downe all trees that bare fruit plucked vp the Vines by the roots at what time the President of Ageues came forth of Toulouze with a great number of the inhabitants thereof who seeing them to spoile their possessions ranne vpon the Pilgrims with violence scattered here and there through the fields and slew a great number of them On the other side the Earle of Foix conducting some troopes of horse and foot slew as many as hee met with The Earle of Bar held his troopes in better order and seeing the disorder especially of those that were flying away hee cryed out a Bar a Bar which the inhabitants of Toulouze vnderstanding charged them so brauely before any of them could gather themselues vnto him that he was discomfited with the rest The Earle Remond retired his troopes into Toulouze and commanded solemne thankes to bee giuen vnto God for so admirable a victorie ouer his enemies The fame of the Earle Remonds victories being spread abroad there came vnto him diuers succours from all the parts round about him for they were all weary of the troopes of the Pilgrims and willingly offered both their goods and their liues to driue them out of the Countrey Chass lib. 3. chap. 14. pag. 169. The Earle Simon being in some scarsitie of victuall because the wayes whereby they should be releeued were stopt was constrained to raise his siege And besides the Earle of Chalons the Earle of Bar The Monke of the Valley Sernay Chap. 79. and certaine other Germaine Earles retired themselues their quarantaines or fortie daies being expired but yet he would not bee altogether idle that Autumne Hee therefore marched into the Countries of the Earle of Foix to refresh the rest of his Armie and to possesse himselfe of some places Hee went as farre as the Towne of Foix made spoyle of all that was about it and then set fire to the Towne Being at Panies the Legat tooke the one halfe of the Armie to accompanie him to Roquemaure where hee went to passe the winter and in his way being in the Earledome of St. Felix of Caraman he tooke the Tower of Cassas and about one hundred men therein and caused them all to be burnt aliue and laid the place leuell with the ground In the meane time the Earle Simon ruinated the Countries of the Earle of Foix as long as the said Earle kept his bed being visited with a grieuous sicknesse during the which his seruants that were about him durst not tell him of his losses that is to say of Pamies Sauerdun Mirepoix and Prissant which had beene likewise battered a place very strong neere Carcassonne Being recouered of his sicknesse and vnderstanding what hauocke the Earle Simon had made of his houses and what ruine his poore subiects had endured he went to the Armie and desired to speake with the Generall and thus hee deliuered his minde vnto him The inconstancie of tottering fortune my masters and most renowned Lords is the cause why I am not astonished to see my selfe thus infinitely afflicted by this cruell Step-mother Hologoray in his Hist of Foix. pag. 133. I haue heretofore braued mine enemies fought in the field amongst those that would resist my power entertained the great and mightie Monarches as my friends None haue threatned me much lesse offended me neither could my sword euer beare it I haue beene imployed in publike negotiations which carry with them as their attendants infinite discommodities neither haue I gotten any dishonor thereby and I should haue held my labor ill imployed if they had not bin vpon worthy occasions neuer hauing desired to bee accounted an honest man by those vnworthy and vniust meanes that some men purpose vnto themselues For he that is not an honest man but because other men should know him to bee so and that hee might be the better esteemed after knowledge taken thereof he that will not doe good but vpon condition that his vertue may be knowne by other men he is not the person from whom any great seruice can be expected Wee must saith the Maxime goe to war out of dutie and attend the reward which is neuer wanting to all honorable actions be they neuer so secret yea euen our vertuous cogitations being the onely contentment which a conscience well ordered receiueth in it selfe for well doing Hauing therefore my masters and friends my courage still lodged in a firme and assured place against all the assaults of Fortune my conscience cleere in this that I neuer gaue you any occasion to rise vp against me I haue made no doubt to appeare before you in this assembly and to bring with me my head not my treasures to expose them to the mercy of the Souldier or my commodities to plant them as Barriers about my lands and territories which you haue begunne without reason to bring into a lamentable estate to be iudged by your Counsell and according thereunto to condescend to that which shall be determined For I had rather neuer to haue beene borne than to suruiue my reputation neither can I suffer that honor and glory which in my yonger yeeres I haue iustly wonne to be extinguished Haue you euer knowne me to be an enemie to the Realme of France If it be so let me lose both life and honour with shame and dishonour And who dares speake it to my face Haue I conspired against the Church What haue I done that any man should haue that conceit of me And doe you thinke that for the poore remainder of this fantasticall imaginary life which I haue to liue I will lose the essentiall life and purchase to my selfe to please any mans appetite an eternall death The wise men of the world haue proposed to themselues a more honourable and iust end to so important an enterprize There is no man of honour that chooseth not rather to lose his honour than his conscience It is that which I hold to bee the dearest Iewell within my Cabinet Keepe me I pray you in that range which the Kings of France haue giuen mee that is to bee thought faithfull as they haue heretofore censured me when they haue had occasion to deale in the affaires of my House to the end saith he that being offended I be not constrained to defend my selfe and to offend you which shall bee much against mine owne will and intention And this by oath I vow vnto you Roger the sonne of the Earle of Foix was much afflicted with the submission of his father as being an action too base for the greatnesse of their house The King of Aragon did likewise distaste it For notwithstanding he were allied to the Earle Simon yet hee did not feare to let him vnderstand that he could not approue of his vsurpations vnder the pretence of religion The Earle Simon on the other side Holag pag. 133. said with a loud voice That the conquests were iust and lawfull that he had his right from the Pope that there was
And which was more seeing that the King persisted in this opinion that such promises were to bee made to reobtaine their goods to the end they might neuer engage themselues for that they could not performe knowing that the King of Aragon the Earle of Toulouze and Comminge were assembled at Toulouze to prouide for their affaires he came thither and thus he spake vnto them Sir Holagaray in his hist of Foix and you my Masters Friends Forasmuch as ambition can teach men both valour and temperancy and auarice can plant in the heart of a Shop-boy brought vp in the shade and in idlenesse an assurance to depart from his houshold harth and to commit himselfe to the billowes of the Sea and the mercy of angry Neptune in a small and fraile vessell it shall be great weaknesse and litherly negligence in vs who by the renowned Acts of our Trophees are knowne euen to the Confines of Arabia if we shall now come by a seruile and treacherous acknowledgement to ouerthrow the Tables and Registers of our valours so highly eleuated No no mine arme shall neuer consent thereunto we are not now in bondage I and my sonne chuse rather to make triall of the inconstant hazzard of warre than to bring vpon vs and ours so great and so notable an infamy And therefore for the honour of God quit vs of that shame that men take no notice of our lamentable estate mourning sighing after our losses like Distaffe-bearers If we must needs bow let it be when we haue first done the parts of good and braue Captaines It is an aduenturous and high enterprise you will say but it was resolued vpon by your selues Que ie voy maintenant les ressors qui lui donnent le branle de sa cheute Fare ye well Sir We yeeld not our consent in any thing Come what come may The King of Aragon was much moued with this discourse of the Earle of Foix wherein hee layeth an imputation vpon him that hee was the cause of their ruine because he had animated them against the Legat and the Earle Simon and that now hee left them as a prey by procuring a peace worse than a bloudy warre You haue Sir saith hee opened a doore to our enemies to tyrannize ouer vs if they had accepted of it and to a glorie more great than they could hope to attaine by Armes for we had beene all their Subiects without any other charge than your owne instant request As for my selfe saith he I had rather haue giuen my selfe the stab than to haue drunke of that cup. And after many examples produced by him of those that haue changed a miserable life for a present death killing themselues before they would serue for Trophees to their enemies he continued his discourse as followeth For mine owne part I had rather follow these great Spirits than hauing so often giuen testimony of my valour for another preferre life before honour by being lazie and negligent in a businesse that concernes my selfe And though Fortune deny me all meanes to make opposition against that wrong that another shall offer mee yet my courage will neuer giue way that I should make my selfe the speech of the people or a triumph for men more vnworthy than my selfe This their deniall of what you demanded doth comfort me and it vpholds our honor for we must either haue broken our faith or played the Cowards like needy beggers and liued a life more cruell more intollerable than any torment of Phalaris like miserable men yeelding our neckes to the yoake of the enemie and confessing our selues beaten sell our owne libertie and our childrens after vs and that for euer Good God what a blow were this Sir For asmuch therefore as the tempest is growen so great and wee are driuen to so extreme a necessitie imbrace vs in your armes be our head seruing vs for an example a watch-tower a conduct So shall we engage our wills and our liues to shew our selues your most humble seruants in time of need and valorous Souldiers when occasion shall be offered And though I be now worne with yeares yet neuer had I greater courage or better resolution The Earle Remond on the other side intreated the King of Aragon not to abandon their cause offering vnto him both his goods and his life to fight vnder his authoritie The King of Aragon being ouercome with these intreaties and moued with compassion towards the afflicted in the end tooke armes and sent this ticket of defiance to the Earle Simon by two Trumpetters Indeuour without delay to execute the will of the Pope or to fight with your Lord and if you fall into my hands you shall pay for it It is your dutie and I will haue it so and I rather desire it than to put my selfe to the charge of a great Army for your ruine The Earle Simon made good vse of this Letter of defiance for hee sent it into diuers parts of Europe shewing by the Bishops and Monkes that preached the Croisade that the care was not now for the Earle of Toulouze Foix Comminge or the Prince of Bearne but for a puissant King who had made himselfe the Generall of the Albingenses and that if he were not assisted extraordinarily the cause of the Church was at an end and therefore he entreated all good Christians especially the King of France to giue his best assistance in these holy warres and extreme necessitie On the other side the King of Aragon writ to the King of France that the Earle Simon of Montfort had a spirit puffed vp with high conceits farre exceeding both the capacitie of his vnderstanding and his forces That al his intentions were no other than plaisterings vnder the pretence of Religion and in the meane time he intended nothing so much as to bee a King in deed and Simon by name He beseecheth the King by Letters and by his Agents that hee would not interpose himselfe in this warre neither on the one part nor the other Which he obtained of the King insomuch that it troubled him to see his Subiects continually drawne to the shambles of this warre of the Albingenses vnder a pretence of the Popes pardon and to see so many of his great Lords his Kinsmen so vexed by the Earle Simon When the Earle Simon vnderstood that the King of France was made a Neuter he was much afflicted therewith hauing now no other recourse but to the threats of the Legat to excommunicate him if he should proceed any farther The Legat sent him an Ambassage and Letters The King of Aragon returned this answer Goe speedily and tell your Master that I will come and see him and giue him an answer with ten thousand fighting men and will him to defend himselfe for I will teach him to play with his Peere Euery one makes preparation The Monke of the Valleis Sernay Chap. 89. The Earle Simon sent into France to the Archdeacon of Paris and Master
which cause let it be and dwell alwayes in vs that wee may addict our selues to holinesse and righteousnesse Lo teo regne vegne Thy Kingdome come YOu must vnderstand that God the Father hath two Kingdomes the one of glory life eternall the other of grace the life Christian And these two Kingdomes are ioyned together in such manner that betwixt them there is no middle but the point of death But according to the order of diuine Iustice the Kingdome of grace is before the Kingdome of glory And therefore they that liue in the Kingdome of grace by which we are to passe if wee will enter the Kingdome of glory without doubt they shall raigne in the Kingdome of glory and no man can reigne there by any other meanes And therefore Christ our Lord saith vnto his Disciples Seeke first the Kingdome of God and the righteousnesse thereof that is the Kingdome of grace and vertue as Faith Hope Charity and the rest But forasmuch as you cannot performe this of your selues without the heauenly grace beg it at Gods hands saying O our Father which art in Heauen thy King dome come that is to say the loue of vertue and the hatred of the World La toa volunta sia faita enaimi es faita en cel sia faita en terra Thy will be done in Earth as it is in Heauen A Man cannot affect desire or doe any better thing in this life then to endeuour with all his wit and vnderstanding and with all his heart to doe the will of God as the Angels doe it in Heauen Now to doe the will of God is to renounce himselfe that is to say his owne proper will and to dispose and employ that which is in his owne soule and heart or that is without him in things temporall according to the Law of God and the Doctrine of the Gospell of Christ Iesus And to be well content with whatsoeuer it shall please God to doe or permit both in aduersity and prosperity Many there are who thinke they are to be excused because they know not the will of God But these men deceiue themselues For the will of God is written and plainely manifested and proued by the word of God which they will not reade or vnderstand And therefore saith the Apostle Conforme not your selues vnto those that loue the World but be reformed and renewed in the truth of your vnderstanding to the end you may know what is the will of God And againe this is the will of God euen your sanctification There is no worke that is little if it be done with a willing and feruent affection And our Sauiour teacheth his Disciples both by words and examples that the will of God must be done not theirs saying I am come into the world not to doe my will but to doe the will of my Father who hath sent me Againe being neere his passion and seeing the torments of death which he was to endure as he was man he cryed out O my Father if it be possible let this Cup passe from me but yet not my will but thy will be done To be briefe we must thus pray in all our affaires O our Father which art in Heauen Thy will be done in vs by vs and of vs in Earth as it is done by the Angels in Heauen without idlenesse continually without fault vprightly without humane desire doing that which is good leading a vertuous and a pure life obeying our superiours and contemning this World Dona nos lo nostre pan quotidian enchoi Giue vs this day our daily bread WEe may heere vnderstand two kinds of bread Corporall and Spirituall By Corporall bread wee are to vnderstand our meates and drinkes and clothing and all things necessary for the body without which we cannot liue naturally The Spirituall Bread is the Word of God the Body of Christ without which the Soule cannot liue And of this Bread Christ spake vnto his Disciples Whosoeuer shall eate of this bread shall liue eternally And therefore it is the dutie of euery man in all humilitie to aske this Bread at Gods hands who can giue it him saying O our Father doe vs the grace and fauour that wee may obtaine by our iust labour the bread that is necessary for our bodies and to vse it with sobriety and measure yeelding thee alwayes thankes and praises and that wee may charitably bestow some part of them vpon the poore Moreouer we beseech thee that thou wilt bee pleased so to deale with vs that wee may vse this bread with sobriety to thy glory and the good both of body and soule For the Prophet Ezekiel saith Chap. 16.49 That fulnesse of bread and abundance of idlenesse was the cause of the iniquities and abominations of Sodom which were so great in the sight of God that he sent downe fire and brimstone to consume them Whereupon a certaine learned Father saith that costly apparrell superfluitie in diet play idlenesse and sleepe fatten the body nourish luxurie weaken the spirit and leade the soule vnto death but a spare diet labour short sleepe poore garments purifie the soule tame the body mortifie the lusts of the flesh and comfort the Spirit The spirituall Bread is the Word of God Of this Bread the Prophet speaketh Thy bread quickeneth mee And Christ saith in the Gospell Verily I say vnto you that the houre commeth when the dead shall heare the voyce of the Sonne of God and they that heare him shall liue And this is found true by this experience That is that many being dead in their sinnes hearing the Preaching of the Word of God haue departed quickned raised by the said Word of God betaken themselues to true repentance which giueth life This bread of the Word illuminateth the soule according to that of Dauid Psal 119.130 The entrance of thy word giueth light it giueth vnderstanding to the simple that is to say to the humble to the end they may know what to beleeue and to doe what to feare to flye to loue to hope This bread delighteth the soule more then honey and the honey-combe And therefore saith the Spouse Canticles 2.11 Let me heare thy voyce for sweete is thy voyce and thy countenance is comely There is another Spirituall Bread and that is the Body and Blood of our Lord and Sauiour Iesus Christ In the Sacrament they that receiue it worthily receiue not onely grace but Christ the Sonne of God spiritually in whom are hid all the treasures of wisedome Pardonna a nos li nostre debit o pecca coma nos per donnen a li nostre debitor o offendadors Forgiue vs our trespasses as we forgiue them that trespasse against vs. IT should not seeme or bee grieuous to any man to forgiue his neighbour those offences hee hath committed against him For if all the offences which haue beene or can bee committed against all the men in the world were put into a ballance they would not weigh so much
Prayers Fastings Almes-deeds and Masses Touching which Purgatory to satiate their auarice many haue inuented diuers vncertaine things which they haue taught and preached saying that such soules are tormented in the said Purgatory some to the necke some to the middle and they say that sometimes they sit and eate at table and make bankets especially at the Feast of all Soules when the people are offering liberally vpon their Sepulchres And they say that sometimes they gather the crummes vnder the rich mens tables By this meanes and diuers other the like dreames auarice and Simony is increased and multiplyed their Cloysters aduanced their sumptuous Temples are built and inlarged their Altars multiplyed beyond measure and infinite numbers of Monkes and Canons haue inuented diuers other things touching the deliuerance and vnbinding the said soules bringing thereby the Word of God into contempt Thus the people are strangely mocked and deceiued touching their soules as also in their substance inasmuch as they are made to put their trust in things vncertaine whilest in the meane time the faithfull hide themselues for when they refuse to preach and teach the said Purgatory as an Article of their faith they are cruelly condemned to death and Martired It is therefore fitting we should speake of this Purgatory and plainely giue the world to vnderstand what we thinke thereof First therefore we say that the soules of those that are to be saued must in the end bee purged from all their pollution according to the Ordinance of God as it appeareth in the 21. of the Reuelation There shall in no wise enter into heauen any thing that defileth neither whatsoeuer worketh abomination or maketh a lye Now we know that the Scriptures haue set downe many and diuers meanes to purge those that are in this present life of all their sinnes But Saint Peter telleth vs in the 15. of the Acts 9. that faith purifieth the heart and that faith is sufficient to purge away the euill without any outward helpe as appeareth by the thiefe at the right hand of Christ who beleeuing and confessing his sinnes was made worthy of Paradise The other manner of purging the Spouse of Christ by repentance is touched in Esay Chap. 1.16 Wash yee and make you cleane put away the euill of your doings from before mine eyes cease to doe euill And presently after Though your sinnes be as skarlet they shall be as white as snow though they be red like crimson they shall be as wooll In which words the Lord offereth himselfe to all that doe truely repent according to the manner aboue-mentioned and they that haue beene sinfull shall be made as white as snow There is likewise mention made of another kinde of purging of sinne in the third of Saint Matthew where it is said He hath his fanne in his hand and hee will thorowly purge his floore and gather his wheate into the garner The which words Chrysostome expounds of the floore of the Church and the fire of tribulation And not onely doth the Lord purge by tribulations but he likewise purifieth his Spouse heere in this life by himselfe as Saint Paul speaketh Ephes 5.25 Christ hath loued his Church and giuen himselfe for it That hee might sanctifie and cleanse it with the washing of water by the Word that hee might present it to himselfe a glorious Church not hauing spot or wrinckle or any such thing but that it should bee holy and without blemish Where the Apostle sheweth that Christ hath so loued his Church that hee would not cleanse it by any other washing but his owne Blood and that not so as that it should not bee sufficient but in such a maner as that there should not remaine therein any vncleannesse but that it should bee a glorious Church in such sort that there should bee therein neither spot nor wrinckle nor any such thing but that it should bee holy and vndefiled And this testimony of washing the Spouse of Christ in his Blood is not onely currant heere vpon earth but in heauen too by those that haue obtained the actuall washing of whom it is said in the Reuelation Chap. 7. These are they which came out of great tribulation and haue washed their robes and made them white in the Blood of the Lambe Therefore are they before the Throne of God and serue him day and night Thus you see how many purgings may be gathered out of the Scriptures to prooue that they that trauell in this life are heere purged of their sinnes In the third place we thinke it a great deale the surer way that euery man doe so liue in this present world that hee may haue no need afterwards of any purgation For it is a great deale better to doe good in this present life then afterwards to hope for an vncertaine helpe And it is a surer course that what good a man hopes shall be done vnto him by others after his death he doe it himselfe whilst he liueth being a more happy thing to depart a free-man then to seeke his liberty after he is bound Moreouer besides that which hath beene hitherto spoken we say that there is no place in Scripture to be found nor amongst the Doctours grounded vpon the Scriptures that doth make good vnto vs that the faithfull are any way bound by any necessity to beleeue or publikely to confesse as an Article of their faith that there is any such place as Purgatory after this life wherein after the ascension of Christ into Heauen the soules especially of those that shall be saued not hauing satisfied in this life for their sinnes endure sensible paines when they are departed of their bodies and thereby are purged of which soules some depart out of Purgatory sooner some later then others and some a little before others at the day of Iudgement And first as touching the Scriptures no man can prooue it by them For it is manifest that if a man shall reade the whole Law he shall neuer finde therein any one place of Scripture that bindeth a Christian necessarily to beleeue as an Article of his faith that there is after this life any place called Purgatory as some doe affirme And there is no place in the whole Volume of the Booke of God which doth so much as name it neither was there euer any soule found that hath entred the same Purgatory and came out againe There is no man bound therefore to beleeue it or to hold it to be an Article of our faith For confirmation heereof Saint Augustine in his Booke intituled A thousand words writes thus We beleeue according to the Catholike faith and diuine authority that the Kingdome of heauen is the first place wherein Baptisme is receiued The second is that wherein such as are excommunicates and strangers to the Faith of Christ endure euerlasting torments As for a third place we are altogether ignorant of any neither doe wee finde it in the Scriptures The same Saint Augustine in the same place
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
Masses We do abhorre all humane inuentions Art 11 as coming from Antechrist all which bring troubles with them and are preiudiciall to the libertie of the spirit Art 12 We beleeue that the Sacraments are outward signes of holy things or visible formes of inuisible grace and are of opinion that it is good that the faithfull do sometimes vse those signes and visible formes if it may be done But neuerthelesse we beleeue and do hold that the aforesaid faithfull may be saued not receiuing the said signes when they want place or power to vse them Art 13 We do not acknowledge any other Sacrament but Baptisme and the Eucharist We do honour the secular power Art 14 with all subiection obedience promptitude and payment CHAP. XIII Another Confession of the faith of the Waldenses WE beleeue that there is one onely God Art 1 Taken out of the booke of Charles du Moulin de la Mon. des François p. 65. who is a Spirit the Creator of all things the Father of all who is aboue all and in vs all who is to be adored in spirit and truth vpon whom onely we waite and to whom we giue all glorie for our life our nourishment clothing health sicknesse prosperitie aduersitie we loue him as the author of all goodnesse we feare him as knowing our hearts Art 2 We beleeue that Iesus Christ is the Sonne and image of his father that in him dwels the fulnesse of the diuinitie by whom we know the Father who is our mediatour and aduocate and there is no other name vnder heauen giuen vnto men by which we can be saued in whose name onely we call vpon the Father and vse no other prayers but those that are contained in the holy Scriptures or agreeing vnto them in substance We beleeue that the holy Ghost is our Comforter Art 3 proceeding from the Father and the Sonne by whose inspiration we make our prayers being renewed by him who doth all good works in vs and by him we haue knowledge of all truth We beleeue that there is one holy Church Art 4 which is the congregation of all the elect and faithfull which haue bene from the beginning of the world and shall be vnto the end whereof our Lord Iesus Christ is the head the which Church is gouerned by his word and guided by the holy Ghost in which all good Christians ought to remaine for it prayeth without ceassing for all and the word thereof is agreeable vnto God without which no man can be saued Art 5 We hold that the Ministers of the Church ought to be irreprehensible both in life and doctrine otherwise they are to be deposed from their office and other to be substituted in their place And that no man ought to presume to vndertake this honourable calling but onely he which is called of God as Aaron nourishing the flocke of Christ not for dishonest gaine or as hauing any superioritie ouer the Clergie but as being an example to the slocke in word in conuersation in charitie in faith and in chastitie We confesse that Kings Art 6 Princes and Gouernours are ordained and established Ministers of God to whom we are to obey For they carrie the sword for the defence of innocents and the punishment of malefactors and for this cause are we bound to do them honour and to pay tribute From which power and authoritie no man can exempt himselfe as may appeare be the example of our Lord Iesus Christ who refused not to pay tribute not challenging any iutisdiction of temporall power We beleeue Art 7 that in the Sacrament of Baptisme the water is the visible and externall signe which representeth vnto vs that which by the power and vertue of God inuisible so working is within vs that is to say renouation of the spirit and mortification of our members in Iesus Christ by which we are also receiued into the holy congregation of the people of God protesting and declaring before it our faith and change of life Art 8 We hold the holy Sacrament of the table or Supper of our Lord Iesus Christ to be a holy remembrance and thanksgiuing for the benefits which we haue receiued by his death and passion which is to be receiued in faith and charitie examining our selues that so we may eate of that bread and drinke of that cup as it is written in the holy Scripture We confesse that mariage is good and honourable Art 9 holy and instituted of God which ought to be forbidden to none if there be no impediment by the word of God We confesse that they that feare God Art 10 seeke the things that please him doing good workes the which he hath prepared to the end we should walke in them which are charitie ioy peace patience benignitie goodnesse mildnesse sobrictie and other workes contained in the holy Scriptures On the contrary Art 11 we confesse that we are to take heed of false teachers whose end is to call the people from the true worship of God and to rest themselues vpon creatures putting their confidence in them as also to perswade the people to leaue those good duties that are contained in the holy Scriptures and to do those that are inuented by men Art 12 We hold the old and new Testament for the rule of our faith we agree to the generall Confession of faith with those articles contained in the Symbole of the Apostles which doth thus begin I beleeue in God the Father Almightie c. And for as much as the Pastors of the Waldenses taught their people the Athanasian Creed in the Waldensian language we haue taken it out of their bookes word by word as they pronounced it in old time CHAP. XIIII The Symbole of Athanasius in the Waldensian language QValquequal vol esser faict salf deuant totas câ—sas es de necessitatenir la fe Catholica laqual si alcun non tenré entierament sensa dubi periré eternalment Ma aquesta es la fe Catholica Qunos houran vn Dio en Trinita la Trinita en vnita non confondent personnas ni departent la substantia Car antra es la personna del Paire del Filli del Sanct Esperit La Paire non crea lo filli non crea lo Sanct Esperit non crea Lâ— Paire non mesuriuol lo Filli non mesuriuol lo Sanct Esperit non mesuriuol Lo Paire Eternal lo Filli Eternal lo Sanct Esperit Eternal Emperço non tres Eternals ma vn Eternal enaimi non tres mesuriuols non crea Semeillament lo Paire tot Poissant lo Filli tot poissant lo Sanct Esperit tot Poissant emperço non tres tot Poissants ma vn tot Poissant Enaimi lo Paire es Dio lo Filli Dio lo Sanct Esperit Dio emperço non tres Dios ma vn Dio. Enaimi lo Paire es Seignor lo Filli Seignor lo Sanct Esperit Seignor emperço non tres Seignors ma vn Seignor Ca enaimi nos sen costreit confessar per Christiana verita
that it is not only not possible to defray the charge of their nourishment but to prouide lyme and stone to build prisons for them we therefore counsell you say they that you defer a little such imprisonments vntill the Pope may bee aduertised of the great numbers that haue been apprehended and that he doe aduise what pleaseth him to bee done if not there is no reason you should take offence for those that are impenitent and incorigible Vous tuissies or that you should doubt of their relaps or that they should escape away or hauing their liberty should infect others because you may condemne such persons without delay There needs no other proofe then this of the aforesaid Prelats to make it appeare that the number of those whom the Inquisition had deliuered vnto death was very great For touching the question moued by the said Inquisitors whether they that haue frequented the company of the Waldenses and haue receiued the Supper of the Lord with them are to be excused because they say they offended out of ignorance not knowing that they were Waldenses The the answer of the said Prelats was that they were not to be excused Because say they who is so great a stranger as not to know that the Waldenses haue been punished and condemned for these many yeers since and who knoweth not that for a long time they haue been pursued and persecuted at the charge and trauell of Catholikes this pursuit being sealed by so many persons condemned to death if it cannot be called into doubt And yet neuertheles the speech of the said Prelats being conferred with that which George Morell in the yeer a thousand fiue hundred and thirty hath written it would be none of the least wonders that God hath wrought that notwithstanding the bloody persecutions after Waldo his time in the yeere a thousand one hundred sixty George Morel in his memorials pa. 54. there were according to the report of Morel aboue eight hundred thousand persons that made profession of the faith of the said Waldenses As touching the subtleties of the said Inquisitors we should not haue had any knowledge thereof but from such as haue escaped from the Inquisition of Spaine but that it was the will of God that their cunning trickes should not bee so closely hid but that wee had examples thereof euen from themselues Behold then the crafty subtleties of the Inquisitors which serued them for a rule in the framing of their proces against the Waldenses It is not expedient to dispute of matter of faith before lay-people No man shall be held for a penitent man if he accuse not those that he knowes to be such as himselfe He that accuseth not those that are like vnto himself shall be cut off from the Church as a rotten member for feare lest the members that are sound should be corrupted by him After that any one hath been deliuered to the secular power great care must bee taken that hee bee not suffered to excuse himselfe or to manifest his innocencie before the people because if be he deliuered to death it is a scandall to the lay-people and if hee make an escape there is danger of his loyalty Good heed must bee taken not to promise life vnto him that is condemned to death before the people considering that an Heretike will neuer suffer himselfe to bee burnt if hee may escape by such promises And if he shall promise to repent before the people if he haue not his life granted vnto him there will arise ascandall amongst them and it will be thought that he is wrongfully put to death Note say they that the Inquisitor ought alwaies to presuppose the fact without any condition and is onely to enquire of the circumstances of the fact as thus how often hast thou confessed thy selfe vnto Heretickes In what chamber of the house haue they layen and the like things The Inquisitor may looke into any booke as if he found there written the life of him that is accused and of all that he enquires of It is necessary to threaten death to the accused if he confesse not and to tell him the fact is too manifest that it is fit he should thinke of his soule and renounce his Heresie for he must die and therefore it shall bee good for him to take patiently whatsoeuer shall light vpon him And if he shall answer since I must die I had rather die in that faith I professe then in that of the Romish Church then conclude for certaine that before he made but a shew of repentance and so let him suffer iustice Wee must not thinke to vanquish Heretickes by learning or by the scriptures inasmuch as men that are learned are rather confounded by them whereby it comes to passe that the Heretickes fortifie themselues seeing they are able to delude the most learned Againe great heed must bee taken that the Heretikes neuer answer directy and when they are pressed by frequent interrogations they haue a custome to alledge for themselues that they are simple and foolish people and therefore know not how to answere And if they shall once see the assistants to bee moued with compassion towares them as if they should doe them wrong thinking them to be simple people and therefore not culpable then they gather heart and make a show of shedding teares like poore miserable creatures and flattering their iudges they endeauour to free themselues from the Inquisition saying Sir If I haue been faulty in any thing I will willingly doe penance but yet giue me your aide and assistance to deliuer me from this infamy into which I am fallen by the malice of others not mine owne fault But then the couragious Inquisitor must not yeeld for all these flatteries nor giue any beliefe to those dissimulations Moreouer the Inquisitor must tell them that they shall gaine nothing by swearing falsly because they haue enough to conuince them by witnesses and therefore they must not thinke that by meanes of their oath they shall auoide the sentence of death but they must promise them say they that if they will freely confesse their error they shall haue mercy for in such perplexities there are many that confesse their error in hope to escape Thus you see the subtilties of the Monkes the Inquisirors such as they practised in times past against the Waldenses throughout all Europe It remaines that we now see what their practise hath been in euery particular Realme and Prouince so far forth as is come to our knowledge And first we will begin with Dauphine because it is the Prouince into which Waldo and his followers retired themselues at their departure from Lion CHAP. III. Of the Waldensian Churches in Dauphine and the persecutions which they haue suffered which are come to our knowledge THe Waldensian Churches in Dauphine haue been for these many hundred yeeres spread abroad throughout diuers parts of the Prouince For they haue had Churches in Valentia
as from his friend that if he did not acknowledge his fault he would be in great danger of his life Copin answered him that his life was in the hands of God and he would neuer desire to preserue it to the preiudice of his glory and forasmuch as he had but two or three paces to walke in his iourney to heauen his hearty prayer vnto God was that he would be pleased to giue him the grace not to turne back Some few daies after he was examined by a Monke Inquisitor in the presence of the Bishop who tormented him a long time with sweet and gentle perswasions endeauouring to winne him by faire words to the abiuration of his beliefe but Copin alwaies conuinced him by the word of God alleadging vnto him that if he should be ashamed of Christ Iesus or deny him before men Christ would be ashamed of him and deny him before his Father in heauen The Monke ended his disputation with these and the like threatning speeches Goe thou waies thou cursed Lutheran to all the diuels in hell and when thou shalt be tormented by those vncleane spirits thou wilt remember those good and holy counsels which we haue giuen thee to bring thee to saluation but thou haddest rather go to hell then to reconcile thy self to our holy mother the Church It is long agoe saith Copin that I was reconciled to our mother the Church After many violent incounters they caused his wife and a sonne of his to come vnto him promising him liberty and to depart with them if hee would amend his fault by confessing it They suffered his said wife and sonne to sup with him in prison which time he spent in exhorting them to patience the wife for that shee should want a husband the childe a father but yet should assure themselues that God would be their father and more then a husband and for his owne part he was not bound to loue either wife or children more then Christ that they should hold it to be no small happinesse that it hath pleased God to do him that honour as to be a witnesse vnto his truth with the losse of his life and that he hoped that God would be so fauourable vnto him as to giue him strength to endure all manner of torments for his glory He committed to the care and charge of his wife his sonne and his daughter which they had in marriage enioyning her to bring them vp in the feare of God He commanded his sonne to obey his mother for so he should drawe downe vpon him the blessing of God he prayed them to pray for him that God would be pleased to strengthen him against all temptations and so hauing blessed his sonne and taken leaue of his wife they were dismissed out of prison and he locked vp where he was before His wife and child shedding fountaines of teares and crying out in such a lamentable manner as would haue moued the hardest hearts to compassion This good man not being content with what he had said vnto them by word of mouth writ vnto her this Lettre following the originall Copy whereof shee deliuered vnto vs written and signed with the hand of the said Copin the superscription whereof was this To my louing Companion Susan Copin At the Tower of Lucerna MOst deare Companion I haue receiued much comfort by your comming into this place and so much the more by how much the lesse I expected it And I thinke it was some comfort to your selfe that you had the meanes to sup with me as it came to passe but yesterday being the fifteenth of September in the yeere 1601 being Saterday I know not the cause why this was permitted but all things are in the hand of God and whatsoeuer were the cause I doe not thinke we shall euer eate together againe And therefore pray vnto God to be your comforter and put your trust in him who hath promised neuer to forsake those that trust in him You are wise and therefore gouerne our house in such sort that you keepe our children Samuell and Martha in obedience whom I command by that authority that God hath giuen me to be faithfull and obedient vnto you for then God will blesse them For the rest be not grieued concerning my selfe for if God haue appointed that I am come to the end of my daies and that it pleaseth the Almighty God that I shall render vp my soule which hee hath long time lent me my trust in him is that out of his abundant mercy hee will receiue it into heauen for the loue of his Sonne Christ Iusus by whom I belieue that our sinnes are blotted cut euen by his precious death and passion And I begge at his mercifull hands that he will accompany mee vnto the end by the powerfull assistance of his holy Spirit Bee alwaies carefull to pray vnto God and to serue him for so God will blesse and serue you Take no care to send me any thing for these three weekes and then you may send me if you please some money to pay the Iaylor and some thing else to succour me if I liue till then Remember also that which I haue often told you that is that God prolonged the life of King Ezechias for fifteene yeeres but that he had prolonged mine a great deale more for it is a long time agoe that you haue seen me in a manner dead and neuerthelesse I am yet aliue and I hope and hold for certaine that hee will still preserue mee aliue vntill my death shall be better for his glory and mine owne felicity through his grace and mercy towards me From the Prison at Ast Sept. 16. 1601. The Bishop of Ast was much troubled what to determine concerning this poore man For if he should let him goe they feared a scandall and that many would gather heart and courage to speake with a loud voice against the Romish Religion On the other side there was a clause in the treaty made betweene his Highnesse and the Waldenses which cleared him from all offence in these words And if any question shall bee mooued vnto them touching their faith being in Piedmont with other his Highnesses Subiects it shall be lawfull for them to answere not incurring thereby any punishment reall or personall Now he was asked the question and therefore to be quit from blame But the Bishop would not haue it said that hee had committed him to prison vniustly To the end therefore that his death might not bee imputed vnto him and it might not be thought that he sent him away absolued he sent his indictment to Pope Clement the eight to vnderstand what course hee should take herein It could neuer be knowne what answere the Bishop had but shortly after hee was found dead in prison not without some appearance that he was strangled for feare least if he should haue been publikely executed he might edifie and strengthen the people by his confession and constancy After his
was before Amongst others the Gouernour of the New-lands in the end of Nouember following proclaimed with the sound of a trumpet that whosoeuer would not within the space of a Moneth goe to Masse were to auoide the Lands and Territories of his Highnesse within that time vpon paine of confiscation of body and goods These poore people of the New lands they could conuey themselues to no place without danger of their liues For in Prouence they burnt those whom the Parliament of Aix called Lutherans In the Territories of Honorat Earle of Tendes they were deliuered into the hands of the Executioners Gonsague Duke of Neuers commanding for the King of France in the Marquisate of Saluces put them to death In Dauphine as many as the Archbishop of Ambrun could apprehend so many he caused either to rot in the dungeons or to perish in the Tower Brun with cold and famine and out of Piedmont they were banished There remained no other succour but in the dead time of winter to make their passage by night ouer a high mountaine almost inaccessible couered with ice and snow into the Valley of Frassiniere if possibly they could They therefore betooke themselues vnto the mountaine about the feast of the Natiuity of our Lord in the coldest time of all the yeere But before they could come to the height thereof the greatest part of the women and children were benummed with cold and the night ouertaking them being in the top of the hill they were inforced to lie vpon the ice where a great part of them in the morning were found dead They that escaped the danger retired themselues into the Valley of Frassiniere Now after that the houses of these poore people had remained for a time void of Inhabitants there was no man that would seise or take possion of their Lands much lesse till and husband them and therefore their Gouernours permitted the said Waldenses to continue there and to tolerate them making profession of their beliefe onely they were to depart out of the confines of the State of the Prince for the exercise of their Religion They haue re-peopled the said Valley Thus you haue heard as much as is come to our knowledge touching their sufferings howsoeuer they haue been persecuted from time to time from the father to the sonne as the rest of the Waldenses in Dauphine and Piedmont but their indictments are not come to our hands CHAP. VII Of the Waldenses dwelling in Calabria and the persecutions which they haue suffered ABout the yeere of our Lord 1370 the Waldenses of the Valleys of Pragela and Dauphine grew to so great a number in so small a Country that they were enforced to send away a certaine number of their yonger people to seeke some other Country to inhabite in In their trauaile they found in Calabria certaine waste and vntilled land and ill peopled but yet very fertile as they might well iudge by those parts neere adioyning They therefore finding the Country fit to bring forth corne wine oyle of Oliues and chestnuts and that there were hilles fit for the breeding and nourishing of cattle and to furnish them with fuell and timber fit for building they came vnto the Lords of those places to treate with them touching their abode in those Countries The said Lords receiued them louingly agreed to their lawes and orders to the gteat aduantage of these new Inhabitants came to an agreement with them touching their Rentes Tenthes Toles penalties in case there fall out any differences or offences amongst them and so hauing assigned vnto them certaine quarters or parts of the Country they returned for the most part of them to aduertise their parents of the good aduenture that had happened vnto them in a rich country likely to abound in all temporall benedictions They brought backe with them from their parents and friends whatsoeuer it pleased them to bestow vpon them to begin their house-keeping many of them married and brought their wiues into Calabria where they built certaine small Townes and Citties to which their owne houses were as walles as namely Saint Xist la Garde la Vicaricio les Rousses Argentine Saint Vincens and Montolieu The Lords of the said Countries thought themselues happy in that they had met with so good Subiects as had peopled their Lands and made them to abound with all manner of fruits but principally because they found them to be honest men and of a good conscience yeelding vnto them all those duties and honours that they could expect from the best Subiects in the world Onely their Parsons and Priests complained that they liued not touching matter of religion as other people did they made none of their children Priests nor Nunnes they loued no chaunting tapers lampes belles no nor Masses for their dead They had built certaine Temples not adorning them with images they went not on pilgrimage they caused their children to be instructed by certaine strange and vnknown School-masters to whō they yeeld a great deale more honour then to them paying nothing vnto them but their tithes according to the agreement with their Lords They doubted that the said people made profession of some particular beliefe which hindred them from mingling themselues ioyning in alliance with the naturall home-borne people of the Land and that they had no good opinion of the Church of Rome The Lords of those places began to feare that if the Pope should take notice that so neere his Seate there were a kinde of people that contemned the lawes of Romish Church they might chance to lose them detained their Priests from complaining of these people who in euery thing else shewed themselues to be honest men such as had enriched the whole Country yea and the Priests themselues for the onely tithes which they receiued of that great abundance of fruites which arise from those lands out of which in former times they receiued no profit at all were such as might very well giue them reason to beare with other matters That they were come to inhabit in those places from far Countries where perhaps the people were not so much giuen to the ceremonies of the Church of Rome but yet since in the principall they were faithfull and honest charitable towards the poore and such as feared God they were very willing they might not be molested by any more particular enquiry into their consciences These reasons wrought much with those that bare them ill will For the Lords of those places stopped the mouthes of their murmuring neighbours who could by no meanes draw them into any alliance with them and who saw their goods their cattell and all that they possessed blest after a more particular manner then other mens that they were a temperate people wise not lewd or dissolute not giuen to dancing or haunters of Tauernes and out of whose mouthes there did neuer proceed any blasphemy and to be briefe liuing in a Country where the Inhabitants were giuen to all manner of
The Monke of the Valley Sernay Chap. 33. in such sort that the said Earle being one day gone from Carcassonne to Montpelier he found at his returne that diuers had taken Armes to shake off their yoake hauing besieged certaine of his Souldiers in a Tower neere to Carcassonne He speedily made his returne to succour them but too late for not being able to passe a Riuer called Sarasse and being gone to Carcassonne to passe by the bridge the Tower was taken before hee came This small affront brought him into some contempt and gaue heart to others to offer the like About this time Captaine Boucard for the said Earle Simon at the Castle of Seissac attempted the surprise of the strong Castle of Cabaret whereof mention hath beene made heretofore for this end and purpose he made his approach vnto the said Castle as closely as he could Captaine Roger who was within the said Castle for the Earle Remond was come forth with fourescore horse to forrage and seeke for bootie Boucard vpon the sudden and vnlooked for charged him and had well-neere discomfited him but Roger hauing taken knowledge of the enemy doubled the charge vpon him in so furious a manner that he ouercame the troops of Boucard and brought him Prisoner to that Castle which he said he came to surprise At this very time Gerard of Pepios tooke part with the Albingenses and seized vpon Puisorignier and the Castle of Menerbe Now the warre began to grow very cruell for if it be true that the Monke of the Vallies Sernay hath written Gerard caused the eyes of all the Souldiers of the Earle Simon which he could take to be pluckt out and cut off their eares and their noses with their vpper lip sent them all naked to the Earle Simon of Montfort leauing one for a guide vnto the other with one eye On the other part whensoeuer the Earle Simon was victorer in any place he caused a great fire to bee made and cast into it as many of the Albingenses as he could take All they of the Romish Church did as much that bare Armes for the Albingenses for William of Rochford Bishop of Carcassonne caused the Abbot of Cisteaux to be slaine meeting him neere vnto Carcassonne his body being found murdered with six and thirtie wounds and the Monke which accompanied him with foure and twentie Then the Citie of Carcassonne saith the Monke and the Souldiers that were in it were stricken with such feare That they had little hope to defend themselues but by flight for they saw themselues saith he enuironed on all sides with infinite enemies From these miseries which did much moue the patience of the Earle Simon hee tooke occasion to write to all the Prelats throughout Europe that if in the Spring following he were not assisted with new succours of Pilgrims it was impossible for him to hold out for his enemies finding his weaknesse tooke the aduantage thereof witnesse that after the last departure of the Pilgrims he had lost aboue forty townes Castles of which the people had before brought him the keyes and were now all reuolted from him and the Church being beyond his power to remedy it for want of men Hee therefore intreated them in the name of God to giue their helping hand otherwise he must be enforced to yeeld vp the rights of the Church and the Countrey altogether Now matters thus standing the Earle Simon attending new succours tooke the Castle of Beron neare Montreal where he caused the eies of aboue a hundred Albingenses to bee pulled out and cut off their noses leauing onely one with one eye to bee a guide to the rest and to conduct them to Cabaret This stirred vp the Albingenses in such sort Chass pag. 136. that had not succours instantly come they had shut him vp on euery side CHAP. VII New succours of Pilgrimes come to the Earle Simon conducted from France by his Wife The Earle Simon by them recouereth the Castles of Menerbe and Termes and the Towne De la Vaur The Earle Remond is cited before the Legat He refuseth to appeare Folquet the Bishop of Toulouze ouer-reacheth him causeth him to lose the Castle Narbonnes The Legat Milon dieth IN the yeare one thousand two hundred and ten the Earle Simon being shut vp saith the Treasure of Histories within Carcassonne for want of Pilgrims he vnderstood that the Countesse his Wife came from France and brought with her a great number of Pelerins which gaue him great comfort and he went out to meet her A pleasant warre it was wherein Priests leuied the Souldiers and a woman conducted them to the warres The Pelerins were imployed in the recourerie of the Castle of Menerbe a place very strong by nature vpon the Frontiers of Spaine This siege was procured by the intreatie of Ameri Lord of Narbonne and the Inhabitants thereof who complained that alwaies in former times this place had beene as a thorne in their feet They yeelded themselues for want of water to the discretion of the Legat who caused the Pilgrims to enter the place with the Crosse and the Banner and singing Te Deum laudamus The Abbot of Vaux would needs preach to those that were within the Castle and to exhort them to acknowledge the Pope and to sticke to the Romish Church but they not staying till he had ended his Discourse they all of them cryed out The Monk of the Vallies of Sernay chap. 47. Chass lib. 3. chap. 7. saying We will not forsake our faith we reiect the Romish you labour but in vaine for neither life nor death shall make vs to abandon our beleefe Vpon this answer the Earle Simon and the Legat commanded a great fire to bee made and cast into it a hundred and fortie persons as well women as men who went into it with ioy giuing thankes vnto God for that it pleased him to doe them the honour to suffer and to dye for his names sake Thus did these true Martirs of Christ Iesus finish their fraile liues in the midst of the flames to liue eternally in heauen And thus did they triumph ouer the Legat of the Pope resisting him to his face and threatning the iust iudgement of God vpon the Earle Simon and that one day hee would pay dearely for his cruelties howsoeuer he seemed now to commit them scotfree yet he would pay for all when the bookes should be opened There were a number of Priests and Monkes that did exhort them to take pitty on themselues promising them their liues if they would liue according to the beleefe of the Church of Rome There were only three women that accepted of the condition that is to say to liue by abiuring their religion all the rest died constantly but they were vanquished by the allurements of the mother of Richard de Marsiac After this expedition Termes The Lord of Tholo in the hist of his times pa. 459. the Earle Simon besieged the Castle of
this voyage The whole Countrie was enemie to the Earle Simon which was the cause of the famine in his Armie but on the contrary there was within Toulouze all plenty and aboundance Tpon St. Iohn the Baptists Eue betimes in the morning the troopes of the Earle Remond went forth of Toulouze crying out Auignon Beaucaire Muret and Toulouze killing as many as they encountred A Souldier ranne to the Earle Simon and told him that the enemie was come forth to whom he answered that he would first see his Redeemer and then see his enemie Diuers others came vnto him crying out Wee are vndone if no man will come out and command the Armie which did flie before the Toulouzains He againe answered that he would not stirre a foot from the Masse though he were there to die before hee had seene his Maker insomuch that had not the Priest that sung the Masse clipt and curtolled it a little for feare lest his eares should haue beene clipt he had beene taken or slaine before the Altar Heare what Noguiers saith Noguiers in his Hestory of Toulouze lib. 3. chap. 10. At this so violent a shocke the Earle Simon being mounted his horse his horse was wounded in the middle of his head with an Arrow which the horse feeling got presently the bit betweene his teeth in such sort that Montfort could neuer stay him but hee carryed him here and there in dispite of himselfe which a Souldier of the Citie seeing assuring himselfe of him shot him with his Crosse-bow through the thigh with which wound Montfort lost great store of bloud and finding himselfe much payned therewith entreated the Earle Guy his brother to leade him forth of the presse to stench his bloud In the time whilest hee was talking with his brother a stone out of a sling or engine whereout stones or arrowes were darted which a woman thinking nothing let flie hit Montfort yet talking with his brother and parted his head from his shoulders so that his body fell dead to the ground It was saith he a wonderfull thing and thereby may his successors consider that they maintained an vniust quarrell not to punish those that were wandred from the faith for that had beene a thing very commendable and commodious but to oppresse his owne vassals heaping on them miseries vpon miseries to rauish women and their daughters to the end they might vtterly ruine and confound them all especially doing the duty of vassals and to retaine the goods of another who though hee were an Heretike as Montfort supposed yet neuerthelesse in the twinckling of an eye he might be better aduised and amend his life But as I thinke saith hee a couetous desire to raigne blinded him which wee may easily indge by the bad vsage oppressions and extortions which he executed against the innocent people of Toulouze who honored him cherished and wished him prosperitie as to their Lord. This skirmish and discomfiture was in Iune the day after the feast of St. Iohn the Baptist in the yeere 1218. Thus you see how Noguiers the Historiographer of thosee times hath spoken of this man as of one that was caried with passion and vnsatiable couetousnesse But that which was worthy the obseruation is that he was not ouerthrowne but at that very inftant when by three diuers Councels he had beene proclaimed the Monarch of his conquests the Captaine of the Armies of the Church the sonne the seruant the fauorite thereof the defender of the faith Adored of the people feared of the great the terror of Kings Thus you see Iudges 9. that as that ambitions Paracide Abimelech was slaine with a peece of a Mill-stone which a woman cast from a Tower which brake his skull so this destroyer of the people ruiner of Cities deuourer of the states of other men was slaine with a stone from a sling flung by a woman Chassilib 4 c. 11. as some Historiographers haue obserued On the the other side the Monke cryes out in this manner The Monke of the Valleis Sernay Chap. 165. who is hee that can write or heare saith hee that which followeth that can recite it without griefe that can lend his eares without sighs and gronings who I say will not dissolue and consume away to nothing seeing the life of the poore to be taken away he who being laid in the dust all things are trampled vnder foot and by the death of whom all is dead Was he not the comfort of the sorrowfull the strength of the weake a refreshing to the afflicted a refuge to the miserable He had some reason to speake thus for he being dead all his Armie was dissolued and scattered abroad The Legat Bonauenture had onely leasure to tell Aimeri of Montfort that hee was named by him and the Bishops that were present Successor of the conquests and charges of his father the Earle Simon and instantly they betooke them to their heeles flying with all the Bishops of the Crosse to Carcassonne not staying in any place so great was their astonishment fearing to bee pursued The Pilgrims disbanded themselues saying they were no longer bound to any fight their fortie daies being almost expired In the time of this confusion the Earle Remond sallied out of Toulouze and gaue so furious a charge vpon the Enemie that he made them to forsake their trenches and slew a great number of Pilgrims who were without conduct and without courage insomuch that they killed and cut in pieces all that were in the Campe of Montelieu and did a great deale of hurt and hinderance to those that were incamped at St. Sobra There remained the Castle Narbonnes which as yet held for the Legat. Aimeri of Montfort as speedily as he could gather as many of his troopes together as he was able in this so great a rupture and confusion and making haste to the Castle got out the Garrison by a false doore and so fled after the Legat carrying the body of his father with great speed to Carcassonne And it was well for him that the Earle Remond pursued him not for the feare thereof was sufficient to kill the Pilgrims that accompanied him But the Earle Remond retired himselfe with his troopes to prouide for the preseruation of the Citie and the Castle Narbonne vnto which the enemie had set fire when they left it Moreouer he caused the Bell to bee tolled Chassilib 4. c. 11. pag. 222. to gather the people together to giue thankes vnto God in their Temple for the happy and miraculous victorie which they had obtained for that this audacious Cyclops was ouerthrowne that had exposed them many times to pillage razed their walls beaten downe their rampiers destroyed their Towers violated their wiues and daughters killed their Citizens cut downe their trees spoyled their land and brought their whole Countrey to extreme desolation CHAP. III. The Earle Remond recouereth all that the Earle Simon had taken from him in Agenois The Earle of Foix takes Mirepoix from
vtterly destroyed The Pope delegated one named Contat who went thither Now albeit Almeric were very valiant yet he had not gotten that authoritie which his Father had who had made himselfe at the charges of the Albingenses a great Captaine loued of the Souldier of an admirable valour patient in affliction inuincible in his trauels diligent in his enterprises fore-seeing and prouiding for the necessities of an Armie affable but of an vnreconcileable enmitie against his enemies because he hated them onely to haue their goods and that he could not haue but after their death which he procured and hastned as much as he could and that vnder the mantell of a plausible pretence of religion His sonne was a true inheritor of the hatred of his father but slow and sluggish louing his ease and no way fit for an action of great importance Besides he was depriued of the Monke Dominique of whom his Father had made very profitable vse for lodging him in the conquered Cities he gaue him in charge to finish that destruction by his inquisition which he could not doe by warres He died in the yeare 1220. the sixt of August so rich that notwithstanding he were the author of an order mendicant that is to say of Iacobin Monkes or Iacobins yet he made it knowne before his death that a scrip well ordered was better than a rent ill assigned for hee left many houses and much goods shewing thereby that he vsed his scrip but for a shew and outward appearance of pouertie but in effect he thought it good to haue wherewithall to liue else-where witnesse the Protection which the Earle Simon gaue him a little before his death whereof this is the tenure Simon by the Grace and prouidence of God Duke of Narbonnes Earle of Toulouze Vicount of Licestre Beziers and Carcassonne wisheth health and dilection After the Historie of the Monke of the valley Sernay We will and command you to haue a speciall care to keepe and defend the houses and goods of our most deare brother Dominick as our owne Giuen at the siege of Toulouze Decemb. 13. The death of this Monke was a great comfort to the Albingenses who had persecuted them with such violence but yet they were more weakned by the death of the Earle Remond of Toulouze the Earle Remond of Foix and the Ladie Philippe of Moncade Wife to Remond Earle of Foix. The Earle Remond of Toulouze died of a sicknesse much lamented of his Subiects if euer man were He was iust gentle valiant and couragious but yet too easie to giue eare vnto those that gaue him counsell for his ruine Hee was carried at the first by a true loue and charitie onely towards those his Subiects that made profession of the Religion of the Albingenses but afterwards hauing beene basely and dishonorably handled by the Legats of the Pope he knew both the crueltie of the Priests and the falshood of their doctrine by those conferences that had beene in his presence with the Pastors of the Albingenses His Epitaph was written in two Gascon verses Non y a home sur terre per grand Segnor que fous Qu'em iettes de ma terre si Gleisa non fous He that writes the Historie of Languedoc saith That he died a sudden death and that hee was carried into the house of the Friers of the Hospital S. Iohn and that he was not buried because he died an excommunicate person There was shewed not long since at Toulouze a head which some did beleeue was the head of the Earle Remond which was said to be alwaies without a sepulture but there is no likelihood that he that died amongst his owne and being Ruler ouer them should not haue so much credit after his death as to bee put into a Sepulcher Holaga pag. 164 that he that by his valour had restored all his Subiects to their houses and their Citie to it former greatnesse he whose death they lamented as a Father should be cast out like a Dogge It is neither true nor hath it any resemblance of truth that they should deny him this last office of charitie which they haue not refused to bestow vpon their greatest enemies for it was neuer heard of that the Albingenses haue denied sepulture vnto any As touching the Earle of Foix Remond he was a Prince of whom the Historie giues this testimony that he was a Patron of Iustice clemency prudence valour magnanimitie patience and continency a good Warriour a good Husband a good Father a good House-keeper a good Iusticer worthy to haue his name honoured and his vertues remembred throughout all generations When this good Prince saw that he was to change the earth for heauen he defied death an assured constant carriage and tooke comfort in forsaking the world and the vanities thereof and calling his sonne Roger vnto him hee exhorted him to serue God to liue vertuously to gouerne his people like a Father vnder the obedience of his Lawes and so gaue vp the ghost His Wife the Lady Philippe of Moncade followed him shortly after notwithout suspition of poyson by some domesticall enemy of the Albingenses whose religion she professed with all deuotion A Princesse of a great and admirable prouidence faith constancy and loyaltie She vttered before her death many excellent sentences full of edification as well in the Castilian tongue as the French in contempt of death which she receiued with a maruellous grace fortifying her speeches with most Christian consolations to the great comfort and edification of all that were present and in this estate she changed her life All these deaths made a great alteration in the wars of the Albingenses both on the one side and the other CHAP. V. Almaric of Montfort restored to King Lewis the eight the conquered Countries of the Albingenses the siege of Auignon the King appointeth a Gouernor in Languedoc The warre continues against the Albingenses Toulouze is besieged a treatie of peace with the Earle Remond and the Toulouzains ALmaric of Montfort had not the fortune of his Father in the warres of the Albingenses For he had neither King Philip Auguste who permitted the leuie of the Pilgrims nor Pope Innocent the third to appoint them Moreouer there was neither Citiâ—nor Village in France where there were not widowes and fatherlesse children by reason of the passed warres of the Albingenses And besides all this the Prelats were many times put into great feares by those cruell combats that were ordinarily made and many of them left behinde them their Miters and some Abbots their Crosses The speech of the expeditions of the Crosse was not so common This was the cause why Almaric did not long enioy his conquered Countries wherewith being much afflicted hee went into France Inuentary of Serres in the life of Lewis the eight and deliuered vp vnto Lewis the eight of that name King of France all the right that he had to the said Countries which the Pope the Councels of