forth and acquired property in 
 the plain. The temples that had fallen in ruins were 
 repaired. At San Giovanni, where all the places appro- 
 priated to worship and instruction had been closed since 
 1658, a temple was erected. 
 
 This large and beautiful edifice was scarcely finished 
 when it suffered great damage from the earthquake which, 
 in 1808, spread consternation through the valleys and the 
 province of Pinerolo, and was also felt in many parts of 
 France and Italy. For four months, from the beginning of 
 April to the end of July, shocks more or less violent con- 
 
 * The moderator. Rod. Peyran, obtained at that time an audience with 
 Napoleon. 
 
 t The decree is dated from the palace of St. Cloiid. Another decree, con- 
 firming the concessions of funded property, made by the executive commis- 
 sion for the support of the Vaudois pastors, is dated from Boulogne. As to 
 the remamder of the salaries, it was provided for conformably to the law of 
 Genninal, yeai* 10, 
 
EELIGIOrS STATE OF THE YArDOIS. 409 
 
 tinued to shake the ground and buildings of every kind. 
 The damages were so great that they were estimated at two 
 or three millions for the district of Pinerolo and the valleys. 
 Clouds of an unusual and ominous aspect had been the 
 forerunners of this scourge. On the eve of the first 
 shocks the barometer fell very low : a sudden and very 
 considerable increase of water was noticed in the torrents of 
 the valley of Luceraa, and the water in the wells became 
 whitish : a cold and violent wind began to blow. The 
 first shock, followed by several others in close succession, 
 was felt in the afternoon of April 2nd. These were the most 
 terrible of all. Churches and houses fell in ruins ; those 
 that remained standing were seriousty damaged. Large 
 portions of rock were detached from the summits of the 
 mountains, and rolled down ^vith a crash into the valley. 
 The lower communes were those that suffered the most ; 
 among others, San Giovanni, La Torre, and Lucerna : those 
 higher up felt it but slightly; yet everywhere the con- 
 sternation was great ; scarcely any persons dared to remain 
 in their houses. The population lived in tents; some 
 individuals sheltered themselves in old casks or in slight 
 sheds made for the unexpected emergency. These places, 
 lately so peaceful, presented the appearance of a camp 
 where all was confusion. All agriculture, commerce, and 
 handicraft were X3ut a stop to ; fear had seized eYerj one 
 to such an extent that they thought of nothing but how to 
 save their lives. In this respect each one experienced the 
 protection of Divine Providence ; for during all the time this 
 visitation lasted, they had only to lament the loss of three 
 lives, and the letters written at that period are filled with 
 recitals of deliverances that were truly miraculous.^'" 
 
 The following years, down to 1814, so fertile in political 
 and military events, present no fact within the range of our 
 narrative deserving of particular attention. But before we 
 proceed to the new and last period of this histor}^, it will 
 be of importance to examine into the religious spmt of the 
 years we have passed through. 
 
 The end of the eighteenth century was marked in the 
 valleys by a decline in the tone of religion, which was 
 weakened everywhere. There, as in other countries, it 
 
 * Correspondance Vaudoise, etc. — Vaudois Correspondence ; or, a Collec- 
 tion of Letters from the Valleys on the Earthquake of 1808, etc. Pai*is, 1803. 
 
 T 
 
410 HISTOEX OP THE VAUDOIS CHUECH. 
 
 might be remarked that the Christian spirit, so vigorous 
 and so fruitful in the sixteenth and seventeenth cen- 
 turies, fed itself less abundantly from the pui'e source of 
 the gospel. A proud rationalism, mere human opinion, 
 began to claim a place in theology, and, attempting to make 
 religion more accessible and less repulsive in its doctrines, 
 tarnished and disfigured it. The candidates for the sacred 
 ministry, acquired for the most part in the foreign acade- 
 mies, where they prepared for entering upon it, nothing but 
 a cold orthodoxy, or the germs of Socinian laxity."^' The 
 first years of the nineteenth century brought no ameliora- 
 tion. Virtue was often preached and exalted more than 
 the work of Christ, or than faith, or than the love of the 
 Lord. The title of philosopher was placed at least on a 
 level with that of Christian. | The Vaudois representative 
 of this tendency was M. Mondon, the late pastor of San 
 Giovanni, a man of talent, well versed in classical literature 
 and profane history, of a singular, capricious character, but 
 courageous and full of frankness. His belief was attacked, 
 and on good grounds, for it was far from being evangelical ; 
 it was he who in a manuscript answer to a pastoral letter of 
 the bishop of Pinerolo, summed up the fruits of the Spirit, 
 enumerated by St. Paul in the Epistle to the Ephesians, 
 (ch. V.,) and in that to the Galatians, (ch. v.,) in these 
 words : ''In substance, these are their names, — humanity, 
 justice, and reason. ";{: He was, moreover, an austere man, 
 and of regular conduct. 
 
 M. Peter Geymet, pastor of La Torre, and moderator 
 for twelve years, was also a person of note at this period, 
 but less for his theological opinions and preaching than for 
 the part he acted in political affairs. Being called to take 
 a share in a Piedmontese council [consulte) at Turin, he 
 attracted attention and gained the esteem of many influential 
 persons by the warmth with which he undertook the defence 
 of religion when attacked in this assembly. On the reunion 
 of Piedmont to Prance, he was nominated sub -prefect of 
 Pinerolo, and filled that honourable office for thirteen years. § 
 
 * In fact, at Lausanne cold ortliocToxy, and at Geneva, Socinianism. 
 
 t Letter, in manuscript, from a herdsman of the high mountains of An- 
 grogna, March 19, 1819. 
 
 X Answer of a pastor (M. Mondon) to the bishop of Pinerolo. MSS. 
 
 § The author of this work can attest that in the midst of his multipUed 
 occupations, tliis good father fomid special hours which he devoted to the 
 instruction of his numerous family. 
 
NEW FIELD FOR THE ACTIVITY OF THE VATJDOIS. 411 
 
 While he rendered important services to his own brethren in 
 the fliith, he also acquii-ed the respect and attachment of 
 all his constituents. He left behind him in this important 
 place, though wholly Eoman Catholic, an untarnished 
 reputation for probity, at a time when high functionaries 
 generally possessed so little. At the restoration, Geymet 
 withdrew to La Torre so poor, and so modest withal, that 
 he, who a short time before was the first magistrate in the 
 valleys, did not refuse to accept the humble post of master 
 of a Latin school, the salary of which did not exceed seven 
 hundred fi-ancs, and to which he devoted his latter days, 
 till his death in 1822. 
 
 But the pastor whose name has attracted the most atten- 
 tion, at least among foreigners, is Rodolph Pej^'an, who 
 was at his death pastor at Pomaret, after having been 
 moderator of the Yaudois churches from 1801 to 1805, and 
 from 1814 to 1823. He merited his celebrity by his very 
 great erudition, of which he has left proofs in his manuscript 
 letters, on a great variety of subjects, addressed to various 
 persons, and in which he has manifested a mind capable of 
 great things, if the religious and moral sentiment had com- 
 bined with his genius in producing them. Although an 
 able conti'oversialist, he made too little use himself of the 
 excellence of the doctrines that he so victoriously defended. 
 He always reproached himself for the agitated life of his 
 youth. The best remembrance that he has left of himself 
 among his fellow-coimtrymen, is that of a mind abounding 
 in sallies of wit, and full of originality. 
 
 It is not too severe to say that the end of the last 
 century and the commencement of the present, produced 
 in the vaUeys the germs of religious declension. If the 
 luliewarmness or the eiTors of some ministers of the gospel, 
 victims themselves of the spirit of the times, contributpd on 
 one side to the weakening of the faith, and of the Christian 
 life in some localities, yet we must acknowledge that the 
 greatest evil arose from political circumstances, from_ an 
 unavoidable contact with the men of the French revolution, 
 with the zealots of impiety. Ever^'thing tended to divert 
 the soul from the interior life hidden with Christ in God. 
 The power of the human understanding, united to material 
 force, was regarded as the regenerator of the world. Nothing 
 was thought of but social organization, material conquests, 
 
 T 2 
 
412 HISTOEY OF THE VAUDOIS CHTJUCH. 
 
 interests purely human, and worldly g'lory. There was no 
 room left in this world, so to speak, for the interests of the 
 world to come : all eyes were turned towards that extra- 
 ordinary man whose achievements obscured the splendour 
 of all that preceding ages had admired. Napoleon concen- 
 trated the attention of every one on his person and his 
 empire. Attracted by his voice, hurried along by his genius, 
 the sons of the Yaudois submitted to the conscription, has- 
 tened to range themselves under his banners, to shed for a 
 foreign nation their precious blood, and to expend a life 
 which their ancestors, the martyrs, had consecrated to the 
 prosperity and defence of the church. Cut down by death 
 in fields of battle or in hospitals, few of them ever saw their 
 native country again. Some acquired reputation and rank 
 in the army. The name of colonel Olivet is popular in the 
 valleys ; his portrait, lithographed, is to be found in every 
 cottage. Other Yaudois distinguished themselves like 
 M. Gejrmet, in civil administration. 
 
 But while the young and men in the prime of life were 
 more or less excited and carried away by the torrent of 
 new ideas, the aged, the simple-minded, the serious, the 
 mountaineers in the retired hamlets, mothers of families, 
 and respectable pastors, preserved their primitive manners 
 and traditions, by the recital of the sufferings of their 
 ancestors, and by the reading and teaching of the Holy 
 Scriptures.^' 
 
 CHAPTER XXYII. 
 
 THE VALLEYS SINCE THE GENERAL PEACE (1814 1846). 
 
 The time marked by the wisdom of Providence for the 
 end of Napoleon's reign approached. His unbounded 
 ambition prepared an immense grave for his armies in the 
 frozen snows. The work assigned him by ''the Lord of 
 lords" was accomplished; kings and nations had received 
 salutary lessons. The emperor of the French was van- 
 quished, and forced to abdicate. Restored for a hundred 
 
 * For this chapter the author has consulted the histories of the time, the 
 Tableau, du Pi^mont, by Maranda, Tm-in, year xi. of the French RepubMc, 
 some manuscripts, and the recollections of several contemporaries. 
 
DECEPTION. 413 
 
 days to the possession of a part of his dominions, he fell 
 once more from his elevation; and leaving for ever to 
 others the task of governing the world, he closed his life 
 in humiliation, and in painful reflection, as the prisoner of 
 England, at St. Helena. 
 
 The legitimate sovereign of Piedmont returned to the 
 possession of his states, increased by the spoils of his 
 enemy. Victor Emmanuel received the homage of the 
 ancient and new provinces of his monarchy. The Yaudois 
 valleys were not the last to acknowledge his authority, and 
 to promise entire fidelity to their prince. 
 
 Nevertheless, if the fall of IS^apoleon was a benefit to 
 Eui'ope, now exhausted and decimated, it was rather a loss 
 to the Yaudois, who, from being on a level "with all the 
 other members of the Piedmontese family, and enjoying 
 equal laws with them, again descended to the condition of 
 sectaries, and were placed under a system of exclusion and 
 privation. They had hoped better things. They confided 
 in Yictor Emmanuel, because he had resided in their 
 neighbourhood, at Pinerolo, in 1 794 ; had visited their 
 valleys, and commanded their militia, when as duke of 
 Aosta he was at the head of a division of the anny which 
 protected their frontiers. So great were the expectations 
 they founded upon him, that, at the congress of Yienna, 
 they abstained fr'om the employment of means at which 
 they supposed he might take oifence. AYe have been 
 assured that a friend of the Yaudois had prepared the way 
 for having their emancipation demanded from the king as 
 a condition of the territorial advantages he would enjoy. 
 A memorial to this eff'ect was drawn up ; but at the 
 moment of sending it, the Yaudois board, fearing to dis- 
 please a monarch whom they believed to be generous, did 
 not think fit to forward it. They were contented with 
 acquainting the king's government with the wishes of the 
 population, and interesting two superior officers of the 
 allied powers in their favour, the coimt de Bubna, an 
 Austiian general, and lord Bentinck, commander of the 
 British forces in the Mediterranean, and then at Genoa. 
 Their requests related to liberty of conscience and worship ; 
 to a political equality with the other subjects of the king; 
 to the abolition, (which had already taken place, in fact, 
 since 1800,) of all humiliating restrictions in their religious 
 
414 HTSTOUT OF THE YAUDOIS CnrKCH. 
 
 and civil relations ; and lastly, some particular points, such 
 as the salary of the pastors, and an efficacious protection 
 against the abduction of the Yaudois children. 
 
 This was too much to expect from a court politic, super- 
 stitious, and little disposed to innovate. To re-establish 
 the Yaudois affairs on theii' ancient footing Avas in its ej'es 
 the most prudent decision; and it would go no farther. 
 One of the first acts presented for the signature of Yictor 
 Emmanuel, after his retm^n to his capital, was the edict 
 which replaced the Yaudois under all the restrictive ordi- 
 nances that were in force during the reign of his prede- 
 cessors, before the French domination. We may easily 
 imagine the surprise, the grief, the depression which this 
 news occasioned in the valleys. After the full enjoyment 
 for fifteen jears of the advantages of religious liberty and 
 political equality, it appeared hard to be obliged to surren- 
 der the general interests of the church to the disquieting 
 guardianship of a government ruled by priests, and to see 
 themselves inclosed in narrow limits, like culprits in a 
 prison, or restrained to a small number of occupations to 
 the exclusion of the more honourable professions, as men 
 who were unworthy of consideration. 
 
 The first use to which this restrictive edict was applied 
 by the authorities was to shut up the temple of San 
 Giovanni, which had been built at Blonats, in the centre 
 of the parish, during the French occupation. It became 
 necessary, in consequence, to re-open the ancient edifice, 
 which was situated out of the commune, in Angrogna. 
 
 A second case soon after occurred ; the parsonages, pro- 
 perties, and rents, which had been assigned to the priests 
 in the valleys, before the French domination, and trans- 
 ferred during that period to the hands of the Yaudois 
 directory or board, were reclaimed by the former recipients 
 and occupants. To this no objection was made. Eut not 
 content with being put in possession of their ancient 
 benefices, the priests claimed a reimbursement of the pro- 
 perty and revenues which the pastors had enjoyed; an 
 unjust requirement, since the Yaudois board had not 
 administered this property except by order of the autho- 
 rities at that time established. 
 
 Accordingly, though the government refused to the 
 Yaudois the position they wished to hold in the state, it 
 
' TEMPLE OF SAX GIOVAXXI. 415 
 
 could never think of sanctioning such ridiculous claims as 
 those of the Romish clergy in the valleys. By its orders, 
 without doubt, count Crotti,* superintendent of the pro- 
 vince of Pinerolo, a magistrate whose memor}- is still 
 revered, assembled the interested parties, and desired them 
 to argue their claims before him. Although moderate in 
 form, the discussion was earnest, each party stoutly de- 
 fending its own opinion ; and there seemed no likelihood 
 of their coming to a settlement, when the youngest priest, 
 who, as such, spoke after the rest of liis brethren, gave an 
 opinion quite different from theirs. " The ministers," he 
 said, ''have administered not only lawfully but loyally; 
 they have preserved oiu' property uninjured and in a per- 
 fect state. We ought to claim nothing from them." This 
 equitable priest justified his view of the case with so much 
 frankness and truth, that it prevailed, and terminated the 
 difference to the great satisfaction of the worthy intend- 
 ent, who, in the name of the king, had undertaken to 
 settle it. 
 
 Their sovereign, in replacing the Yaudois under a restric- 
 tive and obsolete system of legislation, did not, it is plain, 
 intend to push matters to extremity. Thus, with respect 
 to the temple of San Giovanni, he granted, after the lapse 
 of a year, permission to perfoim Divine service in it. Yet, 
 as some concession must be granted to the priest who con- 
 sidered himself aggrieved, pained, and incommoded by the 
 very sight of those who entered it, as well as by the singing 
 of the hymns which, were heard outside from the door 
 being left open, an order was given to raise a structure 
 that would hide the door. This was obeyed by raising a 
 screen formed of planks before it. f The sovereign gave a 
 proof of his tolerance in allowTiig the jDastor to retain his 
 residence in the parish, and in permitting schools also to 
 be kept there. Thus an end was put to the prohibition 
 which since 1658 deprived San Giovanni of worship and 
 schools within its limits, as well as of a pastor's presence. 
 This redress of abuses, and extended toleration, may be 
 imputed to the new spirit with which the government was 
 
 * In the course of a long exile among the Protestants he had learned to 
 appreciate them, and always treated the Vaudois with respect. 
 
 t This fence feU down from decay a few years ago, and, at the suggestion 
 of the same priest, a screen in the interior was substituted for it, which he 
 considered sufB.cient. 
 
416 HISTOET OF THE VArDOIS CHUECH. 
 
 animated, though slowly, in reference to the affairs of the 
 Yaudois. 
 
 The Vaudois also received other proofs of the king's 
 benignant disposition. By the withdrawal of the funds 
 and incomes which were set apart for the worship and 
 schools, under the French government, the pastors, school- 
 masters and managers were reduced to penury. The 
 foreign subsidies had returned to the valleys with the 
 peace, but the sum was of smaller amount than formerly. 
 The Royal English Subsidy was no longer received, owing 
 to a cause known to the Yaudois. The Dutch funds, dimi- 
 nished by a third under the French administration, did not 
 yield more than that proportion. These necessities having 
 been laid before his majesty, he took them, as well as some 
 other requests, into consideration; and on Feb. 27, 1816, pub- 
 lished an edict, by which he conferred three favours on his 
 Yaudois subjects : — I. A fixed annual salary to the jDastors : ^ 
 II. Permission to keep their property acquired beyond the 
 limits during the French government : III. License to 
 practise, besides the common trades, the professions of 
 surgeon, apothecary, architect, land-surveyor, and those for 
 which a diploma was not required, after having submitted 
 to the prescribed examinations and conformed to the regu- 
 lations. 
 
 As a new spirit of enlarged toleration thus presided over 
 the acts of government, the Romish clergy changed the 
 method of carrying on their ancient warfare against the 
 Yaudois church. Yiolence and oppression not suiting the 
 spirit of the times, they had recourse to a method often 
 employed in preceding ages, namely, discussion, but giving 
 it a milder form, that of pastoral letters. The bishop of 
 Pinerolo, Bigex, undertook this task. His addi'esses were 
 well written, and combined all the qualities requisite for 
 persuasion, if the number and arrangement of the argu- 
 ments and the art of presenting them could make up for 
 the unsoundness of the foundation. All that could be said 
 
 * This salary was 500 livres (or French francs) for each of the thu-teen 
 ancient pastors, payable by the pubUc functionaries, and raised by an addi- 
 tional tax on the landed property of the Vandois. This aminal allowance has 
 admitted of the establishment recently, with the royal approbation, of two 
 new pastorates, one at Rodoret, an ancient parochial dependency of Prah, 
 another at ^lacel, similarly related to Maneille. The salaiy of these two pas- 
 tors is inferior ; it is larovided for enthely by means of a part of the Royal 
 British Snl^sidy, wliich remained unemployed because of the salary assigned 
 by his majesty to the thirteen ancient pastors. 
 
PASTORAL LETTEES OF THE BISHOP OF PIXEROLO. 417 
 
 to entice the disciples of the Saviour into the great esta- 
 blishment of which the centre is at Eomc, was repeated ; 
 ciTor "vvas palliated, and false doctrines coloui'ed or atten- 
 uated. On the appearance of the first of the pastoral epis- 
 tles, in 1818, the Taudois public, whether on account of 
 the novelty of the thing or for fear of consequences, was 
 very much agitated. Nevertheless, it was very soon seen 
 that where the spirit of the reformation, or rather the spirit 
 of the ancient Yaudois, which accords with the mind of God, 
 breathed, the spiiit of Home could not mislead the under- 
 standing ; that where the word of God is not only preached, 
 but within the reach and in the hands of all, there, popish 
 error, the worship of saints and the observance of the 
 mass, will only gain isolated partisans. ^Nevertheless, many 
 pastors thought it their duty to reply by manuscript refu- 
 tations, which being copied a great many times circulated 
 from family to family. Those of M]^I. Geymet, Rod. PejTan, 
 and Mondon, deserve to be particularly mentioned. The 
 seriousness of some, and the excellent selection of argu- 
 ments, form a striking contrast to the tone (far too light) 
 of others. The feebleness of the cause of the adversaries 
 and the excellence of their own, were not sufficient reasons 
 when the matter in question was really the gospel and the 
 kingdom of God, for indulging in pleasantry, personality, 
 or malice. This paper war, after being carried on for 
 some time with vigour, subsided without any result beyond 
 the noise it made at the time. It was attempted to be 
 renewed, but without success, by the bishops who suc- 
 ceeded M. Bigex; by M. E,ey, in 1826, in a pastoral letter 
 devoid of all persuasive argument, and lastly by the present 
 bishop, M. Charvoz, in pastoral letters and numerous 
 writings, composed with ability, in which learning is 
 employed in the service of error vfith very great skill. By 
 these publications, printed and circulated through the 
 diocese, in Piedmont and elsewhere, endeavours were made 
 to effect a change of oj)inion, as if the Yaudois, reduced to 
 silence, would succumb to the force of argiunent in favour 
 of the Ptomish system. The valleys imdoubtedly reckon at 
 this hour, among their pastors, men of talent, versed in 
 biblical science and in the historj' of the church, and capable 
 assuredly of taking up the gauntlet that has been thi'own 
 down to them. But, independently of the little advantage 
 
 T 3 
 
418 HISTOET OF THE YAUDOIS CHXTECH. 
 
 to be gained in refuting objections a hundred times made 
 and as often answered, and in exploding assertions of which 
 the falsehood is generally acknowledged, especially in the 
 valleys, it is difficult, and indeed almost impossible, for the 
 spiritual guides of these churches to do it by means of the 
 press, since their writings would be partially cancelled, or 
 totally suppressed by the censorship, and they themselves 
 might be called to account, under pretext of having wronged 
 the Romish church. 
 
 The prejudices and repugnance with which the sugges- 
 tions of the priests inspired the Eoman Catholics against 
 the Yaudois made their way to the tlu^one itself. Charles 
 Felix, who became king on the abdication of Victor 
 Emmanuel in 1821, refused to admit to an audience the 
 Vaudois deputation, who were commissioned by the Yalleys 
 to present their homage to his majesty. His religious 
 prejudices prompted him to this severity. He conde- 
 scended to explain the cause. '' Tell them," he said, " that 
 they onl}^ want one thing, that is, to be Catholics." Their 
 fidelity in fact never failed them; for when, in 1821, all 
 Piedmont, so to speak, was involved in a revolutionary 
 movement, the Yaudois almost alone remained attached to 
 legal order and legitimacy. 
 
 By the elevation of the present king, Charles Albert, 
 prince of Carignan, the prejudices which prevailed on the 
 throne are now banished from it. Intelligent and generous, 
 the father of his subjects, Charles Albert has put an end to 
 many severities and indignities which were heaped upon 
 the Yaudois. Promotion in the army had been refused to 
 them ; since the French domination, no Yaudois had been 
 raised to the rank of an officer. Charles Albert has 
 repaired this intentional slight. Superstition had refused, 
 at Aosta, honourable burial to a Yaudois, an aged soldier, 
 Major Bonnet; Charles Albert, listening to the appeal of 
 justice, imposed silence on the voice of intolerance, and 
 gave authority to one of his Yaudois subjects, the chaplain 
 of the Protestant ambassador at Turin, to transport the 
 remains of the aged warrior with honour to one of the 
 cemeteries of the valleys. It cannot however be denied 
 that, in some of his measures, the prince has appeared to 
 return at times to the distrustful and restrictive policy of 
 most of his predecessors: thus his government has put 
 
FOEEIGN BEXEFACTOKS OF THE TArDOIS. 419 
 
 in force, for some years, the edict which confined all the 
 Yaudois within, the Tallej's, and did not allow them to stay 
 more than three successive days in a locality beyond those 
 limits, unless perhaps at Turin. In the same manner, a 
 desii'e has been shown to constrain the Yaudois proprietors 
 of land in the Catholic territory, to sell it ^Yithin a short 
 sjDace of time. But we are anxious to add that his majesty, 
 urged in the name of tolerance and equity, has not sanc- 
 tioned the first measure, and has modified the second in 
 the following manner : — Property possessed beyond the 
 limits by the Yaudois is not to be sold compulsorily, and 
 may pass in succession to legal heirs ; but in the case of 
 escheat, or obstruction to the course of descent, such pro- 
 perty is to be sold to Eoman Catholics. 
 
 These restrictions, injurious even to the revenue, increase 
 the discomfort which is abeady felt in the valleys by a 
 population too large for such narrow limits. A part of the 
 twenty thousand Yaudois cooped up amidst snowy cliffs, 
 barren rocks, and the plain which is closed to them, can 
 barely exist : their activity expends itself for nothing, and 
 is lost. Emigration becomes the only resource of those 
 who are not proprietors ; for of commerce there is almost 
 none, and laboiu' was scarcely more profitable. France and 
 Switzerland increase by the loss of population which the 
 valleys incur : ]\Iarseille, Xismes, Lyons, and Geneva 
 receive a great number, who are daily increasing in con- 
 sequence of that distrustful policy which expels from 
 Piedmont the most moral part of its population. 
 
 The popish system, it is true, finds its advantage in this 
 system of oppression, which furnishes it with subjects of 
 conquest. It is especially among the poor, in distress 
 and burdened with families, and the demoralized, that the 
 religion of Eome gains ground from time to time by means 
 of bribes. In this way, fi'om fifteen to twenty persons have 
 passed over to Popery in a single year. 
 
 The increasing wants of the Yaudois population, since 
 the restoration, have attracted afresh, as in former ages, 
 the attention and interest of the Protestants of Europe. 
 One sovereign, the late glorious king of Prussia, Frederick 
 AYilliam m., testified a lively solicitude for them. They 
 have found indefatigable benefactors among the clergy of 
 England, and many of the gentry of that noble nation. 
 
420 HISTOEY OF THE VATJDOIS CHUECH. 
 
 Holland and Switzerland have added new contributions to 
 their former aid. Other states also have taken part in 
 giving assistance. 
 
 During a long course of years, the pious Frederick 
 "William in. was represented at Turin by count Waldburg 
 Truchsess, who was furnished no doubt with sj)ecial in- 
 structions concerning the Yaudois colonies (as he called 
 the valleys). The noble count was their constant support : 
 he visited them, sojourned amongst them, made himself 
 acquainted with their wants, occupied himself actively in 
 impro\ang their condition, often spake in their favour to 
 their sovereign, and on more than one occasion interested 
 himself for them. It was by his endeavours, aided by the 
 ambassadors of England and Holland, that an evangelical 
 chapel was established at Turin, with the approbation of 
 the king, which is regularly supplied by a resident Yaudois 
 pastor, and open to the Yaudois and Protestant population 
 (far from inconsiderable) of the capital. 
 
 To the count Waldburg belonged also the first idea of 
 an establishment which Protestant charity has bestowed on 
 the valleys, namely, a hospital for the sick. Struck with 
 the miseries and ills which the want of succour and medical 
 aid left incurable ; mortified too with seeing that no Yau- 
 dois was admitted into an infirmary without being harassed 
 with solicitations to change his religion, the ambassador 
 interested his sovereign in the founding of such an esta- 
 blishment. Request was next made in all the evangelical 
 states for permission to make collections for this object. 
 The consent of the king of Sardinia to the plan was asked, 
 and graciously granted. Collections were made in 1825, in 
 Prussia, England, Holland, Erance, Switzerland,-'' thi^ough- 
 out Protestant Germany, and even in Denmark, Sweden, 
 and Eussia.f The funds collected are secured in foreign 
 parts. They were sufficiently abundant to build and en- 
 dow two hospitals instead of one : one at La Torre, for the 
 valley of Lucerna ; the other at Pomaret, for the two other 
 valleys. The blessings of the sick, of their families, and 
 of the Yalleys altogether, rest on the authors of so great a 
 benefit. 
 
 * The canton of Vaud collected 500 louis. 
 
 t The bust of the emperor Alexander, preser\^ed in the hospital, is a memo- 
 rial of a generous donation. 
 
' ENGLISH BEXEFACTOES. 421 
 
 A third signal ser^ace rendered to the Valleys by the 
 king of Prussia, Frederick AVilliam iii., was the creation of 
 two bui'saries in favour of Vaudois students at the university 
 of Berlin. By this means the candidates for the ministiy, 
 insti'ucted under the eyes of the king, by the lectui-es of an 
 Augustus jS'eander, and by the pateiTial counsels of a 
 Dieterici, cannot but promote, with the blessing of God, 
 the spiritual prosperity of the Chi'istians of the Alps. 
 
 The Prussian monarch, who took delight in advancing 
 the temporal and spiritual good of his humble brethren in 
 the valleys, did not leave this world without receiving proofs 
 of theii' gratitude. They testified the same sentiments also 
 to his representative more than once during his lifetime^ 
 and, after that, to his mortal remains. His excellency had 
 left directions to deposit his remains in the midst of his 
 beloved Yaudois, as he was wont to call them. On August 
 18th, 1844, the heads of the Yaudois family received his 
 remains, and accompanied them with weeping eyes to the 
 cemetery of La Toitc, where they were placed among the 
 ashes of their dead. All the pastors, the members of the 
 consistory, deputies from all the communes, the college, the 
 schools, with an assemblage of two or three thousand 
 persons, testified the veneration felt by the people for their 
 pious benefactors. 
 
 Xext to the count ^"aldburg and his pious sovereign, 
 may be named, amongst the warmest fiiends of the 
 Yaudois in England, the Eev. Mr. Sims, and the Pev. Dr. 
 Gilly, George Lowther, esq., colonel Beckwith, and others. 
 By their publications, correspondence, and conversations, 
 they have excited in their native coimtry a lively interest 
 for the descendants of those who confessed the pure gospel 
 at a period antecedent to the Peformation. Many of them 
 have united their efi'orts for the improvement of the schools. 
 As to the higher branches of instruction, formerly one 
 master, paid by the Walloon committee of Holland, had 
 the entire charge of it, imder the title of rector of the Latin 
 school ; Dr. Gilly and his friends applied the funds they 
 raised to enlarge this primary institution, with the consent 
 of the committee in Holland, and the approbation of his 
 Sardinian majesty. 
 
 Two professorships have been added to that which 
 already existed at La Ton-e : their union constitutes a 
 
422 HISTOBY OF THE VATJDOIS CHUECH. 
 
 college, where Latin, Greek, French, Italian, geography, 
 historj^, and the mathematics are taught in connection with 
 religion. A spacious building, designed for the classes, and 
 a libraiy, has been built in the outskirts of La Torre, on 
 the Villaro road, in a beautiful situation, at the expense of 
 the Yaudois communes, with the aid of a generous dona- 
 tion. Scholarships have also been founded for the benefit 
 of the pupils. The ancient Latin school of Pomaret, in the 
 valley of San Martino, by an increase in the salary of the 
 instructor, now enjoys the services of a superior man. 
 Excited by the example of English Christians, the com- 
 munes have increased the salaries of the parish school- 
 masters, in the hope that their young people who enter 
 on this useful vocation will prepare themselves for it by 
 more extensive and solid studies than formerly. Many, in 
 fact, have placed themselves for this purpose in the normal 
 school of the canton de Yaud, which has been eagerly 
 opened for them by a benevolent government. The resi- 
 dences of the schoolmasters and the school buildings have 
 been put on a uniform footing. It is impossible in speak- 
 ing of these various efforts and improvements to forget the 
 venerated name of colonel Beckwith, whose enlightened 
 charity has been displayed in aiding, by liberal donations, 
 the repair or erection of more than eighty schools, greater or 
 smaller, in districts or parishes. 
 
 A superior school for girls was still wanting, but has 
 been formed under the name of a boarding-school, i^'pen- 
 sionnat,) by the same benefactor. Schoolmistresses and 
 teachers have also been established in various places, by 
 generous aid. Were we permitted, we should be gratified 
 to mention among the benefactresses the name of a noble 
 Prussian lady, the countess E . 
 
 The Swiss cantons continue to give assistance to some 
 Yaudois students in the universities of Lausanne and 
 Geneva. 
 
 Holland, whose moral and pecuniary support has been so 
 important to the Yalleys in their distresses, has continued to 
 render signal services by contributions towards the salaries 
 of the schoolmasters and the teacher of the Latin school, and 
 by its aid to the superannuated pastors and their widows, as 
 weU as by gifts to deserving students. 
 
 It was impossible that such visible marks of the interest 
 
' ANXIETIES IN THE VALLEYS. 423 
 
 taken in the Yalleys by the Protestants of Europe should 
 not attract the attention, and, in some degree, excite the 
 distrust of the goYernnient, although on closer examination 
 it might easily be assured that nothing had been done in a 
 spii'it of either open or concealed hostility, and that all 
 their improvements tended only to the greatest welfare of 
 the Yalleys. Could it then be thought that the government 
 would have wished to form a counterpoise to these mea- 
 sures by permitting, at the very gates of La ToiTe, the 
 head-quarters and centre of this movement, the erection of 
 an establishment in aid of the Eomish missions, for eight 
 fathers, imder the name of the priory of the holy religion, 
 and of the military order of Saints Maurice and Lazarus ? 
 During the building of this convent and of its vast church, 
 the people of the valleys became disturbed and anxious, and 
 could not think without emotion of the intentions it 
 annoimced. Those who knew the histor}' of their native 
 countiy recollected that more than once disturbance, fol- 
 lowed by cruel measures against their forefathers, had been 
 occasioned by the introduction of monks into the midst of a 
 Yaudois population. It was feared that this establishment 
 would be a source of evil at no veiy distant period. As the 
 day for the completion of the building and its consecration 
 drew near their anxiety increased. 
 
 But such was not the intention of his majesty; at least, 
 so we are authorized to believe, after the proofs he then 
 gave of his goodwill and confidence in his Yaudois subjects. 
 Charles Albert, in his quality of grand master of the order 
 of the Saints Maiuice and Lazarus, had consented to be 
 present at the dedication of the new temple of La Torre. 
 The military commandant had already given orders to 
 quarter the troops of the line in that city, as a guard for his 
 majesty. They were expected, when the report was spread 
 that Charles Albert had declined to employ them, that he 
 had even sent back to Pinerolo half a squadron of the royal 
 carabiniers who had been appointed to accompany him, 
 and finally that the marquises of Lucema and Angrogna 
 had proposed to the king that he should be received by the 
 Yaudois militia, and that this off'er had been accepted. 
 This news dissipated the sombre thoughts that had 
 been gathering in many hearts. They vanished entirely 
 when it was known that his majesty had said, in reply to 
 
424 HISTORY or the yaudois chtjecb:. 
 
 those who urged him to make use of the regular troops, 
 " I require no guard in the midst of the Yaudois." They 
 all instinctively drew the conclusion that the king enter- 
 tained the best feelings towards them, since he mshed for 
 no other defenders than their Ioyo. This hope rose brightly 
 in their hearts, like the sun, which at daybreak, on Sept. 
 24th, 1844, gilded the mountains, after the two days of in- 
 cessant rain which had chilled the limbs of the Catholics 
 who had assembled on the 22nd for the dedication. 
 
 All the men able to bear arms in the Yalleys of Lucerna, 
 Angrogna, and Prarustin, formed themselves into two lines 
 for the passage of the king, who in the midst of solemn 
 silence repaired to the new Roman temple to perform his 
 devotions. During this time the militia formed into com- 
 panies, and proceeded to Lucerna, half a league distant. 
 The king quitted La Torre on foot, surrounded by a dense 
 crowd, who hailed him with affection ; and then entered his 
 carriage and pursued his journey. In the direction of 
 Lucerna, repeated acclamations and shouts of joy were 
 heard from the Vaudois militia who awaited his arrival. 
 The king, affected by such a cordial reception, took his 
 stand at the gate of the palace of Lucerna, and made the 
 militia file off by companies according to their communes 
 and with their colours. He saluted each standard, and 
 every one could see a good-humoured smile on his coun- 
 tenance when a standard-bearer, not content with lowering 
 his colours before his sovereign, saluted him by taking off 
 his hat also. The Yaudois Board, or Directory, were 
 admitted in their turn to an audience, and met with a 
 gracious reception; and when, after having delivered to 
 the syndic of La Torre a liberal donation for the poor of the 
 two communes, the king left at night for Turin, he saw 
 from a distance La Torre illuminated, and the dark moun- 
 tains that surround it covered with bonfires, as if to enlighten 
 as far as possible the route of their prince, who had found 
 the way to the hearts of his subjects. 
 
 It would seem that it was not in the hearts of the Yaudois 
 alone that the visit of the 24th Sept., 1844, left ineffaceable 
 traces. Charles Albert, in a gratifying manner, has preserved 
 the remembrance of it by an enduring memorial. He has 
 caused a beautiful fountain to be constructed at the entrance 
 of the town of La Torre, with this inscription: — "II re, 
 
' A WOIIB TO XnE TArDOIS. 425 
 
 Carolo Alherfo, al popolo che V accoglieva con tanto affettoy 
 " The king, Charles Albert, to the people who welcomed 
 him with so much affection." 
 
 Since that time, nothing has interrupted this confidence 
 between the sovereign and his faithful Yaudois subjects. 
 May it always endure, and increase in his august house, as 
 well as fidelity to God and the king in the hearts of the 
 inliabitants of the valleys I 
 
 A ^^OED 
 
 TO MY DEAR FELLOW-COtrJiTTEYMElS" OF THE 
 VAUDOIS VALLEYS. 
 
 Having now reached the termination of this History of the 
 Yaudois Church from its origin, and of the Yaudois of the 
 Yalleys of Piedmont to the present day, I cannot take my 
 leave of you, for whom principally I have written this 
 work, "without addressing a parting word. It is that of an 
 old man, known to all your pastors, the greater part of 
 whom have been his pupils, and of whom more than one 
 are his kinsmen. I may then say to all of you, as Abraham 
 to Lot, " Are we not brethren ? " Listen, then, to my voice. 
 
 The corner of the earth that you inhabit, under the vault 
 of heaven and the inspection of the Omnipotent, has been 
 from time immemorial the cradle of our Yaudois church. 
 Our origin, as evangelical Chi'istians, goes back to the first 
 ages of the Christian chui'ch. It has been attempted to 
 brand with ridicule that just claim which constitutes our 
 glory. EiTor has endeavoured to forge a false liistory for 
 you. As a son of the martyrs, like youi'selves, as a descend- 
 ant of the most ancient confessors of the truth, I have felt 
 it my duty to retrace the facts for you, to place before your 
 eyes the testimonies on which our liistory rests ; I have 
 done it without art, guided as I have been hj the love of 
 truth. 
 
 Ye descendants of the Yaudois, aspire to resemble your 
 forefathers. Ye have received from generation to genera- 
 tion the glorious heritage of soimd doctrine ; ti^ansmit it, 
 unimpaired, to your children. In your retired valleys, as 
 in the days of darkness, the Eternal has preserved the light 
 
426 
 
 HISTOET OF THE VAI7D0IS CHUECH. 
 
 whicli was extinguished elsewhere ; guard it carefully, now 
 that it shines with renovated splendour in other places and 
 in other climes. To faith in the Father, Son, and Holy 
 Spirit join the proof of your sincerity, a life of renunciation 
 of sin, of entire devotedness to your heavenly Shepherd, to 
 the Sovereign Redeemer of your souls ! " Let your light 
 so shine before men, that they may see your good works, 
 and glorify your Father which is in heaven." 
 
 But for this end, dear fellow-countrymen, guard against 
 saying with self-complacency, like the church of Laodicea, 
 '' I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of 
 nothing." Dread lukewarmness and religious indifference 
 — for behind these faults, death lies in ambush. The life of 
 the soul which, as well as that of the body, God alone gives, 
 equally requires nourishment. Give it the nourishment 
 that suits it, and it will live. Jesus is the Bread of life — 
 seek for him in your Bible, by continual reading ; seek for 
 him in heaven, by your prayers; seek for him in the 
 church, which is his body, by associating with the faithful, 
 ^vith assembled saints, and by approaching with faith and 
 repentance the table of the Lord. 
 
 Dear fellow-countrymen ! I now take my leave of you 
 and your families, imploring on your persons as I do on 
 this work, the Divine blessing. 
 
 Your Brother in the faith, as well as in the flesh, 
 
 ANT. MOl^ASTIER, 
 
 Pastor. 
 
 Lausanne, 
 
 Oct 13, 1846. 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 Ix the Appendix to the original work the undermentioned pieces 
 are given. 
 
 I. A short geographical and statistical description of the Vau- 
 dois valleys of Piedmont. 
 
 II. (A) Three Catalogues of the ancient writings of the 
 Vaudois. 
 
 (B) A few of the principal of these writings ; namely, 
 
 1. The Noble Lesson, a.d. 1100. 
 
 2. Some extracts from other religious poems of the Vaudois, 
 without date, but reputed to be as ancient as The Noble 
 Lesson. 
 
 3. The Vaudois Catechism, a.d. 1100. 
 
 4. Their Confession of Faith, a.d. 1120. 
 
 5. A Treatise on Antichrist, a.d. 1120. 
 
 6. Extracts from the Treatise on Purgatory, a.d. 1126. 
 
 7. The formulary of their Confession of Sins, without date, and in 
 French, M. Monastier not having at hand the manuscript in 
 the Pcoruance lanoruagre or Vaudois dialect. 
 
 So much of the geographical and statistical statement as 
 seemed useful is given in this Appendix, but it has not been 
 thought expedient to print here the catalogues and other docu- 
 ments extending over 147 pages. 
 
 The first of the tln-ee Catalogues (A) contains the titles and 
 description of those ancient writings of the Vaudois made use of 
 by Perrin in the composition of his Histoiy of the Vaudois, and 
 mentioned by him. 
 
 The second Catalogue consists of ancient writings of the 
 Vaudois, collected in the vaUeys by Jean Leger, and delivered 
 by liim, in the year 1658, to sir Samuel Morland, British am- 
 bassador or commissioner from Oliver Cromwell to Turin, who 
 deposited them in the library of the University of Cambridge, 
 According to Leger these writings were contained in seven 
 volumes. A list of them is in Morland's " Histoiy of the Evan- 
 gehcal Churches of Piedmont," folio, London, 1658. 
 
 The thnd Catalogue is that of Vaudois works deposited by Leger 
 in the Kbrary of Geneva. 
 
428 APPEIS^DIX. 
 
 The Noble Lesson (La Nobla Leyczon) is a metrical production, 
 consisting of 479 lines, in the Romance or Vaudois language, 
 which has been frequently translated. It consists chiefly of an 
 abstract of the Old and New Testament history, and refers to the 
 corruptions introduced into the nominal church after the apostoHc 
 age. The introductory lines fix the date of its composition to be 
 the beginning of the twelfth century. 
 
 1. O brethren, give ear to a noble lesson : 
 
 2. We ought often to watch and pray, 
 
 3. For we see this world is near its end ; 
 
 4. We ought to be very earnest in good works, 
 
 5. For we see the end of this world approaches. 
 
 6. Eleven hundred years are fully accomplished 
 
 7. Since it was written, " We are in the last times." 
 
 A GEOGRAPHICAL AND STATISTICAL DESCRIPTION 
 OF THE VAUDOIS VALLEYS OF PIEDMONT. 
 
 GEOGRAPHY. 
 
 The Vaudois valleys are situated in the Alps, on the eastern 
 side of the great chain of mountains of that name, which separate 
 High Dauphine from Piedmont ; they lie to the north of Mount 
 Viso and the sources of the Po, to the south of Geneva, and to the 
 west of the city of Pinerolo. 
 
 They are formed by the mountain ranges which descend from 
 the great chain of the Alps, their western limit, to the plauas of 
 Piedmont on the east. The ridges which separate them from 
 France reach the height of more than three thousand metres 
 [eleven or twelve thousand feet] above the level of the sea, and 
 the breaks of the chain afford only two passages, that of Abries 
 being the most northern, and the Col de la Croix [pass of la 
 Cro^x] the most southern. The range which bounds the Vaudois 
 valleys on the north separates them from the valley of Pragela, 
 or Clusone. The chain which shuts them in on the south, and 
 which is more elevated than the preceding, descends from the 
 Viso, and touches the high valley of the Po in the province of 
 Saluzzo. On the east their only barrier is formed by the de- 
 pression or flattening of the mountains, as they merge into the 
 plain, and by the waters of the Clusone, which flow into the Po. 
 
 The Vaudois valleys are separated from one another by ridges 
 of considerable elevation. Taken altogether, they form a trun- 
 cated or irregular triangle, of which the base is the ridge of the 
 high Alps, running from north to south, and the sides of which 
 converge towards Pinerolo, without actually reaching it. 
 
 They may also be considered as a fan- shaped group of valleys, 
 resting against the giant Alps, and uniting together in two large 
 
APPEXLIX. 429 
 
 valleys, which approach each other in the direction of Pinerolo, 
 but become blended -vWth the plain, against which the two last 
 slopes of two of these depressed ridges form a half valley between 
 these mountains and the river Clusone. 
 
 This Vaudois half valley, called the valley of Perosa, is, properly 
 speaking, only the extreme western (or right) flank of the vallej^ 
 of Pragela, which surrounds the Yaudois valleys from the north- 
 west to the south-east. It includes also an interior vale, that of 
 Pramol, wliich proceeds from the banks of the Clusone, near Saint 
 Germain towards the west, between the valley of San IMartino on 
 the north, and Angi'ogna to the south. 
 
 The two other gi-eat Vaudois valleys are (i.) the valley of San 
 Maitino on the north, through which flows the torrent called the 
 Germanasco, which falls into the Clusone, opposite the little town 
 of Perosa, at the outlet of the valley of Pragela, and formed by 
 the junction of the lateral vales of Rioclaret and Faet with that of 
 Le Perrier, which again is itself fonned by the junction of the 
 upper alpine vales of Macel or Balsille, Rodoret, and Pi-ali from 
 north to south. 
 
 (ii.) The valley of Lucerna, to the south of that of San Martino, 
 watered by the Pelice, a small stream, which receives the waters 
 of the Angrogna, the Luceraa, and many others of less imijoi-tance. 
 This valley, the widest and most extensive of all, is flanked 
 towards its outlet to the plain on the east by two vales ; the one 
 to the south, the smallest, is that of Rora, traversed by the Lucerna ; 
 the other to the north, large enough to be often reckoned as 
 forming a distinct valley, is the vale of Angrogna, watered by the 
 noisy torrent of the same name. It is inclosed between the 
 valleys of San Martino on the west and north, and of Perosa bv 
 the vale of Pramol on the north-east, and by the side of Pranistin 
 on the east ; and lastly, by the vaUey of Lucerna on the south. 
 This last extends in a plain from east to west, and terminates by 
 the high pass of the Col de la Croix, which opens into France, 
 following the same direction, by the pasture-lands and Col Giuliano, 
 which separate it from the vaUey of San Martino to the north, 
 and by the Combe des Charbonniers, or vale of Guichard, in the 
 direction of Yiso to the south-west. 
 
 The distribution of the parishes in the respective valleys are 
 as follows. A glance at the map will supply the want of fiirther 
 explanations. 
 
 A. — The Yalley of San Martino. 
 
 The valley of San Martino has five churches, or Yaudois 
 parishes ; Prali, Rodoret, and Macel in the mountainous vales on 
 the west, ranged in this order from north to south ; Manielle, the 
 fomlh parish, which belongs to the eastern part of the valley ; and 
 YiUeseche, the fifth, at the entrance of the vaUey to the east, with 
 two dependencies, namely, Rioclaret and Faet. This parish stands 
 on both sides of the river. 
 
430 APPENDIX. 
 
 The Vaudois of some communes, where the catholics form the 
 majority, as at Le Perrier, Ciabrans, San Martino, etc., frequent 
 the churches of Maneille and Villeseche, according as either is 
 most within their reach. 
 
 B. — The Half-valley of Perosa. 
 
 The half-valley of Perosa contains four parishes : I. That of 
 Pomaret at the outlet of the defile which sej)arates this half- valley 
 from the valley of San Martino ; the Vaudois inhabitants on the 
 other side of Pinache, to the south, attend at this church. At 
 Pomaret there is a Latin school and a Vaudois hospital. II. The 
 parish of San Germain, of which Chenevieres and Turina, or 
 Envers-les-Portes form a part. III. That of Pramol and Peumian, 
 to the North of San Germain, an Alpine district ; and, IV. that of 
 Prarustin with Eocheplatte, as a dependency. The parish church 
 is that of San Barthelemi. 
 
 C. — The Valley of Lucerna. 
 
 The valley of Lucerna has six large parishes, which are so many 
 populous communes. I. Angrogna, to the west of Prarustin and 
 Eocheplatte ; this parish has two temples, that of Saint Laurent, 
 near which the pastor dwells, and that of Le Serre. II. San 
 Giovanni, to the south of Angrogna ; the temple is at Blonats, in 
 the centre of the parish ; it was formerly at Ciabas on the An- 
 gTogna. III. The church of La Torre, to the west of San Gio- 
 vanni : the temple is at the hamlet called Les Coppiers : near it is 
 the hospital. The Vaudois possess in the outskirts of the town 
 of La Torre, two interesting establishments — a college, and a girls' 
 boarding-school. IV. Proceeding westward, we meet first with 
 the parish of Villaro, with a town of the same name, containing 
 the church ; then, V. That of Bobbio, wliich occupies all the lower 
 part of the valley ; the parish temple is in the village of that name. 
 Two chapels belong to this parish, the one in La Combe des Char- 
 bonniers, the other in La Combe de la Ferriere. Lastly, VI. The 
 parish of Rora, the smallest of those in the vaUey of Lucerna ; it 
 is to the south of that of La Torre, from which it is separated by 
 a ridge of steep and naked rocks. 
 
 STATISTICS. 
 A. — Population. 
 
 The Vaudois population of the valleys amounted in 1839 to 
 more than twenty thousand souls, exclusive of four or five thou.sand 
 Roman Catholics ; a number far too large for the extent of terri- 
 tory, taking into account the nature of the soil. 
 
 According to the census made by order of government, of the 
 date 1839, the exact numbers were for the communes : — Vaudois, 
 20,394 J Catholics, 4589. 
 
APPENDIX. 431 
 
 B. — Climate and Productions. 
 
 The Yaudois valleys, from their southern situation and their 
 outlet on the plains of Piedmont, would naturally have the wai-m 
 temperature of the south, if their lofty mountains, and the con- 
 siderable elevation of the greater part of the soil above the level 
 of the sea, did not counterbalance this effect. 
 
 The air is generally pui-e and healthy in these valleys. Sheltered 
 from the north winds by the mountains, the climate is mild and 
 temperate, but varies according to the height of the locaKties. 
 Snow falls in great quantities in all the Alpine region, and the 
 avalanches cause frequent accidents. 
 
 The soil in the lower part of the valleys and on the neighboui-ing 
 hills, is fertile. The vine succeeds there as well as wheat, maize, 
 the mulberry, and other good fruit-trees j even the fig-tree in the 
 open air. 
 
 The middle region has all the productions which belong to that 
 altitude ; wheat, rye, maize, oats, barley, potatoes, etc., like^vise 
 the common fruit-trees, and chesnuts in great quantities. 
 
 Such are the rich productions of the most fertile part of these 
 valleys. One-third probably, or at least one-foui'th of their extent, 
 which is from about twenty to twenty-four square leagues, is 
 thus favoured. But two-thirds, or perhaps three-fourths of this 
 extent of country presents nothing but precipices, ravines, naked 
 rocks and alpine districts, or such as have a northera aspect. 
 The cultivation of the land is here very laborious and unproduc- 
 tive. The inhabitants in different places are reduced to cultivate 
 some small patches of ground among the rocks, to which they 
 must carry mould on their backs. A gi'eat part of the population 
 only hve by the pi-oduct obtained from a few cattle — cows, goats, 
 and sheep. 
 
 No branch of industry, excepting the labour of the field, and 
 the care of cattle, can be carried on to any extent among this 
 population, who are naturally active, but on bad terms with their 
 neighbours. The sale of articles of daily consumption is in the 
 hands of the Roman Cathohcs at Pinerolo, and in the other small 
 towns of the neighbourhood, where all the markets are held. 
 
 The Yaudois valleys do not produce in sufficient quantity for 
 their population the provisions that are most necessary, which 
 therefore have to be purchased. If they have some- productions 
 in superabundance, such as butter, cheese, potatoes, fruits, the 
 inhabitants cannot dispose of them for want of suitable channels. 
 The only market of considerable size is that of Pinerolo, but 
 besides that it is not accessible to all the localities of the valleys, 
 provisions abound there already in every direction. 
 
 C. — Religious Administration of the Yaudois Churches. 
 
 All that relates to the relief of the poor, to hospitals, to educa- 
 tion, and to the religious affairs of the Yaudois, is the result of 
 an administration formed from among themselves, in the nomi- 
 
432 APPEiyrDix. 
 
 nation of wliicli all tlie churches of the valleys take a part. This 
 administration is particular or general. 
 
 Each church has its parochial administration. The heads of 
 families united with their pastor form the church. The popula- 
 tion, generally dispersed, is divided into districts. The individuals 
 of a district choose, with the concurrence of the consistory, an 
 elder, or inspector, who enjoys certain prerogatives. When the 
 choice is agreed upon, the name of the person chosen is proclaimed 
 aloud from the pulpit. If no opposition be made, he is publicly 
 installed into his office, consecrated by prayer, and becomes a 
 member of the consistory, who regulate the affairs of the parish, 
 under the presidency of the j^astor, and exercise discipline there. 
 
 The general administration is composed of a Synod and a 
 Board. 
 
 The Syaod is composed of the pastor and ministers resident 
 in the valleys (the chaplain qf the ambassadors at Turin is also 
 admitted to it,) and a lay delegation from each of the five 
 parishes. These delegations may consist of more than one 
 deputy, but each delegation has but one vote. The Synod meets 
 specially when any business requires it, and regularly at the end 
 of four or five years, with the permission of the sovereign, who 
 is represented in it by the superintendent of the province. The 
 members of the Synod, the sittings of which last for two or three 
 days, and the king's representative, have their expenses paid by 
 the parishes or communes. The Synod prepares and determines 
 all the administrative regulations, names the members of the 
 administration ''called the Board, examines its proceedings, passes 
 its accounts, and decides on all important affairs. 
 
 The Board is composed of five members : three ecclesiastics 
 and two laymen. They are chosen according to certain rules, 
 at the beginning of each Synod, and remain in office till the 
 opening of the next Synod. The ecclesiastical members perform 
 the functions of moderator, or president, assistant-moderator or 
 vice-president, and secretary. 
 
 THE EELIGIOUS TBACX SOCIETY. 
 
Date Due 
 
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 A history of the Vaudois church from its 
 
 Princeton Theological Seminary-Speer Library 
 
 1 1012 00068 6693