Electors of Saxony
80-507: Vaudois can refer to: Waldensians , members of a Christian sect also known as Vaudois People who live in the canton of Vaud , Switzerland A Franco-Provençal language dialect spoken in Vaud Topics referred to by the same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the title Vaudois . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change
160-740: A "church within the Church", likely not going further, although they were accused of seeing the Catholic church as the Babylonian harlot. The Waldensians would, later in their history, adopt a number of doctrines from the Reformed churches due to the French Reformer Guillaume Farel , who introduced Reformation theology to Waldensian leaders. They officially adopted Reformed theology at a conference at Cianforan 1532. As
240-543: A 200 kilometre march over hills and mountains towards Piedmont. This event is known as the "Glorious Return" (French: Glorieuse Rentrée ), a name inspired by the recent Glorious Revolution on the British Isles. Due to hardships during the journey, the Waldensians and a number of Huguenot refugees that were with them suffered many losses. A battle with French troops blocking their way took place at Salbertrand;
320-659: A church tradition that began as an ascetic movement within Western Christianity before the Reformation. Originally known as the Poor of Lyon in the late twelfth century, the movement spread to the Cottian Alps in what is today France and Italy . The founding of the Waldensians is attributed to Peter Waldo , a wealthy merchant who gave away his property around 1173, preaching apostolic poverty as
400-690: A former Cathar who converted to Catholicism, published together in 1254 as Summa de Catharis et Pauperibus de Lugduno ( On the Cathars and the Poor of Lyon ). Waldensians held and preached a number of doctrines as they read from the Bible. These included: They also rejected a number of concepts that were widely held in Christian Europe of the era. For example, the Waldensians held that temporal offices and dignities were not meant for preachers of
480-657: A group of 300 Waldensian soldiers were surrounded by 4,000 French dragoons led by Nicolas Catinat near Balsiglia. The three hundred managed to escape when thick mist appeared at night. On the same day, Louis found out Victor Amadeus' secret plans for an alliance with the Emperor and Spain, and instructed Catinat to present the duke with an ultimatum to allow French troops passage through Piedmont to attack Spanish forces in Lombardy (Milan). Catinat received this order on 6 May, left most of his troops to besiege Balsiglia and visited
560-546: A more symbolic view of the bread and wine. Reinerius Saccho gave the following charges against the Waldensians: The Waldensians were associated by councils and papal decrees with the Cathars ; however they differed radically from them: the Waldensians never accepted Gnostic views, they did not reject the sacraments in total and did not believe in mysticism . The Waldensians saw themselves as
640-450: A result of the conference, the Waldensians officially modified some of their previous positions such as their rejection of secular courts. According to legend, Peter Waldo renounced his wealth as an encumbrance to preaching, which led other members of the Catholic clergy to follow his example. Because of this shunning of wealth, the movement was early known as The Poor of Lyon and The Poor of Lombardy. Although they rose to prominence in
720-580: A separate peace with France , under the conditions that the Val Perouse would become Savoyard territory only if no Protestants were allowed to live in it, and all Reformed Christians born in France would be expelled from the Duchy of Savoy-Piedmont. Two years later, on 1 July 1698, Victor Amadeus issued an edict expelling all French-born Protestants from Savoy-Piedmont, which forced about 3,000 of them to leave
800-645: A truce with the Waldensian rebels, and made plans for a joint attack on the French invaders. On 3 June, he concluded an alliance with Spain through Fuensalida , the Spanish governor of Milan. On 4 June, he formed an alliance with the Emperor through his Imperial envoys. The same day, he formally declared war on France to French ambassador Rébenac in Turin, which was received with enthusiastic support from his notables at
880-547: The Archbishop of Turin . Although the Waldensian population (numbering around 15,000 in 1685 ) in certain areas of Piedmont had held privileges of tolerance and freedom of belief and conscience for centuries that were written down in several documents, these long-established rights for Protestant Italians were being violated by new decrees passed by Andrea Gastaldo, member of the Council. Two decrees in particular threatened
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#1732765493211960-829: The Bishop of Mauriana , was involved in reaching a peaceful agreement between Catholics and Waldensians. When the news of the Reformation reached the Waldensian Valleys, the Tavola Valdese decided to seek fellowship with the nascent Protestantism. At a meeting held in 1526 in Laus, a town in the Chisone valley, it was decided to send envoys to examine the new movement. In 1532, they met with German and Swiss Protestants and ultimately adapted their beliefs to those of
1040-622: The Dauphiné to incite revolts, but they did not succeed. Louis XIV determined it was time to crush the Waldensians once and for all, demanding Victor Amadeus' cooperation whose loyalty he felt was starting to fail him. At first, the duke and the king did work together in clearing the Val Pellice and Val di Luserne of Protestant rebels, and surrounded them at their stronghold at the border village of Balsiglia (Balziglia). However, when winter set on in late November and heavy snow started to fall,
1120-561: The Dutch Republic . The eventual break between France and Savoy was caused by the latter's cooperation with Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor in February 1690. To teach the duke a lesson, Louis moved to finish the Waldensians himself, thereby violating Savoy's territory. He planned to occupy Piedmont, and used the Waldensian insurrection and the hostile Duchy of Milan (a Spanish possession east of Savoy) as an excuse. On 2 May 1690,
1200-872: The Edict of Nantes and started purging the Val Chisone of Waldensians, forcefully converting the inhabitants to Catholicism. Pressured by Louis XIV, the new duke Victor Amadeus II decreed an Edict on 31 January 1686 prohibiting the Reformed religion in all of Savoy. Waldensians under pastor Henri Arnaud resisted the ban, and on 22 April a new war broke out. The Waldensians had about 3,000 rebel soldiers at their disposal, which sought to protect around 12,000 non-combatants (mainly women and children). The ducal troops numbered around 4,500, aided by thousands of local militiamen and 4,000 French regulars under marshal Nicolas Catinat . On 22 May, Victor Amadeus marched his forces from
1280-629: The Piedmont region of Northern Italy ), South America, and North America. Organizations, such as the American Waldensian Society, maintain the history of the movement and declare their mission as "proclaiming the Christian Gospel, serving the marginalized, promoting social justice , fostering inter-religious work, and advocating respect for religious diversity and freedom of conscience." Most modern knowledge of
1360-680: The Rescriptum of Bergamo Conference (1218). Earlier documents that provide information about early Waldensian history include the Will of Stefano d'Anse (1187); the Manifestatio haeresis Albigensium et Lugdunensium (c. 1206–1208); and the Anonymous chronicle of Lyon (c. 1220). There are also the two reports written for the Inquisition by Reinerius Saccho (died 1259),
1440-682: The real presence of Christ in the Eucharist and affirmed the necessity of priests for the offering of the Mass . However they denied the right of sinful priests to give the Eucharist. Early forms of the Waldensian Mass sought to recover the early Christian liturgy and contained a sevenfold repetition of the Lord's Prayer , with the Eucharistic elements being consecrated through the sign of
1520-597: The "Arrêt de Mérindol", and assembled an army against the Waldensians of Provence . The leaders in the 1545 massacres were Jean Maynier d'Oppède , First President of the parliament of Provence , and the military commander Antoine Escalin des Aimars , who was returning from the Italian Wars with 2,000 veterans, the Bandes de Piémont . Deaths in the Massacre of Mérindol ranged from hundreds to thousands, depending on
1600-522: The "ablution which is given to infants profits nothing". Thus there seems to have been an understanding among the Waldensians that infants could be saved without baptism. They rejected confession to priests, the practice of venerating the saints, the use of oaths, secular courts and prayers for the dead. They however accepted the Trinity , and the earliest Waldensians staunchly defended the Eucharist. However, at least some of them later began to develop
1680-485: The 10 commandments which put forth their own explanation on the 4th commandment which defended sabbath keeping. Many among the Waldensians claimed that people such as Claudius of Turin and Berengar of Tours were first representatives of the sect, but in modern times claims of the Waldenses to high antiquity are no longer accepted. One school of thought attempts to associate Vigilantius with proto-Waldensians in
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#17327654932111760-545: The 1598 Edict of Nantes , which had guaranteed freedom of religion to his Protestant subjects in France. French troops sent into the French Waldensian areas of the Chisone and Susa Valleys in the Dauphiné forced 8,000 Vaudois to convert to Catholicism and another 3,000 to leave for Germany. In the Piedmont, the cousin of Louis, the newly ascended Duke of Savoy, Victor Amadeus II , followed his uncle in removing
1840-697: The Bricherasio plain towards the valleys, while the French troops flanked the Waldensians from the French fortress at Pinerolo up the Val Chisone. All organised resistance was crushed within three days. About 2,000 Waldensians were killed in the fighting or massacred afterwards, almost all others were taken prisoner and abducted to Turin. Some 3,000 survivors, mostly children, were forcibly converted to Catholicism through baptism and placed in Catholic homes. The remainder of about 8,500 prisoners were incarcerated in several fortresses. Only 3,841 them had survived by
1920-650: The Catholic Church as the harlot of the Apocalypse . They rejected what they perceived as the idolatry of the Catholic Church and considered the papacy as the Antichrist of Rome. La nobla leyczon ( The Noble Lesson ), written in the Occitan language, gives a sample of the medieval Waldensian belief. Once it was believed that this poem dated between 1190 and 1240, but there is evidence that it
2000-597: The Edict of 25 January 1655 led the government to send troops to plunder and burn Waldensian houses, and to station over 15,000 soldiers in their valleys. On 24 April 1655, the Piedmontese Easter commenced: a massacre of 4,000 to 6,000 Waldensian civilians was committed by ducal troops. This caused a mass exodus of Waldensian refugees to the Valley of Perosa (Pérouse), and led to the formation of rebel groups under
2080-662: The European Alps. The Catholic Church viewed the Waldensians as unorthodox, and in 1184 at the Synod of Verona , under the auspices of Pope Lucius III , they were excommunicated. Pope Innocent III went even further during the Fourth Lateran Council in 1215, officially denouncing the Waldensians as heretics . In 1211 more than 80 Waldensians were burned as heretics at Strasbourg ; this action launched several centuries of persecution that nearly destroyed
2160-470: The Gospel; that relics were no different from any other bones and should not be regarded as special or holy; that pilgrimage served only to spend one's money; that meat might be eaten any day if one's appetite served one; that holy water was no more efficacious than rain water; and that prayer was just as effectual if offered in a church or a barn. They were accused, moreover, of speaking blasphemously of
2240-636: The Pinerolo peace agreement. Ducal troops once again occupied the valleys in 1663 and persecuted the Waldensians. The rebels under Janavel waged a guerrilla war against the Savoyard soldiers known as the "War of the Banished", and managed to emerge victorious. On 14 February 1664, the Peace Treaty of Turin was signed, but Léger, Janavel and 26 other Waldensians were not granted amnesty for their part in
2320-815: The Protestant-dominated Dutch Republic and England (which was undergoing the Dutch Protestant-led Glorious Revolution ), he was put under pressure to cease his persecutions of the Protestant Waldensians from 1688. The Genevan Waldensian exiles formed a rebel army of about 900 men under leadership of Henri Arnaud in the summer of 1689, with the objective of returning home and retaking possession of their valleys. On 16 August O.S. or 26 August N.S. they departed from Switzerland first with boats across Lake Geneva , and then on
2400-544: The Protestants defeated them and reached their valleys on 6 September. Farms of the new Catholic settlers in the area were plundered, ducal patrols were ambushed. The Glorious Return, which had been planned for years, was a great success, despite the small numbers and heavy casualties. Louis XIV was alarmed by the surprise attack, fearing this would encourage new Huguenot rebellions at the borders and inside France. Indeed, in autumn 1689, several bands of Protestants invaded
2480-502: The Reformed Church. The Swiss and French Reformed churches sent William Farel and Anthony Saunier to attend the meeting of Chanforan, which convened on 12 October 1532. Farel invited them to join the Reformation and to emerge from secrecy. A Confession of Faith, with Reformed doctrines, was formulated and the Waldensians decided to worship openly in French. The French Bible, translated by Pierre Robert Olivétan with
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2560-543: The Roman Curia welcomed them. They had to explain their faith before a panel of three clergymen, including issues that were then debated within the Church, such as the universal priesthood, the gospel in the vulgar tongue, and the issue of voluntary poverty. The results of the meeting were inconclusive; in that same year, the Third Lateran Council condemned Waldo's ideas, but not the movement itself, while
2640-600: The Sabbath according to the custom of the Jews." Likewise in the twelfth century, Inquisitor Moneta of Cremona railed against the Waldenses for seventh day sabbath keeping after the manner of Jews. Johann Gottfried Hering in 1756 in his Compendieuses Church and Heretic Lexicon defined Sabbatati (a sect of the Waldenses) as those who kept the sabbath with the Jews. In the early Waldenses prose tracts there existed an exposition on
2720-512: The Vaudois remained resistant. After the fifteen days, an army of 9,000 French and Piedmontese soldiers invaded the Valleys against the estimated 2,500 Vaudois, but found that every village had organized a defense force that kept the French and Piedmontese soldiers at bay. Savoyard%E2%80%93Waldensian wars Status quo The Savoyard–Waldensian wars were a series of conflicts between
2800-410: The Vaudois to choose the former; however, the bulk of the populace instead chose the latter, abandoning their homes and lands in the lower valleys and removing to the upper valleys. It was written that these targets of persecution, including old men, women, little children and the sick "waded through the icy waters, climbed the frozen peaks, and at length reached the homes of their impoverished brethren of
2880-404: The Waldensians as early forerunners of the Reformation, in a manner similar to the way the followers of John Wycliffe and Jan Hus , also persecuted by authorities, were viewed. Although the Waldensian church was granted some rights and freedoms under French King Henry IV, with the Edict of Nantes in 1598, persecution rose again in the seventeenth century, with an extermination of
2960-592: The Waldensians attempted by the Duke of Savoy in 1655. This led to the exodus and dispersion of the Waldensians to other parts of Europe and even to the Western Hemisphere. In January 1655, the Duke of Savoy commanded the Waldensians to attend Mass or remove to the upper valleys of their homeland, giving them twenty days in which to sell their lands. Being in the midst of winter, the order was intended to persuade
3040-415: The Waldensians of teaching innumerable errors. Waldo and his followers developed a system whereby they would go from town to town and meet secretly with small groups of Waldensians. There they would confess sins and hold service. A traveling Waldensian preacher was known as a barba . The group would shelter the barba and help make arrangements to move on to the next town in secret. Waldo possibly died in
3120-788: The Waldensians of the Middle Ages could be seen as proto-Protestants , but they mostly did not raise the doctrinal objections characteristic of sixteenth-century Protestant leaders. They came to align themselves with Protestantism: with the Resolutions of Chanforan [ fr ] on 12 September 1532, they formally became a part of the Calvinist tradition. They are members of the Community of Protestant Churches in Europe and its affiliates worldwide. They were nearly annihilated in
3200-487: The Waldensians the chance to return to the Church, and many did, taking the name " Poor Catholics ". However, many did not, and were subjected to intense persecution and were confronted with organised and general discrimination in the following centuries. In the sixteenth century, the Waldensians were absorbed into the Protestant movement, under the influence of early Swiss reformer Heinrich Bullinger . In some aspects
3280-408: The Waldensians themselves had sought to wage war, and both parties were content with maintaining the peace. It was due to the constant pressure exerted by New Council of Propagation of the Faith and the Extermination of Heresy ( Concilium Novum de Propaganda Fide et Extirpandis Haereticis ), an institution of the Roman Catholic Church established in Turin in 1650, that regularly convened in the palace of
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3360-401: The arms of their mothers, clasped by their tiny feet, and their heads dashed against the rocks; or were held between two soldiers and their quivering limbs torn up by main force. Their mangled bodies were then thrown on the highways or fields, to be devoured by beasts. The sick and the aged were burned alive in their dwellings. Some had their hands and arms and legs lopped off, and fire applied to
3440-478: The campaign season was over and the Franco–Savoyard advance stalled. Victor Amadeus requested several times that the Waldensians would pack up and leave his domain again without being attacked, but this offer was refused. He also entered into negotiations with the Swiss cantons for military aid in exchange for leniency towards the Waldensians, and considering allying himself with William III of Orange , now Protestant king of England and stadtholder in most provinces of
3520-512: The community of Waldensians (also known as Vaudois) and the Savoyard troops in the Duchy of Savoy from 1655 to 1690. The Piedmontese Easter in 1655 sparked the conflict. It was largely a period of persecution of the Waldensian Church, rather than a military conflict. Joshua Janavel (1617–1690) was one of the Waldensian military leaders against the Savoyard ducal troops. A previous war between Emmanuel Philibert, Duke of Savoy and his Waldensian subjects raged from 1560 to 1561, beginning when
3600-555: The continued existence of Waldensian communities in Piedmont: the Edict of 15 May 1650, abrogating the old Waldensian privileges, and the Edict of 25 January 1655, which was in fact a religious expulsion order: That every head of a family, with the individuals of that family, of the reformed religion, of what rank, degree, or condition soever, none excepted inhabiting and possessing estates in Lucerne , St. Giovanni , Bibiana , Campiglione , St. Secondo , Lucernetta , La Torre , Fenile and Bricherassio , should, within three days after
3680-432: The country, but only 2565 reached Geneva . Many Waldensian refugees resided in Brandenburg , Württemberg , Hesse and the Palatinate from 1687 to 1689. When the Nine Years' War broke out in September 1688, Victor Amadeus II gradually took the side of the anti-French Grand Alliance (League of Augsburg) , although he would not formally accede to the coalition until June 1690. Due to his intentions to ally himself with
3760-403: The cross . The Waldensians observed the forty-day fast of Lent and practiced Friday abstinence. Both Waldensian and Catholic sources, however, imply that the Waldensians rejected infant baptism, at least to some extent. This is seen from The Noble Lesson , which refers to Christ specifically calling to baptize those who believed, and Reinerius Saccho mentioning how the Waldensians believed that
3840-410: The ducal palace. Savoy formally joined the League of Augsburg against France. Also on 4 June, Victor Amadeus II recalled the Waldensians from abroad back home to Piedmont; the vast majority did indeed return to their valleys in northwestern Italy. Duke Victor Amadeus's June 1690 defection to the League of Augsburg effectively put an end to the Savoyard–Waldensian wars, as the duchy once again tolerated
3920-437: The duke did not respond to the petition, while tensions between his Catholic noblemen and Waldensian peasants rose and eventually escalated to violence on 4 April 1560, and would only cease on 5 July 1561 when the Peace of Cavour was concluded between them. Alexis Muston , a 19th-century French Protestant pastor based in Bordeaux, claimed in L'Israel des Alpes (Paris 1852) that neither Duke Charles Emmanuel II of Savoy nor
4000-401: The duke in the capital city of Turin to demand a free pass. Victor Amadeus was trying to buy time to switch alliances and to get Spain, the Emperor, William III, the Protestant Swiss cantons and the Waldensian troops on his side in exchange for freedom of worship in their valleys according to their old privileges. On 9 May, he granted Catinat's demand for passage through Savoyard territory, but
4080-414: The duke ordered all Protestants in his domain to revert to Catholicism. The duke had been forced to implement this policy by signing the Peace of Cateau-Cambrésis (1559) . The Waldensians petitioned him, saying they had always stayed loyal to him and that their religion was the same as Jesus Christ originally taught it, and swore to become Catholics if their theology could be disproven in a debate. For months
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#17327654932114160-459: The early thirteenth century, possibly in Germany; he was never captured, and his fate remains uncertain. Early Waldensians belonged to one of three groups: They were also called Insabbatati , Sabati , Inzabbatati , or Sabotiers —Some historians such as the Jesuit Jacob Gretser claimed this designation arose from the unusual type of sabot they used as footwear. However, he admitted that his reasoning on this etymology did not have
4240-449: The estimates, and several villages were devastated. The treaty of 5 June 1561 granted amnesty to the Protestants of the Valleys, including liberty of conscience and freedom to worship . Prisoners were released and fugitives permitted to return home, but despite this treaty, the Vaudois, with the other French Protestants, still suffered during the French Wars of Religion in 1562–1598. As early as 1631, Protestant scholars began to regard
4320-528: The gospel from father to son in the same purity and simplicity as it was preached by St Paul. The Waldensian movement was characterized from the beginning by lay preaching, voluntary poverty, and strict adherence to the Bible. Between 1175 and 1185, Waldo either commissioned a cleric from Lyon to translate the New Testament into the vernacular—the Arpitan (Franco-Provençal) language —or was himself involved in this translation work. In 1179, Waldo and one of his disciples went to Rome, where Pope Alexander III and
4400-430: The heads of their sons suspended round their necks. Parents were compelled to look on while their children were first outraged [raped], then massacred, before being themselves permitted to die. This massacre became known as the Piedmont Easter. An estimate of some 1,700 Waldensians were slaughtered; the massacre was so brutal it aroused indignation throughout Europe. Protestant rulers in northern Europe offered sanctuary to
4480-472: The help of Calvin and published at Neuchâtel in 1535, was based in part on a New Testament in the Waldensian vernacular. The churches in Waldensia collected 1500 gold crowns to cover the cost of its publication. Outside the Piedmont, the Waldenses joined the local Protestant churches in Bohemia, France, and Germany. After they came out of seclusion and reports were made of sedition on their part, French King Francis I on 1 January 1545 issued
4560-438: The leaders of the movement were not excommunicated for the moment. The Waldensians proceeded to disobey the Third Lateran Council and continued to preach according to their own understanding of the Scriptures. In 1184, Waldo and his followers were excommunicated and forced from Lyon. The Catholic Church declared them heretics , stating that the group's principal error was contempt for ecclesiastical power. Rome also accused
4640-454: The leadership of Joshua Janavel , Jean Léger and Bartolomeo Jahier, whilst several states including England, France, Germany and the Protestant cantons of Switzerland attempted to intervene diplomatically. On 18 August, the Pirenolo Declaration of Mercy was issued, which constituted a peace treaty between Charles Emmanuel II and the Waldensians. In 1661, the Savoyard government proclaimed that Jean Léger should be put to death, thereby violating
4720-650: The link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Vaudois&oldid=1059990509 " Category : Disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages Waldensians Holy Roman Emperors Building Literature Theater Liturgies Hymnals Monuments Calendrical commemoration The Waldensians , also known as Waldenses ( / w ɔː l ˈ d ɛ n s iː z , w ɒ l -/ ), Vallenses , Valdesi , or Vaudois , are adherents of
4800-441: The local populace complied with. But the quartering order was a ruse to allow the troops easy access to the populace. On 24 April 1655, at 4 a.m., the signal was given for a general massacre. The Duke's forces did not simply slaughter the inhabitants. They are reported to have unleashed an unprovoked campaign of looting, rape, torture, and murder. According to one report by a Peter Liegé: Little children were torn from
4880-501: The medieval history of the Waldensians originates almost exclusively from the records and writings of the Roman Catholic Church, the same body that was condemning them as heretics . Because of "the documentary scarcity and unconnectedness from which we must draw the description of Waldensian beliefs", much of what is known about the early Waldensians comes from reports like the Profession of faith of Valdo of Lyon (1180); Liber antiheresis by Durando d'Osca (c. 1187–1200); and
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#17327654932114960-407: The movement. Waldensians briefly ruled Buda, the capital of Hungary from 1304 to 1307. The Waldensians in turn excommunicated Pope Benedict XI . In 1487 Pope Innocent VIII issued a bull Id Nostri Cordis for the extermination of the Vaudois. Alberto de' Capitanei , archdeacon of Cremona , responded to the bull by organizing a crusade to fulfill its order and launched a military offensive in
5040-409: The presence of Protestant subjects on its territory, and protected them against the persecuting French troops invading Piedmont. It was not until 23 May 1694 that the duke officially annulled the 1686 edicts of persecution with the Edict of Reintegration, allowing the Waldensians to live undisturbed in their old places of residence. This was not to last long, however. On 29 June 1696, Savoy concluded
5120-407: The protection of Protestants in the Piedmont . In the renewed persecution, and in an echo of the Piedmont Easter Massacre of only three decades earlier, the Duke issued an edict on 31 January 1686 that decreed the destruction of all the Vaudois churches and that all inhabitants of the Valleys should publicly announce their error in religion within fifteen days under penalty of death and banishment. But
5200-423: The provinces of Dauphiné and Piedmont . Charles I, Duke of Savoy , eventually interfered to save his territories from further turmoil and promised the Vaudois peace, but not before the offensive had devastated the area and many of the Vaudois had fled to Provence or south to Italy. The theologian Angelo Carletti di Chivasso , whom Innocent VIII in 1491 appointed Apostolic Nuncio and Commissary conjointly with
5280-422: The publication thereof, withdraw and depart, and be withdrawn out of the said places, and translated into the places and limits tolerated by his highness during his pleasure; particularly Bobbio, Angrogne, Vilario, Rorata, and the county of Bonetti. And all this to be done on pain of death, and confiscation of house and goods, unless within the limited time they turned Roman Catholics. The Waldensian refusal to obey
5360-422: The remaining Waldensians. Oliver Cromwell , then ruler in England, began petitioning on behalf of the Waldensians, writing letters, raising contributions, calling a general fast in England and threatening to send military forces to the rescue. The massacre prompted John Milton 's poem on the Waldenses, " On the Late Massacre in Piedmont ". Swiss and Dutch Calvinists set up an "underground railroad" to bring many of
5440-516: The seventeenth century . The main denomination within the movement was the Waldensian Evangelical Church , the original church in Italy . In 1975, it merged with the Methodist Evangelical Church to form the Union of Methodist and Waldensian Churches —a majority Waldensian church, with a minority of Methodists. Another large congregation is the Evangelical Waldensian Church of Río de la Plata in Argentina , Paraguay , and Uruguay . Congregations continue to be active in Europe (particularly in
5520-483: The severed parts to staunch the bleeding and prolong their suffering. Some were flayed alive, some were roasted alive, some disemboweled; or tied to trees in their own orchards, and their hearts cut out. Some were horribly mutilated, and of others the brains were boiled and eaten by these cannibals . Some were fastened down into the furrows of their own fields, and ploughed into the soil as men plough manure into it. Others were buried alive. Fathers were marched to death with
5600-438: The summer of 1686 as part of a government colonisation programme to confiscate and resell the Waldensian properties. The few Waldensians that were not defeated yet, were granted a free pass to Switzerland on 17 October 1686. The duke also promised to release the prisoners, and to return the forcefully Catholicised children back to their Waldensian families. On 3 January 1687, the released prisoners were granted permission to leave
5680-442: The support of the literature of his day because these sources, he said, contained many errors. Other historians such as Melchior Goldast stated that the name insabbatati was because of Sabbath keeping in the manner of Jews. Jesuit Inquisitor Francis Pegne cited in Nicholas Eymerich famous work the Directorium Inquisitorium stated that "many used to think it [insabbatati] came from Sabbath, and that they [Waldenses] observed
5760-550: The survivors north to Switzerland and even as far as the Dutch Republic, where the councillors of the city of Amsterdam chartered three ships to take some 167 Waldensians to their City Colony in the New World (Delaware) on Christmas Day 1656. Those that stayed behind in France and the Piedmont formed a guerilla resistance movement led by a farmer, Joshua Janavel , which lasted into the 1660s. In 1685 Louis XIV revoked
5840-464: The time of Sylvester , others, from the time of the Apostles." In the seventeenth century, Waldensian Pastor Henri Arnaud stated that "the Vaudois are, in fact, descended from those refugees from Italy, who, after St Paul had there preached the gospel abandoned their beautiful country, like the woman mentioned in the apocalypse and fled to those wild mountains where they have to this day, handed down
5920-599: The time they were released in March 1687. About one third of the Waldensian population of the Val Pragela fled to Graubünden in Switzerland or to Germany between 1685 and 1687. A small number of rebels continued fighting until June, and raids continued until November. The valleys, which were only inhabited by about 2,500 of pre-1686 converts to Catholicism, were resettled by Catholic Savoyard subjects from elsewhere in
6000-659: The twelfth century, some evidence suggests that the Waldenses may have existed even before the time of Peter Waldo , perhaps as early as 1100. In 1179, at the Third Council of the Lateran , Pope Alexander III lamented that the Waldenses were a "pest of long existence". While the Inquisitor Reinerius Saccho in the thirteenth century also spoke about the dangers of the Waldenses for among other reasons its antiquity "some say that it has lasted from
6080-405: The upper Valleys, where they were warmly received." By mid-April, when it became clear that the Duke's efforts to force the Vaudois to conform to Catholicism had failed, he tried another approach. Under the guise of false reports of Vaudois uprisings, the Duke sent troops into the upper valleys to quell the local populace. He required that the local populace quarter the troops in their homes, which
6160-640: The uprising. From 1664 to 1684, there was a period of peace and tranquility for the Savoyard Waldensians. Nevertheless, Léger went into exile to Leiden in the Dutch Republic , where he published his book Histoire générale des Églises évangéliques des vallées du Piémont ou vaudoises ("General History of the Evangelical Churches of the Piedmontese or Waldensian Valleys", 1669). In 1685, King Louis XIV of France rescinded
6240-557: The way to perfection . Waldensian teachings came into conflict with the Catholic Church and by 1215 the Waldensians were declared heretical , not because they preached apostolic poverty, which the Franciscans also preached, but because they were not willing to recognize the prerogatives of local bishops over the content of their preaching, nor to recognize standards about who was fit to preach. Pope Innocent III offered
6320-428: Was also withdrawing his soldiers from the Waldensian valleys and secretly preparing his capital for a French siege. Catinat realised the duke was trying to betray him, advanced his army further, and on 20 May, acting on fresh orders of the French king, demanded that Victor Amadeus hand over the citadel of Turin and the fort of Verrua. The duke responded that he would, but again tried to buy more time. On 28 May he signed
6400-598: Was written in the first part of the fifteenth century. The poem exists in four manuscripts: two are housed at the University of Cambridge, one at Trinity College in Dublin, and another in Geneva. The Waldensians taught certain doctrines also held by the Catholic Church, but came into conflict with the Catholic Church by denying some of its sacraments or the manner in which they were performed; The earliest Waldensians taught
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