minicus was a great doer, MarginaliaDominicus, Patriarch of the blacke Fryers enemie to the Waldenses.laboring and preachyng agaynst them. x. yeares together, and caused many of them to be burned, for the which he was highly accepted, and rewarded in the Apostolicall Court, and at length by pope Honorius 3. was made Patriarche of the blacke garde of the Dominicke Friers. Ex Antonino part. 3. tit. 19. cap. 1.

These Albigenses, agaynst the Pope of Rome, had set vp to them selues a Byshop of their owne, named Bartholomæus remainyng about the coastes of Croatia, and Dalmatia, as appeareth by a letter of one of the Popes Cardinals,MarginaliaVid. supra pag. 265. aboue specified, pag. 265. For the whiche cause the Sea of Rome tooke great indignation agaynst the sayd Albigenses, and caused all their faythfull Catholickes and obedienciares to their Churche to rise vp in armour, and to take the signe of the holy Crosse vpon thē, to fight agaynst them. an. 1206. by reason wherof great multitudes of them were pityfully murdered, not onely of them about Tolouse, and Auinion in Fraunce (as is afore to be sene, pag. 271) but also in all quarters, miserable slaughters and burnynges of them long continued, from the reigne of Fridericke 2. Emperour, almost to this present tyme, through the instigation of the Roman Popes.

Paulus Æmylius the French Chronicler in his vj. booke writyng of these Pauperes de Lugduno,MarginaliaEx Paul Æmylo lib. 6. and Humiliati, and diuidyng these two orders from Albigenses, reporteth that the two former orders were reiected of Pope Lucius 3. And in their place, other two orders were approued, to wyt, the order of the Dominicke Friers, and of the Franciscanes. Which seemeth not to be true, for somuch as this Pope Lucius was xx. yeares, before Innocent 3. and yet neither in the tyme of Pope Innocent, the order of these Dominicke Friers was approued, but in the tyme of Pope Honorius the 3. who was xl. yeares after Pope Lucius. Agayne, Bernardus Lutzenbergensis,MarginaliaEx Bernard. Lutzenberg. in Catal. hæret. affirmeth, that these Pauperes de Lugduno, or Waldenses began first. an. 1218. Which if it be true, then must the other report of Æmylius be false, writyng of the secte of Pauperes Lugdunenses, to be refused by Pope Lucius the thyrd who was long before this, in the yeare of our Lord. 1181.

Among other Authours which write of these Waldenses, Ioan. Sleidan. Lib. 16. intreatyng of their continuaunce, and doctrine, thus writeth of them.MarginaliaSee the story of Sleidan. There be (sayth he) in the French Prouince a people called Waldoys. These of an auncient trade and custome among them, do not acknowledge the Byshop of Rome, and euer haue vsed a maner of doctrine somewhat more pure, then the rest, but especially since the commyng of Luther, they haue encreased in more knowledge and perfection of iudgement. Wherfore they haue bene oftētymes cōplayned vpon to the kyng, as though they contemned the Magistrate, and would moue rebelliō, with other such matter falsely surmised agaynst them, more of despite and malice, then of any iust cause of truth. There be of them certaine Townes and Villages, among whiche Merindoll is one. Agaynst these Merindolians sentence was geuen, fiue yeares past, at Aix, being the hygh tribunall seate or iudgement place of Prouince, that all should be destroyed without respect of age or person, in such sort, as that the houses beyng pluckt downe, the Village should be made playne, euen with the grounde, the trees also should be cut downe, and the place altogether made desolate and desert. Albeit though it were thus pronounced, yet was it not then put in executiō, by the meanes of certaine that persuaded the kyng to the contrary, namely one William Bellay, who was at the same tyme, the kynges Lieutenaunt in Piedmont. But at the last, the 12. day of April. an. 1545. Iohn Minerius President of the Counsell of Aix, calling the Senate, read the kynges letters, commaundyng them to execute the sentence giuen. &c.

MarginaliaThis confession worthy of perpetuall memory, you shall see more largely set out, in Henr. Pantaleon, writing of the destruction of Cabriers & Merindoll, and also in the Frēch storie. Moreouer concernyng the confession, and the doctrine of the sayd Merindolians receaued of auncient tyme from their forefathers the Waldenses, thus it foloweth in the said booke and place of Iohn Sleidan:

At last (sayth Sleidan, after hee had described what great crueltie was shewed agaynst them) when the report hereof was bruted in Germanie, it offended the myndes of many: and in deede, the Suitzers, who were then of a contrary Religion to the Pope, entreated the Kyng, that hee would shewe mercy to such as were fled. Whereunto the sayd kyng Frances, made aunswere in this wise: pretendyng that he had iust cause to do, as he dyd, inferryng moreouer, that they ought not to be carefull, what he dyd within his dominions, or how he punished his offendours, more then he was about their affaire. &c. Thus heard was the kyng agaynst them, notwithstandyng (sayth Sledan)MarginaliaEx Ioan. Sledano. lib. 16. that he, the yeare before, had receaued frō the sayd his subiectes of Merindol, a confession of their fayth and doctrine. The Articles wherof, were, that they, accordyng to Christiā fayth, MarginaliaThe confession and fayth of the Waldenses in Merindoll.cōfessed, first God the father, creator of all things: The sonne, the onely Mediatour and Aduocate of mankind. The holy spirite, the cōfortour, and instructour of all truth. They cōfessed also the Church, which they acknowled to be the felowship of gods elect, wherof Iesus Christ is the head. The ministers also of the Church they did allow, wishyng that such which did not their duety, should be remoued.

And as touchyng Magistrates, they graunted likewise the same to be ordeyned of God, to defend the good, and to punish the transgressours. And how they owe to him, not loue onely, but also tribute, and custome, and no man herein to be excepted, euē by the example of Christ, who payed tribute himselfe. &c.

Likewise of Baptisme, they confessed the same to be a visible, and an outward signe, that representeth to vs the renewyng of the spirite, and mortification of the members.

Furthermore, as touchyng the Lordes Supper, they sayd and confessed the same to be a thankesgeuyng, and a memoriall of the benefite receaued through Christ.

Matrimony they affirmed to be holy and instituted of God, and to be inhibited to no man.

That good workes are to be obserued and exercised of all men, as holy Scripture teacheth.

That false doctrine, which leadeth men away from the true worshyp of God, ought to be eschewed.

Briefly and finally, the order and rule of their fayth, they confessed to be the old and new Testament, protestyng that they beleued all such thynges as are conteyned in the Apostolicke Creede: Desiryng moreouer, the kyng to geue credite to this their declaration of their fayth, so that what soeuer was informed to hym to the contrary, was not true, and that they would well proue, if they might be heard.

And thus much concernyng the doctrine and confession of the Merindolians out of Sleidan: and also concernyng their descent and ofspryng from the Waldenses.

¶ The history of the persecutions and warres agaynst the people called Waldenses or Waldois in the valleys of Angrongne, Luserne, S. Martin, Perouse, and others, in the countrey of Piemont, from the yeare. 1555. to the yeare of our Lord. 1561.  

Commentary     Close

Angrogne

Having dwelt extensively on the fate of the Vaudois in Calabria, and then Provence, it was natural for Foxe to turn to that of the Vaudois of the Hautes-Alpes. The habitation of the region was dictated by the steeply-sided mountain valleys which furnished passes through the Alps from France to Italy. The majority of the Vaudois communities in the later middle ages were concentrated to the east of the passes on the Italian (Piedmont) side, in the middle and upper reaches of the Chisone, and further south in the valleys of the Germanesca, the Pèllice, the Anrogna and the Luserna. The Piedmont was part of the duchy of Savoy although, during the period in question (from 1536 to 1559) it had fallen to a French invasion. The French kingdom set about creating its own institutions for the duchy, especially a Parlement (senior legal tribunal) in Turin. There were no changes, however, to the ecclesiastical jurisdictions. Foxe does not seem to have had a very clear sense of the geography of the region from his account.

[Back to Top]

Foxe had not included any of this material in the 1563 edition. His usual repertoire of sources (Pantaleon, Sleidan, Crespin (1560)) for the Vaudois had not alerted him to the graphic recent history of those in the High Alps. By the appearance of the 1570 edition, however, he had access to the main source upon which he would rely for the whole of this long section. The Histoire des persecutions & guerres faites depuis l'an 1555 iusques en l'an 1561. contre le peuple appelé Vaudois, qui est aux valées d'Angrongne, Luserne, saint Martin, la Perouse & autres du païs de Piemont had been published in 1562, probably in Geneva. It was then translated into Italian (see Storia delle persecuzioni e guerre contro il popolo chiamato valdese... ed. E. Balmas and C.A. Theiller (Turin, 1975) and also Latin (Historia memorabilis persquutionum, etc. gallice primum in lucem edita - the translation being undertaken by Christophe Richard 'de Bourges'). The preface to the original French edition made it clear that the work was based on the narratives which had become current in Geneva through its growing contacts with the area, especially after the beginning of its missionary activity there in c.1555. The anonymous author emphasised that he had wanted to provide an unvarnished truth, replicating the accounts as they had been provided and without too much authorial intervention: 'Cette histoire a esté escrite en langage le plus simple qu'on a peu. Elle a esté recueillie par gens craignans Dieu, qui n'ont point amplifié les matières [….] On s'est contenté de vous reciter fidelement et en toute simplicité comment les choses se sont passées'. Foxe's narrative retains some of that quality.

[Back to Top]

Mark Greengrass
University of Sheffield