confirmation of the more weake and they came in very good time for those who presently after were sifted with many tempestuous outrages and euen one of those that brought the Letters made good vse of them that is to say Peter Masson who was apprehended at Diion where he was condemned to death for a Lutheran George Morel saued himselfe with his letters and papers and came sound and safe into Prouence where he bestowed much paines and with happy successe in the establishing of the Churches of the Waldenses of which the Court of Parliament at Aix did euery day apprehend one faithfull member or other whom they either condemned to the fire or sent to the gibbet or dismissed with markes in their foreheads 1540. vntill that in the yeere 1540 the Inhabitants of Merindol were summoned in the person of fiue or six of the principall at the earnest importunity of the Kings Atturney in the Parliament of Aix and the sollicitation of the Arch-bishop of Arles the Bishop of Aix other Ecclesiasticall persons A sentence was giuen against them the most exorbitant cruell and inhumane that euer was in any Parliament like in all things to that edict of King Assuerus granted at the instance of Aman against the people of God as it is written in the History of Hester For besides that the men and women that were summoned for contumacy were condemned to be burnt aliue by the said sentence their children and families outlawed it was decreed that the place of Merindol should be altogether made vnhabitable the woods cut downe two hundred paces round about it and all this without any audience or leaue granted to any to speake a word The King being informed of the rigour of this Edict sent into Prouence the Lord du Langeai to enforme him of the manners and beleefe of the said Waldenses and vnderstanding that many things were laid to the charge of this people which they were not guilty of King Francis the first of that name sent Lett es of grace and fauour not onely in behalfe of those that had offended by contumacy but all the rest of the Country of Prouence expresly commanding the Parliament from thence forward not in that case to proceed so rigerously as they had done in times past These Letters were supprest They that were personally summoned made request that it might bee lawfull for them to answere by a Proctor Francis Chai and William Armand appeared for all the rest requesting in their names that it might be made to appeare vnto them in what they had erred and that by the word of God being ready to abiure all heresie if once they might know that they were fallen into any And for this cause they deliuered vnto them in writing a confession of their faith to the end if they found any thing worthy reprehension by the holy Scriptures they might be instructed concerning that which they were to recant or if they found nothing that they could reprehend that they might be no more molested by so many and so grieuous persecutions for feare lest thinking they made warre onely against men it should appeare that they made it against God and his truth and those that maintained it All their petitions serued to no other end then to prouoke them the more for the Iudges being possessed with an opinion that they were Heretikes refusing to take the paynes to know and examine the truth they made all their Acts in fauour of the Priests that accused them In such sort that when the Cardinall of Tournon had obtained at a high price Letters from the King for the execution of the aforesaid Decree notwithstanding the pardon and reuocation before obtained it was executed This was in the yeere 1545 1545. that the President of Opede Gouernour of Prouence in the absence of the Earle of Grignan deputed for Commissioners the President Francis de la Fon Honoré de Tributiis and Bernard Badet Counseller and the Aduocate Guerin in the absence of the Procurator Generall He dispatched sundry Commissions and proclaimed the warre with sound of trumpet both at Aix and at Marseilles So the troopes being leuied and the fiue ensignes of the old bands of Piedmont ioyned with them the army marched to Pertuis and the next day being the fourteenth of Aprill they went to Cadinet and the sixteenth they began to set fire to the Villages of Cabrieres Pepin la Mothe and Saint Martin belonging to the Lord of Sental then vnder age There the poore labourers without any resistance were slaine women and their daughters rauished some great with childe murdered without any mercy The breasts of many women were cut off after whose deaths the poor infants died with famine d'Opede hauing caused Proclamation to be made vpon paine of the with that no man should giue any reliefe or sustenance to any of them All things were ransacked burnt pilled and there were none saued aliue but those that were reserued for the Galleys The seuenteenth day Opede commanded the old bands of Piedmont to draw neere and the day following hee burnt the Villages of Lormarin Ville Laure and Trezemines and at the same time on the other side of Durance le Rieur de la Rocque and others of the Towne of Arles burnt Gensson and la Roque Opede being come to Merindol he found not any there but onely a yong lad called Morisi Blanc a very simple fellow who yeelded himselfe prisoner to a Souldier with promise of two crownes for his ransome d'Opede finding none other vpon whom he might wreake his anger payed the two crownes to the Souldier and so commanding him to be bound to a tree caused him to be slaine with hargubuse shot Afterwards he commanded the said Towne to be pilled sacked and vtterly razed and laid leuell with the ground where there were aboue two hundred houses There remained the Towne of Cabrieres compassed with walles which were beaten with the Cannon These poore people being sicke within who were about some threescore boores or Pesants of the Country called vnto them that they needed not to spend so much powder and paines to batter the Walles because they were ready to open the gates vnto them and to quit themselues of the place and Country and to depart to Geneua or into Germany with their wiues and children leauing all their goods behind them onely that their passage might be free The Lord of Cabrieres treated for them that their cause might be determined by iustice without force or violence But Opede being within the Town he commanded the men to be brought into a field and to be cut in peeces with swords these valiant executioners striuing who could shew the best manhood in cutting off heads armes and legges He caused the women to be locked vp in a barne full of straw and so put fire vnto it where were burnt many women great with childe Wherewith a Souldier being moued to compassion hauing made an ouerture for them they were beaten backe into
THE BLOVDY RAGE OF THAT GREAT ANTECHRIST OF ROME AND his superstitious adherents against the true Church of Christ and the faithfull professors of his Gospell DECLARED AT LARGE IN THE Historie of the Waldenses and Albingenses apparently manifesting vnto the world the visibilitie of our Church of England and of all the reformed Churches throughout Christendome for aboue foure hundred and fiftie yeares last past Diuided into three parts The first concernes their originall beginning the puritie of their Religion the persecutions which they haue suffered throughout all Europe for the space of aboue foure hundred and fiftie yeares The second containes the historie of the Waldenses called Albingenses The third concerneth the doctrine and discipline which hath bene common amongst them and the confutation of the doctrine of their aduersaries All which hath bene faithfully collected out of the Authors named in the page following the Preface By I. P. P. M. Translated out of French by SAMSON LENNARD LONDON Printed for Nathanael Newbery and are to be sold at the signe of the Starre vnder Saint Peters Church in Cornhill and in Popes-head Alley 1624. TO THE RIGHT HONORABLE WILLIAM EARLE OF PEMBROOKE BARON HERBERT of Cardiff Lord Parre and Rosse of Candale Lord Fitz Hugh Marmion and Saint Quintin Lord Chamberlaine of his Maiesties House Lord Guardien of the Stannery and Gouernour of the Towne and Castle of Portesmouth Knight of the most noble order of the Garter and one of his Maiesties most honorable priuie Counsell RIght Honorable The more then honourable and princely Prophet Dauid entring into a due consideration with himselfe how to shew himselfe thankfull vnto God for his great and vnspeakable mercies and fauours bestowed on him he cryeth out Quid retribuam Domino what shall I render vnto the Lord for all his benefits bestowed on me and finding nothing could be returned that could carrie the least proportion to his bounties he presently answereth I will receiue and not render I will take the cup of saluation and call vpon the name of the Lord. A strange kinde of retribution it is to repay by taking more and yet thus stands the case at this time betwixt your Honor and my selfe I haue many a time and oft meditated with my selfe how to do your Honor seruice and to shew my selfe thankfull in some measure for that honorable fauour and readinesse I haue euer found in you to do me good but finding nothing in my selfe that might any way paralell your goodnesse I was enforced to say with Dauid I will take and not giue I will requite by asking more My humble petition therefore to your Honor is that you would be pleased to honor these my weake labours with your honorable protection The reasons that embolden me to request this fauour at your hands are principally three First the loue you once bare to my honorable friend and deare cozen Henry Lord Dacres of the South the want of whom I feele the lesse because I finde no want of loue in your selfe towards me for his sake The second is that loue and dutie I did euer owe to your more then honorable Vncle Sir Philip Sidney whom I followed in the warres of the Netherland when he receiued his fatall wound The last and principall is your loue to God and true religion which hath made God to loue you and the world to honour you The truth of which religion and visibilitie of this our Church of England is made manifest in this history for the last foure hundred and fifty yeares which confutes that common and triuiall obiection of the common Aduersarie that our religion began with Luther The Lord of his infinite mercie make you euer constant in the profession and defence of the same truth and religion which you haue bene borne and bred in that as your loue towards God doth daily increase Gods loue towards you may increase too to your euer lasting honour in this life and eternall happinesse in the life to come Your Honors in all dutie to be commanded Samson Lennard TO THE MOST HIGH AND PVISSANT LORD FRANCIS DE BONNE Duke Peere and Mareschal now Constable of France Lieutenant Generall for his Maiestie in Dauphiney Lord of Lesdiguieres c. MY very good Lord this Historie doth rightly belong vnto you and you may challenge it as your due for many reasons First because the most populous Churches of the Waldenses are within the circuite and enclosure of your gouernment they haue had no time to breath in with libertie but onely then when about some fortie yeares since you defended them from the outrages of their enemies both within and without the Realme God chearing them vp by his goodnesse they haue had a sure protection by your loue and fauour and a strong bulwarke vnder your name Besides the proofes of the sufferings of their forefathers in passed ages are the holy booties and spoyles that were made in the taking of Ambrun when you reduced that City to the obediēce of the King The Archbishops of that place haue carefully kept for aboue these last 4. hundred yeares the processe and proceedings against the said Waldēsian Churches which hath brought vpon those that persecuted thē an euerlasting shame and dishonour and contrarily haue eternized the pietie and iudgement of that follower of yours that kept the bagge of the said processe from the fire of the Archbishop of the said place whose accesse to the Tower where they were saued the enemie endeuoured to withstand It was the Lord of Vulçon Counseller to the King in the Court of Parliament at Grenoble that recoured them and brought them to our hands contenting himselfe in all that conquest with that onely bagge which inditeth the diuell himselfe with all his adherents being reserued for the good and edification of the Church of God All which being well considered this benefit comes from you my Lord and the fruite of your armes Hauing therefore resolued with my selfe to bring this historie to light vnder your name I haue but brought it to it first originall by restoring it to it first benefactor and dedicating this edifice to him that hath furnished it with the most substantiall matter And herein I haue wrought the more certaintie vnto it in that I haue dedicated it to him that hath seene and knowne more of the state of the said Waldenses then I can write And herein especially doth the worke of God shew it selfe when men of one and the same name and one and the same Prouince haue bene so different in their designes For it is aboue three hundred yeares since that the noble Arroas de Bonne persecuted in Dauphiney the fathers and grandfathers of those whom our noble and great Francis de Bonne hath restored Thus doth the eternall God know when it pleaseth him how out of one and the same stemme to make the light of his mercies to shine from whence heretofore sprang nothing but darknesse Long and many happie yeares may your
kept vnto this present time that men might see with what spirit they were led that cut the throats and burnt the faithfull of the Church after they had oppressed them with impostures demanding of vs neuertheles where these faithfull of the Church were which they haue massacred before these times wherein we liue And if the Reader desire to know how such Proces and Indictments are come to our hands here hee may see againe that it hath not been without the great prouidence of God that they themselues that haue committed these cruelties and villanies are they that haue kept the said papers and proces in their libraries and places wherein their Records are laid as namely the Arch-bishops themselues of Ambrun Iohn and Rostain and others vntil the time that this City being recouered out of the hands of the Conspirators in the yeere one thousand fiue hundred eighty fiue and brought vnder the obedience of the King 1585. by Monsieur the Mareshal de l'esdignieres all the said proces and proceedings attempted and intended for many hundred yeeres together against the said Waldenses were cast into the street by reason that the Arch-bishops house was set on fire by the enemies themselues with an intent to defend a tower called Tour Brune whether they were retired and to cut off a Gallery of wood by which the Arch-bishop had passage to the said Towre The Lord de Calignon of happy memory and whilest he liued being Chancellor of Nauarra being there and the Lord of Vulcon at this present Counseller to the King in his Court of Parliament at Grenoble they caused the said Indictments long since framed against the VValdenses to be gathered together from whence we haue collected that which concerns the cruelties and lewd cariage of the said Monkes Inquisitors and their adherents as also that which hereafter followeth touching the Waldenses in Dauphine and the persecutions of the Arch-bishops of Turin against the Waldensian Churches of Pragela by their Commissaries Hitherto we haue not found that any haue hotly pursued the Waldenses by war but Albert de Capitaneis Arch-deacon of Cremona sent against them by Innocent the eight in the yeere one thousand foure hundred 1488. eighty eight began to intreat the assistance of the Kings Lieutenant in Dauphine called Hugnes de la Paln who for this seruice leuied troopes of men and marched to those places where the said Albert told him there were any of the Waldenses namely in the valley of Loyse And to the end the busines should seeme to be vndertaken according to a forme of iustice and to giue the better authority to that which by them should be executed the said Lieutenant of the King tooke in his company a Counseller of the Court named Mr. Iohn Rabot Being arriued at the said valley Loyse they found none of the Inhabitants to whom they might speake a word for they had all retired themselues into their cauernes into the high mountaines hauing carried thither with them their little children and whatsoeuer was most pretious vnto them and fit for nourishment This Lieutenant of the King caused a great quantity of wood to be laid at the entrance of their caues or cauernes and fire to be put vnto it in such manner that either the smoake by smothering them or the fire by burning them constrained a great number to cast themselues headlong from their cauernes vpon the rockes below where they ended their liues being broken in peeces and if there were any amongst them that durst to stirre hee was presently slaine by the souldiers of the said County of Varax Lord of Paln This persecution was very extreame For there were found within the said cauernes foure hundred small infants stifled in their cradles or in the armes of their dead mothers It is held for a certaine truth amongst the VValdenses of the neighbouring Valleis that there then died aboue three thousand persons men and women of the said Valley And to say the truth they were wholly extirpated in such sort that from that time forward the said Valley was peopled with new Inhabitants there was no family of the said Waldenses that euer tooke footing there which is a certain proofe that all the Inhabitants thereof of both sexes died at that time This Lieutenant of the King hauing destroyed the said Inhabitants of the Valley Loyse fearing lest the Waldenses should settle themselues there againe to the end they might not one day be troubled againe to chase them out he gaue the goods and possessions of the said Valley to whom it pleased him which was no sooner parted amongst them but the Waldenses of Pragela and Frassinieres had prouided for their safety attending the enemy at the passages and narrow straites of their Valleies in such manner that when the said Leiutenant of the King came to inuade them hee was constrained honestly to retire Albert de Capetaneis being called elsewhere by his Commission surrogated a certaine Monke of the Order of Saint Francis named Francis Ploieri who began to informe anew against the Waldenses of Frassiniere in the yeere one thousand foure hundred eighty nine 1489. He citeth them to appeare before him at Ambrun and for not appearing he excommunicateth them curseth and recurseth them and in the end condemned them for Heretickes partinacious and backsliders to be deliuered to the secular power and their goods confiscated To this iudgement there in Dauphine a certaine Counceller thereof named Ponce to the end that this mixt iudgement might be without appeale The sentence was pronounced in the great Church at Ambrun afterward fastned vpon the doore of the said Church in a great Table in the lower part whereof there were thirty two Articles of the beleefe of the said Waldenses that is to say against the Masse Purgatory the Inuocation of the Saints Pilgrimage the obseruation of Feasts distinction of Viandes vpon certaine daies and other matters that were affirmed by the said Waldenses But this Inquisitor added to the Articles of their beleefe that they held that for the augmentation of humane kind a man might company with his owne sister neece or other in any degree of proximity whatsoeuer because God hath said Increase and multiply Againe that euery man that burneth in lust may carnally know any woman whatsoeuer without sinning because the Apostle saith that it is better to marry then to burne and because it is said in the Gospell qui potest capere capiat interpreting it thus catch hee that catch can Now the informations vpon which they grounded their sentence being come to our hands this imposture hath been dicouered to their owne condemnation for there is not any witnes or at least wise the greatest part of those that were heard but they were Priests or Monkes who being demanded by the said Monke whether they knew this beleefe contained in the aforesaid Articles to be true answered that they neuer knew amongst the Waldenses any such things either taught or practised In
them This Bishop not being satisfied by this triall sent a companie of yong Doctors that came lately from Sorbonne to confound them by the subtiltie of their questions But one there was among the rest that said at his returne with a lowde voice that he had learned more touching the doctrine necessarie to saluation in attending to the answers of the little children of the Waldenses in their catechizings then in all the disputations of diuinitie which he had euer heard in Paris Bernard de Girard Lord of Haillan saith Bern. de Gir. in his history of Fraunce lib. 10. that the Waldenses haue bene charged with more wicked opinions then they held because saith he they stirred the Popes and great men of the world to hate them for the libertie of their speech which they vsed in condemning the vices and dissolute behauiour of Princes and Ecclesiasticall persons King Lewis 12. hauing bene informed by the enemies of the Waldenses dwelling in Prouence Vesemb in his Oration of the Waldenses of many grieuous crimes which were imposed vpon them sent to make inquisition in those places the Lord Adam Fumee maister of Requests a Doctor of Sorbon called Parui who was his Confessour They visited all their Parishes and Temples and found neither images nor so much as the least shew of any ornaments belonging to their Masses and ceremonies of the Church of Rome much lesse any such crimes as were imposed vpon them but rather that they kept their Sabbathes duely causing their children to be baptized according to the order of the Primatiue Church teaching them the Articles of the Christian faith and the Commandements of God The king hearing the report of the said Commissioners said and he bound it with an oath that they were better men then he or his people The same king vnderstanding that in Dauphiney namely in the valley of Fraissiniere It appeareth by the memorials of the Archbishop of Ambrun named Rostain in the Diocesse of Ambrun there were a certaine people that liued like beasts without religion hauing an euill opinion of the Romish religion he sent a Confessour of his with the Officiall of Orleans to bring him true information thereof This Confessour with his colleague came vnto the place where they examined the Waldenses dwelling in the said valley touching their beleefe and conuersation The Archbishop of Ambrun who made account that the goods of the said Waldenses were annexed to the demaine of his Archbishopricke as being confiscable for the cause of heresie pressed the aforesaid Commissioners speedily to condemne them for heretickes but the said Commissioners would not obey his desire but rather iustified thē as much as in them lay insomuch that before their departure the said Confessour of the king in his chamber at the signe of the Angell in Ambrun wished in the presence of many that he were as good a Christian as the worst of the said valley of Fraissiniere King Francis the first of that name Ioachim Camer in his historie pag. 352. and successour to Lewis 12. vnderstanding that the Parliament of Prouence had laid heauie burthens vpon the Waldenses dwelling at Merindol and Cambriers and other places thereabout desired to be informed of the beleefe life and conuersation of the said Waldenses and to that end commanded William de Belay Lord of Langeay at that time his Lieutenant in Piemont to make a diligent inquiry into those affaires whereupon the said Lord sent into Prouence two honest reuerent men to whom he gaue in charge to make inquiry both of the liues and religion of the Waldenses as also of the proceedings of the Court of Parliament against them These two deputies to the Lord de Langeay reported that the greatest part of the countrie of Prouence did affirme that the said Waldenses were a kind of people very painfull and that about two hundred yeares since they departed from the countrie of Piemont and came to dwell in Prouence and taking vpon them the profession of husbandmen and sheepheards they made many villages that were destroyed in the wars and other desart sauage places very fertile by their labours And that they had found by informations in the said countrie of Prouence that the aforesaid men of Merindol were a peaceable people beloued of their neighbours men of a good and godly conuersation carefull to keepe their promises and to pay their debts without suites of law very charitable not suffering any amongst them to fall into want and beggery liberall to strangers and poore passengers to the vtmost of their power As also that the inhabitants of Prouence did affirme that they of Merindol were knowne from others of the countrie because they could neuer be perswaded to blaspheme or so much as to name the diuell or in any sort to sweare except it were vpon certaine contracts or in iudgement And that they were likewise knowne by this that whensoeuer they fell into company of such as vsed either idle or wanton or blasphemous discourse against the honour of God they presently departed Thus you see how many of the aduersaries of the Waldenses haue giuen honourable reports of them enforced thereunto by the force of truth it selfe Let vs now see in what esteeme they haue bene with those that succeeded them in the same beleefe CHAP. VI. Testimonies giuen of the Waldenses by many great personages that haue made profession of the reformed religion Beza in his historie of worthy men THeodor Beza calleth the Waldenses the seed of the most pure ancient Christian Church which was miraculously preserued in the middest of the darknesse and errours which haue bene hatched by Satan in these latter times Constans vpon the Reuelation Const vpon the Apocalypse sheweth that the reformatiō of the Church in the Westerne parts of the world began in France by the meanes of Waldo and that from this source it spread it selfe through the rest of Europe Bullinger in the Preface of his sermons vpon the Reuelation Bullinger speakes thus of the Waldenses What should we say saith he that aboue foure hundred yeares since throughout France Italy Germany Poland Bohemia and other countries and kingdomes of the world the Waldenses haue made profession of the Gospell of Christ Iesus and in many their writings and continuall preachings accused the Pope to be the true Antichrist of whom the Apostle Saint Iohn had prophesied and therefore we were to flie from him These people being tortured with diuerse most cruell torments haue with vnspeakable constancie giuen testimony of their faith by glorious martyrdomes and the like they suffer euen at this very day It is beyond the power of man to banish them or to roote them out notwithstanding it haue bene often attempted by most mightie kings and Princes stirred vp by the Pope but it is God saith he that hath hindred all their violent outrages Vesembecius in his Oration of the Waldenses Luther confessed that he hated the Waldenses as
dignity Episcopall rather by suspensions then excommunications and that I was a Iudge as well as he and more then that Ordinary I asked the Copy of their Commissions terminum ad respondendum according to the forme of the Law written Then Mousieur the Confessor answered that he had vsed the said Censures and Commands not long before against the Masters of the Parliament of Grenoble and that therefore he might vse it against my selfe Replying also vnto me You petty Clarkes know nothing but two C. C. Codice Capitulo and two ff Digestis and will take vpon you to suppresse Diuinity and that he heard the King speake it out of his owne mouth that the Arch-bishop of Ambrun would oppose himselfe against his Commission and bee an open accuser of the Waldenses To whom I answered that hee must pardon me for I did not beleeue but that the King had a better opinion of me because in this matter I had neuer trauelled but to a good end as I alwaies intended to doe Then Monsieur the Confessor continuing in his discourse spake these words Vos ad me in modum Scribarum Pharisaeorum Christum accusantium ad Pilatum accessistis cum tantis viris Ecclesiasticis ad terrendum me sed nihil teneo sub vobis aut domino vestro de nihilo vos timeo That is to say You are come vnto mee as the Scribes and Pharisies when they accused Christ before Pilate and with so many Ecclesiasticall persons to terrifie mee but I hold nothing vnder you or your dominion and I feare you not at all To which I answered that I brought no more with mee then those that were accustomed to beare mee company walking through the Citty And suddenly he commanded the lay-people to auoid the chamber then reuoked the sentences which hee had thundred out against mee against all forme of law saying that it was expedient to vse those rigorous tearmes in the presence of the lay-people and especially there being some of the Waldenses present as more at large touching the kind carriage of Monsier the Confessor and of matters aboue spoken of it appeares by a publike instrument Thus you see part of the notes of the Arch-bishop Rostain set downe word by word wherein we finde fundry falshoods as for example He writ in great griefe that the said Commissioners heard not aboue three or foure witnesses and we finde in the said bundle of writings for remembrance of the Arch-bishop Rostain a Coppy of informations wherein there were foure and twenty witnesses heard and examined Againe he saith that they asked no other question but if they were good Catholikes or no to which being well taught they answered yea and with that answere the Commissioners contented themselues And yet it appeareth that they demanded diuers questions touching the Eucharist Purgatory Inuocation of Saints and diuers other points Againe he saith that the witnesses were fearefull and durst not speake and yet it plainly appeareth that the witnesses produced were for the most part Priests and Monkes of the faction of the Arch-bishop exhibited by him Againe that they suffered nothing to be set downe in writing whereas it appeareth that there are no Indictments where there is more written then in those that were framed by the said Commissioners But that which troubled the Arch-bishop most was that the said Commissioners gaue sentence of absolution touching Contumacy sine praeiudicio causae principalis iuris cuicunque acquisiti against which the Arch-bishop protested and would not yeeld his consent to seale the said sentence complaining that Monsieur the Officiall of Orleans had made knowen by his proceedings that he fauoured the said Waldenses especially hauing said openly at his lodgiug at the signe of the Angell in Ambrun that he desired to be but as good a Christian as the worst of Frassiniere But the greatest hurt came to himselfe for he saw that hee must restore diuers viniards belonging to the said Waldenses situated at S. Clements S. Crespin and at the place Chanteloube and diuers inheritances at Chateau-Roux which his Predecessor named Iohn had ioyned to the Demaine of his Arch-bishopricke The Confessor of the King hauing reported vnto him and to his Counsell what he knew touching the Waldenses and how they were absolued of their contumacy did ordaine that the goods of the said Waldenses should be restored whereupon these Letters following were granted by King Lewis the twelfth of that name Lewis by the grace of God King of France c. FOr as much as it is come to our knowledge that the Inhabitants of Frassiniere haue endured great troubles and vexations punishments and trauels VVe desiring to releeue them and that they should be restored to their goods moueables and immoueables do by these Presents command all those that detaine the said goods that incontinently and without delay they desist and renounce the said goods and restore them to the said Suppliants or their Atturneies for them euery one in his place and ranke And in case of opposition refusall or delay Wee hauing regard to their pouerty and misery wherein they haue a long time and now are detained without power to obtaine iustice desiring withall Our heart it should bee administred vnto them Our will is to take notice thereof in Our owne proper person warning all those that shall oppose themselues or make delay to appeare before Vs at a certaine competent day c. Giuen at Lion the twelfth of Oct. 1501. These Letters being executed it was the opinion of most men that since the fairest and best part of the goods of the said Waldenses was possessed by the Lord Arch-bishop that there was great reason that hee should giue example vnto others seeing especially that that which they held came vnto some of them as a sallary or fee for their punishments and by the hands of the Arch-bishop Iohn his Predecessor The Arch-bishop Rostain answered that he held none of the goods of the Frassinieres onely certaine goods had been annexed to his Arch-bishopricke vpon good and iust cause and incorporated to his Church by his Predecessor the said goods being within the territories and iurisdiction thereof in which no commandement of the King hath euer been accustomed to be executed and therefore it is not to bee beleeued that it commeth from the will of the King being Protector of the Churches and following the example of his great predecessors But yet neuerthelesse the said Arch-bishop being willing to please our Lord the King will bee content to yeeld vnto the said Inhabitants of Frassiniere the said vineyards vpon condition that other the Lords and Masters of Dauphine deliuer that which they haue of the said goods and then the Arch-bishop will be content to restore that which hee and his Church doe possesse Thus these poore people were frustrated of their attempt For there was not any one that would restore any thing of that which he detained And therefore they summoned before the King
and his counsell the said Arch-bishop Master Pons Counsellor of the Parliament at Grenoble Peter de Rames Esquier Lord of Poit Faix de Rames the Master of Montainard and of Argentiere Arrouars de Bonne and diuers other ordinary Atturnies Priests and Burgeses of Ambrun and Briancon They sent to the Court and hauing there more friends and credit then the Inhabitants of Frassiniere Their excuse was receiued wherein they declared that it was not in their power to restore the said goods before the Pope had absolued them And the Arch-bishop protested that hee for his part was ready to restore all that his Predecessors had vnited to his Church prouided that they had the aforesaid absolution This occasioned such as were lesse affected and constant to assay this way and to send to Pope Alexander the sixt of that name then Bishop of Rome But they were compelled rather not to goe to Rome but to fetch a writ of absolution from the Cardinall Legat in France George of the title of Saint Xist which would suffice and might be obtained with lesse charge For the obtaining whereof they had the Commissary the Kings Confessor They sent therefore one Steuen Roux who who brought two Bulles one by which he gaue absolution for Simony theft murder vsury Adultery dedention of Benefices destruction of goods Ecclesiasticall violence against Clerks by beating them vnlawfull oathes periuries Fraudes yea Apostacy and Heresie and whosoeuer had committed any crime were it neuer so hainous this Cardinall absolued them from all by his Apostolicall authority And forasmuch as his Arch-bishop might pretend that the said Bull did not absolue the said people of Frassinieres hauing been condemned by the said Apostolicall authority by Commissioners and Inquisitors deputed by the Pope and therefore his mouth was stopped he brought another Bull in which there was especially this clause Hauing power from the Pope to decide or determine any matter that any other that hath been deputed by that holy Sea or substituted can doe yea where there hath been an appeale absoluing all that haue in any manner been condemned This poore man thought he had gotten much and proceeded far in this busines but the Arch-bishop Rostain flouted his Bulles saying that they were obtained with too great a price and importunity and that he must haue an absolution from the Pope himselfe And so resolued with himselfe to restore nothing and all the rest followed his example And notwithstanding they had had absolution from the Pope yet they would haue restored nothing for he knew well inough that in those daies all things were sold at Rome witnesse those Latine verses which were writtena gainst the said Alexander the sixth Vendit Alexander cruces altaria Chrislum Emer at ille prius vendere iure potest Pope Alexander sold altars Christ and his crosse He bought them had he not sold had liued by the losse Againe Templa Sacerdotes Altaria Sacra Goronae Ignis Thura Preces Coelum est venale Deusque Temples Priests Altars Crowns they sell for pelfe Fire Frankincense Prayers heauen and God himselfe which is to be vnderstood of their breaden god in the Masse The Arch-bishop therfore was the cause why others kept still those goods in their possession without any restitution and though some particular persons were afterwards called into question as namely Le Sieur de Montainar de Rames and others yet they could neuer haue any remedy In the yeere one thousand fiue hundred sixty the Waldenses of Frassiniere and Pragela 1560. had their Churches furnished with Pastors who held them in the exercise of their religion at that time wherein they persecuted vnto death all those that made profession of reformation The President Truchon made an Oration to the States of Prouence assembled the same yeere the sixt of Nouember of purpose to exterminate the said Waldenses of Frassinieres and Pragela saying that it was necessary to purge the old and ancient Leuen likely to make soure the whole Country of Dauphine if some course were not taken to preuent it By these States it was re-resolued by open force to extirpate them and by armes and to this purpose Commissions were giuen forth to leuy troopes of men and to passe into the said Valleies but so soone as the drumme was strooken vp and the men in armes throughout Prouence the vnexpected death of King Francis the second of that name altered the designe and afterwards the said Waldensian Churches in Dauphine continued as still they doe by the singular fauour of God CHAP. IIII. Of the Waldensian Churches in Piedmont and those persecutions they endured that are come to our knowledge THE Waldenses haue had famous Churches in the Valleis of Piedmont Angrongne la Perouse the Valley Saint Martin Lucerna and other bordering places for time out of minde It is held for certaine amongst them that they are a part of the Waldenses of Dauphine Pragela Frassinieres and other places their neere neighbours and that in time being multiplied in so great abundance that the Country could not feed them they were constrained to disperse themselues at length and at large where they might best settle themselues So deare like brothers haue they been one to another and notwithstanding they haue been alwaies oppressed with troubles yet with a most hearty loue and charity they haue euer succoured one another not sparing their liues and goods for their mutuall conseruation The first troubles that the Waldenses of Piedmont endured came from the report of certaine Priests sent thither by the Arch-bishop of Turin who informed that the people that were committed to their charge liued not according to the manners and beliefe of the Church of Rome neither offering for the dead nor caring for Masses or absolutions nor to get any of theirs out of the paines of Purgatory by any of their vsuall meanes The Arch-bishops of Turin haue persecuted them as much as lay in their power making them odious to their Princes who vnderstanding of the good report that their neighbours gaue of their milde honest conuersation Vignaux in his memorials fol. 7. and that they were a simple people fearing God of a good carriage without deceit or malice louing integrity and plaine dealing alwaies ready to serue their Princes and that very willingly they yeelded vnto them all dutifull obedience and that with alacrity Being in such grace and fauour with the people their neighbours that they endeauoured to bring into Piedmont to their seruice their yong people and to prouide their nurses amongst them to bring vp their yong infants the said Princes continued a long time in a purpose not to molest them but the Priests and Monkes that were frequent amongst them gaining nothing by this their beliefe charged them with an infinite number of Calumnies and whensoeuer they went into Piedmont vpon occasion of businesse they alwaies caught one or other and deliuered him to the Inquisitors and the Inquisitors to the executioner In such
the faith is as wee haue promised when we were baptized being little infants As also in remembrance of that great benefit which Iesus Christ hath done vnto vs when hee died for our redemption washing vs with his most pretious bloud These Articles being resolued vpon by them astonished the Priests that were amongst them to gather vp the reuenewes of their Cures being out of all hope to see those people reclaimed and brought vnto the obedience of the Church of Rome by any force much lesse of their owne acord and perceiuing the dore to be shut against their gaine they retired themselues without speaking a word Vpon this their retrait the Masse vanished of it selfe in the Valleys of the said Waldenses And because they had onely the new Testament and some bookes of the old translated into the Waldensian tongue they resolued speedily to send to the presse the whole Bible their bookes being onely manuscripts and those but a few They sent therfore to Newcastle in Suitzerland Suisse See the Ecclesiasticall History of the Churches of France pag. 37 where they gaue fifteene hundred crownes of gold to a Printer who brought to light the first impression of the French Bible which was seen in France and incontinently in the yeere one thousand fiue hundred thirty six they sent to Geneua one Martin Gonin 1536. to prouide a large supply of such bookes which he should see to bee fit for the instruction of the people but they were frustrated of their intent because this good man was apprehended for a Spy passing ouer the hill de Gap by a certaine Gentleman named George Martin Lord de Champolion and so soone as hee was knowne to be a Waldensian he was sent to Grenoble and there kept in prison In the booke of Martyrs of our time lib. 3 fol. III. and afterwards in the night-time cast into the Riuer Lyzere for feare lest hee should speake of his beliefe before the people for the Monke Inquisitor that deliuered him to the secular power told them that it was not good that the world should hare him because saith hee it is to bee feared that they that heare him may become worse then himselfe There happened warres in Piedmont betweene King Francis the first of that name and the Prince of Piedmont which fell out happily for these poore people for so long as those confusions continued they were at quiet vntill Pope Paul the third of that name sollicited the Parliament of Turin to take some violent course against them in doing iustice vpon them as vpon pernicious Heretickes whensoeuer they should bee deliuered into their 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 1555. 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 presenee 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 giue the President satisfaction who still pressed vpon them to change their religion but in vaine For they answered him that they were not bound to such commands against the commandement of God Hee commanded that twelue of the pricipalln amongst them with all the Ministers and Schoole-masters should presently yeeld their bodies to the prisons of Turin there to receiue such sentence as reason shall require and hee enioyned the Sindics of the said Valleys to dismisse and suffer to depart presently all strangers and from thence forward not to receiue any Preachers or Schoole-masters but such as shall be sent them by the Diocesan They answered that they could not nor would not obey any such commands as were against God and that they would not make their appearance at Turin because they could not doe it without danger of their liues and to be molested for their beleefe This Parliament of Turin was in such sort incensed against them that as many as they could cause to be apprehended in Piedmont and the frontiers of the Valleies so many they burnt at Turin among others M. Ieffrey Varnigle Minister at Angrongne was burnt in the yeere one thousand fiue hundred fifty seuen 1557. by whose death at Turin in the place of the Castle the people were much strengthned and edified there being present a great number that saw him to persist in the inuoucaton of the name of God vnto his last gaspe During these grieuous persecutions the Protestant Princes of Germany did intercede for them beseeching King Henry the second to suffer them to liue in peace in the profession of that Religion wherein they had liued from the father to the sonne for some ages past The King promised to haue regard to this their request and indeed they continued quiet vntill the peace was made betweene the King of France and of Spaine and that the Duke of Sauoy was restored to his estates that is to say in the yeere one thousand fiue hundred fifty nine The yeere after the said restitution of the Country 1560. the Popes Nuntio reproued the Duke of Sauoy for that he followed not the steps of the Kings of France in his zeale who affecting the Catholike Romish religion had with all his power persecuted the Waldenses and Lutherans of the Valleys of Angrongne and other their bordering neighbours and that if he did not ioyne his forces in what possibly hee could to bring them into the bosome of the Church or to take them out of world that his Holinesse should haue great reason to suspect him to bee a fauourer of them The Prince of Piedmont promised to vse all the meanes he could for their reduction or vtter subuersion in pursuit whereof hee commanded them to goe to the Masse vpon paine of their liues and to see their Valleys laid open to fire and sword To which command they not yeelding obedience he set vpon them by open force and gaue the charge of this warre to a gentleman named le sieur de la Trinite And in the meane while at the selfesame time he caused them to be pursued by the Monkes the Inquisitors Iacomel and de Corbis This war is printed in a treatise by it selfe And it is likewise set downe in the 8. booke of the history the Martyrs of our times fol. 532. But forasmuch as the History of this warre is brought to light elswhere we will not enter into any large discourse thereof onely we may here obserue that after la Trinite had been well beaten with his troopes seeing that the Lions pawe could stand him in no steed he couered himselfe with the Foxes skin telling them that what had passed had befallen them for want of parley and communication rather then for any ill will that his Highnesse bare vnto them and that if his souldiers had exceeded their bounds it was because of that resistance which they found and that hereafter hee would bee an instrument for their conseruation and as desirous to procure their peace as at the beginning he shewed himselfe earnest to procure their trouble And therefore he counselled them to send certaine of the principall amongst them to his Highnesse by whom he would send his commendatory letters both to the Prince and Madam Margarit Duchesse of Sauoy and only sister to Henry King of France and that he did assure
the fire with pikes and holberds The rest of these men that were found hidden in the caues were brought into the Hall of the Castle where they were horribly massacred in the presence of the said Opede As for the women and children that were found in the Temple they were exposed to the chiefe Bauds and Ruffians of Anignon who slew about eight hundred persons without distinction of age or sexe About the end of this execution le Sieur de la Coste kinsman to Opede came thither who intreated him to send him some men of warre offering to bring all his souldiers into Aix and to make as many breaches in the wall as hee would which was granted by word of mouth but not wholly performed For three Ensignes of foot men were sent thither who pillaged whatsoeuer seemed good vnto them burnt a part of the Towne rauished women and their daughters and killed some Boores not finding any resistance In this meane time the rest of those of Merindol and other places were in great extremities in the mountaines and rockes persecuted by Opede and his army They intreated him that hee would permit them to retire themselues to Geneua with the rest of their wiues and children promising to leaue behind them all their goods Hee answered that hee would send them all to dwell in the Country of hell with all the diuels them their wiues and children in such a manner that there should be no memory left of them King Francis being aduertised of those cruelties that were executed in pursuit of the said arrest was much displeased therewith in such sort that at the very point of death being wounded with some remorse of conscience principally because it had all passed vnder his name and authority being sorry because hee could inflict no punishment vpon them before his death that had shed so much innocent blood hee gaue in charge to his sonne Henry to bee reuenged on them in prosecution whereof after the decease of his father hee sent out his Letters Patents in the yeere one thousand fiue hundred forty nine by which hee tooke vnto himselfe and into his owne hands the cause of the said Waldenses of Prouence but there was none but the Aduocate Guerin that was hanged because hee had falsty informed the King when hee kept backe the reuocation of the first retention of the cause of those of Merindoll whereupon presently followed the execution of the Arrest of the Court of Parliament of Aix And all the rest that were faulty escaped vpon this consideration that it was to no purpose to attempt any more against the Lutherans at that time Touching the rest that escaped this massacre some there were that retired themselues to Geneua others into Switzerland others into Germany and others continued neere thereabouts tilling their land by stealth and so by little and little returned home to their old habitations which they built and repaired at such times as they could by the benefit of the aforesaid Edicts and were afterwards the seed of many goodly Churches which at this day are gathered together flourishing in all piety and zeale as other Churches in the Kingdome of France CHAP. IX Of the Waldenses that did flie into Bohemia and those persecutions which they suffred that haue come to our knowledge DIuers haue written Albertus de Capitaneis lib. de origine Waldensium Thuanus in historia sui temporis pa. 457. Petrus Valdus eorum Antesignanus patria relicta in velgium venit atque in Picardiam quam hodie vocant multos sectatores nactus cum inde in Germaniam transisset per Vandalicas ciuitates diu diuersatus est ac postremo in Bohemia consedit See what is said of these two Barbes before in the first booke Chap. 9. that Waldo at his departure from Lion came into Dauphine and from thence hauing erected and ordered some Churches and laid the foundations of them which haue been miraculously preserued vnto this present time he went into Languedoc and there he left excellent Pastors who ordered and instructed those Churches that afterwards cost the Pope and his Clergy so much to destroy and from thence he went into Picardy from whence being chased he tooke his iourney into Germany and from Germany he retired himselfe into Bohemia where according to the opinion of some he ended his dayes The Waldenses inhabiting in Dauphine Piedmont and Prouence haue had communion and intelligence with their Brethren retired into Bohemia for proofe whereof we haue the message of Daniel de Valence and Iohn de Molin Pastors in Bohemia who did much hurt to the Churches of that Country by reuealing vnto the aduersaries those flockes or companies which before were hidden and vnknowne because of the great and grieuous persecutions that then were We haue also a certaine Apology of the Waldenses of Bohemia in the Waldensian tongue Vineaux in his memor fol. 15 in the forme of a Letter which they wirt to King Ladislaus wherof the Inscription is Al Serenissimo Princi Rey Lancelao A li Duc Barons a liplus veil del Regne Lo petit tropel de li Christians appella per falce nom falsament Pauuers o Valdes Gratia siaâ—en Dio lo Paire en Iesus lo Filli de luy This Letter makes proofe of the Communion which the Waldenses of Dauphine haue had with those of Bohemia in that they haue had in their language this Letter which containes a iust Apology against those impostures and other faults which in former times haue been imputed to the one and to the other and haue been common with the Christians of the primitiue Church We haue also in the same volume a treatise the inscription whereof is this Aico es la causa del nostre despartiment de la Gleisa Romana That is to say This is the cause of our separation from the Church of Rome Causes which haue been common with all those that haue withdrawen themselues from that Church for feare of participating of her plagues The Author of the Catalogue of witnesses of the truth Flat Ill. in catal test verit p. 116. makes mention of a certaine forme of Inquisition which was practised against the Waldenses of Bohemia vnder King Iohn which was about the yeere 1330. As also in another Inquisition this is noted that the Waldenses of Bohemia sent into Lombardy to the Waldensian Doctors those whom they would haue trained vp in the profession of Diuinity In the treatise of the beginning of the Churches of Bohemia Lib. de origine Ecclesiaris Bohemiae pa. 273. Sed cum oppressae tyrannide Pontificia conuentus publicos nullos haberent neque scripta horum extarent vilâ— ignotae nostris prorsus fuerc Esrom Rudiger in narratiancula de Ecclesijs fratrum in Bohemia Valdenses ad minimum CCXL annis originem nostram antecedunt at what time the doctrine of Iohn Hus was there receiued the Pastors Ancients and faithfull of Bohemia say that the Waldensian Churches of Bohemia had