I must be permitted to say, that even these, reproaches appear to me ill founded. Our ancestors would have been indeed blamable had they concealed their faith; but, on the contrary, they defended it at the price of their property and lives. All that can be said is, that their external worship was not so regular as in our days; because, as a means of security, they often worshipped God only in caverns and forests, and in their private houses.
When our barbes had communicated to their brethren the observations of the reformers, an assembly was convoked to discuss them, at Angrogna, on the 12th of September, 1532, which was attended from every part of the valleys. The result was a new confession of faith, though it appears the assembly was not entirely unanimous, for two pastors and some others were of opinion (and with reason) that it was better to adhere to the old confessions, and particularly that of 1100.
I would go farther and say, that these confessions of faith, so frequent since the Reformation, have been pernicious.
Is it not an act of folly or vanity to dare to form confessions of faith, other than the Apostles' creed? I do not hesitate, therefore, to blame our Vaudois for having thus departed from the wise maxims of their forefathers.
The spirit of this document, and the publicity with which the Vaudois resolved in future to celebrate divine worship, greatly astonished their enemies. The monks, who had been sent into the valleys to collect the revenues of their curés, and to convert the inhabitants, despaired of their undertaking, and returned in great ill-humour. But their hatred to the Vaudois was too inveterate to allow them to remain idle; and having put in force every stratagem, they at last succeeded in their plots so far as to induce Duke Charles to begin a new persecution.
CHAPTER III.
Many Vaudois, to escape the last persecutions, had withdrawn from their country to Merindol, Cabrieres, and Lormarin, in Provence, where they lived undisturbed until 1534; when the bishops of this country, making researches for heretics, seized these unhappy people, and finding them to be Piemontese, wrote to the inquisitor and to the archbishop of Turin, at whose instigation the Duke consented to appoint Pantaléon Bressour, lord of Rocheplatte, director of the war against the Vaudois. Bressour, provided with letters patent, went to examine the Vaudois prisoners in Provence; and from them learned not only who were the barbes who came from the valleys to instruct them, but the names of almost all the families there. From this information, he formed two lists., viz. one of declared, the other of suspected heretics, which he presented to the inquisitors; he was soon armed with fresh powers, by the edict of Quiers, (dated August, 1535,) to seize all whom he knew to be Vaudois, and to force them to enter into the Catholic faith, or undergo the punishments they deserved. Civil and military officers, and all other subjects were enjoined to obey the requisition of Bressour for assistance, under a heavy penalty.
Having chosen 500 men from the Duke's whole army, this leader attacked the Vaudois, who had not the slightest suspicion of the violation of the peace, and massacred them without any distinction of age or sex, spreading consternation throughout the valleys. The following day, as they marched into the Val de Luzerne, with the intention of continuing the carnage, our Vaudois suddenly attacked them in front, rear, and flank, and succeeded in destroying most of these assassins, the rest took to flight, abandoning their prisoners and booty. Perrin (the historian) attributes this victory, in great measure to the slings, which the Vaudois used at that time with the greatest dexterity, and which formed their principal weapon. Blanche, countess of Luzerne and Angrogna, complained in vain of this perfidious invasion: two days afterwards appeared letters from the Duke, forbidding the inhabitants of the valleys to assemble in arms, under a penalty of one hundred silver marks. Bressour, however, contented himself with seizing those Vaudois who were mingled among the Catholics in Lower Piémont, and soon filled his castle, the prisons and Convents at Pignerol, and the inquisition at Turin, with prisoners. After they were tried by the inquisitors, vicar, and assessors, part of them were condemned to the flames, and the rest to several years imprisonment. There were some indeed whose fate was never known.
The Duke, seeing that these persecutions made no impression, and having remarked that, in open warfare, "the skin of a Vaudois always cost fifteen or twenty of his best Catholics," by his letters, forbid them to be further molested on any pretence whatever.