History of the Waldenses

by J. A. Wylie

FOOTNOTES:

[1] Petrus Damianus, Opusc., p. 5. Allix, Churches of Piedmont, p. 113. M’Crie, Hist. of Reform. in Italy, p. 2.

[2] Recent German criticism refers the Nobla Leyçon to a later date, but still one anterior to the Reformation.

[3] The new and elegant temple of the Waldenses now rises near the foot of the Castelluzzo.

[4] This short description of the Waldensian valleys is drawn from the author’s personal observations.

[5] This disproves the charge of Manicheism brought against them by their enemies.

[6] Sir Samuel Morland gives the Nobla Leyçon in full in his History of the Churches of the Waldenses. Allix (chap. 18) gives a summary of it.

[7] The Nobla Leyçon has the following passage:—“If there be an honest man, who desires to love God and fear Jesus Christ, who will neither slander, nor swear, nor lie, nor commit adultery, nor kill, nor steal, nor avenge himself of his enemies, they presently say of such a one he is a Vaudés, and worthy of death.”

[8] See a list of numerous heresies and blasphemies charged upon the Waldenses by the Inquisitor Reynerius, who wrote about the year 1250, and extracted by Allix (chap. 22).

[9] The Romaunt Version of the Gospel according to John, from MS. preserved in Trinity College, Dublin, and in the Bibliothèque du Roi, Paris. By William Stephen Gilly, D.D., Canon of Durham, and Vicar of Norham. Lond., 1848.

[10] Stranski, apud, Lenfant’s Concile de Constance, quoted by Count Valerian Krasinski in his History of the Rise, Progress, and Decline of the Reformation in Poland, vol. i., p. 53; Lond., 1838. Illyricus Flaccius, in his Catalogus Testium Veritatis (Amstelodami, 1679), says: “Pars Valdensium in Germaniam transiit atque apud Bohemos, in Polonia ac Livonia sedem fixit.” Leger says that the Waldenses had, about the year 1210, Churches in Slavonia, Sarmatia, and Livonia. (Histoire Générale des Eglises Evangéliques des Vallées du Piedmont ou Vaudois, vol. ii., pp. 336, 337; 1669.)

[11] M’Crie, Hist. Ref. in Italy, p. 4.

[12] Compare Antoine Monastier, History of the Vaudois Church, p. 121 (Lond., 1848), with Alexis Muston, Israel of the Alps, p. 8 (Lond., 1852).

[13] Monastier, Hist. Vaudois Church, p. 123.

[14] Monastier, p. 123.

[15] Ibid.

[16] Monastier, p. 123.

[17] Histoire Générale des Eglises Evangéliques des Vallées de Piedmont, ou Vaudoises. Par Jean Leger. Part ii., pp. 6, 7. Leyden, 1669. Monastier, pp. 123, 124.

[18] The bull is given in full in Leger, who also says that he had made a faithful copy of it, and lodged it with other documents in the University Library of Cambridge. (Hist. Gén. des Eglises Vaud., part ii., pp. 7-15.)

[19] Muston, Israel of the Alps, p. 10.

[20] Leger, livr. ii., p. 7.

[21] Leger, livr. ii., p. 26

[22] Monastier, p. 128.

[23] Muston, p. 20.

[24] Muston, part ii., p. 234.

[25] Monastier, p. 129.

[26] Monastier, p. 130.

[27] Monastier, pp. 133-4.

[28] Monastier, p. 134.

[29] The Author was shown this pool when he visited the chasm. None of the Waldensian valleys is better illustrated by the sad, yet glorious, scenes of their martyrdom than this Valley of Angrogna. Every rock in it has its story. As you pass through it you are shown the spot where young children were dashed against the stones—​the spot where men and women, stripped naked, were rolled up as balls, and precipitated down the mountain, and where, caught by the stump of tree, or projecting angle of rock, they hung transfixed, enduring for days the agony of a living death. You are shown the entrance of caves, into which some hundreds of the Vaudois having fled, their enemies, lighting a fire at the mouth of their hiding place, ruthlessly killed them all. Time would fail to tell even a tithe of what has been done and suffered in this famous pass.

[30] Muston, p. 11.

[31] Leger, livr. ii., p. 26.

[32] Ibid.

[33] Leger and Gilles say that it was Philip VII. who put an end to this war. Monastier says they “are mistaken, for this prince was then in France, and did not begin to reign till 1496.” This peace was granted in 1489.

[34] Monastier, Hist. of the Vaudois, p. 138.

[35] Monastier, Hist. of the Vaudois, p. 138.

[36] Gilles, p. 30. Monastier, p. 141.

[37] Ruchat, tom. iii., pp. 176, 557.

[38] Hist. of the Vaud., p. 146.

[39] It is entitled, says Leger, “A Brief Confession of Faith made by the Pastors and Heads of Families of the Valleys of Piedmont.” “It is preserved,” he adds, “with other documents, in the Library of the University of Cambridge.” (Hist. des Vaud., livr. i., p. 95.)

[40] Gilles, p. 40. Monastier, p. 146.

[41] George Morel states, in his Memoirs, that at this time there were more than 800,000 persons of the religion of the Vaudois. (Leger, Hist. des Vaudois, livr. ii., p. 27.) He includes, of course, in this estimate the Vaudois in the Valleys, on the plain of Piedmont, in Naples and Calabria, in the South of France, and in the countries of Germany.

[42] Leger, livr. ii., p. 27.

[43] Monastier, p. 153.

[44] Leger, livr. ii., p. 29.

[45] Leger, livr. ii., p. 29. Monastier, p. 168,

[46] Leger, livr. ii., p. 28.

[47] Muston, Israel of the Alps, chap. 8.

[48] Leger, livr. ii., p. 29.

[49] Monastier, chap. 19, p. 172. Muston, chap. 10., p. 52.

[50] Leger, livr. ii., p. 29.

[51] “First, we do protest before the Almighty and All-just God, before whose tribunal we must all one day appear, that we intend to live and die in the holy faith, piety, and religion of our Lord Jesus Christ, and that we do abhor all heresies that have been, and are, condemned by the Word of God. We do embrace the most holy doctrine of the prophets and apostles, as likewise of the Nicene and Athanasian Creeds; we do subscribe to the four Councils, and to all the ancient Fathers, in all such things as are not repugnant to the analogy of faith.” (Leger, livr. ii., pp. 30-1.)

[52] See in Leger (livr. ii., pp. 30-1) the petition of the Vaudois presented “Au Sérènissime et très-Puissant Prince, Philibert Emmanuel, Duc de Savoye, Prince de Piémont, nôtre très-Clement Seigneur” (To the Serene and most Mighty Prince, Philibert Emmanuel, Duke of Savoy, Prince of Piedmont, our most Gracious Lord).

[53] See in Leger (livr. ii., p. 32), “A la très-Vertueuse et très-Excellente Dame, Madame Marguerite de France, Duchesse de Savoye et de Berry”—“the petition of her poor and humble subjects, the inhabitants of the Valleys of Lucerna and Angrogna, and Perosa and San Martino, and all those of the plain who call purely upon the name of the Lord Jesus.”

[54] Muston, p. 68.

[55] Muston, p. 72.

[56] Muston, p. 69. Monastier, p. 178.

[57] Muston, p. 70. Monastier, pp. 176-7.

[58] Muston, p. 71. Monastier, pp. 177-8.

[59] Muston, p. 72. Monastier, p. 182.

[60] Letter of Scipio Lentullus, Pastor of San Giovanni. (Leger, Hist. des Eglises Vaud., livr. ii., p. 35.)

[61] So says the Pastor of Giovanni, Scipio Lentullus, in the letter already referred to. (Leger, livr. ii., p. 35.)

[62] Letter of Scipio Lentullus. (Leger, livr. ii., p. 35.) Muston, pp. 73-4.

[63] Leger, livr. ii., p. 35. Monastier, pp. 184-5.

[64] Leger, livr. ii., p. 35.

[65] Muston, p. 77. Monastier, pp. 186-7.

[66] Muston, p. 78.

[67] Monastier, p. 188. Muston, p. 78.

[68] Muston, pp. 78-9.

[69] Monastier, p. 190. Muston, p. 80.

[70] Monastier, p. 191.

[71] Leger, part ii., p. 36. Gilles, chap. 25.

[72] Ibid., part ii., p. 37.

[73] Muston, p. 83.

[74] Ibid. Monastier, p. 194.

[75] Leger, part ii., p. 37. Muston, p. 85.

[76] The Articles of Capitulation are given in full in Leger, part ii., pp. 38-40.

[77] Leger, part ii., p. 41.

[78] Muston, p. 37.

[79] Leger, part ii., p. 333.

[80] M’Crie, Italy, pp. 7, 8.

[81] Muston, Israel of the Alps, p. 38.

[82] Perrin, Histoire des Vaudois, p. 197. Monastier, pp. 203-4.

[83] Muston, p. 38. Monastier and M’Crie say that the application for a pastor was made to Geneva, and that Paschale set out for Calabria, accompanied by another minister and two schoolmasters. It is probable that the application was made to Geneva through the intermediation of the home Church.

[84] M’Crie, p. 324.

[85] Monastier, p. 205.

[86] M’Crie, p. 325.

[87] M’Crie, pp. 325-7.

[88] Ibid., pp. 326-7.

[89] Leger, part ii., p. 333. M’Crie, p. 303. Muston, p. 41.

[90] Monastier, p. 206.

[91] M’Crie, p. 304.

[92] Pantaleon, Rerum in Eccles. Gest. Hist., ff. 337-8. De Porta, tom. ii., pp. 309, 312—ex M’Crie, pp. 305-6.

[93] Crespin, Hist. des Martyrs, pp. 506-16. Leger, part i., p. 204, and part ii., p. 335.

[94] Sextus Propertius (Cranstoun’s translation), p. 119.

[95] Muston, chap. 16. Monastier, chap. 21.

[96] See the letter in full in Leger, part i., pp. 41-5.

[97] Muston, p. 98.

[98] Monastier, p. 222.

[99] Muston, p. 111.

[100] Monastier, p. 241.

[101] Muston, pp. 112-3. Antoine Leger was uncle of Leger the historian. He had been tutor for many years in the family of the Ambassador of Holland at Constantinople.

[102] Monastier, chap. 18. Muston pp. 242-3.

[103] Muston, p. 126.

[104] Muston, p. 129.

[105] Leger, part ii., chap. 6, pp. 72-3.

[106] Muston, p. 130.

[107] Leger, part ii., chap. 8, p. 94.

[108] Monastier, p. 265.

[109] Leger, part ii., pp. 95-6.

[110] Ibid., part iv., p. 108.

[111] Monastier, p. 267.

[112] Muston, p. 135.

[113] Leger, part ii., pp. 108-9.

[114] Leger, part ii., p. 110.

[115] So says Leger, who was an eye-witness of these horrors.

[116] Monastier, p. 270.

[117] Leger, part ii., p. 113.

[118] Leger, part ii., p. 111.

[119] Leger, part ii., p. 112.

[120] The book is that from which we have so largely quoted, entitled Histoire Générale des Eglises Evangéliques des Vallées de Piémont ou Vaudoises. Par Jean Leger, Pasteur et Modérateur des Eglises des Vallées, et depuis la violence de la Persécution, appelé à l’Eglise Wallonne de Leyde. A. Leyde, 1669.

[121] Leger, part ii., p. 113.

[122] The sum collected in England was, in round numbers, £38,000. Of this, £16,000 was invested, on the security of the State, to pension pastors, schoolmasters, and students in the Valleys. This latter sum was appropriated by Charles II., on the pretext that he was not bound to implement the engagements of a usurper.

[123] The History of the Evangelical Churches of the Valleys of Piedmont: containing a most exact Geographical Description of the place, and a faithful Account of the Doctrine, Life, and Persecutions of the ancient Inhabitants, together with a most naked and punctual Relation of the late bloody Massacre, 1655. By Samuel Morland, Esq., His Highness’ Commissioner Extraordinary for the Affairs of the said Valleys. London, 1658.

[124] Leger, part ii., chap. 11, p. 186.

[125] Leger, part ii., pp. 186-7.

[126] Leger, part ii., p. 187. Muston, pp. 146-7.

[127] Leger, part ii., p. 188. Muston, pp. 148-9.

[128] Leger, part ii., p. 189. Monastier, p. 277.

[129] Leger, part ii., p. 189.

[130] Leger, part ii., p. 275.

[131] Monastier, p. 311.

[132] Monastier, p. 317. Muston, p. 199.

[133] Muston, p. 200.

[134] Muston, p. 202.

[135] Monastier, p. 320.

[136] Monastier, p. 336.

[137] So named by the author of the Rentrée, from the village at its foot, but which without doubt, says Monastier (p. 349), “is either the Col Joli (7,240 feet high) or the Col de la Fénêtre, or Portetta, as it was named to Mr. Brockedon, who has visited these countries, and followed the same road as the Vaudois.”

[138] Monastier, p. 352.

[139] Monastier, p. 356.

[140] Monastier, pp. 364-5.

[141] The Author was conducted over the ground, and had all the memorials of the siege pointed out to him by two most trustworthy and intelligent guides—​M. Turin, then Pastor of Macel, whose ancestors had figured in the “Glorious Return;” and the late M. Tron, Syndic of the Commune. The ancestors of M. Tron had returned with Henri Arnaud, and recovered their lands in the Valley of San Martino, and here had the family of M. Tron lived ever since, and the precise spots where the more memorable events of the war had taken place had been handed down from father to son.

[142] Monastier, pp. 369, 370.

[143] Cannon-balls are occasionally picked up in the neighbourhood of the Balsiglia. In 1857 the Author was shown one in the Presbytère of Pomaretto, which had been dug up a little before.

[144] Monastier, p. 371.

[145] Monastier, p. 389. The Pope, Innocent XII., declared (19th August, 1694) the edict of the duke re-establishing the Vaudois null and void, and enjoined his inquisitors to pay no attention to it in their pursuit of the heretics.

[146] Muston, pp. 220-1. Monastier, pp. 388-9.

[147] Waldensian Researches, by William Stephen Gilly, M.A., Prebendary of Durham; p. 158; Lond., 1831.

[148] So deep was the previous ignorance respecting this people, that Sharon Turner, speaking of the Waldenses in his History of England, placed them on the shores of Lake Leman, confounding the Valleys of the Vaudois with the Canton de Vaud.

[149] The Author may be permitted to bear his personal testimony to the labours of General Beckwith for the Waldenses, and through them for the evangelisation of Italy. On occasion of his first visit to the Valleys in 1851, he passed a week mostly in the society of the general, and had details from his own lips of the methods he was pursuing for the elevation of the Church of the Vaudois. All through the Valleys he was revered as a father. His common appellation among them was “The Benefactor of the Vaudois.”

[150] General Beckwith: his Life and Labours, &c. By J. P. Meille, Pastor of the Waldensian Church at Turin. P. 26. Lond., 1873.

[151] “Totius Italiæ lumen.”