them odious to the people as if they had preferred the peace with the Turke before that with the Church the kingdome of Christ affirming that they maintained that the Pope did mortally sinne when he sends an expedition of souldiers with the badge of the crosse vpon their Cassockes or Coatarmour against the Sarazens For their iustification herein we must obserue In the booke of the causes of their separation frō the Church of Rome p. 235 that they complaine not of the enterprise of warre against the Turkes but of those spoiles that the Popes make of the goods of the Church and other diuine graces vnder the pretence thereof abusing the ignorant people with their Buls and Benedictions who too willingly receiue their lies and inuentions buying them at a deare rate As also they thinke hardly of it that the Pope should send out his Croisades his crossed souldiers being strangers to pursue them as heretickes before they be heard or conuinced to be such But they are not the onely men that condemne this auarice which the reuenging spirits of the Popes haue shewed by their Croisades Paulus Langius a Germane Historiographer layes an imputation vpon Leo the tenth Paul Lan. in his Chronicle of France 1513. See the examination of the Councell of Trent lib. 1. c. 5. that he leuied great summes of money vnder a pretence of warre against the Turkes which he bestowed shortly after vpon thirtie Cardinals which he had newly created Guicciardine noteth in his Historie that the selfe same Pope imposed great exactions vpon the people the bene fit whereof fell into the lap of his sister Magdalen and that all that leuie of money was but to satisfie the auarice of a woman and that the Bishop of Aremboldo was thought by him a commissarie worthy such an action to put it in execution with all manner of extortion Alexander the fourth conuerted the vow of Hierusalem to the vow of Pouille that is to say A part of Naples whose inhabitants are held very dangerous the vow of reuenge For he gaue power to his Legats to absolue the King of England Henry the third by name dispensing with his vow of the crosse for Hierusalem vpon condition that he should go to Pouille to make warre against Manfred Frederic Emperour not long before It is the Historiographer Math. Paris Math. Paris in his Historie of England See the first booke of the examination of the Councell of Trent cap. 5. In the booke of the causes of their separation frō the Church of Rome p. 125 that setteth downe the complaint that then was made that is to say that the tenths imployed for the succour of the holy Land were taken away and conuerted to the reliefe of Pouille against the Christians The eight calumnie was that they vsed no reuerence towards holy and consecrated places holding that that man sinned not more grieuously that burneth a Church then he that breakes into any other house They say that neither the place nor the chaire make a man the more holy and they haue maintained that they deceiue themselues much that comfort themselues or presume the more because of the dignitie of the place for what place more high then Paradise what place more secure then heauen and yet neuerthelesse man was banished out of Paradise for sinning there and the Angels were throwne from heauen to the end they might be examples to those that came after and to teach them that it is not the place nor the greatnesse nor dignitie thereof that makes a man holy but the innocencie of his life Against the ninth calumnie that is to say that they defend that the Magistrate ought not to condemne any to death they say That it is writtē In the booke of the Waldenses entituled The light of the treasure of faith fol. 214. that we are not to suffer the malefactor to liue and that without correction and discipline doctrine serues to no purpose neither should iudgements be acknowledged nor sinnes punished And therefore iust anger is the mother of discipline and patience without reason the seed of vices and permitteth the wicked to digresse from truth and honestie True it is that they haue found fault that the Magistrates should deliuer them to death It appeareth by the complaint they made to the King Ladislaus King of Hungary and Bohemia without any other knowledge of the cause then the simple report of Priests and Monkes who were parties and iudges insomuch that hauing discouered the abuse which they brought into the Church they condemned them for heretickes and deliuered them to the secular power so they call their Magistrates Now this seemed vnto them a cruell simplicitie in the said Magistrates to giue faith to persons passionate and not indifferent such as the aforesaid Priests were and to put to death so many poore innocent people neuer hearing them or examining the cause The tenth calumnie was to make them odious to Kings and Princes that is to say that a lay man in the state of grace had greater authoritie then a Prince liuing in his sinnes Against this imposture they affirme In the booke of the causes of their separation frō the Church of Rome p. 41. that euery one must be subiect to those that are in authoritie obey them loue them be at peace with them honour them with double honour in subiection and obedience and readinesse paying vnto them that which is their due The eleuenth calumnie was grounded vpon that assertion of the Waldenses that the Pope had no authoritie ouer the Kings and Princes of the earth who depend immediatly vpon God alone For from thence they take occasion to call them Manichees as appointing two Princes Against this imputation they say In the booke of the treasure of faith art 2. We beleeue that the holy Trinitie hath created all things visible and inuisible and that he is Lord of things celestiall terrestiall and infernall as it is said in S. Iohn All things are made by him and without him nothing is made The beginning of this calumnie was taken out of the Extrauagantes of Pope Boniface 8. who subiecting the authoritie of Emperours vnto his saith of his owne Quicunque huic potestati resistit Dei ordinationi resistit nisi duo sicut Manichaeus fingat esse principia De Maiorit obedientia Can. Vnam sanctam l. 1. tom 8. The twelfth calumnie imports thus much that they held that whatsoeuer is done with a good intention is good and that euery one shall be saued in whatsoeuer is done with the said good intention To this imposture we need no other answer then that which the Monke Raynerius who was alwaies their back-friend saith elsewhere Rain lib. de forma haeretic art 38. that is that they maintaine that euery man is saued by his faith which he cals a Sect. It is very necessary that a lyer should haue a better memorie then to affirme things contradictorie And to shew that
de Chateauneuf was slain in this busines and for that canonized for a Saint Dominique continued in his persecution of the Waldenses both in deed and word This Monke seeing himselfe to bee in authority Moynes qui mandient instituted an Order of begging Monkes who after his name were callad Dominicans and the said Monke was canonized and his Order confirmed by Pope Honorius being warned saith hee to doe it by a dreame For it seemed to him that the Church of Rome was falling and that Dominique vpheld it with his shoulders in recompence whereof the said Pope commanded that the said Order should haue the first place among the Mendicants Mandians It is said of this Monke The Martirologe in the life of Dominique that his mother when shee went with childe with him shee did dreame that shee had in her wombe a dogge that cast out flames of fire out of his throat His followers interpret this to his aduantage as if hereby we were giuen to vnderstand that hee should be that dogge that should vomit out that fire which should consume the Heretikes But on the contrary they whom hee euery day deliuered vnto death might well say that hee was the dogge that had set on fire all Christendome and that the flames that came out of his throat doe note vnto vs those fiery and infernall sentences which he pronounced against the Christians Howsoeuer hee caried himselfe so well in these affaires that before hee died he built many goodly houses in Languedoc Prouence Dolphine Spaine and elswhere by which hee had obtained great reuenewes either from the liberality of those that affected his Order or the Confiscations of the Waldenses by which the Count Simon of Montfort gaue him great priuiledges and almes as cutting large thongs of another mans leather He laboured in the Inquifition as the chiefe with such contentment to the Popes that from that time forward the Monkes of his Order haue been alwaies imployed in the Inquisition The power giuen to these Monkes Inquisitors was without limits For they could assemble the people whensoeuer it pleased them by the sound of a bell proceed against the Blshops themselues and send out proces if there were need to imprison and to open the prisons without controle All manner of accusations was auailable enough A Sorcerer a Harlot were sufficient witnesses without reproch in the fact of pretended heresie It was no matter who did accuse or whether by word of mouth or by tickets cast in before the Inquisitor for without any personall appearance or confronting one another the the proces were framed without party without witnesse and without other law then the pleasure of the Inquisitor To be rich was a crime neere vnto heresie and he that had any thing to lose was in the way to bee vndone either as an Hereticke or at the least as a fauourer of heretikes One bare suspition stopped the mouthes of fathers and mothers and kinsfolke that they durst not intercede for punishments to come and he that did intreat for the conuey of a cup of cold water or a little straw to lye vpon in some stinking dungeon was condemned for a fauourer of Heretickes and brought to the same or worse extremities There was no Aduocate that durst vnder take the defence of his nearest kinsinan or friend or Notary that durst receiue any act in his fauour And that which was more after that a man was once intangled within the snares of the Inquisition he could neuer liue in any assurance for hee was alwaies to beginne againe For if any man were set at liberty it was only for a time till they might better consider of it Death it selfe made not an end of the punishment for they haue left vnto vs certaine coppies of their sentences against the bones of the dead to dis-interre and to burne them yea thirty yeeres after the decease of the party accused They that were heires had nothing certaine for vpon any accusation of their fathers or kindred they durst not vndertake the defence of their owne right or possesse their owne inheritance without the crime or suspition of Heresie and that they rather inherited their bad faith and opinions then their goods The people yea the most mighty and richest amongst them were constrained in a manner to adore these Monkes the Inquisitors and to bestow vpon them great Presents for the building of their Couents and dotations of their houses for feare to bee accused of Heresie and not to be estemed zealous for the faith of those holy fathers And the better to entertaine men with an apprehension of these things they sometimes made shewes and brauadoes of their prisoners leading them in triumph at their Processions some being enioyned to whip themselues others to goe couered after the manner of St. Benedicts that is to say with certaine red Cassockes with yellow crosses to signifie that they were such as had been conuinced of some errour and that at the first offence they should afterward commit they were already condemned for Heretickes Others appeared in their shirts bare-foote and bare-headed with a with about their neckes a torch in their hands that being thus prepared and furnished they might giue terror to the beholders to see such persons of all estates and sex brought to so miserable a condition being all forbid to enter into the Church but to stay in the porch or to cast an eye vpon the Hoste when it was showed by the Priest vntill it was otherwise determined by the Fathers the Inquisitors And for the full accomplishment of the contentment of the said Fathers their accused were exiled for a penance into the holy Land or enrolled for some other expedition against the Turkes or other Infidels leuied by the command of the Pope to serue the Church for a certaine time at their owne charge and in the meane time the said holy Fathers tooke possession of the goods of the poore Pilgrims and that which was worst of all at their returne they must not enquire whether the said Monkes had in their absence any priuate familiarity with their wiues for feare lest they should be condemned for back-sliders impenitent and altogether vnworthy of any fauour Now these violences being executed from the yeer a thousand two hundred and six which was baout the time that Dominique erected his Inquisition to the yeere one thousand two hundred twenty eight there was so great a hauock made of poore Christians that the Archbishops of Aix Arles and Narbonne being assembled together at Aingou in the said yeere 1228 at the instance of the said Monkes the Inquisitors to confer with them about diuers difficulties in the execution of their charge had compassion of the misery of a great number that were accused and kept in prison by the said Monkes the Inquisitors saying It is come to our knowledge See the Catal. of the Test of the truth pag. 53â— that you haue apprehended so great a number of the Waldenses
hands by the Inquisitors This Parliament caused a great number to be burnt at Turin in immitation of other Parliaments in France who burnt in those times those they called Lutherans They had recourse vnto the King presenting vnto him their petition that they might not be persecuted by the said Parliament for the profession of that Religion in the which they and their ancestors had liued for many hundred yeeres and that by the permission of their Princes But they made it worse with them then it was before for the King enioyned them to liue according to the laws of the Church of Rome vpon paine to bee chastised as Heretickes He likewise commanded the Court of Parliament at Turin to cause all his Subiects within their iurisdiction to professe his religion Adding withall that he did not burne the Lutherans throughout his whole Kingdome of France to make a reseruation of them among the Alpes The Parliament endeuoured speedily to put the commandement of the King in execution and for that cause enioyned them vpon paine of their liues to quit themselues presently of their Ministers and to receiue Priests to sing Masse liuing after the manner of other the Kings subiects They answered that they could not obey any such commands against the commandement of God whom in what belonges vnto his seruice they would rather obey then men But had not the King at that time had other imployments elsewhere without all doubt this Parliament would haue made them doe that by force which they would not be brought vnto by simple commands They therefore contented themselues to prosecute them by the Inquisition and to receiue from the Monkes those they condemned to the fire But afterwards in the yeere 1555 they increased the persecution For hauing condemned to the fire one Barthelmew Hector a Stationer who was executed at Turin because hee died with admirable constancy insomuch that hee edified the assistants and standers by in such manner that he drew teares from their eyes and words of compassion from their mouthes iustifying him with a mutuall applause which they gaue of his good speeches and prayers vnto God The Parliament tooke occasion herupon to do their best endeauor to ouerthrow this profession in the very source and to vse the authority of the King to enforce this people to liue vnder the lawes of the Church of Rome In the Booke of the martyrs of our time lib. 8. fol 122. or miserably to perish To this end and purpose the Parliament of Turin deputed a certaine President of Saint Iulian and a Collaterall named de Ecclesia to transport themselues vnto those places and there to put in practice whatsoeuer they thought good either to reduce or to exterminate the said people with promise to assist them with whatsoeuer shall be needfull to this purpose according to the aduise and counsell they should receiue from them This President with his Collaterall ttooke their iourney to Perouse and caused Proclamations publikly to be made in the name of the King that euery one of the Inhabitants was to goe to Masse vpon paine of his life Afterwards they came to Pignerol where they cited many to appeare before them Amongst others there appeared a poore simple labouring man whom the President commanded to cause his child to be re-baptized which had lately been baptized by the minister of Saint Iohn neere Angrongne This poore man requested so much respite as that he might pray vnto God before hee answered him Which being granted with some laughter he fell downe vpon his knees in the presence of all that were there and his prayer being ended he said to the President that hee would cause his childe to be re-baptised vpon condition that the said President would discharge him by a bill signed with his owne hand of the sinne which he should commit in causing it to be re-baptized and beare one day before God the punishment and condemnation which should befall him taking this iniquity vpon him and his Which the President vnderstanding hee commanded him out of his presence not pressing him any farther Now hauing framed diuers indictments against some particular persons of the said Valleys and made some collections of whatsoeuer the President could imagine might hurt the people hee assayed also to winne them by the preachings of the Monkes whom he brought with him into the Valley of Angrongne Being therefore come vnto the place where their Temple was he caused one of his Monkes to preach in the presence of the people who made vnto them a long exhortation to returne vnto the Church of Rome of which hee reported many things which the people beleeued not After that the Monke had said as much as he would and that he held his peace the greatest number of the people required that the Pastors that were there present or some one of them for all might be permitted louingly and mildly to answer to the discourse that had been made by the Preacher but the President by no meanes would giue way thereunto whereupon there followed a certaine rumour or muttering among the people which strooke the President and his Monkes with an astonishment in such sort that they could haue been content to haue been elsewhere but dissembling their feare the President retired himselfe without a word speaking to Turin whether being come hee related to the Parliament what hee had done and withall signified vnto them the difficulties that were to winne this people by extremities because if any attempt should bee made to take them by violence they were resolued to defend themselues and the places of their abode being fauourable vnto them it was to bee feared it would cost a great deale of labour and much blood would bee shed before they could either bee brought into the Church of Rome or out of the world That is was the worke of a King to roote them out and a King of Franc and therefore it was necessary to send the reports and to commit vnto his owne will and pleasure the issue of so troublesome an enterprise This aduice was followed the indictments and reports were sent to the King but as the affaires of the Court cannot be finished but with long time there passed a whole yeere before there was any other course spoken of or taken against them then that of the Inquisitors who alwaies deliuered some one or other to the secular power but the yeere being expired there came from the Court expresse commands of the King to make them to doe that by force which they would not be brought vnto by words or friendly vsage The Parliament re-sent the said President of Saint Iulien who so soone as hee was arriued at Angrongne he commanded them in the name of the King to goe to the Masse vpon paine of Confiscation of bodies and goods They demanded a Copy both of his commission and his speech promising to answere him in such a manner that he should haue reason to rest contented but nothing could
that they made no great account of their Clergie and Prelates And for this cause being excommunicated and chased out of the countrey they dispersed themselues into many and diuerse places as into Dauphiney Prouence Languedoc Piemont Calabria Bohemia England and other places Some haue written that one part of the Waldenses retired themselues into Lombardie where they multiplyed in such a manner that their doctrine was dispersed throughout all Italie and came as farre as Sicile Neuerthelesse in this great dispersion they alwayes kept themselues in vnion and fraternitie for the space of foure hundred yeares liuing in great sinceritie and the feare of God The Author of the Historie of the State of the Church writes of them thus The Historie of the Estate of the Church p. 336. After that Waldo saith he and his followers were driuen out of Lions one part of them retired to Lombardie where they multiplied in such a manner that their doctrine began to disperse it selfe into Italie and came into Sicile as the Patents of Fredericke the second giuen out against them whilest he reigned do witnesse Vesembecius saith Vesemb in his oration of the Waldenses p. 3. that when the Pope and his catchpoles saw that the Romane Hierarchie receiued great detriment by meanes of the Waldenses insomuch that there were certaine Princes that had taken their defence amongst whom was the King of Aragon and the Earles of Toulonze in those dayes puissant Princes in France they began to oppresse them vpon most vniust occasions bringing them into hatred with the people and especially of Kings to the end that by this meanes they might be vtterly exterminated Vignier makes mention of the Waldenses in his Historical Bibliotheke Vignier in his Historicall Bibliothec p. 130. and saith that they haue endured many long and grieuous persecutions and yet notwithstanding there was neuer any thing that could hinder them from retaining that doctrine which they had receiued from the Waldenses deliuering it as it were from hand to hand vnto their children Hologaray affirmes Hologaray in his History of Foix p. 120. 121. that the Waldenses and Albigenses were of a contrary opinion to the Bishop of Rome in all those maximes or principles that were publickly preached commanded by his authoritie that is that were inuented by him and contrary to the word of God And he witnesseth withall that there were amongst them wise men and very learned and sufficient to defend their beliefe against the Monkes Mathias Illyricus writes Math. Illyricus in his Catal. of the witnesses of the truth p. 134. that he finds by the writings of Waldo which lay by him in certaine ancient parchments that Waldo was a learned man and that he did not cause the bookes of the Bible to be translated into the vulgar tongue but that he tooke paines therein himselfe It is most certaine that the aduersaries of Waldo and the Waldenses make no great account of these aboue named testimonies because they hold them to be both of one and the same ranke and order both the witnesses and those to whom they beare witnesse that is all for hereticks but this Historie is not onely for the enemies of the truth but to the end the louers thereof may see that that which is here produced doth not intend onely our owne particular commendations but to shew that there haue bene before vs certaine great personages whose memorie they reuerence that haue spoken of the Waldenses as of the true Sacraments of God who haue maintained the truth with the losse of their liues and earnestly desired in their times to see the reformation we enioy in ours And as le Sieur de S. Aldegonde saith In the first table of his differences the third part p. 150. the occasion why they were condemned for heretickes was no other but because they maintained that the Masse was an impious corruption of the holy Supper of the Lord. That the Hoste was an idoll forged by men That the Church of Rome was wholly adulterated and corrupted and full of infidelitie and idolatrie That the traditions of the Church were but superstitions and humane inuentions That the Pope was not the head of the Church and for other points of this nature And as the said Aldegonde obserues it was a great worke of God that how diligent soeuer the Popes with their Clergie haue bene vsing likewise the assistance of secular Princes and magistrates to roote them out yet they could neuer do it neither by proscriptions nor banishments nor excommunications nor publications of their Bulles nor Indulgences and Pardons to all those that shall make warre against them nor by any manner of torments fire flames gibets or other cruell effusion of bloud could they euer hinder the current of their doctrine but it hath spread it selfe almost into all the corners of the earth This hath le Sieur de Saint Aldegonde writ of the Waldenses But forasmuch as doubt may be made whether we haue in these dayes any proofes in the world of their beleefe it is necessary that we produce hereabouts an inuentorie of bookes which they haue left vnto vs to the end that when there shall be any question of their doctrine euery one may vnderstand what the writings are out of which we haue gathered that which they taught CHAP. VII That Peter Waldo and the Waldenses haue left bookes which make proofe of their beliefe and what they are THat Waldo left something in writing vnto vs In the former Chap. it appeares by that which Math. Illyricus saith that he hath certaine parchments of his which shew him to be a learned man Historie of the Estate of the Church p. 307. The Author of the Historie of the Estate of the Church giues this testimonie that followeth Waldo at the same time saith he made a collection in the vulgar tongue of sundry passages of the ancient Fathers to the end he might defend his opinions not onely by the authoritie of the holy Scripture but also by the testimonie of the Doctors against his aduersaties About fortie yeares since le Sieur de Vignaux Pastor of the Churches of the Waldenses in Piemont writ as followeth in his memorials that he made Of the beginning Antiquitie Doctrine Religion Manners Discipline Persecutions Confessions and progresse of the people called Waldenses I that write saith he can witnesse that being sent vnto these people to preach the Gospell of our Lord Iesus Christ which I did about some fortie yeares together I had no need to take much paines to win them from the ceremonies of the Church of Rome nor to roote out of their minds the Pope the Masse Purgatory and such other things wherein they were a long time Doctors before my coming although the greatest part of them knew neither A nor B. It is to this seruant of God to whom we are much bound for the multitude of bookes written by the Waldenses For as oft as he lighted vpon any
bagge of procese which was found in the Cabinet du Sieur d' Auençon Archbishop of Ambrun at the last taking of Ambrū against the Waldenses of Froissiniere Largentiere who haue bene many times imprisoned and deliuered vnto death by the Monkes the Inquisitors who caused them to be watched euen vpon the high Alpes when they trauelled from one companie to another This small number may suffice to giue vs to vnderstand that though their enemies did their best endeuour wholly to banish them and to roote them out from off the earth yet the eternall God hath not ceassed to prouide laborers for his haruest when there was any need to preserue euen to this present day only in Dauphiney and Prouence many thousands that thinke it their glory to haue come from the ancient Waldenses and are rather inheritours of their zeale and pietie then their earthly substance which their persecutors do possesse as the Pope doth at this present who hath ioyned to his pretended Apostolike chamber all the inheritance of the Waldenses who haue had any thing in his countrie of Venecin and vnder the pretence of heresie if he could he would take away their liues too so far is he from thinking to restore that which in vaine he hath bene importuned to do which his officers haue promised to restore with more vanitie and falshood then honestie or true meaning Now forasmuch as the Reader not knowing what manner of men their Pastors were they may be the lesse esteemed we will in the Chapter following insert what we find in their writings which may make proofe of their vocation the exercise of their charge zeale and pietie CHAP. X. What manner of men the Barbes or Pastors of the Waldenses were what their vocation with what zeale and fidelitie they haue exercised their charge THe Monke Rainerius reports many things touching the vocation of the Pastors of the Waldenses which neuer were Rain de forma harct fol. 8. As that which is imposed vpon them that they haue one greater Bishop and two followers which he cals the elder sonne and the yonger and a Deacon that he laid his hands vpon others with soueraigne authoritie and sent them whither he thought good like a Pope Against these impostures I haue here set downe what is found in their writings touching the vocation of their Pastors All such say they as are to be receiued for Pastors amongst vs The booke of the Pastors George Maurel and Peter Masçon pa. 8. notwithstanding they remaine yet with their parents are to intreat vs to receiue them to the ministerie and that we will be pleased to pray vnto God for thē that they may be made capable of so great a charge Which the said suppliants do to no other end but to shew their humilitie They are to learne certaine lessons and to learne by heart all the Chapters of Saint Matthew and Saint Iohn and all the Epistles which they call Canonicall a good part of the writings of Salomon Dauid and the Prophets Afterwards hauing good testimonies of their learning and conuersation they are receiued with the imposition of hands into the office or function of preaching The last that are receiued are to do nothing without the leaue and licence of their Seniours receiued before them As also they that are first ought not to attempt any thing with out the approbation of their companions to the end that all things might be done amongst vs in order We Pastors do assēble our selues together euery yeare once to determine of our affaires in a general Councell Our nuttiment and apparell are willingly administred vnto vs and as it were by way of almes very sufficiently by the people whom we teach The money that is giuen vs by the people is carried to the aforesaid generall Councell and is deliuered in the presence of all and there it is receiued by the most ancients and part thereof is giuen to those that are trauellers or wayfaring men according to their necessities and part vnto the poore When any of vs that are Pastors shall fall into anie foule or vncleane sinne he is cast out of our companie and forbidden the charge of preaching Amongst other power and authoritie which God hath giuen to his seruants it belongs vnto them to chuse guides of the people and Ancients in their charges according to the diuersitie of imployment in the vnitie of Christ Which is proued by the saying of the Apostle in his Epistle to Titus Chap. 1. verse 5. For this cause left I thee in Crete that thou shouldest set in order the things that are wanting and or daine Elders in euery City as I haue appointed thee Thus you see how the Pastors of the Waldenses were chosen and maintained in their charge but to the end that their zeale may the better appeare we will insert in the Chapter following a letter which one of the said Pastors writ to one of their Churches by which it may easely appeare with how holy and sanctified affection they laboured to call the people to repentance and to instruct them in the faith CHAP. XI An Epistle of the Paster Barthelmew Tertian written to the Waldensian Churches of Pragela Iesus be with you To all our faithfull and welbeloued brethren in Christ Iesus Health and saluation be with you all Amen THese are to aduertise and to aduise your brotherhood hereby acquitting my selfe of that dutie which I owe vnto you all in the behalfe of God principally touching the care of the saluation of your soules according to that light of the truth which the most high God hath bestowed on vs that it would please euery one of you to maintaine increase and nourish to the vtmost of your power without diminution those good beginnings and customes which haue bene left vnto vs by our ancestors whereof we are no way worthy For it would little profit vs to haue bene renewed by the fatherly instance and the light which hath bene giuen vs of God if we giue our selues to worldly diabolicall and carnall conuersations abandoning the principall which is God and the saluation of our soules for this short and temporall life For the Lord saith in his Gospell What doth it profit a man to gaine the whole world and to lose his owne soule For it should be better for vs neuer to haue knowne the way of righteousnesse then hauing knowne it to do the contrary For we shall be inexcusable and our condemnation the greater for there are greater and more grieuous torments prouided for those that haue most knowledge Let me therefore intreate you by the loue of God that you decrease not but rather increase that charitie feare and obedience which is due vnto God and to your selues amongst your selues and keepe all those good customes which you haue heard and vnderstood of God by our meanes and that you would remoue from amongst you all defaults and wants troubling the peace the loue the concord and whatsoeuer taketh from
also because this Sect saith he is more generall for there is not almost any Country in which it hath not taken footing And thirdly because all other by their blasphemies against God strike a horror into mens hearts But this on the contrary hath a great appearance of piety for they carry themselues vprightly before men and beleeue rightly touching God in all things holding all the Articles that are contained in the Simbole hating and reuiling the Church of Rome and therein saith he they are easily beleeued of the people And in another place the said Rainerius saith Rainer cap. de studio peruertendi alios modo docendi fol. 98. that the first lesson that the Waldenses giue to those whom they winne to their Sect is this that they teach them what the Disciples of Christ ought to be and that by the words of the Gospell and the Apostles affirming that they onely are the Successors of the Apostles that immitate their life Inferring thereby saith hee that the Pope the Bishoppes and Clergy that possesse and inioy the riches of this world and seek after them follow not the examples of the Apostles and therefore are not the true guides of the Church it neuer being the purpose of Christ Iesus to commit his chaste and beloued spouse to those who rather prostitute her by their ill examples and wicked actions then preserue her in that purity wherein they receiued her at the beginning a virgin chaste and without spot In hatred therefore of diuers discourses which the Waldenses haue written against the luxury auarice pride and errors brought in by the Pope they haue alwaies persecured them to the death The meanes they haue vsed vtterly to exterminate them haue been in the first place their thunderbolts curses cannons constitutions decrees and whatsoeuer clse might make them odious to the Kings Princes and people of the earth giuing them ouer asmuch as lies in their power vnto Satan interdicting them all communion and society with those that obey their lawes iudging them vnworthy and vncapable of any charges honours profits or to inherit or to make willes or to beburied in common church-yards confiscating their goods dis-inheriting their heires and where they could by any meanes apprehend them they haue condemned them to be deliuered to the secular power their houses to be razed their lands and moueables confiscated or giuen to the first conquerour And of all these sentences we haue at this day the scedule These sentences are to bee seen in the manuel of the Inquisitors with the letters of Pope Alexanderthe thirteenth of diuers other Popes which succeeded him giuen by the Popes with the instruments which they haue imployed to such executions as also of the commands which they haue giuen vnto Kings Princes Magistrates Consuls and People to make an exact inquisition to shut the gates of the Citty to craue the assistance and best helpe of the people to ring the Tol-bell to arme themselues and if otherwise they cannot be apprehended to kill them and to vse all manner of violence which they shall see needfull in such a case Giuing to the accusers the third part or some other portion of that which shall bee confiscated all councellors and fauourers of them being condemned to the same punishment And forasmuch as no Prince or Magistrate or any other had any power to frame a proces against any in the fact of pretended heresie commandement was giuen to the Bishops euery one in his iurisdiction to make an inquiry into their flockes and take notice how euery particular person was affected to the ordinances of the Popes and the Church of Rome So when Waldo began to complaine and to cry out against the corruptions of the said Church of Rome Alexander the third then Pope enioyned the Archbishop of Lion to proceed against him and forasmuch as the said Prelate did not banish him according and as soon as he desired This Couneel was held at Latran 1180. See the 27. Chap. he speedily assembled a Councell where he excommunicated Waldo and all those that followed his doctrine though it were vnder other names But this meanes was thought to be too easic for so pressing an action as this of the Waldenses was who ceased not for all those thunderbolts to preach that the Pope was Antichrist the Masse an abomination the Hoste an idoll and Purgatory a fable Points that being receiued were sufficient to oucrthrow all the authority of the Pope to drie vp all the riuers of gaine and grease of the Clergy And therefore Innocent the third who succeeded Pope Celestine the third of that name about the yeer 1198 tooke another course then that of the ordinary Bishoppes to frame the proces against the Waldenses and others whom he called Heretickes He authorized certaine Monkes who had the full power of the Inquisition in their hands and framed the Proces deliuered to the secular power by a full and absolute authority and a far shorter way but much more cruell deliuering the people by thousands into the hands of the Magistrates the Magistrates to the executioners whereby in a few yeers all Christendome was much moned by those pittifull lamentable spectacles to see all those burnt or hanged that did trust only in one Lord Iesus Christ for their saluation and renounced the vaine hopes innented by men for their profit which was all the fruit of that aforesaid Inquisition which we shall speake of in the Chapter following CHAP. II. Of the Inquisition by whom it was first put in practise by what subtilties and cruelties the VValdenses haue been vexed by it IN the beginning of the prosecution of the Popes vtterly to exterminate the Waldenses they were content with the meanes aboue mentioned in the precedent Chapter but either because the busines went but slowly forward or because notwithstanding those meanes the number increased in such manner of those that beleeued that these meanes were foūd to be weake it was resolued by Pope Innocent the third to assay whether by the way of preaching hee could obtain that which by violence he could neuer doe He sent therefore certaine Bishops and Monkes who preached in those places of the Waldenses that were suspected to professe their religion but as he saith that writ the Treasure of Histories The Treas of Hist in the yeere 1206. the said Preachers conuerted not any but a few poore people but for the most part saith he they still persisted in the profession of their faith In Gallia Narbonensi there were imployed two Monks that is to say Pierre de Chateauneuf Lib Inquisit cap. de non occidendo fol. 100. Sic fuit occisus Sanctus Petrus de Ordine fratrum Pradicatorum and Dominique born at Calahorre in Spaine to whom they ioyned a certain Abbot of Cisteaux and in a throng as it were together there came many other Priests and Monkes amongst the rest a certain Bishop of Cestre The Monke Pierre
he iudged to be wanderers did not returne to the bosome of the Church of Rome by gentle meanes and force of reason they began to thinke that it stood them vpon to maintaine their beleefe by such conference otherwise they should giue occasion to the aduersaries to thinke that there was in their Religion some weaknesse if there were not any Pastor that would take vpon him the defence thereof It was therefore concluded amongst the Albingenses to giue the Bishops to vnderstand that their Pastors or any one of them for the rest were ready to maintaine their beleefe by the word of God prouided that the conference were well ordered and moderated that is to say that there may be moderators that are men of authoritie both on the one side and the other that may haue wherewithall to hinder all tumult and sedition Prouided also that it be in a place vnto which there may be free accesse and the place secured for all persons that may assist or be present at the said conference Moreouer that there bee some matter or subiect chosen by common consent not to bee giuen ouer before it be determined and that he that cannot defend it by the word of God is to bee reputed and held to be vanquished The Bishops and Monkes did all allow of the said conditions The place was Montreal neere Carcasonne This disputation was the most famous that hath bin betweene the Albingenses the Bishops and Priests the time in the yeere one thousand two hundred and six The Arbitrators agreed vpon by the one part and the other B. de Villeneufue and B. Auxerre for the Bishops and for the Albingenses R. de Bot and Antony Riuiere Arnold Hott was the Pastor for the Albingenses Chassagnon maketh mention in his first booke of the History of the Albingenses pag. 72. accompanied with those that were accounted fit for such an action He was the first that arriued at the place and day assigned Afterwards came the Bishop Eusus and the Monke Dominique a Spaniard with two of the Popes Legats that is to say Also Iaques de Riberia in his collect of the Citie of Toulouze Peter Chastel and Racul de Iust Abbot of Candets P. Bertrand Prior d' Auteriue as also the Prior de Palats and diuers other Priests and Monkes The Theses or tenerall questions proposed by Arnold This disputation was sent me from the Albingēses by Mr. Rafin Pastor of the Church of Realmont in old Manuscripts were these That the Masse with the Transubstantiation was the inuention of men not the ordinance of Christ nor his Apostles That the Romish Church is not the Spouse of Christ but the Church of tumult and molestation made drunken with the bloud of Martyrs That the policie of the Church of Rome is neither good nor holy nor established by Iesus Christ Arnold sent these Propositions to the Bishop who demanded a respit of fifteene dayes to answer which was granted him At the day appointed the Bishop failed not to appeare with a long and large writing Arnold Hott desired to bee heard by word of mouth saying That he would answer to all that was contained in the said writing intreating his auditorie that it might not be troublesome vnto them if he were long in answering to so long a discourse It was granted that he should bee heard with attention and patience and without interruption He discoursed at diuers houres for foure dayes together and with such admiration of those that were present and readinesse for his part that all the Bishops Abbots Monkes and Priests had reason to desire they had beene elsewhere For he framed his answer according to the points set downe in the said writing with such order and plainnesse that hee gaue all that were present to vnderstand that the Bishop hauing written much had neuerthelesse concluded nothing that might truly turne to the aduantage of the Church of Rome against his Propositions Afterwards Arnold made a request that forasmuch as the Bishops and himselfe in the beginning of their conference were bound to proue whatsoeuer they affirmed by the onely word of God it might bee imposed vpon the Bishops and Priests to make good their Masse such as they sing it part by part to haue beene instituted by the Sonne of God and sung in the like manner by his Apostles beginning at the entrance vnto the Ile Missa est as they terme it but the Bishops were not able to proue that the Masse or any part thereof was ordained in such an action either by Iesus Christ or his Apostles With this the Bishops were much discontented and ashamed For Arnold had brought them to the onely Canon which they pretended to be the best part of their Masse touching which point he proued That the holy Supper of our Lord was n ot the Masse For if the Masse were the holy Supper instituted by our Sauiour there would remaine after the Consecration all that which was in the Supper of the Lord that is to say Bread but in the Masse there is no bread for by Transubstantiation the bread is vanished away therefore the Masse saith he without bread is not the holy Supper of the Lord for there is bread Iesus Christ brake bread The Priest breakes the body not the bread St. Paul brake the bread The Priest breakes the body not the bread Therefore the Priest doth not that which Christ Iesus hath done and St. Paul Vpon these Antitheses which Arnold made touching the Supper of the Lord and the Masse to proue that it came not from Christ nor his Apostles the Monkes Bishops Legats and Priests retired themselues not being willing to heare any more and fearing lest they should worke such an impression in those that were present as might shake their beleefe touching the Masse The Monke of the Valley Seruay The Monke of the Valley Seruay in his Hist of the Albing chap. 5. endeuoureth to bring this action into suspition affirming that at what time the Hereticall Iudges exceeded in number seeing the badnesse of their cause and the wretchednesse of their disputation they would not saith hee giue any iudgement thereof nor deliuer their writings to their aduersaries for feare lest they should come to light and render to the Heretikes their owne But how should two Legats of the Pope the Bishops Abbots Monkes and Priests put themselues into any such place where they could bee thus ouercharged with number This Monke saith in the same place that the principall Arch-heretikes came to the Catholikes at the Castle of Montreal to dispute with them So that they held then the Castle and therefore there was no occasion of doubt or any such violence And furthermore how could it be that the Bishops should request the moderators to giue iudgement in a point of disputation when they hold that there needs no other sentence than the Popes who cannot erre Againe how did the Monke know that the Albingenses were ouercome if there
Termes in the same territorie of Narbonne a place that seemed impregnable by any force of man It was taken for want of water not by any capitulation but because hauing had a long time a great want of water it rained and they dranke of the water which fell into their Cisternes not sufficiently purified whereupon they fell into diuers diseases Seeing therefore themselues brought to such an estate that if they had beene driuen to fight they had had no power to make resistance they resolued one night to quit the place which they did not being descried by any The souldiers of the Bishop of Chartres made entrie as soone as they perceiued they were all departed and there set vp the ensigne of their Bishop Amongst other reasons which the Earle Simon vsed The Monke of the Valleis Sernay ch 51. and so forward to animate his Pilgrims this was the most pregnant that this place was the most execrable of all the rest because there had beene no Masse sung there since the yeare 1180. that is to say for the space of thirty yeeres The Castle Vetuille de la Vaur La Vaur much troubled the Earle Simon It was besieged with new troopes of Pilgrims which a little before came from France whilest the siege was at Termes Chass lib. 3. pa. 141. Ologarci in hist of Foix. pag. 129. that is to say the Bishop of Chartres of Beauuais the Earle of Dreux and the Earle of Pontieure This place was vpon the riuer of Agotte about fiue leagues from Carcassonne towards Toulouze whereof the sister of Aimeri Lord of Montreal whose name was Gerande was Lady The Legat had taken from the said Lord of Montreal all his places which was the cause why he put himselfe into the city de la Vaur to defend his Sister There were within this place many honest men There came Pilgrims from all parts to the Legat From Normandie the troopes being conducted by their Bishops especially by him of Lisieux and there came also vnto him six thousand Alemans The Earle of Foix being aduertised which way they came went and lay in ambuscado for them where he ouerthrew them all not any escaping but a certain Earle who at the first encounter ran away to carry newes to the Earle Simon who pursued the Earle of Foix with foureteene thousand men but in vaine for he had before retired himselfe to Mongiscard After six moneths siege the city de la Vaurâ— was taken by assault where all were put to the sword except fourescore gentlemen whom the Earle Simon caused to bee hanged and strangled and Aimeri was hanged vpon a gibber higher than all the rest and the Lady of Lauar was cast aliue into a ditch and therein couered with stones Chass lib. 3. pag. 150. One onely act of humanity wee reade was done by the troopes of the Earle Simon and that is that a gentleman vnderstanding that there were in a house diuers women and children sicke hee begged them of the Generall and they were granted vnto him who conducted them safe and sound out of the citie not being offered by any man the least indignitie that may be These were the principall places that the Legat tooke in the yeere one thousand two hundred and ten We must now returne to the Earle Remond of Toulouze who at his returne from Rome with letters of fauour from the Pope gaue the Legat Milon to vnderstand that he was reconciled vnto the Pope and had receiued from him his full absolution and that he bad bestowed vpon him some presents The Treatise of hist in the treat of the Albing In the meane time the matter is otherwise set downe in the Treasure of histories for there it is said That the Pope writ to the Bishop of Rhodois to Master Miles and Master Theodosius that if the Earle could purge himselfe sufficiently before them of the death of Frier Peter and the heresie for which he was suspected that they should giue him his purgation This clause gaue authority againe to the Legats to heare the said Earle touching the aforesaid businesse which was to bring him backe againe to the beginning of all his misery The Earle Simon pressed the Legat to proceed in the fact of the Earle Remond either to absolue or to condemne him to the end he might know whether he should hold him for a friend or for an enemie of the Pope and of the Church to be at peace with him or to make war against him The Legat Milon commanded him to appeare in his owne person because he would know once for all Chass lib. 3. pag. 129. how he and his subiects liued with them that is to say with the Earle Simon and the Church The Earle Remond answered that neither he nor his Subiects had any thing to doe with them that he had made his agreement and reconciliation with the Pope which the Legat could not be ignorant of to whom he had shewed the Bulles and therefore hee intreated them to forbeare any farther to disquiet him The Earle Simon and the Legat writ vnto him againe that it was very necessary that he should make repaire vnto him to fulfill the contents of the Bulles He answered that he had rather take the paines to goe to king Philip of France and to the Emperor yea to Rome to the Pope himselfe to complaine of the wronges they did vnto him than to put himselfe any more into their hands When the Legat saw that he could not winne him by Letters he resolued to play the fox and to winne him by subtleties They sent vnto him Folquet Bishop of Toulouze and instructed him how hee should cary himselfe to deceiue him This was a capable instrument for the premeditated treason He went therefore to the Earle Remond insinuated himselfe into his fauour with fained protestations of his desire to serue him and his great griefe to see so little loue betwixt the Legat and himselfe wishing that it were in his power to stand him in any steed therein though with the losse of his owne bloud and offering vnto him all loue and assistance That he had far greater reason to procure the preseruation of his good than any other person whatsoeuer That he would aduise him as a friend to take from the Legat all pretence of suspition That when he had once shewed himselfe confident of him they would no longer doubt of his fidelitie and that euen now a faire occasion was offered to binde the Legat and the Earle Simon vnto him and that was that whereas he knew they were shortly to come to Toulouze if he would offer vnto them his Castle Narbonnes to lodge in it would be an excellent testimony of that confidence hee had in them and binde them to loue him The Earle Remond being thus gulled by this Bishop offered them his castle They accepted thereof and presently placed therein a great garrison The word was no sooner slipt the Earles mouth but