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
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
and diuers others were giuing vp the last gaspe The enemies being retired in the night into the houses of these poore people they ransacked and pillaged whatsoeuer they could carry to Susa and for the full accomplishment of their cruelty they hanged vpon a tree a poore Waldensian woman whom they met vpon the mountaine de Meane named Margaret Athode The Inhabitants of the said Valley hold this persecution to be the most violent that their fathers haue related vnto them that in their times or the times of their grand-fathers they haue euer suffred and they talke of it at this present as if it were a thing lately done and fresh in memory so often from the father to the sonne hath mention been made of this vnexpected surprise the cause of so many miseries amongst them Now in the meane while the Waldenses of the valley Frassiniere that remained and had escaped this aforesaid persecution were againe violently handled by the Archbishop of Ambrun their neighbour in the yeere 1460 that is 1460. in the time of Pope Pius the second of that name and of Lewis the eleuenth King of France This Arch-bishop named Iohn made a Commissioner against the said Waldenses a certaine Monke of the order of the Frier-Minors called Iohn Vayleti who proceeded with such diligence and violence that there was hardly any person in the vallies of Frassiniere Argentiere and Loyse that could escape the hands of the said Inquisitor but that they were apprehended either as Heretickes or fauourers of them They therefore that knew nothing of the beleefe of the Waldenses had recourse vnto King Lewis the eleuenth humbly beseeching him to stay by his authority the course of such persecutions The King granted vnto them his letters the which wee haue in this place thought good to insert at large because by them it shall be easie to know what the will and desire of the said Monkes was who intangled in their proces many of the Romish religion vnder colour of the Inquisition against the Waldenses The Letters of King Lewis the eleuenth Lewis by the grace of God King of France Dauphin de Vienois Conte de Valentinois and Dioys to our well-beloued and faithfull Gouernour of our Country of Dauphine health and dilection TOuching that part of the Inhabitants of the valley Loyse Frassiniere Argentiere and others of our Country of Dauphine it hath been certified that notwithstanding they haue liued and are desirous to liue as becommeth good Christian Catholikes without holding or beleeuing or maintaining any superstitious points but according to the ordinance and discipline of our mother the holy Church yet neuerihelesse some religious Mandians who call themselues the Inquisitors of the faith and others thinking by vexations and troubles to extort from them their goods and otherwise to molest them in their persons haue been desirous and still are to lay false imputations vpon them that they hold and beleeue certaine Heresies and superstitions against the Catholike faith and vnder this collour haue and still doe vex and trouble them with strange inuolutions of proces both in our Court of Parliament in Dauphine and in diuers other Countries and iurisdictions And to come to the confiscation of the goods of those whom they charge with the same offence many of the Iudges yea and the said Inquisitors of the saith themselues being cōmonly religious Mandians Mandians vnder the shadow of the office of Inquisitors haue sent and euery day do send forth proces against those poore people without reasonable cause putting some of them to the racke and calling them in question without any precedent information and condemning them for matters whereof they were neuer culpable as hath bin afterwards found and of some to set them at liberty haue taken and exacted great summes of money and by diuers meanes haue vniustly vexed and troubled them to the great preiudice and hinderance not onely of the said Suppliants but of Vs and the Weale-publicke of our Country of Dauphine Wee therefore being willing to prouide against this mischiefe and not to suffer Our poor people to be vexed and troubled by such wrongfull proceedings specially the Inhabitants of the said places affirming that they haue alwaies liued and will liue as becommeth good Christians and Catholikes not hauing euer beleeued nor held other beleefe then that of our mother the holy Church nor maintained nor will maintaine or beleeue any thing to the contrary and that it is against all reason that any man should be condemned of the crime of Heresie but onely they that with obdurate obstinacy wilstubbornly maintain and affirme things contrary to the sincerity of our faith Wee haue by great and mature deliberation and to meet with such fraudes and abuses vniust vexations and exactions granted to the said Suppliants and doe grant and of our certain knowledge and speciall consent full power and authority royall Delphinale VVe haue willed and or dained and doe will and ordaine by these Presents that the said Suppliants and all others of our Country of Dauphine be freed from their courts and proces and whatsoeuer proces any of them shall haue sent forth for the causes aboue mentioned We haue of our certaine knowledge full power and authority royall and Delphinale abolished and doe abolish made and doe make of none effect by these Presents and we will that from all times past vnto this day there be nothing demanded of them or wrong offered either in body or goods or good name Except neuertheles there bee any that will obstinately and out of a hardned heart maintaine and affirme any thing against the holy Catholike faith Moreouer we haue willed and ordained and doe will and ordaine that the goods of the said Inhabitants Suppliants and all other of our Country of Dauphine that for the causes aboue mentioned haue been taken and exacted of any person in any manner whatsoeuer by execution or otherwise shall by the ordinance or command of our Court of Parliament of Dauphine or any other whatsoeuer as also all bils and obligations which they haue giuen for the causes aboue said whether it be for the paiment of fees for the said proces or otherwise shall againe bee restored vnto them vnto which restitution all such shall be constrained that haue in any thing either by sale or spoile of their goods moueables or vnmoueables by detention or imprisonment of their persons any way wronged them vntill they haue restored their goods and things aboue mentined and obeyed otherwise to bee inforced by all due and resonable meanes requisite in such a case notwithstanding all appellations whatsoeuer which our will is in any manner be deferred And because that by reason of those confiscations which haue been heretofore pretended of the goods of those whom they haue charged and accused in this case diuers more for couetousnesse and a desire of the said confiscations or part of them then for iustice doe and haue put many people in sute and to come to
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
it vntill some one or other hauing compassion on them gaue them secretly lyme which caused them to fall from them They died almost all miserably in prison Nine of the chiefe and hansomest amongst them were lost and it was neuer knowne what became of them after they were deliuered to the Fathers of the Inquisition This Inquisitor retired himselfe to Saint Agathe where hee deliuered a great number to the secular power and if any man offered to intercede for them he caused him to be put to the racke as a fauourer of Heretickes in such sort that in the end there was not any that durst to open his mouth in their behalfe Pope Pius the fourth of that name sent for their destruction the Marquis of Butiane with promise that if he would doe that good office to the holy Sea as to cleere Calabria of those Waldenses that had there taken footing he would giue vnto his sonne a Cardinals hat The Marquis tooke no great paines to execute his Commission for the Monkes the Inquisitors and the Viceroy of Naples had almost put all to death that they could apprehend hauing sent to the Galleys of Spaine the strongest of them and condemned to perpetuall banishment the fugitiues sold demned to perpetuall banishment the fugitiues sold and killed woman and children As touching their Ministers Steuen Negrin was sent to prison at Cossence were he died with famine Lewis Paschal was carried to Rome where he was condemned to be burnt aliue Pope Pius the fourth would needs feede his eye with this last punishment of him that had maintained him to be Antichrist being present at his death with many of his Cardinals But the Pope could haue wished himselfe elswere or that Paschal had been mute or the people deafe For he spake many things against the Pope out of the word of God which gaue him a great deale of discontent Thus did this good man die calling vpon God with an ardent zeale that he much moued the standers by and made the Pope and his Cardinals to gnash their teeth for anger Thus haue you seen the end of the Waldenses of Calabria who were wholly exterminated For if any of the fugitiues be returned it is vpon condition that they liue according the lawes of the Church of Rome CHAP. VIII Of the Waldenses inhabiting in Prouence and the persecutions which they haue suffered THe Waldenses inhabiting in Prouence in the parts of Cabrieres Meriudol la Coste and other places neere adioyning haue been held for the originall of-spring of the Waldenses inhabiting in Dauphine and Piedmont as it may very well appeare by the families of the same name as also there are amongst them that can proue their progeny or of-spring And vpon this occasion it was that they of Calabria soiourned in in Prouence that is to disburden their Valleys of the great multitudes of people that were there And though in the beginning of their arriuall in Prouence the Country where they made their abode was a desart yet they made it in few yeeres fertile and fit by the blessing of God to yeeld Corne Wine oyle of Oliues Chestnuts and other fruits and that in great aboundance The first persecutions which they suffered are not come to our knowledge notwithstanding we finde euen at this day the Commissions that haue been giuen by the Popes and Anti-popes residing in Auignon very neere to the place of their abiding against the Waldenses inhabiting in Prouence as that of the Arch-deacon of Cremona See before in the 3. Chap. Albert de Capitaneis and of the Monke frier Minor Francis Borelli 1380. hauing Commission against them in the yeer 1380 to make inquiry of the Waldenses in the Diocesse of Aix in Prouence Arles and Selon As also when they were retired into the said Prouince in the yeere 1228 1228. when the Arch-bishop of Aix Arles and of Narbonne were assembled at Auignon to giue aduice to the Inquisitors touching the Waldenses who then said as you haue heard before that the Inquisitors had apprehended so great a number See Chap. 2. that there was not onely a want of victuall to feed them but of lyme and stone to build their prisons It is most certaine that then the Waldenses of Prouence dwelling as it were in the very gates of the Popes Palace and about their Earledome of Auignon were not forgotten But forasmuch as we haue no Copies of instruments that may make good the said persecutions we will insert into this discourse nothing but what we shall be able sufficiently to proue The first persecution is that whereof we haue the History in the time of King Lewis the twelfth about the yeere 1506 That is that this good King being informed 1560. that there were in Prouence a certaine kind of people that liued not according to the lawes of the Church of Rome but were an accursed people committing all manner of wickednesse and villanies euen such as the very memory of them strooke a horrour into mens hearts and the Christians in the primitiue Church had been vpbraided with he gaue Commission to his Court of Parliament in Prouence to take knowledge thereof and to chastise them according to their merit Whereunto the said Court hauing diligently attended so soone as the King vnderstood that diuers innocent persons were put to death he limited the authority of the said Court and would not suffer them to continue their executions vntill he were truely informed Vesembecius in Oratione de Waldensibus what kind of people they were that to him had been reported to be so wicked To this purpose he sent Master Adam Fumee his Master of requests who told him at his returne that what had been giuen him to vnderstand touching the Waldenses of Prouence was very vntrue for they were not any way tainted either with sorcery or whoredome but that they liued like honest men doing hurt to no man they caused their children to be baptized taught them the Articles of their beliefe and the Commandements of God they carefully kept the Lords day and the word of God was purely expounded vnto them Vesembecius in Orotione de Waldensibus His audâ—tis Rex iureiurando addito me inquit caetero populo meo Catholico meliores illi viri sunt A certaine Iacobin Monke named Parui confessor to the King witnessed as much who by the King was ioyned in Commission with the said Master of Requests Which the King hauing vnderstood he said and bound it with an oath that they were honester men then himselfe or the rest of his Catholike people This persecution being staied by King Lewis the twelfth they continued in peace vnto the raigne of King Francis the first of that name and at what time there was some speech in France of a reformation of Religion they sent two of their Pastors that is to say George Morel of Frassinieres in Dauphine and Peter Masson of Burgundy to Oecolampadius Minister at Basse
thereof being found they all began this iourney through it about the beginning of the night with their wiues and children carrying only with them some victuals for a few dayes This remoue and departure accompanied with outcries and gronings Chass lib. 2. chap. 14 pag. 121. and sorrow to leaue their houses and moueables furnished with al manner of goods and furniture to betake themselues to an vncertaine course to saue themselues by flight leading with them their infants old decrepit people with the pittifull skreechings and outcries of women was a most heauy and lamentable spectacle They arriued the next morrow at the said Castle and from thence they dispersed themselues here and there some to Aragon others to Catalongue others to Toulouze and other Townes that tooke part with them whither it pleased God to conduct them The morrow after in the morning the Pelerins were all strangely astonished for that they had heard no noise all that night but much more because they saw no man stirring that day They came neere to the walls but yet with some doubt fearing lest it should be a baite to draw them within the toyle but yet neuerthelesse finding nothing that might make them any way distrustfull they mounted the breach entred the Citie and cryed out to the Armie that the Albingenses were fled The Legat speedily sent to make publike Proclamations that no man should ceaze vpon any body in his owne right but that all should bee carryed to the great Church of Carcassonne from whence afterwards all things should be brought and sold for the benefit of the Pelerins rewarding euery one according to his merit And so it was done and the Earle of Beziers committed to prison in one of the strongest Towers of Carcassonne CHAP. VI. The Legat Milon establisheth a Captaine of warre for the Church the Earle Simon of Montfort accepteth the charge The Earle Remond is absolued by the Pope The Earle of Beziers dieth The King of Aragon displeased with the Earle Simon Diuers reuolt from his obedience He demandeth of the Prelats a new supply of the Souldiers of the Crosse THe Citie of Carcassonne being in the possession of the Legat hee resolued with himselfe to make it a Towne of warre an Arcenall against the Albingenses and presently hee assembled all the Prelats and great Lords which were yet in his Armie to take counsell how hee might make it a place fit to maintaine a warre of long continuance in time to come Besides he gaue them to vnderstand that notwithstanding heâ— thought it very necessary that there should bee alwaieâ— in the Armies of the Church a Legat of his Holinessâ— to giue authoritie to whatsoeuer should passe yet neuerthelesse it was likewise necessary that there should be a secular Captaine of the warre one that was puissant wise valiant and fearefull absolutely to command all occurrences and to expedite all affaires concerning the warre by his prudent guide and gouernment it not belonging to the capacitie of Ecclesiasticall persons to leade Armies or to make warre and thaâ— therefore they should consult with themselues to caâ—â— their eyes vpon some one of the Lords of the Crosse to whom the conquered Countries might be committed and the care for the direction of this holy warre vntill it might be otherwise determined by the Pope This charge was first offered to the Duke of Burgongue afterwards to the Earle of Enneuers and to the Earle of St. Paul who did all refuse it Which the Legat seeing and perceiuing it would be a difficult matter to agree in the nomination of a Captaine with one mutuall consent they named two Bishops with the Abbot of Cisteaux Legat of the Apostolike Sea and foure men of Armes to whom they gaue power to choose him that hereafter should leade the Armie of the Church They named the Earle Simon of Montfort neere Paris notice whereof being giuen vnto him hee excused himselfe alledging his incapacitie and vnhabilities but in the end he accepted of it after that the Abbot of Cisteaux had laid his commandement vpon him enioyning him by vertue of obedience to accept of the said nomination whereupon hee promised saith the Compiler of the Treasure of Histories to doe his best endeauour to vex the enemies of our Lord The Treasure of Histories in the Treat of Albingenses for so they tearme the Albingenses The Earle Simon of Montfort being Generall of the Armie of the Church made his abode at Carcassonne with foure thousand of his Pelerins which as yet remained of that great Leuy of three hundred thousand men Montreal Fauiaux and Limons contributed great summes of money for the Garison For they were not to harbour those Pilgrims that were not bound to any seruice their time of fortie daies being expited but such Souldiers as were well affected for the guard of that place In this meane time the Earle Remond of Toulouze went to King Phillip Dieu-donne to get his letters of Commendation to the Pope to the end he might bee fully cleered and iustified touching the death of the Monke Frier Peter de Chasteauneuf of the which hee was iniustly forced to confesse himselfe guilty onely because the murder was committed within his territories for which the Legat Milon had imposed an vnâ—ust penance vpon From the Court of the King of France he trauelled to Rome where he did immediatly receiue his absolution of Pope Inâ—ocent the third as if it had beene ready and prouided for him The Pope receiued him with all the curtesie that might be giuing him for a present a rich Cloke and a Ring of great price and granting vnto him full remission and absolution touching the said murder and declaring that he held him in this regard sufficiently iustified The Earle of Beziers being prisoner at Carcassonne dyed shortly after the Earle Simon of Montfort was put in possession of his Lands not without great suspition of poison The Earle Simon made shew to be much grieued therewith and caused him to be interred in the great Church of Carcassonne with great pompe and with his face vncouered to the end that none of his Subiects might afterwards doubt of his death Presently after he made challenge to the inheritance and whole estate of the said Earle by vertue of those donations which the Legat of the Pope had conferred vpon him and that charge that was laid vpon him for the Church In pursuit whereof hee demanded of the King of Aragon the inuestiture of the Earledome of Beziers and the Citie of Carcassonne The King of Aragon would not yeeld thereunto bewraying much discontent to see this house ouerthrowne vnder a pretence of Religion The like discontent did the Duke of Bourgongue shew at what time the charge of the Generall was offered vnto him saying Chassing pag. 126. That hee had Lands and Lordships enough without the accepting of those of the Earle of Beziers and the spoiling him of his goods adding therewithall that he had alreadie suffered wrong enough
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 furuine 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 couscience It is that which I hold to bee the dearest lewell 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. loud voice That the conquests were iust and lawfull that he had his right from the Pope that there was no other purchase but that which hee wonne with the sword that hee had an Armie to answer whomsoeuer should oppose himselfe against it were it the King of Aragon and of strength sufficient to defend himselfe against whomsoeuer The King of Aragon writ to the Earle of Foix that forasmuch as the Legat and the Earle Simon had deceiued him in not restoring those lands and places which they had promised him to restore that hee should no longer put any trust in them since the intent of the Earle Simon was too well knowne That is that hee endeuored to make himselfe great and rich with the goods of another vnder a pretence of Religion if his ambition and auarice were not staied by the common armes and intelligence of those whom hee had already spoyled of their goods and of all others that doe but vnderstand that hauing begunne with their neighbours hee will likewise desire to follow that course without end the couetous desires of men being endlesse That he knew very well that hee did not seeke his alliance out of any desire hee had to be honoured thereby but onely to hinder him from succoring those whom he desired to strip out of all they had He likewise exhorted by letters Roger the sonne of the Earle of Foix to fortifie himselfe against the vniust vsurpations of Montfort otherwise euery man would laugh at him that the Earle Somon was but weake accompanied with a few Pilgrims ready out of discontents to retire themselues that he should therefore enter the field and hee should quickly finde who would assist him The Earle Remond being much afflicted with the alienation of the King of Aragon by the marriage of his sonne with the daughter of Simon of Montfort thought it necessarie to doe his best endeuour to regaine him by another mariage He offered therefore his only son and heire in marriage to a daughter of his vnto which motion the King of Aragon yeelded his consent The Earle Simon was much displeased herewith The Monke of the Valley Sernay Chap. 67. The Monk saith That this marriage made the King of Aragon very infamous and much suspected considering that the Earle of Toulouze was a manifest persecuter of the Church The King of Aragon knowing the murmurings of the Earle Simon did not feare with open mouth to publish his purpose and intent to defend the Earle of Toulouze and of Foix. That the one was his Brother in Law the other his Subiect That he did assure himselfe of a day that God would giue them to make him repent his vniust conquests The Earle Simon being aduertized of the threats of the King of Aragon intreated him to blot out those bad impressions which he had conceiued of him and that he would make him the iudge and stickler of the difference that was betwixt him and the Earle of Foix The Earle of Foix on the other side intreated the King of Aragon to yeeld thereunto who obtained of the Earle Simon the restitution of all his Lands and Territories except Pamies Which exception when his sonne Roger vnderstood he presently said hee would none of that but he knew very well how to recouer that with his sword which very vniustly he had taken from him by foule play and false pretences Wherevpon he entred the field foraged tooke his occasions seasonably and bestowed his time with such incredible diligence in all his exploits that he made the Armie of the Crosse to feele the bloudy effects of his valour On the other side the Earle of Toulouze tooke the aduantage of the time nourisheth those sparkles of diuision seekes to win the loue of the Earle of Foix and they make betweene them and their allies a league offensiue and defensiue against the Earle Simon their common enemy and assemble themselues at Toulouze to binde it by oath and so they prepare themselues for the warre euery one contributing according to his
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 The Monke of the Valleis Sernay Chap. 83. Euery one makes preparation The Earle Simon sent into France to the Archdeacon of Paris and Master Iaques de Vitri to preach the Croisade The King Phillip Anguste would not haue this Leuy to bee made in his Realme but yet neuerthelesse there went a great number from Auuergne Normandie and about Lion The Pilgrims arriued before the King of Aragon had prepared his Armie which gaue great aduantage to the Earle Simon for hee tooke in the meane time Graue came into the Earle dome of Foix tooke Tudelle of the Albingenses Chass chap. 17. pag. 177. and slew all that hee found in it without distinction of age or sex besieged St. Antonin and tooke it and caused thirtie of the principall of that place to bee hanged and strangled and that in cold bloud and after he had granted them their liues and permitted the Conuent of Monkes that was in that place to be sacked and ransacked He besieged Penes and receiued it by composition as he did likewise Marmande He ceased vpon the Castle of Biron neere the Sea The Earle Simon caused Martin Alquay to bee tyed to the taile of a horse and to be dragged through his Armie and afterwards hanged him because he had before deliuered vp the place to the Earle Remond Moreouer the Castle Sarrazin and Agen were yeelded to the Earle Moissac opened the gates to the Souldiers of the Crosse and all this did the Earle Simon before the King of Aragon or his Armie did appeare CHAP. XI The exploits of the Earle Simon before the King of Aragon had prepared his Armie The King of Aragon would come to no composition with the Earle Simon being weakned The Citie of Muret taken by the King of Aragon Battell giuen The King of Aragon is slaine and his Armie dissipated IN the yeere of our Lord one thousand two hundred and thirteene and the thirteenth of September the King of Aragon with the Earle Remond of Toulouze Remond Earle of Foix and the Earle of Comminge and Prince of Bearne appeared in the field with their Armie composed of seuen thousand horses and thirtie thousand foot They tooke Muret a little Citie vpon the borders of the Earledome of Foix seated vpon Garonne but they tooke not the Castle The Earle Simon was of opinion that that was the place where the Armie of his enemies should waste and spend it selfe because the Castle was good and strong and that if he made resistance for sometime it would of it selfe bee scattered and ouerthrowne Hee therefore put himselfe into that Castle with some small number of his most expert and valorous Souldiers and furnihed it with munition and gaue by his presence such assurance vnto the besieged that they thought themselues inuincible of such power is the good opinion that the Souldiers haue of their Captaine to confirme those that are most weake There were some that began to enter into consideration of the proceedings of the King of Aragon in that he would not accept of a composition so aduantagious for himselfe and the Lords of the Albingenses as the Earle Simon had offered him when hee saw the inequalitie of their forces For the Earle Simon had not aboue seuen hundred men on foot and fiue hundred horse It is not good to assault a man that hath no hope to escape but by armes for there is not a more violent Schoole-mistris than necessitie But the King of Aragon thought it no time to smoothe and to flatter after so many insolent brauados against his Lord of which the Monke hath noted some The Monke of the Valleis Sernay Chap. 126. as where hee saith that hee writ certaine letters vnto him without any salutation containing these tearmes that if hee continued in his obstinate defiance hee returned the defiance vpon himselfe and that from thence forward he held not himselfe bound to doe him any seruice and that hee doubted not by the helpe of God to defend himselfe against him and his confederates
into a Sepulcher that he that by his valour had restored all his Subiects to their houses Holaga pag. 164 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 with 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 not without 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 Citie 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 Inuentory 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 Vaur Montpelier and Lotran had granted vnto him and in recompence thereof King Lewis created him Constable of France 1224. in the yeare 1224. To put himselfe into possession King Lewis the eight came into Languedoc and comming to the gates of Auignon he was denied entrance because professing the Religion of the Albingenses they had beene excommunicated and giuen by the Pope to the first Conquerour for then Auignon was no chiefe Citie of the Earldome of Venessin as at this present but belonged to the King of Naples and Sicily The King being much moued with this deniall resolued to besiege it which continued for the space of eight moneths in the end whereof they yeelded themselues about Whitsontide in the yeare 1225. 1225. During this siege almost all the cities of Languedoc acknowledged the king of France by the mediation of Mr. Amelin Archbishop of Narbonne The King established for Gouernour in Languedoc Imbert de Beauieu and tooke his way to France but hee died by the way at Montpensier in September in the yeare 1226. The young Remond Earle of Toulouze was bound by promise to the king to goe to receiue his absolution of Pope Honorius and afterwards he should giue him peaceable possession of all his lands but the death of the king in the meane time happening he saw the Realme of France in the hands of king Lewis a childe and in his minority and the regency in the power and gouernment of his mother Hee thought that hauing to deale with an infant king and a woman regent he might recouer by force that which he had quit himselfe of by agreement He therefore resolued to take armes being encouraged thereunto by the succours of the Albingenses his subjects who were in great hope to maintaine their part in strength and vigor during the Non-age of the King of France but they were deceiued in their proiect For though Lewis the ninth were in his ninoritie yet he was so happie as to haue a wise and a prudent mother if euer there were any For King Lewis the eighth before his death had appointed her the Tutrix or Gardianesse of his sonne and Regent of the Realme knowing very well her great capacity and sufficiency Besides Imbert de Beauieu maintained the authority of the king in Languedoc tooke armes and made opposition against the Earle Remond and the Albingenses The Queene sent him diuers troopes The History of Languedoc sol 31. by the helpe whereof he recouered the Castle de Bonteque neare to Toulouze which was a great hinderance to Imbert and his portizans All the Albingenses that were found within the Castle were put to death and a certaine Deacon with others that would not abiure their Religion by the commandement of the said Imbert Amel the Popes Legat and the aduise of Guyon Bishop of Carcassonne they were burnt aliue 1227. in the yeare 1227. suffring death with admirable constancy The more the persecution increased the more the number of the Albingenses multiplied which Imber of Beauieu perceiuing he went to the Court to let them vnderstand that without succours he could no longer defend the countrey and the places newly annexed to the Crowne and patrimony of France against the Albingenses and the Earle Remond In the meane time whilest he was absent the Earle Remond tooke the Castle Sarrazin one of the strongest places that Imbert had in his keeping and holding the field did much hurt to his enemies Imbert came from France 1228. at the spring of the yeare one thousand two hundred twenty eight accompanied with a great Armie of the Crosse in which there was the Archbishop of Bourges the Archbishop of Aouch and of Burdeaux euery one with the Pilgrims of their iurisdiction The Earle