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THE ISKA^L OF THE ALPS.

A COMPLETE
HISTOEY OF THE WALDENSES
AND THEIR COLONIES;
PREPARED IN GREAT PART FROM UNPUBLISHED DOCUMENTS.

By ALEXIS MUSTON, .D.D.,
1 M
PASTOE OF THE PEOTESIANT CHUECH AT BOTJEDEAUX, DE&ME, FEANCE.

TRANSLATED
Br the REV. JOHN MONTGOMERY, A.M.
WITH A DOCUMENTARY APPENDIX ON THE ORIGIN OF THE WALDENSES,
BY THE TRANSLATOR.
VOL. II.

LONDON:
BLACKIE & SON, PATERNOSTER BUILDINGS, E.C.;
GLASGOW AND EDINBURGH.
1875.

GLASGOW :
W. t*. SLACKIE AND CO., PRINTERS*
VILX.AFIELD.

CONTENTS.

VOL. II.

PART THIRD,
1-T.03I THE RETURN Or THE VAUDOIS INTO THEIR OWN COUNTRY, TO THEIR
CIVIL AND POLITICAL EMANCIPATION IN PIEDMONT. Page
Chapter I. — Condition op the exiled Vaudois in Switzerland, Bran
denburg, WtJRTEMBERG, AND THE PALATINATE. (A.D. 1687 tO A.D.
1688.)— Frederic William the Great, Elector of Brandenburg, gives an
asylum to Vaudois exiles — His generosity towards them — Their arrival in
Brandenburg — Refugees of Pragela — Negotiations : the Swiss Cantons and
the Elector — Refugees of the Piedmontese Talleys — Their progress to
Brandenburg — Hardships and difficulties — Settlement of a portion of the
Vaudois at Stendal — Settlements at Burg and Spandau — Difficulties created
by the people of Stendal and Burg — Uncharitableness of bigoted Lutheran
ministers in Wiirtemberg towards the Vaudois — Greater liberality of the
laity and of the duke — Further difficulties and trials — A number of the
Vaudois compelled to return from Wiirtemberg to Switzerland  1
Chapter II. — The state op the Valleys in the absence op their Inha
bitants; AND FIRST ATTEMPTS OP THE EXILED VAUDOIS TO RETURN TO
their own Country, (a.d. 1686 to 1689.) — The Vaudois who had be
come Catholics — -The faithful witnesses in the prisons of Piedmont —
Sale of the forfeited lands — Tabular view — The new purchasers — Neglect
and desolation — The exiled Vaudois conceive the project of returning to
their valleys — The first attempt of a small number frustrated by the Ber
nese government — Three persons sent by the Vaudois to explore the route
to the valleys — Secret consultations in Janavel's house — Plan of a new
expedition agreed upon — The secret having transpired, the expedition is
relinquished — The situation of the Vaudois in Switzerland becomes more
uncomfortable in consequence of this abortive project — State of feeling
amongst them — They receive encouragement from the Prince of Orange
and others — Janavel, foreseeing a rupture between France and Savoy,
recommends the time as a favourable one for their enterprise — Captain
Bourgeois — Janavel's instructions to his compatriots  17
Chapter III. — The glorious Return op the Vaudois, under the con-

vi CONTENTS. Page
DUCT op Ap.naud, and according to the directions op Janavel.
(August to September, 1689.)— The Vaudois assemble on the shore of
the Lake of Geneva, and embark by night— The precautions employed
to divert attention from their proceedings— Numbers, however, arrested
by the Swiss governments— The embarkation— Amaud and Turrel, leaders
of the expedition— The march begun— The pastor Chyon taken prisoner—
The Vaudois seize hostages— They pass without impediment by Yvoire,
Viu, and St. Joire— A show of opposition at Cluse is soon overcome—
They carry the bridge at Salanches by force— They pass over the moun
tains of Le Praz and Haute Luce— Sufferings from incessant rain— The
Col Bonhomme— Scez— St. Foi— Mount Iseran— They capture a cardi
nal's equipages — Sufferings in crossing Mount Cenis— Combat with the
garrison of Exilles— Some fall behind through fatigue and exhaustion,
and are taken prisoners — Combat and victory at Salabertrans— The exiles
obtain the first view of their native mountains — They arrive at the Balsille
— A half company of Piedmontese soldiers taken prisoners and put to the
sword— Public worship at Prnl— Victory at the Col Julian— Public wor
ship and solemn covenant on the hill of Sibaoud  33
Chapter IV. — Struggle op the Vaudois, in their own Valleys, against
the united forces op Victor Amadeus II. and Louis XIV. (Siege op
the Balsille.) (September, 1689, to June, 1690.)— Expedition of the
Vaudois against Le Villar— Destruction of Bobi by the enemy— The Vau
dois take Rora — Their generous conduct— Hardships and privations —
Their cause seems to become more desperate than ever— They are de
serted by many of the French refugees — Turrel, their commander, with
draws from them in despair — Firmness and courage ofArnaud — Council
of war at Rodoret — The Vaudois retire to the Balsille — Unfavourable
reports of their expedition in the journals of the time — Description of the
Balsille — Efforts of the Vaudois to secure provisions for winter — Corn,
which has been covered with snow all winter, is reaped by the Vaudois in
spring — Peter Philip Odin chosen a leader — Piety of the Vaudois — The
Marquis D'Ombrailles approaches the Balsille arid retires — Courageous
refusal of all terms of capitulation — Death of three Vaudois captives — The
Balsille assailed by Catinat and the Marquis De Parelles — Sufferings of
the assailants from severity of weather — Complete failure of the attack on
the fort — Renewed attack by the Marquis De Feuquieres — The Vaudois
retire from intrenchment to intrenchment, and at last make a wonderful
retreat by night to the higher parts of the mountains — They overcome a
detachment of troops at Pramol — Political events favourable to the Vau
dois — Separation of Piedmont from the alliance of France — War declared
against France — The Vaudois are received into favour by the Duke of
Savoy — Continued struggles with the French troops  54
Chapter V. — Rui>ture between France and Savoy, War which fol
lowed IT, AND NEW SITUATION OP THE VAUDOIS, NOW BECOME DEFENDERS
op Victor Amadeus II. (June, 1690, to September, 1694.) — Exorbitant
demands of Franco upon Piedmont — Victor Amadeus concludes an alli
ance with Austria, and goes to war with France — He favours the Vaudois,
in order to enjoy the support of their arms — He encourages French Pro
testant refugees in Piedmont — Return of Vaudois from Brandenburg with
their families — Generosity of the Elector of Brandenburg — the Vaudois

CONTENTS. vii
Page
regiment in Piedmont — Successful incursion into the valley of the Guill
in Dauphiny — Expeditions and combats — The Vaudois leaders in the pre
sence of Victor Amadeus — Gallantry of the Vaudois at the capture of the
fort of St. Michael, near Lucerna — Victory over the French at Briqueras—
—The French abandon the valley of St. Martin — Defeat of Victor Ama
deus at Staffarde — Savoy subjected to France — The French again make
themselves masters of the valley of St. Martin — They are repulsed from
that of Lucerna — Faithful adherence of the Vaudois to Victor Amadeus —
Their incursions into Dauphiny — M. De Feuquieres, the French general,
suffers severe loss at Lucerna— Various conflicts and events of war  75
Chapter VI. — Continuation and Conclusion op the War between Louis
XIV. and Victor Amadeus ; Participation op the Vaudois in these
events, and their Formal Re-establishment in the Valleys. — Re
verses sustained by the Duke of Savoy in the war — Prince Eugene and
the Duke of Schonberg come to his assistance — Decree of rehabilitation in
favour of the Vaudois in 1692 — Invasion of Dauphiny by the forces of the
Piedmontese and their allies — Siege and capture of Embrun — Surrender
of Gap — Illness of the Duke of Savoy, and close of the campaign of 1 692
— Catinat, the French commander, assumes the offensive in the beginning
of 1693 — The Duke of Savoy defeated in the plains of Marsaille — Catinat
desolates Piedmont — The Vaudois harass the French army— Victor Ama
deus publishes a new edict in favour of the Vaudois, in May, 1 694 — Suc
cessful enterprises of the Vaudois against the French — Victor Amadeus is
detached from the league against the King of France, and enters into a
new alliance with France  89
Chapter VII. — Protest op the Court op Rome against the Re-estab
lishment op the Vaudois ; Firmness of Victor Amadeus II. ; Re-organi
zation op the Vaudois Church; New Edict of Expulsion in 1698. —
Analysis of the edict of May 23, 1694 — Artful reservations of tyranny —
Irritation of the court of Rome — Papal condemnation, and pretended abro
gation of the edict — The Duke of Savoy resists this usurpation of Rome.
and the senate of Turin annuls the papal decree — Efforts of the Vaudois
for the re-organization of their church — Pensions granted to the Vaudois
pastors and schoolmasters by Queen Mary II. of England — Assistance
obtained also from Holland — Acts of the Vaudois Synod concerning the
observance of the Sabbath — Other acts and proceedings of the Synod —
Church government and discipline — The Duke of Savoy refuses to permit
the incorporation of the Vaudois of Pdrouse with the church of the valleys
— Fresh acts of injustice and severity against the Vaudois — Secret article
in the treaty of peace between France and Piedmont — Edict requiring all
French Protestants to leave the dominions of the Duke of Savoy — Emi
gration of more than 3000 persons  100
Chapter VIII. — History of the Vaudois Colonies pounded in Wurtem-
berg apter the Expulsion of 1698. — Part First, (a.d. 1698 to a.d.
1699.) — Expulsion of ministers and people not natives of the valleys —
Emigration from the valley of Pragela — Proposal for the establishment of
n- Vaudois colony near Gochsheim, in Wiirtemberg — Generous conduct
and enlightened views of the Count of Neustadt — He resists attempted
intolerance — Three thousand Protestants leave the valleys — Their recep
tion in Switzerland — Their negotiations with the government of Wiirtem-

Vlll CONTENTS. Pail'
berg — Difficulties — Energy and activity of Arnaud — Walkenier negotiates
for the exiles with the government of Wiirtemberg, as plenipotentiary of
Holland and other Protestant powers — Terms agreed upon — Pensions for
pastors and schoolmasters obtained from England  J 11
Chapter IX. — History op the Vaudois Colonies pounded in Wurtem-
berg after the Expulsion op 1 60S. — Part Second, (a.d. 1689 to a.d.
1824.) — The Vaudois settlers in the bailiwick of Maulbronn — The settle
ment at Pirouse, in the bailiwick of Leonberg — Pinaclie, in the bailiwick
of Wiermsheim — Lucerna or Wurmberg — Sevres — Chorres and Sengach,
in the bailiwick of Diirmentz — Mulacre — Selwnberg — Reminiscences of
Arnaud — Grand Villar, near Knittlingen — Disinclination of some of the
exiles to settle in any place away from their own valleys — Remonstrances
of Walkenier — New Bngstedt, in the bailiwick of Calw — Another emigra
tion from the valley of Pragela — Settlement at UTordhausen — Habits of
the people — Endeavours made to induce the Vaudois churches to unite
themselves with the National Lutheran Church — Introduction of the Ger
man language in their public services — The union with the National Church
is finally accomplished  123
' Chapter X  History of the Vaudois Colonies pounded in Hesse-Darm
stadt AND OTHER PARTS OF GERMANY, IN CONSEQUENCE OP THE EXPUL
SION OP 1698, AND SUBSEQUENT EMIGRATIONS. (A.D. 1698 to A.D. 1818.)
— Application to the Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt in 1686 — Letters-
patent authorizing the settlement of Vaudois in Hesse-Darmstadt in 1699
— Description of the Vaudois valleys — Painful consequences of the French
Revolution — Emigrations to America — Vaudois settlements in the grand
duchy of Baden — Vaudois settlement of Waldensherg, in Hanau — Vaudois
colony of DornTiolzliausen, near Homburg — Minor settlements  138
Chapter XI. — History of the Vaudois op Pragela and the adjacent
Valleys. — First Period. — The Valleys op Bardoneche and op the
Cluson under the reign op Charles IX. (Introduction ; commencing
with the Middle Ages. History down to 1574.) — Description of the valley
of Pragela— Flourishing state of the church there before the revocation of
the Edict of Nantes — The church in Pragela in earlier times — The Synod
of Le Laus before 1 332 — Vaudois missionaries in France — Temporal condi
tion of the inhabitants of Pragela — Pragela under the Dauphins — Inquisi
tors and persecution in the fourteenth century — Persecutions in the six
teenth century— The Vaudois of France and Piedmont mutually support
one another — The religious wars in France — The Baron Des Adrets dis
graces the Protestant cause by his proceedings in Pragela — Unhappy con
sequences to the Protestants of the valley — Combats and massacres — Ex
ploits of the Vaudois at Exilles — The Edict of Amboise — New dangers 
Fast— St. Bartholomew's Day — Conversion of the people of Pramol to
Protestantism — The Vaudois defend themselves against Birague, the
French governor of Pignerol — The " War of La Rade." — Accession of
Henry III. to the throne of France  157
Chapter XII. — History of the Vaudois of Pragela and the adjacent
Valleys. — Second Period. — Lesdiguieres in Pragela. (a.d. 1574 to
a.d. 1601.) — Reign of Henry III. in France — The League — Agitations
in the French Vaudois valleys — Assassins — Jesuits — Rumours of impend
ing danger— Settlement of Popish priests in the parishes of the Plcbanie of

CONTENTS. IX
Page
Oulx— Progress of the Protestant cause— Death of La Cazetto— Lesdi
guieres invades Piedmont— Various events of the war— Unjust attempt to
deprive the Vaudois of Pinaehe of their place of worship — Attempt to
massacre them — Polemical discussions — Letter of Lesdiguieres to the
Piedmontese Vaudois, promising them protection — Apostasy of Captain
Jahier of Pramol — His miserable death— Peace of ICO 1 between France
and Savoy  17 i
Chapter XIII. — History of the Vaudois of Pragela and the adjacent
Valleys. — Third Period. — TnE Valley op Perouse under the domi
nion op Charles Emmanuel, (a.d. 1601 to a.d. 1 628.) — The privilege of
public worship denied to the inhabitants of Pragela — United declaration of
the Vaudois — Efforts of the Romish clergy to make proselytes — The Duke
of Savoy himself endeavours to induce some of the principal inhabitants of
Pinaehe to join the Church of Rome — Decree of the parliament of Gre
noble — Inoperative edict of the Duke of Savoy — The Vaudois of Perouse
are induced, by crafty counsel, to separate themselves from the common
union of the Vaudois, and to refuse payment of their share of a sum which
the valleys were to pay for confirmation of privileges — They soon find
that they have fallen into a dangerous snare — Orders given for the demo
lition of six of their places of worship — The Vaudois attacked by French
troops at St. Germain — They assemble in such formidable numbers that
the troops retire — An amnesty — Political relations of France and Savoy.... 18.1
Chapter XIV. — History op the Vaudois of Pragela and op the adja
cent Valleys. — Fourth Period. — From the Conquest of Piedmont by
Louis XIII. to the Piedmontese Easter, (a.d. 1 629 to a.d. 1655.) — The
last religious war in France — Fall of Rochelle — Invasion of Piedmont by
Louis XIII. — His edict in 1629 for the establishment of Romish worship
in the valleys of Exilles, Bardoneche, Sezane, and Pragela — Great triumphs
of the French arms — Charles Emmanuel dies of grief, and Victor Ama
deus becomes Duke of Savoy — Peace — Prosperity of the Vaudois Church
in Pragela after these events — New restrictions imposed — The Vaudois
obtain the extension of their privileges in terms of the Edict of Nantes — ¦
They still increase in numbers and prosperity — Accession of Louis XIV.
— The Piedmontese Vaudois take refuge in the French valleys after the
Piedmontese Easter — The Vaudois in the French dominions are subjected
to new hardships  1'j.J
Chapter XV. — History of the Vaudois op Pragela and the adjacent
Valleys. — Fifth Period. — From the Introduction op the Jesuits to
the Demolition of the Protestant Places of Worship in Pragela.
(a.d. 1656 to a.d. 1685.) — Jesuit missionaries in Pragela — Controversies
— Odious means employed to secure the success of the Jesuit missions-
Apostasy and subsequent melancholy history of Captain Guyot — Bribes and
every kind of influence used to procure abjurations — Dragonnades — New
restrictions imposed upon the Vaudois — Increasing hardships — Strange
quotations from documents of the time, illustrative of the character of its
events and parties — Settlement of six priests in the parishes of Pragela in
1678 — The utmost fervour of proselytism — The exercise of the Protestant
religion prohibited in Pragela five months before the revocation of the
Edict of Nantes — Demolition of places of worship— Extensive Emi
gration  203
-Vol. II. 6

X CONTENTS. Po.gt
Chapter XVI. — History of the Vaudois of Pragela and of the adjacent
Valleys. — Sixth Period. — From the Revocation of the Edict of
Nantes to the Treaty of Utrecht. Sufferings and temporary Re
storation of the Protestant Church in Pragela. (a.d. 1 685 to a.d.
1713.) — Le Tellier — Bossuet — The Vaudois who remain in Pragela fre
quent places of worship within the Piedmontese territory — Persecution in
Pragela — The persecuting church enriched by the spoils of the persecuted
people and the properties of the exiles — Part of Pragela devastated by the
troops of the Duke of Savoy — Successive emigrations — Protestantism re
vives a little in Pragela in the beginning of the 18th century — The valley
of St. Martin, and part of that of Perouse, are induced to constitute them
selves into a republic, under the illusory protection of Louis XIV., which
subsists for four years — The Vaudois of Pragela enjoy better prospects for
s> time after the valley has become part of the Piedmontese dominions —
Deputies from Pragela at the Vaudois synod of 1709 — The government
refuses to recognize their incorporation with the rest of the Vaudois
church — The Vaudois of all the valleys partake of the Lord's Supper at
Usseaux — Severe measures adopted by the Piedmontese government
against the Vaudois of Pragela — Political arrangements unfavourable to
them between the governments of Piedmont and France  221
Chapter XVII. — History of the Vaudois of Pragela and the adja
cent Valleys. — Seventh Period: from the Treaty of Utrecht, in
1713, to the First Emigrations caused by the Edicts which pre
ceded that op 1730. — Obligations incurred by Victor Amadeus in his
treaties, in favour of the Vaudois — How he got quit of these obligations
—Measures adopted against the Vaudois of Pragela during his absence in
Sicily — Exertions of the King of Prussia on their behalf — Beneficial
interference of the English ambassador at Turin — The pastors of the
other parishes prevented from entering Pragela to minister — Severities
employed against the elders of Pragela, to prevent their conducting reli
gious meetings — Famine — Advantage taken of it for proselytism — Pro
hibition of all religious meetings— The case of Peter Ronchail and his
family — The people of Pragela forbidden to attend public worship in the
other valleys— Other tyrannical measures— All the inhabitants of the
valleys acquired by the treaty of Utrecht are ordained to have their
children baptized in the Church of Rome — Iniquitous law regarding inheri
tance—Compulsory observance of festivals— Illustrative instances of
persecution— Victor Amadeus shows the most ungrateful forgetfulness of
the former services of the Vaudois— Friendship shown to them by Mr.
Edges, the British ambassador— Gradual increase of intolerance; emigra
tions, and wearing out of the Vaudois church in Pragela  236
Chapter XVIIL— History of the Vaudois of Pragela and the adja
cent Valleys. Eighth Period : Extinction of the Vaudois Church
in Pragela. (a.d. 1729 to a.d. 1733.) -Famine of 1729-Base advan
tage taken of it for the advancement of the work of proselytism— Con
versation between a Vaudois and a Jesuit— Edict of 20th June, 1730—
Immorality of the persecuting king— Instances illustrative of the perse
cution—The case of Jacob Perron— Many go into exile— Attempts to
prevent emigration— Victor Amadeus resists the remonstrances of the
King of Prussia— Continued annoyances to which the Vaudois are sub-

CONTENTS. XI
. , , Pagt
jected, and especially those who had been baptized in the Church of Rome
—Trials and difficulties of the Vaudois pastors— Traces of lingering
Protestantism in Pragela— Burning of Bibles there in 1838  251
Chapter XIX.— History of the Vaudois from the Expulsion of 1698
to that of 1730. The Duke op Savoy in the Valley of Lucerna—
The Republic in that of St. Martin.— Results of the edicts of expul
sion—Good brought out of evil— Pastors obtained from Switzerland-
Zeal of the ministers— Loyalty of the people— Political events— Disputes
concerning the succession to the throne of Spain— Political perfidy of
Victor Amadeus— War between France and Savoy— Victor Amadeus seeks
again to win the support of the Vaudois— Services rendered to him by
their militia — New French refugees arrive in the valleys— Events of the
war— Successes of the French— Exploits of the Vaudois— The valley of
St. Martin becomes a republic under French protection— Brief and unfor
tunate existence of the republic of St. Martin— Continued triumphs of the
French — The Duke of Savoy finds refuge amongst the Vaudois — Ho
makes further efforts to conciliate them— Final defeat of the French at
Turin — The Duke of Savoy regains possession of his lost territories —
Further progress of the war— Treaty of Utrecht— Afflicted condition of
the Vaudois, after the termination of the war — The Vaudois subjected to
many vexations, through the influence of the Propaganda— Expulsion of
Protestants of foreign birth, in 1730 — Religious and moral condition of
the Vaudois at this period  26G
Chapter XX. — Influence of the Philosophy op the Eighteenth Cen
tury on the Vaudois Church, and Progress of Events down to the
French Revolution, (a.d. 1730 to a.d. 1792.)— Persecution continued
in many forms of vexation — Growth and effects of new ideas — Children
seized and retained by Papists — Popish missions in the valleys — Insin
cerity in replies to remonstrances of the British Government — Vexatious
prohibitions and restrictions — Poverty and distress of the Vaudois — Their
services to the King of Sardinia in his wars — Battle of Assiette — Con
tinued vexations on the part of the Popish clergy — The Befuge of Virtue
—The Vaudois Table instituted — Origin of the Vaudois congregation at
Turin — The Vaudois churches of the French Alps begin to display signs
of life— Unhappy effects of the infidel philosophy of the period on the
spiritual character of the Vaudois pastors and church  291
Chapter XXI. — The Vaudois Valleys during the Wars which the
French Revolution caused in Italy, (a.d. 1789 to a.d. 1801.) —
Prudent reserve of the Vaudois at the outbreaking of the French Revolu
tion — Piedmont, allied with Austria, at war with France — The Vaudois
troops on the frontier under General Gaudin — Popish conspiracy for a
massacre of the defenceless Vaudois families — It is discovered and defeated
by General Gaudin — Odious conduct of the Piedmontese government upon
this occasion — Fidelity of the Vaudois to their sovereign — Jealous tyranny
of the government— General Zimmerman intercedes for the Vaudois —
Pretended favours granted by the government — Continued friendship of
Zimmerman — Accession of Charles Emmanuel IV. — Petition of the
Vaudois and reply of the king — Attempts to conciliate the Vaudois when
their support became very important — Some ameliorations of their con
dition — Their treatment varies with political circumstances — Abdication

Xil CONTENTS. Page
of Charles Emmanuel IV. — Suwarrow and the Russian army in Piedmont
— Great kindness of M. Rostan, pastor of Bobi, to wounded French
soldiers — Suchet's public acknowledgment of it — Characteristic proclama
tion of Suwarrow — The valleys threatened with pillage and devastation
by Russian troops — Successful appeal of M. Appia to the Russian com
manders — Illustrative anecdotes of Suwarrow, Prince Bagratiou, and
other Russian officers — The manners and habits of the Russian troops —
Hatred of the Popish priests against the Vaudois exhibited in malicious
falsehoods assidiously told to the Russian generals — Napoleon's victories
—The battle of Marengo — The Cis-alpine Republic — The Vaudois become
possessed of equal rights with other citizens  303
Chapter XXII. — State op the Vaudois under the Dominion op France.
(a.d. 1799 to a.d. 1814.) — The two periods of French dominion in Pied
mont — Ridiculous proclamation of the provisional government of 1798 — ¦
The new organization and political arrangements — Changes favourable to
the Vaudois and to liberty — Addresses of Paul Appia to his Vaudois bre
thren — The English subsidies withdrawn from the Vaudois — Distress of
the pastors — Peyraui chosen moderator — Napoleon at Milan — Interview of
Peyrani with the emperor — New ecclesiastical arrangements — Congratuhv
tory address of the Vaudois to Napoleon — Official installation of pastors
under the new French law — Earthquake of 1808— Downfall of Napoleon,
and of the French Empire  331
Chapter XXIII. — State of the Vaudois since the Restoration, (a.d.
1814 to a.d. 1842.) — The restoration of the house of Savoy in 1 814  Victor
Emmanuel IV. lands at Genoa — Deputation of the Vaudois — Their petition
— Revival of old edicts unfavourable to the Vaudois— Servile subjection
of the king to the priesthood— His benevolent dispositions counteracted by
their influence— Deputations — Restrictions and mitigations of them 
Friendly interposition of the British ambassador — The Congress of Vienna
— Enforcement of observance of festivals of the Church of Rome — Napo
leon leaves Elba— The loyalty of the Vaudois suspected— Friendship
shown by Count Crotti— Conduct of the Piedmontese government, with
regard to persons who had held office under the French government— Case
of M. Geymet— The ecclesiastical domains restored to the Church of
Rome— Question as to the rents for the time during which the Vaudois had
enjoyed them— Poverty of the Vaudois pastors— Edict of 1806, affording
some relief to the Vaudois— Social progress, increasing liberality of the
government, and improvement of the condition of the Vaudois  349
Chapter XXIV.-Religious Revival and Foundatton of various Insti
tutions in the Vaudois Valleys, (a.d. 1824 to a.d. 1817.) Felix Nefp
-The Hospital-The College-The Discipune-The Schools-
BECKWiTH-Circumstances providentially conspiring to preserve the unity
of the Vaudois body-Felix Neff-Temporary separation of some zealous
Christians from the general body of the Vaudois church-Revival of reli
gion throughout the whole of that ehurch-New and valuable institutions
-Kindness of Christian friends- Vaudois hospital-Count de Waldburg
Truchsess-General Beckwith- Schools founded by his exertions-Dr
Gilly-Code of Discipline-Confession of Faith-The Protestant con
gregation at Turin formally admitted as a Vaudois parish-Establish
ment ox two uew parishes, Macel and Rodoret-Other ecclesiastical ar-

CONTENTS. xiii Page
rangements — Collections for religious and charitable purposes — Bianqui's
legacy  365
Chapter XXV. — Civil and Political Emancipation op the Vaudois dur
ing the reign of Charles Albert, (a.d. 1847 to a.d. 1850.) — The politi
cal changes in the kingdom of Sardinia were begun before the revolutionary
explosion of 1 848 — Change of tactics on the part of the Popish clergy, upon
the change of policy by the government — Polemical pastorals and other
controversial publications — Charles Albert visits the valleys in 1844 — His
generous confidence in the Vaudois, and enthusiastic reception by them —
Demonstrations of the gratitude of the Vaudois to General Beckwith —
Amelioration of their political condition — The Marquis d'Azeglio — The
Statute, or Constitutional Charter of the Kingdom of Sardinia, 8th Febru
ary, 1848 — Admission of the Vaudois to all the civil privileges of their
countrymen, 17th February, 1848 — Great rejoicings — French Revolution
of 1848 — Consequent revolutions and wars in Italy — Defeat, abdication',
and death of Charles Albert — Charles Emmanuel V. succeeds to the crown'
— Present state of the Vaudois  333
APPENDIX No. I, BIBLIOGRAPHY.
Part I. — Published Works.
Section I. Original authors who have treated specially of the history
of the Vaudois. — £ 1. Vaudois authors. — g 2. Anonymous Vaudois
Authors. — § 3. Original authors, not natives of the valleys, who have
written in a spirit favourable to the Vaudois. — g 4. Original authors,, not
natives of the valleys, who have written in a spirit unfavourable to the
Vaudois  393
Section II. Authors who have occupied themselves with inquiries on
particular points connected with the history of the Vaudois. — g 1 . Latin
Treatises (mostly contra Valdenses, and generally relating to the disci
ples of Valdo, rather than to the Vaudois of Piedmont). — g 2. Academic
Theses. — g 3. Various authors  412
Section III. Historic works on the Vaudois, derived from original
sources, and contributing to the more complete elucidation of the subject. ..422
Section IV. Polemical Works, — g 1. Against the Vaudois. — g 2. In
defence of the Vaudois  424
Section V. Periodical, artistic, descriptive, scientific, and literary
works, relative to the Vaudois. — g 1. Books of Travels. — £ 2. Descrip
tive works. — g 3. Illustrated works. — g 4. Tales and Poems. — g 5.
Journals  427
Section VI. Historical works, in which the Vaudois are only inciden
tally treated of, but which embody particular views or documents. Chap
ter I. Works on special subjects. — g 1. Local History. — g 2. Memoirs
and Biographies. Chapter II. Works of a general character. — g 1.
Ecclesiastical Histories. — § 2. Profane Histories  ...432
Section VII. Detached Documents.— =-g 1. Collections of Official
Papers. — § 2. Collections of Various Documents  438
Part II. — Manuscrd?t Works.
Section I. Ancient Vaudois MSS. in the Romance language. — g 1.
Origin of these MSS.— g 2. Biblical MSS.— g 3. MSS. of Geneva.—

XIV CONTENTS. Page
g 4. MSS. of Dublin.— g 5. MSS. of Cambridge.— g 6. A note of what
has been published of these MSS  441
Section II. MSS. deposited in different archives. — g 1. Public. — g 2.
Private  478
Part III. — Detached Pieces, Published and Manuscript.
Chapter I. Confessions of faith, published by the Vaudois or in their
name, in different languages  478
Chapter II. Historic pieces, anterior to the Bull of Innocent VIII.
against the Vaudois (1487)  483
APPENDIX No. II.
Note on these passages op Part I., Chap IV. (Vol. i. p. 50), " The
victorious Protestants incurred the guilt of bloody reprisals," and (Vol. i.
p. 51) " Cruelties and spoliations, unworthy of their name, were perpe
trated by the Protestants"  490
APPENDIX No. III.'
Journal op a Vaudois Officer, concerning the Military Operations
which followed the return op the vaudois to their own country
in 1689, and particularly the siege of the balsille in 1690  491
APPENDIX No. IV.
Note, by the Translator, on the present state of TnE Controversy
RESPECTING THE ORIGIN OF THE VAUDOIS  506

LIST OF ENGRAVINGS.

VOL. II.

PAGE
THE RETURN OF THE VAUDOIS, .... Frontispiece.
This scene represents the embarkation of the Vaudois, at Nyon, north-west shore
of the Lake of Geneva, on 17th August, 1689, to return to their native land,
under the guidance of their pastor, Henri Arnaud.
LA BALSILLE, the Citadel op the Vatjdoih, . Engraved Title.
Viewed from Mont Gunivert. This conical mass of rocks is seen in the centre of
the picture, with the village of Balsille at its foot. Here the Vaudois success
fully maintained their position, in 16S9 and 1691, against an opposing army
infinitely their superior in numbers, commanded by Catinat and Feuquieres.
MAP OF THE VAUDOIS VALLEYS OF PIEDMONT, or Country
OP THE "WALDENSES,  21
Compiled from the best Sardinian maps, together with original' materials sup
plied by Dr. Muston.
VIEW FROM MOUNT MOUIASSA,  59
In the centre is Mount Placier and the valley of Rodoret ; on the left is the valley
of Pral, and to the right the valley of Balsille. These localities formed the
theatre of the gallant exploits of the Vaudois in 1689-90.
THE COL LA CROIX, and Source op the Pelis, . . .92
From the pass of the Cochia. To the right is the Col La Croix, one of the longest
and most difficult passes of the Alps. In the background, to the left, is the
valley of the Pra, with the Lake of Marconseil, the source of the Pelis ; and
in the distance is Mont Viso, one of the highest of the Alps, so called from
the magnificent view which it commands.
THE VALLEY OF PEROUSE, looking up the Valley op the ClCson, 187
To the right is seen the town of Perouse, at the entrance of the valley of the
Clilson or Pragela, which was formerly defended here by a strong castle, the
ruins of which still remain. On the loft is the town of Pomaret, picturesquely
situated in the midst of precipices and vineyards, at the entrance of the Val
St. Martin. It is noted as the residence of the celebrated John Rodolph
Peyrani, moderator of the "Waldensian Church, who died here in 1823.

XVI LIST OF ENGRAVINGS. TAQE
THE VILLAGE OF ST. JOHN, Valley op Lucerna, . . .345
To the left, on an eminence overlooking the village, is the Protestant church,
surmounted by two towers — the handsomest of the "Waldensian places of
worship. On the rising ground, to the right, is the Roman Catholic church,
with one tower.
OPENING OF THE YALLEY OF LUCERNA, prom above the Vau
dois Hospital,  371
In the foreground, to the left, is the hospital of the Vaudois valleys, erected by
subscription; and on the rising ground behind it, the village of Copiers, in
which is the ancient Protestant church of La Tour. In the centre are the
villages of St. Marguerite and Les Dagots ; and beyond them,- to the left, is
the town of LaTour, the "Waldensian capital. The pyramidal rook of Cavour
is seen in the extreme distance.

THE

ISRAEL OF THE ALPS.

PAET THIRD.
FROM THE RETURN OE THE VAUDOIS INTO THEIR OWN
COUNTRY, TO THEIR CIVIL AND POLITICAL EMANCIPA
TION IN PIEDMONT.

CHAPTER I.
CONDITION OP THE EXILED VAUDOIS IN SWITZERLAND, BRAN
DENBURG, WURTEMBERG, AND THE PALATINATE.1
(a.d. 1687 to a.d. 1688.)
Frederic "William the Great, Elector of Brandenburg, gives an asylum to Vaudois
exiles — His generosity towards them — Their arrival in Brandenburg — Refugees
of Pragela. — Negotiations : the Swiss Cantons and the Elector — Refugees of
the Piedmontese valleys — Their progress to Brandenburg — Hardships and
difficulties — Settlement of a portion of the Vaudois at Stendal — Settlements at
Burg and Spandau — Difficulties created by the people of Stendal and Burg —
Uncharitableness of bigoted Lutheran ministers in Wiirtemberg towards the
Vaudois — Greater liberality of the laity and of the duke— Further difficulties
and trials — A number of the Vaudois compelled to return from Wurtemberg to
Switzerland.
The Vaudois had been completely expelled from their native val
leys. The limits of this work do not permit us to follow out, in
all their details, the protracted and numerous negotiations which at
this period took place amongst the different European powers, to
1 Authorities. — In general, the works which treat of the Vaudois colonies in
Germany (see the Authorities of Chap. VHI. of this Third Part) ;— in particular,
Dieterici, "Die Waldenser und ihre Verhacltnisse zu dem brandenburgisch-preus-
sischen Staate," Berlin, 1831 ; a work of xx and 415 pages, specially devoted to the
subject of a part of this chapter (the arrival of the Vaudois at Stendal) ; — also, the
sixth volume of the ' ' Contributions to the History of the French Refugees im Branden
burg," by Erman andBeclam (a German work, Berlin, 1786, seven vols. 8vo), and
the " Memorie di me Bartolomeo Salvajot," the author of which was of the number of
Vol. ii. 61

2 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. [^akt Third
provide either aid or an asylum for the proscribed people. Frederic
William of Brandenburg granted them both.
This excellent old man1 possessed all the qualities which make
men great — magnanimous, persevering, simple and kind; he was the
true founder of the power of Brandenburg, which was so rapidly to
increase under the tutelary shade of his glorious memory. He was
at once his own minister and his own general, and succeeded in
rendering the state a flourishing one, though he had found it buried
in ruins.2 His virtues made him an arbiter among his equals : the
talents of his son exchanged the electoral scarf for a royal crown.
But the greatness of the son3 and the virtues of the father did more
than found a state, they created a nation.
Already, since the year 1685, twenty thousand French, driven
from their native country by the revocation of the Edict of Nantes,
had repaired, at the invitation of Frederic William, to districts of
Brandenburg, which had been depopulated by previous wars; and
they soon restored to new life these languishing and impoverished
provinces. The numerous sacrifices which the illustrious elector
imposed upon himself, in order to favour their settlement, were
amply compensated in the course of a few years by the rapid
advance of learning, commerce, and industry in that country.
It was not so, however, in the case of the Vaudois. When all
the expenses of their settlement had been paid, and all difliculties
overcome — even before these new colonists had gathered the first
crops which they had sown, the news came that the Vaudois val
leys were opened again to their banished children. Then it was
that the elector gave evidence of a rare generosity. Far from
seeking forcibly to retain the Vaudois, or demanding from them the
repayment of the advances which he had made for them, he still
the exiles who took part in that exploring visit of two years made by the Vaudois
to the banks of the Elbe. — Halm, " Geschichte der Ketzer im Mittelalter," vol. ii.
' ' History of the Vaudois : " the notes are interesting. — Mayerhoff, ' ' Inquiry into the
Origin of the Vaudois in the Church of Mecklenburg ;" Berlin, 1834 (a small volume).
— Particulars given in the Introduction of Arnaud' s " Glorieuse rentrfe" (reprinted
at Neuchatel in 1845) ; and in Acland, " Tlie Glorious Recovery," &c. (London,
1827, 8vo, with engravings). — Besides documents derived from the Archives of
Geneva, Berne, Zurich, Darmstadt, and Stuttgart, and various memoranda col
lected in the places to which the narrative relates.
1 The Elector Frederic William II., surnamed the Great, the grandfather of
Frederic the Great, was then 67 years of age. He died in the following year,
April 22, 1688.
2 Memoires de Brandenbourg. Art de verifier les dates, &c.
3 Frederic III., at first elector, afterwards king (crowned 18th January, 1701),
had not the true greatness of a statesman, like his father. He made his court a
very splendid one, lived in magnificence, and adorned Berlin, but impoverished his
people. (From L'Art de vSrifier les dates.)

Chap. I.] EXILES ARRIVE IN BRANDENBURG. 3
imposed upon himself additional peruonal sacrifices, to enable these
unproductive colonists, the poor emigrants of the valleys, the more
easily to abandon his lands, of which they had scarcely broken the
soil, and to return from so far to the country which their daring-
brethren had re-conquered.
They arrived in Brandenburg, to the number of 700 persons,
divided into three small caravans. The first, to which Salvajot
belonged, after having sojourned at Geneva fourteen days, left that
city again on the 24th of March, 1687, and on the same day
proceeded as far as Nyon, — the place where, three years afterwards,
the Vaudois were to assemble in secret, to commence their mar
vellous expedition for the conquest of their native valleys. " The
next day," says the exile above named, in his memoirs, "we came
to Morges, where they kept us two days. On the 27th of March
we slept at Lausanne, on the 28th at Moudon, and on the 29th at
Payerne. This was a Saturday, and we remained there next day,
and there we had the privilege of being present at the distribution
of the Lord's Supper, which was a great consolation for our souls.
On Monday we went to Morat, where they had the courtesy to
accommodate all of us in lodging-houses.'' From the 1st to the
5th of April they journeyed on to Alberfeld, and next day, which
also was a Sabbath, they rested ; but on the Wednesday following
they arrived at St. Gall.1 "The inhabitants of this town," adds
the exile, "always most generously supplied us with food, clothing,
and shoes; they took great care of our sick, and bestowed upon
each of us three crowns on our departure."2
But the Vaudois did not all depart ; it being proposed that they
should go to Brandenburg, many of them refused to undertake so long
a journey, preferring to remain in Switzerland, in order that they
might be ready to return to their own country if an opportunity
should present itself. Of 200 persons who arrived at St. Gall with
Salvajot, there were not more than fifty who consented to this new
emigration. Embarking on the Lake of Constance, on the second
of August, 1688, they arrived at Basle nine days after,3 and united
1 For greater exactness, I subjoin the names and precise dates of these different
stages : — 31st March, Morat ; 1st and 2d April, at Arberg ; 3d, Wanighe ; 4th, Brugli ;
5fchand 6th, at Alberfeld; 7th, Wintherthour; 8th, Reichbach; 9th, St. Gall.
2 "I Signori Singalesi hanno sempre noi nutriti, vestiti, calzatti; e hanno datti
ogni cosa agli anunalatti, per la buona assistenza. . . . E quando partiremo . . .
hanno datti a noi per limosina la somma di tre scudi caduno." The author of these
lines was not aware that the collections which had come from England, Holland,
and Hesse, had enabled the Swiss to supply more liberally the wants of the Vaudois.
3 The following is the order of their stages : — From St. Gall to the Lake of Con
stance, 2d August, 1688. Traversed the lake, and arrived at Stein on the 3d. Were
at Schaffhausen from the 4th to the 9th, and entered Basle on the 11th.

4 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. [partThiid.
themselves to other Vaudois who were already assembled in that
city, with the intention of proceeding to the electorate of Branden
burg. The total number of these various bands of emigrants did not
amount to more than 365. It might have been expected, certainly,
that these poor emigrants would have shown more eagerness to profit
by the favourable dispositions of the elector towards them; for many
of their compatriots were already settled in his dominions, and they
themselves had made application to him to secure an asylum in
case of proscription. So long before as the year 1 685, the Vaudois
of Pragela, affected by the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, had
sent three deputies to Germany for this purpose.1 In January,
1686, there were already nearly 600 refugees in Switzerland, and
an almost equal number shortly afterwards to arrive. Their com
missioners, fully empowered to treat concerning their settlement,
and bearing a certificate from the magistrates of Zurich, presented
themselves before Mr. Mendelshobe, the representative of Branden
burg in the Palatinate. Their request was transmitted to Berlin
by that diplomatic agent, in the following terms :'2 — "These worthy
people desire above all things that a district should be given them
in which they might remain united, and that they should be the
immediate vassals of the sovereign, and not, as in France, of the
nobles. There are few artisans or manufacturing operatives among
them; they therefore need nothing but lands to cultivate, and espe
cially pastures. They would particularly like a territory proper for
the culture of the mulberry, because they have long been accus
tomed to the rearing of silk- worms, and by this means could more
easily provide for their own subsistence. His electoral highness
may be assured of finding them obedient subjects, and of inflexible
fidelity. They are a simple and laborious people ; but they have
ways of their own, and their manners and habits have much resem
blance to those of the Swiss ; for which reason they would not like
to be intermixed with the other French refugees, whose lively and
brisk humour would not perhaps accord with their tranquil dis
position and their quite patriarchal mode of life."3 The elector
• The pastor Jaques Papon, and two laymen, Jaques Pastre and Jean Pastre-
court, country merchants.
2 From 15th to 25th January, 1686. {Archives of Berlin.)
3 Erman and Reclaim, torn. vi. These authors have ascribed to the Vaudois of
the Piedmontese valleys, who were expelled towards the end of 1636 the steps
which are here mentioned as having been taken by the Vaudois of Pragela, and of
the other valleys under the dominion of France, who, in 1685, had already taken
refuge in Switzerland, to the number of 600 persons, whilst those of the Piedmon
tese valleys did not leave their native country till a year after. Moser and Diete-
rici have fallen into the same error.

Chap. I ] HUMANITY OF THE SWISS. 5
immediately replied that they would be made very welcome in his
dominions ;' and they repaired thither, whilst the other Vaudois
valleys were still hotly engaged in the contest by which they were
to be depopulated in their turn.
The Protestant cantons of Switzerland soon addressed to Frederic
William a new request, in favour of new refugees desiring to settle
in his dominions;2 and the elector expressed himself as willing to
receive another colony of 300 or 400 honest and industrious per
sons, on condition that their other friends should bear the expense
of bringing them to his frontiers, and provide for their subsistence
until their settlement on the lands assigned to them.3 The abun
dant collections which Switzerland then received from foreign coun
tries* for the relief of the persecuted, enabled it to undertake this
on their behalf; and an ambassador5 was accordingly sent to Berlin
to bring this affair to a conclusion ; but the negotiations being pro
tracted, the Vaudois meanwhile became more confirmed in the idea
of soon returning to their native land.
In the beginning of the year 1688, the Swiss cantons wrote to
the elector:6 "Our projects have been in some measure interfered
with by the difficulty of obtaining passports from the Duke of Savoy,
and by the more and more decided repugnance of the Vaudois to
remove so far from their own country.7 However, we hope to be
able to overcome these difficulties, and shortly to embark on the
Rhine a certain number of Vaudois families, in order to conduct
them to Frankfort-on-the-Maine, and to Gernesheim in the elec
torate of Mayence.'' At the same time, they requested Frederic
William to send commissioners to meet them. That prince sent
M. De Bondely, one of his privy councillors, who wrote from
Zurich, "In place of 1500 Vaudois, we will not have more than
700 or 800 of them, the rest are Zibertins" (patriots jealous of their
1 Rescript of 31st January, 1686. (Archives of Berlin.)
2 September 18, 1686. The elector replied on 29th October, 1686.
3 The patent which authorizes the settlement of this colony, is dated 12th March,
1687. 4 Switzerland itself had already furnished more than 4000 crowns to the Vaudois ;
and having made an appeal for assistance to the other Protestant nations, met with
a refusal from none. Holland furnished 17,000 crowns. The free city of Bremen
nobly replied, on the 9th of July, 1687, that it knew its duties ; that it was not
enough to contemplate and deplore the misfortunes of our oppressed brethren, but
that they must be relieved, and that a general collection would accordingly be
made within its walls on the 14th of July, 1687. This collection produced 407
crowns. 5 David Holzhalb, of Zurich. e 21st February, 1688.
7 The electoral resident at Frankfort (Remigius Merian) wrote : — " These poor
people are very undecided ; sometimes they would go, and sometimes they would
remain ; and, meanwhile, time is passing away," &c.

6 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. [Pa,!T Thied-
liberty), "who allow themselves to be blinded by an incredible love
for their native country, and who are determined at all hazards to
return to it."1 The elector was not the less disposed to receive
generously those who came to him : but that excellent prince was
not to enjoy the fruits of his own good deeds. He died a few days
after the departure of his envoy.
His successor2 prosecuted the work which he had commenced.
Frederic III. furnished the arms, money, and passports necessary
for the transport of the Vaudois, who set out from Basle on the
1st of August, 1688, according to the Old Style, the 11th, accord
ing to the New.3 They were embarked in eight merchant boats,
containing each fifty passengers. M. De Bondely had been careful
to exhibit the safe-conducts beforehand to the governors of pro
vinces and commandants of fortresses by which the exiles must
pass;4 but the commandant of the French garrison of Brissac,
"animated probably by a blind zeal for religion," say the Memoirs
concerning the Introduction of the Refugees into Brandenbwrg, "caused
thirty cannon shots to be fired at the boats when they were about
half-a-league from the town." This last circumstance proves that
he cannot have intended any act of serious hostility. No ball
struck the boats, but the terror of the unfortunate Vaudois was so
great, that a number of pregnant women were taken with the
pains of childbirth, and were delivered in the boats. M. Charles,
afterwards pastor at Berlin, baptized their children not far from
the town. The commandant of Brissac being reproached, as
he deserved, for his cruelty, made a poor enough excuse for him
self, by saying that he had no other object in view than to try his
cannons. At Strasburg the Vaudois received another alarm. The king's
lieutenant having been apprised of their arrival, took them for
French refugees from Dauphiny, who had fled contrary to the
rigorous edicts of Louis XIV., and resolved to arrest them. The
1 Letters of 11th and 15th May, 1688.
2 Frederic William, surnamed the Great, who died Elector of Brandenburg in
1688, was succeeded by Frederic III., Elector, afterwards King of Prussia, who
died in 1713. Frederic William II., second King of Prussia, died in 1740, and
Frederic II., called Frederic the Great, third King of Prussia, died in 1786. This
chronology must be kept in view, in order to understand how Frederic III. could
reign before Frederic II.—" I am resolved," wrote Frederic III. to Bondely, " to
prosecute the work commenced by my venerable father." (Despatch of I2th June
1688.) 3 These diversities in the dates have sometimes led to the supposition of different-
events or documents, causing obscurities which it is necessary to clear up.
4 The elector had himself written for this purpose to the Landgrave of Hesso
and to the Elector of Pfalz. '

c™- I J THE PRINCESS OF TARENTUM. 7
passengers had already been compelled to disembark upon French
ground, and little respect had been shown to the authority of the
Elector of Brandenburg, or the reclamations of his officer, when,
recourse having been had to the commandant of the place, he came
and inquired into the business, and did not hesitate to take a decided
part, by saying to the Vaudois, " Go, poor people ! return to your
boats, and may God be your guide!" Nay, having remarked
among them many sick and feeble persons, he sent them woollen
cloaks, which were distributed among those who suffered most.
Such traits of humanity, amidst the many cruelties to which the
Reformed Church was then subjected, are pleasant to the mind, as
flowers which bloom among ruins.
From the 7th to the 17th of August, the Vaudois disembarked
at Gernesheim, in the electorate of Mayence. Waggons were
hired to convey them to Frankfort, where they were waited for by
the Brandenburg commissioners appointed to receive them. The
hospitable inhabitants of the banks of the Maine received the
exiles with the most affectionate welcome. They were lodged for
some days in the village of Bockenheim, situated half a league from
Frankfort. The magistrates of that city sent them supplies of
bread, wine, and meat. The Princess of Tarentum,1 who had
quitted France in order to remain faithful to the reformed religion,
then resided at Frankfort. She sent additional assistance in linen
and eatables, and invited the Vaudois to come to a large garden,
where a numerous meeting was assembled, when her chaplain, M.
Roy, delivered so pathetic a discourse with reference to the exiles,
that a collection which was made for them upon the spot produced
the sum of fifty crowns. To this the German and French re
formed churches of the place added twice as much more, so that,
through this assistance, the Vaudois were enabled to entertain the
hope of reaching their destination, with a little in hand to aid them
in establishing themselves.
They travelled in waggons to the frontiers of Hesse,2 where the
commissioner of the landgrave waited for them, who provided them
with all that was necessary for the prosecution of their journey.
From thence they proceeded to Marbourg, Cassel, and Sondershau-
1 Daughter of William IV., Count of Hesse-Cassel, born 12th February, 1626,
married in 1648 to Charles de la TrtmouUle, Prince of Tarentum. (Her grand
father's sister had married the Prince of CondS.) The Prince of Tarentum died in
1672 ; his widow, Emilia, then retired to Frankfort, where she died, in 1693.
2 In passing through the electorate of Mayence, they were detained at Voelpel,
the sheriff of that place refusing to permit their waggons to pass, on the pretext
that the waggoners belonged to Frankfort, and had no passports. The commis
sioner Maillette was under the necessity of returning to procure them.

8 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. [Part Third.
sen, and so to Alberstadt, where they rested for a day ; after which
they set out again, passed through Vauzleben and Mardebourg, and
on the 31st of August, 1688, arrived at Stendal. This town was
almost entirely depopulated. A terrible fire had ravaged it in
1687; it had several times been subjected to the disasters of war;
and having been previously the scene of a great conflagration in
1680, it had not been able to recover from this rapid succession of
calamities, which had driven away from it its wealthy inhabitants,
imbittered the spirit of the poor, and rendered the whole popula
tion miserable.1 The Vaudois were ushered into a large forsaken
house, where bread and beer were distributed to them. Some of
them were afterwards lodged with private families ; the rest were
left in this great edifice, where they continued to receive the same
nourishment. " But," says one of them, " the brewers made such
bad beer for us, that many of us could not bear to use it." 2
The winter now approached, and the exiles still had no fixed
abodes; the establishment of the colony was obstructed by a mul
titude of difficulties, caused chiefly by the inhabitants of the
country. The local authorities were unwilling to permit the new
comers to take wood for building purposes from the public forests.
Upon this the Vaudois sent a deputation to Berlin,3 to entreat the
elector to interpose on their behalf, and not to restrict the terms
of their settlement in the territory of Stendal.
Their petition asked, in substance4 —
I. Full and entire liberty of conscience, places of worship with
bells, a college and schools, and the maintenance of their pastors
and schoolmasters by the state.
II. Authority to have their councils and magistrates elected
by universal suffrage among the members of the colony.
III. A grant of lands proper for the cultivation of the vine;
and that flocks and instruments of husbandry, to be afterwards
repaid, should be provided for them to begin with.
IV. Habitations, with gardens, exempt from taxes for a number of
years, to be granted to them in absolute property, and separate
from the German houses.
1 The population at that time amounted to no more than 1600 souls. (Dieterici,
§ vii. G.) In 1819, Stendal reckoned 906 houses, and 5252 inhabitants.
2 These details are still taken from the Memoirs of Salvajot.
3 The deputies were Jacques Baile, pastor ; Paul Blaclwn, Jean Turin, Daniel
Pasquet, Jean Tron, and Jean Rambaud. Their mandate is dated 4th September,
1688, and was drawn up as a public deed by Daniel Forneron, Piedmontese
notary, in presence of twenty-nine witnesses, among whom appears BaHUlemy
Salvajot. 4 This document never having been published, I think it right to give a complete
analysis of it.

Chap. I.] PETITION OF THE VAUDOIS. 9
V. Beds, bed-clothes, garments, and stoves; because, the petition
says, the poor suppliants, coming from a soutliern country, are mora
sensible of the cold and storms.
VI. "May it also please your electoral highness to give us some
other food besides bread and beer, which are our sole nourishment,
or some money in proportion to our families, and likewise some
furniture, of which we are absolutely devoid." They ask also for
medicines, and the attendance of a physician upon the sick.
VII. That the Vaudois might be permitted to exercise freely all
sorts of trades or professions, without being obliged to pay for any
authorization. VIII. That they should have the rights of fishing and hunting.
IX. That his electoral highness would be pleased to found
some bursaries for the education of the young Vaudois who should
devote themselves to the holy ministry.
X. That he would be pleased to solicit a statement of the collec
tions made in Holland, that they might be able to avail themselves
of them in their first settlement.
XI. That the elector would be pleased to employ his powerful
mediation to obtain from the Duke of Savoy the liberation of all
their pastors who were still detained prisoners, and the restitution
of all their children who had been taken from them.
This petition remained some time unanswered, after which the
elector sent commissioners to the spot, to do what was requisite in
the most pressing matters to which it referred. These commis
sioners informed the Vaudois that the sum of six batzen1 a-day
would be allowed to each of them for their support. " But," ob
serves Salvajot, "two weeks passed, during which we received no
more beer, and as yet no money had come. The six batzen did
not begin to be paid us till the commencement of December. On
this we could live, and those who ate little could even save some
thing." A second division of Vaudois emigrants had arrived at Stendal
on the 5th of September, under the conduct of Messieurs De Gremma
and Charles Ancillon.2 It was in much worse condition than the
first, not having received the same assistance by the way, whether
it was that charity had cooled, or that the means were exhausted.
The Vaudois at Stendal now amounted to 1300 persons.3 The
1 Not quite 19 sous [or about 9d. sterling]. The batz is worth 16 centimes [or
about Hd. sterling]. Adult persons alone were to receive six batzen, children
were only to receive two. This small allowance was continued to them till the
month of August, 1689.
2 The first had been conducted by Messieurs MaiUette De Buy and Jacob Sandoz.
' Viz., 52 who came from St. Gall, 313 who were joined with the first troop at
Vol. n. 62

10 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. [pabt Tiirao.
commissioners l sent by the elector to settle them on the same foot
ing with the French colonies, represented that it would be im
possible to place at Stendal alone so great a number of colonists.
The elector consented that some of them should be sent also to
Burg, to Spandau, and to Magdeburg.2 Four hundred and six of
them remained at Stendal, where the church of St. Catherine was
given them for their religious services, to be used by them alter
nately with the Germans. They had Mr. Peter Bayle for their
pastor, Jacob Sandon was their governor, and their justice of the
peace was Blanchon, all of whom were exiles like themselves.3 All
these civil and ecclesiastical functionaries were paid by the state,
which likewise provided for the maintenance of their schoolmasters;
and the elector even caused houses to be built for the new settlers,
and granted them the advances necessary to procure for them the
implements of labour. At the same time, he opened the ranks of
his army to young Vaudois capable of bearing arms; and a small
Vaudois legion was soon admitted into it,4 which distinguished
itself at the siege of Bonn, in 1689.5
The colonization movement began to assume a more regular
character. Only 205 Vaudois had at first been sent to Burg; the
commissioner Willmann proposed to augment the number, and
having obtained authority for so doing, he proceeded to the town,
to have accommodations prepared for the new-comers.6 "It is
my opinion," he wrote to Berlin, "that more resources will be
found here than at Stendal; the markets are better supplied, the
lands permit the culture of the vine, and many branches of manu
facture are in a flourishing state. The Vaudois will be able to
employ themselves in the manufacture of woollen cloths and of
pottery." They found means also of turning their industry to good account
in a silk thread manufactory established at Spandau.7 Not more
Basle, 335 who arrived on 5th September, 1688, and 600 who had left Pragela in
1685, remained in Switzerland in 1686, and came to Brandenburg in 1687.
1 These were Messieurs Merian and Willmann.
_ 2 Some of them were also planted at Templin and at Angermiinde. The numbers
of the colonists having undergone frequent changes in the earlier periods of these
settlements, I will no longer give precise numbers.
3 At Burg, they had for pastors Messieurs Dumas and Javel, and for director
Moses Comuel.-Peter Bayle, the son of the pastor at Stendal, was pastor at
Spandau. 4 It was composed of 150 men.
5 In the month of September there returned from the siege 143 men
• They were to the number of 303, viz., 80 families, comprising 232 persons, be-
sides 49 unmarried operatives, and 22 old men.
7 According to a report of the commissioners, dated 2Sth January, 1689, the Vau-

Chap. I.] UNPLEASANT POSITION OF THE EXILES. 11
than fifty-two families remained at Stendal. Of all these different
groups of settlers, those who were occupied in the dressing of silk
seem to have enjoyed the greatest share of prosperity.1 At
Stendal, where the exiles had no other abode than an old castle,
and the houses of the town's-people, their condition became daily
more and more painful. They were sent from one to another, as
persons who were felt to be troublesome. In many cases they
were not permitted to enter the family apartment, which alone
was warmed; and when it was proposed' that houses should be
built for them, the sheriff of the village opposed their taking the
necessary timber from the forests belonging to the community, as
the elector had hoped that they might. After protracted negotia
tions, the elector ordered the timber to be delivered to them free
of expense. The commissioner Willmann put the country people
under requisition to transport it; but the nobles and farmers
refused ; and it was found necessary to float it on the Elbe to the
point nearest to Stendal, and to go thither for it with carts.
At Burg the state of matters was still worse; the inhabitants
refused to admit any of the strangers into their houses. There
was in this town a street of which the houses were almost all fall
ing into ruin : the elector offered, on the recommendation of the
commissioners, to purchase this street, and to have it rebuilt for
dwellings for the Vaudois. It was a proposal in every point of
view favourable to the town; but the proprietors of these un
tenantable shops put a multitude of difficulties in the way; and
when these were removed, the same opposition arose as at Stendal,
on the subject of timber for building.
To complete this picture, it remains only to be stated that the
Vaudois who had remained in the electorate of Kurpfalz 2 and in
* Wurtemberg, in the hope of being able to devote themselves to the
cultivation of the vine, were obliged to leave these countries again
on account of similar obstacles. They returned to Switzerland;
and Switzerland, unable to accommodate them, wrote to the elector,
asking him to receive them also into his territories.3 The elector
dois were thus distributed:— At Burg, 303; at Spandau (or Spandou), 155; at
Stendal, 136. To this must be added 100 persons settled at Magdeburg, and the
150 men who had put on the Prussian uniform.
1 The great manufactory for spinning and working silks, which made the fortune
of Spandau, was established in that town, about 1570, by Count Leynau. His
heirs abandoned it to Frederic William in 1687. The workers received eight great
sous weekly (but they were also lodged and fed). The Vaudois were installed here
on 27th October, 1688, and upon this occasion the elector caused a gratuity of 200
crowns to be distributed among them. At Burg, the sum of 2170 crowns was paid
in 1689 for the regular wages of the Vaudois workers.
2 [The Palatinate.] 3 Despatch of 22d October, 16S8.

12 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. [part Third.
replied ' that his dominions were already encumbered with refugees
of every description, the greater part of them destitute of resources;
but that, nevertheless, he would do all that was in his power to
receive these unfortunate exiles. He only requested the evangeli
cal cantons to keep them for a short time, till he should be able to
provide a suitable place for their abode. Swiss hospitality consented
to maintain them till the spring of 1689, the very time when the
heroic expedition took place by which they recovered possession of
their own valleys. A small number of them had remained in the
Palatinate, where the Elector Philip William of Neuburg had
offered them an asylum, which they were compelled to abandon in
1689, on the invasion of that country by the devastating troops
of Louvois. Some of them retired to the Grisons, and some to the
country of Hesse-Darmstadt, where they found themselves in cir
cumstances equally remote from tranquillity.
Finally, in Wurtemberg they were cruelly repulsed by the very
parties who ought to have been the first to welcome them. The
ministers of the gospel belonging to the confession of Augsburg
treated the Vaudois as heterodox, because ever since the Reforma
tion they had been followers of rigid Calvinistic doctrine; and
instead of exercising charity, plunged into theological discussions.
On the 25th of April, 1687, the protectors of the Vaudois in Swit
zerland had requested an asylum for them from the Duke of Wur
temberg,2 who nominated a commission to examine into this
application;3 but the commission, grievously embarrassed with a
multitude of questions, of which, at the present day, we would
think the grave discussion puerile, could not venture to decide
anything without taking the advice of the faculties of theology.
Two days after, a new meeting took place, no longer composed of
theological doctors, but of laymen, and they did not hesitate to say *
that the Vaudois ought to be received. The Swiss envoy departed
from Stuttgart the bearer of this good news ; but during his absence,
a theologian of Tubingen, named Osiander, wrote to the duke a
letter full of intolerance against the Vaudois,4 whom he called
Grypto-CaMnists, resolving in the negative the questions an and
quomodo, which had been raised on the subject of their admission.
It seems as if in this case the language of theology was as barba-
1 On 11th November, 1688.
' Frederic Charles. He was not reigning duke, but administrator of the duchv
being uncle and tutor of Eberhard Louis, who received the Vaudois in 1699 The
conditions on which their admission was proposed in 1687 are mentioned by Moser
§ 29. *
3 The commission met on 4th May, 16S7. Moser has published the minute of
this meeting, §30. * This letter is dated 3d June, 1687.

Chap. I.] WURTEMBURG ADMITS THE EXILES. 13
rous as its sentiments, and we are the more surprised to find such
expressions in the mouth of Osiander, as his family belonged to the
Jewish race, so long oppressed, and his father, although a Lutheran,
was, however, merely a Jew who had adopted the religion of the
state. The Duke of Wurtemberg would not decide without consulting
the faculty of law of Tubingen. Like the laymen, it concluded
in favour of the admission of the Vaudois, adding, in order to satisfy
the theologians, that it would be proper to ask these refugees them
selves for a statement of their doctrines. Meanwhile the Swiss
delegate, Wertmuller, wrote l that 100 of the Vaudois were ready
to set out, and wished to arrive in Wurtemberg before the approach
ing harvest, in order to be able to get employment as reapers. To
this it was replied2 that they might come, and the bailiwick of Kir-
cheim-under-Teck was assigned them for their residence. It was
even proposed to purchase for them the old castle of Salzburg, but
the proposal was not carried into effect.3 In the beginning of July,
1687, fifty Piedmontese exiles set out for Wurtemberg, taking with
them religious books in which the doctrine of their church was
exhibited. Particular reports were required from the bailiffs of the different
villages4 situated in the country to which the immigrants were to
proceed, concerning the means which existed for receiving them.
It appeared from these reports that the Vaudois might easily pro
cure uncultivated lands at a cheap rate, or even gratis, but that it
would be necessary for them to have the means of building houses.
As the exiles were destitute of means for this, the duke proposed
to receive them on his own private domain of Freudenthal, but
this project remained unexecuted. The principle of their admission
was, however, recognized by the decree of 29th August, 1687,5 the
basis upon which they were subsequently established.6 A decree
of the 31st referred to the synod of Wurtemberg the question re
lative to the Vaudois doctrines.7 The synod concluded that they
ought to be admitted under certain reservations, tending to restrain
their religious influence, and provisionally recommended the con-
' On the 24th of May.
2 On the 10th of June. The reply is signed by M. De Rule.
3 Because of the high price which was demanded. To this castle there apper
tained a great extent of very ill-cultivated lands. Six thousand florins were of
fered for it.
4 Kircheim, TJrach, Guglingen, Maulbronn, Derdingen, Brackenheim, Boeblin-
gen, Pfaffenhofen, Gingdelfingen, &c.
s Moser, § 36. « In 1700.
' The long and wearisome deliberation of this synod is to be seen in Moser, § 38,

14 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. [paet Tiiibd.
sultation of the faculty of theology of Tubingen. The opinion of
this faculty was known beforehand; as intolerant at that period
as Catholicism in its palmy days had ever been, but with less ad
vantage of logic ; for the intolerance of the Holy See is based upon
the denial of individual liberty, whilst the intolerance of Protes
tantism exhibits this monstrous anomaly, that it starts from the
ground of free examination. The faculty, therefore, was not con
sulted, which, hke every body interested in the maintenance of a
legal belief, had become a focus of resistance to the very progress
of Christianity. The superior council, united with the consistory,
supplied the want of the faculty's deliberation, by resolutions set
forth with the reasons for them, and decided absolutely in favour
of the immediate admission of the exiles.1
But it was desired that Switzerland should guarantee to the
new-comers the means of providing themselves with dwellings, and
with the necessaries of life in the country into which they should
be received, under reservations which will shortly appear. On the
part of Switzerland, it was replied2 that no such engagements could
be entered into, the more especially as the amount of the collec
tions promised from foreign countries was not yet known. The
Vaudois likewise refused to accept the conditions which were pro
posed to them, and of which a statement is contained in the ori
ginal manuscript of the Return, by Arnaud, but on a page deleted
by two strokes of a pen, and suppressed in the printed work.3 The
following is this unpublished page : — " God, who knew for what he
had reserved them, permitted the clergy of Vitemberg,4 -who are
entirely Lutheran, .... to make use of an artifice which eluded
the good-will of the prince towards them. They5 gave him to un
derstand that they were delighted to have the opportunity of wel
coming among them the remains of that poor people; and in order
so much the more to testify the care which they were disposed to
take of them, they added that each pastor of their body should
take a certain number of them, proportionate to the extent of his
parish, and this throughout the whole duchy  The Vaudois
whose object was to remain always united, were at no loss to un
derstand that in this way they were really refused ; and the duke
1 Moser gives a long statement of the reasons upon which this decision is
rested, § 39.
2 On 22d November, 1687. This reply was made by M. Wertmuller.
3 The original is now at Berlin. This manuscript was found in 1782, in the
pastor's house of Gros ViUar, a Vaudois colony, of which the son of Arnaud was
pastor till 1750, at a short distance from Schoenberg, where his father died. It
was put into my hands in 1833.
4 According to the orthography of the manuscript. » The clergy.

Chap. I.] EXILES SEEK A NEW ASYLUM. 15
administrator, who had only the authority of a regent, liable to be
one day called to account, did not choose to do violence to the
wishes of these ecclesiastics. Thus the Vaudois, not well knowing
whither to go, and seeing their projects in this direction frustrated,
entreated the authorities of Zurich and of Schaffhausen to permit
them to spend the winter in their country." 1
This request was granted. But after the abortive expedition
shortly to be mentioned, and which took place in June, 1688, the
Swiss cantons themselves, on political grounds, felt a necessity for
the removal of these unfortunate refugees from their country, which
they might involve in danger by their presence ; and it was upon
this that a part of them consented to retire to Brandenburg. The
Swiss authorities urged them the more at that time to adopt this
resolution, because, ever since the beginning of the year, complaints
had begun to arise concerning the heavy charges which this mul
titude, destitute of resources, entailed upon the state.* Ere long
they went so far as to signify to the Vaudois, that if they per
sisted in rejecting all the proposals which were made to them of
settlement in other countries, they would be under the neoessity
of removing them by force.3
Hereirpon some of the exiles consented to make yet another
effort towards settling in Wurtemberg, where they would be less
remote from their native country than on the banks of the Spree.
M. Wertmuller undertook to obtain for them the requisite permis
sion.4 In the month of May the Vaudois sent delegates,5 com
missioned to visit the bailiwicks of Maulbronn and Freudenthal,
which were assigned them. Afterwards they arrived there to the
number of 100. Shortly after, the produce of the collections made
for them was sent from Holland.6 A few small troops of exiles
1 " MM. de Zurich et de Chaffouse."
2 As long as Switzerland took the charge of them, it did not suffer them to want
for anything. " At Arnberg," says a traveller, " there are 250 of them. They
give them very good ammunition bread. Wine is drawn for them from the cellars
of the town's house ; it is carried to them in pails. They have each a half pot, and
this is filled with soup, and half a pound of beef or mutton given to each on a little
plate, and half a pound of cheese. Such is their daily allowance." Relation de
Voyage (Archives of Turin).
3 I would hesitate to admit the mention of this severe measure on the authority
of Moser; but in the original manuscript of Arnaud occurs this sentence, which
has been suppressed in the published work : — " They caused those who were in
their canton to be informed that they must leave it by a fixed time, and that if
they did not, they would be under the necessity of compelling them." The words
which I have put in italics are erased in the manuscript (p. 17).
4 In March, 168S. See the details in Moser.
5 They were three in number; the pastor, Audibert Daud DOlympies (such is
the name as given by Moser), and two laymen. • In July, 1688.

16 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. [>ab* Thihd.
subsequently arrived; but now the difficulties began. A number
of bailiwicks absolutely refused to receive them within their bor
ders. "Why should we receive these wretched creatures?" said
they. " They will be a burden upon the community. They will
embarrass the hospitals and pious foundations. They will cause
provisions to become dear, by purchasing them in great quantities
in the markets. They will prove a mere multitude of marauders."
Such were the reasons for which they were repelled. However,
the bailiff of Maulbronn, who had distributed in different villages
the seventy-eight Vaudois whom he was required to provide with
lodgings, said in his report : " They are laborious and decent people,
working diligently, and doing their utmost honourably to maintain
themselves. Nobody has any complaint of them. They receive,
through the pastor D'Olympies,1 four kreutzers and a half a-day
for every man above the age of fifteen years, three kreutzers for
every woman, and two kreutzers for the children."2 This money
was paid every ten days, and was taken from the collections sent
from Holland.
In the month of September, 1 688, the bailiwick of Stuttgard,
which had manifested the greatest hostility to the introduction of
the Vaudois, made new complaints, on the ground that these pre
tended French people had been a burden upon it for eight weeks,
and declared an absolute resolution to be quit of them before winter.
These complaints were communicated to the pastor, who requested
a delay of two weeks, to conclude a definite treaty of colonization,
or to renounce the idea of that settlement, and proceed elsewhere.
This period having passed without any change in the position of
the Vaudois, they received orders to quit the country within the
space of eight days.3
It is necessary, in order to explain the harshness of this measure,
to call to mind that the Vaudois were confounded in Germany with
the other victims of the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, and
were therefore considered as French. But the diet of Ratisbon
had just declared France and the Cardinal of Furstemberg to be
enemies of the empire, as they were contending for the archbishop
ric of Cologne with the Prince of Bavaria, whom the emperor
supported. To this provocation France replied by a declaration of
war, the consequence of which was the savage devastation of the
Palatinate by Louvois.4 The duchy of Wurtemberg was afraid
1 Arnaud calls him M. Daude, refugee pastor of Languedoc, better known by
the name of Olympe. (First edition, p. 31.)
2 Moser, § 44. The kreutzer is worth about four centimes [about 1^ farthing
3 This order was addressed, on 28th September, 1688, to the bailiff of StutWrd
who intimated it to the refugees. " In February and March, 1639.

Chap. II J TRIALS OF THE EXILES. 17
of drawing on itself the like wrath of the French king, by giving
refuge to those whom he had proscribed. Hence the new exile of
the Vaudois, who returned to Switzerland, that land of inexhaus
tible and generous hospitality. They returned to it more wretched
than they had been before, but more resolute than ever to brave
everything in order to regain possession of their native valleys, out
of which there was no country for them upon earth.
In permitting them thus to be driven out of Wurtemberg, where
at a later period they were to find a permanent asylum, Providence
was preparing, in its mysterious designs, to bring about that heroic
expedition in which they were to engage, in order to return vic
torious to the Vaudois Alps. Let us now see what had taken
place in these mountains after their departure, and what was now
the condition of that land of martyrs, which was soon to become
the prize of heroes.

CHAPTER II.
THE STATE OF THE VALLEYS IN THE ABSENCE OF THEIR
INHABITANTS; AND FIRST ATTEMPTS OF THE EXILED VAU
DOIS TO RETURN TO THEIR OWN COUNTRY.1
(a.d. 1686 to 1689.)
The Vaudois who had become Catlmlics — The faithful witnesses in the prisons of
Piedmont — Sale of the forfeited lands — Tabular view — The new purchasers —
Neglect and desolation — The exiled Vaudois conceive the project of returning
to their valleys — The first attempt of a small number frustrated by the Bernese
government — Three persons sent by the Vaudois to explore the route to the
valleys — Secret consultations in Janavel's house — Plan of a new expedition
agreed upon — The secret having transpired, the expedition is relinquished —
The situation of the Vaudois in Switzerland becomes more uncomfortable in
consequence of this abortive project — State of feeling amongst them — They
receive encouragement from the Prince of Orange and others — Janavel, fore
seeing a rupture between France and Savoy, recommends the time as a favour
able one for their enterprise — Captain Bourgeois — Janavel's instructions to his
compatriots.
The documents which exist on the subject of this chapter,2
particularly on the state of the Vaudois valleys during the absence
' Authorities. — The first pages of Arnaud: La glorieuse rentrSe; and, more
especially, the Archives of the Court of Accounts at Turin, which contain matter
for a number of volumes on this subject; also the Archives of the State, called Ar
chives of the Court, which contain thirty documents. Something has also been
found in the Archives of the Valleys ; amongst others, in those of Lucerna and
Le Villar.
2 The greater part of these documents are at Turin, in the Archives of thB
Vol. ii. 63

18 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. [part Third.
of their exiled inhabitants, would of themselves afford materials
for a considerable volume; but according to the proportion of other
parts of the present work, this subject can have only a very limited
space assigned to it here. It must suffice to treat of it by general
statements, cursory, though exact, and by noticing a few of the
principal facts.
Whilst the Vaudois still pined in the prisons of the Duke of
Savoy, new inhabitants were already invited to settle in their
valleys. It had been at first proposed to establish upon these
deserted lands the exiled Irish, who led a wandering life in the
district of Montferrat ; but two reasons prevailed against this pro
posal; 1st, the unlaborious habits of these islanders, through whose
carelessness the regions, recently so flourishing, would soon have
become waste and sterile ; 2d, the greater advantage which there
would be in selling the lands than in giving them away. It was
therefore resolved that they should be offered for sale, and that
those which were not sold should be let. The richest domains were
united to the private domain of Victor Amadeus, and some others
given to his officers or to pious foundations. The Vaudois who
had become Catholics were permitted to remain for a few months
longer on their lands, in order to dispose of them as they best
could, after which they were to be transferred to the province
of Verceil.1 This period was prolonged, in the case of most of
them, to almost a year ; and when the difficulty of repeopling the
Vaudois territory was discovered, the few families still there were
permitted to remain.
Court of Accounts : Ordini, No. 103, fol. 33, and 104, fol. 6. Mazzo, No. 568.
— Inventarii, from No. 566 to No. 573 inclusive. — Also, the Registri di sottomis-
sioni passate da diverse communita particolari delle valli di Luserna. Ordini,
No. 97, fol. 91, and No. 105, fol. 3. Contracts of sale and inventories, No.
559, 1st Reg. Nos. 560, 561, 562.— Stati diparticolari compratori, &c. . . . No. 564.
Other documents, Nos. 567, 563, &c. In the Archives of the State, called
Archives of the Court, are, amongst others — "Memorie concernenti li reli-
gionarii resi, e leni loro." — " Parere degli delegati sovra gl'occorenti delle Valli."
— " Ordine delli delegati daS. A. R. per la consegna de beni, redditi, vestiarii, etc.,
delli religionarii, devoluti a S. A. R. per la rebellione d'essi." — Memoir, entitled
" Stato presente delle Valli." — Another, " Progretto per Falienatione de beni che
sono nelle Valli di Luserna." Statistical, &c.
1 This appears from an order of 15th June, 1689, which enjoined all the Vaudois
who had become Catholics to remove to a distance of ten miles from the valleys,
under pain of five years of the galleys. (Archives of the Court of Accounts, No.
185. Reg. contr. Gen., fol. 64, right-hand page.) The reason assigned for this
order was the return of the exiled Vaudois, who set out from Switzerland two
months after. This date also proves that the design of these latter was known, or
at least suspected, beforehand. Other documents concur to establish this fact.
See, for example, the Records of the Council of State of Geneva, sittings of 10th and
23th May, 1689.

Chap. II ] THE LANDS SOLD. 19
But their faithful compatriots were martyrs in the prisons, and
scarcely had they passed beyond the confines of their valleys, when
the following proclamation was published throughout all the do
minions of the Duke of Savoy ;i —
"Be it known to all men, that by the notorious rebellion2 of the
religionaries of the valleys,8 all the properties which they possessed
have absolutely fallen to the royal domain. Accordingly, those
who desire possession of them are apprised that the foresaid pro
perties, with the fruits hanging on the trees, and the crops which
happen to be in the fields, will be exposed to sale at Lucerna, from
the 15th to the 24th of the current month, in presence of the pro
curator of his royal highness, * who will receive all proposals for
the purchase of them, in large or small lots, collectively or indi
vidually, in order to repeople the said valleys as soon as possible,
and all to the greatest advantage of his royal highness."
At the bottom of this placard, which was widely circulated, and
was pasted up on all the public pillars of the towns of Piedmont,
was annexed a list of the properties offered for sale in the different
Vaudois communes — if the name can be applied to a vast solitude,
in which there were now only a few dwellings to be seen, inhabited
by Catholics, recently unobserved amidst the more numerous Vau
dois, and now themselves forming the whole population.
In this state of things the municipal councils had to be every
where formed anew. In more than one commune, the whole of
the families remaining could scarcely furnish materials for a council.
The commune of St. Jean, not being able to make out an inde
pendent organization, was incorporated with that of Lucerna, and
ceased to exist until the return of the Vaudois.
The Catholics of the district were the first to seek after the
confiscated lands; but as they could not of themselves supply in
any measure the place of the population which had disappeared,
the condition was imposed upon the highest bidders of bringing a
certain number of families from other districts to be occupied in
the cultivation of the soil, and to be settled upon the properties so
purchased, otherwise the sale to be held null. Then came specu
lators of every description, seeking to turn to account for their own
gain that vast forfeiture of the properties of a whole people. Some
of these were themselves possessed of wealth ; others, acting on be
half of anonymous societies, owed to the associations which they
represented the means of becoming bidders. They mostly belonged
1 It is dated 1st July, 1686. s Per la notoria ribellione. The document is printed.
3 Here follow their names.
4 Signor Conte, auditore e patrimoniale generale Fecia di Cossato.

20 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. [Pabt TuI1!D-
to Suza, Chambery, and Saluces, and the largest lots were pur
chased by them. All the lands of Angrogna, for example, were sold
in a single lot. Those of Bobi were adjudged to bidders from Suza,
for the sum total of 44,000 livres. Those of Le Villar fell into the
hands of ten individuals belonging to Saluces. But in this sale
the preference was generally given to Savoyards, because, as they
were accustomed to mountains, and came from a very populous
country, there seemed to be the greatest security for a speedy and
advantageous colonization.
But this hope was far from being realized, for the purchasers
were not able to introduce a suffiicent number of farmers into their
new domains. In vain were numerous injunctions addressed to
them to this effect : the greater part of the families who were to
come to cultivate the soil had not yet arrived; and when the
exiled Vaudois returned to their native country, it still seemed, in
its neglected condition, to mourn for the children whom it had
lost. Notwithstanding the dryness which is generally experienced in
statistics, I think it necessary, in order to abridge this statement,
to present here a table of the entire population of the valleys
before and after the expulsion of their inhabitants, showing also
the lands sold or to be occupied, and the number of families from
other quarters whom the new proprietors were bound to introduce.
This table is prepared from a great number of documents derived
from the archives of the Court of Accounts and of the senate at
Turin, and also from the royal library and the archives of the
state in the same city.1
The Vaudois valleys, therefore, were not yet repeopled, and
everywhere presented the saddest possible aspect — lands unculti-
1 The materials of the following table are derived from a great number of dif
ferent documents, of which some contain only approximate indications. The
figures in the first and third groups of columns are derived from two papers in the
Archives of the State at Turin, of which one is entitled, " Stato presente delle
valli, che oVordine di V. A. R. si transmette hogi sei settembre, 1686. The other
paper, annexed to the former, has the following title :— " Ristretto delle famiglie
religionarie, ch'erano nelle valli; di quelle da introdursi; delta gia venute; delle
mancanti, e delle catholizate." There seems to be reason for believing these figures
to be exact and official.
The last column of this table, entitled ' ' Extent in journals of the lands sold or to
be occupied," presents information obtained from the same source, viz., from a
paper belonging to the Archives of State of Piedmont, and bearing this title :
"Stato delle valli e beni compressi nella riduttione, secondo le notitie che sin al pre
sente si non potute havere." This document is without date, and is inscribed with
the number 607 of the series. The two above mentioned bear the numbers 267
and 268.
Only the figures in the intermediate group of columns are for the most part ap-

Chap. II.]

DESOLATION OF THE VALLEYS.

21

vated — harolets ravaged — cottages standing open and half fallen to
ruins — walls still blackened by fire — rural inclosures falling or
thrown down — fruit-trees in some places torn up by the roots — the
vines, undressed, trailing their shoots along the ground — the mul
berry-trees not stripped, the leaves of which covered every bough with
dense and wild luxuriance — the limits of properties partially effaced
by brambles, or by the hands of the new purchasers — and these
coming as strangers into districts unknown to them, and display
ing a negligence and inattention,1 which neither promises2 nor
threats3 could overcome — all spoke of past violence, present in-
. justice, and uncertainty concerning the future.
proximations, but based upon careful investigations, and rules of proportion most
scrupulously carried out.

Vaudois
Families.

Individuals.

Families of
Strangers.

to
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2237 1369
671
1250 598
287 539356
143 269128
476550
80
200 85
58
105 57
10291750 925*
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Villar.... 
163
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1115
389
164
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118 30 66 75
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2023 4
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907 205
451 513 239
432 112 159
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31 98
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Perouse, Pomaret...
Pral 
100 80
100 30 15
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1332 13161319 8
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547 692
211 102
273 547
198239137542
347 186
349 7634
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9
1 Vedendo noi quento sii grande la transunagine e negligenza . . . . de novi ac-
quisUoride beni diqueste valli, &c. . . . Order of the Intendant Frichignono, dated
Lucerna, 1st March, 1688. (Turin. Archives of the Court of Accounts, No. 574.)
2 Exemptions from burdens, promised to the new proprietors and depopulated
communes. Edict of 26th January, 1688. (From the same.)
s Ingiunsione . . . agli acquisitori de beni delle valli . . . all' adempimento de
loro contratti. (From the same. Ordini, No. 91, fol. 91, and No. 105, fol. 3.)
22 THE ISBAEL OF THE ALPS. [paktTuibd.
On the other hand, the people who had been exiled from Pied
mont had not been able to establish themselves in a permanent
and satisfactory manner anywhere. Driven from the Palatinate
by war, and from Wurtemberg by the politic desire of maintain
ing peace — wandering about the banks of the Rhine or among the
mountains of Switzerland — their regretful longings, their distress,
a sense of the burden which they entailed upon their foreign
brethren, and the very uncertainty of their own circumstances —
all combined to give form and consistency to the patriotic design,
which many of them had conceived, of returning, at whatever cost,
to their own country. In the eyes of Janavel this heroic attempt
was more than the mere satisfaction of a patriotic feeling— it was
a duty binding on the conscience — and it was not difficult for him, by
his exhortations, to render the Vaudois unanimous on this point.
A certain number of the more impatient and determined among
them, amounting to about 300, had already assembled in the neigh
bourhood of Lausanne, and attempted to embark at Ouchi, in order to
pass into Savoy ; but the Bernese authorities, whose jurisdiction then
extended over the Pays de Vaud, opposed this design, and, without
doubt, prevented the inevitable destruction which would have
overtaken these unfortunate people in the territories of the Duke
of Savoy, if they had entered them with so little consideration.
"This first attempt," says Arnaud,1 was without due preparation,
without a leader, without arms, and without even the concurrence
of those who took the direction of their affairs ; so that having been
made on a mere sudden impulse, and without the adoption of the
measures necessary for such an enterprise, it can be no wonder that
their design failed." Moreover, the Helvetic cantons were under
obligation to the Duke of Savoy to prevent any attempt on the
part of the Vaudois contrary to the tranquillity of his dominions.
Perceiving how they were situated, the exiles returned to their
places of abode, without, however, renouncing the project of recover
ing possession of their own country, which from that time forth
became the sole earthly object of their lives.
That they might be able the better to mature and the more con
fidently to execute this design, they secretly sent prudent emissaries
to investigate beforehand, to sound the dispositions of their former
fellow-countrymen, to examine the whole country, and particularly
the by-ways by which they might arrive at the valleys; for they
deemed it of great importance to avoid the centres of population,
where they might have been opposed by considerable forees. The
devoted men who undertook this dangerous mission were three in
1 Pages 6 and 7. First edition.

Chap. II ] A NARROW ESCAPE. 23
number — one belonging to Pragela, another to the valley of St.
Martin, and the third to Queyras.
"These three travellers," says Arnaud, "were sufficiently fortunate
in going, but they were not equally so in returning ; for, not being
able to keep the great roads, and making their way across the
mountains, two of them were apprehended as robbers, in a narrow
and savage valley of the Tarentaise.1 Being questioned why they
did not keep the ordinary roads, they replied that, being traders in
lace, and knowing that it was manufactured in that country, they
went from one place to another to purchase it. This reply seeming
plausible enough, various pieces of lace were presented to them, to
see if they were well acquainted with the kind of goods in which
they said that they dealt — a trial which had almost been their
destruction, for the envoy from Pragela having offered six crowns
for a piece whieh was not worth three, the lord of the manor and
people of the place stripped them and imprisoned them as spies.
After eight days they underwent another examination ; and the
envoy who belonged to Queyras having formerly carried on the
trade of a foreign merchant in the south of France, gave so many
particulars concerning the localities in which he had done business,
that his declaration obtained credit ; and in order to explain the
mistake which had cost them so much, he added that his companion,
who knew little about lace, was only his servant, and not his partner.
There was in the neighbourhood a man belonging to Lunel ; he was
brought, and recognized the correctness of the topographical details
given by the prisoner, and the two travellers were at last released,
but in a state of complete destitution, for their captors refused to
give them back the money which they had taken from them, so
that they left the place robbed, after having been apprehended as
robbers." They found means, however, of making their way to Geneva.
There a secret council was held in the house of Janavel, who seems
to have been the soul of all the schemes attempted by the Vaudois
for returning to their native country. For this, indeed, he was ex
pelled from Geneva.2 His endeavours were seconded in the most
active manner by Henry Arnaud. Janavel directed their plans ;
Arnaud conducted the execution of them;3 the Vaudois obeyed, and
1 It was in the village of Tignes, at the base of Mount Iseran, where are the
sources of the Isere.
2 See the Records of the Council of State of Geneva, sittings of 31st May, 11th
and 28th June, 11th July, 1687, &c.
3 1 shall have occasion, by and by, to make some reservations regarding the too
exclusive part which has been assigned to the activity and genius of this celebrated
man in the return of the Vaudois ; but in respect of the steps taken in preparing

24 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. [Part Third.
by the blessing of God their country was regained. But persever
ance was required as well as courage, for they succeeded no better
in their second attempt than in the first.
The council held in Janavel's house resolved that those who took
part in this new expedition should assemble from their different
retreats on the utmost confines of Switzerland, at the entrance of
the Valais. Thence they were to proceed, by the territory of St.
Maurice, on the outskirts of Savoy, following the valley of the
Great St. Bernard as far as Orsieres, re-ascending the Val Ferret,
passing over the Col Letreyre, descending to Courmayeur, thence
passing to the Little St. Bernard ; and so getting round Mount
Blanc, they were to enter Savoy again, between the Col Bon
Homme and Mount Iseran, on the side of Scez, according to the
route which their first exploring envoys had marked out. This
bold project led them from summit to summit amongst the most
inaccessible mountains of Europe, and sheltered them from the
attacks of their enemies, under the protection of storms and glaciers,
to the very bosom of their own fair valleys. Their ardour was great.
Janavel gave them instructions. " Seeing," said he, "that, by the
grace of God, you are filled with zeal and courage to kindle the
lamp of the gospel again in the place of your birth, where the
church of the Lord has never been reduced to so great an extremity
as now, I pray you to take in good part what follows, as it all
comes from one of your servants, who is faithful to you, and will be
faithful until his last breath."1 Then follow the counsels of military
skill and experience, which will be given in a subsequent page, and
which were afterwards applied; for in 1688 the secret was not so
well kept by the 3000 persons, or thereby,2 who were necessarily

for this expedition, he must certainly he placed in the first rank. The following
words occur in the Records of the Council of State of Geneva, sitting of 9th June,
1688 :— -" The Sieur Arnaud shall he called upon to explain this fact " (the arma
ment of the Vaudois).
1 Archives of the Court. Turin. At the bottom of this paper are these words —
" Given in Switzerland, this month of June, 1688."
2 It is said, in a letter written from Samoen, 12th July, 1688, at eight o'clock in
the evening (Turin, Archives of the Court), that the persons entering into this ex
pedition amounted to 3000 in number. The number is stated at 2000 only in the
manuscript of the Royal Library, entitled " Here follows a faithful relation of
the presumptuous and violent passage proposed and attempted by the refugee and
expelled people of Lucerna, along with Frenchmen, by the loxoer valley, chiefly in the
district of St. Maurice, and in the government of Monthey." These words, " along
with Frenchmen" (for the revocation of the Edict of Nantes had driven many
Frenchmen into exile), explain to us how it is possible that the Vaudois may have
been more numerous when they returned to their own country than they were
when tbey left it. However, the number here stated must have been exaggerated,
for Arnaud .gives that of 600 or 700 men only.

C«ap. II.] FREDERIC THURMANN. 25
acquainted with it, that they could find protection in the inat
tention of their enemies.
Enough transpired of this project to excite the watchfulness of
the Swiss government, and to put the military posts of Savoy upon
their guard. Accordingly, when the Vaudois began to assemble at
Bex, to the number of 600 or 700 men,1 the alarm was promptly
given in the Valais and in Savoy, where the Catholic authorities
called the people to arms, and caused signal-fires to be lighted, in
order to dispute with the exiles their passage at St. Maurice, the
bridge of which was immediately guarded and defended. The en
terprise, being divulged at its commencement, was not prosecuted.
"The bailli of Aigle,"says Arnaud, "having repaired to Bex,
which is within his jurisdiction, caused the Vaudois to be assembled
in the place of worship, where he addressed them in a very affecting
speech, exhorting them to patience, and assuring them that it would
be temerity to persist in their design. ' Poor Vaudois,' added he,
with tears in his eyes, 'the Lord will remember you and your dis
tresses, for he cannot but approve the zeal which you manifest to
re-establish the true religion in the sanctuary of your ancestors,
where it never was extinguished, and he will infallibly one day
bring you back to your native land.' " After this Arnaud ascended
the pulpit, and took for his text these words of the gospel, "Fear
not, little flock."2 "Yes! fear not," said he to the Israel of the
Alps, "for God has his time for casting down and his time for
raising up ; it is liis pleasure that we still wait ; let us suffer with
patience, and in his own time he will raise us up." The worthy
bailli, whose name was Frederic Thurmann, then himself conducted
the Vaudois troop back to the interior of the canton, caused provi
sions to be distributed among them, and lodgings to be found for
them at Aigle, took their officers to his own house, and moreover
lent them 200 crowns, to assist those of them who had come from
the opposite extremity of Switzerland in returning to their places of'
asylum. It seems hard to believe that this generous beneficence
was made a cause of complaint against Thurmann, and that he was
obliged to write to Berne to justify himself to his superiors.8
This attempt caused a great sensation both in Switzerland and
in Savoy.4 Victor Amadeus renewed his proclamation, prohibiting
' On 23d June, 1688. - Luke xii. 32.
3 His letter is dated 9th July. (Archives of Berne.)
4 The Archives of Turin contain a great number of letters on this subject, written
from Thonon, Evian, and Les Allinges; from ChoMais, Sion, St. Gingolf, and St.
Maurice; from the Sardinian government to the Swiss government, and vice versd;
as also the reports of several agents, from which I shall hereafter borrow a few
particulars.
. Vol. n. 64

26 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. [i-artTiiied.
the Vaudois from returning to their country under pain of death,1
and enjoined all those who might be in it, in any capacity what
ever,2 to have their names registered by the magistrates of the
place of their residence, within the space of ten days, under pain of
being publicly whipped.3 The Helvetic government was asked in a
threatening manner, by the representatives of France and Pied
mont, to watch more strictly than hitherto over the attempts of
these audacious exiles; but with this surveillance, dictated by po
litical necessity, it united all that tenderness for misfortune which
Christian charity ought to inspire. It even seemed that their
heroic determination to return to their native country amidst so
many dangers, served only to augment the interest with which the
Vaudois exiles were already regarded ; and the troop which had
assembled for the expedition, although obliged to disperse itself
throughout the different cantons of Switzerland, everywhere met
with more proofs of sympathy than marks of suspicion.4 Yet there
was, at the first, a sort of indignation felt against these refugees
who involved the country in danger, and could not be brought to
submit to an inactive exile ; and a meeting held at Arau, by the
delegates of the different cantons, distinctly informed them that
they must withdraw from Switzerland.5 It was then that a part
of them resolved to go to Brandenburg, and to form the colony of
Stendal, already spoken of. These, who were considered as the
more reasonable, received a thousand attentions, whilst loud com
plaints were made of the obstinacy and stubbornness of those who
persisted in the design of returning to their own country.
"At that time," says Arnaud, " they were treated as if nothing
were too bad for them, insomuch that there were few sermons in
which their subject was not fallen upon, and in which they were not
1 This edict is dated 12th July, 1688 ; it was registered by the senate on the 14th,
and published on the 16th.
2 As domestics, proprietors, or farmers, but having become Catholics.
3 This edict is in the Archives of the Court of Accounts at Turin. Ordini: 1686
to 1688, No. 104, fol. 46, and No. 105, fol. 37. It is also in the Archives of the
State. * It appears, from a letter of the Vaudois to the magistrates of Berne, dated 16th
July, that they received much kindness in that city. " Although we can find no
language strong enough to express our gratitude," say they, " we would be un
worthy of this kindness if, before leaving your territories, we did not offer you our
most humble thanks." At Vevey, on the contrary, where the people still felt an
noyed, through the apprehension of danger arising from their abortive attempt,
they were very ill, even harshly received. (See Arnaud, first edition, p. 13.)
8 On the contrary, a few days before, it was sought to retain them there. The
government of Berne had offered them, as a place of settlement, the Uttle isle of
St. Pierre, in the Lake of Bienne or Bieler, which is now well known as associated
with the name of Rosseau.

Chap.I1.] the EMISSARY BOULOZ. 27
very rudely treated." But they were aware that political consi
derations had more to do with these severities than the personal
sentiments of the Helvetic body, which served for their protection.
Victor Amadeus had sent to Switzerland a number of emissaries,
charged to transmit to him circumstantial reports concerning the
Vaudois and their affairs. The first of these, named Bouloz,
arrived at Aigle when the disconcerted troop were still there, who
had assembled for the expedition. He passed himself off as a
French refugee, and expressed a desire to unite himself to them.
The Vaudois received him as a brother, kept him amongst them,
told him the whole history of the wars of 1686, and gave him a
description of their country, "where there were," said they, "four
teen places of worship, and as many ministers, of whom M. Arnoz
was the most able and learned." 1 It is easy to perceive that the
person here intended is the pastor Arnaud, the leader of the expe
dition. Another agent says in his report that the Vaudois, irri
tated at not having succeeded under the direction of this leader,
"had put him to death, by cutting off his fingers, his feet, and then
his head."2 I insert this story, as false as it is horrible, only to
show how readily the most ridiculous reports concerning the Vau
dois were received, and how little credit is due to information from
such sources. The case is different when the narrator recounts
only what is personal to himself.
"As we left Morat," says the same emissary, " we saw two
captains from Lucerna, of very good appearance, with gray, close-
fitting coats, laced hats, sabres, and bayonets. Very few women or
children were to be seen among these people. Some of them are
at Arnberg, others at Arau, Serli, Bienne, and Nidau. Their ex
cellencies of Friburg have written to the baillies of the canton, to
arrest all whom they find in it. At Lucerne8 I saw some of them,
who were leaving that place for the Palatinate ; for they did not
choose to go to Brandenburg, as it is too distant. I asked the
reason, presenting one of them some snuff. ' Here we shall be the
vanguard of Switzerland,' said he, ' for we will never die but in
our own country.' ' • ¦ Then, as they complained that his
royal highness had not yet set their ministers at liberty, and re-
1 These are the terms and the orthography of the document, which is deposited in
the Archives of Turin, under this title, "Abridgement of the narrative of the jour.
ney of M. Bouloz, advocate, into the Pays de Vaud, by order of M. the commandant
of Le Chablais."
2 Paper simply entitled Account of Journey, and beginning, "I set out on 1st
August, 1688 .... (Turin, Archives of the State.)
3 From this sentence onwards the quotation is composed merely of sentences
borrowed from the most interesting parts of this document.

28 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. [Part Third.
stored their children, I signified displeasure thereat, by saying that
the Duke of Savoy was a bad prince. ' No,' he replied, ' the duke
is a good prince, but he is ill advised; it is that which does him
wrong.' "
This emissary had represented himself to the Vaudois as an in
habitant of the Pays de Vaud ; and he adds that they appeared to
him to be determined to return sooner or later to their native land;
"for," says he, "they would rather be cut into four quarters in their
own country, than live well anywhere else." Is it not remarkable
to see so ardent a love for their native country associated with so
much loyalty towards their persecutor ! Such a people were worthy
of the interest with which they inspired even their enemies.
The powers which protected the Vaudois Church — Holland in
particular — adhered, like the Vaudois themselves, to the idea that
the ancient lamp of their faith should be rekindled in the valleys.
Arnaud1 presented himself before the Prince of Orange, 2 "wlto re
proached him very severely," he says, "for his impatient proceedings,
and for having hitherto chosen his time so ill," s encouraging him not
to lose heart, and supplying him with means to facilitate the accom
plishment of his design.4 Even private persons took a most active
interest in promoting it.5
Janavel foresaw an approaching rupture between Piedmont and
' He was accompanied by a Vaudois captain of St. Jean, named Baptiste Besson.
2 William Henry of Nassau, Prince of Orange, posthumous son of William IX.,
who had married the daughter of Charles I., King of England, was, in virtue of
his descent by the mother's side, called to the throne of Great Britain in February,
1689, under the name of William III., at the age of thirty-nine years. When the
Vaudois leaders presented themselves before him, he was Stadtholder of Holland,
and had been so since 1672.
3 This clause in italics is another extract from the manuscript of the Return,
from which it has been struck out.
4 He supplied them with assistance in money, and with letters of introduction
to several officers, who took part in the expedition.
5 Arnaud (p. 54 of the preface) mentions in particular M. Clignet, postmaster-
general at Leyden, who, in the following year, lent 100,000 florins to the emperor
of Germany to carry on the war against France. "Without the assistance which
he gave us," says Arnaud, "the return of the Vaudois to their own country would
have been impossible." (Fol. 27, left hand page.)
One of the emissaries of the Duke of Savoy, sent into Switzerland to inquire
what the Vaudois were doing, says that " they have bought a great quantity of
arms at Berne," and that " the Bailli of Nidenz (probably Nidau) has seized a cask,
m which were found 39,000 French silver crowns.- (Turin, Archives of the Court,
Account of a Journey, Series, No. 298.) Another emissary sent in 1689 after
the excitement occasioned by the rash enterprise of Bourgeois, says " After reach
ing Lausanne I met numbers of these people of Lucerna, in scattered parties, some,
but few of them, still havmg their muskets; almost all of them had sabres and
bayonets, and some had orange-coloured ribbons on their ha's." (From +h» a.™*
Archives, No. 253.) These last words prove that they had placed tWelves
it were, under the special protection of the Prince of Oranse. now Willi.™ ttt

: Orange, now William III.

Chap. II] CAPTAIN BOURGEOIS EXECUTED. 29
France. The hostility of William III. against Louis XIV. was
well known; war was on the point of being declared between
France and Germany ; and it was evident enough that the pretended
alliance between the French monarch and the Duke of Savoy was
for the latter merely an oppressive, vassalage. The Vaudois, with
good reason, judged that now was the moment to act. Janavel
repeated his instructions to them, and they set forth.
Before relating the history of this heroic expedition, and in order
not to interrupt the narrative, I must here mention that the officer
who was to have taken the military direction of it — Captain Bour
geois, a native of Neuchatel — not having been able to get in time
to the rendezvous, gathered together some others, who were also
too late, who, being joined by a troop of French refugees, they all
proceeded to follow the first expedition, but mistook their way in
Savoy, and betaking themselves to pillage, disbanded and returned
to Geneva, where the gates of the city were closed against them ;
and at last the leader of this unlucky expedition was not only cast
off by all, but expiated on the scaffold the almost ridiculous reverses
of his unfortunate ambition.1
As to the first troop, whose marvellous exploits exalt its history to
the rank of an epic poem, it had many difficulties to overcome ere
it could render that a matter of admiration which had appeared to
most persons to be folly. The faith of its members had to triumph
before their arms; and the protection of God, whose hand lifts up
or casts down at pleasure, after they had been rendered great by
trials, established them again in the humble heritages of their
fathers. But before commencing this narrative of heroic deeds, I
shall here lay before the reader the instructions of Janavel-' : —
"My very dear brethren in Jesus Christ, — The Lord. not permit
ting me to accompany you, because of my infirmity, which I very
much regret, I think it my duty to neglect nothing which can be
1 There are a very great number of documents in existence concerning this affair.
I cannot quote them in any other way than merely by pointing out where they
may be found. Archives of the Council of State of Geneva, minutes of sittings of
2d and 3d, 6th and 7th, 10th and 11th, 16th and 17th, 18th and 28th September,
1689. Archives of Berne, compartment D. — Archives of State at Turin, files marked
Valdesi and Religionarii. — Private Archives of M. Lombard-Odibb at Geneva;
M. Monastieb, at Lausanne, &c. — See also the Mercure Historique, t. vii. p.
1047, et seq.
2 This paper is in the Archives of State at Turin, inscribed upon the back as fol
lows : — ' ' Instruitione data alii ribelli delle valli di Luserna, che vi sono ritornati nel
anno 1689, della maniera che devono resilarsi nelle marchie e combatti." I cannot
quote the whole of it, for it occupies eighteen quarto pages. At the end of the
twelfth page are the following words, "The author of this paper, who is Captain
Janavel, says nothing which he has not put to the proof himself." Larger extracts
from it have been given in L'Echo des ValUes, second year, Nos. 4, 5, and 6.

30 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. [Part Third.
for the good of my poor country ; and therefore I have caused my
opinions to be put in writing,1 concerning the course which you
must pursue, both as to your routes, and your method of proceeding
in attacks and combats, if the Lord favours you so far as to carry
you to your own mountains, as. my hope is that he will. I pray
God, with all my heart, that he may make all succeed to his own
glory, and for the restoration of his church. If our church has
been reduced to so great an extremity, it is our sins that have been
the cause. It behoves us, then, every day to humble ourselves
more and more before the Lord, . . . and when any mishap
occurs to you, be patient, and redouble your courage, so that there
shall be nothing firmer than your faith."
Such is the beginning of a military proclamation, which looks
like a religious discourse ; such is the language of this aged warrior,
famous for unequalled intrepidity; such were the sentiments of
faith, humility and prayer, under the influence of which was com
menced the most adventurous career of heroism and peril upon
which patriotic courage had ever entered.
But human prudence regarded all hope of success as chimerical.
"What probability is there," said the journals of the time,2 "that
the Vaudois will be able to get back to their own country, without
their passage being opposed, and their being utterly destroyed?
How are they to contend against the forces of France and Pied
mont, which press upon them on both sides 1 No, it is impossible
for them to return thither without perishing, let them take what
precautions they may, and on this point the court of Savoy may
rest secure." They did return, however; and the precautions which
Janavel pointed out to them to take, were these: —
" When you are come into the country of the enemy, seize two
or three men of the place where you happen to be." These were
to serve as hostages, and to open for them a way into the places
into which they were afterwards to pass. "You will treat them,"
said he, "with all the tenderness possible." He then recommends
the Vaudois to abstain from all disorder, to pay for all that they
demand, and to make prayer morning and evening.3 "When you
1 It is evident that this paper was written by an amanuensis, for the writing is
in a bold and current hand, whilst the writing of Janavel (if we may judge by
eleven lines written by his own hand at the end of the letter which he addressed to
the Vaudois in 1685), was large, like that of a child, slow, hesitating, tremulous,
and difficult to read.
2 Mercure historique, t. vii. pp. 789, 806, 807.— Gazette of Leyden, &c.
3 I omit, for want of space, very particular directions concerning the formation
of companies, the order to be followed during the march, the arrangements to be
made in halts and encampments, the manner of making or repelling an attack with
advantage, &c.

Coap.h] JANAVEL'S ADVICE. 31
shall have arrived in the valleys, ... if you should be no
more than 600 or 700 men, you must attack at once the val
ley of Lucerna and that of St. Martin. . . . You will always
keep sentinels posted at the summits of the mountains, that you
may not be surprised from the side of Pragela, and in order to keep
the passes free from one valley to another." He recommends that,
amongst others, they should carefully guard the Col Julian; and
also that they should have in each valley a place fixed beforehand,
"a place of sure retreat, which," says he, "shall be in the valley of
Lucerna, Balmadant, If Aiguille, and the Combe of Giansarand,
where was the most ancient retreat of our fathers — in that of St.
Martin, La BalcigKa."1 "Spare no labour nor pains," says he,
" in fortifying this post, which will be your most secure fortress.
Do not quit it unless in the utmost extremity. . . . You will,
of course, be told that you cannot hold it always, and that rather
than not succeed in their object, all France and Italy will gather
together against you. . . . But were it the whole world, and only
yourselves against all, fear ye the Almighty alone, who is your
protection." "The severest penalties," he adds, must be inflicted upon any
one who abandons his post." " Have scouts in the level country, to
keep you informed of the movements of your adversaries." " On
the field of battle give quarter to no one ; for how will you keep
prisoners? You can neither employ your men to guard them, nor
your provisions to feed them; and upon leaving you, they will
make known your position to the enemy." But on all occasions,
he earnestly goes on, take care above all things " to spare innocent
blood, or blood which there is no need to shed, that you may not
have it to answer for before God ; and in particular, see that you
never allow yourselves to be seized with fear or with anger ; for if
you put your trust in the Lord, be assured that he will never
forget you, and that his sword will be around you as a wall of fire
against your enemies."2
The combined moderation and energy of this language, which
seemed to breathe at once the solemn calmness of the patriarchs
and the animating confidence of the prophets, was well calculated
to sustain the Vaudois in their patriotic efforts. With the noble
simplicity of the mountaineer was united a character of greatness
and affecting self-renunciation, which is sought for in vain in men
1 It is now written Balsille, more anciently it was written Balseigla, and in the
orders of the day of the French army which came to attack the Vaudois there,
this post is named the Fort of the Three Teeth, or the Rock of the Three Beaks-.
2 These expressions are exactly copied from the manuscript of Janavel, but are
taken from passages of greater length.

32 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. [pabi Third.
of the highest fame. It is also a very rare thing for a people
tossed amidst the vicissitudes of a peculiar fate, and especially when
these are the result of some great religious crisis, or when the
immediate irritation of an unjust war is experienced, not to abandon
themselves to extravagance and cruelty. The Camisards had their
ecstatic persons — the Anabaptists their visionary prophets — all
parties have made reprisals when they became victorious. Amongst
the Vaudois there was nothing of the kind ; liveliness of faith was
associated with the soundest views; they were directed by a sort
of calm temerity ; and if there is anything in which they can be
blamed, it is upon account of what, according to human estimate,
might be called their excess of good faith, for almost all their errors
arose from their too easily believing the word of their enemies.
But if this respect for truth did them some harm in the world, it
appears to their honour in history. The events now to be recorded
form one of the most brilliant phases of their history. Reasonable
even in passion, they accomplished the greatest things, their enthu
siasm never making them forego prudence, nor misfortune shaking
their firmness. In their difficult course, as they marched on amidst
tempest after tempest, with a countenance always calm and re
solute, courage and moderation attended all their steps. This
character merits for them a place by themselves in history, and it
may be said that Janavel made it for them. The severe stamp of
exile renders nobler still the aspect of this noble old man, who, like
Moses, led the tribes of his people to the boundaries of the promised
land, the land of their forefathers, without being permitted to enter
it himself. We are now to see how his compatriots made their way
thither.

, ^»v fiaven. ^ -**
Chap. III.] THE EXILES TtBeSUBifc**^''^

CHAPTER III.
THE GLORIOUS RETURN OF THE VAUDOIS, UNDER THE CON
DUCT OF ARNAUD,1 AND ACCORDING TO THE DIRECTIONS
OF JANAVEL.2 (August to September, 1689.)
The Vaudois assemble on the shore of the Lake of Geneva, and embark by night —
The precautions employed to divert attention from their proceedings — Num
bers, however, arrested by the Swiss governments — The embarkation — Arnaud
and Turrel, leaders of the expedition — The march begun — The pastor Chyon
taken prisoner — The Vaudois seize hostages — They pass without impediment by
Yvoire, Viu, and St. Joire — A show of opposition at Cluse is soon overcome —
They carry the bridge at Salanches by force — They pass over the mountains of
Le Praz and Haute Luce— Sufferings from incessant rain— The Col Bonhomme
— Scez — St. Foi — Mount Iseran — They capture a cardinal's equipages — Suffer
ings in crossing Mount Cenis — Combat with the garrison of Exilles — Some fall
behind through fatigue and exhaustion, and are taken prisoners — Combat and
victory at Salabertrans — The exiles obtain the first view of their native moun
tains — They arrive at the Balsille — A half company of Piedmontese soldiers
taken prisoners and put to the sword — Public worship at Pral — Victory at the
Col Julian — Public worship and solemn covenant on the hill of Sibaoud.
It was during the night between the 16th and 17th of August,
1689, that the Vaudois embarked on the Lake of Geneva, in order
to pass from Switzerland into Savoy, and so to proceed to their own
1 1 have retained in the title of this chapter the name of Arnaud, which is con
nected in so particular a manner with the return of the Vaudois, that I could not
but think myself bound to respect a reputation so long established in this matter.
But I am compelled as a historian to reduce the magnitude of the part taken by
him in this expedition, of which the plan was due to Janavel, and the active direc
tion to General Turrel (at least until it had reached the valleys), and of which the
account was written by the youthful Reynamdin. Arnaud, who was the editor of
this narration, modified it a little.
2 Authorities. — Almost exclusively-" The Glorious Return" [La Glorieuse Ren-
trie\ of Arnaud, and the various readings of the original MS. of that work, de
posited in the Royal Library at Berlin. — Also, " Relation en abr&gS de ce qui s'est
passe de plus remarquable dans le retour des Vaudois au Piimont, depuis le 16 aoUt
1689, jusqu' au 15 juillet 1690; ce qui a its fidttement rapporU par des personnes
qui ont iU eux-mtmes dans dwerses actions, qui sont id rapportees, de nouveau. A
la Haye chez Ollivier Le Franc." 1690. (It would seem from this title, that this
little work had already reached its second edition.) — " Nouvelle relation en abrigi
ou histoire de ce qui s'est passS de plus remarquable aux valUes de PiSmont, depuis
lelo juillet 1690 jusqu' au mois de fivrier 1691." Published as a sequel to the pre
ceding pamphlet. — "Relation veritable de ce qui s'est passS entre I'armSe francaise
et les Pifmontais et Vaudois, dans les valUes de Luserne, depuis le 15 aoMjusq' au
22 du mime mois 1690." La Haye; a small 4to pamphlet of eight pages. (All these
pamphlets show how great an interest was taken in distant places in the extra
ordinary expedition of the Vaudois.) — See also the journals of the period; the
Gazettes of Leyden, of France, and of England; Mercure historique, &c.
Vol. ii. 65

34 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. [>*« Thud.
native valleys. There is near the town of Nyon a forest of oaks,
called the wood of Prangins, which covers with its venerable trees
a number of little hills, includes a' number of shady hollows, and
descends with a steep declivity to the waves of the Leman. Here
it was that the Vaudois, faithful to their patriotic design, had
agreed not to await one another, but rather to meet at once; for
it was necessary that the forest should seem to be unoccupied1 and
by no means to be their mustering place, that so all the members
of the expedition might assemble in it without impediment, from
all places in the neighbourhood, between nine and ten o'clock in
the evening. A great number of Vaudois were therefore already
prepared to set out, and were concealed in the vicinity, whilst no
one was to be seen in the wood of Prangins, where they took- care
not to show themselves, that attention might not be drawn to that
important spot.
For two months the refugees had made their preparations for
departure. Those who were scattered in the most distant parts of
Switzerland, and even as far as the utmost boundaries of Bavaria,
Wurtemberg, and the Palatinate, were apprised that a new attempt
to regain possession of their country was about to be undertaken
from the shores of Lake Leman. They therefore made every
arrangement beforehand, in order to be there. Domestics, hired
labourers, and artisans disengaged themselves in the quietest pos
sible way from their employments ; the workers in manufactories
provided themselves with arms ; every one did the best he could
to secure a supply for the wants of his poor family, which he was
to leave in exile, whilst he went to win back for them the land of
their fathers.2 But the dangers were very great; each might
perish in this great enterprise; the necessary silence concealed
many a painful farewell.
More than eight days before the time appointed, the Vaudois
began their journeys. They required to use many precautions, in
order to traverse the confederate states without exciting suspicion.
Marching by night, and sleeping by day, seeking by-paths and the
shadow of woods, they carefully avoided appearing in numerous
1 Suspicions were entertained of the project of the Vaudois. The federal patrols
passed and repassed several times through the forest of Prangins; a descent was
made upon it on the 13th of August, with the view of apprehending the Vaudois
who might be surprised there, but nobody was found.
(Report of the bailli of Nyon on the departure of the Vaudois. Archives of Berne,
compartment D.) In another report, it is said that the forest was empty on the
16th at sunset, but im, the course of three or four hours it was filled with Piedmon
tese. (Same source.)
2 These brief notices express the general import of a multitude of details con
tained in private letters and contemporary reports, too numerous to be all cited here.

Chap. III.] THE EXILES EMBARK. 85
groups. They met one another without speaking; a significant
look sufficed to make them understand one another. They were,
moreover, unacquainted with the plan of the expedition ; no order
had been given them, nothing precise was known ; one single idea
guided them, that of returning to their own native land.
However, their successive disappearance from the places where
they had been cantoned, awakened attention. Reports passed from
one quarter to another, and multiplied. Friday, the 15th of
August, was a fast-day for the whole of Switzerland. In the after
noon, just as the people were assembling for worship, the bailli of
Morges was apprised that 400 Vaudois had been seen hidden
amongst the bushes below the bridge of Allamand.1 He caused
notice to be given to the militia of the neighbouring districts, and
next day he arrested 100 of these fugitives, but eighty-three
succeeded in making their escape. Others were reported to the
authorities at Rolle, Ursine, and Peroi.
On the same day the boatmen of Ouchy presented themselves
before the bailli of Lausanne.2 "Some of the Lucernese," said
they, " have asked us to transport them l!b«Savoy in our boats, but
we did not think proper to do it without acquainting you." " You
have done very well," said the magistrate, " for I can by no means
authorize you. But are these people numerous?" "Nearly 180."
"Where do they wait for you?" " They are concealed in two barns
near Vidy." The magistrate sent a major to persuade the Vaudois
to retire. This envoy took possession of three boats which they
had already brought together, and in one of which were found
fifty muskets. "Next day," says the bailli in his report, " I learned
that, about midnight, 500 men, marching very quickly and in
silence, had passed Romanel, proceeding towards the lake." These
500 men, along with the 180 who were at Vidy, were to have em
barked at St. Sulpice, in order to go to Nyon ; but only 450 were
able to embark, and 230 remained, for want of the three boats
which the bailli of Lausanne had caused to be taken from them.3
' All these and the following particulars are taken from the Report of the bailli
of Nyon, and from another report, entitled "Information viriiahle de ce qui est
arrivi dans le baillage de Nyon pour le trajet des Piemontais, de la conduite qu' Us
ont tenue,"Sco. . . . (Archives of Berne.) This report commences thus : — "On the
9th of July, 1689, their excellencies of Berne informed me that the Piedmontese,
following out their obstinate design of returning to their own country, &c. ..."
Other letters, some of which are dated even as far back as the 10th of May, attest
the movement already taking place among the Vaudois, and the attention which
•they had excited. (See the Archives of the Council of State of Geneva, sittings of
10th and 28th May, 1689.)
2 The name of this bailli was Sturler. His report is dated 16th August, 1689.
(Archives of Berne.)
3 Same document, compared with other reports (also in the Archives of Berne).

36 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. [pabtThibd.
"To-day," continues he, under date the 16th, "my colleague of
Morges has sent his son to tell me that he has discovered other
Vaudois in the neighbourhood of Aubonne, that the bailli of
Nyon has already put the people of his district under arms, and
that it is necessary to prevent these unfortunate people from pass
ing into Savoy, where certain destruction awaits them."1 In the
canton of Uri, 122 Piedmontese, coming from the Grisons, had
already been arrested.2 Of those who succeeded in reaching the
common rendezvous, 200 were still unable to cross the lake, because
out of fourteen boats in which their brethren had crossed, only
three consented to renew the voyage.3
The federal militia of the canton had been convoked for the
14th, to oppose the project of the Vaudois; but the previous even
ing was that of a religious solemnity4 always most devoutly
observed in Switzerland. All military measures were put off to
the 16th and 17th. Then it was too late. In the intervening
night, as the first stars arose, the forest of Prangins, where all had
been stillness until sunset, was suddenly peopled with 1000 or 1200
men, who descended from the heights, ascended from the ravines,
arose out of the coppices, and, as if iu obedience to some silent
signal, concentrated themselves, with admirable unity of purpose,
on the solitary bank of the Leman.
Fifteen boats had been gathered together there. The pastor
Arnaud5 made a fervent prayer, to implore the Divine protection
for these banished men. " The young seigneur of Prangins, who,
as well as many others, happened to be there from curiosity, after
having listened on his knees to the prayer of the pastor, imme
diately mounted his horse, and rode aU night to Geneva, to give
information to the French resident of the enterprise of the Vaudois "
In consequence of this information, orders were forwarded to Lyons
to cause the cavalry to march towards Savoy, to destroy this auda
cious troop. But the Vaudois took care to keep out of the reach of
their attacks. Ascending the rivers to their sources, in order to
avoid the populous towns, and following the crest of the mountains
of?hSr:?c^
16th August, 1689. (Archives of 'Berne ) "^ °f E°Ue' dated
» Arnaud, p. 37. Beattie, Vaudois Valleys, Pzct p 121
^^totSS^E^SJ* ** *« not deemed
s Arnaud, pp. 40, 41. ' 7 Sten to the prayer of «^ir pastor.

Chap. III.] THE EXILES LAND IN SAVOY. 37
from glacier to glacier and from precipice to precipice, in deep
chasms or on lofty peaks, they kept themselves out of the way of
the combined forces of France and Piedmont, which vainly endea
voured to intercept their passage.
" The sheriff Devigne," adds a despatch dated on that same day,
"arrived at the forest of Prangins at the moment when 300 Vau
dois had already crossed the lake. There still remained about 700
of them. He addressed them with exhortations and threats, to keep
them from going ; but they replied to him by good reasons, by en
treaties, and even by letting him see that they intended to make
resistance,' so that, in these circumstances, not being sufficiently
strong for them, he allowed them to do as they chose, and saw them
depart in thirteen boats."2 All the members of the expedition had
crossed the lake by two o'clock in the morning.3 The sky was
covered with clouds, and a drizzling rain fell. During their passage,
a gust of wind separated the boats, but those which were carried out
of their way were compensated by meeting with a small bark from
Geneva, with eighteen of their brethren, who also had come in com
pliance with the call to return and take possession of their native
land. As soon as the first who disembarked set foot upon the
shores of Savoy, Arnaud posted sentinels in all directions; and,
with the exception of those who were thus occupied, the Vaudois,
waiting until they should all be united again, gathered together
beneath a tree on the bank of the lake, longing and praying for the
prompt arrival of their brethren who were still on the other side.4
One of the boats, however, which had been dispersed by the wind,
was driven so far out of its course, that it did not reach the land
until daybreak. The men whom it conveyed rejoined the troop
when already on the march and in military organization.
Janavel had said, "First of all, it is most requisite that you
should, every one of you, kneel down upon the ground, and lifting
up your eyes and your hands to heaven, your heart and soul to the
Lord, earnestly pray that he would give you his Holy Spirit, . . .
and cause you to name those who are best qualified among you to
be leaders of the rest."5 The whole body composing the expedition
1 Here we have the first proof of the calm intrepidity which marked the conduct
of the Vaudois in this expedition.
2 Letter of the governor of the castle of Rolle to the bailli of Nyon, 16th Aug.
(Archives of Berne.)
3 This, and the following particulars, are extracted from the original manuscript
of the Return of the Vaudois, many passages of which have been left out of the
published work.
* Original MS. of the Return, p. 42. Royal Library of Berlin.
5 Instruttione data alii ribelli, &c  (Archives of Turin), a document
already quoted.

38 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. [pabt Tmsn.
was divided into nineteen companies, each having a captain and a
sergeant. ' The commander-in-chief was to have been that leader of
the later expedition, who has been already mentioned;2 but as he
had not succeeded in making his appearance at the rendezvous, a
compatriot of M. Arnaud, Captain Turrel,3 a native of Die, was
• In the original manuscript of the Return, the following sentence occurs: "As
of these captains some were killed, and some were taken prisoners during the
march, and others deserted, new ones were substituted for them, or their com
panies were incorporated, as circumstances required."
2 Bourgeois of Neuch&tel. (Arnaud, Return, p. 45.)
3 This being brought forward as a fact entirely new, I think it requisite to state
the proofs upon which it rests. The following is an extract from the original
manuscript of the Return, deposited at Berlin (Royal Library, No. — ), p. 42 :—
"When all had arrived, they proceeded to form a body, of which one Bourgeois of
Neuchatel was to have been commander. He did not make his appearance at the
rendezvous ; we shall not here say upon what account, having in the further course
of this history to speak at sufficient length concerning him. I shall satisfy myself
with mentioning that the post of honour which had been designed for him was given
to the Sieur Turrel, a refugee of Die, in whose courage and military experience
the people had sufficient confidence to declare him commander-in-chief; yet so that
he should not be able to determine anything without the concurrence of a council
of war, composed of the captains, and especially without conferring with M.
Arnaud, who had his eye upon all, and who was to him as a colleague associated
in the command." This passage, which itself assigns to Arnaud's influence a very
honourable part, was suppressed by him in the publication. It cannot be restored
to its place in the history without producing some modification of the generally
received ideas concerning the military arrangements of this expedition. Let us
see whether facts and analogies are in favour of its retention or of its suppression.
Arnaud allows us to think that he was himself the general-in-chief of the Vaudois
army, without, however, anywhere saying that this rank had been conferred upon
him ; whilst it is probable that he would not have left us to mere inference if he
had been formally invested with it.
But can we suppose that he has passed over in silence a fact so important, if,
indeed, true? And have we, without the testimony of Arnaud, proofs sufficient to
establish it? These two questions merit separate examination.
A. — I would have hesitated to believe that, upon any account, Arnaud would
have kept unfair silence concerning the general, Turrel, of whom my readers pro
bably have never met with any notice until now, if I had not found in this author
other instances of the same kind of suppression. There can be no doubt of the
very important part taken by Janavel in this expedition, yet Arnaud never speaks
of him, except in page 175, where he does so as if this illustrious exile had remained
a complete stranger to the enterprise of the Vaudois. He was, however, a party
to it, as may be certainly learned from the records of the Council of State of
Geneva; nay, he directed it, for his instructions have been discovered, and they
were followed in every particular. Arnaud could not be ignorant of them, for he
was himself called to execute them, and a copy of them was appended to the
journal of the expedition, of which he afterwards became the editor. Hence I
conclude that Arnaud's silence is not enough to cause the rejection of the passage
quoted at the beginning of this note.
B. — But is that passage sufficient to establish the fact omitted by this writer?
In the first place, let us observe that the Vaudois required to have a leader: I
think it needless to stop to prove it. Moreover, they could not confide their des
tinies to any leader but one whose military capacity was already recognized • and
it would have been at least extraordinary if for that office they had chosen a

Chap. Ill J ARNAUD AND TURREL. 39
chosen in his stead. The Vaudois, before commencing their march,
offered up a short but fervent prayer to the Lord, to implore his
pastor.* Arnaud himself does not say that he was thiR leader ; but aB he plainly
names himself whenever he mentions a fact which concerns himself, even when it
is of small historic value, we are compelled to seek for the reason of the vague
expressions which he employs when he speaks of an important resolution, a
decisive order, a great military movement, or the like; for then he makes use
only of indeterminate forms of expression, as, THERE WAS MADE, IT WAS besqlved,
IT WAS decided, &c; from which I think it may be reasonably concluded, that in
the latter case the indefinite expression refers to the commander-in-chief or the
council of war, whilst the personal mention of Arnaud must have been reserved
for those things which he could reasonably ascribe in a positive manner to himself.
Besides, he was separated from the Vaudois army at different times during the
expedition (xviiitft day; Return, Second Part, from p. 166 to p. 200), which could
not have taken place without a delegation of the command, or without disorders,
of which there is no indication.
C. — "WTiat motives could Arnaud have had for suppressing in his narrative the
name of General Turrel? It seems probable that it was from prudential consi
derations, and in order to draw a veil over the desertion and dishonourable death
of that leader, whom Arnaud mentions only as a simple captain, that he has kept
silence concerning the high position which the Vaudois had accorded to him ; for
after having conducted them into their native country, Turrel abandoned them, in
the belief that their cause was desperate (pp. 154-156). He was then succeeded by
P. Odin, with the title of major-general. (Id. pp. 265-392.)
It appears to me, therefore, that we may regard as proved — 1st, That Arnaud
was not from the first the military leader of the Vaudois (and he nowhere speaks
of himself as having been so). 2d, That they had for some time another leader,
named Turrel. 3d, That Arnaud was at first merely one of three pastors, destined
to perform the functions of the gospel ministry during this expedition. (The two
others were Montoux and Chyon; but from the seventh day both of them were
prisoners.) 4th, That being left alone, Arnaud supplied their places, with a courage
and devotedness worthy of the highest praise, going from one valley to another to
conduct religious services, to dispense the Lord's Supper, and to take part in
councils (Return, pp. 126, 138, 161, 200, 204, &c), and always replying with the
noblest energy to those who urged him to abandon the cause of the Vaudois. (Re
turn, pp. 233, 237, 250.) He had a right, surely, notwithstanding his foreign
origin, to say, as he did say in speaking of the valleys, " "We have re-conquered
the land of our fathers." (Id., Preface, and p. 238.) Arnaud being obliged to
withdraw from the country in 1698, returned to it in 1703 (Mercure histor. t. xxvi.
p. 141) ; he was provisional pastor of St. Jean in 1706 (Memoir on the present
stale of the Vaudois Churches, of date 27th December, 1706, in my possession),
withdrew from it in 1707 (Acts of Synod of 14th February, 1708, towards the
end), and was in London in 1708 (the date of his portrait by Van Somer). In
1709 he returned to Germany (Old Consistorial Records of the parish of Durmentz),
* The only act in which the strategetic capacity of Arnaud had found opportunity of displaying
itself before this period — at least, the only one which he has mentioned (Preface, p. 49) — was not
of a nature to raise expectations of what he was afterwards to become. Having 400 men at his
command (Relatione del sueceduto, &c  Archives of Turin, No. of the series 800), he
found no hetter means of malting prisoners seventy soldiers of the enemy, who were shut up in
the place of worship at St. Germain, than to cause canals to be digged around the building, iu
order to pour in upon them n flood of water. (Return, fol. 24.) It is needless to say that they all
escaped. But, in justice, it must also be stated that Arnaud afterwards gave frequent proofs of
a remarkable military genius. Decision, a clear perception of the whole state of matters, courage,
and resolution, were the qualities which experience rapidly developed in him, and which mark him
as a distinguished warrior.

40 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. [paetThibd
blessing upon their enterprise ; l then, as the coasts of Savoy had
been furnished with troops, and they could no longer, without
danger, remain in a position so exposed as that which they occupied,
they set out an hour before sunrise, without awaiting the arrival of
the last of their own party.2
Let us now follow them in this march, keeping before us the
daily record which was written by Hugues and Reynaudin,3 and to
which Arnaud has attached his name. " This history," says he,
" pursuing its course from mountain to mountain, sweeping over
precipices, and from one valley to another, . . . must needs be
rude and unpolished, but it will not therefore be the less veracious;
and if it has not that refinement of language which is sought after
in the present age, it will be found to contain at least the truth in
its purity."4
At the very commencement of their march, however, the Vau
dois experienced a misfortune; for one of the three pastors who
accompanied them, Cyrus Chyon, having gone to seek a guide in a
village to which they were near, was there seized, and conveyed to
Chambery, where he remained a prisoner until the official re-estab
lishment of the Vaudois in their own country. Seeing that they were
treated as enemies, the Vaudois immediately took measures as for
war, and Turrel, their general, sent on a party to summon the little
town of Yvoire to open its gates without resistance, unless it chose
to be given to fire and sword. It obeyed; and, according to the par
ticular recommendation of Janavel, the Vaudois took two hostages
there, the lord of the manor, and the receiver of taxes, who were
afterwards replaced by the lord of the manor of Wernier, and two
other gentlemen of that part of the country.8 The kindness with '
which these hostages were treated, and the severe discipline of the
Vaudois troop, very soon won for the latter the general sympathies
of the people; for the common people comprehend what is noble and
great with an intuition more sure than that of cultivated minds,
which are often prepossessed by factitious ideas on these subjects.
" May God be with you!" said many a poor peasant, taking off his
and in 1710 he published the Glorious Return, twenty years after the manuscript
of that work had left the hands of those by whom it was originally prepared.
(See the article Arnaud, in the Bibliography appended to the Israel of the Alps.)
Various reading of the original manuscript of the Return, p. 47, in the Royal
Library of Berlin. J
' The?< ' P"rtion]«B are taken from a Relation, printed at the Hague in 1690, an
Xomo ol vZ pages.
3 See the Return, first edition, pp. 216, 217 (Hue or Hugues), and p. 175 (Paul
Keynaudin). e v
\ i™AZB'J>ed?™ti0n; RetUTn' f0l> n and 13- <Not Paged—First Edition.)
5 MM. De Coudrees and De Fora.

Chap. 111.] PROGRESS OF THE PATRIOTS. ' 41
hat before the band of exiles. " The parish priest of Filly opened
his cellar to them, and caused them to refresh themselves, for which
he would accept of no money." i
In passing the Col de Voirons, they obtained a last view of those
peaceful banks of the Lake of Geneva, not to be contemplated by
them without gratitude, where their wives and children were left
under the protection of Swiss hospitality. They now drew near to
the town of Viu, situated at the base of the pyramidal mountain
called the Mole, and which lies in a straight line between Geneva
and Chamouni. A quarter-master and the chatelain of Boege, who
had been added to the number of their hostages, facilitated the
entrance of the Vaudois into this town, by sending on before them
the following letter: — "These people have arrived here to the
numb3r of 2000; they have asked us to accompany them, that
wo may be able to report concerning their conduct; and we can
assure you that they conduct themselves with great moderation.
They pay for everything which they take, and demand only to be
allowed to pass; therefore we beg of you that you will neither
sound the tocsin nor beat the drum, and that in case your people
should be under arms, you will cause them to keep out of the way."3
This testimony was so well confirmed by the good behaviour of the
Vaudois, that there arose, says Arnaud, a sort of emulation along
the line of their march, who should most promptly give them what
they wanted. The country people consented to prepare beforehand
provisions, horses, and waggons, in the villages through which they
were to pass; and the progress of the Vaudois was not delayed by
the failure of these arrangements.
They entered Viu at the close of the day; and after reposing
there for two hours, they set out again by moonlight. In the little
town of St. Joire, where they next arrived, the whole inhabitants
came to their doors to see them pass. The magistrates placed a
great cask of wine in the middle of the street, for the refreshment of
the travellers. But the Vaudois did not remain there : proceeding
onward, they encamped half a league from the town, on a bare and
arid hill, named Carman. It was now near midnight ; the day
(Saturday, the 17th of August) had thus prosperously closed; they
made prayer, then they posted sentinels; and the whole band,
fatigued by so long a march, sought on the naked ground that re
pose which, in such circumstances, comes so readily to mountaineers.
Next day, about ten o'clock, they reached the banks of the
Arve, opposite to the town of Cluse, then surrounded with walls.
This little town seems caught in the gorge of a narrow valley — rocks
1 Arnaud, p. 49. s Id. p 51.
Vol. ii. 66

42 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. [>aht Tuibd.
sharply peaked, but clothed with shrubs, rising above the highest
roofs of the houses — and resembles a vessel stranded in the hollow
of the mountains. The weather was rainy; the gates of the town
were closed; the peasants of the neighbourhood reviled the Vaudois,
shouting from a distance. Affairs wore a threatening aspect, as if
their passage was to be disputed. " Gentlemen," said they to the
hostages, " this concerns you; if they fire upon us, you shall be ths
first killed." This menace was not fruitless, for M. De Fora im
mediately wrote to M. De La Bochette, a nobleman who dwelt
in Cluse, to ask the free passage of the mountaineers. He came to
their camp, along with other gentlemen, and they were detained as
hostages. A Vaudois officer was sent into the town, instead of the
inhabitants who were detained. "Where is your warrant?" he
was asked. " At the point of our swords," was his reply. These
bold words announcing a determined resolution, it was thought
best to come to terms. The Israel of the Alps passed through this
place in the midst of its inhabitants, they standing under arms, and
ranged along both sides of the street. Those who took charge of
the commissariat for the troop then caused five quintals of bread
and five loads of wine to be brought out to the open country, for
which they paid five louis d'or, and those from whom the articles
were bought expressed themselves quite satisfied with the price.
From Cluse to Salanches, the valley is very narrow, and the
Arve, which flows through it, was swollen by the melting of the
snows. At the castle of Maglan, which is situated in this part of
the valley, the Vaudois took new hostages, and received infor
mation that their passage would be disputed at Salanches. The dark
apprehensions which arise from the hostility of men, began to assail
them in the midst of majestic scenes of nature ; such, for example,
as the two remarkable cascades of Nant d'Urli and Nant d'Arpenas,
by which they passed. The road was toilsome; the rain continued
to fall; the hostages complained of their hardships; but the exiles
marched on without intermission.
A bridge of wood, roofed over, is thrown across the Arve be
tween the village of St. Martin and the city of Salanches. The
Vaudois tried the effect of negotiation before attempting to cross
it; but perceiving that their adversaries protracted these negotia
tions, in order the better to make their arrangements for resistance,
they carried the bridge by force, lined it with forty soldiers, and
when they had crossed it, proceeded to range themselves in order of
battle over against, the town, the approach to which was defended
by 600 armed men. They threatened to burn it, and to kill the
hostages, upon the slightest hostile movement that might be directed

Chap. III. J PROPERTY RESPECTED. 43
against them. This threat produced its effect; for the Vaudois
were permitted to pass without opposition, and proceeded to en
camp a league farther on, at the village of Cablan, or Colombier,
where they could obtain no supplies, but which they blessed God
that they had reached in safety. Thus closed their ^second day,
the 18th of August, 1689.
Monday, the 19th, was one of the most fatiguing days of their
march. Early in the morning the trumpets sounded, and a council
was held as to the precautions necessary to be taken for passing
over the mountain of Les Praz, and that of Haute Luce, which rise
to the height of 7000 feet above the level of the sea. The village of
Migeve was the last place of any consequence which the Vaudois
had to pass through. The inhabitants were under arms, but made
no resistance. On the mountain they found some deserted hamlets,
where they reposed a while, on account of the incessant rain. Here
and there, in chalets which stood open, were provisions remaining,
and small quantities of butter and cheese, which the troops ab
stained from touching. The hostages, surprised at this reserve, and
not satisfied with the enforced frugality of their meals, expressed
their astonishment at it, saying that, in respect of victuals, it was
the custom of soldiers to take them where they found them, with
out any one's having a right to be offended.1 These words, taken
in connection with the neglected condition in which the shepherds
had left their chalets, and, above all, the hunger which the Vaudois
experienced, led them to make use of the provisions which were
thus left behind, although they would have been most anxious to
have paid for them, if any of the owners had been there to' have
received the price.
Their strength and courage being thus revived, the Vaudois de
scended the slope of Les Praz, and proceeded to climb the mountain
of Haute Luce, one of the steepest and most desolate over which
they had to pass. This mountain, then flooded by the rains, en
veloped in clouds, covered with snow, or deeply cleft by impassable
precipices, presented many difficulties.2 The guide lost his way.
Persons were sent out on all sides to find some peasants who might
act in his stead; but it was soon perceived that these Savoyards
were leading the Vaudois troop by the longest and most dangerous
routes. Arnaud threatened them with the gibbet if they deviated
from the proper way; and by his exhortations re-animated the
courage of the exhausted troops. " If it is difficult to ascend a
steep mountain " adds he in his own narrative, " everybody knows
1 Arnaud, p. 67.
3 Beattie, p. 136. (See the Bibliography, Part I. sect. 5, § III. No. IV.)

44' THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. [part Tmun.
that it is equally difficult to descend; and in this case the descent
could not be accomplished in any other way than by every man
either sitting down or lying on his back, and so letting himself
slide, as it were, to the bottom of a precipice, and this with no other
light than that which was caused by the whiteness of the snow."
It was not without great exertion that these intrepid travellers
arrived, in the middle of the night, at a miserable hamlet, called
St. Nicholas De V6rose, where they found no better shelter than
that of some empty stables. Situated in a funnel, formed by
frightful mountains, this place, deep as an abyss, and desert and
cold as a tomb, is the resort only of a few shepherds, who spend
two months of the summer in these occasional abodes. The Vau
dois were obliged to take wood from the roofs of the ruinous
huts to warm themselves a little. But this was only a feeble
resource, for the rain, which continued to fall, reached them all
the more easily, and made their stay there the more disagreeable.
Next day, being Tuesday, the 20th of August, their impatience
to leave a place so unpleasant, and apprehension of some perfidy
meditated by the Savoyards, made the Vaudois set out earlier than
usual. They now bravely addressed themselves to the climbing
of the Col Bonhomme, one of the highest ridges of Mont Blanc,
" having," say they, " the rain on our backs, and the snow to our
knees."1 At the summit of this mountain is a long and almost
level vale, named the Ladies' Plain [Plan des Dames]. Here the
Vaudois would have arrived in the preceding year, entering upon
it by the Col de la Seigne, if they had succeeded in carrying into
effect their project, which failed at Bex, of returning to their own
country. Since that time this pass had been fortified, in anti
cipation of a new attempt to be made by the exiles to return. Of
this they had been apprised, and they expected a keen resistance.
But the Piedmontese government, weary of keeping troops at
so disadvantageous a post, had withdrawn them some time before,
and the exile pilgrims, marching towards their native land, re
turned thanks to God for having smoothed for them a route
already so fatiguing, by removing this formidable obstacle out of
their way.
They then descended to the banks of the IsSre, near its source,
and were compelled to cross it several times, by stepping from rock
to rock iu its channel. Near St. Maurice they found a bridge
barricaded, the passage of which seemed likely to' be disputed with
them by peasants armed with forks: this was not a serious
obstacle; but the Count of Val Is§re, having held a colloquy with
1 Narrative of the Return, Arnaud, p. 71.

Chap. Ill] CARDINAL ANGELO BANUZZI. 45
the Vaudois, caused the bridge to be cleared, and they then crossed
it without resistance. Towards evening they encamped near the
little town of Scez, the inhabitants of which at first, by a violent
sounding of the tocsin, manifested a disposition to oppose them,
but afterwards brought them provisions in abundance.
On the following day, being the fifth day of their march, they
made prayer, and removed their camp before the dawn; but they
found on the route nothing except deserted hamlets. The Vaudois
were obliged to go as far as the town of St. Foi before they could
halt and obtain some refreshment. There they were received with
so much politeness, and endeavour to oblige, that this welcome even
appeared suspicious. The principal people of the town earnestly
urged them to stay there and recruit their strength — a deceitful
proposal, to which those amongst them who were most fatigued
listened with satisfaction. Arnaud, who was then in the rear,
perceiving that the troop did not advance, proceeded to the fore
most ranks, caused them to resume their march, and even retained
in the number of the hostages some of those dangerous pretended
friends, who would at least have made them lose time, which was
precious to them, if they did not also seek to catch them in some
fatal snare. On that day they encamped at Laval, where, for the
first time for eight days, Arnaud and Montoux had at last the
enjoyment of a sleep of some hours, on a bed in the village.
On Thursday, the 22d of August, they passed through the little
town of Tignes, and climbed Mount Iseran, where the shepherds
supplied them with a repast of milk and other produce of the dairy,
warning them, however, that there were troops in waiting for them
at the base of Mount Cenis. This news, far from intimidating the
exiles, augmented their ardour. They reorganized their companies,
appointed a few officers, and again set out on their march. Passing
over the summits of a chain situated between Le Faucigny, La
Tarentaise, and La Maurienne, they descended to Bonneval, a
pleasant town in the valley of the Arc, where they met with a
friendly reception. This was not the case, however, at the next
village, named Bessas, where they took some hostages, and near to
which they encamped, in a vast basin of the mountains, where they
were exposed to an incessant rain all night.
The seventh day of their march was signalized by an unexpected
capture which they made on Mount Cenis. The equipages of Car
dinal Angelo Banuzzi, who was proceeding to Borne to attend the
conclave which resulted in the election of Pope Alexander VIII. ,
fell into the hands of the Vaudois, who took possession only of the
horses and mules of the convoy; but the cardinal, disquieted by

46 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. [paet Tbibd.
the delay of his baggage, believed it to be lost; and as it contained
important papers, the Papists pretend that he died of grief upon
that account.
" What the Vaudois suffered in passing the Great and the Little
Mount Cenis," says Arnaud,1 "surpasses imagination. The ground
was covered with snow; they had to descend the mountain of
Tourliers rather by a precipice than by a road ; and, to complete
their misery, night having surprised them, numbers of them re
mained scattered on the mountain, overcome with fatigue and
sleep." However, they re-assembled on the following day, the 24th
of August, in the little and sterile valley of the Gaillon, which is
closed iu like an amphitheatre by encircling mountains, which meet
towards the bottom, and seem to leave the traveller no way of
egress. Nevertheless, the Vaudois troop ascended the mountains;
but the soldiers of the garrison of Exilles were there in ambuscade,
and overthrew the advanced guard, by rolling down rocks, flinging
grenades, and taking off by their musketry every one who pressed
forward. It was here that Captain Pellenc was made prisoner.
The Vaudois having therefore been compelled to descend again
into the amphitheatre of the Gaillon, where they might all have been
shut in and destroyed without possibility of escape, now resolved
to retrace their steps. For this purpose it was necessary for them
to ascend again the steep slope of the mountain of Tourliers, in
order to turn by the heights the corps which obstructed their pro
gress. But this ascent soon became so painful, that the hostao-es,
falling upon the ground in weariness, exhaustion, and despair, en
treated as a favour that they would take their lives, rather than
drag them any farther. Numbers of the mountaineers themselves
stopped on the way, overcome by fatigue and the insurmountable
-difficulties which they encountered in their progress. Amongst
these were two surgeons, of whose presence and services the Vau
dois troop was thus deprived. One of them, named Malanot, re
mained for four days in a hole of the rock, living only on the water
which flowed close by Being then no longer able to rejoin the
expedition, he was made prisoner, and conducted to Suza, and after
wards to Turin, and did not recover his Hberty till after a detention
of nine months. The other surgeon, whose name was Muston. was
seized within the French confines, and conducted to Grenoble^ and
thence to the galleys, where he remained till his death. "By his
constancy and firmness in so long a martyrdom," says Arnaud,2 "he
merits a place in this history."
The Vaudois having at last reached the summit of the moun-
1 P- 87. s P. 92.

Chap. III.] THE COMMANDANT OF EXILLES. 47
tain of Tourliers, sounded their clarions, to gather together those
who had fallen behind, and those who had wandered. The main
body waited there for two hours ; many were still awanting ; but
at last, says Arnaud, as they found that they could not wait
longer without danger, "they consoled themselves with the thought
that it is not by might, nor by skill, nor by number of men that
God executes his marvellous designs; and so, calling upon his name,
they resumed their march."
In a very short time they perceived through the mist a body of
men, who marched, with drums beating, upon a ridge of the moun
tain towards which they were directing their steps. The leader of
this troop was the commandant of Exilles. " Hold to the right,"
said he to the Vaudois by a note, "and you will be permitted to
pasls; but if not, and if you are determined to force the position
which I occupy, I demand eight hours for deliberation.'- These
eight hours would only have afforded him the means of putting
himself in a condition of defence; but as he offered them a pass
age, the Vaudois accepted it, trusting to his word. However, they
soon observed that he was following them at a distance at the head
of his troops; and presuming that the passage conceded to them
had no other object than to lead them into a new ambuscade, where
they would have been between two fires, they wheeled about, and
summoned these troops to retire. The troops obeyed the summons;
but farther on, near Salabertrans, the Vaudois asking a peasant if
they would be able to obtain provisions in that place, received the
reply, "Go on ! go on ! they are preparing you a good supper there !"
These words increased their suspicions, and made them expect a
combat. They were already within sight of the mountains whose
vast slopes line the long valley of the Doire, so deep, and yet of
such majestic extent. When they came in sight of this river, half
a league from the bridge of Salabertrans, they saw thirty-six
bivouac fires burning in the plain. Supposing that a company of
soldiers might be gathered around each of these fires, they concluded
from these indications that they were in presence of a camp of more
than 2000 men. However, they kept on their course; but the
advanced guard very soon fell in with the outposts of the enemy,
and lost five men. No longer doubting that they must fight, they
made prayer to God, asking not life but victory. The action com
menced by an engagement of sharpshooters. After an hour and a
half s firing, there was a sort of tacit armistice — a moment's respite
— during which the Vaudois held a council as to what they should
do.1 Night had now come on; the weather was cloudy, and it be-
1 These and the following particulars are taken, not from the work of Arnaud,

48 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. I>"T TflIED
came very dark. The council of war decided that they should form
themselves into three attacking parties, one at the end of the bridge,
a second up the river, and the third farther down.
The troops defending the passage were French; their commander
was M. De Larrey, and he occupied the end of the bridge with his
best soldiers. "I was one of the advanced guard," says one of
the Vaudois combatants. " We approached from the river, on the
left of the bridge : at the same instant arrived 200 men, who
fired on us in the darkness of the night. Three of our men were
killed. We mounted again by the right, and sustained a new
discharge. Then our brigade rushed towards the bridge, where,
after having fired some shots, as we saw the enemy approaching, we
flung ourselves on our bellies upon the ground, and a terrible dis
charge passed over us, without doing us any harm. We then rose
up, sabre in hand, exclaiming to the rear-guard, 'Forward! the
bridge is won !'" l The Vaudois of the centre instantly rushed on
after these brave combatants. The bridge was still covered with
the enemy's troops; but the two wings of the Vaudois army con
centrated their fire on the decisive point. M. De Larrey was
wounded in the arm. He retired from the field of battle, where it
was impossible to have a proper examination as to the seriousness
of the wound. His troops hesitated, and felt themselves to be
without a leader. "Forward! forward!" exclaimed the Vaudois
again. An electric impulse passed like lightning through their
ranks, and hurried them all towards the bridge. The wings then
bent in upon the centre ; all rushed eagerly forward ; nothing could
resist that impetuous mass, and they crossed the bridge.
"But on the other side there was a wall, and rather than aban
don it, the French suffered themselves to be cut down with the
sabre, and their dead bodies heaped above one another. Their
cavalry continually fired on us. Other soldiers, coming from Sala
bertrans, surprised us, attacking us at the same time in the rear."2
Arnaud and Mondon repulsed them, whilst the rest of their little
army pressed eagerly on to the camp of the French. Driven on by
those who came last across the bridge, those who were in front
could not stop, and burst, ere they were aware, through the ranks
of the enemy. Courageous and excited, they pierced from one side
but from an unpublished letter, written by a Vaudois of the expedition, and pre
served at Berne. (State Archives, file D.)
1 These particulars are taken from a very rare little work, with a very long title:
Relation de ce qui s'est passe de plus remarquable dans le retour des Vaudois ....
Par un soldat de Vexpedition, &c. ... La Haye, 1690, an 18mo of 92 pages.
The present quotation is from p. 10.
2 Extract from the same Relation, p. 11.

Chap. III.] THE FATAL WATCHWORD. 49
to the other of the hostile army, cutting it in two ; and coming
upon its intrenchments, carried them at the point of the bayonet,
routing all, and pursuing the fugitives until they remained masters
of the plain, still smoking with discharges of artillery, bivouac fires,
and bloodshed. "Never was there so violent an onset," says Ar
naud;1 "the sabres of the Vaudois broke in pieces the swords of
the French, and struck multitudes of sparks from the fusils and
muskets, which they used to parry the blows aimed at them." " Is
it possible," exclaimed the Marquis De Larrey, " that I have lost
both the battle and my honour!"
Scarcely had the Vaudois crossed the bridge, when they destroyed
it. "All along the bank of the river," says an eye-witness, the
gravel was strewn with dead bodies, as well of the cavalry as of the
peasants and the king's soldiers."2 The combat had lasted more
than two hours. The French were so completely routed, that a
great number of them, not knowing to what side to flee, mingled
amongst the Yaudois, in the hope of being mistaken for some of
them, and so saving themselves. But a circumstance, which would
seem grotesque if it had been less fatal for them, caused them to
be recognized, notwithstanding the darkness of the night. The
Vaudois, after having taken possession of the intrenchments of their
adversaries, had posted sentinels at all the avenues from it. The
watchword was Angrogne [Angrogna]; and when the sentinels
cried, Who goes there 1 these strangers, thinking to give the proper
reply, mutilated the watchword in attempting to pronounce it, and
only said Grogne, 3 which betrayed them, and led to their death.4
The rising moon displayed the ground strewed with the dead.
Some of the Marquis De Larrey's companies had been reduced to
seven or eight men ; others had lost their officers; and all were in
flight towards Suza, Exilles, or Briangpn. " We had only twenty-
two killed, and eight wounded," says the Vaudois soldier already
quoted; "of the enemy there remained 700, all killed upon the
spot, and well counted, to say nothing of the wounded."5 The
basin of the Doire was again deserted and still.
The Vaudois assembled together, and prayed. Then they took
the enemy's munitions of war, all that they could bring to one
place, and putting into the heap some barrels of powder, for which
they had no use, they affixed to it a lighted match, and withdrew
from the valley. A terrible explosion soon shook the mountains,
and scattered to great distances the remains of the French camp.
The exiles, re-invigorated by this peal of victory, flung their caps in
'P. 97. Relation d'un soldat, p. 11. 8 [" Grumbling"— an old word.]
* Return, p. 98. — This recals Judges xii. 6. s Relation, p. 12.
Vol. ii. 6<

50 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. [Paet Third.
the air, exclaiming, " Glory be to the God of armies, who has deli
vered us from the hands of our enemies!"1
Ordinary courage would now have demanded some repose, for the
Vaudois had marched on unintermittingly for three days and three
nights, without proper sleep, and almost without food, sleeping only
for a few hours at a time, and having for nourishment nothing but
bread and water. But in the apprehension that new troops might
come upon them, and take them in the rear, they resolved to set
out again at once. The mountain which remained to be crossed
separates the valley of the Doire from that of Pragela. The moon
was up; the way was free from danger ; but human strength is
not unlimited, and some soldier was continually falling at the foot
of a tree, overcome with fatigue and sleep. The rear-guard had
much difficulty in awakening them again; and, after all, there
remained some of them who were forgotten, and who were never
seen more.2
Until daybreak the exiles were still occupied in climbing these
wooded, steep, regular, and interminable slopes of the mountain of
Sei. When the sun rose, all of them, having several times waited
for and encouraged one another, were at last assembled at the
summit of the mountain. It was a Sabbath morning (25th August,
1689), and from this point they beheld other mountains as high as
those over which they had passed ; but above their sombre crests
gleamed in the far distance the glaciers of their native Alps, the
radiant peaks of their own country. In the first beams of morning,
the snows of these great elevations appear of a bright rose colour,
and afterwards become white in the more equal light of day, whilst
the silent depths of the valleys are still filled with darkness and
with fogs. After so many fatigues, and so much perseverance and
pain, the valiant pilgrims saw before them at last the goal of their
destination. The highest parts of the valley of Pragela were spread
out at their feet. Here already was one of the lands of their fore
fathers. They fell upon their knees, returning thanks to Heaven
for having brought them within view of their native place. " O
Lord, my God," exclaimed the pastor, " thou who didst bring back
the sons of Jacob from the land of bondage to that of their ancestors,
O God of Israel, God of our fathers ! be pleased to accomplish and
to bless thy work in us, thy feeble servants ! May the light of the
gospel never be extinguished in these mountains, where it has so
long shined ; and grant that our hands may rekindle it, and main-
1 Return, p. 100.
2 Their number amounted to no fewer than eighty. They were taken by the
French troopB, and carried to Grenoble, and thence to the galleys. (Arnaud,
p. 103.)

Chap. Ill] THE PATRIOTS REACH PRAL. 51
tain it there. Bless our absent families ! . . . And to thee
alone, 0 heavenly Father, with Jesus thine only Son, our Saviour,
and the Holy Ghost our Comforter, be honour, praise, and glory,
now and for ever. Amen."
Whilst the Vaudois gave thanks to God on the mountain tops,
beneath the vault of heaven, in that glorious temple, the work of
nature and not of human hands, all the Catholic priests of the valley
of Pragela abandoned their parishes and took to flight, on the report
of the victorious return of the exiles whom they had so grievously
persecuted. On the evening of that day the Vaudois encamped in
the village of Jossand, at the base of the Col du Pis, which sepa
rated them from the valley of St. Martin. During the night the
rain again began to fall, and next morning the troop set out at a
rather later hour than usual. The Col du Pis was guarded by
Piedmontese troops, who fled on the approach of the Vaudois. The
latter halted at the Alpage1 of Le Pis, and descended the moun
tain by night, by the light of torches, of which they found an
abundant supply in the resinous branches of the pine trees and
larches which grow upon these mountains.
On Tuesday, the 27th, they arrived at the Balsille, that post of '
defence which Janavel had most particularly pointed out to them,
and which was to serve them for winter-quarters at the end of
the year. A half company of the enemy was taken in this place.
The Vaudois, having put to the sword the forty-six men of whom
it was composed, hid their arms amongst the rocks. Next day
they went to Pral, where, for the first time since their exile, they
celebrated Divine service in one of the places of worship of their
ancestors. On Thursday, the 29th, they received information that the
enemy awaited them at the Col Julian, and, comformably to the
instructions of Janavel, which had already served them so well at
Salabertrans, they divided their little army into three parts, re
presenting the centre and two wings. Arriving at the forest of
larches which clothes the mountain for two-thirds of its height,
they perceived some sentinels, and soon afterwards the advanced
posts of the enemy, who insultingly cried to them, " Come on !
come on, ye devil's Barbets ! there are more than 3000 of us, and
we occupy all the posts." The Vaudois mounted to the assault,
and all these posts were carried. The soldiers, lately so insolent,
fled with such precipitancy and in such disorder, that they carried
with them none of the warlike stores which had been provided in
their intrenchments. These stores were of great value to the
' See note in vol. i.

52 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. I>am Third.
Vaudois. But in this affair they had the misfortune to lose one
of their captains, Joshua Mondon, who died of his wounds, and
was buried next day at the hamlet of Les Paousettes, under a rock
covered with clematis. They descended the mountain on the same
day, and then proceeding to L' Aiguille and Sibaoud, on the 31st of
August they drove out the new inhabitants of Bobi.
Next day, the 1st of September, the valley being now again
their own, by the retreat of the strangers and of the enemy, who
had halted at Le Villar, they judged it proper to embrace the
opportunity for solemn exercises of worship. It was a Sabbath.
Assembled on the hill of Sibaoud, whence there is a view of the
whole basin of Bobi, they piled their arms, and beneath the shade
of the great chestnut trees which crown the summit of the hill, on
a carpet of alpine verdure, beside the ruins of an old castle, they
enjoyed for the first time, in tranquillity, their re-conquest of their
native land.
The pastor Montoux having placed the door of a house upon
two rocks, ascended upon it, and from this pulpit addressed them
from these words of Luke : x " The law and the prophets were until
John : since that time the kingdom of God is preached, and every
man presseth into it." After this sermon some arrangements were
made, and then these pious and valiant patriots entered into a
solemn covenant, renewing the ancient oath of union of the valleys,
and embodying in it the substance of the instructions of Janavel.
The following are the most important passages : —
" God, by his grace, having brought us happily back to the heri
tages of our fathers, to re-establish there the pure service of our
holy religion — in continuance and for the accomplishment of the
great enterprise which this great God of armies hath hitherto
carried on in our favour—
"We, pastors, captains, and other officers, swear and promise
before the living God, and on the life of our souls, to keep union
and order among ourselves ; and not to separate or disunite our
selves from one another, whilst God shall preserve us in life, if we
should be reduced even to three or four in number; and never to
treat with the enemy without participation of our council of
war, &c 
" And we, soldiers, promise and swear this day before God to be
obedient to the orders of our officers, and to continue faithful to
them, even to the last drop of our blood 
"And we, officers, promise to take heed that all the soldiers
preserve well their arms and ammunition; and especially to chas-
1 xvi. 16.

Chap.IIl] A SOLEMN ENGAGEMENT. 53
tise very severely any of them who swear and blaspheme the holy
name of God.
" And in order that union, which is the soul of all our affairs,
may remain always unbroken among us, the officers swear fidelity
to the soldiers, and the soldiers to the officers ;
" All together promising to our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ
to rescue, as far as it is possible for us, the dispersed remnants of
our brethren from the yoke which oppresses them, that along with
them we may re-establish and maintain in these valleys the king
dom of the gospel, even unto death.
" In witness whereof, we swear to observe this present engage
ment so long as we shall live."
All the Vaudois, lifting up their hands to heaven, ratified by an
oath this solemn covenant, when Arnaud had read it ; and soon
after they divided themselves into two bodies, to occupy simul
taneously the valley of Lucerna and that of St. Martin. It will be
recollected that Janavel, the patriarch of their armies, had recom
mended the occupation of both these valleys at once as indispens
able to the success of their enterprise. " It will be most necessary
for you to do this," he said, "even if your number should be but
small." Their number was small, but they accomplished this ob
ject, though not without efforts, struggles, privations, and sufferings
of every kind, the recital of which would fill a volume. The last
of these trials alone I shall now proceed to narrate.

54 THE ISRAEL OF. THE ALPS. [part Third.

CHAPTER IV.
STRUGGLE OF THE VAUDOIS, IN THEIR OWN VALLEYS,
AGAINST THE UNITED FORCES OF VICTOR AMADEUS II. AND
LOUIS XIV.1
(SIEGE OF THE BALSILLE.)
(September, 1689, to June, 1690.)
Expedition of the Vaudois against Le Villar — Destruction of Bobi by the enemy —
The Vaudois take Bora — Their generous conduct — Hardships and privations—
Their cause seems to become more desperate than ever — They are deserted by
many of the French refugees— Turrel, their commander, withdraws from them
in despair— Firmness and courage of Arnaud — Council of war at Rodoret — The
Vaudois retire to the Balsille — Unfavourable reports of their expedition in
the journals of the timer— Description of the Balsille — Efforts of the Vaudois
to secure provisions for winter — Corn, which has been covered with snow all
winter, is reaped by the Vaudois in spring — Peter Philip Odin chosen a leader
— Piety of the Vaudois — The Marquis D'Onibrailles approaches the Balsille and
retires — Courageous refusal of all terms of capitulation — Death of three Vau
dois captives — The Balsille assailed by Catinat and the Marquis De Parelles —
Sufferings of the assailants from severity of weather — Complete failure of the
attack on the fort — Renewed attack by the Marquis De Feuquieres — The Vau
dois retire from intrenchment to intrenchment, and at last make a wonderful
retreat by night to the higher parts of the mountains — They overcome a de
tachment of troops at Pramol — Political events favourable to the Vaudois—
Separation of Piedmont from the alliance of France — War declared against
France — The Vaudois are received into favour by the Duke of Savoy — Con
tinued struggles with the French troops.
The Vaudois, after they had divided themselves into separate bodies,
in order to occupy their principal valleys, and established a flying
camp, for the purpose of maintaining freedom of communication
between them, experienced many vicissitudes and trials. They
signalized themselves, however, by remarkable feats of arms.
Their first expedition was against Le Villar. They seized the
town; the garrison retired behind the solid walls of the convent.
They approached this stronghold, rolling before them great casks
and tubs, as screens to preserve them from the bullets of the
enemy; but not being able to make themselves masters of it in
this way, they laid siege to it, when a corps of cavalry coming from
1 Authorities.— The same as in the preceding chapter, with the addition of
numerous documents contained in the Archives of the Court of Turin.  A special
account of the attack on the Balsille was published at the Hague in 1690, with the
following title :— " Relation de V attaque faite aux Vaudois par M. De Catinat, lieu
tenant ginfral^ des armies de France, le 2 mai 1690."— See also the journals of the
time, from which some particulars have been derived.

Chap. IV.] GENEROSITY OF THE VAUDOIS. 55
the plain compelled them to retire in disorder; Arnaud remained,
with only six men, on the mountain of Vandalin, and Montoux was
made prisoner.1 The Vaudois subsequently took the convent of
Le Villar, and blew it up with gunpowder,2
The enemy seized Bobi, and demolished all its houses; there
did not remain, says the journal of the Return, one stone upon
another.3 The Vaudois, on the other hand, burned Le Perrier,4
the inhabitants of which had taken flight, and laid waste the valley
of Bora. The two parties thus sought mutually to deprive one
another of shelter and of the means of existence ; but in submit
ting to the hard necessity of these extreme measures, the Vaudois,
faithful to the counsels of Janavel, carefully avoided the useless
shedding of blood. When they took Bora, where a number of
their brethren were, who had remained there under the protection
of an illusive profession of the Catholic religion, they burned,
indeed, the church and minister's house, where a mission of Capu
chins had established themselves; but far from maltreating the
missionaries, they permitted the emancipated members of their
flock to re-conduct them as far as Lucerna, and to assist them in
transporting thither the articles employed in their worship, and
their own movables.5 By an honourable reciprocation of gene
rosity, the valley of Pragela furnished the exiles with provisions.6
Victor Amadeus had given orders that flocks, crops, and provisions
of every kind, which could afford them any resource, should be
removed from the mountains.7
But they procured provisions by the capture of military con
voys,8 by contributions levied from the plains,9 and by incursions
into Dauphiny.10 The poor exiles, thus re-occupying their native
country, gathered in also, in the intervals of their combats, the
fruits, grains, and roots which had grown in their valleys in conse
quence of former cultivation.11 The enemy then endeavoured to
lay waste the country, cutting down the fruit trees, trampling the
crops under foot, and flinging the walnuts and chestnuts into the
streams.12 It was well for the Vaudois that they had the foresight,
ere this was done, to lay up stores of provisions,13 which they hid
amongst the rocks, and even in the ground. The utensils and
1 Return, pp. 122-126. 2 Id. p. 162. 3 Id. p. 175. " Id. p. 142.
5 This incident is derived from a manuscript, entitled " Relatione fedelissima del
statto e fatti occorti nelle missione delle valli di Luserna." (Episcopal Archives of
Pignerol.) « Arnaud, pp. 130, 192.
7 This order is dated 9th October, 1689, and signed by Rinayra, the intendant
of the province. It is in the Archives of Le Villar ; Mazzo, Religionarii, fol. 96.
8 Arnatjd, Return, pp. 123, 128, 154, 201.
8 Id. 107, 149, 150, 221. 10 Id. 139, 160.
11 Id. 138, 153, 182. n Id. 167, 170, 174. u Id. 173, 184, 209, 215.

56 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. [Past Third.
valuables which they had thus buried before their expulsion, became
also now of great service to them. It was always matter of asto
nishment regarding them, that they never wanted the munitions
of war. In this fact, inexplicable to their enemies, we have a
proof how well all had been arranged beforehand by Janavel, who
had said to them, with a mysterious confidence, " Give yourselves
no concern on this point." 1
They had to fight many battles2 and to endure many severe
privations;3 but notwithstanding all these hard trials, they never
ceased, amongst the rocks or in the forests,6 regularly to celebrate
the sacrament of the Supper, and in camp, or on the march, to
make prayer to God.6 And certainly it was God who supported
them; for to all appearance nothing but destruction awaited them.
With nothing sometimes but a few roots to eat, they endured
fatigues which would have required the strength of giants. The
very banditti of Piedmont were armed to fight against them.7
They were attacked by 10,000 French, and 12,000 Sardinians;8
Catinat, D'Ombrailles, and FeuquiSres were baffled by this handful
of heroes, clothed in rags, and subsisting on the fare of anchorites.
Victor Amadeus seems at last to have intended to march against
them in person;9 but ere long he was happy to have them for allies.
However, at the time to which our narrative now refers, the
issue of their enterprise seemed to become increasingly doubtful.
It was now the 1 6th of October,10 and hitherto they had only been
weakened by a multitude of partial combats and transitory move
ments, which exhausted their forces, without consolidating their
position. Their past fatigues, their present precarious condition,
and the threatening uncertainties of the future, weighed sore upon
their spirits. Discouragement at least might have arisen, and
already, indeed, it began to be felt.11 The number of their men,
reduced by combats, was still further diminished by desertions.12
1 Instructions given in June, 1688.
2 Abnaud, Return, 148, 196, 271. — At Sibaoud, 169, 170. It was upon this occa
sion that the soldiers of the Marquis of Parelles, thinking to pursue the Vaudois
among the rocks, rushed over precipices. — At Paousettes, 166 ; at L' Aiguille, 173.
» Return, pp. 126, 133, 134, 159, 16S, 181, 211, 212.
* At Les Serres de Cruel, pp. 161, 166. 5 At Le Beces, p. 200.
0 Pp. 126, 204, 138. ' P. 172.
8 Pp. 183, 270, 403. The combined movements of the armies of France and
Piedmont had been arranged at Pignerol, on the 8th of September, 1689. (Docu
ment in the Archives of Turin, No. of Series, 259.)
9 See Instruttione a voi, conte Filippone, Contadore generale per il nostro viaggio
nelle valli di Luserna, per servizio nostro e delle truppe (a document dated 16th
October, 1689). (Archives of the Court, Turin ; No. of Series, 269, bis.)
"> Return, pp. 200, 204. ll Pp. 107/ 178, 201, 204.
rc See Return, pp. 107, 184, 202, &c.

Cuap. IV.] TURREL FORSAKES THE PATRIOTS. 57
Not a few of the French refugees who had accompanied them, con
sidering their cause to be desperate, and unable to endure the pro
spect of an unequal and seemingly endless struggle, left the Vaudois
mountains, where death and triumph would have been equally
glorious; most of them, however, only to terminate their course
miserably; for being seized one by one, sometimes in the dominions
of France, sometimes in those of Piedmont, they were conveyed
prisoners to Turin, to Pignerol, or to Grenoble, or consigned to
the galleys.1 Towards the end of the year there remained but few
strangers in the Vaudois troop.2
Turrel himself, the commander, who had directed their military
operations from their leaving Switzerland to their reaching the val
leys, despaired of the success of the cause for which he had hitherto
contended, and seeing no chance of any prosperous issue, and no pro
spect of the Vaudois again acquiring possession of their countryj he
furtively withdrew from among them, unable to endure to the end
the fatigues of such a war. His foreign origin, without marring
the display of his military talents amongst the inhabitants of the
valleys, no doubt rendered it impossible for him to rise to the ele
vation of their patriotism, or long to maintain such a sentiment.8
With all his military talents, he was not like one contending for
his native land. But Arnaud never appeared greater than on this
occasion. Far from forsaking a people thus generally forsaken, he
only attached himself to them more closely; when the cause of the
exiles presented the greatest dangers, he embraced it with greatest
ardour; and at the moment when this expedition, worthy of
ancient times, discouraged the best soldiers — at the moment when it
was abandoned even by those who had promised it most — this last
pastor of the exiles became in reality its leader, and, for the sake
of religion, sustained the patriotic courage of the Israel of the Alps.
1 Return, pp. 103, 104, 126, 140, 202, &c. 2 Id. p. 176.
3 In the circumstances of his desertion (Return, p. 154) and of his death (p. 156),
we see a reason why Arnaud may have kept silence on the particular office with
which this leader had been invested in the Vaudois army; whilst the precautions
which he found it necessary to adopt, in order to get away (p. 155), show that he
must have occupied a more conspicuous position, and one attracting more general
attention than that of a simple captain. Moreover, it is said that after his depar
ture the Vaudois had no more good leaders (p. 178). Even foreigners seem to have
considered him as the soul of the expedition (p. 202, concluding lines). Besides
all which, the formal testimony of the original manuscript, already quoted, attests
that he was the leader (MS. p. 42). But if Arnaud has only mentioned him as a
captain (46, 47, 154), it must be because the indifference of the Vaudois was quite
equal to the deserted condition in which he left them. — It must be added that there
is a difficulty in determining with precision what relates to him in Arnaud's work,
for there were among the Vaudois a number of persons of the name of Turrel.
(Compare pp. 47, 154, and 155 of the Return.)
Vol. ii. 68

58 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. [part Third.
It was now the sixty-seventh day of the expedition, the 22d of
October, 1689.1 Six days before, Arnaud, being still in the valley
of Lucerna,2 had celebrated the Lord's Supper in the meadows of
BecSs, under, the .shade .of some aged chestnut trees, which screened
from. observation: the. holy solemnities of the proscribed church.
"0,.my.dove,, that art. in the clefts of the rocks, in the secret places
of the. stairs,"- says the Song of Solomon, "let me see thy counte-
nance^let me hear thy voice; for sweet is thy voice, and thy coun
tenance is comely."3 On that same day the Marquis De Parelles
burned all the hill of Prarusting, from Ville Seche to Le Perier. This
was on a Sabbath. On the Saturday following," the Vaudois hav
ing assembled at Eodoret, after placing sentinels on the pass which
conducts to:Pral,.ahd on that which descends to. Macel, as well as
at the hamlet of Les Fontaines, and at the entrance of the wild
valley which they occupied, consulted what they should do.
Deprived of the .positions which they had at first won, and of
the leaders whose services they had enjoyed, they found themselves
more than, ever isolated and. unsupported, whilst the circle of the
enemy's forces hemmed- thein more and more closely round. The
winter was approaching; their means of procuring provisions were
continually diminishing. It was impossible any longer to think
of occupying both the valleys. It would be well if they could only
find a position which they could maintain with their re-united
bands. .
Arnaud, faithful to the instructions of Janayel, represented to
them that the rocks of the Balsille alone were capable of affording
them shelter — that these were their last fortress — that it was time
to retire thitherr and that God would not forsake them, like those
allies of a day,. who had proved so ready to flee from their bad for
tune. Then kneeling down, with all his soldiers, he prayed long
for a spirit of union and of courage to restore that confidence with
out which they could have no success. Their prayer was heard,
and the faith of their fathers reviving in their souls with the as
surance that they would be protected by the God of Jacob, gave
this little troop the might of an army.
A part of the night was spent in prayer. Two hours before day,
the Vaudois commenced their march amongst frightful precipices,
by which they were, however, under the necessity of passing, in
order to reach the Balsille without being exposed to the assaults
of their enemies. "It was so very dark," says Arnaud," that it was
found necessary to stretch white cloths upon the shoulders of the
1 Return, pp. 201, 203, 205. = Id. p. 200. " Song, ii. 14.
4 22d October, New Style.

VIEW IF MM MfflUHT mqiuiiiassa.
MOUllT PI.ACITCR AM) THF, VAI.l .V.Y 01 B.ODOKET TS THE CMTB.P. . TALIEY" OB PEAL OH THE IEET.
AND VALLEY- OP BALS/LLK UN TILE RIGHT

c"ap. IV.] THE FORT OF THE FOUR TEETH. 59
guides, that they might be seen." One of them, according to a
manuscript note, fastened on his back some wood which slione, by
which is meant, I presume, not a lighted torch or glowing brand,
but a piece of that ligneous and phosphorescent substance which is
found in the decaying trunks of old trees — amongst others, of the
maple and the beech. "Besides all this," adds the narrative, "the
path which we were compelled to take was such that we were often
under the necessity of walking on our hands and feet. But what
surpasses imagination, and makes us clearly to recognize the assist
ance of Divine Providence in the most trying circumstances, is
that two wounded men passed in safety on horseback along the
same road." Yet these places are so precipitous, that when the
Vaudois beheld them by daylight, the hair stood upon their heads.
"One who has not seen them," adds the author, "can form no idea
of the danger, and one who has seen them, would doubtless take
that march for a fiction or a fancy."1
Thus they passed from Bodoret to the summit of the rocks of
the Balsille without descending to the bottom of the valley, where
they would have encountered the enemy. But during this dangerous
transit, the hostages whom they still retained, whether from the
impossibility of advancing, or merely from the very natural desire of
escaping from their perilous position, bribed their guards, and fled
along with them. It is not known, however, if they succeeded in
making their way safe and . sound from amidst these tremendous
precipices; "for since that time," says Arnaud, "we have heard no
thing more about them."
" The news which have been received of the Vaudois are not
favourable," the journals of the time then said; " they were first
driven from one of their valleys, and lost the fort of Bobi, after
making a long resistance, and killing a number of Savoyards.
Thence they retired to La Sarcena, then to L'Aiguille, and,
finally, they have assembled in the wildest of their valleys, at the
Fort of the Four Teeth [Les Quatre Dents]." a It will be recol
lected that this is the strategic name of the Balsille, which is thus
described in the memoirs of the period : — " This place of defence is
a kind of promontory with precipitous sides, which juts out be
tween two deep ravines, like a tongue of the mountain, all rugged
behind, with points of rock which overhang and protect one an
other. Except by the Col du Pis, or by the' mountain of Gunivert,
it cannot be reached otherwise than by ascending the face of the
* Arnaud, pp.205, 206.
¦ Gazettes of France, England, and Leyden, year 1689, from October to Decem
ber.— Afa we historique, t. iii. pp. 1057, 1147, &c.

60 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. I>"t Thied.
precipice."1 " Here," says a recent author, " nature has built with her
own hands an asylum for men destined to flee from the persecution
of their fellow-men; and here thousands of citizens, persecuted by
soldiers and priests, defended their lives against the oppressors."2
At this place three small cascades fall on the superior platform,
"which is situated," says Arnaud, "on a very precipitous rock, hav
ing, as it were, three stories, or three different inclosures, which ren
der the approach to it very difficult, except on the side of the stream
let which forms these cascades, and which the Vaudois had fortified
by strong palisades, supported by parapets.8 They prosecuted these
works of intrenchment over the whole extent of the mountain,
connecting- the points of rock by bastions of earth or of dry stones,
intermixed with trees, whose branches being turned outwards,
added to the inextricable difficulties of these walls. Finally, they
constructed on the summit of this wild and threatening pyramid,
a fort, which those who saw it at that time declared to be almost
inaccessible, and, indeed, impregnable.* This little fort itself was
separated from the rock by three great walls.5 There were, more
over, deep cuttings in the slope of the mountain, presenting suc
cessively a ditch and a wall, which extended around and inclosed
this salient angle, and rose like benches to the base of the higher
intrenchments. These trenches, bastioned and covered by each
other, amounted to seventeen in number.6 To these works of for
tification the Vaudois added covered ways, ditches and walls around
their casemates, which were digged in the earth, and surrounded
with conduits or drains, to prevent the water from entering. These
subterranean habitations soon amounted to more than eighty in
number.7 Thereafter these valiant mountaineers repaired the mill
of the village, which stood upon the banks of the Germanasque.
The millstone had been hidden in the gravel in 1686. The
brothers Poulat, of Les Frons, natives of La Balsille, made known
the place in which it had been deposited. It was lifted up by
strength of arms from the sand in which it lay buried, and a
strong beam having been passed through the hole in its centre,
twelve strong men transported it to the mill, where it was set up
again in its place for use.8
' These particulars are taken from a Mimoire sur les passages du vol St. Martin
(MS. of the Royal Library at Turin), and from the Relation del'attaque de la Bal
sille (La Haye, 1690).
2 Page 144 of the work entitled " Moms, situation et detail des valUes de la
France le long des grandes Alpes , . . et de celles qui descendent des Alpcs en Italie "
&c  Turin, 1793. 3 Return, p. 268. '
4 Relation de 1690, par un soldat, p. 39. > Same Relation, p. 43.
6 Return, p. 207. ' Same authorities. s Return p. 208.

Chap. IT.] CORN REAPED IN WINTER. 61
The mountaineers now made haste to lay in provisions for the
winter. "They had come to the Balsille without having what
would support them for the next day. They lived there at first
on greens, turnips, and corn, which they boiled, and ate without
meat or fat, without salt or other seasoning, until the re-establish
ment of the mill enabled them to make bread."1 They then pre
pared great quantities for winter, making use also of the mill of
Macel, situated half a league farther down the valley, so long as
the enemy permitted them to have access to it.2 But it was most
remarkable that the corn of Pral and Bodoret, which had not been
reaped in 1689, remained uninjured beneath the snows during the
winter,8 and was reaped by the Vaudois from February to April,
1690. "Can any one," says Arnaud, "refuse to recognize the
hand of Providence in this extraordinary circumstance, that the
Vaudois were permitted to make their harvest, not in the midst
of summer, but in the midst of winter 1 Or could any but God
have inspired such a small handful of people, destitute of gold
and silver, and of all other earthly succour, with the courage to go
and make war against a king who at that time made all Europe to
tremble ? Is it possible to imagine that, without a protection ab
solutely Divine, these poor people, lodged in the earth almost like
the dead, and sleeping upon straw, after having been blockaded for
eight months, could at last have triumphed ? Does it not seem as
if God said, in preserving that grain upon the' earth during eight
months, to feed these persecuted people during the hardships of
winter and of the siege, 'These are my true children, my chosen
and beloved, whom it is my pleasure to feed by my providence;
let their land of Canaan, to which I have brought them back, re
joice to see them again, and make them unusual and almost super
natural gifts.'"4
Isolated on the summit of their rocks, as in an inaccessible eyry,
the last representatives of the Israel of the Alps saw the waves of
their enemies break at the base of that battlemented promontory
which served them for a fortress, like the powerless billows around
a gigantic crag, which they are unable to shake. They chose one
of themselves, Peter Philip Odin,5 to direct their conduct in con
cert with Arnaud ; the former being to direct them in their mili
tary operations, the latter in their duties as Christians. Arnaud
preached two sermons every Sabbath, and conducted two religious
1 Return, p. 218. 2 Id. pp. 209, 217. a Id. p. 220.
* Id. pp. 402, 401, and 403.
5 Compare the counter-signatures of the letters, Return, pp. 262, 265, and the
letter of Arnaud, p. 392.

62 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. [Pakt Tnnirj.
services daily, one in the morning and one in the evening. Thus
from the summit of these lofty mountain-crests, amidst dangers
and privations of every kind, endured for their country's sake, the
Vaudois confidently raised to heaven the voice of their prayers, the
utterances of their fervour, and the hymns which proclaimed their
hope in God.
In foreign countries the most lively interest began to be felt for
them. Some private letters mention that even the Spanish troops
quartered in the Milanese, had at that time the intention of giving
them aid.1 Supplies were sent to them from Holland, but were
intercepted by the French troops. " I am informed," says a writer
of the time, " that an offer was made to these mountaineers to send
them experienced commanders, but that they rejected it, saying
that they could do nothing worth while if they were led by stran
gers.''2 Thus passed the winter. The first attempts which were made
to drive them out of the Balsille were completely unsuccessful.
" Although reduced to great extremities," say the contemporary
journals, "they disputed the ground with their enemies with ad
mirable intrepidity and courage."3 * The troops of the Marquis
D'Ombrailles succeeded only in seizing the Col du Clapier and the
Col du Passet, where they had posts of observation. They made
their way even to the village of Balsille, and were about to lay
siege to the fortified peak on which the Vaudois were located, but
a great fall of snow took place, and many of the soldiers of the be
siegers had their feet and their hands frost-bitten, For three days
D'Ombrailles continued to make various proposals of capitulation
to the besieged, which were all rejected; and seeing at last that he
could neither succeed by artifice nor by violence, he adopted thp
resolution of retiring.
Then came the solicitations of relatives, of friends, of pretended
protectors of the Vaudois, perhaps of more than one traitor, who,
to induce them to surrender, promised them repose in that case,
but assured them of inevitable extermination if they persisted in
their warlike isolation. Some of the letters written with this ob
ject were evidently dictated to their authors.4 Take, for an ex
ample, that which one of them wrote to his brother, a soldier in
the Balsille : — " You know that God does not command us to take
arms against our king  Do not wrong your children by
leaving them in this way. I am assured that it rests entirely
' Mercure Ivistorique, t. vii. p. 1275 ; t. viii. p. 22. 2 Id. p. 1276.
s Id. t. viii. No. ix.
4 See the letters and the replies of the Vaudois, in A maud, p. 225-265.

Chap. IV.] A RESOLUTE MARTYR. 63
with yourselves whether or not you shall enjoy your liberty. Per
haps you may not again have the advantages which would be
granted you now."1 "You tell me,'' replied his brother, "that his
royal highness will grant us passports if we ask them from him, and
that we ought not to abandon our children, who are still in Swit
zerland. . . But you must know very well that we did not
return to our country in order to leave it again. Here are the
heritages of our fathers, . . and if we attempt to repone our
families in the places of their birth, we are not therefore rebels
against our sovereign."3
"Certainly," replied Arnaud and Odin also to the Marquis De
Parelles, "your excellence ought not to think it strange if our
people are bent upon returning to their own homes  The
very birds, which are creatures destitute of reason, return at their
proper times, to seek their nest and habitation unforbidden ; and
yet this is to be forbidden to men created in the image of God." s
The rustic simplicity of this language imparts still more of mas
culine energy to the sentiments of these countrymen, thus expressed
amidst rude rocks, resounding with the din of arms and battle.
•' Our storms are still louder than your cannon," said Arnaud at
another time, "and yet our rocks are not shaken."4 Nor were
their hearts. Traits of resolution and unostentatious courage com
plete the admirable character of this Christian Israel.
Three soldiers, engaged in baking bread, were taken at La Salse,
near Macel. Two of them, who were sick, were put to death, after
suffering horrid mutilations. Their heads were then severed from
their bodies, and these bloody heads were borne to the third captive.
In this way he was marched to La Perouse. This good man, says
Arnaud, prayed to God so fervently, that the judge of that place,
although a Catholic, besought M. D'Ombrailles, for pity's sake, to
leave him in his hands ; but the general, who never spoke but of
utter extermination, threatened the judge that he would hang him
along with the prisoner. However, as the governor of Pignerol
would not permit the unfortunate man to be executed within the
bounds of his government, they hanged him at the castle of Le
Bois, in Pragela. But the prayer which he made before his death
drew tears from all who were present, of whom the greater part
were Protestants that had become Catholics. "I die," said he,
" for a just cause ; God will protect those whom you persecute : and
for one man whom you kill of the Vaudois, he will raise them up
five -hundred!"5 He might have saved his life by an abjuration;
1 Arnaud, pp. 241, 242. 2 Id. pp. 243-246. 3 Id. p. 260.
* Id. p. 315. 5 Beturn, pp. 213, 215.

64' THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. [PaktThied.
but he preferred to end it gloriously by martyrdom. His head was
exposed on the summit of a pole, on the road which conducts from
France to the valleys, and passers-by wagged their heads, and said,
"Behold the end of the Barbets!"1
But such was not their end. The daring garrison of La Balsille,
familiar with snows and rocks, availed themselves of the winter to
make frequent sorties, for the purpose of re- victualling, not only
:into their own valleys, but also into that of Pragela, and even of
Le Queyras.2
Although reduced in number by desertions, yet they were
stronger, because they were more united. The French refugees,
who had at first formed part of their troop, had almost all with
drawn.3 They had not been able to bend their natural impatience
into compliance with the painful delays and obscure privations of
this patriotic struggle. They were ready to devote themselves,
without reserve, for a great and rapid sacrifice ; but their energy,
their courage, and their love of glory could not hold out against
the continued hardships and patient inaction imposed on the re
stored exiles of the valleys, by a prudence which, in their case, was
necessary, in the precarious expectation of better days to come.
Unexpected circumstances hastened the happy result ; but ere it
was attained, the persevering mountaineers had still to pass through
new trials.
On the 30th of April, 1690, whilst Arnaud was preaching, for
it was a Sabbath, the Vaudois sentinels saw the troops of Catinat
and of the Marquis De Parelles defiling in the bottom of the val
ley. They debouched around the Balsille by the Col du Pis and by
the Col du Clapier. The soldiers who came by the Col du Pis had
been made to await, for two whole days, amidst the snows of the
mountain, the signal for marching ; and many of them suffered as
much from this inaction as if they had exposed their lives in a
battle. Fourteen hundred peasants of the valleys of Pragela, C€-
sane, and Queyras, were then put in requisition to carry provisions
to them, and to open a way for them through the snow. At last
they arrived at the base of the Balsille, and encamped on Monday
morning, the 1st of May, in a wood situated to the left of the fort,
and some hours afterwards placed themselves in ambuscade on the
right bank of the torrent which descends from Le Pis. They were
then subsequently replaced on the left bank by a battalion of Sar
dinian troops.*
Meanwhile the regiments of Le Vexin and Le Plessis kept along
the heights of Le Pis, to come upon the Balsille on one of its sides
1 Return, p. 214. * Id. P. 220. » Id. p. 216. " Arnaud p. 269.

Chap. IV J THE BALSILLE ATTACKED. 65
behind; the Savoyard militia, with the regiment of Canibresis,
climbed Mount Gunivert, in order to assail it on the other.
Catinat reserved the rest of his troops to attack it in front. " It
was not without difficulty," says an actor in this drama,1 "that the
troops reached Mount Gunivert. It had been proposed that they
should proceed thither on Tuesday morning, to make the attack all
together ; but for fear of the inconveniences and difficulties of the
night, an effort was made to reach it that same day. There were
more than three leagues there of an ascent so steep that no one
could look behind him without becoming giddy. The roads,
blocked up by snow, were only opened by the help of pioneers
who went before. On the arrival of the troops, at three o'clock in
the afternoon, at the heights which had been previously recon
noitred, a guard was placed there of seventy men, supported by
fifty lower down. At last, whilst it was still day, they arrived at
the summit of the mountain ) and happy it was, indeed, that they
did so ; for they were no sooner there than a frightful fall of snow
began, and there arose a mist so thick, that if it had been neces
sary to have marched in such weather, they would infallibly have
fallen over the precipices. With this thought they consoled them
selves a little for being on that dreadful mountain, without water,
without wood, without tents, without covering — exposed to injury
by cold, wind, snow, and even hail, which never ceased to annoy
our people during the whole night."
On Tuesday morning (2d May, 1690), the regiments of Vexin and
Le Plessis, which had also suffered much in their march, appeared
upon the heights of the mountain of Le Pis, formed themselves
into two lines of attack, and opened upon the fort of the Vaudois
an ill-directed fire of musketry. Meanwhile, a part of the troops
posted on Mount Gunivert 2 proceeded to the mountain of Le Pel-
von, in order to cut off from the defenders of the Balsille, in antici
pation of their defeat, the retreat to the lofty peaks. The remain
der of these troops3 came closer to the banks of the Germanasque,
in order also to attack the Fort of the Four Teeth [Les Quatre
Dents]. However, the two attacking columns, which had commenced
their fire from the side of Le Pis, were not able to keep their ad
vantage. " The left column," says the narrative,4 "not being able to
keep the roads, which were found, quite impracticable, was obliged
¦ Relation de Vattaque de la Balsille, La Haye, 1690. (Arnaud gives extracts
from it in pp. 281-297.)
M. De La Rouennate, with the Savoyards. * The regiment of Cambresis.
• Relation, printed at the Hague in 1690, p. 43.
Vol. ii. 69

66 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. [pap-t Tm«n.
to ascend again, to: join the right, which, after all the difficulties
caused by a mountain covered with ten feet of snow, without roads,
and working its way amidst inaccessible rocks, arrived at lastf
within musket shot, aboTO, the fort: of the Vaudois. But. the
mountain where they were was so steej) that the men could not
descend it without falling down it as a precipice. Moreover, it
was now seen that the interval from its base to the fort was
still traversed by three great, intrenchments. The pioneers were
sent for1 to facilitate the approaches; this occupied more than-
three hours."
Meanwhile Catinat, with, the regiments of Bourbon^ Artois, anil
Lassarre, supported by a squadron of dragoons of Languedoc, had
made the attack in front. A steep acclivity at the base of the hill
conducted to the bottom of the fortified precipices, the rocks and
parapets of which, rising one above another, formed the pyramid,
of steep ascent, on whose summit stood the little fort of the Vaudois,
properly called the Fort of the* Four Teeth [Les'.Quatre Dents]. r
" An engineer2 having examined the place with a telescope, thought
it best that the attack in front should be made on the right of this1
acclivity^ A battalion of men, selected from amongst. the bravest,
rushed' forward to the charge against this- rapid talus, made one
simultaneous discharge against the Vaudois, and intrepidly advanced
as far as the base of their first bastion. These bastions were cased
with blocks of stone and trunks of trees, disposed in alternate
courses, one above the other,, the branches of the trees being turned
outwards. The soldiers thought they had' nothing to do but to
seize these trees, throw them down, and so ascend above' them.
But they found themselves much mistaken ; for when theyattempted
this, they found that the trees were immovable, and securely fas
tened in the bastion. The Vaudois then opened such a. fire, that
these brave and unfortunate soldiers fell in great numbers. It was
surprizing what a hail-storm of bullets filled the air. It seemed as
if the arms of the Vaudoia were always charged; and; in fact, the
younger of them, stationed in the second rank, wereemployed only
in charging, whilst the others did nothing but fire from the summit
of the bastion; so that- their enemies were destroyed by a continual
fire, notwithstanding an incessant fall of snow."
Catinat, perceiving this, gave orders to the Savoyards to re-dfe-
scend from Mount Pelvon.3 " Just when they thought that they.
were about to make themselves masters of the Vaudois, there arose
1 See Catioat's order, quoted by Arnaud, p. 275.
' I here resume Arnaud's narrative, p. 270.
3 1 here introduce new particulars derived from the Relation of the Hague.

Chap. IV.] LIEUTENANT-COLONEL DE PARAT. 67
all at once a fog and storm so extraordinary that, as I1 and some
of the officers can testify, a part of the army believed that Heaven
visibly interposed for the preservation of that handful of people ;
for this event oaused the attack upon the fort to be immediately
abandoned, and the French, as well as the Savoyards, dreaded to
be engulfed in the ravines and avalanches. It was only foy a miracle
that they succeeded in retiring, for three hours leaping from rock
to rock, amidst terrible precipices, the snow and hail sometimes
reaching to their armpits, so that they would have remained buried
there, if they had not found skelter amongst some larches."
After the sustained fire -of the bastion had decimated the enemy,
without causing them to give way, a shower of stones, before which
it was impossible for them to stand, at last decided their retreat ;
and they retreated with a precipitation equal to the ardour with
which they had advanced to the attack. " My friends, we must
sleep to-night in that barrack" Lieutenant-Colonel De Parat had
said to his soldiers two hours before, showing them the fort which
they were to attack. But the Vaudois, now seeing that they fled
in disorder, made a -«igorous sortie, -and destroyed the whole detach
ment except fifteen men, who, escaping bareheaded and without
arms, carried to the camp of the enemy the news of their defeat.2
M. De Parat was made prisoner, and conveyed to the very barrack
which he hoped to have entered that same evening as a conqueror.
He was permitted to obtain the attendance of a surgeon to dress
his wounds, whose professional services were also very useful to
the Vaudois.
Next day the Vaudois cut the heads off the corpses of their
enemies, and planted them on the palisades of their intrenchments,
to show that they did not intend to accept any terms of capitula
tion. General De Catinat retired to Les Clos, and did not think proper
to expose his hope of, the baton of a marshal of France to the risk
of a second defeat, by the unexpected valour of a handful of moun
taineers. He left the Marquis De Feuquieres as his successor ; and
the following are the orders which the new general issued for the
conduct of the war against the Vaudois3: — -
" The regiment of Le Plessis will move from Jousseau on the
12th (of May), and proceeding by the Col du Pis, will encamp the

1 It is the author of the Relation who "spealss, p. 44. He places this event on the
1st of May, at ten o'clock a.m.
2 Arnaud, pp. 271, 272.
3 They are written by the hand of Feuquieres 'himself, and addressed to Victor
Amadeus If, (Turin, Archives of State, No. of Series, 260.)

68 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. L|,AET T»IItn
same day at Les Bergeries, or by the cascade.1 It will be attended
by 200 peasants, who will carry wood to warm the soldiers.
" The second regiment of the dragoons of Languedoc will move
from Le Saut (read Usseaux or Ussaud), and proceeding by the
Albergan, will encamp the same day at the Clos Damian.
" The regiment of Cambresis will move from Bourset, and pro
ceeding by the Col du Clapier, will encamp on the back of the
mountain which looks to Balsille, at the place called La Verge, but
out of reach of the fire of the rebels.
" The regiment of Vexin will move from Maneille, and proceed
ing by Macel, will encamp between Le Passet and Balsille.
"Eight hundred men of the 1500 whom his royal highness is
pleased to give, will proceed by Salses, and encamp the same day
on the mountain of Gunivert, and for this purpose it will be neces
sary that these be presently at Bodoret and at Fontaine, in order
that they may easily repair to their post.
" "When all these troops are encamped at the places above named,
I will cause a battery of two pieces to be erected during the night,
to play upon the castle,2 with the view of making a breach in it,
the whole of the following day.
" The night after, the regiment of Le Plessis will leave 100 men
at the Pas de Sarras; the remainder of the regiment will set out
at the hour which shall be appointed, in order to gain the ridge of
the mountain where the rebels are intrenched.
" The 800 men of his royal highness will leave 300 opposite to
the castle, and the other 500 will go on to join the regiment of
Le Plessis on the aforesaid ridge.3
" If this junction can be effected, they will make signals, which
I will give them before they set out; and I will immediately cause
cannons to be fired, as the signal to all the posts that they may
proceed at once, and by this general attack exterminate all the
rebels.4 " If there is anything in this plan which his royal highness
wishes to be changed, he will do me the honour to send me his
orders.'' No change was made. It seemed impossible that this plan should
1 This cascade is two leagues from La Balsille. It is one of the most remarkable
in the valleys, and the only one in the valley of Macel. In the valley of Lucerna
there is a water-fall worthy of notice, near Mirabouc.
2 This name was given to the part of the Balsille inhabited by the Vaudois, and
surrounded by their principal fortifications.
* I here suppress some unimportant details.
* Here, also, unimportant details are suppressed. The arrangements indicated
in this paper correspond with what is recorded by Arnaud, p. 308.

Chap. 1V.J HONOURABLE TERMS OFFERED. 69
fail.1 Feuquieres received, by anticipation, the title of Conqueror
of the Barbets.2 The troops which he had designated set out to
occupy their positions. Those of Mount Gunivert constructed two
redoubts on the mountain, one opposite to the village of Balsille,
which the troops of Parelles and Catinat had already laid in ruins,
and the other on a level with that post of the Vaudois which was
named the castle. " Besides a great number of pioneers who came
with the regiments, all the soldiers who were not at work in the
trenches or upon guard, were obliged to make fascines, in order to
facilitate their approaches, to retain the earth without parapets,
and to make banquettes and supporting walls. . Thus," says Arnaud,
" the castle was soon environed ; for so soon as they had gained a,
foot of ground, they covered it with a good parapet, and never saw
so much as the hat of a Vaudois but they fired 100 musket shots
at it, which they did without running any risk themselves, for they
were covered by sacks full of wool, which bullets could not pierce."8
It took them twelve days, however, to accomplish these works
and operations. More than one great city has been taken in less
time. The remarkable intrepidity of the defenders of the Balsille
inspired with an involuntary esteem even the enemies who treated
them as rebels. When all was ready for the attack they hoisted
a white flag, and offered the Vaudois an honourable capitulation.
The Vaudois sent a messenger to know what they wanted. " Sur
render !" said they to him, "and you shall, each of you, receive 500
louis, and good passports for your retirement to a foreign country;
but if you do not, you will infallibly be destroyed." " We have
arms and ammunition," replied the Vaudois messenger. " No doubt
you may be able to kill many of our brave men, but can you
hope to destroy an army?" "That will be as the Lord will," said
he. " How !" said they, " a handful of mountaineers dare to make
war against the king of France, who has vanquished so many great
nations ! And can you doubt of your destruction if you are so
desperate as to persevere?" M. De Feuquieres himself wrote to
the Vaudois " that they should endeavour to avoid bringing things
to the last extremity, as he had orders not to give up that enter
prise until he accomplished its object ; but that he would now grant
them'things which it would be out of time to ask when the cannon
should once have been fired."4 Then it was that Arnaud and
Odin replied that their rocks, which were accustomed to the noise
of thunder, would not be shaken by that of cannon,5 thus signify-
1 Return, p. 307. * Id. p. 330. » Id. pp. 308, 309.
* Id. p. 311. * Id. pp. 342, 404.

70 THE .ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. I>akt Tunn
ing that their minds, which had stood so many trials of adversity,
would not be overwhelmed by this new evil. That same night
their troops made a vigorous sortie, and killed many of the French.
They had already made many similar sorties since the commence
ment of the siege, sometimes to destroy the enemy's works and
sometimes to seize their convoys, or to drive them from some
position. At last, according to the plan wkich he had framed, Feuquieres
had his cannon brought to that part of Mount Gunivert which
commanded the Balsille. Having unmasked his battery, he again
hoisted a white flag, and then a red flag, to signify to the besieged
that if they did not surrender they were no longer to look for any
quarter. It had, indeed, already been publicly announced in Pig-
nerol that all the Vaudois who were not killed amongst their rocks,
would be hanged in that city.1
The besieged made no reply to these summonses nor to these
proposals (for every day they received new ones),2 being determined
upon a vigorous resistance; and next day (the 14th of May, 1690)
the enemy's cannon began to play upon their fortifications. Before '
mid-day 114 balls, of 12 or 13 lbs., had already been .shot. The
bastions of the Vaudois, which were of no very great solidity, being
only constructed of dry stones, were soon dismantled.
The French then mounted to the assault upon three sides,
"some," says Arnaud, " by the Clos Damian, some by the ordinary
entrance to the castle, and a third detachment by the brook, heed
less of the fire of the besieged, and of the stones which were rolled
down upon them. The French musketry kept up a perpetual storm
of bullets, and the Vaudois had already been exposed to a vast
number of them before they abandoned their lower intrenchments,
which, however, they did without having one killed, and only a very
few being wounded.3 They then retired to the more elevated fortifi
cations, called the Morse of La Bmixe [Gheval dela Bruxe\. But to
accomplish this retreat they had to pass under the fire of a French
redoubt, wkich they did with success, under covert of a thick fog.
The enemy immediately seized the .position which they had aban
doned, and redoubled their activity in the attack upon the higher
intrenchments. Tie Vaudois, seeing themselves so closely beset, considered that
the hand of God alone could save them from that of their adver
saries. They invoked his aid, continued their resistance till night;
and then profiting by the mists, which on rainy days arise towards
evening from the deep glens, when these protective veils began
1 Return., pp. 342, 404. 2 Id. p. 316. » Arnaud, p. 319.

Cuap. IV.], RETREAT FROM THE BALSILLE. 71
to enfold the heights, they issued from their retreat, and, under the
guidance of Captain. Poulat, who was a native of these mountains —
under the invisible but real protection of the Almighty — enveloped
in. these dark and humid' clouds, by the confused and distant light
of the enemy's fires, on icy or moist slopes of almost perpendicular
rocks, over which they were compelled to pass, they held their way,
one after another, in single file across the gaping crevasses above
the deep chasms of the Germanasque, dragging themselves along
on their bellies, clinging- to the asperities of the mountain, or to
bashes ok roots hanging from' the rocks, resting from time- to time,
continually praying to God, and never yielding to despair. After
all this they digged steps in the hardened- snow to climb by, and
gained the northern slope of Mount Gunivert, where they turned
the posts of the enemy, some of whom challenged1 them as they
passed, and then panting, exhausted, half-dead with fatigue, but
blessing the Lord for so miraculous a deliverance, they arrived at
the base of the glaciers of Le Pelvoux.
At sunrise, next day, they appeared to the astonished' eyes of the
enemy, like eagles that had flown from their eyry, on mountain-tops
much higher than the Balsille, and than all the posts occupied by
the assailing army. The Marquis De Feuquilres made haste to
send, a detachment after them, but it- was- too late; when this
detachment moved, the fugitives were at La Salse, above Macel;
when it was at. La Salse they were at Bodoret; when the enemy
was at Bodoret the indefatigable Vaudois were on the mountain
of Galmon, which commands the whole valley of Pral ; and thus
fleeing from peak to peak, keeping always at a distance from the
enemy, and still increasing the distance by their superiority in
strength, courage, and perfect knowledge of the localities, the glo
rious fugitives arrived above Servins, where they paused for prayer.
Arnaud pronounced, with aloud voice, the words of supplication and
thanksgiving, but bis; troop was dying of fatigue and hunger. Then
these rude children of the Vaudois mountains put snow into their
mouths to refresh themselves, and chewed green shoots of fir-trees
to support their strength ; after which they pursued their march,
mounted the heights of- Pral, where the talc is>now obtained,, and
arrived towards evening at the summit of the Rocca bianca, one of
the spurs of the Comaout — the culminating' point of the mountains
which- separate the valley of Lucerna from that of St. Martin,
and which owes its- name of the White Rock, not to the snow with
which it was then covered, but to a white marble which is found
there, as pure and fine as that of Paros. From thence they
descended to Fae't, where they did not arrive till after midnight,

72 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. [Part Thibd.
having made their way down dangerous precipices, clinging to small
shrubs and aiding one another by joined hands.
Notwithstanding the extraordinary fatigues of this day of super
human marches, the Vaudois set out again before dawn, on Saturday,
the 17th of May, to pass over the mountain which now separated
them from Bioclaret. Their object was to pass by the heights of
Angrogna to the celebrated retreat of their ancestors, the Pra-du-
Tour, which is as deeply sunk among the mountains as the Balsille,"
which they had quitted, is elevated above the valley. But they
soon perceived that the enemy followed in their track; therefore,
changing the direction of their route, they proceeded towards Pra-
mol, in order to get some provisions. This commune continued to
be peopled by the new inhabitants whom Victor Amadeus had
introduced into it. They possessed numerous flocks, and were
protected by a post which was commanded by Captain Vignaux.
The Vaudois attacked him so vigorously that they killed fifty-seven
of his men, dispersed the rest, and seized the commander himself,
along with three of his inferior officers.
These events took place at a time most critical for the enterprise
hitherto so resolutely prosecuted by the Vaudois, whom Victor
Amadeus had exiled, and who had returned to take possession of
their own country. For that prince himself it was also a decisive
moment in the determination of his policy. It was at the instiga
tion of the king of France that he had driven out the Vaudois ;
with the arms of the king of France he had just been contending
against them at the Balsille. and the demands made upon him by
that haughty monarch becoming continually more and more imperi
ous, were on the point of throwing him into the party of the allies
(Spain, Austria, and England), in their war with Louis XIV.
The fight at Pramol took place on the 17th of May, and the vic
tors were informed by their captive, M. De Vignaux, that Victor
Amadeus had only to the Tuesday following (the 20th of May) to
decide between Germany and France. If he should decide for
France the Vaudois could expect nothing else, according to all
human judgment, than to be destroyed or again expelled from the
valleys. If, on the contrary, the court of Savoy were to pronounce
in favour of the enemies of France, the Vaudois would be received
again into favour by the sovereign, and might even hope for some
grateful acknowledgment of their valiant resistance to Louis XIV.
They would acquire, moreover, a real importance, from their posi
tion on the frontiers of the two states, and from the assistance
which their troops, habituated to war, familiar with the Alps, and
full of ardour against the king of France, might be able to afford to

Chap.1V.] HAPPY TURN OF FORTUNE. 73
the cause of Savoy, by this political revolution again identified with
their own.
Here the reflecting mind pauses to inquire, " On what do the
destinies of men and nations sometimes depend?" "On God,"
replies the Christian. In truth it was God who, for the safety of
the Vaudois, had now caused a general commotion throughout
Europe, or at least who, by means of these far-extending commo
tions, reinstated a people, small in point of number, in the abodes
of their ancestors. Thus those mighty forces, which sometimes
shake both earth and heaven, and which, during the storm, send
forth thunder and fierce blasts of wind, are commissioned to effect
the object of bestowing a few drops of rain upon some unheeded
flower of the valley.
Next day the Vaudois received information at Angrogna that
Victor Amadeus II. had decided in favour of Austria, that he had
declared war against France, restored peace to their exhausted
tribes, gladly accepted the assistance of their arms, and opened to
them again the gates of their native land. Afterwards they
received overtures from France, the French monarch (through the
Marquis De La Feuillade) offering them his protection if they
would turn their arms against Victor Amadeus, the direct, or at
least the responsible author of the persecution which they had
endured. But the Vaudois nobly repelled that hypocritical pro
posal. Whilst they were at Angrogna a messenger came to them from
the Chevalier De Vercellis, commandant of the fort of La Tour,
who, on the part of the Duke of Savoy, offered them provisions
and arms, inviting them to range themselves under the banners of
their own legitimate sovereign.1 They did not hesitate ; and Vic
tor Amadeus, who had persecuted them, was now threatened in his
turn, and soon became a wanderer and a fugitive, as they themselves
had been ; their country was again restored to them, and now it
became their duty to defend him. The governor of the fort of
Mirabouc also had orders to allow these glorious exiles, who had
recovered possession of their country, to act and move about with
all freedom. a But they had still some days of severe struggles, and
during which they were hard pressed by enemies, before they found
themselves peacefully settled; for the French were furious against
them for having foiled them at the Balsille, and mortified above all
that their skilful manoeuvres, their imposing array of forces, and
their regular siege of the fort of Les Quatre Dents had issued in
nothing but their getting possession of the place, without the be-
1 Arnaud, p. 329. 2 id. p. 319.
Vol. ii. 70

74 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. [paet Tunm
sieged — that they had succeeded only in seizing these pointed rocks,
like an empty eyry from which the eaglets have departed. They
therefore pursued the Vaudois from valley to valley, with an
ardent thirst for their extermination. One of these pursuing corps,
commanded by M. De Clerambaud, was arrested and disarmed at
La Tour by the garrison of that place,1 which had received intelli
gence of the rupture between France and Piedmont before the
detachment had been informed of it.
As for the Vaudois, they kept to their heights, still living a
life of many privations; now feeding on milk and roots,2 now on
some partridge which had been shot, and which was cooked on a
flat stone, without any seasoning;8 now on bread, obtained with
great difficulty,4 or on a soup made of sorrel and violets gathered
on the mountains.5 Some of them becoming frenzied, fed in the
most savage manner, even devouring the raw flesh of wolves which
they killed.6 Yet in these circumstances, still so full of danger,
these brave mountaineers succeeded in obtaining some signal ad
vantages over the enemies who were anxious to destroy them.
On Wednesday, the 21st of May, the French having sent two
detachments into the mountains of Angrogna, the one above the Pra-
du-Tour, and the other on the south slope of Vendalin, in order to
surprise the Vaudois there, they were, on the contrary, surprised
by the Vaudois, who by this victory obtained complete equipments
for sixty men.7 Next day, also, the Vaudois fought all day; and
a few days after they were strengthened by a new company of their
brethren, who, having left the Balsille before that place was given
up, had remained till now in Pragela.8 New skirmishes still took
place from the 4th to the 10th of June; but the French troops
gradually withdrew from these valleys to other destinations. The
Vaudois then established their headquarters at Bobi, where Victor
Amadeus caused his commissaries to distribute provisions to them.9
Numbers of their brethren, who had been detained prisoners at
Turin, now began to arrive, amongst others Captain Pelenc and
Captain Mondon of Bobi, to whom the Duke of Savoy had said,
when he set them at liberty, " Beturn to your brave compatriots !
Tell them that they will henceforth be as free as they were in for
mer times. Let them be as faithful to me as they have been to
their religion, and their ministers may preach even in Turin."'0
This promise was not to be fulfilled until long after, and not
» Arnaud, p. 348. » Id. p. 350. 3 Id. p. 344. 4 Id. p. 345. 5 Id. p. 347.
« Id. p. 354. ' Id. pp. 346, 347. 8 Id. p. 349. 9 Id. pp.. 356, 357.
10 Id. pp. 357, 358, supplemented by an unpublished letter of Reynaudin, the prin
cipal author of the Glorious Return.

Chaj-.V.] FRANCE AND PIEDMONT. 75
until after he who made it had proved unfaithful to it. But he
then had need of the Vaudois, and their valour did not disap
point him. Let us inquire into the sudden turns of fortune, which
had led to these unexpected resolutions in the high regions of power.

CHAPTER V.
RUPTURE BETWEEN FRANCE AND SAVOY, WAR WHICH FOL
LOWED IT, AND NEW SITUATION OF THE VAUDOIS, NOW
tt)ERS OF VICTOR AMADEUS
(J one, 1690, to September, 1694.)
Exorbitant demands of France upon Piedmont — Victor Amadeus concludes aii
alliance with Austria, and goes to war with France — He favours the Vaudois,
in order to enjoy the support of their arms*— He encourages French Protestant
refugees in Piedmont — Return of Vaudois from Brandenburg with their
families — Generosity of the Elector of Brandenburg — The Vaudois regiment
in Piedmont — Successful incursion into the valley of the Guill in Dauphiny —
Expeditions and combats — The Vaudois leaders in the presence of Victor
Amadeus — Gallantry of the Vaudois at the capture of the fort of St. Michael,
near Lucerna — Victory over the French at Briqueras— -The French abandon
the valley of St. Martin — Defeat of Victor Amadeus at Staffarde — Savoy sub
jected to France — The French again make themselves masters of the valley of
St. Martin — They are repulsed from that of Lucerna — Faithful adherence of
the Vaudois to Victor Amadeus — Their incursions into Dauphiny — M. De
Feuquidres, the French general, suffers severe loss at Lucerna — Various con
flicts and events of war.
For a long time the demands made by France upon Piedmont had
far exceeded all that one political power is entitled to expect
from another in alliance with it. The zeal of Victor Amadeus for
the interests of France diminished every day;2 and the French
1 Authorities. — The same as in the two preceding chapters, except Arnaud,
and the works which terminate at the same point with his. Likewise the general
histories relating to this period, monthly publications, &c. — See also Les soupirs
de la France esclave qui aspire apres la liberty. Amsterdam, 1690. 4to. Pp. 228.
— Chiare memorie ememordndi fatti de Valdesi, dacompendU historici, del S. Conte
Alfonso Loschi Vicentino, without date or place of publication. — Relation d'un
soldat, &c. — The particular authorities are indicated at the bottom of each page.
2 From the commencement of the year he had given expression to his dissatisfac
tion. " What have I ever done to the king but serve him in all possible circum
stances ? Have I not sacrificed to his pleasure the valley of Lucerna, contrary to all
the rules of sound policy?" &c. (Letter of Victor Amadeus to the Duke of Orleans,
Ms brother-in-law, dated 24th February, 1690. — Dwterici, p. 274. Moser places
this letter in the month of June, but without assigning to it any precise date.) In
his manifesto of 6th July, 1690, Louis XIV. also said : " Ever since the month of

76 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. I>abt Thibd.
monarch, regarding his alliance with a corresponding diminution of
confidence, exacted from the Duke of Savoy fresh guarantees of his
fidelity, and demanded that the citadels of Verceil and Turin
should be delivered to him. This was to demand the keys of Pied
mont, the vassalage of Victor Amadeus, and the renunciation of all
liberty upon his part ; for him the question was no longer of an alli
ance, but a subjugation.
His high and proud spirit revolted at this idea, but prudence
caused him to dissemble. Not feeling himself strong enough to
contend alone and immediately -against the King of France, he
negotiated with Austria, fortified his towns, made new levies, and
sought, by diplomatic representations and delays, to gain time with
Louis XIV. He wrote him a respectful letter, in which he an
nounced to him the mission of the Count de Provana, charged to
proceed to Versailles to give the answer to his proposals.
Louis XIV. did not await the arrival of this ambassador, but
immediately addressed to the Duke of Savoy an imperious letter,1
requiring him to decide without delay; and at the same time he
ordered Catinat, who commanded his troops, to enforce this demand-.
Victor Amadeus replied so as not to commit himself. Longer time
was allowed him. He profited by it to conclude an alliance, offen
sive and defensive, with the Emperor Leopold, who recognized his
titles of King of Cyprus and Boyal Highness; and adopted the
policy of favouring the return of the Vaudois to their own country
that their arms might be turned against France.2 Victor Ama
deus concluded on the same day a similar treaty with Spain, and
ordered Catinat immediately to leave his dominions, with the
troops under his command.
Notwithstanding the representations of the Catholic clergy,3 he
proceeded to set at liberty all the Vaudois still detained in the
prisons and in the galleys. He even caused those who pined in the
January, I have been informed that the Duke of Savoy, seconded by Holland and
England, intended to recal the Barbets, and with their aid to make an invasion
of Dauphiny." (Moser, § 53.)
• Dated 24th May, 1690.
2 This treaty was concluded on the 4th of June, 1690. The paragraph relative
to the Vaudois is § VI. It is in these terms : — " His majesty the emperor promises
to see to it that the Vaudois and the French refugees .... shall act conformably
to the orders of his royal highness." (Dieterici, p. 276.)
3 The Duke de Chaulnes and the Cardinal De Bouillon persuaded the pope to
protest against the return of the Vaudois, and to withdraw from Victor Amadeus
the tenth part of the ecclesiastical revenues, which he received by special autho
rization of Innocent XI. Alexander VIII., the then reigning pope, said that
the conduct of the Duke of Savoy merited excommunication. The Sardinian
envoy prevented the result of these intrigues. (Mercure hist. t. viii. pp. 123, 125,
and t. ix. p. IS.)

Chap, v] EXILES ALLOWED TO RETURN. 77
prisons of Turin to be brought into his presence. Amongst them
were the 122 men of Arnaud's troop who had not been able to reach
the rendezvous in time, and had been taken prisoners as they left
the Grisons in 1689; who had also been subjected to much cruel
treatment in their captivity.1 The duke expressed regret for this,
and threw the blame upon the tyranny and fanaticism of the King
of France. He gave orders, in their hearing, that they should be
provided with clothes, and with everything of which they stood in
need.2 He caused 500 loaves to be sent every day to those who
were already assembled in the valleys;3 and in order to bring back
those who were still in foreign countries, he signed an edict, giving
them full permission to return to Piedmont. The same favour
was accorded to the Protestant refugees of France.4 The duke like
wise intimated all these steps to the different Beformed nations of
Europe — amongst others to Switzerland, to Holland,5 and to Eng
land, all which speedily entered into the great league formed against
France, and gave effective support to the Vaudois.6
No sooner did this news reach foreign countries, -than the scat
tered Vaudois, the French exiles, and all the victims of the great
king, hastened towards the valleys. But above all, the enthusiasm
and acclamations of those who were thus permitted to return.to
the homes of their childhood, were indescribable. The poor out
laws, who had vowed not to leave their bones in strange lands, and
whose families, still in exile, wept day after day for' their distant
country, now shed tears of joy at the thought of soon being able to
unite all whom they loved in that country, for which they had
braved so many dangers.
The Vaudois who had taken refuge in Wurtemberg set out in
troops of forty or fifty men, under the direction of the coinmis-
1 Arnaud, pp. 37, 38. 2 Erman and Reclam, t. vi. Dieterici, p. 280.
3 Relation of the Hague, second edition, p. 55.
1 1 subjoin this paper, which is little known : — " By these letters, signed with
our hand, we ordain all our officers of justice and of war, and syndics, councillors,
and inhabitants of the towns and villages of our dominions, with all others to
whom it may pertain, to allow the Vaudois, our subjects, to pass freely, that they
may return to the valleys of Lucerna, as also all refugees of the Protestant Reformed
religion who shall be with them, or shall come after them, whether in companies
or individually, into our dominions, with their arms and baggage, not permitting
them to receive any molestation or hinderance, but, on the contrary, to cause them
to be furnished with provisions, paying for the same a reasonable price, and to
bestow upon them all other assistance and favour; and this under pain of our
indignation; for so our service requires, and our will is so.— :Given at Turin, this
4th of June, 1690."
5 The letter which he addressed to the States of Holland — :a somewhat perplexed
and laborious composition — is given in the Relation published at the Hague in
1690, and of which the second edition was published, with additions, in 1691.
6 See Moser, § LV.

78 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. [pabt Third.
sioner La Grange. A circular of the grand duke was addressed to
all the baillages through which they were to pass.1 The exiles of
Brandenburg, whose rising colony had happily overcome the diffi
culties of its first establishment, and now had the prospect of future
prosperity, did not hesitate to sacrifice all in order to rejoin their
compatriots. They entreated the elector to allow them to depart,
and having obtained his authority, they did not even stay to gather
in their first harvest, before commencing their march.
Frederic William was far from taking offence at these incon
stant settlers, who had caused him so much fruitless expense; his
noble heart was touched by their love for their native land; for
the poor Vaudois had been thrown into absolute ecstasies by the
prospect of returning to their own country, and abandoned every
thing in order to do so. They set out with such precipitation and
want of preparation, that if they had been left to themselves, half
of them must have perished on the way, for want of resources.
But Frederic William showed as much generosity at their depar
ture as he had done on their arrival. He gave them new clothing,
money for their journey, passports, and letters of recommendation
to the princes through whose dominions they were to pass. He
wrote at the same time to Victor Amadeus, to congratulate him
on having recalled such faithful subjects; and as the season was
already advanced, the Duke of Savoy, supposing that these distant
exiles would not quit their new colony at the beginning of winter
replied to the elector, entreating him to continue his kindness to
them till the following spring.
But ere his letter arrived, the Vaudois had already set out. In
vain was any attempt made to detain them; the love of country
overcame every other consideration; and, in his paternal solicitude,
the worthy elector, whose regard for them seemed to increase with
their eagerness to leave him, permitted them to take with them,
for their journey, the horses and waggons which had been given
them for the cultivation of his lands; he placed at their disposal
even the supplies of wheat intended for seed. He also caused arms
to be distributed to them from the arsenal of Magdeburg; he even
permitted the Vaudois company which had followed his army to
the siege of Bonn, to set out with arms and baggage, under the
guidance of Captain Sarrazin, and of the chaplain Javel.
Frederic William, moreover, commissioned M. Maillette De
Buy to accompany them to Switzerland. In order to reach that
country the sooner, they followed a route different from the route
1 It is dated 12th August, 1690, and may be seen in Moser, § LV., with the itine
rary of this march of the Vaudois.

Chap.v] WAR DECLARED AGAINST FRANCE. 79
by which they had come.1 On their arrival at Zurich they ex
pressed their ardent gratitude to the illustrious elector, in a letter
which was sent back by his deputy.2 Having here united with
themselves all their compatriots who were still in the evangelical
cantons, they resumed their journey, to the number almost of 1000,
and received in the dominions of Victor Amadeus all the assist
ance necessary to enable them to reach the place of their desti
nation.8 Immediately on their arrival in the valleys, they were incorpo
rated with the Vaudois regiment which the Prince of Orange, now
become King of England, and the ally of Victor Amadeus, had
taken into his pay, and placed at the service of the latter, for the
common interest of the powers confederate against France. This
regiment had a white banner, sprinkled with blue stars, with this
motto, Patientia laesa Jit furor. The Duke of Savoy himself had
chosen it, to indicate the source of his hostility against Louis XIV.,
as well as to signify that a peaceful and religious people, like the
people of the valleys, may by their bravery become formidable
against oppressors. This regiment distinguished itself from the
commencement of the war, by numerous successful exploits.
The declaration of war took place in the following manner : —
Victor Amadeus having ordered Catinat, on the 4th of June, 1690,
to leave his dominions, that general assembled all his troops at
PigneroL Next day (5th June), the Duke of Savoy made his
appearance, clothed in scarlet, and caused proclamation to be made,
with sound of trumpets, that war was declared between Piedmont
and France. He then caused the holy winding-sheet to be ex
posed to view under the dome of the church of St. John, and com
municated before that venerated relic, which the inhabitants of
Turin then considered as the palladium of their city. The Vaudois,
whose places of worship were not yet rebuilt, invoked the Almighty
under the canopy of heaven, within the inclosure of those sublime
mountains which had been assigned them for their sanctuary — a
vast temple, manifesting, in a way which no other can, the pre
sence and glory of the Creator. " The" French," says an unpub
lished account, " were established at Lucerna, which was then sur-
1 The route which they now pursued was by the following places: — Merseburc
Naumburg, Jena, Coburg, Bamberg, Nuremberg, Ulm, Schaffhausen, and Zurich.
2 This letter is given by Ehman and RECL4M. Memoires, &c, t. vi. p. — .
3 The Vaudois had already begun to return with their wives and children, as is
proved by a letter written on the part of Victor Amadeus to the syndics of Ville.
franche, that they should prepare rations and lodgings for a troop of 300 Vaudois,
con moglie efanciuoli. Dated 6th November, 1690. (Archives of Le Villar, vo
lume marked Religionarii, fol. 98.)

80 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. [Part Third.
rounded with walls, and flanked with towers, except on the side of
the Pelis. They had also taken possession of La Tour, and shut
themselves up in the fort of St. Mary, from which they made sor
ties upon the Vaudois. But they might advance as far as Le
Villar or Bobi; they met nobody; on their return they were assailed
from all sides, and overwhelmed." x The Vaudois made themselves
masters of the fort of Mirabouc.2 Some new combat took place
every day between them and the French, and although the fortune
of war is changeful, says a contemporary, the Vaudois had almost
always the advantage.3
Even before they were organized in regular troops, they made a
number of little expeditions, in support of the movements of the
Piedmontese army. The Baron Palavicino, who commanded a
detachment of it, resolved to make an incursion into Dauphiny.
He proposed to invade the valley of Le Queyras, and the Vaudois
sent a half battalion of 300 men to aid his design, who lay at Le
Pra, on the evening of the 18th of June. It was a Sabbath; and
Arnaud, who, in becoming a warrior, had not ceased to be a man
of God, conducted a religious service amidst the shepherds' huts,
where the soldiers were assembled. He thus elevated their souls
by prayer, withdrawing from the agitations of the world those last
hours of a holy day, and of the eve of a combat. Next day they
passed over the Col Lacroix, put to flight the inhabitants of the
valley of the Guill as far as Abries, carried off a great number of
beasts of burden and cattle from La Monta and Bistolas, overcame
all resistance which was made to them at Abries, and returned the
same evening to Le Pra, where they divided the spoil.1
On the Thursday following (22d June) all the inhabitants of La
Tour who had changed their religion, joined their former brethren,
and augmented their forces. On the next Sabbath (25th June)
these rapid squadrons,- issuing from their mountains, fought with
the enemy in the plain of Piedmont, relieved the fort of St. Michael,
and that same evening celebrated their usual religious service in a
farm-house near Mondovi. It was conducted by a young minister,
named Bastie. Next day they took La Tour, but the French after
wards burned that little town, in order to deprive their enemies of
it. In this affair Major Odin received a wound in the arm. Three
1 Histoire des missions depuis 1687 a 1706, par le pire Bonaventure de Vergc-
moli, traduite de Vitalien. (MS. of the Episcopal Library of Pignerol.)
2 Relation de ce qui s'est passe le 15 juin au 16 juillet, 1690. The Hague, 24mo,
pp. 58.
3 Mercurc historique, t. viii. p. 136.
4 The Relation du 16 juin au 15 juillet says that they brought back 200 mules, all
laden, along with 300 head of cattle. (P. 60.) Many other details are given.

Chap v.] VAUDOIS RECEIVED AT TURIN. 81
days after (Wednesday, the 28th), Captain Friquet returned from
Pragela, where he had seized some important despatches. Palla-
vioino, the general to whom they were conveyed, delegated the
officer who had made this capture, along with Odin and Arnaud,
to proceed themselves with these despatches to Victor Amadeus.
They were received in the camp of that prince with sound of trum
pets and of drums,1 and were addressed by him in these remarkable
words : " You have but one God and one king to serve : serve God
and your king faithfully ; hitherto we have been enemies, hence
forth we must be friends. Other parties have been the cause of
your misfortunes; but if you now expose your lives in my service,
I will also expose mine for you ; and as long as I have a morsel of
bread, you shall have a share of it."2
"From that time," Arnaud writes,3 "we have enjoyed perfect
liberty. I go to meet our troops, who are to come by the
Milanese.4 The troops of the valleys are all at Bobi and Le
Villar. . . . They have a flying camp of 400 men, who scour the
country as far as Briancon. God alone knows all the sufferings
which we have endured, and the horrible combats in which we
have been engaged; and he alone could have given us the victory.
We have not lost thirty men, and our enemies have lost not less
than 10,000. I write you at midnight, not having time even to
write to my wife, who should be at Neuchatel," &c.
" We have intelligence from Turin," says one, writing on the 3d
of July, " that the Vaudois have within the last month been many
times attacked by the French, but that they have bravely repulsed
them, and have carried off much booty; and, moreover, that tho
Vaudois and M. Arnaud have arrived at Turin, where they have
received many marks of favour from his royal highness, who has
furnished them with clothes and money, and, in particular, has
given M. Arnaud a rich dress and the baton of a commander."6
The body of troops which Arnaud was to go to meet, in order to
quicken their march, arrived opposite to the valley of Lucerna on
the morning of the 8th of August.6
1 Relation du 16 juin au 15 juillet, p. 59.
2 These words are related by Arnaud, p. 3G4.
3 Letter dated 5th July, 1690. Return, p. 392.
4 These were some of the Vaudois refugees from the Grisons and the Valteline.
5 Relation d'un soldat, .... 24mo, p. 62.
6 Mercure hist. t. ix. p. 1027. Relation veritable, &c, . . . (4to), p. 3. — Accord-
fog to the Relation already quoted (the Hague, 24mo), p. 58, these Vaudois from
che Grisons, who came by the Milanese, amounted to about two thousand in num
ber. It has been supposed that there must have been with them French refugees ;
but it is said, under date 17th June, p. 59, " Two thousand Vaudois have arrived
from Milan, and gone to join those of the valleys." These could not bo the same
Vol. n. 71

82 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. [Part Third.
The Marquis De Parelles, the lieutenant-general of Victor
Amadeus, was at Bubiano with 3000 men. There was also there
a regiment of the militia of Mondovi, celebrated for their want of
discipline; it was found necessary to distribute amongst them four
days' pay in advance, in order to retain them around their banners.
The entrance of the valley was closed by the French, who occu
pied the town of Lucerna, their wings resting upon the fort of
La Tour and upon that of St. Michael. They had thrown down
the walls of the city, so that they remained only breast high, in
order to make use of them for parapets. M. De Feuquieres was
in command of 3000 infantry there, with six squadrons of cavalry
and dragoons. The Vaudois who arrived from the Grisons with
Arnaud, proceeded to the Piedmontese camp, between Bubiano and
Fenil, and agreed with the Marquis De Parelles that they would
attack Lucerna immediately; but, almost as soon as this was
arranged, the Marquis De Parelles was summoned to the camp of
Victor Amadeus, and he left M. De Loches to command in his
stead. It was deemed proper first of all to carry the fort of St. Michael,
which protected Lucerna. For this purpose 200 Vaudois, com
manded by Captains Imbert, Peyrot, and Malanot,1 having with
them thirty grenadiers, issued from Bubiano, passed to Lucernetta,
and made a circuit round the town of Lucerna; then, ascending to
Bora, they sent word to the troops which had issued from the
Balsille, and were now cantoned at Bobi, to come and join them.
The latter were, of all the Vaudois troops, the most inured to war,
as they had now kept the field for almost a year. They had for
their leader the former commandant of the fort of La Tour, the
Chevalier Vercelli, who had been sent to them by Victor Amadeus.
He promptly came with 300 men, and joined upon the heights of
Bora those who had newly arrived from the Grisons.
These two troops of former exiles, of which the one had recon
quered their native land, and the other came to defend it, now met
in presence of the common enemy. " They attacked together ; and,
after half an hour's fighting, the fort of St. Michael was taken.
But the French returned to the charge, and again drove the Vau-
whom Arnaud was to go to meet on 5th July. Farther on it is said, "Twelve
hundred French refugees are expected, who are at Como, in the Milanese. They are
commanded by the Sieur Michel Michelin. (Id. p. 66, under date 1st July. And
still farther on: — "The Vaudois have received two thousand religionaries ;" and
again, " one thousand refugees, . . . and twelve hundred more follow them, com
manded by Michel Michelin." In general this narrative is not to be consulted
without caution. The news which it gives are often the mere reports which had
become current, and the dates are not always exactly indicated.
1 Relation, in 4to, p. 5.

c»"- V-J MILITARY OPERATIONS. 83
dois from it. The Vaudois, irritated at losing what they had with
so much difficulty won, without giving the enemy any time to
rest, attacked them a second time, with more vigour than at first,
and drove them from the fort, in which the Chevalier Vercelli
then established himself, with 100 men to guard it. Not con
tented with this advantage, the Vaudois pursued the French to
within musket-shot of Lucerna, the fugitives halting from time
to time, making resistance at one bushy place after another, and
sheltering themselves behind the hedges and rocks which lay in
their way ; but the Vaudois drove them out at the point of the
bayonet, and by rolling stones into their places of shelter.1
"During this combat, which lasted more than two hours, a
party of thirty-six men, commanded by M. Arnaud, showed them
selves, from time to time, upon a height within view of Lucerna,
and then retired into the woods, which disconcerted the enemy,
who did not dare to attack that small corps, fearing that there
might be some ambuscade."2 One of the officers of this small corps
himself gives us the following explanation of its position: — "After
having given orders to attack the fort of St. Michael, M. De
Loches, awaiting the issue of that enterprise, withdrew, leaving
me, with M. Arnaud and a picket of thirty-six men, to observe
what might take place, and to inform him of the proceedings of
our people."3 "When the fort was taken," he also says, "M.
Arnaud's opinion was that the rest of our regiment should be
brought forward, and Lucerna immediately attacked; but the day
was declining, and so it was thought best to go by the road which
leads to Briqulras to meet our people, in order to support them,
in case the enemy should attempt to take them in the rear. See
ing that they did not come forth, I sent a courier to M. De
Parelles, who arrived in the morning,4 with his 800 men."5 Leav
ing seventy as a garrison at Bubiano, he marched upon Lucerna,
which the French had just abandoned. He encountered their
rear-guard at the junction of the two roads which cross one another
in front of the farm called Les Eyrals. There he was joined by a
part of the troops who came from Bobi. Of these he detached 100
men to occupy Lucerna, and with the rest, divided into three com
panies, he marched upon the enemy. The first two companies, keep
ing to the left, advanced through the vineyards, doubly concealed
from the eyes of the enemy by the foliage and by the volumes of
1 This fragment of narrative is extracted from the Mercure historique.
2 Mercure historique, p. 1632.
» Relation veritable de ce qui s'est passe . . . dans les ValUes . . . depuis le
15 aoutjusqu' au 22 du mGme mois, 1690. The Hague, 4to, p. 5.
* Wednesday, 9th August, 1690. s Relation, ... in 4to, p. 6.

84 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. [part Third.
smoke which rolled over the plain from a number of barns to
which the French had set fire as they passed. The third company
kept to the right, and marched directly upon them ; it routed them,
and pursued them with such eagerness, that many of the Vaudois
flung away their knapsacks, in order to be the more agile in the
pursuit. The French halted from time to time, covered by their
cavalry and dragoons; but they were soon beset upon all sides, and
compelled to resume their flight. In this way they were pursued
as far as Briqueras, where their cavalry drew up in order of battle
before the town, whilst the infantry took shelter within the castle.
The Vaudois attacked both at the same time; the town on three
points, and the castle on five. The town was first taken; the
cavalry retired by Osasc, and the infantry then thought fit to
abandon the castld, but they were pursued with such ardour that
their retreat became a rout.
" God, in his grace," says a Vaudois, " had put it into our hearts
to take for our battle-cry, ' God for our help,' and in truth he did
so manifestly help us, that although the enemy were four times
our strength, they could not resist us. All our officers distinguished
themselves, but God guided them. The enemy fought well: we
took twenty-one prisoners, of whom fourteen were conducted to
his royal highness. We lost forty-eight men, Vaudois and
French.1 We cannot precisely ascertain the enemy's loss, but
the town of Briqueras was so filled with dead bodies that, two
days after, we could no longer remain there for the stench. Ac
cording to the accounts which reach us from Pignerol, the French
have lost three colonels, two lieutenant-colonels, a major, and forty
captains. There are more than 1400 of their men awanting; they
have received seventeen waggons filled with the wounded : of the
regiment of the dragoons of Salis there remain no more than eighty
men. If we had had cavalry, their destruction would have been
complete." 2 The result of this expedition was to compel the enemy
to abandon all the posts which they still occupied in the valley of
St. Martin.
A few days before this, Catinat had seized on Cavour, the castle
of which place, strengthened by several intrenchments, was de
fended by the Vaudois and the militia of Mondovi. This garrison,
after having suffered much, succeeded in retiring, and in so doin"
1 The French here meant are French refugees, who made common oause with
the Vaudois.
2 Relation above quoted, at the end. It is merely a long letter, which some one
has published. It concludes thus :— " All the valleys are at present in the handB
of the Vaudois. God he praised ! This 15th (21st) August, 1690."

Chap, v.] VICTOR AMADEUS DEFEATED. 85
killed 100 of the enemy. The French general now directed his
army towards Saluces. The Duke of Savoy passed the Po with
his. The encounter took place on the 18th of August, near Staf-
farde, where Victor Amadeus — for one who had never been in any
battle before — performed prodigies of valour. However, Catinat
routed him completely, and seized upon Saluces next day. The
capture of several other places followed this battle. Meanwhile,
General De St. Buth entered Savoy, and completely subjected it
to France.
"The French, who boast of their victory at Staffarde," said the
Mercury of the month following, "have not made so much noise
about their defeat in the valleys. . . . But it is to be feared that
they may profit by the defeat of the Duke of Savoy to attack the
Vaudois, and to drive them a second time from their mountains." A
And this they certainly attempted to do, with so much success that
they made themselves masters of the valley of St. Martin, but they
were repulsed from that of Lucerna. Accordingly, the following
announcement appeared : "The Vaudois continue to signalize them
selves, and if the other troops of his royal highness were to do their
part as well, Piedmont would soon be delivered from its enemies."2
These indefatigable soldiers overthrew, in the valley of Suza, a
detachment of 700 men, whom the French generals had sent to re-
victual Pignerol.3 More than 300 of the French were killed, and
the Vaudois took 300 mules, laden with all sorts of provisions. But
ere long Suza itself fell into the hands of Catinat ; the Vaudois
then turned their arms in the opposite direction, and proceeded to
seize upon Chateau Dauphin,4 a place situated on the frontiers of
France and Piedmont, on the confines of the marquisate of Saluces.
Meanwhile the French had burned the town of Lucerna,5 with the
surrounding villages, to prevent the Vaudois from retiring thither;
but the latter returning, reposed themselves there, and put Lucerna
in a state of defence, in order to pass the winter in it.
Having promised fidelity to Victor Amadeus, the Vaudois re
mained courageously devoted to him. It was not so with the
Italian potentates, who had attached themselves to his fortunes in
the time of his prosperity, and who now abandoned him, charging
him with all the evils which the war had brought upon Italy.
Division began to appear in the court of Savoy itself, But the
foreign narrators already quoted, say: "The Vaudois, and those
who command them, understand much better what they are
1 Mercure historique, September, 1690, p. 1043.
2 Id. October number, p. 1142. s In September, 1690.
* In November, 1690. s End of October, 1690.

86 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. [Pari Third.
about; and, therefore, better success attends their arms. They con
tinue to make incursions, from time to time, into Upper Dauphiny,
and have several times seized convoys which were destined for
places in the possession of the French. Nevertheless, they have
been driven by the Marquis De Feuquieres from some of the posts
which they occupied. Some of the forts to which they were ac
customed to retire have been demolished, and some of the woods
cut down in which they frequently placed themselves in ambuscade.
But this does not prevent them from making frequent incursions,
in almost all of which they gain some new advantage." 1
The following is a specimen of the way in which the Gazette de
France speaks of the advantages obtained by the Marquis de Feu
quieres: — " They write from Pignerol:2 'The Barbets have been
completely driven from the valleys of La Perouse, St. Martin, and
Pralis. During the night between the 5th and 6th of this month,
the Marquis De Feuquieres proceeded, with 500 horse and 200
grenadiers, to the castle of Benasque, where there was a company
of the Duke of Savoy's regiment of guards. He arrived there be
fore day, and made himself master of the castle, after an assault of
one hour. The Marquis of Angrogna, who commanded there, and
all the other officers, were taken prisoners.' "3
The same journal relates also the capture of Savillan, or Savig-
lano, which took place a few days after. But. in the beginning of
this year, 1691, Prince Eugene, having arrived to the aid of Pied
mont, began to rally the troops of Victor Amadeus under the walls
of Casal. The Vaudois continued their incursions into Dauphiny,
where, says a narrator, the people feared them more than demons.4
The allies, on their part, resolved to make every effort to support
the Duke of Savoy, and even to enter France through his domi
nions. The King of England gave him reason to hope that he
would send the Duke of Schonberg to command his troops. Whilst
awaiting his arrival, the Piedmontese generals, says the Mercure
historique, proposing to retake Pignerol,5 ordered the Vaudois,
who were then under the command of a Genevese named Malet, to
make a diversion into the valley of P6rouse, in order to draw the
French troops thither. Their plan succeeded, but resulted in little
advantage to the Piedmontese.
Meanwhile, a conclave was held at Borne, to appoint a successor
to Alexander VIII. The presence of that assembly was signalized
' Mercure hist., t. x. pp. 18 and 19; t. ix. p. 1388.
2 Under date 15th January, 1691.
3 La Gazette (de France), number for February, 1691, p. 39.
4 Id. number for February, 1691, p. 16. s In March, 1691.

Chap. V.] SUCCESSES OF CATINAT. 57
every day by the most serious disorders in the city.1 Innocent XII.,
who was at last elected, found occasion afterwards to protest against
the re-establishment of the Vaudois in their country; but at that
time it was thought that they would soon be destroyed by arms.
M. De Feuquieres certainly hoped so. On the 18th of April he
set out from Pignerol, with 1200 infantry and 400 cavalry. He
commenced his march at eleven o'clock at night, and next morning
arrived over against Lucerna, which was at that time the most im
portant post of the Vaudois. They, not thinking themselves in a
condition to defend it, retired to the heights. Feuquilres set fire
to the town, but during the conflagration the mountaineers rushed
down upon his army, killing 100 and wounding 200, among whom
were forty officers. " It must be confessed," observes a journalist
of the time, " that M. De Feuquieres is not happy in his undertak
ings. However, these Vaudois are of remarkable bravery. They
have never yet been overcome but by superiority of numbers, and
when their inferiority has not been too considerable, they have
always had the advantage over their enemies. Accordingly, it is
reported that the Duke of Savoy has placed a good number of them
as a garrison in the citadel of Turin, not thinking it possible to
intrust it to better hands."2
The duke had also placed 700 Vaudois or French refugees in the
citadel of Coni, which FeuquiSres endeavoured to take, but of which
he was soon obliged to raise the siege. Being accused of having
raised the siege too precipitately, he was imprisoned in the citadel
of Pignerol. However, Catinat made himself master of Nice,3 of
Vilrefranche,4 of Carmagnole,5 and of Veillane.6 Upon the capture
of Carmagnole, the Vaudois who were found in it were spoiled of
their arms and baggage by the French. Eager to avenge them
selves, they marked the moment when the new garrison issued
from the place, lay in wait for it upon the road, and attacked it
with such vigour, that they despoiled it in turn.
The day after this affair Catinat sent 3000 men into the valleys
to exterminate these terrible troops of the Israel of the Alps. The
Vaudois permitted this detachment to penetrate a good way into
their mountains, and then dividing themselves into two corps, they
assailed it at once in front and rear. The combat lasted for five
or six hours. There were nearly 500 of the French killed upon
' A letter from Rome, 16th June, 1691, says : — " The affairs of the conclave are
no farther advanced than they were at the beginning, although it has lasted for
five months already. The greatest disorders occur every day. More than 150
assassinations are already reckoned, &c." La Gazette (de France), number for
August, 1691, p. 232. 2 Mercure hist., number for May, 1691, pp. 52, 60.
8 2d April. 4 21st March. 6 9th June. « 30th May.

88 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. [part Third.
the spot, and about 300 taken prisoners, who were conveyed to
Coni. But winter was approaching. " The Vaudois," says a contem
porary, " will be employed to guard the passes, in order to prevent
the French army from obtaining the succours intended for it ; and
no doubt is entertained but that they will do this with success.
Although their troops fight only according to the ordinary disci
pline, they do not fail to disconcert the French. They have always
beaten them hitherto, and the Duke of Savoy has reason to be well
satisfied with their assistance. M. Malet, the colonel of one of
their regiments, and a captain, both Genevese, have deserted them,
and gone to seek service in France. But far from being thrown
into consternation by this, these poor people have redoubled their
courage and hope, alleging that they cannot but succeed better
than ever, having now none but faithful officers, of whom they can
be confident."1
But amidst their victories they were still poor, The Duke of
Schonberg, who had now arrived in Piedmont, immediately per
ceiving the importance of these veteran legions, caused clothing to
be sent to them for 4000 men, and abundant munitions of war.2
He thought to augment their valour through their gratitude, and so
to prepare them to support him with more enthusiasm in the grand
enterprise which he meditated, of an invasion of Dauphiny. He
hoped thus to force the French armies to leave Piedmont, in order
to defend their own territory, and then he proposed to return into
the dominions of the Duke of Savoy, to secure them against fresh
aggressions. We shall presently see how he succeeded, and in what
way the Vaudois aided him in his important operations.
1 Mercure hist., number for April, 1692, p. 349.
2 In June, 1692. These 4000 men were not all natives of the valleys, but partly
refugees from different countries. The Vaudois amounted in number only to 1480,
viz., thirteen companies of sixty men, under the command of M. De Loches=780;
and fourteen companies of fifty men, under the command of M. St. Julien=700.

Cuap.VI.] SURRENDER OF MONTMELLIAN.

CHAPTER VI.
CONTINUATION AND CONCLUSION OF THE WAR BETWEEN
LOUIS XIV. AND VICTOR AMADEUS; PARTICIPATION OF
THE VAUDOIS IN THESE EVENTS, AND THEIR FORMAL RE-
ESTABLISHMENT IN THE VALLEYS.1
Reverses sustained by the Duke of Savoy in the war — Prince Eugene and the Duke
of Schonberg come to his assistance — Decree of rehabilitation in favour of the
Vaudois in 1692 — Invasion of Dauphiny by the forces of the Piedmontese and
their allies — Siege and capture of Embrun — Surrender of Gap — Illness of the
Duke of Savoy, and close of the campaign of 1692 — Catinat, the French com
mander, assumes the offensive in the beginning of 1693 — The Duke of Savoy
defeated in the plains of Marsaille — Catinat desolates Piedmont — The Vaudois
harass the French army — Victor Amadeus publishes a new edict in favour of
the Vaudois, in May, 1694 — Successful enterprises of the Vaudois against the
French — Victor Amadeus is detached from the league against the King of
France, and enters into a new alliance with France.
Towards the close of the year 1691, Arnaud returned to Switzer
land, to visit his family; it was his office also to make arrange
ments for the return home of the exiles who still remained in
foreign countries, and, at the same time, to promote the union of
foreign refugees with the people of the valleys. Little could he
suspect that in a few years more he would be proscribed anew, and
that he was himself to re-conduct to a distant exile all those
refugees to whom he now thought to give a country and a home.
But at this period his prospects seemed bright; and it was over
other heads that the heavens weie darkened.
The year 1692 began very ominously for Victor Amadeus.
Montmellian, the last of his places of strength in Savoy, had sur
rendered2 after thirty days' bombardment, and more than a year
of blockade. Italy, long torn in pieces by the rivalries of courts,
and already fatigued by its wars with France, murmured grievously
against the Duke of Savoy for engaging in a new contest, which
had so rapidly resulted in misfortune. The youth of the duke
ripened amidst these trials, and his firmness now made him appear
greater than before. But he could not put confidence in his troops,
whose leaders were men of no great abilities. It is not in soldiers
that Italy has most frequently been found deficient, but in gene-
1 Authobities. — The same as in the preceding chapters, especially the Mercure
historique and the Archives of Turin.
2 On 21st December, 1692. The garrison did not leave it till the 22d.
Vol. ii. 72

90 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. [?±m T«IED
rals. England and Austria undertook to furnish them. The
former sent the Duke of Schonberg, the latter the Prince Eugene.
Their arrival was worth an army. A council of war was held at
Turin, to decide upon a plan of operations.
The Italians thought that they should attack Catinat at Pig
nerol;1 Eugene was of opinion that the war should be carried into
Provence and Dauphiny. "It is better," said he, "that the enemy's
country should suffer, than ours. Catinat will be obliged to eva
cuate Piedmont, in order to defend his own territory, and we will
not turn the fertile plains of Piedmont into a field of battle."
"But," it was objected, "the passage of the Alps is full of diffi
culties; the principal passes are guarded; SestiSres, Sezane, and the
Col De Tende are in the possession of the enemy." "We have
still," it was replied, "the Vaudois valleys. Their inhabitants
know all the intricacies of the mountains better than the French
do. They will be able to guide us by routes which, as they are
less frequented, will be so much the more secure." "Is it prudent,"
said the Italians, "to confide in a people with whom we were
fighting but yesterday, and to put the destinies of a kingdom, so
to speak, into the hands of those who were lately proscribed, and
are still irritated?" "The force with which we will march,'' it
was replied, " will be sufficiently imposing to retain them to their
duty; moreover, it is of France that the Vaudois have most of all to
complain: re-assure them as to their future prospects, and they will
serve with increased ardour, and so become more formidable to the
common enemy." "But what," it was asked, "if France, in her turn,
should offer to protect them?" "She cannot do so," it was replied,
"without deserting her own policy, and sooner or later they would
be sacrificed. Their lawful sovereign alone has a claim on their
loyalty; and in their duty to him they will not be deficient, if
their country be given to them, for then they will have an interest
in defending it, and will thus be attached to our cause by considera
tions of interest and of gratitude."
This opinion having been adopted, Victor Amadeus, who had
already been urged thereto by Great Britain, issued, towards the end
1 These and the following particulars are taken in part from L'Hist. du Prince
Francois Eugene de Savoye, g4neralissime des armies de I'Empereur ct de I' Empire,
Amsterdam, 1740. (It is believed to have been written by a person named Mabillon,
and is reputed the most complete work which has been published respecting this
prince), t. i., 1. ii., p. 151, et seq. I have also consulted the Mtmovres de Feu-
quiires; those of M. D. F. L., touchant ce qui s'est passe en Ilalie, entre Victor-
Amidee II., et le roi T. C. ¦ . . (Aix-la-Chapelle, 1697), the journals and pam
phlets of the time, &c. But what I here present under the form of a dialogue, is
merely the substance of the opinions expressed in different conferences respecting
the Vaudois.

Chap. VI] THE VAUDOIS RESTORED. 91
of June, 1692, a first decree of rehabilitation, of which the follow
ing are the principal provisions : —
"The clear proofs of fidelity, and evident marks of zeal for our
service, which our religionary subjects of the valleys of Lucerna
have given, and daily continue to give us, &c, . . . having already
induced us to receive them anew under our protection, we, for good
reasons, think it right no longer to defer making manifest their
complete re-establishment in our favour, in order the more to excite
them to merit it. Therefore, by these presents, to which it is our
pleasure to give the force of an edict, .... and by the advice of
our council, we grant to the aforesaid religionaries a full pardon
and complete remission of all the crimes with which they have been
charged,1 ... in general and in particular, .... not excepting
lese-majesty, Divine and human, .... and of all the penalties
declared or incurred upon account of the same, . . . revoking and
annulling to this effect the following edicts 2 and their enterination,
... so that for the future they shall remain without force or effect,
as if they had never been made, ordaining that all those of the said
religionaries who are still in prison shall be forthwith set at liberty,
and that the sons and children of the said religionaries, of whatso
ever age, and in whatsoever place of our dominions they may be,
shall be allowed perfect freedom to return to their friends in the
said valleys, and there to make profession of their religion; and that
for this purpose they shall be given up without payment of any
expenses, restoring the said religionaries to the possession of all and
every one of their ancient rights, edicts, customs, usages, and privi
leges, and willing that they, their children and posterity, be main
tained in the same."3
He then enjoins all holders of any of the property of the Vau
dois, fixed or movable, to render it up, without retaining any part,
upon any pretext whatever. He decrees that the Vaudois shall no
longer be prosecuted nor disturbed upon account of their religion,
leaving them free to return to Protestantism, even if they should
have abjured it. Finally, he authorizes all foreign religionaries to
settle in the Vaudois valleys, upon condition of their taking the
oath of fidelity to him.
Notwithstanding his favourable intentions towards the Vaudois,
Victor Amadeus still showed in this decree a desire to cover, by
1 But not convicted. Nor does the decree, in fact, relate to anything save the
contraventions of the edicts afterwards cited.
- Those of 31st January and of 9th April, 1686.
3 This edict is little known; that of 23d May, 1694, having caused it to be forgotten.
It is to be found recorded in the Lettres historiqucs, contenant tout ce qui se passe
de plus important en Europe, &c, . . ii. 32.

92 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. [pAivrTiiinD.
some pretext, his recent severities, making reference for this pur
pose to the charges which had previously been brought against the
Vaudois, as if justice ought not always to be regarded before grace
is mentioned. By this, however, he did not escape the reprehen
sions of the Holy See.1 But, in the meantime, feeling confident of
having, re-attached to himself' the intrepid mountaineers of the
Vaudois Alps, he thought only how to profit by their valour. All
these steps were taken, on' his part, in order to accomplish by their
aid an invasion of Dauphiny.
In order to draw away Catinat from Pignerol, where he would
have been able to have closed the entrance to the Vaudois valleys
against the troops of the Duke of Savoy, that prince directed a
false attack on the side of Suza, as if it had been his intention to
have forced the valley of the Doire. The French general fell into
the snare which had been laid for him, and immediately abandoning
Pignerol, he led his troops towards the part which was apparently
menaced. The allies immediately profited by this to force Perouse
and BriquSras. Prince Eugene led the advanced guard; Victor
Amadeus, having General Caprara under him, commanded the main
body of the army, in which the, Count De La Torres, general of the
Spanish forces, and the Marquis De Leganez, commanded the Milan
ese troops. The Prince De Commercy and the Marquis De Parelles
led the rear-guard, composed of Savoyard, Imperial, and Italian
regiments. These three invading corps marched at a certain dis
tance from one. another, under the direction of experienced guides,
furnished by the valleys. The advanced guard penetrated into the
valley of Pragela, whither a part of the main body followed it, under
the orders of Victor Amadeus ; the other part, commanded by the
Duke of Schonberg, entered the valley of Lucerna. The Marquis
De Parelles made. his way into that of Barcelonnette, and that of
St. Martin was invaded by the Marquis De Leganez. On arriving
at Bobi the troops under the command of Schonberg separated into
two divisions, of which one ascended the valley of the Pelis, and
the other. passed over the Col Julian, to join the troops of the Mar
quis De ParellesrcQming by the lateral valley of St. Martin. These
two detachments having effected a junction at Pral, were destined
to traverse the Col d' Abries, whilst the first division traversed the
Col Lacroix..
But Prince Eugene had already passed over Mont Genevre, and
seized Briangon. He burned that place, and descended by the
valley of the Durance towards Mont Dauphin, which was not then
fortified. The town of Guillestre alone detained him for a few
' See the preamble of the edict of the Holy Office, dated 19th August, 1694.

LE E®L LA CK@DJJ A HID' @®UTCE ©F TIM [FIELDS.
IROM THE BASS OF TiLE COCHIA .

Chap. VI.] EMBRUN BESIEGED. 98
days. It was surrounded with walls flanked with towers, but
destitute of ditches. It had a garrison of 600 of the militia of
Dauphiny, and 200 Irish, commanded by Colonel De Chalandren,
who refused to surrender ; and, accordingly, the place was besieged.
It resisted, successfully at first; but Prince Eugene caused cannon
to be brought, and in three days it was carried. His troops then
joined those of Victor Amadeus and of the Prince De Commercy,
to cross the Durance at St. Clement, in order to be able to proceed
in a united body against Embrun.
Meanwhile, the Duke of Schonberg, who had ascended the valley
of Lucerna, and passed over the Col Lacroix, took all the villages
of the valley of the Guill, as far as Chateau Queyras; but that
place resisted him. It is built upon an isolated rock, which rises
in the form of a sugar-loaf, in one of the narrowest parts of the
valley, and completely commands the pass. The Dulse of Schon
berg was not able to~ take it without artillery; he sent to ask some
cannon from Victor Amadeus, who was already under the walls of
Embrun, and who ordered him to rejoin him by the valley of the
Durance. Chateau Queyras, therefore, was not taken. Schonberg
rejoined the Duke of Savoy before the ancient capital of Caturigia,1
where the greater part of the invading army had already been for
four days.
The city of Embrun, fortified with ramparts and ditches, occu
pies a rocky platform, very precipitous towards the valley, where is
a magnificent expanse of meadows watered by the Durance ; but
it is commanded by the mountain against which its platform leans,
and it was upon this mountain that Prince Eugene at first took
up his position. The Marquis De Larrey commanded in the city,
the same who had already been defeated by the Vaudois in the
conflict at Salabertrans. Victor Amadeus summoned him to sur
render. " I value the good opinion of your royal highness too
much to do so!" was his noble, courageous, and polite reply,
worthy ot the times of chivalry; and, notwithstanding the inferio
rity of his forces,2 he commenced firing.
It became necessary to besiege Embrun with all the tediousness
of a blockade. The trenches were opened on the 6th of August.
1 Caturigia extended from Briancon to Nice. Embrun was its most important
city. Nero accorded to the inhabitants of this city the right of Latinity; Galba
also granted them some privileges. There exists a little known mock heroic poem,
entitled L'Embrunade, on the disputes between the Jesuits and the Jansenists —
disputes in which the bishop of this city had taken part. In 1692, before the
arrival of the troops of Victor Amadeus, the bishop of Embrun conducted his
chapter to Grenoble, as a place of safety, and then returned to his besieged metro
polis, to watch over his flock.
1 He had 25,000 infantry, 200 dragoons, and some militia.

91 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. [PaktTuibi'.
The Marquis De Larrey made a number of very vigorous sorties,
and killed many of the enemy ; ' but at last the heavy artillery
made a breach in his walls;2 he then proposed to capitulate,3 and
was allowed to leave the place with the honours of war.* The
Duke of Savoy won in this affair eighteen or twenty pieces of
cannon, 60,000 livres in gold, and a great quantity of provisions.
He levied a great contribution, moreover, from the inhabitants of
the town and neighbourhood/
His army then marched towards Gap. Prince Eugene, who
commanded the advanced guard, no sooner presented himself before
that town, which was destitute of all means of resistance, than the
magistrates sent him the keys. Some authors say that the whole
of the Gapencois was laid under contribution, from Sisteron to Die;
others that it was ravaged and pillaged as far as Sisteron. It is
certain that great disorders took place; convents, churches, public
institutions, and perhaps even private houses were plundered of all
that was valuable. Soldiers might be seen, in their hours of
leisure in the camp, to stake twenty louis on a card, with robber
carelessness. These devastations were reprisals for those which
the French army had committed in the Palatinate.
Catinat, who had for a moment been confounded by the bold
manoeuvre of the assailants, and the shame of being outwitted, now
sent the Marquis De Liancourt with ten battalions to the neigh
bourhood of Grenoble, to secure that city against the allies. Pro
vence and Dauphiny were in perpetual agonies of fear. These
alarms increased, and spread with a rapidity proportionate to the
success of the enemy. The panic extended as far as Lyons and
Valence. At Grenoble consternation reigned; and the whole
militia of the province were raised in the utmost haste.
But at the moment when the invading army was preparing to
march upon Grenoble, the Duke of Savoy was seized with small
pox at Gap. He caused himself to be conveyed in a litter to
Embrun. His wife came to him there. He made his will. His
plans were all disconcerted. The report of his death was several
times circulated. The Vaudois ministers, who at that time preached
1 On the night between the 8th and 9th, he killed fifty men of the army of
Victor Amadeus; on the night between the 10th and 11th, the Count De Lugi-
asco, a nephew of the Marquis De Parelles, was killed, and General De Torres
was wounded ; on the night between the 13th and 14th he made three other sor
ties, and killed or wounded more than 150 men.
2 From the 13th to the 15th. s On the 16th.
4 The garrison was to be conducted to Grenoble, and not to recommence service
for three weeks. Prisoners were to be exchanged. Ecclesiastical property was to
be respected by the conqueror, but all which belonged to the King of France was
to be delivered up to the Duke of Savoy.

Chap. VI.] MILITARY MOVEMENTS. 95
publicly at Gap and Embrun, prayed for his preservation. His
health was slowly re-established. Between the 15th and the 18th
of September, 1 692, all the allied troops recrossed the Alps, leaving
only a garrison at Barcelonnette. But all warlike enterprises were
postponed to the following year. The Vaudois alone distinguished
themselves during the month of December, by a victory over a
French detachment in the plains of St. Segont.
The Duke of Schonberg had returned to England, the Prince of
Commercy and the Count De Montecuculi set out for Vienna.
Eugene followed them ; everything seemed quiet. Catinat himself
had left Piedmont to go to Paris. He returned to Piedmont in
the beginning of the year 1693. He longed to revenge himself for
the check which he had met with in the preceding year, but he
named as the cause of his irritation, only the ravages committed in
Dauphiny. He promised to the volunteers of that province who
should join his ranks, the pillage of all the towns of Piedmont
which they should succeed in taking, and in particular that of the
Vaudois valleys. Unfortunate valleys ! he could find no very riqh
booty there.
About the end of January, the Count De Tessl, governor of
Pignerol, led a foraging expedition in the direction of Saluces, and
Victor Amadeus moved with his troops towards the city of Aosta,
During the following month two traitors were executed in Turin,
convicted of high treason, for having attempted to admit the French
into the town of Coni. It is even alleged that they had contri
buted to the capture of Carmagnole.
But ere long the report of a private truce between Victor Ama
deus and Louis XIV. became current in the political world. How
ever, the troops of these two sovereigns always approached nearer
and nearer to each other. The Marquis De Parelles occupied the
passes leading to the valleys of Lucerna and Pragela. Being re
pulsed from the latter, he fell back upon Angrogna, and the French
troops appeared at Pignerol.
The Duke of Schonberg was recalled. He assumed a position
on the side of Giavenna. Prince Eugene also returned, and, in
concert with the Marquis De Leganez, he drove Catinat back as
far as Fenestrelle, making himself master of the fort of La Perouse.
But Pignerol still held out. A letter from Briancon, of date 15th
of July, 1693, says: "Our army suffers much from the attacks
which the Vaudois make upon our convoys. Within these two
days they have taken from us twenty mules, laden with provisions
and ammunition."1 1 Mercure historique, number for August, 1693, p. 132.

96 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. [>*T Tl,,BD-
The city of Pignerol was at last assailed. Being threatened
with bombardment, it offered Victor Amadeus the sum of 40,000
pistoles for exemption from that calamity; but he rejected these
proposals, and only granted to the ladies and the monks safe-con
ducts for their retirement elsewhere. He then caused the roads
to be broken up, and the country to be laid waste all around the
place, which was bombarded from the 25th of September to the
1st of October. But Catinat came in time to save it. Arriving
in the plains of Marsaille on the 3d of October, he immediately
offered battle to the Duke of Savoy. The duke fought and was
defeated. His army was cut in pieces. He lost nearly 8000 men,
34 cannon, and 110 standards. Catinat, then spreading his troops
over the whole plain of Piedmont, pillaged and burned everything
to the very walls of Turin. Indescribable desolation reigned over
that unhappy region. Victor Amadeus, vanquished, fugitive,
driven from his own dominions, found his situation become more
and more critical. Fortunately, Louis XIV. had need of his troops
to maintain his wars against Holland, Spain, and England. He
recalled them from Piedmont in the beginning of 1694, and they
had much to suffer in crossing the Alps in the midst of winter.
The Vaudois, accustomed to snows, then did them considerable
injury. They surprised, and in part destroyed, the French cavalry
in the mountains of the Malanage. Of thirty-six companies, there
remained only 150 men. "The Marshal De Catinat," says a letter
of that period, " had so great a fear of the ambuscades of the Vau
dois, that he sent a herald with a trumpet to them, to say that if
they would agree not to incommode him on his march, he, upon
his part, would do them no harm. The Vaudois replied that they
had no intention of opposing the French army, but that its passage
would cost it at least the half of its baggage, and they have kept
their word."1
Catinat, however, returned to Pignerol in the beginning of spring,
for Victor Amadeus had obtained considerable subsidies from the
British parliament, to enable him to carry on the war with France,
had caused Coni to be fortified, gone to Milan,2 and afterwards,
returning to Turin,3 renewed his armaments with the aid of Spain
and Austria. At this time also, in order, no doubt, to recompense
the Vaudois for the zeal which they had displayed in his service,
and to encourage their fidelity, he reiterated, by a new edict,4 the
promises which he had made them, and the assurance of their re-
1 Lettres histori'iues, v., 135. 2 January— March, 1694.
3 He arrived there on the 24th of February, and was in danger of losing his life
there in a fire. * 8th March.

Chav. VI.] EXPLOITS OF THE VAUDOIS. 97
storation to their old rights in their own valleys.1 Accordingly,
they continued to give him the most signal proofs of their valour
and attachment. In the month of June they made prize of a con
voy of fifty mules, which was proceeding to Pignerol; and being
pursued by M. De Larrey, had very nearly succeeded in taking
him prisoner.
Amongst the Vaudois captains, Imberb, Gudin, Peyrot, Chatil-
lon, Bernardin, Jahier, Odier, Combe, and Caffarel particularly dis
tinguished themselves iu these sudden and gallant exploits. The
Vaudois alone, it is said in a letter of that time, make themselves
to be spoken of in these parts. After hostilities had recommenced,
they every day gained some new advantage. In July they again
seized 150 mules, which were proceeding from Suza to Pignerol,
and on this occasion they presented to the Duke of Savoy the four
finest beasts of the convoy.2
However, a decisive battle seemed likely soon to take place. In
the month of August the Spanish troops left Villefranche, and
fixed their headquarters at St. Segont. The troops of Victor
Amadeus encamped at Bubiano, having their right towards Mcnt-
brun, and their left towards Briquel'as. Meanwhile, a new army,
commanded by the Duke De Vend6me, advanced from France
against Piedmont, by the valley of Barcelonuette, and by Nice and
Antibes. The Vaudois continued, without ceasing, their victorious in
cursions. On the night between the 11th and 12th of August,
they assembled to the number of 1200, and attacked three French
battalions, in the neighbourhood of Piguerol. Not being able to
break through their intrenchments, they feigned flight, retired to
the heights, and drew the French from the camp in pursuit of
them. Then suddenly turning upon them, they attacked them
with such impetuosity, that they killed entire companies before
they could recover from their surprise, and the rest took to flight,
flinging away their arms and baggage. "These the Vaudois
seized, and the booty was considerable. They obtained by this
affair more than 20,000 livres of money, which had been destined
for the payment of the troops; they took 300 horses and mules;
the new clothes of a whole regiment; the equipage of all the officers,
amongst which they found some complete services of silver plate,
and a number of very rich dresses and jewelled arms. Their booty
was valued altogether at more than 100,000 livres."8
i Of 23d May, 1694, enterinated on the 25th. For the terms of this edict, and
the disputes to which it gave rise, see next chapter.
¦ Letlres hisloriques, number for August, p. 138. 3 Id. number for Sept., p. 262.
Vor. it. 73

98 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. [Part Tmm>.:
Encouraged by this success, they carried their arms into the
dominions of the King of France, and attacked a number of villages
in Dauphiny. For this the garrison of Pignerol resolved to take
revenge. Their flying camp had been established near St. Germain.
Four detachments advanced by different routes, in order to surprise
it. The first of these detachments attacked the Vaudois in front,
whilst another crossed the Cluson to Pomaret, in order to take
them in flank ; meanwhile, a third detachment ascended the right
bank of the river, to attack them on the opposite flank ; and the
800 men who composed the fourth climbed the mountain of Les
Cerisiers, in order to fall upon them from behind. These move
ments seemed to be so skilfully combined, that none of the moun
taineers could escape. But their advanced guard sustained alone
the shock of the first assailants; and their main body, facing to
the three other sides, repulsed the enemy on all hands, compelling
them to retire with great loss. Next day the Vaudois, returning
to the Freuch territories, seized Abries, in the valley of Le Quey
ras, and then Aiguilles and the surrounding hamlets ; after which
they turned from the castle of Queyras, not being able to make
themselves masters of it, for want of artillery, and crossing the
mountains which separated them from the valley of Arvieux,
carried by assault intrenchments which had been formed at the
base of Mount Isoard or Isoire, where they took thirty-six prisoners
and much, booty. When they offered his life to the officer who
commanded this post, he bravely replied, "What would I make of
it ? without honour it is nothing to me ! " And he preferred to die
rather than to surrender.
Other detachments were mastered in succession; and then the
Vaudois, crossing the mountain, descended to Services, and pene
trated as far as Le Villar, situated near Brian§on. They seized
this post likewise, it being guarded only by sixty dragoons, and
burned 25,000 quintals of fodder, which had been amassed there.
The whole country was thrown into consternation as far as Embrun;
but the conquerors, who did not choose to compromise their success
by any rash daring, retired with their booty, and carried with them
100 prisoners.
Many other expeditions of the same sort afterwards took place,
with like advantage,1 sometimes into the valley of La Perouse, some
times into that of Pragela, and sometimes into that of Le Queyras.
But without prolonging the narrative of these details, which have
little to do with the essential character of the Vaudois, let us
1 See Mercure historique et politique, xviii. 132, 254, 365, and xix. 146. Lettres
hisloriques, from vol. v. to vol. x., &c.

c""- VI.] TREATY WITH FRANCE. 99
rapidly glance at the termination of the contest, in which they
bore so glorious a part. Victor Amadeus being solicited to make
peace by the pope and the princes of Italy, as well as by the Duke
of Orleans and the Count De TessS, who were sent to assure him of
favourable inclinations on the part of France, was at last detached
from the league which had been formed against that power. On
the 4th of July, 1696,1 he concluded a private treaty of peace with
France, by which all his cities and towns were restored to him.
One of the articles of the treaty concerned the marriage of Marie
Adelaide, his eldest daughter, with the Duke De Bourgogne. This
was the fifth direct alliance which the house of Savoy had con
tracted with that of France. The Piedmontese princess was re
ceived by Louis XIV., who came as far as Montargis to meet her;'-'
and Victor Amadeus was received by Catinat, in the capacity of
generalissimo of the French armies. A few weeks before he had
been the generalissimo of the armies of the coalition opposed to
France. Never before had any prince been, in the same campaign;
at the head of two hostile armies, as their commander-in-chief. The
circumstance reflects more honour on his astuteness than on his
integrity. The city of Pignerol, and the valley of Perouse, which had for
sixty-eight years belonged to France, now again became part of
the dominions of Piedmont. The fortresses of Pignerol were razed,
but its inhabitants were authorized to inclose it with a wall.
We shall now proceed to take up the series of events which fol
lowed the promulgation of the edict by which the Vaudois were
formally re-established in their valleys; and we shall then see in
what manner their church was reorganized, after having been so
long persecuted, and recently, to all appearance, destroyed.
1 L'art de verifier les dates, in the article on Victor Amadeus II., places the signa
ture of this treaty on the 30th of August, but it waB not published till the 10th of
September. 2 5th November, 1696. As she was very young, her marriage did not take place
till 7th December, 1697.

100 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. [pabi Tiiieo.

CHAPTER VII.
PROTEST OF THE COURT OF ROME AGAINST THE RE-ESTAB
LISHMENT OF THE VAUDOIS; FIRMNESS OF VICTOR AMA
DEUS II.; RE-ORGANIZATION OF THE VAUDOIS CHURCH;
NEW EDICT OF EXPULSION IN 1698.1
Analysis of the edict of May 23, 1694— Artful reservations of tyranny — Irritation
of the court of Rome — Papal condemnation, and pretended abrogation of the
edict — The Duke of Savoy resists this usurpation of Rome, and the Senate of
Turin annuls the papal decree — Efforts of the Vaudois for the reorganization
of their church — Pensions granted to the Vaudois pastors and schoolmasters by
Queen Mary II. of England — Assistance obtained also from Holland — Acts of
the Vaudois Synod concerning the observance of the Sabbath — Other acts and
proceedings of the Synod — Church government and discipline — The Duke of
Savoy refuses to permit the incorporation of the Vaudois of Perouse with the
church of the valleys — Fresh acts of injustice and severity against the Vaudois
— Secret article in the treaty of peace between France and Piedmont — Edict
requiring all French Protestants to leave the dominions of the Duke of Savoy
— Emigration of more than 3000 persons.
The decree of 23d May, 1694, declared as follows:2—
1. It was upon the urgent instigations of a foreign power that
the edicts of 1686 were issued by the Duke of Savoy, against his
faithful subjects of the Vaudois valleys.
2. These edicts are revoked.
3. The duke receives his faithful subjects into favour, upon account
of their zeal for his service, as well as the pressing solicitations of
his Britannic majesty, and of the States-General of Holland. A
full and entire amnesty is granted to the Vaudois for all which
has taken place since 1686.
4. They are re-established in their valleys, in the same manner as
before. The children that have been taken away shall be restored
1 Authorities.— Part of the preceding authorities. — " Mercure historique."—
" Lettres historiques et politiques."— Archives of the Court of Turin.— "Raconto
historico dell' ultima guerra, Ira Francesi e collegati inPiemonte, Delphinato e stato
di MOa.no, per Guiseppe Reyna."—Monastier, chap, xxvi.— Jones, "History of the
Christian Church" . . . vol. viii.— Baird, "History of Protestantism in Italy"
. . . vol. iii.— " Memoires de M.D.F.L.touchant ce qui s'est passe en Italic, enlre
Victor-Am6d6e II., Due de Savoie, et le roi T.C.* avec le detail," &c. . . . Aix-la-
Chapelle, 1697.— Botta, "History of Italy," and Cantu, " Universal History"
(both in Italian).— Archives of the Vaudois Table.— Synodal Acts of the valleys.
— Records of the Venerable Company of Pastors of Geneva.
2 It is too long to be here given entire. I quote only the principal paragraphs.
It has been published by Duboin, and by M. Hahn, p. 723.
* Ties Chretien; Louis XLV.

Chap. VII.] IRRITATION OF THE POPE. 101
to them,1 the prisoners shall be released, relapsed persons shall
not be prosecuted, and foreign Protestants shall be permitted to
settle in the valleys.
5. The French refugees upon account of religion, shall not be
entitled to enjoy these privileges any longer than during the con
tinuance of the present war, except those who shall not have been
restored to their own country. The inhabitants of the valleys of
Perouse and Pragela shall continue to enjoy them for ten years
after the termination of the war.
A pompous parade of fine words about privileges, liberty, and
prerogatives, lavished upon the Vaudois in this edict, was the
artful covering of these crueli-eservations of a tyranny which had
really yielded nothing. Yet surely these poor Vaudois, who had
suffered so much, and who had just displayed so much courage,
might well have demanded more securities for their future tran
quillity than they had possessed before. However, they received
with thankfulness what was granted to them. Of the 424 families
who had embraced Catholicism in 1686, 421 returned to the evan
gelical religion.
" At all this," says a letter from Borne,3 " the pope has been very
much irritated. It is reported that he has ordered his nuncio at
Turin to protest against that edict, and retire. The Duke of
Savoy's envoy at Bome has also been requested to return to Turin."
France, which neglected no means of exciting new enemies
against Victor Amadeus, augmented as much as possible the irri
tation of the Holy See against him. The French government had
laboured for this end from the time when the first edict of resto
ration to their country was issued in favour of the Vaudois in 1692.
The Duke De Chaulnes and the Cardinal De Bouillon, and after
wards also the Cardinal Caffanalta, represented this re-establish
ment of the Vaudois as a fatal blow to the church, and an outrage
against her authority. However, Innocent XII. was far from
being distinguished for intolerance. He had even granted absolute
liberty of conscience to the inhabitants of Civita Vecchia,.a town
situated at the very gates of Bome, in order to attract more com
merce to that seaport. It seemed, therefore, that he had no reason
to be offended because the same liberty had been restored to those
1 This clause was often eluded; for the child-stealers passed the children from
one to another, until all trace of them was lost. In other instances, after having
restored them, they carried them off anew. Sometimes they even plainly refused
to give them up, or replied that they were no longer in life.
2 This was merely to postpone new severities, already giving cause of apprehen
sion regarding them.
3 Lettres historiques, No. for September, 1694, p. 246.

102 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. [pabt Thied.
who had always enjoyed it. But men are often governed, not so
much by their convictions as by their interest. Innocent XII.
denounced the edict of 23d May, 1694, to the chamber of the Holy
Office, charging the chamber to examine it. This was, in fact, to
demand a condemnation of it. The tribunal of the Inquisition
assembled on the 19 th of August, in the presence of the pope him
self. The following are extracts from the decree which it passed
upon this occasion : —
" Our most holy father, Innocent XII., having been apprised,
by certain pious persons, that there was reason to fear that the
most serene lord, Victor Amadeus II., Duke of Savoy, moved by
the continual and importunate suggestions of heretical states and
princes, might be induced at last to abrogate those most laudable
laws which he had made in favour of the Catholic religion, and
against his heretical subjects of the valleys of Lucerna . . . &c.
.... His holiness, in so evident a peril of the orthodox faith,
immediately addressed his paternal admonitions to the most serene
duke, after having frequently spoken of the matter to the resident of
Savoy, and subsequently, by letters-apostolical, to the nuncio and the
inquisitor at Turin. These paternal warnings were not without effect
for a time. But a few months after, advice having come that the
firmness of the duke was shaken, ... his holiness made every
effort to lead him to reject all accommodation with the heretics,
because such an agreement would be an offence to God, scandalous
to all the faithful, dangerous to neighbouring nations, &c. . . .
However, by an edict of 23d May, 1694, the said duke has not
only abrogated the above-cited laws, but (which cannot be men
tioned without tears) he has expressly permitted that the children
of the heretics which had been taken from them should be restored
to their parents, to the evident damnation of their souls, &c.
. . . Wherefore his holiness, in his zeal for the house of God, and
according to the duty of the pastoral charge which has been
intrusted to him from on high, . . . has cassed, annulled, invali
dated, and condemned the above-cited edict, and all that it con
tains, as being monstrous, impious, detestable, &c, . . . ordaining
that this edict'. . . shall be reputed as never having been framed
nor issued, . . . and enjoining all archbishops, bishops, inquisitors,
(fee, to act as hitherto against the heretics, without regard to this
deed, . . . which is declared to be abrogated in virtue of the pre
sent decree." l
A number of secondary disputes had preceded this decision,?
1 This decree may be seen in Eorelli. I cannot give it entire.
2 The Archives of Turin contain many papers relative to this subject. The fol-

Chap. VII.J FIRMNESS OF VICTOR AMADEUS. 103
and new disputes followed it.1 All Europe watched the strife,
impatient to know which of these powers would prove victorious.
The Duke of Savoy, disconcerted at first by the decree of the In
quisition, aroused himself to display a proper sense of his dig
nity as a sovereign. "He considered," says a contemporary, "that
upon such occasions firmness alone could command success, and
that the court of Bome would not fail to crush him if he mani
fested even the least fear."2 He therefore ordered the senate of
Turin to examine the decree of the Holy Office. The procura
tor-general, Bocca, demanded that this deed should be declared ill-
grounded, and that the edict for the re-establishment of the Vau
dois should be maintained in force, rather as an act of justice than
of grace.3 The advocate-general, Frechignone, supported these
views, and the senate, on the 2d of September, 1694, passed a
decree, by which it cassed and annulled that of the Inquisition,
prohibiting, under pain of death, its publication in the dominions of
Savoy, and confirmed, in all its provisions, the edict of the 23d of
May in favour of the Vaudois.
The Abbot of Pignerol alone, according to the journals of that
time, ventured to publish and support the decree of the Inquisition.
I am not aware that that ecclesiastic was prosecuted. But Victor
Amadeus acted with equal firmness and prudence, for he gave
orders to his resident at the court of Bome to communicate to
the pope what he had done, and to assure him that no sovereign
in Europe would any longer suffer such abuse of power on the part
lowing are the titles of some of those anterior to the decree of the Inquisition :—
Scrittnra del Archivesc. e del Padre Inquisitore di Torino concernente la famigli-
aritd e il commercio de catholici con quelli della religione, &c. . . . — Scrittura del
S. Conte Peyrani, contro quella di Monsignor Arcivcscovo e del Padre Inquisitore,
&c. . . . — Parere d'un Teologo di Roma, circa I'ediito de S.A.R. a favore de
Valdesi. — Scrittura de mandar a Roma toccante le valli di Lucerna, &c.
1 The documents connected with the disputes which followed the papal decree
are too numerous to be quoted. They consist chiefly of despatches of Marcello Di
Gubernatis, the resident of Savoy at Rome, in which he gives an account to Victor
Amadeus of his negotiations with the pope and cardinals. — There are also extant
dissertations, by Piedmontese jurists and theologians, on the force of the pontifical
decree, some of these dissertations forming thick folio manuscripts. — There are,
moreover, detached documents, Progetto di lettera all' Inquisitione ; and, amongst
others, a letter which is entirely in the handwriting of Victor Amadeus, and is
addressed to the archbishop of Turin. The envelope which contains it bears this
superscription: — Minuta di lettera di S.A.R. all' Arcivesco di Torino, in occasione
d'una scrittura publicata in Torino, contro gl' eretici, &c. (Archives of State,
Turin.) 2 Leltres histoi-iques, No. for October, 1694, p. 367.
3 Com! un effetto piu di giustizia che de grazia. (Copiadi ramostranza delProc.
Gen. Rocca, sulla giustizia dell' arresto a sua istanza dato del senato contro il
deereto della sagra congregatione, &c. Archives of Turin.)

104 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALTS. [i'abt Tumi).
of the Holy See. Spain and Austria having made similar protest
ations, the pope seemed to discover that he had gone wrong, aud
ordered his nuncio at Turin not to publish the decree against which
so many voices were raised.
This affair seemed, therefore, to have terminated; but as the
court of Bome drew back, the Duke of Savoy became more jealous
of his prerogatives, and proceeded further to require that the tri
bunal of the Inquisition should be abolished altogether, for having
arrogated an authority which amounted, as he said, to an usurpation
of his own. " You may well believe," says a contemporary, " that
that tribunal, the haughtiest and most imperious in the world, is
exceedingly enraged." 1 But Victor Amadeus had assumed the
offensive only the better to secure his victory; and, after some ne
gotiations, the matter was arranged.
The Vaudois, meanwhile, laboured to restore their ancient or
ganization. Almost all the exiled families, and almost all that
had joined the Church of Bome, had returned to the country and
to the church in which they had been born. The Vaudois troops
had taken their place among the regular forces of Victor Amadeus.
The peasants were occupied with the cultivation of their lands, and
the rebuilding of their houses and their sanctuaries;3 and the
spiritual guides of this small people laboured to increase their own
numbers, or to make amends for the want of numbers by activity.
In- 1692, ere yet the edict had been published which restored
them to their former position, having received, by an order of the
day, a promise of their speedy re-establishment in the heritages and
rights of their fathers, they held a synod, " to begin," its acts say,
"the restoration of good order among them, notwithstanding the
troubles which ahvays continue to disquiet them."3 Their first act
was to appoint a religious festival, to be observed in all the val
leys,4 to render thanks to God for having brought them back to
that ancient sanctuary of the gospel, and a solemn fast, to obtain
relief from the trials to which they were exposed.
" In the year 1692," says a memoir of that period,5 "there were
already twelve churches in the valleys, but they were unable to
1 Lettres historiques, p. 595.
2 In the year 1686, all the Protestant places of worship in the valleys were
thrown down to their foundations. Memoire sur I'etat present des Eglises Vau-
daises (1705), communicated by the late M. Appia, of Frankfort.
s Synodal acts of the Vaudois valleys. Archives of the Table. Synod of Les
Copiers, 18th April, 1692.
1 It took place on the 4th of May.
5 Communicated by M. Appia. The substance of it is contained in the Records
of the Venerable Company of Pastors at Geneva.

Chap. VII J QUEEN MARY'S PENSIONS. 105
maintain their pastors. Queen Mary,1 of eternal and blessed
memory, having been informed of this distress, extended to them
her charity, by establishing twelve pensions, of 100 crowns each,
one for every pastor, and a like number, of fifty English crowns
each, for every schoolmaster." This assistance was afterwards in
creased with the number of the parishes, and soon amounted to the
sum of £150 sterling, which was annually sent by bills of exchange,
payable at Turin. This sum not having appeared in the civil list
during the reign of William III.,2 the payment of it was suspended
for some years after his death. A special deputation of the Vau
dois was sent to London, to obtain the renewal of the benefaction.3
In 1692 there were only nine pastors in the valleys/ of whom
one alone supplied the valley of St. Martin. Their number in
creased after the first edict of re-establishment was issued.6 During
1 Daughter of James II., and wife of William III., born Prince of Orange.
Queen Mary died on 7th January, 1695 — her husband on 19th March, 1702. Both
the one and the other always manifested the liveliest interest in the Vaudois, and
a constant jealousy of Louis XIV.
2 These particulars are derived from the preface to the Records of the Church of
Durmentz, a Vaudois colony in Wurtemberg.
3 From the same source. It was the pastor Montoux who was sent to London
for this object.
1 These were David Lgger, pastor at Bobi ; James Jayer, at Pramol ; Henry Ar
naud, at Rora, and at the Vineyards of Lucerna; William Malanot, at Angrogna;
Dumas, at St. John; Giraud, at La Tour; Javel, at Rocheplate (the same who was
formerly at Stendal); and Montoux (who had been a prisoner from August, 1689,
to July, 1690), in the valley of St. Martin.
5 In the month of June, 1692, the former pastor of Rocheplate, named Bernard
Jayer, having returned to the valleys, was settled again in his old parish; and
Javel was then conjoined with Montoux to preach in the valley of St. Martin. A
few days after, another minister, Papon, also arrived, recommended by the Duke
of Schonberg, who took a great interest in the Vaudois, and by Van-der-Meer, the
resident of Holland. The parishes of St. Germain and Pomaret were assigned
him as a sphere for his ministry; but in the month of November, the pastor having
represented that he found it impossible properly to supply two places so distant
from one another, his field of labour was restricted to St. Germain and L'Anvers
Pinaehe. In the course of the same year, the parish of Villo Seche, to which the
Leger family belonged, demanded for their minister David Leger, who was then
pastor at Bobi, but who had formerly been settled among them; and received the
promise of him as soon as he could go to reside at Ville Sdche. At the same time
the parish of Macel received a young minister, named Laurence Bertin, who had
just terminated his studies; and next year, M. Cyrus Chyon presented himself, the
old colleague of Arnaud and Montoux, who was to have accompanied the Vaudois
in their return, but was taken prisoner on the first day. Having been detained at
Chamberytill 1691, he then entered the service of the Duke of Schonberg, as chap.
lain to one of his regiments. He received the promise of the first place that should
become vacant in the valleys. He occupied the parish of Pomaret for some weeks,
after which we lose all trace of him. Perhaps he returned to the Grisons, where
ho had left his family in 1690. He was a native of Crest, in Dauphiny, and his
first charge had been that of Pont-en-Eoyans, on the banks of the Isere. How
adventurous was then the career of the ministers of the persecuted church !
Vol. ii. 74

106 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALFS. [PaetTuikd
the course of this year five synods were held.1 The council for
managing- the affairs of the church, called the Vaudois Table, was
then formed, as follows: — David Leger, Moderator; Henry Ar
naud, Moderator Adjoint ; and William Malanot, Secretary.
These ecclesiastical officers were charged with the duty of writing
to the different Protestant states of Europe which took an interest
in the Israel of the Alps, to inform them of their new situation, to
thank them for benefits conferred, and to ask the continuance of
their kind support, by the help of which alone it now seemed possible
that the Vaudois Church could rise from the ruins accumulated in
its valleys during six years of calamity.
Holland, in particular, responded to this appeal, sending contri
butions for the maintenance of a superior school, and for the relief
of the more urgent cases of distress. One of the richest citizens
of that country, M. Clignet, to whose generosity the Vaudois had
been indebted for the pecuniary means necessary to the accomplish
ment of their expedition of return, completed his work by assisting
them to carry out their schemes of consolidation. The universities
of Lausanne, Basle, and Utrecht founded bursaries for the main
tenance of young students from the valleys, who should devote
themselves to the ministry of the gospel in their native land.2
One of the first decisions of the fifth synod of 1692 was (in the
words of the synod), "that for the future it means and wishes that
all Vaudois candidates for the ministry \j>roposants~\ refrain from
offering themselves for examination, and from receiving imposition
of hands out of the valleys, without the consent and advice of the
pastors of the Vaudois Church."3 The synod following was occupied
with the discipline of the Church. " The meeting, seeing with re
gret the excesses which are committed on the Sabbath day, in
games and in public-houses, exhorts the faithful to employ that day
in the service of God, and charges the consistory of each parish to
attend to this matter."4 Military habits, a wandering life, and the
interruption of regular public worship — all of which causes had exer
cised their influence on the Vaudois during the immediately pre
ceding years — explain in part the abuses here complained of. But
1 Viz., on 18th April, 20th June, 28th June, 1st September, and 30th November.
The place of meeting was always at Les Copiers, the place of worship there being
the only one, it is said, which remained undemolished in 1686.
2 That of Utrecht lasted only for twelve years. The first bursary founded in
Geneva for Vaudois students was not till 1725. (Succour of different kinds had,
however, been regularly enough given them since 1655.) The Queen of England
also offered, in 1694, to maintain at her own expense, in the universities of her
kingdom, ten students of the Vaudois valleys. (See Synod of 6th October, 1694. J
3 Acts of Synod of November, 1692. (Archives of the Table.)
4 Same source. — Synod of 15th and 16th September, 1693.

Chap. VII.] - CONTRIBUTIONS . OF THE CHURCHES. 107
the synodal meeting did not confine its solicitude to measures of
repression; it felt that it was necessary also to prevent and correct;
"and concerning the representation which has been made, that
great ignorance prevails amongst the people concerning the mys
teries of the gospel, it has been resolved that catechetical" examina
tions shall be held upon week days and upon Sabbath evenings
in which adults shall be catechized as well as children."1 This
synod was occupied also with the organization of particular con
sistories, intended to watch over the interests of morality, and the
exercise of discipline in each of the Vaudois parishes.
Next year the act relative to the sanctification of the Sabbath
was renewed,2 and parishes were exhorted to contribute for the
maintenance of their pastors? At the same time, the deputies of
1 Acts of Synod of 15th and 16th September, 1693. (Archives of the Table.)—
The catechism of Drelincourt was adopted as a manual for these catechizings.
* Synod of 3d June, 1694.
3 Synod of 6th October, 1694. These voluntary contributions, which afterwards
became obligatory, were long the occasion of many difficulties. I have passed over
in silence the greater part of these painful contentions between the pastor and his
parish, or a certain number of his parishioners. — I subjoin, as a memorandum of
them, the rates of the spontaneous contributions which were afterwards fixed for
each church of the valleys.* These churches were divided into great and small,
according to their resources.
The great churches of tlie valley of Lucerna were to furnish — Bobi, 650 francs
for the pastor (it had formerly given 700), and 150 francs for the schoolmaster ; f
Viliar (with four annexed churches), 650 and 180 francs ; J La Tour, 600 for the
pastor, and 170 for the schoolmaster. At St. John there was no pastor, but a
master, who received 200 francs. Angkogn a gave 600 francs to the pastor (it had
formerly given 700), and 160 for the schoolmaster ; Roea, the only small church
of the valley of Lucerna, gave only 100 francs to the pastor. The parish of Pra-
rusting and Rocheplate, situated between the two valleys, and considered as a great
church, gave to the pastor 580 francs, and 150 to the schoolmaster. St. Gekmain
and Ppamol, ranked among the small churches, gave, the former 500 francs, and
the latter 400 francs to the pastor, and 50 francs each to the schoolmaster.
Churches of the valley of St. Martin.— Yule Seche, the only great church,
which gave formerly 600 francs to the pastor, was now to give 550, but was in so
exhausted a condition, that even this contribution was impossible. It continued
to pay 48 francs to the schoolmaster. Pomabet, although numbered among the
small churches, gave 500 francs and 62 francs. Maneille and Macel, Pkal and
Rodobet, two other small churches, gave 500 francs each to their respective pastors,
. and 48 francs to the schoolmaster. But the number of teachers was too small, for
one for each parish was not sufficient, and yet there were many difficulties to over
come, in order to obtain payment of these contributions, and many delays before
they were paid. The pastors who were least urgent in their demands allowed
arrears to run up till payment became impossible ; and when, pressed by imperious
necessities, any of them demanded payment of what was due to him, deplorable
* When the supplies from England were reduced to £268 sterling, in consequence of the neces
sity of dividing these resources with the Vmiois colonies founded in Germany after 1698.
t There were in this commune' four other schoolmasters besides, who taught only in winter, and
received 20 francs.
% There were here also four district regents, who received 16 francs.

108 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. D'AaT TllIBD-
this Vaudois church, so long tossed with tempests, and scarcely yet
restored to a position of security, manifested a truly Christian
solicitude regarding their suffering brethren; and among the acts
of the first synod of 1693 we read as follows: — "The company,
sensibly touched with the pitiful state of our poor brethren who are
unjustly detained in the galleys of France, resolved to write to the
evangelical cantons of Switzerland, to entreat them to use their
influence with the king in their favour." The synod then consi
dered the case of those of the Vaudois who were in the same
situation.1 The assistance of a physician,2 and the services of a
general regent? were secured. The latter subsequently became
rector of the Latin school. Golloquesi and conferences were then
established, in which the consistories should meet together "for
censure of pastors and elders, according to the ancient custom."'5
Even private persons were invited to submit their differences to the
arbitration of these bodies, in order to avoid the scandal and
expense of lawsuits.6 Finally, as there flowed to the valleys a great
number of vagabond foreigners, it was resolved that no one should
be admitted to participation of the sacraments, in any congregation
but his own, without a certificate from his pastor.7 The synod
aimed also at forming a collection of documents, which might be of
importance for the history of the recent events ; but the persons
who undertook this task never accomplished it.s
In the midst of these arrangements a new event once more
changed the aspect of things in the Vaudois valleys. Victor Ama
deus having regained possession of Perouse,9 the synod sent a de
putation to him, to request that its inhabitants might be permitted
thenceforth to form one ecclesiastical body with their brethren of
the other valleys!10 The duke replied in an evasive manner; and
disputes arose between the parish and its pastor. Facts of this kind abound in the
Archives. (The contributions marked in this note all relate to the period extend
ing from the end of the 17th to the end of the 18th century.)
1 Synod of 6th October, 1694.
2 At a cost of 400 francs, taken from the sum total of the contributions. The
first who filled this situation was named Balcet.
3 A sum of 300 francs was assigned for his salary, and was to be paid propor
tionally by all the parishes.
4 Synod of 6th October, 1694.
5 Synod of 17th June, 1695. These conferences took place before the Easier
festivals. 6 In October, 1694. i Synod of 25th April, 1697.
6 At first, M. Dubourdieu voluntarily offered to undertake it (Synod of 27th
October, 1693); afterwards, John Pastre was charged with this duty by the Synod
of 25th October, 1695.
9 By the treaty of Turin of 29th August, 1686.
io Archives of Le Villar.— MS. vol. marked Religion arii, fol. 102 and 103.

Chap. Vll.] VAUDOIS AGAIN HARASSED. 109
shortly after he expressly prohibited all sorts of religious connection
between the one and the other. Signs began also to appear of an
increasing severity against the people of the valleys. The carrying
off of children had re-commenced without being punished. Extra
ordinary contributions were demanded of the Vaudois for the can
toning of troops. The demand was even made that they should
pay the public burdens for their lands for the whole time during
which they had been exiled and their lands uncultivated.1 The
people, already so impoverished, thus found themselves oppressed
with a debt of 300,000 francs, of which they had to pay the inte
rest every year.2 " It is impossible to imagine," said Walkenier,
" how they can maintain their position in that country. By the
burdens imposed upon "them they are so laden with debt, that they
are already all but compelled to go and seek the means of subsist
ence elsewhere. They will be obliged to sell their properties at a
price far below their value, and for this many Boman Catholics are
waiting in expectation." 3
The peace which Victor Amadeus concluded with France in
1696,. far from bringing to his subjects of the valleys the repose
which seemed likely to flow from it, became more onerous to them
than the war. The malignant jealousy and wrath of their popish
neighbours began to be accompanied with some hope even of a new
persecution. In the spring of 1698, a Jesuit, attended by a number of monks,
having visited all the valleys in succession, addressed a report to
the pope; and in consequence of this report, the Marquis De Spada
immediately set out from Bome for Turin, where he had a confer
ence with the apostolic nuncio.* Louis XIV. at this time was
persecuting to the uttermost the Protestants of Dauphiny ; and as
the Duke of Savoy had just concluded a family alliance with that
monarch, it was supposed that the conference above mentioned most
probably had for its object a scheme for the total extirpation of the
Vaudois. The Vaudois themselves say in a memorial,5 " Our con
dition is so lamentable that it is truly worthy of compassion. We
> Dieterici, G. VII.
2 Memoir on the State of the Valleys. MS. in the library of the late M. Appia.
3 Letters of "Walkenier, the resident of Holland in Switzerland, and reports
cited by Dieterici, G. VII. (Tear 1698.) Other letters on the same subject;
Archives of Berne, compartment E; Archives of the Pastors of Geneva, vol. O,
pp. 391, 421, &c.
4 These particulars are derived from the letters of Walkenier, quoted by Dieterici,
and from others still unpublished.
5 BrUve description de Vestat pitoyable des Eglises des valUes sons la dominaii n
du due de Savoie. (Quoted by Dieterici.) See also Lettres historiques, t. xiii.
p. 16S.

110 THE ISRAEL OF THE -ALPS. [Pari Third.
are every day alarmed by being told that we will not be long here,
and that it has been resolved to make us leave the country."
These alarms were not without foundation. In the treaty of
peace, concluded on the 18th of August, 1696, between France and
Piedmont, was a secret article,1 which was not published even after
the treaty of Byswick,2 but of which the purport was gradually
made manifest. This article was in the following terms : — " His
royal highness (Victor Amadeus) will cause an edict to- be pub
lished, forbidding, under pain of corporal punishment, the inhabi
tants of the valleys of Lucernaj known by the name of Vaudois,
from having any religious communication with the subjects of his
most Christian majesty (Louis XIV.), and from this day forth his
royal highness will not permit the subjects of the King of France
to settle in any manner in the said valleys. . . He will, moreover
prohibit all preachers from setting foot on the French territory)
. . . and, finally, he engages not to permit the pretended Beformed
religion in the territories which have been ceded to him." These
territories were neither more nor less than the valleys of Perouse
and Pragela.
Accordingly the Duke of Savoy issued, on the 1st of July, 1698,
an edict, B by which he ordained that all French Protestants settled
in his dominions, even ministers, notwithstanding any permission
previously obtained, should leave his dominions within the space of
two months, under pain of death. " Those," he says, " who have
become proprietors of lands in the country, and who shall not have
sold their properties at that date, will then receive the estimated
value of them from the hands of the intendant of Pignerol." All
Vaudois pastors are, moreover, forbidden to penetrate into the
dominions of the King of France, under pain of ten years of the
galleys. The preamble of this edict bears that it was issued in virtue of
the seventh article of the treaties of Turin and Byswick ; " and
wishing, therefore," it is then said, " to comply with what has been
signified to us on the part of his majesty (Louis XIV.), we ordain
all the inhabitants of the Vaudois valleys to have no intercourse
with the subjects of his most Christian majesty in regard to mat
ters of religion, under pain of three lashes with a rope (public fla
gellation) for each offence." It is easy to perceive that great trouble
and painful separations must have ensued in the families affected by
this edict. The greater part of the foreign refugees were connected
with the Vaudois, either by blood or by common sympathies and
1 It is § VII. a 20th September, and 30th October, 1697.
" It is printed in the Lettres historiques, t. xiv. pp. 136-139.

CiiAP.VUl] VAUDOIS AGAIN EXPATRIATED. Ill
interests. But now they were driven to seek refuge elsewhere.
In the year preceding, the inhabitants of Pragela had already taken
steps with this view, for the character of the negotiations of Bys
wick and the last orders of Louis XIV. had made them apprehen
sive of some new calamity. " They treat of peace," wrote Arnaud
to Walkenier, " but, according to my poor judgment, it is not yet
a time of peace."1
Never, in fact, unless in 1686, had these fair regions been more
distressfully agitated. More than 3000 emigrants left their home
for foreign lands, to which we shall now follow them in the next
chapter.

CHAPTER VIII.

HISTORY OF THE VAUDOIS COLONIES FOUNDED IN WURTEM
BERG AFTER THE EXPULSION OF 1698. — PART FIRST.2
(a.d. 1698 to a.d. 1699.)
Expulsion of ministers and people not natives of the valleys — Emigration from the
valley of Pragela — Proposal for the establishment of a Vaudois colony near
Gochsheim, in 'Wurtemberg — Generous conduct and enlightened views of the
CouDt of Neustadt — He resists attempted intolerance — Three thousand Protes
tants leave the valleys — Their reception in Switzerland — Their negotiations
with the government of Wurtemberg — Difficulties — Energy and activity of
Arnaud — Walkenier negotiates for the exiles with the government of Wur
temberg, as plenipotentiary of Holland and other Protestant powers — Terms
agreed upon — Pensions for pastors and schoolmasters obtained from England.
Or the thirteen pastors who' ministered in the Vaudois Church iu
1698, .seven were foreigners by birth, and were obliged to leave
1 Unpublished letter of Arnaud, dated from La Tour, 25th March, 1697. (Ar
chives of Berne, compartment E.)
3 Atjthoeities. — Moser, "History of the Admission of the Vaudois into Wurtem
berg." (Zurich, 1798, in German.) The author was a very aged man when he wrote
this work ; he promised a continuation of it, but was not able to accomplish it.
This book contains, in extenso, a large number of lengthy documents, but they are
not of very great interest. The narrative is often inaccurate, and always incom
plete. (In reference to the return of the Vaudois to their own country, seven years
before the period to which this history relates, the victorious expedition of Arnaud
is confounded with the abortive and ill-managed attempt of Bourgeois.) — Dieterici,
"History of the Introduction of the Vaudois into the Dominions of Prussian Bran
denburg." (Berlin, 1831, in German.) This author gives a general epitome of the
history of the Vaudois, and of their return under the conduct of Arnaud. The
original part of the work is contained particularly in a collection or analysis of
letters relative to the settlement of the exiled Vaudois at Stendal. — Erman and
Reclam, " Contributions to the History of the French Refugees in the Dominions of

112 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. [Part Third.
the country in consequence of the edict of the 1st of July.1 Two
of them 2 immediately set out for Switzerland and Germany, to
seek an asylum for their fugitive flocks. A number of families
had already quitted Pragela, to escape the vexations to which they
were subjected by Louis XIV.;3 and about the end of the year 1697,
a part of the inhabitants of the Val Perouse joined these first exiles,
in consequence of the refusal of Victor Amadeus to allow to the
religionaries of the territory ceded by France the same rights with
those of the other Vaudois valleys.
These families having passed through Switzerland without being
able to settle there, addressed themselves, in the beginning of 1698,
the King of Prussia." (Berlin, 1786, in German.) In vol. vi. of this collection,
most of the historic part of the preceding work will be found already published. —
Lamberty, "Materials for the History of the 18(7;. Century." (Id.) — Keller, " The Pre
sent State of the Vaudois " (a work of no great value). — Hahn, " History of the Vau
dois and of Collateral Sects " (in German. Stuttgard, 1847, 8vo, pp. 822). It is the
second volume of a History of the Sects of the Middle Ages, published by this author.
He gives, amongst his proof documents, the complete text of the Vaudois poems in the
Romance tongue, of which Raynouard and Monastier had previously published
only fragments. — Various Academic Theses (for example, Mayerhoff, "Die Wat-
denser in unseren Tagen." (Berlin, 1834.) — Some narratives of travels may also
be consulted. — A learned native of the valleys of Piedmont, the late M. P. Appia,
pastor of the French church at Frankfort-on-the-Maine, had made a collection of
many documents, which he communicated to me. — Some other documents I have
obtained by my own researches in the State Archives of Darmstadt and Stuttgard,
as well as in most of the localities where the Vaudois were settled in Germany. —
The last of the national pastors in that country, the late venerable and aged M.
Mondon, by his recollections and private memoranda, more than once supplied
deficiencies in other sources of information. — Various journals may also with
great propriety be cited— as the Archives of the Country of Baden, t. I. No. 5,
(where are to be seen twelve Vaudois letters, with observations by Mone, who after
wards published his work in a separate form) — the Echo of the ( Vaudois) Valleys,
containing some letters by M. Geymonat on the same subject— the Historic Annals
of Halle, &c.
1 Viz. : — Abnaud, pastor at St. John; Gieaud at La Tour; Joedan at Le Villar;
Dumas at Bora; Papon at Rocheplate and Prarusting; Montoux at Ville Siche;
and Javel at Le Pomaret.
The edict was not published in the valleys till the 13th of July; and on the
very day on which it was signed, viz., the 1st of July, the pastors Dumas, Jordan
Montoux, and Javel took the oath of fidelity to Victor Amadeus, before the go
vernor of Pignerol. Other inhabitants of the valleys, to the number of 218, were
in like manner permitted to take the oath ; yet by the edict which was signed at
the same moment, they were all proscribed. — See, for the taking of this oath, the
Civil Archives of Pignerol, Categoria I., Mazzo 31, No. 27.
2 Papon and Henri Abnaud.
3 Letters from Berne, 28th January, 1 698, and from Zurich , 30th January, have for
their object the preparation of supplies of food and raiment for these expatriated
Vaudois. (Archives of Berne, compartment E. ) Many summonses and prosecutions
before the magistrates still took place in the name of Louis XIV., between April
and June, 1698, in order to the erection of five Catholic charges in the valley of
Pragela, instead of five Protestant charges. (The documents are in the Archives
of the Bishopric of Pignerol.)

Chap. VIII.] THE COUNT OF NEUSTADT. 113
to the Duke of Wurtemberg, to obtaitflands in his dominions. This
prince was himself very favourably inclined towards them, but found
obstacles to his benevolence in the Faculty of Theology of Tubin
gen, who considered the Vaudois as tainted with Calvinism, and
whose opposition was strongly supported in the ducal council. But
a prince of the second rank, the Count of Neustadt,1 a man of good
head and good heart, would not allow himself to be stayed by these
prejudices. He considered that the industry of the Vaudois would
be useful in his province; and there is a letter extant, in which he
says : — " The day after my arrival at Gochsheim, thirty-five of these
poor people came to me, asking permission to settle in my domains.
Not being able to grant this without the consent of the duke, I
requested them to wait a few days; and, in the meantime, I made
them look through the country for a suitable situation. We agreed
upon a plan of settlement and colonization, which will be imme
diately carried into effect if I can obtain a favourable answer from
my dear cousin.2 Three delegates have just come from them, ask
ing permission to build huts for themselves before winter, and also
the means of so doing, that they may be ready in spring to set
about the erection of durable buildings and the cultivation of the
ground. I warmly recommend to Councillor Justine8 the petition
of these poor people; and I am firmly persuaded that this colony
will promote the prosperity of my little town, because they propose
to establish a considerable manufactory, and to bring together to
the spot as many as 200 families."4
The privy council appointed a commission to examine this pro
posal.5 The commission made a favourable report; the council
adopted its recommendations;6 and, a few days after,7 the first
patent was issued, in virtue of which lands were granted to the
Vaudois in Wurtemberg. This deed, drawn up both in French
and German, was not yet signed by the grand duke, but only sealed
with the ducal seal. 8 It was immediately forwarded to the Count
of Neustadt, who thanked his sovereign for it, as for a boon con
ferred upon himself; 9 and, without delay, he assigned to the Vau
dois a territory for colonization at a small distance from Gochsheim.
1 Frederic Augustus, lord of the bailiwicks of Neustadt and Gochsheim, a prince
of Wurtemberg. — Moser gives him the title of Duke.
8 Whose vassal he was.
8 Of Mentzingen, to whom the letter is addressed.
4 This number indicates the importance of this emigration as a historic event.
The letter is dated 3d August, 1698.— Archives of Stuttgard— -Moser, § lxii.
5 By decree of 5th August. 8 On 6th August. 7 On 9th August.
8 It may be seen amongst the proof documents in Moseb.
» By letter of 20th September.
Vol. ii. "75

114 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS.. [Part Third.'
An extent of fifteen arpents of arable land, two arpents of meadow,;
and as much of vineyard, was reserved for their future pastor.
Finally, this kind nobleman desired that the colony should bear
the name of Augustistad (Augustus-town), in memory of the inte
rest which he took in its founders.
It must be borne in mind, however, that the patent of coloniza
tion was not yet final; and the confession of faith of the Vaudois
having been presented to the privy council, a commission was
again named to examine it. The judgment of the commission dis
appointed the expectations of the lord of Gochsheim. It set forth
that this confession was neither conformable to the doctrines of the
ancient Vaudois Church, nor to those of the Moravian brethren ;
but that it was the confession of the Beformed Church of France,
pervaded throughout with Calvinism, and that, in consequence,
the petitioners must be refused admission into Wurtemberg, at
least, unless they adopted the Confession of Augsburg.1 Neverthe
less, the Count of Neustadt persisted in his scheme of colonization,
generous towards the exiles, and profitable for his own estates;
and if the Vaudois were afterwards made welcome in Wurtemberg,
we cannot but recognize in his independence of mind, and in the
noble example which he then set, causes which must have power
fully contributed to bring about this result.
Meanwhile the edict had been published in Piedmont ordaining
foreign Protestants to quit the dominions of Savoy. It is alleged
that Victor Amadeus hoped to see them submit to the Church of
Bome, rather than to all the hardships of expatriation; but 2000
exiles arose, and made the sacrifice of their country for the sake of
the gospel; for these beautiful valleys had indeed become their
country; they had dwelt in them for ten or twelve years; they had
aided the Vaudois in re-establishing themselves there; they had,
in a sense, acquired them by conquest, in combating along with
the Vaudois — praying, suffering, and hoping along with them — until
the right of residing in that land was guaranteed to them by
formal edicts.2 Alliances of every kind had been formed among
the different elements of the population; and, whether to follow
their adopted families, or from fear that the arbitrary will of the
sovereign might soon subject them to a similar measure, 8 many
1 This singular monument of intolerance is dated 18th October, 1698, and will be
found amongst the proof documents in Moser (No. xii.)
» Those of June, 1692, and May, 1694, by which Victor Amadeus himself invited
to the valleys the refugees whom he now banished.
8 There exist deeds of sale, purchases, and transmissions of immovable property,
which afford evidence of these departures, and the motives of them. A Vaudois
woman, for example, who had married a Frenchman, sold her property, says the

OUaf. VIII.] VAUDOIS ARRIVE AT GENEVA. 115
Vaudois resolved to leave their country aloug with the exiles of
foreign birth.1 Moreover, all the Protestants who remained in
the valley of Perouse were obliged to join them ; for Louis XIV.,
in ceding that territory to Piedmont, had stipulated, by a special
clause, that the Beformed religion should not be tolerated in any
part of the ceded territory.
The total number of the emigrants thus amounted to more than
3000. They set out about the end of 1698, in seven bands, each
conducted by a pastor. The Duke of Savoy had given orders that
their travelling expenses should be paid by the state ; but, from
the third day of their march, Gropello, the minister of finance, re
fused to furnish the requisite money, on the pretext that the exiles
abused it, and gave themselves up to intemperance. The real
motive, however, was no consideration of morals, nor even of eco
nomy, but simply one of proselytism. It was hoped that, the exiles
being forced to travel at their own expense, the poorer of them
would be prevented from accomplishing their journey, and would
thus be obliged to remain in the country, where they would then
be under the necessity of embracing Catholicism. But such was
the spirit of Christian union and Christian love which animated
them all, that not one of them was forced to leave the rest; the
rich paid for the poor; and all, upheld by confidence in God, ar
rived at Geneva, that hospitable stage of all our great emigrations,
where they were welcomed by their brethren, and relieved by the
contributions which Holland and Britain had made haste to send.
The evangelical cantons of Switzerland consented to receive them
for the winter, on condition that they should quit the country in
the spring of 1699, because of the too great population of Switzer
land, and the bad harvest of 1698.
During this time Vaudois deputies2 went to Wurtemberg, and
took steps to obtain a fixed residence there. They arrived at
Stuttgard in the month of October, 1698. Three councillors of
deed, per non voter ne poter soffrire la separatione del suo marito .... obligato
absentar da queste valli per Vordime di S. A. R. del primcipio di Luglio. (Archives
of Le Villar, MS. vol. marked Religionarii, fol. 109.)
1 These fears appear in many letters of the Vaudois . . . . " Although this edict
relates to the refugees alone, ii has the effect of shaking the whole body of the valleys, as
the greater part of us are allied to the refugees, and apprehend that his royal high
ness may go farther. yet in order to please France. (Letter of Blanchon to Wal
kenier. — In a report by Walkenier, dated 4th October, 1698, he says, " In the valley
of Perouse they have been deprived of all their properties; almost all their do
mestics, as refugees, are compelled to quit the country.)
3 These were Henry Arnaud, for the refugees and Vaudois of the valley of Lu.
cerna, James Pastre for those of Pragela, and Stephen Muret for those of Perouse
and St. Martin. Papon remained in Switzerland.

116 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS, [part Thibd
the government, acquainted with the French language, were ap
pointed to confer with them, and conferences took place on the
19th and 24th of that month. Arnaud, Moser says,1 was the
speaker in these conferences. He showed, with true prudence and
wisdom, that the doctrine of the Vaudois had not been modified to
assimilate it to Calvinism; and when the confession of faith of the
Bohemian brethren was laid before him, he said that he received
it as well as that of St. Cyril ; he added that, in the spirit of Chris
tian charity, the Vaudois had never refused to take part in the
worship of the Beformed churches, wherever it was tolerated, but
their church was anterior to all those which sprung from the Be-
formation; that they acknowledged the Bible only as the foundation
of their faith, and that if they were received into Wurtemberg, they
would be faithful to the government of the country, both in peace
and in war. Upon these explanations, the council of state unani
mously adopted a report favourable to the admission of the exiles
into Wurtemberg ; 2 and, a few days after,3 the bailiff of Maul-
bronn* received orders from the privy council to go through the
country with their delegates, that they might look out the places
most favourable for the establishment of the projected, colonies.
According to his report, nearly 300 families might have Ibeen dis
tributed in a great number of different localities ; but the Vajjdois^
opposed this arrangement, because they desired to remain united,
and to found villages of their own. I
The question of their admission, however, was as yet only j>ro-
visionally decided; to render the decision final, it required the?
approbation of the sovereign. The privy council convoked5 a
general meeting of the superior councils, and of the former dele
gates of both chambers, that they might give their opinion as to
the decision which the government should adopt in this matter.
The report was still favourable^- but the theological antipathy
which was felt by the Lutheran bodies of Wurtemberg to the
admission of a foreign religion into that country, found organs in
the council of state, which ordered a new general meeting of the
superior councils, and a more thorough examination of the ques
tions of doctrine.7 The minute of the proceedings of this meeting
was drawn up with care,3 and the conclusion of the report was still
as favourable as before.
1 § lxv. » It is dated 24th October, 1698. « On 31st October.
* Named Gerbert; he displayed much activity and much good-will to the Vaudois.
5 By decree of 11th November, 1698.
0 It was agreed upon on 15th November, 1698.
' This meeting took place on the 22d of November.
6 See Moseb, Proof Documents, No. xiii.

Chap. VIII.] HENRY ARNAUD. 117
In the council of state l opinions were divided, some pronouncing
for admission, others for rejection. The latter party argued (1),
that the petitioners were for the most part refugees, and not
Vaudois; (2), that they were too poor to be able to effect an
advantageous settlement, without assistance in the first place, which
would impoverish the country rather than enrich it; and (3), that
there would be a danger of Louis XIV. demanding their expul
sion from Wurtemberg, as he had demanded their expulsion from
Piedmont. The council decided to reject the petition of the Vau
dois delegates, until they should have furnished sufficient security
against these contingencies.
The design of thus putting them off was to get quit of them al
together. The young Duke Eberhard Louis displayed more gene
rosity than his council; the example of the Count of Neustadt had
confirnled him in his good inclinations. He wished to converse
with the framer of the report, and with the delegates; but the
latter had already departed, not that they had lost courage, nor
that a sort of puerile vexation had precipitated their departure;
but, on the contrary, they went to labour with that calm and reso
lute perseverance which gets to the end of everything, to procure
the securities which had been demanded from them.
Henry Arnaud now displayed again all the activity which he
had formerly exhibited in battle-fields; he repaired to Holland,2
and thence to England,3 obtained considerable collections, stimu
lated the zeal and activity of the Protestant powers, and was in the
highest degree successful. Urgent solicitations in favour of the
Vaudois were addressed by these powers to the Duke of Wurtem
berg ; 4 and, at the same time, advantageous proposals were made to
them by other princes.5 The Elector of Brandenburg in particular,
with inexhaustible charity, came forward to their relief. He offered
to take upon himself the burden of providing for the French refu
gees, as well as for the other inhabitants of the valleys, who might
choose to return to his dominions.6 But they were not under the
* Or the privy council.
* A letter of the States-General to the Duke of Wurtemberg, dated 26th January,
1699, shows that Arnaud was there at that time. — Archives of Stuttgard. — Mosek,
§ lxviii. 3 A letter of Arnaud to Duke Eberhard is dated from London, 22d February, 1699.
—Id. It was at this time that the best portrait which we have of him was taken,
at the bottom of which are the words, Drawn and Engraved by Van Somer, London.
4 By Holland, on 26th January, 1699; by Brandenburg, on 28th January; and
by England, on 9th February.
5 The Landgraves of Hesse-Cassel, Hesse-Darmstadt, and Hombourg ; the Counts
of Hanau and Vssemburg, &c.'
6 Ordinance of 13th March, 1699.— Theatrum Europceum, t. xv. p. 549. In his

11$ THE ISRAEL OF THE: ALPS. ['past Third'.
necessity of going so far to find an asylum. The collections made
on their behalf enabled them to bring to Wurtemberg resources
sufficient for the establishment of the projected colonies. The
duke then hesitated no longer; and notwithstanding the opposition
¦yvhich he still encountered from Lutheran intolerance, the Vaudois
were at last permitted to settle in his dominions.
A man of great activity, and at once a great diplomatist and a de
voted Christian, Walkenier, was sent by Holland, and recognized by
other Protestant states,1 as a special plenipotentiary, commissioned
to treat for the settlement of the exiles on the most advantageous
terms. His duty was admirably discharged. Serious conferences
were opened at Stuttgard on the 1st of March, 1699; and after a
long succession of reports, discussions, protests and explanations)
protocols and consultations,2 Walkenier obtained at last letters-
patent, to the following effect :3 —
1. The Vaudois received in Wurtemberg shall be subjects of
that state. {Preface.)
2. They shall enjoy perfect religious liberty. (§ i., v., vi., and xx.)
3. They shall have in each church a consistory, composed of the
pastor, the deacons, and the elders. (§ iii.)
4. They shall have the power of convoking colloques (synods),
and of receiving in them the representatives of the Vaudois colo
nies founded in the provinces of the neighbourhood ; but a com
missioner of the government shall be present at these assemblies.
The election or the dismissal of a pastor shall be submitted to the
approbation of the duke. (§ ii. and iv.)
5. They shall be bound to observe the festivals and fast-days
observed in the Lutheran Church. (§ v.)
6. Their pastors and deacons shall never be bound to answer in
letter of 21st January, he had said: "We will welcome and entertain all the French,
whoamount,it is said, to six i/zousand in number, and the Vaudois, &c, . . . having
this confidence in God, that he will be pleased to crown our good intention with
his blessing." (Mosee, § lxviii., at the end.)
1 Switzerland, England, and Brandenburg.
2 See Moser, from § lxix. to § lxxvi. These preliminary proceedings were so
long protracted, that in the interval between their commencement and their con
clusion, Walkenier repaired to Darmstadt and Tssemburg, where be obtained (on
2d May and 11th August, 1699), favourable terms for the settlement of the Vaudois,
whom he then began to introduce into these countries. This taking place on the
frontiers of Wurtemberg, led to the ultimate decision of the latter country to re.
ceive the exiles likewise. Moser even speaks of a sum of 1000 florins, destined for
their relief, and which had Berved to procure for them some venal friends. (Id.
glxxii.) 8 They were published in 1700, and republished in 1769, at the expense of the
Vaudois colonies (Synod of Heimheims, May, 1764), in virtue of the 17th article
of the Synod of Knittlingen (May, 1759). I give here only the principal provisions.

Chat. VIII.] CONDITIONS OF LETTERS-PATENT. 11 9
judicial proceedings as witnesses, concerning those things which
have been committed to them under the seal of confession, except
in regard to the crime of high treason. (§ vii.)
7. One-half of the property of those who snail die without heirs.
during the first twenty years of their residence in Wurtemberg,
shall be distributed among the poor of the parish in which, they
shall have died. (§ viii.)
8. Certain exemptions from taxes shall be granted them for
some years, which shall be specified when they shall be settled.
(§ ix. and xii.)
9. Not being able to point. out precisely the localities which
they are to occupy, we assign them as their place of settlement the
bailiwicks of Maulbronn and Leonberg ; bestowing upon them, as a
free gift, all the lands which, since the great war of Germany,1 have
lain uncultivated and unoccupied in these districts. (§ ix. and x.)
10. They shall choose in these lands the places most agreeable
to themselves for the construction of villages; and these villages
shall enjoy the same privileges with the other villages of the
country. (§ xiii., xiv., and xv.)
11. They shall be exempt from taxes and compulsory services
for ten years. (§ xiii., xiv., and xv.)
12. For the administration of justice and of municipal affairs,
they are authorized to establish, in each community, a secular
council, to be chosen by .the majority of votes, and to consist of a
mayor, a sheriff, and such other persons as shall be deemed most
capable. The council shall pronounce judgment in regard to the
sum or value of twenty florins ; but the parties shall have it in
their power to appeal to the council of the bailiwick, to which
cases of greater importance shall be carried at once. In other
respects, the judicial usages of the country shall be followed. (§
xvi. and xvii.)
13. They and their descendants shall have power to remove
themselves and their families whithersoever they will, without
being subjected to the right of recal,2 nor to any other kind of
bondage. (§ xviii.)
14. No foreigner shall have the power of settling in the colonies
which they have founded, without their consent and ours. (§ xix.)
15. They are permitted to trade throughout the whole of the
1 The Thirty Years' War, which lasted from 1618 to 1648, and was terminated by
the Peace of Westphalia, concluded on 24th October of the latter year, and subse
quently ratified in 1654 by the Diet of Ratisbon.
2 This right of recal, a species of serfdom, or adstriction to the soil, still exists in
Swabia, under the name of leibeigenschafft.

1 20 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. [part Thibd.
duke's dominions, and to import into them, or export from them,
all sorts of merchandise, upon payment of the duties fixed by law.
(§ xxi., xxii.)
16. Their artisans shall not be obliged to take out a ticket of
their craft1 in the presence of foreign judges. They shall have
power to elect judges and inspectors for themselves by majority of
votes. (§ xxii. art. 1 and 4.)
17. They shall be empowered to establish such markets and
fairs as they shall have need for. (§ xxii. art. 6.)
The same privileges shall be accorded to the Vaudois who shall
settle in the lordship of Gochsheim. (§ xxiii.) 2
These conditions were in great part copied from those which, at
Walkenier's instance, the Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt had just
granted to the Vaudois. They served as the basis or model for
almost all the other concessions of this kind which took place in
the neighbouring states.
The eighth article of these letters -patent bore, that in order to
aid the colonies in the maintenance of their pastors, schoolmasters,
and physicians, a certain extent of the territory granted to them
should belong to the community, and should be perpetually exempt
from public burdens. It is easy enough to perceive, however,
that this assistance must have been insufficient for people who had
everything to create, and who themselves lived at this time on the
bounty of foreigners. But Amaud, during his stay in London,
had provided against this difficulty. He had obtained the consent
of the government to the proportional division, with the colonies
now being founded, of the sums granted from the civil list to the
pastors of the valleys. These pensions, which amounted at first
to £555 sterling,3 were interrupted under the reign of George I.
1 Maitrise, a diploma of ability.
2 The impression of 1769 consists of 28 folio pages.
3 The following document affords evidence of the amount, and explains the origin
of this supply. " To the Lords of the Treasury.*— Their majesties King William
and Queen Mary, of glorious memory, having obtained from the Duke of Savoy,
when he joined the party of the allies, the concession to the Vaudois of the free
exercise of their religion, .... and their said majesties having found that the
churches of the valleys were too poor to provide for the maintenance of their min
isters and schoolmasters,  graciously appointed for their maintenance an
annual pension of £550 sterling, which pension was regularly paid .... until the
death of Queen Anne.t
" . . . . The foreign pastors having left these valleys along with the French, in
the year 1699, settled in Wittemberg, &c, .... and there formed seven churches,
the seven pastors and seven schoolmasters of which continued to receive their
proportion of the said pension of £555 sterling.
" .... It is proposed to put them on a permanent and stable footing, by
* [A translation of a translation], f Which took place on 12th August, 1711.

Chap. VIII.] PENSION FROM BRITAIN. 121
The Vaudois sought them again from him, sending a deputy for
this purpose to London in 1716, who spent almost a year there in
the prosecution of this affair. This deputy was Montoux,1 pastor
at Bohrbach, in the country of Hesse-Darmstadt. At his instance,
the landgrave of that country himself wrote to the King of Eng
land, and received the following reply: — "I have for a long time
intended to re-establish the pensions of the said churches ; but
various difficulties which have arisen with regard to the fund on
which it was proposed to place them, have hitherto prevented this
affair from being brought to a conclusion. I hope that next session
of parliament will not pass without terminating it," <fec.2
The king then caused a report to be made to him concerning
this matter. In that report it is said, " Agreeably to your majesty's
orders, notified to me by your secretary, Lord Stanhope, I have
examined, <fec. ..." and the conclusion is as follows: "The
funds of the Savoy hospital, which has been suppressed, are now
at your majesty's disposal, and your majesty can lawfully give
therefrom the payment desired, or dispose of them otherwise, as
may please your majesty.3 George I. charged Lord Stanhope to
speak of this subject in parliament, which that minister did in the
following terms : — " My Lords, — The king has been most humbly
petitioned, for some time past, to continue to the poor Vaudois the
pensions which they had during the preceding reigns, for the sup
port of their ministers and schoolmasters; and that the pensions
should be paid to them from the rents of the Savoy hospital. This
matter having been laid before the attorney-general, and his report
having been taken into consideration by his majesty, he commands
me to state to you on his part, that it is his gracious pleasure that
placing them upon a fund destined for pious uses ; and there is none more proper for
this purpose than that of the Hospital of the Savoy, which was abolished and united
to the exchequer under the last reign. On which point the attorney-general, . . .
having been consulted on the part of the king, gave the most favourable reply
possible, on 30th May, 1716, of which a translation is here subjoined;* where
upon his majesty sent the annexed order* to the treasury for the establishment
of the pensions in question upon the said fund. This order not having been exe
cuted, because of the king's departure for Germany, it is now humbly prayed that
it may be carried into execution 
" Signed, for the Vaudois colonies of Germany, by Montoux, their deputy at
London for the promotion of their suit."
(This document is in the old consistorial record of Durmentz, now forming part
of the MSS. of the late M. Appia of Frankfort.)
1 It is his petition which the preceding note contains.
2 Letter of George I. to the Prince Ernest Louis, Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt.
(State Archives of Darmstadt.)
3 Signed, Edward Norlhey, Whitehall, ZWi May, and afterwards 9th June, 1726
(this ought to be 1716). — Paper copied into the Record of Darmstadt.
* All these papers are joined together at the back.
Vol. ii. 76

122 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. [Paet Third.
you present him with the necessary warrants for making over the
sum of £555 sterling per annum, from the rents of the Savoy
hospital, to be at the disposal of the Archbishop of Canterbury, the
Bishop of London, the Bishop of Carlisle, Lord High Almoner to
his majesty, and Messrs. Wil and Chetynd,1 to be distributed by
them as they deem best for the support of the before-mentioned
Vaudois ministers and schoolmasters."
It would seem that parliament was favourable to this proposal ;
for, in the beginning of the following year, the banker Schetynd
wrote to the Vaudois colonies and to the valleys, to announce that
the supplies would speedily be sent, according to the plan which
the Bishop of London, the Archbishop of Canterbury, &c, had
adopted for their distribution.2 There remained some arrears,
which were afterwards obtained.
I have thought it proper to give these details even before record
ing the establishment of the colonies to which they relate, in ord r
not to interrupt their history by falling back upon facts so remote
from the present state of things.
1 The exact orthography of these proper names ought, I believe, to be Wilns or
Milns, and Schetuynd or Chetwynd. So at least they seemed to me to be written
in the autograph signatures of these persons.
2 These subsidies, under the reign of George II., amounted only to £500 sterling.
Their distribution took place half-yearly, in the manner following : —
£500 sterling per annum, for six months  £250 0 0
Deduct, Tax on the Civil List, 6d. per pound . . .£650
„ Payer's Fee  6 5 0
Land Tax  37 10 0
Total Deduction  50 0 0
Remaining to be divided  200 0 0
To each of the fifteen ministers of the valleys,* £6 11 0 = 90 13 9 )
To each of the thirteen schoolmasters, . 3 0 5^=39 5 11}) " *
To each of the seven ministers in Germany, f 6 13 4 = 46 13 4 i
To each of the seven schoolmasters . . 3 6 8 = 23 6 8 j 
Balanced  £200 0 0+
(From the Records of Darmstadt.)
These supplies were again suspended from 1765 to 1767, and also in 1804; but,
upon new petitions, payment was again resumed.
* The number remaining was six in 1699; it was thirteen in 1700; fourteen iu 1710; and fifteen
on 25th March, 1728, the date of this paper.
t These seven ministers were those of — 1, Gros Villae; 2, Duembntz; S, Pinacbe, 4,
Lccerna or Wurmrkeg (pronounced Voorberg), iu Wurtemberg; 6, the minister of Rohrbacii,
Wembach, and Heim, in the grand-duchy of Hesse-Darms adt; 6, the minister of Waldorf,
near Frankfort; and, 7, the minister of Dorkholzhacskn, near Homburg. The pastors of Wal-
denberg, Fe'rouse, Nordliausen, and New Ernestedt, received a small pension from Holland,
which will be noticed in the following chapters.
% The sum total amounts, in strict accuracy, only to £109, 195. S\d.

Chap. IX.] THE BAILIE OF MAULBRONN. 12.1

CHAPTER IX.
HISTORY OF THE VAUDOIS COLONIES FOUNDED IN WURTEM
BERG AFTER THE EXPULSION OF 1698. — PART SECOND.1
(a.d. 1689 TO a.d. 1824.)
The Vaudois settlers in the bailiwick of Maulbronn — The settlement at Perouse,
in the bailiwick of Leonberg — Pinaehe, in the bailiwick of Wiermsheim — Lu
cerna or Wurmberg — Serves — Chorres and Sengach, in the bailiwick of Diir-
mentz — Mulacre — Schonberg — Reminiscences of Arnaud — Grand Villar, near
Knittlingen — Disinclination of some of the exiles to settle in any place away
from their own valleys — Remonstrances of Walkenier — New Engstedt, in the
bailiwick of Calw — Another emigration from the valley of Pragela — Settlement
at Nordhausen — Habits of the people — Endeavours made to induce the Vaudois
churches to unite themselves with the National Lutheran Church — Introduction
of the German language in their public services — The union with the National
Church is finally accomplished.
Six months before the letters-patent were signed which authorized
the Vaudois to settle in Wurtemberg,2 the greater part of them
had already arrived in the bailiwick of Maulbronn.8 They had
been lodged for the meantime in the redoubts and blockhouses^
erected at the time of the last French invasion.5 The States-gene
ral of Holland had furnished money to assist in their settlement.6
Tn the month of July, 1699, Walkenier had begun to distribute a
part of it amongst the settlers.7 The worthy bailie of Maulbronn
says, in a report dated in the month of August, that in the com
munity of Binache men, women, and children had made a very
good beginning; that they had grubbed up the fields which had
lain uncultivated for half a century, and which might now, there
fore, receive the seed before the end of the year. He praises their
way of proceeding in agriculture, and their industrious and orderly
1 Authorities. — The same as in the preceding chapter.
2 These letters-patent are dated in September, 1699; and on the 18th of April
eighty Vaudois had already arrived. Seventeen hundred arrived on the 12th of May.
3 The list of the Vaudois families which had arrived in that bailiwick on the
1st of April, 1699, is printed by Hahn (Proof Documents, No. iv.), p. 774.
* An isolated fortification, built of wood. s The invasion by Louvois, in 1688.
s Erman and Reclam say 10,000 crowns.
7 To every man above sixteen years, three florins ; to every woman, and to boys
and girls between ten and sixteen years, two florins ; and to every child under ten
years, one florin. The Grand Duke of Wurtemberg afterwards granted, for the
support of the Vaudois pastors, two timer of wine, fifteen sacks of spelt, and thirty-
five florins per annum ; and to every schoolmaster, two si/mri of silk and two sacks
of spelt. (Note of the Dean, or Perpetual Moderator, as he designates himself, of
the Vaudois and French Churches of«Germany, dated from Canstadt, 12th Oc
tober, 1816.)

124 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. [paet Tbieii.
behaviour, and signifies his expectation^ of happy results for the
country from their settlement there.
The autumn and winter of the first year were, however, very
trying for these poor settlers. The greater part of them had no
proper dwelling; their huts could not protect them from the cold;
and besides, they had no seed, and no cattle, and wanted many
things of the first necessity. Through the attentive kindness of
the Dutch ambassador and of the government of Wurtemberg, these
wants were gradually supplied ; and in this way the following vil
lages were erected, all of which bear names borrowed from places
in the Vaudois valleys.
In the bailiwick of Leonberg,1 there were more than 1000 ar
pents of uncultivated land in the neighbourhood of Heimsheim, and
here it was that the colony of Perouse was founded.2 It is a vil
lage of no great size, the houses of which are almost all separated
from one another by little gardens, and surrounded by orchards.
The place of worship is built upon the rising ground of the Hal-
berg, and the view is bounded upon one side by hills covered with
forests, and upon the other by an undulating and verdant plain,
which extends as far as Eltingen, where also a few Vaudois families
subsequently settled.
In the bailiwick of Wiermsheim is Pinaehe, a settlement con
sisting originally of seventeen families, which divided themselves
into three groups, in order to settle in three different spots,3 deter
mined by the extent of the lands of which they had the disposal.
Some of the surrounding communes also ceded to them some waste
lands, in order to augment their lot, This colony was one of the
most active and flourishing. The lower part of the houses is built
of stones, the middle part of bricks or of clay, all striped with raf
ters which are visible from the outside. The upper part is some
times of wood, and the roof often of thatch. Here also the horizon
is bounded by forests. The use of the patois was long retained
here after the French language had disappeared.
At a small distance to the south is the colony of Lucerna, of
which the German name is Wurmberg.* It is only of late years
1 The village of this name is celebrated as the birthplace of the philosopher
Schelling. 2 A list of names of the families which settled in this locality, and in the other
colonies of Wurtemberg, is given by Hahn, p. 233, note iii. This note terminates
as follows : — " A number of these families must have removed to other places soon
after their settlement; for there are, at the present time, scarcely seventy or
eighty Vaudois families at Perouse."
3 On the one side towards Durmentz; on the other, towards Grossen-Glappach and
Iptingen. '
4 This village is situated, I believe, in the bailiwick of Dietlingen. The want of

Crur. IX.] VAUDOIS SETTLEMENTS. 125
that it has enjoyed a place of worship. The houses are of wood;
the supporting beams project upon the outside, and are sometimes
painted black, and present to the spectator coloured lines, lozenges,
and crossings, not without some analogy to the fantastic ornaments
of savages. In a great number of German villages, however, we
meet with this peculiarity of houses seemingly tattooed. The in
habitants of this colony possess flocks of sheep and of geese, and
cultivate fruits and grain.
Between Lucerna and Finache is the hamlet of Serres. The
miserable cottages of which it is composed are scattered without
order on the side of a gently sloping hill. Here also the use of the
patois was preserved longer than the French. Some thorny shrubs
bound its paths, but the great roads are shaded by fruit-trees.
Beyond Finache, towards the valley of the Eintz, but separated
from it by a table-land covered with magnificent forests, we enter
the bailiwick of Dukmentz. Here 115 Vaudois families were to be
settled; but, besides these, ninety-six other persons still presented
themselves. These different settlers were divided on the two banks
of the Eintz; on the one side under the imposing ruins of the castle
of Loeffelstelz,1 which forms the principal feature in the landscape ;
and on the other towards Lommersheim and Ortisheim. The villages
which they erected received the names of Chorres and Sengach.
This colony had a pastor of its own, resident at Sengach. The
artisans were authorized to settle in Durmentz itself, where they
built a street, which still bears the name of the Welchstrass.2
They formed part of the church of Schonberg. This station was
called Queyras. On the opposite bank of the Eintz is Mulacre,
where a few of the Vaudois also fixed their residence. Here is to
be seen the house which Arnaud built, and in which he lived.3
This is the only place, of all that were founded by the Vaudois,
which presents anything of the • regularity and elegance of a little
town. Its situation is also extremely beautiful. On one side ex
tends a plain, sprinkled with villages, and on the other side p, chain
of hills, beyond which appear the blue and picturesque summits of
the mountains of Maulbronn.
Crossing over these hills, we arrive at Schonberg,4 formerly
maps on a large scale prevents me from giving these particulars with entire cer
tainty. Annexed to Lucerna was New Barenthal. (Manuscript cited by Hahn,
p. 233.)
1 In the patois of the country it is called Mugenstum. 2 French Street.
8 It is the last but one, on the left, in leaving the village by the road to Durlach.
4 Or Schoenenberg, i.e., beautiful mountain. The Manuscript of the Alterthve-
reins, fol. v., quoted by Hahn, p. 233, gives as annexed to Schoenberg — Corris,
Sengach, and Lommersheim.

126 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. [paet Third.
called Les Muriers, where, also, some of the companions of Arnaud
found a resting-place. He himself resided there for twenty years,1
during which he was subjected to many annoyances, and even to
odious accusations;2 but he was always sustained by his serenity
of character, and his confidence in God. Not knowing the German
language, he found himself much embarrassed at first in his new
country; but he went every day to visit his companions in exile,
and to encourage them in their labours. "God hears all languages,"
said he to them, " when prayer comes from the heart. Work on,
take courage, have confidence in him." Such were the words which
were often on his lips — the only words of his which the aged men
of that village were able to tell me, with even the measure of cer
tainty which tradition can give. His remains repose in the humble
place of worship at Schonberg, in which he so often preached the
gospel. His tomb is marked only by a flat stone, placed in front
1 He died in 1721, aged eighty years. The inventory of his goods was taken on
29th January, 1722. He left five children ; three sons, of whom Scipio succeeded
him at Schonberg, and was afterwards pastor at Gros Villar. (He had two sons, of
whom the one died at Campe, in Holland, and the other in America.) John Vin
cent was a pastor in the Vaudois valleys. William was, at the time of his father's
death, studying law in London. Arnaud had also two daughters, of whom Mar
garet was married to Joseph Rostan, at La Tour, in the valley of Lucerna ; and
Elizabeth became the wife of Philip Kolb, receiver of taxes at Bretten (or Bretheim,
the birthplace of Melancthon). All these were the children of Arnaud by his first
wife, Margaret Bastie, of La Tour. By RenAe Rebondy, his second wife, he had
no children. He had also a sister, married at St. John to a M. Gauthier. Queen
Anne gave him a pension of £226 sterling, and William III. gave him a colonel's
commission, as appears from the terms of the following commission, granted to one
of his grandsons: — "William III. . . . To Daniel Arnaud, called La Loziere,
greeting. We, confiding in your fidelity, courage, and good conduct, appoint you,
by these presents, lieutenant-colonel of the regiment of infantry in our service, of
which Henry Aenaud, Vaudois pastor, is Colonel. We appoint you, also, cap
tain of a company in the same regiment, &c. . , . Given at the Hague, the 14th
day of March, 1690, and of our reign the third year. By the king. — NOTTINGHAM."
This document (derived from the memoirs of Paul Appia, representative of the
canton of Lucerna in the general council of the Po, under the French empire) is
cited by Hahn, p. 225. The title of colonel afforded a delicate method, by which
the King of England could prevail upon Arnaud to accept the pension which he
gave him. (See the Return, dedication, fol. 12, right hand page.) I find, more
over, in the old consistorial records of Durmentz (p. 31), that a Demoiselle Arnaud,
settled in Germany, received a pension from the crown of England in 1727. It
may be .supposed that this pension was allowed to the widow of the celebrated pas
tor; for at that period the title of demoiselle was applied to married women, as weU
as to those who had never been so.
Messrs. Bracebridge and Acland have published interesting particulars concerning
the life and family of Arnaud. I have given some, hitherto unpublished, in a note
to the chapter which treats of the return of the Vaudois, and in a subsequent '
place, in the years 1704 and 1707.
¦ With regard to these, see the Archives of the Venerable Company of Pastors
of Geneva, vol. S., pp. 823, 826, 837, and vol. T., p. 15, where the accusations are
aside as disproved.

Chaf.IX.J TOMB OF ARNAUD. 127
of the pulpit, under a table which is used for the dispensation of
the Lord's Supper. Two inscriptions are engraved upon it, but
they are already almost illegible.1
The environs of Schonberg present an open and smiling land
scape, but the summit of the hill is covered with forests of beech
and pine. Passing through these, we arrive at the bailiwick of
Knittlingen, adjacent to that of Maulbronn. " Here it was,'' says
M. Monastier,2 "that, only a few leagues from the place of their
destination, the Vaudois exiles took possession of the land, by de
positing in it the remains of one of their faithful, pastors, named
Dumas, to whom death scarcely allowed time to reach a place of
refuge, there to die."
These sad and tedious emigrations were indeed attended with
many circumstances of affliction. Bands of ragged3 strangers
wearily making their way through a country of whose language
they were ignorant, were regarded with more suspicion than sym
pathy by the people among whom they came to settle.4 In many
a village the poor Vaudois were made the subjects of coarse jests,5
or were enviously repulsed from the inhospitable neighbourhood.
We shall soon see how they afterwards gradually renounced their
primitive character, and became assimilated to the German nation.

1 Around the margin of the stone is this inscription : — Sub hoc tumulo jacet
Valdensium Pedemontanorum pastor nee non militum prwfectus vener. ac. str.
Henr. Arnaud. Above an escutcheon, very coarsely traced, on the upper part of
the slab, is the following : — Nescit labi virtus; and below it, Ad utrumque paratus.
The principal inscription is as follows : — Cernis hie Arnaldi cineres, sed gesta, la-
bores, infractumque animum pingere nemo potest. MUlia in AUcphilumJessidis mili-
tat unus, unus et Ailophilum castra ducemque quatit. Obiit et Set. 1721. Ann. o&. SO.
2 ii. 163.
3 The picture, drawn by eye-witnesses in various letters (Moser, Dieterici), the
circumstances of their departure, and the fatigues of the journey, make it certain
enough how applicable this description must have been.
4 This feeling of suspicion endured for almost a century, and was owing, above
all, to the differences of religion and of race. Illustrative facts might be stated
in abundance.
5 An anecdote, selected from amongst those which are least offensive, and per
haps more authentic than many others, may give an idea of this : — An aged Vau
dois woman having bought a bacon bone to season her soup, used it for a number
of days in succession ; and the neighbours — so the story went — came and asked it
from her, one after another, saying, Coumayre, prestame un poc votre savoubaikb
(Gossip, lend me your seasoner for a little) ; so that the poor condiment made the
round of the village, bearing the common tribute of its meagre savour successively
to all the pots of the vicinity.
6 Many of the poorest communes, and of those most disinclined to receive the
Vaudois, with a view to oppose their settlement within their bounds, pretended
to cultivate, before their arrival, lands which had received no cultivation within
the memory of man, in order that the new-comers might not be able to settle upon
them, as upon the waste lands which had been granted to them.

128 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. [paet Third.
But the foundation of some other colonies still remains to be
noticed. More than 300 families arrived in the district of Maulbeonn.
They were divided into three groups. One group, towards Der-
tingen, founded the villages of Petit Villar and Pausselot, on the
elevated parts of the uneven, and by no means very fertile tract
which was to be brought into cultivation. Another group received
300 arpents of land, on the banks of the Lake of Bretheim,1 not
far from which are Balmbach and Mutschelbach,2 belonging to the
grand duchy of Baden.3 The third group remained nearer to
Knittlingen, and founded the village of Grand Villar* which be
came the most considerable of these little colonies.5
Two streets, intersecting one another in the form of a cross,
form the whole village. The place of worship is built at their
point of junction, and its front looks down that street which re
presents the support of the cross. A small steeple rises above the
entrance gate ; it has a clock, the vibrations of whose pendulum
are heard on the outside — the pulsations of time, which passes
slowly and painfully in exile, and often seems too long to the dis
tressed. The houses of this village, like the greater part of those
of the peasantry in Swabia, have only a ground floor, with small
windows and very steep roofs. The gardens, which are not remark
able for their luxuriance, are surrounded with indifferent plum
trees, the sour fruit of which the inhabitants boil with toasted
bread, and sometimes use this plum soup instead of other soup at
their meals. Grace is always said, both before and after meat, ex
cept in the public-houses and at marriage feasts. In a number of
families in which the use of the German language had already pre
vailed, this grace was long said in French, and sometimes without
being understood. " The churches of these humble villages are in
keeping with the poverty of the inhabitants ; but their doors are
never closed, and the traveller may enter at all times, either for
contemplation or for repose. The Bible is to be found in every
house; and a work entitled La Nourriture de I'Ame6 was in former
days the most popular book of devotion.
A few cottages detached from Gros Villar form the hamlet of
1 Or Bretten, the birthplace of Melancthon. Not far off is Gochsheim, where
also a number of Vaudois were settled. (MS. cited by Hahn, p. 233.)
2 Balmbrook and Shellbrook.
3 Mutschelbach belonged to Wurtemberg till 1805.
4 Or Gros Villar. This name, as well as that of Petit Villar, was given by the
Vaudois to theBe new villages, in remembrance of Villar Pinaehe and Villar P6-
rouse, from which they had come.
6 Its population amounted to 1000 inhabitants. (Monastier, ii. 164, note i.)
6 The Food of the Soul.

Chap. IX.] WALKENIER'S CIRCULAR. 129
Tiphbach,1 where there exists now only one family of Vaudois
origin. Two years after their expulsion, however, and when these expa
triated families had founded the colonies above mentioned, there still
remained a considerable number of persons without any fixed place
of abode. Many hoped to be able soon to return to the valleys, as
had been the case two years and a half after the expulsion of 1686.
A few even bent their steps thither again, and were made fast in
the bonds of apostasy. The firm and severe language of Walkenier
put a stop to these scandals. He published a circular, in which he
said, "We certify all the French -and Vaudois who are under our
direction, that having learned with sensible displeasure .... that
numbers run about from place to place, and that others of them
return, some to France and some to Fiedmont, . . . . &c 
that they must renounce all such thoughts in the present state of
things. For those who have returned, have been obliged on their
arrival to abjure their religion, and to promise that they will never
embrace it again, declaring that they look upon their ancestors as
persons damned to all eternity, . , . publicly asking pardon before
the Popish churches, in their shirts, with their feet bare, a taper
in their hand, a rope about their neck, and other similar indig
nities  We therefore command the mayors and sheriffs of
each colony to grant no succour to any one whomsoever, .... until
they shall first have solemnly taken oath to continue faithful all
their lives to God and to our holy religion  " 2
Through these remonstrances, the last of the emigrants, who were
still scattered and wandering from place to place, were induced to
assemble and settle. The most productive • lands were already
occupied. "But what matters it," said they, in their obstinate
love of their own country, "what lands they give us? Be they
great or small, fertile or arid, these temporary possessions will suf
fice us very well for a few days, and sooner or later we will return
to our valleys." 3 They were located in the bailiwick of Calw. In
1 Or rather Diefenbach. This village, as well as Gochsheim, was annexed to
Grand Villar till 1795.
2 This circular is dated from Frankfort, 10th May, 1700, and is to be found in
the State Archives of Hesse-Darmstadt, as well as amongst the papers of several
Vaudois colonies.
3 These particulars have been gathered from the lips of a woman almost 100 years
of age, who had herself known many of the first emigrants. " How often have I
heard our old people tell," said she, "that in their days, in the midst of the first
labours of colonization, if they had but heard an air of their own country acciden
tally sung by their children, it would have made them stop short in their work,
and shed tears. In the evening we used to assemble in one of our straw huts (for
the houses were not then built), and there wo spoke about our own country, which
Vol. ii. »»

130 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. [part Tiiied.
the midst of the Black Forest, on a table-land entirely covered with
pines, an extensive cleared space is to be seen, of treeless meadows,
in the centre of which are some humble cottages with little gardens
around them. It is the last of the Vaudois colonies that were
founded in Wurtemberg after the expulsion of 1698. The settlers
called it Bourset, after a village of that name situated in the valley
of Pragela ; it is now known, however, by the name of New Eng-
stedt, which it has derived from a neighbouring village. Its
inhabitants found their chief resource in the manufactories of Calw,
in which they obtained work. They afterwards made upon their
own account large quantities of stockings, by means of a knitting
frame. This branch of industry is now almost extinct. Pastor
Keller, the author of a little German work, which exhibits no very
friendly feeling towards the Vaudois, was minister of the parish of
New Engstedt for a few years.1
The administration of these little communities was confided to
a syndic and a deacon, who were usually also elders of the church.
Besides these, there were two other elders, and all together bore
the name of justiciers. Either the pastor or the syndic presided in
the consistory. At Pinaehe, a syndic, six councillors, a secretary,
and a serjeant2 were elected. At Grand Villar it was the same,
except that the number of councillors was reduced to four.
Four years after the foundation of these colonies, new events
forced 1000 persons more to leave the valley of Pragela. These
also were received in Wurtemberg, and subsequently located in the
district of Heilbeonn, near Brackenheim. This situation offered
advantages very superior to those of the other colonies. The land
was capable of growing vines and mulberries ; and was not so im
mediately in the vicinity of great forests. Holland furnished the
means of building a church and a school. Some of the settlers,
being natives of Usseaux, some of Mentoules, and some of Fenes-
trelles,3 they each wished to give to the village which they built
the uninviting appearance and unproductive soil of the lands we had to break up
made us regret the more. Sometimes the supper hour passed in these conversa
tions; for our grief prevented us from feeling hunger; and there, as we called to
remembrance the events of our history, some prayed, and others deplored their
fate; and some, with their elbows on their knees, held their head with both hands ;
and you might see the tears run from their eyes, whilst they wept without ceas
ing." The worthy old woman from whom I derived this account, nearly twenty
years since, had then thirty-one grandchildren, and six great-grandchildren.
1 During this time he was always at law with his parish, about a field which he
desired to appropriate to himself, and which he could not obtain. (Note commu
nicated by the late M. Mondon, the last of the Vaudois pastors at Grand Villar.)
2 A public functionary, combining the characters of officer of court, constable
and rural policeman.
3 A, part of the inhabitants who forsook these same villages founded the colony

Chap. IX.] COLONY IN HEILBRONN. 131
the name of that in which they were born; but as their lands were
situated between Nordheim and Hausen, they agreed that it should
bear the name of Nordhausen. For some time, however, the upper
part of the village received amongst its inhabitants the name of
Mentoul, and the lower part of Fenestrelle. There are districts in
the neighbourhood which bear the names of other localities in the
Vaudois valleys, as Lanvers, Les Vignes, La Cartira, Le Saret, La
Giourna; and there are some with names derived from the Bible,
as Goshen and Horeb.
This colony is situated in a pleasant little valley, surrounded on
one side by vineyards, and by orchards on the other. The bottom
of the valley is occupied with meadows, separated by rows of wil
lows. The climate is mild, and there is little snow in winter ; the
roofs of the houses are, therefore, less steep in their slope than in
other localities. It is richer than any other of the colonies which
we have seen, and is the only one which can be considered as en
tirely Vaudois; for it cannot be denied that the majority of the
exiles of 1698 were French refugees. The parish of Nordhausen
was not erected till 1703.1 Here the traces of Vaudois origin have
been most perfectly retained, in the costume and accent of the
people. Here has been preserved, as in the Vaudois valleys, the
custom of presenting to the guests at a marriage festival, a small
piece of ribbon, known by the name of a livery. The very profiles
of the people often bear some resemblance to the Italian type.
Keener eyes, darker hair, and features less expanded, generally
form the characteristics by which these inheritors of a warmer
blood, still telling of a southern sun, may, for a long time, be recog
nized in the midst of a German population.
One thing which must have contributed much to maintain their
national' peculiarities, was the care which these emigrants leng took
to contract marriages only amongst themselves, and the difficulty
which they even found of being admitted into other families. They
were accustomed also to meet often for conversation regarding
of Waldensberg, in Hanau, in the principality of Yssemburg. Some account will
be given of it in next chapter.
1 The emigrants arrived there under the guidance of their pastor, John Martin.
(NotebyM. Schmidt, pastor of 'Waldensberg, 5th June, 1824.) But it would seem that
this minister did not long survive his banishment; for the first pastor of Nord
hausen who is mentioned is M. G eymar. (Records of Nordhausen, consulted in 1833 . )
This colony, with Perouse and New Engstedt, did not participate in the English
subsidies; but its pastors received a pension of 200 francs from Holland. The
French colony of Canstadt was indebted to the same quarter for the support of its
pastor. .(MS. paper by M. Archausser, pastor of the French churches of Canstadt
and Ludicigsburg.) This pension was afterwards withdrawn. Application was
then made to the Duke of Wurtemberg, who granted eighty -five florins per annum
to the pastor, and forty or fifty florins to the schoolmaster.

132 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. [rAarTmau.
former days. The traveller who came from their own land was
asked many questions concerning the life which the people led
there, the aspect of the country, and the value of land. They in
troduced into Germany the culture of the mulberry and the potato,
the latter of which would, no doubt, have become general without
them, but which was then little known.1 Some of their com
munities possess flocks of 100 or 200 sheep. The profit of these
flocks is ordinarily farmed at a fixed rent. The peasants still wear
little leathern caps, such as may be seen in the portraits of Luther
and Calvin on the heads of these Eeformers. They have no forests,
but they have the right to gather dry branches and dead wood in
the neighbouring forests. Some of these forests contain stags, roc-
bucks, and wild boars. Hence in every village may be seen a
hostelry with the sign of the stag.
During the wars of Napoleon, the inhabitants of these peaceful
colonies were often chosen to serve as interpreters to the French,
and when the use of the French language was lost, the patois of the
Alps was still spoken in the domestic intercourse of families; but
a large number of German words and phrases were soon mingled
with it. At the present day the primitive idiom is completely for
gotten, except by the aged; whereas at first there were instances
of the German children of the neighbourhood learning and speak
ing it. The device of the Vaudois, a lamp surrounded with stars,
is still painted on the pulpits of some of the churches,2 but the only
language now heard in them is that of the adopted country.
The Grand Consistory of Stuttgard had always earnestly desired
to accomplish a union of the Vaudois with the National Church ¦?
indeed, they had been received into Wurtemberg only upon their
declaration that they were not Calvinists, and in the expectation
1 In 1710 the German physicians still considered potatoes as injurious to health.
A Vaudois, named Signoret, brought 200 of them to Arnaud, Avho cultivated them
at Schoenberg (in 1701), and afterwards sent some of tbem to each Vaudois colony.
(Letter of Arnaud, dated from Les Muriers de Schonberg, 24th November, 1710
quoted by Hahn, pp. 231, 232, with many other particulars.) We read in Moser
(§ lxxvii.), that the Duke of Wurtemberg having caused 200 mulberry trees to be
bought, in order to be sold again to the Vaudois, the Vaudois refused to take them.
But this only proves how well they understood the cultivation of that tree, which
requires a preparation of the ground beforehand ; and the name of Les Muriers,
given to a place at Schoenberg, sufficiently attests the interest which they took in
it. They extended the cultivation of the vine also to Nordhausen and Gros Villar
2 Particularly at Grand Villar and Petit Villar, Balinbach, and Waldorf. (But
this observation refers to 1833.)
3 " At first there were Vaudois families in almost all the villages of the bailiwick
of Maulbronn. Those in which they were most numerous were Oetisheim, Schmiche
Oelbronn, Kaisersweiher, &c." (MS. cited by Hahn, p. 233.) These scattered
families were the first to join the National Church.

CiiAr..lX.] VAUDOIS AND LUTHERAN CHURCHES. 133
that they might one day be induced to join the ranks of Luther-
anism. These two branches of the same stem were destined to
approach one another more nearly in their further growth; and
now they intermingle their foliage. The union of the two churches
is now only a question of ritual uniformity, rather than of doctrinal
differences. But at first it was not so.
Promises and threats were employed in succession, to induce the
particular consistories of the Vaudois churches to acknowledge the
ecclesiastical jurisdiction of the Lutheran consistory. As long as
Wurtemberg was governed by Catholic princes — which was till
1797 — the government of that country had no interest in favour
ing the one more than the other. Under the reign of Frederic,1
the first Lutheran sovereign, some of the French pastors minister
ing in the Vaudois colonies were induced to sign a petition, in
which they set forth that the employment of the German language
having now become most general among their parishioners in the
ordinary intercourse of their neighbourhoods, it would be a proper
thing to introduce it in public instruction and in preaching. The
government replied that his majesty would permit the introduction
of the German language in the colonies, if it were not opposed by
aDy of the Vaudois. But this qualifying clause was not made
public. The Dean of Stuttgard only announced that the introduc
tion of this language was authorized, and he ordered that religious
services should thenceforth be everywhere conducted in German.
The king was then at Ludwigsburg; some of the Vaudois com
plained to him, and Frederic ordered that the use of the French lan
guage should be immediately resumed.2 He even added an express
prohibition of all innovation, and a, severe admonition addressed
to those who had taken upon them to introduce these changes.
In 1806, it was merely granted, as a thing pertaining to regu
larity, that the particular administrations of each colony should be
placed under those of their respective bailiwicks. This was at once
to subordinate the Protestant to the Lutheran consistories. In
1808, it was ordained that all civil registers, then intrusted by the
state to the pastors, should be kept in German. The Vaudois,
however, had still their General Bean? who maintained the ap
parent integrity of their ecclesiastical constitution. But after the
1 Frederic I., who obtained the title of King, in virtue of the treaty of Presburg,
in 1805.
2 This prince had passed his youth at Montbeliard (till he was 10 years old), and at
Lausanne (till he was 18). He was very well acquainted with the French language,
loved the Reformed Church, and was not displeased to see both churches flourishing
in his dominions.
3 Called Moderator in their first Synodal Acts.

134 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. [i-aut Tiiihd.
death of Frederic, and the accession of William I. to the throne,
new attempts were made to gemianize the Vaudois churches.
This was first done by favouring mixed marriages between Vaudois
and Lutherans ; but the spirit of nationality was still too strong in
the Vaudois to be overcome by this means. The schoolmasters
were next requested to teach the German language along with the
French; and finally, as their maintenance, along with- that of the
pastors, was too heavy a burden for these poor colonial parishes, an
offer was made of provision for all this, if they would accept Ger
man pastors ; but the reply was an unanimous refusal. — " We will
rather work with our hands," said the colonists, " to support our
pastors and teachers, than show ourselves so forgetful of our ances
tors, and cease to be their children." " Is not this in bad feeling?"
it was said on the other hand. " Is not this to despise the king's
kindness 1 Do not these southerners x thus display their haughty and
obstinate character 1" Such were the sentiments with which that
refusal was listened to when it reached the ears of those who stood
around the throne.2 At last an assembly of the states, held at
Stuttgard, in 1821, decided that a sum of 12,000 florins should be
allowed annually to the ecclesiastical administration of the country,
for the relief of those Vaudois churches which had given up, or
should yet give up, to that administration the right of choosing
their pastors and schoolmasters.
Then began a period of annoyance and agitation, resistance and
manoeuvre of every kind, the design being to induce each of these
little colonies to conclude a separate arrangement for itself upon
this basis. The pastors and schoolmasters, who alone were to profit
by the 12,000 florins, almost everywhere, and with very few excep
tions,3 strongly recommended compliance with the terms proposed.
The people alone resisted; but although they had the right of send
ing lay deputies to the synods, the difficulty which a countryman
always feels in expressing himself on questions which are hot fami
liar to him, and the silence to which he is reduced by the first
observations made in opposition to what he says, paralyzed their
energies in that sphere.
The last general synod of the Vaudois churches in Wurtemberg
was held at Stuttgard in 1823.4 Much was said about effecting a
1 Welches, an expression of contempt employed in Germany against the French.
2 1 owe the reply of the Vaudois, and the observations which follow, to a privy
councillor, who himself took part in these events.
3 The schoolmaster of Nordhausen, for example, by name Clapier, far from seek
ing this augmentation of his salary, refused to receive it, when the germanization
of the Vaudois churches had been resolved upon by the Synod of 1823.
4 One of the members of that assembly said to me, " The last really free synod

Cwp.IX.] CHANGE OF- PASTORS. 135
fusion of the two Protestant churches into one, under the common
name of Evangelical, as had already been done in Baden. The
Vaudois deputies said that they were very far from being opposed
to that union, but that they wished to preserve the use of the
French language in their churches. " But," they were asked, " are
you not obliged to make use of the German language every day,
and will you refuse to allow it to be taught in your schools ? " —
" No," they replied. — " If then," it was urged, " you are not opposed
to the union of our churches, there remains no objection to the
Lutheran children of the villages which you inhabit going to the
same schools with yours, and vice versa. You would thus also ob
tain schoolmasters better remunerated and better superintended."
This point being gained, they were given to understand that when
all their children should know German, and these children, being
grown up, should form a new generation, there could then be no
reasonable motive for refusing to allow German sermons in their
places of worship. They dared not to protest, but they insisted
that at least no modification should be made in their worship before
the decease of their present pastors. They demanded also the pre
servation of the same discipline, and stipulated for the translation
of their religious books into German for the use of the new gene
ration. In consequence of these arrangements, each parish came to un
dergo the change singly on the death of its pastor; but the greater
part of them made only a conditional renunciation of their right
of election. Finache had given up the right only for one time;
these words were not inserted in the deed of renunciation, and the
right was lost. Nordhausen, having built a place of worship, of
which the expense was very considerable, gave up this right on
condition that the king should pay the cost of this edifice. He
paid only a part of it, but kept the right entirely. New Engstedt
demanded that the crown should take upon itself the entire main
tenance of the pastor and schoolmaster, in order to be able to sell
the lands which had been set apart for this object, and so to pay the
debts of the commune. These conditions, also, were but partially
fulfilled. Le Villar required only the erection of a minister's house
at the expense of the government, and an annual allocation to the
minister's use of some loads of wood from the state forests ; but the
right, which was given up, was lost, and nothing was obtained in
stead. In fact, each parish made its arrangements separately, and
regret was soon felt everywhere that so much had been conceded.
was held in 1821; for in 1823 no anxiety was any longer felt as to what we
might do."

136 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. [r-AM Thwd.
Under the pretext of reforming the consistorial boundaries, these
little churches were dismembered, and the number of their pastors
was diminished.1 The revenues of the suppressed parishes proved
nearly sufficient to cover the sum of 12,000 florins, which had
been granted in order to effect these changes. The Vaudois com
plained; but it was too late. German preachers were sent to them
even before their French preachers died, and those of the French
preachers who still survived, were caused to retire, and received a
pension to spend their latter years in peace,2 whilst they beheld the
parochial duties discharged by a young German minister, who was
designated the vicar.
" It grieved us beyond expression " said an ¦ old man to me,
" when we then entered our churches, and heard in them a foreign
tongue. Numbers refused to go to them ; some absented them
selves from the communion ; almost all kept silence when other
songs than our own good old psalms were sung. There were even
some who never set foot again within their accustomed sanctuaries.
Others went a number of leagues every Sabbath, to hear a French
sermon in some great town. But ere long these pulpits also were
closed.3 There remained to us, then, nothing but our hereditary
1 Those of Lucerna, Sclionberg and Diirmentz, Sengach and Chon'es, were sup
pressed. All the ecclesiastical lands of the church of Diirmentz were sold for be
hoof of the Lutheran deanery. The seats of the church, and the pastor's houso
itself, shared the same fate. There remains only a portion of the steeple still rising
above four deserted walls, as if to attest that the Vaudois formerly had a church
there. 2 The last two pastors of Vaudois origin who enjoyed this retiring pension, were
those of Grand Villar and New Engstedt. The latter, whose name was Geymonat,
was born at Le Villar, in the valley of Lucerna. After having learned English in
the house of M. Paul Appia, then pastor at Bobi, he went to England, where he
became for the first time a communicant. Afterwards, coming to Geneva, he
learned watchmaking there, which he abandoned at the age of twenty-three years,
and competed for a bursary at Lausanne. Having obtained it, he completed his
studies there. Being subsequently called to minister in the Vaudois churches, he
died unmarried at New Engstedt, at an advanced age. His learning and talents
made his company to be desired, but his uncouth manners often repelled visitors.
He spent much in charity, but was more forward to do so in the case of strangers
than of hiB own compatriots; he even expressed himself concerning his parish
ioners in a manner not very favourable ; and his last days were spent' in complete
isolation. The pastor of Grand Villar survived him some years. He was thus the patriarch
and the last of the Vaudois ministers in Wurtemberg. He was a native of Bobi,
in the valley of Lucerna, and his name was Mondon. He had studied at Basle,
and was called to the Vaudois colonies in 1792. He died at the age of almost 100
years, in his adopted country, leaving there five children, and a memory venerated
throughout the whole neighbourhood. I regret that the tribute of gratitude,
called forth by the remembrance of his kind hospitality, can now only be paid to
his memory.
3 The French churches of Canstadt, Stuttgard, and Ludwigsburg were suppressed
at this period.

Chap. IX.] EFFECTS OF THE UNION. 137
bibles, and I can assure you," he added, "that before we admitted
into our houses the German bibles, there were in each village
assiduous conferences, which lasted more than a year, during which
meetings were held in the evenings, to examine, line by line, if all
that was contained in the new editions was really accordant with
our own old text.1 But upon being assured that they were
accordant, we were a little comforted. Besides, our children no
longer understood French. We alone had those recollections and
associations, which made the change distressful. When we shall
be no more, no one will regret the absence of an unknown language,
and of the distinctive character which was left us by our fathers."
The whole population, however, looked upon these changes with
regret.2 There resulted therefore an estrangement between the
pastor and his flock,3 and thence again a religious indifference, of
which the traces subsist to the present day. Yet it must be ac
knowledged that in many respects the union of the Vaudois
colonies at that time to the National Church was opportune —
that it put an end to many abuses, was attended with some happy
results, and would sooner or later have become inevitable. The
French language was, in fact, falling into disuetude in these little
villages, lost in the midst of a German population; the attention
of their mother-country was more and more withdrawn from them;
in the election of pastors, and more particularly in that of school
masters, there were often intrigues, divisions, and very bad choices
made. Ecclesiastical discipline had lost its power. In this matter,
consistency and regularity, at least in administration, have taken
the place of weakness and capriciousness. The schools are more
carefully conducted. All the children learn reading and arith
metic. They attend school for five hours each day, from the age
of six to that of fourteen years. Then they are confirmed, and
from fourteen to eighteen years they only attend the Sabbath-
school, where they are questioned as catechumens. Scholars from
the age often to fourteen years are also required to attend on these
religious instructions. Formerly they were caused to learn and
repeat the catechism; now they are only taught the gospel. Ex
positions, specially intended for the young, were held at first on
1 There were still, however, many poor families who did not possess the means
to purchase a bible. The German pastor in London, M. Steinkopf, a member of
a religious society for diffusing the Sacred Scriptures, zealously exerted himself to
procure bibles for them. (Note by Dean Anhaeusser.)
2 The Vaudois then numbered 3000; in 1699 there had arrived only 700 or 800.
(Same source.)
3 In some of these Vaudois parishes the people even refused, for some days at
first, to sell to the new German pastor the provisions necessary for his house, such
as milk, vegetables, and fruit.
Vol. ii. 78

138 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. [?ABT TnIED-
Sabbaths, Wednesdays, and Fridays. They are now less frequent.
Inspections and pastoral visitations, conferences and colloquies
exercise a happy influence on the state of these churches. The
service of song is better conducted than in former times. More
over, the separation which existed between the Vaudois and the
inhabitants- of the country, diminishes every clay. When the
Vaudois spoke amongst themselves a foreign tongue, they inspired
distrust. The independence of their church excited also a certain
jealousy on the part of the national church. These causes of
division have at last disappeared.
Under these external forms — important, certainly, but which are
often so remote from life — may they be enabled to preserve in its
integrity the faith which gave being to their church ! for it was
because they would yield up nothing of their faith, that their
fathers were proscribed. May the memories of the Janavels, the
Arnauds, and all the other illustrious confessors of the Crucified
One be ever preserved among them ! Above all, may their piety
endure — that best inheritance which the children of the Israel of
the Alps, in days still future, can derive from the former periods of
its history !

CHAPTER X.
HISTORY OF THE VAUDOIS COLONIES FOUNDED IN HESSE-
DARMSTADT AND OTHER PARTS OF GERMANY, IN CONSE
QUENCE OF THE EXPULSION OF 1698, AND SUBSEQUENT
EMIGRATIONS.1
(A.D. 1698 TO A.D. 1818.)
Application to the Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt in 1686 — Letters-patent autho
rizing the settlement of Vaudois in Hesse-Darmstadt in 1699 — Description of
the Vaudois villages — Painful consequences of the French Revolution — Emigra
tions to America— Vaudois settlements in the grand duchy'of Baden — Vau
dois settlement of Waldensberg, in Hanau — Vaudois colony of DomJwlzhausen,
near Homburg — Minor settlements.
At the time of their first expulsion, in 1686, the Vaudois had
made application to the Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt, with the
view of obtaining an asylum in his dominions. They suffered for
their religious opinions, for their attachment to the gospel, and
1 A.UTHOEIT1ES. — The same as in Part III., Chapter VIII., except Moser, Keller,
and Dieterici; with the addition of some documents, which are indicated at the
bottom of the pages.

Cuap. X.] PERSECUTIONS OF LOUIS XIV. 139
because of the regard which they had to their conscientious con
victions; and, in the confidence of their sincere faith, they did not
hesitate to say in their petition: — "As the ark of the covenant,
when it was received into the house of Obededom, brought great
blessings upon him and upon all his house, so every Christian
suffering for the truth, that is received by your most serene high
ness, will infallibly bring blessings from heaven upon your sacred
person and your most serene family."1 The faculty of theology
of Giesen was called to give its judgment concerning their ad
mission. It decided that they should be admitted, on condition
that they should avoid all religious controversy, and that they
should acknowledge the sovereign as head of the church (Summus
Episcopus), without, however, being required to make any modifi
cation of their confession of faith.2
The reader has already been informed how these poor exiles
afterwards returned to their own country in 1689 ; how they were
re-established there in 1692; what part they took in the war
which Victor Amadeus waged against France; and what welcome
the French refugees, proscribed by Louis XIV. in 1685 and sub
sequent years, received in the valleys, with the consent and even
the express encouragement of the Duke of Savoy. But after the
duke had made peace for himself with the King of France, the
whole aspect of things was changed; the influence of Louis XIV.
was again in the ascendant, and the persecutions which he directed
against his Protestant subjects of the valleys of Pragela, La Doire,
and Bardoneche, awakened the just fears of their brethren in the
neighbouring valleys, under the dominion of the Duke of Savoy.
Then one of those Vaudois pastors, who were soon to be proscribed,
wrote to the Landgrave of Hesse -Darmstadt a letter, in which ho
said" — "My lord, things have so changed in this country, that the
greater part of those who fear God think only of leaving it, and
seeking a retreat elsewhere. Each has his own intention, and mine
is simply to take a few good families with me, and to retire into
the dominions of your highness."3
This design, voluntarily conceived, was soon to be hastened to
compulsory execution. The edict of 1st July, 1698, by which
1 State Archives of Darmstadt. This document bears no date, as is the case
generally with all the ancient petitions of the Vaudois, whether in Piedmont or in
their colonies. The date of the petition is often to be discovered only from that
of the reply to it.
2 This report is dated 4th September, 1688, and is quoted by Hahn, p. 241 (from
a manuscript notice of it).
' This letter is dated from the Val Lucerna, the 25th of October, 1696, and is
signed by Papon, who was then pastor at Roclieplate and Prarusting. Transcribed
from the State Archives of Hesse- Darmstadt.

140 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPo. L^etThied.
Victor Amadeus banished from his dominions all Protestants of
French origin, gave a complete triumph to the persecuting in
fluence of Louis XIV.; and the author of this letter, along with
six other ministers of the Vaudois valleys, were obliged to leave
the country. A great number of the inhabitants of the country,
who had allied themselves to the French refugees, as well as the
refugees themselves, and all foreigners who happened to be in the
valleys, found themselves under the necessity of leaving the domi
nions of Savoy in the autumn of 1698. The greater part of the,:C
exiles passed the following winter in Switzerland, and in the
spring of 1699 resumed their designs of colonization in Germany.
We have already seen how a part of these emigrants settled in
Wurtemberg; but the first grants made to them were in Hesse-
Darmstadt. These grants, signed 1 by the Landgrave Ernest Louis,
served as a model for those which they afterwards obtained from
Eberhard Louis, Grand Duke of Wurtemberg. The following
were the terms of the letters patent which they obtained from the
landgrave :'-' —
" His Britannic majesty, and their high mightinesses the States-
General of the United Provinces of the Netherlands, having in a
very particular manner recommended to us the Vaudois who left
the valleys of Piedmont in the month of September last (1698), in
consequence of an express order of his royal highness the Duke
of Savoy, and some electors and Protestant princes of the empire
having afterwards written to us very strongly in their favour, and
the Sieur Peter Walkenier, in his capacity of envoy extraordinary
of their high mightinesses, having made application to us on the
same subject;
"And we, being moved with lively compassion in beholding that
people wandering about, despoiled of everything, and in quest of a
retreat and asylum in Germany, have resolved, in the exercise of
our sovereign power, and with the advice of our council, to set
apart for them a portion of our dominions, in which they may be
settled, and received under our protection. ... So that no
one shall have any title to disquiet or vex them in any way what
ever, whilst they conscientiously observe our orders, and submit
themselves to our laws, conformably to the privileges which it is
our good pleasure to grant them in the articles following : —
"I. They, and their descendants for ever, shall enjoy the free
exercise of their religion. . , . They shall have the right of
» On 22d April (2d May), 1699.
¦ According to the second edition, printed at Darmstadt in 1734 (a quarto of
eight leaves, not paged).

Chaf.x] THE GEltMAN LETTERS-PATENT. 141
conducting their worship in French, Italian, or German, . . .
in their churches or houses, . . . preaching the word of God
. . . according to the rules of their own Discipline.
"II. They shall have the power of choosing as many pastors and
schoolmasters as are requisite for them, and of calling them, by
their own synod, from whencesoever they think fit. The pastors
shall take the oath of fidelity to the landgrave, and shall be in
ducted by a commissioner of the government.
"III. Each parish shall be entitled to have its consistory (con-
ventum ecclesiasticum), composed of elders, deacons, and the pastor.
"IV. They shall have synods 'to maintain good order, to ter
minate disputes, ... to suspend, depose, or dismiss pastors of
heterodox doctrine or of scandalous life;' all in accordance with
their own discipline, and with the approbation of the government.
"V. They shall be entitled to hold general synods, composed of
representatives of all the German colonies, in whatsoever state they
may be founded, and wheresoever the synod may be held. The
landgrave reserves to himself the right of sending a commissioner.
"VI. 'Neither they, nor their descendants, born, or to be born,
shall ever be obliged, under any pretext whatsoever1, to recognize
any other customs than those which belong to themselves, or
any other ecclesiastical government than that of their own Disci-
pline.' "VII. Their pastors shall have power to visit with full freedom
all sick persons of their own nation, in whatsoever part of our
dominions they may be, ' showing the ordinary civilities to the
pastor of the place.' The same authorization is granted as to the
visiting of prisoners.
"VIII. 1 Their pastors and deacons shall never be required to
answer in courts of justice, as witnesses, concerning things which
may have been revealed to them in secret, 'or in their ecclesiastical
assemblies, sub sigillo confessiords1, except in case of the crime of
high treason.
"IX. For the administration of justice, they shall have the right
to establish amongst themselves a secular council, composed of
mayors and sheriffs, with other capable persons, elected by them
and approved by us. This council shall have power of deciding
without appeal in regard to sums not exceeding fifty florins. It is
our pleasure also t/iat it take cognizance of their criminal cases, and
pronounce sentence in our name; but the sentence shall not be
carried into execution without our ratification, ... we re
serving to ourselves the right of pardon. No seizure shall take
1 This number is marked thus, IIX. in the original.

142 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. [PautTiiied.
place of the person or goods of any Vaudois, without the sentence
of the aforesaid council.
X. Besides this council, which shall also regulate and administer
matters of police according to their customs, it is our pleasure that
they shall likewise have, of their -own number, sergeants, notaries-
public, and other persons necessary for the preservation of order in
society. "XL The right of carrying arms and of exercise in the use of
them, is granted in perpetuity to the inhabitants of these colonies.
In case of war, they shall form a corps by themselves, commanded
by their own officers; and they shall never be obliged to bear
arms beyond the limits of our dominions.
"XII. We declare them and their descendants, from this time
forward and for ever, to be admissible to all public offices — civil,
political, or ecclesiastical — for which they shall have the requisite
qualifications. Their children shall'be admitted into the colleges
and universities.
"XIII. Their pastors, and persons holding office in connection
with the administration of justice, or with matters of police, or as
military officers, shall perpetually enjoy the same honours and
advantages which are enjoyed at the time by functionaries of the
corresponding class in our dominions.
"XIV. They shall have power to dispose of their properties
according to their own pleasure. If any of them shall happen to
die intestate, his property shall fall to his nearest relatives; if he
shall have no heirs, it shall be divided between the state and the
poor of his commune. In this latter case, a council of administra
tion, named by the consistory, shall have the management of the
property. "XV. The Vaudois colonies shall be subjected to no servitude,
and shall hold of the sovereign alone.
"XVI. No stranger shall be entitled to settle among them with
out their consent.
"XVII. During the fifteen years of exemption from taxes which
are granted them, they shall be free from all charge for the
lodging of soldiers.
" XVIII. All their public institutions and public property shall
be exempt from public burdens.
"XIX. They shall be entitled to trade in any part of our
dominions, without authorization or patent.
"XX. They shall be permitted to carry on any kind of manu
facture, under the management and direction of persons appointed
by themselves.

Chap.X.] GENEROSITY OF ERNEST LOUIS. 143
" XXI. ' If, by the blessing of God, they shall extend, prosper,
and multiply, they shall have power to establish a council of mer
chants, to judge and decide in litigations connected with commerce.'
"XXII. We grant to them that, when it shall please God to
visit them with pestilence, they shall not be forced away from
their villages.
"XXIII. They are exempted for fifteen years from excise duties
(indirect taxation).
"XXIV. The lands which shall be assigned them1 shall be their
own property.
"XXV. With regard to the woods and other undivided properties
belonging to the people of the communes in which they shall settle,
they shall have the same right to them that the people of these
communes have.
"XXVI. — We authorize the Vaudois, and other Protestants
who shall settle there, to build a town near Keltersbach, where
lands shall be allotted to them without price.
" XXVII. — They shall be entitled to divide these lands amongst
themselves, and to cultivate them as they think fit.
"XXVIII. — Facilities shall be accorded them for procuring
timber for carpenter-work, and for the transport of materials.
"XXIX. — They are exempted from compulsory services, taxes,
and burdens, for fifteen years.
"XXX. — These exemptions shall be continued to their heirs,
if those who now enjoy them shall die within that time.
" XXXI. — After that period they shall pay taxes like our other
subjects. " XXXII. — During these fifteen years they shall pay no tithes ;
and after that period a part of the tithes shall be given up to them
for the maintenance of orphans, the poor, or the servants of their
church. " XXXIII. — They shall, in all respects, be treated as the other
inhabitants of the country. Our successors shall sign the present
letters-patent, as we sign them ourselves."2
It will be seen that in this deed the Landgrave Ernest Louis
expressed himself in the most generous terms. But letters-patent
will no more suffice to people and enrich a country, than constitu
tions will to make it moral. There is mention in this grant of
cities to be founded, of tribunals of commerce to be instituted, of
1 In the communes and dependencies of Areilghem, Merselden, Russelsheim, and
Keltersbach. 2 This paper bears only two signatures, that of Ernest Louis, Landgrave of Hesse,
and that of Valkenier, Envoy Extraordinary of the States-General of the Nether
lands.

144 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. [PaexTbibu
manufactures to be established upon a great scale; but alas ! there
were in reality only a few poor little villages to be constructed in
the midst of the forests, sad hiding-places of misery and adversity,
less resembling towns than temporary hamlets, reminding the spec
tator of the huts of travellers, or the tents of the patriarchs in the
desert. To the north-east of Darmstadt there stretches a monotonous
expanse, whose serrated horizon line indicates the vast extent of
the forest. The ground is undulating, and exhibits a confused mass
of little hills, presenting sometimes bare and arid summits, and
sometimes bushy declivities, where the bushes are closely inter
woven by brambles and hops. These sombre woods are traversed
only by bad and tortuous roads, full of mud and stones, and almost
everywhere inaccessible to wheeled carriages. Stagnant waters fill
the hollows, on the banks of which stand trees of great age. Here
and there picturesque scenes occur, but they are not gladdened by
any appearance of life. After some hours' walking, the traveller
arrives at the hills of Schlampeberg, beyond which he finds the
pleasant little town of Ober Bamstadt, which has the honour of
having given birth to Lichtemberg, a man of literary eminence,
remarkable at once for erudition and for originality. Hills less
wooded then present themselves, and less fertile lands are seen, and
having passed through these, we come to the Vaudois settlements.
Hesse-Darmstadt contains five of these. Borbach,1 Wembach,
and Heim,2 are situated in the district we have now supposed our
selves to enter. There were some Vaudois settled also at Baunen
and Aarheilgen,3 villages of the neighbourhood. The other two
are Waldorf and Welchneureth, which is pronounced simply Neireth,
and is not far from Waldorf, but is situated, I think, in the neigh
bouring territory of Hesse. Borbach is situated in a little hollow
formed of meadow-land, bounded by forests or fields of little ferti
lity.4 It was the residence of Montoux,5 and a sort of capital for
1 Or rather Rohrbach. The word signifies The Brook of Reeds.
a Sometimes written Haam or Hahm.
8 Pronounced A rleiguen. The Archives of Darmstadt contain petitions addressed
to the landgrave by the Vaudois of these localities. Those of Raunen demanded
leave to quit that country, because of the pernicious fevers engendered by the
marshes. (This petition has no date, but it bears the signature of Montoux.)
' In 1834, the burgomaster of Rorbach was of the name of Geymet, and the
schoolmaster's name was Pastre. The latter still knew a little of the patois of the
VaudoiB valleys.
s The name of the pastor Montoux, who left the Vaudois valleys, was Jacob. —
His son Daniel, who, in 1730, was pastor of Durmentz, in Wurtemberg, becamo
pastor of the parish of Rorbach after the death of his father. — The son of the
latter was John Montoux, who was also a pastor in the Vaudois colonies.

Chap. X. J VAUDOIS VILLAGES IN DARMSTADT. 145
the other colonies founded in the neighbourhood. Wembach is at
a short distance. The situation is almost exactly similar, but the
country is still poorer; and finally, a small group of houses, like a
handful of stones and chips of wood flung down upon the slope of a
hill, constitutes the hamlet of Ileim.1 It is on the frontiers of
Hesse. In front of the village magnificent forests cover an abruptly
terminating table-land. Not far from this is Waldorf, which, like
Borbach, was the residence of a pastor. It is a small village, of
which the houses are mingled with orchards and gardens, hidden
amidst woods, on the left bank of the Maine, a few leagues from
Frankfort. These woods, broken by frequent pieces of open ground,
forming wet meadows of considerable extent, contain, in the dis
trict of Waldorf, a number of isolated farms, of which some are
occupied by descendants of the Vaudois.
All these humble parishes, founded by the exiles from Piedmont,
remained closely connected with those of Wurtemberg. Associated
as members of one body, they lent each other mutual assistance.
They held their synods in common; their pastors participated in
the same supplies from foreign parts, and were removed from one
colony to another, according to the wants of the flocks, without
at all changing their ecclesiastical connections, even although their
abodes were in different states. But in respect of material pro
sperity, the colonies in Wurtemberg enjoyed it most; those of the
grand duchy of Darmstadt were poorer, and had much to suffer,
especially after the French Be volution. Deprived of foreign aid,
they made sacrifices beyond their strength, without being able to
supply the want of it. The position of the pastors and schoolmas
ters became more and more painful. They remained, however, at
their post, both from motives of duty and of affection. But some
of their villages were ravaged by the wars which took place be
tween that period and 1814. They were thus deprived of the
resources previously at their disposal.
" In Wurtemberg," says a manuscript note,2 " the king made up
the loss to them in part, by incorporating them as much as possible
1 In 1820 there were at Rorbach 53 families, composed of 243 persons ; at Wem
bach, 38 families, or 180 persons ; at Heim, 14 families, of 73 persons in all. (Hahn,
p. 241.)
2 This note, which has no signature, was transmitted to me as a document, by
M. Appia, of Frankfort. It is dated from Paris, 13th September, 1830, and con
cludes thus: — "The author of this note knows the wants of these unfortunate
ohurches; and withouthaving received from them any commission to act in that
matter, he knows, from previous transactions, in which he was engaged on their
behalf, that facilities of emigration would be eagerly embraced by them as a de
liverance." V ol. u. 79

146 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. [i'abt Tiiied.
with his other subjects.1 But in the grand duchy of Darmstadt
their situation has become intolerable, for they are now crushed
under the double weight of the tithes which they owe to the sove
reign as farmers2 of his domains, and of all the annual imposts
which his other subjects pay to him. In this last resf>ect they
have been assimilated to the people of the country since the inva
sion,8 without the return of peace having brought them any relief.
Their poverty has therefore dreadfully increased. Twenty-five or
thirty families, at least, have already emigrated to America. Al
most all the population of one village had engaged to go to Brazil,
but received warning that the founder of that scheme of coloniza
tion was a knave, and this false step has aggravated their misery.
In this state of things many families would still be ready to emi
grate, if they were assured of a good settlement, and of facilities
for their passage. They would be composed of artisans and hardy
labourers, accustomed to a rough life, and acquainted only with
hardships."4 "About 1801," says another document,5 "a colony of sixty-five
or seventy families, among whom were four families of Vaudois,0
set out for America, putting into the hands of their leader7 the
whole price of what they had possessed. With this a great tract
of country was purchased near Philadelphia, which they brought
into cultivation. At the end of seven years it was sold again at a
considerable profit, and the colonists purchased in its stead another
larger and more fertile tract on the banks of the Mississippi. There
this little colony, which has now become very populous, resolved
that no stranger should ever be permitted to settle within its ter
ritory." Accounts are given of its prosperity, and of the manner
1 This incorporation took place also in Darmstadt. It was effected there even
sooner (1821) than in Wurtemberg (1824) ; the latter country having to assimilate
to itself a greater number of communes. But the true causes of the distress of
the Vaudois in Hesse will be pointed out afterwards.
2 This word cannot be taken in the sense which we now give to it, for the lands
occupied by the Vaudois had been granted to them as their own property. (Let"
terB-patent of 22d April, 1099. Arts, vi., xv., xvii., and from § xxiii. to xxxii.)
3 This assimilation took place in 1815.
4 In a subsequent part of this paper it is said, " A Vaudois writes me from Brus
sels, that perhaps General Lafayette, the friend of all the oppressed, will consent
to recommend these descendants of the martyrs to one of the United States of
America, that they may obtain a district to clear. . . . But the government of
Darmstadt impedes all emigration, by chancery difficulties . . ." &c.
5 Communicated by M, Mondon, the last of the Vaudois pastors in Wurtemberg-
6 Viz., one from Gros- Villar, two from Petit- Villar, and one from Tiphbach.
7 The name of this leader was Replet. He was a native of Iptingen; he was
Erst a weaver, afterwards a Communist preacher. Il is said that at his death he
left property worth six millions [of francs, £250,000],

Cuap.x] VILLAGE OF FREDERICHSTHAL. 147
of life amongst the colonists in these distant regions,1 which are
too extraordinary to be admitted into this history without inquiry,
or without more precise information.
Some of the Vaudois also settled, in 1699, in the grand duchy
of Baden. The privileges granted to them by the Grand Duke
Frederic Magnus, were almost the same with those which they
enjoyed in other states. The free exercise of their religion, and the
use of the French language, were accorded to them by article v. ;
the maintenance of their ecclesiastical discipline by § vi. to ix. ; the
privileges of their pastors by § x. and xi.; and concerning the sup
port of their pastors, we read, " His most serene highness aforesaid,
also promises to the petitioners to contribute thereto an annual
sum of fifty florins. They shall receive, moreover, five coupes of
wheat, ten coupes of rye, and a whole cask of wine. Their regent
(schoolmaster) shall receive the half of the above ; and all shall be
furnished by the Economy of Durlach."3 (§ xii.)
These provisions related especially to the colonies of Balmbach
and Mutsclielbach? situated on the frontiers of Wurtemberg, to
which they belonged for some time. The situation which they
occupy is verdant and wooded, but cold. The use of the French
language has been completely lost there since the commencement
of the present century.
Some interesting details have been published concerning the
difficulties of various kinds which the colonists had to encounter.4
The colony of Frederichsthal was founded in 1710, near Carlsrhue,
by some French refugees, with whom were associated a few Vaudois
of Pragela. This little village is situated in a level country, entirely
surrounded by forests, and at a short distance from the Bhine. Its
first pastor was not called till 1720.5 His name was Isaiah Aubry
1 All their labours, it is said, are performed in common. Property belongs to
the community, &c.
- Derived from the Archives of the Venerable Company of Pastors of Geneva,
vol. T., p. 176, where we find "Extract of the privileges which his most serene
highness Frederic Magnus, Margrave of Baden and Hochberg, granted in the year
1699 to the Vaudois Reformed, his petitioners, in the time of their universal de
solation, by a regular deed."
3 The second of these was annexed to the first (until 1821, when the fusion of
these parishes took place with the German church). Mutschelbach formed part of
the bailiwick of Neunberg ( Wurtemberg) till 1805.
4 In the Archives of the Country of Baden, vol. i., No. v (a German journal, pub
lished at Carlsrhue). — This number contains twelve letters concerning the Vaudoi=,
with observations by F. J. Mone (who was professor of history at Louvaine be
fore 1831, when that university was suppressed). The Universal Gazette of Halle
(No. lix., March, 1821) gives an analysis of this publication. The publication itself
I have not had opportunity to examine.
5 About Christmas, with the approbation of the grand duke, and upon t/ie recom-

148 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. [pakt Tbied.
It was by his care that the scattered members of the Beformed
Church were organized as a parish, elected a consistory, and com
menced public worship; but of this pastor they were soon deprived
by the puerile intolerance which then prevailed in the State Church.1
It is impossible to indicate precisely all the places in which, at
this period, some of the Vaudois families may have settled, which
left the valley of Pragela singly, or in little groups, from 1698 to
1730 ; but a distinct parish was founded by them in the country of
Hanau, in the principality of Yssemburg, and bailiwick of Waech-
tersbach. When Arnaud and Papon came to Germany, in 1698,
they addressed themselves to the greater part of the Protestant
princes of that country,2 in order to obtain an asylum for their
compatriots expelled from Piedmont. The Count Charles De
Yssemburg was one of the first to reply to them favourably,8 and
on the 11th of August, 1699, he signed the letters-patent for their
settlement. Drawn up under the influence of Walkenier, who so
indefatigably exerted himself to find a resting-place for so many
wandering families, these letters-patent contain almost exactly the
mendation of the Ecclesiastical Senates of Heidelberg. — Extract from an attestation
given by the church of Frederichsthal. (Archives of the Pastors of Geneva, vol. T.,
178.)
1 The circumstances were these : — The daughter of a Protestant woman had been
baptized by a Romish priest. She was married at Altenthal, in 1672, and continued
always to live in the Reformed religion; but in her old age, being attacked by
hypochondria, she imagined that the baptism which she had received was invalid,
and that the priest, instead of having blessed her, had devoted her to Satan. In
her gloomy visions, she professed to see the devil, who pursued her everywhere to
claim her soul. For a number of years she had demanded to be re-baptized according
to the rites of the Reformed Church, assured that Satan would then have no mora
hold of her. She went from church to church to ask this favour, but all the pastors ,
refused to do it. These reiterated refusals threw her into a sort of frenzy. At
last she found the pastor of Frederichsthal, and flung herself at his knees, weep
ing, and entreating him in the name of Jesus that he would restore peace to her
soul. M. Aubry yielded to her desire ; and he himself gives the following account
of the scene : — " Having caused her to make a brief confession of her faith, I made
her kneel down, and then I invoked the name of Jesus over his poor and wretched
servant ; and after my prayer, which she repeated in her heart, I poured water
upon her head, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.
She went away rejoicing, blessing God, and persuaded that she would henceforth
be delivered from the persecutions of the evil sjiirit." Thereupon Aubry was ac
cused of being an Anabaptist. The consistory of Carlsrhue pronounced his dismissal,
1st June, 1722. Aubry appealed to the grand duke, who asked the judgment of
six faculties of theology, of which three were Protestant, viz., those of Geneva,
Basle, and Marburg ; and three Lutheran, Jena, Halle, and Tubingue. But the
deprivation of the pastor of Frederichsthal was sustained, contrary to the peti
tions of his congregation. (Registers of the Company of Pastors of Geneva, vol. T.,
pp. 169, 172, 178.)
2 From the same source. (Cited by Hahn, pp. 238-240.)
3 By his letter of 19th May, 1G99, addressed to his brother (no doubt the Court
Maximilian). It is preserved in the Archives of Waschlersbach.

c,!" XJ VILLAGE OF WALDENSBERG. 149
same articles in favour of the exiles which had been already adopted
in Darmstadt, and the adoption of which in Wurtemberg he ob
tained a few days after.1
The free exercise of their religion was guaranteed to the Vau
dois. (§ i., iii, iv., and v.) 2 Until they should have places of wor
ship of their own, they were authorized to hold their religious as
semblies in the churches of Spilberg or Widgenborn, except only
at the hours appropriated to the German services. (§ ii.) Their
secular council was not to have power to judge in regard to sums
exceeding eighteen florins. (§ vi.) They were exempted for ten
years from all compulsory services, contributions, and military taxes.
(§ xvii., xix.) They were required to establish their settlement at
their own expense ; but the succours received from Holland and
England enabled them the more easily to do so.
Such was the origin of the village of Waldensberg.3 It is situated
on an elevated plain, which rests, like an immense bench, against
the mountains of Vogelsberg. In order to reach it, it is necessary to
pass amidst a succession of little hills and valleys, which are often
very picturesque. Upon the summit of a hill at Golenhausen, three
towers, apparently threatening to fall, still mark the remains of the
castle of Barbaroussa. Walnut and other fruit trees are scattered
over the landscape ; the highways are sometimes lined with them ;
but as we approach Waldensberg we find the roads in worse repair.
It is a melancholy looking, isolated village. The luxuriance of a
few little gardens beside the houses, alone redeems its mean and
miserable aspect.
The exiles who founded it came from Mentoules, in Pragela; they
had left their country in the autumn of 1698, and had passed the
winter in Switzerland, and the spring of 1699 in Darmstadt. They
were not all assembled even in 1700. Walkenier made continual
efforts to bring to one spot the members of this dispersed flock,*
and to prevent them from being lost by a dissemination, which would
have resulted in their being completely forgotten.
1 At Darmstadt, on 22d April, 1699 ; at Homburg, on 4th May; at Yssemburg,
ou 11th August ; and in Wurtemberg on 18th September.
2 These letters-patent contain twenty-eight articles. They are issued in the
name of Ferdinand Maximilian, Count of Yssemburg and Budiugen; and are signed
both by the count himBelf and by Walkenier.
3 The Hill of the Vaudois. This name is sometimes written Valdbert or Valsbert,
Waldsberg or Waldenberg; but only in old papers, of a period when the Vaudois
were not acquainted with German orthography. In a paper contained in the Ar
chives of Waechtersbach (of date 1700), we read that the Vaudois of Waldberg
asked for waggons, to go to Hanau for their luggage and their children.
* Letter of 10th May, 1700, to induce the Vaudois to settle. (Obtained at Wal
densberg.)

150 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. [PahtTjiikd.
The first pastor of Waldensberg was settled in that parish on
27th July, 1701, by Walkenier himself.1 But this colony had no
proper building for public worship till 1739. The following is a
fragment of the sermon preached at its dedication, in that year, by
the pastor, David Plan : — " See," said he to the Vaudois, " how, in
the extremest affliction which men could endure, God has raised up
for your deliverance means in which his power and providence are
singularly observable. You have seen the greatest powers of Europe
interest themselves in that just quarrel in which you suffer for the
truth." And then, taking notice of what Holland and England
had done, and of the manner in which they had been received by
the Count of Budingen, he adds, " From thenceforth you had at
once a sovereign, a father, and a country. From thenceforth you
were confounded with his natural subjects. What did I say? Con
founded ! You were distinguished by the most important privi
leges,  and you have enjoyed them to this day, which is
itself a new token of the love of God to you."2
They had, however, painful trials to encounter. At the com
mencement of their residence at Waldensberg they had no church,
no schoolhouse, and no minister's house ; but, by the help of collec
tions made for them in foreign countries, and by their own exer
tions, they had succeeded, at the end of half a century, in obtaining
all these. For the stipend of their pastor they were at first obliged
to give up fifty arpents of the lands which had been assigned to
them, and twenty-five for the salary of the schoolmaster. These
were let to farmers of the country, at about one florin per arpent.
This yielded seventy-five florins, of which they were obliged to
take ten, for ringing the bells and winding up the clock. Such are
the terms of the entries in their account-books at that period. But
their situation gradually improved; they received assistance from
Holland; the colony was increased by additional refugees in the end
of 1730, as we shall see in the history of Pragela; and a pastor of
Waldensberg (whose name was Barillon) undertook a tour for the
purpose of collecting money on behalf of his congregation. The
object of the collection was the erection of a place of worship at
1 This pastor's name was Roman. He was a native of Baden, in Switzerland.
The minute of his installation is in the Archives of Waechtersbach, signed by WaL
kenier. Nothing less authoritative than this document would have led me to set
aside the following words, written by the pastor of Waldensberg in 1824 :— " This
colony was at first without a minister, and the name of its first minister was
Mr. John Archer." (Note by M. Schmid, transmitted by M. Appia.)
- La construction de Bethel, ou sermon sur le chap II., 19-22, de I'Ep. aux Ephes
Pour le 14 du mois d'Octobre, 1739, jour de la dedicace du temple de Waldensberg
colonic Vaudois refugiee. 4to. Frankfort, 1740.

C.iap. X.] CONDITION OF THE COLONISTS. 151
Waldensberg. The surplus of the sum received having been placed
at interest, afforded an annual revenue of 100 francs, which im
proved the ch'cumstances of this poor parish. A sum of thirty-five
florins had at first been granted by England for the support of the
public school, but this pension ceased in 1740.
" The inhabitants of the colony," says a pastor of the place,1 " are
almost all poor; not one of them is rich; some, however, are in
easy circumstances, and there is not a beggar among them,2 although
there are a number of indigent families.3 Besides the cultivation
of their lands, which are not very good, they, have to gain their
subsistence by two branches of industry, which almost all of them
understand. Some of thorn make stockings for the manufacturers
of Leiblas, a village near Gelnhausen, or for travelling merchants ;
and others are flax-dressers. Those who devote themselves to this
occupation, disperse themselves in autumn to work in the villages
of the neighbourhood, from the end of harvest to the middle of
winter. Most of them return on Saturday evening, to pass the
Sabbath with their families, and attend public worship. They re
tain such a love for their religion, and such pure and simple man
ners, that they are loved and honoured throughout the whole
country — 'praising God, and having favour with all the people,'
as it is said of the first Christians.4 These people, however, are too
poor to be able to devote much time to education. They spoke at
first the patois of their own country, and understood the French
language, but now they speak a German patois, and scarcely under
stand the language when correctly spoken.5 The schoolmaster is
so poorly paid, that no man, however pious, excellent, and devoted,
could raise himself above mediocrity, because he must have recourse
to manual labour to earn his daily bread. The pastors generally
remain here only for a few years,, when they remove to parishes
where they enjoy greater emoluments; and when administer leaves
1 M. Schmid. In a note of 5th June, 1824, transmitted by M. Appia.
2 ' ' But the most of the families give, perhaps, too much to beggars, and maintain
themselves in tolerable circumstances only by assiduous industry, and by extreme
simplicity in their living; even those who are in more easy circumstances are so
only by their industry, and by their simple mode of life. Their houses, their fur
niture, their dress, and their food, all indicate poverty." (Another note by the
pastor, M. Schmid, dated from Ostheim, 9th February, 1827.)
3 Charles Nagel, burdened with five children, carried on at one time a little mer
chandise, but all he had was taken from him in 1813, by some robbers, in the forest
of Budingen. — Peter Peleng is a widower with six children, &c. . . . (Note of the
condition of the poor of Waldensberg, transmitted by the pastor, M. Schmid.)
4 Acts ii. 47.
6 It was in 1815 that the use of the German language was substituted for that of
French in public worship.

152 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. [pabt Tiiied.
the colony, it almost always remains for a long time destitute of a
pastor. This deserted condition is sometimes prolonged for whole
years." But public attention, and the care of the government,
having of late been directed to this interesting spot, many improve
ments have already been effected.
Others of the Vaudois settled also at Offenbach, Yssemburg, and
Hanau.1 " I am not aware," says a recent author, "that there ever
were any Vaudois colonies in the ancient landgravate of Hesse-
Cassel ; 2 but a few Vaudois families were received into the Walloon
community of Hanau, and I think, also, into the communities of
French refugees in Marburg and its neighbourhood,3 and after
wards into that of Cassel itself."4
But at a short distance from Homberg is the Vaudois colony of
Doenholzhausen. This name, which signifies the Thorny Wood
Houses, or Bramble Houses, indicates the uncultivated and barren
state in which the country was when the village was built. The
situation is not, however, without its recommendations. With a
vast pine forest behind it, on the gentle slope of a hill formed by
the last undulations of Mount Taunus, this little town lies plea
santly exposed to the southern sun, and looks upon a rich landscape.
The air, however, is very cold ; the fields are by no means fertile,
the meadows are poor, and the trees of the orchards gnarled and
stunted ; but every house has its little garden, in which are a few
fruit trees.
The deed by which this barren hill was granted to the Vaudois,
is dated 4th May,5 1699, and is signed by the Landgrave Frederic,
and by Walkenier. I shall not here exhibit its terms, because they
are in accordance with those of other documents of the same nature,
already quoted in this chapter. There were at first only twenty-
three Vaudois families at Dornholzhausen ; a few others, indeed,
settled at Homburg, of which this town of brambles is a sort of de
pendency and rural suburb. The pastor of the Vaudois colony, who
ministered also to the French congregation in Homburg, partici
pated annually, to the extent of 400 florins in the English subsidies
destined to the support of seven of the parishes founded by the
exiles of Piedmont.6 (This stipend, after several interruptions in
1 According to a document dated 28th Jan., 1716. (Archives of Waechtersbach.)
2 There were, however, a few isolated Vaudois settled at Frankenheim, near
Cassel. 3 Viz., Louisendorf, Schwabendorf, and Todlenhausen.
• Manuscript account, quoted by Hahn, p. 243. 5 Or 28th April, Old Style.
0 In 1728 they were served by the following pastors : — Peter Richier at Hom
burg and Dornholzhausen, Resplandin at Waldorf, Jacob Montoux at Rhor.
bach, John Fauchee at Grand Villar, Scipio Arnaud at Diirmentz (where he
supplied also the church of Schonberg, from which he went to that of Grand Villar),

Chap. X.J CONDITION IN DORNHOLZHAUSEN. 153
its payment, ceased altogether in 1805.) It was not till 1755 that
the Vaudois of Dornholzhausen, by means of collections made in
foreign countries, were enabled to build a place of worship, and to
call a pastor.1
Their manner of life is as simple as that of their brethren of
Waldensberg. Poor and laborious, they are obliged to eke out the
insufficient produce of their lands by the resources derived from some
small branches of manufacture. The principal of these branches of
manufacture is the weaving of woollen stockings, which once af
forded the means of subsistence to almost all the population of
Dornholzhausen, but which has considerably diminished since 1808-
The reputation recently acquired by the baths of Homburg, attract
ing to that town a great number of strangers every year, the Vau
dois have found opportunity of engaging in different sorts of
manual service, which have to a small extent compensated them
for the resources which they have lost. Their lands, although bad,
are heavily burdened with taxes. The commune is in debt, and
the people very insufficiently educated. Much encouragement has
recently, however, been given to elementary education. Bible so
cieties have provided with the Word of God the families previously
destitute of it; and assistance has been afforded in various ways to
the poor people of Dornholzhausen. The late M. Appia, pastor at
Frankfort — an eminent man, deriving his descent, like themselves,
from the valleys of Piedmont, and remarkable alike for his talents
and his Christian charity — displayed the most active solicitude in
their favour, and was well entitled to be called the benefactor of
this colony.
I subjoin some interesting notices, which will exhibit its condi
tion at the commencement of the present century. They have been
obtained from the local authorities, and their own words are here
employed : —
•'The accounts of the commune are quite distinct from those of
the church.
"The lands of Dornholzhausen are far from being productive, and
contain only 194 arpents.
" In consequence of various arrears of taxes and sums of money
borrowed, the commune was in debt in 1810 to the amount of
1700 florins. In 1815, in consequence of the war, its debt had
increased to 8000 florins. To pay the interest of this sum, a tax
John Montoux at Pinaehe, S. Wolff at Wurmberg or Lucerna. (Extraoted
from the Records of the Central Consistory of Diirmentz.)
1 Notice published by M. Appia in the Echo des ValUes, first year, No. IV.,
pp. 57-59.
Vol,. II. 80

154 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. [|'a»t Tuiau.
is levied from the inhabitants every year, in proportion to their
means ; but many of them are so poor that they can contribute
nothing whatever towards this object.
" In consequence of the suppression of the English subsidies, and
of loans which it has contracted, the church, burdened with the
support of the school and of the pastor, is in debt to the amount
of 1800 florins.
"Its revenues amount to 408 florins,1 its expenses to 265 florins.3
But to the latter must be added a payment of 110 florins allowed
to the pastor, which raises the total expenses to 375 florins."3
" The pastor of Dornholzhausen still remained in that village,"
says M. Appia, "for three years after 1806, when the English sub
sidies ceased to be paid, living in poverty, and always hoping that
communications with England might be reopened, and that he
might be enabled to continue in the discharge of his pastoral duties.
But on the 1st of October, 1809, constrained by the inflexible law
of necessity, he removed from his parish, which was thus reduced to
a state of involuntary widowhood. Nor was this church left °nlj_^
without a resident pastor, but completely destitute even ofpublic
worship, because the French refugee church of Homburg/ had also
been suppressed." J
This state of abandonment continued till 1817. "At thp/t period,
Frederic Joseph, Landgrave of Hesse-Homburg, had^f&skffd and
obtained the hand of the Princess Elizabeth, the sister of the King
of England. He went to London in 1818, for the celebration of
his marriage. Having, whilst there, inform^nis brother-in-law,
King George TVTTof the truty1ChrisJiia«i*1iistory and the necessities
of the church of Dornholzhausen, formerly supported by his illus
trious predecessors, that monarch was pleased to send to the land
grave, as one of the marriage presents, the sum of £500 sterling,
destined for the formation of a' permanent fund, the interest of which
should place this interesting community in circumstances always to
pay a stipend to a pastor, and to resume public worship."4
Some causes of delay prevented the re-establishment of a gospel
1 Viz., 268 florins from landed property of the church, disposed of as hereditary
feus; 60 florins from country tithes; 80 florins from rent of the minister's house,
as at that time there was no minister.
3 Viz.,100 florins for schoolmaster's salary; 90 florins for interest of the debt of
1800 florins ; 50 florins for maintenance of public buildings, and 25 florins for in
surance against fire, seigneurial dues, and various other expenses.
3 These are extracts from a manuscript report, dated at Dornholzhausen, 19th
October, 1816, and signed Abraham Bertalot, elder; Francis Bertalot, elder; Louis
Achard, mayor.
4 Echo des ValUes, No. IV., notice already quoted.

Chap. X.] FESTIVAL AT DORNHOLZHAUSEN. 155
ministry at Dornholzhausen till 1824. A little festival was then
held, like one which had been held in 1801, on the centenary of
the first settlement of the Vaudois in these countries. At this
time the landgrave and his court came to Dornholzhausen. The
inhabitants of the country went to meet them, singing the forty-
second psalm, which their ancestors had sung more than a century
before, when they came to thank the great-grandfather of that
landgrave for the permission which he had granted them to settle
in his dominions. Verdant arches were erected at the entrance of
the village, and in the public square there was a pyramid, com
posed entirely of significant emblems. At its base were wild herbs,
brambles, thistles, great stones, and young pines and thorns, strik
ingly -figurative of what the Hill of Brambles was before the ar
rival of the Vaudois. A little higher up were rye, oats, and
potatoes, the first-fruits obtained by cultivation after the ground
was cleared. Higher still were wheat, maize, and delicate roots,
the produce of a more improved soil. After these appeared in suc
cession all sorts of plants of the kitchen garden, the results of colo
nization ; and finally, vines and fruit-trees, evidence of the progress
of the colony. The pyramid was terminated by a fine vase of bloom
ing flowers, an emblem full of the promise of prosperity, of the pro
gress of the arts, and the first sweets of civilization. A choir of little
boys decked out with bouquets, and of young girls wearing crowns,
then gratified the court by singing to an appropriate air words
adapted to the occasion; after which all repaired to the church,
where the landgrave renewed, and signed upon the altar the grant
of the privileges of the Vaudois. He was then invited, with his
court, to a rustic banquet, where the young people of the village
served the guests. A religious service in the evening terminated
this patriotic festival.
Since that time public worship has continued to be celebrated
in the French language at Dornholzhausen. "Thus," says M. Ap
pia, " the Vaudois of Piedmont may still fraternize in feeling with
a small remnant of their brethren in religion, sprung from the same
race with themselves, and who, although exiled to the side of a
German forest, read the Bible and worship God in the same tongue
As to the other thirteen colonies, they are irrevocably Germanized.
May the same voice come from their tomb which comes from that
of Abel!"1
I will add but a few words, to mention that upon some of the
different emigrations which took place from the Vaudois valleys to
Germany, between 1698 and 1730, there were a few families which
1 Echo des ValUes, No. IV.; notice already quoted.

156 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. [paet Tuied.
settled at Frederichsdorff, not far from Dornholzhausen ; l at Erla-
gen, in Franconia; at Neufville, near Nuremberg; at Dupphausen
and at Braunfelz, near Wetzlar, in the county of Salms, at that
time forming part of Nassau, and now of Prussia. Some of them
also settled at Greiffenthal, a place ecclesiastically annexed to Dupp
hausen ; at Dodenhausen, near Malburg ; and in some small villages
of the neighbourhood, as St. He and Gethsemane. Finally, it re
mains to be added that a few retired to the Valteline, where they
settled near Gressoney, and where they have retained the use of the
Vaudois idiom, it is said, to the present day.
The difficulty of procuring exact information is extreme. No
complete account has yet been published. I have myself visited
these colonies, and have looked through all their archives, but I
cannot affect to doubt that their history is still incomplete. To ren
der it otherwise, much greater space would need to be assigned to
it, and the accumulation of materials would require resources more
abundant than I have been able to command. What I have done,
in regard to this part of my subject, is at least in proportion to
the rest of the work. May it have the effect of reanimating, in
the hearts of these descendants of the martyrs, the faith of their
fathers, too easily forgotten! Becalling to mind the distresses
which they endured, may it move the Vaudois of the present time
to increased zeal and gratitude in the enjoyment of the peaceful
lot which Providence has assigned them !
1 Documents transmitted by the mayor of that commune, No. III. In my own
possession.

Chap. XI.] THE VAUDOIS OF PRAGELA. 157

CHAPTER XI.
HISTORY OF THE VAUDOIS OF TRAGELA AND THE
ADJACENT VALLEYS.
FIRST PERIOD. — THE VALLEYS OF BARDONECHE AND OF THE
CLUSON UNDER THE REIGN OF CHARLES IX.1
(Introduction; commencing with the Middle Ages. History down to 1574. )
Description of the valley of Pragela — Flourishing state of the church there before
the revocation of the Edict of Nantes — The church in Pragela in earlier times
— The Synod of Le Laus before 1332 — Vaudois missionaries in France— Tem
poral condition of the inhabitants of Pragela — Pragela under the Dauphins —
Inquisitors and persecution in the fourteenth century — Persecutions in the six
teenth century — The Vaudois of France and Piedmont mutually support or.e
another — The religious wars in France — The Baron Des Adrets disgraces the
Protestant cause by his proceedings in Pragela — Unhappy consequences to the
Protestants of the valley — Combats and massacres — Exploits of the Vaudois at
Exilles — The Edict of Amboise — New dangers — Fast — St. Bartholomew's Day
— Conversion of the people of Pramol to Protestantism — The Vaudois defend
themselves against Birague, the French governor of Pignerol — The " War of
La Rade." — Accession of Henry III. to the throne of France.
The history of the Vaudois of Pragela2 is quite distinct from that
of the other Vaudois valleys. They were often persecuted when
these enjoyed tranquillity, and they sometimes had seasons of
tranquillity when these were persecuted; for Pragela belonged
to France, whilst the other valleys belonged to Piedmont. This
state of things lasted till 1713. I could not, therefore, mix up the
history of the Vaudois of Pragela with that of their brethren.
1 AUTHORITIES. — Almost nothing is derived from printed works. The manu
script authorities are very numerous, principally in the State Archives at Turin,
and in those of the bishopric of Pignerol, those of Fenestrelles, and those of Brian-
Son; also in the Records of the Council of State of Geneva, and in various public
and private libraries. I cannot here give a detailed list of all these documents : the
reader will find, at the bottom of the pages,, notice taken of those of which I have
made use.
2 It ib often written Pragelas, but erroneously; for the word signifies Cold Mea
dow, and has not the s in old authors (Perrin, Gilles, &c.) It was originally ap
plied only to the upper part of the valley of the Cluson, extending from the Col de
Sestri&res to La Rua. The lower part bore successively the names of Vol de Laus,
Vol Cluson, and Vol Perouse. The Princess Adelaide of Suza made a donation of
the whole of the valley of Pragela, as far as Pierre de Sestrieres, to the abbey of
Pignerol, by a deed of 29th April, 1078, afterwards confirmed by a bull of Calixtus II.
The name is, therefore, employed either in a more restricted or a more general sense.
In the latter sense, the districts of Oulx and Exilles may be regarded as forming
part of Pragela, although situated in the valley of the Doire.

158 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. [PAETTnian.
Neither could I place it by itself, before or after theirs, because
their history begins before it, and continues after it. I thought,
therefore, that it would best be exhibited at the period when the
same events, becoming common to both countries, decimated both,
and sent forth, from both of them at once, bands of exiles, to found
in Germany the colonies of which an account has just been given.
The country with which we have now to do, extends along the
banks of two rivers, whose courses are nearly parallel — the Cluson
and the Doire. It descends from the highest ridge of the Alps as
far as Pignerol on the one side, and on the other to Bussolino, near
Suza. The adjacent valleys, which open into or prolong that of the
Doire, are those of Mathias and of Meane on the right; those of
Chaumont, Exilles, and BardonSche on the left ; and those of Thures
and Sauzet, towards the bottom of the valley. These latter fork
away from one another at Sezane, and the higher parts of them
are concealed amongst the peaks of the Alps. The Col de Ses-
trieres separates this region from the valley of Pragela, where the
Cluson flows; and from this branch off the lateral vales of Tra
verses, Le Puy, PourriSres, and Le Villaret. The latter, again,
communicates by a mountain-pass with the narrow valley of Meane,
which returns and opens towards Suza. The history of the Vau
dois who have inhabited these regions has hitherto been entirely
unknown ; yet, before the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, they
had eleven parishes there, eighteen churches, and sixty-four places
set apart for religious assemblies, where worship was conducted
morning and evening in as many hamlets.1
1 The following is a list of the places in each valley. The names in capital letters
are those of the villages in which there were places of worship; those in italics were
places where regular religious meetings were held: —
On the course of the Doire. VALLEY OF SEZANE : Thures, Remille, Sau
zet, Clavieres, Sizane.
VALLEY OF BARDONECHE : Melezet, Merdavine, Rochemolle, Millauze,
Bolard, Savoulx.
VALLEY OF OULX : Deserts, Fenils, Chanal, Chateau Dauphin, Oulx, St.
Eusibe. VALLEY OF EXILLES : Bonds, Exilles, Chaumont, Rama, Closniers, Sala
bertrans, Mollaret, Gravet, Suza.
VALLEY OF MEANE : Meane, Lageard, Serre, La Buisse, Jalas, GattoudiS,
Sauvage, Jartouzieres, Le Passaur, La Chapelle, Larche, Meronne. (In the
adjacent vale of Mathias.)
On the course of the Cluson. VALLEY OF PRAGELA: Sestriires, Le Plan,
Jossau, La Dut or Durit, Traverses, Rullieres, Pragela, La Rua, Zuchieres
or Souohieres, Le Puy, RullUres, Great and Little Fayet, Les Praises or Fraissen
Porrieres, Chargin, Lavet, Balbouset or Barbonti, Rivet, Laval, Patemouche, Tron-
cMe, Rif, Eleus, AllevS, Balbouset d'Usseaux, Fraysses d'Usseaux, Lc Laux Al-
mont, Garniers, Usseaux, Fenestrelles, Chambons-Gleisole, Vit/neaux, Fayet Pec-
querel.

Chap. XI ] THE SYNOD OF LE LAUS. 159
Gilles merely makes incidental mention of the six communes of
Pragela,1 from which the Vaudois, towards the end of the fourteenth
century,2 proceeded to establish themselves in the valley of Meane,
and on the banks of the Doire, in the higher parts of its course ;
but from the most ancient times they occupied the banks of the
Cluson ; for the greater part of their old manuscripts in the Bomance
tongue have been derived from the valley of Pragela.3 In these we
have evidence, valuable from its antiquity, concerning the gospel
in the middle ages, and most precious monuments of those hidden
churches, which expanded in the light of the Sun of Bighteousness.
Whether near to one another or remote, all these Christian com
munities formed part of the same ecclesiastical body, confirming
their unity of spirit by the bond of peace, and their unity of action
by a complete organization. They had general assemblies, in
which the most distant were represented.
It was at Le Laus, in Pragela, that the famous synod was held,
in which 140 pastors were assembled,* and which must have met
almost two centuries before the Beformation, if a simple comparison
of circumstances can be allowed to establish with certainty a his
toric date.5 As these regions formed part of Dauphiny, or opened
into that province, it was, therefore, here that those missionary
colporteurs penetrated into France, whose patient and secret work
of evangelization is one of the most striking features of the Vaudois
VALLEY OF LE ROURE (of the oak) : Le Roure, La Balma, Mentoul,
Villaret, Bouvet, Petit-Fayct, ViUe Close, La Latte, Fon-du-Fan or de Fantina,
La CUe, Serres, Bouvset, Chabert, Bosco, Lara, Gamiers, Tourons, Chateau du
Bois, Charabesiers, Vignals, Nonflieres, Sappey, Cazette, Chargeoir, and Chazalct.
VALLEY OF PEROUSE : Ailbone or Arbona, Agrevol (the name of a branch
stream), L'Eyra, Les Granges, Bonisoles, Perouse, Le Rif de la BrUra, Le Sine des
Arties, La Chalme, La Branca, La Baisse, and Champlan.
VALLEY OF PIN ACHE: Rochin, Tronferes, Pinache, Colombia; Rivoire,
Valfrid, La Moretiere, L'Albarea, Rochas, Soleil-Bceuf, L'Eyral, La Combe, Les
Balcets, La Grangette, Rousset, Doublon or Diblon, Le Grand Doublon, Le Puy,
Servie'res, Talucco, Villar-Pinache, Chenevriires, Chambeyroux, Riz de la Grua,
after which we come to St. Benoit, and the Abbey of Pignerol. — It must be ob
served, that the churches and places of meeting above noted were not all open for
worship at any one time; but in 1675 there existed at once more than seventy of
them. ' Ch. i. p. 10. 2 Ch. ii. p. 18.
3 See Leger, Part I. p. 23; Perrin, p. 57. Actes Synodaux of the assembly held
at Mentoules in 1612, &c. « Gilles, p. 17.
5 In the brief of John XXII., dated 23d July, 1332 (Rorengo, p. 16), it is said
that heresy is so widely spread, that the Vaudois had recently held synods of moro
than 500 deputies, In quO>us, quingenti Valdenses fuerunt congregati. But Gilles
speaks of 140 pastors, each of whom being accompanied by two or three lay depu
ties, there results a number approximating to that mentioned in the brief. The
most numerous of- these synods has attracted the notice of Gilles, and he places it
at Laus: it has attracted the notice of John XXII., and he places it before 1332.
Thus it seems that the place and the date may be determined.

160 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. [1'am Tman.
Church in those remote times. They had spread the knowledge of
the gospel as far as the Diois and the Valentinois. " Fifteen years
ago," says an author of the fifteenth century,1 "one Talmon of
Beauregard said to me, ' There are two men in my house, whose
discourse is full of sweetness and wisdom ; will you come and hear
them?' I went; and the most aged of these persons began to
read a little book which he carried with him, assuring us that it
contained the precepts of the Divine law. And, indeed, he de
livered excellent maxims, such as ' Thou shalt not do to another
what thou wouldst not that he should do to thee;' and he said
that the Sabbath should be observed with more respect than all
the other festivals, which have been established only by the church;
that God alone has power to save us, and that good works done
by a man before his death, will profit him more than those which
are done for him when he is no more ; and, finally, that the clergy
have been corrupted by wealth, whilst the Barbas have always
remained in evangelical poverty."
This language may recal to our thoughts that which Beynerus
puts into the mouths of the Vaudois, when he makes one of their
colporteurs say, in offering some jewels to a gentleman, "I have
stones still rarer, and jewels more precious than these, and I will
give you them for nothing if you desire them;" after which he be
gins to speak of the gospel.2 But it is surprising that an eccle
siastic did not recognize the gospel in that little book which was in
the hands of the Barbas. In these two persons, the one young and
the other old, we cannot but perceive the regidor and coadjutor 'of
our Vaudois missions.3 The author from whom we have borrowed
this narrative, adds with great simplicity, " This sect has the pecu
liarity of imposing upon men by an appearance of holiness, and of
always appealing for its doctrine and conduct to the examples of
the primitive church."4
Independence and frugality were also hereditary characteristics
of the inhabitants of Pragela. "This country is rugged, of little
fertility and exceedingly cold," says an anonymous author; "for
justice, it depends on the bailiwick of Briangon and parliament
1 Christophe De Saliens, secretary to the Bishop of Valence, in his Memoires,
cited by Colomb De Manosc, De gestis Episc. Diensium et Valentin., 1. iv,
p. 330.
* Reynerus, contra Valdenses, ch. viii. Quomodo se ingerant familiaritati
Magnorum. Gretzerus, t. xii. Quoted entire, Muston, t. i. (published in
1834), pp. 200-203.— Pseudo-Reynerus, Gieseler, iii. 16, 17,
3 See the first chapter of the Israel of the Alps.
4 " Habebat hoc proprium secta, quod specie sanctitatis blandiebatur hominibus,
et vitse exempla ac doctrinam ab ipsis ecclesiie Christians exordiis repetebat-
(JohannU Columbi Mannasc. opusc. varia, Lugduni, 1568, lib. iv.)

Our. XI.] CHARACTER OF THE PEOPLE. 161
of Grenoble. There are here four or five communes which have
their consuls, about seventy villages or hamlets, and more than
15,000 inhabitants. . . , The people have somewhat the same
character with the country: they are rude and poor. The richest
live only on the produce of the dairy, and on the little which they
derive from their fields or from the sale of cattle. Their houses
are, for the most part, only built of pines, cut in the neighbouring
mountains, and fixed in the soil in the form of a palisade, the insido
being rudely plastered with earth and mud. During summer,
almost all the men disperse themselves over the plain and through
out the neighbouring districts to earn a little money; in winter
they return home, passing a good part of the year in the stables
with their cattle, in order the more easily to secure themselves
against the severity of the cold. In the whole valley there is not
a single noble family, nor any temporal or ecclesiastical superior
except the king. This renders the people proud and haughty, not
withstanding their wretched condition; accordingly, the people of
this region esteem themselves all independent, . . . and it is
a remarkable thing that, during almost twenty-four years, no
person in the whole valley has ventured to make profession of the
Catholic religion."1 Some search was necessary to find its ad
herents, even before the Beformation;2 however, "there were an
ciently but five Barbas, or ministers, for the six communes of Pra
gela.3 Subsequently several annexed churches were erected : one
at Les Traverses for La Bua, one at Les Chambons for Mentoules,
and one at La Balma for Villaret; but besides these eight ministers,
there was in every village an elder, who conducted prayer and in
structed the people in a little place of worship, to which all the
hamlet was called by a bell."*
Such was the representation of the state of the Vaudois which
was made to two kings of France,5 when on their way to Italy, and
1 Sommaire de Vetat de la religion dans la valUe de Pragela en Dauphine (4to,
without date or place of publication), pp. 1 and 2.
: Protocol of the notary Orcel, showing that the Catholic religion was professed
in Pragela prior to 1531, as' is evident from pious legacies, &c. . . . A very
thick 4to manuscript, very ill written. (In the State Archives at Turin, No. of
series, 578.)
3 "One at La Rua, for the commune of Pragela; a second at Usseaux, a third
at Mentoules, a fourth at Feneslrelles, and a fifth at Villaret, for the community of
Le Roure. (Relation historique des ValUes, &c. . , . . MS. of 22 fol. pages, in the
library of Professor Camille Aillaud, at Pignerol.)
4 Description des valUes du PUmont .... avec une carle dressie sur les me
moires de Valerius Crassus et de Jean Ltger. A Paris, chez J. B. Nolin; Quai de
VHorloge, MDCXC.
5 Charles VIII. at Oulx (named Ours), 2d Sept., 1494.— Godefroy .... p. 195.
Louis XIII. at Sezane and Suza (from 23th April to 4th March, 1629); Sommnire dc
Vol. ir. 81

162 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. [pabt Tjiied.
as a prelude to a petition for the establishment of the Catholic
religion by force in a country where prayer and the Christian
virtues still reigned alone. This was in effect to ask that Bible
doctrines should be put down, as we shall soon see that they
accordingly were ; but the Vaudois did not now for the first time
suffer persecution.
Before their country had become a part of the dominions of the
kings of France, it had been under the sceptre of the dauphins,1
and in the accounts of the Delphinal chatelain, given in on the
6th of November, 1315, for the valley of the Cluson, we find
enumerated amongst the disbursements the charges due to the
inquisitors of that valley for the exercise of their functions;2 and
it appears, from the accounts of the year 1345, that proceedings of
the inquisitors against the heretics of the valley of Pragela were
then carried on with great vigour, because we find amongst the
receipts and disbursements many items occasioned by these per
secutions.3 After having mentioned those which took place in
1556 against the evangelical Christians of Piedmont, an old
author adds : "A few days after, the Vaudois churches of Larchc,
Meronne, M6ane, and Suza were very fiercely attacked. The
minister of M6ane was taken and cruelly put to death. The church
of Larche was also much tormented. To give a particular account
of all the tricks, intrigues, robberies, outrages, and cruelties which
were perpetrated there, would occupy a very long time."4
I'etat de la religion dans la vallee de Pragela, 4to, p. 3. (Archives of the Court
at Turin, No. of series, 548. )
1 The upper parts of the valley of the Cluson, where Pragela is, and those of the
Doire, where Bardoniche, Exilles,' and. Salabertrans are, belonged to the ancient
domain of the dauphins, as appears from various acts (those of the 17th of the
Calends of July, 1243; of the Ides of August, 1258, &c), mentioned in the inven
tory of the Archives of the Court of Accounts at Grenoble (Registers of the Em-
brunois, t. i. fol. 283). The valley of the Cluson was ceded to the King of Sicily
by a deed of May 5, 1344 (id. fol. 701), but it continued to pay seigneurial dues to
the dauphins (acts of October 14, 1441, fol. 705 ; of 1st August, 1344, fol. 702, &c.)
A few communes redeemed these burdens; but they always depended on the
French jurisdiction, on that of the Parliament of Grenoble in civil matters, and
on that of the Bishop of Embrun in matters of religion. These two jurisdictions
were often confounded.
- "Item, pro expensis Inquisitornm, reddit litteras 63, 6, turn, item, pro expen
ses eorumdem 24, 9 (i.e., in all, 93 livres toumois, and 3 deniers, being 92 francs of
our money). Extract from the Archives of Fenestrelle, examined by Professor
Aillaud of Pignerol.
3 These receipts resulted from the sale of the confiscated properties of heretics.
In the accounts of 1345, there is mention of one Simon de Chattier, burned alive
for heresy. The expenses were the inquisitor's charges, purchase of pulleys, rings
and iron hooks, for torturing heretics, &c. Same source.
4 Histoirc des persecutions et guerrcs faites  centre le peuple Vaudois, &e.
Noitvellement imprime, MDLXII, 8vo, p. 43. This work was published in Latin,
under the name of Reichardus. It is to be found in Crespin (folio edition), fol.

Chap. XI.] THE MONKS OF PIGNEROL. 163
Persecution was not then a mere ecclesiastical measure, but an
affair of party; and the different Vaudois communities reciprocally
supported each other as often as they were menaced. The reader
will recollect the attack which the seigneurs of Le Perrier made
with an armed force upon the inhabitants of Bioclaret in 1560, and
how the latter were assisted and delivered by the Vaudois of
Pragela. " The fugitives were restored to their homes with great
thanksgivings to God, and to the defenders whom he had sent
them."1 "The valley of Perouse," says Gilles, "was not oppressed by the
seigneurs, but it had at its gates other enemies not less formidable,
and far more inveterate — the monks of the abbey of Pignerol. As
they were very wealthy, and the sovereign had given permission to
every one, and even ordered his own troops to molest the Vaudois, -
these monks took into their pay a band of about 300 fanatics, full
of hatred against the Beformed, but of affection for their properties,
who robbed and ravaged throughout all the neighbouring country,
killing men and women, or carrying them prisoners to the abbey,
There they awaited the coming of the commissioners,3 who con
demned them without fail to the stake or to the galleys, if they
refused to abjure their religion."1 The Vaudois of the valley of
Lucerna now, in their turn, sent defenders to their compatriots of
the banks of the Cluson, and the latter, by reason of the presence
of their brethren, were able to apply themselves to their field la
bours, and to terminate their harvest work without being disturbed.5
In the year following, these children of the same country and
the same faith, although belonging to two different states,6 desirous
532-547. These events are not more particularly related by Gilles, ch. xiii. p. 75,
nor by Rorengo, p. 40. They took place under the influence of the inquisitor
Giacomello, to be afterwards mentioned.
1 Gilles, ch. xiii. pp. 89, 90. — Israel of the Alps, part ii. ch. i.
2 In 1560, Emmanuel Philibert, Duke of Savoy, forbade all the inhabitants of
his dominions from going to hear the Vaudois ministers, and forbade these minis
ters from celebrating their worship beyond the bounds of the valleys. (Edict of
Nice, 15th February, 1560; Rorengo, pp. 39, 40.) But this edict did not precisely
specify the extent of the territory of the Vaudois valleys, and special delegates were
appointed, under the name of ducal commissioners, to watch over its execution.
These officers committed many cruelties. These measures were adopted at the
instigation of the court of Rome, and of the court of Spain. (Gilles, p. 72.)
3 These commissioners were De Corbio (senator) and Giacomello (inquisitor).
Rorengo, p. 40. 4 Gilles, ch. xiv.
5 Id. p. 93. The inhabitants of Suza, Larche, and Meane, were, however, sub
jected to much annoyance by the chatelain of Suza, because they went to the preach
ing at Pragela. Id. pp. 215, 216.
6 The valley of Perouse was only given back to France in 1562, with Pignerol,
Savillan, and Levadis; but Pragela and the higher parts of the Doire already
formed part of Dauphiny.

I6i THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. [part Third,
of confirming the union which had always existed between the
Vaudois valleys of Dauphiny and those of Piedmont, renewed
amongst themselves the solemn oath mutually to support one
another in all circumstances in which their church might be
concerned;1 and they were indebted to their union for the concession
of liberty of conscience, which was made in 15612 to all those of
them who dwelt within the dominions of the Duke of Savoy. But
all the country to which this chapter relates belonged at that time
to France, except the small valleys of Mathias and Meane, to which
alone, therefore, this concession brought any advantage.8 The
religious meetings of the last-named little valley were even held in
a hamlet4 situated on the boundary of the two states; so that the
Protestant place of worship was in the dominions of the Duke
of Savoy, and the pastor's house was in France.5 The road from
Meane to Perouse terminated at Le Villaret, the last village to
which the cultivation of the vine extends, its cultivation being
impossible in all the upper part of Pragela.
France was at this time troubled by religious wars; and
Charles IX. was too feeble to resist, even if he had wished to do
so, the influence of the Guises, the Marshal Du Betz, and Catherine
De Medicis. The Protestants, on the other hand, had the Princes
of Conde, Admiral De Coligny, and the King of Navarre for their
defenders. Their worship, still prohibited within the precincts of
towns, was authorized in the country parts;6 but by what precise
mark could towns be distinguished from villages 1 Many conflicts
took place in consequence of this very measure, which had been
adopted to prevent them. The chiefs of the Huguenot party in
Dauphiny were the intrepid Montbrun7 and the savage Des
Adrets.8 The latter disgraced their cause by needless acts of
violence.. He invaded Pragela at the commencement of the year
1562, laid waste the Catholic institutions, burned the monastery of
Oulx, allowed his troops to pillage, interdicted the celebration of
mass, and sought to impose the Protestant religion upon every one,
1 Gilles, ch. xxii. p. 136. 2 Treaty of Cavour, 5th June, 1561.
3 "Their ^properties which have been confiscated shall be restored, &c  to
all the fugitives of the said valleys persevering in their religion,  and to
those of Meane." (Gilles, ch. xxviii. p. 170). Larche formed part of it. (Id.
p. 173.)
4 La Chapelle. 5 Gilles, ch. i. p. 10.
0 By edict of January 1562. (The Parliament of Paris refused to register it,
and only did so after three successive orders.)
7 Surnamed the Brave. In 1570 he bade defiance to the Catholic army of the
Marquis De Gordes, governor of Dauphiny; he marched against the troops of
Henry III. when they were besieging Livron, in 1570, and was arrested at Die,
and executed at Grenoble, in 1575. a He died in 1587.

Ciiap. XI] THE BARON DES ADRETS. 165
under pain of death.1 He did injury only to his own church,
which he exposed to the same reproaches of violence so often
brought by her against the Church of Bome.
The responsibility of the lawless deeds which he perpetrated at
that time, pressed afterwards, and for many years, very cruelly
upon the valley of Pragela, although its inhabitants had nothing to
do with these excesses. But, indeed, they were the first to suffer
for them. The Baron Des Adrets having been repulsed from the
valleys of the Cluson and the Doire, the Catholic party took
revenge for their momentary defeat by perpetual aggressions upon
the Protestants of these regions. "In some places," says Gilles,'-'
" the Vaudois durst no longer celebrate their worship, except at
night; for if they attempted to hold their meetings in open day,
according to the liberty which was then allowed to their brethren
of the same religion throughout the rest of France, they were
assailed by, armed parties seeking their destruction.'' These
audacious attempts were favoured by their isolation. Their party,
1 As his proclamations are rare, I subjoin a few passages of that which, upon
this occasion, he addressed to the inhabitants of Pragela : — "On the part of the
King Dauphin, our sovereign lord and master; the ordinance of my lord the
Baron des Adrets, gentleman in ordinary of the king's chamber, colonel of the
legions of Dauphiny, Provence, Lyonnais, and Auvergne, chosen commander-in-
chief of the companies assembled for the service of God, the liberty and deliver
ance of the king, and of the queen, his mother, conservator of the greatness and
authority of their majesties :
"It is commanded to all the countrymen and inhabitants of the places [i.e.,
towns or villages] and parishes of Mentoules, .... that they attend and hear
the preaching of the Word of God. ..... It is forbidden to celebrate masses
and other papal ceremonies from this time forth, .... also public dances, and all
confraternities whatsoever; .... and to be present thereat, in any parish what
soever, under pain of banishment .... and of confiscation of goods.
"Moreover, it is commanded to the above-named consuls, countrymen, and in
habitants of the places and parishes of Mentoules, that they immediately, and with
out delay, produce the images, copes, chasubles, crosses, chalices, cloths, and other
things appropriated to the papal mass, in order that they may be disposed of as
shall be decided by the commissioners, under pain of death.
"Finally, it is commanded to aU persons capable of bearing arms, that they
appear with their arms at Fenestrelle, thiB day, at two o'clock afternoon, under
pain of hanging and strangulation."
In this proclamation it is ordained that all shall learn and know the catechism
within one month, .... under arbitrary penalties.
(A copy of this document is given at the end of the Sommaire of the Archives
oith^ Prev6U of Oulx.) According to these Archives, the monastery of Oulx
was burned in 1562, at the instigation of some chiefs of Oulx itself, and of Cesane;
the steeple was demolished in 1574, by the malice and wickedness of Oulx, and the
bells taken away by those of the pretended Reformed religion; and the hospice
was destroyed in 1574, by those of the pretended Reformed religion in Pragela and
Valengrogne* Numerous judicial investigations ensued upon these devastations.
2 Ch. xl. p. 279.
* It was destroyed because their enemies sought to intrench themselves in it,

1 66 THE ISRAEL . OF THE ALPS. [Paut I'uibd.
which was powerful in Dauphiny, was not, however, able to defend
them upon the extreme frontier of that province. The Vaudois
of the Piedmontese valleys alone were able to render them any
assistance. This they did not fail to do; and by their devoted
friendship secured the repose of their brethren, after having sealed
with their blood the act of union which bound together their
ancient valleys.
A great number of petty combats took place at this time
between the Vaudois and their enemies, in the valley of the Doire
and in that of the Cluson. The Papists were commanded by a
captain belonging to Oulx, named La- Cazette,1 and by the
Seigneur De Mures, who, like him, made war for pleasure, and who
sometimes came from Lower Dauphiny with a troop of volunteers,
to his assistance ; for, "for one death on the side of the Vaudois,"
says Gilles,2 " there were almost always a number amongst the
aggressors; and what they imagined that they had gained one day,
they lost upon the morrow, to their great astonishment, but to the
glory of those whom they assailed; who upon that account, were
for a long time dreaded by their neighbours, and held in great
reputation." However, the Vaudois experienced reverses also. At Briangon,
for example, 'of which they obtained possession for a short time,
they were surrounded by the French troops, and massacred without
mercy. It was in mountain warfare that they triumphed, where
combatants seem to multiply their numbers by their activity, and
where the advantage of positions, surprises, and ambuscades makes
amends for paucity of numbers; but whenever they adopted the
course of shutting themselves up in a stronghold, or in a limited
place of defence, they almost always experienced some disaster.
Thus it was that half a company of their soldiers was also massacred,
which had retired into a ruined chapel between BouillSres and
Pragela. A similar misfortune, says Gilles,3 befell forty men of
the Val Lucerna, who allowed themselves to be shut up in a
paltry village near BardonSche, where they had neither provisions
nor munitions of war.
This story is related in the following manner, by an elegant
writer of that period, whose narrative is composed in Latin :* —
'".... Vulgo dictus, le gros La Cazette; cujus etiam ductu aggressi sunt
Catholici, dictos Hugonotos, Sezania, &c. . . . (MS. relation of 1563.)
8 Ch. xl. a p, 2S0_
4 1 add, in foot-notes, some passages which I have not translated. — Propter re-
bellantium hcreticorum rabiem, nulla huic erat fides nee securitas, inter parentes et
vicinos, religionis causa, ac praisertim in Plebania Ulciensi. (In the Pleianie of
Oulx.)

Ciiap.XI.J MASSACRE BY LA CAZETTE. 167
"In 1562," says he, "the snows of winter still lay upon our
mountains, till their first melting caused a terrible inundation in
the month of May, an evident presage of the approaching ravages
of the Calvinists. These came from the valley of the Cluson and
the valley of Lucerna. Many bloody rencounters took place at
Chalmont, at Les Chenevrigres, and at Salabertrans; and although
victory was sometimes equally balanced, the Huguenots always
gathered strength. However, the Catholics ranged themselves
under the command of the great La Gazette, who surprised the un
believers at Sezane, and cut in pieces as many as 150 of them.1 To
recover from this loss they called new reinforcements to their aid,2
and marched upon Briangon. They passed over Mount Genevre,
and came within a mile of the place ; but meeting there with a
different reception from what they expected, they fell back towards
the source of the Durance, into the valley of Les Pr6s,3 and, pursued
by those whom they had come to attack, they gained the heights
of the mountain of L'Echelle,4 from which they fled into the val
ley of Bardoneche, and there remained for some days. There it
was that the illustrious De La Cazette surprised them in broad day,
with his ordinary guard,5 augmented by a few courageous soldiers,
not without having taken precautions to prevent his being dis
covered ; and being supported by the Catholics of the place, he cut
them in pieces. The Vaudois not being able for the contest, on
account of the inferiority of their forces, retired in disorder into
the castle, as into a fortress. There they defended themselves till
night; and all who did not perish in the flames, were destroyed by
the sword.6 "Thus," adds out author, "that pest of heresy disap
peared from the valley."
It does not appear, however, that the defeat of the Vaudois was
so complete as his account would lead us to infer ; for a few days
"TJt notat Bellonius, scriba publicus TTlciensis, de cujus scripto manu propria
authenticato, hsec omnia translati fideliter  "
2 "Supplementum militum a sociis, vallium dictarum Clusoni et Angroninse,
acceperunt  " 3 " In vallem pratorum deflectere coacti sunt.
4 "Per montem, Scalse ut dicunt, Bardonescham ingressi  — (I quote the
passages which contain proper names, to secure myself against all charge of inac
curacy.) 5 Ibi, jam aliquibus diebus morabantur, cum ecce egregius De La Cazette,
sumptis secum aliquibus e suis militibus, quos custodial causa secum semper habe-
bat, et adjunctis aliis incolis hujus regionis1 .... pleno meridie, caute tamen et
prudenter adortus, magnum eorum impetu edidit stragem, adjuvantibus prascipue
dicti loci incolis," &c.
3 " Quos eniin flamrna comburere non poterat eosdem interficiebat gladius." — The
anonymous author of this narrative makes the number who thus perished no less
than 140. Gilles reduces it to 40 (p. 280) ; but perhaps the latter number only
refers to the Vaudois of the Val Lucerna, who were included in this catastrophe.

168 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. [past Third.
after, they seized the fortress of Exilles, a place to them of far
greater importance than all the places hitherto mentioned. But
when they entered upon possession of it they found it destitute of
munitions, and they were besieged in it by La Cazette, without
having it in their power to procure any. This captain kept up a
very strict blockade, in order to reduce them by famine. With
them were the best chiefs and the best soldiers of the valleys; they
made vigorous sorties, but were not able to break up the blockade of
the place. All the valleys, says Gilles,1 then made a great effort, and
did their duty marvellously in order to rescue them. Their people
having passed the mountains which separate the Cluson and the
Doire, in front of the fortress, approached it so that they could com
municate with the besieged without being seen by the besiegers. The
fort of Exilles is situated on a precipitous rock, which rises isolated
iu the midst of steep mountains pressing closely upon it upon every
side, in one of the narrowest parts of the valley. The Vaudois,
captives on this rock, saw their brethren come to their assistance.
Captain Frache, who commanded at Exilles, taking his sword in
both hands, then rushed out with all his band upon the troops of
the enemy. He cleared their barricades, penetrated into their in
trenchments, and overthrew all that opposed his passage. Whilst
he thus attacked the enemy in front, his compatriots rushed from
the mountain heights, and fell upon them in the rear. The troops of
La Cazette, thus caught, as it were, between two avalanches which
met at their ranks, were broken and dispersed. Their chiefs made
fruitless efforts to keep them firm, or to rally them. The place was
released from siege, the whole garrison escaped by this audacious
breach, joined the corps which had come to its assistance, and along
with it regained the mountains, ready for new combats. It was at
this period also that the affairs of Abries and St. Crespin took
place, of which we have already spoken in the history of the Vau
dois of Queyras.
The religious wars in France were calmed for a moment by the
edict of pacification which Charles IX. signed at Amboise, on the
19th of March, 1563. The conditions embodied in this edict were
more favourable than any which the Beformed had previously
obtained ; but it was modified by a royal ordinance, issued from
Lyons, on the 9th of August in the following year.5 A peace,
1 Page 281.
2 It was at Lyons, also, that Charles IX. issued, five days before (4th August, 1564),
the edict which fixed the commencement of the year at the first of January. At
this time Catherine de Mcdicis was causing the foundations of the palace of the
Tuileries to be laid at Paris.

Chap. XI.] THE DUKE OF CLEVES. 169
threatening and precarious like the calm which precedes a storm,
deadened for a short time the political passions which religious
quarrels had exasperated, and over which they exerted a predomi
nating power. The haughty and artful Catherine de Medicis,
whether from motives of kindness or of duplicity, had sought for
a little to reconcile the two parties. In secret, however, she was
raising troops to fight against the Huguenots. This was in 1567.
The king resided at the park of Monceaux. Conde and Coligny
¦formed the project of carrying off both him and his mother; but
this design failed.
The Duke of Cleves passed through Piedmont at this time with
a Spanish army, intending to proceed to Flanders. He arrived at
Pignerol. The valleys of the Cluson, the Pragela, and the Upper
Doire all belonged to France, as well as the marquisate of Saluces.
The Queen of Spain was the sister of Charles IX. The Duke of
Cleves was the king's lieutenant. No sooner had he heard of
these events, than he ordered all the Beformed, Vaudois or strangers,
to come and have their names individually taken down by the
governor of the province in which they dwelt.1 The same mea
sure was adopted with regard to those who belonged to France.2
The object of it was to know the number and strength of the
party. Moreover, Birague, who was then governor of Pignerol,
forbade all who were under his authority to lodge Protestants,
under pain of death.3 The steps which the Protestants had taken
to obtain more liberty in their religious exercises, became the very
heads of accusation against; them.4 From all sides the Vaudois
received disquieting news, or heard ominous rumours. Now it was
said that the Spanish army was going to exterminate them ; now,
that their worship would be completely prohibited; but it was
agreed upon all hands that near and imminent dangers gathered
around their church.5
The Vaudoi3 churches held a synod in the Val Cluson,6 and
1 "Louis Gonzague of Cleves, Prince of Mantua, Duke of Nancy, and governor
and lieutenant-general of his most Christian majesty on this side of the mountains,
with the advice of his majesty's council of state, sitting at Pignerol. . . . "We or
dain .... that every religionary shall, within twenty-four hours, present him
self before the governor, and have his name taken down." (Pignerol, 10th Octo
ber, 1567.) Mentioned in the Chronique des Sollaro. MS. of the Royal Library
at Turin. - 2 By edict of-October, 1567.
3 " . . . Quale si colui che allbghera, come quello che sara allogiato ; inconerano,
per la prima volta, a chiaschedun d'essi- nella pena di cento scudi ; la seconda, di
doi batti di corda e ducento scudi ; e la terza, della perdita della vita e beni.''
(Pignerol, 19th October, 1567. ) Chronique des Sollaro.
4 Same source, under date 28th November, 1567.
5 Gilles, p. 238. e End of May, 1567.
Vol. n. 82

1 70 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. [Paet Thied.
appointed an universal fast, to turn away, by humiliation and
prayer, the chastisements of the Lord and the fierceness of his wrath.1
And, like a cloud which, being driven by the wind, carries else
where the thunders with which it was charged, these mournful
omens and causes of fear passed over the valleys without any harm.
But this respite was not of long duration.2 St. Bartholomew's
Day drenched France with blood.3 Alarm again extended over
Piedmont. The Catholics, says Gilles,* made great rejoicings, and
mocked at the religionaries, ass if God had been abolished. Pro
testant worship, at least, was interdicted iu the French dominions.
The inhabitants of St. Germain and of Perouse complained to the
governor of Pignerol. " When our valley was ceded to France,"-'
said they, " it was agreed that the privileges which we enjoyed
at that period should be secured to us."G Birague paid no regard
to this; and the pastor of St. Germain, whilst the place of worship
in his parish was shut up, ascended to Pramol, and invited the
parish priest of that place to a public discussion. The priest fled
to avoid it, and the Protestant pastor won the whole of that com
mune to Protestantism, it having previously been Catholic.
This produced great excitement among the clergy; and the
Vaudois continuing their worship in the fields or in private houses,
Birague was urged to proceed against them by force of arms; but
he dreaded the valour of these mountaineers, of which they had
already given proof, and the mutual aid which they afforded to one
another. To prevent the valleys of Lucerna and St. Martin, which
belonged to the Duke of Savoy, from carrying assistance to their
brethren of the Val Perouse, he complained of their interventiou,
as if it had already taken place. The Duke of Savoy, dreading
¦ Gilles, p. 239.
2 On 28th September, 1571, Charles IX. had even written to the Duke of Savoy a
pressing letter in favour of the Vaudois. It will be found in Gilles, pp. 242, 243.
3 From the 23d August to the 2d September, 1572. During the interval the
Moriamur crusade was organized against the Reformed (12th March, 1568). ThU
association had taken for its device, Eamus nos, moriamur cum Christo. The
peace of Longjumeau was concluded on the 27th of March, which lasted only till
September, 1568. In 1569 the battle of Jarnac took place, where the Prince of
Conde was killed by a traitor. The King of Navarre, afterwards Henry IV., put
himself at the head of the Reformed. The battle of Montcontour was fought on
the 3d of October, 1569, where Admiral De Coligny was defeated by the Duke of
Anjou. On the 15th of August, 1570, the peace of St. Germain-en-Laye was con
cluded. Catherine de Medicis attracted to Paris the Queen of Navarre, the mother
of Henry IV. (Jeanne D'Albret), who died on 10th June, 1572. Her son married
the Bister of Charjes IX., on the ISth of August. Five days after, the massacre of
the Protestants commenced. 4 P. 250. 5 In 1562.
0 Petition of 2d August, 1573. Archives of the Court at Turin, No. of series,
226.

Chap. XI.] CHARLES DE BIRAGUE. 171
that political difficulties might arise with France,1 prohibited the
Vaudois of his dominions from crossing the frontier in arms;- and
Coestrocuzo, who was charged with the transmission of this order,
endeavoured to make the syndics and pastors of the communes re •
sponsible for its execution. They, being assembled on the 5th of
January, 1573, began by protesting their loyalty to their sovereign,
and representing to him that they had no executive power in their
hands — that their exhortations, always directed to the object of
keeping every one within the path of duty, were nevertheless often
fruitless — that, therefore, they prayed him not to make the whole
of the Vaudois responsible for the faults of a few — that besides, he
himself, in ceding the valley of Perouse to Charles IX., had guar
anteed the maintenance of the privileges which it enjoyed, and
that the Vaudois could not see their brethren destroyed without
feeling themselves impelled to succour them, by considerations of
duty as well as of affection, and that they therefore humbly en
treated his royal highness to be graciously pleased to exert his
influence, that the inhabitants of Perouse and St. Germain might
be allowed to remain in peace.3
Under the respectful language of this document there is mani
fest evidence of the firm resolution of the Vaudois to stand by one
another for mutual defence. This resolution caused a suspension of
the proceedings against the Val Perouse. Meanwhile, Charles De
Birague succeeded his brother Louis as lieutenant of the King of
France in the government of Pignerol. Anxious to signalize his
entry upon his office by some striking measure, and urged more
over by the royal council4 of that city, which was itself stirred
up by the clergy, this governor ordered the Protestants of the
country to cease from all religious assemblies.
They refused. Birague armed his garrison, and marching by
night, surprised the town of St. Germain before dawn.5 Five
men were seized, who were hanged shortly after on the trees of
La Turina; but the rest of the inhabitants defended themselves
vigorously; the alarm was given, and Captain Frache, one of the
most valiant men of his time, the chronicles say,6 hastened from
the heights of Angrogna, with the veteran band which had so
gloriously broken up the siege of Exilles, rescued St. Germain, and
drove the troops of Birague above La P6rouse and below Pignerol.
1 . . . . Resigo di tirarmi la guerra alle spalle  Instructions to the sena
tor De Ruffia, delegated to the valleys, 10th August, 1573. (Archives of Turin,
No. of series, 226. )
2 By letters of 30th December, 1572. 3 Gilles, ch. xxxvi., pp. 251-253.
4 Sometimes also called the Senate of Pignerol.
5 On 22d July, 1573. ' Gilles, p. 255.

172 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. [>"* T"1""-
These troops, however, returned to the charge a few days after,
under the command of Colonel De La Bade. All the communes
of the Val Lucerna sent a contingent for the defence of their
brethren, notwithstanding severe measures and special commissions,
by which the Duke of Savoy sought to prevent them from so
doing.1 Many engagements took place upon the banks of the
Cluson during the whole of the month of August. In one of these
skirmishes, Peter Couper of La Tour, a man distinguished for his
intrepidity, but too confidently bold, was killed at the head of his
troop, near Pinaehe, where the collision had taken place.
The numerous losses which the assailants had experienced iu
these encounters, and the trouble which resulted from them to the
Vaudois in their agricultural labours, made both parties desirous
of peace. These conflicts have received the name of the War of
La Bade, from the leader of the enemy, who especially signalized
himself in it. At last the Vaudois of the manor [chdtellenie~\ of
Perouse, in a spirit of accommodation, offered to Birague to suspend
the publicity of their religious services for a month, and to send
away their pastor,- ou condition that arms should be laid down
upon both sides, that prisoners should be restored without ransom,
and that no prosecution should be instituted upon account of any
thing that had taken place.3 Birague himself, before the com
mencement of hostilities, had asked no more of the Vaudois, in order
to his leaving them in tranquillity, than that they would interrupt
their worship for a month;* but they had refused, in the fear that
this concession would only render their adversaries more difficult to
deal with, and encourage them to make greater demands. How
ever, Birague did not demand anything more after this than he had
done before the resistance commenced; and these stipulations were
1 Very full particulars on this subject are contained in a paper in the Archives
of Turin, entitled, Instruttione a voi Messer Cesare Cambrani di signori di Ruffia,
Messer senatore, di quello che haverete a fare e dire in le va'li di Lucerna, An
grogna, San Martino, &c, per servicio nostro. It is dated 10th August, 1573.
The following are a few passages from it: "Farete intendere che havano trovato
strano, che quei populi, nostri sudditti, senza proposito, se siano levati et habbino
tolto le arme .... per volere diffendere quelli di San Germano, che sono di aliena
giurisdittione .... contro un principe tanto potente coni e il Re di Francia . . .
e se vi dicono che essi delle valli sarrano usciti in adiuto di quelli della valle della
Perosa e di Pragellato per essere tutti scritti (formati) in Xrispo (Ghristo) com'
essi dicano . . . . Ii poteti rispondere che qui non si tratta di religione, ma de re-
bellione, &c  "
Mention is made, at the end of this paper, of a letter whioh the Duchess of
Savoy wrote on the same subject, to Stephen Noel, pastor of Angrogna.
2 Francis Guerin, who had brought about the renunciation of the Popish Church
by all the inhabitants of Pramol.
3 By petition of 31st August, 1573. Gilles, p. 257-259. * Id. p. 254.

Chap XI ] DEATH OF CHARLES IX. 5 73
converted into a treaty.1 The king approved it; but he desired
that the Vaudois of the Val Perouse should renounce their public
worship entirely. Birague signified to them this resolution. They
replied, with dignity, that they set a higher value upon religious
life than upon the mere life of the body, and that there was no
need for their having laid down their arms if it was intended to
compel them so soon to take them up again. This language in
duced Birague to refrain from insisting; and it was even given out
that he had been authorized, by a secret permission from the king,
to tolerate the exercise of public worship, according to the Be
formed religion, in the valley of Plrouse.
But in the following year Charles IX. died of a tragical malady,2
and Henry III., his brother, furtively quitted the throne of Poland,
to which he had been called two months before, and came to assert
his right to the crown of France. Passing through Turin on his
way, he was received with great honours, and he testified his gra
titude to the Duke of Savoy by restoring to him, as a royal gift,
the towns of Pignerol, Savillan, and Levadis, along with the valley
of Perouse. The inhabitants of this locality, therefore, returned
for a short time under the government whose blessings were then
enjoyed by the Vaudois of Piedmont, and had some years of repose.
They will demand our attention again in the course of this history;
meanwhile, let us consider what took place in the high valleys of
the Doire and Pragela.
1 Concluded at Pignerol, 1st September, 1573.
> At Vincennes, 30th May, 1574.

174 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. [Part Thied.

CHAPTER XII.
HISTORY OF THE VAUDOIS OF PRAGELA AND THE
ADJACENT VALLEYS.
SECOND PERIOD. — LESDIGUIERES IN PRAGELA.
(a.d. 1574 to a.d. 1601.)
Reign of Henry III. in France— THE LEAGUE — Agitations in the French Vau
dois valleys — Assassins — Jesuits — Rumours of impending danger — Settlement
of Popish priests in the parishes of the Plebanie of Oulx — Progress of the Pro
testant cause — Death of La Cazette — Lesdiguieres invades Piedmont — Various
events of the war — Unjust attempt to deprive the Vaudois of Pinaehe of their
place of worship — Attempt to massacre them — Polemical discussions — Letter
of Lesdiguieres to the Piedmontese Vaudois, promising them protection — Apos
tasy of Captain Jahier of Pramol— His miserable death — Peace of 1601 between
France and Savoy.
Immediately on his return to France, and before he had even
reached Paris, Henry III. declared against religious liberty. His
mother, Catherine de Medicis, had gone to meet him as far as the
bridge of Beauvoisin. There Montbrun, the chief of the Calvinists
of Dauphiny, plundered the equipages of the new king. For this
Henry III. retained a feeling of personal resentment; and no
sooner did he arrive at Lyons1 than he held a great council, in
which, contrary to the advice of the wiser part, it was decided to con
tinue the cruel intestine war for the destruction of the Huguenots.
The Huguenots very soon had at their head three princes of the
blood.2 Their enemies were then forced to think of peace; and,
by an edict of the 14th of May, 1576, the Protestants obtained
the free exercise of their religion, admission into the parlia
ments, and a certain number of fortified places, which were to
remain in the possession of their troops, as a sort of hostages,
under the name of places of security. These concessions excited
the liveliest dissatisfaction among the Catholics ; the more ardent
leagued themselves together; the crowd followed them; ambitious
1 On 6th September, 1574.
2 The Prince of Conde, who had just returned to France; the Duke of Alencon
(afterwards Duke of Anjou), who made his escape from the court of his mother
(Catherine de Medicis) on the 15th of September, 1575, to go to join the confede
rate Protestants; and the King of Navarre (afterwards Henry IV.) who had espoused
Margaret of France, the sister of Henry III. and of Charles IX., and who also re
joined his brethren in religion in February, 1576.

Chap. XII. J "THE LEAGUE. 175
men put themselves at their head; the indecision of the king
allowed them to gain strength ; and thus the League arose.
To repress it, the party whom it threatened demanded a meet
ing of the states-general, which were opened by the king at Blois,
on the 6th of December^ 1576. But the Calvinists did not derive
the advantage from this which they expected. This assembly, of
which all the members were Catholics, revoked their privileges,
sanctioned the League, and compelled the king himself to sign it.
No enemy could have given him worse counsel. The civil war was
thus kindled again with more fury than ever ; but ere long, appre
hensive that the Beformed might call in foreign troops to their
assistance, Henry III. granted them a new Edict of Pacification.1
It was the sixth, but it was not more durable than the others.
The war continued, sometimes in secret plots and intrigues, some
times in open violence, sometimes general, sometimes confined to
particular localities, but always full of hatred and fury.
These great convulsions, which shook France to its centre, were
attended with corresponding local commotions in the Vaudois val
leys which belonged to it. The archives of the monastery of Oulx,2
in the valley of the Doire, have preserved the remembrance of some
of these shocks, in so far at least as they affected that establish
ment; for it frequently had to suffer from them,3 although rather
at the hand of Calvinists who came from the interior of the country,
than of the Vaudois who were settled in the neighbourhood itself.
The latter, indeed, exhibited, even towards the missionaries who
were sent to convert them, the mildness and generosity which result
from the long-continued influence of the gospel — 'qualities which
were acknowledged by their adversaries. Now we find the Ca
puchins pursued by robbers, and taking refuge in the house of a
Vaudois, to whom they are indebted for their lives.4 Now a pas
tor accords to these monks an obliging hospitality.5 Again, we
1 According to a treaty signed on the 17th of September, 1577, at Bergerac, and
ratified by the king, on the 5th of October, at Poitiers.
2 1 have seen only the Sommaire, which is a manuscript of 838 pages, in small
folio, deposited in the Archives of the Bishopric of Pignerol.
3 See fol. 25, fol. 37 (right-hand page), 38 (left-hand), and 39, 117, 314 (left-hand),
315 (right-hand), &c.
4 Notes on the Missions of the Capuchins in the Vaudois Valleys, in Italian, with
out any particular title ; in the Archives of the Bishopric of Pignerol. In the
paragraph beginning with these words : S'introvano in queste valli, un eretico ban-
ditto famuso .... uomo perverso, inimico de catholici, di Dio, e massime delli
Capucini. 5 " Audando noi per una terra di Pragela .... andassimo alia casa d'un minis-
tro, per provare se h'haverebbe fatto la carita. E lo trovassimo a canto alia porta.
Li chiamarsino limosina. E il ministro rispose cberavamo troppo sorupulosi d'en-
dar per il mondo senza denari. — II Padre Giovanni li rispose : che noi imitavano

176 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. [paetTh.ed.
are told of some poor villagers who are astonished at seeing them
walk barefooted,1 a circumstance which of itself proves how little
the presence of monks was then familiar to the inhabitants of
Pragela. But whilst displaying this kindness and good nature towards
these inoffensive personages, the Vaudois of Pragela evinced no
common energy in repelling armed aggressions. They were then,
it is true, supported by their brethren of the other valleys,2 accord
ing to the covenant of union which both they and their brethren
had sworn to observe. Thus, the superior of the abbey of Pignerol
having, in 1583 and 1584, arbitrarily caused some of the Protes
tants of the Val Perouse to be arrested when they went into that
city on their private business, their compatriots took up arms for
their deliverance; and the governor of La Tour, having ordered the
inhabitants of the Val Lucerna not to intermeddle with this affair,
the Vaudois replied that they would never make any opposition to
the regular course of justice, but that if the chiefs of a rival religion
attempted to encroach upon their recognized rights, they could
never abandon one another.3
Shortly afterwards the minister of St. Germain, and the minis
ter of Le Boure, in Pragela, were assailed near La Perouse by some
soldiers of that garrison, who left the latter covered with wounds.
The report of his death having immediately spread, the people ran
together in arms, from all the mountains, to avenge their pastor.
The principal inhabitants of La Perouse, although Catholics, had
caused the wounded man to be transported into the town, and be
stowed upon him all the attention which his circumstances required.
" But," says Gilles, "they were greatly afraid when they heard with
what fury the people were animated; wherefore the governor of
the castle, having come down to the town, requested the pastor of
Pinaehe, Elias Schiop by name, a grave man and much respected,
Giesu Christo e li Apostoli. — Dice il ministro che la nostra poverta era volontaria.
— E poi ne fece entrar in casa, conducendosi permano. Fece preparar subito la
tanla ; e mentre rnangiamo, stette sempre in piedi, con il capello in mano : serven-
dosi la ministra (the pastor's wife), con grande riverenze, tagliandosi fin al pane.
.... Tutte le ragione che il Padre Ciovanni diceva al ministro, egli le teneva
per buone. N'accompagno poi fuori della casa, facendone essebitione della cosa e
di denarii." (Notes on the Missions of the Capuchins in the Vaudois Valleys.)
1 Same Manuscript.
2 I find, under date 8th June, 1579, a notarial paper, in twelve folio pages, con
taining the testimonies of a great number of people, who give evidence that the
Vaudois of the valleys of St. Martin and Lucerna had recently brought assistance,
by arms, to thoBe of Pragela. This paper is followed by various letters from the
syndics of Le Villar, Bobi, St. John, Bora, and Angrogna, replying that this was
done without their participation. (All these documents are in the State Archives
at Turin, No. of series, 317-320.) 3 Gilles, ch. xli. p. 285.

Chap. XII.] PROCEEDINGS OF THE LEAGUE. 177
to go and meet this torrent of people, in order to calm them, by
representing to them that the minister Gamier was not dead, that
care would be taken of him, and that the guilty would be punished.
Pastor Schiop succeeded in his mission of conciliation; but the
people, although appeased, crowded into the town of P&'ouse, and
around the house where the wounded' man lay, whom they took
and bore in their arms to his own place of residence. He recovered,
but his assailants were never punished.
After the assassins, the Jesuits came to trouble the valley.
They appeared there in 1584. Although their assaults did not
cause blood to flow, yet they were a precursory indication of new
calamities. The League, which had been formed in France for the destruc
tion of the Beformed, emboldened the enemies of the Vaudois in
Piedmont. They spoke of nothing less than a coalition between
Henry III., Philip II.,1 and the Duke of Savoy, to annihilate the
church of the valleys. To these rumours of extermination, and lofty
threats, the Israel of the Alps responded by a public fast, a time set
apart for humiliation and prayer.2
The Vaudois valleys, which were under the dominion of the
Duke of Savoy, then enjoyed tranquillity, for that prince, far from
joining the League, condemned its excesses. But the valleys of
the Doire and the Cluson, whose history we now write, had their
share of these commotions. As Henry III. had been declared
chief of the League, it was in the name of his government that, in
the year 1583, the Ple'banie of Oulx began to be visited by persons
appointed to settle priests in all the Protestant parishes;3 and upon
representations, addressed by the archbishop of the diocese to the
court of the Parliament of Grenoble, a formal edict was issued on
the 14th of August, 1603, rendering that restoration imperative.
All gentlemen holding ecclesiastical property were to be declared
plebeians, and to have their own property confiscated, if within
the space of one month after the publication of the edict they
had not restored to the clergy the patrimony which they kept
from them.
These proceedings were continued till 1618.* Nevertheless, Pro-
1 King of Spain, father-in-law of Charles Emmanuel.
2 This public fast took place in all the valleys on the 15th and 16th, and also on
the 22d and 23d of May, 1585.
3 Visiles generates de la PUbanied! Oulx, 1583 and 1584. (A thick 4to MS. in the
Archives of the Bishopric of Pignerol.) These visits were made in virtue of a
special ordinance of the Parliament of Grenoble in 1583. Louis De Birague in
trusted the Grand Vicar of Oulx with the execution of it, by a mandate of 7th
October, 1583.
4 In 1605 Jerome De Birague (for first Louis, then Charles, and afterwards
Vol. ii. 83

17S THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. [pahtThied.
testantism still triumphed. Lesdiguilres had, in the meantime,
acquired a predominant power in Dauphiny. The personal enemies
of the Vaudois became more timid. Captain De La Cazette was
taken in 1590 by orders from the Protestant headquarters, in spite
of a guard of twenty-four men, who watched day and night around
his house. A detachment of forty picked men, sent on this inglo
rious expedition, came to Oulx by night, surrounded the abode of
the persecutor, burst open the doors by means of* a petard, and
accusing La Cazette of treason, slew him, without giving him op
portunity of making any defence. But, even in order to punish
a traitor, is it right to act like traitors? This blow seems to have
been struck by order of General the Count De Gattinara, whose
army remained for some time, in 1590, in the valley of La Perouse,
which thpy oppressed by taxes and contributions. This army had
been brought thither in consequence of the invasion of the mar-
quisate of Saluces, which the Duke of Savoy had seized in 1588,
and of the incursion which he afterwards made with an armed force
into Provence.
The clergy of Suza took advantage of this absence of their sove
reign to get the Vaudois of Mathias and of Meane interdicted
from the exercise of their religion ; but they, having made a repre
sentation of the case to the Duchess of Savoy, who was always
favourable to them, obtained, though not without some consider
able expense,1 the confirmation of all their privileges.2
Meanwhile Lesdiguieres, desirous of uniting the interests of the
crown of France with the exercise of the power which he had ac
quired in Dauphiny as leader of the Huguenots, prepared to invade
Piedmont, in order to punish the Duke of Savoy for his seizure of
the province of Saluces, and his invasion of Provence. A similar
expedition had already been attempted, in 1591, against the valley
of Lucerna, by Colonel De Perdeyer, which failed before the fort
of Mirabouc. Lesdiguieres was more successful ; and having oc
cupied S6zane on the 26th of September, 1592, he descended next
day by the valley of Pragela, sending an advanced guard to appre
hend all the inhabitants, lest they might precede him, and betray
the secret of his march. He thus appeared unexpectedly under the
walls of Perouse, and entered it in the evening,3 by the clear light
Jerome were governors of Pignerol) commanded the prior of Suza to come in per
son, and he present at these inspections. In 1609 he ordained that in all parishes
the Romish worship should be celebrated according to the ritual -adopted by the
Council of Trent. In 1611 he employed the vicar-general to visit certain priories,
and in 1617 to inspect the whole Pleianie. (These documents are in the Archives
of the Bishopric of Pignerol.) • For the sum of 650 golden crowns.
» Under date, 10th May, 1591. 3 Saturday, 27th September, 1592.

Chap.XII] PRIEST ROUGER KILLED. 179
of the moon. The keeper of the gates was killed; the garrison had
only time to retire into the castle, with the governor, Cacheran,
who was exceedingly mortified at having allowed himself to be sur
prised. No one was killed in the town, except a man who was
found in the street armed with a pike and a cutlass. His name
was Bouger, and "he had," says Gilles,1 "the appearance and man
ners of a proud soldier, rather than of a humble parish minister."
He was, however, the ecclesiastical director of a Catholic parish of
the neighbourhood ; but his flock themselves were ashamed of his
ministry, not so much for his military air as for his immoral life.2
A few days before, he had drawn his sword against a Protestant
pastor, who was then defended and protected by the Papists of La
Perouse. The Vaudois did not seek to avenge themselves for this
assault ; but the French soldiers having taken Priest Bouger for a
leader of the enemy, killed him in the public square. His body
was left exposed on the ground, without the Catholics themselves
taking the trouble to perform the last rites for a man who had
brought much scandal upon their church, by his dissoluteness and
his cruelties.
LesdiguiSres marched upon Pignerol that same evening, in order
to surprise it, but was not able to seize that city, and so returned
to the siege of the castle of La Perouse, which he compelled to sur
render on the 2d of October, 1592. However, the inhabitants of
the valleys of St. Martin and of Lucerna had taken up arms to
resist the invasion. They were exempted from it upon payment
of a heavy contribution, the amount of which was agreed upon at
Grand Doublon, on the 1st of October, between their deputies and
Lesdiguieres. That general then turned towards Briqueras, and (in
1593) caused the castles of La Tour and Perouse to be demolished.
To oppose these conquests, Charles Emmanuel, who had returned
from Provence, again ascended the valley of the Doire, accompanied
with a powerful force.3 His design was to seize the fortress of
Exilles, which guarded the frontiers of Dauphiny. Lesdiguieres
retraced his steps to defend this place. He ascended the valley of
Prao-ela and stopped at Oulx, not having been able to prevent the
capitulation of Exilles, which, however, did not surrender until it
had sustained more than 2000 cannon-shot. A murderous combat
afterwards took place at Salabertrans, between the armies of France
and Savoy. Both parties equally claimed the victory; but Les-
i p 293. 2 See the particulars in Gilles, p. 293.
3 Not wholly derived from his own dominions, but consisting also of troops fur
nished by the King of Naples, the King of Spain, and the Emperor of Germany,
his allies.

180 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. [Pabt Third.
diguilres retained the upper part of the valley. Charles Emmanuel,
shortly after, caused the fort of St. Benoit to be erected on the
limits of his territory, between P6rouse and Pignerol.
Towards the end of the year the French troops withdrew from
Piedmont, retaining possession, in that country, only of Cavour,
Mirabouc, and a few other places. But in abandoning to Charles
Emmanuel the valleys which he had conquered, Lesdiguieres stipu
lated that religious liberty should be guaranteed for ever to their
inhabitants.1 The Vaudois, who had enjoyed it most completely
during the occupation of their country by the French, had hastened
to multiply their places of meeting in Pragela. The Duke of Savoy,
when he became master of these countries, was solicited by the
Papists to forbid the Beformed worship altogether. Fearing that
he might decide accordingly, the Vaudois addressed a petition to
him, in consequence of which they obtained the preservation of
their privileges, on condition, however, that the newly-erected
places of worship should be closed, and that the forsaken chapels,
which had been appropriated to Protestant worship, should be
restored to the Catholics.2 This last article related particularly to
the dependencies of the provostship of Oulx, which had suffered
from the presence of Lesdiguieres, as formerly from that of Des
Adrets.3 But the probability of such sufferings was not yet over, for the
war was still prosecuted between Savoy and France. The upper
part of the valleys of the Cluson and the Doire belonged to the lat
ter power, and Charles Emmanuel thought to make himself maste
of them. His troops, having surmounted all obstacles as far as Suza
and Mentoules, fortified themselves in the narrowest part of the
gorge which opens into the valley of Meane, as well as upon the
summit of an eminence covered with ruins, which commands the
village of Mentoules in Pragela. "This invasion," says Gilles,
1 This treaty is mentioned in a decree of his majesty's sovereign council at Pig
nerol, of date 24th April, 1654. (Civil Archives of Pignerol, class xxv., mazzo i.,
No. 7.)
2 Letters-patent granted at Turin, by Charles Emmanuel, 21st November, 1594.
3 There was a criminal process for the carrying away of stones and building
materials from the provostship of Oulx, against A nthony Reul, innkeeper in the plain
of Oulx, dated 6th June, 1595, and occupying seventeen quarto leaves. Precogni
tions concerning the burning of the monastery, taken at the request of the provost,
Jerome De Birague, before the local lieutenant of the see of Briangon, under date
6th September, 1596, in one folio MS. of eighteen leaves, ill written ;— a Report,
[Proces Verbal] on the same subject, drawn up by the officer of justice, on the
30th of January, 1597, &c. All in the Archives of the Bishopric of Pignerol.
There are in these archives also other reports and documents relative to similar
untoward occurrences within the provostship of Oulx, in 1562 1574 1591 1592
1593, &c. ...

Chap XU J THE CHURCH AT PINACHE. 181
"haviDg caused the inhabitants of the valley to be called out for
its defence, all of whom were of the Reformed religion,1 they made
such an effort from both sides that, notwithstanding great resis
tance, they put the ducal troops to flight, and made the governor
of Bevel prisoner." 2
The Duke of Savoy at this time added to the fortifications
which guarded these valleys. The little town of La Chapelle was
surrounded with walls, and received a garrison. A new fortress
was raised at the entry of the valley of St. Martin, and took the
name of Palais Louis. The soldiers who were placed there having
committed numerous excesses,3 which evinced their hostility to Pro
testantism, the Capuchin monks, in their vicinity, resumed courage,
and became more enterprising than ever in their opposition to
evangelical worship.
At this period the Protestants of Pinaehe assembled in a large
place of worship, which had formerly been a Catholic church, but
the Catholics of the country had given it up to them by an agree
ment, of which the origin was as follows. The Papists were more
numerous at Diblon than- at Pinaehe, although, in all, less nume
rous than the Protestants. The latter offered to build a church, at
their own expense, at Diblon, for the use of the Catholics, and the
latter consented to give up the church at Pinaehe to the Beformed.
By this arrangement the interests of both parties were provided
for. The people often Come to a better agreement among them
selves than would ever be brought about by those who direct their
affairs. However, the letters-patent of the 2 1st of November,
1594, having declared that the edifices formerly devoted to Catholic
worship should be restored to the Catholics, they became an instru
ment of much mischief in the hands of the monks, who prevailed
with the governor of Pignerol to prohibit the Vaudois of Pinaehe
from entering their place of worship any more. In vain did the
Vaudois point out the title which they had to that edifice; the
governor would listen to nothing on the subject.
Two opinions then arose among the Vaudois as to the course
which they should pursue. Some said, " They cannot dispute our
right to the place of worship at Diblon, which was constructed at
our expense; let us expel from it the Catholics, to whom we
transferred it, and let us celebrate our worship there." Others
replied — " Our neighbours of Diblon have had nothing to do with
the injury which we have suffered; we have no right to take from
them by violence what we gave over to them of our own freewill;
'...." qui etaient tous de la religion."
2 Gilles, ch. xliv. p. 313. 3 See Gilles, p. 314.

182 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. LPaktThihu.
but we have a right to meet in the church which they, in like
manner, made over to us : let us remain where we are, and carry
on our worship." This opinion prevailed.
Governor Ponte regarded this as an insult to his authority, and
having consulted with the military commanders at La Chapelle
and Palais Louis, he formed the project of massacring the inhabi
tants of Pinaehe when they were assembled in their church, and of
carrying away the pastor from the midst of his flock. One Sab
bath morning, therefore, troops marched out from both these for
tresses, as well as from Pignerol. The pastor, Felix TJghet, preached
on that morning at Le Villar, a village situated half a league from
Pinaehe. The soldiers were preparing to surround the church,
when a shepherd boy, who saw their movements, ran to warn the
Protestant worshippers, who came out in haste, and secured the
escape of the pastor. The troops of the enemy being almost all on
horseback, could not follow the. Vaudois, who dispersed themselves
amongst the vineyards in their flight; but Ponte's cavalry ravaged
the plain, returned to Pinaehe, plundered the pastor's house, and
carried away much booty. The father and brother of the minister
Ughet were afterwards imprisoned, as we have already seen in the
chapter devoted to the history of the martyrs.
But all these acts of violence had only the effect of causing the
Vaudois still more to detest the Jesuits and Capuchins, who were
the instigators of them. The monks, therefore, thought proper to
seek for some victories in the field of controversy. They challenged
the Vaudois pastors to polemical discussions. The weapons of con
troversy seem to have been equally well managed on both sides ;
but reasoning does not produce faith, religious life is not the result
of a syllogism : the dialectics of Bome broke down before the au
thority of the Bible.
Then, addressing themselves to popular fears, these religious
spread the report of an approaching destruction of the Beformed,
which no one could possibly escape but by taking refuge in the
bosom of the Bomish Church, whose arms were always paternally
open to embrace the inhabitants of the valleys. "Bumours of this
kind," says Gilles,1 "perseveringly circulated, and transmitted from
one to another, acquired the more consistency, as direct attacks
upon the Protestants became more numerous, and remained un
punished in Piedmont as well as in France." The pastor of Men
toules2 wrote to Lesdiguieres on this subject, and even went to
1 Chap. xiv. p. 322.
2 Bernard Guerin, brother of Francis Guerin, the former pastor of St. Germain.
the apostle of Pramol, and the missionary and reorganizer of the churches of Saluces.

Chap. XII ] JAHIER'S APOSTASY. 183
him in person. The governor of Dauphiny replied in these terms:
"Gentlemen, I was very glad to hear from you, by the minister
M. Guerin. I would have wished to have heard better news, be
cause my duty requires me to care for your comfort and perfect
liberty, which also, above all things, I have at heart. But you
know that those who walk in the right path always suffer perse
cution. Doubt not, any logger, I pray you, but that I will par
ticipate with you in what befalls you, and will exert myself to the
utmost of my power to ward off evil from you, by my interposition
with your sovereign. Be assured, whatever you may be told, that
he will treat you as good subjects, and will maintain you in your
liberty of conscience, if you are obedient to him, as I know that
you wish to be; and if you keep this course, I will take upon me
to protect you, and will support you as much as reason and the com
mon cause require me, as M. Guerin will inform you on my behalf.
I now beg the Creator, gentlemen, that he may continue and in
crease his favours to you, and commend myself to your favourable
"regard. — Lesdiguieres."1 These protestations re-assured the Vau
dois, who were full of confidence in his honour, both as a gentle
man and a Christian.
However, a few of the Beformed, influenced by motives peculiar
to themselves, yielded to the arts of the monks, who sought their
conversion. Of this number was Captain Jahier of Pramol, a man
of great courage, but very covetous of wealth. He was accused of
extortion; the monks gave information against him to the Duke
of Savoy, who had him summoned before him. The proofs, care
fully sought out, left no room for denying the charge. Then the
Jesuits, who were present at the examination, flung themselves at
the feet of the sovereign, entreating him to pardon the culprit if
he would change his religion. Totally stunned by the blow, Jahier
promised all that was asked of him. Afterwards, having recovered
his composure, he wished to retract that resolution; but he was
told that he was bound by his promise, which his sovereigu had
received from his own mouth. To render the fulfilment of it more
pleasant to him, a promise was made to him in return, of exemption
from taxes for some years, and of the office of captain-general of
the militia of Perouse for life. But it was required that he should
immediately make his abjuration, and should bind himself to make
proselytes afterwards.
The man of war and of wealth was overcome; and returning to
Pramol, he sought to induce his wife to follow his example. She
refused. A few days after, the monks having paid a visit to the
1 This letter is dated from Piedmore, 13th August, 1598.

184 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. Oart Thied.
village, to see what effect Jahier's solicitations had produced, they
set up an altar, and celebrated mass there. None of the inhabitants
were present at it, except one of the old Catholics of the place.
Jahier attempted, by violent means, to compel the attendance of
his son Elysee, aged fifteen years; but the boy escaped during the
service; and his father beat him so cruelly afterwards, that he died
in the course of a few days. Thus the apostate began to suffer in
that which was dearest to him — and this, too, as an immediate
consequence of his abjuration. And now his relatives, his friends,
and his countrymen shrunk from him with contempt. The monks
bore him a grudge for having done so little. The domestic roof,
where everything reminded him of the murder of his son, became
insupportable to him. A strange disquietude seized him. The
agitation of his mind passed to his limbs, formerly full of vigour.
He was affected with a perpetual trembling, which was attributed
to a premature old age, but to which nothing equal was to be seen
in any other old man. He changed his residence, and went to
live at Diblon, where the sun has more power. But his health did
not return. His soul also was sick, and trembled more than his
body. "O how happy you are," said he to his wife, "to have pre
served your peace of conscience ! " When his last hour drew near,
the priests sought to administer extreme unction to him, but he
repelled them with disgust; wherefore, when he was dead, they
refused to bury him, and his relatives, coming down from Pramol,
took away his forsaken body, and discharged the last duties to it
in the cemetery of Pinaehe. Gilles, who was then pastor at Pra
mol, has given a striking account of all these particulars.1 Far
from promoting the work of proselytism, this despised and despi
cable apostasy inspired the Vaudois with a still more insurmount
able aversion to abjuration than before.
Meanwhile, Charles Emmanuel had sought to conclude peace
with Henry IV. For this purpose he even repaired in person
to France, in 1599. But the treaty was not signed till the 17th
of January, 1601, at Lyons. By this treaty, the Duke of Savoy
ceded Gex, Bugey, and Val Bomei to the King of France, retain
ing the marquisate of Saluces, the original cause of the war. It
was said concerning this subject, that the king had made a duke's
peace, and the duke had made that of a king.
1 End of chap. xiv.

CiiAf. XIII.] VAUDOIS PETITION. 185

CHAPTER XIII.
HISTORY OF THE VAUDOIS OF PRAGELA AND THE
ADJACENT VALLEYS.
THIRD PERIOD. — THE VALLEY OF PEROUSE UNDER THE
DOMINION OF CHARLES EMMANUEL.
(a.d. 1601 to a.d. 1628.)
The privilege of public worship denied to the inhabitants of Pragela — United de
claration of the Vaudois — Efforts of the Romish clergy to make proselytes —
The Duke of Savoy himself endeavours to induce some of the principal inhabi
tants of Pinaehe to join the Church of Rome — Decree of the Parliament of
Grenoble — Inoperative edict of the Duke of Savoy — The Vaudois of Perouse
are induced, by crafty counsel, to separate themselves from the common union
of the Vaudois, and to refuse payment of their share of a sum which the val
leys were to pay for confirmation of privileges — They soon find that they have
fallen into a dangerous snare — Orders given for the demolition of six of their
places of worship — The Vaudois attacked by French troops at St. Germain —
They assemble in such formidable numbers that the troops retire — An amnesty
— Political relations of France and Savoy.
By the edict of 25th February, 1602, Charles Emmanuel, in grant
ing religious liberty to the Vaudois valleys, had restricted the ex
ercise of Protestant worship to the churches included within the
limits of these valleys alone. The churches of Saluces and Pragela
found themselves excluded from the privilege. All these members
of one spiritual body, then joined in a manifestation of brotherly
sympathy and resolution to make common cause with each otherj
the unanimity of which was admirable.
From the valley of the Sture, on the confines of Nice, to those
of Mathias and Meane, on the confines of Suza, they signed, as a
protest against the intrigues and violence from which they suffered
at this period, the following declaration, which was, at the same
time, a petition to their sovereign : —
"From time immemorial our progenitors and our families hav
ing been brought up in the doctrine professed at the present day
by the Beformed Church, in which we are resolved to live and to
die, that it may be known to all men that it is not for any crime
or rebellion that we are at the present day spoiled of our lands and
houses, we solemnly declare that this doctrine, which we are urged
to renounce, is held by us as the only true doctrine ordained and
approved of God — the only doctrine which can make us pleasing in
his sight, and guide us to the path of salvation. If any one pre-
Vol. n. 84

186 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. [paet Third.
tends that we are in error, let him prove it, and we will renounce
it. But if it is attempted, by mere force and constraint, to make
us follow human superstitions, we prefer rather to submit to the
loss of our properties, and even of our lives, than to that of the
truth and. of .the salvation of our souls."1.
This courageous declaration, the terms of which we have abridged,
was drawn up in Pragela. It had the effect only of exciting still
more the: ardour of proselytism and feverish rivalry of the jealous
missionary zealots, who were no longer contented to employ per
suasion as their only means of bringing back the wandering sheep
to their fold. To strengthen the hands of these missionaries, the
Archbishop of Turin repaired in person to the valley of Perouse.
He arrived there on the 25th of M-iy, 1602, and took up his abode
in the house of a Protestant innkeeper, whom he hoped to make his
first proselyte. The country was suffering very much from dearth;
the .prelate caused wheat, money, and bread to be distributed to
the indigent Catholics, promising the same relief to Protestants
who ighould becopie Catholics. He then took upon him to forbid
all persons from going to the plain of Piedmont to earn wages as
reapers,, without a. special permission signed by his hand; and when
this permission was asked, he refused to grant it without a formal
engagement taken by the party obtaining it to live in the Bomish
religion., . •
.In spite of all. these unworthy arts, there were few apostasies,
and of , the persons who were entrapped into insincere abjurations,
the .greater part returned to the religion . of their fathers after the
archbishop!s departure. But he returned in a short time, and or
dered the Vaudois of Talucco, in , the valley of St. Pierre, near
Grand Diblon, to abjure their religion or to leave the country.
They did neither the one of these things nor the other; and, after
some individual cases of vexation, they were left in peace.
These means having proved unsuccessful, the principal inhabi
tants of Pinaehe, were summoned to appear at Turin, before the
Duke of Savoy. One of them alone refused to go.-' The others,
having arrived at Turin, presented themselves before the governor
of the province, who said to them, "His highness being informed of
the. esteem in which you are held, has signified to me his desire to
see you, that, he may obtain your, consent to return to the Holy
Church, and so to set a good example to others. I have taken upon
me to promise to his highness that you will do so; and you may
1 Perrin, p. 185-189. Leger, part i. p. 3.
2 His name was Anthony Martinat. The others were John Micol, Michael
Gilles, and John Bouchard.

WfcO-IUsT OF PED8©DJ§E. IUn><SMK](G DIP TK1E miLILiY OIF tWi SLBJi
TRE TOWH OP JEB.0USE OW TKE B1&HT. Md OP POMARET OU TEE IEFI.

BLACKIE & SOif, GLASGOW, j'.DimURGU .<- LUHWN

Chap. XIII] GOVERNOR PONTE DISGRACED. 187
be certain that in this way you will obtain whatever you desire,
both now and for the future." "My lord," replied the villagers,
"we desire nothing more than what we have. Had you promised
to his highness anything depending on our strength or our fortune,
we would not have failed to make it good, but as to the proposal
of a change of our religion, it is a thing which concerns more than
this world, and we pray you therefore not to insist upon that
point." The governor replied by abusive language, and sent them
away, saying that they would yet be called to appear before their
sovereign. After some days, not having heard anything more on
the subject, they left the capital, and returned to their hamlet.
Scarcely had they arrived there, when Governor Ponte ordered
them to appear again, within three days, at Turin, under pain of the
confiscation of all their goods. They returned to Turin accordingly,
towards the end of July, and were presented to the duke, who very
affectionately exhorted them to embrace Popery, assuring them of
his munificence if they would consent to do so. The Vaudois re
spectfully replied that they would be happy to devote themselves
to his service, and even to die for him,, but that their religion was
dearer to them than life. A Capuchin, who was present at this
audience, broke out in exclamations against the ignorance of these
clowns, who dared to resist the desire of their sovereign; but the
duke ordered him to be silent, saying, "A conversion ought to be
voluntary; if these people were willing to enter our church, I
would be very glad of it, but I have no wish to compel them."
Shortly after this, Ponte, who was at once governor of the pro
vince and commandant of the citadel of Turin, was arrested and
deprived of all his dignities. " The great know why," says Gilles,1
" but the Beformed knew only that it was not for having shown
them too much favour, for he had done the very contrary."
At the same period, the parliament of Grenoble, whose jurisdic
tion extended over the valleys of Oulx and Pragela, ordained the
re-establishment of the Catholic worship in all the parishes of these
valleys, the restitution of ecclesiastical property, and the reparation
of the abandoned chapels, that these edifices might be again em
ployed for the celebration of mass.2
In the part of the Val Cluson which belonged to the Duke of
Savoy, measures of another kind were adopted, with the same object.
It was represented to the duke that the Vaudois settled in that
valley offended the religious feelings of the Catholics, by not observ
ing the festivals of their church. The result of this was an edict,
requiring the Protestants to cease from inhabiting the right bank
1 End of chap. xl. 2 Decree of 14th August, 1603.

188 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. (paut Tiiihd.
of the Cluson. and to retire to the left bank; but the Catholics of
the country themselves petitioned against this measure, declaring
that their Calvinist neighbours, far from offending their religious
feelings, set them an example of every virtue, and hindered none
of their duties. The chdtelain of La Perouse then recommended
the Vaudois to keep their doors shut for a few days, as if they had
removed, to testify their respect for the orders of their sovereign;
and this edict had no further consequences.
A short time after this, the inhabitants of Pinaehe were agaiu
prohibited from holding their religious meetings in the old Catholic
church, which served them for a place of worship. The subject
gave occasion to long-continued disputes; but at last a ducal com
missioner decided that a new place of worship should be built for
the Beformed, but that the Catholics of Diblon should contribute
to its erection, in return for the outlay which the Vaudois of
Pinaehe had incurred in the building of the Bomish chapel of Di
blon. The priest of Diblon endeavoured to prevent this arrange
ment from being carried out, by advancing new pretensions; but
they were set aside in 1610.
In 1617, the parliament of Grenoble prohibited the admission of
the Vaudois of Piedmont into Dauphiny.1 The object of this was
to break up the union which subsisted among all the evangelical
inhabitants of the Vaudois Alps; but this attempt had no more
success than previous ones.
" In 1623," says Gilles,2 "the valley of Perouse was subjected to
continual annoyances, occasioned for the most part by the crafty
counsels of some wily Papists, instigated by the monks, and too
readily listened to." He refers to the payment of the 6000 ducats,
which all the Vaudois valleys collectively had engaged to pay to
the Duke of Savoy, to obtain the confirmation of their privileges,
and a guarantee for their repose. The Vaudois of Perouse had not
been concerned in the events by which peace had been disturbed.
" Why," it was said to them, " should you be made to bear any
part of the price by which it was acquired? Disavow that unjust
dependence, and all the inhabitants of the valley, without distinc
tion of religion, will state their wants together to the Duke of
Savoy. If anything must then be paid to obtain satisfaction, the
Catholics will contribute as well as the Protestants." This advice
was adopted by the Vaudois in a mixed meeting, at which none of
their pastors were present. The chdtelain of Perouse drew up a
petition accordingly; it contained eight articles, of which the
fourth, the only article favourable to the Protestants, mentioned
1 By decree of 9th November, 1617. * Chap. Iv.

Cuap.XIII] IMPRISONMENT OF CHANFORAN. 189
the maintenance of the privileges which they already eujoyed.
The other seven articles related to the civil privileges which might
have been common to all the inhabitants of the country, but in
which the Catholics enjoyed peculiar preference.
Whilst they were making every effort to obtain a favourable
answer to this petition, the Vaudois of Pinaehe commenced to
build the steeple of their new church, on the situation previously
fixed for it by the ducal commissioner. They were not bound to
observe all the Catholic festivals, and oue festival-day they carried
on their work; upon which the monks of La Perouse sent armed
men and officers of justice to apprehend the Protestant workmen
who were building the steeple. The people prevented their appre
hension; but this attempt showed the evil disposition which existed,
and the mischievous designs which were entertained, of which it
was not long till new proofs were given.
The monks of Le Perier, having entered into public controversy
with the minister Chanforan, and perhaps not being very well
satisfied with the result, sought to have him apprehended and con
ducted to Piguerol. But this imprisonment, for which no reason
was alleged, and which seems to have been intended merely to stop
the mouth of the minister, was again opposed by the people, on the
ground of the Vaudois privileges, according to which no inhabitant
of the valleys could be withdrawn from his natural judges. A
knowledge of the laws, upon which their political existence depended,
was at that time as precious for the Vaudois, and as frequently
rendered available, as the defensive armour, which, however, these
laws ought to have saved them from the necessity of ever using.
These different circumstances, however, afforded indications of
the desire of the hostile party to maltreat the Beformed. It was
ere long more clearly manifested. The petition drawn up by the
chdtelain of Perouse was answered on the 6th of October, 1623.
By this reply, the duke granted to the Catholics all which they
asked, and ordained the Protestants to demolish six of their places
of worship, on the pretext that these edifices were situated beyond
the limits assigned to the Beformed worship by the edict of 1602.
The expenses of the seal, copying, &c, amounted to 3000 ducats,
and the Protestants alone were called upon to pay them. Then,
understanding how pernicious an advice they had followed, they ,
addressed a new petition to their sovereign. This petition was
intercepted, lost, or seized on the way. It never reached the duke.
The order whose revocation it was designed to procure still re
mained in force. The governor of Pignerol came to Pinaehe to see
to the demolition of the church which had been commenced there.

190 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. [Part Third.
The Vaudois entreated him to await the reply of the duke to their
recent representations; he waited, but the petition itself had not
yet been put into the hands of the duke. The monks represented
this delay in applying to him, and in the execution of his orders,
as a contempt on the part of the Vaudois for the authority of their
sovereign. There were echoes at court, which increased the strength
and frequency of these odious insinuations; and on the 15th of Ja
nuary, 1624, the duke gave% orders to his troops to march into the
valley of the Cluson, and forcibly to demolish the six places of wor
ship which had been named, as being without the tolerated limits.
A regiment of French infantry, in the pay of Charles Emmanuel,
and uuder the command of Colonel Savine, entered the valley of
Perouse by that of Pragela. Officers of justice set out from Turin
under the direction of the collateral Syllano, who was empowered, in
case of resistance, to put the militia of the neighbourhood under the
command of Count Camillo Taffino. Having arrived at Perouse,
the collateral was informed of the petition of the Vaudois, which
had not reached the court. Finding it to be reasonable, he adjourned
the execution of his orders, and caused it to be forwarded to Turin.
But, in the meantime, Savine's regiment had arrived at St. Ger
main. It was intended that this regiment should immediately
march against the Vaudois, who now implored the assistance of
their brethren in the neighbouring valleys. The regiment itself
was diminished by the defection of a great number of officers and
soldiers, who demanded their dismissal, that they might not have
to fight against the Protestants, whose religious opinions were the
same with their own. Numbers of them even went over to the
side of the Vaudois.
Count Philip of Lucerna took great precautions at this time to
prevent the inhabitants of his valley from going to the assistance
of their brethren of the Val Perouse. However, a certain number
of volunteers set out across the snows (it was in the end of Ja
nuary), and hastened to St. Germain. The pastors of the Val Clu
son and of Pragela — countries then under the dominion of France
— repaired also to Pinaehe, to try the effect of •their pacific media
tion, in order to bring the difference to an end. After some whole
days of protracted conferences, it was agreed that the Vaudois
should demolish their places of worship, on condition of being per
mitted to rebuild them in the same localities, but on other sites.
They commenced immediately to demolish that of Pinaehe, in order
to see if the troops would really retire upon this manifestation, or
if it would be necessary to adopt more vigorous measures; for it
cannot be supposed that 8000 or 10,000 men would have assem-

Chap. XIII ] COUNT PHILIP OF LUCERNA. 191
bled, with arms in their hands, for no other object than the demo
lition of a few -walls.
Scarcely was this work of demolition begun, when affrighted
couriers arrived from St. Germain, announcing that the Vaudois
there were attacked from every side. Those of Pinaehe and of the
Val Perouse ran to arms. Having repulsed the assailing troops
from St. Germam, they returned inflamed with fury. A trpop of
these valiant mountaineers would have seized, in their indignation,
the collateral Syllano and his men of law, whom they loudly accused
of treachery. The pastors of Pragela endeavoured to calm them,
and covered the commissioners with the shield of their evangelical
protection in the hour of peril, even offering them a refuge at Men
toules, in the territory of France. Thither the lawyers accordingly
repaired ; but the war continued in the lower part of the valley ;
and the' enemy, a second time repulsed, set fire to the barns and
isolated houses around St. Germain. The inhabitants of that vil
lage, fearing, after this attack, that they would be still more vio
lently assailed, sent messengers during the night into the valleys of
Angrogna and Lucerna to ask assistance.
The Count of Lucerna opposed again the levy of armed men
which the Vaudois wished to make; but. he set out himself, ou
horseback, and rode quickly to St. Germain, where he arrived in
the middle of the night, to see Colonel Savine, and prevent the
effusion of blood. His negotiations were at first successful, and
Vaudois deputies l from the valley of Lucerna proceeded at his
instance to. the camp of the French commander. The negotiations,
however, were prolonged, without coming to any issue. New acts
of violence took place upon the part of the soldiers. The people of
St. Germain, moreover, were all the while deprived of their habi
tations, which were either destroyed by fire or occupied by the
troops. "There has been long enough delay!" exclaimed the
mountaineers; "come and we ourselves will drive this army out
of our country ! " And transporting their families to those points
in the mountains where they would be safest from any attack, they
took arms in great numbers, to fall upon the camp of the enemy.
This was upon the 17th of February, 1624. Count Philip of
Lucerna, who appeared at that time to take a lively interest in the
Vaudois, immediately mounted his horse, and proceeded with all
haste to represent to Colonel Savine and Lieutenant Taffino that
their troops would be utterly destroyed, if they did not relinquish
their offensive pretensions. "Consider," said he, "that you have
1 These were Chanforan, syndic of Angrogna; Francis Goante, of La Tour; and
Moses Eynard, of Lucerna.

192 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. [PartTmbd.
been held in check hitherto by a small portion of this people; and
now that they are rising in a mass to defend their territory, which
you have unjustly attacked, are you not afraid that his highness
will make you responsible for the blood which will be shed, for the
miseries which will ensue, and, above all, for having cruelly exceeded
the orders which he gave you?" The troops themselves were very
impatient of the uncomfortable situation into which they had been
brought, amidst the severity of winter. An enormous quantity of
snow had recently fallen, provisions were exhausted, firewood could
not be had. The murmurs of the soldiers concurred with the
representations of the Count of Lucerna to cause a breaking-up of
the camp to be resolved upon; and the troops retired, leaving
behind them a country ravaged by fire, and in great distress from
the frost and from the effects of their depredations.
The monks and clergy, the causes of all these alarms, trembled
after the departure of the troops, lest the Vaudois people should
take vengeance on them for all the evils which they had suffered.
But their fear was all that they had to endure; and deputies
having been sent to Turin, the Duke of Savoy published a complete
amnesty for all which had taken place during these events. He
ordered all the furniture and property of every kind which had
been taken from the Vaudois to be restored to them, and upon
both sides a liberation of prisoners.
Charles Emmanuel, who had been at war with France from
1613 to 1617, signed a treaty with Louis XIII., on the 7th of
January, 1623, for the expulsion of the Spaniards from the Valte-
line; and he resumed hostilities against France in 1628, entering
then into an alliance with the house of Austria, in the hope of
gaining Montferrat, amidst the rival pretensions which had just
arisen with regard to that province, upon the recent succession of
the Grand Duke of Mantua. These frequent breaches of faith
neither advanced his glory nor his power. He died in 1630, after
having been despoiled of most of his dominions by France, towards
which he had acted so treacherously. We shall see, in next chap
ter, what were the consequences of these events to the Vaudois
valleys of the Cluson and the LTpper Doire.

Chap. XIV.J ROCHELLE CAPTURED. 193

CHAPTER XIV.
HISTORY OF THE VAUDOIS OF PRAGELA AND OF
THE ADJACENT VALLEYS.
FOURTH PERIOD. — FROM THE CONQUEST OF PIEDMONT BY
LOUIS XIII. TO THE PIEDMONTESE EASTER.
(a.d 1629 to a.d. 1655.)
The last religious war in France — Fall of Rochelle — Invasion of Piedmont by
Louis XIII.— His edict in 1629 for the establishment of Romish worship in
the valleys of Exilles, Bardoneche, Sezane, and Pragela — Great triumphs of the
French arms — Charles Emmanuel dies of grief, and Victor Amadeus becomes
Duke of Savoy — Peace — Prosperity of the Vaudois Church in Pragela after
these events — New restrictions imposed — The Vaudois obtain the extension
of their privileges in terms of the Edict of Nantes — They still increase in num
bers and prosperity — Accession of Louis XIV. — The Piedmontese Vaudois take
refuge in the French valleys after the Piedmontese Easter — The Vaudois in
the French dominions are subjected to new hardships.
In 1629 and 1630, Louis XIII. invaded Piedmont by the passes
of Suza and the valley of Pragela. His presence in the midst of
the Vaudois had a great influence on their destinies, and the
nature of that influence depended in part on events which had pre
viously taken place.
The last of the religious wars of which France was the theatre
was then raging — that war in which the Protestant party was
vanquished, never again to take up any weapons but those of con
troversy. In 1627, the Dukes of Bohan and Soubise, leaders of
the Huguenots, had demanded assistance from England, and a fleet
of 150 vessels, sent from that country, appeared off Bochelle. Car
dinal Bichelieu caused a celebrated dike to be constructed, to
prevent them from throwing any assistance into the city. The
siege of Bochelle lasted from the 10th of August, 1627, to the
28th of October, 1628. It did not surrender until it was reduced
to the last extremity, — not until twelve thousand persons had died
in it of famine. The fortifications were thrown down, the local
magistracy abolished, and Catholicism re-established upon the ruins.
Louis XIII., who had made his entry into it upon the 1st of
November, received a sort of triumph on his return to Paris, which
took place upon the 23d of December. Meanwhile, a number of
places of secondary importance had been taken from the Protestants
in the Vivarais and in Languedoc; but others still held out.3
1 Privas, in ArdSche, was invested, on the 14th of May, 1629, and taken on the
Vol. ii. 85

19-i THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. [part Third,
In the beginning of the year, Charles De Gonzague, Duke of
Nevers, had inherited the duchy of Mantua, his title to which,
however, was disputed by Spain and Savoy. The King of France
supported him, and soon marched in person against Piedmont.
The Marquis D'Uxel led the advanced guard which preceded him.
In the spring of 1628, he began to make efforts to force a passage
of the Alps, in order to penetrate into the valleys of Italy. All
the troops of Piedmont were soon in motion. Colonel Purpurat,
the commander of the Vaudois militia, summoned a meeting of the
Vaudois pastors and syndics at Bocheplate,1 to induce them to use
their influence with the people, in order to bring out as great a
number of them in arms as possible. The Vaudois promised to
comply with his wishes, on condition that they themselves should be
left to guard the passes of their own mountains, which was granted
to them.2 The guards established by them were inspected by
superior officers of the ducal army. Charles Emmanuel himself
came to inspect the intrenchments thrown up in the valley of
Perouse.3 The Count of Verrue, one of his most distinguished
generals, again urged upon the pastors of that valley the considera
tions which had been already laid before them by Colonel Pur
purat at Bocheplate, to which he added a promise of effectual
protection, upon the part of the sovereign, for religious liberty.
But the army of the Duke of Savoy was in great part composed
of Italians and Spaniards, in whom no confidence could be placed.
That of the King of France had just been engaged in fighting
against the Protestants. On both sides the Vaudois saw dangers.
The duke demanded of the valleys large sacrifices of men and
money. An extreme dearth of provisions increased still more the
sufferings of the population. The monks of Pignerol and the
Jesuit missionaries took advantage of it to draw those into apos
tasy who had been reduced to beggary.
On the 16th of January, 1626, Louis XIII. set out from Paris,
to cross the Alps at the head of his army. When he was at
Briangon (in the end of February), the governor of Pignerol ordered
27th. The town was given up to pillage; 100 of the principal inhabitants were
hanged, and 100 condemned to the galleys. Alais was besieged on the 6th of
June, and capitulated on the 16th. The Duke De Rohan then held a meeting of
the Protestant chiefs at Anduze, and demanded peace, which was concluded on
the 27th of June, at Alais. Thereafter all the strongholds of the Protestants
were dismantled. Montauban made some resistance; but Richelieu entered it on
the 20th of August. Three mouths after (on the 21st of November), he was ap
pointed prime minister. (From L'Art de verifier les dates. )
1 On 26th June, 1628.
2 Gilles gives a minute account of the result of this deliberation, chap, lvi.,
pp. 469-471. 3 He came on the 9th of July and ]4th of August, 1623.

Chap. XIV.] THE PROVOST OF OULX. 195
all the inhabitants of the valleys capable of carrying arm:* to hold
themselves in readiness to march. Count Philip of Lucerna placed
himself at their head, and conducted them to the Val PSrouse.
Charles Emmanuel had advanced to the valley of the Doire. On
the 4th of March Louis XIII. crossed Mount Gen§vre, and on the
6th of the same month he forced in person the three barricades of
the pass of Suza, defended by the Duke of Savoy, who was com
pelled to yield to superiority of numbers and valour. On the-
1 lth of March he concluded a treaty of peace. Charles Emmanuel,
who was the ally of the Spaniards, engaged to fight against them,
and to support France, in order to compel them to raise the siege
of Casal in favour of the Duke of Nevers.
After the victory which he had won, Louis XIII. received con
gratulations and addresses of various kinds, amongst which that of
the provost of Oulx1 deserves particular notice. " Sire !" said he,
in substance, " Providence has blessed your arms, because you have
consecrated them to the service of the faith. The numerous
triumphs which your majesty has obtained over heresy in France
fill all Catholic hearts with joy. Everywhere they pray to Heaven
for the preservation and glory of your majesty. Heaven, which
has conducted you into these regions of ours, seeks to complete its
work in augmenting your glory and our consolations, by the resto
ration of the Catholic religion, which gathers strength around the
footsteps of your majesty, and which has great need of such assist
ance in these afflicted valleys, where it cannot without bitter
regret be told that it has been completely abolished." To this
document was appended a petition, signed by some Catholics of the
place, who asked the king for the restoration of their worship in
all the communes of the Upper Doire, where at that time there did
not exist a single parish priest.2
Louis XIII. ordained, by an edict of the 1st of April, 1629,3
that the exercise of the Bomish religion should be everywhere
re-established in the valleys of Exilles, Bardoneche, S6zane, and
Pragela; that the Catholic clergy should immediately be put into
possession again of all lands that had formerly belonged to them,
into whatsoever hands they might have passed, and whatever pre
scription might be pleaded in favour of the actual possessors.
M. De Verthamont, intendant of justice in the army of Italy, was
1 [An ecclesiastical dignitary; the chief of a collegiate body.]
2 This petition was presented by Birague, vicar-general of the provostship of
Oulx. 3 Sommaire des archives de la privSte d'Oulx. (Archives of the Bishopric of
Pignerol.)

196 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. [Part Third.
charo-ed'with the execution of these orders.1 On the day after
they were issued he proceeded to the localities, to examine the
bounds of the old parishes. M. Henry D'Escoubleau, Archbishop
of Bordeaux, accompanied him, provided with all necessary powers
for the regulation of everything which -belonged to the spiritual
jurisdiction. Two or three churches, which were not yet entirely
ruined, were put into a condition to be used for the rites of Bome.
There still remained some ruins of an ancient priory in the village
of Mentoules; the prior was solemnly re-installed there;2 and j.n
order to secure the continued effect of these measures, Louis XIII.,
before his departure, appointed a Catholic gentleman of the country
as governor of the valley and the king's lieutenant, to watch over
the interests of the Church of Bome throughout the whole of
Pragela. But this church had still very few adherents in these high
valleys ; the royal power, in opening for it an official access into
the villages, had opened for it no access into hearts. Its priests
had only parishes without parishioners, and their efforts would
probably have remained without success, but for an unforeseen cir
cumstance, which gave them a new impulse, and opened for them
a wider field. The Duke of Savoy, who had not fulfilled the
treaty of Suza,3 was again menaced by France. In the beginning
of 1630, Cardinal Bichelieu caused a considerable army to march
against him. It entered Piedmont by the valley of the Doire,
appearing to direct its course towards Montferrat ; but very soon
changed its route, turned to the south, and ascended towards Pig
nerol. That city was attacked on the 20th of March, 1630, and
surrendered two days after. The citadel held out till the 29th.
The operations were directed by the Marquis De Crequi. On the
21st he made himself master of the valley and castle of La Perouse.
From thence he summoned the valleys of St. Martin and Lucerna
to surrender at discretion. They thought to resist, and the Vaudois
asked the Duke of Savoy for aid, which he could not send them.
The French army approached them, and encamped at Briqueras.
Charles Emmanuel, on the contrary, had retired beyond the Po.
1 By a decree, also dated 1st April, 1629. Under date 3d April, we find Proce
dure faite par M. de Verthamont, intendant du DauphinS, commissaire deUgui
par le Roy, pour le retablissement de la religion et la restitution des Mens de VEglise,
en la valiee de Pragela. (A large manuscript volume. Archives of the Bishopric
of Pignerol. )
2 Sommaire de I'etat de la religion dans la valUe de Pragela, 4to, p. 3. — The
name of this prior was Orcillet. (See an autograph letter of Verthamont, dated
29th April, 1629, to M. Orcillet, prior of Mentoules, giving directions concerning
his re-installation. Archives of the Bishopric of Pignerol.)
3 Of 11th March, 1029.

chap.xiv.J Death of charles Emmanuel. 197
Longer resistance became impossible. The valleys surrendered, on
condition that they should never be required to bear arms against
the Duke of Savoy, and that the free exercise of their religion
should be guaranteed to them. The Marshal De Schoenberg
accepted these conditions. Deputies from each Vaudois commune
then repaired to Pignerol,1 to take the oath of fidelity to the King
of France.
New detachments of French troops arrived daily. The country
was exhausted. It was desolated, at the same time, by pestilence,
famine, and war. These evils, instead of being mitigated, went
on increasing in intensity. The presence of the troops aggravated
the scarcity and high price of provisions. Louis XIII., who had
come to Lyons in the month of May, passed from thence into
Savoy, which was subjugated in a short time. In the month of
July the Duke De Montmorency seized the marquisate of Saluces.
Almost the whole of Piedmont then came under the dominion of
France, and the siege of Casal, the first source of so many troubles,
was raised by the Spaniards on the 26th of October, because of the
victories which had been won by the French arms. 2
Charles Emmanuel died of grief,s and his son, Victor Amadeus,
entered into a treaty of peace at Batisbon, on the 13th of October.
By this treaty, he recovered possession of his dominions, and ob
tained some places of little importance in Montferrat. The valley
of the Cluson, with that of the Upper Doire and the city of Pigne
rol, remained in the hands of France.* The Vaudois in these dis
tricts were then able to take advantage, for the celebration of their
worship, of the edicts which governed the Beformed Church of
France. They were entitled to do so, in virtue of a treaty of the
12th of April, 1630;6 but the city of Pignerol petitioned that
Protestant worship should be interdicted throughout its whole
territory,6 and this prohibition was granted.
1 On 5th April, 1630.
2 In virtue of the treaty of Ratisbon, which had been signed on the 13th, and
by which France and the German empire maintained the Duke of Nevers in pos
session of the duchy of Mantua. 3 On 26th July, 1630.
4 The principal points of this treaty were fixed on the 31st of March, 1630; it
was modified by that of Queyrasque, on the 6th of April, and confirmed at the
peace of Munster, in 1618. The valleys of Lucerna, Angrogna, and St. Martin
remained under the government of France till the 8th of September, 1631 . (Com
pare L'Art de verifier les dates, edition of 1770, p. 841, col. 2, with Gilles, ch. lix..
p. 517.)
5 This treaty is quoted in a decree of the Royal 'Council of Pignerol, of 24th
April, 1654. (Civil Archives of Pignerol, category xxv., fasciculus i., No. 7.)
6 This petition is dated 5th June, 1630. It includes also a prayer that the abbey of
Pignerol should be erected into a bishopric. Louis XIII. promised to employ his in
fluence for this purpose with the pope. (Same source, categ. xxv., fascic. i., No. 5.)

1 98 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. 1>abt Third.
However, almost all of the priests who had been settled in the
valley of Pragela in 1629, and of the Capuchin missionaries who
had gone thither to labour for the conversion of the heretics, died
or fled during the plague of 1630. The prior of Mentoules alone
remained. New conversions were attempted without success. The
number of the Vaudois, instead of diminishing, increased every
day. Louis XIII. granted them a confirmation of their ancient
privileges.1 By their agricultural labours, their manufacturing
industry, and the purchases which they made, they extended con
tinually the bounds of their habitation in the country. They
wished to open new places of worship; but the intendant Destempes
opposed it,2 and decided that there should be no innovation in that
particular. This very circumstance drew public attention to the fact of
their having extended so much. Their enemies loudly complained
of these encroachments; the clergy stirred up the magistrates to
act; and his majesty's procurator-general informed the sovereign
council, established at Pignerol, that numbers of the Protestants of
the Val Perouse had settled beyond the limits within which alone
they had permission to celebrate their worship. In consequence,
the council, by its decree of 17th July, 1645,3 renewed the arbitrary
prohibition against the Vaudois opening schools or places of wor
ship, preaching, or even declaring their doctrines without these
ancient limits. It prohibited also all foreign Protestants from
settling in the country, under pain of confiscation of all their goods,
and of a fine of 1000 livres, to be exacted from the commune which
might permit any such person to settle, without giving notice at
the office of the registrar of the court of justice at Pignerol.
Finally, Protestants were interdicted from exercising the functions
of any public office; from buying or renting any land without
their limits; from working on Catholic festival-days; from dissuad
ing those of their own number who might have manifested an
intention of becoming Catholics; from selling or buying any Pro
testant religious book; and from holding municipal assemblies
without the presence of the judge of the place, under a penalty of
a fine of 200 livres for every one who should have been present
thereat. The same edict contained also a prohibition addressed to the
Catholics. It forbade them4 to contribute in any way for the
1 On 6th June, 1630. Leger, part ii., pp. 161, 162.
2 By decree of 10th July, 1645, quoted in the document contained in the Civil
Archives of Pignerol, categ. xxv., mazzo i., No. 7.
3 Same source, categ. xxv., mazzo ii., No. 1. * By article 10.

Ciur.XIv] CHAPEL OF LES TRAVERSES. 199
maintenance of Protestant places of worship or Protestant pastors,
under penalty of a fine of fifty livres for each contravention. It
may be easily conceived that this last clause was one of those
which were most exactly observed; but it proves, nevertheless, that
the habits of the country had been imbued with that spirit of
fraternity of which we see the manifestations continually appearing
around the Vaudois, and the influence of which extended to the
adherents of another religion.
The Vaudois, finding themselves injured by these numerous
restrictions, pleaded the rights which they had enjoyed under the
dukes of Savoy, all whose edicts were maintained in force by the
decree of 17th July;1 and upon their petition, the sovereign council
declared that it had " no design to innovate, nor to alter anything
as to the rights, state, and condition in which the petitioners were
under the government of the dukes of Savoy."2 But the Edict of
Nantes had granted to the Protestants the free exercise of their
worship, and admission into all offices of law and finance. The
Vaudois of Pragela then formed part of the people of France; they
demanded that the benefits of that edict should be extended to
them, which was granted them by decisions of the council of
10th March and 19th August, 1648.3
Under this milder legislation the number and prosperity of the
Vaudois of Pragela rapidly increased. The attempts of Louis
XIII. to re-establish Catholicism in their country had produced
only a momentary effect. The churches which he had founded in
1622 remained empty and closed; the priests' houses, in which
resided a solitary priest without a flock, were ere long themselves
deserted, the plague of 1630 having slain or banished their useless
inhabitants. Successors were not appointed to these ecclesiastics.*
In various places the municipal body employed the vacant edifices
for other purposes. At Les Traverses the Catholic chapel fell into
ruins, and the Vaudois took away the materials of it to construct a
place of worship. This was made a crime. They were accused of
trespass, robbery, rebellion, and sacrilege. Lesdiguieres interposed,
in his capacity of governor of Dauphiny, and decided that they
1 Document above mentioned. Civil Archives of Pignerol, categ. xxv., fascicu
lus ii., No. 1, article xi.
2 These are the terms of the decree. Same source, fasciculus ii., No. 2. The
decision of the council is of 23d October, 1645.
3 Quoted in the decree of 24th April, 1645. (Civil Archives of Pignerol, categ.
xxv., mazzo i., No. 7. )
4 " From 1629 to 1646, the prior of Mentoules was the only priest in the valley."
(Memoire touchant I'etablissement, les progres et la cessation de la religion pvotcs-
tante en I'ragela. MS. of the Royal Library at Turin.)

200 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. [part Third.
should pay towards the building of a new place of worship the
price of the materials which they had taken from the old one.1
The Catholics, to whom Lesdiguieres went over in his old
age, cannot have regarded with much gratitude his interference in
this case; for, a few years after, the city of Pignerol, wishing again
to drive away the Vaudois from its territory, to which their in
creasing prosperity still brought them nearer, addressed a petition ,
to Louis XIV., in which the subscribers, after having declared
against the religious liberty claimed by the Protestants of PeVouse
and Pragela, expressed themselves as follows: "The treaty by
which it was secured to them was made in January, 1593, by
Lesdiguieres, with arms in his hand. It is true that it was after
wards confirmed in general terms. But considering that this treaty
does not deserve much consideration, because that general then pro
fessed the reformed religion, and that the king, Henry IV., was
obliged to bring back his subjects by all possible means; ....
also that this treaty has been tacitly revoked by the Edict of Nantes,
which authorizes Protestant worship only in the places where it
was celebrated before that period, and that the Vaudois of Perouse
cannot prove that they enjoyed the free exercise of their religion
under the dukes of Savoy, . . . we pray that his majesty may
formally prohibit this wqrship in the whole territory of Pignerol."2
This petition was granted. Louis XIV., who was then scarcely
seventeen years of age, and had not yet been crowned with the
solemnities long usual for the kings of France, :J began to gratify
the Church of Bome in regard to its exclusive claims, according to
that instinct of despotism which was common to that church and
himself. The proselytizing ambition of the monks and Jesuits
awakened anew beneath the rays of this sun of tyranny, unequalled
1 Letter of Lesdiguieres to the ch&telains and consuls of Pragela. Dated from
Grenoble, 13th March, 1650. (Archives of the Bishopric of Pignerol.) This letter
was from the Duke De Lesdiguieres, and not from the constable, for the latter
died in 1620. The duke is mentioned as governor of Dauphiny in a letter of
Louis XIV. to Cromwell, of.26th May, 1655. (Leger, p. 227.)
2 This document is of date April, 1654. Louis XIV. granted what was petitioned
for on the 24th of the same month; his reply was recorded by the council royal
of Pignerol on 4th August, and on the same day the order was published prohibit
ing the Vaudois from the public exercise of their religion in the territory of Pig
nerol. (These documents are in the archives of that city, categ. xxv., fascic. i.,
No. 7, and fascic ii., No. 3.)
3 His coronation took place at Reims, 7th June, 1654. The medal struck upon
occasion of this event gives the date as the 3d ; but an unforeseen circumstance
compelled the postponement of the ceremony for four days. Louis XIV. was born
on the 5th of September, 1638; he succeeded to the crown on 14th May, 1613;
was declared major by the Parliament of Paris, 7th September, 1651; and on 9th
June, 1660, married the infanta Maria Theresa. (L'Art de verifier Us dates.)

Chap. XIV.] LEGER'S NARRATIVE. 201
in the world, as the device of the great king proclaimed.1 These
attempts at conversion were at first more vexatious than formi
dable to the Vaudois, and the clergy found them more productive of
trouble than of fruit.2 But more active measures were in prepara
tion. The Propaganda was formed, and circumstances ominous
of the Piedmontese Easter began to appear.
After that terrible explosion of a rampant and pitiless fanaticism
— that festival of blood and storm of death — the fugitive victims of
the massacres of 1655 hastened to seek refuge among their brethren
of the valleys of the Cluson and of Pragela. The latter, also, took
up arms to defend them.3 " For two or three days," says Leger,4
" I could not find out what had become of my wife and children —
whether they were dead or alive, or whether they were prisoners or
not. At last I found them in the valley of Perouse, within the
king's dominions, and, as may readily be imagined, in a deplorable
condition. As moderator of the Vaudois churches, I set myself to
gather together their remains." He convoked a synod between
the valleys of the Doire and Pragela, at the hamlet oi'La Ghapelle,
where the pastors and elders of all that ravaged country assembled.
" There," says he, " after having consoled and encouraged them as
much as a mind agitated and excited to the last degree was capable
of doing, I entreated them, with all the arguments which I thought
likely to produce any effect upon them, no longer to think of dis
persing themselves in foreign countries, as they were urged to do
by Francis Guerin, minister of Le Boure, in the Val Cluson, who
boldly prophesied to them that in no way whatever could they
ever return to their own country, the time being come when its
candlestick'0 must be removed. I called them to consider that
our conduct towards the Duke of Savoy could be clearly justified,
and that the barbarities exercised against us would make heaven
aud earth our defenders. Whereupon almost all those that had
escaped remained in the valley of Pragela or of the Cluson, or in
that of Queyras, and in the part of the Val Perouse which belonged
to France."
There it was that, in two days, this zealous defender of the val
leys composed his first manif jsto, to make known to the world the
¦ A sun : motto, Nee pluribus impar.
2 See Breve relazione degli eretici, convertiti dai Padri Missionarii ....
Torino, 1648.
8 Manuscript in the Archives of the Court at Turin, entitled, Fatti, attioni e
cose occorsi nelle voile di Luserna, nel 1655 : ouero storia della ribellione degV ere.
tick Near the end.
4 In his autobiography, placed at the end of his work, p. 365.
5 The seal of the Vaudois churches hears a candlestick surrounded with stars.
Vol. ii. 86

202 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. [paetThied.
inconceivable cruelties which had been perpetrated against the
Vaudois. The world listened to his voice, and Louis XIV. him
self did not venture to refuse to join with almost all the potentates
of Europe in urging the Duke of Savoy to obliterate the traces of
these atrocious desolations.1 The governor of Dauphiny was in
structed to receive the proscribed fugitives with humanity, and to
provide for their most pressing wants. But it was from their
"brethren of Pragela especially that they received shelter, aid, and
protection. The latter, however, were themselves subjected to trials. The
council of Pignerol, not contented with having obtained the prohi
bition of their worship throughout all its territory, endeavoured to
put impediments in the way of their commerce, and succeeded in
getting them prohibited from remaining for more than three days
in the city.2 It may readily be imagined what vexatious questions
must have arisen from this regulation.3 Soon afterwards the
notaries of Pignerol, and of all the French possessions beyond the
Alps, were forbidden to admit any sale, purchase, or inheritance,
from a Catholic in favour of a Protestant.4
These were not the only vexations of which the Vaudois had to
complain.5 The syndics of Pignerol enjoined the religionaries
settled in that city to withdraw from it within the space of eight
days, and the Catholics, with whom they had relations, to break
off all connection with them.6 Moreover, a Jesuit mission was
established at Fenestrelle, and Louis XIV. forbade,7 under severe
penalties, the dissuading of any one whatever from an intended
conversion.8 The task of the pastors and zealous Christians of
Pragela became more and more difficult. But they proved equal
¦See the letters of Louis XIV. to Cromwell; Leger, p. 226; Hahn, p. 756;
Jones, ii. 345. The same authors have published the greater part of the letters
addressed with this view to Charles Emmanuel II.
a The council's petition is of the 15th November, 1657 ; the king's edict granting
it is of the 22d. These documents are in the Civil Archives of Pignerol, category
xxv., fasciculus i., No. 8.
3 There are also in the Civil Archives of Pignerol inhibitions, of date 8th April,
1658, made by an officer to the merchants and innkeepers of Pignerol, forbidding
them to receive, lodge, or contract society with any of the Protestant Reformed
religion. 4 Same source, category xxv., mazzo i., No. 9.
5 On this subject there is in the Archives of the Court at Turin a testimoniale of
23d May, 1658, and a petition of 14th June, 1658, in which the Vaudois complain
of the molestations to whioh they are subjected. (Nos. of Series 306 and 307.)
6 Papers of 3d, 4th, and 11th January, 1659. (Archives of Pignerol, categ. xxv.,
fasciculus i., No. 10.) — " Considering," it is there said, " that certain bad citizens
support them in this city," &c  ' On 18th September, 1659.
'Reflexions sur I 'escrit intitule : Observations sur un manuscrit, etc. . . . com
pose par les mmistres du Briangonnais et Pignerol. (A 4to MS. of 31 pages, in
the Archives of the Bishopric of Pignerol.)

Chap. XV.] JESUITS IN PRAGELA. 203
to it, and the efforts of their adversaries served only to increase the
fervour and the union of these persecuted churches. More and
still more violent measures proved requisite for their destruction,
and it was not till after a long series of severities, and much em
ployment of brute force, that the Church of Bome could congratu
late itself on having annihilated them. It never otherwise prevailed
over them. Of these events, combining much that is noble with
their mournfulness, an outline must now be given.

CHAPTER XV.
HISTORY OF THE VAUDOIS OF PRAGELA AND THE
ADJACENT VALLEYS.
FIFTH PERIOD.^ — FROM THE INTRODUCTION OF THE JESUITS TO
THE DEMOLITION OF THE PROTESTANT PLACES OF WORSHIP
IN PRAGELA.
(a.d. 1656 TO a.d, 1685.)
Jesuit missionaries in Pragela — Controversies — Odious means employed to secure
the success of the Jesuit missions — Apostasy and subsequent melancholy his
tory of Captain Guyot — Bribes and every kind of influence used to procure ab
jurations — Dragonnades — New restrictions imposed upon the Vaudois — In
creasing hardships — Strange quotations from documents of the time, illustrative
of the character of its events and parties — Settlement of six priests in the
parishes of Pragela in 1678 — The utmost fervour of proselytism — The exercise
of the Protestant religion prohibited in Pragela five months before the revoca
tion of the Edict of Nantes — Demolition of places of worship — Extensive emi
gration.
It was in 1657 that the Jesuit missionaries established themselves
for the first time in the valley of Pragela.1 They were sent by the
Prince of Conti,2 upon the solicitations of the Propaganda.3 They
came from the house of their order established at Grenoble, and
1 Sommaire de I'etat de la religion en Pragela, p. 4. — Memovre sur I'etablissemcnt,
Us progris et la cessation de la religion reformee en Pragela, say 1656.
2 Arnaud de Bourbon, Prince of Cond6, second son of Henry II., took his name
of Conti from a small town of the Somme; he was the chief of the Fronde. He
afterwards married the niece of Mazarin; he was grand-master of the king's
household in 1657, was appointed governor of Languedoc in 1662, and died four
years after.
3 For particulars concerning the congregation de propaganda fide et extirpandis
hwreticis, see Chapter VI. of Part Second of thiB "Work.

204 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. [part Thied.
fixed their head-quarters at Fenestrelle,1 where a Vaudois pastor
resided, named Benjamin De Joux, who entered into controversy
with them.2 The result does not seem to have been favourable
to them, for in the space of eight months they obtained no more
than two converts.3 It is true that the first of these monks who
appeared there went to work with more frankness than address — a
mode of procedure so alien to the spirit of their order, that their
superiors could not be expected to maintain them long at that post.
And, indeed, we read that "the Jesuit Billet, to defend the autho
rity of the Church, thought fit to assert the imperfection of the
Scriptures, upon which account he was found to be impolitic, and
was recalled."*
These Jesuits, however, had been preceded in that country by
other controversialists,5- to whom a pastor of Pragela had already
replied.6 The dedication of his work contains some affecting sen
tences, which it may not be uninteresting to quote: — "To tlis
members of the Reformed Churches of the valley of Pragela, and to all
those who love the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, grace and peace be
multiplied to you! " Then, setting forth the motives of his work,
and the method which he has pursued, he says — "I have not
thought proper to fling back at the Bomish Church the sharp darts
which my adversary directs against ours, . . . knowing that it is
necessary to make the approaches with delicacy, and not to give
any shock to the blind, and to instruct with meekness those who
1 The first who made their appearance "were the Sieurs Golier and Billet; after
wards the Jesuit Calemart was sent thither, with a novice; and subsequently he had
for his companion the Jesuit Sieur Paisseaud ; with whom finally the Jesuit Car-
bonnet was conjoined, to succeed Sieur Calemart, who was sent to Die." (Le succes
de la mission de Pragela. . . . Geneva, published by Gamont, 1660, an 8vo of
248 pages. — Advertissement au lecteur.)
2 These controversies took place at Fenestrelle, on the 2d of October, 1659, and
were published in the work already quoted. . . . Veritable recit de la conference
tenue a Fenestrelles, &c. . . . The Jesuit Calemart publishedat Grenoble (Verdier,
publisher), in 1660, two little works on the same subject: — 1. Refutation de la
reponse de M. de Joux. ... 2. Deux marques de I'erreur du calvinisme, &c. . . -
3 " The first, named Jourdan, was appointed Captain Chdtelain of the whole
valley. The second," says a work of that period, "is Captain Guyot, who has
carried arms in favour of the religionaries in the valley of Lucerna, and there ren
dered himself so redoubtabU, that a price was set upon his head. He now testifies no
less zeal for the faith tlian he once shoioed for error. (Sommaire de I'etat de la reli
gion en Pragela, pp. 4 and 5.) — This Claud Guyot, vulgarly called Croyat, finished
his course by Buicide.
4 Le succis de la mission en Pragela, . . . p. 5 of the preface.
5 Amongst others, by a former Protestant minister, named John Balcel, who had
plunged into Arminianism, and thence into Catholicism. He entered into orders
became a priest, and wrote a polemical work, entitled Diurnal de la vraie Eglise.
6 Le Manuel du vray chrestien, oppose au Diurnal du Sieur Balcet. . . . par
Daniel Pastor. . . . Geneva, 1652. One vol. 8vo, of xvi., 915, and xii. pages.

Chap. XV.] PASTOR DANIEL'S PRAYER. 205
are of a contrary opinion. But I have thought it good, 0 dearest
souls, to address this reply to you . . . because I was born and
brought up amongst you; because I have had the honour to exercise
amongst you the ministry of the holy gospel, now almost for thirty
years; because my age and strength are declining, and the time of
my departure draws nigh. I have therefore thought this my work
to be due to you, it being reasonable that I should leave you, after
my death, a specimen of that doctrine which I have proclaimed to
you during my life." ..." In this faith I have lived, and in this
faith I desire to die. . . . May God preserve you in it for his
glory, and for the salvation of your immortal souls." 1 His prayer
was heard, for very few of his contemporaries yielded to the efforts
of popish proselytism.
The valley of Pragela was then, from the one end to the other,
inhabited by zealous Protestants. "These heretics," said their
adversaries, "have ten or twelve great places of worship for Sab
bath, and more than sixty small ones, where they meet every day
of the week, whilst the Catholics have scarcely a single church,2 and
a few chapels, at great distances from one another."3 The Jesuits
were also regarded with great dislike there. " The hostility to
them is so excessive," says a contemporary, " that nobody ventures
to lodge them ; and if the prior of Mentoules aud Captain Guyot
had not given them shelter, they would not have found it in all the
valley."* "However," he. adds, "they ought to persevere; for
experience has shown that missions which are not kept up for any
time, serve only to provoke irritation, without dissipating error." 5
Considering that in the eyes of sincere Catholics this work was
analogous to that which evangelical missionaries carry on amongst
savages, we cannot refuse to recognize, in not a few of those who
were concerned in it, the solicitude and the language of genuine
charity. We may, no doubt, pronounce it ill-enlightened, but we
must not call in question its reality. " Surely," says, for example,
the author of the pamphlet just quoted, "it would be a just sub
ject of reproach to us if those who have undertaken to assist the
Persians and the Chinese 6 were to abandon this poor valley. The
people of Pragela are our brethren, Frenchmen like ourselves, and
subjects of the same sovereign; and although erring in many points
1 This interesting epistle is dated from La SouchUre (in Pragela), 1st June, 1651.
s That of Mentoules.
3 Proces-verbaux des conversions opSrees en Pragela, de 1676 & 1685. A number
of MS. volumes, deposited in the Archives of the Bishopric of Pignerol. The pas
sage quoted is under date 13th July, 1676.
4 Sommaire de I'etat de la religion dans la valUe de Pragela, p. 6. 5 Id. p. 7-
6 Catholic missionaries had recently been sent to these distant nations.

206 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. [pa*t Thibd.
of religion, yet they have been washed in the waters of baptism.
They profess to serve the same God and the same Saviour. Fran
cis De Sales converted the people of Thonon; why should not we
hope for a similar favour for those of Pragela, if we resolve to help
them, as we ought? Their conversion would even facilitate that
of the valleys of Lucerna and Angrogna."1 In conclusion, he
entreats all Christians to unite their alms and prayers in order to
the attainment of this pious object.
But if such were the desires, the language, and the sentiments of
the compassionate souls, of whom Popery may reasonably be proud,
it must, on the other hand, be borne in mind that they were im
posed upon by their spiritual directors, and that both the leaders
and the active agents in these works of intolerance employed the
most shameful means in order to secure their success. The follow
ing extract will show in what manner they themselves state these
means, in a confidential report addressed to the authorities : —
" It is urgently necessary to obtain a pariatis 2 for the apprehen
sion of three ministers of Pragela,3 whom the Parliament of Gre
noble has condemned to imprisonment.4 They have taken refuge
in the valley of Lucerna, with two other criminals.5 It will be
requisite that the Marquis De Pianesse6 command the governors
of Lucerna and St. Martin to seize them, ... in the same
way as Monseigneur De Mesti6, some years since, seized . . .
certain robbers, who were punished according to their crimes.7 It
will be requisite that the people of Lucerna be forbidden to lodge
the merchants of Pragela who traffic in these regions. There are
three heretics who traffic at Turin;8 it will be requisite to seize
their wares, and as they cannot subsist without them, it may be taken
for granted that they will then be ready to change their religion?
1 Sommaire de I'etat de la religion dans la valUe de Pragela, en Dauphine, et des
dispositions de la Providence pour la conversion de ses habitants. Concluding
passage. 2 A lettre de cachet, or order of incarceration for life.
3 James Papon, Benjamin de Joux, and Michael Bourset.
4 For having preached in their annexed churches, contrary to the edicts of
20th June, 1636, and 21st April, 1637, which prohibited the pastors from preach
ing anywhere but at the place of their residence. It was in consequence of these
edicts that there was established, in every village of Pragela, a prayer-meeting,
which assembled every day, and was conducted by the elders of the place.
6 These criminals were guilty of having presided in religious meetings. The one
was John Jourdan, consul of Fenestrelle ; the other John Posset, a rich merchant
of Mentoules. e Vice-President of the Council of the Propaganda.
7 To cause ministers and respectable men to be seized like robbers, for no other
offence than that of having prayed to God ! "What a delicate method of conversion,
and how accordant with Christian charity !
9 The report gives their names and address. "They are lodged," it says, "at
the Red Horse."
" These are the exact words. "What a system of conversion ! and what value

Chap. XV ] CAPTAIN GUYOT'S DEATH. 207
It will be requisite that the governor of Suza, Meane, and Jalas,
prohibit the heretics of Pragela from remaining in the places within
his jurisdictions, because they preach their errors in secret. It will
be requisite to expel from the valley of Lucerna a person named
Martin, a native of Balboutet, in Pragela. This young minister
has succeeded the pastor L6ger, whose house was razed to the
ground; but he is not less seditious1 than Leger, and does still more
harm than he. It will be necessary to apprise the King of France
that the governor's secretary, and a captain of the citadel of Pig
nerol, conduct religious exercises in their chambers, in which they
assemble the Huguenot soldiers, which may be the means of per
verting Catholics."2
There is also a proposal made in this paper, of prohibiting the
Vaudois of Pragela from trading and sojourning in Piedmont,
although that privilege had been formally guaranteed to them.3
The memoir terminates by denunciations of various persons, and
even of Catholics, who are pointed out as proper objects of suspi
cion, because of their being too favourable to the Protestants.
Such is party spirit ; always extravagant, and frequently hurrying
the members of every party into grievous excesses.
It may be supposed that a blessing did not attend conversions
obtained by such means. The first, which we have already men
tioned, that of Captain Guyot, was a melancholy illustration. This
unfortunate man, a short time after his abjuration, was seized with
insanity. He committed a murder without any motive, after which
he set fire to his own house, and burned himself to death in it.4
But promises, rewards, and unworthy arts of every description,
the success of which always depends upon the baseness of both the
parties concerned, were in the greatest favour in the system of the
could conversions have which were thus obtained ? How must those sincere and
charitable persons who, in their simplicity, interested themselves in this work of
proselytism, have felt ashamed to see their religion dishonour itself by the employ
ment of auch disgraceful means !
1 Vague accusations here supply the place of positive facts : in the minds of pre
judiced persons such accusations are sometimes all the more effectual for not being
limited by any fact.
2 The persons to whom this relates are named in the original. Their religious
exercises were limited to the reading of the Bible and prayer. (This paper is
entitled : Memoire en faveur de la mission en Pragela, and is to be found in the
Archives of the Court at Turin. No. of series, 425.)
3 By the edict of 6th June, 1630. (Leger, II. 161.)— Many other rights, pur
chased by them,, or secured by law, were, in like manner, denied to them. A peti
tion of the Vaudois of Mouliires, Sauze, and Rolieres, in 1669, sets forth that there
are two burying grounds in the commune, and asks for permission to make use of
one of them. It was refused. (Civil Archives of Pignerol.)
4 Le succes de la mission de Pragela . . . par Benjamin de Joux, mmistre a
Fenestrelles—in the preface.

208 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. [part Third.
propagandists. These means were employed in a degree proportion
ate, it may be said, to that of sin in human nature. From the
chatelain of the valley to the herdsman of the mountains, every
one had to contend with the demon of covetousness, and many
fell in the contest. Under the pressure of dragonnades, and in the
absence of their pastors, who were imprisoned or fugitive, little was
requisite to induce these poor people to accept, out of weakness or
terror, the rewards of apostasy. " A great number of conversions
have been effected in the valleys of Pragela," says Pelisson,1 "through
the efforts of the Bishop of Grenoble, of the Propaganda, and of
the Jesuits; so that without the distribution of more than about
2000 crowns, sent at different times, well certified lists have been
received of from 700 to 800 persons who have returned to the
church." " I have written," he adds, " that no opportunity should
be allowed to escape of the conversion of the families of the people.
. . . I have even signified that they may go as far as 100
francs."2 What a shameful traffic in things the least capable of
being appreciated at a price in money! Or rather, convictions,
conscience, Divine grace, and all that is incapable of such valuation
was venal with Bome ; and yet everything of the kind is really
awanting in all such transactions. It remains to be added, in
order to exonerate the Vaudois from a part, at least, of these
venal apostasies, that a great number of vagabonds, strangers to
their valleys, passed themselves off for Protestants, in order to
obtain the price of a sham abjuration for lucre's sake. The price
for such baseness was too high.
These means, hoVvever, very soon proved insufficient, and then it
was that a new influence was brought to bear in support of the
Catholic religion — the oppression exercised by the dragoons, who
were quartered in the houses of the poor people professing the
evangelical faith, in order to compel the payment of contributions.
"The Protestants," wrote the superior of the Jesuits established at
Fenestrelle, " were completely humbled at the sight of so many
troops. They then laid aside that spirit of pride and independence3
in which they had hitherto lived; and instead of despising the
missionaries, as they had been accustomed to do, they began to
implore their protection against the insolence of the soldiers. This
1 A Report, dated Versailles, 12th June, 1677. Pelisson Fontanier had been
himself a Protestant, and after having embraced Catholicism, he displayed much
activity in endeavouring to bring about the conversion of his former brethren to
the Church of Rome.
2 Quoted in La politique du clerge de France, avec les derniers efforts de I'inno-
cence affligee. . . . Amsterdam, 1682. (One vol. 32mo.) Pp. 152, 153.
3 Libertinage; spirit of liberty, independence.

c,,4pXV-] THE JESUIT MISSION. 209
humiliation of the heretics has not a little served to promote the
conversion of numbers, of whom we will make mention in this list."
"As, after Briangon, the town of Sezane had suffered more than
any from the passage of the troops, one of the missionary fathers
proposed to go thither to perform some duties of the mission. The
inhabitants had previously expressed to the abbot of Oulx their
wish that he would send them no preacher during Lent, and that
they might not be confessed any more; but now they blessed God
for having brought to them a confessor who did not close the gates
of heaven against them." l
Since it was first founded, indeed, the missionary establishment
had been very much strengthened. The office of chatelain of the
valley of the Cluson having become vacant, the Prince of Conti
caused it to be purchased,8 and placed in it a fervent supporter of
the missionaries. " Without this help," says a writer of the time,
" they could have done nothing ; and the manner in which this
office is now filled is the foundation of almost all the good which
can be hoped for in that region." s To promote this work, by
augmenting the number of the propagandists, Alexander VII.
accorded4 plenary indulgences to both male and female members5
who might enter into that congregation.6
At the same time, the prohibition was renewed, which had been
already addressed to the Vaudois pastors, of celebrating any
religious service except at the place of their residence.7 But this
was not enough : the members of the Vaudois Church had formed
daily meetings in the smallest hamlets; and wherever there was an
elder, a new place of worship was opened. These meetings were
conducted by laymen, who, indeed, themselves became pastors. In
stead of ten or twelve places of worship, there were now sixty.
Every morning and evening, the distant bells of these rustic villages,
concealed amongst the mountains, might be heard calling the
faithful to prayer and thanksgiving. The use of bells was now pro-
1 Procis-verbaux des conversions operees en Pragela (in the Archives of the
Bishopric of Pignerol) ; eighth list, dated 3d August, 1680. Signed Elienne Nith,
lui-mime. 8 At the price of 8300 livres. This was an office which, like many others, civil
and judicial, could be bought or sold for money. The name of the new chatelain
was M. Bertrand. 8 Etat de la religion en Pragela, p. 6.
1 By his brief of 27th July, 1661. 5 Confreres et Confrdresses.
6 Journal des conversions qui ont eu faites, et des grdces dont Dieu a favorise la
compagnie de la propagande etablie a" Grenoble, durant le cours de I'annee 1661.
(A 4to MS. of 60 pages, relating especially to the valley of Pragela. In the
Archives of the Bishopric of Pignerol.)
7 Decree of the Parliament of Dauphiny, of 28th January, 1662. The same pro
hibition had already been renewed on 19th July and 30th September, 1661. Th»
edict now issued adds a threatening of the penalty of 1000 livres of fine.
Vol. ii. 67

210 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. [Part Third.
hibited.1 The shepherds' horns, the trumpets which they were
accustomed to sound for their flocks, were therefore employed,
instead of the bells, to proclaim the hour of these holy assemblies.
Severe penalties were forthwith denounced against those who con
ducted them. What were the Christians now to do? Assembled
in silence, they read the Bible, time about, in a low voice, they
prayed one after another, and none of them, in particular, was
charged with the duty of conducting these pious and unpretending
exercises. The Spirit of God alone directed these meetings.
"This race is incorrigible!" said the missionaries : "there is no
moving them. We must direct our efforts to the rising generation."
And they began by prohibiting Protestants from taking pupils for
board and education,2 and it was next proposed to prohibit them
from bringing up their own children. " We have just gained a
victory in the valley of Perouse," exclaims one of the Jesuits; "for
in the beginning of the month of October last (1677), we obtained
the adoption of the rule that all children, born of Huguenot
mothers and Catholic fathers, should be baptized in the church and
brought up Catholics."3
The most trifling pretexts were also seized with eagerness, to
cause the Vaudois to enter, freely or by force, within the pale of
Catholicism. The documents which I have quoted, exhibit many
a painful and affecting scene, and contain many a strange ex
pression, the evidence of truth. In one place, we read of a priest
who drives away from the bedside of an old man, the members of
his own family, and does not leave him till lie has expired? In
another, we read of a mother who rushes after those that are
carrying away her child from her, in order to rescue it from their
hands, " heresy makes women so obstinate and furious!"6 In an
other place still, we are told of a man who wished to conceal from
his wife the abjuration which he had just made, because she was
far advanced in pregnanGy, and he was afraid that this news might
trouble her so much as to do her injury — " so much fruit do these
conversions produce in families,'' the missionaries observe ! 6
1 By decree of 28th January, 1662. ¦ Same decree.
3 Proces-verbaux des conversions de Pragela, at the date mentioned in the text.
The following are a few lines immediately following this passage : — " The wife of
a new convert of Diblon was delivered of a daughter, and was urgent that the
child should be baptized at the preaching, according to custom. The Huguenot
party had obtained the consent of some magistrates to the observance of this usage.
But the Marquis D'Harleville, to whom the .priest of the parish represented the
disagreeable consequences of thi6 custom, ordained that, according to the intentions
of his Majesty, the girl should be baptized in the church, which was done."
4 Same papers. Paper dated 6th September, 1677.
4 Paper dated 12th May, 1677. 6 Faper dated 1st May, 1679.

Chap. XV] MADELEINE JUSTET. 211
And certainly there did result from them great troubles in
families. We read as follows, regarding the conversion of a man
of very great importance, for he has large possessions: — " He felt
strange inward pain; he even wept for an hour; and he was heard
to say, in the midst of his sobs, that he would go and dispute the
question with his relatives. . . . But, notwithstanding all this,
he has abjured, and presented his children to the church."1 Had
the children been abandoned, the Vaudois would have cared for
them. In such a case, however, advantage was taken of their
generous solicitude, to institute a prosecution against them. "Ste
phen Pascal," say our reports, " is an old Catholic? married to a
Huguenot woman. Being obliged to go to the valley of Barcelona,
he remained there for three years. On his return, he was much
surprised to learn that the Huguenots had taken charge of his chil
dren; and he hastened first to Briangon, in order that he might
obtain the assistance of the strong arm of the law to put an end to
this disorder."3
This simplicity of expression, which indicates the good faith of
the converters, even in acts which seem most repugnant to the
spirit of Christianity, is strikingly significant of the character of
their work. I must give one other example. There were com
plaints of drought, and, on the very day when the mission was
ended, it rained. "From which the fathers took occasion to point
out the agreeable arrangements* of Providence with regard to them-

Severe measures were adopted, in particular, against any who
relapsed. Madeleine Justet, say the Jesuits, had promised to at
tend mass, but she returned to the preachings. This was a case of
relapse. "She could neither be moved by prayers nor by threats,
until the Marquis D'Harleville caused her to be apprehended by
one of his guards and carried to his house, to condemn her to the
punishment decreed against relapsed persons."5
With the object of subduing timorous minds by the example of
such severities, the secular arm was often called to execute them.
John Allais having left his country to return to the Protestant
Church; a decree was issued for his arrest. "This execution of the
1 Paper of 21st November, 1677. 2 i.e., not a new convert.
3 Paper of 26th March, 1677. The whole of what is within inverted commas
is exactly quoted, as well as the part in italics.
4 Preliminary observations, inserted before the papers of tiie month of June,
1679. s Paper of 14th September, 1076. This penalty was, according to the case, to
have the head shaved, to endure a shameful whipping, which was sometimes
mortal; to be marked with a red-hot iron, or to be sent to the galleys, &c. — Made
leine escaped from her persecutors, and retired to the valley of Lucerna.

212 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. [Part Third.
law," say the missionaries, "has succeeded extremely well. The
people of this country are greatly afraid of the law. Their resis
tance • will very soon cease, if the law is often executed in the same
manner. Nothing can exceed the insolence and fiery passion of the
heretics of Pragela; but nothing can exceed their pliancy when they
dread the costs of law or corporal punishments."2 Afterwards, it is
said concerning a new convert, "This man has given himself to the
church, in consequence of a number of arrests, which frightened
him very much."3
There were, however, we may believe, a few of these abjurations
which resulted from sincere convictions. "It has not been till after
many combats," we are told concerning Joseph Guerin, "that this
young man has yielded."4 Sometimes, indeed, the exaggeration of
Protestant doctrines interfered with their truth. "What think
you of the worship of the saints?" was a question asked by the
pastor of Villaret of one of his flock, at a district examination.
"I think," was the reply, "that the saints are no better than those
who adore them." The minister was satisfied, say our annalists;
but unquestionably this opinion was too extreme; for the worthy
and pious confessors of Christ, whose holiness was the glory of the
primitive church, were certainly much better than the ignorant
and superstitious men who afterwards made them the objects of
worship. This reflection occurred to the catechumen; and its in
fluence, according to the report of his abjuration, afterwards decided
him to enter the Church of Bome.5 So true it is that justice is
requisite, even to the triumph of truth.6
At other times, and more frequently, the converters found oppor
tunity of working upon the ignorance of the persons converted.
It is impossible to read without a smile, that a neophyte, named
David Bertoch, exhibited, according to the expressions of the re
port, "an extraordinary rage, when he was told that he would not
be rebaptized, and that it was not necessary for him to be an
idolator."7 The Jesuits attached an especial importance to the abjuration
of any one belonging to the family of a pastor;8 and the decision
of the persons converted was often influenced by very secondary
1 In the original MS., violance.
8 1 leave the Jesuits responsible for this opinion, expressed by them.
• Paper of 27th October, 1676.
4 Papers of 28th October to 1st November, 1676.
5 Paper of 26th April, 1679.
6 [It is surely fair to notice also the authority upon which the story rests — Tr 1
7 Paper of 21st August, 1676.
3 See the paper of 23d December, 1677, part of which relates to a woman
whose grandfather was minister at Angrogna; that of 13th November, 1679, &c.

Chap. XV.] HISTORY OF A CONVERSION. 213
motives. One became a Catholic because he had debts;1 another,
because he had a disagreement with his pastor;2 a third, because he
was afraid of being hard pressed by his creditors; 3 and the mission
aries do not hesitate to avow, in plain terms, that they would have
had incomparably more success if they had had more money at
their disposal.4 At other times they attribute their success to ex
traordinary influences, the co-operation of which we could not have
expected that any religious would have accepted. "Daniel Luyx,''
their reports inform us,5 "was a native of Geneva, and had to make
a journey in Piedmont. Being on the bank of a river, the devil
came and placed himself before him. Believing that it was a rob
ber, M. Luyx fired a pistol at him, but the devil flung him into
the river, wounding him with a poignard, which he had taken to de
fend himself." The precaution was not unnecessary, for the tra
veller's companions hastened to draw him out of the water, and
conveyed him to a hostelry. There the devil still came to torment
the sufferer. He appeared to him, induced him to rise, conducted
him to the window, showed him a vast gallery, and, under pretext
of taking him into it, flung him into the street, from the height of
the third story. "His royal highness passing by," says the author
of this narrative, "and seeing the crowd which came together,
learned, by chance, this strange adventure." Finally, as may be
foreseen from the commencement of the history, M. Luyx received
the attentions of a priest, and became a convert.
The puerility of such tales seems to render them unworthy of
notice in history; but they show the state of men's minds at that
period better than it could be shown by any general statements
of the historian. Being obliged to keep within narrow bounds, I
have thought it proper to quote, as far as possible, exact passages
from the unpublished documents of which I have made use, leaving
it to the reader to form his own estimate of them. This method
I propose still to follow in the account of the installation of the
six priests who were settled, at this time, in the valley of Pragela.
Although the summer of 1678 was now come, the temperature
and winds of winter con tinued for a number of weeks. " It seemed,"
says the clerical narrative to which I am indebted for these
details,6 "as if the demons of the air were irritated at our pious
1 Paper of 22d July, 1677. 2 Paper of 24th July, 1677.
3 Persecute par ses creanciers. The words of the Report. Paper of 28th
October, 1676.
4 Remarks on the sixth list, placed at the date, 21st June, 1678.
6 At date, 19th July, 1679.
6 This narrative has been placed amongst the manuscripts already quoted, after
the sixth list, extending from the beginning of January to the end of June, 1678.

211 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. [part Third.
enterprise, and wished to prevent the execution of this design. But
the vice-bailli, who had formerly commanded the king's armies
upon occasions more dangerous, encouraged all the company to dis
regard this bad weather, assuring them that it would not continue.
And, in fact, after mass had been said at Bourset, fine weather re
turned; as if the holy sacrament had driven away the fogs and
demons of the mountains.1 Priest Laz was settled at Chateau
du Bois. This must have been in former times a place of some
note; but now it is nothing more than a desert and a wild forest.
M. Jean Faure was settled at Le Villaret. The officers of customs
and excise,2 who are Catholics, honoured this solemnity with their
presence. M. Simon Borel was settled at Fenestrelle. There the
concourse of old Catholics and new converts was greater than in
the other places, but the heretics almost all hid themselves. The
vice-bailli afterwards assembled them in front of their place of
worship, at the time when their bells called them to prayer, to
read to them the king's orders. M. Francis Isnel was settled at
Le Villar, which is a very beautiful parish in the valley of Perouse,
from which the priest was driven by the Huguenots, in the time
of the old wars. The other places of which we have spoken, never
had priests till now.3 The prior of Mentoules was at the head of
all the ecclesiastics, and all the establishments in Pragela, all of
which are under the jurisdiction of his priory. In each place
mass was performed, and a solemn procession made, at which the
heretics attended with respect and propriety. In all these new
parishes, the vice-bailli caused the lettre de cachet* to be publicly
read; in virtue of which he placed the priests of these parishes under
the special protection of his Majesty — also letters -patent of safe
guard, which the king had sent to the chatelain, to protect him
from insults for the time to come, such as he had been in time
past subjected to, in consequence of the great zeal which he dis
played for the Catholic religion. At Le Villar, to which the
government of Pignerol and the bishop's grand vicar had come,
there was, besides the other ceremonies, a bonfire. The sounding
of the trumpets, the discharges of artillery from the fort of Perouse,
and the large alms which the Marquis D'Harleville caused to be
distributed amongst the Catholics of the valley, increased the effect
of this solemnity.
" Many persons have contributed to the settlement of these new
1 A priest was settled at Bourset.— ,4 brege de Vetat de la valUe de Pragela depuis
1673 a 1717. A folio MS. vol. in the Archives of the Bishopric of Pignerol.
2 [Gabelles, an excise on salt. J
3 These ceremonies took place from 20th to 23d April, 1678. (Same MS.)
4 Dated at Versailles, 22d October, 1677.

C,,AP- xv-] THE ABB'S DE MUSY. 215
priests and the building of their churches; amongst others, the
Abb6 De Musy, who has long laboured at court for the reduction
of these valleys, and who informed the king of the necessity for
these new pa-stors. He has begged and obtained in Paris, a
number of sacred vessels and a quantity of plate for these new
parishes, and for others, the establishment of which he still hopes
to effect. He is also causing magnificent standards and banners to
be made, on which will be painted the patron saints of each parish,
and which will be carried in the processions. The company of the
faith,1 established at Grenoble, have provided the other ornaments
requisite for these new parishes. The ladies of that town have
sent us veils, albs, candle-sticks, crucifixes, altar-cloths, pictures,
&c. The company of Lyons have collected images, chaplets, books
of devotion; .... and a Catholic doctor, who does not give
his name, is about to publish in Paris a controversial work, in
praise of our new Catholics.2 Some other persons, and particularly
the abbot and canons of Oulx, have helped these valleys by con
siderable alms, which have been wonderfully useful to us . . . ."
These poor valleys were, however, more miserable than ever.
"The poverty there is extreme," say the same notes;3 "which
would Iw/oe brought over to the church a great number of heretics
who are poor, or not in comfortable circumstances, if we had only
had the means of relieving them more sufficiently." But the
Vaudois supported and relieved each other. "In some places,"
continues the narrator, " a distribution of alms was made at the
doors of their places of worship. Must it ever be, that the chil
dren of darkness shall thus go beyond the children of light; and
that heretics shall be more liberal, more zealous, and more ardent
to damn people .... than Catholics to save them?"4 Such
is the reflection with which the paper concludes, from which the
above particulars have been derived.
However, care was taken to proclaim loudly enough the fresh
triumph of Catholicism, and the good deeds done by Louis XIV.
in the valley of Pragela. The Gazette de France said:5 "Whilst
our great monarch is victorious over his enemies on all sides, we
see with admiration his triumph over the heresy of the Vaudois,
1 The Propaganda.
2 The title of it is : La veriU reconnuc, ou quinze motifs de la conversion de mes
sieurs de Pragellas. . . . — The author attempts to pass himself off as a Protestant
converted to the Church of Rome. 3 After 21st June, 167S.
4 At the end of the same narrative are the words, Certified to be conformable to
the original, which we have sent to the court, signed Stephen VUh, superior of the
Company of Jesus, established im the Valley of Pragellat. — (Archives of the Bishop
ric of Pignerol.) * 5 Of date 28th May, 1678.

216 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. [part Third.
who have banished the holy church from their mountains for cen
turies, so that it was scarcely possible to maintain three priests
there — at Mentoules, at La Bua, and at Usseaux — the first two
without flocks, and the third with a very small number of people."1
But it was not enough to have established Catholic priests in
these valleys, it was requisite to overcome the Vaudois Church itself,
to trammel its organization, oppose its worship, and proscribe its
ministers; and for this purpose, arbitrary measures succeeded oue
another with frightful rapidity. Hitherto the annual contribu
tions furnished by the people, and destined to the support of the
Protestant clergy and places of worship, had been regulated by
the synod, and deposited in the hands of the consistories, under
the title of consistorial funds. The payment of these impositions,
at once obligatory and voluntary, took the name of the ecclesiasti
cal tax? The Jesuits represented to the inhabitants of Pragela,
that this tax was a heavy burden upon them, of which they might
easily free themselves — that their pastors were greedy and self-
interested people — that the Church of Bome would give them a
religion free of charge; and, finally, that the government had re
solved that no tax of this nature should any longer be imposed,
without the presence, nor gathered without the consent of a person
in authority.3 The people were contented with this arrangement,
believing it to be a security for their pecuniary interests.
But ere long, the Bomish party began to act more openly. The
prohibition was renewed against pastors preaching anywhere, ex
cept at their place of residence; and at the same time, laymen were
prohibited from conducting religious meetings in the annexed
churches.4 Then it was attempted to reduce the number of
authorized meetings, which had long been unchanged;5 and after-
1 These statements of a semi-official journal devoted to the court, cannot be sus
pected of having exaggerated the preponderance of the Vaudois.
A narrative of the same events was published in 1678, by. a person named
Chaillot. This little work I have not been able to procure. In 1684 and 1686 two
new priests were settled. (Abrege de I'etat de la valUe de Pragela de 1678 a 1717.
MS. communicated.) i Taille eccUsiastique.
3 This was a Juge Royal, in the valley of Pragela.— June, 1673.
4 Arret de la cour du parlement du Dauphine, portant defense a Claude Pastre,
de Ville Close de Mentoules, en Pragela, et a tous autres de la religion, de faire
aucune assembUe sous pretextedeprUres, Sic. . . . Grenoble, 7th December, 1679.
Printed. 5 The procurator-general of Grenoble demanded that the religious meetings, held
simultaneously at La Rua and Les Traverses, should be reduced to one. The
Vaudois persisted in holding two. Thence ensued a process, the issue of which
admits of no doubt. There is a printed memorial by the inhabitants of these two
villages, defendeurs en requite, contre M. le procureur general au parUment de
Grenoble, demandcur, &c. 4to, of 20 pages. Grenoble, 1678.

Chap. XV.] A STRANGE SOLEMNITY. 217
wards the Vaudois were ordered to demolish the places of worship
in the quarters of their parishes, and to give up their meetings
there.1 At the same time, all sorts of favours were granted to
those who had become Catholics — exemption from taxes — suspen
sion of prosecutions — assistance to the poor — hospitals opened for
the sick — dowries promised to young girls — the means of worldly
advancement placed more within the reach of all. It would have
been well if Catholicism had never fought with worse weapons;
although, indeed, their triumph could imply no excellence in its
doctrines, and truth is independent of the ephemeral considerations
which arise out of worldly interests.
But it was not only in the valleys of Piedmont and of Italian
Dauphiny, that such fervour of proselytism was at this time dis
played. In the ancient retreats of Queyras and the Briancon-
nais, the same work was prosecuted by the same means,2 with
which was also united a peculiar device, to strike terror into
weak minds. " At St. Veran," say the missionaries, " the mission
was ended by one of the fathers solemnly making the amende
honorable, in order to repair the injury which Jesus Christ had re
ceived from a wicked heretic of that place." He had broken a
crucifix. " This criminal had been condemned by the parliament
"Towards the end of this year"," say the Proces-verbaux des conversions en
Pragela, under date 19th December, 1679, " M. Simon Roude brought a decree,
prohibiting the heretics from meeting at any other places than where their minis
ters resided ; and ordaining the abolition of the fifty or sixty little places of worship
which they had in all the little hamlets, where they assembled every day, morning
and evening." A new process ensued. "M. Simon Roude, prior of Mentoules,
made himself all-powerful in the valley," says a manuscript of the period. (Rela
tion historique de la demolition des temples . . . en Pragela. — Private repositories
of Professor Aillaud, atPignerol.) The papers in this case were printed: Avertisse-
ment pour messire Simon Roude, Prestre, docteur en tMologie, prieur de Mentoules,
en la valUe de Pragela, syndic de la prSvdtS de Saint-Laurent d'Oulx, pour les
affaires de la religion, en ladite valUe, demandeur en requite du Wth Septembre
1680 ; contre les sieurs ministres et habitants de la mime valUe, faisant profession
de la religion pr6tendue reforrrUe, defendeurs. "Without date, or place of printing ;
but printed at Grenoble. A folio of 40 pages. The Reply (Reponse) made in
name of the demandeur, is in 4to, and extends to 14 pages. The Reply of the
Vaudois, entitled, Factum, pour les habitants des valUes de Cluson ou Prageld,
Cesane et Oulx, faisant profession de la religion P. R. P. defendeurs en requite de
Septembre 1680, contre messire Simon Roude, &c. ... is a 4to of 41 pages. The
provost of Oulx attempted to obtain the demolition of the Vaudois places of wor
ship, upon the ground of the Edict of Nantes, which, whilst it authorized the
Reformed religion in France, did not recognize it in Piedmont. The revocation
of the Edict of Nantes was afterwards made the ground for the same thing. So
true is it, that justice was little considered.
2 In the Procis-verbaux de conversions, already mentioned, facts of this nature are
noticed under the following dates : At Abriis, 4th January and 23d August, 1678 ;
at Aiguille, 4th July, 1675; at Ville VieMe, 24th April, 1677; and at Ch&teau
Queyras, 14th July, 1678.
Vol. ii. 88

213 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. [part Third.
of Grenoble, to have his hands cut off, and to be burned alive.
The sentence could not be executed upon his person, because he
had fled; but it was executed upon his effigy, with much public
solemnit}'-, which has greatly humbled heresy. The executioner
went to take this effigy from the house of the criminal, carried it
before the people who were assembled, cut off. its hands, and
burned it in the public square, which was very conveniently fitted
up in the form of an amphitheatre, for this execution. A number
of fusileers were obliged to be present at this spectacle, attending
two officers of the parliament, a trumpeter, a Catholic consul, and
two Huguenot consuls, who were all on horseback."1
But notwithstanding all these severe measures, it would seem
that the evangelical religion was not only not vanquished, but
that it still gained triumphs over Popery, without employing
either base arts or violence. This inference may apparently be
deduced fi'om an edict of the 11th of July, 1680;2 by which Catho
lics were severely prohibited from embracing Protestantism, and
Protestants from receiving Catholics into their places of worship.
Besides all this, every pretext was continually .seized for vexing
the Vaudois in every possible way — if they happened to be found
working on a day consecrated by the Church of Bome — if they
planted a row of bushes for a hedge around their burying-grounds —
if any damage whatever happened to any popish edifices in their
vicinity. "The Marquis D'Harleville," it is mentioned, "having
been informed that the people of Pragela had broken a little image
placed on the gate of a burying-ground, caused it to be restored at
their expense, much finer than it was before, and placed beside it
an inscription calculated to humble heresy."3
What precise meaning are we to attach to this last expression, so
frequently repeated? Does it relate to humility or to humiliations?
Neither the one nor the other was wanting to the persecuted
church, and yet it increased every day! Never had it more
abounded in life and zeal, activity and charity, and devotedness to
the cause and kingdom of God ! The severities of the courts could
not keep the ministers in a state of inaction. It was found neces
sary again to prohibit them from multiplying religious meetings
at other places than that of their own residence, under pain of a
fine of 3000 livres, and of being deprived of their ministry.4 Then
the prohibition was renewed against laymen meeting by them-
1 Same Procis-verbaux, date 29th August, 1678.
2 The edict is of the month of June, but it was not published till the 11th of
July. It was printed on the 14th.
3 Same Procis-verbaux, under date 3d July, 1677. 4 Edict of 13th July, 1632.

Chap. XV.] CHURCHES DEMOLISHED. 219
salves, under any pretext of prayer, reading the Bible, or sing
ing of psalms, . . . because these meetings might become tumul
tuous? At last, it was resolved to forbid Protestants the means
of temporal life, for want of power to reach their spiritual life; and
on the 9th of March, 1682, and at subsequent dates, all trades and
professions, from those' of advocates and physicians, to those of
shoemakers and milliners, were successively forbidden to them.2
But the Vaudois Church of Pragela, which had preceded the
Beformed Church of France in evangelical religion, was to precede
it also on the Calvary of persecution and death, which Popery had
so long laboured to elevate for them both. The Edict of Nantes was
not revoked; but already, five months before its revocation, the
exercise of the Protestant religion was, by an exceptional act of
severity, prohibited in the whole of Pragela, with an injunction to
raze all the Protestant places of worship there.3 These orders, so
arbitrary and revolting, were carried into effect, by means of particu
lar edicts, in the valleys of Sezane, Oulx, and Exilles.4 The Protes
tant churches of Fenil, Chaumont, and Salabertrans, in the valley
of the Doire, were demolished at this time.5 Those of La Etta,
Les SuchiSres, Fenestrelle, and Usseaux, in the valley of the
Cluson, shared the same fate.6 Others were left standing, to be
transformed into Catholic churches ; but they were used for that
purpose only for four years, after which they were also demolished^
• to give place to new edifices.7 Such was the case at Villaret, and
at Les Traverses, where the house and garden of the pastor went to
increase the comforts of the priest.8 The materials of the places of
worship which were demolished, served for the construction of
popish chapels; part of the consistorial properties served to endow
1 Edict of 30th August, 1682 ; enregistered by the Parliament of Paris, on the
1st of December, published on the 4th, and printed at the office of Francis Muguet,
printer to the king, MDCLXXXII.
2 Le Semeur, journal philosophique et litUraire, torn. xv. p. 254.
3 Arrest du conseil d'Estat du Roy, portant interdiction b). perpetuite de lareligion
protestante dans toute la valUe de Pragela, &c. . . . Du 7 Mai 1685; imprime a
Pignerol, chez Pierre Guiton. This decree was adopted in consequence of the
petition of 19th September, 1680, addressed by Simon Roude, the prior of Men
toules, to M. D'Herbigny, intendant-general of Dauphiny,
4 All of date 14th May, 1685; signed, Par le Roi: Philvppeaux.
0 A report concerning the demolition of these places of worship exists in the
Archives of Pignerol.
0 In June, 1678. Relation historique de la demolition des temples . . . dans
la valUe de Cluson ou Pragela. (MSi communicated by Professor Aillaud of Pig
nerol..) The church of Usseaux was not demolished till September. The inhabi
tants having attempted to make some resistance, Louis XIV. sent thither a com
pany of dragoons. (Other MSS.)
7 AbregS de Vetat de la valUe de Pragela de 1678 ct 1717.— (MS.)
6 Report to the Council of State, 25th July, 1685.

220 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. [part Third,
them; and the produce of the sale of another part of the same pro
perties was devoted to the foundation of two hospitals, the one at
SestiSres, and the other at Fenestrelle.1
We may judge what desolation then reigned in these ancient
churches of Pragela, so long privileged in the maintenance of evan
gelical religion. The Vaudois were cast into inexpressible dejec
tion and grief. The Bible, which had been transmitted from
father to son for so many ages, was about to be taken from them;
the pastors, whom they delighted to see in the midst of them, were
already proscribed, and they were forbidden to harbour them in
their houses. These worthy descendants of the Barbas withdrew
in great distress from amongst their afflicted flocks. Their tearful
eyes still turned, as they proceeded in the path of exile, to seek
the more and more distant peaks of their native mountains, where
they had preached the word of God. A great part of the inhabi
tants followed them, even of those who had been supposed to be
converted to the Church of Bome.2
On their arrival in Switzerland, these exiles sent deputies to
the elector of Brandenburg, to ask an asylum in his dominions.3
" There are already six hundred of us who have left our native
country," said these deputies, towards the end of 1685, "and in
course of next spring, a like number of our people will still do the
same."4 We have already seen, in the history of the Vaudois
colonies in Germany, what became of these afflicted emigrants; let
us now see what was the state of the Protestants who remained in
the valleys.
1 Extracted from the registers of the Council of State. Reasons and provisions
of the decree of 29th July, 1685.
2 Abregedel'etat de la valUede Pragela . . . de 1678 a 1717. " The ministers,"
it is there said, " who were obliged to leave the kingdom, drew many people with
them, even of the converts." Of one hundred and fifty Protestant families who
were then at Le Villaret, forty-five followed their pastor.
3 These deputies were a pastor, James Papon, and two laymen, John Pastrecourt
and James Pastre. (Erman and Reclam : Contribution to theHlstory of the French
Refugees in the dominions of the King. Berlin, 1786, torn, vi.)
" Despatch of M. De Mandelslobe, resident at Heidelberg, dated 15th-25th
January, 1686. (Archives of Berlin.)

Cap. XVI.] LAST ACT OF LE TELLIER. 221

CHAPTER XVI.
HISTORY OF THE VAUDOIS OF PRAGELA AND OF THE
ADJACENT VALLEYS.
SIXTH PERIOD. — FROM THE REVOCATION OF THE EDICT OF
NANTES TO THE TREATY OF UTRECHT. SUFFERINGS AND
TEMPORARY RESTORATION OF THE PROTESTANT CHURCH IN
PRAGELA.
(A.n. 16S5 to a.d. 1713.)
Le Tellier — Bossuet — Tho Vaudois who remain in Pragela frequent places of
worship within the Piedmontese territory — Persecution in Pragela — The per
secuting church enriched by the spoils of the persecuted people and the pro
perties of the exiles — Part of Pragela devastated by the troops of the Duke of
Savoy — Successive emigrations — Protestantism revives a little in Pragela in the
beginning of the 18th century — The valley of St. Martin, and part of that of
Perouse, are induced to constitute themselves into a republic, under the illusory
protection of Louis XIV., which subsists for four years — The Vaudois of
Pragela enjoy better prospects for a time after the valley has become part of
the Piedmontese dominions — Deputies from Pragela at the Vaudois synod of
1709 — The government refuses to recognize their incorporation with the rest
of the Vaudois Church — The Vaudois of all the valleys partake of the Lord's
Supper at Usseaux — Severe measures adopted by the Piedmontese government
against the Vaudois of Pragela — Political arrangements unfavourable to them
between the governments of Piedmont and France.
Le Tellteh, who was appointed intendant of Piedmont in 1640,
remembered the Vaudois half a century after, to recommend to Louis
XIV. the persecuting measures which have just been related; and
on his death-bed he sought to extend these same measures to all
the Protestants of France. This old man, as he breathed his last,
flung perturbation into a hundred thousand families, and sore dis
tress into a million of hearts, and sent a multitude of his country
men to end their days in misery and exile. Le Tellier signed the
Bevocation of the Edict of Nantes with his dying hand, on the
22d of October, 1685, profaning the words of Simeon, by a per
sonal application the most unsuitable that could be made. Bossuet
pronounced his funeral eulogium. The Eagle of Meaux found
pleasure in tearing to pieces, by insinuations and plain attacks, or,
as it were, with beak and claws, the church of liberty and love
founded upon the Bible. This man of fine genius had a servile
heart. An adulator of the great — a despiser of men of humble rank,
unless they could serve the purposes of his sacerdotal ambition — he

222 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. [Paet Tiiied.
was, although in secret, the instigator of the cruel and tyrannical
measures which deprived France of half-a-million of inhabitants, aud
gave the Beformed Church a rich crown of martyrs. Such is the
ecclesiastical spirit, without the Spirit of God; for, essentially, it
may be maintained that that which is really human is alone really
divine; but Bossuet and Le Tellier did not belong to an era in
which this truth "could be understood.1
By the Bevooation of the Edict of Nantes, Protestant worship
was prohibited throughout all the dominions of Louis XIV. Pro
testant churches were to be razed to the ground, and schools shut
up. Ministers who refused to embrace Catholicism were to leave
the kingdom within the space of fifteen days; those who abjured
were to receive a pension one-third greater than the stipend which
they had had as pastors, with a reversion of one-half of this pension
to their widows. Every child, born from that time forth, was to
be baptized as a Catholic. Protestants who had emigrated were
to return under the paternal and most Christian government of
the French monarch, within the space of four months, under the
penalty of having all their property confiscated at the expiry of
that period; and any who might attempt to emigrate, for the future,
were to be condemned — the men to the galleys, the women to con
fiscation of person and property. The religionaries, it is added, at
the conclusion of the Edict of Bevocation, may, however, remain in
the kingdom, without performing any exercise of religion, awaiting
till it shall please God to enlighten them.2
But what is mere existence to a Christian, without any act of
life? The Protestants showed that they were Christians, by pre
ferring exile to the want of religious life; and at this period count
less multitudes forsook their native land. But the poorest were
under the necessity of remaining. Two thousand inhabitants of
Pragela preceded or followed the expulsion of their brethren from
1 Homo sum, et nihil humani a me alienumputo, was a saying of Paganism. All
beyond my pale is hell, says the Romish church. Everything is lawful against a
damned person, adds the Inquisition. A Pope ventured to say that it is a praise.
worthy action to kill a heretic. (Bull of Urban IL, quoted in Gratianus, cap. ex-
communicatorum, causa 23, quaestio 5.)
- This edict was not published in Dauphiny till the end of November, 1685. It
was printed at Grenoble, on the 12th of November, in two columns, on a large
sheet intended to serve as a placard, with the following title -.—Edict of the king,
given at Fontainebleau, in the month of October, 1685, containing the Revocation of
the Edict of Nantes, and of all the edicts, declarations, and decrees issued in conse
quence : as well as of all concessions made to those of the Protestant religion, of
whatsoever nature tliey may be; the demolition of all the Protestant places of wor
ship, &c. . . . This placard was affixed to the door of all the Protestant places
of worship in Pragela.

Chap. XVI.] PRAYER A CRIME. 223
the Vaudois valleys of Piedmont,1 but iu 1686 and 1687, the
greater part of them returned to their native region, and were re
established there in virtue of the edict of Victor Amadeus, which
opened it to them in 1692. But what became of those who re
mained on the banks of the Cluson?
Deprived not only of pastors, but of the privilege of holding any
religious meeting among themselves, they did not hesitate regularly
to cross the lofty mountains and deep valleys, which separated them
from their brethren of Piedmont, in order to join them in their
Sabbath-day services. From the upper part of Pragela they went
to Macel by the Col du Pis, and from the lower part of the Val
Cluson, they went to Pomaret, at the entrance of the Val Saint
Martin. In order to accomplish these pious pilgrimages, seeking
edification and the comfort of brotherly love, they were sometimes
obliged to set out on the Saturday evening, and could not return to
their own homes till Monday morning. Notwithstanding all the
difficulty of travelling to so great a distance, they were glad to
adhere to this method of procedure, because of the rigour with which
all religious exercises were made the occasion of prosecutions in
France, which Popery had now rendered so excessively hostile to
liberty. Even prayer and the religious consolation of the sick were now
made matters of accusation. " Last autumn," says a document of
the period, "the vicar-general of the provostship of Oulx gave
information of a fact concerning John Challier of PourriSres, who
was surprised in the act of making prayer, after the manner of the
Protestants, for one called Peter Pastre, who was afflicted at the
time with a very dangerous malady. . . . This case demands
an exemplary punishment."3 And whilst it was thus made a crime
for the Vaudois to minister Christian consolations to the dying —
whilst an exemplary punishment was demanded for those forbidden
prayers, whose fervour was breathed forth in secret and in midst of
1 "Without a precise statement of the numbers, we may determine them approxi
mately. The despatch of M. De Mandelslobe, quoted at the end of last chapter,
announces an emigration of 600 Vaudois from Pragela as about to take place in the
spring of 1686, whilst 600 had already left it in the autumn of 1685; and the Re
cords of the Council of State of Geneva say, under date 31st August, 1687 : — " The
refugees who entered this city yesterday amount to about 800 persons, mostly from
Pragela." (Extracts from the Archives of the Council of State, communicated by
the Rev. M. Le Fort.)
2 Memoire pour la religion en la PUbanie d'Oulx. "Without date, but certainly
belonging to this period, for we read in it : — " The Heretics continue to go to the
preaching at Pomaret, or other neighbouring places, whither also they go to get
married, and carry their children for baptism." ¦ (Archives of the Bishopric of
Pignerol.)

224 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. [Paet Tium)
danger, as a flower blossoms upon ruins — would the reader wish to
know what morals prevailed in the persecuting church of the
Catholics of that region, to whom it was desired to assimilate the
Vaudois ? " As to the old Catholics" (that is, those who had
always belonged to the Church of Bome), says the report just
quoted, " there are amongst them persons debauched with wine,
who frequent public-houses by night . . . and make their
families suffer from want of the necessaries of life; there are others
who commit adulteries or other crimes, which cause much scandal.
It will be requisite to inform the consuls,"1 &c. . . . Thus a
simple admonition was deemed sufficient for serious crimes com
mitted by Papists, and punishments without parallel were awarded
to the virtues of the Protestants ! Such was the justice of Louis
XIV. Such was always the spirit of the sslfish and foolish castes
by whose influence he was controlled.
But the Vaudois of Pragela did not long retain the difficult, yet
precious privilege, of crossing the mountains to partake of the Lord's
Supper in the congregations of their brethren. The tyrant of Ver
sailles said to his ambassador at the court of the Duke of Savov
" It is the presence of the Vaudois of Piedmont, on the frontiers of
my dominions, which causes the desertion of my subjects, and you
must represent to their sovereign that I am resolved to suffer it no
longer."3 We have seen already what was the result of these
arrogant demands. The Vaudois of Piedmont were expelled from
their country in a body, and these valleys, the last sanctuary in
which the word of God was heard amongst the Alps, became as
desolate as a tomb. On these terrible and frequent strokes, thus
cutting off on eveiy side the ancient boughs of the Israel of the
Alps, it seemed as if the trunk which had borne the storms of so
many ages must shortly fall, never to spring up any more. Alas !
this sad presage was too surely to be realized for the valley of
Pragela. The Church there was gradually extinguished, dying out
like a lamp that wants oil — perishing like a victim devoured by
birds of prey!
Every day, the executioners, appointed on behalf of the throne
and the altar, tore again at the living, bleeding spouse of Christ-
Poor persecuted Church ! her places of worship and her ministers
were taken away — her very liberty of prayer was taken away. But
this was far from satisfying her destroyers: and as they proceeded,
they sought to make their spoliations more gainful to themselves.
1 Same Report ; after the passage above quoted.
2 Despatch of Louis XIV. to the Marquis D'Arcy, of 7th December, 1685.
(Diplomatic Archives of France. Communicated by M. Guizot.)

Chap. XVI ] PROPAGANDISTS IN PRAGELA. 22.5
The Church of Bome asked the property of the fugitive Vaudois,
and Louis XIV. granted the request.1 Bobbers are punished, but
a king is honoured, although he thus takes the property of his
people — the property of the poor — the fields which they have in
herited from their forefathers, and made fruitful by the sweat of
their brow; or which they have purchased with the savings of lon<»
years of rigid economy and hard labour! But this was not all:
the consistorial properties still remained. The royal spoliator
seized upon these in the following year,2 and made further gifts to
various Catholic establishments.
In 1684 and in 1686, two new priests were settled in Pragela;
in 1687, five doctors of the Sorhonne were sent from Paris to aid
the missionaries in effacing, as much as possible, the traces of the
Beformed Church, and extinguishing the signs of life which still
appeared everywhere. In 1688, new popish churches were built;
and, according to a work of the time, " the Catholic religion made
visible progress, till, in 1690, on war breaking out between the
Duke of Savoy and the King of France, it was remarked that piety
was again very much cooled."3 The meaning of this is that the
Vaudois of Piedmont had now returned to their valleys ; and
during the terrible winter which they passed in the Balsille,
1689-90, their brethren of Pragela frequently furnished them with
provisions, which they much needed; whilst, on the other hand, the
latter entertained a hope that, by the chances of the war, the Val
Cluson might remain in the hands of Victor Amadeus, and would
be incorporated with the other Vaudois valleys.
Victor Amadeus invaded Dauphiny in 1692. In consequence of
an incursion of his troops into Pragela, all that part of this valley
which extends from Fenestrelle to Perouse, was given to the flames,
1 By decree of 24th November, 16S7. The following are its principal articles : —
600 golden pistoles, from the price of the lands taken into the king's possession, are
given to the Religious Ladies of St. Mary of Pignerol : 1000 to the hospital of St,
James ; 1200 to the venerable chapter of the churches of St. Donatus and St. Maurice;
1200 towards the settlement of certain vicars, intended for the instruction of the
converts. The surplus of the price is given to the Royal College of the Reverend
Jesuit Fatliers of Pignerol. Then follows a list and valuation of the confiscated
lands. (Archives of La Perouse. Communicated by Professor Aillaud.)
2 In January, 1688; by an edict enregistered by the parliament in the following
month. Another edict adopted in December, 1688, and published on 9th January,
1690, disposes of the lands left unoccupied by the recent emigrations, in favour of
the heirs, upon condition that they should neither sell nor alienate them before the
lapse of five years. The object of this measure was to retain them in the kingdom.
3 Abrege de I'etat de la valUe de Pragela de 1678 a 1717. MS. already quoted.
Relation historique de I'etat de la religion en Pragela. (1711. ) All these manu.
scripts, notwithstanding their titles, are of little importance, and contain almost
nothing but insignificant details and vain declamations.
Vol. ii, 89

226 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. [paktTliied.
on 25th July, 1693. Thus were four parishes rendered uninhabit
able. " The inhabitants," says the account above quoted, " all left
it. Some went to Savoy, others to the Briangonnais, the greater
part to the Vaudois valleys of Lucerna and St. Martin. These last
then resumed the exercise of the Beformed religion; and, in spite
of all that could be done, continued it, favoured by the troubles
of war which occurred, till 1696. But in 1698, peace having been
concluded, these obstinate relapsed heretics chose rather to forsake
all and go to Switzerland, than to remain in possession of their
lands and return to the Catholic religion. Of sixty-two families of
the parish of Bourset, there remained only seven or eight."1 These
fifty-six families who emigrated from Bourset, were the same who
founded the last of the Vaudois colonies established in Wurtem
berg, from its foundation the poorest of them all. The reader will
recollect the mean hamlet of New Engstedt, surrounded with
forests, on a table land of Swabia, where these poor exiles had so
much difficulty in accomplishing their settlement.
In 1694, the Vaudois had been encouraged to entertain better
prospects; for the Duke of Savoy, who had re-established them in
their own country in 1692, had likewise held out inducements to
the French Protestants to share the lot of their brethren in
religion. The inhabitants of Pragela subsequently sent a depu
tation2 to Victor Amadeus IL, to beg that he would secure to
them the same privileges which he had granted to their brethren of
the Piedmontese valleys; for the edict of 23d May, 1694, whilst
declaring that liberty of conscience is to be recognized as belonging
to the Beformed, adds, in express terms:3 "As to the Vaudois of
Pragela and of Perouse, who make profession of the same religion,
they shall not enjoy this privilege any longer than for the space of
ten years after the present war." It was during these ten years of
precarious toleration that Protestantism recovered an unwonted
vigour, and shed its last rays in the valley of Pragela.
At first, the inhabitants of this valley, who had retired into the
dominions of the Duke of Savoy, asked aud were allowed to take
the oath of fidelity to him as their sovereign.4 Thereafter they
1 Abrege de I'etat de la valUe de Pragela, &c  " Those who went to
Savoy," adds this manuscript, "returned, on the contrary, better Catholics than
they had been before."
2 Composed of one minister, William Malanot, pastor of Angrogna, and two
laymen, Messrs. Peyrot and John Ferrier.
3 See the Synodal Acts of June and October, 1694, also those of 17th June, 1695.
4 The request was made on 2d March, 1694; the oath was administered on the
1st of July. They presented themselves to the number of 222. See Memoriale
dei religionarii delle valli di Pragelato, SanMartino e Perosa; and the documents
thereto annexed. (Civil Archives of Pignerol, category i., fasciculus 31, No. 27.)

Chap XVI ] DEMAND OF LOUIS XIV. 227
resumed their weekly journeys to Macel and Le Pomaret, to attend
public worship celebrated in these localities. It would even appear
that family worship was religiously maintained in the sanctuary of
the domestic hearth, in the greater part of the houses of Pragela;
for the judicial prosecutions upon account of religion, and the new
repressive measures incessantly adopted by the French government
in these regions, prove, by their very number, the strength and
prevalence of the hereditary attachment of the Vaudois to the
doctrines of the Bible — a permanent cause for unwearying severity
on the part of the Church of Bome. Such was the state of things
till emigrations again commenced. Many Vaudois withdrew from
Pragela to Switzerland in the end of 1697. x
In virtue of the treaty of Turin (18th August, 1696), article vii.,
Louis XIV. soon demanded that Victor Amadeus should cease to
give refuge and protection to Protestants, natives of France. Ac
cordingly, the edict was issued on the 1st of July, 1698, requiring
them to leave the dominions of Savoy within the space of two
months. The Vaudois pastors were, at the same time, forbidden
to extend their ministrations to the French territory, under pain of
ten years of the galleys. We have already seen what troubles,
what disorders in families, and what extensive emigrations arose
from these severe measures.
In these desolated regions, the number of Catholic churches
multiplied, as the population diminished. " Towards the end of
1698," says one account,2 " Louis XIV. caused two churches to be
built" in Pragela; and provided stipend for eight priests,3 by letters-
patent of the month of September of the same year." 4 New houses
were immediately built for these priests, and those which already
existed were repaired.5
After this, the bitter and restless zeal of those who were engaged
in bringing about apostasies by all kinds of means, applied itself,
with redoubled craft and activity, to give the last blows to evan
gelical faithfulness. " Many parents," says a letter written at that
time from the valleys, " are obliged to send into Switzerland their
children, whom the Papists had taken from them, and whom they
1 Letters from Berne, 28th January, 1698, and from Zurich, 30th January.
(Archives of Berne, compartment E. Communicated by M. Monastier.)
Etat de la valUe de Pragela de 1678 d 1717.
3 In May and June, 1698, five new priests were settled in Pragela, viz., at Fene ¦
strelle, Le Villaret, Le Bouvet, Le Chateau du Bois, and St. Pierre du Villar.
4 There are Beveral documents, connected with this subject, in the Archives of
Pignerol, drawer A, Nos. 17 and 18.
5 Those of Laval, Les Traverses, La Rua, Pourrieres, Usseaux, Mentoules, Cha-
terant en Bourset, La Chapelle du Junbons, and Meane.

228 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. [pakt Third.
sought to take from them again. Emissaries of Catholicism travel
through the country from one place to another. . . . The
debt of the valleys, in consequence of arrears of interest, from 1686
to 1694, has increased to more than 300,000 francs. The full
amount of taxes and public burdens is demanded from them, from
the time when they were driven out.1 Nearly twenty-five families
have already been won over to Popery, by promises or by threats.
All sorts of means are employed, in order to weaken the Vaudois.
After having been gradually reduced in numbers, they will be ex
terminated."2 Emigration continued. A new edict of Louis XIV. forbade the
Protestants to sell their lands, without an express permission from
the secretary of state.3 The prior of Mentoules, in his mandatory
of the 20th of February, 1700, said that tlve Protestant religion had
been planted in that country by violence, and that zeal and activity
must be redoubled, in order to oppose its mischievous power.4 The
Archbishop of Turin proceeded in person to the valley of Pragela,
in 1703. 5 He found many Protestants still there, as well as in the
valley of the Doire,6 and bore away with him the authentic deeds
of a great number of conversions; as if religion was a thing to be
settled by the help of a notary, or the gift of a heart could be made
an affair of contract !
But at this period, war broke out again between Piedmont and
France. Victor Amadeus II. addressed a proclamation to the in
habitants of the valleys, inviting them to take up arms against
Louis XIV.7 He endeavoured at the same time to induce their
brethren of Pragela to join them. His protection was afforded to
the Vaudois, when he stood in need of their assistance. Menaced
by a king, he fell back upon the support of the people. What
could a tyrant do, if he were only left to himself? The people
whom he had persecuted defended him still, and ere lon<» it was
his lot to find refuge amongst them. The Vaudois wrested the
upper pari, of Pragela from the dominion of France, and at the
same time delivered it from the oppression of the Church of Bome.
They set up their altars again; under the protection of their vic-
1 Taxes which had not been gathered from 1686 to 1(592.
2 Archives of Berne. Compartment E ; papers of 1697-] 60S.
3 Edict or declaration of 5th May, 1699. This prohibition only affected sales
exceeding the sum of 3000 francs.
' This mandatory is in the Archives of the Bishopric of Pignerol.
s Visiles faites dans la Piebanie d'Oulx, par Monseigneur Vibo, archev&que de
Turin. A folio MS. in the Archives of the Bishopric of Pignerol.
6 Amongst other places, at Fenil, Salabertrans, Chaumont, and Mollaret.
7 It is dated 5th October, 1703. (Moser, proof documents, No. 18.)

Chap. X VI.] BRIGHTENING PROSPECTS. 229
torious arms, Protestant worship was everywhere re-established.
" The cause of the evil was this," says one of the relations already
quoted1 — "the ministers of the Val Lucerna came to preach to
them on the Sabbath; and by their coming and going, filled the
minds of the inhabitants with mischief." But how was it that
Catholicism, supported by so many means of repressing what it dis
liked, could not resist an influence so temporary? The Bible alone
can give the answer — its words were known to the people whom
the Vaudois ministers called to judge of their doctrines.
There was even ground at that time to hope that in that dis
trict, this word of life would never again cease to animate the
hearts of men, for Victor Amadeus had promised to~provide " that
all those of the Protestant religion, who had emigrated from the
valleys of Pragela, might be enabled to return thither, and be
restored to their civil rights, and enjoy what property they might
thenceforth acquire there, with the free exercise of their religion,
as they had exercised it before their departure."2 But this pro
mise, as we shall afterwards see, was not kept ; and on the other
hand, the Vaudois weakened themselves by division. The valley
of St. Martin, and a part of that of Perouse, constituted them
selves into a republic under the illusory protection of Louis XIV.j
and lived under this government for four years.4 Although this
event was of no political importance — and yet it was entirely politi
cal — it had for the time a great influence on the circumstances of
the Vaudois. The Duke of Savoy, however, was so just as not to
make the other parts of the Vaudois valleys responsible for it. On
the contrary, he generously afforded them relief, when, impoverished
by the war, they began to suffer from famine — appointing in each
commune a person charged with the duty of distributing bread to
the poor.5
The duke himself, moreover, was at this time far from being
prosperous. The armies of France had invaded his dominions.
The Duke de la Feuillade had made himself master of Savoy in
the spring of 1704; after which he penetrated into Piedmont by
Mount Cenis, and took Suza, whilst the Duke de Vendome took
1 Pragela, from 1698-1717. MS.
2 Such are the terms of § III. of the secret articles of the treaty concluded
between Victor Amadeus II. and England, 4th August, 1704.
3 By a treaty made between the Duke de la Feuillade and the inhabitants of
the valleys, 15th July, 1704; and ratified by Louis XIV. at Versailles, 25th July.
Signed Louis, countersigned Colbert (Archives of the Court).
« From 25th July, 1704, to 17th August, 1708.
5 By an order of Bercastel, commandant-general of his royal highness in the
valley of Lucerna; dated 20th November, 1704. (Archives of Turin, No. 284.)

230 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. [pabt Thieu.
Verceil.1 In 1705, the successes of these generals were still greater,
and almost all the towns of Piedmont fell into their hands.
Again, Prince Eugene restored the fortunes of the Duke of Savoy,
and defeated the French army, on the 7th of September, 1706,
under the walls of Turin. The consequences of this victory were
considerable. The French, who retired to Pignerol instead of
pressing on to Casal, lost successively the Milanese, the Mantuan
territory, Piedmont, and finally the kingdom of Naples. The war
continued till 1710, but peace was not concluded till 1713.
In 1708, Victor Amadeus having seized Fenestrelle, brought the
whole of the valley of Pragela under his dominion, of which he had
previously possessed only the upper part, defended by the Vaudois,
and the lower part since the surrender of Pignerol (13th March,
1707). This valley was then placed under the administration which
already ruled the other parts of the Vaudois territory. The same
governor was appointed over it.2 The inhabitants were ordered to
lay down their arms, and those who had emigrated were invited to
return immediately.3 At this time, says an official report, " the Bri
tish court, and their high mightinesses of Holland, exerted them
selves to procure for the Protestants of Pragela the same privi
leges which their brethren of the other Vaudois valleys enjoyed.
Queen Anne herself wrote upon this subject to Victor Ama
deus. The duke's reply, of which we have a copy in our archives,4
and which is of date 3d March, 1709, was in the most favourable
terms ; but he represented that it seemed to him suitable, for vari
ous reasons, to defer this public step on his part till peace was con
cluded."8 However, to prove the sincerity of his intentions in this
respect, he caused the Bomish ecclesiastics in Pragela to be enjoined
not to trouble the Vaudois in any way upon account of their doc
trines, and even to leave those who had abjured free to return to
Protestantism.6 Four months afterwards the Archbishop of Turin
1 Suza was taken on the 12th of June, and Verceil on the 21st of July, 1704.
(Art de verifier les dates.)
2 The advocate Gasca: deputato per escrcire en la qualita d'Intendente nelle valli
di Luserna, San-Marlino, Perosa e Pragellato. . . Instructions of 28th Decem
ber, 1708. (Turin. Archives of the Court.)
3 Order of Victor Amadeus IL, dated from the camp of Mentoules, 24th Sep-
tember, 1708. (Same Archives.) — Other documents, from the same place, are
dated from the camp of Balbottet. These two localities are very near one another.
4 The original is in the British State Paper Office. Letters, Sardinia, V. 24.
6 Memoire concernant la situation presente des valUes PUmont . . . presenU au
Synode assemble & La Haye, le 9th Sept., 1762. (MS. communicated by M. Appia.)
6 All the priests of Pragela were invited, by a circular from the superior of the
mission at Fenestrelle, to come to that town on the 2d of January, 1709. It was
there that the intendant Gasca made known to them, by bis own voice, the
intentions of their sovereign.

Cuap.xVIJ RE-UNION OF CHURCHES. 231
ordered those who were under his jurisdiction not to make mention
of the name or authority of Victor Amadeus when they had to do
with heretics.1
It seemed, therefore, that there was no impediment in the way
of the restoration of the Vaudois churches in Pragela. The pastors
of the neighbouring valleys repaired thither and performed the min
isterial functions.2 Schools were established for the instruction of
youth, district meetings were re-opened, domestic worship was
resumed with regularity, and everywhere preceded the arrange
ments for public worship. Numbers, also, who had emigrated,
returned to their own abodes.
At the Vaudois synod which was held at Angrogna on the 11th
of November, 1709, the deputies of Pragela3 presented themselves,
"provided with a regular commission, signed by the consuls, the
councillors, and 100 other heads of families, in name of all the Pro
testants of the valley."4 They asked to be again incorporated
with the one body of the Vaudois churches, which was granted with
readiness and delight. The unity of the body was to them merely
a visible manifestation of the unity of the faith ; and this last had
never ceased. It was with much satisfaction that these different
representatives of the Vaudois church found themselves able thus
to exhibit a testimony of the spiritual union which had been main
tained among all the members of that church, through all the
political divisions, and all the vicissitudes which had agitated their
country. Although separated, for almost a century, by the swords
and sceptres of two dynasties, they found one another the same as
they had been in former centuries; for the descent of evangelical
Christians may be traced farther back than that of kings.
But this was to be the last communion of these fraternal val
leys — a final and solemn act of Christian fellowship, against which
human policy made haste to lodge its protest. " We declare ttat the
acts of the synod of Angrogna may be carried into effect," said the
intendant of Pignerol, " except the second article concerning the
admission of persons from Pragela, declaring that article inadmis
sible and null, and rejecting it absolutely, because the inhabitants
1 " On the 12th of May (1709) we were assembled at Fenestrelle, by order of
the vicar of his lordship, the Archbishop of Turin, who forbade us to make use
of the name and authority of his royal highness against the heretics." (Reports
of the missionaries. — (Archives of the Bishopric of Pignerol.)
2 From the month of February. (Memoires de Perron. MS. — I will speak of
it further on.)
3 Messrs Perron, Guyot, and Salleng.
* Synodal Acts of 11th November, 1709. Preliminaries. (Archives of the Vau
dois TabU.)

232 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. [PamThibd.
of Pragela are not included in the privileges recognized as belong
ing to the other valleys." l
But if an official recognition was refused them, they were never
theless assured that they would not be disturbed upon account of
their religion.2 England, likewise, continued to interest herself on
behalf of the Vaudois. As an ally of Victor Amadeus, she took
upon herself the pay of their troops, to whom was confided the
guard of the frontiers. Each soldier received a pay of ten philips.
The winter of 1708-1709 having destroyed all the fruits of the
earth, further assistance was also distributed to them.3
Without having organized congregations, the inhabitants of Pra
gela had then the privilege of meeting for worship ; and, like a
strong plant whose branches for a short time cease to be cut off,
their church at this period made rapid progress. "We see, with
the deepest regret," say the priests of Pragela, in a petition of this
date, "that the inhabitants of this valley do not profit by the privi
lege which they have in being under the government of a sovereign,
who excels equally in valour and in piety.4 They were at last con
verted, . . . and now again they have returned with mad eagerness
to heresy. On the first Sabbath of Lent a minister came to preach at
Usseaux, and many people assembled to hear him; on the second Sab
bath the number was increased, and still more on the third. The piti
ful state to which we see this valley about to be reduced, compels us to
have recourse to your lordship, to put an end to this abomination."5
The Royal Council which had been established at Pignerol,
and which at this time took the name of the Senate, applied
itself to restrain the dangerous liberty, always so fatal to Popery.
1 A translation of the words appended by the intendant Gasca at the end of the
Acts of the Synod.
2 "... . Numbers of persons of the valleys of Pragela have returned to their
former Protestant religion, and now profess it without being inquired after or
disturbed, as they were assured that they would not  (Reflexions sur I'oppor-
tunite de rendre public V article du traite du 21 Janvier 1705, &c  MS. —
Turin, Archives of the Court.)
3 Relation historique de la demolition des temples, et de V etablissement des Eglises
paroissiales, en Pragela. (MS. of the library of M. Aillaud, at Pignerol. ) — This
work pretends that relief was given, in order to bring back the Vaudois who had
become Catholics to Protestantism, "which did," it is added, "cause numbers to
prove unfaithful."
4 This flattery, addressed to Victor Amadeus, is expressed in precisely the same
words which had been previously addressed by the same men to Louis 5LIV., then
at war with the Duke of Savoy.
6 Supplique du chapitre d'Oulx, March, 1709. Without other date. — Requite
de MM. les cures de Pragela, of 13th March, 1709. Signed, Blanc, cure de la
Rua; Poncel, cure d' Usseaux; Merlin, cure des Traverses; Prin, cure de Pour-
riires; Bonne, cure de La Fa;.— Drawn up by Joseph Samuel, notary. (Turn.,
Archives of the Court. Nos. of series, 670, 671.)

Cuap.XVI.J A HAPPY COMMUNION. 233
For this purpose it endeavoured to put impediments in the way of
those fraternal relations which were so promptly renewed amongst
the Vaudois of the different valleys; and the ministers of the val
ley of Lucerna were requested not to go to Pragela, at the same
time that those of the people of Pragela, and other French refugees
who had taken up their abode in the valley of Lucerna, were
ordered to quit it within a short time.1 The pastors, however,
being strangers to the political considerations which governed the
conduct of Victor Amadeus, and with good reason regarding the
evangelical Christians of Pragela as one of the most interesting
parts of their flock, went to them as often as was requisite, or as
the duties of their own charges permitted.2
The senate of Pignerol, without having the right to employ any
repressive measure against the exercise of a liberty authorized by
the sovereign, thought fit, however, to signify its dissatisfaction ;
which it did by a sort of mandatory on the 2d of April, 1710,
recalling attention to all the prohibitions previously issued against
the exercise of the Beformed religion in the valleys of P6rouse and
Pragela. The Protestants, strong in their right, in their convic
tions, and in their sense of the necessity of protesting against the
-tyranny by which they had suffered, replied to this manifestation
on the part of the senate by the most solemn act of their worship;
and on the 7th of April, 1710, they proclaimed the closer alli
ance of their beloved churches, and the fellowship of all Vaudois
hearts, in a way that had not been attempted before for twenty-six
years, by the celebration of the Lord's Supper at Usseaux, in which
the inhabitants of all the valleys participated, uniting as members
of one family with those of the Cluson and the Doire.
The Catholic clergy of these latter valleys addressed to the senate
of Pignerol a representation,3 as to the little regard which the Pro
testants paid to the prohibitions of which they had been reminded,
and sent with it a report,4 drawn up by lawyers, intended to prove
that the Vaudois of Pragela were not entitled to enjoy liberty of con-
1 Order of the commandant of Lucerna, addressed to the syndics of that valley,
under date 25th May, 1709. (Archives of Le Villar, volume marked Religionarii,
fol. 161.)
2 "On the 27th of February, 1709, a minister came to Pragela who perverted
all the people. On the 23d of March, M. Bastie baptized three children; almost
all the population assembled. On the 15th of April, another minister came for a
marriage, &c  " (Memoires des missionaires de Fenestrelle. MS.) — M.
Bastie was pastor of La Tour. 3 Dated 28th May, 1710.
4 MSmmre touchant I'etablissement, Us progris et la cessation de la religion pre-
tendue reformee dans la valUe de Pragela; et touchant I'engagement de S.A. R.
d I'egard du retablissemenl de ladite religion, ensuile de son traits' d'alliance avec
les Anglais et les Hollandais. (Folio MS. in the Royal Library at Turin.)
Vol. ii. 90

234 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. [pabt Third.
science. " His royal highness," they say, " promised, by the treaty
of 21st January, 1704, and by the conditions previously agreed to
at Utrecht, that the Protestants who had emigrated from Pragela
might return thither, and exercise their religion there as freely as
before their departure; granting the same privileges to all others of
the same religion who might afterwards settle there, provided that
neither the one nor the other should in any way attempt to turn
Catholics from their religion, or to do them any injury. But the
Protestants who emigrated from Pragela, left that valley for no
other reason than because their religion was interdicted there.
They had, therefore, no liberty of conscience before their departure,
and. according to the terms of the treaty, liberty of conscience
ought now to be taken from them." Such was the substance of
their argument.
In consequence of these things the Duke of Savoy, probably that
he might form an opinion concerning the importance of the Pro
testants of Pragela, demanded a list of their names and an account
of the lands which they possessed.1 It being now indubitably
ascertained that there was no persuading of them into submission,
vexatious measures were resumed against them. The Dutch am
bassador complained, and the Marquis de St. Thomas, the minis
ter of foreign affairs, replied that the Vaudois were turbulent and
rebellious subjects, who had been already treated with only too
much gentleness.2 Soon afterwards they were enjoined to abstain
from work on the Catholic festival days.3 In France the Protes
tants of Dauphiny were forbidden to have arms in their possession;4
and the society de propaganda fide et extirpandis hcereticis renewed
its intrigues and operations everywhere.
"In 1710, during the war," says Dieterici,5 "some French
marauders having committed all kinds of havoc in the valley of
Pragela, the Savoyard governor prohibited any assemblage of more
1 These documents are in the Archives of the Court, at Turin. The letter of
Victor Amadeus, demanding them, is addressed al Marchese di Borgo, and dated
14th April, 1710.
2 The note of the Dutch ambassador, M. van der Meer, and the reply of the
Marquis of St. Thomas, dated 23d February, 1711, are in the Archives of Turin.
Part of the correspondence relates to the arrest of the Protestant consul, Guyot,
who had neglected to cause windows to be made for the Catholic church of Pragela.
3 Edict of Victor Amadeus II., of 22d May, 1711, commencing thus: " It having
been represented to us by our procurator-general substitute in the superior
Council of Pignerol, that our subjects of our newly conquered lands and countries
of Pragela, do not observe the festivals commanded by our holy mother church,
&c  " (Turin, Archives of the Court.)
4 Edict of Louis XIV., signed at Versailles, 17th September, 1712,
B History of tJie Vaudois in Brandenburg  Chap. vii.

Chap.XVlJ POLITICAL CHANGES. 235
than twelve or fourteen persons. Under pretext of this ordinance,
all public vvorship was prevented in Pragela. Captain Friquet,
whom Victor Amadeus had commissioned, in 1709, to write to his
brethren who had emigrated, to induce them to return to their
homes, where he promised them the fullest liberty of conscience,
was one of the first victims of this return to arbitrary measures.
Beligious meetings were held in his house ; he was cited to Pig
nerol, and in order to escape condemnation, was himself compelled
to leave his native land."1
Meanwhile the English minister, who had been the protector of
the Vaudois, had been changed. They were lost sight of amidst
political events. At the time of the treaty of Utrecht they were
forgotten by the Protestant powers, and nothing was done to secure
their rights. England, which had secured the possession of the
valley of Pragela to the Duke of Savoy, on condition that he should
maintain religious liberty there, -was, by new arrangements, pre
vented from interfering. Victor Amadeus, having made up his
quarrel with the King of France, perceived a possibility of adding
to his dominions the county of Nice, and yet of keeping the valley
of Pragela, upon condition of destroying Protestantism there. And
that this double cession might be represented as an exchange of
territory between the two powers, he ceded the valley of Barcelon-
nette to Louis XIV., who accepted this disadvantageous arrange
ment as an honourable bargain, in order thus to deprive England
of her sole right to interfere on the frontiers of Italy. And thus,
by these secondary transactions in a council of potentates, the whole
religious prospects of a people were sacrificed to the secret ambition
of Popery, which was pursuing them to destruction.
" We possess a report by M. Leger," 2 it is said in a document
emanating from Geneva half a century after this event, " concerning
the engagements of Victor Amadeus II. with the court of England,
and the facility with which, at the time of the treaty of Utrecht,
that court might have secured to the people of Pragela the same
rights which the three other valleys enjoyed. But, through negli
gence, they were forgotten, and their valley was lost." 3 These are
the words of men who were amongst the most constant protectors
of the Vaudois. It now remains for us to see in what manner the
1 John Gonnet and John Guigas were cited at the same time with him, and
found it necessary likewise to go into exile.
2 Pastor and professor at Geneva — nephew of the historian. He died on the
18th of January, 1719, aged sixty-seven years and four months.
3 Mimoire concernant la situation prisente des valUes du Piimont .... pre.
senU au Synods de la Haye, U 9 Septembre 1762. (Synodal Records of the
Walloon churches. — Copy communicated by M. Appia.)

236 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. [Wr Tuibd.
loss which they deplore took place, and how the light of the gospel
was extinguished on the banks of the Cluson, more than a century
ago, by the breath of tyranny aud intolerance. May a new histo
rian yet have to tell how it has been rekindled by that of liberty !

CHAPTER XVII.
HISTORY OF THE VAUDOIS OF PRAGELA AND THE
ADJACENT VALLEYS.
SEVENTH PERIOD. — FROM THE TREATY OF UTRECHT, IN 1713,
TO THE FIRST EMIGRATIONS .CAUSED BY THE EDICTS WHICH
PRECEDED THAT OF 1730.
Obligations incurred by Victor Amadeus in his treaties, in favour of the Vaudois
— How he got quit of these obligations — Measures adopted against the Vaudois
of Pragela during his absence in Sicily — Exertions of the King of Prussia on
their behalf — Beneficial interference of the English ambassador at Turin — The
pastors of the other parishes prevented from entering Pragela to minister —
Severities employed against the elders of Pragela, to prevent their conducting
religious meetings — Famine — Advantage taken of it for proselytism — Prohibi
tion of all religious meetings — The case of Peter Ronchail and his family — The
people of Pragela forbidden to attend public worship in the other valleys —
Other tyrannical measures — All the inhabitants of the valleys acquired by the
treaty of Utrecht are ordained to have their children baptized in the Church
of Rome — Iniquitous law regarding inheritance — Compulsory observance of
festivals — Illustrative instances of persecution — Victor Amadeus shows the-
most ungrateful forgetfulness of the former services of the Vaudois. — Friend
ship shown to them by Mr. Edges, the British ambassador — Gradual increase
of intolerance; emigrations, and wearing out of the Vaudois church in Pragela.
We have seen that by the third of the secret articles of the treaty
concluded between Victor Amadeus II. and England, on the 4th
of August, 1704, all the fugitive Protestants of the valley of Pra
gela had acquired the right to return and enjoy there the free
exercise of their religion as much as they had enjoyed it before their
departure. The same condition was inserted in the treaty of the
Hague, of 21st January, 1702. But in the archives of the court
of Turin may be seen a diplomatic note in these terms : — " By the
fifth article of the treaty of alliance between her majesty, Queen
Anne, of England, and the King,1 the acquisition of the valleys of
• Victor Amadeus II. took the title nf king, as King of Sicily, on the 21st of
December, 1703.

Chap. XVII.] ROYAL INGRATITUDE. 237
Pragela, Oulx, . . . &c, was promised to him in such a way, that
they were to become his without his giving anything instead. In
the third of the secret articles of the said treaty, the king, on his
part, promised the free exercise of their religion to the Protestants.
But her Britannic majesty, not having been able, at the peace of
Utrecht, to cause the King of France to cede this country to the
King of Piedmont, it is evident that the promise of England has
been of no effect; and consequently the king's promise is no longer
binding upon him, as he now holds these valleys in virtue of a
direct exchange made with Louis XIV. for the valley of Barce-
lonnette." x
The treaty of Utrecht was concluded on the 11th of April, 1713.2
In the end of the previous month, Victor Amadeus had signified to
the Vaudois that he entertained kind intentions with regard to
them, and was much satisfied with their good conduct during the
war just ended;3 but no sooner was the treaty concluded, than the
oblivious monarch did not even deign to reply to their most respect
ful and rightful petitions.4 He did not, however, declare against
the schemes of ecclesiastical organization which were laid before
him, and said nothing which could make the Vaudois believe that
he harboured the design of despoiling them of that liberty of con
science which he had promised them; but he refused to come under
any obligation in this matter, exacting, however, from his new
subjects the oath of fidelity, which bound them to his service.5
Louis XIV., seeing that the exercise of the Protestant religion was
not immediately repressed in the valleys which he had ceded, pro
hibited his own subjects newly converted to Catholicism from hav
ing anything to do with foreign Protestants.6
1 Turin, Archives of the Court, No. of series, 407.
B Five different treaties were concluded on that day between France and other
European powers. That between Louis 5IV. and Victor Amadeus II. was signed
at four o'clock in the afternoon. — The fourth article of it is in these terms: — ¦
' ' His most Christian majesty transfers to his royal highness of Savoy, irrevocably
and for ever, the following valleys, to wit, the valley of Pragela, with the forts of
Exilles and Fenestrelle, and the valleys of Oulx, Sezane; Bardoneche, and Chateau
Dauphin, and all which is on the Piedmontese side of the water-shed of the Alps.
On the other hand, his royal highness cedes the valley, of Barcelonnette ....
bo that the summits of the Alps shall henceforth form the boundary line between
France and Piedmont."
3 This testimony from their sovereign was conveyed to the Vaudois by the
Marquis D' Antourne, 31st March, 1713.
* Towards the end of April, 1713, Victor Amadeus paid a visit to Pragela, to
see his new possessions, and especially the fortresses of Fenestrelle and Exilles.
The Vaudois addressed a petition to him for the free exercise of their religion,
but it remained unanswered. 5 The oath was administered on 29th July, 1713.
6 By edict of 8th November, 1713.

23S THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. [Part Third.
Intercourse with the Vaudois, in particular, was regarded as
excessively pernicious to their Catholic neighbours. In the ser
mons, the mandatories, and even the rescripts of this period,
Catholics were incessantly recommended not to take Vaudois into
their service, and not to be present at their meetings; and it was
added, that if a Papist had reason, for decency's sake, to accompany
the funeral of a Protestant, he ought to retire from the burying-
ground before the officiating pastor had commenced to speak. The
Bible gave these humble children of the Alps a power of conversion
more efficacious, for changing the hearts of men, than all the appeals
to violence by which the Church of Bome had sought to make ser
vile adepts embrace her cause.
In 1713, says Dieterici,4 the Duke of Savoy went to Sicily to be
crowned, and remained there till near the middle of 1714. The
enemies of the Vaudois took advantage of this circumstance to
destroy their church in Pragela. In 1713, the Savoyard2 intend-
ant Pavie, issued orders that no schoolmaster should be settled
there without the approbation of the Catholic clergy. Two
teachers, who had been previously settled, were compelled to cease .
their functions in February, 1714. Thereafter, the consuls, syndics,
and other Protestant magistrates of the valley, were removed from
their offices, and Catholics appointed in their stead. The former
had been elected, according to custom, six months before their entry
upon their duties. At that time Victor Amadeus was still in Pied
mont, and he offered no opposition to these elections. But in the
beginning of 1714 they were annulled in absence of the sovereign.
The Vaudois addressed themselves to their foreign protectors.
Captain Friquet wrote to Papon, a former pastor of Pragela, then
minister of the French churcji- at Frankfort-on-the-Maine, to ac
quaint him with the griefs, of his compatriots. Papon put the
representations of the Vaudois into the hands of the resident of
the court of Berlin,3 who transmitted them to the King of Prussia;
and that monarch, by a letter of the 24th of March, 1714, charged
his representatives in England, Holland, and at Augsburg, to make
known to these courts the increasing dangers which threatened the
existence of Protestantism in the valley of Pragela. " You may
declare," he said, " that we are ready to concur in all the measures
which the States-General, Queen Anne, and the evangelical states
of the empire may deem it proper to take, in order to preserve the
Beforaied religion from imminent ruin in the valleys of Piedmont."
/l History of the Vaudois in Brandenburg, ch. vii.
2 This adjective does not indicate that he was a Savoyard by birth, but merely
that he was in the service of the Duke of Savoy. 3 M Reinhold Hecht.

Cut

• XV1I.J PRAGELA INVADED. 239

This first communication not having produced the effect which
he had expected, Frederick William renewed his endeavours by a
letter of 28th April, 1714, in which he said— "You will, verbally
and by writing, make the most urgent representations to her
majesty the queen, and her ministers, .... that they may in
duce the Duke of Savoy to leave our fellow-Protestants in Pragela
in the enjoyment of entire liberty of conscience, and faithfully to
fulfil the promise which he made in regard to this matter." But
Victor Amadeus was then absent, and the proceedings against the
people of Pragela were continued. " Who can even tell," says a
letter of that period, "but that he may prolong his absence of pur
pose, to be able to say on his return, that all was done without his
knowledge? Meanwhile, the great blow will be struck, and his
highness will find an excuse in his conscience, not permitting him
to overthrow a work of conversion." 1
The violent measures anticipated by the author of the sentences
just quoted, soon began to be employed. In the month of May,
1714, the commandant of Perouse entered Pragela with troops,
made his way into the dwellings of the principal persons amongst
the Vaudois in the middle of the night, dragged them from their
beds, and conducted them in chains to Fenestrelle.2 The King of
Prussia, having heard of this cruel treatment, renewed his solicita
tions in favour of the Vaudois. " We learn from every quarter,"
he wrote on the 19th of June, 1714, "and you will see by the in
closed, that the persecutions against the Vaudois go on increasing;
so that the entire suppression of the religion of the gospel in these
countries will be inevitable, if nothing is done to succour these poor
people. . . » You will entreat, in our name, her majesty, the
Queen of Great Britain, to urge upon the Duke of Savoy, in the
strongest manner, the maintenance of liberty of conscience in these
valleys." The English ambassador at the court of Turin received orders to
address himself accordingly to the ministers of Victor Amadeus.
His representations produced, at first, some happy effects. The
king, having returned from Sicily, moderated in some degree the
character of the re-actionary proceedings which took place in Pra
gela. However, it was not long till the prohibition was renewed
against the pastors of the other Vaudois valleys crossing the
Cluson, to conduct the exercises of religion. One of them having
braved this prohibition, was imprisoned by order of the intendant
1 Letter written from Vevey, 17th April, 1714, and quoted by Dieterici, ch. vii.
3 The particulars are taken from a letter by Captain Friq'uet, written from
Geneva, 31st May, 1714. Quoted by the same author.

240 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. [ Part Third.
of Pignerol. The interposition of the Protestant ambassadors at
the court of Turin readily obtained his restoration to liberty; but
thenceforth, his colleagues and himself very naturally felt an in
creased and increasing reluctance to go beyond the field of labour
assigned to them, within the limits of their own parishes.
The people of Pragela, however, were not discouraged : the elders
of each commune undertook, as in former times, to conduct, in their
turns, familiar and edifying prayer-meetings. And what followed?
These elders received orders to attend at Turin. They went thither,
accordingly, and were seized and carried to different towns of Pied
mont, where they were kept prisoners.1 However, all the citations
to Turin were not obeyed in the same way by those to whom they
were addressed. Jacob Perron, a Vaudois, who received one of
them, says, in his memoirs, " This was in the month of May, 1714.
The king was then in Sicily. Summonses were sent to the princi
pal people of our valley, the object being to banish them to Pied
mont, or to make them" change their religion. To save myself from
this persecution, I was obliged to quit the country, leaving my
father, who was eighty years of age, sick and bed-ridden, aisd- my
wife, who was almost in a dying state; and I remained six /weeks
away from home before I could venture to return." 2 He /passed
these six weeks in the valley of Lucerna, an evidence ~or\the
brotherly feelings with which the people of these moor valleys_
always regarded each other. "During my absence," Continues the
narrator, " one of these summonses was brought to. my father, and
a few days after, the officer of justice came to say to him, on the
part of the chatelain, that he had only to give him thirty livres of
Piedmontese money, for the informations which the said chatelain,
the registrar, and the procurator-fiscal, had drawn up against him,
on account of religion."
By these particulars we may judge to what odious exactions the
magistrates of these districts were accustomed to subject the Vau
dois. Permitted to escape with impunity, and perhaps encouraged
in their proceedings, because of the injury which they did to the
1 There were eight of them who were thus treated. — These particulars are derived
from a document on stamped paper, entitled Minute de requite pour presenter an.
roi, laquelle n'a pas ete presentee. It is in the Archives of the Bishopric of
Pignerol. z Memoire des persecutions pour notre sainte religion, qui me sont arrivies depuis
le mois d'aout en Vannie 1708, que le roi de Sardaigne avec les allies, ont con-
quis notre pays de Pragella.— These memoirs were written by an elder of the
church of Suchidres, named Jacob Perron. — For brevity's sake, I shall henceforth
quote them as Memoires de Perron. — This MS. was communicated to me by
M. Lombard-Odier, of Geneva, whose family had in 1730 received into their house
the exiled author, who left them this memorial.

Chap. XVII ] A SEVERE FAMINE. 211
Protestants, they went about the work with all the more zeal, as
they contrived to make it serviceable to their own interests. " The
registrar," says Perron, "added, that if this money was not given
to him, he would come and take our furniture out of the house.
My father replied that he had done no wrong nor harm to any one
— that he had no money — that they might come and take away
his furniture if they would, but as for his religion, he would never
forsake it."
At this time, moreover, great distress reigned in these valleys.1
The famine was so great, that unhappy people, who had neither
home nor food, might be seen wandering about the country, trying
to support life on the herbs that grew in the fields.2 Monks,
Jesuits, and missionaries of every denomination took advantage of
this state of things to obtain from them promises of becoming
Catholics, in exchange for a little money or a morsel of bread.8
There was even a plan formed for systematically turning the
miserable circumstances of the country to account in this way, by
united and concerted measures.4 All the parish priests received
supplies of money, which were destined exclusively for the relief
of those who had become Catholics, and were refused to the Pro
testants. But at the same time that the Vaudois of Pragela were violently
dispersed through Piedmont, their brethren, who desired to settle
in Turin, were driven from it.5 The Protestant schools of the
valleys of the Cluson and the Doire were now also shut up; and
the public services of the Beformed religion were formally pro
hibited.6 The people of Pragela reclaimed against this prohibition.
1 Rapport du triste etat des Eglises du Pragela et des anciennes valUes; dated
1st June, 1714. (Archives of the Venerable Compauy of Pastors of Geneva,
register S, p. 258.)
2 Letter of Reynaudin to the Genevese pastors ; 15th June, 1714.— Same source,
p. 260. — This Reynaudin was then pastor at Bobi. In 1689, when still only a
student, he left the academy of Basle, to follow the expedition of Arnaud, the
narrative of which was written by him. 3 Same documents.
4 Plan, per contenere ne limiti, gl' eretici; impedire a loro progressi; ajutare le
conversions, e sostenere li convertiti. It is here proposed, amongst other things, to
give to each parish priest, 600 livres annually, in order to give marriage portions
to fifteen girls who shall have become Catholics, to pay the taxes and debts of the
converts — to obtain divers exemptions in their favour, &c  (Archives of
Turin. No. of series, 247.)
5 Projetto di reale biglietto, pel vicario di Torino, nel eoncernente i religionarii.
(Archives of Turin. Series 512.) — This paper contains notice of a multitude of
restrictions imposed upon the residence and commerce of Protestant strangers in
the capital.
6 Requite des habitants du Pragela. (Without date; but it must have been in
1714 or 1715.) Archives of the Bishopric of Pignerol.
Vol. ii. 91

242 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. 0'*i™ Third.
The reply to their petition was a prohibition against holding even
private meetings. " It having been represented to us,"1 said Victor
Amadeus, " that clandestine meetings are frequently held in the
valleys of Oulx, Exiles, Cezane, BardonSche, and Pragela, ....
we prohibit the religionaries of these districts from assembling in
numbers of more than ten persons, whether of the one or the other
sex, in any place or on any pretext whatever, except in the meet
ings of municipal councils. The transgressors of this order shall
be punished by a fine of one hundred crowns of gold, for the first
offence, and by ten years of the galleys for the second. Women
guilty of the like infraction, shall incur a fine of twenty crowns of
gold, for the first offence, and a punishment of two hours of the
pillory for the second." 2
This edict was published iu Pragela, on the 7th of February*
1716. It is impossible to tell in what a multitude of instances it
was made a pretext, by a servile magistracy and a malevolent
clergy, for public or secret acts of oppression, underhand vexation,
and annoyance of every possible description. " It has been proved,"
say subsequent instructions for proceedings at law, "that in the
stable of Peter Bonchail, there were twelve persons assembled, men
and women, without reckoning the little children and three women
who were before the door." 3 Thereupon followed report, denuncia
tion, official petition, the officers of justice sent down to the spot,
imprisonments, advocates' fees, condemnation, the ruin of the
family, the dispersion of its members, who went into exile to avoid
the galleys or the pillory, the abandonment of children left to
perish of want, and the triumph of the persecutor — Popery. In
vain was it urged that amongst the twelve persons denounced, there
were a beggar woman to whom alms had just been given, and three
children of a nearly related family, who were playing with their
little cousins Bonchail, also a sick woman visited by two of her
neighbours : all these representations went for nothing with the
judges. Peter Bonchail, a man bowed down with age, was con
demned to two years' imprisonment; his brother Stephen, to three
blows of the strapado; and the whole family collectively to the
costs of process, and a fine of one hundred crowns of gold for each
1 By the intendant of Pignerol, under the influence of the council, whose mem
bers were guided by the clergy of the city, who themselves were instigated by the
Jesuits of Pragela.
2 Given at La Venerie, 1st February, 1716. Signed Victor Amedie; counter
signed Lanfranqui.
3 Substance des edaircissements donnis sur lesdits articles, par M. le president
Borda, dans sa lettre a S. M. du 13th Juillet, 1727. (A paper in the Archives of
State at Turin. No. of series, 530 bis.)

Chap. XVII.] VEXATIOUS PROHIBITIONS. 243
member.1 This is an example of the way in which those very
Vaudois were now treated, whose fidelity Victor Amadeus II. had
so often praised. It shows, also, what fruits the edict of 1st Feb
ruary, 1716, was destined to bear.
Thus prevented from conducting the exercises of their religion
in any way, either in public assemblies or in private houses, the in
vincible Christians of Pragela resumed their Sabbath-day pilgrim
ages to the churches of Macel and Le Pomaret. They did not
scruple to take long journeys in order to be present at the religious
assemblies of their brethren, to whom the ancient edicts of the
house of Savoy guaranteed the free exercise of their religion. But
they were soon deprived of this resource likewise, through the insti
gation of the clergy, always possessed of great power over the coun
cil of Pignerol.-' A few French Protestants, whom the Duke of
Savoy had specially retained in his new dominions, obtained, as a
favour, notes, authorizing their admission into the place of worship
at Le Pomaret. But, upon various pretexts, these notes were
afterwards withdrawn from most of them.3 The prohibition was
then renewed against the Vaudois working on the Catholic festival
days.4 They petitioned again, and obtained liberty to work on
these days with their doors shut, or in their fields, if they should re
ceive permission from the local judge.5 These were but new open
ings for arbitrary tyranny, and new opportunities for vexation on
the most frivolous pretences.
The people of Pragela now sent a deputy to Geneva,6 to ask
counsel and protection. Switzerland, in its turn, had recourse to
1 This sentence is of date 4th June, 1727; but as the facts correspond with the
edict of 1716, I have thought it right to state them here, as an immediate conse
quence of that edict.
2 The following is the series of papers relative to these facts : — I. (Of date,
31st March, 1717) — Petition of the procurator-general, that the Protestants of Le
Pomaret may be forbidden to admit Catholics to their exercises of worship. —
II. (Of date, 2d April) — Rescript of Victor Amadeus, in accordance with this
demand. — III. (Of date, 30th April) — Petition of the refugees who had been per
mitted to reside in the valleys. — IV. Biglietto Regio, by which they were allowed
to go to the Vaudois place of worship, upon obtaining a written permission for
themselves, individually, from the governor of Pignerol. — V. New order (of date,
8th May), prohibiting the reception of the Protestants of Pragela in the place of
worship at Le Pomaret. — VI. Proclamation of the council, calling attention to all
these measures, and dated 28th May. (Extracted from the records of the old
superior Council of Pignerol, and from the Archives of Turin.)
3 Especially because they had been settled in Pragela before the treaty of
Utrecht. * Rescript of 14th July, 1718. (Archives of Le Villar, vol. Religionarii, fol. 176. )
8 Rescript of 9th August, 1718. — This paper is in the form of a biglietto regio in
the Archives of Turin, and of simple Instructions to the intendant of Pignerol, in
the Archives of that city.
6 He arrived there in February, 1719, and went thence to Zurich.

244! THE ISEAEL OF THE ALPS. [part Third.
the intercession of Holland and of England.1 Some insignificant
concessions were obtained,2 but the relief was only momentary.
At last a new order,3 more severe than the preceding, absolutely
interdicted the Beformed religion. But human hearts could not
be closed like places of worship, and the proscribed religion, not
withstanding all the impediments with which it was surrounded,
was continually springing up anew in exercises secretly conducted
in the woods or in cottages — like those vivacious plants which, if
pressed down by a stone, grow afresh in the course of a night
through any crevice which remains; and whose vigorous shoots, con
tinually sprouting up, fill every chink which they can find, and
need nothing but a little air to make them green and luxuriant.
The pastors of the other Vaudois valleys were also repeatedly
prohibited from admitting any stranger into their places of worship;4
the object of this prohibition being to banish their brethren of
Pragela from their congregations. The most urgent petitions
against this regulation were in vain addressed by the Vaudois to the
sovereign;5 their adversaries met them with arguments to the oppo
site effect; 6 fanaticism was aroused, severities were continued, and
finally, all the inhabitants of the valleys acquired by the treaty of
Utrecht, were ordered to have their children baptized in the Church
of Bome, twenty-four hours after their birth, under penalty of two
hundred livres of fine for each contravention.7 The Vaudois in
vain sent up new petitions: they received no relief nor consolation
except from foreign Protestants.8 The civil code, promulgated in
1723, under the title of the Piedmontese Constitutions, sanctioned
all the iniquitous orders against which they protested,9 and their
new supplications were less regarded than the former.
But these indefatigable defenders of liberty of conscience sent to
Geneva, at this time, a young man of their valley, that he might
1 Letter of 6th February, 1719. (Archives of the Pastors of Geneva, register S,
p. 708.)
2 25th June, 1720; instructions to the Senate of Pignerol, to be indulgent
towards the Vaudois.
3 Of date 17th July, 1720.
4 On 28th September and 22d October, 1720.
6 By a memorial of the 18th of January, 1721, entitled Griefs des valUes da
PUmont. (Communicated.)
8 Memoria sopra il raccorso, falto . . . . e sopra diversi abusi del Protestanii.
(Archives of the Court.) A long and wearisome dissertation, heartless and unjust.
' Decree of the Court of Pignerol, passed on 21st April, 1721, on the report of
the procurator-general.
8 Amongst other gifts, they received 500 florins from the Walloon church of
Middleburg, where one of the sons of Henry Arnaud was then pastor.— 9th Jauu*
ary, 1722.— (Archives of the Pastors of Geneva, vol. T, p. 120.)
" See the tenth chapter; also pp. 25, 605, &c. of the 4to edilion.

Chap. XVII.] AN INIQUITOUS LAW. 245
prepare himself for the ministry of the gospel, eventually to come
and preach amongst them the word of God. They hoped that,
not being of foreign birth, he might be permitted to exercise his
peaceful functions in his own country, as was the case in the other
Vaudois valleys.1 They did not foresee that, before the termina
tion of his studies, the church for which he was intended would
have terminated her own long course of sufferings and desperate
conflicts. Proselytism redoubled its efforts to overthrow this church, now
indeed almost destroyed already, but by no means conquered. A
law had been obtained to the effect, that any child of Vaudois
parents embracing Catholicism should be entitled, although his
parents were still alive, to enforce a claim to that portion of inheri
tance which would have fallen to him after their death.3 From
this arose a multitude of intrigues in order to draw away children
from the religion of their family, that legal proceedings might then
be instituted in their name against their own parents, for the
division of the property which belonged to these parents, to the
impoverishment of the Vaudois families. It is easy to imagine
what troubles, disorders, and heartburnings, must have resulted
from these iniquities.
Contemporaneously, however, with all this fierce zeal, there were
also remarkable acts of disinterestedness, especially on the part of
those simple and warm-hearted persons, who, even amidst the doings
of Popery, still fixed their eyes upon the charity of Christ. In
1724, for example, there were already eighty young Vaudois girls,
mostly belonging to the valleys of Perouse and Pragela, who,
having become Catholics, were provided with marriage portions
at the expense of their new church.3
But, at the same time, Protestant notaries were forbidden to
receive the testamentary deeds of Catholics, and Catholics were for
bidden to sell their lands to Protestants beyond the tolerated
limits.* The order, also, to the industrious Vaudois, to do honour
1 The name of the deputy sent from Pragela to Geneva, to obtain the admission
of the young Pragelan into the academy of that city, was Borel. (He arrived
there on 21st March, 1723. A commission was appointed on the 14th to examine
his proposal. The report was favourable. The name of the student thus admitted
was Guyot. He arrived at Geneva on the 4th of June, and did honour to his
benefactors.) Borel obtained also from the Bernese government, the foundation
of a bursary, in the academy of Lausanne, for another student from Pragela. (See
the Records of pie Company of Pastors of Geneva, vol. T, pp. 247-250, 258, 307,
315, 335, 405, 431, &c.) 2 Constit., p. 25.
3 Mandatory of the vicar-general of the archbishopric of Turin, dated 18th
January, 1724. (Printed.) — [Perhaps some readers may, like the Translator, be
inclined to a view of this fact, not quite so favourable as that of the author.]
* Biglietto regio, al Senato di Pinerolo, 27ih June, 1724.

246 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. [part Tniau.
to the popish festivals by an unproductive idleness, was several times
repeated.1 It is evident how easily they could thenceforth be an
noyed on many futile pretexts. The following is an example : — "In
1726," says Jacob Perron in his memoirs, " on the eve of the daj
which Catholics call the Fete-Dieu,2 and on which they are accus
tomed to plant little leafy boughs in front of their houses, the parish
priest of Suchieres came and said to me, in presence of two wit
nesses, that he had orders from the king (which was not true) to
cause me to adorn my house like the Catholics. He added that
those of our religion did it, as they ought, in the other villages
through which the procession passed, and that if I did not do it
he would make the chatelain acquainted with it, that he might
inform against me." Perron refused thus to do what implied a
consent in ceremonies which his religion condemned, and legal pro
ceedings were speedily commenced against him. He was cited
before the governor of Fenestrelle, and with difficulty made his
escape from the soldiers who were sent to take him prisoner.
We find Messrs. Friquet and Gonnet also setting forth in a let
ter,3 that, on the 7th of the month of March (1726), they, with
others to the number of twelve persons, being assembled to keep a
fast, were seen by the parish priest, who wrote to the court, from
which, in course of a few days, orders were issued to the senate of
Pignerol to inquire into the matter; which having been done,
they were apprehended by order of the senate, and conveyed to tht
prisons of Pignerol, where they were detained for five weeks, and
afterwards condemned to pay a fine of 100 crowns of gold each,
besides the expense of their detention, which amounted to 900
livres. They add that they had not transgressed any edict of
their sovereign, as there were only a small number of persons
assembled, and solely for the purpose of prayer; that they had pre
sented a petition to the King of Sardinia to be acquitted of that
exorbitant fine, but that their petition had been remitted to. the
procurator-fiscal of Pignerol, the same .who had already prosecuted
the case against them ; and that thus they had no recourse but to
the charity of their brethren. "M. Leger,"4 it is added, "states
that these persons are truly worthy of consideration, and that there
does exist an edict of the King of Sardinia, forbidding the inhabi
tants of Pragela to assemble in any greater number than ten per-,
1 2d July, 1721 ; 12th May, 1724, &c.
2 [When the mass is carried in triumphal procession.]
* Dated from Les Traverses, in Pragela, 5th June, 1726. What is here said is
verbally extracted from the Records of the Venerable Company of Pastors of
Geneva, vol. v. p. 193. Sitting of 2Ut June, 1726.
' Pastor at Geneva.

Chaf. XV11.J CONTINUED PERSECUTIONS. 241/
eons;1 but that this had been understood to mean heads of fami
lies, because there are in these valleys families whose members
exceed this number; and in the meeting in question, although
there were twelve persons, there were only eight heads of families."
But these considerations, however reasonable, were of no weight
with the persecutors; and for the least act of prayer which the
inhabitants of Pragela were discovered to make together — for read
ing a few pages of the Bible in their families — they were treated
as criminals.
A great number of details might be added to the instances
already adduced; and although these details are sometimes insig
nificant, they serve to show, more perfectly than official documents,
the condition in which the Vaudois of this valley were then placed,
and the vexations to which they were exposed. Thus, in course of
that same year, 1726, we find a memorial of the senate of Pignerol
setting forth to the sovereign, " That the heretics, although obliged
to have their children baptized by the parish priests in virtue of
the decree of 21st April, 1721, nevertheless bring them up in the
Protestant faith ; and that the senate therefore proposes, in order
to repress these intolerable abuses — 1. To have the children taken
from their parents and the charge of their education committed to
Catholic congregations.2 2. To set aside the edict of 12th May,
1679 (emanating from Louis XIV.), which pronounces the punish
ment of death against relapsed persons, and. which could not be
applied to a whole population; and to put in force the decree of 7th
May, 1685 (emanating from the council of state), which absolutely
prohibits the public or private profession of any religion but the
Catholic."3 About the same time the same senate, of its own authority,
extended to all the parishes of the Val Perouse the prohibition
previously addressed to that of Le Pomaret,4 against admitting any
of the inhabitants of the Val Cluson into the Protestant places of
worship, under pain of banishment for the pastors, and confiscation
of goods for the elders of the church.5 The Vaudois replied by a
petition, in which they advanced strong arguments, and set forth
. that the elders and pastors could not perform the functions of a
police force at the place of worship, and could not know every indi-
1 The edict of 1st February, 1716.
2 [i.e., religious societies or confraternities.]
3 This memorial fills nine folio pages. It is entitled Remontrance. — It has no
date, but it is-placed according to the date of its reception at Turin, 8th January,
1726. (Archives of the Court. No. of series, 493.)
4 Rescript of 2d April, and manifesto of 28th May, 1717.
5 Rescripts of the Senate of Pignerol, of dates 14th May and 15th June, 1726.

248 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. [Part Third.
vidual who entered their meetings.1 But the advocate-fiscal of
Turin decided in accordance with the rescripts of the council of
Pignerol,2 and the arbitrary prohibitions of that body were main
tained in force, with the excessive punishment attached to them.3
Next year Cyprian Appia, the pastor of St. John, was prosecuted
for having baptized the child of an inhabitant of Fenestrelle, named
Simon Bochette. This process proved a very tedious one. The
pastor was condemned to banishment, with confiscation of goods;
but Mr. Edges, the English ambassador at the court of Turin, ob
tained his pardon. " I wish it to be particularly understood," said
Victor Amadeus upon this occasion, " that it is not at all out of
regard for the Vaudois, but from personal respect for the ambassa
dor, that this pardon is granted." Yet these Vaudois, according to
the language of the same prince twenty years before, were the most
faithful friends of his adversity, the props of his throne, the well-
beloved and trusty of his grateful heart. But Popery had veiled
from his sight these recollections of the past, and put distrust and
severity in their place. The more intolerance that its demands
produced, the more did it still demand.
The priests of Pragela complained that the inhabitants of that
valley did not attend mass; that they did not observe the Catholic
festivals ; that they contracted marriage within the degrees forbid
den by the church ;* and that they buried their dead without the
assistance of the priests. They therefore demanded the exercise of
further severities against them.5 To understand some of these
things, it must be borne in mind that the Protestants were prohi
bited from having inclosed burying-grounds,6 and that the family
of a deceased person, in order not to leave his remains in a place
exposed to all sorts of profanations, often preferred to bury in some
private property. The Vaudois were also forbidden to assemble in
greater number than six persons for a funeral procession;7 and these
prohibitions gave occasion for incessant annoyances.
1 The petitions of the Vaudois were never dated till 1827, with very few
exceptions. * On 14th September, 1726.
3 By royal letters of 28th October and 22d December, 1726. Quoted in the
Instructions of 20th June, 1730.
• Anche il terzo grado di consanguinila. [Within the third degree of consan
guinity.] s I do not know the date of their petition, and have only seen the report upon
this petition prepared by the Abbe di Barolo. It is dated 12th September, 1726.
and is a MS. of 10 folio pages. — (Turin, Civil Archives, series 494.) — The con
clusions of the report are favourable to the petition, and even refer to other
documents of the same nature previously presented.
0 In virtue of the edicts of 2d July, 1618, and 25th June, 1620.
' By the edict of 5th February, 1698, relative to the Vaudois of Saluces.

Chap. XVII ] PETER RONCHAIL. 249
In 1727 the prosecutions already mentioned took place against a
Pragelan family. " On the 9th of the month of March," says a
report by Mr. Edges, the representative of Great Britain, who
took a warm interest in these poor suffering people,1 " Father
AndrS, the chaplain of Le Laux, in the Val Cluson, entered the
house of Peter Bonchail, with a serjeant, to see how many people
were there, and what they were doing. ' You see, Sir,' said that
worthy man, 'there are some attending to the cattle, others are
doing nothing, and the children are amusing themselves with their
sports.' There were eight of the family. There was also a beggar wo
man, to whom had been given a porringer of soup; and there were
the sister-in-law of Bonchail, and a female cousin of his. Neverthe
less, proceedings were instituted, a condemnatory sentence was pro
nounced, and this family was ruined." On the other hand, persons
guilty of more serious offences were pardoned if they abjured their
religion,2 as if it had not even increased their guilt thus to make
their conscience an article of traffic.
Exposed to so much intolerable injustice, the poor Vaudois of
Pragela began to remove from their afflicted country. Those who
were owners of lands let them, or transferred them to relatives
who might send the rents to them abroad. Thus, at the cost of
voluntary exile, they purchased that liberty of conscience which
they held so dear. But even of this sad expedient for relief from
oppression, their oppressors soon endeavoured to deprive them. " If
your majesty," said the enemies of the Vaudois to Victor Amadeus,
" would be pleased to ordain that all the property of those who
leave the country without your permission should be confiscated, it
would be an excellent means of retaining these people within the
happy dominions of your majesty."8 What language, and what
morality !
Particular indignation was manifested against all who did any
thing to favour emigrations, or the return of Catholics to Protes
tantism ; and it may well be deemed surprising that any such
conversions should have taken place amidst the dangers with which
they were surrounded. But those who became converts in such
circumstances gave all the greater proof of the strength of their
' The report is dated 30th June, 1727, and is addressed to the Marquis of
St. Thomas, minister of foreign affairs in Piedmont. (Turin, Civil Archives,
series 530 bis.)
2 Memoria esattamente racoltasi, da registri e relazione esistenti nell' ufftzio della
grande cancellaria, &c  A paper dated from Turin, 26th August, 1727.
(Civil Archives, series 496.)
3 The document is dated Suza, 8th January, 1728, and signed Perron, surgeon-
major of the regiment of Rhebinder. — This surgeon was an apostate, the first
cousin of Jacob Perron, the author of the memoirs which I have quoted.
Vol. ii. 92

250 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. [part Third.
convictions.1 A minister of Pragela, named Perron, having re
ceived the charge of souls in the parish of Onex, near Geneva, had
proceeded to do the work of an evangelist in his neighbourhood.
We are not aware what treatment he received, but in a letter by
the parish priest of Pontverre2 we find the following words — "I
do not think that he will have the insolence to come again to teach
his doctrines in my parish." 3 The same priest expresses great in
dignation against the people of Caronge, " who," says he, " with a
malice more than mortal, make it their business to< supply the
dresses of laymen to monks and priests who go to apostatize in the
city of Geneva, that unhappy Samaria," . . . &c.4 Thus the
gates of Switzerland were besieged at once by those who wished
to change, and by those who wished to retain their religion. For
this, both of these classes sacrificed their country and their posses
sions. But they acquired a surer inheritance in heaven.
Many Vaudois had already emigrated. A new edict of Victor
Amadeus bore that in a Protestant family, of which either the
father or the mother became a Catholic, all the children must be
brought up Catholics.5 A further demand was very soon made for
the simple annulling of all the edicts on which the privileges of the
Vaudois depended,6 except that of 1694, to which Holland and Eng
land had been parties. But these powers had made no stipulation for
the preservation of the Vaudois church in Pragela, and Louis XIV.
insisted that it should be destroyed. The powerful influence of the
clergy was exerted for the same object. A young woman, of whom
the aged monarch was enamoured,7 united her voice with that of
the persecutors. Victor Amadeus suffered himself to be persuaded,
as it were, with regret, to the adoption of one after another of all
the intolerant measures which were brought into operation against
this inoffensive people.
Each of these measures was followed by some new emigrations.
The Vaudois of Pragela were destroyed by degrees; they did not
disappear all at once, but, like the snows of their own mountains —
1 Philippians iv. 13. * In the bailiwick of Gaillard, in Savoy.
3 Letter of 18th July, 1727. (Turin, Civil Archives, series 508.)
4 Letter of 4th July, 1727. (Same source, No. 509.)
5 Biglietto regio, of 17th July, 1728 ; quoted in a paper entitled, Reply to the
memorial transmitted by the Duke of Bedford, Minister of England, to the Chevalier
Ossorio, and forwarded by him to Turin, with his letter of Zlst May, 1748, &c.
.... (Turin, Civil Archives, series 459.)
" Memoria dislesa in casa del Signor Marquese di San Tomaso, li 24 Ottobre
1728, circa il capo da aggiungere alle costituzioni a riguardo de Valdesi. — Progelto
di capo per Vaggiunta alle costituzioni, &c  (Same source, Nos. 411
and 471.)
' Victor Amadeus was then more than sixty years old.

Chap. XVIII.] DISTRESS AMONGST VAUDOIS. 251
which insensibly diminish in depth till they cease to cover the soil,
and melt away without the eye being able to observe the progress
of the change — this church, within whose bounds synods were
once held of 150 pastors, which at a later period reckoned eighty
places of public worship, which was afterwards reduced to mere
private religious meetings, and was at last entirely deprived, of the
preaching of the gospel, gradually died away, and was extinguished,
recovering life at the least breath of liberty, but only to be more
and more weakened by oppression, until it disappeared, to be seen
no more.
It now remains only to relate the last attacks to which it was
subjected, the sufferings which it endured, and the zeal which the
greater number of its children displayed, preferring exile rather
than to abandon their faith.

CHAPTER XVIII.
HISTORY OF THE VAUDOIS OF PRAGELA AND THE
ADJACENT VALLEYS.
EIGHTH PERIOD. — EXTINCTION OF THE VAUDOIS CHURCH
IN PRAGELA.
(A.D. 1729 TO a.d. 1733.)
Famine of 1729 — Base advantage taken of it for the advancement of the work of
proselytism — Conversation between a Vaudois and a JeBUit — Edict of 20th June,
1730 — Immorality of the persecuting king — Instances illustrative of the perse
cution — The case of Jacob Perron — Many go into exile — Attempts to prevent
emigration — Victor Amadeus resists the remonstrances of the King of Prussia
— Continued annoyances to which the Vaudois are subjected, and especially
those who had been baptized in the Church of Rome — Trials and difficulties
of the Vaudois pastors — Traces of lingering Protestantism in Pragela — Burning
of Bibles there in 1838.
Its 1729, the Vaudois suffered great distress1 — foreign assistance
alone preserved them from starvation.2 The popish congregations
and ecclesiastics, who pursued in Piedmont the work de extir-
pandis hcereticis, eagerly took advantage of these circumstances of
1 See on this subject a memorial by the minister Leger, inserted in the Records
of the Venerable Company of Pastors of Geneva, vol. X. pp. 173, et seq.
- Ten thousand florins from Holland, and 14,000 Piedmontese livres, from what
quarter is not stated. (Memorial above quoted.)

252 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. [Part Third.
affliction, increasing their efforts to persuade the poor people to
change their religion, offering to relieve their wants, but putting a
price upon their benefactions. Theirs was not the loving-kindness
and disinterested charity of the gospel; it was not even the noble-
mindedness of the Pagan, who, feeling that he was a man, would
deem nothing that interested humanity foreign to his regard1
— it was the narrow-minded but active zeal of sectaries, who have
never failed to turn a question of fraternity into a question of
party, designating by the name of conversions their mere party
triumphs. The charity which loves and embraces all — which bears
and excuses everything — was utterly unknown to them; as they too
abundantly proved, by incessant accusations of the Vaudois who
continued faithful to their principles, by odious insinuations against
them and perfidious denunciations.
These poor people were accused, without trial, of all sorts of
faults. Infidelity — corruption — the disrespect shown to priests —
the neglect of public religious services — the indifference manifested
in the matters of offerings, ex-votos, and enrolment of neophytes in
the various Catholic corporations — all these grievances were attri
buted to the Vaudois. It was therefore demanded that they should
be excluded from every office and employment, and from all inter
course with the Catholics;2 and, as may be supposed, religious
meetings were proceeded against more severely than ever.
" On the second of January, 1729," says Perron in his memoirs,
" a Jesuit came up from Fenestrelle and came to me to speak with
me about religion." 'Is it possible that you are so obstinate in
your notions?' said he. 'It is not obstinacy,' I replied; 'but my
salvation is dearer to me than life; and the king may cause me to
be cut in pieces, but I will not renounce my religion.' ' Do you
think you have more abilities than the king? ' said he — ' the king is
a decided Catholic' 'I know very well,' replied I, 'that my
abilities are not to be compared with those of the king; but Jesus
Christ said, ' I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth,
because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and
hast revealed them unto babes: for so it seemed good in thy sight."
The Jesuit paused a moment without answering, and then he
exclaimed — ¦' Is it possible that the Vaudois can have disseminated
such a religion in this country ! ' 'The Vaudois are not the
cause,' said I. ' And who is, then? ' he asked. ' It is God him
self who, of his great goodness, has been pleased to make the light
of his holy word to shine in these parts.' ' Does it not shine in
1 " Homo sum, et nihil humani a me alienum puto."
1 Parere sovra la toleranza degl' eretici, in Piemonte. (Civil Archives, No. 464.)

Chap. XVII I ] a CRUEL EDICT. 253
the Church of Bome?' 'Sir,' said I, 'I will give no ambiguous
answer upon that point. Jesus tells us that those who confess him
before men shall be confessed of him before his Father who is in
heaven, and that he will deny all those who deny him; and I would
hold myself to have renounced the gospel if I could not make an
unreserved appeal to its authority,for its authority alone is Divine.' "x
I pass over other details in silence, to come to the most im
portant event of all. As many streams are lost in a great inundation
when it breaks out, so all the particular trials which the people of
Pragela had at that time to suffer, are lost in the general catastrophe
in which they were destroyed. The edict of 20th June, 1730, pro
mulgated under the form of Instructions for the Senate of Pignerol?
renewed all the cruel and restrictive regulations against the Vau
dois which had ever been imposed from the most ancient times.
It is said, in the twentieth chapter of this exceptional code, " that
all those who were born in the Church of Bome, or who had ab
jured Brotestantism, for any reason whatever, before 1686, and who
had thereafter entered or returned to the Beformed Church, ought
to be condemned to death, in virtue of the edicts anterior to 1686
which declared this penalty against relapsed persons; and that,
moreover, all those who, being born Catholics or without the terri
torial limits of the Vaudois valleys after 1694, had nevertheless
followed the Protestant religion, and all those who, having become
Catholics since 1686, had in like manner returned to Protestantism,
ought to incur the same penalty, to wit, the loss of life : but that,
by special grace and extraordinary clemency, worthy to excite the
perpetual admiration of grateful people, his majesty would allow
them to live, on condition that within six months all persons being
in the cases aforesaid, should return to Catholicism or leave the
country." The same influence which had operated upon the old age of
Louis XIV. now operated upon that of Victor Amadeus II. —
the influence of the prelates and of the Jesuits — which in both
courts also was augmented by the immorality of the monarchs.
The analogy is remarkable even in particulars; Louis XIV.
received the bloody crucifix from the adulterous hands of Madame
de Maintenon, at whose feet he was soon to lay down the dignity
of his crown; and Victor Amadeus II. became cruel and bigoted,
under the like influence of an intriguing ambitious woman, for
1 These last words are not in the manuscript, of which, however, they merely
complete the sense.
2 This document has been published by Borelli. — It is in the Archives of Turin,
in a folio MS. volume with this title, instruzione a riguardo de Valdesi.

254 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. [PARiTnian.
whose sake he soon after abdicated his throne ; 4 whom he married,
as the King of France had married the widow of a jester ; and
who caused him to be cast into prison by her intrigues,2 after
having dishonoured him by her prostitution.3 Such were the per
secutors of the Vaudois, the adversaries of the Bible, the mortal
antagonists of all liberty. Vice appears prominently in the first
rank, rendering its support to Bome, and under the guidance of
Bome. "As to the inhabitants of Pragela, Salabertrans, BardonSche.
and Chateau Dauphin," it was said in the Draconian code of 1730,
"you must consider them all publicly as Catholics, without in
quiring what they think, but without suffering any religious ex
ercise, other than that of the Boman religion." Moreover, the
French Protestants, who had settled in the Vaudois valleys since
1698, were ordered to depart from them within six months, and
prohibited from returning, under penalty of whipping for the first
offence, and six years of the galleys for the second. These measures
immediately occasioned a great number of emigrations. But they
had been preceded by other acts of severity, which made it but
too easy to foresee the melancholy conclusion.
" In 1730," says Perron, in his memoirs already quoted, " towards
the commencement of February, the Count de la Tuille came with
a Jesuit and ten soldiers to the communante of LTsseaux, which is
a league and a half from our residence. Seeing in what manner
our poor people were treated, I went into the valley of Lucerna,
where I spent seventeen days. After I had returned to my village,
the count, with his troop, arrived there on the 26th of February.
That evening, about nine o'clock, six soldiers came to my house,
and asked, 'Is it not here that Jacob Perron lives?' — and I
answered from my bed — for I had already gone to bed — ' Yes, here I
am, what do you want?' They said, 'Get up, and come and speak
to the count.' These soldiers escorted me to the priest's house,
where I found fifteen persons assembled, amongst whom were the
count, the Jesuit, and seven priests. And the Jesuit said to me,
' Here you are then, preacher ! for it is you that preach to the rest
in this country?' 'Ah, Sir!' said I, 'you make your sport of me.
> On 2d September, 1730.
2 During the night of 28-29th September, 1730.
3 The pamphlets written at that period against the person here referred to, and
whose name I do not give, go much too far in the misconduct which they attribute
to her. The term which I employ might be unjust in an absolute sense, but it is
certain that she was too intimate with Victor Amadeus II. before the morganatic
marriage which united them, and must have taken place between the 4th and the
10th of September, 1730.

Chap. XVI11.] JACOB PERRON. 255
Am I capable of being a preacher? Sure enough, there is more
learning needed for that purpose than I possess.' ' I know what
I say,' he replied ; ' and I can prove that you have made some of
your folks weep, to prevent them from changing their religion.
You have been seen going into houses,' &c  Thereafter
the Jesuit said to me, 'Are you not willing to go to mass?' And
I answered, ' No, Sir ; neither I, nor my children. I was born in
my religion, and by the help of God, I mean to die in it.' At these
words, the reverend father gave me a blow with his fist on the
stomach, and said to the count, 'You see how this rascal answers
me!' Then he said to the soldiers, ' Take this man away to prison,
and drive him along very hard.' ' Sir,' said I, ' it is better to suffer
for well-doing if such is the will of God, than to live' , . . But
the soldiers forced me out and conducted me to prison, driving me
along very hard, as the Jesuit had said, so that they threw me four
times down on the ground, before I arrived there."
He was imprisoned, near the convent, in an apartment the door
of which was barricaded with bars stretched across, bound together
by cords ; and a guard of soldiers was placed over him. " On the
day following," says he, "the canon Ponsat came and said to me,
'Are you always the same obstinate man?' 'Truth has not
changed since yesterday,' said I. ' Take care ! ' said he ; ' you will
be punished in an exemplary manner. Think of your wife who is
near her confinement. Your children are young and not healthy.
If you die, what will become of your family 1 ' ' God is the widows'
stay and the orphans' father,' I replied. 'Let them make of me
what they please! Nothing can happen but according to his will;
but it is needless to speak to me of changing my religion, for I will
never do it.' ' If such is your resolution,' said he, ' I have nothing
more to say to you,' and upon this, he withdrew.
"Next day, being the 1st of March, 1730, about ten o'clock in
the morning, the Count de la Tuille came and caused me to be
brought out. 'Are you always to remain obstinate as to your
religion?' said he. 'Sir, I assure you that it is not obstinacy,' I
replied, ' for as to any other thing ' . ' Enough ! ' said he ;
'make your arrangements for leaving the country between this
time and to-morrow; and if you are not out of the village with
your family to-morrow morning, by ten o'clock, I will have you
made fast in a place from which you will not get out.' And I
answered, ' Farewell, Sir ! since you order me to go, there is
an end of it — I will go.' I went to my house to get some luggage
packed up, and next day at ten o'clock, I was ready to start.
Two beasts carried our baggage, but neither my wife nor my

256 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. [part Third.
children could go on horseback, because of the bad weather and
bad roads, for there was a great deal of snow. And the Jesuit
came to my house and said, '0! it is all a joke! whither would
you go, with your wife so near her confinement, and your weakly
children, at this time of the year and in such weather ? Stay in
your own house, and if you keep within doors, you will be left
undisturbed.' And he ordered two men who were with me to
unload the beasts. But their object was to detain me till my
wife's confinement, that they might have the infant baptized as a
Catholic, and force us all to go to mass, thinking that if my wife
were confined, I would not in these circumstances be able to go.
Therefore I replied, ' Sir, as you and the count have ordered me to
go, and have already caused me to be maltreated by your soldiers,
I am ready and I will go.' And so saying, I set out, holding my
children by the hand. A soldier accompanied us out of the village,
and that evening I rested at Pourrieres, which my wife had very
great difficulty in reaching. Next morning, I set out again from
Pourrieres in dreadful weather, with eleven men to carry, guide,
and beat a path for my poor family. We were the first who were
driven from that country by persecution in that terrible year.
We went by the Col de la Fenetre, where I thought I would have
lost all — wife, child, and life — because of the fearful weather and
high wind. But by the help of God I got through it, and rested
for the night at Suza."
We shall not follow him through the vicissitudes of his journey;
he was compelled almost constantly to have his wife and children
carried, because of the difficulty of the roads and the depth of the
snows. The dangers of the exiles were particularly great at Mount
Cenis, where at that time no practicable road had been formed.
Then their muleteers wished to turn back. At Aiguebelle, they
refused to go farther. It was necessary to double their wages to
get them to convey the exhausted family to Geneva. Perron
arrived in that hospitable city on the 10th of March, 1730, and
his wife was delivered of a child there a few days after. " To God,
only wise, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, be glory, dominion, and
power ! Amen." Such are the concluding words of the narrative
which he has left us.
Sufferings, pains, and sorrows, like those of this exiled family,
must have been experienced more or less by all those which fol
lowed them. On the 20th of May, 1730, Victor Amadeus ordered
the Count de Chiusan to expel from Pragela the most obdurate
Vaudois families — that is to say, those most attached to their reli
gion. He offered them, however, permission to remain in their

Chap. XVIll] EXTENSIVE EMIGRATIONS. 257
native country, if they would promise to abjure. These families
were twenty-three in number ; only four availed themselves of the
offered conditions, and preferred an earthly country to a heavenly.
The other nineteen, composed in all of fifty-nine persons, went
into exile with much sorrow, but glorifying God. And the Lord
was indeed glorified by their sacrifice even more than by their
words. These proscribed families arrived at Geneva in the month of
June, and there received the succour needful in their circumstances.
They were then scattered in different places throughout the wide
canton of Berne, where some of them thenceforth remained. But
the greater part of them removed in course of the following year,
attaching themselves to the new bands of their emigrant country
men, who were soon compelled to follow them into Switzerland.1
Victor Amadeus wrote on the 6th of June to the Count de
Chiusan, to express his satisfaction with the execution of his orders
of the 20th of May. "The effect has been," said he, " that nobody
has left the country, except voluntarily and without violence."2
What an absurdity !
After the promulgation of the edict of the 10th of June, 1730,
the number of the exiles soon became so considerable, that the
government itself became alarmed, and thought it necessary to take
measures "to prevent the depopulation of the country. But when
the keeping of the frontiers was intrusted to the Vaudois militia,
these troops not only allowed their emigrant compatriots to pass,
but sometimes joined them to forsake that land of bondage. At
other times, when the troops were Catholics, they abused their
opportunity to plunder the emigrants.3 The people were then
forbidden to guard their own frontiers. But this order only
rendered it the easier for them to leave the country. Even those
who had yielded in their weakness to all the outward forms of an
abjuration which was forced upon them, beholding the courage and
firmness of those who had left their country rather than yield to
such a yoke, recovered themselves, and in more than one instance
followed their brethren to foreign lands, to resume along with them
the religious worship of their childhood, which they had never
ceased to love. They seemed desirous to throw off a sense of
1 Du Tillier, Hist, de Berne; MS. vol. 109, p. 90.
' These expressions of the letter of the 6th of June, which I have not seen, are
quoted and repeated in the letter of 24th June, 1730, also addressed by the king
to the Count de Chiusan. (Turin, Archives of the Court. Category del Valdesi,
No. 499.)
3 The order of 30th July, which withdrew these troops, had for its avowed object
to prevent the thefts and robberies which are committed under pretext of religion.—
Letter of the minister of the interior to the Bishop of Pignerol, dated from Le
Valentin, 5th September, 1730. (Archives of the Bishopric of Pignerol.)
Vol. n. 93

258 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. 0*" THIBn-
degradation, by thus atoning for their apostasy by exile, and for
the error of a moment by the faithfulness of the rest of their life.
" I learn with regret," said the minister of the interior, writing
from Turin, on the 5th of September, 1730,' "that, through a
false interpretation of the king's order of date the 3d of July last,
which forbids the communities of this province from guarding the
places and passes by which numbers of his subjects depart from the
kingdom, some new converts have erroneously supposed that they
had liberty to leave the country. ... I have therefore
thought it necessary to have the honour to signify to you three or
four things which you will say to the priests of your diocese.
" 1. I have sent some detachments of troops to apprehend the
fugitives. The chatelains are charged to discover the guides who
make an infamous trade . . . of conducting the kings subjects
across the frontiers. When these wretches are caught, I will cause
them to be hanged without form of trial.
" 2. I know that there are many falsehoods propagated in that
province . . . tending to make the religionaries believe that
they will be happier in foreign countries. And thus not only do
they expose themselves to the danger of being killed in passing
the frontiers, but afterwards, they cannot again come to dwell in
Piedmont, and above all, they render themselves guilty of violating
the oaths which they have sworn . . . when they embraced
Catholicism." It was made a crime for them to lack faith in the Church of
Bome, whatever might have been the violence employed to make
them become members of it: and when any one would not abjure,
his fidelity to the religion of his deliberate choice and of his con
science was also made a crime for which he perhaps lost his pro
perty, his repose, and his life. Such is the equity of oppressors !
All this injustice, accompanied with so much cruelty, was not
calculated to make the Vaudois love the persecuting church which
opened its arms to receive them. And, in fact, a short time after
the promulgation of the edict of the 20th of June, a multitude of
Protestant refugees made their preparations for departure from the
different Vaudois valleys. Six months had been allowed them to
abjure or leave the country, and almost all of them left it. The
generous intercession of their foreign protectors, and particularly of
the King of Prussia, was in vain employed to prevent this disaster.
"We have just learned with much regret," wrote Frederic
William I. to Victor Amadeus II.,2 " that your majesty has thought
proper to order your Protestant subjects of the valley of Pragela
1 Letter just quoted. 2 On 25th April, 1730.

Chap XVIII.] FREDERIC WILLIAM'S INTERCESSION. 259
forthwith to abandon the religion which they profess, or else to
leave the country of their forefathers. As these poor people have
not committed any crime which ought to bring upon them the dis
pleasure of your majesty, we cannot but be very sensibly moved, to
see them overwhelmed with so great a calamity, and almost entirely
plunged into misery. . . . We earnestly beg of you . . .
that they may be permitted to remain or to return to their coun
try, there to live as good and faithful subjects of your majesty."1
Victor Amadeus replied that he held the valley of Pragela in
virtue of the treaty of Utrecht, which imposed upon him no
obligation in regard to the Vaudois.2 But the King of Prussia was
not discouraged. " We cannot refrain from signifying to your
majesty," said he, "that in virtue of the edict of 23d May, 1694,
the Vaudois ought neither to be inquired after nor molested in any
way upon account of their religion. . . . The common faith
which we profess with these poor peojile, and which makes us
regard them as our brethren in Jesus Christ, is the reason which
induces us ... to entreat your majesty that they may be
permitted to enjoy, without interruption, all which the above-
mentioned edict provides in their favour. As this is the first mark
of friendship which we have asked of your majesty, we hope you
will have the goodness not to refuse it."3
"Instead of contravening the edict of 1694," replied Victor
Amadeus, "our edict of 20th June, 1730, considerably moderates,
in favour of the Vaudois who have contravened the old edicts, the
penalties to which they have rendered themselves liable."4 " It
would have been exceedingly agreeable to us," said Frederic
William again, "if it had pleased your majesty to grant some
thing to our intercessions. We entertained all the more hop'e of
this, because it appeared to us that the above-mentioned Vaudois
were included in the general provisions of the edict of 1 694. How
ever, as your majesty assures us of the contrary, and it belongs
to yourself alone to explain the meaning of the edicts which relate
to the domestic affairs of your dominions, ... we still hope
to obtain from your clemency what we can no longer venture to
expect from your justice. May it please your majesty to consider
with an eye of compassion and of pity the sad condition to which
these poor people are reduced — not for having committed crimes
which should have brought upon them the displeasure of your
majesty, but solely because they have followed the guidance of
1 Dieterici, p. 393.
2 His letter is dated from Rivoli, 10th June, 1730.— See Dieterici, p. 399.
3 Dated from Berlin, 14th November, 1730.— Dieterici, 400.
' From Turin, 23d December, 1730.— Dieterici, 401.

260 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. [part Third.
their piety, and therefore of the hand of the Almighty, who governs
the conscience of man, and is its sole and sovereign Lord." 1 " The
matter is ended," was the cold response of the King of Piedmont.
"I am sorry for it, but I cannot go back upon it, and I beg your
majesty to rest assured of my most perfect friendship."2
In the list of the expatriated Pragelans, we find the name of
the notary Guyot, whose son had hoped one day to exercise the
functions of the gospel ministry in his native valleys, and was then
a student at Geneva.3 Amongst the number of the exiles were
also Jacob Perron, the author of the memoirs which I have so often
quoted, with his young family;4 with them was a poor blind man
of sixty years of age,5 and the Bonchail family, so cruelly ruined
by an iniquitous legal process — also the grave and mild old man
who was accustomed to conduct religious exercises at Les Tra
verses, in the absence of the pastor, and whose wife became the
mother of a third child, on her way into exile.6 A surgeon named
Gonet; Papon, an engineer; Bert, a geometrician; and a great
number of persons, torn from the labours of agriculture or the
tending of flocks, accompanied them — all displaying the same
courage, and all enduring the same distresses. Before the end of the
year, more than eight hundred exiles had left the Vaudois valleys
and their native laud.7 Some of them set out for Holland;8 others
remained in Switzerland, or passed into Germany. Those who
remained in Piedmont were compelled to make a public profession
of Catholicism; and their children, brought up in that communion,
became at last its sincere adherents.
But great dissension and trouble had been occasioned in families.9
1 Dated from Berlin, 17th March, 1731.— Dieterici, 402.
2 From Turin, 28th April, 1731.— In extenso, Dieterici, 403.
3 One of his brothers then practised as a surgeon in that city.
4 He was fifty-six years of age, and had five children ; his brother James was
forty-seven years of age, and had nine children. John Perron, the physician, had
the same number ; and Claude Perron had eight.
6 His name was Stephen Cantelme.
6 The name of this worthy elder of Les Traverses was John Pastre; his brother
Thomas was accompanied by his wife and six children.
7 Etat des pauvres persecutes de la valUe de Pragela, canlonnis au pays de
Vaud, so7-tis en 1730. — A MS. of ten folio pages.- — Private library of the late
M. Appia, pastor at Frankfort-on-the-Maine. — In May, 1730, there were in tl e
canton of Berne, 360 Vaudois of Pragela (Dieterici, pp. 404-407); and towards
the end of the year, there were in Switzerland, 840 exiles from the Vaudois
valleys. (Id. p. 414.)
3 Letter of Cyprian Appia, pastor of St. John, 3d March, 1731.— In my own

3 Situation presente des Eglises Vaudoises. — Report by pastor Leger (of Geneva),
extending from 12th May to 1st November, 1730.— Records of the Venerable
Company of Pastors of Geneva, vol. X. p. 177.

Chap. XVIII. ] EMIGRATION PROHIBITED. 261
Intestine divisions had arisen, even amongst the pastors of the
valleys. I shall speak of them in a subsequent place.
Numerous petitions were addressed to the government, to obtain
a mitigation of the cruel measures of the 20th of June. But
England and Holland, which interposed with regard to this, could
with difficulty obtain some insignificant concessions.1 These con
cessions, however, although limited to recommendations that the
measures petitioned against should not be enforced with the utmost
expedition and severity, excited in the poor expatriated people a
hope that persecution was now at last to cease; and the love of
their country brought some of them back to their native valley.2
An outcry was immediately raised that they came thither to bring
back heresy, and they were compelled to conform to the outward
ceremonies of Popery, under penalty of the galleys. Some indivi
duals, who had returned secretly to conclude family affairs, and who
refused to abjure, were thrown into prison.3
However, means as violent were used to retain the fugitives as
had given occasion to their departure. Contrary to the liberty of
returning to Protestantism, allowed by the edicts of 1692 and
1694, to those who, having abjured under the influence of coercion,
desired to revoke their abjuration, orders were issued in 1733, that
all persons who had made profession of the Bomish religion before
1686, or who, without having made such profession, had been bap
tized according to its rites, should remain faithful to it, and not
leave the dominions of the King of. Piedmont, under penalty of con
fiscation of goods and of the galleys.4
Sometimes families were met with in which either the husband
or wife did not come within the range of these measures, whilst
the other was threatened with their application. It was sufficient,
for example, that an infant had received baptism in the Catholic
church when newly born, in order that that event, forgotten after
wards in the constant profession of Protestantism, should serve as a
1 The letter of the States-General of Holland is of 7th November, 1730, and the
reply of Victor Amadeus II. of 2d December. The letter of the King of England
(George II.) is of 23d February, 1731. A special memorandum on this question
was afterwards presented by his ambassador at the court of Turin, under date 27th
April, 1731. All these documents are at Turin, in the Archives of the Court.
- About the beginning of 1732.
3 For example, a man named Grill. A letter of 7th March, 1733, says of him,
" He is now a prisoner of the Senate of Turin. . . . His property has been con.
fiscated, and his family, consisting of fifteen persons, is reduced to the most dread
ful misery." (Correspondence of the moderator of the Vaudois church, from 18th
February, 1733, to 4th March, 1734. A manuscript volume containing twenty-two
letters. In my possession.)
* Same correspondence. Letter of 12th July, addressed to M. Turretin, rector
of the Academy of Geneva.

262 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. [part Third.
pretext for incessant vexations. This child might have become a
man, might be married, might have a family, and be the stay of a
new generation, but all this went for nothing: like the sword of
Damocles, the awful recollection of a vain ceremony, of which he
had no knowledge, hung suspended over his life ; so that, on the
ground of this unfortunate baptism, received in his childhood, he
was tormented all the rest of his days, and violence was done to
his most sacred affections.
Two mothers of families were thus situated. At first, they fled
from the rigour of the edict; but maternal love brought them back
to their families, and "so soon as they came back," says a letter from
the valleys,1 " they were obliged to conceal themselves. The first
time, their husbands sent them away again immediately.2 At
present, the Marquis of Angrogna has in vain exerted himself in
their favour. . . . Their father had changed his religion a
number of years before 1686; they were therefore born and baptized
Catholics." When they grew up, they embraced the Protestant
religion, but by the edict of 1730, they were required either to
remain in exile or to return to Popery. " Mary Ponsat (by birth
Danne), has done very wrong in coming back," adds the same
letter. " The vicar Danne said to her, in presence of witnesses,
that she had better not go to the preaching, or she would bring
herself into trouble, and likewise the minister" (who admitted her
where he officiated). "Anthony Geymet, who is also returned, is
in great perplexity," &c. . . . " We dare no longer assemble
for any. business," it is said in another letter, "except in synod
and by express permission of his majesty, in consequence of the
process which has been instituted against five of our number who
had met to consult about public business."3 The greater part of
those who had returned to their native country, were therefore
compelled to leave it again. Some of them were doubly dis
appointed, both by failing to find the advantages which they
expected in foreign lands, and by the unexpected obstacles which
they encountered on their return to their own.
Numbers- of these unhappy emigrants, especially of those who
belonged to the valley of Pragela, having been so long deprived of
regular religious instruction, did not worthily maintain the ancient
reputation of the Vaudois Church which they left, or in which
rather they preferred to remain when they forsook their native
' Letter of 12th June, 1733. (Same correspondence.)
2 It will be seen that these unhappy mothers had now returned for the second
time to their homes.
3 Same correspondence. Letter of 24th August, 1733.

Chap. XVI1I.] CHARACTER OF THE EXILES. 263
country. " There are some of them," said a letter from Berne,1
" whose ignorance and inconsiderateness are extraordinary. They
receive our alms, and then they go away home again. Most of
these poor people say, that if they had had this little supply in
the valleys, they would have lived upon it for the winter, instead
of spending it in travelling. I have observed in them so great an
ignorance, that their pastors must certainly be to blame. It would
be necessary for them to send us a list of those among them, who
stand most in need of relief. Their excellencies of Berne are very
charitable, . . . but the committee intrusted with the affairs
of the Vaudois, is now by no means satisfied." 2 " This gentleman
is very hard upon us!" wrote Pastor Beynaudin, after these obser
vations; " his idea of drawing up a precise and accurate report of the
poor of each church, could never be carried into effect, because in
these circumstances, every one becomes poor, and then all are in
want. I will not add that he is wrong in arguing from the igno
rance or folly of a few to that of the general body; . . . but
it is easy for persons such as he, whose position is a sort of paradise
in comparison with ours, to find something to blame in folks like
us, already sufficiently pressed down by misfortune, and the weight
of many a heavy cross,"3 &c. . . .
But the fault found with the pastors of the valleys, related es
pecially to the great number of their flocks whom they had
allowed to leave home, and who now were a burden on those that
had received them. " When I was at Berne," replied the mode
rator,4 "I was entirely ignorant of the departure of so great a
number of families. I was exceedingly grieved at meeting so
many of them on the road. Although our friends in Geneva had
written to us, that they would receive all who were in danger of
giving way, ... I always exhorted them to have patience,
and not to set out without having some certain assurance that
they would be received. They came to my house in a crowd, to
obtain attestations, which I absolutely refused, for which I have
been in danger of suffering at their hands. All these poor people
set out during my absence. A report was spread, that those who
had set out for Holland, had received thirty crowns each, which
has been an inducement to many; who, not having the means of
» Letter of M. de Frey, of 15th October, 1733. (Same correspondence.)
2 AU these fragments of this letter are selected in such a manner as of themselves
to indicate facts, the knowledge of which is necessary to the history, but which
the restricted limits of this work prevent me from fully exhibiting.
3 These observations occur immediately after the letter above quoted, and are
written in Reynaudin's own hand.
4 Same correspondence. Letter of 2d November, 1733.

264 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. l>'™ TllIRD.
subsistence, and neither choosing to beg nor to abjure, have gone
away upon that hope." " Others, more unprincipled — there are
such persons everywhere — had no other motive than their own
private interest, and finding themselves disappointed, they have come
back, with threats and outcries, to their four empty walls, which
they accuse the members of the consistory and the pastors of having
persuaded them to leave . . . This affair has become very
serious ; precognitions are taken, and prosecutions threatened
against many innocent persons." The author of the letter begs his
correspondent to receive a declaration to the contrary from several
people, and to send him that document, legally attested. " Do not
lose time in sending it to me," he says; " the case is urgent, and God
grant that it may arrive before they take any other steps. See to
what we are exposed ! Moses had not more difficulties, in leading
the people of Israel, than we have in our parishes," &c. . . .
These quotations are sufficient to give an idea of the state to
which the Vaudois church was then reduced. Deciminated by
proselytism, ignorance, poverty, and exile— burdened with the
maintenance of its own pastors and schoolmasters — full of troubles,
caused by the last struggles of its ancient faith, and the first as
saults of that spirit of unbelief, which did it so much injury in the
eighteenth century — we shall soon see it wearying itself in fruitless
agitations, amidst the vicissitudes of a period characterized by the
want of glory and of dignity.
Here terminates the history of the Protestant Church of Pragela.
The senate of Turin still issued another decree to prohibit emigra
tions,1 which shows that they had not ceased at that date; but the
greater part of those who were resolute in their Protestantism had
already departed. These expatriated Vaudois mingled with those
who had founded the now rising colonies in Germany. The villa
ges of Waldorf and Frederichsdorf, in particular, were thus increased.
Another portion of these exiles settled in Holland; some went to
America; some remained in Switzerland, especially in the Bernese
Oberland.2 Those who remained upon the banks of the Cluson
and the Doire, were thenceforth considered as Catholics, in virtue
of the instructions of 20th June, 1730, which gave the final stroke
to this long oppressed people.
There were a few rare exceptions — a small number of families
> Under date 9th October, 1733. Prohibition, sotto pena corporate, u, noi arbi
trary, da estendersi sino alle morte, secondo U circonstanze delle persone e de casi,
oltre la confiscazione de beni, to go out of the kingdom without special permission.
(Archives of Le Villar. MS. vol. Religionarii, folio 177.)
s Du Tillier, Hist, de Berne, 133, 134. MuUer, HiU. de la confederation Suisse.
. ¦ . continuee par Monnard et Vuilliemin, xiv., 42.

Chap. XVIII ] THE BIBLE BURNED. 265
still continuing secretly attached to the doctrine of the gospel in
Pragela, as if to attest the previous existence of the Vaudois
church there. There, where the gospel had reigned, the last
triumph of Popery was to commit it to the flames, amidst these
same mountains, by the hands of priests, a century after the
events which have just been narrated.1 Amidst the enlighten
ment of our age, Bome is still as much estranged from modern
civilization, as she is from the primitive church. Like the relics
which she adores, she is herself merely the rubbish of past times,
surrounded with an unmerited veneration. When we now behold
so many nations aspiring after Hberty, and liberty always showing
itself favourable to the gospel, it is impossible to believe in the
long duration of that degrading tyranny, which deprives man of
the liberty of his very conscience, and proscribes the word of God.
Happy are those countries in which the despotism of Popery has
exercised its fatal influence with no other effect than that of pro
ducing martyrs !
1 Some copies of the Bible and of the Gospels were recently seized in Pragela, by
Catholic missionaries. These ecclesiastics resolved to destroy with their own
hands the Bibles which they had seized. For this purpose they prepared a pile,
with all the pomp of an auto-da-fe, in the garden of the priest of La Rua, and
there solemnly burned the Holy Scriptures. This took place on the 18th of June,
1838. The names of these missionaries were Grant, MarjoUet, and Villien. (Note
communicated.)

Vol. n. 94

266 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. [part Third.

CHAPTER XIX.
HISTORY OF THE VAUDOIS FROM THE EXPULSION
OF 1698 TO THAT OF 1730
THE DUKE OF SAVOY IN THE VALLEY OF LUCERNA — THE
REPUBLIC IN THAT OF ST. MARTIN.1
Results of the edicts of expulsion — Good brought out of evil — Pastors obtained
from Switzerland — Zeal of the ministers — Loyalty of the people — Political
events — Disputes concerning the succession to the throne of Spain — Political
perfidy of Victor Amadeus-j-"War between France and Savoy — Victor Amadeus
seeks again to win the support of- the Vaudois — Services rendered to him by
their militia — New French refugees arrive in the valleys — Events of the war —
Successes of the French — Exploits of the Vaudois — The -valley of St. Martin
becomes a republic under French protection — Brief and unfortunate existence
of the republic of St. Martin — Continued triumphs of the French — The Duke
of Savoy finds refuge amongst the Vaudois — He makes further efforts to con
ciliate them — Final defeat of the French at Turin — The Duke of Savoy regains
possession of his lost territories — Further progress of the war — Treaty of
Utrecht — Afflicted condition of the Vaudois, after the terminatiua of the war
¦ — The Vaudois subjected to many vexations, through the influence of the Pro
paganda — Expulsion of Protestants of foreign birth, in 1730 — Religious and
moral condition of the Vaudois at this period.
In virtue of the edict of 1st July, 1698, all the French refugees,
exiled by the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, who had retired
into the Vaudois valleys, on the express invitation of Victor Ama
deus II.,2 were obliged to quit that asylum, and proceeded, along
with a portion of the native inhabitants of Pragela, and many
other Vaudois families who were allied to them, to found those
colonies in Germany whose history has been traced in the preced
ing chapters. This event, which deprived the Vaudois valleys of
a considerable part of their population, could not fail to be very
grievous in its effects upon the interests of these valleys — to which,
certainly, the measure that brought it about was intended to be
in the highest degree unfavourable. This unexpected and cruel
expulsion of the half of a people, violently broken up and driven
into exile, like a garment torn to shreds and flung upon the
winds, may well be regarded as a new persecution.
But it must needs have been for good reasons that Brovidence
permitted this catastrophe; and now, when the dust raised by this
1 Authokitibs.— All of them are unpublished documents of no great magnitude.
They are indicated at the bottom of each page.
2 Edicts of June, 1692, and May, 1694.

Chap XIX.] THE SYNOD OF BOBI. 267
sudden change no longer blinds the eyes of the historian, we can
not fail to perceive the providential influence which this elimina
tion of all strangers from amongst the Vaudois. must have had on
the integrity, perpetuation, and preservation of this Israel of the
Alps, already so much tried by calamities, as distinct and separate
from other peoples, in the sphere and situation which had been
appointed for them. This measure had been adopted by the King
of Piedmont, only upon the reiterated, and perhaps imperious re
presentations of Louis XIV., whose Catholic rage pursued his
fugitive subjects even into the asylum of foreign hospitality; and
Victor Amadeus, whilst he closed that asylum against the exiles
of other nations, conveyed to the native inhabitants of the Vau
dois valleys his renewed assurances of their continued and undis
turbed tranquillity.1 His views were entirely political; the results
were entirely religious, but they were not developed till a later
period. Being deprived of the seven pastors of foreign birth, who were
obliged to leave Piedmont before the 1st of September, 1698, the
Vaudois church held an extraordinary synod at Bobi, on the 12th
of August of the same year, in order to make immediate provision
for the parishes which were about to become, or which already
had become destitute of a stated ministry; and the six pastors
who were Vaudois by birth, and who alone remained in the
valleys, divided amongst themselves the duty ot supplying them.2
New appointments were also made of members of the Vaudois
table.3 The letter of Victor Amadeus II., addressed for this purpose to Count Mar-
tiiiiano, governor of Pignerol, is dated 23d August, 1698; he charges him to say
to the Vaudois, che puono con ogni quiette e sicuritta, applicarsi a luor affan
domestici; poiche proveranno sempre gli effetti della sua reggia prottetione (sic). —
Count Martiniano wrote accordingly, but at more length, to Sieur Pasca, the
podeBtat of the valley of Lucerna, who in his turn made the substance of the
king's communication known in all the Vaudois communes. — (Archives of Le
Villar; vol. Religionarii, fol. 107- )
2 This division was made as follows :— Legeb, pastor of Bobi, united to thhr
parish that of Le Villar; Malanot, pastor of Angrogna, united St. John to it.
These two pastors were also jointly to supply the parish of La Tom: Reynaudin,
pastor of Pral, was to remove to Ville Siche, and to unite Le Pomaret to his field
of labour. Bertin remained at Macel, but was also to supply the parish of Pral.
James Jahiee, pastor of Pramol, was also to supply Rora. Bernard Jahier
was to unite to his parish of St. Germain those of Prarusting and Rocheplate. —
The synod adds that " if the Divine Providence should ever recal to these valleys
the pastors now compelled to leave them, they should each of them return to the
church which they left."
3 The Modebatob, Henry Arnaud, was succeeded by David Leger, Moderator
Adjunct. The latter office was confided to Malanot; and the office of Secretary,
occupied by David Jordan, was given to Laurence Bastie.

268 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. [pabt Thirti.
At the same time, the king was petitioned to allow pastors to
be brought for a time from Switzerland, to succeed the French
ministers;1 and his permission having been obtained, application
was made by letter to the Academy of Geneva, which- hastened to
make provision for the wants represented.2 The synod likewise
asked, that the course of study of the Vaudois students, who were
preparing for the ministry of the gospel, under the care of the
Swis3 Faculties of Theology, should be accelerated as much as
possible; and, finally, it stated the pressing necessities of the
valleys — the debts with which their communes were burdened — the
destitution of the inhabitants— the distress, the penury, the want
of work — the bad harvests, and the impossibility of the Vaudois
providing for the maintenance of their pastors without foreign
aid.3 This aid was not refused — it was manifested that the mem
bers of the same body have a mutual interest in each other; and
the inexhaustible charity of Protestants, at that time more happily
situated than those of Piedmont, enabled the latter to carry on
their public worship and their schools, which they had, indeed, till
then, themselves supported with a patient and devoted zeal.
Besides the general meetings of their synods, which took place
only once or twice in a year, and afterwards so unfrequently as
once every five years, the pastors of each Vaudois valley had then
1 Captain Pastre and Joseph Donneaud were deputed to Turin for this purpose
by the synod of 1698.
2 Archives of Berne, compartment E. Letter of the Moderator (23d September,
1698), recommending the departing pastors. — Archives of the Venerable Company
of Geneva, vol. O, pp. 499, 510, &c, and vol. Q, pp. 20, 82, &c. (concerning the
request for Swiss pastors and their being sent). — The Swiss pastors who came to the
valleys, and the parishes where they were placed, were as follows: — DUBOIS, at
Bobi; Dind, at Le Villar; Senebier, at La Tour; Decoppet, at St. Jean; and
Dutoit at Prarusting. The Vaudois pastors assigned to themselves the poorest,
most mountainous, and most difficult parishes — to wit, Bertin, at Rora; Malanot,
at Angrogna: J. Jahieb, at Pramol; B. Jahier, at St. Germain; David Legeb, at
Le Pomaret (where he was succeeded two years after by James Leser, whilst he
himself went to Ville Seche); Lawbence Bertin, at Maneille and at Macel (where
he was succeeded next year by Henbiod); and Paul Reynaudin, at Pral and at
Rodoret. — These arrangements were made in the year 1699. — Reynaudin went to
Bobi in 1705, to succeed Poktaz, who himself had succeeded Decoppet in 1703.
¦ — M. Senebier left the valleys in 1700 (the letter recalling him is dated '-Novem
ber, 1699); but in 170L two Vaudois ministers were ordained, John Jahieb and
Charles Bastie.
3 Memoire touchant I' etat politique et eccUsiastique des Vaudois, par rapport au
pressant besoin d'assistance qu'ils redament pour acquitter leurs detles. (Archives
of the Venerable Company of Geneva, vol. Q, p. 83.)— This memorial was sent to
the Duke of Zell — to the Archbishop of Canterbury— to the Bishop of Salisbury,
for his British Majesty— to M. Spanheim, professor at Leyden, for the States-
General of Holland— to the Count of Dhona, for the Elector of Brandenburg— U.
the first pastor of the Court of Hesse-Cassel— and to M. Herwart, envoy of the
King of England in Switzerland.

CnAr. XIX.] FIDELITY OF THE VAUDOIS. 269
their separate Collogues,1 which met every month.2 They preached
in their parishes twice every Sabbath, and conducted a meeting for
prayer, accompanied with religious instruction, every day of the
week.3 A minister, who had no parish, did not scruple to under
take personally the charge of the school of La Tour.^ The parishes
threatened with deprivation of public worship, did not shrink from
the heaviest sacrifices, in order to maintain it.5 The temporary
suspension of the subsidies, which Queen Anne had granted to the
Vaudois pastors, caused no abatement of their activity in any of
the functions of their ministry.6
The cruel returns which the Vaudois received at the hands of
their sovereign, in acts of arbitrary violence, did not prevent them
from giving proof of their fidelity to him upon many occasions.
When a revolt broke out at Mondovi, in June, 1700, the Vaudois
militia contributed greatly to its suppression.
Victor Amadeus II. had then a difference with the court of
Bome,7 on the subject of tlie Monarchy of Sicily;* and this diffe
rence continued throughout twenty years. Nor was it long till he
1 [Or Presbyteries.]
1 In the Synodal Acts of 10th February, 1699, we read: "The pastors of the
Collogue of Val Lucerna shall supply the church of Rora time about." (Archives
of the Table.)
3 The pastors who came from Switzerland were authorized to have only one
sermon on Sabbath and one catechetical exercise during the' week ; but only for
the first year of their ministry in the valleys. (Same source.)
4 This was Abraham Henriot, who also was from Switzerland. — 1699-1700. —
The school was a Latin and Italian one. — See the Acts of the Synod of 19th July,
1701. 5 In the Synodal Acts of the 28th of October, 1699, we read: "The church of
Prarusting having been obliged to expend nearly 300 livres in order to maintain
the exercise of public worship, its right to which was disputed ... all the
other churches of the valleys are strongly recommended to stretch out their hand
for its aid ... to mark their union and Christian charity." — The rescript of
Victor Amadeus, authorizing the Vaudois of Prarusting to have a place of
worship, is dated 20th October, 1699. (Turin. Archives of the Court of Accounts.
Regio controrollo generate. Tear 1699. No. 199. Fol. 112.) A report concern
ing the erection of the place of worship and the old site at Rocheplate, on which
it was required that the new one should be built, are to be found in the Archives
of State. (Category, Valdesi, No. 488.)
6 See the Synodal Acts of June, 1700, and July, 1701.
7 Mercure historique, XVIII. 16, 238; XX. 7, 128, 616; XXI. 235, 355, 480,
&c. All these references belong to dates included between July, 1700, and
November, 1702.
• Urban IL, by a bull dated 5th July, 1098, had granted to Roger, Count of
Sicily, that a tribunal, called the Monarchy of Sicily, should have the right of
judging supremely and without appeal in all ecclesiastical affairs. Clement XI.
disputed the privileges of this institution with Victor Amadeus IL; and finally
published, on 20th February, 1715, a Constitution in order to its abolition. An
appeal was taken from this bull to a Pope better informed; and the dispute was
prolonged to the death of the pontiff.

270 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. [faut Thied.
was again in a state of hostility with France, and had brought
upon his dominions the scourge of war, more terrible than all the
dissatisfaction of Bome. In 1701, having recognized the Duke
of Anjou as King of Spain, he gave him his second daughter
in marriage.1 But soon after, being drawn into a contrary course
of policy, he turned against his son-in-law, having deceived France
and Spain during two years, with that high-born duplicity, which
is dignified with the name of diplomacy, but which would deprive
the art of government of all dignity, if it were its necessary
basis or means. These capricious fluctuations of a policy, which
sacrificed everything to interest, and which remained constant
only in its inflexible selfishness, breaking with equal indifference
the bonds of honour and of affection to take part always with
the strongest, present a melancholy spectacle, repulsive to upright
minds. All the powers of Europe confirmed the choice of the Duke of
Anjou, as King of Spain, with the exception of Austria, which
saw with jealousy a prince of the royal family of France ascend
the throne of Charles II.2 But the whole German empire, with
England and Holland, soon formed a league,3 for the dethronement
of this monarch. The old animosities of these powers against
Louis XIV., who supported him, were their true motives for this
conduct. Victor Amadeus, having been named Generalissimo of the armies
of France and Spain in Italy,4 instead of defending his son-in-law
with affection, and faithfully maintaining the cause of his ally,
entered into secret engagements with their enemies. The house
of Austria promised him Montferrat as the price of his defection;
and doubly perfidious, he still fought against the imperial forces in
several encounters. This course of conduct was pursued for two
years. The imperial armies, commanded by Prince Eugene, and
the French troops, ccmmanded by Catinat, met in Piedmont
about the middle of the year 1701. 5 The Marshal de Catinat re-
1 Louise Gabrielle, of Savoy, who was married by proxy, on 11th September,
17>'l.— The Duke of Anjou, born 19th December, 1683, was called to the crown of
Spain, on 2d October, 1700, by the latter will of Charles II., who in that deed
referred to the rights of Maria Theresa, the grandmother of the Duke of Anjou.
In virtue of this deed, he was declared King of Spain, by the name of Philip V.,
at Fontainebleau, on 16th November, 1700; and on the 24th of the same month,
at Madrid, which he entered on 14th April, 1701. —The treaty of Utrecht alone
(11th April, 1713) gave him peaceable possession of this disputed throne.
2 The predecessor of Philip V., in Spain.
3 Signed on 7th September, 1701. « In September, 1701.
6 On 9th July, 1701, was fought the battle of Carpi on the Adige;— on 1st Sep
tember, the battle of Chiari, near the Oglio. There were numerous skirmishes.

Cm .«. XIX.] LOUIS XIV, AND VICTOR AMADEUS. 271
ceived a number of little checks, one after the other, which he
could not ascribe entirely to the skill of his adversary. He sus
pected the connivance of the Duke of Savoy with the enemy, and
imparted his suspicions to the court of Versailles, which repelled
them. But eighteen months afterwards, Louis XIV. was no
longer able to doubt that they were well-founded; and suddenly
adopting one of those energetic resolutions, which seem natural to
men whose haughty disposition and strength of will have been
developed by the habitual exercise of an undisputed power, he
ordered the Duke de Vendome to disarm, and retain as prisoners,
the troops of the Duke of Savoy in the Milanese.1 These orders
were executed. Three hundred and forty Piedmontese officers
found themselves suddenly deprived of liberty, and distributed in
different fortresses.
This news reached Turin on the 1st of October, 1703. The
gates were immediately closed; the greatest agitation prevailed in
the court and in the city; the French ambassador was arrested in his
house;2 and the French who were resident in Turin received
orders not to go beyond its walls. All the available troops were
called to active service; those which were in Ivr6e and elsewhere
were recalled to the fortifications — the relations with Austria
became more intimate.3 The Duke of Savoy sought to rally all
his forces; and the following are the terms in which he made the
Vaudois acquainted with these events: —
"Dear and well-beloved trusty subjects, — Unparalleled violence
having been done by France,, contrary to the good faith of treaties
and the law of nations, in the disarming of our troops who were in
its service in the Milanese — the retaining of our officers prisoners —
and the marching of a body of troops for the invasion of our domi
nions; ... we acquaint you with it, being persuaded that the
same motive which led you on all occasions in former wars to dis
play such fidelity and zeal in our service, will induce you to give us
no less proof thereof in this war, which is much more important. You
will require, for this purpose, without loss of time to form your com-
' Louis XIV. wrote at the same time to Victor Amadeus : "Sir, since religion,
honour, interest, alliances, and your own signature, avail nothing between us, I
send my cousin, the Duke de Vendome, at the head of my armies, to explain to
you my intentions." (Lamberty, Part II. p. 564.)
s The same thing was done with regard to the Spanish ambassador. (Merc.
hist. XXIV., 508.)
3 On the 25th of October, 1703, the treaty of alliance, offensive and defensive,
was signed between Savoy and Austria, by which the latter power guaranteed to
Victor Amadeus the possession of the Mantuan Montferrat, the price agreed upon
for the defection of that prince. (Art de verifier les dates.)

272 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS, [pakt Tmnn.
panies, as you did in the last war, and to receive all the French refu
gees who may wish to come to your valleys; you will do well even to
invite them to come, that they may act in concert with you. Our
commissaries will provide for the subsistence of these troops. . . .
The matter concerns the preservation of our dominions, our glory,
and our safety. . . . And in respect hereof, we pray God to
take you under his good and holy protection." 1
The Vaudois immediately organized thirty-four companies of
their valiant militia, and soon attracted attention by some brilliant
exploits. " The Duke of Savoy having permitted them to name a
commandant for themselves," we read in a statement published at
that time, "they, towards the end of the year, made choice of
M. De Malanot, who was one of their captains in the preceding
war.2 They have already made several incursions into the fron
tiers of Provence and Dauphiny, and have exacted a contribution
of fifty thousand livres from the latter province, besides a great
number of cattle. They have offered this money to his royal
highness, but he has been pleased to leave it in their hands, in
order to give them the means of arming and equipping themselves
better." 8 Moreover, so long as the Vaudois were useful to him,
Victor Amadeus treated those with severity who brought com
plaints to him against them.4
This people, always exposed to the severest hardships, either
through the tyranny of their kings, when their kings were power
ful, or through their own devotion to their cause, when they were
threatened with danger, signalized themselves again by new ex
ploits in the year 1704. But in the meantime, their ranks were
augmented by a crowd of French refugees, who came from Switzer-
¦¦ This letter is dated from Turin, 5th October, 1703.— It was sent to each of the
Vaudois pastors, with another letter addressed to themselves personally, and
bearing also the signature of Victor Amadeus— the address being in the following
style: — To our dear, well-beloved, and liege N. minister of . . . . — Those documents
may be seen in Lamberty, Memoire pour servir a Vhistoire du dix-huitUme siicle,
t. IL; Mercure historique, XXI. 629. The letter of Victor Amadeus to the
Vaudois, is also in MoBer, Proof Documents, No. 18; and in Erman and Reclam,
vol. VI. — I have quoted only the part essential for the history.
2 This passage is exactly copied from the Mercure historique, vol. XXV., Janu
ary, 1704, — However, I must observe that the particle which may precede any
name amongst the Vaudois, has, according to their usage, nothing to do with any
indication of noble birth— although the reader might be apt to think so from the
name of this commandant as given above. — When a number of persons bear the
same name, they are distinguished by that of the place where they dwell, preceded
by the (contracted) article. But no distinction of rank is connected amongst them
with these designations.
3 Mercure historique, XXV. 136.
4 The governor of Fort Mutino, who came to complain against the inhabitants
of the valleys, was arrested at Pignerol." Merc. hist. XXIV. 509.

Chap. XIX.] FRENCH SUCCESSES. 273
land x and from the Cevennes. The latter had taken up arms against
Louis XIV. in the beginning of 1703. "This is no revolt," said
they in their manifesto,2 "nor a rebellion of subjects against their
sovereign. We have always been obedient and faithful to him.
. . . But a law of nature obliges us to repel force by force ;
otherwise we would be to blame for our own misfortunes; and
would be traitors to our religion, to ourselves; and to our country,"
&c. But notwithstanding the intrepidity of their leaders, they
were crushed;3 and the inhabitants of Orange, who maintained
their resistance longest, were banished, and retired into Prussia.
The fugitives of the Cevennes, upon whose heads a price was set,
or whose properties had been confiscated, retired to the valleys.
The forces of Victor Amadeus received a valuable accession in
these brave partizans, inured to privations and dangers. In his
prosperity, however, he had prohibited the Vaudois from giving
them an asylum;4 and at a subsequent period he was again to
banish them.5 But at the time to which our history now relates,
they were welcomed, and all the more gladly the more that his
dominions were threatened by the enemy. The Duke de la Feuil
lade6 had made himself master of the whole of Savoy,7 and there
after soon crossed the Alps. In June, 1704, he took the town and
castle of Suza. A few days after, the Duke de Vend6me took Ver
ceil,8 where almost 6000 men were made prisoners. Ivree soon
afterwards suffered the same fate.9
Whilst the Duke de Vendome thus pursued his successful career,
the Duke de la Feuillade endeavoured to detach the Vaudois val
leys from the cause of their sovereign. After having occupied
Suza, he turned towards our valleys. He first offered them exemp
tion from all the calamities of war, if they would preserve neutrar-
lity between him and the Duke of Savoy.10 This fact suffices to
* Louis XIV. sent an agent, M. de Puisseaux, to obtain from the Swiss go
vernment the prevention of the French refugees who were in Switzerland, from
going to take arms under the banners of the Duke of Savoy. — Long conferences
ensued.— See the Mercure historique, XXIV. 512, 634, 641, 648; XXV. No. for
January, &c.
-' Dated 17th February, 1703. — Separately printed.
3 See the histories of the Camisards. — Lamberty, II. &c.
4 In April, 1703, "the Duke of Savoy sent for some of the principal inhabi
tants of the valleys, and declared to them that he forbade them, under severe
penalties, to have any dealings with the insurgents of the Cevennes, or to give
shelter to any of them," &c. . . . Mercure historique, XXIII. 355.
5 By the Instructions of 20th June, 1730. c Others say the Marshal de Tesse\
' Except the fort of Montmellian, which did not surrender till 17C5. The
fortifications were then demolished.
a Suza was taken on the 12th of June, and Verceil on the 21st of July.
» On 30th September, 1704. 10 Mercure historique, XXVI. 140.
Vol. h. 95

271' THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. l^etTuibd.
demonstrate the importance of their services in war. " The inha
bitants of the valleys of St. Martin and St. Germain, who are the
most exposed, were strongly enough inclined to this neutrality;
but M. Vandermeer, the minister of the states-general, having
repaired thither with M. Arnaud, l completely re-animated the reso
lution of the people, and caused the designs of the French to fail.
Thereupon the marshal, perceiving that he could effect nothing
by negotiation, attacked the valleys from all sides. He caused
M. de Lapara to assail the fort of Mirabouc,2 whilst he himself,
with the rest of his troops, entered the valley of St. Martin and
took possession of it.3 From thence he passed into that of St.
Germain, where he met with much resistance on the part of the
Vaudois, who guarded the approaches to the valley, but were at
last compelled to yield to the superior forces of the enemy. How
ever, the Marquis de Parelles having arrived with, orders for the
militia of the neighbouring districts to march to the aid of the
Vaudois, and the Duke of Savoy having also sent some regular
troops, the people of the valleys of St. Germain sent their wives,
their children, and their movable effects into the neighbouring
communes and into the woods, after which they assembled anew
under the command of M. de St. Hippolyte.4 They began, that
same day, to reconquer the positions which they had lost, and on
the 1st of July, they attacked the French at Angrogna, and de
feated them, having on their own side only five men killed and
seven wounded. This so disconcerted the enemy, that they began
secretly to quit the heights around Angrogna, and gradually aban
doned the whole of the valley of Angrogna, as well as that of
Lucerna." s
1 This was Henry Arnaud, who had led the Vaudois in their return to their
country in 1689, who was banished in 1698, and who returned to the valleys
in 1703. He then exercised his ministry in the church of St. John, as we
learn from a Report, of date 27th December, 1706, in which" it is said, The
church of St. John is now supplied by M. Henry Arnaud, as provisional minister.
(State of the Churches of the Valleys. Private library of M. Appia, at Frankfort.)
Shortly after this, Arnaud went to London, for he was there in 1707. — According
to tradition, he wished to extend to the valley of Lucerna the republican govern
ment which that of St. Martin had adopted, and a price was set upon his head.
(I received this tradition from the last of the Vaudois pastors in "Wurtemberg,
M. Mondon, successor to Arnaud's son at Gros Villar, wb died not long ago,
almost 100 years of age. — Another son of Arnaud was appoiuted pastor of Pomaret
in 1713.— The name of the former was Scipio, that of the latter was Vincent.)
2 On 20th June, 1704.
3 His troops continued to occupy it till 8th August, 1708. (Notarial attestation
of this occupation, of date 18th May, 1713. — Archives of Le Perrier.)
4 On 30th June, 1704.
s The fort of Mirabouc, which had been besieged, was relieved by the Vaudois
on 14th July, 1704. — The whole passage within inverted commas is extracted
from the Mercure historique, XXVI. 140, et seq.

Chap. XIX ] TREATY OF LOUIS XIV. 275
The valley of St. Martin was not, however, evacuated in the
same manner. The Duke de la Feuillade persuaded a few com
munes to erect an independent republic,1 under the protection of
Louis XIV. His object was to have a footing for his troops in
Piedmont, and to divide the country and weaken the authority of
Victor Amadeus. Moreover, the valley of St. Martin is one of
the strongest in the Alps. It is not only its extent that renders
it important, but also its position. And the Vaudois had acquired
a renown, which made them appear to a stranger greater than they
really were. This people were regarded as a sort of power — as one
of the lowest rank, no doubt, but better known, however, than
many others which had a right to that designation. This explains
how Louis XIV. condescended to sign, with all the forms of a
serious treaty, that inconceivable piece of mystification or puerile
stratagem of war, which gave a nominal existence for four years
to the republic of St. Martin.2
The following are the principal provisions of this treaty: — "The
leaders, elders, syndics, councillors, captains, and other officers of
the valley of St. Martin, Pomaret, Envers-Pinache, and Chene-
viSres, both Catholics and those of the pretended Beformed reli
gion " (1), Shall erect themselves into and shall be recognized as
a republic, under the protection of the King of France and his suc
cessors. (2) They shall make their own laws, which shall be ap
proved and maintained by his most Christian majesty. (3) They
shall establish amongst themselves liberty of conscience, with excep
tion that the French refugees shall not be permitted to come and
enjoy it. (4) For the strengthening and deftnce of the said re
public, his majesty shall maintain there the troops necessary?
1 He had attempted to persuade the communes of Val Lucerna to the same
effect, but without success. —Loc. cit. p. 248.
2 Its existence not being mentioned by any historian, I have thought it necessary
to quote a large number of testimonies in support of this fact. — The same remark
applies to the sojourn of Victor Amadeus at Rora, which has been disputed. — ¦
Hence the great number of notes in the following pages.
3 The words in italics are the very words of the treaty. — It contained seven
articles in all, which sometimes descend to trifles of no political importance.
The fifth article stipulates in name of the Vaudois: "That his majesty and his
successors shall always furnish them [leur fournira] with salt at LePerrier, at two
sols per pound." At the bottom of the treaty are these words, " We, being satis
fied with the above treaty, accept it, and promise to observe it invariably in all
points, in testimony whereof we have signed these presents with our hand, and
have caused our privy seal to be attached to them. — At Versailles, 25th July,
1704." Signed Louis, countersigned Colbert. (Treaty agreed upon between the
Duke de la Feuillade and the inhabitants of the valley of St. Martin, 15th July,
1704.— Turin, Archives of the Court, No. 486.) According to a memorial of that
period, the proposals of the French general, on this subject, were in the first
instance rejected by the Vaudois of the Val Perouse and of the Val St. Martin,

276 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. [Paut Third.
This was all that La Feuillade wanted; and that I may not have
to return to the subject,. I may here state that the history of this
ephemeral republic was fraught with calamity, both to those who
were included in it, and to their neighbours. The French troops
being located there, according to the treaty, and continuing to
occupy it during the whole time of its existence,1 made hostile .
incursions into the neighbouring regions.2 Vagabonds from all
parts congregated in it, coming to seek an asylum.3 The pas
tors and schoolmasters ceasing to be supported by a share of the
English subsidies,4 and perhaps banished by some popular caprice,
were compelled to remove from it, and became wanderers, without
means of subsistence;5 primary instruction and Divine worship fell
rapidly into decay;6 and when the people desired to have pastors,
young men, without any orderly call to the office, were invited to
but he seized their properties, and it was in order to regain possession of them
that they consented to this treaty. (Mimoire pour Us Eglises evangeliques des
valUes du Pragela, 1704-1707. Archives of the Pastors of Geneva, vol. R.)
1 Till 8th August, 1708. — Notarial attestation, in the Archives of Le Perrier.
- "The church of St. Germain, in the valley of Perouse, is at present aban
doned by the inhabitants, and without exercise of religion, because of the enemy,
who have entirely ruined and burned it. It has no minister nor schoolmaster,
because they are obliged to seek refuge in the neighbourhood, a little farther
out of the way of the enemy. — The church of Pramol is equally deserted by the
parishioners, because of the enemy, who have indeed burned the greater part
of it, and they have been obliged to withdraw themselves to other parts of the
valleys." (Memoire sur I'etat des valUes, 27th December, 1706.) — [The word
church (eglise) here must be taken for the district occupied by the church or con
gregation.'] 3 " This valley having fallen into rebellion is now inhabited by the dregs and
scum of diverse peoples . . . who bear arms against his royal highness." —
Memoire pour les eglises evangSliques du Piemont, 1704-1707. — Geneva, Archives
of the Venerable Company of Pastors, vol. R.)
4 "These 784 louis which come from England are here worth no more than
four ducal livres each. Hence the pastors receive only 200 ducats each and the
schoolmasters 100. The Latin regent has about 170. But the sum was much
smaller still, before the calamity of the valley of St. Martin." (Memoire en faveur
des valUes, 1708. — Same source.)
5 "The three churches of the valley of St. Martin . . . having unhappily
fallen into disloyalty . . . their pastors have left them." (Loco cii.)— "The
meeting having deliberated on the condition of the wandering pastors, and the
means of providing for their subsistence," , . . resolved that something shall
for this purpose be kept off the stipends of their colleagues of the valley of Lucerna.
— " John Jahier, formerly pastor at Pral, shall be recognized as pastor of the
Flying Camp." . . . (Synodal Acts of 7th October, 1704.— Archives of the
Vaudois Table. )
6 "The church of Villeseche, which before their revolt was composed of the
communities of Rioclaret, Fae't, Bouvil, Traverses, and St. Martin, has now
neither minister, nor schoolmaster, nor any sort of exercise of religion." (Etat
des eglises de la valUe de St. Martin, et du Pomaret, presentement dominees par lea
ennemis. — A report without date. — Communicated byM. Appia.) It is afterwards
said, " AU the other churches of these valleys are in the same state."

Chap. XIX.] THE VALLEY OF ST. MARTIN. 277
undertake its solemn duties,1 who committed the greatest irregu
larities.2 The Vaudois considered this valley as lost to their
church,3 and feared lest, the unity of their body being thus broken,
the destruction of the whole might ensue.4 But at last, when the
war was ended, the valley of St. Martin returned under the govern
ment of Victor Amadeus, who granted a complete amnesty to all
its inhabitants,5 in consideration of the fidelity shown to him by
the valley of Lucerna, where he had found an asylum in the time
of his misfortunes. For the French generals had for a time de
prived him of almost all his dominions.
The Duke de Vendome, who had laid siege to Verriie on the
22d of October, 1704, took that place on the 10th of April, 1705,
after it had made the best defence which any besieged place ever
made.6 The Duke de la Feuillade took Villefranche by assault,7
and also Montalban and Nice, the governor of which retreated into
the citadel, but was not able to hold out there for more than three
days.8 Miradole surrendered at discretion, on the 11th of May,
twenty-two days after the trenches were opened. On the 16th of
August, the Imperial and Savoyard troops, commanded by Prince
Eugene, were defeated near Cassano; thereafter the fortifications
1 See the Archives of the Company of Pastors of Geneva, register R, pp.
312, 313.
2 Mentioned in a letter by Reynaudin, of 28th September, 1708. (Same source.)
See also the Synodal Acts of Le Villar, 23d October, 1708. (Archives of the
Vaudois Table.)
3 " The valley of St. Martin, which was supposed to have been lost, has returned
to its duty." . . . (Synodal summons addressed by the moderator, Reynaudin,
to the pastors, elders, directors, and other heads of families, &c. Dated Bobi,
26th December, 1708.— Archives of Le Villar. Rel. fol. 158.)
4 " This division will inevitably cauBe the ruin of these valleys." (Memoire sur
I'itat des valUes Vaudoises, 27th December, 1706.) — "The preservation of the
valley of Lucerna depends upon that of the valley of St. Marbin . . . without
which it cannot be hoped that it. should long be able to maintain its existence."
(Memoire pour les eglises des valUes du PUmont.)
5 Under the name of Patents of Grace, dated from the camp of Balbottet,
V7th A ngust, 1708, granting the amnesty, on condition that the pretended repub
licans should renew their oath of fidelity to the house of Savoy, in presence of
the governor, Gasca. This document begins thus: " Dopo I'enorme crime di ribel-
lionne comesso da i particolari, e abitanti della valle di San Martmo," &c. . . .
 Being all guilty of high treason and lese majesty, they have incurred the penalty
of death, &c. . . . But his royal highness, moved with compassion, &c, . . .
pardons them. (State Archives at Turin. Void. No. 482.)
6 This judgment is taken from the Mercure historique, XXVII. 479; the dates are
taken from the work of the Benedictines, for the Mercure places the surrender of
Verriie on the 7th of April.
' On the 2d of April, 1705, according to the Mercure, and on the 7th of March
according to the AH de verifier les dates. — But the castle of Villefranche was not
taken till the 3d of April.
8 The town was taken on the 6th, and the citadel on the 9th of April, 1705.

278 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. [Part Thibu.
of Nice, Ivree, and Verriie were destroyed by the French. In the
following year, the French obtained another great victory at Cal-
cinato.1 Turin was invested by them on the 12th and 13th of
May, and their trenches were opened in the night between the
3d and 4th of June. The Duke of Savoy retired to Bubiana,
where he received a deputation of the officers and pastors of the
Vaudois valleys.2 He then went to Lucerna, where, according to
the words of an ancient manuscript, the Vaudois made for him a
secure retreat? There is reason for supposing that this retreat was
the deep valley of Bora,4 where Janavel, with eighteen men, had
arrested an. army, and at which also the enemy were compelled to
pause, who had pursued the Duke of Savoy as far as Briqulras.5
Perhaps it may have been nothing else than the arms of the Vau
dois which arrested the progress of the French general upon this
occasion.6 Victor Amadeus, in thus retiring amidst these valiant moun-
1 19th April, 1706.
2 "During the war lately terminated, his majesty the King of Sardinia seemed
disposed to favour the Vaudois, insomuch that in the year 1706, he having gone
into the valley of Lucerna, at the time when the French army pursued him so
very closely, the Protestant pastors and officers of the valleys, repaired to Bubiana
and Lucerna, to protest an inviolable fidelity to him in whatsoever circumstances
of trial. He received them very graciously, saying to them that if they were
faithful to him as they protested, they would find in him a good friend, as well as
an affectionate father ; and he would maintain them in all their privileges, withou t
permitting the least infraction of them." (Extract from a MS. note appended to
a copy of the Negotiations of 1686„ belonging to M. Ant. Blanc, of La Tour. —
These words, the war lately terminated, lead to the supposition that the note was
written soon after the events of which it makes mention. The last which it
relates took place on 9th August, 1718.
8 "At the peace of Utrecht, the influence of the British court might have
obtained for the Vaudois of Pragela the same privileges which the three other
valleys enjoyed, the more especially as the latter had, at the time of the siege of
Turin, provided a secure retreat for their sovereign, . . . and as all this was
recent." (Memoire concernant la situation, &c. . . . Report concerning the
present condition of the valleys of Piedmont, and of the ministry in their churches,
drawn up by the pastors . . . appointed as commissioners in name of the Synod
... to watch over their interests, &c. . . . Presented to the Synod of the
Hague, 9th September, 1762. Archives of the Walloon Churches, communicated
by M. Appia.)
4 See Monastier, II. 173.— Gilly, Waldensian Researches. — Brokedon, Excur
sions; Acland, &c.
5 Histoire milit.aire du Piemont, by the Count De Saluces, v. 189 ; quoted by
Monastier, II. 172.
6 Upon the arrival of Victor Amadeus in the valley of Lucerna, the Vaudois,
' ' exposing their own lives in his ser vice, opposed the French army with such vigour
that they compelled the enemy to retire and abaridon the valley of Lucerna."
(Note above quoted; MS. of M. Ant. Blanc.) — " The Duke of Savoy then came
into the valley of Lucerna, where La Feuillade still thought to fight with him,
but he was everywhere repulsed, and returned to his own camp. (Histoire de
Prince Eugene; Vienna edition; 5 vols. 8vo, 1755; III. 77.)

Chap. XIX ] SIEGE OF TURIN RAISED. 279
taineers, intended not only to seek a refuge which he might have
found elsewhere, but above all to attach them to his service by
personal manifestations of good-will, which might make them forget
all that they had suffered. He knew that the Duke de la Feuil
lade had offered them the protection of France; it was important
to prevent a defection like that of the valley of St. Martin, or at all
events to give to the valley of Lucerna such marks of confidence and
kindness as its fidelity deserved. Victor Amadeus II. employed
himself also in organizing the military forces of these faithful sub
jects, who crowded around him in great numbers,1 and whom per
haps he meant to make a body-guard in place of the Swiss who
had abandoned him.3 At all events, he arrived at Carmagnole,
escorted by 600 Vaudois and 100 Camisards, who had belonged to
the intrepid band of Cavalier.3 Nor did he fail to thank the gene
ral secretary of the valley of Lucerna, as their representative, for
all the good services which had been rendered to him on the part
of all the inhabitants of the valley;4 and he even left at Bora a
memorial of himself in the form of a gift at parting to those who
had received him as their guest.5
At Carmagnole he was rejoined by Prince Eugene, with eight
regiments of the line and 4000 dragoons. After this, the duke re
mained for a few days at the castle of Pianesse, and then marched
from thence upon Turin, the siege of which he compelled the
French to raise,6 after a glorious victory which restored him his
1 Expression of the Count de Saluces, Histoire militaire du PUmont, v. 189.
2 Mercure historique, xxvii., 1705. " The Vaudois are still proud of having, at
the time of the siege of Turin, in 1706, given an asylum to Victor Amadeus, their
most cruel persecutor, who came unattended, to take refuge amongst them until
the approach of the immortal Eugene. It was in the village of Rora that he found
his place of retreat, and all our men who were capable of bearing arms, followed
him to the siege, or rather to the deliverance of his capital." (Letter of M. Paul
Appia, deputy of the valley of Lucerna, to the Count of Nieperg, dated from La
Tour, 2d December, 1799. Communicated by M. Appia of Frankfort.)
3 History of Prince Eugene of Savoy. Edition of Vienna, 1755 ; III. 104.
4 "Invitati dalli buoni serviggi, sin qui resi, con ogni applicatione — fedelta e
zelo, del Nodaro Collegiaro, Guiseppe Brezzi, del Villar, in qualita di segretaro
delle valli di Luserna, deputato dal corpo, in generate delle ufficiali valdesi, &c." .
. . . (Rescript of Victor Amadeus II., dated from Bubiana, 31st July, 1706,
and printed in 1711, in Torino, per Gio Battista Valetta, stampalore di S. A.R.) —
Victor Amadeus arrived at Bubiana on 7th July, 1706; he remained there till the
14th, in the house of the missionaries. (Storia della missione, dal P. Bonaventura
di vergemoli. Folio MS. in the Archives of the Bishopric of Pignerol.) From
Bubiana he went to Lucerna ; it can only have been from the 16th to the 28th of
July that he was at Rora, as on 31st July he was at Bubiana on his return.
5 A silver goblet. (See all the modern writers.) Monastier, II. 173. Gilly,
Narrative of an excursion . . . — Beattie, ValUes vaudoises pittoresques, 170, &c.
6 On 7th Sept., 1706. The Duke of Savoy and Prince Eugene arrived, in the
ni"ht between the 6th and 7th, on the hill of Superga, where Victor Amadeus, in

280 THE ISRAEL. OF THE ALPS. L^ot Thiei>.
dominions.1 The loss of the vanquished amounted, indeed, to
no more than 2000 men; but such was their consternation that,
instead of seeking a new position under the walls of Casal in order
to cover the Milanese, their army retreated to Pignerol in order to
retire into Dauphiny. This was to abandon all that they had won;
and they experienced new losses in this retreat. The Vaudois,
commanded by Colonel de Saint-Amour, harassed them during
the whole time of their retreat, and took a number of their con;
voys.2 They had organized a flying camp which passed rapidly
from one mountain to another, and made incursions even into
Dauphiny. The war was carried on feebly for some years. In 1707, the
French and Spanish troops restored to 'the allies the places which
still remained in their hands in Lombardy.* and evacuated that
country. In the following year, Victor Amadeus attempted to seize
upon Dauphiny ; but the Marshal de Villars, the able governor of
that province, frustrated all his designs. The duke, however, re
gained the cis-alpine districts of which La Feuillade had deprived
him, and amongst the rest the valley of St. Martin.4 He fixed
his camp near Mentoules,5 where the deputies of the valley of Lu
cerna6 came to solicit his clemency on behalf of their brethren who
had been so grievously misled, and whose puerile republic had
vanished upon the first appearance of his advanced guard. "His
majesty, says one of these deputies, conversed with us for half an
hour, with the kindness of a father, and with an affability which is
without example on the part of a sovereign towards his subjects."7
Nor did he refuse pardon to those for whom it was asked, requiring
only that they should renew their oath of allegiance to his dynasty.8
accordance with a vow then made, caused a most beautiful church to be erected,
nine years after, from plans by Philip Juvara of Messina, in honour of the Virgin,
" who, as the people pretended, had received in her apron the bombs which the
French showered upon Turin." (Memoire pour servir a Vhistoire des Vaudois, folio
MS., p. 61, by M. Paul Appia. Referring especially to the era of the Restora
tion. Communicated by the family of M. Appia.)
1 On occasion of this victory, a medal was struck representing the fall of Phae
ton, with these words, Mergitur Eridano MDCCVII. On the reverse is the Dnke
of Savoy embracing Prince Eugene, and Fame flies above them, displaying a scroll
on which is written Sabaudia liberata : is triumphe I
2 L' Esprit des cows . . . , t. XV. Ristovre militaire du Piimont, v. 212.
8 By capitulation of 13th March.
4 Suza was surrendered on 30th October, 1707.
5 At Balbottet.
B Paul Reynaudin, the moderator, with MM. Goante and Le~er.
' Letter of Reynaudin, dated from Bobi, 26th September, 1703. (Archives of
Le Villar, vol. Religionarii, folio 158. )
8 Patents of Grace, dated from the camp of Balbottet, 17th August, 1708. (Ar
chives of the Court.)

Chap. XIX ] THE MARSHAL DE BERWICK. 281
He at the same time authorized the meeting of a synod, in order to
provide for the wants of the parishes thus restored.'
It was in 1708, also, that the Duke of Savoy2 entered into pos
session of Montferrat, which had been promised to him by Austria
upon his alliance with the imperial party.3
The following year passed without any remarkable incident; but
in 1710, the Marshal de Berwick was sent into Savoy by Louis
XIV., and the Vaudois again took up arms for their sovereign.
" A proclamation has been published at Turin," said a letter from
that city, "that those who choose to go and serve amongst them
shall enjoy the ordinary pay and wages of the militia, till the end
of the campaign."4 This was a new invitation indirectly addressed
to the French refugees. Ah ! why should kings, after they have
become victorious, so often prove unfaithful to the promises which
they have made during their reverses? These unhappy exiles,
already twice deceived, were again deceived a third time ; for
numbers of them at this time also joined the defenders of the throne
of Savoy.
Victor Amadeus II. declared his resolution, on 26th May, 1711,
to place himself in person at the head of his troops;5 and shortly
afterwards he had recovered possession of Savoy. Next year, the
Marshal de Berwick crossed Mount Genevre with a French army,
and encamped at Cezane.b Thence he made himself master of the
valleys of Oulx and Pragela. The Piedmontese king immediately
raised his camp from St. Columban, where he then was, and drove
the enemy back into Dauphiny. Meanwhile the Baron de St.
Bemy seized the valley of Barcelonnette ; and the Vaudois, being
in the very centre of all these movements, did not fail to act with
their accustomed valour and bravery. They made many victori
ous excursions and skirmishes at this time, which very much con
tributed to repulse the enemy, as well as to give themselves the
means of providing ammunition, and of equipping themselves at the
enemy's expense. The king, to testify his satisfaction, ordered the
Count de Bagnol to send a cashier to Pignerol, to pay the arrears
due to these valiant troops, to whom he even offered a continuance
1 Decree dated from the same camp, 13th September, 1708.
2 The title of His Majesty was already given to Victor Amadeus, but as King of
Sicily, and not as King of Piedmont. It was not till the 18th of August, 1718,
that he accepted Sardinia in exchange for Sicily, with the title of King of Sardinia,
which has been inherited by his successors.
3 In virtue of the treaty of 25th October, 1703.
• Mercure historique el politique; the Hague, 1710. No. for July, p. 524.
» Extract from a letter from Turin, dated 17th June, 1711. (Mercure historique
et politique. No. for July, p. 551.)
« On 11th July, 1712. (Id., No. for August, 1712, p. 1647.)
Vol. ii. 96

282 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. [pabt Thied.
of pay, on the war footing, if they would continue to defend the
passes of the Alps as they had done.1
The treaty of Utrecht2 gave Victor Amadeus peaceful possession
of his enlarged dominions. The high valleys of the Cluson and the
Doire remained in his hands, along with the county of Nice, in
exchange for the valley of Barcelonnette, which remained in the
possession of France; and we have already seen what the Vaudois
of Pragela had afterwards to suffer because their interests were at
that time overlooked and neglected by the Protestant powers.
The Pragelans, however, took part by their deputies in the general
synod of the Vaudois churches which was held at this time for the
reorganization of the church.3 But they did not long enjoy this
privilege. The acts of that assembly received the authorization of
government in order to their being carried into effect, with the
exception of the incorporation of the old Vaudois parishes of Pragela
into the same body with those of the valleys.4
Henry Arnaud, who had returned to the work of the ministry in
the valleys in 1703, 5 left them again in 1707.6 The King of Eng
land invited him to his court,7 but in vain: the unambitious pastor
of the Alps, not finding it possible to reside amongst the inhabitants
of those valleys of Piedmont which he had reconquered, preferred
to rejoin his exiled companions in their humble colony on the banks
of the Eintz, where he occupied himself, like Xenophon, in drawing
up the narrative of his patriotic labours.8
1 Same collection. No. for May, 1713, p. 372. 2 11th April, 1713.
3 At Bobi, 11th November, 1709. The previous synod had already considered
the duty "of proceeding, for the service of his royal highness, to the establish
ment of some pastors, in the valley of St. Martin, as a thing calculated to confirm
the people of that valley in the fidelity which they owed to their lawful sovereign."
(Preamble of the Synodal Acts of 23d October, 1708. Archives of the Vaudois
Table.) 4 See the declaration of the intendant of Pignerol, appended to the Acts of the
Synod of Bobi, 1709. It- is in the Synod of Le Villar (23d Oct., 1708), that we
find for the first time the intervention of the civil power to sanction the acts of
our religious assemblies by declaring them executory: " quelli (articoli) admettiamo
e dichiaramo esecutorii . . . Pasca, intendente e direttore." In other matters, the
support of the secular power would have been of great value, and would have
given great force to the decisions of our synods, if they had been contested. But
they never had need of it.
s See the Mercure historique, XXVI. 140, and the Memoire pour les Eglises du
Piemont, dated from St. John, 27th December, 1706. (Archives of the Pastors of
Geneva, vol. R.)
0 See the 15th article of the Synodal Acts of 13th and 14th February, 1708.
(Archives of the Vaudois Table.)
7 Acland, The Glorious Recovery, &c. .... Bracebridge ; Plenderleith, and
M6moires de Paul Appia. (Communicated.)
8 Published in 1710. Some say at Basle, others at Cassel. Republished at Neu-
chatel in 1845.

Chap. XIX.] HARDSHIPS OF THE VAUDOIS. 283
The subsequent fortunes of the Vaudois people, whom he left,
were worse than his own. Impoverished by the recent vicissitudes
which they had experienced, and by the war just concluded, they
exhausted themselves in providing for the necessities of the nume
rous refugees whom they had welcomed to their territories.1 The
military enrolments had at once taken away hands from agriculture,
and added to the number of mouths to be filled,2 and without the
foreign succours which were bestowed upon the Vaudois,3 the
generosity of their prince4 would not have saved them from ths
overwhelming pressure of extreme privations.5
This state of distress continued for many years." The Vaudois
Church, nevertheless, seemed to acquire strength.7 The inhabitants
of these regions regarded them with friendship. Not a few of the
1 Order of Bercastel, governor of Lucerna, to the French refugees, e altri stran-
ieri . . . che non sono arrolati, e che possedono alcun registro, to quit the country
within three days. Dated from Lucerna, 27th April, 1706. (Archives of Le
Villar, vol. Religionarii, folio 131.) But this order produced nieTely a temporary
effect : for we find, under date 18th September, 1708, a note of the poor and of
foreign refugees in the Vaudois valleys; and on 25th May, 1709, a new order of
expulsion, for the execution of which the Vaudois communes are made responsible,
in which these refugees find harbour. (Archives of Le Villar, vol. above quoted,
folio 161) ; and finally, under date 23d March, 1714, a new order for the same pur
pose. (Id., ibid., folio, 171.)
2 Report on the afflicted, condition of the churches of Pragela and the old valleys;
addressed to Geneva by the Vaudois pastors, dated 1st June, 1714. (Archives of
the Venerable Company of Pastors of Geneva, vol. S, p. 258.) The first cause of
this was the edicts of 1703 and 1704, by which Victor Amadeus invited foreign
exiles to serve under his banners.
3 Memoire en faveur des ValUes in 1707. (Archives of the Pastors of Geneva,
vol. R.) Memoire du ministre Leger, de.UguA par la compagnie pour se rendre
aux ValUes, kc, . . . extending from 2d August, 1729, to the end of November,
and inserted in the same Archives, vol. x. p. 173, et seq. A memoire juxtificatif
of the proceedings of Leger was published in the following year, under date 20th
October, 1730. (Communicated by M. Vaucher Mouchon, of Geneva.)
4 Stato ddle compagnie Valdesi, che hanno servito S. M. durante I'hor scorsa
guerra . . . quali hanno continuamente gioito del pane e delle contribuzione, stateli
graziosamente accordati da delta S. M. kc. Document dated St. John, 22d May,
1717. (In the State Archives at Turin, categ. Vald., No. 456.) MS. of 40 pages,
folio. The names are written in double columns. There are 73 columns. The
paper was drawn by the notary Joseph Brezzi.
5 Letter of the pastors of Bobi and Le Villar to the Venerable Company of
Pastors of Geneva, setting forth that so great a famine reigns in the country, that
some of the poor sufferers are even compelled to subsist upon wild herbs. " The
Catholics," say they, "receive assistance from those of their own religion, and
many of our people are in danger of sacrificing their religion in order to preserve
their lives." "Written by Reynaudin, 15th June, 1714. The council of the city
of Geneva adopted a resolution granting 100 crowns for relief of the churches of
Bobi and Le Villar. (Archives of the Company of Pastors, vol. S, pp. 260, 270.)
« See Memoire sur la situation presente des Eglises evangeiiques des ValUes, . .
presented to the synod of the Hague, 9th September, 1762.
» See the Synodal Acts of the Vaudois Church, from 1708 to 1730.

28 i THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. [paut Thiid.
magistrates, appointed to govern them, even proved their protectors.1
But the friendly feeling of the sovereign2 and the esteem of the
neighbourhood were not sufficient to counterbalance the hostile in
fluence of the Church of Bome, which continually pursued them.
To this influence it was conceded that they should be compelled to
cease from all manual labour on the Catholic festival days,3 and
that they should be prohibited from admitting into their places
of worship any person not of their own religion;4 whilst, under
1 The Marquis de Bercastel, governor of Lucerna, spirito da un alto di cariia, e
mosso a compassione verso il detto popoU, se compiaciuto di farli I'offerta e di dar e
sborsar, la soma di liure trecento ducati d'argento .... for the erection of the
Protestant place of worship at Le Villar. (From a notarial deed of 11th February,
1706.) The place of worship was completed in 1707: it was merely a re-building.
(This document, and many others relating to this place of worship, are in the Ar
chives of Le Villar, vol. Religionarii, folio 121-157.) The bell of this church was
recast in 1719, by a person named Nigretti, of Crussol. The stipulations made
with him are of date 28th April, and are to be found in folio 174.
2 In 1693 and 1694, in 1703 and 1706, 1708 and 1713, Victor Amadeus II. signi
fied to the Vaudois not only his good-will, but even attachment and gratitude.
(See at these dates.) "We read in a letter of the moderator to the English ambas
sador at Turin : — ""Will your excellency be. so good as to remind our sovereign,
that he gave his word to Mr. Molesworth (predecessor of Mr. Edges), never again
to trouble the Vaudois." The letter is dated 26th May, 1727.
1 An order of Victor Amadeus II., dated 14th July, 1718, enjoined the Vaudois
to abstain from all kinds of work on the festival days of the Romish church. (Ar
chives of Le Villar, vol. Religionarii, folio 176.) The Vaudois petitioned against
this prohibition; and by a new order, dated 9th August, 1718, they were per
mitted to work in their own houses, with closed doors, but only during the hours
when the Catholics might be at liberty to employ themselves in similar labours.
In order to apply themselves to those for which the Catholics required a permis
sion from their parish priest, it was necessary for the Protestants to obtain one
from the judge. (This document is in the form of a biglietto regio in the Archives
of Turin, and of explanatory instructions transmitted by the Count de Mellarede,
minister of the interior, in those of Pignerol.) The second article of the edict of
25th June, 1720, confirmed these regulations. But the Vaudois still petitioned
against this compulsory resting on the festivals of a church to which they did not
belong. (Memoria sopra il raccorso fatlo, nel 1718, dalli Protestanti, per la liberta
di travagliare le festi, e sopra diversi abusi. Archives of the Court, Turin, No. 451. )
New instructions were addressed, in 1721, to the Senate of Pignerol, to confirm
the edict of 14th July, 1718. (Id. No. 452.) But the vexations which arose from
the arbitrary execution of this edict became so grievous, that upon a new petition
from the Vaudois, the king mitigated it a little ; by rescript of 12th May, 1724,
confirming the regulations of 25th June, 1720, and by biglietto regio of 27th June,
1724, confirming those of 9th August, 1718. (Same source, Nos. 442, 927, &c.)
4 The superior Council of Pignerol demanded in the first place, on 31st March,
1717, that the Protestants of Le Pomaret should be prevented from admitting Ca
tholics to their worship. (This was especially intended to keep away the Reformed
of Pragela, who had been compelled to conform to the rites of the Church of
Rome.) Victor Amadeus IL, by a rescript of 2d April, 1717, assented to this de
mand. On 28th May a manifesto appeared, which allows some individual excep
tions to this prohibition. (Turin, Archives of the Court ; category Valdesi, Nos.
474-478.) But this prohibition was soon extended to all the Vaudois places of
worship. (Orders of 28th Sept. and 22d Oct., 1720; quoted in a petition of 1721.)

Chap. XIX] THE VAUDOIS HARASSED. 285
pretext of public security, their most lawful rights were often dis
regarded.1 It had already been attempted to restrict the number
of their places of worship;2 and the Propaganda redoubled their
activity in instigating new annoyances.3
These severe measures were followed by proceedings still more
vexatious; 4 even criminal attempts remained unpunished — cruelties
1 Order of 20th June, 1714; which, whilst it banished the French Protestants
from the country, forbade the Vaudois themselves to leave it. Note of the Pro
curator-General, dated 11th September, 1714, saying that these measures are for
the public tranquillity. (Archives of Le Perrier.)
2 "When the territory of Lucerna and that of St. John formed but one commune
(in 1638, in consequence of the depopulation of the country by the expulsion of
the Vaudois), the Catholics of St. John built a church, which afterwards, on tho
return of the exiles, passed into the hands of the Protestants, in virtue of some
transactions unknown to me; and the restitution of this edifice to the Catholic re
ligion was ordered by decree of 12th May, 1717. The Protestant church of St.
Germain, which had been demolished in 1686, and rebuilt in 1711, was not in the
same spot with the old one. Upon this account its destruction was demanded;
but as the site of the old church could not be exactly determined, the new one was
allowed to remain. (Risoluzioni prese nel congresso tenuto avanti S. E. il signor
conte ministro e primo segretario di stato, Mellaride, li \1-maggio, 1717. (Turin,
Archives of the Court, Valdesi, No. 473.) A special edict of Victor Amadeus had
authorized Protestant worship in the commune of Prarusting : dalle regioni di
costa longia e Massera in su, verso la montagna ; e alia Duriva del Colloretto, ove
vi an picolo canale, &c. (Edict of 2d October, 1699. In the Archives of the Court
of Accounts, at Turin, Reg. contr. gen. MDCXC. No. 199, folio 112.) The in
structions of 20th June, 1730, could not suppress this edict, but they laid down
the rule that no new Protestant place of worship'should be erected in the valleys;
and as to that of Prarusting, it is said " vogliamo ben permettere che sussista la
campana" (some authors have read la cabane), "on condition always that it be
not extended, and that the pastor who formerly lived at Rocheplate shall again fix
his residence there, and shall not be entitled to reside at St. Barthelemy." (Ts-
truttione a riguojrdo de Valdesi, 20th June, 1730, art. ix.) Subsequently all
places for religious meetings, other than the churches, were closed in the valleys.
(Decrees of the Senate of Turin, of 19th Feb., 1756, and 18th January, 1771. Ar
chives of the Senate.)
3 Particularly in order to obtain conversions to Catholicism. The marriage por
tions were fixed (stato delle dotti .... costituite a figlie convertite . . . kc.
Archives of the Court, No. 448.) Even gifts abounded. (Testamentary deed of
2d July, 1723, by which the testator disposes of his property in favour of such
VaudoiB as should become Catholics. Archives of the intendancy of Pignerol,
categ. I., class IV., art. viii., No. 8.) Concerning the annoyances, I possess a
memorial entitled Grievances of the Valleys of Piedmont, belonging to the year 1721.
It would be too tedious to enter into the details.
4 Criminal prosecutions were instituted against pastors who performed the func
tions of their ecclesiastical office for any one born on the left bank of the Cluson
or in Pragela, where the government would acknowledge the existence of none
but Catholics. For having administered baptism to an infant horn at Fenestrelle,
on 18th April, 1727, the pastor of St. John, Cyprian Appia, was condemned to
banishment and confiscation of goods. But the English ambassador, Mr. Edges,
obtained his pardon. " We can no longer venture to meet for any business," wrote
this pastor afterwards, "because of the prosecution which has been commenced
against five of our number, who had met for public affairs." .... (Letter of

286 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. [Paut TnII1D-
were from time to time openly perpetrated, or being shrouded in
mystery, inspired the greater alarm.1 The protection of foreign
powers did no more than repair these injuries — it did not prevent
them.2 Distrust everywhere prevailed;3 the complaints of the
Appia, dated 24th August, 1733, to Mr. Chetwynd, at London.— Vaudois Corres
pondence.) This prosecution also terminated in a condemnation, but through the
indulgence of the sovereign, it was annulled by letters-patent, dated 16th April,
1734, and recorded on the 20th. Amongst these persons was one named Daniel
Musseton. Cyprian Appia was also implicated in it, as well as other pastors.
1 It seems to have been in 1727 that the monks of Le Villars formed the project
of blowing up, by means of a mine, the Protestant church of that place, built in
1707. I have given some particulars of this story, in a volume on the Vaudois,
published in 1834, p. 53. See also Blair, History of the Waldenses (2 vols. 8vo,
Edinburgh, 1833), ii. 533. Of cruelties openly perpetrated the greatest and most
frequent was the carrying away of Vaudois children, which took place from
time to time either by open violence or secretly. The Vaudois Correspondence
from 1725 to 1765, which I have consulted, contains a great number of instances.
" No means are neglected to make children rebel against their father and mother.
.... Stephen Odin, of Prarusting, is much annoyed about his daughter, who has
become a Catholic  The tribunal of Pignerol caused Odin's property to be
judicially sold, to endow his daughter's apostasy, to the prejudice of his children
who remain faithful. . . . All the petitions which we have presented since 1718,
have been disregarded." (Passages extracted from divers letters of the Moderator,
from 5th January to 12th June, 1727.)
When the walls of the convent of Le Villar were demolished, some human ske
letons were found, incased in the thick partitions of the edifice.
2 " The evangelical churches of Piedmont, which exist only by a perpetual
miracle of Providence .... have always been the object of especial patronage
and protection on the part of the sovereigns of Great Britain, since the reign of
Queen Mary. The afflictions to which they are continually exposed render this
protection now more necessary to them than ever." (Letter of condolence, written
on 10th September, 1727, by the moderator of the Vaudois churches, to George II-
of England, on the death of his father, George I. — Vaudois Correspondence.} — •
"Amongst foreign powers," says the Report of 1729 on the State of the Vaudois
churches, "England is now their firmest support, as before the peace of the
Pyrenees they were supported by the King of France." (Records of the Venerable
Company of Pastors of Geneva, vol. X, p. 174, &c.) — We must add Holland and
Prussia, which certainly have, at all times, done much more for the Vaudois than
ever was done by France.
3 Even against the pastors: for the pecuniary supplies which came from abroad
had no fixed destination. The synod disposed of them. Part of the support of
the pastors and schoolmasters was derived from these sums. Hence arose some
irregularities, many rivalries and jealousies, and rumours of malversation inces
santly renewed, although always disproved. The directors of the Vaudois churches
complained of the ingratitude and the accusations to which they were subjected.
Their letters, again, were often intercepted at Pignerol. No one could venture to
express himself freely, nor to confide in anybody at home or abroad, &c. (The
Records of the Venerable Company of Pastors of Geneva, vols. T, V, X; the Cor
respondence of the Vaudois Moderator, and a great number of letters and pamphlets
of the period, which it would be tedious to particularize, contain proofs of these
facts.) In 1727, an impostor presented himself in London, with forged papers and
an imitation of the seal of the Vaudois churches, with the view of appropriating
to himself the supplies designed for them. (Letter of the Moderator to Mr. Chet
wynd, agent for the Vaudois in London, dated 6th May, 1727, &c.)

Chap. XIX] STATE OF CHURCH DISCIPLINE. 287
Vaudois were no longer listened to.1 Their synods could do no
more than to redress particular grievances,2 to maintain union in
families,3 to watch over the morals of the people,4 and to keep up
the exercise of discipline.6 But this discipline itself had partici
pated in the effects of those perturbations by which everything was
unsettled:6 and the laxity of opinion which characterized the age
increased continually without putting an end to religious fanati
cism, now without even the excuse of sincere conviction for its in
tolerance.7 The Vaudois church multiplied its public prayers and
" No answer is given to our petitions ; our complaints produce not even an
echo ; the very letters which we send to you are retained." Vaudois Correspondence
of 1718-1729. (Letters to Mr. Edges at Turin, and to M. Turretin at Geneva.)—
The books which we procure from Geneva for the religious instruction of our
children are stopped at the office at Pont d'Arve, and we cannot recover them
from it." (Note in the handwriting of Cyprian Appia, dated in 1729.) "Our
deputies are not permitted to obtain access to the king, . . . our petitions are un
fairly dealt with" . . . (Synod of 28th November, 1724, § 5), &c.
2 See Synodal Acts of 3d June, 1694, art. 1 and 2; of 25th October, 1695, art.
7 and 9; of 25th April, 1697, art. 2 and 5; of 28th April, 1705, art. 7 and 10; o«
23d October, 1708, art. 8 and 9; of 1712, art. 3; of 1724, § 7; of 1727, § 4; of 1729,
§ 9 and 16, &c. — "The Vaudois are little in favour with the Catholic magistracy;
but the disputes which they have amongst themselves are almost always ter
minated by the intervention of their ministers and others, whom they choose for
arbiters." (Briive narration des Vaudois, ou sujets protestants de S. M. . . . faite
par un gentilhomme, en ses voyages d'ltalie : without date ; but it mentions the
differences between the court of Rome and the house of Savoy, fourteen years ago,
which would place this note in 1707, if the reference is to the differences of 1694
relative to the re-establishment of the Vaudois ; or in 1733, if it is to those con
cerning the Monarchy of Sicily, which were prolonged till 1719. State Archives
at Turin, category Valdesi, No. 458.)
3 See the Synodal Acts, at the sections already quoted. (Archives of the Vaudois
Table.) 4 See also the Synods of 1703, § 14; 1707, § 7, 8; 1708, § 11, 12; 1712, § 6, 11;
1713, § 4, 15; 1716, § 9; 1718, § 8, 9; 1725, § 3; and 1729, § 8, 9, 16.
5 See the synod of St. Germain, 29th November, 1729, art. viii. (Various re
gulations follow.) The preceding synod, according to a letter of the moderator
to M. Iselin, at Basle (dated 12th March, 1727), "resolved henceforth to examine
students, before sending them to the places which maybe granted them by foreign
academies." AU the proceedings of these assemblies had, however, no other object
than the maintenance of order, morality, evangelical doctrine, and discipline. —
For the regulations in detail, see the minutes of their proceedings.
3 The same sources as are indicated in the preceding notes; also Synod of 1708,
art. 1 and 2; of 1710, § 23 and 24; of 1715, § 4 and 8 ; of 1716, § 2; of 1727, § 5,
&c. " Our schools are very irregularly kept." (Letter of the moderator to James
Leger, pastor at Geneva, dated 5th Ap^il, 1728.) "Our churches stand in need
of considerable reforms." (Letter to M. Burlamaqui, of 23d April of the same
year.) 7 The Vaudois were forbidden (1), to acquire properties beyond their limits, and
to exercise certain professions; (2), to settle out of their valleys, even for trade;
(3), to make proselytes from the Romish church, and to oppose proselytism amongBt
themselves ; (4), to reclaim their children taken from them under pretext of ab
juration; (5), to increase the number of their places of worship and of their -minis-

288 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. LPil" TmaD.
fasts, in order to obtain the blessing of God for the time to come.1
But a transformation was taking place in society — habits and
opinions were changing, and meanwhile the spirit of the past
struggled with new energy to regain its empire. The promulgation
of the old Piedmontese statute,1* which made the situation of the
Vaudois so much worse than before,3 took place about the same
time with the opening of the council of Embrun,4 which fomented
the dissensions occasioned by the bull Unigenitus.
Bemonstrances were vain on the part of the Vaudois; they could
obtain no more mild or equitable regulations,5 but on the contrary
they had reason to apprehend new severities, and the edict of
20th June, 1730, published under the form of Instructions to the
senate of Pignerol, did nothing but collect and codify, so to
speak, all the oppressive measures which had already been adopted
with regard to them. It was then that all Protestants of foreign
birth were for the second time expelled from their valleys, and,
with a few exceptions, all the Protestants, natives of Pragela, were
banished, no more to return.6 In vain did the organs of the
ters, even within their own valleys; (6), to hold religious assemblies, or even
simple prayer meetings, out of these places of worship, and without the presence
of the pastor. (See Gilly, Vigilantius and Valdo, page 32.)— Each of these pro
hibitions became a ready pretext for calumnies and prompt proceedings.
' From 1701 to 1726, seven public and solemn fasts were appointed by the synod
in the valleys. That of 1720 was for preservation from the scourge of pestilence ;
and that of 1723, to thank God for having preserved them from it.
2 The synod of 28th November, 1724, was principally occupied in examining,
with reference to the interests of the Vaudois, the Royal Constitutions, as they
were called, which were published in 1723. (See the minutes of that synod.)
3 This did not repeal the edict of 23d May, 1694, re-establishing the VaudoiB. —
There was no mention made in it of the inhabitants of the valleys, although the
Jews were, by the same constitutions, protected from all insult and violence. (Such
are the terms of a petition drawn up by the Synod of 1724.) The observance of
the Catholic festivals was rendered obligatory. Protestants were prohibited from
having notaries of their own religion, although they had had them from time imme
morial. (Terms of the same petition. ) Parents were obliged to dispone their pro
perty in favour of their children who had become Catholics, whom they Lad just
the least reason for favouring, ka.
4 Opened on 16th August, 1727. ' It was on 24th October, 1728, that a parere
was adopted, circa il capo da aggiungere alle costituzioni a riguardo de Valdesi,
containing a declaration with regard to the edict of 1694, upon which the Vaudois
rested in demanding the maintenance of their privileges, that ' ' when circumstances
change, edicts lose their value." (Turin, Archives of the Court, No. 441.) This
maxim needs no comment. *
3 " Notwithstanding all our petitions we have not been able to obtain the slight
est relief." (Concluding words of a memorial drawn up in 1728, undei tho title
Griefs des Vaudois. In my possession.)
6 A list of the names of the Vaudois of Pragela, exiled in 1730, and who were
within the canton of Berne in the month of May of that year, may be seen in
Dieterici, p. 404. They amounted to 360 persons. Those of the other valleys who
were in Switzerland as exiles, in December, 1730, amounted to 4S0 persons. The

CW.XVIl] RENEWED PETITIONS. 289
Vaudois church and its foreign protectors reclaim against these
abuses of power: the only replies to their just complaints were
deceitful subtleties,1 or promises almost always illusory.2 They
renewed their petitions.3 But these protestations of their rights
list is also given by Dieterici, pp. 408-414. (Total of the Vaudois exiled at the
close of 1730, 840.)
1 " All these reclamations of the Vaudois, or of the powers which protected them,
are founded upon the edict of 23d May, 1694; but this edict leaves untouched
aU those which were issued anterior to 1686, and consequently the plenitude of
action of the sovereign." (Progetto di capo per agiunta alle costituzioni. . . . Ar
chives of the Court, No. 471.) Instead of granting more liberty to the Vaudois,
they must be restrained as much as possible. (Parere sovra la toleranza degl' eri-
tici, in Piemonte. Same source, No. 464. "Without date.) " The King of Eng
land caused representations to be made, on the subject of the Vaudois, by Mr.
Molenvorck [?], his envoy extraordinary at Turin ; a promise was given to regulate
their situation according to the anterior edicts, and all the articles of the edict of
20th June, 1730, were successively communicated to the English ambassador, with
the edict upon which they were based. He acknowledged their exact accordance;
it is therefore with a bad grace that complaints are made of them now." (Extracted
and abridged from a note sent to the English secretary, A lien, on 27th April, 1731.
Same source, No. 465.) It was, however, acknowledged that many of the edicts
brought forward, were not applicable to the Vaudois valleys. (Rescript of 12th
August, 1730, published by Borelli.) The States-General of Holland wrote to
Victor Amadeus with the same object, on 7th November, 1730; the king's reply,
polite but evasive, is dated 2d December, 1730. (Archives of the Court, Nos. 467,
468.) The influence of the Catholic clergy was then exercised over the king,
through the instrumentality of a female, for whom he thought it little to sacrifice
the repose of the Vaudois, and for whom he ere long sacrificed his throne.
2 The King of Prussia wrote to Victor Amadeus, on 6th January, 1725 : — " The
tranquillity of the Vaudois cannot be a matter of indifference to me. ... It is
attempted to compel them to observe the Catholic festivals, contrary to the edict
of 23d May, 1694  The ordinance by which they are required to provide
a pension for their children who have abjured the religion of their fathers, seems
to me no less hard. . . . And the books necessary for the exercise of the Pro
testant religion are stopped at the custom-house. ... I beg your majesty to be
well assured that of all marks of friendship which you can give me, that of attend
ing to my intercession for the Vaudois churches will always be the most agreeable
to me." This letter, full of such noble and touching expressions of interest, is
given entire by Dieterici, pp. 395-397. Victor Amadeus replied on 3d March,
1725: — "Sir, — my brother [monsieur mon frire], — I have received with great
pleasure your majesty's letter, which has just reached my hands. I will always
be exceedingly desirous to gratify you in everything; but I cannot refuse myself
the satisfaction of informing you that the kindness which your letter seeks to do to
the Vaudois, my subjects, by a mere act of generous intercession, has been entirely
anticipated by the sentiments of good-will and protection with which I regard the
fidelity and zeal of the said Vaudois, arid consequently their tranquillity. Their
tranquillity is in no danger whatever, but my intention is that it shall be as perma
nent as their faithfulness in fufilling their duties shall be ; and I beg your majesty
to rest assured of the perfect friendship and respect, with which I am, Sir, — my
brother, — your majesty's attached brother [bon frire\ Victor Amadeus." Although
this letter makes no reply as to any of the facts mentioned by the King of Prussia,
it is not the less. remarkable because of the testimony which Victor Amadeus bears
to the fidelity of the Vaudois, and their fulfilment of their duties.
3 On 20th November, 1730; signed by 165 heads of families of the valleys; pre
sented to the king by Appia and Leger, deputies.
Vol. ii. 97

290 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. D'aet Tiiiod.
served only to excite injustice;1 and the refusals of justice added
still more and more to the grievances which they endured.2
Was this a chastisement of Providence inflicted upon this people
— small in number, and already tried more than almost any other
by the rods of the jealous love of their God — to punish them for
the decrease of zeal which was manifested amongst them, and the
relaxation of morals of which their own synods already com
plained? " " In the end of the eighteenth century," says M. Mon
astier4 (and we do not hesitate to apply this judgment to the
eighteenth century altogether), "the valleys suffered in some
measure from the decline of religious sentiments, which were
generally weakened everywhere. Christian zeal, in former periods
so lively and fruitful, drew less support from the pure fountain of
the gospel. A self-sufficient and feeble reason, and human under
standing, always the more proud the more narrow its bounds,
began to assert for themselves a place in theology." We shall see
in next chapter how these germs of moral and religious weakness
developed themselves, and happily, towards the end of this his
tory, we shall behold their decrease. " The Lord," says David,
" will not cast off his people : neither will he forsake his inheri
tance."5 May the Israel of the Alps also never be forgetful of the
blessings graciously vouchsafed by their God !
1 An inquiry after all persons actually Protestants, but who had been born 01
baptized in the Romish church, before 1686 and after 1676, to compel them to re
turn to Catholicism, or to leave the country. (From 1730 to 1732.) A rescript
of 9th October, 1733, prohibiting the Vaudois who were not so situated, from
leaving the country to accompany their friends into exile. (Archives of Le Villar,
vol. Religionarii, folio 177.)
- This is but too well proved by all the criminal prosecutions which took place
at this period, and the numerous proscriptions which decimated the Vaudois val
leys, as well as by the measures above quoted.
3 In the preamble of each exhortation to public fasting. (Synodal Acts, &c.)
4 II. 198. » Ps. xciv. 14.

Chap. XX.] PERSECUTION CONTINUED. 291

CHAPTER XX.
INFLUENCE OF THE PHILOSOPHY OF THE EIGHTEENTH CEN
TURY ON THE VAUDOIS CHURCH, AND PROGRESS OF EVENTS
DOWN TO THE FRENCH REVOLUTION.1
(a.d. 1730 to a.d. 1792.)
Persecution continued in many forms of vexation — Growth and effects of new
ideas — Children seized and retained by Papists — Popish missions in the valleys
— Insincerity in replies to remonstrances of the British Government — Vexatious
prohibitions and restrictions — Poverty and distress of the Vaudois — Their ser
vices to the King of Sardinia in his wars — Battle of Assiette — Continued vexa
tions on the part of the Popish clergy — The Refuge of Virtue — The Vaudois
Table instituted — Origin of the Vaudois congregation at Turin — The Vaudois
churches of the French Alps begin to display signs of life — Unhappy effects of
the infidel philosophy of the period on the spiritual character of the Vaudois
pastors and church.
No period has left a greater number of documents than that of
which we are now to treat;3 but nothing can be more monotonous
than the view of the facts which it exhibits. Never were events
more numerous or less remarkable than in this part of our history.
The spirit of persecution continued to exert itself in a multitude
of ways against the repose of the Vaudois ; but it had lost its
audacity, as their faith had lost its heroism. Boldness had passed
over to the side of new ideas, equally remote from faith and from
intolerance. A long succession of mean and assiduous annoyances,
proceeding at once from low cunning and from bitter hatred, and
wrought in an underhand manner and upon frivolous pretexts,
spread like a stifling network over the Vaudois church.
That church itself already felt in some degree the relaxing
influence of the eighteenth century. " The candidates for the holy
ministry," says M. Monastier, "no longer acquired, for the most
part, in the foreign academies to which they went to pursue their
preparatory studies, anything else than a cold orthodoxy or the
fatal germs of Socinianism. Virtue was often preached and exalted
more than the work of Christ, or faith, or the love of God."3 Yet
it was at this very time also that virtue became more rare ! This
1 Authorities. — Indicated at the bottom of the pages.
2 It must not be forgotten that these documents are almost all unpublished. I
will point out a sufficient number of them to enable the reader to judge of their
abundance, at the same time mentioning the sources from which they are derived.
3 Monastier, Hist, des Vaudois, II., 198.

292 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. [PaktThihu.
apparent incongruity is only a consequence perfectly clear in the
eyes of the Christian; and even the science of metaphysics itself,
from recognizing at present merely a great number of moral pheno
mena which succeed each other within us, without the intervention
of our own will, must necessarily advance towards the acknowledg
ment on scientific grounds of that mysterious, free, and powerful
influence which the humblest child of Christ already knows under
the name of the grace of God.
But at the period at which this chapter must resume the history
of the Vaudois, questions of form still struggled to maintain an
empire which already had in reality ceased to be theirs. The
narrow and tyrannic formalism of the Bomish church in particular
endeavoured to impose its own shackles upon all, and contended by
violence against the increasing repulsion which it caused. "We
are subjected to very bitter tribulations," says a letter from the
valleys at this period, " for the persons born or baptized Catholics
before 1686, and those who became Catholics during the persecution
but who returned to their own church in more quiet times, as the
edict of 1694 also authorized them, have received orders, contrary
to that edict, to abandon Protestantism, and not to leave the
country to go and profess it abroad, under pain of confiscation of
goods and of the galleys. Many of those who have returned since
1730 have died in the prisons ; others are wandering in the
mountains or without resources in foreign countries."1
" On the 23d of June last," says another Vaudois (in 1735),
" one of my daughters, named Catharine, was carried off from us
without our knowing at first what had become of her. But a few
days after, her little brother, aged seven years, met her; and she,
taking him by the hand, conducted him to Le Perier, to the house
of the priest Don Quadro. I then went to the house of that
ecclesiastic to reclaim my children; but he refused to give them up
to me, on the pretext that they had become Catholics. I then
said, that the little boy, of seven years, was not come to an age
when he could have understanding for anything of the kind; but
all was to no purpose, and I have not seen them again."2 The
Vaudois pastors demanded at Pignerol the restoration of these
children to their unhappy father; but they obtained only promises
from which nothing resulted; and the petition addressed to the
1 Letter of 12th July, 1733, addressed byM. Cyprian Appia, pastor at St. John,
to M. Turretin, professor at Geneva. (In my possession.)
2 Petition of John Richard, native and inhabitant of the village of Les Prals, m
the valley of St. Martin. It is not dated. (Archives of the Court, Turin, No,
528.) The petitioner asks to have his children restored to him. I have not found
the answer to this petition.

Chap. XX] VAUDOIS CHILDREN SEIZED. 293
king with the same object appears not even to have received a
reply. However, the edict of 18th August, 1655, did not authorize
the abjurations of children, contrary to the will of their parents,
before a fixed age.1 But so great was the influence of the persons
by whom these things were done, that they ventured frequently .to
repeat the same kind of enormity.
In the Synodal Acts of the valleys,2 we read that " the assembly,
grieved to see that, contrary to the edicts of our sovereigns, and, in
particular, contrary to the letters-patent of Pignerol of 1655, some
children have been carried off from their parents, has resolved that
a most humble petition shall be addressed to his majesty, to order
that they may be restored to us, and that, in future, the royal and
gracious regulations of his majesty in our favour, and those of his
glorious predecessors, may be observed." The representations of
the synod remaining without effect, recourse was had to the
mediation of England, which, however, was productive of no better
results. "Children have not been carried off from the Vaudois,''
it was replied to the ambassador of that power; "but those who
have voluntarily retired to an hospital of refuge3 have only been
received into it."4 The note from which these words are extracted
even adds that two children who had not attained to the requisite
age — viz., a boy of eleven years and a girl of seven — had been sent
back from the hospital to their parents. But if this ever took
place, it can have been only a deceitful show, perhaps, got up for
this very occasion; for we find, on the contrary, that this hospital,
far from voluntarily sending back . to their parents any of the
children whom it had inclosed within its gates, aimed at nothing
less than compelling the parents themselves to restore to it, against
their will, those of their children who had escaped from the watch
fulness of their captors, and had returned to their own families.5
' Above twelve years in the case of boys, and above ten in the case of girls.
2 Synod held at Les Clots, 23d October, 1736, § v.
3 Opera del rifugio, ed ospizio pe' cattolizati e cattolizandi. It was first founded
at Turin, in 1679, by the Duchess Mary, then regent of the dominions of Savoy.
To this establishment was attached a rent of 3000 francs, taken from the revenues
of the order of St. Maurice and St. Lazarus ; and of 2500 francs, taken from those
of the company of St. Paul. It was not till 1740 that it was transported to Pig
nerol. Long details on this subject maybe seen in Duboin, vol. xiii. and vol. xv.,
pp. 217-251.
4 " Reply to the memorial transmitted by the Duke of Bedford, minister of Eng
land, to the Chevalier Ossorio, and by him sent to Turin, with his letter of 31st
May, 1738, to the Marquis de GorzSgue, on the subject of the representations of
the Vaudois." (Inscription on the envelope containing this note, in the State Ar
chives at Turin.)
5 This appears from a despatch of the intendant of Pignerol, who asked the ad
vocate-general, se possa obligarsi ure religionario, a restituire all' ospizio, unfiglio

294 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. [paet Thikd.
The monks and priests who were scattered over the valleys, were
the natural purveyors for this hospital of detention. The govern
ment was petitioned to restrict the number of these ecclesiastics,
but instead of diminishing it increased.it. It was at this period
that the bishopric of Pignerol was founded,1 and the reply of the
government was that they had not sent into the valleys more
priests than were strictly necessary for the spiritual direction of
the Catholics.2 These words were intended to mislead foreigners
as to the existence of the proselytizing missions which were in the
valleys. The denial of their existence was implied, although not
made in formal terms, and yet this organized proselytism was in-
contestible. We may judge what confidence could be placed in
promises from a quarter, in which there was such insincerity in
diplomatic relations. In the same note it was said3 that the Pro
testants were never made to contribute to the expense of Catholic
worship; and yet, two years before, the Vaudois of St. John were
still called on^to contribute for payment of the paschal taper, and
for the maintenance of the bells of the Popish church in their
locality, as we learn from their own petitions.4
Meanwhile, with inconceivable injustice, the severest proceedings
were adopted against every Protestant who was suspected of
making proselytes to the Beformed Church.'5 This was upon the
minors d'anni dwcil The reply of the advocate-general was in the negative.
This reply was dated from Turin, 21st July, 1778. (Archives of the Court, No.
613.) But there appears, under date 15th November, 1747, a petition of Peter
Roelie, having for its object to obtain the restitution of a child which had been
taken from him before the age authorized for abjuration. It was in vain that the
father produced the certificate of his child's birth ; that document was sent back
five times in succession, to be drawn out in different forms. I know not if this
restitution was obtained.
1 In 1748.
2 Reply to the memorial of the Duke of Bedford. (Document already cited.)
3 In article V. 4 Dated March, 1746.
5 A prosecution was instituted against the pastor of St. John, Daniel Isaac
Appia, on the accusation of a renegade, who pretended that this pastor had spoken
to him with the view of preventing him from embracing Catholicism. (Letter of
Appia to the commandant of Pignerol, justifying himself from this accusation.
The letter is not dated, but it contains the following words, which determine the
time when it was written : Sotto li tre di questo medesimo mese d'agosto del cadente
anno 1773.) As, between 1708 and 1780, there were in the valleys eight pastors
who bore the name of Appia, I think it may be useful to give their genealogy here.
Two brothers of this name, Paul and Cyprian, who had both studied in England,
were ordained at La Tour, on 13th February, 1708. Paul Appia was pastor at
Prarusting, from 1708 to 1724; then at Le Villar, from 1728 to 1738; and, finally,
at Bobi, from 1739 to 1756. His son, Paul Joseph, was pastor at Maneille, from
1732 to 1734; then at Rora, from 1735 to 1764. He had one son, named Paul',
who was pastor at Prarusting, from 1750 to 1760, and at Bobi from 1760 to 1768.
Cyprian Appia was pistor at St. John, from 1708 to 1738. His son, Daniel Isaac,

Chap XX ) FAMILY WORSHIP PROHIBITED. 295
part of Popery a self-condemning manifestation of distrust, indicat
ing a suspicion of weakness in regard to doctrine. Such was, in
deed, the dread entertained of Protestantism that opposition was
made, even on the part of the authorities, to its adherents obtaining
a majority in the municipal councils1; nay the family worship was
prohibited in which the Bible supplied the simple souls of our
good mountaineers with the spiritual nourishment of which they
stood in need.2 This was to deprive them of one of the blessings
which they prized most highly: and the value which they attached
to it is attested by the numerous but fruitless petitions which they
addressed with regard to it to the government,3 which thus re
served to itself the power of instituting arbitrary prosecutions at
pleasure, on the pretext of religious meetings.
Nor were these the only vexations of this period. For example,
if it happened that any old persons were induced, through the
failure of their faculties or for any other reason, to embrace Catho
licism, it was demanded that their children who had been brought
up in the Protestant faith, should abandon their own convictions,
to enter the Church of Bome.4 As for illegitimate children, they
was pastor at Angrogna from 1736 to 1739, and at Le Villar from 1739 to 1761.
The son of Daniel Isaac bore the name of Daniel only, and was pastor at St. John
from 1745 to 1762. He had two sons, Cyprian Bartholomew, who was pastor at
Maueille from 1760 to 1 762, and at Prarusting from 1 762 to 1787 ; and Daniel Isaac,
who was pastor at St. John from 1762 to 1780. (It is this last who is named in
the beginning of this note.)
1 Informations and report of the commandant of Pignerol, concerning the con
stitution of the Council of Prarusting, ch' erano tutti religionarii. Dated 13th
July, 1747. (Turin, Archives of the Court, No. 577.)
2 Decree of the Senate of Turin, dated 18th January, 1771, and renewing the
prohibition of all meetings or religious conferences not in the churches. (Archives
of the Senate.) They had been already prohibited on 19th February, 1756, and
9th August, 1769.
3 " After the reading of the report, presented by M. Jahier, concerning the stepB
which he had taken, along with his colleagues, to obtain the revocation of the pro
hibitions pronounced by the Royal Senate, concerning the exercises of religion else
where than in the places of worship . . . the meeting resolves to renew the peti
tions presented on this subject on 12th March, 1771, and 23d September, 1773."
Minutes of Synod held at Le Chiabas, 6th May, 1772, article VII.) But it would
seem that these petitions were fruitless, for in the Synod of 12th and 13th October,
1774, Pastor Jahier read a new report of his further proceedings; and on 24th
October, 1774, an order of the intendant of Pignerol (Sylvester Bertram) renewed
the prohibition di far adunanze, sinodi o colloquii, in liuoghi e case particolari,
senza licenza di S. M. (In my possession. )
4 Order of the Secretary of State for the Department of the Interior, enjoining
the Prefect of Pignerol to see to it, that children born of Protestant parents, whose
parents should afterwards become Catholics, should be brought up Catholics. This
order, founded upon the biglietto regio of 17th July, 1728, is dated 14th April,
1744. (Turin, Archives of the Senate: Materie eccles. et ordinarie, 1738-1745.
Register V., folio 351.)

296 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. [i-am'Tuied.
were clear gain to Popery;1 and the guilty mother often experienced
a distress as great as that of her shame, in seeing her infant taken
from her arms to be transported to the hospital for proselytes.
Moreover, the Vaudois valleys were during almost the whole of
the eighteenth century in a state of great destitution, partly occa
sioned by public events,2 partly by bad harvests,3 sometimes aggra
vated by exchequer prosecutions,4 or by unexpected calamities5
1 Nel 1751, un fanciulo essendo nato da due heretici, sciotti amendue dal Vincolo
matrimonalie, fu scritto dal Prefetto da Pinerolo al senato, kc. ... It was de
cided that this child should be taken from its parents, and brought up a Catholic.
(Parere, sul ricorso del Vescovo di Pinerolo, toccanto I'allevamente nella cattol. rel.
de spurii nati da religionarii. Dated 2l8t May, 1788. Turin, State Archives, cate
gory Valdesi, No. 518. ) By a real biglietto of 24th June, 1739, Charles Emmanuel III.
ordered, with regard to an infant born in such circumstances, that its paternity
should be inquired into, and that if the father was a Protestant, the child should
not be brought up a Catholic. According to an order of the Senate of Turin,
dated 2d May, 1755, the prefect of Pignerol was to recommend to the judges of
St. John and Angrogna to take care that two children, in such circumstances,
Bhould be brought up by their mothers, until they could be received into the hos
pital. The mothers were held bound to present these infants, as often as they
should be required. (Particulars derived from the same parere. ) In 1757, the Vau
dois presented a petition for liberty to bring up such children in their own religion,
when the parents or the church would bear their maintenance. This petition is
not dated, but the Report of the Senate of Pignerol, presented to His Majesty, as to
the prayer of it, is dated 29th November, 1757. It mentions that this subject
was examined into in 1739, and with an opposite result in 1751. It proposes to
adhere to the regulations of 18th August, 1655.
2 "The calamities with which God has afflicted various nations, the chastise
ments with which he has visited ourselves, in these last years, by the scantiness of
the harvests (the sole resource of this country), and other misfortunes which have
reduced the greater part of the inhabitants to a state of lamentable poverty . . .
induce the meeting to resolve that a public fast shall be celebrated, &c  "
(Acts of the Vaudois Synod, held at Le Villar, 19th April, 1768, art. IV. and V.)
3 " The severity of the winter has destroyed our crops, and caused great distress."
(Synod of 19th October, 1716, § IV.) " Our crops have almost totally failed . . ."
(Letter of Cyprian Appia, September, 1728.) " I have exercised the ministry in
the valleys for twenty-seven years. We are always exposed to the hatred and out
rages of our enemies. "We suffer the severest afflictions. The valleys are poor,
and can do very little for their pastors. "Without the British assistance we could
not subsist." (Letter of the same. Vol. of 1734.) The crops failed again in 1752,
in 1768, and in 1779.
4 Sequestration of the goods of those whose taxes were in arrear. (Archives of
Le Perrier, year 1716.) — Reports by Leger on the state of the valleys in 1729.
(Archives of the Pastors of Geneva, vol. X. p. 174, &c.) — A Brief Account of the
Vaudois of Piemonl. Pamphlet published in 1753. — "We are crushed down by
extraordinary taxes, whilst the Catholics are even exempted from the faille roy ale."
(Vaudois Correspondence. Letters of 1764, &c.)
5 " "We still suffer much from the effects of a terrible calamity which took place
in 1728." (Letter of Cyprian Appia, moderator, dated from St. John, 3d March,
1731.) This was an inundation. Another disastrous inundation took place in
September, 1738. It was in consequence of this flood that the dike called the
rampart was constructed at Bobi. Collections were made from 1739 to 1743 in
Holland and England, fur its erection, and to relieve the wants of the inhabitants.

Chap. XX.] POVERTY OF THE VAUDOIS. 297
now resulting in the gradual ruin of families, now in their demo
ralization.1 This excessive poverty arose in part from the want
of employment and of commerce — the sad consequences of the
manifold prohibitions which pressed upon the Vaudois; it was
also in part owing to the superabundance of the population shut
up within the limits of the three valleys, to which they were abso
lutely confined.2 But it must be recorded, to the praise of the
doctrines of the gospel, that the foreign Protestant churches dis
played an assiduity in relieving the Vaudois commensurate with
the indigence by which they were distressed.3
The statement of the distribution of these funds forms a folio MS. of 40 pages.
Of the 372 heads of families who appear in it, there are 186 (the exact half ) whose
signature is represented only by a conventional sign. This circumstance may serve to
show us, pretty exactly, what was the state of elementary education in the Vaudois
valleys at this period, from the proportion of those who could sign their names and
of those who were completely illiterate.
1 Note on the events which took place after 1730. — " Many of our people, finding
nothing but disquietude and disorder at home, wished to leave their native country.
Some, knowing that more considerable aid was given to those of whose proselytism
most hope was entertained, in order to secure that object, affected to be ready to
abjure, that they might participate in this aid. Others sold their properties at a
loss and went abroad. Not haviDg found th emselves so well off in foreign countries
as they expected, they returned more miserable and distressed than before. In
many cases, also, persons who had abjured to escape the vexations of the edict, could
not get quit of those of their own consciences. Some repaired to Switzerland, to
return to the religion which they had abjured. Their properties were then con
fiscated in Piedmont, and they were exposed to great dangers if they attempted to
return thither. Prosecutions were even instituted against the pastors, on the
charge of having encouraged these persons to relapse after they had become
Catholics ; and those of them who remained in the country were forbidden to
leave it. Some, after having spent all that they had in foreign countries, returned
to augment the misery of their native valleys. The children of some Protestant
parents had been baptized Catholics and numbers of these children having returned
to the faith of their fathers, were proceeded against as relapsed. A relaxation of
family ties, of discipline, and of morals, was the result of this unquiet and wander
ing life. The country long experienced the effects of it," &c.
2 " Besides that the limits within which they have from time to time been re
strained are narrow, they are not permitted, although they are Christians, to leave
them, and to settle elsewhere with their brethren in the dominions of the same
sovereign; so that these mountains are in some places too densely peopled and in
other places not sufficiently. Commerce is there impossible, poverty is general, &c."
. . . (Petition of the VsmioisTpastorsauxmagnifiqucs Seigneurs de la Florissante
Ripublique Helvetique a Zurich; dated 15th March, 1728. It is in the hand
writing of Reynaudin, moderator-adjunct, and is signed by nine other pastors,
amongst whom is Vincent Arnaud, son of the colonel. • (In my possession.)
3 A long series of documents and letters, extending from 16th March, 1730, to
11th August, 1731, all relative to the management and distribution of the 10,000
florins granted by Holland to the Vaudois valleys. (Report by Professor Leger,
printed at Geneva in 1731, 30 pages, 4to. See also the manuscript report contained
in the Archives of the Pastors of Geneva, vol. X. p. 177. ) — Elats de secours accoroUs
par la Hollande aux Eglises Vaudoises, faitetarriti a Delft, le 13 Mars', 1738, par
MM. Us commissaires du Synods vallon, &c. . . . (Report communicated.) This
Vol. ii. 98

298 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. [>aet Thied.
The King of Sardinia might perhaps have contributed more to
their assistance; for they had recently given him new proofs of
their fidelity. " You know, gentlemen," wrote the intendant of
Pignerol to the Vaudois ministers, in 1733, "that his majesty our
sovereign has declared war; and you are, no doubt, aware that he
goes to put himself at the head of the army. It is my duty there
fore to signify to you, that you should, if you please, exhort your
flocks to make extraordinary prayers . . . for the success of his
arms."1 We shall by and by see that the Vaudois themselves con
tributed by their valour to his military glory.
The cause of this war was, however, in no way connected with
the interests of the people of Piedmont. It concerned the crown
01 Poland, which the Emperor of Austria2 wished to place upon
the head of the Elector of Saxony. This was opposed by France,
and the King of Sardinia allied himself with France. He joined
his troops to those of the Marshal de Villars, and took from
Austria several places in Italy.3 The death of the marshal * put an
end to the exploits of Charles Emmanuel III., but did not prevent
him from reaping the fruits of them; for the treaty of peace, which
he concluded in the following year with the court of Vienna,8
aid was regular, and was granted (1) to the poor of each parish ; (2) to the actual
pastors; (3) to pastors emeriti; (4) to the widows of pastors; (5) to school
masters. At the date of the report, there were in the valleys sixty-eight schools
participating in this aid, and three widows of pastors, who each received sixty
florins. These were Madame Leger, Madame Bastie, and Madame Reynaudin.
They all lived together at Villeseche. From 1739 to 1744, the distribution took
place of the aid granted in consequence of the inundation of 1738. "We find, under
the date of 1741, a General Statement of the Ecclesiastical Subsidies for the Valleys,
in which England is set down for £270 sterling. — A memorial on behalf of the
Evangelical Churches of the Valleys of Lucerna, Perouse, and St. Martin, addressed
in 1758 to the stadtholder, and followed by a note regarding an extraordinary contri
bution of 300 francs, granted in December, 1758, by the "Walloon churches to the
poor of the Vaudois churches, and for the building of a schoolhouse at Villar
Pinaehe. Finally, the Memoire concernant la situation presente des Eglises e'oan-
giliques des valUes Vaudoises  presente au Synode tenu a la Haye, le
9 Septembre 1762, &c, completes the exhibition of these foreign supplies, received
at this period by the valleys.
1 Letter dated 17th October, 1733. (Correspondence of the Moderator of the
Vaudois churches from 1732 to 1734. In my possession.) 2 Charles VI.
3 Pavia, on 4tb November, 1733 ; Milan, on 30th December of the same year ;
Novara, on 7th January, 1734 ; Tortona, on 28th January, &c.
* Which took place at Turin, -17th June, 1734. De Villars was 84 years of age.
5 Signed at Vienna, 3d October, 1735. By this treaty, the kingdoms of Naples
and Sicily were given up to Don Carlos, the ally of France and a descendant of the
house of Bourbon. He was the son of Philip V. and Elizabeth Farnese, was born
20th January, 1716, became Duke of Parma and of Placenza in 1731, and King
of the Two Sicilies in 1735 ; he was proclaimed King of Spain, under the name of
Charles III., at Madrid, on 11th September, 1735. He then left Ferdinand, his
third son, at Naples, as King of the Two Sicilies. It was not till 1716 (15th August)

Chap. XX J BATTLE OF ASSIETTE. 299
added to his dominions the whole of the Novarais and some other
districts of Lombardy.
A few years after, war broke out again between Austria and
France ; 1 but this time, the King of Sardinia, true to the habitual
policy of his predecessors, declared against France and allied himself
with Austria.2 The French army attempted to invade Piedmont
in 1742, by the passes of the Vaudois Alps; but Charles Emmanuel
drove them back into Dauphiny. In the following year, the
French, having entered into alliance with the Spaniards, penetrated
into Piedmont by the Var, and defeated the King of Sardinia, near
Coni, on 30th September, 1744. They then laid siege to Coni, but
could not gain possession of the place, where the Vaudois, as his
torians tell us, displayed great valour.3 Three years after this, the
battle of Assiette took place,4 the success of which was principally
owing to the Vaudois, and the effect of which was still more to
enlarge the dominions of their sovereign.5
The Col [or Pass] of LAssiette is a narrow defile situated be
tween Fenestrelle and Exilles, in the mountain range which
separates the valley of the Pragela from that of the Doire. The
Piedmontese and Imperial forces6 had made strong intrenchments
there. The Marshal De Bellisle attacked them. He had nine
that the family compact was concluded at Versailles, amongst the four sovereigns
of the house of Bourbon, in consequence of which England declared war against
them. 1 France was then in alliance with and supported by Spain.
- In 1742. 3 See Monastier, IL, 182.
4 On 19th July, 1747. 5 By treaty, signed at Aix-la-Chapelle in 1748.
6 There were there eight- Dattalions of Piedmontese troops, and three battalions
of Imperial troops. (These and the following particulars are taken from a manu
script entitled : Memorie storiche, estratto dal libro titolato Liber rerum notabilium
et decretorum, pro hoc conventu Sanctse Maria? Gratiarum Carmeli collecti, daFra
Cypriano, segretario del convento. Archives of the Bishopric of Pigneiol.) For
these particulars I have also consulted two ballads or sirventes on that event. One
of these pieces is in patois, and commences thus :
" Se fosse may senti," &c 
The other is written in bad French, and was probably composed by a Vaudois sol
dier ; it is merely a long play of words on the name of the field of battle. Some
idea of it may be formed from the following lines :
" Dix mille fantassins
Y ont laisse la vie 
Voulant tremper leurs doigts
Dans V Assiette aux Vaudois."
This complaint contains twenty-two couplets. According to the French historians,
only 1500 men fell at the battle of Assiette. The narrative from which I quote
gives the numbers differently. I have adopted them because of their precision,
but I cannot vouch for them. It would have been difficult and superfluous for me
to have made researches on this point.

300 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. [pam Thied.
pieces of artillery — his opponents had not one. He had a reserve
of eight battalions, whilst all the Piedmontese forces were engaged
at once. The attack commenced about mid-day, and the firing was
continued until evening. By the aid of their artillery, the French
gained some ground at first, and ascended the mountain to the base
of the Piedmontese intrenchments; but by a vigorous sortie, the
Piedmontese successfully repulsed them. The Marshal de Bellisle,
rallying his troops on the level grounds below, gave them a few
moments of rest, and then encouraging them brought them back
gallantly to the charge. This time they mounted to the assault
with such rapidity, that the Piedmontese musketry could not
make them fall back. The combat now became one of swords and
pikes along almost the whole line. The place which the Vaudois
occupied became so filled up with dead bodies that it has ever since
been called the Valley of Death? But the enemy kept their ground; ,
when some of our mountaineers, recollecting the success of their
guerilla tactics", rolled down enormous stones upon the assailants,
and that in such quantity that the French, notwithstanding the
vigour with which they had begun, gave way before these thunder
ing avalanches of rocks, and were a second time repulsed. "Then,"
says our narrative, " Bellisle, who in this affair had, notwithstanding
his reverses, conducted himself very well, and whose countenance
reddened with shame, resolved to hazard in a further effort both his
glory and his life. He made a last effort, brought back his wearied
troops a third time — set them an example in his own person, ex
posing himself at their head to the fire of the enemy, like a common
soldier, and with all the courage of a hero was the first to plant,
with his own hand, a standard upon our intrenchments. It was
gloriously done, but it was all. The marshal was killed upon the
spot. His army lost 6000 men killed and wounded, including more
than 300 officers. Three colours also were taken. On our side "
continues the narrator, " we had 200 killed and wounded, including
three officers, one of whom recovered."2
The attention of their sovereign having been thus favourablv re
called to the loyal and valiant inhabitants of the Vaudois moun
tains, Charles Emmanuel at first granted them some favours. They
were allowed to have notaries of their own communion.3 Civil
1 These particulars are extracted from the Memoires de Paul Appia. (MS. com
municated by the family of the author. )
•Narrative above quoted, "Memorie storiche, estratte dal libro titolato Liber
rerum notabilium," &c.
3 Charles Emmanuel II. established six offices of notaries for the Protestants iu
the Vaudois valleys, under the restriction that theBe civil officers should do no
business except for those of their own religion.— Roval Letters Patent of 14th

Chap. XX.] ROMISH INTOLERANCE. 301
justice also showed less partiality in regard to Protestants;1 its au
thority was even exerted upon some occasions for their protection.
But the Church of Bome only became more.active in its schemes
of annoyance and of proselytism. It obtained at once new In
structions, more rigorous than those of 1730,2 and permission to
open at the very gate of the valleys the office for ensnarement and
abduction which had hitherto been located at Turin, under the
February, 1746. (This was contrary to Section IV. of Chap. IL, Title XXII.,
Book V., of the Constitutions or General Code of the Kingdom.) Before these
letters-patent were granted, several Protestant notaries had, however, been au
thorized to execute their professional functions in the valleys. John Peter Brezzi,
at St. John, had received this authority on 4th September, 1732 ; James Brezzi,
his brother, on 7th August, 1733, to act at La Tour, but he removed to St. Germain.
"John Francis Combe filled the office of notary at St. John, which he purchased on
22d July, 1708, from Manfredo Danna, but for which Combe received no formal
authorization before 5th May, 1741. (Extracted from various documents in the
Archives of the Court.)
1 In 1774, the Vaudois petitioned to be freed from the taxes unjustly levied from
them. (Their pe.ition, according to the unfortunate custom of the times, is not
dated.) An order from the Chamber of Accounts, dated 17th August, 1774, bore
that the taxes unjustly levied should be repaid to them. (These two documents
are printed on the same sheet.)
2 Instructions of the Senate of Turin, dated 29th July, 1740, and addressed to the
Judges of the Vaudois valleys on the course which they ought to pursue with regard
to the religionaries. They contain thirty -two articles, founded upon all the former
edicts, like those of 1730, on which they are a seriously aggravated commentary.
According to these new instructions, if it so happened that a Protestant fell ill
beyond the legal limits of the Vaudois valleys, the pastor could not go to visit him
without being accompanied by a layman ; he was forbidden to pass the night with
the sick man ; he could not remain in the place for more than one day, and must
abstain from conducting any kind of religious service. The Catholic worship, on
the contrary, could be celebrated everywhere, even in localities entirely Protes
tant, if the parish priests or the missionaries thought proper. The number of
Vaudois pastors and places of worship could not be augmented. All exercise of
religion, whether public or private, was interdicted at St. John. Still less were
the Protestants permitted to have a school there. The pastor was prohibited from
residing there ; and if he were called to a sick person, he pould not pass more than
one night there. (It was then that the Vaudois of St. John celebrated their wor
ship at Le Chiabas, a church built within the district of Angrogna.) Moreover,
by these instructions, the Vaudois were prohibited from admitting any Catholics
into their places of worship, from inclosing their burying grounds, from purchas
ing or renting lands beyond the tolerated limits, and from any religious relations
with foreigners. Mixed marriages were also forbidden, unless the Protestant
party contracting the marriage should first sign a promise to embrace Catholicism.
The children of Protestants could be taken from their parents at a fixed age (for
boys above twelve years, and for girls above ten), if the children manifested »
desire to become Catholics. (And it may be conceived how easy it was to imagine
this desire, or to create it by the. allurement of some promise, in the unreflecting
mind of the child.) Finally, foreign Protestants were not to be entitled to settle
in the Vaudois valleys without an express permission from his majesty. " Con
questilumi," add the Instructions in conclusion, "restandovoi sufficiamente im-
strutto, di cio che riguarda li sudetti rdigionarii, non avete dunque che a vigilare,"
kc 

302 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. [Pakt Third.
title of the Refuge or Alberga of Virtue?- This establishment was
subsequently still more extended,5* and to tbis period are to be re
ferred some attempts, to enforce abjuration by violent means not
only iu the case of children, but even of men of mature age.3
1 The A Iberga di Virtu was an establishment anterior to the Refuge, but to which
the latter was originally united. (From 1679 to 1739.) In 1740 the Refuge was
transported to Pignerol, and opened under the title of the Hospital for those who
have become, and for tJiose who wish to become Catholics. Those who found refuge
there were to have been instructed in some arts or trades, by which they might
gain their living after their leaving it. But the religious, or rather the ecclesias
tical interest very soon predominated over those of industry and charity. This'
establishment was then no longer devoted to any purpose but the propagation
among Protestants of the doctrines and forms of the Catholic religion. This pro
pagation had especially the object of attaching to the Church of Rome the children
who had been drawn into the hospital. It then took the name of the Hospizio di
Catecumeni. (In 1772.)
2 There is a Royal Order, of date 28th December, 1740, for furnishing 20,000
livres towards the building of the Hospital at Pignerol. On 13th May, 1744, a
new order to provide for enlargements of the building. On 1st May, 1745, letters-
patent were issued to organize the administration of the establishment. On 14th
June, 1745, a biglietto regio, ordaining the transference thither of the "Vaudois
children, supported nelV Alberga di Virtu, in Torino. On 24th June, 1730, a con
cordat with Benedict XIV. applied the fourth part of the income of vacant bene
fices to the Hospital of Pignerol. (Articles VI. and VTI.) On 21st March, 1752,
letters -patent were issued, by which his majesty declared that he took that
establishment under his protection, and approved its rules. According to these
(1) the establishment is to be reckoned secular; (2) the direction of it is confided
to a commission which shall be presided over by the bishop, and in his absence by
the governor or commandant of Pignerol. This commission is to meet once a-
month. (Articles II., III., and IV.) The Hospital not being able to maintain
more than fifty boarders at one time, they are to be divided into two classes {Ar
ticle XVI.), &c. See Duboin, t. xiii. vol. xv. pp. 220-228.
3 There is a little poem, very imperfectly versified, but full of simplicity and
sometimes of energy, in which a Vaudois, named Michelin, relates that, having set
out on a Saturday evening, to go to the valley of St. Martin, he was arrested at
Le Pomaret by the soldiers, conducted to La Perouse, rifled, deprived of his
clothes, and thrown into a dungeon. There, says he,
Je n'etais assiste d'aucune nourriture
Et mon corps grelottait par la grande froidure.
[I was supplied with no food, and my body shivered because of the great cold. J
Then follow some details concerning his captivity :
Les enfants, le matin,
Venaient devant ma porte
Me disant, Michelin ....
Ne nous chantez-vous plus la chanson de 1' Assiette !
[The children in the morning came about my door, saying, "Michelin ....
will you not sing to us any more the ballad of 1' Assiette ? "J This refers to the
ballad which I have quoted in speaking of the battle of Assiette. Perhaps it was
the work of the same mountain-bard, now a prisoner. Like Homer, poor Miche
lin appears to have been blind ; for in this narration, he speaks only of what he
hears, and never of what he sees; he mentions that he fell as he walked in his
dungeon; and, finally, that the common people said to him, " Sing, with your
violin, and you will win two or three picaillons" (The picaillon is an old Pied-

Ci.av.XX.] ECCLESIASTICAL ORGANIZATION. 303
Meanwhile, the effect of all this upon the Vaudois church, was
to produce a deeper sense of the necessity of perfecting its discipline
and organization.1 It obtained the right to be officially represented
montese coin, -worth two deniers.) "When the constables came," he proceeds to
say, "they had to employ force to drive away the crowd from the gates of my
dungeon." And the curious conversed about liim in the following terms : —
S'il se faisait chretien
Se disaient-ils 1'un l'autre,
On lni ferait du bien.
Mais il n'est pas des ndtres;
Et puisq' il ne veut pas
Changer de religion,
On va le laisser la
Perir dans la prison.
[" If he would become a Christian," said they, one to another, "he would receive
favours. But he is not one of our people ; and since he does not choose to change
his religion, he will be left to perish there in the prison."] Four stanzas are here
devoted to the narration of the different remarks of the crowd : —
Croyez-vous que cela le tirera d'affaire ? . . . .
Que peut-il avoir fait, ce pauvre miserable? ....
[l")o you think the fellow will get out of this scrape? . . . "What can he have
done, the poor wretch? . . .] "And I," says he, " who heard all this, as I lay
upon the straw, I prayed to God to support me
En fermete de foi, pendant toute ma vie."
[In steadfastness of faith, during the whole of my life.]
He had also charitable visitors, who brought him something for his comfort.
The monks, likewise, came to urge him to abjure. At last he was conducted to
Pignerol, where he endured a new imprisonment and new solicitations : —
Si vous n'abjurez pas votre infame heresie . . .
Votre corps perira
Au fond d'une prison
Et l'on confisquera
Toute votre maison.
Ma maison est au ciel ; c'est en lui que j'espere! . . .
Quand j'aurais en ce lieu
Tout perdu, corps et biens,
Mon ame devant Dieu
Ne craindra jamais rien.
[If you do not abjure your infamous heresy . .¦. . your body will perish in the
depths of a prison, and your whole house will be confiscated. — My house is in
heaven, it, is it that I hope for ! . . . When I shall have lost everything in this
place, body and property, my soul shall be before God, and shall fear nothing.]
At last the perseverance of the converters was overcome by the perseverance of the
captive in remaining faithful to the gospel, and Michelin was restored to liberty.
This piece of verse has thirty-seven couplets, of two quatrains each. I have
thought it right to quote it, notwithstanding its little literary merit, because of the
sentiments which it expresses, and the particulars to which it introduces us; for
these particulars sometimes do more to enable us to understand the character of
the period, than more serious documents.
1 Being obliged to restrict myself in these notes, which have already exceeded
due limits, I can do no more than mention here, without almost any quotation,
the Synodal Acts relative to this subject, and the things of which they treat. — Of

304 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. Oakt Thied.
by elective directors, appointed by its own synods, under the name
of the Vaudois Table? Regulations were framed concerning the
stipends of the pastors2 and salaries of the schoolmasters,8 and
arrangements were made for watching over the students of theology
at foreign seminaries.4
Consistories: Synod of 1760, § vii.; Synod of 1768, § xiii. Of the Diaconate:
Synod of 1765, § iv. Of the Sanctification of the Sabbath: Synod of 1722, § i. and x.;
of 1724, § i.; of 1727, § viii.; of 1745, § iv.; of 1748, § ix.; of 1753, § Ui. ; of 1760,
§ ii., &c. Of Worship: 1718, xiv.; 1722, viii., xi.; 1729, viii.; 1745, x.; 1762, ii.,
kc. Of Synods: 1720, viii.; 1744, v.; 1791, iv., &c. "The moderator and adjunct
shall make a visit to all the churches, in those years when there is no synod,
to inquire into their wants, and to maintain good harmony between the par
ishioners and their pastor." (Acts of the Synod, held at Les Clots, 23d October,
1736, § x.) The synod of St. Germain, 29th November, 1729, remarked with grief
that discipline was more and more relaxed (§ viii.); and the synod of La Tour
(1748), ordained that every pastor should read from the pulpit, at Easter annually,
the articles of discipline extracted from the Synodal Acts, that the members of the
church may not be able to allege ignorance with regard to them (§ viii.) This first
compend of the acts relative to discipline was made by Pastor Bastie, but it was
very incomplete.
1 A letter from the intendant of Pignerol, dated 12th September, 1754, autho
rizes the Vaudois Table to draw up and sign petitions in name of the valleys. In
the synod held in 1754, at St. Germain, it was resolved that an inventory should
be made of all the papers relative to the "Vaudois churches, and that they should
be put into the hands of the moderator, to be preserved by him and his successors,
in the archives of the body over which they presided (§ viii.) The introduction
of lay members into the Vaudois Table was attempted in 1722. (Synod of Le
Villar, art. xiii.) It was proposed again at the synod of 1795, but not finally re
solved upon till that of 1823. In the synod of 1765, it was resolved that two
persons, closely related to one another, could not belong to the Table at once(§ix.)
2 The English subsidies were suspended in 1723. The arrears were paid in 1726.
On the report of the attorney-general, Edward Wortley (dated at London, 30th
May, 1726), George I. made arrangements for their regular payment in future.
(Order signed at Whitehall, 9th June, 1726.) By a mandate, dated 20th May,
1726, the Vaudois churches authorized the banker Chetwynd, of London, to receive
this money, in order to transmit it to Piedmont, where they received it from the
hands of a banker of Turin. (In that same year, 1726, some assistance was sent to
the valleys by the church of Amsterdam. ) George II. renewed the order which
secured to the Vaudois the regular payment of these subsidies. The first distribu
tion took place in his reign, on 25th March, 1728.
8 There were then sixty-eight schoolmasters in the Vaudois communes, and only
fourteen who regularly participated in the foreign assistance, viz., the thirteen
regents of the communal schools, who each received 160 francs from the British
subsidies, and the regent of the Latin school, who received 250 francs from Holland.
The other fifty-four teachers received their payment from their pupils, and kept
school only for two or three months during winter.
4 There were at Lausanne five places or bursaries for Vaudois students, paid by
the Evangelical cantons of Switzerland. In 1726, one of them was transferred to
Geneva. In 1727, the synod of the Walloon churches founded one at Marburg.
Queen Anne established three in England. There was at that time one, and after
wards a second was created at Basle, in Erasmus' college; and two others were
created at Geneva, after 1730. There were thus three in that city, and thirteen in
all. See the Synodal Acts of 16th September, 1693; of 3d June, 1694; of 6th
October of the same year; of 17th June,. 1695; of 19th July, 1701 ; of 17th Sep-

Chap. XX.] THF CHURCH AT TURIN. 305
In the year 1727, we find the origin of the little Protestant
church at Turin, which did not obtain a regular supply of or
dinances till a century after;1 and which quite recently, and after a
struggle, has obtained a recognized place amongst the Vaudois
churches. 2 It had many difficulties to contend with,3 but it had
the patience and hope in God, requisite for happily surmounting
them. May it now praise and glorify him for all his mercies by a
truly living Christianity!
The long forgotten remains of the ancient Vaudois churches in
the French Alps were also gradually restored.* New and vigorous
shoots sprung up around the stump, which seemed to have dis
appeared. And faithful to their origin, these churches thus beginning
to re-appear, took advantage of the first ray of liberty which shone
upon them, at the period to which we now approach, immediately
to incorporate themselves with their sister churches of the valleys
of Piedmont.6 The course of events prevented this outward unity
tember, 1720; of 13th November, 1725; and successively, in the years 1727, § vi.;
1729, § vii. ; 1743, § ii., &c.
1 Cyprian Appia, the pastor of St. John, who had studied in England, offered to
the ambassador of that power, at the court of Turin, that he would conduct a re
ligious service in his residence as often as he desired it. (Letter of 5th January,
1727.) But it was not till 1827 that, by decree of 6th July, a Vaudois pastor was
named Chaplain of the Protestant Legations at Turin.
2 See the Echo of the Vaudois Valleys, of 6th September, 1849, p. 43 ; and chap.
xxiv. in this volume.
3 A reggio vUietlo, al vicnrio di Torino, riguardente i religionarii stabiliti, in
questa citta, dated 23d March, 1753, ordained —
(1.) That all the Protestants in Turin should have their names inscribed in the
police books.
(2.) That they should never have any Catholic domestic in their service.
(3.) That they should not obtain permission to reside there for more than a year,
but that after the expiry of this term, the permission should be prolonged if there
was occasion for it.
(4.) That they should not be entitled to become tenants of lands in the neigh
bourhood of Turin, without special permission from the authorities.
(5. ) That none of them should be permitted to devote himself to the employments
of spinning or working of silk, which were exclusively reserved for the Catholics.
(6.) They were forbidden to speak, write, distribute books or plates, or hold con
ferences on religious subjects.
The British ambassador, Lord Rochefort, on 4th July, 1753, made a protest, in
which the following sentence occurs : — "I do not suppose, that in interdicting all
religious conferences, it was intended to prevent any one from being present at the
religious service which takes place in the chapel of the legation." The king's
reply to this note is dated 7th July, 1753. It is there said on this subject : — " As
for Protestants continuing to frequent the house of the English minister, as they
have done in time past, we will shut our eyes to it, in the way of toleration," (Ar
chives of Turin, Nos. 529, 530, 531.)
4 See in chapter iv. of the First Part of this Work, under the year 1775, the
Report on the progress of heresy in the valley of the Po, and in Queyras.
s We read, in the Acts of the Synod of 1801, § iii. : — " The churches of St-
Vol. ii. 99

306 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. 1>ET XllIED-
from being maintained; but there is room to hope that their
spiritual union has, ever since that time, increased. God permitted
the same men at a subsequent period to contribute to it by their
labours on both sides of the Alps.
Meanwhile, the spirit of a future era had begun to manifest it
self. The hostility cherished for ages by Popery against the Re
formed Church was somewhat abated, and a more kindly feeling had
begun to exist amongst the more enlightened representatives of both
communions.2 The Vaudois experienced less opposition in carrying
on the exercise of their worship.3 The interests of their church
became connected by new reasons with the maintenance of union
amongst its members and with the rectitude of their lives. Thus
the old difficulties were gradually forgotten, which had created
alarm for the very existence of the Vaudois church,* and the in
testine dissensions which had threatened its welfare.5 The cause
which had produced them subsisted, indeed, too long: for, from
Veran, Molines, Fonsillarde, La Chalp, Arvieux, and Brunissard, in the department
of the High Alps, having deputed to this assembly the citizen, David Monnet, their
present pastor, . . urgently request that they may be considered as forming one
and the same body with us." The synod granted with delight this request, rejoic
ing in this interchange of testimonies of brotherly kindness between the two sides
of the Alps.— The venerable pastor Monnet is now (1850) the senior pastor of the
Vaudois church.
1 The sainted Felix Neff came to the valleys in 1826. His influence, although it
manifested itself more slowly, was not less deeply felt there than amongst the
French Alps, where his memory is so justly venerated.
2 In the synod of 1701, it was resolved to address the Bishop of Pignerol, to
obtain the removal of the parish priest of Pramol; " persuaded (it is said in art.
v. ) that that prelate, who is a model of gentleness, equity, and all Christian virtues,
will iu his wisdom remove a man who is likely to be the author of discord."
3 Religious services were conducted at St. John, contrary to the edict of 1740;
out no severity was employed to cause them to be relinquished. However, the
Vaudois having petitioned on 11th February, 1792, to have a bell for their church
at Serres, the reply, dated on the 13th, was in the negative. In 1722, the superior
council of Pijjnerol opposed the rebuilding of the place of worship at Faet. (See
Acts of Synod of Le Villar, 6th October, 1722, § ii.)
•' In a letter, written from St. John, 3d March, 1736, we read :— " Those of the
plain are so extraordinarily indebted to creditors, who for the most part are Catho
lics, that, when the creditors ask- for payment, the greater part of their debtors
are compelled to leave their places of residence. There are always some who
change  27ms church is gradually losing ground  " (Vaudois Corre
spondence in my possession.)
5 Without enlarging on this subject, I remit the reader to the report by Leger in
serted in the Records of the Pastors nf Geneva, vol. X., p. 177, and to that which he
published in 1731. The following, however, are some passages of a letter addressed
by the Walloon synod to the Vaudois church, 17th December, 1730 :—" Can our
churches be insensible to the mournful divisions which they see arising amongst
you? . . . In the name of God, gentlemen and much honoured brethren, take effec
tual precautions to quench, in a Christian manner, so soon as they appear, these
first flames of a dissension, whose consequences will be eternally lamentable to' you."

Chap. XX.] STATE OF THE VAUDOIS CHURCH. 307
the son of Reynaudin to the learned and caustic Peyrani, the
valleys scarcely ever ceased to have some pastor whose student life
had not only been marked by little seriousness, but, in too many
cases, even by things that were reprehensible; Sometimes, the
fever of innovation which characterized the time, impatient of all
ancient rules and institutions, followed them even into their parishes.2
But these aberrations became gradually more rare; and the fre
quent invocation of the Spirit of the Lord, on the part of the
Vaudois church, by fasting and prayer, with exercises of contrition,
humiliation, and repentance, was at last answered. It may be
said to have issued a second time from the middle ages.
However, the influences, which had affected it but slightly, fail
ing to subvert its ancient institutions, exhibited a fearful strength
all over the world, overthrowing the French monarchy and shaking
all the thrones of Europe. And when the revolution of 1790
broke out, even our valleys themselves were soon drawn into the
terrible vortex of its innovations. " At that time," says ' M.
Monastier;4 everything tended to draw away the mind from the
inward life, which is hid with Christ in God. The power of the
human intelligence, united with material force, had undertaken to

1 The son of Reynaudin was dismissed from the Academy of Basle for his
irregular conduct, after having been previously removed from Utrecht. He quitted
the latter city in company with Scipio Rostan, who was successively at Utrecht,
Lausanne, Geneva, and Basle, and who gave cause of complaint everywhere.
Notwithstanding this turbulence of his youth, however, he exhibited a generous
spirit, and conducted himself in a blameless manner in his maturer years. The
same may be Baid of James Peyrani, whose youth furnished occasion for a very
severe report. But we may he permitted to forget these juvenilia, from which the
reputation of Theodore Beza himself does not suffer, to recollect that the synod of
Bobi (October, 1760) addressed special thanks to Peyrani, for the excellence of his
moderatorship, and in the same article (§ i.) cited him as an example to future
moderators. 2 There exists a Latin report, which must be referred to the year 17S0, in which
the pastors James Peyrani and Paul Appia are accused of wishing to put an end to
the effusion of water in the rite of baptism. These pastors protested their inno
cence of this charge in the synod of Le Pomaret, 20fch July, 1830.
3 " We cannot disguise from ourselves the deplorable condition into which the
Christian world has long been sunk" (said the Synod of 1782, § ii.); "vice con
tinuing to reign among us, and even to augment its empire" (Synod of 1788, § ii.)
" shows the lamentable effects of the lawless passions which from time to time
break out" (Synod of 1777, § iii.) " Our falls are so frequent, our transgressions
so multiplied, our vices so numerous, that our consciences, agreeing with religion
urge us to solicit the Divine compassion." (Synod of 1774, § iii.) And the
solemn fasts which took place after that date — viz., in 1775, 1778, 1781, 1783, 1786,
1789, and 1799, were all preceded by similar humiliations and fervent exhortations
to repentance, full of prayers and supplications, than which, perhaps, none more
expressive of deep feeling wereever employed by any church.
4 II., 200.

308 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. D'A*r Tnim
regenerate the world. Nothing was thought of but social organ
ization, visible conquests and worldly glory; there remained no
longer, it might almost be said, any room on earth for the interests
of heaven.'' But we may also add, that it was a time of storm, and
that storms are rapid and purify the air. Thus the dull atmosphere
of the previous age was freed, by these agitations, from the anti
quated elements which were incompatible with the life of progress.
God brings good out of evil, and men full of their own turbulent
passions are unconsciously governed by his hand.

CHAPTER XXI.

THE VAUDOIS VALLEYS DURING THE WARS WHICH THE
FRENCH REVOLUTION CAUSED IN ITALY.1
(A.D. 1789 to a.d. 1801.)
Prudent reserve of the Vaudois at the outbreaking of the French revolution-
Piedmont, allied with Austria, at war with France — The Vaudois troops on
the frontier under General Gaudin — Popish conspiracy for a massacre of the
defenceless Vaudois families — It is discovered and defeated by General Gaudin
— Odious conduct of the Piedmontese government upon this occasion — Fidelity
of the Vaudois to their sovereign — Jealous tyranny of the government — General
Zimmerman intercedes for the Vaudois — Pretended. favours granted by the
government — Continued friendship of Zimmerman — Accession of Charles Em
manuel IV. — Petition of the Vaudois and reply of the king — Attempts to con- ¦
ciliate the Vaudois when their support became very important — Some ameli
orations of their condition — Their treatment varies with political circumstances
— Abdication of Charles Emmanuel IV. — Suwarrow and the Russian army in
Piedmont — Great kindness of M.-Rostan, pastor of Bobi, to wounded French
soldiers — Suchet's public acknowledgment of it — Characteristic proclamation
of Suwarrow — The valleys threatened with pillage and devastation by Russian
troops — Successful appeal of M. Appia to the Russian commanders — Illustra
tive anecdotes of Suwarrow, Prince Bagration, and other RusBiau officers — The
manners and habits of the Russian troops — Hatred of the Popish priests against
the Vaudois exhibited in malicious falsehoods assiduously told to the Russian
generals— Napoleon's victories — The battle of Marengo — The Cis-alpine Republic
— The Vaudois become possessed of equal rights with other citizens.
The revolutionary scenes of which France was the theatre, were at
first regarded in the Vaudois valleys merely with a prudent reserve.
' Adthobities.— In general, the modern authors, mentioned at the end of the
Bibliography. In particular, the unpublished Memoires de Paul Appia, contain
ing the narrative of the events which took place in the Vaudois valleys, from 179;;
to 1816. And, besides these, the particular sources indicated at the bottom of the

Chap. XXI ] A SANGUINARY CONSPIRACY. 30.9
A Vaudois pastor having ventured, in a public discourse,1 in 1780,
to make allusion to the events which were taking place on the
other side of the Alps, was suspended from his functions for six
months. " This decision," says M. Monastier, " was equally' wise
and just; for the preacher had failed in his duty, both as a subject
of the King of Sardinia-in bringing forward questions inconsistent
with obedience to his government, and as a pastor in introducing
politics into the Christian pulpit. It was next to impossible for
men so little favoured by the existing powers, as the Vaudois had
been, to have displayed, in such circumstances, more prudence and
moderation."2 But it was next to impossible, also, that many hearts
should not have throbbed in secret with ardent sympathies for the
cause of liberty, in these poor valleys which had so long been sub
jected to hard bondage. The very fact which has just been
mentioned, proves the existence of these secret sympathies, of which
only the public expression was blamed.
And, as if the genius of the past ages had felt a presentiment of
defeat, and had sought to have a last struggle with the genius of
modern times, the hateful and fanatical spirit of the old Popery
arose again at the very commencement of this new era, to plot the
massacre of the Vaudois, and sought to respond by new martyrdoms
to the republican acclamation of " Liberty, Fraternity, Equality,"
by which the echoes of our mountains began to be awakened. In
1792, war broke out between France and Austria. Piedmont sup
ported the latter power. Towards the end of the year, Savoy con
quered by Montesquieu, and the province of ISTice by Anselme,
were united to France, which had just constituted itself a republic.3
The King of Sardinia (Victor Amadeus III.) having caused the
Vaudois to take up arms, committed to them the defence of their
own frontiers, under the orders of General Gaudin.4 All the
Vaudois militia were encamped upon the ridge of the Alps to
oppose the enemy. There remained in the valleys below only the
women, the children, the aged, and the infirm — " feeble defenders! "
says M. Monastier.8 Catholic fanaticism conceived the idea of a
new St. Bartholomew's Day against these Protestant families, thus
deprived of their natural protectors, who were occupied in the
defence of their country. The execution of this plot was to have
taken place in the night between the 14th and 15th of May, 1793.
The list of the conspirators contained more than 700 names. A
1 At the opening of the synod of 1789, says M. Monastier, II. 183. But no synod
waB held in the Vaudois valleys, that I know of, from 1788 to 1791.
1 Monastier, II. 183. 3 21st September, 1792.
4 A native of Switzerland, born at Nyon; his name is by some authors written
Gudin, and by others Godin. s Monastier, II. 185.

310 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. [Part Third.
column of assassins, assembled at Lucerna, was, on a signal given,
to spread itself over the communes of St. John and La Tour, con
suming all with fire and sword.1 The house of the priest of La
Tour, his church, the convent of the Recollets, and the houses of
a few Catholics of the place, were filled with murderous villains
ready alike for pillage or for massacre.2
But there were also some generous Catholics, who refused to take
part in this odious wickedness. These worthy men were better than
Catholicism; and for the fourth time in the course of this history,
we see issuing from the ranks of the Romish church the saviours
of the people whom it sought to destroy. Don Brianza, priest of
Lucerna, not only refused to join the conspirators, but he also
hastened to make this conspiracy known to those whose existence
was menaced. Captain Odetti, of Oavour, likewise ran to warn the
Vaudois, and to defend the friends whom he had amongst them.
An urgent message was immediately sent to General Gaudin,3
asking him to bring down his troops from the mountains, or at
least to permit the Vaudois legion to go and preserve their own
homes from invading assassins. The brave general, unable to
believe in such perfidy and cruelty, attached no importance to the
revelation which was made to him. A new messenger was das-
patched to him without more effect. A third arrived and pre
sented the list of the conspirators. The general could not believe
in it. Moreover, he had his orders; he could not abandon his post,
nor consent to the withdrawal of part of his troops; and this third
emissary also returned without any success. Seventeen persons
went to him in succession. Time pressed; the alarm was given;
the Vaudois troops, boiling with indignation, were all impatience
to run to the succour of their families. At last the magistrates
of La Tour and Le Villar themselves came to assure General
Gaudin of the reality of this atrocious conspiracy, and to entreat
for protection. He then adopted his resolution.
It was the eve of the fatal day; a report was spread of an
approaching attack of the French; the troops fell back, and the
Vaudois companies took position in their respective communes.
But the troops of St. John and La Tour, being at a greater distance
from their homes than the rest, and more impatient to return to
1 Monastier, IT. 185.
2 These, and the following particulars, are derived from a contemporary report
which even gives, in part, the names of the conspirators. The author was after
wards a member of the general council of the department of the Po, as representa
tive of the canton of Lucerna.
3 Whose head-quarters were at Malpretus, above Bobi.

Chap. XXI. J MESMER SHOT. 311
them, descended the mountains with such rapidity, that many of
the soldiers lost on the way some part of their baggage. The delay
of a moment to pick up from the ground anything that might have
fallen from their hands, would have seemed to them to endanger
the existence of that which was dearest to them, and of which the
loss would have been irreparable.
The conspirators, seeing these irritated and warlike troops arrive,
made their escape by the gate of the convent of the Recollets which
looks out upon the torrent of the Angrogna.1 The list of their
names, drawn up by themselves, was sent to the Duke of Aosta,2
who had manifested some regard for the Vaudois; but none of these
traitors was prosecuted. The king3 even reproached General
Gaudin for having permitted his troops to abandon their position.
"Sire," replied he, "it is the most glorious day of my life, for I have
not had to shad blood but have prevented the effusion of it." He
was, nevertheless, dismissed from the service. But if he incurred
court disgrace, he became the object of the liveliest gratitude to the
Vaudois who owed to him their preservation.
"The French," says M. Monastier, "who were not ignorant how
precarious and exceptional the situation of these poor people had
been, thought that they would have little difficulty in persuading
them to revolt, to deliver up to them the passages of the Alps, and
to make common cause with them. They were mistaken. The
Vaudois deemed fidelity to an oath, even in an inferior condition,
preferable to the splendid hopes of religious, civil, and political
liberty obtained by perjury. This admirable conduct, however,
could not silence calumny, nor stifle suspicion.*
The fort of Mirabouc had surrendered. This place was very
feeble: it had only two cannons, one of which burst when it was
fired. The garrison consisted of a single company of Vaudois and
of some Piedmontese invalids. The commander was a Swiss officer,
named Mesmer. The French surprised the fort, from the side of
the Col la Croix. The Vaudois were accused of having favoured
them ; Mesmer was sick ; he surrendered ; in truth, he could not
have resisted; but he was a Protestant, and he was shot in the
citadel of Turin.
The tyrannical Piedmontese government became always the
1 These particulars are derived from the report above quoted. There exists on
this subject a MS. poem of 225 lines, commencing thus —
Dieu tout-puissant, Dieu de nos peres,
Ton bras s'est encor deploye . . .
(Amongst the papers collected by M. Appia.)
2 Who ascended the throne in 1796, and took the name of Charles Emmanuel IV.
3 Victor Amadeus III. 4 Monastier, II. 184.

312 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. [Part Tried.
more suspicious, the more that it found itself in danger. Colonel
Fresia succeeded General Gaudin in the valleys. One of his com
missioned officers was a Vaudois, by name Davit; he was accused
of treason, and put to death. Colonel Marauda and Major Goamte,
the two officers of highest rank in the Vaudois troops, were cast
into prison.1
All the powers of Europe entered into a coalition against France,2
but she increased her territories in combating them. When the storm
of the reign of terror had passed over her,8 and Napoleon was making
his first campaign,* Piedmont became sensible of approaching dan
ger. General Zimmerman, former colonel of the Swiss guards at
Paris, having escaped the massacre of the 10th of August,5 entered
the service of the King of Sardinia. He very soon succeeded in
making himself generally beloved. Although a Roman Catholic,
he demanded for the Vaudois those civil and political rights which
France had offered them, and which their own sovereigns, faithful
to the policy of Rome, persisted in refusing them. The Duke of
Aosta, second son of Victor Amadeus, undertook to transmit to
the king these requests of the noble-hearted general. The king
replied to his son— "We have read the memorial which General
Zimmerman has sent us through you, concerning the desires which
our dear faithful subjects, the Vaudois, have expressed to you re
lative to their present political condition. Considering the con
stant and distinguished proofs of their attachment and fidelity,
which they have always given to our royal predecessors, and the
devotedness which they have shown in the present war, we are
disposed to regard favourably the contents of the said memorial,
and to make them at once experience the effects of our special
good-will; reserving to ourselves, in regard to some of the articles
on which fuller inquiry is requisite, to grant them, after the war,
such concessions, compatible with the constitution of the state, as
may still more assure them of the estimation in which their services
are held by us."
After these not very plain nor intelligible sentences, and as a
reward for all the fidelity, bravery, and other virtues which he was
pleased to acknowledge in the Vaudois, Victor Amadeus III. granted
them (1) authority to practise medicine, but only amongst those of
their own religion; (2) a promise that the abuses of which they
were the victims, in matters of taxation, should be put an end to.
1 These details are taken from Monastiei, II. ir,6.
2 Except Turkey, Switzerland, Denmark, and Russia. (7th March, 1793.)
3 From 28th March, 1793, to 27th July, 1794.
4 At Toulon, in December, 1793. b yr%2.

Chap. XXL] FAITHLESS PROMISES. 313
But abuses ought not to exist in the case of any person whatever.
Under what sort of legislation, then, must the people of the valleys
have been placed, when their rulers could venture to speak of the
cessation of abuses as a great favour? (3) "We prohibit," he added,
" any one from taking away their children from the Vaudois, before
the age fixed." But the law forbade that already; and was not that
fixed age itself the very utmost stretch of arbitrary tyranny 1
(4) " If any burdens shall ever be imposed upon the Vaudois from
which' the Catholics are exempt, we will cause the matter to be cared
for according to the demands of justice." And these were the signal
favours so pompously announced ! this was the extent of the special
good-will of the King of Sardinia towards these Vaudois, who had
always given constant and distinguished proofs of their fidelity to
his royal predecessors !
He continues thus: — "You will be so good as to announce to
our dear and faithful Vaudois subjects, our resolutions and senti
ments above expressed; making them understand that as we are
persuaded they will thereby be the more animated to display upon
this occasion, all their zeal, courage, and bravery against our ene
mies, they may also always reckon with increased confidence on
our strong desire to give them, at the close of the war? the most
particular marks of our special protection; and so we pray God that
he may keep you under his holy and good protection."2
Is this the language of a father writing to his child — rof a sovereign
who acts as a father to his subjects? The promises thus adjourned
to the end of the war were never fulfilled; but the expression of
good- will towards the Vaudois increased with the increase of ex
ternal dangers, and when these dangers were past severity was
resumed as before. A few insignificant concessions ensued at first
upon these pompous promises. The communes of Maneille and
Chiabrans obtained the right to have a burying-ground.3 A new
ratification of their privileges was granted to the Vaudois* — these
privileges having now been ratified already more than fifty times,
without any" extension of them in harmony with the wants and
enlightenment of the age, beyond what they had been three cen
turies before. And when the mighty voice of the present seemed
1 An armistice was concluded at Cherasco on 28th April, 1796, and a treaty of
peace signed Boon after.
1 Given at Turin, 4th June, 1794. Signed Your very affectionate Father, Victor
Amadeus. Countersigned Graniri.
3 By authorization granted 6th December, 1694. (Turin, Archives of the Court,
No. 617.)
4 On 1st February, 1795, sanctioning those of 14th September, 1448. (Turin,
Archives of the Court of Accounts, a small folio vol. of stamped paper, No. 576.)
Vol, II. 100

314 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. [partThibd.
again less distinct and loud, the precarious favour of the govern
ment was transferred from the children of the martyrs to their
persecutors.1 "Yet there are none whose attachment the court of Savoy
should be more solicitous to secure than the inhabitants of the
valleys," said General Zimmerman at another time in one of his
memorials,2 " for their mountains are almost everywhere impreg
nable ramparts .... and an army, however numerous, might
fail in the attempt to reduce them to subjection; if it were possible
that hostile proceedings should ever destroy that love for their
sovereigns, of which they have on so many occasions given the
most unquestionable proofs." In the letter accompanying this
memorial, it is said that many proposals of democratic insurrection
had been made to the Vaudois by the inhabitants of the plain,
but that these mountaineers had always rejected them; and the
memorial itself adds, "all that can happen on the plain will be but
a transient blaze, if we can keep the mountains quiet and attached."
"The general has visited all the valleys in person," it is also said
in this letter;3 "he has there conversed with the humblest of the
inhabitants, and what has been his regret .... to hear them make
bitter complaints .... especially of their children being forcibly
taken from them, one of nine years of age having recently been
carried off for the hospital of Pignerol ! From the nature of these
complaints," he adds, "they deserve the most prompt and serious
consideration." He proposes, in his memorial, "to treat the
Vaudois on a footing of equality with the Catholics, and in parti
cular recommends to the attention of the sovereign, Colonel
Marauda, Major Musset, the two brothers Arnaud of La Tour, and
the moderator, M. Geymet, who, he says, "is a man of talent, well-
informed, of a pleasant disposition and generally esteemed, and
desirous of nothing but order and peace.'' It was only under the
French administration, however, that justice was to be done to his
merits; for in the first article of the synod of 180 1, we read: "The
citizen Geymet, moderator of the Vaudois churches, having been
appointed subprefect of the arrondissement of Pignerol, the thanks
of the synod are returned to him for the manner in which he has
' By a royal rescript of 3d December, 1796, enregistered 17th January, 1797, the
king granted a sum of 2114 francs to the Catholics of the valleys, and those who
had oecome Catholics. (Turin, State .Archives, No. 507. No. 506 is entitled
Relazione sopra I'origine del' annual grazia, sovra i tributi, che S. M. fa, alle com-
munita delle vail, &c. It was in consequence of this report that the rescript was
issued.) 2 Accompanying a letter of his, dated 15th June, 1797. (Turin, State Archives.)
3 Third page.

Cap. XXI.] VAUDOIS REQUESTS. 315
discharged his duties, and J. R. Peyrani is appointed to succeed
him." But before these events took place, a new king had ascended
the tottering throne of Victor Amadeus III.1 This new king was
the brother of the young Duke of Aosta, to whom Zimmerman, in
the first instance, addressed himself on behalf of the Vaudois. The
Vaudois themselves sent a petition to him, of which I shall here
exhibit in an abridged form the principal points, with the answers
given to them respectively by the minister of state.2
Request I. — That Protestants may not be compelled to contri
bute to the expense of Catholic worship. Reply. — The usual prac
tice must be continued.3
Request II. — That the municipal elections may take place with
out regard to religious profession. Reply. — The law is to the con
trary effect, and expressly requires that the number of Catholic
councillors shall be greater than that of the Protestant ones, what
ever may be the portion of the population adhering to the one or
to the other religion.
Request III. — That when the taxes imposed upon Catholics are
diminished, those imposed upon Protestants may be diminished
likewise. Reply. — This may depend upon the will of his majesty,
but can only have the effect of reducing the revenues of the
state. Request IV. — That, without augmenting the number of their
places of worship, the Vaudois may be permitted to repair those
which exist. Reply. — This merits some consideration, although
the ancient edicts admit neither of repairing nor enlarging the
places of worship.*
Request V. — That the inhabitants of St. John may be permitted
to have a school in that commune. — Refused.
Request VI. — That Protestants may be admitted to employment
in civil offices, as well as the Catholics. (This was what Zimmer
man asked, and what the Duke of Aosta had held out hopes of,
when he was only the heir to the throne ; but now when he was
1 He ascended the throne on 10th October, 1796, taking the name of Charles
Emmanuel IV.
2 The petition is signed Geymet, moderator, and Meille, secretary (of the Vau
dois Table). It bears no date, but the parere of the minister is dated 19th July,
1797. 3 It will be recollected that, in its Reply to the Memorial sent by the Duke of
Bedford to the Chevalier Ossorio, and by him transmitted to Turin on 31«« May,
1743, the Piedmontese government affirmed (§ v.) that it had never made Protes
tants contribute for Catholic worship.
4 The minister of state ought to have informed us what edicts prohibit the
repairing of religious edifices.

316 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. [PartTuird.
the occupant of the throne, he had forgotten it all.) There is no
reply to this last request.
We see how prompt the re-actionary spirit was in repulsing the
Vaudois, so soon as the support of their arms was no longer
necessary. It was at this time that the national spirit of Italy was united
with the aristocratic antipathies of the various powers of that
country, in a common effort to throw off a foreign yoke. Bona
parte, by his career of victory, had forced the King of Sardinia to
conclude an alliance offensive and defensive with the French re
public;1 but the court of Savoy was not more faithful to the
republic than it had been to Louis XIV. Charles Emmanuel IV.
hoped to be soon freed from his embarrassing allies. The French
were massacred at Verona ; 2 Venice rose in insurrection against
them;3 the cause of liberty seemed to decline. This was the
reason of the bolder tone which tyranny assumed in the Vaudois
valleys. But before it was able to restore the former state of
things, a revolution broke out in Genoa,* and the Ligurian Republic
was proclaimed." Milan responded on the east, by proclaiming
the Cisalpine Republic? These shouts of liberty silenced the voice
of despotism. Kings found themselves again in danger, and their
tone was immediately changed. By his Instructions of 18th July,
1797, addressed to the Senate of Pignerol? Charles Emmanuel IV.
unexpectedly announced (1) That the Vaudois would no longer
be required to contribute to the expenses of Catholic worship;
(2) That there would be no respect of persons in appointments to
public offices, which certainly must have referred to municipal
elections alone; (3) That when his majesty should grant any ex
emptions to Papists, they should be equally granted to Protestants;
(4) That the Vaudois would be permitted not only to repair their
places of worship, but to enlarge them, and to hold their reb>ious
meetings wherever they thought proper ; (5) That, after the
example of the Divine Being who did good to all, his majesty
wished to make all his subjects happy.
And, as if these unexpected concessions were not sufficient,
Charles Emmanuel likewise wrote to the prefect that he should
invite the Vaudois to address themselves in all confidence to their
sovereign, assuring them of his very particular affection, <fcc.8 It
1 Treaty Bigned at Turin, 5th April, 1797.
2 From 4th to 6th April, 1797. ' From 17th April to 16th May
4 22d-23d May. a Uih June „ Qth Ju]y"
' LepoBited in the Archives of the Court, No. 594.
8 This letter is dated 25th August, 1797. (Same source, No. 595.) These docu
ments were published under the form of Biglietto regio, on 26th August, but with

Chap. XXI.] THE MARQUIS OF RORA. 317
is easy to see that the times were changed. To a suppressed
agitation, tumultuous movements had rapidly succeeded, aud that
even at Montcalier, at the very gates of Turin. Truth demands
the admission that the valleys did not remain free from commotion.
A troop of revolutionists, composed of Catholics as well as Vaudois,
went to Campillon, the castle of the Marquis of Rora, and demanded
his feudal titles in order to destroy them. " My friends," he re
plied with admirable presence of mind and amenity, " if it is only
my titles that you want, I will freely give them all up to you, with
the exception of one, which you shall not wrest from me, I mean
my title of the friend of the Vaudois, due to my old affection for
them." This happy saying sufficed to disarm them ; and they
retired without the slightest act of violence.1
The Vaudois, however, in virtue of the Instructions of 18th July
(1797), which authorized them to hold religious meetings wherever
they thought fit, demanded permission to erect a place of worship
at St. John. But Napoleon had quitted Italy;2 the effervescence
of the former days had subsided ; the throne seemed again to be
firmer, and the good-will which Charles Emmanuel had promised
to the Vaudois, was withdrawn from them in the same proportion.
They were told that the parish of St. John, having at a former
period been deprived of its place of worship, had no right to erect
one.3 But new armaments were soon formed in France, the
destination of which was kept secret;* there seemed again to be
danger for Piedmont, and the interest felt for the valleys suddenly
revived. The commune of Le Pomaret took advantage of it, to
some modifications. The authority granted to the Vaudois, to practise medicine
amongst those of their own religion, is there repealed. The obligation to have a
Catholic majority in the communal councils is maintained. As to the places of
worship, permission is given to repair and enlarge them, but not to increase their
number. Another document also bears the date of 25th August, 1797, which seems
to have been a sort of preparatory study for these, entitled, Parere intorno ad una
rappresentanza de religionarii delle valli, in qua espongono varii aggravii. This
paper consists of 22 folio pages. (Same source, Nos. 511 and 618.)
1 Monastier, II. 189, 190. The author does not give the date of this occur
rence. In his narrative it seems to be referred to the year 1797; but although
I abstain from placing it in a different part of the history, I believe that it would
more correctly be referred to the year 1799, when other similar occurrences took
place, especially at La Tour, where the Count Rorengo was compelled to throw his
parchments, with his own hands, into a bonfire kindled in the centre of the public
square, and to join a ring of revolutionary dancers around the tree of liberty. It
was at this period that the great garden, situated in front of the count's residence,
was destroyed, and that the public square, which now occupies that spot, was
laid out.
2 To go to Rastadt. He set out on 17th November, 1797.
3 Extract of one of the letters of M. P. Appia to the Count of Nieperg, dated
from La Tour, 2d December, 1799. (Communicated.)
4 For the expedition to Egypt ; from September, 1797, to February, 179S.

318 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. [Part Third.
ask permission to enlarge and inclose its Protestant burymg-place.
This was granted.1 It seems a small favour enough; but small as
it was, it was withdrawn, as soon as the government believed itself
sufficiently strong to venture upon so doing.2 This versatility con
tributed to weaken it. Charles Emmanuel made an undignified
abdication of the crown of his fathers, and retired to Cagliari.3 I
defer to next chapter an account of the measures taken by the
provisional government, which was then established in Piedmont.
Its authority was not of long duration.* A new coalition was
formed against France;6 and six months had scarcely elapsed, when
a Russian army invaded Piedmont, under the command of Suwarow.6
Napoleon was no longer there ; Milan,7 Turin,8 and Alexandria9
fell into the hands of the allies. The republics of Genoa and
Naples soon ceased to exist.10 The French army, victorious at the
Trebbia1 and at Novi,12 fell back exhausted by its victories before-
1 By decree of the senate of Turin, of date 16th February, 1798.
2 By a new decree of the senate of Turin, dated 11th April, 1798.
3 The abdication is dated 20 Frimaire, an VII. (10th December, 1798). In
the first article the King of Sardinia declares that he renounces all power, and
orders his subjects to obey the provisional government to be established by the
French general (Suchet). The heir-presumptive to the throne adds at the bottom
of this abdication, Io garantisco che non portero impedimenta alcuno all' esecuzione
del presente atto. Viltorio Emanuele. (He ascended the throne in 1814, under the
name of Victor Emmanuel IV.)
4 Before the invasion of which we are now to speak, the provisional government
retired to Pignerol, then to Fenestrelle, where its retreat was covered by the
Vaudois, who repulsed the Austrians at the defile of Le Malanage. Fenestrelle
remained in the hands of the French during the whole time of the Austro-Russian
occupation. s In consequence of the treaty of alliance, offensive and defensive, between Eng
land and Russia, signed 5th January, 1799. (A simple treaty of alliance had
already been concluded between the two powers on 18th December, 1798.)
6 Pronounced Suvarof. ' On 20th June.
8 On 22d July. « Surrendered on 24th May.
10 The Parthenopeian Republic was established after the occupation of Naples by
Championnet (23d January, 1799). We read in the life of this general that the
population of Naples, and especially the clergy, saw with dissatisfaction the occu
pation of that city by the French army. On the day on which the pretended
miracle of the liquefaction of the blood of St. Januarius — the patron saint of the
Neapolitans— is annually performed, the usual prodigy did Dot take place at the
usual time. " It is a sign of the Divine wrath against the French occupation,"
said the monks. The people began to manifest hostile intentions, and things wore
a threatening aspect. The general was apprised. " Go and tell the bishop," said
he to one of his aides-de-camp, "that I make him responsible for the miracle's tak
ing place. If in ten minutes the miracle is not wrought, his excellency will be
immediately shot." It is needless to add that the liquefaction of the pretended
blood of St. Januarius took place in a few moments after this message was brought
to the prelate. General Championnet was a Protestant.
11 The battle of the Trebbia took place from the 17th to the 19th of June, 1799.
The Austrians pretend to have gained it. a On 15th August

Chap. XXI.] EMMANUEL ROSTAN. 319
superior forces.1 At Carmagnole, the native population rose against
the garrison, and the bravery of the Vaudois contributed much to
repress the popular movement."2
However, the French were compelled to fall back. The Cos
sacks had entered Pignerol. The French sick and wounded, the
honourable but wretched remains of the army of Verona, were
conveyed away before them. "These poor creatures,'' says a con
temporary,3 "arrived at La Tour, crowded together in a number
of carts. They came from Cavour. They alighted from their
carts in the great square. Bread, cheese, and wine were brought to
them. Many of them suffered dreadfully. There were some whose
wounds had not been dressed for more than fifteen days, because
the Cossacks pursued so hard after them. M. Fissour, the surgeon,
dressed many of them. But just when they were going .to lodgings,
a false alarm of the approach of the Cossacks, who were said to be
at Les Blonats, threw them into consternation. The carts which
had brought them, had gone away back to Cavour, and most of
them had difficulty in dragging themselves along. Some of the
people accompanied them as far as Bobi, where they arrived with
out money, without medicines, and without linen."
To the humanity of the pastor of Bobi, the venerable Emmanuel
Rostan, and the self-denying kindness of his parishioners, these
wounded Frenchmen were indebted for their being enabled to
return to their native land. The following is an official declaration
of this fact, in the order of the day of the commander-in-chief of
the French army :* —
1 At Novi the French lost 10,000 men. The Austro-Russians had 12,000 killed
and 7000 wounded. But their army consisted of 70,000 men, and that of the French
only of 45,000. General Joubert, who commanded it, fell.
* See the reflections of Monastier (II. 191) on this subject. A contemporary
thus represents this event : " The general administration of Piedmont had taken
refuge in Pignerol. . . . Four or five hundred Vaudois were despatched to that
city, who supposed they would not have had to go any farther ; but they were
caused to mareh on to Noun, where they found themselves surrounded by 2000
French, who forced them to march upon Carmagnole. . . ." — (Letter to the Count
de Nieperg, above quoted.)
3 Memoires de Paul Appia (on the events which occurred from 1799 to 1816).
The author of these Memoires was appointed a member of the general council and
iuge du paix at La Tour. His writings are the principal source from which I have
drawn for the year 1799. They were communicated to me by the venerable M.
Appia, pastor of the French church at Frankfort-on-the-Maine, to whose memory
I cannot sufficiently testify my grateful and respectful attachment.
4 General Suchet. He-himself sent this order of the day to the minister, M.
Rostan, with a letter which concluded thus : " Thegeneral-in-chief, citizen pastor,
thinks that, in such circumstances, he can give no more sensible testimony of his
satisfaction than by commending such conduct to the admiration of his army."
Both documents are dated from the camp of La Pietra, 3 Frimaire, 1799 (24th

320 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. [pakt Third.
"Three hundred sick and wounded arrived at Bobi, in a state of
the most absolute destitution, and ready to perish for want of
assistance. The worthy old man Rostan and his spouse displayed
upon this occasion, that noble simplicity which belongs to repub
licans. They had only a calf and twenty-five loaves, but these
were immediately distributed amongst the sick. The generosity
of this venerable old man did not stop here; he added the little
wine which he had, and a few shirts, which were employed in
dressing the wounds of the wounded. Towards the close of the
day (it was rather some days after),1 "an alarm arose of being sur
prised; for the enemy were no more than four miles from Bobi.
On the appearance of danger, the solicitude of citizen Rostan was
awakened anew. He called upon his compatriots of the whole
valley, to carry upon their shoulders " (beyond the Piedmontese
frontiers),2 "the 300 sick or wounded French. And this they
speedily did, traversing the Col la Croix, which is one of the
longest and most difficult passes of the Alps, and was still covered
with snow. After ten hours of most fatiguing march they arrived
at the first village of France, where tlte wounded were set down,
who forgot their sufferings to bless their liberators; and the brave
inhabitants of the valley of Lucerna, who had exhibited a courage
beyond all praise, returned to their own homes. May such conduct
and such devotedness be useful as an example, and find many
imitators ! "
This conduct, however, was alleged against the Vaudois as a
crime, by their Piedmontese enemies,3 and Suwarow addressed to
November, 1800). A letter from chef du bataillon Pressecq, local commandant
at head- quarters, accompanied this communication. "I am very proud, citizen
pastor," he said, "to have received from my general the honourable commis
sion to transmit to you the accompanying packet." He then thanks him for
having saved the lives of so many of their brethren in arms. "It was not in
my power," he says, "to inform the general any sooner of this noble conduct,
as it was only in the month of Brumaire last that I myself heard of it, and
that by pure accident," &c. Rostan afterwards received a letter from the chan
cellor of the order of the Legion of Honour (the Baron De Lacepede), announc
ing that the decoration of that order was sent to him. I will state, in a subsequent
part of this history, why he never received it. The following are the first lines of
Suchet's order of the day :— " The general-in-chief, having been informed of the
acts of humanity and republicanism performed towards the French, by the inhabi
tants of the valley of Lucerna, and especially by the worthy old man [respectable
vieillard] Rostan, Protestant minister, ordains that the particulars of their praise
worthy conduct should be submitted to the grateful consideration of his army."
Then follows the narrative of facta.
1 This parenthesis is in Suchet's order. The Austro-Russians arrived at La Tour
on the 3d of June and it was on the 4th of June (1799) that the wounded French
were transported from Bobi to France.
2 This parenthesis is not in the order of the day.
2 See Monastier, II. 192. TMb author has thought it his duty to take notice at

Chap.XXI.J COSSACKS ENTER LA TOFR. 35J1
them a threatening proclamation. " People," said he, "to what
party do you think to attach yourselves? Deluded men, you pro
tect the- French, the disturbers, the enemies of public tranquillity.
They have declared themselves the enemies of the God-man ! and
the ancient attachment of your forefathers to the doctrines of
Christianity .... procured for you the protection of England.
The French have declared themselves the enemies of that power;
and is not that power, which is your benefactress, now our ally?
&C."1 .... The Russian troops arrived at Pignerol. "The inhabi
tants of the valley of Lucerna," says Appia in his memoirs, "fore
seeing that they would ere long receive a visit from them, deemed
it proper to appoint deputies, who should go to meet them and
treat with them.2 I was one of this number, and on the 3d of
June, 1799, at daybreak, having been apprised that the troops of
the allies were making their appearance in great numbers on the
side of Lucerna, I rose from my bed ; but before I was dressed,
the Cossacks were already scouring the streets of La Tour, uttering
frightful hurrahs. They were followed by plunderers seeking to
spoil us. My colleagues were absent ; Peter Voile was defending
his own house from robbery. James Vertu had lost the power of
speech by the shock, and could not accompany me. I retraced my
steps in much perturbation concerning what I had to do, for I
the bottom of this page that Marauda, in his work Tableau du PUmont, claims
for himself the honour of this generous action, performed, as he says, by his orders.
The following contemporary anecdote will show the value of this assertion. " In
1801," says Appia in his memoirs, "happening to be at Turin, I paid a visit to M.
Marauda, who was then occupied in writing his Tableau du PUmont. ' You will
intend to insert in it,' said I, ' the noble action of Rostan ?' ' "What is it ?' said he.
I told him. He waB at that time ignorant of this fact ; and when his work was
published I was extremely surprised to see that he appropriated it, making a
letter be addressed to himself, in? which it was said that, under his orders, the
soldiers of his corps had saved these Frenchmen. But in 1799 that corps did not
exist. Marauda was then in the valley of St. Martin, having taken with him the
horse of John Bonjour, of La Tour, which he never thought fit to pay, and which
the Austro -Russians took from him at Pral when he was endeavouring to make his
way through the pass, to retire to Abries." It was because of the uncertainty
thrown upon the noble action of the pastor of Bobi, by this claim of Marauda, that
the intention of decorating the venerable Rostan was not carried into effect. Ma
rauda himself asked the cross of honour, but his letter remained unanswered. I
cannot judge of him in his military character (although the memoirs of Appia con
tain also this note — "Marauda acted as a double spy in 1792 and 1793"), but as a
historian he is of no authority. His name would not even have been found in
these pages but for the note of M. Monastier.
1 This proclamation, which is not dated, is printed in two columns, the one in
Italian and the other in French. Hahn gives it entire at p. 207 of vol. ii. of his
work, History of the Sects of the Middle Ages.
2 These deputies were — John Daniel Peyrot, James Vertu, Peter Voile of St.
John, former captain of the Vaudois militia; the advocate Plochtu, although a
Catholic ; and Paul Appia, the author of the memoirs.
Vol. II. 101

322 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. [part Third.
hesitated to present myself alone before 400 or 500 infuriated men,
who might not be able to understand what I said. ' M. Appia,
take care!' said a Catholic whom I met, 'for you have still your
tricolor cockade.' I thanked him for the warning, and immediately
substituted for my perilous cockade a little piece of white paper.
Then raising my hands towards heaven, I prayed God to help me,
and in the hope of being useful to my country, I proceeded towards
the Cossacks. They had just slaughtered eight of Zimmerman's
hussars. My heart trembled as if it had been suspended by a
thread. They commenced plundering, and I saw them enter the
shop of the brothers Long. The danger increased my courage.
He is well protected whom God protects, and so committing myself
into his hands, I advanced without fear towards the officer who
appeared to me to be of highest rank. He asked me in German,
'Who are you, and what do you want?' I replied in the same
language, that I was a magistrate of the place, and that I desired
to know what he demanded of the inhabitants of La Tour. 'That
they lay down their arms, and that they deliver up all the French
to us.' 'No one is armed — the French are fled or slain.' 'Your
name?' 'Appia.' 'Will you guarantee with your head the
truth of what you say?' 'Yes, sir.' 'In that case I will cause
a retreat to be sounded.' But before parting from him, I wished
to be informed where his general might be found. 'There is no
general,' he replied. 'Your commandant, then.' 'He is at St.
John.' ' Give me a safe-conduct to go to him.' He reflected for
a moment, and then said, ' You have no need of one.' He then
caused a retreat to be sounded, and I went to seek my brother
deputies. The two first whom I saw durst not come out, because
they had heard the first officer, who made his appearance, say that
the whole place was to be given up to fire and sword. I encouraged
them to better hopes, and we set out on our way to St. John.
"There was fighting there, for we heard the sound of musketry-
Each shot went to my heart. Arriving at Les Blonats, we were
surrounded by three patrols of Croats. But we could not make
them comprehend us at all. At this moment an officer made his
appearance on the bridge ; we waved a white handkerchief in the
air; he replied to us in the same manner, and caused us to be
brought to him. Having explained to him the object of our mis
sion, he told us to go and meet him again at Lucerna, in presence
of Colonel Woisach. We went thither accordingly, and were very
graciously received by that officer. The first thing which I asked
of him was that he would restore to liberty Peter Voile's eldest
daughter, who had been taken by the soldiers. This he immediately

Chap XXI.] EXERTIONS OF M. APPIA. 323
granted. Emboldened by my success, I asked the same favour for
thirty prisoners whom we had seen in the covered market-place,
but he refused. After this he said to us, 'Gentlemen, return to
your houses, and tell the people to be quiet, and to resume their
labours without fear.' I asked him to give me this order in writing.
'Go and write it,' said he, 'and I will sign it.' We went to the
priest's house, where we wrote the order; but the colonel had
already mounted his horse — we made haste to carry it to him, and
he signed it on the pommel of his saddle. I then asked him for
authority to establish patrols to secure us from pillage. 'Go,' he
replied ; 'all that you do will be approved.' And he added this
authority on the note which he had signed. He spoke to us partly
in Latin and partly in German. We left him very much satisfied
with the result of our mission."
The author then relates that he favoured the escape of a com
pany of French soldiers,1 giving them guides to conduct them to
Angrogna, and thence to the French territory, thus enabling them
to avoid falling into the hands of their enemies.
He immediately caused a special guard to be established in each
Vaudois commune.2 But considering that the favour which he had
obtained for the repose of the Vaudois still depended only on an in
ferior officer, he resolved to seek the sanction of it from the com
mander-in-chief. Having re-assembled his fellow-deputies, he set out
with them for Pignerol. " On our arrival at Briqu6ras," says he,
" we fell into the midst of some hundreds of Cossacks, who burned
with desire to plunder us. One of them had even stretched out his
hand to the bridle of my horse, but an Austrian officer caused them
to let us go." At Pignerol Count Zuccato introduced the deputies
to Count Denison, who commanded the advanced guard of the
Austro-Russian troops. " Gentlemen," said that officer, "you come
from a rebel valley ; you must be placed under arrest." And he
caused them to be conducted back to their hotel by a hussar,
charged to keep a sharp watch over them. " This hussar," adds
our author, " spoke Dutch very well. We entered into conversa
tion. He had lived in Amsterdam, and was connected with a
number of persons of my acquaintance. In a short time we were
quite good friends. The inn was filled with Austrian officers,
amongst whom were some wounded. They had been repulsed at
1 Belonging to the 33d demi-brigade of the line, which General Carpentier had
sent to Zimmerman from Briancon.
2 The Catholics, says he, and those who hoped for pillage, could not comprehend
how arms were immediately put again into the hands of a population who had juat
been disarmed. Accordingly they said of the Vaudois, " If the devil should come,
he would presently be their friend."

321 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. [part Third.
Le Malanage by our people of the communities of Prarusting, An
grogna, and St. Germain, who had been posted there to cover the re
treat of the provisional government. These officers regarded us with
a very evil eye. There arrived, in course of the day, 10,000 or 12,000
Austro-Russians, who bivouacked in the public squares of Pignerol.
These troops were destined to march against the valley of Lucerna.
This distressful thought prevented me from obtaining any repose
during the night. At break of day a burst of music was heard.
It was a Russian regiment at prayer. A moment after there was
a loud beating with the butt-end of a musket at the door of the
hotel, and then at that of our chamber. It was an aid-de-camp,
who came to conduct us to Prince Bagration.
" The Prince was lodged in the house of the Count de Pavia, one
of our bitterest enemies. The fate of our country was perhaps to
depend upon the chances of a single interview. But no; it de
pended upon God, and God protected us; for this Russian prince
proved an angel of goodness, whose memory will always be blessed
among the" Vaudois. He heard with patience all that I said to
him of the situation of our valleys, and I concluded by saying that
I brought to him the submission of the inhabitants. ' That is good !'
said he; 'have you it in writing?' 'No, my lord.' 'Well, go and
write it and sign it.' When we had brought it to him we peti
tioned for the release of the thirty-three unhappy prisoners whom
we had seen at Lucerna. ' I grant you this,' he most kindly replied.
Having then gone out of doors, we saw in the square a crowd of 500
or 600 men, provided with sacks, ropes, and great baskets. ' What
do these people want?' said the prince. ' To ask arms from you,'
said -I. 'For what purpose?' 'To ravage and plunder our val
leys.' 'Let this rabble be driven off!' said he to a colonel; and a
regiment of Croats very soon dispersed them.
"An officer of Nice was in the square of St. Donatus, seated at
a table, where volunteers were being enrollod, and there he cried
to the crowd — ' Ki veul pie parti per ender contra i Barbets?' "
(Who wiU enlist to march against the Vaudois?) " But as soon as
he heard Bagration's order, he also disappeared."
The deputies then proceeded to the mayor's house, whither the
orders of the prince were to be forwarded to them, along with pass
ports. But before they were put into their hands they were made
to sign a declaration, by which they became responsible, with their
heads, for the tranquillity of the valleys. These worthy patriots
did not hesitate to sign it. Having returned to the valleys, they
learned that a horde of some hundreds of robbers had invaded the
hill of Prarusting, in order to plunder it, and were already destroy-

Chap. XXI ] INTERVIEW WITH SUWAROW. 325
ing by fire the quarter of Les Gay.1 The Vaudois deputies imme
diately sent off a messenger to inform the prince. Bagration lost
no time in putting an end to this robber-violence, and a few days
afterwards he sent an express to La Tour, to ask the same deputies
to return to Pignerol. " Gentlemen," said he, when he saw them,
" I have been so satisfied with the candid and faithful manner in
which you have acted, that I could not think to quit this city
without having the pleasure of seeing you again, But this is not the
only reason which has made me desire your presence ; to-morrow
you will be called upon to make your submission to the marshal."
Next day they set out with Count Zuccato to go to Turin, to
the presence of Suwarow. "Some officers who recognized the
count, said to him, ' Whence come you, Zuccato ?' ' From an ex
pedition which has ended in nothing.' 'What expedition?' 'We
were to have marched to-day against the valley of Lucerna, but
that country has submitted ; here are the deputies.' " 2
After a few hours' rest they were conducted to the palace of the
marshal, who lodged in the palace of the Prince de la Cisterne;
but not being able to receive them that day, he invited them to
dinner next day, at eight o'clock in the morning. "Whilst we
were awaiting the hour of dinner, we were introduced into the hall
of the staff, where we found Colonel Contsnikow,* and the young
Prince of Gorciakow.* . . . These gentlemen spoke French with a
readiness which astonished me. . . . Having been introduced into
the dining-room, we saw a little old man enter in a white Keyser-
litz vest, white small clothes, and a little leather cap on his head ;
his stockings and boots loose, and coming down about his heels. . . .
This was the marshal. The count took me by the hand and pre
sented me. I was about to repeat to him orally the formal sub
mission which had already been made in writing; but he said,
' This is not necessary; I know all.' Then he embraced me, pronounc
ing these words, ' Pace, amicizia, efratellanzal ' 8 . . . I could not
i The loss sustained in this quarter was estimated at '25, 000 francs.
2 Before entering Turin, the count recommended the postilion to go round the
city, in order to enter it by the gate of the Po, for the French still occupied the
citadel, and fired on all carriages or cavalcades which entered by the Porto
Nuovo. " Bah!" said the postilion (to avoid half-an-hour's ride), "they will not
fire just now." " If you have no fear, then, neither have I," said Zuccato; " it is
not my trade." " And the carriage daBhed on at the gallop." But a wheel soon
came off, and at the same moment a bullet passed over the heads of the travellers.
" I am persuaded," said Appia, "that the artilleryman believed it was he who had
overturned us." But this accident waB followed by no bad consequences.
3 Pronounced Consnicoff. 4 Pronounced Gortshakoff.
5 Peace, friendship, and fraternity. "The true salutation of a Jacobin!" adds
the author. (P. 41 of the MS.)

326 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. [Part Third.
help remembering that this man who received ua so well, was the
same cruel general who had caused the suburb of Praga, at War
saw, to be destroyed by fire and sword; and I trembled when I
thought that we might have had the same fate.
" After this a servant came, bringing him a large glass of brandy,
which he drunk off at a draught. A moment after the same servant
brought him a plate, on which were a dozen large radishes, with
salt and oil. He craunched them with his fleshless gums as easily
as if he had still had young teeth. Then he approached me, put
three of them into my left hand, and caused a glass of brandy to be
handed to me. When we had finished our radish, he said to us,
' Gentlemen, what religion are you of? Do you say thou or you to
the good God V When we had told him our religion, he turned to
an old Danish general and said to him, ' Pray for these gentlemen.'
The general clasped his hands and commenced a prayer with much
unction. But it seemed that Suwarow did not approve of it, for,
laying his hand upon his arm, he interrupted him, and began him
self to recite one to him, which the Danish general repeated, sen
tence by sentence, and without varying a word. The spectators of
this singular scene had much difficulty in restraining themselves
from laughter. When it was over the marshal said to us, ' Now,
let us take our places at table.' "
After dinner he informed the Vaudois deputies that they were
to go to pay their respects to the president of the supreme coun
cil.1 Count Zuccato introduced them. "Your excellency!" said he,
" here are three Vaudois deputies." . . . But the president did
not give him time to say any more. Rising in a rage like that of
a madman, he said, " These fellows are from a rebel valley ; their
hearts are rotten !" " You may judge how we felt," writes Appia.
"The president came and planted himself right opposite to us; and,
in our perplexity, not knowing what complaints he could have
against us, we knew not what to answer to his coarse inculpation-
But the good Count Zuccato did not allow himself to be brow
beaten, and firmly answered, 'These gentlemen are respectable
persons, to whom their country is much indebted. Moreover, they
are under the immediate protection of Marshal Suwarow.' At this
formidable name the president stood for a moment disconcerted —
his lips trembled, and all his features spoke his rage that the ex
pedition against the valleys had come to nought.2 It was said that
1 This was Count Thaun, de Saint- Andre, Marquis de Revel. The council met
in the palace of the Place de St. Charles.
2 It was known at Turin that an expedition had set out against the valleys.
The Vaudois who dwelt in that capital were in consternation. I happened to

Chap. XXI.] CHARACTER OF THE COSSACKS. 327
he had suggested it; he was therefore doubly irritated. However,
when he was informed how we had been received by the marshal,
he excused himself three times over, and concluded by inviting us
to dinner, to make us, as he said, forget his stupidity." It may
readily be understood that the Vaudois were not anxious to accept
such an invitation. They hastened to return to the valleys, to
give an account of the result of their mission, by a circular which
was sent to all the communes.
Not very long after this, thirty or forty Cossacks, commanded
by a lieutenant, were sent and stationed at La Tour. " The glut
tony of these troops is unparalleled," says the author of the memoirs
just quoted.1 " These soldiers often brought in from the country
green walnuts, and grapes.scarcely formed ; all which they put into
their pot, with the provisions which were given them, and added
candle-ends for seasoning. I saw them make this admirable por
ridge in their quarters, but they never chose to lodge in a house.
Their suspicion was extreme. They lay indiscriminately amongst
their horses. In the morning, at break of day, they turned towards
the east and performed their devotions with a multitude of signs of
the cross. The reverence which they showed to their superiors is
incredible.2 They would even approach them on their knees to
kiss their boots, after having been beaten with the knout. They
were enthusiasts in their admiration of Suwarow. One evening,
having invited their lieutenant, whose name was Kitow,8 to sup
per, along with the interpreter, who was a Bohemian, I asked him
a question about the marshal. Immediately Kitow rose, drew his
sabre, took it between his teeth, took a pistol in each hand, and
raising them above his head, cried with a tremendous voice, not
withstanding the sabre which he was biting, ' 0 SuvarofI Suvarqf!'
My wife and children were in mortal fear of him."
I omit many details, amongst which are some relative to a rash
enterprise of Marauda, which had well-nigh entailed ruin upon his
country. Having raised in France an irregular troop of some hun-
meet Malanot in the Rue des Ambassadeurs ; "O heavens!" said he, "how are
you here?" "I come from La Tour." "Do the Vaudois valleys still subsist?"
&c. . . . (Paul Appia s Memoirs.)
1 These details are of no great historic value ; but they are so characteristic of
the scene which we have been contemplating, that I could not think of suppress
ing them.
2 " When their colonel (Stadion) sent me a letter, the Cossaok to whom it was
intrusted brought it to me immediately, and whatever was the hour of the night
when it arrived, he caused me to rise that he might put it into my hands, and
that I might sign a receipt for it. I wrote my name in the register of the post in
great Greek capitals, and then they were able to read it, &c  " (Same
memoirs.) s Pronounced Kitoff.

328 THE ISBAEL OF THE ALPS. [part Third.
dreds of men, he came by the Col la Croix to attack the Cossacks
quartered at La Tour. He was repulsed; but he was a Vaudois;
it was believed that there was some understanding between his
compatriots and him; they were accused of treason; and the deputies,
who had guaranteed with their heads the tranquillity of the val
leys, had well-nigh lost their lives. Some of them were arrested;
others fled.1 The Divine protection still furnished them, upon this
occasion, with the means of justifying themselves, and their anxieties
were allayed.
The malevolence of their enemies was not so readily appeased.
Whilst the Count de Denison still commanded at Pignerol, he
wrote one day to the representatives of the valleys, and to Appia
personally, that revolutionary conferences were held at La Tour,
Appia hastened to present himself before the commandant, to per
suade him of the contrary. He found him much irritated. " I am
better informed than you think," said Denison to him; "I know
the members of your club " — and he named them.2 " I can assure
you," replied the deputy, "that not only have you been basely
deceived concerning the formation of this pretended club, but that
amongst the persons who have been named there are not two, per
haps, who have met with one another for a year past." " Whence
then come these accusations?" said the count. "It would rather
be for me to ask you that question," replied Appia. " Let that
pass," said the count ; " but what is the reason of this hatred of
which you are the objects? for there is not a day but some priest
comes to besiege my gate, to stir me up against you." 3
" Prince Bagration had already told me the same thing," observes
Appia in his memoirs. " And when General Wukassovich arrived
at Pignerol, in 1799, a canon of that city exerted himself to irritate
him against the Vaudois by the falsest accusations. We made
haste," says Appia, " to draw up a defence of our conduct since the
3d of June, and to cany it to him. He was able to satisfy him
self of the accuracy of the statements. But he then added — ' I
have here, in the prisons, one of your mountaineers, who attempted
to kill one of my sergeants by a pistol shot.' I was acquainted
with the case. 'General!' said I, 'the man you speak of is no
1 In connection with this, Appia relates the particulars of his escape to France;
but they are bo purely personal, that I cannot give them a place here.
2 Lauzaroth, reader and precentor at Bobi; Peyrot, pastor at Rora; Frache of
La Tour ; Brezzi, &c.
3 The deputy having explained to the commandant that this hatred was occa
sioned by difference of religion, Denison exclaimed, " Good God ! is that possible?
We live on the best terms with the Kalmucks, and yet they are iiiolaters ! "
" Yes," said Appia, "but you are not Catholics !" (Paul Appia' s Memoirs.)

Chap. XXI.] A NOBLE INCIDENT. 329
Vaudois; he is a Catholic of Lucernette.' Having acknowledged
the correctness of our representations, Wukassovich sent us away,
saying, ' Go, and keep yourselves quiet. My conduct will be regu
lated according to your moderation.' One winter day," proceeds
the narrator — "it was in December, 1799 — Colonel Papius came
to my house, accompanied by a number of officers. He said to me,
' We are informed, sir, that the Vaudois wish to poison us, or to
deliver us to the French.' I was struck dumb for a moment. My
indignation could not be expressed. But God gave calmness. I
caused my three children to be brought, of whom the eldest was
only nine years of age, and I said to the colonel, ' These, sir, are
my children ; they are dearer to me than my life ; take them for
hostages; and if you receive a single scratch from a Vaudois, do
with them what you think proper.' " The words of a noble-minded
citizen who knew his compatriots well, and showed himself most
worthy to represent them ! The officers went away re-assured, and
left him his children; but this incident of modern history is also
worthy of the noblest days of ancient Italy.
I will go no farther : facts accumulate and carry me beyond my
limits. Notwithstanding all my efforts to abridge, I feel as if the
plan of this work were giving way under the pressure of the mul
tiplied events which must be included in it. I hope the dryness
of the following pages, in which the necessity of extreme concise
ness permits me to insert nothing but what belongs to the subject
of the chapter, may be compensated by the more animated details
of these.
Napoleon returned from. Egypt;1 he dissolved the directory,2
organized the senate,3 received the title of First Consul,4 re-con
stituted the tribunals,5 the administration,6 and the army.7 It
required his powerful hand to reconstruct, in so short a time, the
France that was to be, from the ruins of the France that had been.
Oi the 6th of May, 1800, he set out from Paris to put himself at
the head of the army of the Alps. Ten days afterwards he led
them across the snows of the St. Bernard. Scarcely had one week
elapsed till Suza, Yvree, and La Brunette were already in "his
hands. On the 2d of June he was at Milan.
The whole of the allied, troops opposed to him were assembled
in the plain of Alexandria. He marched thither; and defeated
them at Mont6bello ;s but it seemed as if victory was to desert
1 From 24th August to 16th October, 1799. 2 On 10th November.
3 On 24th December. 4 On 13th December.
s On 17th March, 1800. B On 17th February, 1800.
' From 10th November, 1799, to 27th April, 1800.
8 On 9th June. He made 6000 Austrians prisoners.
Vol. II. 102

330 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. I>am Third.
his hitherto victorious army,1 at Marengo. " It was three o'clock
in the afternoon; all the generals regarded the battle as lost. In
the belief that the French army was routed, Zach manoeuvred to
cut off its retreat. 'Soldiers!' exclaimed Napoleon, 'we must
sleep upon the field of battle!' At the same moment, he gave
orders to advance. The artillery was unmasked, and kept up a
terrible fire for ten minutes; the enemy paused in astonishment;
the drums beat for a charge at the same moment along the whole
line; and that impulse which communicates itself like flame to
the hearts of brave men, carried them on at the voice of their
general. Desaix arrived with his division; calm and intrepid; and
the enemy who thought to cut off our retreat, found his own left
turned. At this moment, Bonaparte ordered the cavalry to pass
through the intervals at gallop. This bold manoeuvre decided the
victory. The Austrians gave way everywhere. The ardour of
our troops increased; they seized upon Marengo  The
battle was won."2
The whole of Piedmont and of Lonibardy thus fell again under
the influence of France, and the Cisalpine Republic was immedi
ately proclaimed. " This event," says M. Monastier^'in which, _
moreover, the Vaudois had no part, made their position sucfji as it
had never been before, and such as they had never ventured to
hope that it would become. In one day, and as if by enchantment,
they saw all the prohibitive laws abolished, under which they had
so long groaned. The barrier which separated them from other citi
zens was broken down. A field was opened up to their unfettered
activity, in which their enlightenment and their industry could
be rendered available. From having been despised pariahs, they
passed to the enjoyment of the same political rank with their haugh
tiest persecutors. And, what was more precious to them than all
the rest, they were now to enjoy without impediment, that religi
ous Hberty for which they had struggled during three centuries."
In the following chapter, we shall see them in this new position,
¦The capture of Nice (29th May), of Novara (30th May), of Turbigo (31st May),
of Pa,via 3d June), of Lodi (4th June), of Cremona (5th June), and of Placenza
(7th June), preceded the battle of Marengo.
* An extract from a writing of Marshal Lannes, quoted in the history of Napo
leon, by Hugo, pp. 154-158. The battle of Marengo took place on the 14th of
June. An armistice was signed on the 15th ; and the treaty of Alexandria, which
?a™ "Pj1^011* fnd Lombardy to France, was concluded on the 16th of June
1800. Next day, the 17th, Napoleon was on his way back to Milan.
3 II. , 180.

CharXXH] A RIDICULOUS PROCLAMATION. 331
CHAPTEE XXII.
STATE OF THE VAUDOIS UNDER THE DOMINION OF FRANCE.1
(a.d. 1799 to A.r. 1814.)
The two periods of French dominion in Piedmont — Ridiculous proclamation of
the provisional government of 1798 — The new organization and political ar
rangements — Changes favourable to the VaudoiB and to liberty — Addresses of
Paul Appia to his Vaudois brethren — The English subsidies withdrawn from
the Vaudois — Distress of the pastors — Peyrani chosen moderator — Napoleon at
Milan — Interview of Peyrani with the emperor — New ecclesiastical arrange
ments — Congratulatory address of the Vaudois to Napoleon — Official installa
tion of pastors under the new French law — Earthquake of 1808 — Downfall of
Napoleon, and of the French empire.
Piedmont was united to. France on the 2d of February, 1799; it es
caped from the dominion of that country in the month of June of
the same year, but fell under it again after the victory of Marengo,
in June, 1800. This chapter, therefore, includes two periods, in
which the authority of France extended over the Vaudois valleys;
the first of which contains the first six months of 1799, and the
second commences a year afterwards, and continues to the restora
tion of the old powers, in 1814. The intermediate year (from
June, 1799, to June, 1800) presents to our view the invasion by
the Austro-Russian troops, of which we have spoken separately,
in order not to interrupt the exhibition of the events now before
us, by an event of a different kind.
Charles Emmanuel IV. retired to Cagliari on 9th December)
1798; on the same day, a provisional government was appointed;2
and next day there appeared, with the signature of Eymar,3 and
under the eyes of Joubert,4 a proclamation in which it was said —
" People ! . . . the dawn of reason has appeared on your hori
zon, along with the French army. . . . The names of a Jou
bert, an Eymar, a Grouchy, will be the eternal objects of tenderness
and admiration to all grateful hearts." The bombastic vanity of
¦ Authorities. — The same as in the preceding chapter. Also, Raccolta delle
Uggi, providenze e manifesti, emanati dai governi francese e provisorio, e da'la
municipalita di Torino, &c. ... 2 vols. 4to, the first of 320, and the second of
240 pages. — Fortunes of the Vaudois during and since the French Revolution . . .
by John Voter (in German), Berlin, 1820.— Synodal Acts of the Vaudois Church.
— Consistorial Archives, 1800-1814. — Private documents.
2 Composed of thirteen members.
3 Signing : Vu, au nom de gouvernement francais.
4 Commander-in-chief of the French army then in Italy.

332 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. [paet Thibd.
such a document, extorts a smile of contempt. But more serious
measures succeeded these declamatory sentences.
All the old administrative authorities were provisionally main
tained. All titles of nobility gave place to the common designa
tion of citizen.1 Various decrees were soon issued for the organi
zation of the municipalities,2 and of national guards,3 and for the
regulation of the public finances.1 All temporal power was taken
from the church. 5 The civil law ceased to maintain the irrevoca
bility of ecclesiastical vows;6 and finally, the new government,
"considering that difference of religion ought not to introduce,
amongst the citizens of a free people, any difference of rights or of
duties," decreed that for the future, Protestants should enjoy the
same prerogatives with Catholics? Torture and the Inquisition
were abolished; 8 the right of asylum in churches was suppressed,9
and unlimited freedom of. the press established.10 At the same
time, it was resolved that the magnificent chapel of the Superga,
built upon a hill at the gates of Turin, should, like the Pantheon
at Paris, be "destined to receive, under the name of the Temple of
Gratitude, the remains of citizens who had deserved well of their
country," without distinction of religion.11 The College of Nobles,
the Tribunal of Apanages, and the orders of the Nonciata and St.
Maurice disappeared by one stroke.12 Piedmont was united to
France,13 and the national guards of the valley of Lucerna were
assembled at La Tour,14 to take the oath of fidelity to the constitu
tion, around the tree of liberty.
The commandant of Pignerol attended upon this occasion.15
Paul Appia, the author of the memoirs so often quoted in the pre
ceding chapter, having been elected by his fellow-citizens a muni
cipal officer, delivered a fervent oration. " Citizens and brethren,"
said he, " we are now enrolled under the standard of liberty; arms
are not given you to make you quit your homes, but that you may
defend them — that you may watch over the public tranquillity —
1 Decree of 10th December, 1798. 2 On 15th December.
3 On 18th December.
4 On 21st December. By this decree the intendancies were abolished, and in
their stead a council of the public finances was established in each province.
6 Decree of 19th December, 1798. • Same decree.
7 Decree of 31st December, 1798.
9 Torture, by decree of 17th December, 1798; and the Inquisition, by that of
28th January, 1799.
9 By decree of 6th January, 1799. This right of asylum was of ubo only to
criminals, whose impunity it favoured. '» On 17th January.
u Decree of 6th January. 12 By decree of 1st and 10th February, 1799.
» By decree of 2d February, 1799. » On 20th January, I799!
15 General Niboyet.

Chap. XXII] APPIA'S ORATION. 333
that you may rid the country of any one who would assail the life
or property of citizens. ... I invite you to banish from this
time forth, as brethren, all hatreds and party spirit. . . . Thus
will those infamous informers disappear, who dishonour and trouble
society. . . . When he must accuse any one, the true re
publican is not afraid to put his own name, like the Scythian, on
the arrow which he shoots. . . . Citizens ! consider seriously
the greatness of the promises which you have just made. You
have sworn to be obedient to the laws — to respect your superiors,
and to obey them, and to banish despotism under whatsoever form
it may present itself. Let this henceforth be the motto for all of
you alike, To live freemen, or to die! Hurrah for the Republic !
[ Vive la Republique!] l
"O Vaudois! O my dear countrymen!" exclaimed he at a
later period,2 " who has more reason than we to cherish this liberty?
We shall no more see those unhappy times, when soldiers and exe
cutioners were the logicians whom kings sent against us; when
superstition and fanaticism brooded over schemes of vengeance,
and sharpened poignards to stab our brethren. But let us draw a
curtain over the past. Instructed in the holy religion which
teaches us to pardon, let us invite all our compatriots, of whatso
ever way of thinking, to unite with us, that all may form one and
the same family, and all may. labour together for the prosperity oi
the country, so that it may always be said, These mountains are
inhabited by a virtuous people, the enemies of luxury and of all the
passions which corrupt the hearts of men." 3
After having attended to the military and administrative or
ganization of the country, the provisional government appointed
a commission, " for the purpose of collecting in the national archives
and libraries, all the documents which might be deemed useful for
the composition of a national hi_story."4 It appointed also a com-
1 These extracts are considerably abridged. The address was printed entire at
Pignerol, by Scott, under the title, Discours prononce aux quinze compagnies de
garde nationale de la valUe de Luserne . . . celer pluviose, an VII. de la Republique
francaise, et le 1 er de la liberie pUmontaise, par Paul Appia, officier municipal.
(Hahn quotes some larger fragments of it. Geschichte der Waldenser, &c, pp.
204-206.) 2 In 1808, being then juge depaix at La Tour.
3 Memoire historico-statistique sur les Vaudois . . . ou reponses aux questions qui
ont eu addressees a Paul Appia, membre du conseil general, et juge de paix A La
Tour, par M. Alexandre Lameth, prefet du P6, par ordre de Son Excellence M. le
ministre de VmMrieur, en 1808. MS. of 26 folio pages, communicated by M. Appia
of Frankfort. (Quoted by Hahn, p. 206.)
4 By decree of 26th February, 1799. This project has been partly realized in
our days, by the commission of the Mowwmenta patriae.

334 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. [PakiThikd.
mission of sciences and arts, of which the moderator of the Vau
dois churches (Peter Geymet) was nominated a member.1 The
Archbishop of Turin himself recommended order and forbearance,2
notwithstanding the abolition of the ecclesiastical tithes.3 By a
decree of the 3d of April, 1799, Piedmont was divided into depart
ments; and the valleys were included in the department of the
Po, called at first that of the Eridan. Its administration was con
fided to a central commission, of which likewise Geymet was nomi
nated a member.1
But the coalition formed against France had already re-animated
the hopes of the partizans of the ancient regime. The Austro-
Russian armies approached Piedmont. A decree was published,
prohibiting under pain of death, the cry, Vive le roilb The de
fenders of liberty had not learned even to respect the liberty of
sympathies. It was to render themselves unworthy of exciting
them; it was to compromise the dignity of their fall, now soon to
take place.
The allies speedily entered Turin.6 The provisional government
removed its seat to Pignerol; but the Austrians and Russians
followed hard after it, and it took refuge in the fort of Fenestrelle.
Perhaps, even this might have fallen into the hands of the enemy,
had it not been for the bravery of the Vaudois, who exposed their
lives to arrest the Austro-Russian forces, at the defile of Malanage.
The reactionary Piedmontese, and the special enemies of the
Vaudois, endeavoured to organize an expedition for the purpose of
wasting the Vaudois valleys by fire and sword. Twelve thousand
men had already arrived at Pignerol for this object; and we have
seen, in the preceding chapter, how Providence permitted this
calamity to be warded off by the patriotism and prudence of the
men who became answerable with their heads, for the tranquillity
of these countries.
"After the battle of Marengo," says Appia in his memoirs,7
" Piedmont was inundated with French troops, whom it was neces
sary to supply with provisions, notwithstanding their great price,
for the sack of wheat was then sold as high as five louis, and
other things in proportion. Our communes were burdened with
1 This commission was instituted by decree of 27th February, 1799. It was at
first composed of fifteen members ; and by decree of 29th December, ten more were
added to them. It was this last decree which nominated Geymet.
2 Mandatory of 14th March, 1799. 3 By decree of 31st March.
4 By decree of 3d April, Bigned Musset, commissaire du gouvernement.
5 By decree of 14th May.
6 Towards the end of May. But the citadel did not surrender till the 20th of
June. 7 p^ 5^

Ciur. XXII] INDIGENCE OF THE PASTORS. 335
an exaction every ten days, which much exceeded their feeble re
sources. It consisted of money, hay, wood, straw, wine, and pro
visions. Not being able to meet this demand, the communes sent
a deputation to Turin, to General Chabrand, in order to obtain ex
emption from it; and in consideration of the services which we had
rendered, he discharged the Vaudois from that extraordinary tax."
Napoleon passed seven days in Milan,1 occupied in re-organizing
the Cisalpine Republic,2 and in opening relations with the court of
Rome.3 In the midst of these great affairs, however, the Vaudois
church was completely forgotten. " The financial position of the
pastors," says M. Monastier,4 " became in these circumstances ex
tremely critical. The royal subsidy from England, which formed
the greater part of their slender stipends, had been withdrawn
from them, on their becoming subject to France. The English
national subsidy continued to come to them, but irregularly.'' The
share of each minister amounted to about 500 francs. This was
their whole salary, certainly insufficient for the wants of a family.
The devoted attachment of their parishioners caused them to make
an effort to supplement it. In more than one locality, the elders
of the church went from house to house, begging the bread of
which the pastor stood in want. On hearing of such great neces
sities, the executive commission of Piedmont adopted measures,
which were well intended, but not very politic."
It began by reducing the number of Catholic parishes" in the
Vaudois valleys from twenty-eight to thirteen.6 Then, "con
sidering that notwithstanding the oppression to which the Vaudois
have been subjected for so many centuries, . . . they have
always shown themselves warmly attached to the Piedmontese nation
1 From 17th to 24th June, 1800.
* Which afterwards took the name of the Italian Republic, and of which he was
named president on 26th January, 1802.
3 Rome then belonged to the King of Naples. Pius VI., carried away from his
metropolis and transported to Valence in 1798, had died in that city in course of
the same year. A conclave of thirty-five cardinals had been assembled for some
months in Venice, to appoint a successor. A skilful policy directed the choice
of Cardinal Chiaramonti, Bishop of Imola, who in his diocese (then united to the
Cisalpine Republic), had delivered a homily full of moderation and almost of
sympathy for liberal ideas. He was elected under the name of Pius VII. It
was with him that Napoleon concluded the concordat (15th July, 1801) which
regulated the re-establishment of the Catholic religion in France. — But Pius VII.
likewise wished at a future period to re-establish the Jesuits and to resist
Napoleon, whom he excommunicated (1809); he in his turn was carried away
from the Vatican (6th July, same year) and did not re-enter his dominions till
the Restoration (1814). He died in 1829. * IL, 194.
5 Also the subsidy granted by the Walloon churches, for the Latin school.
• Decree of 27 Brumaire, year IX. (18th November, 1800).

336 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. [pahtThibd.
—that, in the disastrous campaign of the year VII. (1799), they
covered a part of the French army,1 and that they no longer re
ceive the English subsidy, destined to the support of their pastors"—
the executive commission decreed that the whole revenues of the
suppressed Catholic parishes should be paid over to them ; that
the hospital of Pignerol, destined till then to facilitate the carrying
off of their children, and the catholization of the necessitous mem
bers of their church, should also, with all its revenues, be placed
under the management of the Vaudois Table ; and, finally, that
the Vaudois should be declared worthy of national gratitude?
Shortly afterwards, the valley of Lucerna received the name of
Val-Pelis, from the name of the torrent which flows through it;
and that of St. Martin was called Val-Balsille, in commemoration
of the heroic defence made by Arnaud and his valiant troop of
mountaineers, at the time of the glorious return of the Vaudois to
their native country, in 1689 and 1690. Each of the thirteen
actual Vaudois pastors was, moreover, confirmed in the post which
he occupied, and called to take the oath of fidelity to the constitu
tion.3 During this interval, however, the moderator of the Vaudois
churches had been appointed sub-prefect at Pignerol.4 He con
voked the synod of these churches, in order to demit his office of
moderator, for his discharge of the duties of which he received the
thanks of the meeting of synod. 5 John Rodolph Peyrani was elected
in his stead. " The meeting," it is said, " being deeply impressed
with a sense of the benefits which have been so largely bestowed
upon the Vaudois by the republican government, expresses its
gratitude for them, and vows an inviolable attachment to the sacred
cause of liberty."6 And afterwards, "considering that irreligion
1 By arresting the Austro-Russian forces at Le Malanage, and thus favouring
the retreat of the provisional government to Fenestrelle.
2 Decree of 28 Brumaire, in the year IX. (19th November, 1800). The pro
visions of this decree were renewed by that of 13 Niv6se, in the year IX.
(3d January, 1801). The latter decree suppressed, moreover, the Catholic parish
of Prarusting, with reservation of the revenues to the priest who then served the
cure, but appointing that after the death of that ecclesiastic, the revenues of his
parish should also pass to the Vaudois churches.— The Catholics of St. John
petitioned against the suppression of their parish, which had been united to that
of Lucerna; and the executive commission re-established it, assigning to the priest
of it, pro tempore, the church, the parsonage house, and the meadow attached to
it, with a yearly allowance of 800 livres, to be taken from the national exchequer
(Decree of 14 Germinal, in the year X.— 4th April, 1801.)— The donation of this
national property to the Vaudois was ratified by the decrees of 11 and 22 Ger
minal, in the year X. (12th and 23d April, 1801).
» Decree of 18 Germinal, in the year X. (8th April, 1802). 4 In May 1801
« Synod of 1st, 2d, and 3d June, 1801, § i. e Same Synod, § ii.

Chap. XXII ] INTERVIEW WITH NAPOLEON. 337
is the product of this age, which calls itself philosophical, and not
being able to conceal from themselves that the vices which are the
consequences of it, make progress daily, the meeting, strongly per
suaded and convinced that religion is the firmest bond of society,
and that it alone can make man happy, enlarge his ideas, perfect
his reason, and destroy or weaken vice, resolved that a day of ex
traordinary fasting and humiliation shall be kept, according to the
ancient custom of the Vaudois church."1 It was in this synod
that the ancient evangelical churches of the French Alps enjoyed
the privilege of being admitted to form thenceforth part of the
same body with those of the' valleys of Piedmont.2
Meanwhile, Charles Emmanuel IV. had abdicated his eventual
rights to the throne of Sardinia, in favour of his brother, Victor
Emmanuel.3 Napoleon had been named President of the Italian
Republic,4 then Emperor of the French,6 and finally, King of Italy.6
When he went to Milan, to place the iron crown upon his head,
he received at Turin a deputation of the Vaudois Table.7 " Are
you one of the Protestant clergy of this country?" said he to Pey
rani, who was the speaker of the deputation. "Yes, sire; and
moderator of the Vaudois church." "Are you schismatics from
the Church of Rome?" "Not schismatics, but separate." Then
the emperor, suddenly changing the conversation, as if something
had just occurred to his recollection, said to him, " You have had
1 Minute of Synod of 1801, § xiii.
- Ibid, § iii. — These churches were represented by Pastor Monnet. — They were
those of St. Veran, Fonsillarde, Moliues, Arvieux, La Chalp, and Brunissard.
3 In 1802. — Charles Emmanuel IV. died at Rome in 1819; and his brother, who
in 1814 took the title of Victor Emmanuel IV., abdicated in 1821, in favour of a
third brother, named Charles Felix.
4 On 26th January, 1802. s He was crowned on 2d December, 1804.
• Crowned, 26th May, 1805, at Milan.
' In June, 1805. — All the historians who have spoken of this interview place it
in the year 1797. It cannot have taken place at that date, for the Ring of
Sardinia did not abdicate till 1798; and the Vaudois never made a spontaneous
submission to a foreign power, whilst the sceptre of their legitimate sovereign
was still extended over them. Moreover, I find no occasion in 1797, nor in the
following years till 1805, upon which Bonaparte could have received a Vaudois
deputation at Turin. Again, it appears that Peyrani said to him, "Sire, I am
moderator of the Vaudois church." Now, a style proper only to crowned heads
could not have been used to Napoleon in 1797, as he was not crowned till 1804.
Nor could Peyrani have called himself moderator in 1797, as he was not appointed
to that office till 1801. Finally, a letter addressed by Peyrani to M. de PortaliB
in May, 1805, contains the following: "A Vaudois deputation having had the
honour to be presented to his imperial and royal majesty on his passage at Turin,
and having informed him of the circumstances of the churches which they repre
sented, received orders from him to apply to your excellency, to ask their organi
zation," &c  This agrees exactly with the particulars of the interview,
which must have taken place in June, 1805.
Vol. II. 103

338 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. [paetTiitkd.
brave men among you!" "Yes, sire; Arnaud, the pastor and
colonel who conducted our ancestors back to their own country."
"Your mountains are the best defenders you can have. Cfesar
had difficulty in passing through your defiles. Is Arnaud's. Return
accurate?" "Yes, sire; but we believe that our people were aided
by Providence." "How long have you formed an independent
church?" "From the days of Claude, Bishop of Turin, about the
year 820." "What stipend have your clergy?" "We have no
fixed stipend." } " Had you not a pension from England 1" " Yes,
sire; the kings of Great Britain have always been our protectors
and benefactors, till recently." "How is that?" "The royal
pension has been suppressed, since we became subjects of your
majesty." "Are you organized?"2 "No, sire." "Present a
memorial; send it to Paris, and you will obtain this organization
immediately." J
The moderator having returned to the valleys, lost no time in
convoking the mayors and pastors of all the Vaudois communes
to a public meeting, to be held in the open air, at St. John, in the
square of Les Blonats.4 Each pastor and each mayor was asked to
append his signature to the letter of convocation, to attest his
knowledge of it, and to give his consent to the proposed conference.'5
When the meeting was assembled, Peyrani submitted to it — (1)
The draft of a petition to the minister of worship,6 to ask of him
an ecclesiastical organization, in accordance with the new law.
(2) A plan of organization by which the Vaudois parishes were
grouped into five consistorial parishes, to preserve to them the right
of having a synod of their own.7 In this document are to be found
these sentences : — •
"Down to the time when Piedmont was finally united to France,
1 Even the revenues granted to the Vaudois by the executive commission (18th
November, 1800, and 3d January, 1801) were suspended by the sequestration of
the national domains. — Decree of 4 Germinal, in the year X. (25th March, 1805).
2 To understand this question, and more especially the answer to it, it must be
borne in mind that an organic law for the Protestant churches of France, had
been passed on the 18 Germinal, in the year X. (24th April, 1802); and that some
years elapsed before the new organization was everywhere established.
3 These particulars are related by Gilly, Waldensian Researches, pp. 80, 82;—
Blair, History of the Waldenses, vol. ii.;— Sims, Oeuvres de Peyran; Hahn,
Geschichte der Wold., p. 12;— Acland, Sketch of the History and present Situation
of the Waldenses;— Monastier, II., 189, &c— See the Bibliography.
4 The letter of convocation is dated 26th May (it is signed by all the members
of the Table); the day of meeting was fixed for 30th May, 1S05.
5 It bears the signatures only of eight pastors and eight mayors.
9 M. Portalis.— This petition was accompanied by a topographical description
of the Vaudois churches, according to the terms of the law of organization.
7 In accordance with art. XIII. of the law of 18 Germinal, year X (Titre
II. sect. 1).

Chaf. XXll] MEMORIAL SENT TO TARIS. 339
we enjoyed the privilege of assembling in synod, to frame regula
tions for ourselves. Having learned from the concordat the form
of organization which the Protestant churches of the empire must
assume — which we resemble, although we were never reformed — we
regret to perceive that the number of our parishes will with diffi
culty admit of the five consistorial churches requisite to form the
district of a synod. However, my lord, upon account of isolation,
we venture to solicit a slight exception to the rule," ' <fec. . . .
The assembly adopted these papers, and also (3) a memorial in
tended to be presented to the minister of the interior, and the
finance minister. In this memorial, after having recounted the
principal facts of their eventful history, the Vaudois stated, that
the resources which they derived from England had been cut off,
since the incorporation of Piedmont with France; that the bur
saries established at Geneva, Lausanne, and Basle, in favour of
students from the valleys, had been suspended ; that the revenues
of the national domains granted to them by the decree of 28
Brumaire, in the year IX., had also been taken from them by the
sequestration of these domains.2 In consequence of all this, they
asked that the government should provide in a regular manner for
the maintenance of their pastors, and that the sequestrated domains
should again be placed at their disposal, that their revenues might
be entirely devoted to the purposes of public instruction in the
valleys.3 All these papers having been addressed to M. Mestrezat, president
of the consistory of Paris, to be by him presented to the different
ministers concerned, it was replied that the number of the Vaudois
parishes would not admit of more than three consistorial churches
— that it was difficult to allow them to retain the national domains
— and that the stipends of the pastors (determined by the amount
of the population) could not, in the valleys, be higher than the
1 It was proposed to form five consistorial churches, in the following manner: —
I. Bobi, Villar, and Rora. II. La Tour, St. John, and Angrogna. III. St. Ger
main, Pramol, and Pomaret. IV. Ville SSche, Maneille, Macel, Pral, and
Rodoret. V. Prarusting, Rocheplate, Pignerol, and the localities of the plain in
which there were scattered Protestants,
2 In consequence of a decree which suspended all sale or donation of these
domains, until new inquiries were made into the subject. (Decree of 4 Germinal
in the year XIII. — 25th March, 1S05.) — "These revenues amounted," says the
memorial, "to an annual sum of 10,0U0 francs, including the interest due by a
number of creditors in different communes, of which, however, nothing could
ever bo obtained." (Words of the memorial.)
3 This paper is signed by all the pastors of the valleys without exception — by
the mayors of all the Vaudois communes, also without exception— and by Paul
Appia and John Daniel Peyrot, with this title, deputy of Val-Pelis. — In all,
twenty-eight signatures.

340 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. [PaetTbied.
third class. " However," it was added, " the prefect of the Po (M.
* La Villa) is well inclined towards you; and the minister will ask
from him more exact information concerning the Vaudois valleys.1
It will be seen from this, that this business threatened to become
protracted. Napoleon, having been crowned at Milan en 26th
May, proceeded thereafter to Genoa, in order to effect the annexa
tion of that country to France. He returned to Turin.2 The
moderator, having obtained a new audience, presented a congratu
latory address, and reminded him of the necessities of the church.
" It is to you, sire," said he — " it is to the prodigies of valour and
heroism, to the power of genius which presides over the destinies
of the world — that this small body of people which has escaped from
the ravages of time and the rage of intolerance, owes the blessing
of its political existence, and the assurance that its altars will
henceforth be protected.3 .... Therefore, the name of your ma
jesty is often mentioned in our prayers  Exposed for cen
turies to all the storms of fanaticism, . . . the Protestants of our
valleys have, at different periods, been spoiled of their goods, . . .
or banished from the land which was red with the blood of their
martyrs. .... England came to the help of our wandering fami
lies and desolated churches. .... Our sanctuaries were rebuilt ;
the caves and rocks again resounded with our hymns, .and a royal
subsidy conveyed to us annually the fruit of the piety of the British
court  The new political institutions which have been given
us have caused an abatement of this interest taken in us by Great
Britain, and the royal subsidy has been suppressed  Our
valleys have served as an asylum for the remains of the army of
Verona. , . But a painful feeling mingles with the delight
which the arrival of your majesty creates in our mountains. A
report has been spread that you are about to deprive us of the
national domains. .... Be pleased, sire, to confirm them to us
by an imperial decree, .... which will engrave for ever on our
hearts an eternal, admiring, and grateful recollection of your august
mightiness."4 1 Lettre of M. Mestrezat, dated from Paris, 1 Messidor, year XIII. (20th June,
1805).— The letter of the minister demanding information is of 29 Prairial (ISth
Jun<°- . - About the end of June, 1805.
I give mere extracts from this address, and these of the best parts- for it
abounds m such phrases as this: " with the same hands with which you have flung
the thunderbolt .... you have raised up the standards of philosophy and of a
religion which commends itself to all  which makes men happy without
staining the earth with blood." " A philosophical government, the friend of men
rises on the ruins of a superstitious court," &c. . . . '
4 This document is not dated.— A letter of 4 Messidor, of the year XII (24th
June, 1804), addressed by the prefect of the Po to the sub-prefect of Pignerol,

Chas.XXu] PASTORS' EKDOWMEKT CONFIRMED. 341
No sooner had Napoleon returned to Paris than he demanded
information concerning the nature and value of the national domains
which had been assigned to the Vaudois by the executive commis
sion; 1 and without even awaiting the arrival of that information,
he continued to the Vaudois pastors the endowment which they
had thus received,2 without prejudice to the stipend allowed them
by the state.3 At the same time he signed the imperial decree4
said, " The minister of the interior has just transmitted a duplicate of the decree
of 15 Germinal last (5th April, 1804), by which the government' has fixed the
stipend to be allowed to the pastors," &c  This relates to the pastors of
France in general. All that was done at this time was to inquire into the circum
stances of the Vaudois parishes.
1 By decrees of 28 Brumaire, 13 Niv6se, 11 and 22 Germinal, of the year IX.
(19th November, 1800; 3d January, 12th and 23d April, 1801.)— The minister
demanded from the prefect of Turin, a statement of the domains granted to the
Vaudois, by letter of 17 Thermidor, of the year XIII. (6th August, 1805).— The
prefect wrote to the same purpose to M. Geymet, 29 Thermidor (18th August);
the sub-prefect to the pastors, 4 Fructidor (22d August). And the information
demanded was prepared on 5 Fructidor (23d August) by the officers of the Vaudois
Table, and sent off on the 6th, in a report which showed the nature, origin,
extent, value, management, and revenue of these domains, as well as the amount
of the subsidies, previously received from England and Holland.
2 By imperial decree of 25 Thermidor of the year XIII. (13th August, 1805). —
It is evident that Napoleon did not await the arrival of the information demanded
in order to make up his mind; as that information was not returned until the
24th of August, and it was on the 13th that the national domains in question
were confirmed to th e Vaudois. — Afterwards, a pref ectorial decree of 25th January,
1806, appointed — (1) That the three presidents of the consistorial churches of the
valleys, should provisionally manage these domains on behalf of the Vaudois.
(2) That all the pastors of the valleys, assembled under the presidence of the
nub-prefect of Pignerol, should nominate by an absolute majority of votes, an
agent and a treasurer, selected from amongst themselves — these should be joined
with the three presidents; and that their duties should be gratuitously discharged.
(Then follow articles of detail.) (6) That each of the three presidents should
discharge the duties of principal manager, during four months of the year.
(8) That all the Vaudois pastors should assemble once a-year, under the presidence
of the sub-prefect, to audit and attest the accounts.— The imperial decree of
5th May, 1806, considering the places of worship and presbytires or parsonages as
public edifices, laid upon the communes the burden of building and repairing them
as might be required.
3 As pastors of the third class. Decree of 25th July, 1805. — The rent yielded
by the national domains was appropriated entirely to the purposes of primary and
academic education.
4 1 have not seen this decree, but the following is an extract of a letter of the
minister of worship, Portalis, dated from Paris, 19 Thermidor, in the year XIII., by
which he announced its promulgation to the prefect of the department of the Po: —
" Monsieur le Prefet, — I have the honour to acquaint you that by a decree of the
6th current, his majesty has granted three consistorial churches to the Vaudois of
your department : the first is established at La Tour, the second at Prarostino,
and the third at Ville S&che, without prejudice, however, to the external rites of
the Catholic religion. By the same decree, Messrs. Peter Bert, Emmanuel Rostan,
Peter Gril, and Paul Solomon Bonjour, are confirmed as pastors of the church of
La Tour; Messrs. David Mondon, Paul Goante, and Joshua Meille, are confirmed

342

THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS.

[Paet THIRD.

of 6 Thermidor, in the year XIII. (25th July, 1805), by which
their churches were organized in three consistorial churches — one
at La Tour, another at Prarusting, and the third at Ville Seche.1
All the actual pastors were confirmed and officially installed in
their respective parishes, by the prefect of the Po, as the organ of
the government.2 It must have been very gratifying to them to
see associated with him the former moderator of their churches,
M. Geymet, who retained the office of sub-prefect of Pignerol,
during the whole time that the authority of France subsisted in
Piedmont. The following is the account given of this ceremony by a con
temporary:3 — "I was lately present "at the institution of three
consistorial churches accorded to the Vaudois of the valleys of
Pignerol. The prefect4 had announced that he would be at La
as pastors of that of Prarostino; and Messrs. Alexander Rostan, John Daniel
Olivet, David Monnet, Daniel Combe, Ferdinand Pey ani, and Solomon Peyrani,
are confirmed as pastors of the Vaudois church of Ville Seche," &c.
1 The following table shows the parishes attached to each of these consistorial
churches, with their population at that time : —

Consistorial Churches,

Parishes

Total
Population.

Protestant
Population.

President of the
Consistorial Churches

I.
La Toub .

II.
Pbaeustino

III.
Ville-Seche

Bobi 
Villar 
La Tour 
Rora 
Angrogna 
Prarusting 
Envers-Portes 
St. John 
Pignerol and Turin
St. Germain 
Pramol 
Envers-pinache ...
Pomaret 
Val Balsille* 

1,594
2,260 2,200 540
2,1001,420 600
1,700
140,000 810 980
480600
4,600

1,5701,9301,700 500
1,7501,400 400
1,600 400 700
900
400 550
3,100

I Peter Bert, pas-
f tor at La Tour.
I Joshua Meille,
)- pastor at St.
John.

1

Peyrani, pastor
at Le Pomaret.

2 The following are the. papers relating to this occasion. Decree of 6 Ther
midor, of the year XIII. (25th July, 1805); the Vaudois pastors are to receive their
stipend from the imperial treasurer (at ParisJ.f An ordinance of the same date,
confirming them in the posts which they occupy. A letter of the minister of wor
ship to the prefect of the Po, of date 19 Thermidor (5th August), to proceed to
their installation. Despatch of the prefect of the Po, to the sub-prefect of Pig
nerol, announcing that these things had all been carried into effect. Letter of the
sub-prefect to the pastors, apprising them of these things (16th August, 1805).
3 In the Courrier de Turin, No. of 17 Vendemiaire, of the year XIV. (9th Oc
tober, 1805).— This article is signed G. A. « M. Loysel.
•Including Villk-Skcb*. Les CM,, Fuel, Itiodarel, Maneille, Macel, Rodoret, and Pral. (Le
Tetter was almost entirely Catholic.) \
?According to new Instructions of the minister of worship, dated 1 Frimaire, of the year XIV.
2 .November, 180=), and transmuted by the sub-prefect to the Vaudois pastors (21st March
1806), their stipend was to he paid, on orders sent from Paris, at the office of the Receiver of
Jj^uauces at Pignerol. V1

Chap. XXII.] INSTALMENT OE THE PASTORS. 343
Tour, on Sunday the 15th current (7th October, 1805), in order to
instal the pastors confirmed by his majesty, and to take from them
the oath prescribed for ministers of all religious denominations.
The inhabitants of the three valleys repaired in great numbers to
La Tour. At nine o'clock precisely, the firing of salutes in the
commune of St. John announced the approach of the prefect, and
in a few moments he arrived, accompanied by the sub-prefect
of our arrondissement, and alighted at the beautiful residence of
M. Peyrot,1 member of the geueral council. Before coming to the
bridge of Angrogna, the prefect was met by the deputation of
pastors and received their expressions of respect; and on arriving
at the bridge, he found there the mayors of the valleys, the muni
cipal council of La Tour, and almost all the officials of the neigh
bouring communes. M. Appia,2 another member of the general
council of. our department, delivered an address in name of his
compatriots, in which he expressed their affection for his majesty,
and their gratitude to the wise magistrate, to whom we owe in
great part the boon of our organization. A numerous body of the
national guard was under arms, and lined both sides of the path
along which the cortege defiled. More firing announced the entry
of the prefect into the chief place of the commune. ¦ At half-past ten
o'clock, the cortege arrived at the place of worship, where the prefect,
arrayed in his official robes, was received by the pastors of La Tour,
who accompanied him to the place prepared for him. The ceremony
was immediately commenced by the usual prayers, followed by a
sermon, which demonstrated at once the excellency of evangelical
doctrine and the eloquence of the pastor.3 The prefect then caused
the organic law of the Reformed churches to be read to those pre
sent, and likewise the imperial decrees relative to the Vaudois;
after which he delivered the following address : —
"Liberty of conscience is the most sacred of the rights of man,
and the violence which has so often been done to it, can only be
regarded as the effect of a barbaric ignorance. Religion will always
be respected by enlightened governments. This means of commu
nication between God and men, should unite men in common
sentiments of gratitude to their Creator — give them new strength
for the practice of the social virtues which it demands of them,
and procure for them the happiness of a peaceful life. True
Christians should never depart from those principles of gentleness
which are enjoined in the gospel. Happy inhabitants of the
1 Known by the name of M. Peyrot of Holland.
2 The author of the memoirs which I have so often quoted.
This sermon was preached by M. Bert, pastor at La Tour.

344 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. I>aet Thikd.
valleys ! these are the principles which you profess. May your
hearts ever remain true to them! Ministers of the gospel! his
majesty the emperor and king confides to you the honourable duty
of cherishing by. your instructions and your example, the purity of
morals subsisting amongst this good people ! I shall now receive
your .oath to: this effect, and that of fidelity to his majesty."
The following were the words of this oath : — " I swear and pro
mise to God, upon the holy gospels, that I will be always obedient
to the laws of the empire, and faithful to the emperor. I promise
also':that I will be a member of no council, and will be a party to
no league, either at home or abroad, contrary to the public tran
quillity; and if in my church or elsewhere 1 become aware of any
conspiracy to the prejudice of the state, I will make it known to
the government." 1
The ceremony was then concluded like the ordinary worship of
Protestants. It awakened in us, adds the writer from whom this
account -of it is taken, feelings not easily expressed. " Victims of
a long persecution, we were accustomed to regard governments
with ; respect, because our doctrine' lays it upon us as a duty; but
we.cpuld not;have the same sympathy for oppressors, as for magis
trates- of known impartiality," The Vaudois had heretofore, in
fact, known little but the severity of the laws of their country —
they now began. to know. their justice.
Before returning to the principal town of his department, the
prefeqt spent part of a day in the house where he had alighted on
his 'arrival, in the. company of the pastors whom he had just in
stalled; and amongst Lthe :ministers with whom he particularly
conversed, says the writer .from whom we have borrowed this
narrative, ".distinguished attention was shown to M. Emmanuel
Rostan, pastor of Bobi; for it was to his care and generosity, and
the .care and generosity of his worthy spouse, that 300 wounded
Frenchmen owed their safetyin the unfortunate retreat of the
year VII. This fact is well known; and. is of itself sufficient to
justify all that the government has done in favour of the Vaudois."
Nothing of particular interest in a historic point of view, presents
itself .during the remainder of the time that the Vaudois were
under the dominion of France. The regular course of government
•Extracted from the minute of this ceremony, drawn up by the prefect and
signed by all the paBtors.— It commences thus: " This fourteenth day of the month
of Vendemiaire, in the year XIV." (6th October, 1805)— a day before the date
given in the narration above quoted.— According to the Art de verifier les dates
the 6th of October, 1805, or 14 of Vendemiaire, of the year XIV., was in reality
a Sabbath. The error is therefore io the Courriev de Turin.

Drar,'.T\ V T. C . ISbdia "fbom a stetoh. "by D? liistcm.

Jlngrave3! "by >-T- il. i!cn::

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VALLhY OF LUCBKMA.

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LDIMbi'RHH .]t- LUNIK

Chap. XXII.] SEVERE EARTHQUAKES.. 345
and impartial administration of the laws afford no remarkable
incident to the historian.
The pastors of the valleys were entitled, and even bound, to meet
together once every year;1 and although this meeting did not bear
the name of a synod, they were able to discuss to good purpose
the affairs of their church; for the management of the national
domains with which they had been endowed, which was the legal
object of their meeting, implied a consideration of these affairs.
It was in the first of these meetings that the resolution was adopted
of building at St. John the place of worship which is now to be
seen there. Its erection took place from 1806 to 1808, and the
government itself took part in it. Down to the end of the eighteenth
century, the Vaudois had been prohibited from the exercise of their
religion in this commune, and it was to them a subject of enthusi
astic feeling and a point of general interest to be able to commence
it there. They seemed thus to take a protest against the past,
and to assure themselves of their own emancipation.
At the same period, an awful phenomenon, which had already
been witnessed in the Vaudois valleys in 1611 and in 1755,
recurred to fill them with alarm. " I was at my desk," writes a
merchant of Pignerol, " when my little boy, who was beside me,
suddenly rose, saying that he was afraid; my dog howled with all
his might; at the same moment I felt as if there were something
cold under my feet, and the whole house began to shake."2 This
was upon the 2d of April, 1808, at a quarter before six o'clock in
the evening.3 It was the commencement of an earthquake, very
remarkable, especially for its duration. This first shock, of which
the valley of Lucerna was the centre, was felt at Turin, Genoa,
Lyons, Grenoble, and Geneva. "But as the weather was very
serene, although cold, the greater part of the inhabitants and of
the cattle were out of doors; and by a special — I might almost say
a miraculous — favour of Divine providence, no one lost his life. If
this shock had taken place half-an-hour sooner, more than 100
persons would have been crushed in the church of Lucerna alone,
the arched roof of which fell in. It became necessary to prop all
the houses of La Tour, the walls of many of which were rent; and
the inhabitants constructed sheds as hastily as possible in the fields
1 Decree of the prefect of the Po, 26th January, 1806, § viii.
2 Vaudois Correspondence or collection of letters from, some of the inhabitants
of the valleys of Pignerol, on the earthquake of 1808. — New edition, corrected and
enlarged. — 8vo, Paris, 1808; of viii. and 70 pages.
3 Report of M. Vassali-Eandi to the Academy of Sciences of Turin. — Sitting
of 2d May, 1808. Turin, 8vo, 133 pages.
Vol. II. 104

346 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. [PaetThied.
and gardens, into which they retired,1 and in which they were
compelled to spend many weeks. The whole people lived in tents;
some individuals in old wine casks or under other slight coverings
hastily converted into dwellings upon the emergency. These locali
ties, where all was lately so peaceful, presented the resemblance of
a camp, and confusion everywhere prevailed. There was no agri
culture, no commerce, no industry of any kind. Fear had so seized
upon the hearts of all, that they thought only of the means of
saving their lives."2
This shock was the most severe; but it was followed by a multi
tude of others, almost without interruption, to the 15th of April.
" For some days at first, the earth was not for a moment still. In
the course of one single night we counted thirty-two shocks.
That which was experienced on the 2d of April, at nine o'clock in
the evening, almost, equalled the first. Every body was in the
utmost consternation."3 "Other shocks took place on the same
day at a quarter past nine o'clock, at ten o'clock, at eleven o'clock,
aud at midnight, and then again at two o'clock and at three o'clock
in the morning." * "Within the space of two years, we felt from
15,000 to 16,000 shocks, of greater or less severity. Some of them,
it is true, were very slight and might be compared to the rumbling
of waggons heavily loaded, or to discharges of large cannons. " 5
Three professors were sent by the Academy of Sciences of
Turin, 6 to make observations on this event. " M. Vassali, profes
sor of natural philosophy, fitted up an electrical apparatus in a
gallery. A golden thread of fifty feet in length, was fastened to a
pole planted in a field, and terminated in a crystal bottle, which
contained the electrometer. "We saw at the moment of a slight
shock that the electrometer was affected, so that its diverging
threads touched both the sides of the bottle.7 In the interval
which elapsed between two shocks, the electricity of the ground
was not very observable and always positive. At the moment of
the shock, it became so strong, that it could not be measured by
the electrometer. Twenty minutes afterwards, the threads of that
instrument, placed in contact with the permanent electrical appa
ratus, still remained divergent 30°. The hygrometer always indi
cated 20° to 28° of dryness, on a scale which contained 30°. The
barometer underwent all sorts of variations between one shock and
another. The thermometer often fell after a smart shock, and
' Report of M. Appia, who was employed by M. Vassali-Eandi, to take a note
of all the phases of the phenomenon. 2 Monastier II. 197
3 Memoire by M. Appia, appended to his Report.
' Vaudois Correspondence, p. 36. « Unpublished letter of M. Appia.
6 Messrs. Vassali-Eandi, Bason, and Carena. » Letter above quoted.

Chaj. XXI1.J EFFECTS OF THE EARTHQUAKES. 347
afterwards rose again gradually to its former temperature." * " It
was very singular that the most violent shocks were ordinarily
announced, a few seconds before, by the disquiet of animals. Dogs
barked, horses neighed, and horned cattle exhibited the most
unwonted agitation in their stalls. 3 " The cocks crowed inces
santly, at all hours, from the time of the first shocks."3
Persons in the open air could trace the direction of the shocks,
by the movements which they caused in the tops of the trees. In
general, the motion was propagated from north-east to south-west.*
" The shocks were preceded by a cold wind, which sometimes came
from the mountain and sometimes from the plain. A sudden
increase of the Pelis, which issues from two lakes lying deep among
the mountains, preceded the first shock. Elsewhere, in a dry piece
of ground, a spring all at once broke out. The earth was rent in
the vicinity of Pompara, and there issued from it a prodigious
quantity of gas. The water in the wells was generally muddy and
whitish. Even the wines in the cellars underwent alteration;
some were spoiled and some became acid. Healthy and robust
persons suffered more than children and old men. A paralytic
recovered the use of his limbs, and a person afflicted with the gout
suffered much less after the earthquake." 5 Some persons remarked
that they ate with more . appetite. 6 Others were attacked by
paralysis of which there was a renewal at each shock. 7 There
were also a number of persons who found relief from rheumatic
affections; which was probably an effect of the electricity circulat
ing around. 8
" Our worthy prefect came up in person from Turin to visit us
amidst our calamities. He expressed the liveliest interest in all
the sufferers, visited without fear the most shattered houses, and
cave much in alms. On his return to Turin, he instituted a sub
scription, which brought in 50,000 francs. He then addressed
himself to the emperor, who granted half a million for the miti
gation of these great misfortunes."3
"One evening," adds the same writer, "we were much terrified,
1 Extracted from the Report of M. Vassali-Eandi, and from the Vaudois Cor
respondence. « Memoir of Appia. 3 Vaudois Correspondence, p. 21.
* In the valley of Lucerna, the order of propagation was — Lucerna, La Tour,
St. John, Rora, Lucernette, Briqueras, and St. Segont. The shocks were almost
insensible at Villar and Bobi. In the valley of the Cluson, the centre of the
disturbance seems to have been St. Germain, from which it spread to Pramol,
Pomaret, Perouse, and Pignerol.
s Extracted from the Vaudois Correspondence, pp. 36, 16, 17, 18, 59, 61.
6 Report of M. Appia. r Vaudois Correspondence, p. 18.
6 Report above quoted. ' Memoir of M. Appia.

348 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. [pabtThihd.
and thought our last hour was come. The weather was cloudy.
Suddenly a great globe of fire rising above the summit of the
mountain of Vandalin, made us suppose that some sudden volcanic
eruption had taken place. Happily this globe of fire, after having
risen to a great height, was dissipated without noise. It is the
only meteor which has been remarked for two years."1
It thus appears that Napoleon opened his hand generously to
accord to the Vaudois valleys assistance proportioned to their wants
and worthy at once of his glory and his power. His empire had
indeed acquired gigantic magnitude. A third coalition formed
against France had been broken at Austerlitz.2 England, inde
fatigable in a contest in which others fought for her, prepared new
triumphs for this new Cassar, by fomenting new coalitions.3 Vic
torious in all these wars, in which all the kings of Europe were
leagued against him, he might at last almost be said to have all
sceptres in his hand.* The extreme elevation to which he had
attained, removed him above vulgar considerations, which perhaps
would have been of more use to him. He- thought to confine
within the polar circle, that giant of the North, who alone could
be a counterpoise to his vast power. But repulsed by the burning
of Moscow, and pursued in his turn, as it were, byl-ebel frosts, he
saw his armies vanquished without havjng fought.5
1 The Vaudois Correspondence, on the contrary, says (p. 38)} "A number of
meteors have been remarked. On the 4th of April, some travellers coming from
Lainure, saw, towards the north, a mass of fire of a globular form which descended
without detonation. On the 12th, the lightning brbkeat Carmagnole, about
eight o'clock in the evening, and having overturned a carriage, joined another
mass of fire which issued from the earth, at the distance of thirty or forty paces.
Then proceeded from it such a flood of light, that for some seconds, its brightness
could not be endured by the eye. During the night of the 15th of April, four
men who were on patrol near La Tour, suddenly saw a very bright light which
issued from the peak of Vandalin; and in the time of the various storms which
took place during that same month, sheets of fire often issued from the earth,
whilst the lightnings ploughed the heavens." I have not thought it right to sup
press these details, although foreign to the history, (1) because of their precision
and rarity — (2) because the event to which they relate was limited to the valleys,
and (3) because of the very interest which they may excite.
2 2d December, 1805.
3 This was the period when Napoleon thought of making a descent upon
England; in a battle upon land, the strife could not have been doubtful.— The
Academy of Sciences perhaps deprived him of this victory (which would have
changed the balance of the world) in rejecting, as impossible, the invention of
Fulton, now so triumphantly successful.— Steam was applied to the propelling of
vessels in 1807. [The British reader has here before him, unmodified, the expres
sions of opinion and sentiment contained in the original.]
4 The third coalition took place from 1805 to 1806; the fourth from 1806 to
1807; the fifth from 1809 to 1810.— Almost all the states of Europe, except Russia
and England, were then under the power of Napoleon.
6 From September to December, 1812.

Chap. XXUl] NAPOLEON ABDICATES. 349
Tn consequence of this disaster, the allies entered Paris on
31st March, 1814. On 4th April, Napoleon abdicated in favour
of his son; on the 1 1th, he abdicated unconditionally, and on the
20th, he set out for the island of Elba. On the 3d of May,
Louis XVIII. arrived in the capital of France; and on the 1 6th,
Victor Emmanuel IV. took possession of Piedmont.1 The Con
gress of Vienna was opened, and the Genoese dominions were
annexed to those of the Bang of Sardinia.
We shall see in the following chapter how this monarch treated
the Vaudois, but we may here premise, that instead of seeking to
restore the cause of legitimacy by benefactions, he only proved his
descent from the ancient sovereigns of the country by his adherence
to all their prejudices and all their tyrannic practices, whilst he
did not exhibit their greatness and courage. But it is God who
casts down and who raises up again. In a future which even then
was near, he had in store new glory for the throne of Savoy and
new blessings for the Vaudois of Piedmont.

CHAPTER XXIII.
STATE OF THE VAUDOIS SINCE THE RESTORATION.2
(A.n. 1814 to A.n. 1842.)
The restoration of the house of Savoy in 1814 — Victor Emmanuel IV. lands at
Genoa — Deputation of the Vaudois — Their petition^ — Revival of old edicts un
favourable to the Vaudois — Servile subjection of the king to the priesthood —
His benevolent dispositions counteracted by their influence — Deputations —
Restrictions and mitigations of them — Friendly interposition of the British
ambassador— The Congress of Vienna — Enforcement of observance of festivals
of the Church of Rome — Napoleon leaves Elba — The loyalty of the Vaudois
suspected — Friendship shown by Count Crotti — Conduct of the Piedmontese
government, with regard to persons who had held office under the French go
vernment — Case of M. Geymet — The ecclesiastical domains restored to the
Church of Rome — Question as to the rents for the time during which the Vau
dois had enjoyed them — Poverty of the Vaudois pastors — Edict of 1816, afford
ing some relief to the Vaudois — Social progress, increasing liberality of the
government, and improvement of the condition of the Vaudois,
In a strictly historical point of view, the epoch of the restoration
should extend, in the case of the Vaudois, from the time when they
1 His brother, Charles Emmanuel IV., had abdicated in his favour in 1802,
* Authokitieb. — Official documents. Duplicates of Documents. — Memoir on
the fortunes of the Vaudois since the French Revolution (in German, by Professor

350 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. [pakt Tmed.
were again brought under the exceptional legislation of the seven
teenth century, in 1814, to the commencement of the constitutional
regime, which proclaimed their civil and political emancipation in
1848; nor can this period be confidently regarded as closing even
then, if some of the arbitrary laws of the past are still to be enforced
for the future. There is room to hope that it will not be so when
we consider the liberty that is established, the progress of enlight-
ment, the charity that is manifested, and the improvements already
effected by the wise government which directs the affairs of the
kingdom of Sardinia. We shall, therefore, confine this chapter to
the last repressive measures adopted against the Vaudois by the
application of the old laws; not deeming it right to extend the dis
honoured name of the Restoration to the last years of the reign of
Charles Albert, in which the new order of things was introduced,
and which are memorable for the most important changes.
In April, 1814, Victor Emmanuel IV. recovered the sceptre of
Piedmont. He had been king since 1802, but had not hitherto
reigned. An English fleet went for him to Sardinia, to bring him
from exile to the throne of his ancestors. The Vaudois thought it
proper to send a deputation to Genoa, to receive him on his land
ing, and to recommend to his favourable regard the interests of
their valleys. The pastors and mayors of all the Vaudois com
munes assembled upon this occasion at Rocheplate, on the 4th May,
VateR of Halle ; included in a series of materials for modern ecclesiastical history,
published in the New Theological Annals of Halle — No. for May, 1821, p. 316.
In the same journal, No. for May, 1822, p. 216 : Sketch of the actual state of the
Vaudois of Piedmont.) — Die Waldenser in unseren Tagen, vonD. E. T. Mayer-
hoff, Berlin, 1834. — Sims, Memoirs relative to the Vaudois (London, 1814 ; in Eng
lish). — Reports of the Labours of the Vaudois Committee, established in London, in
consequence of the great interest which was excited in England by the Narrative
of a Journey to the Valleys, by Dr. W. Gilly. — The Valdo and Vigilantius of this
author. — Monastier; the last two chapters of his work. — Beidge, A brief Narra
tive of a Visit to the Vaudois, &c. — Circulars and Reports of the Vaudois committee,
established at London in 1821. — Other works in English : Acland, Plendeb-
leath, Jackson, Bbaoebeidge, &c. (See the Bibliography.) — Statement of the
Grievances of the Vaudois, 1843. pp. 40, 8vo. Published by the London committee.
— The complete emancipation of the Vaudois, by Count Ferdinand de Pozzo, 1829.
(In Italian.) — Testimonies in favour of the Vaudois (in English; London, 1826). 
The Grown and the Tiara ; considerations on the present state of the Vaudois.
London, 1842. — State and Grievances of the Vaudois in 1843. — Both in English.
— Also numerous articles in journals. Monthly Review, June, 1814; Quarterly
Review, 1843; Edinburgh Review, British Magazine, Augsburg Gazette (Decem
ber, 1842); Archives du Christianisme ; Archives Wesleyennes, Le Semeur &c.
(These various sources are more particularly indicated in the latter part of the
catalogue placed at the end of this volume.)— Finally, the Memoirs of P. Appia,
1st, Biographical ; 2d, On the actual state of the Vaudois, considered in a historical
and statistical point of view. (This second memoir is dated 14th February, 1815
and forms a manuscript of 13 folio pages.)

Chaf.XXIH.] EMBASSY TO GENOA. 351
1814. They appointed M. Peyrani and M. Appia as their deputies.
We are indebted to the latter for an account of the embassy : —
"We set out from Pignerol," says he, "on the 6th of May, and
arrived at Genoa on the 9th. An hour after our arrival the can
nons of all the forts, and those of the English ships of war, an
nounced that the king had just entered the harbour. We concluded
that we must, without loss of a moment, obtain an audience of
General Bentinck, the commander of the British forces. Not suc
ceeding in getting ourselves presented to him, we intrusted our
petition to his banker, and to the Rev. Mr. Wennock, the chaplain
of the British troops, who displayed a warm interest in our behalf.
The petition bore, in effect, that we prayed his majesty to treat us
as his other subjects. We were-well assured that it had been put
into the hands of the general, and by him recommended to the
favourable regard of Victor Emmanuel. But the latter paid so
little attention to the recommendation of the representative of the
great and generous nation which had restored to him his throne)
that, even before his arrival at Turin, he issued an edict which
revived the old intolerant and exclusive laws enacted against us."1
By this edict the injunction to cease from all labour on the
days of Catholic festivals, the prohibition to acquire lands out of
the territory of the valleys, the disqualification for any civil office,
the obligation to have a Catholic majority in the councils of the
communes, and many other vexatious restrictions were imposed
anew upon the Vaudois. The sovereign who was now called to
re-organize everything in the administration of his douin'ons, to
restore the lustre of his crown, and to cast the glory of the em
peror's usurpation into the shade by the virtues of hereditary
legitimacy, instead of acting as became the father of his people,
showed himself to be only a menial slave of Popery. A few
days after the publication of this edict, which flung the Vaudois
back to the system of government practised in the time of Phili-
bert, Victor Emmanuel IV. signed two ordinances, the one against
freemasons, and the other against keepers of inns and eating-
houses who should serve their customers with flesh on Fridays or
Saturdays.2 The Vaudois, dreading, with good reason, the consequences of so
strange a return to severe measures, which appeared as an ana
chronism amidst the enlightenment of the age, hazarded a new
¦ Memoires de Paul Appia, sur ce qui s'est passe dans les ValUes de 1799 a 1816.
The edict in question was dated 21st May, 1814.
> Making them incur, in that case, a fine of twelve crowns of gold. (Appia's
Memoirs.)

352 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. [PaetTuied.
attempt to obtain some amelioration of their circumstances. The
laws against them, which had been restored to force, were so anti
quated that not a few of them had already fallen into desuetude in
the end of the previous century. They hoped, moreover, that if
the king were reminded of the expressions of good-will in the let
ter once written by his father in favour of the Vaudois,1 he would
consent to fulfil some of the promises which it contained. A Vau
dois deputation accordingly set out for Turin,2 and was admitted
to an audience of the king on 28th May, 1814. "I will grant
to the Vaudois all that I can," replied the monarch.3 His in
tentions were certainly good; but the Catholic clergy, masters
of the sovereign and enemies of the Vaudois, soon succeeded in
rendering the latter as much the objects of suspicion to the restored
government as they had proved themselves, to that which had
fallen, worthy of protection and regard.
" Notwithstanding the pleasant reception which we met with,"
writes one of the deputies, " our petition was depellita (torn in
pieces), which, indeed, might have been expected from the way in
which things go." Let us gratefully acknowledge Victor Em
manuel's wish to grant to the Vaudois all that he could, but let us
remember, for the honour of the throne, that he could do nothing
at all.
Orders were speedily issued, to those who had become tenants of
the national domains granted to the Vaudois by the executive
committee and by Napoleon, not to remove anything more of the
produce of the woods or of the vineyards, and to bear in mind
that these domains must presently be restored, undiminished in
value, to the government.* The next step was to close the place of
1 Biglietto regio of Victor Amadeus III. to the Duke of Aosta, dated 4th June,
1794. 2 Composed of two pastors, Bert and Peyrani, and two laymen, Brezzi and Vertu.
The petition which they presented to the king will be found in Beet, Valdesi,
p. 455.
3 Victor Emmanuel IV. conversed familiarly with the deputies. He showed
them an old patched dress which he had brought with him into Sardinia, and said
to them, "See, it was my wife who- put on this piece." But this simplicity of
manners only indicated a corresponding simplicity of mind, which the clergy
always knew how to turn to their own account. The king might be seen follow
ing processions barefooted, with a taper in his hand, and descending to the func
tions of an agent of police, by personally pointing out for apprehension the passers-
by who did not uncover themselves before the procession. (These particulars are
extracted from the Memoirs of Appia, and from divers letters written by the de
puties. )
? This order is dated 30th September, 1814. The accounts relative to the man
agement of these domains were adjusted by the moderator of the valleys, in pre
sence of the intendant of Pignerol, in July, 1815.

Chap.XXIU.] EMBASSY TO TURIN. 353
worship which the Vaudois had erected at St. John, and they were
obliged to conduct their religious services in the old church of Le
Chiabas, built within the confines of Angrogna, although it had
been long abandoned, and was in a very ruinous condition.1
The only benefit which the Vaudois derived from this second
deputation, was the issue of royal letters-patent confirming the
privileges which they had enjoyed before 1794, and maintaining all
the restrictions which existed at that period.8 But their depriva
tion of the resources on which the stipend of their pastors depended ,
and the new impediments thrown in the way of the exercise of
their religion, reduced them to the absolute necessity of making
another appeal to their sovereign. This third deputation had for
its object to petition for leave to use the place of worship at St.
John — for the right to retain the properties purchased beyond the
limits, under the French government — and that a compensation
might be given for the national domains, in order to the mainten
ance of the pastors.3 The king refused to give an immediate reply;
but whilst postponing it, he manifested a favourable inclination,
" Our pastoral deputation," wrote M. Bert,* " was presented on
Friday last5 at the British embassy.6 Nothing could be more
encouraging than the reception there. His excellency seemed to
take the most lively interest in our affairs, and promised to use all
his influence with the king. He also expressed his surprise at the
return to the old edicts. Our deputies put into his hands a draft
of a petition to his majesty, in which are contained our requests
relative to the pastors, to the place of worship at St. John, and to the
purchasers of lands beyond the limits. The ambassador asked for
our good M. G  ,7 who had written to him to offer his services
1 The letter of the minister of the interior (Count Vedon) to the intendant of
Pignerol, on this subject, is dated 3d October, 1814. That of the intendant
(Count Crotti) to the moderator, on the same subject, is dated 25th November.
The minister demanded the suppression of all the places of worship erected without
the valleys. "I think," adds Count Crotti, at the bottom of the letter, "that it
will be sufficient to cloBe the place of worship at St. John, which is the only one
so situated, and that you should meet somewhere else." We shall find other sub
sequent examples of the same kindness and moderation, by which worthy magis
trates, without being deficient in the discharge of their duties, contrived to miti
gate the severity of their sovereign's procedure.
2 These letters-patent are dated 30th September, 1814.
3 This deputation must have been received at Turin from the 2d to the 4th of
December, 1814. .
4 In a private letter dated from Saiute-Marguerite, 6th December, 1814.
5 This must have been 2d December, 1814. " At Turin.
7 The person here meant is M. Geymet, formerly moderator of the Vaudois
churches, and afterwards sub-prefect of Pignerol. On the fall of the French'em-
pire, all the Vaudois who filled any situation under the government, received their
dismissal. Before being sub-prefect, M. Geymet was pastor of La Tour; and M,
Vol. II. 105

i5 !• THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. [paet Thieti
in the capacity of chaplain; we have reason to hope that he will
not only be accepted but that there will be a subscription to enable
him to reside in the capital. We are assured that the report is
true that General the Baron de Neyperg will be the Austrian am
bassador at Turin. Our gloomy sky brightens up a little. You
are, of course, aware of the order intimated to us for the closing of
the place of worship at St. John. This intimation has been sent to
us by the intendant, with mitigations of his own. Service has
already been recommenced at Le Chiabas."
But the enemies of the Vaudois ceased not to pursue them with
all sorts of accusations. "We have compeared at the inten dance,"
M. Bert goes on to say,1 " and our adversaries seem manifestly to
dread the consequences of their false accusations. The reception
which we have met with has contributed, in some measure, to en
courage us."
Meanwhile the congress of Vienna had commenced its sittings.2
" It is credibly asserted," says M. Monastier,3 " that a friend of the
Vaudois had prepared a plan for having their emancipation imposed
upon the King of Sardinia, as a compensation for the territorial
advantages which he obtained. An application to the congress, on
the part of the valleys, was to have given occasion for introducing
it. A memorial was drawn up ; but at the moment when it should
have been sent away, the Vaudois table, trusting in the generosity
of the monarch, and fearing to give him cause of displeasure,
deemed it better that it should be suppressed. Victor Emmanuel,
in fact, had dwelt in Pignerol; he had visited all their valleys, he
had commanded their troops, and their confidence in him was so
great that they declined to employ means which might possibly
have displeased him."
He was less tenderly considerate as to them. A manifesto was
published on 4th January, 1815, restoring to force all the ancient
laws.* The Vaudois renewed their representations, but in vain.5
The government persisted in the course which it had chosen, and
Bert, the author of this letter; was at first his assistant, and afterwards succeeded
him there. He published an interesting little work on the Vaudois, entitled Le
livre defamille. Pp. 105, 12mo. Geneva, 1830.
1 It was upon a citation, dated 17th November, 1814.
2 It was ooened on 1st November, 1814, and concluded on 10th June, 1815. The
acts of the congress consist of 121 articles. It established the different states of
Europe as they exist at the present day.
3 Monastier, II. 203.
4 Manifesto del reggio governo, della provincia di Pinerolo. (Printed.)
" Memoire sur V etat actuel des Vaudois .... (14th February, 1815), par Paul
Joseph Appia. (MS. communicated to me.)

Chap. XXIU] RESTRICTIONS ON FESTIVAL DAYS. 355
caused the principal provisions of the ancient edicts to be posted
up in the valleys.1
I. Every one was enjoined religiously to observe the Catholic
festivals. II. All work, capable of attracting the attention of others, was
forbidden on these days.
III. The sale of provisions was to be tolerated on condition that
the shop-fronts were kept closed, and that all traffic should be dis
continued during mass, vespers, and the catechetical instructions
of the prior. An exception was allowed in favour of medicinal
substances.8 IV. Keepers of inns, coffee-houses, eating-houses, &c, were for
bidden to serve any person during these same hours; all under
penalty of fine and imprisonment. Every kind of amusement was
also forbidden.3
The publication of these various enactments, which had long
been forgotten, caused a certain fermentation in the district, and
most of all amongst the most worldly class of the population. The
ancient edicts, however, which had been in general terms restored to
force, contained regulations far more vexatious still, and it was a
sort of concession on the part of the government not to go beyond
the requirements above-mentioned. This the vice-judge, Cerrutto,
1 epresented to those under his administration, by a letter intended
to be read in public, in order better to inform the people of the
spirit of the preceding proclamation.4 " I am accused," says he,
"of an undue severity; however, the edicts to which I have re
ferred having been restored to force by that of 21st May, 1814,
I have thought it my duty to publish their provisions anew, in
order to prevent the numerous contraventions of them, against
which I would every day have been called to proceed if I had
allowed them to remain forgotten, as they have been. I have
1 Aviso al publico, dated from Lncerna, 4th March, 1815, and signed Cerrutto t
substitute for the vice-judge Perrotti.
z There were discussions on the point, whether sugar, bought in the shop of an
apothecary, during these privileged hours, should be considered as a medicine or
an article of food.
3 This document contains nine articles. The last reiterates the provisions of the
edicts of 25th June, 1626, and 20th June, 1730, which make the Protestants re
sponsible for the presence of a Catholic in their places of worship, &c. . . . Speri-
amo che dvpendentemente a quanta sovra, tutti gh abitanti sudetti e chmmque altro,
sifaranno un dovere di mettersi in regola, pel' cosi evitare il dispiacere che proveris.
simo di procedere contro i contraventori. (Dato Torre, Valle di Luserna, li imarzo
1815). 4 This letter is dated from Torre, val Luserna, li 9 marzo 1815, and signed Cer
rutto, vice-giudice del mandamento.

356 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. [paktTihed.
therefore republished their terms only out of a regard for the
interests of those under my administration, and not from any
voluntary severity." He proceeds to say that the observance of
them will not only be productive of respect for the Catholic festi
vals, but also of a more becoming sanctification of the Sundays
which Protestants themselves profess to respect.1 He then
fixes the meaning of the edict of 1626, enjoining the Vaudois to
uncover at the passing of the holy sacrament, or to retire out of the
way;2 and of that of 1730, granting the privilege of working upon
festival days to those who should obtain an authorization from the
judge. This was to intimate that he would not refuse it, and so
much the more plainly, as he concluded his letter by saying, " I
can truly say that I am proud of the good treatment which I have
upon all occasions received from the Vaudois, and I would be very
ungrateful if I did not esteem myself bound to render them re
ciprocal offices of kindness, so far as a regard to justice will permit."3
But whilst these inferior affairs were thus going on, great events
took place in the world. Napoleon quitted the island of Elba.4
Whilst the legitimate sovereigns were imposed upon their peoples
by foreign armies, this glorious captive, coming alone and unarmed,
caused royalty, although surrounded with battalions, to flee before
him. This wonderful man had re-entered Paris, who had shed;
more than any one, the blood of the people, but, whom they
always welcomed with enthusiasm ; who made himself a king when
kings were falling before the revolutionary gale, and who founded,
on the ruins of their thrones, the greatest empire which had existed
since the fall of Rome ; who forged his sword of the chains broken
by the revolution, and who, in opposition to all the potentates
assembled in the congress of Vienna, dared to conceive, in his place
of captivity, and to carry into execution, the incredible project of
re-conquering the French throne by his mere presence.
Europe was startled by this news. The congress of Vienna was
1 The following are the more severe terms of theletter: .... per levare lo scan-
daloso abuso dai protestanti che dai aiprni di domenica (fesla per loro da tutti i
tempi sempr'e stata in uso d'osservarsi con molta vigore), si fanno lecito di travag-
liare publicamente . . . kc.
2 These latter words are a mitigation, introduced by the judge himself, in hiB
interpretation of the law.
3 loposso con tutta verita gloriami ed attestare publicamente, d'essere sempre stato
dai Protestanti trattato con ogni riguardo, e che dovrei ben essere taciato da ingrato
se non fosse correspondente, &c.
' He set out from it on 26th February, 1815, landed at the Gulf of Juan on 1st
March, and entered the Tuileries on the 20th, Louis XVIII. having abandoned it
the evening before.

Chap XXIII ] THE MODERATOR'S ADDRESS. 357
dissolved ; Napoleon, placed under the ban of the allied states, saw
all the kings whom he had vanquished marching against him at
the head of their armies. He himself, in two months' time, had
raised more than 400,000 men. A final conflict was about to take
place. All Europe was in breathless expectation ; the nations were
filled with alarm.
When we consider the liberties which Napoleon had granted to
the Vaudois, and the oppression to which they had again been sub
jected by Victor Emmanuel IV., it may be thought likely that
they*would show themselves favourable to the return of the em
peror. There was a sufficient number of courtiers eager to make
.the most of these suspicions. Victor Emmanuel had placed him
self in a state of entire subjection to the clergy; to please the
priests was the way of paying court to such kings, and the priests
made no secret of the joy with which they heard accusations against
the Vaudois. Nothing more was needed to change suspicions into
certainty. But Count Crotti, a generous and influential man who
had lived amongst them,1 and who had recently been promoted to
the rank of intendant of the king's armies, became security for them.
It was in the following measured and appropriate terms that the
moderator of the Vaudois churches gave intimation to the pastors
of this fact, and of the course of conduct which they ought to
pursue. " His majesty, to whom we have been represented as rejoicing in
the return of Napoleon, having had a private conversation on that
subject with a nobleman, to whom we are already under great
obligations, that nobleman disabused the king's mind, and has sent
me word that he has himself been so good as to become security to
his majesty for our fidelity and attachment to his service. I think
it my duty, gentlemen and my much-honoured brethren, to acquaint
you with these circumstances, entreating you all in general, and
every one in particular, to make it appear by the wisdom of your
conduct, in these difficult and dangerous times, that you are the
descendants of those ancient Vaudois, who, although sometimes ill-
treated, always forgot the wrongs which had been done them by
their superiors, to hasten to their aid, and whom nothing could turn
aside from their duty. I have a well-founded hope that, before
midsummer, all will be arranged as we could wish, and that his
majesty, convinced that several attempts have been made to take
advantage of his religion in things relative to us, and seeing the
1 As intendant of the province of Pignerol. He visited the Vaudois valleys
several times.

358 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. [Paei Thied.
wisdom of our conduct, and our attachment to his august person,
. . . will give us no equivocal proofs of his attachment and his
paternal regard."1
This hope was far from being realized; but the fidelity of the
Vaudois was not shaken, and their good conduct was an in
cessant protest against the perfidious insinuations of their adver
saries. Their pastors, deprived of fixed salaries, had now no other
resource than the voluntary contributions of their parishioners; for
the English subsidy was not restored to them till the end of 1814,
and even then not to its former amount.2 All who had occupied
any situation under the French government were deprived of it,
however insignificant it might be. They patiently submitted to
this proof of dislike, which, from the prejudices of the new regime,
they might have anticipated, but which they had done nothing to
deserve. " Mr. Peter Geymet," says Monastier, " had won the
respect and attachment of all who were under his jurisdiction
during the thirteen years that he filled the office of sub-pre
fect of Pignerol. In that chief place of the prefecture, a city
entirely Roman Catholic, he left an unimpeached reputation for
probity at a time when the high functionaries in general had so
little of it. At the restoration, Geymet retired to La Tour, at
once so poor and so humble that, although a few days before he had
been the first magistrate of the valleys, he did not disdain to accept
the humble place of master of the Latin school, the salary of which
did not exceed 700 francs, and to which he devoted his last remains
of strength until the approach of his death, which took place in
1822."3 The government had announced its intention4 of withdrawing
from the Vaudois the lands of which they had been put in posses
sion by the French administration,5 in order to restore them to the
Catholic parishes, which had been suppressed at the same period,
but which were now re-established. But the priests demanded also
that the Vaudois should be made to pay a sum equivalent to the
revenues of these lands for all the time that they had enjoyed them.
1 This letter is signed by John Eodolph Peyrani, and dated from Le Pomaret
12th April, 1815.
2 This diminution continued till 1827, when the venerable Dr. Gilly obtained
the re-establishment of the subsidies on their old footing, and the payment of the
arrears. These arrears were formed into a capital fund, to provide for the main
tenance of two new pastors, those of Macel and Rodoret.
3 Monastier, II. 199. The author of the Israel of the Alps was himself one of
the pupils of M. Geymet. * By an order of 30th September, 1814.
5 By the decrees of 28 Brumaire, 13 Nivose, 11 and 22 Germinal, of the year
IX., and by the imperial decree of 25 Thermidor, of the year XIII.

Chap XXIII ] AN EQUITABLE PRIEST. 359
Count Crotti, the intendant of the province of Pignerol, assembled
the parties interested,1 and asked them to discuss the matter before
him. Although conducted with outward moderation, the debate
exhibited great pertinacity, each party being strong in their own
views; and there appeared no likelihood of any conclusion being
reached, when the youngest of the priests, who, therefore, spoke
after his brethren, expressed an opinion different from theirs. "The
ministers," said he, " have managed these affairs not only lawfully —
for they had received these powers from the authority then recog
nized by all Piedmont — but also faithfully, as is proved by the
accounts which they have now submitted to us ; they have pre
served our properties intact and in perfect condition, and we ought
to exact nothing more." " This equitable priest," adds Monas
tier, " supported his opinion with so much freedom and truth that
it prevailed, and the difference was thus terminated to the great
satisfaction of the worthy intendant, who had undertaken to settle
it in the name of the king."2
Shortly afterwards the Vaudois addressed a petition to their
sovereign, to declare to him the state of suffering and want to which
tlieir pastors were reduced? " Our stipends," say they, " were for
merly derived from two subsidies from England, the one called
royal, the other national. They amounted annually to almost
400 Piedmontese livres for each pastor. The royal subsidy having
been interrupted in 1793 and 1794, the pastors obtained from the
synod of 1795 an act, appointing that this deficiency should be
made up by the communes, to be repaid to them if the said subsidy
should be restored. In this manner our stipends were kept up to
their full amount till 1800. At this period the executive com
mission, having taken our case into consideration without our hav
ing requested it, assigned us an annual payment from the rents of
the national domains, under the name of compensation for the
. subsidies which we had lost. Since the return of our legitimate
sovereign we have been obliged to give up all this, and the accounts
were audited, in presence of the regent of the intendancy at Pig
nerol, in July, 1815." They accordingly requested that the com
munes in which they ministered should be taxed for their support,
or that his majesty would provide for it by some other means.
The report of the minister was not favourable to the request of
1 In July, 1815. • Monastier, II. 205.
3 These are the words of the petition. According to the deplorable oustom of
the old Vaudois chancery, this petition is not dated, but its date is determined by
that of the parere of the minister, which is of 17th February, 1816. This parere
consists of six folio pages. (Archives of the Court.)

3C0

THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS.

[Paei Tnian.

the Vaudois. The British ambassador made representations on
their behalf, which at first seemed not to have been attended to,1
but which, at last, brought the government to wiser and more
humane views. These views were brought forward in a council of
the ministers, held on 23d February, 181 6,2 when the provisions
were agreed upon of the edict which was published four days after.
By this edict Victor Emmanuel appointed —
(1.) That provision should be made for the maintenance of the
Vaudois pastors in a manner to be afterwards determined.3
(2.) That the lands which had been purchased by the Vaudois,
beyond their ancient limits, should be retained by their proprietors.
(3.) That the Protestants should be permitted to exercise civil
professions, such as those of engineer, architect, surgeon, <fcc.4
1 It is said, in a note addressed by the minister of the interior to the minister of
foreign affairs (no doubt in order to be communicated to the British ambassador),
" that the Vaudois wished to make a merit of the loss of the English subsidies, per il
loro altacamento alia causa della liberta; il die vuol dire per la ribellione al loro legi-
iimo sovrano," kc. . . . (Archivesof the Court, No. 665.) But I have seen nothing
resembling this in the petition of the Vaudois ; and these words must have been
ventured upon mere hear-say. Thus, it was attempted not only to do the Vaudois
injury in their own country, but even to hurt them in the opinion of strangers.
; At the end of the decision of the council, which was submitted to the king for
his approval, we read : S. M. approva le determinazioni del congresso, con che
I'assegno per la sussitenza de pastori de Valdesi, non ricada in nessuna parte a
peso de catholici domiciliati in quelle valli. (Archives of the Court, No. 666.)
3 There was assigned to them a sum of about 500 francs, which was at first paid
by the royal treasurer of Pignerol. A royal ordinance, of 14th December, 1818
(Beet, Valdesi, p. 261), decided that this sum Bhould be taken from the produce
of the additional centimes, gathered at the rate of a marc per franc on the land-
tax of the valleys. Thence resulted fluctuations. In 1839, for example, the
diminution was one-tenth; and it was at this time that the subsidies were fixed at
6432 francs for all the valleys; to wit, 248 francs 55 cents, half-yearly to each
pastor, except those of Macel and Rodoret, parishes established after 1816. The
following table, borrowed from the budget of 1841, will give some idea of the
general resources of the Vaudois church at this period : —

Source of the
Funds.

England 
Holland 
Prussia 
Valleys 
Government

Destination of the Funds.

Worship.

Relief of the
Poor.

Franca. Cents. Francs. Cents. Francs. Cents. Francs. Cents.
14,256 76 6,610 34 — 3,765 18
1,756 80 I 5,795 00 1,603 00 3,000 00
(Proceedsof collection placed in Bank) 3,777 53
5,800 00*| 2,400 00f 2,318 00$ I
6,432 00 Derived from the taxes paid Ity the Vaudois, '

22,445 56

Hospital.

18,205 34 I 4,008 00 I 12,860 71

Total of funds
received.

Fnrnr.
24,632
12,159 3,777
16,950

>nls. 28 8053
00

57,519

61

* Edict of 27th February, 1816, registered in office of the controller-general of
the senate, and at the court of accounts, let March, 1816.
* For the schools. + Collections made in the places of worship.
t Rents belonging to the hospital itself. These three sums are mere approximations.

Chap. XXUl] PERSECUTION RENEWED. 361
Shortly afterwards, Victor Emmanuel, being now completely
disabused of the prejudices which their enemies had sought to ex
cite in his mind against the inhabitants of the valleys, consented
to their resuming religious services in the place of worship at St.
John, constructed in 1807, and closed in 1814. x At this period
also a general census was taken of the Vaudois population. 2 Eu
rope was tranquillized ; Napoleon, having been vanquished at
Waterloo, s had died in St. Helena,4 after having added to the glory
of his active life the austere dignity of exile. Social progress,
which for a little while had been interrupted by these great com
motions, had resumed its course, slow but steadily onward. Acts
of oppression became more rare, the laws more regular : the
hitherto unequal reign of a civilization which seemed to tremble
for its existence became more tranquil as it widened its sphere.
Perhaps, also, enlightenment as it became more diffused, lost some
thing of its power. At all events, the surface of society became
more level and uniform.
The Vaudois took no part in the political events of 1821, which
led to the abdication of Victor Emmanuel IV. in favour of his bro
ther, Charles Felix ; but they appointed a deputation of courtesy
to the new king, which was not received. He thought proper to
acquaint them with the cause of this unkindness. "Tell them," he
exclaimed, "that they only need to be Catholics."5 It was to
acknowledge them as possessing many good qualities.
But the popular movement of 1821 had placed more power
again in the hands of those who were inclined to use it for repres
sion. The Protestants resident in Pignerol, received orders to
remove from it within twenty-four hours,8 and it was only as a
favour that they were permitted to remain.7 Opposition was
made to their having a school in Turin;8 and if one of them hap
pened to die beyond the limits of the valleys, his heirs had to pay
1 This permission was granted, on condition that a wall should be built before
the church, to conceal it from view. Instead of the wall, an inclosure of boards
was allowed ; and this having fallen into ruins, a simple porch was accepted as a
substitute for it, hiding the entrance door of the building.
2 On 6th Feb., 1816. — The following are the results : — Catholics, 4075; Protes
tants 16,975; whole population, 21,050. According to a table published in the
Echo of the Valleys, on 3d May, 1849, the Protestant population was at that period
20,650. ' 18th June, 1815. 4 He died on 4th May, 1821.
5 Monastier, II., 209. These words recall a saying of Louis XIV. to Lesdiguieres :
" If you were not a Huguenot, I would make you a marshal of France." " Sire,"
was the reply, "it ib enough that you deem me worthy of it." The noble delicacy
of this reply needs no commentary, and could nowhere be called to remembrance
in fitter connection than here. 6 Bert, Valdesi, p. 265.
7 On the representations of the ambassadors of Prussia and England.
8 Beet, Valdesi, p. 324.
Vol. II. 106

362 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. I>art Thied.
500 francs to save his remains from the indignity of being thrown
into a waste place for burial, and to obtain the right of removing
them to an inclosed cemetery.1
In 1828, a confidential circular was addressed to the notaries of
the provinces of Saluces and Pignerol, to prevent them from re
ceiving any deed which had for its object to convey into the hands
of a Vaudois any lands situated beyond the ancient limits. 2 Mixed
marriages were also interdicted, with more severity than before, 3
and marriages contracted within too near degrees.4 The canons of
Popery were again in the ascendant ; reaction had for the moment
triumphed over progress, the past over the future.
In 1833, it was prohibited, under pain of five or six years' im
prisonment, to introduce into Piedmont, books, engravings, or any
thing whatever, contrary to the principles of the Catholic religion,
to morality, or to monarchy.5 After this, the governor of Pignerol
received secret instructions, to keep watch over the too liberal
tendencies of certain inhabitants of the valleys. 6 But the gover
nor at that time was a distinguished author,7 whose generosity of
mind served the cause of the government better than excessive seve
rity would have done. Having called before him the persons who
had been particularly pointed out to him, he endeavoured, in the
first place, to convince them of his sincere desire for their welfare,
and in this character alone he gave them those counsels which
had been suggested to him by a less benevolent solicitude.
1 Beet, Valdesi, p. 326.
2 This circular is dated 26th Nov., 1828. A decision of the Chamber of Accounts,
26th July, 1837, repeated this prohibition. The circular of 16th August, 1837,
communicated it to the notaries.
3 Letters of the commandant of Pignerol of 6th February, and of 20th March,
1S33. Report of the governor of Pignerol on this subject in 1843, &c.
4 Circular of the prefect of Pignerol to the moderator and ministers of the Vau
dois church, to prohibit them from celebrating marriages between cousins-german.
(The latter term is not precise.) The document is dated 15th July, 1835.
5 This prohibition is of date 20th May, 1833.
6 These instructions are of date, 12th November, 1834. In other instructions,
dated 17th January, 1835, the following words occur: — " I ought to speak to you
on this occasion of a historic work concerning the Vaudois, which has lately been
published in Paris. . . . There may be observed in it, amongst other things,
a very marked tendency to make Christianity serve as an instrument for promot
ing the chimera of the political perfectibility of men," &c. ... This work
was put into the Index, and its author obliged to leave his native country. By a
royal ordinance of 16th August, 1840, he was enabled to return for three months;
afterwards the proscription which had been pronounced against him was entirely
removed ; and at last permission to search the state archives in order to prepare
the history which he had undertaken was granted to him, as if to compensate
him in Bome sort for the severity of his previous treatment.
7 Albert Notta, a distinguished dramatic author. The King of Prussia bestowed
on him the order of the Eagle, for the humane and impartial character of hia ad
ministration in regard to the Vaudois. —(Bert, Valdesi, p. 269, note 2.)

Chap. XXIII. RESTRICTIONS UPON THE BIBLE. S63
The danger of an extension of the influence of the Vaudois, or
even of their possessions, seemed especially to occupy the thoughts
of their adversaries. 1 Numerous attempts at proselytism were
also made at this period. 2 In 1841, a special intimation was ad
dressed to the Protestants who possessed lands beyond the old
limits, that they would have to dispose of them within a fixed
time.3 The persons affected by this intimation addressed a peti
tion to the government : and by a decision of the senate of Turin,
they were authorized to retain those properties which had been
acquired before the 17th of April, 1831, the period when Charles
Albert had ascended the throne. A new petition was presented,
in name of the proprietors whom the edict of dispossession still
affected. They represented that the ancient limits were become
too narrow for the increase of the population, and asked to be
permitted to retain the lands which they had purchased beyond
them. But no regard was paid to this petition, and the minister
of the interior held by the decision of the senate.4
1 It was, above aU things, the influence of the Bible, which the Vaudois carried
with them, which was feared. In 1826, a quantity of Bibles having been sent
from Geneva to the Vaudois valleys, the Piedmontese government did not permit
them to reach the hands of the pastors except on condition that these words should
be written on each volume — Forbidden to be given, sold, or lent to Catholics. — (Me
thodist Magazine for the year 1833, p. 23. — See also Best, Valdesi, p. 280.)
2 Amongst the persons carried off from their friends, or induced to leave them
in order to retire into Catholic establishments, was, in the year 1841, a young
blind girl, the last descendant of the great Arnaud. "The greatest advantages
are offered to a Vaudois who changes his religion; and if a Roman Catholic be
comes a Protestant, he is condemned to perpetual imprisonment. Every religious
journal, sent from abroad and addressed to a Vaudois, is retained at the post-office.
Any Vaudois who may be convicted of lending his Bible to a Roman Catholic, is
to be punished with imprisonment." — (Archives du Christianisme, second series,
t. IX., p. 45. — See also Beet, Valdesi, pp. 235 and 293.)
At the same period, a pontifical bull, approved by a royal ordinance, authorized
the establishment of a permanent mission in the valleys. "The bull bears that
this establishment shall be composed at least of eight monks, having a superior
and a steward, with a prebend of 16,000 francs a-year. Their vocation is to be
that of missionary preachers, wherever they shall be required by the bishops, and
especially amongst the Protestants of the valleys." — (Letters from the Vaudois
valleys, of 18th November, 1848.) This establishment was placed under the
patronage of St. Maurice and St. Lazarus. It took the name of the Priory of the
Sacred Religion, and was erected at the gates of La Tour. " During the building
of this convent and of its great church, the people of the valleys, full of uneasiness
and anxiety, could not think without emotion of the intentions which it indicated."
(Monastier, II., p. 215.) Hitherto, however, the monks resident there have shown
much reserve and moderation. The dedication of this building took place on 23d
September, 1844. I will speak of it farther on, because of some circumstances
which then took place, reassuring for the Vaudois, and of the very different char
acter which this ceremony thence received.
3 Two years for lands of two journals, and four for larger properties.
* The petition is of date, 10th January, 1842, and the reply of 23d February.

364 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. D"*™ Tiiro.
The Vaudois Table presented another petition, and was in con
sequence permitted to draw up a special statistical report on the
population of the valleys, to show that it was confined within
insufficient limits. On its representations, supported by proofs and
reasons, the proprietors of the lands purchased beyond the limits,
since 1831, were individually authorized to retain them, but upon
a special petition and permission in the case of each. 1
Since that time, the wise and liberal courses which the govern
ment of Charles Albert has pursued, always keeping pace with the
progress of civilization and of the wants of his people, have caused
the quiet disappearance of the vestiges of an antiquated system.
To the generous views and perseverance of this illustrious monarch
it is to be ascribed, that his reign afterwards became capable of
being quoted as an example confirmatory of the great truth that
reforms prevent revolutions.
At this period, proposals of emigration were made to the Vaudois, which they did
not accept. — (Beet, Valdesi, 296, 297.) And the government itself gave secret
instructions to its agents, on the subject of the mixed marriages and purchases of
the Vaudois, that they should be left in peace, in spite of the solicitations of the
Catholic party to the contrary effect. — (Echo des ValUes, second year, p. 142,
quotation of M. Bert's work.)
1 These various instigations were in great part owing to representations made
by the British government to the court of Turin. Lord Aberdeen, amongst others
took a warm interest in the Vaudois. — (See Report of the Vaudois Committee, for
the year 1843, published by Murray in 1845, p. 16, paragraph 3.) Mr. Allen also
exerted himself much in their favour. — (Bert, Valdesi, p. 261.)

Chap. XXIV.] A NEW ERA. 365

CHAPTER XXIV.
RELIGIOUS REVIVAL, AND FOUNDATION OF VARIOUS
INSTITUTIONS IN THE VAUDOIS VALLEYS.1
(a.d. 1824 to a.d. 1847.)
FELIX NEFF — THE HOSPITAIi — THE COLLEGE — THE DISCIPLINE
— THE SCHOOLS — BECKWITH.
Circumstances providentially conspiring to preserve the unity of the Vaudois body
¦ — Felix NefF — Temporary separation of some zealous Christians from the general
body of the Vaudois church — Revival of religion throughout the whole of that
church — New and valuable institutions — Kindness of Christian friends — Vau
dois hospital — Count de Waldburg Truchsess — General Beckwith — Schools
founded by his exertions — Dr. Gilly — Code of Discipline — Confession of Faith
— The Protestant congregation at Turin formally admitted as a Vaudois parish
— Establishment of two new parishes, Macel and Rodoret — Other ecclesiastical
arrangements — Collections for religious and charitable purposes — Bianqui's
legacy.
"When society, in any country, undergoes a process of regeneration,
it rarely happens but that all the elements of social existence are
involved in it. Life cannot be transformed without a reaction on
the sources of life, whence the religious sentiment proceeds; and
1 Authorities. — Acts of Synods of the Vaudois church, and Reports of the
Table to these meetings. — Labours of the Vaudois Committee formed in London.
— Sketch of the History and Present Situation of the Vaudois, by Hugh Acland :
London, 1825 (in English). — Jackson, Remarks on the Vaudois of Piedmont (same
language) : London, 1826. — On tfie Church Government of the Vaudois Churches of
Piedmont, in German, by Weiss, Secretary to the Synod of Zurich, 1844 (of viii.
and 76 pages). — A Tale of the Vaudois, &c. ... by S. Webb : London, 1842,
251 pages. — Henderson, The Vaudois, comprising Observations . ... in the
Summer of 1844 : London, 1845; viii. and 262 pages. — Baied, Sketch of Protestant
ism in Italy; Boston, 1845. (Treats of the Vaudois in the third part, Chaps. II.-
VII.) — Maitland, Facts and Documents, . . . concerning the Waldenses and
Albigenses; London, 1832. — William Sime, History of the Waldenses from the
Earliest Period . . . till the Present Time; Edinburgh, 1839, 3 vols. See vol. III.
 Xh. Mayerhoep, Die Waldenser in unseren Tagen . . . with the Statistics of
their Churches; Berlin, 1834. — Santa Rosa, Histoire de la Revolution PUmontaiss
(of 1821); Paris, 1822. — Pellegein, Expose Historiqus de I'etat des Vaudois dans
les valUes du PUmont; Haarlem, 1824. — Notice sur I'etat actuel des Eglises Vau.
doises Protestantes des valUes du PUmont, suivie des ordonnances intoUrantes ven
dues contre ces Chretiens riformes, de leur petition au roi de Sardaigne, et du tableau
statistique des communes Vaudoises; Paris, 1822. Without author's name. Attri
buted to Charles Coquerel. — Memoire Historico- Statistique sur les Vaudois . . .
by Paul Appia. A manuscript communicated to me. — A Proposal to Establish
Schools for the Education of the Female Ciiildren of the Waldenses, &c. A manu
script communicated to me. (It was proposed in this paper to found in the valleys

366 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. [p*»t ThIbd.
this again cannot be elevated or lowered without a modification of
everything that belongs to humanity. The corrupting breath of
the eighteenth century had withered and dried up, so to speak,
all the developments and manifestations of religion which it could
reach: but religion was therefore only to start forth in new life,
more independent, more spontaneous, and more evangelical.
The unity of the Vaudois church had been providentially main
tained by the very trials to which it had been subjected. Faith
had been strengthened by persecutions ; the spirit of a few martyrs
had become that of a whole people. The orders issued in 1698
and in 1730, that all persons of foreign birth who had settled as
inhabitants of the valleys should quit them, whilst they grievously
afflicted the hearts of many, preserved more pure the Vaudois
nationality: and the prohibition of mixed marriages prevented
that small people from being absorbed or invaded by the greater
numbers who surrounded them on all sides. Were not alliances
with strangers very nearly the destruction of the people of Israel?
By the narrow limits within which the Vaudois were confined,
they were preserved from the danger of being scattered far from
the abodes of their religion, and perhaps of becoming infidel when
they had forgotten it. The time approached when these barriers
were to be removed. It could no longer be by mere external agen
cies that the unity of the body should be maintained in the Vau
dois church. It was necessary that they should be succeeded by a
living internal force : and God provided it.
A young officer of artillery exclaimed in a moment of distress,
" O God ! grant me the knowledge of thy truth, and be pleased to
manifest thyself to my heart ! " and thereafter, he resumed his studies
and devoted himself to the ministry of the gospel. This youth
was Felix Neff. Conducted by Providence to the midst of those
deep retreats in which the Vaudois church had dwelt in the French
Alps, he consecrated all his energies to the evangelization of their
rude inhabitants, and gave his very fife in this cause.
118 girls' schools, viz.— 15 large schools, with salary of 250 francs; and 103 small
ones, with salary of 75 francs. They were to have been maintained by voluntary
contributions of five shillings. The project was not carried into effect, but the
paper is interesting.)—/ Valdesi, ossiano i Christian Catholici seconda la chiesa
pnmitiva . . . cenni storici, da A. Bert: Torino, 1849. This is one of the most
important works which have hitherto been written on the modern history of the
Vaudois.— Very interesting details on Hub subject will also be found in the Echo
des ValUes. (This journal, ably conducted by Professor Meille, was established
at La Tour in 1848. It is the first periodical publication which has appeared in
the Vaudois valleys).— The foreign journals, which have treated of the affairs of
the Vaudois at this period, may also be consulted with advantage. Likewise con
temporary notes and letters.

Chap. XXIV.] * FELIX NEFF. 3G7
" The. dreadful and sublime aspect of this wilderness," he wrote
from Dormilhouse, 1 "which served as a retreat for the truth, when
almost all the world lay in darkness — the thought of all the mar
tyrs who watered it with their blood — the deep caverns into which
they went to read the holy Scriptures in secret, and to worship
God in spirit and in truth — everything elevates the soul and in
spires sentiments which it is difficult to express. But the inhabi
tants, morally and physically degenerate, remind the Christian that
sin and death are the only things truly hereditary amongst the
children of Adam." — "The work of an evangelist in the Alps,"
he says at another time,2 "much resembles that of a missionary
amongst savages ; for the little civilization which he finds, is ra
ther an obstacle to him than an assistance. Of all the valleys
which I visit, that of FreyssiniSres is, in this respect, in the most
backward state. Here everything is to be originated — education,
house-building, agriculture."
But the generous pastor did not allow himself to be discouraged.
At Dormilhouse the inhabitants were not accustomed to water
their meadows; Neff said to them, "You do with these waters as
you do with the waters of salvation : God sends you both the one
and the other in abundance, and your meadows like your hearts,
languish in drought. " He taught them how to make their lands
more productive : but his great desire was the quickening of their
souls. "During these eight days," he writes, after the Passion
week of 1825, "I have not had thirty hours of repose: no distinc
tion has been made of day and night: before, after, and between
the public services, there have been nothing but prayers and pious
conversations." In the following year, he visited the Vaudois valleys of Pied
mont. "I shall not attempt," he says, "to describe the impression
made upon me by the magnificent scene which presented itself to
my view. The beauty of the vegetation in these valleys, strikingly
contrasts with the aridity of the French Alps. The admiration
excited by the rocks and glaciers which surround you, by these
rich valleys which extend beneath your feet, and by the vast plains
of Italy in the distance, raises the heart to the Lord. But the
Vaudois- have greatly degenerated, and many of them, without
having made an outward change of religion, have departed farther
from the faith of their fathers, than if they had become Catholics." 3
This severe judgment did not prevent the most fervent charity.
» In January, 1824. 2 March, 1325.
3 These last words are from a letter written from Geneva, 15th May, 1828, to
the brethren of the Vaudois valleys of Piedmont.

368 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. [Pakt Thied.
Meetings for prayer were formed without the official circle of the
church. Beligious life thus began to separate itself from the habitual
forms, under which the want of it is too often disguised. But the
worldly raised an outcry : and these private meetings were denoun
ced to the intendant of Pignerol, who addressed himself on this sub
ject to the moderator. The moderator replied that they were accord
ing to evangelical right, and this reply put an end to the prosecutions
which had been commenced : the intendant, however, recommended
the members of these meetings to conduct them as quietly as possi
ble, because they were contrary to the law of September, 1821. 4
Along with religious life, revived the zeal for good works which
it produces. The Vaudois (those chiefly who attended the new
meetings) sent the offering of their sympathies and their poverty
to the missionaries who hazarded their lives for the propagation
of the gospel. But human weakness always shows itself somehow
in all things which take place among men. Upright in their hearts
and rejoicing in the change of life to which Providence had called
them — feeling also very strongly what a void was sometimes covered
by the official forms of worship in the case of those who attended
with indifference — a number of these Vaudois brethren did not
hesitate to say that they had changed their religion. The Catho
lic party were delighted to hear it, supposing that they beheld a
symptom of dissolution and of death in a phenomenon which was
entirely one of regeneration and of life. The Vaudois, on the
contrary, attached to the worship of their fathers, were grieved by
these intestine divisions, embittered by ignorance and often fomen
ted by pride. The special pastor of the little flock, which had
withdrawn itself from the general fold, wrote a pamphlet entitled
The Vaudois convicted of Heresy.2 On both sides, charity had much
need to vindicate her forgotten rights. But by the very commo
tion which arose from this want of moderation, many hidden chords
were moved, a profound impression was produced, and a religious
revival more durable and more general was the result. At the
present day, the clergy of the Vaudois church are themselves to be
found at the head of this movement : and the sectaries, 3 if they
still exist, appear as friends and not as dissenters.
1 Methodist Magazine for the year 1833, p. 24.
2 Published at Pignerol in 1836. With permission of the Episcopal grand- vicar.
An 8vo pamphlet of fifty-eight pages. It was on 22d May, 1831, that the author
of this work was elected as pastor of the Free church, and on the 15th May, that
that body detached itself from the ancient Vaudois church.
3 There were, after this date, some who, without ceasing to take part in the
religious meetings of their countrymen, and fully recognizing the integrity of the
morals and doctrine of the pastors, withdrew themselves from the Vaudois com
munion for the celebration of the Lord's Supper, and awaited the uncertain visit

Chap. XXIV.] COUNT DE TRUCHSESS. 369
The solicitude of Christian souls, having thus been awakened for
the spiritual welfare of the Vaudois, was at the same time more
strongly drawn to their temporal wants. They were entitled to
have physicians of their own religion, but the greater part of their
sick had not the means necessary to follow out a course of medical
treatment. The idea of erecting an hospital in the valleys, entered
the minds of some generous persons.1 "When its establishment,"
says M. Bert,2 "was proposed to the synod,3 the execution of
the project was regarded as almost impossible. Very soon after,
everything concurred in the most wonderful manner to its success,
although it required means far above our ability. His majesty,
our august sovereign, was pleased to authorize the foundation of
the hospital,4 and their excellencies, the representatives of the
Protestant powers at Turin, opened up to us everywhere, by their
recommendations, advantageous methods of attaining this object.
"We are, in particular, under the greatest obligations to his excel
lency the Count de Waldburg Truchsess. 5 As soon as he knew
that we were authorized to purchase the site designed for this in
stitution, he sent us the sum necessary for that purpose ; this being
only part of a gift of 12,000 francs, which was made to the Vaudois,
and placed at his disposal for our behoof by his majesty Alexander
I., Emperor of Russia.- This imperial gift was also an effect of the
kind intercession of M. de Truchsess. We afterwards thought it
necessary to appoint a deputy, to gather in the collections which
were announced to us from abroad.6 , . . He set out in May, 1824;
of some passing separatist pastor, of whom they often knew neither the morals,
¦ nor the living doctrine, to receive the communion from his hand, in a little
chamber of their own. I know not how long this continued to be the case. But
such details are too minute and inconsiderable to find a place amongst the great
facts of history.
1 The first manifest germ of it which I know of, appears in a correspondence,
carried on at this period, between Madame Geymet and a Genevese professor (M.
Chenevieres). 2 Report read to the synod held at La Tour, 16-18th September, 1828, by
M. Bert, moderator (who was then succeeded by M. Rostaing, after having re
ceived the thanks of the meeting for his singularly able discharge of the duties of
his office, as well as for his report).
3 Held at St. Germain, 26-28th August, 1823.
* By royal letters-patent of 6th January, 1824.
5 Ambassador of Prussia, and the constant protector of the Vaudois. His re
mains repose amongst them, in the burying ground of La Tour, where they were
deposited on 18th August, 1844, according to a wish which he had expressed. M.
Amadeus Bert, son of the moderator whose report I have here quoted, delivered
a funeral discourse of much talent, over the worthy ambassador. He has pub
lished the epitaph engraved on the tomb of Count de Truchsess, in i" Valdesi,
p. 482.
6 This deputy bore with him, besides his commission : —
I. A copy of the plan of the hospital (adopted by the synod of 1823), anthenti-
Vol. II. 107

370 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. [PaetTbied.
and went to Switzerland, Berlin, Paris, and England, from which
he returned in 1826.1 The Protestant colonies of Genoa, Turin,
and Bome; likewise gave us proofs of their charity and their Chris
tian sympathies'.2 But these partial succours would not have suf
ficed without the assistance of the governments to which it became
the duty of our collector-deputy to address himself. Before his
going to Switzerland the evangelical cantons of that country had
already transmitted to .his excellency the Count de Truchsess a
very considerable sum, which was handed over as from them to
our banker at Turin,3 as well as the amount of a collection made
in Geneva ; and after the departure of our deputy, these same
governments permitted committees, voluntarily organized in each
canton, to gather in the offerings which might be brought to them
on our behalf. Similar committees were successively formed in a
number of other countries.* Our excellent compatriot, M. Paul
Appia, pastor of the French church at Frankfort-on-the-Maine,5 tra
velled irito the Low Countries, 6 where his pious discourses inflamed
still more a charity already ardent and well known. He pro
duced the same effect in Paris, where the most eminent pastors of
the church interested themselves in the cause which he advocated.7
cated by the ministers plenipotentiary of Prussia, England, and the Netherlands,
at the court of Turin, on the 16th, 20th, and 22d of May, 1824.
II. A copy of the decree of the intendant of Pignerol (caccia) dated, 10th Janu
ary, 1824, and authorizing the projected institution, in virtue of the letters-patent
of 6th January. This document .was also authenticated.
III. Three letters of recommendation addressed by the ambassadors of Prussia,
England, and the Netherlands, to all the legations of these powers in the different
capitals of Europe;" dated 22d, 24th, and 29th April, 1824.
IV. Similar letters from various bankers of Turin, Geneva, and Basle, addressed
to their correspondents in the principal commercial towns of Europe.
This deputy everywhere met with a warm and generous reception. — I abstain
from entering into further particulars concerning the manner in which he executed
his commission.
1 Holland, Sweden, and Denmark, contributed also much to this institution.
2 Two collections were set oh foot in Rome, in favour of the Vaudois hospital,
one by the Rev. Mr. Hobard, an American bishop of the Anglican communion,
and the other by Mr. Plenderleath, of Bristol, who had been present at the synod
of 1823, in which the establishment of the hospital was proposed. Mr. Plender
leath published an English translation of the Romance poem La Nobla Leyczon,
with a remarkable preface, on the state of the Vaudois (Bristol, 1825).
3 Joseph Malan, the present proprietor of the manufactory of Pra-la-Fera, at the
entrance of the valley of La Tour. This is the most considerable manufacturing
establishment in the valleys.
4 In Wurtemberg, Prussia, Holland, England, &c. The lists of their members
would haye been given here, if space had permitted.
6 It is to him that I am indebted for the various communications, so often
quoted with his name, in the pages of the Israel of the Alps. He himself published
a Notice sur les Vaudois. « In the autumn of 1825.
' M. Ch. Coquerel had already published a Notice sur les Vaudois du PUmont,

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Chap. XXIV.] THE VAUDOIS HOSPITAL. 371
At last, at the end of two years, we had the satisfaction of seeing
our hospital founded, thanks to the charity of great and small, who
vied with each other in contributing to this institution according
to their ability. The kings of Great Britain, Prussia, and the
Netherlands, did not disdain to place their august names on the
list of subscribers. So many multiplied favours make us say with
admiration and gratitude, 'This is the Lord's doing: it is mar
vellous in our eyes' (Ps. cxviii. 23). How much reason have we
to bless the Lord ? How much reason also to redouble our efforts
to show ourselves worthy of such kindness 1 O, may we never give
cause to think that we are undeserving of it !"'
The accounts connected with this institution were afterwards
submitted to the synod. 2 The regulations of the hospital were
also approved. 3 This institution was erected in the valley of Lu-
an 8vo pamphlet of thirty-two pages, Paris, 1822. — Numerous publications in
prose and verse appeared from 1824 to 1825, on the subject of the hospital. Some
of them are noticed in the Bibliography.
1 I ought to mention also a Vaudois, M. Pellegrin, then in Holland, who wrote
an Abrege de I'histoire des Vaudois, the sale of which, along with some gifts col
lected by the author, produced the sum of 2750 francs, 70 cents., in favour of the
hospital. 1 The following is an abstract of them: —
Sums received : — Francs. Cents.
From the Emperor of Russia  12,000 00
From various collections  69,670 92
Donations by individuals  1,397 10
Interest of these sums added to the capital (from 1823 to 1827) 21,207 21
Donations subsequently received  8,245 65
Collections in Sweden  29,812 00
142,332 88
Outlay: — Purchase of the site; purchase of the furniture; expenses of the
collector; building. (The exact sums are not set down under these heads; but
the accounts having been presented to the synod, were found correct, within a
trifle.) Sums placed at interest, arising chiefly from collections made in the following
countries, and from the gifts of their respective sovereigns :—
Francs. Francs.
In Prussia; capital 80,660  Interest 4083
In England  72,620  „ 3731
In Holland  57,000  „ 2950
213,280 10,764
To this revenue of nearly 11,000 francs, destined to the support of the hospital
at La Tour and the dispensary of Le Pomaret, muBt be added the rents of a very
considerable estate, purchased in the valleys themselves, with the amount of the
first sums indicated in this note, and serving for the endowment of the institution.
(The revenues of the hospital in 1845 amounted to 14,070 francs.)
3 The following are the principal regulations : —
1. The institution to be governed by a committee of seven members, all serving
gratuitously. 2. The treasurer to give security.
5. The committee to meet for business every three months.

372 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. [PaetTbibd.
cerna,1 and a few years after, means were found for adding a
supplementary one in that of St. Martin.2
At the same period, the Kev. Dr. Gilly, having drawn the atten
tion of the English public to the Vaudois valleys, by his narrative
of his journey thither in 1823,3 may be said to have become the
founder of the college of the Holy Trinity, which was soon after
wards established at La Tour.4 A branch of this institution was
6. The committee to nominate all the officials of the hospital, and to manage its
affairs, under the superintendence of the Table.
8. The Table, as representing the synod, to have the principal management
and inspection of the hospital. The examination of the accounts submitted by
the committee, to take place every two years at least.
9. The hospital to receive patients, in proportion to its means.
10. Not to admit those who are declared incurable, or those afflicted with
shameful diseases.
11. If any patient, whilst in the hospital, shall be declared incurable, he cannot
remain more than one year from the date of that declaration.
15. The papers demanded in order to the admission of a patient, shall be trans
mitted to the committee by the consistory of the parish in which he resides; these
being, (1) a certificate of poverty, (2) one of good life and behaviour, (3) one by
the medical attendant, stating the disease, (4) an extract of baptism.
16. When one or more vacant places shall be asked for at the same time by a
greater number of patients, the most necessitous shall be preferred; and in case
of the claims seeming equal, the most aged shall be admitted first.
(These regulations consist in all of nineteen articles. Experience has caused
some of them to be slightly modified.)
1 Between St. Marguerite and Les Copiers, above La Tour, in a healthy, airy,
and quiet situation.
2 At Le Pomaret. — In 1845, the hospital of La Tour had fourteen beds and that
of Pomaret nine.
3 Narrative of an excursion to the mountains of Piedmont, and researches among
the Vaudois or Waldenses, Protestant inhabitants of the Cottian Alps. London,
1824-25. — Dr. Gilly is one of the most copious and interesting of all the modern
authors, who have taken up the subject of the Vaudois. — He himself owes his
reputation and part of his fortune, as well as of his domestic happiness, to the
works by which he directed to the Vaudois an attention and sympathies which
ere long turned to himself. Having soon afterwards returned to the valleys,
accompanied with his family, in 1828 or 1829, he published his new work, Wal-
densian Researches, during a second visit to the Waldenses of the Valleys of PU
mont. London, 1830.
4 The immediate possibility of this institution was owing to a single and anony
mous donation of £5000 sterling, intrusted to the care and management of
Dr. Gilly, and no doubt a result of the interest which the works of that eminent
writer had excited in favour of the Vaudois. — The college of La Tour has four
professors and a rector, who also acts as a professor; a sixth professor conducts
the Latin school of Le Pomaret. " The salary of the masters in both institutions
is 1500 francs annually. But two only of these salaries are perfectly secured;
three others are only partially so, and one not at all. One gift of 2500 francs
granted by the last minister, is all the assistance that public instruction amongst
the Vaudois has ever received from the government." (Echo des ValUes t I
No. of 3d May, 1849, p. 175, note.)
The permission to erect the college, granted by the minister of the interior, on
28th May, 1831, is coupled with this condition that not more than fifteen students

Chap. XXIV.] GENERAL BECKWITn. 373
ere long founded in the valley of St. Martin,1 and General Beck-
with was one of those who took part in its establishment.2
To General Beckwith, in particular, the valleys are indebted for
the erection or enlargement of 100 schools, as well as for the means
of maintaining in them a system of education in harmony with all
this advancement.3 Perseveringly surmounting all local obstacles,
shall be admitted into it. — (Bert, / Valdesi, p. 277. ) But this limit was passed,
without any opposition being made to the extension. To the friendship of General
Beckwith, the college owes its lecture hall and part of the books of its library.
The library has also been enriched by the Vaudois committee of London and by
gifts from private individuals.
1 At Le Pomaret, where the branch hospital was already erected. — There is also
the tomb of Peyrani, the erection of which has been ascribed to M. Sims, but
must be regarded as ultimately owing to Dr. Gilly.
2 Major General Beckwith is an Englishman. He was born on 2d October, 1789.
He entered the army in June 1804, and obtained the rank of a major, for his
services in Spain, in August, 1814. He was appointed a lieutenant-colonel at
the battle of Waterloo, where he lost a limb (18th June, 1815). He has been pre
sent in twenty battles. He came to the valleys for the first time, in September,
1827. Since that period he has returned to them every year, and for the last ten
years has scarcely ever left them.
3 The ameliorations which have been introduced into public instruction strike
those, especially, who have not had opportunity of marking their progress from day
to day. "If a Vaudois; long absent," says a recent writer, "were to return now
to his native country, he would be filled with admiration at these improvements.
' Who,' he would say, ' is the magician, who, in so short a time, has contrived to
effect so great a change?' And then he would be told of one of the finest instances
of self-devotion which our times have seen; of a man who, leaving his country,
his family, his friends, and all that is delightful in a life of opulence and an
honourable position in society, came to spend his days in the obscure retirement
of our mountains; and there, amidst difficulties of every kind, created on the one
hand by the jealousy of a despotic and suspicious government, and on the other
hand by the apathy of a people who had long been crushed by oppression, and
were at first rather hostile than favourable to his views, has succeeded by hiB
prudence, his talents, and his sacrifices, in accomplishing a work which was
deemed impossible, and even in interesting in it the Vaudois people them
selves, who now tax themselves to a considerable amount in order to carry it
on." (Echo des ValUes, t. I., No. xi. p. 175.) — General Beckwith has caused
100 schools to be built or • enlarged, almost entirely at his own expense. To this
work, his countrymen say he has devoted £10,000 of his own fortune. (Report of
the Vaudois Committee of London, in 1845.) — There are now (1848) in the valleys,
fifteen parochial schools, to six of which there is attached a salary of 600 francs;
one with a salary of 540 francs; four with 500; two with 400; and two with 300.
The greater part of these schools are open during ten months of the year. — There
are 129 district schools. — One commune alone has fifteen of them (Ville Sdche);
two have twelve (Pral and Prarusting); one has eleven (Pomaret); and two have
ten (Angrogna and Villar). That which has fewest is Rora, which has only four.
These schools are only open in winter, and only for three or four months. — Their
teachers receive a payment of 35 francs, which raises the cost of these two classes
of schools to more than 12,000 francs annually. — Of these 12,000 francs, 9500 at
least are borne by the Vaudois themselves; the rest comes from the Walloon com
mittee, whose zeal for the good of our church continually increases. The total
number of scholars, in the end of 1848, was 4517.

374 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. [fakiThiro.
this eminent man has succeeded, within the space of a few years,
in giving an entirely new impulse to the cause of primary educa
tion in this region. His opinion is, that the future effects of a
Christian work will be proportionate to the influence which in the
present time it exercises over the young. The future, he says with
the feeling of a father, is all in the hands of the young. And de
voting himself entirely to the reformation undertaken by his mighty
charity, this resolute benefactor of the valleys has, with rare dis
interestedness and tenderness, adopted the Vaudois family. He
receives in return a tribute of much gratitude.
But even the interest which he takes iri the Vaudois is to be
gratefully referred to the works of Dr. Gilly, which did so much
to make them known ; and to him, in like manner, is to be ascribed
the origin of the committee formed in London in 1825, on their
sole behalf. This committee has constantly taken part in all the
improvements which, since that time, have been effected in the
valleys. l
There are, moreover, six schools for girls and six infant schools, open during
ten months of the year. The salary of the schoolmistresses varies from 300 to
400 francs. — Four out of six of these girls' schools are maintained at the expense
of the London Committee; the other two by voluntary subscriptions. General
Beckwith has also founded at La Tour (by permission of the minister, granted,
4th September, 1827) a special establishment for giving a higher education to
young females. — He has also provided means for the greater part of the Vaudois
teachers going to prepare themselves for their office, in the best normal schools of.
Switzerland.— (Beet, Valdesi, p. 308, 309, &c.) In December, 1848, he received
from the Sardinian government the decoration of the order of St. Maurice and
St. Lazarus (Ibid., p. 313.)
1 The first meeting of this committee took place at London, 26th May, 1825, in
the house of Sir Henry Rose. The Bishop of London, the Archbishop of Canter
bury, and the Bishop of Winchester were present. — Amongst the authors who
were members of it were Messrs. Gilly, Acland, Inglis, Hamilton, Sims, Harrison,
Bridge, and Lowther. Most of these authors had devoted their pens to the main
tenance of the interests of the Vaudois. The following is a sketch of the labours
of the committee : —
(1.) The restitution of the royal English subsidies, amounting to £277 sterling
annually. The origin of this fund is to be traced to -a residue of the collections
made in 1655.' — After the departure of seven pastors from the valleys, who went
to serve the Vaudois colonies in Germany, in 1689, and with the addition of a
part of the funds of the Savoy Hospital in London, the annual proceeds amounted,
in 1703, to 1250 francs. Several vicissitudes took place with regard to the sending
of it. From 1804 to 1807 the interest of these funds accumulated in the Ex
chequer. In 1807, the British minister ordered the payment of them to be relin
quished, because the valleys were then in the power of France. In 1814, the
money began to be sent again, but much reduced in amount. The Vaudois com
mittee presented a petition to the Earl of Liverpool, on 11th March, 1826, having
for its object the complete restitution of these funds; and this was obtained,
except the interest from 1797 to 1804, which had been otherwise disposed of.
(2.) It contributed to the establishment of the hospital and its dispensary, to
which it annually gives assistance to the amount of £150 sterling.
(3.) It contributed to the foundation of the college of La Tour, to which it gives

Chap. XXIV.] THE CODE OF DISCIPLINE. 375
More complete provision being thus gradually made for the pub
lic services of religion and for education, it became the duty of the
ecclesiastical body of the valleys to give greater efficacy both to the
system of discipline and to the confession of faith. The articles of
the Discipline were scattered throughout a great number of synodal
acts. One of the members of the Table1 undertook to collect and
classify them. He devoted two years to this work, the results of
which were afterwards reviewed by all the members of the Table,
and finally by the whole synod. In the acts of the synod of 1833,2
we read that " The meeting, in terms of the eleventh article of
the synod of 1828, having discussed seriatim all the articles of the
draft of the code of Begulations or Ecclesiastical Discipline for the
£20 per annum. The library of this college has also been enriched through the
care of the committee. Ten bursaries, of 100 francs each, have been founded there
for students. The committee also charged itself with the maintenance of three
young Vaudois, who studied in England, in order to become professors at La
Tour. (4.) It allows 1000 francs to the Latin school of Le Pomaret.
(5.) The committee has contributed to the establishment of five girls' schools in
the valleys, to which it allows an annual sum of £52 sterling.
(6.) The stipends of the two new parishes established at Macel and Rodoret, on
the restitution of £15,000 sterling, obtained by the committee. The sum of
£277 sterling (6983 francs, 17 cents, reduced by discount to 6800 francs), which
the valleys have regularly received every year since 1827, is thus divided (Report
of 1845, p. 8):— franca.
For the widows of pastors  400
For pastors emeriti (retired from active duty)  200
Expenses of moderatorship  300
For Macel and Rodoret (pastors' stipends)  2000
For the other pastors (supplement of stipends)  3900
being 300 francs to each.
(7.) The building of a place of worship and pastor's house at Rodoret. The
former pastor's house was destroyed (in 1842) by an avalanche, which buried under
the ruins the pastor (M. Buffa), with his wife and child.
(8.) The committee has contributed to the establishment of a place of shelter
for the Protestants of Turin.
(9.) It has also contributed to the publication of the Vaudois Liturgy (a large
and beautiful 4to of 211 pages, from the press of Andrew Shortrede, Edinburgh,
1837), of the Gospel according to St. John, translated into the vernacular dialect of
the valleys (London, 1832) by M. Bert, with the assistance of some of his col
leagues; and of the New Testament in the Piedmontese idiom (London, 1833).
The latter work has been placed in the Index. The author of this translation was,
I believe, M. Csesar Geymet, and General Beckwith bore the principal part of the
expense of the impression. The Bible Society of London, likewise, contributed
to some of these publications.
1 This was my venerable father, the late Mr. George Muston, then pastor at
Bobi, and moderator-adjoint of the Vaudois churches. "More than any one
else," says M. Bert, in his report to the synod of 1828, " he has contributed to
the accomplishment of this work, by his zeal and activity." It was he also who
proposed this draft, as appears from the eleventh article of the synod of 1828,
2 Held at St. Germain, 3d to 5th December; article XXI.

376 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. [paet Tman.
valleys, adopts that code, and declares it to be in force from this
day."1 According to this official document, "the evangelical Vaudois
church of the valleys of Piedmont is one; and it receives and pro
fesses for the only rule of its faith the doctrines contained in the
Old and New Testaments. (§ i.)
" It regards the Confession of Faith published in these valleys
in 16552 .... as a true compendium and pure interpretation of
the fundamental doctrines of the Bible." (§ ii.)
1 It is divided into seven chapters, containing in all 209 articles, which received
some modifications in the synod of 1839. The following is an outline of its con
tents: — Chap. I. Op the Church (28 articles). — II. Of Sinods (containing
articles 29-63).— III. Of the Table (articles 68-89)— IV. Of the Pastors
(articles 90-123). This chapter contains ako the following sections: — B. Of
Emeritation. " Emeritation is the power which the pastors have of retiring from
the service of the Vaudois church with a retiring pension, which they enjoy during
the rest of their life " (art. 124). " This pension is made up of contributions
from the communes, contributions from the pastors, those of the Walloon com
mittee (Holland), and funds taken before other distribution from the Royal
English subsidy" (art. 123). C. Widowhood. Of the wives of pastors (article
134H38). D. Of the chaplain and professors or ecclesiastical rectors (art. 132-
144). By the chaplain is meant the pastor supplying the^Protestant cbapel at
Turin, in the service and under the protection of thg^oJ the Prussian, and Eng
lish legations. — V. Of the Consistories (artvgr'>vc — JJntcJ>-ir THE Ceremo
nies of the Church. A. Of the Sacraments (art. ^. ~^70^ t-t-^Qf^jirmation of
the Baptismal Vow (art. 186-189). C. Of Marriages (art. 190-209). D. Of Pub
lic Fasts (art. 210-12). E. Sanctification of the Sabbath (art. 213-2ISJ. F. Ex
communication (art. 216-220). — VII. Of Pubmc Instruction (art. 221-252).
Students (art. 253-269). This relates to those who propose to devote themselves
to the holy ministry. — I regret that want of space prevents me from quoting a
greater number of the excellent regulations of this book of disgipl-Mie.
2 This article was added by the synod of 1839. But these words are not suffi
cient to determine the text of the Confession of Faith intended ; for in 1655, there
was no Confession of Faith published, neither official nor private, in the Vaudois
valleys. I have reason to believe, however, that the Confession intended was
that published by L6ger in 1669. (Part I. chap. xvii. pp. 112-114.) It was
adopted by the synod of 1839, upon these words of the moderator, "Pastors and
deputies, are you resolved to be faithful to the faith of your fathers as expressed
in this Confession?" (Private letter of the editor of the Echo des ValUes, dated
from La Tour, 15th March, 1850. ) The affirmative response cannot be doubted.
A critical examination of history has since brought out the fact that this Confes
sion of Faith did not emanate from the Vaudois church. (See in the Bibliography
of the Israel of the Alps, Part I. § ii. No. 2), and that it did not accord with the
ancient doctrine of the Vaudois (same Bibliography, Part III. chap. i. No. 12).
The synod of 1839 is not responsible for these errors, for the laws then in force
prohibited the consideration of questions of doctrine in such meetings, and so the
Confession of 1655 was neither made the subject of debate nor of examination.
Each pastor might, no doubt, have previously made it known to his congregation,
and might have devoted himself to serious study beforehand on a question of such
importance, that it might never be suspected that, in the vote approving of this
Confession of Faith, the synod was taken by surprise; but all this the Vaudois
pastors were not even put in a condition to do. The committee, which was looked

Chap. XXIV.] EXTRACTS. 377
" The Vaudois church ordains its own ministers." (§ iv.)
Its parishes are divided into two classes. (§ vii.)
The translations of pastors take place according to a fixed order.
(§§ viii.-xvi.)
''Any appointment of a pastor, made" (by a parish) " in accor
dance with the established rules, cannot be annulled either by the
Table or by the synod.'" (§ xviii.)
" The deputies to the synod are taken either from the parish
which deputes- them, or not, but they must be Vaudois." (§ xxiv.)
— The election of these deputies is by ballot, and by universal suf
frage. (§ xxv.) — This has always been the mode of election in
the Vaudois church.
" The synods are held alternately in the valley of Lucerna and
in that of Saint Martin. The place of meeting is always appointed
by the previous synod." (§§ xli., xiii.)
The sitting is opened with prayer; provision is made for vacant
parishes ; the Table reads a report of its proceedings ; the meeting
names a committee to examine the accounts, after which it pro-
upon as having performed this examination, had not even the right to take that
first step, for it had been appointed to occupy itself with the subject of a system
of discipline, and not with that of a Confession of Faith. Finally, its examina
tion was ill performed; for the opinions which it advanced as to the origin and
doctrines of this Confession are completely erroneous. The doctrine established
by thiB disputed formulary is that of Predestination. It is followed by a protes
tation against fifteen heads of heterodoxy, which the confessionists are accused of
establishing by this doctrine (Leger, Part I. ch. xvii. pp. 115, 116), such, for
example, as "that in virtue of Predestination it matters little whether a man does
good or ill" (art. 6), and that the salvation or damnation of each man being
determined before his birth, " he contributes nothing more to it, do what he may,
than a piece of wood or a stone (art. 5). "We hold," say they, "all these heads
of doctrine to be heretical and damnable, and, with all our heart, we pronounce an
anathema against any who may maintain them" (Leger, Part I. ch. xvii. p. 116).
— This is the way in which Rome has been accustomed to reply to arguments,
but it is not the language of the ancient Vaudois. "To know the Vaudois
church aright," said the late venerable pastor Appia, "we must look upon it as
it was before the Reformation. Its aspect then was not yet deformed by Cal
vinistic professions of faith. It was not a happy day for it, when the colossal but
dialectic genius of Calvin drew it into its vortex, and when he imprinted upon it
the marks of his vigorous but harsh chisel. I love rather to think of our Barbas,
reciting their passages of the Bible in caverns or in the open air  O ! why
could not the evangelical Christians of our valleys be left to remain in their
humility the same that they were before the deluge of controversies, men of the
Bible, of sacred songs, of prayer, and of self-sacrifice, poor in spirit ! for to such
belongs the kingdom of God." (Letter of M. Paul Appia, pastor at Frankfort-on-
the-Maine, dated from that city, 4th March, 1842.) — See, on the same subject, in
the Bibliography at the end of this volume, Part III. chap. i. No. 12.
1 The passages in inverted commas, are exactly copied from the Discipline;
those which are not in inverted commas have been subjected to changes of
expression, so that they only give in an abridged form the meaning of the articles
cited, as much as seemed appropriate to the purpose of this Work.
Vol. II. 108

378 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. [paetThibd.
ceeds to the appointment of a new Table; and the new moderator
takes the chair in the synod.1 (§§ xliii-xlix.)
" The meeting cannot reconsider a resolution deliberately adopted
in the synod, except upon the demand of two-thirds of the voters."
(§lvii.) An authenticated copy of the Acts of the Synod is transmitted
to each pastor, and it is his duty to read it in public, and to pre
serve it in the archives of his parish. (§ lxviii.)
" The Table, appointed by the synod, is the administrative and
permanent authority of the Vaudois church from one synod to ano
ther; it is composed of five members, of whom three are ecclesias
tics2 and two are laymen." (§lxix.) — "It keeps a record of all its
proceedings." (§ lxxxviii.)
" The members of the Table meet not at fixed times, but when
ever the general interests of the church, or the particular in
terests of parishes, require it." (§ lxxiii.)
It takes part, by one of its members deputed for the purpose, in
the annual examinations of the students of the college and pupils
of the Latin school ; also in the meetings for competition for aca
demic bursaries. (§ lxxxi., Ixxxii.) — It makes pastoral visitations.
" The object of the pastoral visitation is the examination of the ac
counts, registers, and records of each parish. Cognizance is taken
of its religious and moral condition. If any disputes exist, an
attempt is made to effect a reconciliation. This visitation is pre
ceded by Divine service. The result of the inspection is engrossed
in the records of the parish, and in those of the Table." (§ lxxxvii.)
" When a pastor is sick, his parish is supplied, once a fortnight,
by the other pastors in turn." (§ ex.)
The flock in any parish, as well as its pastor, can appeal to the
synod from any decision of the Table, which, however, in the mean
time takes effect. (§ exxii.)
" Each parish has a consistory, which is composed of the pastor,
as many elders as there are districts [quartiers] in the parish, the
deacon or treasurer, and the procurator of the poor." 3 (§ cxlv.)
"No one may fill the office of elder, who has not completed
twenty-five years of age, — who is not known as a man of good morals,
— who cannot deliver in person the written documents connected
with his office, — who partakes in the assistance granted by the con
sistory to the poor of the commune, — who keeps a public-house, 
1 The synods are to .be held, as of course, once every five years, and more fre
quently if there is need.
2 The moderator, the moderator-adjoint, and the secretary.
3 This latter office has not been established in all the parishes.

Chap. XXIV.] ' EXTRACTS CONTINUED. 379
who does not reside within his district, — or who stands in the re
lationship of father, son, or brother, to any member of the consis
tory." (§ cl.)
The election of an elder takes place by ballot, by the heads of
families in the vacant district. Each voter's paper bears three
names. If from all these papers three names are obtained, having
the absolute majority of votes, these three names form what is
called the rose of the district [la rose du quartier]. "Next
Sabbath, the pastor presents to the consistory the minute of these
proceedings, and from amongst the three candidates who form the
rose, the consistory appoint the one whom they deem most fit to
fill the office of elder." (§ cli.)
" Each elder is required to watch over his district, to make
known to the consistory the necessitous poor, — to visit and console
the sick, — to reconcile persons who are at variance, — to repress
scandals, — to assist the pastor in the distribution of the Lord's
Supper, — to take part in the-deliberations of the consistory, and to
vote in it," &c. (§ cliv.)
" The money allotted for the support of the poor can only be
distributed by the deacon, on the written request of the pastor,
founded upon a resolution of the consistory." (§ clxi.) "The
consistory shall annually inform the congregation, by a report with
explanations, concerning the receipt and expenditure of the poors'
money." (§ clxx.)
There is a parochial school in each parish, called the great school,
and there are also district schools. (§ ccxxi.)
"No one shall be appointed regent or teacher of the great
school, who is not furnished with a certificate from the Table of
his ability and moral character, and such certificate shall be avail
able only for one year." (§ ccxxiii.)
"The regent of a great school is required, besides his duties in
the school; to perform the church service in the reading of the
Holy Scriptures, and in conducting the singing; also in conduct
ing the evening and morning prayers daily throughout the week,
and to read the funeral service when the pastor shall be pre
vented from so doing." (§ ccxxxiii.)
" The teacher of a district school is required, besides his duties
in the school, to conduct prayer in his district every Sabbath
about two o'clock in the afternoon, during the period of his teach
ing." (§ ccxxxii.)
" Each consistory is required to draw up an annual report of
the state of the schools of the parish, and to transmit it to the
Table, in course of the month of March." (§ ccxliii.)

380 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. [Pam Third.
" The choice of the academies in which a Vaudois student pro
poses to study for the holy ministry, in the service of his native
country, must be approved by the Table." (§ ccliv.) l
The little Protestant congregation of Turin, which was founded
as a ministerial charge in 1827,2 under the name of the Chapel of
the Protestant Legations, was annexed twenty-two years after, to
the ecclesiastical body of the valleys. " The Vaudois residing in
Turin, along with the great majority of the Swiss settled there,
addressed to the administrative authority of the Vaudois church
a petition for incorporation,3 to which that authority most gladly
gave a favourable reply, the rights of the synod being reserved.
In consequence of this resolution, a deputation of the Table pro
ceeded to the capital, where, on Sabbath, 29th July (1849), after a
fervent sermon by the moderator, from the words, Where the Spirit
of the Lord is, there is liberty, 4 the congregation of Turin was de
clared to be a parish of the Vaudois church, and was asked to con
stitute itself a parish accordingly, in terms of the regulations of
that church, which was immediately done."5
The number of parishes in the valleys was also augmented.
From 1686 to 1829 there had been only thirteen. At that period,
the interest of the arrears of the English royal subsidy, the pay
ment of which to the Vaudois church was obtained by the London
committee, and in particular by Dr. Gilly, enabled the church to
provide stipends for two new pastors. But the rescripts of 1730
and 1740,6 which had been brought into force again by the Bestora-
tion, prohibited the Vaudois from increasing the number of their
places of worship, and implicitly also from increasing that of their
pastors. However, advantage was taken of the circumstance that
there were no express words limiting the number of the latter ; and
as there were two places of worship in many parishes, a colleague,
with the title of substitute, was given to the pastor who supplied
them. Macel was thus detached from the parish of Maneille, and
' At the end of this Discipline are the words "Done and concluded at St. John,
in the synodal assembly held there on 20th April, 1839."
2 On 27th June, 1827, the Prussian ambassador, the Count De Waldbourg
Truchsess, wrote to the Table, to request the services of a Vaudois pastor as chap
lain; and by a resolution of 6th July, 1827, M. Bonjour was appointed to that
office, in which he was succeeded by M. A. Bert, in 1834.
3 1st July, 1849. i 1 Cor. iii. 17.
5 Extracted from the Echo of the Valleys, a monthly paper, specially devoted
to the interests of the Vaudois family. Second year, No. for 6th Sept., 1849, p.
44. — This paper, established and ably conducted by the Rev. M. Meille, iB the
first journal ever published in the valleys.
6 The documents here referred to were mere 'nstruciions founded upon anterior
edicts, which are quoted in them.

Cii»?.XXIV] FRATERNAL CONFERENCES. 381
Bodoret from that of Pral. These two districts, each shut in by
high mountains, were in reality too extensive to be adequately
served by one pastor.
The introduction of lay members into the administrative body
of the Vaudois church dates only from 1823. " Until that date,"
says M. Bert,1 " the laity not being permitted to take any part in
the affairs of the valleys, viewed with some measure of distrust
the way in which they were conducted by a Table entirely ecclesias
tical. On the other hand, the pastors, whom the very suspicions
of the laity made to regard them with an unfavourable eye, thought
it their duty and their interest to cherish amongst themselves an
exclusive feeling, keeping the laity at a distance, in order to be in
dependent of them. Thus, unhappily, from the want of a good
understanding between them, they inflicted mutual injury upon one
another." Since each valley has had its lay representative admitted
to the deliberations of the Table, by the unanimous decision of the
synod of 1823, the union has become more intimate between the
pastors and their flocks ; and the mutual confidence between those
in whose hands the administrative power is vested and those amongst
whom it is exercised, has become more firm, more thoroughly based
upon grounds of ^knowledge, and therefore more powerful for the
promotion of their common interests. The right management of
affairs, instead of being impeded, has been much promoted; the
records of the Table have been much more regularly kept; the
wants of the valleys have been better known; benefactions have
been more felt, and benefactors more appreciated.
Praternal conferences of all the Vaudois pastors take place every
year; in spring, in one of the two valleys; in autumn, in the other.
The pastors of the same valley also hold meetings by themselves
\colloques] in each other's houses. A school has been established
for the special purpose of training young teachers for the work of
teaching;2 and the schoolmasters in actual employment have recently
been called upon to attend a course of the Italian language, in pre
paration for which three professors of the college of the Trinity
have been sent to Tuscany.3 The library of that college has been
rapidly enriched, and the records of the valleys are henceforth to
1 Report to the synod of 1828.
* Report of M. Bert to the synod of 1828. (Near the end.)
3 Before 1630, the national language of the Vaudois was the Italian. In this
language Gilles commenced the writing of his history. The plague, which visited
the valleys in 1630, having deprived the Vaudois church of fifteen pastors out of
seventeen, it was found necessary to bring pastors from Geneva; and these making
use of the French language in their preaching, it came gradually to predominate.
Since 1848, an endeavour has been made to restore in the valleys the use of Italian.

382 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. [partThied.
be deposited in it. Thus, everything concurs to give greater com
pleteness to the measures of organization and improvement, which
seem to secure the future prosperity of the Vaudois church.
Constantly receiving the most generous assistance from their bre
thren in religion in foreign countries, the Vaudois have in their
turn acknowledged the obligation of contributing their mite out of
their poverty, along with the riches of their prayers, to their bene
factors in times of necessity. " Gentlemen," said the commissioners
of the Walloon churches to those by whom they were appointed,1
" when the news of the inundations which afflicted some of our pro
vinces last, winter came to the knowledge of our Vaudois brethren,
it caused amongst them a general consternation and affliction, inso
much that the directors of their churches immediately appointed a
day to be observed as a day of humiliation and prayer, which was
kept with remarkable devotion on the 27th of March last. Shortly
after, on the request of M. Van der Hoeven, the minister of his
majesty our king at the court of Turin, a general collection was
made in the valleys for the behoof of our countrymen who were
ruined by the calamity. This collection, recommended by the thirteen
Vaudois pastors, has amounted to the sum of 4301 francs and some
sous — a prodigious sum for a people so poor, and this after a season
by no means favourable, and an imperfect harvest. And since that
time, our Vaudois correspondents, notwithstanding their wants, have
had the delicacy of feeling to ask nothing from us. Touched by
this considerateness, we recommend their interests all the more
earnestly to your regard," &c. Collections and contributions at the
same time multiplied in the valleys in favour of Bible societies,
missions, and benevolent institutions of various kinds.2
But whilst the Vaudois in their own country remembered the
foreigners who manifested so much interest in them, those of them
also who were in foreign countries did not forget their native land.
A Vaudois, named Bianquis, who died in London, where he had
filled the situation of a domestic servant, left his little fortune to
the parish of La Tour, to be employed in the education of a few
poor children.3 He had been poor himself, and he knew the value
of education. Now that its blessings are so abundantly offered to
i In a report presented to the meeting of pastors at Leyden, 13th August, 1825.
2 The collection in favour of evangelical missions, which is annually made in
the Vaudois church, yielded, for employment in 1848-49, a sum of 1203 francs
90 cents. (Note extracted from the Echo of the Valleys. T. i., p. 162.)
3 With the produce of what M. Bianquis left, a property at Les Braides was
purchased. This small estate yields about 450 francs annually, a sum sufficient
for six poor children, who thus receive from 75 to 80 francs annually to facilitate
their education.

Chaf. XXV.] GENEROUS BENEFACTIONS. 383
his countrymen, may the Vaudois youth have grace to profit by
them, for " he that refuseth instruction," the Bible says, " despiseth
his own soul."1 Many generous strangers have provided, in dif
ferent instances, for the education of young persons in our valleys,
whom lively sympathies have led them to take under their charge.
The silence in which such noble actions are concealed is the purest
halo of glory around them. To betray the modesty in which they
are performed would be to take away the bloom and freshness of
their beauty.
It now remains to show, in the following chapter, the wisely
progressive course, directed by a constant increase of favourable
feeling towards the Vaudois, which the Piedmontese government
has pursued in order to their emancipation.

CHAPTER XXV.
CIVIL AND POLITICAL EMANCIPATION OF THE VAUDOIS
E REIGN OF CHARL1
(a.d. 1847 to a.d. 1850.)
The political changes in the kingdom of Sardinia were begun before the revolu
tionary explosion of 1848— Change of tactics on the part of the Popish clergy,
upon the change of policy by the government — Polemical pastorals and other
controversial publications — Charles Albert visits the valleys in 1844. — His
generous confidence in the Vaudois, and enthusiastic reception by them —
Demonstrations of the gratitude of the Vaudois to General Beckwith — Ameli
oration of their political condition — The Marquis d' Azeglio — The Statute, or
Constitutional Charter of the kingdom of Sardinia, 8th February, 1848 —
Admission of the Vaudois to all the civil privileges of their countrymen,
17th February, 1848 — Great rejoicings — French Revolution of 1848 — Conse
quent revolutions and wars in Italy — Defeat, abdication, and death of Charles
Albert — Charles Emmanuel V. succeeds to the crown — Present state of the
Vaudois.
Aftek the great political movements of 1848, it is not wonderful
that from the shaken thrones there have at length fallen on the
people of more than one country a few blessings of liberty; and, in
this point of view, the civil and political emancipation of the
Vaudois, of which we are now to speak, might have been regarded
1 Prov. xv. 32.
2 Authorities. — I Valdesi .... cennistorici .... da A. Bert, Chapters
XIII. and XIV. — Monastier, t. II., chap, xxvii. — L'Echo des ValUes Vaudoises. — ¦
Private Letters. — Official Documents.

384 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. Oabt Tiiieu.
as merely an ordinary event, had it not been for the remarkable
circumstance that the King of Sardinia had of his own accord en
gaged in the liberal course, now to be described, long before the
revolutionary explosion of 1848. He had even emancipated the
Vaudois, and given a constitution to his people, before the republic
was proclaimed in France; and consequently without constraint,
without external pressure, but under the influence solely of a gene
rous heart and an exalted mind.
We have already seen, in the end of the chapter which treats
of the State of the Vaudois under the Restoration, that the rigour
of the ancient edicts was softened by the personal acts of the sove
reign. These edicts, formally maintained, fell into practical disue-
tude — an indication of the growing strength of the government
and the progress of new institutions.
" The Romish clergy," says M. Monastier, " also changed their
tactics in the prosecution of their old contest with the Vaudois
church. Violence or oppression being no longer in accordance
with the spirit of the age, they had recourse to a kind of means
already often employed in previous times— viz., discussion ; but
giving it a milder form, that of pastoral letters. The Bishop of
Pignerol, Monseigneur Bigex, was intrusted with the conduct of it.
His mandatories, which were very well written, combined all the
qualities requisite for success, if the number and arrangement of
the arguments, and skilfulness in the presentation of them, could
have compensated for the essential weakness of the cause. The
appearance of the first of these pastorals1 caused a general excite
ment among the Vaudois, whether by reason of the novelty of the
thing, or through fear of its consequences. However, they were
soon satisfied that, where the Spirit of God breathes, the spirit of
Rome is not able to lead men's minds astray. A number of pastors
thought it their duty to reply to these mandatories. They did so
by manuscript refutations of them, which, being often copied, circu
lated from family to family.2 The seriousness of some of these, and
the excellent selection of their arguments, was a contrast to the
rather too flippant tone of some others. This war of the pen,
briskly carried on for a time, came to an end without any other
result than the noise which it made. It has been attempted anew,
but without success, by the bishops who have succeeded Monseig
neur Bigex— especially by Monseigneur Charvaz, in a considerable
number of pastorals and other writings, ably composed, and in
which erudition is with much ingenuity devoted to the advocacy
1 In 1818.
» Those of MM. Geymet, Peyrani, and Mondon, attracted particular attention.

Chap. XXV.] RECEPTION OF CHARLES ALBERT. 385
of error. By these publications, printed and circulated in Pied
mont and elsewhere, it was attempted to change the current of
opinion."1 But public opinion, on the contrary, seemed more and more to
incline to the side of the Vaudois. Charles Albert himself felt its
influence. " In his capacity of grand-master of the order of Saint
Maurice and Saint Lazarus, he consented, in 1844, to attend at the
dedication of the place of worship of the new congregation estab
lished in La Tour, under the patronage of the saints above named.
Orders had already been given to prepare lodgings at La Tour for
the troops of the line, which were to serve as the guard of his
majesty. Gloomy apprehensions quickly arose in many hearts ;
but all at once it was intimated that the king had caused his
troops to return, saying, ' I have no need of a guard amongst
the Vaudois.' And, in fact, the squadrons of royal carabineers,
which had been destined to serve as an escort for the sovereign,
turned back again to Pignerol. The Marquises of Lucerna and
Angrogna had suggested to Charles Albert that he should be re
ceived by the Vaudois troops themselves, and, although he came
for a perfectly Catholic ceremony, this offer was agreed to.
"All the able-bodied men of the valley of Lucerna, of Angrogna,
and of Prarusting, under arms, lined the path for the passage ot
the king, who, amidst solemn silence, went to the new Romish
erection to worship. Meanwhile the Vaudois troops proceeded to
the Lucerna road, and greeted Charles Albert on his return with
enthusiastic shouts of joy. The king, touched by so cordial a
reception, stationed himself in the entrance of the gate of the
palace of Lucerna, and caused the Vaudois companies to defile
before him in parade, according to their communes, and with
their banners. He saluted each standard, and all could see the
pleasant smile which played upon his lips when some ensign, not
contented with inclining his banner before his sovereign, saluted him
also afterwards with his hat. The officers of the Vaudois Table
presented themselves before his majesty in their turn, and were
highly gratified by the very favourable manner in which they were
received. Charles Albert, devoting himself for the time entirely
' Monastier, IL, 207, 208. The principal publications of the bishop here re
ferred to are — Recherches historiques sur I'origme des Vaudois . . . one vol. 8vo;
Paris, 1836; and Guide du CaUchumene Vaudois ... 3 vols. 18mo, 1840-1842.
Some pamphlets, of which I refrain from giving the titles, were also published
during his prelacy. "I believe they are more injurious," says a letter from the
valleys, " to the dignity of the episcopate by which they have been sanctioned,
than to the reputation of the Vaudois which tbey attempt to blacken." — (Letter
of 5th September, 1846.)
Vol. II. 109

386 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. [>abt Thibd.
to the people of the valleys, refused to receive any other deputa
tion. Before quitting the valleys, he sent to the syndic of La
Tour very liberal alms for the poor <of both communions ; and
when he set out again on his return to Turin, he could see a circle
of bonfires, like a brilliant diadem, kindled on our mountains to
express the gladness to which his visit had given birth." x "I shall
never forget," said Charles Albert, " these testimonies of affection
which have exhibited to me, in the heart of the Vaudois, the same
devotedness to the throne of Savoy which in former times their
ancestors signally displayed."2 He caused a little monumental
fountain to be erected at the entry of the town of La Tour, with
this inscription:— "Il Re Carlo Alberto, al popolo che l'ac-
coqlieva con tanto affetto. mdcccxlv."3 Thus the opening of
an institution hostile to the Vaudois church, instead of verifying
the apprehensions which had arisen with regard to it, brought the
Vaudois new assurance of prosperity under the high protection of
the head of the state.
" The decoration of the order of Saint Maurice and Saint Lazarus
was afterwards bestowed upon General Beckwith, as the benefac
tor of the Vaudois.* When we consider that it was the same man
whom a bishop, in an article in a journal, had not scrupled to call
the ' adventurer with the wooden leg,' and whom low intrigues had
more than once almost succeeded in expelling from the country,
upon account of the enlightenment which he was instrumental in
producing, we feel that our institutions have indeed undergone a
change." 5 But, as he himself once said, addressing the Vaudois, " If
there be but one man who knows what is right, it is enough to
make it prevail over a whole nation ; and if your humble ancestors,
patient and persevering, preserved intact the true rule of faith, and
transmitted it from age to age, they present in this an example
which you have only to follow  Unite yourselves again more
closely together; act, as you have done from the commencement
of all that has taken place, with good feeling, with moderation
forgetting past injuries, and be assured that you will be nobly re
compensed  Your church is well organized; public educa-
1 Monastier, IL, 215-217.
3 La universala gioja in piu modi manifestata, i sensi di reverenza e di affetto,
spiranti da quei volti, tutto ci manifestava che non mai vennero meno in quei petti,
I'amore e la devozione al trono Sabaudi, per cui i loro Maggiori si resero, in difficUi
tempi, signalati. Extract from the royal brevet of knight of the order of St. Man-
rice and St. Lazarus, accorded to the syndic of La Tour (M. Combe, a member of
the Vaudois church), by Charles Albert, 11th October, 1844.
3 T/ie King Charles Albert, to the people who welcomed him with so much affection,
1845. 4 In December, 1848. s L'Echo des ValUes, January, 1849, p. 116.

Chap. XXV.] TRIBUTES OF GBATITUDE. 387
tion is doing its work amongst you; direct your attention particu
larly to your district schools ; the welfare of your children depends
in great part on their efficiency. In these nurseries are sown the
first seeds of those great truths unknown to Socrates and to Plato,
. . . of that theology which is capable of saving a world!"1
Colonel Beckwith2 enjoyed also, in these his beloved valleys, the
" rare privilege of seeing that his works followed him, appreciated by
all, and everywhere recompensed by the most delightful tributes
which public respect and affection could offer. ' Let the name of
Colonel Beckwith be blessed by all who pass t lis way,' says an in
scription placed upon one of the numerous schools opened through
his efforts and generosity. The whole country silently responds to
the sentiment."3 In 1842, the schoolmasters of the two valleys,
and the professors of the various important educational institutions
patronized by this illustrious philanthropist, assembled to hold a
festival together on the summit of La Vachere, a mountain cen
trally situated amongst their various stations. They began by
singing hymns, and after fraternizing with one another in the ex
pression of the Christian and patriotic hopes which were excited in
their minds both by the love of the gospel and by the love of their
country, they returned, each bearing a branch of the laurel of the
Alps* in remembrance of that occasion. At the gates of La Tour,
they took a flower from each branch, of which they formed a
bouquet, and came in a body to present it to their venerable
patron.6 These spontaneous expressions. of affection and gratitude
to their noble benefactor have been often repeated on the part of
the Vaudois.6
Towards "the end of 1847, the social and political reforms long
contemplated by the Piedmontese government began to be carried
1 Letter of Major-General Beckwith to the Moderator of the Vaudois church,
dated from La Tour, 28th August, 1848. The object of this letter was, on the part
of the general, to acknowledge to the representatives of the Vaudois church the
public expression of gratitude to him for his numerous benefactions, which had been
unanimously adopted by the synod, of lst-4th August. — (Echo des ValUes, I., 60.)
2 The title which is habitually given to him in the valleys.
3 La Reformation au dise-neuvUme sUcle. A journal quoted in the Echo des
ValUes, I., 103.
4 Rhododendron ferrugineum. The Vaudois mountains produce a kind of
rhododendron not described by botanists. Instead of having the leaves brown
and rusty beneath, it has them smooth and olive-green. Perhaps it is only a
variety, or an accidental variation. It is found on the mountain of Brouard; and
was discovered by a young botanist of the valleys, M. Edward Rostan.
5 Letters written from the Vaudois valleys.— September, 1842.
6 The Agricultural Society (Gongris Agricole) of Piedmont expressed the pub
lic sentiment in returning thanks to General Beckwith, by a letter dated 25th
August, 1847, for the interest taken by him in the valleys. — (Bebt, p. 312.)

388 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. [p*™ Thied.
into effect. A reform in the courts of law, by the substitution of
oral for written proceedings, the introduction of trial by jury, and
the suppression of exceptional tribunals, afforded to all concerned
new securities for impartiality. On the 22d of November, 1847,
the organic law of the councils of communes and provinces was
promulgated, containing no restriction on the election of the
Vaudois inhabitants. The formation of national guards speedily
followed this new step of progress.
The Marquis D'Azeglio, who was afterwards minister, then
placed his name at the head of the signatures to a petition ad
dressed to the sovereign for the civil emancipation of the Vaudois and
the Jews.1 In order to this, he also addressed a circular to all the
bishops of the kingdom, to obtain their opinion on the measure in
the first place,2 and it is due to them to state that a number of
them expressed themselves in favour of it.3 The generous marquis
next addressed a petition in his own name to the king,4 which was
followed in a few days by a petition from the Vaudois to the same
effect.6 These endeavours were supported by the public feeling. At a
patriotic banquet which was. given at Pignerol on the 12th of
December, the advocate Audifredi uttered the following words : —
" At the foot of those mountains which look down upon us are
20,000 of our brethren deprived of their rights as citizens; yet are
1 This petition bears more than 600 signatures, amongst which are those of 33
professors, 65 ecclesiastics, priest's, cures and theologians, 80 advocates, 50 physicians,
14 notaries, besides artists, merchants, and citizens of all ranks, even former and
actual ministers of state. (M. Bert has placed the list of these signatures at the
commencement of his work, / Valdesi, kc.) The learned and excellent Barbaroux,
the former keeper of the seals, was now no more ; but if his signature was not at
this petition, the Vaudois will never forget that his sympathies preceded it ; and that
so early as 1837, at the time of the promulgation of the Civil Code for the Sardinian
Dominions, he had endeavoured to have it so framed as to suppress all exceptional
legislation in respect to them. His representations' at that time prevailed only to
the extent of obtaining the law of 16th December, 1837, by which Vaudois in the
army were permitted to be advanced in rank, according to their years of service
and the claims which they had established. — (Disionario di diritto amministrativo,
vol. I., p. 56, § 29.— Bebt, Valdesi, p. 278.)
» It is dated 16th November, 1847.— M. Bert has published it (7 Valdesi pp.
462-464). 3 M. Bert has published the replies of the Bishop of Biella (dated 26th November,
1847; / Valdesi, pp. 464-466)— of the Bishop of Pignerol (same date; same work,
pp. 467-472)— of the Bishop of Ivrea (30th November, 1847; pp. 472-476)— and of
the Bishop of Albenga (25th November, pp. 477-479).
4 Dated 23d December, 1847. Published by Bert, pp. 459-461.
5 Published by Bebt, pp. 480, 481. This petition is not dated, according to the
old but indefensible Vaudois practice — a practice which surely ought to be relin
quished, as it is contrary to general usage, inconvenient, the cause of many inac
curacies in future tunes, and without any present advantage.

Chap. XXV] NEW CONSTITUTION GRANTED. 389
they educated, industrious, strong of arm and strong of heart, as
much as any other Italians. It is for us to raise our voices in
their favour; it is for us, their nearest brethren, to demarid that
their country shall be a mother to them, and not a stepmother ; it
is for us to be the first to shout aloud for the emancipation of the
Vaudois!"1 And the cry of enfranchisement and brotherhood —
the viva for the emancipation of the Vaudois — was repeated with
enthusiasm by the whole assembly. Two weeks afterwards a simi
lar banquet took place at Turin. The pastor, chaplain to the
Protestant legations, made a speech at this banquet to the same
effect.'-5 All Piedmont, and even Sardinia, was moved as by a com
mon impulse in this direction of progress and patriotism.
But, above all, this was owing to the prospect of a representative
constitution, which Charles Albert promised soon to give ; and
that monarch had the courage to carry his generous designs into
effect in the same liberal reforms which the new pope3 had just
accomplished in his own dominions. The statute, or constitutional
charter of the Sardinian dominions, appeared at last on the 8th of
February, 1848. This charter granted an elective chamber, with
sufficiently liberal conditions of eligibility. The enthusiasm was
general, and the Vaudois shared in it, although they were still only
tolerated according to the old edicts. But the liberty of the press,
which was now proclaimed, allowed public opinion to be heard in
favour of their enfranchisement, and its greater unanimity to
appear.* A report soon spread in the capital that a decree was just about
to be signed for this purpose. This was on 16th February, 1848,
towards evening. Immediately a crowd of many thousands of
persons assembled under the windows of the representative of the
Vaudois valleys, M. Amadeus Bert, the pastor of the Vaudois con
gregation of Turin. They sung that patriotic hymn —
1 This speech is given in Italian by Bert, in his Valdesi, p. 330.
2 This speech was printed with the title, Discours lu au banquet donrU par le
cymmerce de Turin, le 29th Decembre, 1847, par AmedAe Bert, pasteur Vaudois,
chapelain des Legations Protestantes pres S. M. Sarde. Turin, Pomba et comp.
ed. 1848.
3 Pius IX., elected in 1846. He left Rome in 1848, after the proclamation of
the republic. This republic having been destroyed by the armies of the French
republic, which had given it birth, and which thought fit to restore Pius IX., this
pope no longer displayed the same sentiments. An amnesty, obtained with great
difficulty from his vindictive holiness, excepted so great a number of classes,
that it was said of it, " The Papal amnesty excepts all the world, and pardons the
rest." 4 See articles from the Gazetta Pwmontese, the Risorgimento, and the Concordia,
quoted by M. BEBT, pp. 333, 336, 339, &c.

390 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. [PaetThied.
" Fratelli dTtalia,
L'ltalia s' e desta," &c  '

and demonstrations of the liveliest sympathy were continued
till a late hour in the evening. Next day the following edict
appeared : —
" Taking into consideration the fidelity and good sentiments of
the Vaudois people, our royal predecessors have, of their own ac
cord, and by successive measures, in part abrogated and mitigated
the laws which anciently limited their civil privileges; and we,
following in the same course, have also granted them gradual ex
tensions of privilege. The reasons of the ancient restrictions
haying now ceased, and the completion of the system gradually
adopted in their favour having become possible, we have, of our
own free will and accord, resolved to make the Vaudois partakers
of every advantage compatible with the general principles of our
legislation. We, therefore, by these presents, of our certain know
ledge and royal authority, and by the advice of our council, have
ordained, and do ordain as follows : —
" 1. The Vaudois are admitted to the enjoyment of all the civil
and political rights of our other subjects, and freely to attend our
schools, both within and without the university, and to obtain
academic degrees.
" 2. No change, however, is made as to the exercise of then-
worship and their own schools.
"3. We repeal, by these presents, every law to the contrary,
and command the senate and the chamber of accounts to register
this decree, enjoining all and sundry to observe it and cause it to
be observed, and willing that it be inserted in the collection of acts
of the government." 2
No sooner was this decree known in the Vaudois valleys than it
excited an universal enthusiasm there. "At La Tour," says a
letter of that period,3 "there was a general illumination on the
24th and 25th of February. That of the 24th was principally in
tended to be in honour of the constitution. In the morning almost
all the inhabitants of the commune were assembled by sound of
drum. Each company had its banner. They proceeded to the
church of Les Copiers, where Divine service was conducted by the
pastor, M. Meille,4 who delivered an extremely affecting extem-
1 "Brothers of Italy, Italy has awaked," &c.
* Given at Turin, 17th February, 1848. Signed, Charles Albert, and counter
signed Avet, De Revel, De Collegno, Boeelli. (This edict is also contained
in the Eclio des ValUes, 1. 1., No. 8.)
3 Dated from La Tour, 5th March, 1848.
4 Author of the work mentioned in No. VI. of the first part of the Bibliography,

Chap. XXV.] UNIVERSAL REJOICINGS. 391
poraneous disoourse. A number of young people, who had prac
tised the singing of hymns of thanksgiving together, now began to
sing; and this music, with the religious service, the banners which
filled the church, and the solemnity of all who were present, com
bined to deepen the emotion in every breast. During the whole
day, companies of the national guard continued to defile through
the town singing patriotic hymns, and especially that which begins:
' Con l'azzura cocarda sul petto,
Con Italici palpiti in cuore,' &cl ....

and uttering at intervals repeated cries of ' Viva I' Italia I ' ' Viva
la CostituzioneJ' 'Viva Carlo Alberto!'2 These enthusiastic accla
mations announced the commencement of a new and happy period.
" Next day, Friday, was also a festival day, specially set apart
to celebrate the emancipation of the Vaudois. Persons had been
sent to the mountains to inform the inhabitants of the more ele
vated districts of the cause of these rejoicings, and towards even
ing, whilst the illumination was taking place in the town, bonfires
were kindled on all the surrounding peaks. More than 100 could
be counted from La Tour. At Pignerol, also, so soon as the news
came of the emancipation of the Vaudois, those of them who were
settled there asked leave from the commandant to illuminate their
dwellings, which was granted them. The same permission was
offered to the Catholics who might wish to join in those manifes
tations; and in the evening the whole city was illuminated, without
exception of any quarter. Similar rejoicings took place in the other
Vaudois communities. The Catholics almost everywhere took part
hi them. At St. John, the brilliant illumination of the presbytere
was particularly remarked ; and the prior even caused some of his
finest baoudettes3 to be rung. After a fraternal repast, the national
guards of the commune proceeded in a body to the house of the
venerable Joshua Meille, the eldest of the Vaudois pastors, who
lived in a retired spot in the country. His emotion was extreme.
at the end of this volume, and principal editor of the Echo des ValUes. This
journal has lately ceased to appear.
'. " With the azure cockade on our breasts,
With Italian throbbings of heart,
Charles Albert, we come to thy feet,
To deposit the tribute of our love," &c.
(The national colours of Piedmont are blue and white.)
a Cheers for Italy, for the Constitution, and for CharleB Albert. Even young
children, partaking in the enthusiasm of these exclamations, and wishing to join
in them, cried, in their feeble voices, from the balconies, Viva Caro Berto ( Viva
Carlo Alberto), and Viva Taya (Viva I' Italia).
3 Joyful chimes.

392 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. [PaetThibd.
The white-haired good old man passed from one to another, em
bracing all these youths, and exclaiming ' Viva la fratellanza! ' l In
each commune the greater part of the citizens, without distinction
of religion, assembled at a patriotic banquet, and many speeches
suitable to the occasion were delivered. That of Professor Malan
was particularly remarked. It was delivered in the purest Italian.
" But all this was nothing in comparison with what took place
at Turin. A national festival was announced for the 28th of
February, at which all the provinces of Piedmont should have
their representatives, to celebrate in the capital the establishment
of the constitution. On the 27th the Vaudois deputation set out.
On the way they were saluted by vivas for ' Our Vaudois Brethren! '
and for ' Liberty of Conscience!' At Turin, the members of this
deputation, with many other persons who had joined them of their
own accord, were lodged, to the number of some hundreds, in private
houses. There were instances of merchants clearing out store
rooms to convert them into sleeping apartments. Next morning,
this whole troop having assembled on the esplanade of Porte-Neuve,
arranged amongst themselves the order of their procession. They
were preceded by a group of young girls clothed in white, adorned
with blue girdles, and each bearing a little banner in her hand.
More than 600 persons then followed, having at their head a mag
nificent velvet standard, on which were the royal arms embroi
dered in silver, with this simple inscription : — 'A Carlo Alberto i
Valdesi riconoscenti.'2
" Acclamations of the liveliest sympathy greeted the Vaudois in
the streets of Turin; handkerchiefs were waved from the windows
and flowers were showered down from the balconies upon the young
girls who walked past. 'Evviva fratelli Valdesi !' 'Evviva Vemanci-
pazione dei Valdesi 1 "3 was shouted from all sides. The Vaudois
were saluted even by persons unacquainted with them, who, shaking
them by the hand, expressed their delight at the new era of peace
and liberty which all then anticipated for Italy. Even priests
might be seen to approach the procession, and to embrace the
Vaudois in its ranks, exclaiming — 'Viva la fratellanza!' 'Viva la
Mberta! '
" When the order was to be arranged of all the provincial depu
tations which were to defile before the palace of his majesty, the
managers of the festival assigned the first place to the Vaudois.
1 Fratellanza — Fraternity.
2 To Charles Albert, the Vaudois grateful— ThiB banner was presented to his
majesty, who thanked the Vaudois for it through the Marquis D'Azeglio. The
marquis' letter, dated 28th February, may be seen in Bert, p. 345.
3 Vivas for " Our Vaudois Brethren/" and " The emancipation of the Vaudois/"

Chap. XXV.] THREATENED COMMOTIONS. 3D3
' They have long been the last,' said they, ' and it is right that to
day they should be the first.' It is impossible to give an idea of
the eager affection and enthusiasm with which they were received.
I have been told that in the streets it sometimes happened that
those who met a new comer laid hold of him by the arm, and asked
whence he came, and if he was a Vaudois they hugged him around
the neck.
" Dear brother ! who would have said that we would have seen
all this? Who; would have said that, on that very castle square
where in former times the piles were raised' for our martyrs, and
the crowd gathered to witness their death, such a multitude would
this day have welcomed the Vaudois with such acclamations of
love and fraternity? Verily, it is God who has done all these
things ! To him be the glory and the thanksgiving ! and may his
blessing ever rest upon our pleasant native land ! " "
The great procession defiled before the king. More than 30,000
banners belonging to different corporations were lowered as they
passed before his balcony.
But days of trouble were soon to succeed these festival rejoicings.
An air of vague anxiety had already been remarked in the counte
nances of the king and his ministers. The swelling joy of the
people who saluted them with their acclamations could not remove
from their faces a certain look of constraint and hesitancy. In
fact, they had that morning received news, still unknown to the
people, that the King of France had been drive'n from his throne,
and compelled to flee from his kingdom a homeless exile, whilst the
republic, surrounded with terrible associations, had again been pro
claimed by the French people. Like a peal of thunder ushering
iu the long convulsions of an unexpected storm, this event made
all the thrcnes of Europe to tremble, agitated the nations, and led
to marvellous things, to admirable deeds of devotedness, but also
to revolting cruelties, and to terrible reprisals on the part of the
defenders of the system,of past times, whose love of power struggled
fiercely against the love of liberty cherished by those who fixed
their eyes upon a changed and happier future. At first, all was
disorder and confusion : the final results of the great contest could
nofy be discerned ; blood and ruins covered the arena. Amidst the
dust of combat nothing can 'be seen of the majesty and splendour
of victory. Italy partook of these commotions. Whilst a popular re
volution broke out in Vienna, Lombardy rose in insurrection
against the Austrians. Milan drove them from its walls; Venice
broke their yoke; Sicily declared itself independent of the King of
Vol. II. 110

394 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. [paetThieD.
Naples ; Bome adopted for itself a democratic constitution ; Ger
many attempted to restore its shattered unity from amidst the
multitude of its sceptres and of the shackles by which it was
bound. Hungary, later in commencing, exhibited to the world the
spectacle of the most gigantic contest which was produced by that
epoch of universal conflagration.
But before these things had taken place the Lombardo- Venetian
states were, of their own free motion, annexed to Piedmont. Aus
tria sought to reconquer them ; Charles Albert marched to defend
them. After some successes, his army was obliged to retreat, and
the Austrians re-entered Milan by capitulation. Very soon after
this, however, the republic was proclaimed at Borne and in Tus
cany. These were the flashes of liberty in a sky still heavily
laden with the emanations, which had gathered for centuries, of a
power more easily broken down than rooted up. Urged by the
wishes of his people, or at least by the incessant outcry of the de
mocratic party, which was at that time very apt to be taken for
public opinion, Charles Albert resumed hostilities against the
Austrians. The generals, it is .said, were reluctant; the soldiers
were inexperienced. The Piedmontese army was defeated at No-
varra, and, to escape the hard necessity of subscribing a humiliating
treaty, Charles Albert abdicated the throne of his fathers in favour
of his eldest son, who assumed the name of Charles Emmanuel V.
He may be ranked as the last of those chivalrous monarchs who
took up arms to defend their people, and fell to defend dynasties.
Covered with true glory, although defeated at Novarra, he re
signed his crown, after ten laborious years of a reign which will be
remembered for great things, although it was embittered by many
mortifications. He left his country prostrated before the enemy,
and retired to Portugal, where he died at Oporto, 28th July, 1849.
His remains were brought back to Turin on the 14th October fol
lowing. The honoured hearse was received with universal demon
strations of mourning. Every one called to remembrance the gen
tleness and bravery of the king who was now no more, and spoke with
poignant regret of his liberal and generous disposition; and many
a trait of his benevolence or noble-mindedness was recounted.
Charles Albert, they said, reigned like a sage and fought like a
hero. The devoted victim of a ruined cause, he died, like Napoleon,
shorn of power, but not of glory. In the Vaudois valleys, espe
cially, which he had so lately emancipated, he was regretted with "
profound regret. They had highly appreciated the benefits which
he conferred, and they felt a proportionate grief at his loss.
Ought I now to set forth the few particulars of secondary im-

Chap. XXV] CONCLUDING REVIEW. 30K
portance which the mddern history of the Vaudois valleys might
still be found to present 1 No ; their political condition is entirely
changed, a new era has commenced, and its events must at some
future time be narrated by other historians.1 May their future
history-be as honourable as their past, and less troubled than it has
been ! Happy are the countries enlightened by the gospel ! It
alone can restore the proper dignity of human nature, at a time
when institutions and habits are in process of change, in nations to
which Catholicism has forbidden the liberty even of thought. May
the ruins which the latter has made, yet flourish again through the,
immortal breath which quickens souls and gives freedom to men !
The truth is the power of God ! The Bedeemer has said, " It
shall make you free;"'' and hope is one of the duties of the Chris
tian.3 Thus, in all the countries which the Vaudois once occupied — in
Bohemia, in Provence, in Calabria — they have been destroyed by
persecution ; the churches of Saluces, of Pragela, and of Barcelon-
nette, which came under the power of France, exist no longer; but
only the churches of the valleys of Piedmont, which have remained
under the sceptre of the house of Savoy, still subsist in our days.
Nor is it to the princes of the house of Savoy that the blame should
be ascribed of those cruel measures which so often drenched the
Vaudois valleys in blood. Victor Amadeus II. presents the soli
tary exception; but even he acted under the influence of an im
perious and foreign power; and when that influence had ceased to
operate, he contended nobly and energetically against the court of
Bome to maintain for the Vaudois the rights which they had re
gained, for themselves by their valour and their fidelity. The
church of Bome alone was in principle and always persecuting.
The principle of mental thraldom could make no terms with that of
liberty of thought; and this strife must continue as long as both shall
1 There are, however, a few facts which I cannot pass over in silence. Through
the generous kindness of General Beckwith, who began the subscription, a Vaudois
church has been built in Turin, and seven professors' houses will be erected oppo
site to Trinity College, at La Tour. Through the generosity of a member of parlia
ment (M. Malan, himself of Vaudois origin, deputed to parliament in 1849 by the
college of Briqueras), two new chairs have been founded in that college — one for
the natural sciences, and one for the philosophical classes. They were founded
without mention of the founder's name. A new Protestant church, nearer to the
principal body of the people, is about to be constructed at La Tour, The estab
lishment of public worship for the Vaudois is projected at Pignerol. And, finally,
Trinity College is in the way of being transformed into a complete faculty, and
the government seems disposed to favour this extension, so favourable to the pro
gress of enlightenment.
» John viii. 32, 36. • 1 Cor. xiii. 13.

396 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. [Paet Third.
exist. It is impossible to reconcile that despotism upon which the
world of bygone days was founded, with the liberty which has.
opened up the springs of modern life.
To this modern liberty the throne, better counselled, owes the
discovery, made at last, that there is more glory in preserving the
Vaudois than in destroying them. Like those monuments of ancient
times which attract the steps of the traveller from afar, and which
the neighbourhood protects with enlightened solicitude, they are
venerable even for their antiquity itself.
Here, however, are not mere ruins, but a people — a church —
and industrious and devoted citizens, an honour to their country.
The Vaudois valleys are, in proportion to their population, more
advanced in civilization than any other part of Piedmont. By the
firm and generous hand of Charles Albert, those antiquated restric
tions were abolished which the spirit of the middle ages had im
posed upon the Vaudois. They have their fair share in the new
rights created by the constitutional government. They are no
longer restrained within the limits of their valleys.
May they extend themselves without loss of their distinctive
excellencies! May it not be said of them, " It was when their
country was small that the people was greatest!" From the gospel
they derived their greatness and their strength : may they never
forsake it! And in the words of Janavel, "May the fear of the Lord
be the guard of their hearts, a better protection than any sword!"

APPENDIX. No. I.
HISTOEICAL AND DOCUMENTARY
BIBLIOGRAPHY
OF THE
ISRAEL OF THE ALPS:
OR, LIST OF "WORKS "WHICH TREAT OF THE VAUDOIS AND OF
THE ANCIENT MANUSCRIPTS TN THE ROMANCE LANGUAGE,
"WHICH CONTAIN THEIR OWN STATEMENT OF THEIR
DOCTRINES.

SUMMARY.

PART I.— PUBLISHED WORKS. Section I. Original authors who have
treated specially of the history of the Vaudois. — § 1. Vaudois authors. — § 2.
Anonymous Vaudois Authors. — § 3. Original authors, not natives of the val
leys, who have written in a spirit favourable to the Vaudois. — § 4. Original
authors, not natives of the valleys, who have written in a spirit unfavourable to
the Vaudois. Section II. Authors who have occupied themselves with inquiries
on particular points connected with the history of the Vaudois. — § 1. Latin
Treatises (mostly contra Valdenses, and generally relating to the disciples of
Valdo, rather than to the Vaudois of Piedmont). — § 2. Academic Theses. —
§ 3. Various authors. Section III. Historic works on the Vaudois, derived
from original sources, and contributing to the more complete elucidation of the
subject. Section IV. Polemical Works. — § 1. Against the Vaudois. — § 2. In
defence of the Vaudois. Section V. Periodical, artistic, descriptive, scientific,
and literary works, relative to the Vaudois— § 1. Books of Travels. — § 2. De»
scriptive works. — § 3. Illustrated works. — § 4. Tales and poems. — § 5. Jour
nals. Section VI. Historical works, in which the Vaudois are only inciden
tally treated of, but which embody particular views or documents. Chapter 1.
Works on special subjects. — § 1. Local History. — § 2. Memoirs and Biogra
phies. Chapter II. Works of a general character. — § 1. Ecclesiastical His
tories. — § 2. Profane Histories. Section VII. Detached Documents. — § I.
Collections of Official Papers. — § 2. Collections of Various Documents.
PART IL— MANUSCRIPT "WORKS. Section I. Ancient Vaudois MSS.
in the Romance language. — § 1. Origin of these MSS. — § 2. Biblical MSS. —
§ 3. MSS. of Geneva.— § 4. MSS. of Dublin.— § 5. MSS. of Cambridge.—
§ 6. A note of what has been published of these MSS. Section II. MSS. de
posited in different archives. — § 1. Public— § 2. Private.

398 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. [affehdix.
PART III.— DETACHED PIECES, PUBLISHED AND MANU
SCRIPT. — Chapter I. Confessions of faith, published by the Vaudois or in
their name, in different languages. Chapter II. Historic pieces, anterior to the
bull of Innocent VIII. against the Vaudois (1487). Besides all which, there
remain unpublished fragments of ancient Vaudois books in the Romance Ian:
guage, and other proof documents, mostly unpublished, of which the narrow
limits of this Bibliography do not permit any particular notice.1

PART I.— PUBLISHED WORKS.
Section I. — Original authors who have treated specially op the
history op the vaudois.
§ 1. — Vaudois authors.
MIOL, VIGNAUX, PERRIN.
Perrin  "Histoire des Vaudois et des Albigeois, &c, a Geneve, pour Mat-
thieu Berjon, CIo.IoI.XVIII. (1618)." Two vols., usually bound in one; of
xxx, 248, iv, and 333 pages; the last 157 containing the Vaudois books, in
the Romance language, with translations. The epistle dedicatory is addressed
to Lesdiguieres, and dated from Lyons, in Dauphiny, 1st January, 1618.
Perrin was not of Vaudois origin (he was born at Lyons) ; but as the docu
ments of which he made use all came from the valleys (Gilles, p. 383; Perrin,
ch. iii., and pp. 57-60), he must be ranked amongst the Vaudois historians.
Amongst these historic documents were the memoirs of Vignaux, entitled,
De la source, anciennete, doctrine, religion, moeurs, confessions et progres du
peuple surnomme Vaudois, habitant dans les valUes du PUmont. These me
moirs are now lost. A modern author professes to have consulted them, but
must have fallen into some mistake. — (Fabre d'Olivet, Les Montagnards des
A Ipes, i. 26.) Vignaux's Memoirs were, after all, only a translation of a simi
lar work composed in Italian by Jerome Miol, pastor of Angrogna, in 1580
(Gilles, p. 383).
Perrin had also many other documents at his command (see his chapters ii.,
iii., and vii.) In the Acts of the Synods of Dauphiny (Synod held at Grenoble
in 1602) we read, that the pastors of the Embrunois and of tne Val Cluson
(which was then included in Dauphiny) were requested to collect " all sorts of
documents bearing on the history of the life, doctrine, and persecutions of the
Albigeois and the Vaudois." At the synod of Embrun (in 1603) it was resolved
to place these documents in the hands of M. Chamier, pastor at Montelimart,
who had undertaken to write this history. (Leger'speaks of M. Chamier P. ii.
pp. 257, 258.) M. Chamier devolved this work upon M. Crisson (Synod of
Grenoble, 1605), and he again upon Perrin, pastor at Lyons. (See a note at
p. 300, of vol. i. of this work.) In 1604, the Vaudois valleys still sent historic
documents, which Vignaux himself conveyed to Perrin (Gilles, p. 333). The
' By a letter recently received from M. Hahn, I learn that there is already a pretty long
list of works on the Vaudois in the Nederlcmdach Archie/ voor Kerkelique Geschiednis. Leide
VI. 109-132. A number of these works are indicated in Winer's Manual (Handbuch der
theologischen literatur . . . Third Edition, Leipsic, 1838), section xxii., under the head
ol the Precursors of the Reformation, and in some other Bibliographical works.

No- !•] BIBLIOGRAPHY. S99
Synod of St. Marcelin, held in 1606, exhorted the latter to hasten forward his
work. At the Synod of Orpieres, held in 1608, Perrin demanded a sum of
money to pay the expense of his researches. He presented the manuscript of
his work in 1609, at the Synod of St. Paul-trois-Chdteaux. The style of this
work was retouched at Geneva, by M. Tronchin. — (Records of the Venerable
Company, vol. E, p, 205). The Synod of Tonneins (1614, art. vi.), resolved
that a copy should be sent to each pastor of Dauphiny. But it does not appear
that this work was generally found to answer the expectations which had been
formed of it; for the Synod of Vitre^ (1617, art. iv.), resolved that the work of
Perrin should be submitted to the examination of the pastors and professors of
Geneva. The result of this examination was not more favourable to it; for the
Synod of Charenton (1623, ch. x., art. i.), resolved that the composition of a new
history of the Vaudois and Albigeois should be undertaken. ' (M. Tilloit, of
Sedan, was charged with this undertaking. The provinces of Dauphiny were
exhorted to send him all the documents which they could collect; but death pre
vented him from carrying the design into effect.)
Besides the sum which Perrin demanded from the Synod of Orpidres, he re
ceived 300 livres from that of Privas (held in 1612, art. iii.) ; and, moreover,
he sold his manuscript to the publisher. — (Records of the Ven. Comp. of Geneva,
vol. E, p. 203.) Never, perhaps, was the price of a historic work less merited.
If Perrin had simply published the documents which had been sent to him, his
work would have been of great value, for these documents came direct from the
best sources. (The Synod of Mentoules, 1612, resolved that a folio Bible.should
be sent to a person in Pragela, in return for many manuscripts which he had
furnished to Perrin.) They amounted to the number of twelve MS. volumes
(Perrin, pp. 57-60). Not only did Perrin fail to make proper use of his rich
materials, but he has even been accused of having employed them unfaithfully.
(See in the British Magazine, No. CXIII., p. 397, a remarkable article by Dr.
Todd, on the Book of George Morel, Dublin Library, class C, Tab. V. No. 18.)
As an author, Perrin's abilities are very doubtful; but his work is rendered
precious by the original fragments of ancient Vaudois treatises at the end of the
volume. Perrin is rarely to be met with in public libraries, but not uncommon
in private collections. GILLES (in Italian, Gillio ; in Latin, -33gidius).
" Histoire ecclesiastique des Eglises reformees, recueillies en quelques valines
de Piedmont et circonvoisines, autrefois appel6es Vaudoises ; commencant des
l'an 1160 de nostre seigneur et finissant en l'an 1643; par Pierre Gilles, pasteur
de l'Eglise rfiformee de La Tour. ... A Gendve, pour Jean de Tournes. . . .
MDCXLIV." 1 vol. 4to, of xx, 569, and xiv pages. Reprinted, according to
Winer (Handb. der theolog. lit. sect, xx.), in 1655, in 4to, at Geneva.
The epistle dedicatory, addressed " to the pastors, elders, and deacons, and to
all the faithful of the valleys of Piedmont," is dated from La Tour, 27th June,
1643, " and in the 72d year of my age. "
The idea of this new history of the Vaudois was conceived immediately after
the appearance of the unsatisfactory work of Perrin. In the Acts of the Vaudois
Synods (Synod of Pramol, held 15th September, 1620) — " E ordinate, che si rid-
urra in scritto, l'historia delle cose avenute in le chiese di queste tre valli, dal
1600 in qua; e e dato carrigo a M. Pietro Gillio, con l'aiuto di M. Appia, e
participatione di M. Gaio, e altri che potrano portare in oi6, aiuto opportuno,
. . . ." &o.

400 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. [Appendix.
This history was first written in Italian. In 1627 it was almost completed
in that language, and the only question discussed was how Gilles was to be re
munerated for his labours. The Synod of Le Villar (held from 16th to 18th Sep
tember, 1625) resolved, "che ogni chiesa dara a l'honorando Pietro Gillio, il
oompimenti de scudi tre, con li due gia qui dananzi assignati;" from which
it appears that, to bear the expense of this history, a contribution of five crowns
was imposed upon each Vaudois parish. And, in the Acts of the Synod of
1627 (held at Pramol, 13th to 17th Sept.), we read, that this contribution not
having been yet all paid, "e ordinate che infra un mese le chiese le piu potenti,
habiano da dargli (al reverendo M. Pietro Gillio, per la fatica dell' Historia),
il compiniento de scudi cinque, e le altre de scudi quatro, senza includerni fior-
ino quatro, datti nel principio da ogni chiesa.'* These first four florins had
been given for the purchase of paper.
But, in 1630, of sixteen Vaudois pastors then living (fifteen of whom were
actual pastors and one emeritus, without reckoning the pastor of Roure in Pra
gela), fourteen died of the plague, which carried off more than one-half of the
whole population of the Vaudois valleys. Gilles was one of the two who sur
vived (but he lost the four eldest of his sons); he was then 59 years of age, and
still continued to preach two or three times on Sabbath and once on each week
day. (See his work, page 516, and in the Israel of the Alps, vol. i. p. 316.)
At this time new pastors were brought from Geneva to supply the Vaudois
churches. As they were not able to preach except in French, that language
became the more prevalent, and Gilles considering that it was also more exten
sively diffused than the Italian, had the resolution to recommence his work,
and to complete it in the form in which we now possess it.
He has excellent qualities as a writer ; he is energetic and simple, natural
and vigorous ; his style can be found fault with only as antiquated and a little
diffuse. As an historian, he must be placed in the very highest rank for cor
rectness, impartiality, and moderation. Yet he is rather a chronicler than an
historian — he relates in chronological order the events which took place in all
the countries with which he has to do. Within the space assigned to each year
are to be found brought together and in succession events occurring in localities
between which there was no connection. Thus Gilles, although interesting in
every page, produces but a confused impression on the mind of the reader.
Different images which succeed one another so rapidly, efface one another to
the mental as well as the bodily eye.
The history of Gilles may be regarded as an original authority for the events
which took place from 1550 to 1640. It was put in the Index by the court of
Rome, as were afterwards the work of Leger and the volume which I published
in 1834. Gilles must be compared with Rorengo, who relates the same events
as contemplated from another point of view, and who often attempts to refute
him, but without success. Rorengo calls him il professore Gillio (Dedication,
p. 2), and says, "che si vantava d'havere corsa Vltalia, I'Alemagna e diversi
paesi, per cercar nuove dottrine o vecchi, . . . "Sec. — (Rorengo, chap. xv. p. 73.)
This proves the learning of our .author, and the value which he set upon truth.
In the Acts of the Synod, held at Pinaehe, 1st May, 1607, we read : " E stato
proposto da M. Pietro Gillio, ministro della Torre, se sarebbe bene di metter
in scritto tutte le difricolta e questione, onde sara trattato nei sinodi, . . . . "
&c. This proposal of regular records, made by the first of our historians, was
not carried into effect till two centuries after. Two Vaudois pastors contem
porary with Gilles bore the same name with him, viz., Peter Gilles, pastor at
Molines, and James Gilles, pastor at Angrogna. The latter was suspended

No. I.] BIBLIOGRAPHY. 401
from his functions for six months. I mention them to prevent errors whioh
the sameness of name might cause in reading contemporary documents.
Gilles is the author of several pplemioal works, of whioh the occasion was as
follows : — Rorengo had published in 1632 a work against the Vaudois : Breve
narratione dell'introductione degl'heretici nelle valli. The minister of Le Villar,
Valerius Gros, refuted this work by order of the Synod (Leger, p. 539). Ro
rengo speaks of his reply in Memorie storichi . . . . , p. 252. Rorengo
then associated with himself the prefect of the monks of Pignerol, by name
Antonio Lazzari, but who assumed the fictitious name of Theodore Belvidere.
They jointly wrote the Lettres apologitiques, which appeared in 1643. (They re
lated to the tone of the Vittoria triumphale, published by the Cordelier Cas-
sini, in 1610). Gilles replied to the Lettres apologetiques by Considerations,
which called forth a new reply from the monks, under the title of Turris
contra Damascwm (published in 1636); and, in reply to this new work, Gilles
composed a Latin treatise in thirty-three chapters; but before this treatise
was published a fourth publication of the monks, entitled Lucerna della
Christiana verita, compelled him to resume the pen in order to refute it like
wise. His reply, entitled Torre evangelica, contained forty-eight chapters.
Theodore Belvidere rejoined by himself in Risposta al libro del Sr Gillio tito
lato Torre evangelica. ¦ This book was divided into eighteen sections, and dedi
cated to the Society de propaganda" fide et extirpandis hereticis. Gilles replied
yet again and refuted it, in an equal number of chapters, in a work of whioh
I know not the title. All these works have become very rare.
There exists, in the handwriting of Gilles, a manuscript of an ancient Vau
dois Discipline, drawn from the Acts of Synod previous to 1564, by the minister
Humbert Raymond, and completed by our author under this title : " Les or-
donnances ecclesiastiques, faictes par nos treshonores Peres et Ereres, ministres
de la Parolle de Dieu, aux valines de Luzerne, St. Martin, Perouse, Cluson,
et Marquizat . . . transoriptes en ce present livre par moy, Pierre Gilles,
secretaire, l'an 1610, par le commandement du Synode." From 1615 to 1630
Gilles was almost always moderator of the Vaudois church. The republica
tion of his history was recently undertaken by Mrs. Jenkinson, a benefactress
of the Vaudois valleys. The first ten chapters alone have been reprinted.
LEGER.
"Histoire generale des Eglises Evangeliques des vallees du Piemont, ou
Vaudoises . . . par Jean Leger, pasteur et moderateur des Eglises des valines,
et depuis la violence de la persecution, appele a 1'Eglise Wallonne de Leyde,
chez Jean le Carpentier, 1669." Two volumes fol.; vol. I., of xxxviii and
212 pages, and vol. II., of xvi, 385, and vi pages.1 These two volumes are
ordinarily bound in one. The work is accompanied with a map of the valleys,
parted on cloth, and sufficiently exact, with vignettes, representing various
tortures inflicted on the Vaudois martyrs ; and a false title-page, a copperplate,
representing two old men who each bear a medallion, between which a drapery
falls down inscribed with the title of the work. The medallion on the right
exhibits a lily surrounded with thorns, with this motto, Luctor et emergo; that
on the left a burning bush, with the words, Quamvis uror non comburor. The
figures of the old men trample under foot the emblems of Popery; and in the
l This history was translated into German by Hans Frederic von Schwenitz, with a pre
face by Sigismund James Baumgarten. Breslau, 1750. Two vols. 4to.
Vol. II. Ill

402 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. [Affendix.
space between them, beneath the drapery which they sustain, are to be seen a
bishop, a soldier, and a monk, who strike upon an anvil, under which is written,
Tritantur mallei, remanet incus. Towards the top of the page, an escutcheon,
supported by two genii, exhibits a candlestick surrounded by seven stars, with this
inscription, An'iqua convallium insignia, and this motto, Lux lucet in tenebris.
The work of Leger is, in fact, only a history of the persecution of 1655, or
rather a very confused collection of documents relative to that event. In the
first part, he has reprinted the Vaudois treatises in the Romance language which
had been published by Perrin, adding a fragment of La Nobla Leyczon, and a
few other documents. Leger is the most diffuse, and one of the most superficial
of all our historians. He owes his importance partly to the epoch in which he
wrote, and to the imposing form of his work. He is often incorrect, credulous,
and carried away by his feelings; but the latter fault was almost inevitable in
a contemporary author, himself the victim of the events which he records. I
shall not here give any particulars of his life, for he has himself taken care to
include his biography in the last chapter of his work, and so much of it as con
cerns the history has been already given in the first volume of the Israel of the
Alps (part ii., ch. x.) Leger published separately a Remonstrance pour les
ValUes on occasion of divers infractions of the patents of Pignerol, and an
Apologie des Eglises du PUmont (anonymous : Haarlem, 1662, 4to, p. 39), which
has for its object only his own vindication. I know not the precise date of his
death; but thirteen years after the publication of his history, he no longer
survived, for, under date 27th August 1684, we meet with a royal decree, in
which mention is made of the property of the late Jean Leger (Turin, Archives
of the Court of Accounts, Regio controrollo, Finanze: 1684, No. 179, fol. 55).
Leger's History was reprinted at Lyons, in one vol. folio, in 1799; and
translated into German, Breslau, 1750, in 4to.  Antoine Leger, the uncle of
the historian, wrote some sermons, which were published two years after his
death, with the title, Sermons sur divers textes de VEcriture Sainte, par A . Leger
pasleur etprofesseur en theologie. Geneva, 1720, three vols. 8vo."
ARNAUD.
"Histoire de la glorieuse rentree des Vaudois dans leurs valines . . . le
tout recueilli des memoires qui ont ete" Addlement faits, de tout ce qui s'est
passe" dans cette guerre des Vaudois, et mis au jour par Henri Arnaud, pasteur
et colonel des Vaudois, MDCCX." One vol. large 12mo, of xxxiii, 65, and 407
pages. The place of publication not named. The following opinion has been
expressed in a journal:— "This volume, according to all the typographical
indications, was printed at Basle, by Brandmiiller, or some other master."
(Etrennes nalionales, faisant suite au Conservateur Suisse . . . Lausanne 1845
chez Bridel, p. 126.) I was informed by the late pastor Mondon, who suc
ceeded a son of Arnaud, in the Vaudois colony of Gros Villar (Wurtemberg)
that this volume was printed at Cassel.
The memoirs of which mention is made in the title, and of whioh the author
made use, were— (1.) The Jowrnal of the Expedition, written daily by Paul
Reynaudin, who suspended his theological studies at Basle, to follow his com
patriots when they went to reconquer their native valleys (Arnaud, p. 175). He
resumed his studies in 1692, and published his inauguration thesis in 1694
entitled Dissertatio de Valdensibus. He was settled as pastor at Pral in 1695
at Rocheplate in 1702, and at Bobi in 1705. There he ended his days in 1736^
having long been moderator of the Vaudois church. (2.) Personal Memoirs'

No. I ] BIBLIOGRAPHY. 403
written by Francois Hugues (or Hue) of Vigan (Arnaud, pp. 216, 217). (3.)
A Narrative (Relation) of the Attack on the Balsille by Catinat, printed at the
Hague (by Olivier le Franc, MDCXC), and reprinted word for word by Arnaud,
from p. 281 to p. 297. (4.) Private letters, published at the end of the volume.
A number of authors have given particulars of the life of Arnaud; amongst
others, Mr. Bracebridge, who published in English a biography of that celebrated
man; and Mr. Acland, who translated his work, " The Glorious Recovery by the
Vaudois . . ." &c, London, 1827, an 8vo of cxix, xxv, and 239 pages. (Some
further particulars will be found in the second volume of the Israel of the A Ips,
in Part III. Chap, iii., and Chap, ix.)
The most circumstantial account which has come down to us of the family
and youth of Arnaud, is contained in a certificate whioh was sent to him by
the Vaudois pastors assembled at Les Clos, on the 28th of October, 1699, when
he was obliged to leave the Vaudois valleys, in consequence of the decree of
1st July, 1698, banishing all persons of foreign birth. This document is as
follows :—
" Certificate granted by the pastors of the valleys to H. Arnaud and his family.
upon their departure from these countries.
"We, pastors of the Vaudois, elders of the evangelical church of St. John,
and directors of the valleys of Piedmont, declare and testify, that Mr. Henry
Arnaud is the son of the late Mr. Francis Arnaud,, a native in the valley of
Ambrun in Dauphiny, and of Piedmontese descent, and of the late Margaret
Gros, a descendant of an illustrious and noble race formerly resident at Dronier
in the Marqaisate of Salusse. He was educated in his earliest years in the
schools of these valleys, and there received the first elements of instruction;
and he was then sent to Basle, to pursue his studies there, taking advantage of
the charitable aid which the illustrious rulers of that canton are good enough
to give to our students ; from whence he made a visit to Holland, and returned
to the university of Geneva, to complete his studies there ; after which he was
received as a pastor, conjointly with Mr. William Malanot, by our synod, in
the year 1670. The service of the churches of Maneille and Macel was first
intrusted to him, and afterwards that of the principal communes of our valleys,
concluding with that of which he is now pastor, which, to our great regret, he is
compelled to quit, in obedience to an order of his royal highness. It is impos
sible for us to say how painful to us is this separation, which deprives us of his
useful and acceptable services. For this reason, whilst we express our sorrow,
we must also declare that his zeal in fulfilling his duties has always, and in all
places, been inexhaustible, and that, on all othor occasions which presented
themselves of advancing the glory of God, he and his family (consisting of four
sons and two daughters, besides his wife Margaret Bastie, likewise a descendant
of one of the most ancient and principal families in this country), have always
set an example not common among us. And because of the love and respect
whioh we have for them all, we ardently pray the Lord so to order things in
his grace, that we may yet at some' time have the consolation of seeing them
again return among us here ; and, therefore, hoping that the times may change,
we have not bade them a final farewell, but, on the contrary, we reserve to
ourselves the right to recal him amongst us again, as if he had been always a
pastor of our church. Meanwhile, we pray the Most High" that he may be
pleased in his infinite goodness to go with them and to preserve them, whereso
ever his Divine hand may conduct them.
"Given at the above-named village of .St. John, in the valley of Lucerna,

404 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. [Appekdix.
the 22d of August of the year 1698. — D. Liger, G. Malanot, L. Bertin,
J. Jahier, B. Jahier, R. Reinoudin, ministers of the Vaudois of the communes
of Bobi, Angrogna, Macel, Pramol, St. Germain, and Prals, in the valley of
St. Martin; B. Belione Capime, Monsieur Bartie, lieutenant, keeper of accounts,
D. Parissa, D. Daenna, elders.
" We, foreign pastors from Switzerland and Geneva, serving in the com
munes of the valley of Lucerna, confirm with the greatest pleasure the present
certificate, and all that it contains, granted in favour of M. Arnaud and his
family. We have been extremely edified by the conduct of Madame Arnaud
and her children, and have received a thousand evidences of their friendship
since our arrival in these valleys. We earnestly pray God in his goodness to
be with them during all the journey which Madame Arnaud is ready to under
take with her family. — Given at Clos, the 28th of October, in the year 1699.
J. Senebier, J. De Cappet, J. Du Bois, P. P. Du Toit, P. Bud, pastors of the
churches of La Tour, St. John, Bobi, Rocheplatte, Prarustln, and Villeseche."
M. Arnaud very soon afterwards retired to Germany, and became pastor at
Diirmentz. In 1703, political events permitted him to resume the exercise
of the ministry in the Vaudois valleys. We find him still pastor at St. John,
in 1706. Next year he went to London, where Van Somer took his portrait.
He afterwards returned to the valleys, but was again compelled to leave them
in 1709. "William III. then invited him to his court, and gave him a colonel's
commission; but Arnaud preferred to return to Germany. Queen Anne granted
him a pension of £226 sterling, and he died at Schonberg in 1721, aged eighty
years. There are several portraits of him. The best is that whioh was drawn and
engraved on copper at London by Van Somer, an oval medallion of 116 milli
metres in height, and 112 in breadth, with only this inscription — Henry Arnaud,
Vaudois pastor.
The Glorious Return of the Vaudois, by Arnaud, has become very rare. Two
copies of this work were sold in London, in 1829 and 1832, the one for
£5, 9s. lOd. and the other for £8, 16s. id. It was reprinted in 1845, by Altin-
ger, at Neufchatel, with a preface by F. de Rougemont, in large 18mo, xii and
251 pages. The original autograph MS. of this work is deposited in the Royal
Library of Berlin.
RECENT AUTHORS.
1. "Defense historique des Vaudois, ou lettres a Mgr revenue Bigex, sur
1'origine, la doctrine et les moeurs des Vaudois, par Peyran, Moderateur des
Eglises Vaudoises." Published at London by Mr. Sims, in 1826. — These
letters were written in 1818, in reply to a pastoral of Monseigneur Bigex,
Bishop of Pignerol. They display spirit and learning.
2. " Expose" historique de I'etat des Vaudois, dans les valines du Piemont,
par M. Pellegnn." 12mo; Haarlem, 1824. The profits, of this pamphlet were
destined to assist in the foundation of the hospital of La Tour. It produced
about £80. — M. Pellegrin is also the author of an arithmetical work for the
use of the Vaudois schools (Turin, Pomba and Co., 1836; two small 18mo vols.),
and of a collection of Scripture narratives, entitled Bible de la jeunesse, two
thick 12mo vols, of 540 and 640 pages. (Amsterdam, published by Delachaux,
1830.) 3. "Considerations sur les Vaudois du Pieniont, par Timole'on Peyran.''
Geneva, 1825; 8vo, pp. 94. It is a theological thesis,

No. I.] BIBLIOGRAPHY. 405
Other theses have been maintained by Vaudois on subjects borrowed from
the history of their country. — Bastie, Dissertationis historico-theologicos de
Valdensibus pars prima (on their origin and their doctrine); pars altera,
agems de afflictionibus .... &c, Basle, 1700; maintained against Samuel
Werenfelsius, 13th and 14th March, 1700. — This Werenfelsius is the author of
an elegy in Latin verse, Ad Valles Pedemontanas, remarkable as a literary pro
duction. Bastie had a stroke of apoplexy in February, 1727, and lived a num
ber of years afterwards deprived of his reason.
4. "Le livre de famine, ou instructions familieres sur l'histoire des Eglises
Vaudoises . . . par Pierre Bert, ancien moderateur,'' . . . &c. 12mo, of
105 pages. Geneva, Barbezat, 1830. — M. Bert was an author and an orator
more distinguished than might be supposed from this pamphlet. He is the
author also of the translation of The Gospel according to St. John into the pre
sent dialect of the Valleys, printed at London in 1830; 8vo, pp. 231.
5. "Histoire des Vaudois des valines du Piemont, et de leurs colonies,
depuis lenr origine jusqu' a nos joura, par Alexis Muston, docteur en theologie."
Tom. i. 8vo, of xx and 528 pages, with map and fac-simile. — The publication
was continued no farther than this first volume; but the whole work was taken
up anew upon another plan, with more abundant materials more critically
weighed in the Israel of the Alps. The following parts of this work have
appeared separately: — (I.) " Siloe" des Alpes; ou sources vives de la grace, jail-
lissantes dans l'Eglise vaudoise, depuis les premiers siecles jusqu' a la reforma
tion." (2.) " Les parfums de l'hysope ; ou la foi dans les solitudes ; histoire de
l'Eglise vaudoise dans les Hautes-Alpes." (Val Louise, Freyssinieres, Queyras,
&c.) (3.) "Les temoins du Seigneur; histoire des Vaudois persecutes en Pro
vence." (4.) "La couronne d' Spines; histoire des Vaudois persecutes en
Calabre, et martyre acquirable de Jean-Louis Paschal, leur pasteur." (5.) " Les
martyrs Vaudois; ou les confesseurs de la verite" dans les vallees du Piemont."
(6.) "Les lys d'lsrael, abattus par l'orage; histoire des Eglises vaudoises dans
la province de Saluces et dans la plaine du Piemont." (7.) " La foi dans les
epreuves; ou la cruelle persecution et la glorieuse defense des Vaudois, en
1560." (8.) "Les PaquesPiemontaises; oule massacre des Vaudois du Piemont,
en 1655." (9.) "Le bras de Dieu dans la persecution: histoire de l'heroi'que
defense des vallees vaudoises, par Josue Janavel." (10.) "Les Nehemites: ou
l'expulsion, l'exil, et la rentree des Vaudois, de 1666 a 1690." (11.) "Ismael
au desert: ou les habitants des vallees vaudoises, expulses en 1698." (12.) "La
Gossen opprimee: histoire jusqu' ici incomme, des Vaudois du Pragela: depuis
les temps les plus anciens, jusqu' a'leur extinction." (13.) "Religion et patrie:
histoire des vicissitudes de l'Eglise vaudoise, de 1560 a 1650." (14.) " La terre
de servitude et la terre promise: ou les vallees Vaudoises, depuis le sejour de
Felix Neff dans les Alpes, jusqu' a Emancipation civile et politique des
Vaudois du Piemont."
6. Meille. " Les Vaudois en Calabre au quatorzidme siecle." An inter
esting work, inserted in the Rivue Suisse, t. ii. pp. 647-658 and 687-709.
7. "Histoire de l'Eglise vaudoise, depuis son origine, et des Vaudois du
Piemont, jusqu' a nos jours, avec un appendice, &c; par Antoine Monastier,
ancien pasteur du canton de Vaud et originaire des vallees Vaudoises du Pie"-
mont." Toulouse, 1847; 2 vols. 8vo (the first of 362, and the second of
385 pages). — This work, published by the Religious Tract Society of Toulouse,
has been translated into English by the Religious Tract Society of London,
1848, 1 vol. 12mo, of 432 pages. The first thirteen chapters contain general
observations on the origin and doctrine of the Vaudois. The last 153 pages of

406 - THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. [Appendix.
the second volume contain a reprint of a number of Vaudois works in the
Romance tongue already known, including, amongst others, the poetic fragments
published by Raynouard (Choix de poesies originales des Troubadours, t. ii.,
Monuments primitifs de la langue romane). M. Monastier proposes some well
considered modifications of Raynouard's translations. The variations which he
suggests of the Romance text are less happy. The notes which he has appended
to the treatise On Antichrist (pp. 323-363), and, above all, his commentary on
the book On Purgatory (pp. 365-375), deserve the careful attention of all who
study this subject. The work of M. Monastier is an authority for the facts of
modern history recorded in his last two chapters.
8. Bert, " I Valdesi, ossiano i christiani secoudo la chiesa primitiva, abi-
tanti le cosi dette valli di Piemonte, cenni storici, da Amedeo Bert, ministro
del culto valdese, e capellano dalle Legazioni protestanti a Torino." Turin,
1849; 1 vol. 8vo, of xxxv and 498 pages. This work contains a general
sketch of the history of the Vaudois, derived from the works of previous his
torians, and with the same gaps which they had left. There would have seemed
to be a disproportion between the brief notices of the first chapters and the often
minute details of the latter ones, if the author's very object had not been the
more particular exhibition of the events of modern times. He is the first writer
whose work can be reckoned an authority in matters relative to the civil and
political emancipation of the Vaudois. This interesting volume is accompanied
with a happy selection of proof documents, of which a considerable number had
never before been published. In particular, it contains (from page 386 to page
390) some very important passages, very skilfully arranged by the learned author,
to throw light upon the ancient autonomy of the diocese of Milan, to which
the Vaudois valleys at an early period belonged, and which was then so far
from submitting to the supremacy of the Holy See, that it was completely
independent of the Romish church properly so called. M. Amadeus Bert is the
son of the author of the Livre de famille above-mentioned ; but I Valdesi is a
much more important work, and has unquestionably exercised a greater influence
in Italy than other works of the same kind written in foreign languages. An
incidental remark (in p. 310, line 12) leads me to make an observation here on
the subject of language — that the patois of the Vaudois valleys has a radical
structure far more regular than the Piedmontese idiom. The origin of this
patois was anterior to the growth of Italian and of French — antecedent even to
the Romance language, whose earliest documents exhibit still more analogy
with the present language of the Vaudois mountaineers, than with that of the
troubadours of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. The existence of this
patois is of itself a. proof of the high antiquity of these mountaineers, and of
their constant preservation from foreign intermixtures and changes. Their
popular idiom is a precious monument.
§ 2. — Anonymous Vaudois Authors.
1. "Histoire des persecutions et guerres, faites depuis l'an 1555 jusques en
l'an 1561, contre le peuple appele Vaudois-. . . &c." With this motto, "II
n'est point difficile au Seigneur de sauver un grand nombre de gens ou un petit."
(1 Sam. ii. 6; 2 Chron. xiv. 11.) Printed in MDLXII. (place not given), large
8vo, pp. 173. Translated into Latin, by Christopher Richard, Geneva, 'l581,
8vo. I do not know the name of the author, but the materials of this work
had certainly been derived from the valleys. (See the authorities of Chap. i. of
Part II. of the Israel of the Alps.)
2. " Relation veritable de ce qui s'est passe dans les persecutions et massacres

Fo. I.] BIBLIOGRAPHY. 407
faits, cette annfe, aux Eglises reformees de Piemont; avec la refutation des
calomnies dont les adversaires de la verite taohent de les noircir." Without
place of publication : MDCLV, 4to of 84 pages, but divided into two parts, of
which the first ends in p. 54. The second is entitled, " Suite de la Relation,
oontenant une succincte refutation.de l'invective du Marquis de Pianesse . . .
a quoi est ajoutee une brieve confession de foi, des Eglises refermees des vallees
du Piemont." This confession, which concludes the work, is the same which
is also published by Leger (Part I. p. 112-116),. and which the Synod of 1839
declared to be the purest expression of Bible doctrine at all times maintained by
the Vaudois church. (See, in regard to this, a note in this work, Part III.
Chap, xxiv.) It is not known where, nor how, nor by whom this confession
of faith was composed. It is probable that it was composed at Geneva; for, in
the year 1655, it is impossible to find any time or circumstances which would
admit of its being drawn up in the valleys. Leger, moreover, does not say that
it was composed by the Vaudois, but only that it was published by them1 (Part
I. p. 112). But if we do not know the authors and the origin of this confession,
there can be • no doubt that it was composed by Calvinists. (See Part III.
Chap. i. No. 12, of this Bibliography.) I place this work amongst those of
anonymous Vaudois authors, because the author makes the Vaudois speak in it
in their own name (see pp. 79 and 84); but it does not, therefore, certainly
follow that the author was a Vaudois. Leger calls this work " the manifesto
of the Vaudois churches" (Part I. p. 112); and in his Biography, he says, in
1655, " I wrote my first and largest manifesto in twice twenty-four hours . . .
and sent it to Geneva to be printed . . . but this these gentlemen would not
permit" . . . (Part II. p. 365). I do not know if it was printed elsewhere; but
Leger adds that they did not send him back his manuscript (p. 366). He com
posed a second 'manifesto at Paris, whioh was printed in all languages (Ibid. p.
356. (See the authorities for Chap. vii. of Part II. of the Israel of the Alps.)
The Relation now in question cannot be this second manifesto, because it was
printed at Geneva, and not at Paris. It appears to me, therefore, impossible,
in the present state of Vaudois bibliography, to determine the origin of this
work, and of the Confession of Faith with which it concludes. The Confession,
however, is a mere reproduction, often in exact words, of the Confession of
Rochelle. (See Part II. Chap. i. No. 12, of this Bibliography.)
3. " Apologia des Eglises Svangeliques des vallees de Piemont, faite en
defense de l'innocence de Sr Jean Leger, pasteur de l'Eglise reformee de saint
Jean contre les impostures de Michel Villeneuve, Jean Vertu et semblables
faussaires, apostes et stipendies," . . . &c. Translated from the Italian edition,
printed at Haarlem, by Jacob Alberts, in 1662, 4to, pp, 39.
This Apology is from the pen of Leger himself (p. 371), and was signed by
all the members of the Vaudois synod, held at Angrogna, in the quarter of Les
Malans, 13th September, 1661. The Italian edition, printed at Haarlem, is a
4to of 16 leaves, unpaged.
4. "Apologia delle chiese Riformate del Piemonte, circa la loro confessione
di fede, e la continua successione di esse, tanto ne statu del Pae'se, quanto ne
valdesi, contra le gravillationi e calonnie del Priore Marco Aurelio Rorengo di
Lucerna: in Geneva, appresso Francesco Bouvard anno 1662." Small 8vo of
xxxviii and 156 pages. Rorengo had alleged that the Confession of Faith
already mentioned (§ 2, No. ii.) was not agreeable to the ancient Vaudois doc-
i According to the usual style of Leger, and still more certainly according to the facts of
the case these words, published by tits Vaudois, ought not to mean and could not mean more
than published in name of the Vaudois. ^

408 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. [ajpmdix.
trines, nor to the Bible, nor to reason, and that it was not the work of the
Vaudois. His observations are intermingled with many sarcasms, in bad taste.
His work is entitled, " Esame intorno alia nuova breve confessions di fede, delle
chiese riformate di Piemonte, in cui si fa conoscer alii professori d'essa distrutta
con la no vita la pretesa antica confession e. Del Priore Marc' Aurelio Rorengo;
de Conti di Luserna; in Torino par Carlo Gianelli, 1658." Small 4to PP. 48.
To this work, that now in question is the Vaudois reply, but I know not the
name of the author.
5. "Tres humble remontrance touchant le pitoyable etat ou se trouvent
a present rSduites les pauvres Eglises evangeliques des vallees de Piemont, &
cause de l'alteration et violation de leurs concessions, et paFticulierement de la
patente de 1655. . . A Haarlem. . . 1662." Unpaged; 4to, 12 leaves. This
Remonstrance was composed by order of the Vaudois synod of November, 1661.
6. "Reeit de ce qu'il y a de plus considerable aux affaires des Eglises re--
formees des vallees de Piedmont, depuis les massacres de l'annfie 1655. . . .
A Haarlem, 1663." Small 4to, of iv and 60 pages. — The title of this work is
much longer than what I have here given. The particulars which.the work con
tains, and the guarded language employed with reference to the Piedmontese
authorities, are my sole reasons for ascribing this work to a Vaudois author.
But it does not seem probable that a stranger could have been acquainted with
such details, and still less is it probable that a stranger would have thought it
requisite to express himself in such guarded terms. The same observation applies
to the work following.
7. "Histoire de la persecution des valines de Piemont, contenant ce qui
s'est passe dans la dissipation des Eglises et des habitants de ces vallees, arrive
en l'an 1686." Rotterdam, MDCLXXXIX. ; 4to, pp. 36.— This work was
translated into German, and published in that language in 1690, in an 18mo
vol. of 155 pages. See the authorities of Chap. xiv. of Part II. of the Israel of
the A Ips.
8. " Cinq lettres, par un Vaudois des Gaules Cisalpines, sur quelques pages
d'un livre intitule" : Histoire geographique, naturelle, &c." . . . For
(the title of this latter work, see Sect. vi. § 1, No. 14, of this Bibliography).
An 8vo pamphlet of 74 pages, printed in 1784, but the place not named. —
It is an excellent dissertation on the origin, manners, doctrine, and antiquity
of the Vaudois. It has been ascribed to Marauda, the author of the Tableau
du PUmont sous le regime des rois; but it is really from the pen of Paul Appia
whose unpublished memoirs have frequently been quoted in the Israel of the Alps,
Part III. Chaps, xxi. and xxii. (Marauda is also a Vaudois writer; but as he
has produced no work specially devoted to the subject of the Vaudois, his writ
ings do not fall to be included in the present category. See Sect. vi. § 1, No. 15.)
9. "Histoire des Vaudois ou des habitants des vallees occidentales du
Piemont, qui ont conserve le christianisme dans toute sa purete et a travers
plus de trente persecutions, depuis les premiers siecles de son existence jusqu' a
nos jours, sans avoir participe" a aucune referme." Two vols. 8vo; without
date or place of publication — the first volume consisting of xxv and 132 pages
and the second of 268— commonly bound in one. (The second volume bears on
its title-page seconde parlie, and not tome 2.) This work was printed at Lau
sanne, by Luquiens, and was sold at Paris by Marandan, in 1796. In p. xxiv
line 24, are the words— "The celebrated martyr of the same name with myself
Guido Brez." . . . And it has therefore been supposed that the name of the
author was Guido Brez; but this is a mistake. His name was James Brez. Bar-
bier, in his Diclionnaire des anonymes, No. 7979, says that he died in 1800

No I.] BIBLIOGRAPHY. 409
Guenard, in La France UtUraire, i. 508, says, 1810: The exact date was 1809, and
the place Middleburgh, in Holland. His work treats of the history of the Vau
dois only to the year 1655. He had composed the sequel to 1688. This unpub
lished part, which I possess in MS., consists of seven chapters in 104 folio pages.
Neither the manuscript nor the printed work contains any new fact. Brez pub
lished also La Flore des insectophiles predoUe d'lm discours sur VutiliU des in-
sectes et de Vtiude de Vinsectologie, par Jaques Brez. Utreoht, 1791; 1 vol.
8vo, pp. 524. His History of the Vaudois was translated into German. 8vo;
Leipsic, 1798.
§ 3. — Original authors not natives of the valleys, who have written in a spirit
favowable to the Vaudois.
1. Camerarius, "De excidio reliquiarum Valdesium . . . lugubris nar-
ratio." Heidelberg, 1606i Composed by Joachim; published thirty years after
the death of the author by his nephew Louis. — This work relates to the Vaudois'
of Provence, and is to be found in the Historica narratio . . . Joachimi
Camerarii . . . de fratrum orthod. Ecclesiis in Bohemia, p. 303.
2. Richard, " Memorabilis historia persecutionum bellorumque in populum
vulgo Valdenses appellatum," &c. Geneva, 1631. One volume, printed in
italics; small 8vo, pp. 151. — With a few additional details, this work is merely
a translation of the Histoire memorable de la guerre faite par le due de Savoie,
Emmanuel PhUibert, contre ses subjects des valUes d'Angrogne, .... &c,
MDLXII.; without place of publication; small 8vo, pp. 30. — And this latter
work is itself only an amplified translation of the Storia dell' ultima guerra, &c,
published in 1561. (See the authorities of Chaps, i. and ii. of the Second Part
of the Israel of the Alps, and No. 2 of § 2 of this section.)
3. Morland, "The History of the Evangelical Churches of the valleys of
Piemont, containing . . . and punctual relation of the late bloody massacres."
London, 1658. One vol., small folio, pp. Ix and 709. — This work is analo
gous to that of Leger, but it appeared before his. It relates especially to the
persecution of 1655. Morland was a very young man when he composed this
work. He had been sent by Cromwell to the court of Turin, as ambassador
extraordinary, on the subject of the Vaudois.
4. "Brief discours des persecutions advenues aux Eglises du Marquisat de
Saluces." Geneva (chez Paul Marceau), MDCXX. One vol. 32mo, pp. 132.
Followed by an account of the massacres in the Valteline. — A work composed
by order of the synod of Dauphiny, held at Briancon, 30th June, 1620. (See
the Archives of the Venerable Company of Pastors of Geneva. Register F,
folio 8, left-hand page.)
5. " History of the Vaudois persecution in Piedmont," in German, published
in 1690; l2mo (library of Berne). — With a few additional details, it is a transla
tion of the work noticed in this section, § 2, No. 8. The same may be said
of another German, work, entitled, The Palm Tree of Christian Truth; or, the
Persecutions of the Protestants and the Vaudois; 12mo, Niirnberg, MDCXC.
6. " Histoire de la negotiation des ambassadeurs envoyes au due de Savoie,
par les Cantons Evangeliques, l'annee 1686." Basle, MDCXC; 1 vol. 32mo,
pp. 172.
7. "Histoire d'une ambassade des Cantons Evangeliques de la Suisse, au
due de Savoie, en 1655," inserted in the Revue Suisse, t. iii. p. 260. (Con
cerning the events of the year 1655, see the authorities of Chaps, vi.-ix. of
Part II. of this work.)
Vol. II. H2

410 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. [appendix.
8. "Le banissement des gens de la religion pretendue re'forme'e, hors des estats
du due de Savoye, le tout selon l'ordonnance et arrest de l'inquisition et s<mat
de Piedmont." Paris, 1619. Small 12mo.— It relates to the Vaudois of Saluces.
9. "Lettres des fideles du marquisat de Saluces . . . contenantes l'his-
toire de leurs persecutions . . . et des deux martyrs . . ." &c Geneva,
1619. (See the authorities of Chap ix. of Part I.)
10. "Lettre des fideles des Vallees de Piemont a MM. les Etats Generaux
des Provinces-Unies des Pays-Bas." 1655. (For other original works relating
to the same period see the authorities of Chap vi. of Part II.)
11. "Relation en abrege" de ce qui s'est passe" de plus remarquable dans le
retour des Vaudois au Piemont . . ." &c. The Hague, 1690. (See authori
ties of Chap. iii. of Part III.)
12. " Sommaire de I'etat de la religion dans la vallee de Pragela, . . ." &c.
Small 4to, without date or place of publication. (I place this work amongst
those favourable to the Vaudois, because it is impartial in its statements of
facts, and free from bitterness and passion in its style, although the author
was a Catholic and personally hostile to the Vaudois doctrines.)
13. "Notice sur I'etat actuel des Eglises vaudoises Protestantes des valines
du Piemont, suivie des ordonnances intolerantes, rendues contre ces chre"tiens,"
&c. Paris, 1822, 8vo. (See mention made of a number of similar works in
Chaps, xxiii. and xxiv. of Part III. of the Israel of the Alps.)
14. Moser, " History of the Vaudois and of their admission into the
Duchy of "Wiirtemberg, derived from the most authentic documents." (In Ger
man.) Zurich, 1798, one vol. small 8vo. pp. 558; containing proof documents
to the number of xix. — Moser was far advanced in years when he composed
this work ; he promised a continuation of it, but did not" publish it. His book
is therefore far from being a complete storehouse of materials relative to the
Vaudois colonies in Wurtemberg.
15. Dieterici, "History of the Introduction of the Vaudois into Branden
burg." (In German.) Berlin, 1831; 1 vol. 8vo, of xx and 414 pages. — Con
tains a general sketch of the history of the Vaudois, and an analysis of a great
number of letters relative to their introduction into Brandenburg.
16. "Memoires sur l'arrivee des Vaudois a Stendal," contained in the
sixth volume of Erman and Reclam. " Memoires pour servir a l'histoire des
refugie"s francais dans les etats du roi " (the King of Prussia). — The most in
teresting part of the preceding work is borrowed from this. The memoirs of
an exile (Memorie di me Bartolomeo Salvajot), a manuscript which extends from
1686 to 1688, complete this narrative.
N.B. — For completion of this paragraph, see part of the authorities of Chaps.
v. and vi. of Part I. of the Israel of the Alps, and also those of Chap. viii. of
Part III.
§ 4. — Original Authors, not natives of the Valleys, who have written in a
spirit unfavourable to the Vaudois.
1. Albert Cattanee (called De Capitaneis), "De ortu et deletione Val-
densium." — On the events of 1487-1489. Memoirs inserted in the Hist. .
chap. viii. par Guill. de Saligny. . . . Le tout recueilli par feu M . Godefroy.
. . . MDCLXXXIV. Paris, imprimerie royale, folio, of xiv and 759 pages
(See at page 277.) — Cattanee had been specially delegated by Pope Inno
cent VIII. to exterminate the Vaudois. (See the bull in Leger, Part II
pp. 8-20 ; Hahn, p. 744 ; and abridged in Bert, p. 438.) This bull is of date

No. I.] BIBLIOGRAPHY. 411
27th April, 1488. Cattanee is styled, Albertus Cattaneus Placentinus, prohgatus
apostolicus, archidiaconus Cremonensis, juris doctor. These memoirs them
selves formed part of a History of the Kings of France which he composed,
but which has not been preserved.
2. Rorengo (called Rorenco), "Memorie bistoriche dell' introduttione dell'
heresie nelle valli di Lucerna, Marchesato di Saluzzo e altre di Piemonte, editti,
provisioni, diligenze delle Altezze di Savoja, per estisparle, col breve compendio
d' esse e modo facile di confutarle; del Prior Marc' Aurelio Rorengo, de conti di
Lucerna." (The armorial bearings of the family are inserted in the title-page.)
Turin, 1649, 4to of xx and 350 pages. The name of this author is variously
written Rorengo, Rorenchus, and Rorenco, and this even in his book itself (fol.
iv, fol. vi. and fol. vii.) The last spelling occurs in the title-page of the fol
lowing work: "Breve narratione dell' introduttione de gl' heretici nelle valli de
Piemonte, con gl' ordini fatti dalle Altezze di Savoja; di Marc' Aurelio Rorenco,
priore e de conti di Luserna e valle." Turin, 1632, small 4to, pp\ 114. This
work was merely a study and rough draught of that above-named. Rorengo
was a contemporary of Gilles. His work is very valuable upon account of the
great number of documents which it contains; but his style wants dignity; and
the spirit which he exhibits is not that of impartiality.
3. Theodore Belvedere (his true name was Anthony Lazari) : "Relatione
all' eminentissima congregatione de propaganda fide dei luoghi di alaure valli di
Piemonte all' A. R. di Savoja soggette." . . . Turin (without date, but of the
year 1636), small 18mo, pp. 323. "William of Vuitiberg came," says he, "with
an army of Lutherans to the assistance of the French king, and confiscated the
possessions of the lords of Lucerna, who were exiled during three years. Then,
the government of the country was given to the Prince de Meffi." Not having
been able to satisfy myself regarding these events, I have not mentioned them
in the Israel of the Alps, and now point them out for the investigations of his
torians who may come after me.
4. "Relazione de successi nelle valli di Luserna e Piemonte, 1' anno 1559-
1634." Without date or place of publication.
5. "Relation des evenements qui se sont passes entre les Vaudois et le due
de Savoie, faite par ordre de S. M." . . . Turin, 1655. Published also in
Italian : " Somma delle ragione e fondamenti, con quali S. A. R. s'e mossa a
prohibiri alii heretici della valle di Luserna 1' habitatione fuori de limiti toier-
ati;" and in Latin — "Summa rationum quibus regia celsitudo adducta est," &c.
. . Another similar relation was printed at Villefranche, and a number of
others without place of publication. (See in the Israel of the Alps, the authori
ties of Chap. vi. of Part II.)
6. "Les assemblers sur les affaires des protestants des vallees de Piedmont."
Without date, paging, or place of publication. This pamphlet relates to the
years 1662-1664.
7. " Relation de la guerre contre les religionnaires nommes Barbets." (A
work referred to in p. 15 of the work mentioned in this section, § 2, No. 7.)
I presume it must be the same with "Relation de la guerre de 1686 contre ceux
des vallees." . . . 4to, pp. 8. Without date or place of publication. At
the end of this pamphlet are the words, " Suite de la relation de la defaite des
sujets rebelles de S. A. R." . . . &c.
8. "Le feu de la reconnaissance et de la joye pour la glorieuse victoire rem-
portee sur les heretiques Vaudois, dans les vallees de Luzerna, par S. A. R. Vic
tor Ame II." . . . Ghambery, 1686. Not paged. _
9. "Recherches historiques sur 1' origin des Vaudois, et sur le caractere de

412 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. [Appendix.
leurs doctrines primitives." Paris, 1836 (chez Perisse), 8vo. This work, pub
lished anonymously, is acknowledged by M. Charvaz, Bishop of Pignerol (from
1832 to 1847), on the cover of the book entitled, " Guide du Catechumene Vau
dois." . . . (Paris, chez Perisse, 1840; 3 vols. 18mo.)— The Recherches his-
toriques are designed to prove that the Vaudois were not anterior to Valdo.
This work has been translated into Italian. With it may be named, as having
been conceived under the same influence, a historic work (very far from being
accurate), published at Pignerol in 1846, under the title of Soirees Vaudoises.
The talents 'of M. Charvaz have been rated very high by a number of writers.
The motives which induced this prelate to demit his office in 1847, are noticed
in a pamphlet entitled, " Un mot au Messagiere Torinese et a la Concordia, sur
la demission de Monseigneur Charvaz, eveque de Pignerol, par un defenseur
officeux, qui n'est ni un obscurantiste, ni un retrograde." (Pignerol, printed
by Paul Ghighetti, 1848; 8vo, pp. 31.)— The prelate's secretary, the Abbe Jorioz,
D.D., wrote upon the same subject, " Reponse a un article du journal la Presse.
. . ." (Pignerol, 8th February, 1848; printed by Lobetti-Bodoni; 8vo, pp. 8)
See also Sect. iv. § 2, No. 19, of this Bibliography.
Section II. — Authors who have occupied themselves with inquiries on
PARTICULAR POINTS CONNECTED WITH THE HISTORY OS THE VAUDOIS.
§ 1. — Latin Treatises.
(Mostly contra Valdenses, and generally relating to the disciples of Valdo of
Lyons, and to other Protestants of the middle ages, rather than to the Vaudois
of Piedmont.)
1. Reynerus. "Contra Valdenses." Such is the abridged title by which his
work, written in 1250, is generally known. (Herzog, De origine et pristino
statu Waldensium, p. 3.) The exact title is : Summa de Catharis et Leonistis, seu
pauperibus de Lugduno." It is sometimes quoted as follows: "Fratris Reyneri
Sachoni, ordinis Predicatorum, Summa contra haereticos; or, "Summa de Cath.
et Leon." Gretserus, in inserting this treatise into his collection (Opera, t. xii.),
has added to this title: "Liber contra Waldenses haereticos, nunc primumin-
tegre ex manuscripto codice editus." This treatise was published by Martens
(Thesaurus novus anecdotorum, t. v., p. 1762.) " Ipsius auctoris aetate exara-
tus." Is this the original text ? It is derived from a Rouen manuscript. D' Ar-
gentre" (CoUectio judiciorum de novis erroribus. . . . t. i., p. 48) published
it from a Caen manuscript; and Echard (Scriptores ordinis Praedicatorum,
t. i., p. 154) from a Dublin manuscript. It is also to be found in the Biblio-
theca medial et infimoe latinitatis, t. vi., p. 47 (edition of Passau), and in the
following works: Biblioth. maxima P. P. t. xxv., p. 264; Von-der-Hardt,
Rerum concilii Const, t. iii.; Usser, de gravissima questione, &c. Flaoius
Illyricus published the first six chapters of it (Calal. test, veritatis, No. 267).
Reynerus is sometimes designated by the name of Saccho or Sacchonus. He
says of himself: "Ego Rinherus olim hajresiarcha, nunc Dei gratia sacerdos
. . . annis xvii. conversatus sum cum eis." (Note of Gieseler, Hist.
Eccles., t. iii., p. 598.) He is the most interesting of the authors mentioned
in this §. In the third chapter of his work, entitled, " De causis hcereseorum,"
he enumerates the churches belonging to the heretics of whom he speaks, and
he names forty-one, all bearing German or Wallach names. Farther on, he
points out, in a general way, the churches of the Cathari, to the number of
sixteen (caput xvi.) He bestows high praise upon the Leonists and Vaudois,

No. I.] BIBLIOGRAPHY. 413
even in contendmg against them, speaking especially of their attachment to the
Bible, and the purity of their lives. He says of them: "Nullum sanctum cre
dunt nisi Apostolos; nullum invocant nisi Deum solum . . . Legendas sanc
torum non credunt; miracula eorum subsannant: reliquias contemnunt . . .
dicunt quod omne peccatum sit mortals et nullum veniale . . . et ita, Lom-
bardiam intrantes, visitant episcopos suos." (cap. v.) Concerning a Pseudo-
Reinerus, an interpolator of this work, see Gieseler, De Rainerii Sacchoni
summa de Catharis et Leonistis, commentatio critica (Goettingse, 1834); and
the Hist. Eccles. of the same author, 4th ed., ii., 613. Leger supposed that
there were two authors of the name of Reynerus^ (Histoire gSn. p. 170, note
2.) His error, no doubt, arose from the circumstance that our author has been
placed by Freherus amongst the Scriptores rerum Bohemicarum. It appears
to me that he ought to be quoted with great caution as an authority in matters
of history concerning the Vaudois of Piedmont; and I have abstained from
quoting him in this latter work. The same observation applies with still greater
force to most of the following authors. See also, concerning the interpolations
, to which the work of Reynerus has been subjected, and concerning other par
ticulars, the work of M. Schmidt on the Cathari (vol. ii., note xvi.)
2. Pllichdore. "Contra hseresin Waldensium." (Published by Gretserus,
t. xii. second part; and in the Bibl- Max. Patrum, t. xxv., p. 278.) This
treatise contains thirty-six chapters. It acknowledges that the origin of the
Vaudois may be traced back to the time of Pope Sylvester (§ i.) In a subse
quent place the author says, " Dixit Christus : Vos estis lux mundi" (§ x.);
and he reproaches the Vaudois for concealing themselves ,(§ xi.) and after
wards he mentions the reply of one of them, " Non possum esse talis Lucerna
publico,, propter instantes persecutiones, quia vocant me haereticum." (§ xiii.)
This author must belong to the end of the fourteenth century. His style is in
general bad, and he abounds in injurious epithets.
3. Eberhard de Bethune. (Eberhardus Bethunniensis.) "Liber anti
haeresis;" published under the title of "Contra Valdenses," by Gretserus, torn.
xii.; Bibl. Max. Patrum, t. xxiv. " Ermengard, Opusculum contra haireticos
qui dicunt et credunt mundum istum et omnia visibilia, non esse a Deo facta
sed a Diabolo." (It may be seen in Gretserus, t. xii.) The mention made of
the Vaudois is merely incidental. The editor himself says, "Nee scio an itaque
contra Valdenses.'' (Prcsloquia.) For further particulars concerning these
authors, see Schmidt, Hist, of the Cathari, vol. ii. note xvi.
4. Gretserus, who published the works of the three preceding authors
under the title of Trias contra Valdensmm sectam, prefixed to them a treatise
of which he was himself the author: "Prolegomena in Scriptores contra Val
denses:" and after the work of Pilichdorf, he gives a "Refutatio errorum qui-
bus Waldenses distinentur, incerto auctobe. (Gretzeri Opera, edition of Ingol-
stadt, t. xii., and Max. Bibl. Patrum, t. xxiv.)
5. AlaIn de l' Isle (Alanus de Insulis), or simply A lain. "Adversus hsere-
ticos et Waldenses qui postea Albigenses dicti sunt." More frequently cited
thus — "Contra hcereticos. sui temporis," and by different authors under various
other titles. It is to be found in "Alani Theologi insignis opus." . . . Ant
werp, 1654, fol., p. 199. ,. The first two books of this treatise were published
separately at Paris in 1612, in 8vo, under this title, "Contra Valdenses, Judeos,
et Paganos;" the last two appear under another title in the Bibl. Script. Cister-
censvwm, Cologne, 1656. For more particulars concerning this author, his
homonyme and his works, see Schmidt's History of the Cathari, vol. ii.,
note xvi.

414 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. [Appendix.
6. Bernard DE Fontoaud (Bernardus de Fonte Calido). "Contra Val
denses et Arianos." The Vaudois are very little spoken of in this work.
However, the author says in bis preface, "Valdenses dicti sunt nimirum a valle
densa." Valdo is not even named in the work. See also Histoire litteraire
de France, t. xv., p. 35. The author belongs to the twelfth century.
7. Moneta. "AdversusCatharoset Valdenses." A thick folio volume, edited
by Richinius, at Rome, in 1743. The editor has prefixed to the work an intro
duction concerning the life and writings of the author, who lived in the beginning
of the thirteenth century; and two dissertations — the first, " De Catharis," and
the second, " De Valdensibus." In § i., he says, "Valdensium nomen non
peculiare alicujus sectae, aut hsereseos, sed commune omnium a seculo 12mo
. . . nee desunt qui sic doctos (Valdenses) velint, a voce Italica, Valdesi."
8. Stephen de Borbonne (Stephanus de Bella Villa). "De septem donis
spiritus sancti." Published in D'Argentre", Collectio judic. de novis errori-
bus, t. i., pp. 85-91. See also Echard, t. i., pp. 184-196. There is a MS.
of the Septem dona at Paris, in the library of the Sorbonne, No. 938. — Herzog
says, "Haec narratio majoris momenti esse videtur, cum quod Stephanus ipse
vidit virum cum Waldo societate conjunctum . . . denique quod multorum
Waldensium confessiones, ut inquisitor ipse audiit." (Cap. i., p. 3.)
9. Yvonetus. " Tractatus de hasresi pauperum de Lugduno ; " cited thus,
"Contra hasreses Valdenses, libra quatuor." It is to be seen in Mabtene, Thes.
Anecdot., t. v., fol., 1778.
10. Guido de Perpiniaco. " Summa de hseresibus et earum confutationibus ; "
Paris, published by Josse Badius, 1528, fol. The author of this work was
Guido of Perpignan, a Carmelite, who was Bishop of Elne about 1342. He
speaks of the Vaudois, beginning on the first page of fol. 79, but confines him
self to stating and refuting their doctrines. (For this note I am indebted to
M. Schmidt.)
11. Gcalterus Mapes, Archdeacon of Oxford, who saw and heard the dis
ciples of Valdo at the Council of Lateran in 1179, wrote a short dissertation De
Secld Valdesiorum, inserted in Usser, " De Christianae Ecclesiae successione
et statu, Historica Explanatio." London, 1687.
12. Claude Coussord. "Valdensium et quornmdam aliorum errores, pras-
cipuas ac pene omnes, quae nunc vigent, hsereses continentes.'' Paris, pub
lished by Thomas Richard, 1548, 8vo. This book is directed against the
Lutherans. The refutation of the Vaudois doctrines commences in fol. 41.
These doctrines are taken word for word from the catalogue drawn up by
Yvonetus (No. 9 above). This catalogue is inserted in fol. 126, et seq., under
the erroneous title of Valdensium errorum catalogue, sive summa Fratris Rei-
nerii. Coussord says that he derived it from an old manuscript, which probably
contained the Summa of Reynerus, and after it the catalogue of Yvonetus, and
hence the error. (For this note I am indebted to M. Schmidt.)
13. In this work of Coussord (or Coussart) is to be found also a " Disputatio
inter Catholicum et Pateriwum hwreticum," a production of the thirteenth cen
tury. It has been inserted by Martene and Durand, in the Thes. nov. Anec
dot. t. v., fol., 1755, et seq. Concerning it, see Schmidt's History of the Ca
thari, vol. ii., p. 311.
14. Claude Seyssel. "Adversus Valdenses disputationes," 8vo, 1547—
h, thick volume in black letter. This work has served as the basis for a great
number of dissertations; amongst others, "La doctrine des Vaudois, dressee
par Claude Seyssel et Claude Coussart, theologiens de Paris, avec notes dressees
par Jean Cappel;" Sedan, 1618, 8vo. Seyssel was Archbishop of Turin.

No. L] BIBLIOGRAPHY. 415
§ 2. — Academic Theses.
1. Danhauerus (John Conrad). " Ecclesia Waldensium, orthodoxiae Lu-
theranae testis et socia." Argent. (Strasburg) 4to, 1668. Since published also
by Hesterberg, with a preface.
2. Haver (John Christopher). "Oratio de Waldensium ortu, progressu, et
persecutionibus." 4to, Aldtorf, 1686.
3. Gilles Strauch (Algidii Strauchii). "Disquisitio historico-theologica
de Valdensibus." Witebergae, 4to. The first part appeared in 1659, the second
in 1663.
4. Werenfelsius (Peter Verenf els). " De Valdensibus." He chiefly treats
of their origin and their doctrines. The first part of his' thesis was published
at Basle in 1695, the second in 1700, in 4to.
5. Houert (Van der). "De Valdensium, Bohemornm, et Moravorum, fide
et religione ; " 4to. (I do not know the date nor the place of publication.)
6. Kiesling (Kieslingus). " Dissertatio historico-theologica, de variis Wal
densium veritatis testium nominibus et sectis." 4to, Jena, 1739.
7. Jas. "Disputatio Academica, de Valdensium secta, ab Albigensibus
recte distinguenda." Lyons, 1834, 4to, of about 150 pages. An excellent work.
Amongst the moderns, I have elsewhere cited Reynaudin, Peyrani, Bastie,
Roman, &c.
8. Mayerhoff, " Kritische Beleuchtung des Ursprungs und der namen der
Waldenser;" 8vo, 1834.
9. Weihnmayer (Elias). "Dissertatio historica, de vicissitudinibus et fatis
Waldensium." Witebergos, 1690, 4to.
10. Martinetus. "Apologia vera doctrinse eorum qui vulgo appellantur
Valdenses." Lugduni Batavorum, 1738.
11. Hesterberg. "De ecclesia Waldensium." Argentorati, 1768.
12. Plaresius. "Dissertatio de Waldensibus." Groningaj, 1660, cited by
Martinetus. 13. A -pamphlet, without the name of the author, on the antiquity of the
Vaudois Churches in the Valleys of Piedmont; 4to, Utrecht, 1662.
14. Frischius. "Disquisitio historico-theologica de Waldensibus." Vietem-
bergse, 1650.
15. Wesembecius (Peter). "Oratio de Waldensibus et Albigensibus Chris-
tianis, ab anno 1585." Jena, 1603; reprinted at Leipzic by Menger, in 1610,
and inserted by Camerarius at the end of his work. (Historica narratio, &c. ;
Heidelberg, without date on the title page, but bearing that of 1605 at the end
of the preface.)
16. Herzog. "De origine et pristino statu Waldensium, secundum anti-
quissima eorum scripta, cum libris Catholicorum ejusdem aevi collata." Halle
1849; 4to, pp. 44. A work of merit and of erudition, interesting especially on
account of the parallel which it exhibits between the doctrines of the Cathari
and those of the Vaudois. (Cap. iii. p. 7.) The fundamental idea of this work
is an excellent one — the comparison of Vaudois books with Catholic contem
porary writings ; but it has not been developed as much as it is capable of
being, in consequence of the small number of the original works hitherto pub
lished. The work of M. Herzog is divided into eight chapters, treating — I.
Of Catholic and Vaudois books in general, pp. 2-5. II. Whether the Vaudois
books were known to the Catholic authors, pp. 5-7. III. The Christian Faith
of the Vaudois, pp. 7-13. TV. Their Catholic Faith, pp. 13-16. Chapters V.
VI. and VII. contain an examination of different points of Vaudois doctrine.

416 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. [Appendix.
VIII. Of the period to which the Nobla Leyczon is to be referred, and of the
other Vaudois books and the name of Valdo. The very distinguished author
of this thesis, thinks that the Vaudois derive their origin only from Valdo.
The same author has since published at Halle, a work on the Vaudois,
"Die romanischen Waldenser," which I regret that I have not been >ble to
procure. [Some notice of this important work will be given iu a subsequent
appendix by the translator.] § 3. — Various Authors.
1. Lydius. "Waldensia: id est conservatio vera Ecclesiee demonstrata ex
confessionibus, cum Taboritarum, ante ducentos ferme annos, turn Bohemorum,
&c." Rotterdam, 1616, 2 vols. 8vo. (The second volume is entitled, Walden
sium, Tomus Secundus, &c.) Concerning the relation between the Vaudois
church and the church of Bohemia, see also Ehwalt, " Doctrine ancienne et
moderne des Freres Bohemiens et Moraves" — (at p. 660, he inserts the Vau
dois .catechism, entitled Interrogations menors) ; Luzitius, " De disciplina
ecclesiastica, moribus et institutionibus Fratrum Bohemicorum," Ainst., 1660;
Commenius, "Hist. Ecclesise Fratrum Bohem." — (maybe seen in Struvius:
Scriptores rerum Germanicarum); Esrom Rudiger, " Narratiuncula de Ecclesiis
Frat. in Bohemia;" Cambrarius, "Historica narratio de fratrum orthodox.
ecclesiis in Bohemia," Heidelberg, 1606. A rarer work is "Historica perse-
cutionum Ecclesise Bohemicae. . . ab anno 894 ad an. 1632," 12mo, printed iu
1648. It mentions the Vaudois in Chap. xx. § 5. Besides these may be named
jSEneas Sylvius (afterwards Pope, under the name of Pius II., from 1458 to
1464), Dubravius (Bishop of Olmutz); Stbansky, Sohulze, Tittle, Hensel,
Andrea, &c, who have written works on the church of Bohemia. Amongst
modern authors, M. Bost deserves to be named. " Histoire ancienne et moderne
des freres de Boheme et de Moravie." Geneva, 1831; 2 vols. 8vo. He speaks
of the Vaudois, t. ii., liv. 3. (He has composed for them the music of a num
ber of national songs, intended to recal the principal events of their history.)
2. Fuesselin (John Conrad). "De gemina Albigensium et Valdensium
distinctione." Inserted in the Nova Miscellanea of Leipzic, t. x., p. 3. Fues
selin is the author of a History of the sects and heresies of the middle ages
(in German), Frankfort and Leipzic, 1770; 3 vols. 8vo. He speaks at great
length of the Vaudois.
3 . For the history of the Albigeois : William DEPuYLAURENs(de Podio Laur-
entii). " Historia negotii Francorum adversus Albigenses, " inserted in Duchesne,
Scriptores Histories Francorum, t. v., p. 666, and in several more recent collections.
The author was chaplain to the Count of Toulouse, and secretary to the bishop
ofthat city.— Peter deVaucebnay. "Historia Albigensium." This work has
been translated into French.— Extracts in prose, from the Languedoc poem
published by M. Fauriel, are to be seen in the Histoire gintrale de Languedoc,
t. iii., Preuves No. I., and in the collection of French MSS., t. xiiL.—Chaufepie,
in his Dictionnaire historique et critique, quotes a MS., entitled, "Cequifut
fait par les Inquisiteurs contre les Albigeois, depuis le 21 Janvier, 1311, jusqu'
au 24 October, 1319. (Lettre J, pp. 80, 81)." This MS. has been published by
Limborch, at the end of his Historia Inquisitionis.— Finally, and principally,
Schmidt. History of the Albigenses or Cathari (see No. 26 of this §). The ques
tion of the connection between the Vaudois and Albigeois is far from being cleared
up. The connection itself is very hypothetical. (See, on this subject other
works cited in No. 21 of this §, and in Nos. 15 and 16 of Section III of
this Bibliography.) With this branch of study may be united that of the Petro-

No. I] BIBLIOGRAPHY. 417
brusians, with whom the Vaudois more probably had some connection, as Peter
de Bruys was a native of the Val Louise. See Father Albert, Histoire eccli-
siastique d' Embrun, t. i., p. 56; Hecker, Disputationes de Petrobrusianis,
Leypzig, 1721; Harenbebg, Otia sacra. (The tenth thesis is entitled, Val
denses Petro de Valdo antiquiores); Neander, Life of Saint Bernard (in Ger
man), &c.
4. Allix. " Some remarks upon the Ecclesiastical History of the ancient
churches of Piemont." London, 1690; 4to. Winer mentions a, second edi
tion, published in 1692. This work has not, properly speaking, any historic
value. Its object is to prove the apostolic descent of the Vaudois. It derives
a particular value, however, from the publication of three ancient Vaudois
MSS. at the end of the volume. These MSS. were once at Cambridge, and
have recently been rediscovered in Dublin. (Library of Trinity College, class
C, shelf 4, No. XVIII., vols. viii. and ix.) Leger gives a translation of one of
them (t. ii., p. 21); Basnage (t. ii. p. 1440) and Perrin (pp. 133 and 135) speak
of the other two. — See also The Barque of the Church for the Friends of Religion
(a German work). Zurich, 1764 (p. 210).
5. Du Plessis Mornay, "Mysterium iniquitatis seu historia Papatus,"
speaks of the Vaudois at pp. 304, 406, 458, &c. Of this book there are many
editions ; that which I quote is the edition of Goricheim, 1662. With this may
be noticed the Historia Papatus, by Heidegger, which speaks of the Vaudois
at p. 415. Flaoius Illybiccs also wrote a Historia de primatu Papas, in
which he speaks of the Vaudois, § 267, pp. 630-660. His Catalogus testium
veritatis — Strasburg, 1562, and Frankfort, 1666, with notes and supplements,
at the end of which the preceding work is printed- — also contains many things
relative to the Vaudois.
6. Koeoher. A Catechetical History of the Vaudois, the Bohemian
Brethren, &c. (In German), Jena, 1768. All that concerns the Vaudois in
this work is their own excellent little catechism in the Romance tongue, entitled
Interrogations menors, which is inserted in it, and which had been already pub
lished by Perrin, p. 157, and Leger, p. 58 ; and which is also given by Monas
tier, ii. 297, Hahn, pp. 673-679, and was separately published at Edinburgh in
1836. The original is amongst the Vaudois MSS. in the Library of Trinity
College, Dublin, class C, shelf 5, No. XXII., fol. 284-292.— Along with this
work may be named the Duplex confessio Valdensium, folio, 1512 (a work which
I have never seen).
7. Van Bbbenn. " Apologetic Memoirs concerning the Vaudois, with an
appendix, from 1642 to 1655. (In Dutch), Amsterdam, 1663." With this may
be compared a modern German work, entitled, " The Ecclesiastical Government
of the Vaudois Communities of Piedmont, by Weiss, pastor and clerk of the
Synod of Zurich. (Die Kirchenverfassung der Piemontessichen, .... &c)."
Zurich, 1834; 8vo of viii and 76 pages.
8. Du Cleroq (Jacques). " Memoires sur la Vaudoiserie d' Arras."
Printed in Buchon's Collection des Chroniques. Paris (Verdiere), 1826, 8vo;
t. xxxix. The title of these memoirs is much longer than I have given above.
The first part commences thus:1 — "Of a woman named Demiselle, who was
taken as a Vaudois in the town of Douay, and brought a prisoner to the city of
Arras . . . ." &c. Du Clercq is the continuator of Monstrelet. There are
some curious particulars in his chronicle. The style is characterized by an
interesting simplicity; but the subject of which he treats is very remote from the
history of the Vaudois of Piedmont. In this respect his work may be ranked
' The spelling of tho French words is antiquated. — Tbassl.
Vol. II. 113

418 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. [Appendix.
along with the memoir of M. Bourquelot, entitled, Notice sur les sorciers Vau
dois, inserted in vol. viii. of the Bibliotheque de VEcole de Chartes.
9. Prateolcs. "De ritis, sectis, et dogmatibus omnium hsereticorum."
Cologne, 1569, fol. Of little value. — Engelhardt. "Dissertations on various
points of Ecclesiastical History" (in German). The subject of the Vaudois
is incidentally treated of. — A German work, entitled, Universal Chronicles,
contains more details. See the fifth part, p. 179; t. iv., p. 47; t. viii., p. 611;
t. xi., pp. 7, 12, 338; t. xix., p. 695. — See also the Magdeburg Centuries (a Latin
work), century x. and century xii., ch. 1 8, &c.
10- De Paramo. "De origine, officio, et progressu sanctse Inquisitionis,"
fol. Madrid, 1598; Antwerp, 1619. — With which may be classed, Eymerious,
Directorium Inquisitorum, Rome, 1570, (he speaks of the Vaudois at p. 282),
and Doctrina de modo procedendi contra hcereticos, inserted in Martene, Thes.
Anecdotorwm, t. v., p. 1795; also, Forma qualiter hosretici hwrelicant hcereticos,
inserted in the Thesaurus novorum Anecdotorum, t v., p. 1776, and Liber sen-
tentiarum Inquisitionis Tolosanm, published by Limborch. See also chap. i. of
book ii. of Perrin (p. 106), and chap. iii. (p. 132).
11. Benoit (Elie). "Histoire de l'Edit de Nantes;" 5 vols. 4to, Delft, 1693-
95. Translated into Dutch ; Amsterdam, 1696, fol. — RuLHr&RES, " Eclaircis-
sements historiques sur les causes de la revocation de l'Edit de Nantes, et sur
I'etat du protestantisme en France, depuis Louis XIV. jusqu' a nos jours."
AVlthout place of publication; 2 vols. 8vo, 1788. — Bernard, Explication de
l'Edit de Nantes, and La politique du clerge de France, 1 vol. 32mo; Amster
dam, 1682. He speaks of the Vaudois at p. 152. — Les soupirs de la France
esclave (a work which has become rare); also, Les derniers efforts de I'innocence
affligee; Ville-Franche, 1682, 2 vols. 32mo, of 236 and 212 pages.,
12. "Voix de pleurs et de lamentations." Printed at Ville-Franche, in
MDCLX.; small 4to, pp. 402. The first chapter of the second part (p. 178)
relates to the Vaudois. See, in the Israel of the Alps, the authorities for
Part IL, chap. vii. (For this rare little work I am indebted to Dr. Long of
Die, the author of a Memoire sur les Allobroges, which obtained the prize of the
Academy of Inscriptions and Belles Lettres, and I take this opportunity of
publicly expressing my obligation to him.)
13. Along with this work may be mentioned the Lamentation or Elegy on the
Massacres of 1655 (in German, in the library of Berne); and a piece in verse, en
titled, "Le cantique des Vallees du Piemont, sur les actes funestes de leurs mas
sacres et de leur paix," relating also to the events of 1655, and printed at the end
of a " Lettre des protestants du Piemont, a Mylord, Protecteur d'Angleterre,"
without date or place of publication. Also, "L'huile decoulant du rocher, ou
consolations adressees a nos freres des Vallees, exiles." Printed in 1688. Also
Lamentations de Sion, ou precis et veritable ricit de la triste position des eglises
de PUmont," . . . &c. Middlesburgh, 1662.
14. Raynouard. "Choix de poesies originales des Troubadours;" Paris,
1816, 6 vols. 8yo. In vol. ii., he places amongst the Primitive Monuments of
the Romance language, or rather he names as the sole monuments of the Romance
language, the Nobla Leyczon, which he gives entire, and the ancient Vaudois
poems, of which he only quotes fragments. Hahn has published them entire
in pp. 560-604 of his History of the Vaudois and collateral sects (in German)-
Stuttgard, 1847, an 8vo vol. of 822 pages, with a map. Millot, in his Hist
litteraire des Troubadours also speaks of the Vaudois (t. ii., p. 42). See also
Parandin, Annales de Bourgogne, book ii., p. 247 &c.
15. Bossuet, in his "Histoire des variations des Eglises Protestantes . . ."

No. I.] BIBLIOGRAPHY. 41 9
(Numerous editions), book xi., § e, et seq., treats of the Vaudois. He expresses
doubt of the existence of their ancient manuscripts, which had then disappeared,
but which have since been discovered again in Dublin and elsewhere. This
work is full of erudition, and is, in general, very correct in its details; but this
does not prevent its author from giving a very false idea of the Protestant
churches, and particularly of the Reformers; for details selected from one quar
ter and from another, displaced and arranged in a, new order, can no more
represent the whole from which they were taken than a piece of oak furniture
can give an idea of the tree. Bossuet sets out from the principle that truth is
owe, and does not prove it; Celsus started from the same principle to combat
Christianity. There are many refutations of this work. One of the most
worthy of notice is, " Introductio in memorabilia Ecclesiastical Listeria; sacra."
(Weisman, Halle, 1745.)
16. Hering. "Contributions to the History of the Reformed." (In Ger
man); pp. 19-26 relate to the Vaudois. "General History of the Jesuits,
from the origin of that order to the present day " (in the same language),
Zurich, 1789. See vol. i., p. 226, et seq. — Another History of the Jesuits, by
Wolf (also in German), speaks of the Vaudois in vol. i., p. 223. See also
Menard, Hist, de la ville de Nimes ..." 4to, 1750; proof documents,
vol. i., p. 73.
17. Marnix de Sainte Aldegonde. "Tableau deB differends de la reli
gion;" 2 vols. 8vo, La Rochelle, 1601. This work is frequently quoted by
Perrin. It is of Uttle importance in a historical point of view, but it is written
with much energy, sometimes mingled with a sort of bitter pleasantry, which
gives it an originality of character entirely its own. The author was not con
tented with writing, he also went out to battle in the cause of Protestantism.
His work has become rare.
18. Ruchat. "Histoire de la Reformation en Suisse, oil Ton voit tout ce qui
s' est passe de plus remarquable, depuis l'an 1516 jusqu' a l'an 1556 . . ."
6 vols. 8vo. ; Geneva, 1728. The continuation of this work, which existed
in manuscript, was published in 1835-1838. Mention is made in it, and par
ticulars given of the embassy sent by the Vaudois to the Reformers in 1530.
See vol. ii., p. 330, and vol. iii., p. 175. In the new edition, see Appendix,
p. 556. See also the History of the Swiss Confederation, by John de Muller,
continued by Hottinger, Vuilliemin, and Monnard. See also Flathe,
"Geschichte der Vorlaufer der Reformation" (Leipzig), vol. i.
19. Calvoer (Gaspard). "Fissura (or Fissura) Sionis; hoc est, de schis-
matibus ac controversiis quse ecclesiam agitarunt;" Leipzig, 1690. A work
of learning, but little known. The Vaudois are spoken of, p. 354.
20. The Abbe Martin de Clausonne wrote a book against Vulcon, coun
cillor of the parliament of Grenoble. (I do not know the exact title.) This
Vulcon is the same who communicated to Perrin the " EnquStes juridiques,
poursuivies contre les Vaudois par les evSques d'Embrun," which had fallen
into the hands of a soldier at the time of the sack of that city by Lesdiguieres.
(Perrin, pp. 114, 127, 131, 137, 141, and the preface.) The Abbe de Clausonne
repeats, against the Vaudois all the accusations of their most unworthy adver
saries. His twentieth ^chapter is entitled, A Reply on those points which the
Minister Perrin stigmatizes as calumnious. See also Florimond de Rbmond,
"De l'antechrist," ch. vii., No. 7; and the MS. of Fournier, "Histoire des
Alpes maritimes ou Cottiennes, particulierement d'Embrun leurme"tropolitaine,"
p. 71. (In folio, in the libraries of Gap and Lyons.)
21. De Saint Michel (Jacques). " L'histoire et le cours des heresies des

420 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. [Appendix.
Vaudois et des Albigeois;" 8vo, Toulouse, 1676. — Pantalbon, " De rebus in
ecclesia gestis," lib. v. — Gulielmus Merpburcensis, De rebus Anglia, lib. iii.,
and in the Scriptores Anglici, published at London in 1652, in folio; the Chroni-
con adannum MCLXXVIL, folio, 1441. — Likewise the Annates of Malvenda,
ch. iv., ad ann. MCCXX., and the Fasciculus of Orthuinus Gratius; fol,
Cologne, 1535, pp. 81-95; also the " Fasciculus rerum expectendarum et fugien-
darum," in which the epistle of the Vaudois to King Ladislas is given. — Also,
Serrarius, Trihozresium, lib. i., ch. v.; and De Vineib, Constitutiones, lib. i.,
ep. 25-27.
22. Sismondi. "Histoire des repub. d'ltalie," vol. xvii., &c. — "Histoire
des dues de Savoie," by Fraizet and others. — Chiesa, "Corona vale di Savoia,"
&c. — Sclopis, " Storia dell' antiche legge del Piemonte." — (In sect. VI. I will
notice the works of MM. Cibraria, De Saluces, and De Beauregard.) — Amongst
works restricted to more particular subjects, may be named the Histoire d'Emm.
PhUibert, due de Savoie. . . . Amsterdam, 1693; and in Latin, "Devita
Emmanuelis Philiberti, Allobrogum Ducis, et Subalpinorum principis, libri duo
Johannis Tonsi, patricii Mediolanensis," fol., Aug. Tour., 1596.
23. Faber (George Stanley), B.D. "An Inquiry into the history and theology
of the ancient Vallenses and Albigenses ;" London, 1838; 8vo, of 596 pages. —
' History of the Christian Church, from the birth of Christ to the eighteenth cen
tury, containing interesting particulars relative to the Waldenses and Albigenses,
by William Jones ; " third edition, 8vo; London, 1818. The second volume and
the fourth chapter of the first volume relate to the Vaudois. This author
connects them with the Paulicians, as Faber does. A fourth edition of this
work appeared at London in 1820. In this edition, the particulars relative to
the Vaudois announced in the title are to be found in the eighth volume.
24. Gilly (William Stephen), D.D. " Waldensian Researches during a second
visit to the Waldenses," &c. . . . 8vo; London, 1830. Also, under another
title, Researches among the Waldenses. A work of learning. Also, by the
same author, The Vaudois, Valdo, and Vigilantius; London, 1841, an 8vo of
69 pages, consisting of three articles, originally published in the seventh edition
of the Encyclopaedia Britannica. This study led to a new work, Vigilantius
and his Times, by W. S. Gilly, D.D.; London, 1844; 8vo, pp. xvi and 488.
Other works by the same author will be mentioned in section V. § 1.
25. Elliot. "Horse Apocalypticaa " (a critical and historical commentary
upon the Apocalypse, in English), 3 vols. 8vo; London, 1844. In vol. ii.,
the Vaudois are spoken of at much length as being the two witnesses (Rev. xi.)
who appear as dead for three days and a half (ver. 9, 11), which this author ex
plains by the three years and a half of exile endured by the inhabitants of the
valleys, whom he considers as the depositaries of the Old and New Testaments,
applying to this vers. 5, 6, and 7.
26. Schmidt. "Histoire et doctrine de la secte des Cathares ou Albi
geois." Paris, 1849, 2 vols. 8vo, the first of xii and 392 pages, the second of
320 pages. This work is full of great learning, but acknowledges that for the
exposition of the doctrinal system of the Cathari, we are reduced to the sole tes
timony of the adversaries of that sect (vol. i., p. 4). These words awaken »
desire for the discovery of some original doctrinal writings, which might enable
us to separate the Albigeois from the Dualists, with whom they are identified in
this work. M. Schmidt devotes the tenth note of his second volume to the
examination of the origin of the Vaudois (p. 287). He thinks that they were
not anterior to Valdo, and that we cannot connect them with Claude of Turin,
because the latter was not separated from the Roman church (p. 288). But

No. I.] BIBLIOGRAPHY. 421
neither did the Vaudois ever separate themselves from it, otherwise than as
remaining attached to the gospel, they found themselves isolated, when the
Church of Rome had separated itself from the sacred code (see chap. i. of the
Israel of the Alps). M. Schmidt rests also upon the fact, that no mention is
made of the Vaudois from the time of Claude to that of Valdo (p. 288). But
are there not peoples of whom history makes no mention for centuries, because
nothing remarkable has occurred, or because chroniclers have been wanting, or
because the chronicles have been lost? And does this prove that these peoples
did not exist? In the third place, he says (p. 290), the Nobla Leyczon makes
mention of the Vaudois, and bears date the 1100th year. This date is not dis
puted; but, according to the literal sense of the text, the one thousand and one
hundred years completed at the period when this poem was composed (1. 6),
ought to be reckoned only from the time when the prophecy was written which
is contained in the 24th chapter of Matthew's gospel, or in Rev. xix.-xxi.,
which will bring the date from the year 1139 to the year 1196 or thereby, i.e.,
to the very time of Valdo. This is true ; but (1), it is difficult to ascribe to the
author of a poem an exegesis so minutely accurate, when the theologians of his
time committed so many anachronisms, and as even in our own day, the date
of the composition of the above-mentioned books of Scripture is not perfectly
known. (2.) It seems to me more difficult, considering the circumstances of
the times, to ascribe the Nobla Leyczon to the disciples of Valdo, and to place
its composition at the end of the twelfth century, than to maintain the opinion
that it emanated from the Vaudois of the eleventh. (See in this Bibliography,
part IL, sect. I., § 3, MS. 207, article 5.) (3), Finally, there is not more reason
for taking as a point of departure the composition of the Apocalypse, than that
of the gospel according to Matthew, which was half a century earlier, and which
consequently would still place the composition of the Nobla Leyczon a genera
tion before Valdo. M. Schmidt also says that the name Vaudois cannot come
from vavA or vaux, or the Latin vallis, or it would be Vallenses and not Val
denses (p. 289). But we have in reality the name which he thus demands ; De
Thou calls the Vaudois ConvaUenses (Hist., lib. xxvii.); and if he be set aside
as a modern author, I will adduce Eberhard or Evrard de Bethune, who belongs
to the thirteenth century, and who says: " Vallenses se appellant, eo quod in
valle lachrymarum maneant " (Liber antihmresis, chap, xxv.) Finally, I will
remark, that many words are formed in a manner contrary to the grammatical
rules of etymology, and that the irregularity of their formation proves nothing
against its reality. M. Schmidt himself quotes (p. 289) a few lines of a Stras-
burg MS., which was unknown to me, and which belongs to the thirteenth cen
tury, in which it is said, " Valdenses dicunt ur . . . a valle . . . quia in
valle orti sunt." The opinion, therefore, that the name of the Vaudois is derived
from the valleys which they inhabit, is not of, recent origin — nay, it was shared
by Bernard de Fontcaud, a contemporary of Valdo himself. "Valdenses di-
cuntur a valle densa, eo quod profundis et densis errorum tenebris involvantur "
(Gretzeri opera, t. xii., part ii., p. 196).
"Finally," adds M. Schmidt (pp. 291, 292), "the Nobla Leyczon speaks of
the Vaudois as being already persecuted (1. 368, et seq.) But history makes
mention of no persecution of the Vaudois before the end of the twelfth century."
(There are many things of which history makes no mention. Of iow many
things concerning the Cathari was history silent, until the publication of the
work of M. Schmidt ! Does it follow that there was no reality in these things ?)
" The name of the Vaudois heretics, becoming an object of hatred to the Catho
lics, was employed by them to designate detestable crimes; the terms Cathari,

422 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. [Appendix.
. . . &c, have had the same fate. This employment of the word in another
than its primary sense, refers us to a period when that primary sense was gene
rally familiar to people's minds, and when the sect which bore this name was
generally hated and persecuted. This could not be the period of the origin of
the Vaudois church" (Hist, des Cathares, ii., 292). Thus M. Schmidt writes;
and from this I think it a fair inference that the origin of the Vaudois church
was much anterior to the writings which it has left.
According to M. Schmidt, in fact, the Nobla Leyczon must have been com
posed at a period when the name of the Vaudois was already well known; and
this period could not have been that of their origin. According to him, again,
the Nobla Leyczon must have been composed, at the latest, in 1196; and in that
case, it cannot be attributed to the disciples of Valdo, because this was precisely
the period of their origin. But it could not have been composed at a later date,
because 1196 is the last limit of which the context will admit. It must, therefore,
have been composed before that time, that is to say, before the origin of the Vau
dois of Lyons. There must then have been other Vaudois, because the name of
Vaudois occurs in this poem (1. 372). And it is natural to think that these
Vaudois were those of the Vaudois valleys, because the idiom in which the poem
is written, is not that of the Lyonnais, but rather that of the valleys. (See ,
part II, sect. I., § 1, art. 7, of this Bibliography.)
Why should we not admit that the Nobla Leyczon was composed at the date
which itself indicates (1. 6), viz., about the year 1100 ? I will add, on the autho
rity of M. Schmidt, that at this very period the name of the Vaudois was already
familiar to people's minds, which proves that they had already existed for a long
time, and establishes the fact of their existence at least from the eleventh cen
tury. It seems to me, therefore, that the learned author to whose arguments'
I reply, and to whom I am indebted for valuable corrections in this Bibliography,
has no good ground for asserting that the Vaudois of Piedmont owe their origin
to Valdo.
Section III. — Historic works on the vaudois, derived from original
sources, and contributing to the more complete elucidation of the
subject.
1. Martinet (J. Florent). " Evenements relatifs aux Eglises des Vaudois des
vallees du Piemont, jusqu' a ce jour." Amst., 1775; 1 vol. 8vo. (The original
of this work is in Dutch : " Kerkelyke Geschiednis der Waldenzen," &c.)
2. " Histoire des Chretiens, communement nommes Vaudois, pendant les
douze premiers siecles." Haarlem, 1765. The first edition had appeared at
Amsterdam in 1732, with the title: " Historic der Christenen, die men gemeen-
lyk Waldensen noemt." 1 vol. 8vo.
3. "Chronique des Vaudois, depuis 1160 a 1655," par D. S., professeur a
Zurich. Of this work there were several editions. The first was in German, at
Zurich, ;n 1655. It was reprinted that same year at Schaffhausen— translated
into Dutch, and published at Amsterdam in 1656— translated into French, and
printed at Geneva, also in 1656.
4. Grassern (John James). Waldensian Chronicle, 8vo; Basle, 1623. The
original title is : "Waldenser Chronik, von den Verfolgungen. . . . Jetzt
erst in's Teutsch gebracht durch Johann Jacob Grassern." Quoted by Hahn,
p. 13.
5. Cappel. "Vallium Alpinarum trajecta portenta." . . . Sedan, 1621.
James Cappel, seigneur of Le Tilloy, was first a Protestant minister at Rennes,

No- *¦! BIBLIOGRAPHY 423
afterwards Professor of Hebrew and of Theology. He died in 1624. He wrote
also a treatise on the doctrine of the Vaudois, published at Sedan in 1618.
6. "Histoire veritable de I'etat des pauvres eglises evangeliques et vaudoises
des vallees du Piedmont depuis les horribles massacres et incomparables desola
tions qu'elles ont souffertes l'an 1655, jusqu'au 17 Fevrier, 1662." 4to ; Mid-
dleburgh, 1662.
7. Boyer. "Abrege de l'Histoire des Vaudois, oil Ton voit," &c. La Haye,
MDCXCL; 1 vol. 32mo, of xxviii and 336 pages. This is a little work of
great interest. It was written at the very time of the return of the Vaudois to
their own country, in 1690; but contains so few particulars relative to that event,
as may show us what history would have lost, if Arnaud had not published his
narrative. 8. "Histoire des persecutions des vallees du Piemont." 12mo, Rotterdam,
1688 ; chiefly relating to the expulsion of 1686.
9. "An account of the late persecution of the Waldenses, by the Duke of
Savoy and the French king, in the year 1686." 4to, Oxford, 1688.
'10. "Der bedriickte Pahnbaum, oder die verfolgte protestantischen Walden-
ser." 4to, Nuremberg, 1690.
11. "Histoire des Chretiens que l'on nomme communement Vaudois;" Ams
terdam, 1732. Anonymous ; but the author was Martin Schazen, tutor of the
Mennonites at Utrecht.
12. " Geschichte der unter d. name Waldenser beriihmten u. noch bestehenden
rel. secte im ihrer mehr als 30 erdulten verfolgungen." 2 vols. 8vo; Leipzic,
1798. Mostly a translation of Brez.
13. " Abrege de 1' Histoire des Eglises esclavonnes et Vaudoises, depuis les
premiers siecles du christian . . . jusqu' a celui de la reformation." Basle,
1785; 1 vol. 12mo, of xiv, 596, and 59 pages (usually annexed' to the Histoire
de la reformation, by Sekendorf; and to that of Roos, which is merely an
abridgment of Sekendorf), printed at Basle, MDCCLXXXV. The author
of this anonymous work is M. Duvernoy de Montbelliard.
14. Benoist. "Histoire des Albigeois et des Vaudois, ou Barbets, avec une
carte geographique des vallees." Paris, 1691; 2 vols. 8vo; the first of viii, 327,
and xxii pages ; the second, of 332 and xiv pages. This work is sometimes
quoted in Latin, "Benedictus, historia Valdensis et Albigensis." It is of little
value. 15. "Recit veritable de ce qui est arrive depuis peu aux vallees de Piemont; "
8vo, pp. 48; without date or place of publication. Relates to the events of
1655. (See the authorities of the Israel of the Alps, part II., chap, vii., where
mention is also made of many other authors, who wrote at the same period.)
16. " Chiare memorie e memorandi fatti de Valdesi, da compendii historici,
del signor conte Alfonso Loschi, Vicentino." Without date or place of publi
cation. (See the authorities of chapters iv. and v. of part III. of this work.)
17. Acland (Hugh). " A Sketch of the History and Present Condition of the
Vaudois." London, 1825; 8vo. The same author translated into English, The
Glorious Recovery . . . &c. London, 1827; 8vo, of cxix, xxv, and 239 pages.
18. "History of the Waldenses, from the earliest period . . . till the present
time,',' by the author of the History of the Reformation. Edinb., 1828; 12mo,
of xvi and 296 pages. (Communicated.) Is not this the same work with the
" History of the Waldenses from the earliest period . . . till the present
time," by William Slme. Edinb., 1839; 3 vols. 8vo?
19. Blair. "History of the Waldenses and Albigenses." Edinb,, 1833;
2 vols. 8vo. — Jones, "History of the Waldenses." London, 1812.

424 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. [appendix
20. Maitland. "Facts and documents, illustrative of the history, doctrine,
and rites of the ancient Albigenses and Waldenses." London, 1832.
21. "Notes concerning the Vaudois; the result of observations made in the
valleys by an English clergyman." London, 1814; 8vo. The author of this
work is Mr. Sims, who pubhshed, in 1826, the Historic defence of the Vaudois
by Peyrani. Other English writers of the same period will be cited in the first
§§ of sect. V.
22. Baird. "Sketches of Protestantism in Italy, by Robert Baird." Boston,
1845. He treats of the Vaudois in his third part. See also M'Crib, "His
tory of the progress and suppression of the Reformation in Italy." Edinburgh,
1828. French translation. Paris, 1831; 8 vo.
23. Bender. "Geschichte der Waldenser." Ulm, 1850; 8vo. (I know as
yet nothing of this work but its title.)

Section IV. — Polemical Works.
§ 1. — Against the Vaudois.
1. " Contra hsereses Valdenses, libri quatuor. Impress. Patavii, 1579. Auctor
Hieronymus Niger, Fussanensis, vicarius generalis congregationis observantise
Lombardias." 1 vol. 12mo. See the greater part of the treatises contra Val
denses, in § 1 of sect. II. But these latter works, although directed against the
Vaudois, are rather works of party spirit than of religious controversy.
2. Ribot (Philip), of Pancalier, Capuchin. "Ragionamento a modo di disputa,
fatto tra lui e un ministro heretico delle valli." Turin, 1598; 18mo. This
minister was David Rostain, pastor of St. Germain and Pramol. At the same
period, Henry Rostain was pastor of Pinaehe. Philip Ribot wrote also, "Dichi-
aratione della salutatione evangelica," the date and place of publication of which
are unknown to me.
3. Cassini (Samuel). "Vittoria triumphale." . . . Coni, 1610. I do not
know the complete title of this work. Gilles speaks of it, pp. 11-13. Cassini
was a Cordelier, who was sent as a missionary to the Vaudois valleys. See
Fbrrero, Jus regnandi apostolicum, a folio volume which contains the history
of the missions in the valleys.
4. De La Morre (Maurice). "Catechismo della vera religione."
Turin, 1509. I do not know the exact title of this book. It is dedicated to
the Archbishop of Turin, at whose desire it was composed for refutation of the
Vaudois doctrines. Charles Emmanuel I. wrote to the Vaudois to induce them
to receive this catechism. His letter is dated from Pignerol, 5th February,
1599. He sent the catechism to Rome to submit it to the Pope, who approved
of it, after having caused the cardinals DArcoli and Bellarmine to examine it
This catechism was made the subject of commentaries by several theologians
amongst others by the inquisitor Fossano.
5 •_• Turns contra Damascum, hoc est tutella civitatis sancte Syon, seu
EccWRomanae, contra Calvinistorum incursiones, objecta consideration^
cujusdam ministro," Pletro Gillio, " subscript!, *dificata cum propugnacul^
a Fratre Theodore Belvederensi." Turin, MDCXXXVL; 8vo of 302PagJ
rented in italics. The author had previously written Lettres Apologue.
Turin, 1634. He afterwards wrote Lucc-na delta Christiana veritaper conlscer
la vera , chiesa e la falsa, and finally, Risposta al libro del S GiUb tZlal
Torre Evangelica, &c. . . . (See the article on Gilles.) The trt'nam J

No. I.] BIBLIOGRAPHY. 425
Theodore Belvedere was Antonio Lazzari. The following work is also by
him: —
6. " Relazione all' eminentissima Congregazione della Propagandi Fide, dei
luoghi di alcune valli Piemont," &c. Turin; a small 24mo volume of 323 pages.
The dedication is dated 30th August, 1626, and signed, Fra Teodoro Belve
dere. 7. " Deux marques de l'erreur du Calvinisme : la presomption et l'infideiite
decouvertes juridiquement dans l'escrit d'un de ses ministres. Jouxte la copie ini-
primee a Grenoble, chez Antoine Verdier, en l'annee MDCLX." The minister
here intended was Benjamin de Joux, pastor at Fenestrelle. The author of the
book was a, Jesuit, named Calemart, who had fixed his abode at the same
place. 8. M. de Joux having refuted the preceding work in the Ricit des con
ferences tenues a Fenestrelles (which was republished in the work mentioned in
No. 5 of the following §, from p. 179 to p. 248), the Jesuit Calemart replied
to this refutation, by "Refutation de la reponse de M. de Joux, ministre de
l'Eglise pretendue reformee, en Pragelas; ou, conviction d'erreur et de mauvaise
foi, par sa propre lettre." M. de Joux faithfully inserted this reply in the com
plete edition of the Conferences, from p. Ill to p. 171, and showed its futility.
(See the §§ and Nos. above designated.)
9. Daniel Pastor, another minister of Pragela, in a work entitled, Le
Manuel du vray chrestien (see § 2, No. 3, of this section), refuted two works
of the priest John Baloet, one entitled Le Diurnal du chrestien, and the other
Remontrances chrestiennes (cited in the preface of the Manuel, pp. 2 and 3).
Jean Balcet, we are told in that preface, ' ' was born in the true church, and had
even the honour of exercising the holy ministry in it; but being drawn away by
the heterodoxy of the Arm inians, he terminated his course of declension by join
ing the Church of Rome. He obtained a degree in medicine, the priesthood,
and the honour of Doctor of Theology."
10. "Reveille-matin, a double montre, une qui guide au precipice et l'autre a
la gloire; par le son duquel ceux qui font profession de la religion pretendue re
formee, doivent s'eveiller du sommeil de la mort, auquel ils sont lethargique-
ment endormis . . ., par frere illumine Faverot, de Turin, Recollet, &c."
Grenoble, 1670; one vol. 8vo, of xxiv, 434, and xii pages. It is dedicated,
" To the ministers, elders, deacons, and generally to all the people ... in
the valleys of Lucerna, Angrogna, St. Martin, &c." (This work contains the
statement of the old Vaudois doctrine made to CBcolampadius, by George Morel
and Peter Masson, extracted from Scultetus, Annates Evangelii renovati, anno
1530.) A reply was made to this work in name of the Vaudois by the work
mentioned in No. 6 of next §.
11. Faverot replied again by "La Colombo de Noe, portant le symbole de
paix, ou replique parainetique a deux reponses synodales faites a I'autheur, par
ceux de la religion pretendue reformee des vallees de Luserne, &c. . . . par
frere illumine Faverot, de Turin, Recollet, predicateur et lecteur ci-devant
missionaire apostolique." Lyons, 1673; 2 vols. 8vo, the first of xxxviii, 394,
and xxiv pages; the second of xiv, 582, and xliv pages. The two volumes are
ordinarily bound in one.
12. A work, which I have not been able to procure, is referred to as fol
lows: — "Conferenze del padre missionario Vanini gesuita, con diversi ministri
Valdesi." Gilles speaks of it in his thirty-ninth chapter. "In the beginning
of the year 1581," says he, "there preached in the valley of Lucerna, . . .
an ostentatious Jesuit, a great roarer, and highly reputed amongst those of his
Vol. II. 114

426 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. [appendix.
own religion. He styled himself Dom John Baptist Vanin " (p. 217). Vanin
is in Italian, Vanini. (See the Israel of the Alps, part IL, ch. iv.)
13. Rorenco. " Esame in torno alia nuova breve confessione di fede della
chiesa riformate di Piemonte, in cui si fa conoscer alii professori d'esse, dis-
trutta con la novita, la pretese antica confessione del priore Marc Aurelio Ro
renco." Turin, 1658; small 4to, or large 24mo, pp. 48.
14. "Journal des conversions qui ont ete faites .... durant le cours de
l'annee 1661." A journal of conversions made during the year 1661, by the
congregation de propaganda fide et extirpandis hosreticis established at Grenoble.
Relates exclusively to the Vaudois of Pragela. A 4to pamphlet of 20 pages.
15. " La con versione di quaranta eretici, con due loro principali ministri
. . . nell 'Augusta citta di Torino, alia 18 di Maggio 1655." These two
ministers afterwards returned to Protestantism, which gave occasion to a work
entitled, "Saincte Palinodie, ou repentance des prisonniers des Eglises r6formees
de Piemont, &c." . . . (See No. 4 of next §; and for the particulars, Leger,
part ii., p. 65.)
16. "La verite reconnue, ou quinze motifs de la conversion de MM. de
Pragellat." The first edition is without date or place of publication; the second
was printed at Lyons in 1679. The author of this pamphlet is a Catholic, who
pretends to be a converted Protestant. The work is addressed, "to the Bre
thren of Geneva, Charenton, and London."
17. Danne. " Les colonnes de la religion catholique inebranlables aux
attaques de leurs adversaires; et proposees aux habitants de St. Jean en la valiee
de Luserne, par C. M. J.-B. Danne, ci-devant leur ministre, et maintenant doc-
teur es-lois et conseiller de S. A. R." Turin, 1679; 18mo, of xii and 280 pages.
In the Acts of the Synod held at La Tour, 30th December, 1693, we read that the
Sieur Gautier, pastor and professor of theology in the city of Marburg, in Hesse,
having composed a Reply for the Valleys to the book of M. Danne ... he
has already received upon this account the sum of fifty crowns." Danne had
previously written a statement of the reasons of his conversion (see preface to
the Colonnes, p. 3); and the ministers of the valleys had replied to,him in a tract
of more, than 80 pages. But the latter work remained in manuscript. (Same
preface, p. 7 and p. 8, paragraph 3.)
18. "Les Vaudois convaincus d'hei-esie, par Francois Gay, ministre du St.
Evangile." Pignerol, 1836; 8vo, pp. 60. On the cover of this pamphlet we
read, Appel aux Vaudois. (See the Israel of the Alps, part iii., ch. xxiv.)
19. "Le guide du catechumene Vaudois, ou cours d'instructions destinees a
lui faire connaitre la verite de la religion cathohque : Ouvrage utile a tous les
dissidents; par M. A. Charvaz, 6vgque'de Pignerol." Paris and Lyons (Per
isse, freres); three large 8vo volumes, the first and second published in 1840,
and the third in 1842. Que 0f the best written of all the works against the
Vaudois, although the title contains an error of syntax, as the reference of the
pronoun lui is indeterminate. The other works of the same author are noticed
in section I., § 4, No. 9, of this Bibliography.
§ 2. — Polemical works m favour of the Vaudois.
1. "Excusatio Valdensium, contra binas litteras doctoris Augustini." 1 voL
folio, printed in 1512.
2. "Apologia eorum qui appellantur Waldenses." I vol. 4to, Wittemberg,
1538. With these two works I am unacquainted.
3. " Le manuel du vray chrestien, oppose au Diurnal du sieur Jean Balcet,

No. I.] BIBLIOGRAPHY. 427
enseignant la maniere de la droite invocation du pur service de Dieu : et conte-
nant la decision claire et sblide des principales controverses de theologie agitees
en ce temps; par Daniel Pastor, ministre de la Parole de Dieu en l'Eglise re
formee de Pragela." Geneva, 1652; 1 vol. 8vo, of xvi and 915 pages, besides
twelve pages of contents. The epistle dedicatory, to the members of the re
formed churches of the valley of Pragela, is dated from La Souchiere, 1st June,
1651. Pastor had discharged the functions of a tutor in the Palatine house.
(Records of the Venerable Company of Pastors of Geneva; vol. G, p. 283; and
for other particulars, pp. 79, 161, and 337 of the same volume ; also vol. H,
p. 340 )
4. " Saincte Paiinodie, ou repentance des prisonniers des Eglises reformees
de Piemont, lesquels par infirmite avaient fait abjuration de la verite; avec une
brieve reformation des articles de ladite abjuration dresses par ordonnance de
l'archeveque de Turin, et du general des inquisiteurs de ladite cite;" 1656; 8voj
of 87 pages. (In reply to the work, No. 15 of the preceding §.)
5. "Le succes de la mission de Pragela, ou veritable retit de la conference
tenue a Fenestrelles, le 2 Octobre, 1659, entre le sieur Benjamin De Joux,
ministre du saint Evangile en l'Eglise dudit lieu, et le sieur Marc Antoine
Calemart, jesuite missionnaire." Geneva, 1659, 8vo, of xiv and 248 pages.
(See Israel of the Alps, part III., ch. xv.)
6. "Reponse pour les Eglises des vallees de Piemont au sieur illumine Fa-
verpt, Recollet et missionaire; ou sont refutees les erreurs de l'Eglise romaine,
et les chicanes des missionaires, avec les indices necessaires." Geneva, 1679;
1 vol. 4to, of xxx, 824, and x pages. (For the titles of Faverot's works, see
the preceding §, Nos. 10 and 11.)
7. There exist, I am informed, two apologetic works intended for the de
fence of the Vaudois against one Peter Dolmans, who had accused them of
Manicheism — the name of the author being Heydenhyck, and the place of their
publication Harderwyck. They appeared in 1713. I mention them not with
out doubt and hesitation.
8. An Apology for the Vaudois, giving a general view of their origin ....
and an appeal to all the governments of Europe on their behalf. London, 1827;
8vo. Attributed to Mr. Sims. Along with this may be named the Historic-
Defence of the Vaudois, by Peyrani, of which Mr. Sims was editor. (See sect.
I., § 1, Modern Authors, No. 1), and the Five Letters by a Vaudois of the Cis
alpine Gauls. (See sect. I., § 2, No. 8.)
Obs. The controversial works specially intended for the defence of the
Vaudois, are not so numerous as those which assail them ; but it must not be
forgotten that the assailants had every facility, whilst the liberty of the press
and right of defence were denied to the Vaudois ; wherefore, all the works
mentioned in this §, were either composed by foreigners, or at least published
in foreign countries.
Section V. — Periodical, artistic, descriptive, scientific, and literary
WORKS, RELATIVE TO THE VAUDOIS.
§ 1. — Books of Travels.
1. Burnet. "Voyage historique et politique, de Suisse, d'ltalie et d'AUe-
magne." First ed., Rotterdam, 1690, 8vo. 2d ed., Frankfort, 1737; 3 vols.
12 mo. In this work are to be found particular details concerning the employ
ment of part of the collections in favour of the Vaudois, made in 1655.

428 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. [Appendix.
2. Spon (Jacob). "Travels in Italy, Dalmatia," &c. The author relates in
this work that he met in Greece, at the base of Parnassus, a venerable old man,
named Barba Dimon, &c.
3. Coyer. "Voyage d'ltalie et de Hollande." Paris, 1775; 2 vols. 8vo.—
With this may be named Roland, "Lettres ecrites de Suisse, d'ltalie, et de
Sicile." Paris, 1780; 6 vols. 8vo; and Volkinann, !Travels in Italy (in Ger
man) 1771, 3 vols. 8vo.
4. "A brief account of the Vaudois of Piemont," without author's name,
8vo, London, 1753.
5. Bridge. "A brief narrative of a visit to the Vaudois-" London, 8vo.
A mere pamphlet. — "Courte narration d'une visite aux Vaudois." Cambridge,
1825. (The same work.)
6. Jackson. "Observations on the Vaudois of Piemont." Lond., 1826 (Ob
servations made during a tour in the valleys).
7. "Sketch of the past and present state of the Vaudois or Valdenses in
habiting the valleys of Piedmont." London, 1816.
8. "History and present situation of the Vaudois." Lond. 1823.
9. "Die Waldenser in den piemontesischen Thalern.'' Berlin, 1824.
10. Bracebridge. "Authentic particulars concerning the Vaudois." (Notice
communicated.) This author likewise had visited the Vaudois valleys.
11. Gilly. "Narrative of an excursion to the mountains of Piemont, and
researches among the Vaudois or Waldenses, Protestants, inhabitants of the
Cottian Alps." London, 1824 or 1825. Dr. Gilly is one of the most volumi
nous, learned, and interesting of all modern authors who have written on the
subject of the Vaudois. Some of the preceding works already named, and some
of those still to be noticed, owe their existence to the universal interest which
his pen has produced in favour of the Vaudois valleys. (Concerning the in
fluence which he has exercised, and the benefits which he has conferred, see
chap. xxiv. of part III. of the Israel of the Alps.)
12. Henderson. "The Vaudois, comprising observations made during a
tour to the valleys of Piemont, in the summer of 1844." London, 1845;
I vol. 8vo, of viii and 262 pages.
13. "Notes of a tour in the valleys of Piedmont in the summer of 1854, by
the Rev. Baptist W. Noel."
Obs. Amongst the numerous modern narratives of travels in which the Vau
dois are mentioned, I have thought it necessary to name those only of which
the Vaudois valleys are especially the subject.
§ 2. — Descriptive Works.
1. A Description of Piedmont, and particularly of the Vaudois valleys. (In
German) 8vo, Zurich, 1698.
2. Leander. Description of the valley of Lucerna. (No fuller notice of
this work is given in the communication which has been made to me.)
3. Letters regarding the Val Louise, by Father Rossignol. Turin, 1804 ;
8vo of 24 pages. (Communicated.)
4. " Description historique des Vaudois ou habitants des vallees du Piemont "
Fol., Amst., 1731.
5. Names, situation, and particular description of the valleys of France,
along the great Alps, in Dauphiny and Provence, and of those which descend
from the Alps into Italy, from Savoy to that of St. Etienne, near Nice. By
the Marquis De Pesay. Turin, 1793; 18mo, pp. 172.

No-1] BIBLIOGRAPHY. 429
6. Report on the earthquake, which began on 2d April, 1808, in the valleys
of the Pelis, the Cluson, the Po, &c. Laid before the class of physical and
mathematical sciences in the Imperial Academy of Turin, in the sitting of
2d May, 1808; by A. M. Vassali-Eandi. Published by order of the prefect,
by Felix Galetti. Turin, 1808 ; 8vo, pp. 136.
7. " Correspondance Vaudoise ; ou recueil de lettres de quelques habitants
des vallees de Pignerol, sur le tremblement de terre de 1808." New edition,
Paris, 1808; an 8vo, of viii and 70 pages.
8. With the two preceding works, which are essentially works of descrip
tion and observation, I think it right to name the following, which is entirely
theoretic, but which relates to the same phenomenon: — "Nouveau pas sur les
sentiers de nature, concernant les causes physiques des secousses reiterees des
tremblements de terre. Systeme sur la materialite de l'axe du globe, &c. . . .
par un habitant des Hautes-Alpes." Gap, without date, one vol. 12mo, pp.
292. The name of the author was De Rochas. This earthquake is inci
dentally spoken of in many other works. Humboldt, in his Cosmos, ranks it
amongst the most remarkable earthquakes recorded in history.
9. La Doucette (ex-prefect). "Statistique des Hautes-Alpes.' One vol.
8vo. Allioni, in his Flora of Piedmont ; 2 vols. fol. — Villars, in his Flora of
Dauphiny, 4 vols. 4to, and other authors writing on particular subjects, have
incidentally described different parts of the Vaudois mountains.
§ 3. — Illustrated Works.
1. "Viaggio romantico-pittorico, delle provincie occidentali dell' antica e
moderna Italia, dell' avocato Modesto Paroletti." Turin, 1824, 2 vols. fol.
He speaks of the Vaudois valleys, in vol. i., pp. 134-137.
2. "The exiles of Lucerna, or the sufferings of the Waldenses during tho
persecution of 1686." Edinburgh, 1841, 8vo, pp. 196, with lithographs of two
tints. 3. "A tale of the Vaudois;, designed for young persons." By M. R. Webb,
&c, London, 1842, 18mo, pp. 251 ; with wood engravings. A sort of historic
romance. 4. Les vallees Vaudoises pittoresques, ou vallees protestantes du Piemont,
du Dauphine, et du Ban de la Roche, par W. Beattie . . . traduit de 1' Anglais,
par L. de Bauclas." Paris, 1838; a large quarto vol. of viii and 216 pages,
with map, portrait, engraved title-page, and 73 engravings on steel, of great
beauty, made from drawings taken on the spot, by Messrs. Bartlett and
Brockedon. This work appeared at the same time in English and in German.
It is one of the most beautiful illustrated works which modern times have pro
duced, and unquestionably the most deserving of notice of all those which have
for their object the exhibition by engravings of the aspect of the Vaudois valleys.
5. There are also views of the country in Dr. Gilly's "Narrative of an
excursion to the mountains of Piemont." (See § 1, No. 8, of this section.)
Other works also contain views, but, like his, only as accessory to their principal
contents. § 4. — Tales and Poems.
1. D'Olivet (Fabre). "Les montagnards des Alpes, en 1488." 2 vols. 8vo;
first edition, Paris, 1835; second, Paris, 1837. This work relates to the events
which took place in the Vaudois valleys, at the time of the crusade proclaimed by

430 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. [Appendix.
Innocent VIII. and directed by Albert Cattanee ; but the author neither knew'
the history nor the country of the Vaudois. He says, however, at the end of
vol. ii., "I might easily have loaded these pages with notes and quotations, or
have added a volume of documents in justification," &c. ... In the first
edition of this tale, he quoted the work of Valbonays (sees § 1 of next section,
No. 13.) under the name of the printer, and made the further blunder of ascrib
ing two different editions of that work to two different authors. In his second
edition there are still many errors. He even quotes, as if he had read them,
works which are not in existence. • Such are the Memoires of Vignaux, Rosta-
ing, and Morel, the EnqvMes juridiques, and other MSS. to which Perrin had
access, but which have since been lost. I have compared all the references on
particular points which the author of this tale makes with precision, and I have
found them all incorrect, except five.
2. Dinocoubt. " Le chasseur noir, ou les Vaudois." Paris, 6 vols. 12mo.
Relates to the events of Merindol and Cabrieres. It is still less historic than
•the preceding.
3. Malan (Cesar). "Le Chretien primitif ; anecdote provencale." Geneva ;
a small 12mo volume. The same author has published a " Complainte sur
Porigine et les malheurs des Vaudois de Merindol," with a view of that village,
and the words set to music.
4. "La protestante, ou les Ce.vennes au xviii. siecle . . , ." Paris,
,3 vols. 12mo. This work relates to the Camisards, as does likewise the romance
of Eugene Sue, " Cavalier ou les Montagnards des Cevennes." Paris, 1840.
The sources of historic information for this subject, were the Histoire des Cami
sards, par Court de Gebelin, 3 vols. 12mo. — the Memo'res de Jean Cavalier,
4 vols. — the Theatre sacre" des Cevennes, by Max. Mibbon, London, 1707, 8vo. —
Le patriate francais et impartial, 4 vols., published in 1703, &c. There exists
a historic romance entitled The Albigenses, by Ch. Mathurin, 4 vols., a work
full of very tedious passages.
5. "La valiee de la Clusone, episode de l'histoire des Vaudois du Piemont
au xviie siecle, par Carloman d'Andilli, traduit de l'Anglais." Geneva and
Paris; 1838, one vol. 12mo.— With this may be named a little work entitled,
Pierre et safamille.
6. "The Waldenses, or the Fall of Rora ; a lyrical sketch, with other poems,
by Aubrey De Verb." Oxford, 1842; 8vo, of xii and 311 pages. The
poem relative to the Vaudois occupies 94 pages. See also No. 3 of the preced
ing §.
7. "L'exil des Vaudois;" "Le Retour des Vaudois ; " " Le Serment du Si-
baud ;" "La Voix des Martyrs," and "Le Culte dans les Alpes," are patriotic
songs which have been published in different collections. The music of the first
three was composed by M. A. Bost, that of the last, by M. Cuche.
§ 5. — Periodical Works.
1. "Mercure Historique et Politique, contenant I'etat pre'sent de l'Europe
ce qui se passe dans toutes les cours, l'iuteret des princes, leurs brigues, et gen6-
ralement tout ce qu'il y a de mieux, pour le mois de. . . . Le tout accom-
pagne de reflexions politiques sur chaque Etat. A La Haye, chez Henri Van
Bulderen. . . . avec privilege des Etats de Hollande et Westfrise."
The title of this publication has 'been taken from the number for January
1690; it was somewhat changed in subsequent numbers; and after the month
of January, 1710, the paper bore only the title of Mercure Hist, et Polit.
This collection commences, I believe, about 1682, and ends about 1730 I

No. I.] BIBLIOGRAPHY. 431
have it not in my power to give these notices with greater accuracy ; and the
same remark applies to many others.
2. " Lettres Historiques, contenant ce qui se passe de plus important en
Europe, et les reflexions necessaires sur ce sujet. A La Haye, chez Adrien
Moetjens." The first number appeared in January, 1692. With this may be
named the "Journal Historique de l'Europe," by Louis Augustin Alemand,
from 1690 to 1696; and " LTntroduction a l'histoire d'airjourdhui, tir6e des
GazetteB." (Concerning the Vaudois, see chap, xiii.)
3. " L'Esprit des cours de l'Europe, ou Ton voit tout ce qui se passe de
plus important touchant la politique, et en general ce qu'il y a de plus remar
quable dans les nouvelles. A La Haye, chez Francois L'Honor6." This began
to appear in 1699.
4. Gazettes of Leyden, of France, and of England. The last was the ear
liest in date, and began to appear in 1588. The complete collection is very
rare. These journals make no mention of the Vaudois. except at the times of
those great events which drew public attention to that people, especially in
1655, 1686, and 1690.
5. The National Archives of Baden (in German), Carlsruhe, t. I., No. 5.
Letters and Observations on the Vaudois, >by Mone. The Universal Gazette of
Halle, March, 1821, No. 59, gives an analysis of this publication. The work
of Mone appeared in a separate form at Berlin, in 1821.
6. The Ecclesiastical Gazette of Darmstadt (in German), contains a number
of articles on the Vaudois, by Mr. Bracebridge. Another journal, published in
the state of Darmstadt — the weekly paper of Budingen — contains, amongst
others, an interesting article on the Vaudois Church of Waldensberg, in the
number of 19th November, 1825.
7. The Universal Gazette of Augsburg, for the year 1842, in Nos. 362,
363, and 364, of 28th, 29th, and 30th December— articles " From Piedmont,"
and " On Piedmont."
8. The New Theological Annals (a German journal). Numbers for Febru
ary and March, 1820, p. 171; and for May, 1821, p. 316; and May, 1822, p.
216. 9. The Preachers' Bibliotheca Critica (a German publication). Vol. viii.,
part 1., p. 181, " Theological Notices." Some particulars regarding the
Vaudois. 10. British Review, March, 1828, and other numbers. British Magazine,
No. 113, p. 397, and other places.
11. Edinburgh Review, and Edinburgh Encyclopedia. Articles by Messrs.
Plenderleith, Gilly, &c.
12. Quarterly Review; number for December, 1843, article entitled, The
Vaudois Church and the King of Sardinia, of which an account is given in the
Record for 22d December, 1843. There are also articles in previous numbers of
the Review relating to the Vaudois.
13. Monthly Review ; number for June, 1814, p. 204, $c.
14. E vangelische Kirchenzeitung ; year 1829.
15. The Religious Narrator (a journal published in Holland) ; number for
24th August, 1839, and many others.
16. The Philanthropist (a German journal, published at Elberfeld, in Prus
sia); numbers for 13th and 14th June, 1825.
17. "Le Federal" of Geneva; numbers of 21st. 22d, and 23d May, 1844.
Another journal of Geneva, Le Lecteur, first part, "Notice hist, et statisque
sur lis vallees Vaudoises." And with this article should be compared for

432 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. [Appendix.
correction of mistakes, "Le disciple de Jesus Christ," a religious review, pub
lished at Paris, vol. ix. p. 32 (Number for April, 1847). See also L'Ami de la
jeunesse, Paris, 1831, vol. vii., p. 373 ; containing a ballad by M. De Felice,
entitled, Le Colporteur Vaudois (the subject taken from the eighth chapter of
Reynerus). 18. " Revue Encyclopedique ; " " Bibliotheque Encyclopedique," &c. See
the Index.
19. " Archives fivang61iques de Nimes ; year 1844.
20. " Les Archives du Christianisme ; '' many articles, as also in Le Semeur;
(years, 1834, 1837, 1840, &c.)
21..Wesleyan Methodist Magazine, Wesleyan Record, &c. Many articles,
from 1833 to 1848.
22. "Le Chroniqueur; journal de l'Helvetie Romande, de 1535 a 1536;''
published in 1835 and 1836. Lausanne, 4to ; by M. Vuillemin, p. 394, &c.
23. "Revue Theologique." Strasburg, December, 1850; vol. I., p. 334;
article On the Origin and Primitive Doctrines of the Vaudois ; and vol. ii. No. 6,
in which is a most interesting article on the Vaudois translations of the Bible,
by Reuss. Vol. v. also contains two articles on the Vaudois.
24. Theological Miscellanies, in German, published by the Theological Society
of Strasburg, under the direction of Messrs. Reuss and Cunitz, at Jena. The
first three volumes contain valuable articles on the Vaudois.
25. " L'echo des Vallees : feuille mensuelle, spetialement consacree aux
interets de la famille Vaudoise." The first number appeared on 13th July,
1848. This journal, the collected numbers of which will yet become extremely
valuable for the information which they contain, relative to the modern history
of the Vaudois, was established, and has hitherto been conducted with remark
able ability, by M. Meille, author of the work mentioned in this Bibliography,
in No. 6 of the Modern Historians, placed at the end of § 1 of the first section.
This work has been succeeded by La Buona Novella, also conducted by M.
Meille. Section VI.— Historical works, in which the vaudois are only inciden
tally TREATED OF, BUT WHICH EMBODY PARTICULAR VIEWS OR DOCUMENTS.
CHAPTER I. — WORKS ON SPECIAL SUBJECTS.
§ 1. — Local History.
1. The Authorities referred to at the head of each chapter of the Israel of
the Alps, and particularly those of chapters iii., iv., vi., and ix. of Part I., and
of chapters viii. and ix. of Part III.
2. "Memoires historiques sur la maison royale de Savoie," by the Mar
quis Costa De Beauregard. Turin, 1816; 3 vols. 8vo.
3. Researches concerning the History and ancient constitution of the
monarchy of Savoy, composed chiefly from unpublished documents, by M. L.
Cibbario. In Italian; Turin, 1832; and translated into French by Bouliee.
Paris, 1833; 8vo of ix and 308 pages. See also the admirable work of M.
Cibrario, On the History of Law during the Middle Ages. This eminent man,
as obliging as he is learned, has had the goodness to extract from the re
searches which he made as a member of the Commission for the Monumenla
Patriae, interesting notes and unpublished documents for the Israel of the
Alps.

No. I] BIBLIOGRAPHY. 433
4. Della Chiesa (Agostino). "Corona reale di Savoja," 4to. — Ludovico
Della Chiesa, " Storia di Piemonte," 8vo.
5. De Saluces. Military History of Piedmont.
6. Muletti. "Memoires historiques sur le Marquisat de Saluces." See
vol. vi.
7. Massi and other authors, " Storia di Pinerolo."
8. Soleri. " Diario dei falti successi in Torino ;" and other authors on the
history of Turin or of Piedmont.
9. Sillery. "Die Waldensischen Protestanten, in den Alpenthalern bei
Turin, in Italia . . ." Heidelberg, 1844; 32mo.
10. Lowther. " Brevi osservazioni sui Valdesi . . . ." Geneva, 1821.
Also in French, Geneva, 1821; in English, London, 1821 ; 8vo, pp. 62.
11. "Notice sur I'etat actuel des Eglises Vaudoises . . ." Paris, 1822.
Another Notice Historique on the same subject, Geneva, 1825.
12. Chorier. "Histoire gen6rale de Dauphine, depuis l'an 1000 de notre
Seigneur jusqu'a nos jours . . ." LyonB, 1672 ; 2 vols, folio. (The first
volume w. s printed at Grenoble in 1661.) See vol.'ii., § xix., p. 69; book
xv., § x., p. 500, &c. This author is indiscriminating, and often inaccurate,
In consulting his work, reference ought always to be made to the higher author
ity of the following : —
13. Valbonays (Jean-Pierre Moret de Bourchenu, Marquis de Valbonays;
born at Grenoble in 1651; became blind in 1701. I do not know the date ol
his death). He wrote a work — the title of which varies in the different editions
— the "Histoire de Dauphine et des princes qui ont porte le nom de Dauphins,
particulierement de ceux de la troisieme race, &c. . . ." Geneva, 1712; 1 vol.
fol. The first edition was entitled, "Memoires pour servir a l'histoire de
Dauphine, sous les Dauphins de la maison de La-Tour:du-Pin, &c. . . ." Paris,
1711; 1 vol. fol. of ix, vi, 22, 681, and 20 pages. Concerning the Vaudois, see
pp. 326-346. The name of the author is not printed in either of these volumes.
14. "Histoire geographique, naturelle, ecclesiastique et civile du diocese
d'Embrun, par M  , bachelier en droit canonique et civil de la faculte de
Paris et docteur en theologie." Without place of publication, 1783; 2 vols.
8vo. This is the work to which the Five Letters, by a Vaudois, &c, are a reply.
(See section I., § 2, No. 8 of the present part of this Bibliography.) The
author of this history, which is sometimes referred to under the title of Histoire
du diocese d'Embrun, was Father Albert. His work must have been printed
at Lyons. 15. Mabanda. "Tableau du Piemont, sous le regime des rois, avec un
precis sur les Vaudois et une notice sur les Barbets." Turin, year XI. (1803);
1 vol. 8vo, of vi and 244 pages, dedicated to Bonaparte, First Consul. This
work contains 15 chapters, of which only the last two relate to the Vaudois.
It is by no means trustworthy.
16. " Johannis Columbi Manuascensis [de Manosque]. Opuscula varia, &c
. . . -" Lugduni, 1568. One vol. 32mo. What relates to the Vaudois is
contained in the fourth book, entitled, De rebus gestis Epis. Valent. et Dieusvum.
Jean Colomb Manosque belonged to the order of the Jesuits.
17. "Les transactions dTmbert, dauphin de Viennois, prince du Brian-
connais et marquis de Sezane, &c. . . ." One vol. fol., MDCXLV.— See also
Brunet, seigneur de l'Argentiere, "Recueil des actes, pieces et procedures,
concernant l'emphitheose perp6tuelle des dimes du Brianconnais, &c. ..."
One vol. 32mo, 1754. Also, " Recueil de pieces concernant la regale, l'affaire
d'Embrun," &c. ... 10 vols. 4to.
Vol. II. 115

434 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. [Appendix.
18. Du Tillier, History of Berne, 5 vols. 8vo. Berne, 1839 (in Ger
man). — Denina, History of the Italian Revolutions (in Italian). Translated
into French by Jardin; Paris, 1770. — Leti, Storia Genevrina. . . . Am
sterdam, 1686 ; 5 vols. 8vo. (In a number of houses in Geneva, there are
MSS. which pass for family records, and which are nothing else than fragments
of this work, translated at the time when it appeared).
§ 2. — Memoirs and Biographies.
1. " Memoires de M.D.F.L., touchant ce qui s'est passe en Italie", entre Victor
Amedee II., due tie Savoie, et le roi tres-ehretien avec le detail. . . ." &c.
Aix-Ia-ChapeUe, 1697. Concerning the Vaudois, see pp. 39, 40, et seq., 170, &c.
2. "Memoires du prince Eugene." Several works are referred to under this
title: "Histoire du prince Francois-Eugene de Savoye, generaUssime des armees
de l'Empereur et de l'Einpire. . . " Amsterdam, 1740. Reprinted at Vienna
in 1755, in 5 vols. 8vo, with engravings. See vol. i. book ii. p. 113, of the first
edition ; vol. iii. p. 146 of the second, &C
3. Feuquieres. "Lettres et negotiations.'' Paris, 1753; 3 vols. 8vo.
Memoires du Marquis de Feuquieres, published in 7 vols. — To which may be
added, D'Esthades, Lettres et Negociations ; London, 1743, 9 vols. 8vo ; ex
tending from 1637 to 1677; and Vie du Cardinal de Richelieu, the second volume
of which may be consulted.
4. The Histories of Louis XIV., by Bruyen de la Martiniere, and many other
authors, contain a number of particulars connected with the history of the
Vaudois. 5. "Recueil de lettres de Louis XIV. a ses ministres et a ses generaux."
Paris, 1760; 8 vols. 8vo.
6. Histories of the Dukes of Savoy, by various authors; s. g., those of Em
manuel Philibert (Amsterdam, 1693, and in Latin, Turin, 1596;; and of Charles
Emmanuel (Turin, 1632), &c.
7. "D'Origny. "La vie du P. Antoine Ponevin et de ses negotiations."
Paris, 1712. See also the Lives of Schomberg, of Catinat, of the Marquis de
La Feuillade, of the Marquis De Parelles, and, in general, of all the eminent
personages who figured in the campaigns of 1690 and 1703. But the particular
memoirs and biographies, which refer more or less to the Vaudois, are so numer
ous, that I have thought it necessary to restrict myself in the enumeration of
them. Those which are of any historic importance relate especially to the
period from 1664 to 1713.

CHAPTER ii. — works of a general character.
§ 1. — Ecclesiastical Histories.
A — In French.
1. Basnage de Beauval (Jaq.) "Histoire de l'Eglise depuis J. C. jusqu'a
present," divided into four parts. First edition, Rotterdam, 1699; 2 vols. fol.
Second edition, the Hague, 1723; 2 vols, fol., &c. This author treats at great
length of the Vaudois, and had even conceived the design of writing their his
tory.— See also the Biblioth. eccl. of Dupin, and the critical examination of it
by Rich. Simon, articles Valdo, Bruys, &c.
2. Fleury (Claude). " Histoire ecclesiastique. " (It comes down to 1414.)

No. I.] BIBLIOGRAPHY. 435
Paris, 1691-1720; 20 vols. 4to. Brussels, 1692-1720; 20 vols. 4to, &c. Gene.
ral Index of Matters by Rondet. Paris, 1758; 4to. This history has been con
tinued to 1595 by J. CI. Febre, who has added 16 volumes to it (vols.
xxi.-xxxvi.); and, finally, it has been brought down to the end of the eighteenth
century, under the title, " Histoire du Christianisme connu, &c, augmentee de
4 livres, comprenant l'histoire du quinzieme siecle et continuant jusqu'a la fin
du dix-huitieme siecle," by a Society of Ecclesiastics, under the superintendence
of the Abbe 0. Vidal. Paris, 1837; 8 large 8vo vols. — Fleury's history has
given rise to the following works : — Honore" de Sainte Marie, " Observations
sur l'histoire ecciesiastique de Fleury," addressed to Our Holy Father Pope Bene
dict XIII., and to Our Lords and Bishops. Marines, 1727, 8vo; and ibid. 1760.
Consists of denunciations of Fleury's Ecclesiastical History to Our Lords and
Bishops. — Beaudoin de Housta, ' ' La mauvaise foi de M. Fleury, prouvee par
plusieurs passages des Saints Peres, des conciles et d'auteurs ecciesiastiques qu'il
a omis, tronques ou infidelement traduits dans son histoire." Malines, 1733;
4to. — Rossignol, " Reflexions sur l'histoire ecciesiastique de Fleury;" 1802. —
Marchetti, " Critique de l'histoire ecciesiastique de Fleury," translated from
Italian into French; published in Belgium in 1803, and at Besancon in 1819;
in 2 vols. 12mo. — Mazaretti, "Remarques sur l'histoire ecciesiastique et
specialement sur la dissertation de Fleury," translated from the fourth Italian
edition. »
3. Mosheim (John Laurence). "Histoire ecciesiastique," translated into
French from the English, by Fortunat Felice, Yverdon, 1776 ; 6 vols. 8vo ; and
from the original Latin, by Eidous (Marc Antoine), Maastricht, 1776, 6 vols.
8vo. This history has been translated into almost all the languages of Europe.
4. Beze (Theodore De). " Histoire ecciesiastique de l'Eglise reformee au
royaume de France, en laquelle est decrite au vray la renaissance et accroisse-
ment d'icelles, depuis l'an 1521 a 1523; leur reglement ou discipline, synodes,
persecutions tant generales que particulieres." Antwerp, 1580; 3 vols. 8vo.
A second edition of this work was pubhshed by M. Marzials, at Lille, 1837-
1841 ; 3 vols. 8vo. In the first edition, which I have used, the Vaudois of
Provence are treated of in vol. i., p. 35, et seq. On the same subject, see (be
sides the authorities named at the head of chap. v. of part I. of the Israel of
the Alps), Gaufridi, "Histoire de Provence;" Aix, 1684; folio; book xi.,
Bouohe, " Histoire de Provence," p. 607. Nostradamus (Cesar, the eldest
son of Michel the prophesier), "Histoire et chronique de Provence;" Lyons,
1664 ; folio, book vii. De Thou, " Historiar. sui temporis . . . ; " book v.
La PoPLlNifcRE, "Histoire de France," (from 1550 to 1557), 2 vols, folio.
Voltaibe, Histoire generale, vol. i., p. 170.
B. — In Latin.
5. Gebdes. " Specimen Ttaliae reformatae." Leyden, 1765, 4to; vol. ii., p.
400. — Scultet (Abraham), " Annalium Evangelii passim per Europam, 15salu-
tis partae seculo renovati decas 1 et 2, ab a. 1516 ad a. 1536. Heidelberg, 1618.
6. Babonius (Caesar). " Annales ecclesiast. a Chr. nato ad a. 1198." Rome,
1588-1607; 12 vols, folio. Second edition, Antwerp, 1589-1603; 10 vols.
folio, &c. This work has been continued by Bzovius (Abraham), " Annales
ecclesiast. post Caes. Baronium;'- vols, xiii.-xx.; " ab a. 1198 usque ad a. 1565,
rerum in orbe Christ, gestar. narrationem complectentes." Rome, 1616. et seq.,
folio; and Cologne, 1621-1630, folio. This author often declares himself op
posed to Baronius. Another continuation is by H. Spondanus, " Annalium

436 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. [Appendix.
ecclesiast. Caes. Baronii continuatio ab an. 1197 ad finem 1646. Paris [1640-
41], 1647; 2 vols, folio. Lyons, 1678; 3 vols, folio. Another continuation is
by Od. Raynaldus, " Annales ecclesiast. ab a. quo desinit Caesar Baronius,
1198, usque ad an. 1565;" vols, xiii.-xxi. Rome, 1646-1677, folio. Cologne,
1693-1727; folio. Another continuation is by James De Laderohio, "Annales
eceles. ab a. 1566, ubi desinit Od. Raynaldus;" vols, xxii.-xxiv. Rome, 1728-
1737; folio. The following works are also relative to the Annals of Baronius:
— Is. Casaubon, " De rebus sacris et ecclesiast. exercitat. xvi. ad Baronium
prolegomena," &c. London, 1614, folio. Frankfort, 1615, 4to. Geneva (1654),
1663, 4to. Ant. Pagi, " Critica hist, chronol. in universos Annal. Baronii.
Opus Posthumum 4 T. distinctum. Accedunt ca'alogi 10 veter. Summor.
pontificum hactemus inediti." Antwerp, 1705, 4 vols, folio. New edition of
Fr. P.,gi, Antw., 1724; 14 vols, folio.
Alexander (Nat.), " Histor. eceles. V. et N. T., ab orbe cond. ad a. p. Ch. u.
1600, et in loca ejusdem ins:gnia dissertt. hist, chronol. crit. dogm. in 8 torn.
divisae, ante quidem (1676 ff. 26 v. 8o), per [24, according to others 26] partes,
nunc autem conjunctim et accuratius edita, rerum novar. accessions, schoiiis et
indicib. aucta, illustr. ornata. Par. (1699-1714) 1730, 8 vols., bound in 7, folio.
New editions have been published by Roncaglia (Lucca, 1734, 9 vols., bound in
8, folio), and Mansi (Lucca, 1749). This last edition has been several times
reprinted. Ferrara, 1758-1762; 9 vols, folio. New edition, Bassano, 1778,
9 vols., and 3 vols, of supplement, folio, &c.
The brothers De Sainte Mabthe, "Gallia christ., qua series omnium archi-
epis:opoium, episcop., et abbat. Francise vicinarumque ditionum ab origine
eceles. ad nostra tempora deducitur." Par. 1656, 4 vols, folio. New ediiion,
vols, i.-iii., Par. 1715-25, edited by the Monk of Saint Maur; vols, iv.-xiii.,
Par. 1728-85, folio. " Scriptores ordinis Prsedicator. recensiti, notisque hist.
et crit. illustrati; opus, quo singulor. vita prseclareque gesta rereruntur, &c, &c.
Inchoavit Jac. Quetif, absolvit Jao. Echard." P^,r. 1719-1721; 2 vols. fol.
— Usher, " De christianarum Eceles. successione et statu." It was from the
library of this celebrated Anglican bishop, that the precious Vaudois MSS. were
derived, which are now deposited in the library of Trinity College, Dublin.
7. Hermann Van der Hardt. "Histor. litter, reformationis, constans
5 partib. . . . omnia rara partim MSS., cum introductionibus." Frankfort
and Leipzig, 1717; fol. — Bernhard-Lutzenbubg, "Catal. haereticor. omnium
pene qui ad hsec usque tempora passim litterar. monument, proditi sunt, illor.
nomina, errores et tempora, quib. vixerunt, ostendens, in cujus calce et de
Luthero non nihil deprehendes." Without place or date of publication (Cologne,
1525). Second edition, enlarged, without place of publication (Cologne,
(1526), 1527; 8vo.— Abr. Schcltet, "Medullas theologias patrum syntagma,
in quo theologia priscor. primit. eccl. doctor, qui a. et p. cone. Nicoen. floruer.
etc. etc." Frankfort, 1634 ; 4to. See also the work by him mentioned in No.
9.— Colberg, "De origine et progressu hseresium." London, 1674; 4to.
— Hermant (John), "Histoire des heresies." Rome, 1717 ; 4 vols. 12m'o.
8. F. Spanheim, "Introd. ad chronol. et histor. sacr. ac praecipue chris
tian., ad tempora reformationis cum necessariis castigationibus Cass. Baronii."
Leyden, 1683, 1687; 2 vols. 4to. " Summa histor. eceles. a Chr. natoadsec. 16,
inchoatum. Prasmittitur doctrinatemporum,"etc. (Leyden, 1687-1694.) Leip
zic, 1698; 4to. See Section xii.— Eberhard A. B6rger, "De Mysticismo "
The Hague, 1820 ; 8vo. Translated into German, by E. Stange, with a preface,
by J. Gurlett ; Altona, 1826 ; 8vo. New ed., with preface by E. G. A. Bceckel ¦
Altona, 1827 ; 8vo. A work to which a premium was awarded.— Is. De Beau-

No. I.J BIBLIOGRAPHY. 437
sobre, Hist. crit. de Manichee et du Manicheisme; Amst. 1734, 1739; 8 vols.
4to. In favour of the Vaudois; see the preface, which says — "Amongst the
errors of the Vaudois there is nothing which savours of Manicheism." — Bossuet,
Hist, de Variat. Book xi., § xovi., par. 2. — Ludneb, History of the Middle
Ages.-^BAUMGARTEN, History of Religious parties. A calm and impartial
German historian. C. — In German.
9. Sohrojckh (John Matthias), "Christ!. Kirchengesch." Leipz. 1768-1803;
38 vols. 8vo. An immense collection ; for what concerns the Vaudois, see vol.
xxix. — Henke (H. Ph. Kr.), "Allgem. Gesch. der Christl. Kirche nach d. Zeit-
folge." The fiTst volume appeared in 1788, and has passed through many edi
tions, as have also all the following. J. Sev. Vater has continued it from vol.
vii. The ninth and last volume appeared in 1823, in 8vo. — Arnold (Godefroy),
"Unparth. Kirchen-und-Ketzer-Historie, vom Auf. des N. T. bis auf das Jahr.
Chr. 1688." Frankfort-on-the-Maine, 1669-1700; 4 vols. fol. " Supplementa,
Illustrationes u. Emendationes zur Verbesser. der Kirchen-Historie." Frank
fort-on-the-Maine, 1703; 4to. New ed. with supplem.; Id. 1729; 2 vols. 4to;
Schaffhaus. 1740-42; 3 vols. fol. — A. Neander, "Allgem. Gesch. der Christl.
Relig. u. Kirche." The earlier volumes appeared at Hamburgh, from 1825 to
1836, each divided into several parts. — Of abridgments of Ecclesiastical History
in German, may be mentioned, J. K. L. Gieseler (the first volume appeared
at Bonn, in 1824), and H. E. Fred. Guericke, (first ed., Halle, 1833, 2 vols.) ;
Dan. H. Hering, "Beitrage z. Gesch. der Evang. reform. Kirche in die Preuss,"
&c. Breslau, 1784, 1785; 2 vols. 8vo. Newed., Berl., 1786-87; 2 vols. 8vo.
See vol. ii. W. D. Turmann, " Handworterb. der Christl. Religions u. Kir
chengesch., &c. Nebst ein. Abhandl. lib. die hohe wichtigk. u. die zweckmas-
sigste methode eines fortges. Studiums der Relig. -u. -Kirchengesch. fur prakt.
Religionslehrer, v. A. H. Niemeyer." Halle, 1826-29; 3 vols. 8vo. — H.
Schmid, "Der mysticismus des Nittecalters in seiner Entstehungs periode."
Jena, 1824; 8vo.
10. Du Voisin (Lancelot), History of the French churches. Antwerp,
1580. For what concerns the Vaudois, see book i., p. 35. — Remy (John) pub
lished a work with the same title. — With these may be named, Wihll's Apolo
getic History or Defence of the liberties of the Reformed Churches of France,
an Appendix to the History of the French Church ; 1759, 8vo (a German work).
11. Cave (William). "Tabulae quib. dootores et scriptor. ecclesiast. eor-
umque patria, ordo, setas et obitus in synops. . . . a epochse christ. 1 ad a. 1.519
exhibentur." (Lond. 1674, fol.) Hamb. 1676; fol. This work has been several
times reprinted under new titles. The last edition is that of Basle, 20 vols,,
1745. — Water, Materials for Modern Ecclesiastical History. Halle, 1820.
A German work which speaks of the Vaudois in vol. i, where a sketch is given
of their history since the French Revolution.
(For the greater part of the titles contained in this section, I am indebted to
Pastor Eugene Abnaud, the author of Recherches critiques sur Vepitre de Jude,
presentant une introduction d Vepitre, et un commentaire sur chaque verset.
Strasburg and Paris, 1851. — These titles are taken from a Repertoire biblio-
graphique de la TheologU francaise, depuis la reformation jusques a nos jours,
with which this author is engaged.) § 2. — Profane History.
1. Mueatobi. ' Scriptores rerum Italicarum, fol.; published from 1723 to

438 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. [kFissmx..
1751. Concerning the Vaudois, see vol. v. , p. 82 ; vol. xvi., p. 662, and in
vol. xi. the Annates mediolanenses, ad annum 1259, cap. xxxi. Muratori wrote
also Antiquitates Italios medii osvi, Milan, 1738-1742 ; 6 vols. fol. ; and Annali
d' Italia, 12 vols. 4to. Venice, 1744-1749. The State Archives at Turin, it
is said, were never opened to this eminent writer, notwithstanding all the en
deavours which he made to obtain access to them.
2. Histories of Italy. — Guicciardini, extending from 1490 to 1534 (Fran
cesco Guicciardini, Storia d' Italia, 1775, 4 vols. 4to). Prolix and superficial.
See a critique, by Montaigne, Essays, book ii., chap. x. — Brusoni, Storia
d'llalia, extending from 1625 to 1660. Venice, 1661, 4to.— Denina, DeUe
rivoluzioni d'ltalia. Turin, 1770; 3 vols. 4to. — Sidonius, De regno Italico.
Still less profound. — Gcichenon, Histoire genealogique de la maison de Savoie,
3 vols. fol. A servile writer. He labours to justify the persecutions of which
the Vaudois were the victims, and often attacks the historian Leger, with whom,
however, he had studied at Geneva, but afterwards abjured his religious opinions
and friendships to gratify his ambition. — Paradin, Chronique de Savoie. Dif
fuse and unsatisfactory. He speaks of the Vaudois, or rather of Valdo, in chap-
xxxi. A Chronique de Savoie, in MS., and very interesting, exists in the library
of Carpentras, amongst the MSS. called MSS. of Peyresk. — Botta (History
of Italy) and Sismondi (History of the Italian Republics), have not studied the
subject of the Vaudois, although they speak of it in passing.
3. Histories of France. — Bernard Girard Du Haillan, Hist. gen. des roys
de France. Paris, 1616; 2 vols. fol. — Anquetil; Mezeray; Hainault; and
the Histoire de France, ealled Des trois marteaux; also, the Histoire des Fran
cois, by Sismonde de Sismondi; and, finally, Miohelet, who, although the
last in date, is nevertheless one of the first in erudition, in method, and, above
all, in that rare gift of life, which can only be communicated to recitals of the
past by a noble heart and a great enlightened mind.
4. Particular Histories. — Lacretelle. " Histoire des guerres de rel. au xvie
siecle," &c. — Du Moulin (Molinaeus), " De Monorchia Francorum," Paris,
1561. — Anonymous: "Memoire pour servir a l'hist. du xviie sidcle" (extending
from 1643 to 1690). Paris, 1765 ; 3 vols. 8vo. — Lamberty, Memoires pour
servir & l'hist. du xviiie siecle. Amsterdam, 1757; 4to, 14 vols.; and many
other collections noticed in next section.
5. Universal History, published in 47 vols, 4to, at Amsterdam and Leipzic
in 1790. See vol. xxxii. p. 477, &c. — Haller, " Biblioth. d'kist. universelle."
— D'AubignS, " Hist, universelle depuis l'an 1550 jusqu'a" l'an 1601." Amster-
dam, 1616 ; 3 vols. fol. A writer full of energy. (See book ii.)
6. Historical DUtionaries of Moberi, Bayle, Richelet; Conversations-
Lexicons — Encyclopedias — Moderne — Nouvelle — Progressive — Philosophique
— Du xixe siecle — Des Gens du Monde, &c. — And, finally, L'Art de verifier
les dates, on the chronology of the Dukes of Savoy, and in other places.
This excellent work may be regarded as indispensable for every writer of history:
It was continued with great assiduity by M. De Coubcelles, and completed
by M. De Foebia. Section VII. — Detached documents.
$ 1.— Collections of Official Papers.
1. " Liber statutorum, franchisiarum ac immunitatum, tivitatis Pinarolii,
nunc denuo impressus, ejusdem tivitatis impensis." Aug. Taur., 1602; of xxxii
and 454 pages. Chap, lxxxiv. treats of the Vaudois.

No..l] BIBLIOGRAPHY. 439
2. "Raccolta de gl' editti et altre provisioni, delle altezze Reali delli serenissimi
duchi di Savoia, di tempo in tempo promulgate, sopra gl' occorrenti delle valli di
Lucerna, Perosa e San-Martino, terre anesse di San-Bartolomeo, Prarustino e
Roccapiata: e dell' altre terre del Marchesato di Saluzzo e del Piemonte."
Turin, 1678 (by Sinibaldo), small fol., pp. 158, containing 104 papers or edicts,
printed at full length, from 1476 to 1672.
3. " Confirmazione de privilegii fatta alii Signori Conti e communita della
valle di Luserna." Turin, 1682 (by the same printer), 4to. Containing the
letters-patent or privileges of 1582, 1584, 1585, 1635, 1643, 1663, with the
enterinations. 4. Borelli. A general collection of the Edicts of the Royal House of
Savoy. (In Italian. I cannot at this moment lay my hands on the original
title.) In the third part, book xv., chap, ii., from p. 1259 to p. 1287, it con
tains a number of Edicts relative to the Vaudois, printed at full length. This
collection requires to be supplemented by the following : —
5. Duboin. "Raccolta per ordine di materie, delle leggi, providenze, editti,
manifesti, etc., publicati dal principio dell' anno 1681, fino agli 8tto Decembre,
1780." .... Turin, 1825, fol. For the edicts concerning the Vaudois, see
vol. ii, book ii., chap, xiii., p. 109. The first three volumes of this valuable
collection were at first published anonymously. The name of this author, when
his work is cited by foreigners, is sometimes written Dubois instead of Dubom.
The son of this eminent jurist continues the work of his father, and proposes
to publish a supplement to the edicts relative to the Vaudois.
6. "Raccolta delle leggi, providenze e manifesti, emanati dai governi fran-
cese e provisorio, e dalla Municipalita di Torino, unitamente alle lettere pastor-
ah, del citt. arcivescovo di Torino." Vol. i. Turin, year vii. of the French
Republic, and first year of Liberty in Piedmont, 1 vol. 4to. of 320 pages.
Vol. ii., published afterwards, contains 240 pages. This collection contains all
the decrees of the Provisional Government, and of the Executive Committee in
Piedmont, from 1798 to 1800, relative to the Vaudois.
7. The following were published separately: — the Patents of Grace, signed
at Pignerol, 18 Aug., 1655 ; the Edict for the re-establishment of the Vaudois,
23 May, 1694 (reprinted in 1713), and most of the other pieces of the same
description at the time of their promulgation.
8. "Conferences faictes a Turin, dans l'Hostel de Ville en presence de MM.
les Ambassadeurs Suisses, entre les ministres de S. A. R. et les deputes des
vallees de Luzerne ; a la fin de l'annee 1663, et au commencement de la cour-
ante, 1664." Turin, small folio, pp. 230.
9. The old Civil Code, pubhshed in 1724, under this title, "Leggi e costitu
zioni di sua Maesta" (title of the edition of 1770; 2 vols. 4to, of 504 and 574
pages). The new Civil Code, promulgated by Charles Albert in 1837, and
likewise the Statute of 1848, deserve also to be mentioned, because of the arti
cles which they contain relative to the Vaudois.
10. Amongst the collections of edicts emanating from foreign powers, the
following will be found to contain things relating to the Vaudois of Saluces and
Pragelas, at the time when these countries were under the dominion of France.
— " Recueil des edicts et declarations des Roys, Henry IV., Louys XIII. et
Louis XIV., sur la pacification des troubles de ce royaume." Paris, 1659;
small 4to, each edict paged by itself. " Recueil des edits, declarations et arrets
du conseil, rendus au sujet de la religion pretendue reformee, depuis 1679 jusqu'a
present." Paris, 1701 ; 8vo. of xx and 475 pages. The same papers are to be
found also in other collections.

440 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. [appendix.

§ 2. — Collections of various Documents.
1. " Monumenta PATRliE : Regis Caroli Alberti jussu edita." Turin, 1837;
large 4to. "Chartarum Tomus primus," No. dxiii.; and in vol. ii., entitled
Scriptores, Gioffredo: Storia delle Alpi maritime, etc., col. 488, year 1209,
the decree of Otho IV. against the Vaudois.
2. "Bibliotheca maxima Patrum;" quoted by abbreviation Bib. M. P. P.,
containing the greater part of the Latin chroniclers who have written Contra
Valdenses. Some of them are also published in the Biblioth. P. P. Lugdunen-
sium. 3. Some of the same works are also to be found in Justellus, Codex cano-
num ecclesiasticorum (see the preface), and in Gbetzebus, already noticed
(section II., § 1); in D'Acheby, " Spicilegium veterwm auctorum, printed from
1S55 to 1677, in thirteen vols. 4to, and in 1723, in 3 vols. fol. — Maetbne,
"Thesaurus anecdotorum, 1717; 5 vols. fol. ; see vol. iv. (This author wrote
also De antiquis Ecclesia; ritibus, Rouen, 1700) ; Mabtene and Duband,
" Veterum scriptorum et monumentorum amplissima collectio." Paris, 1724-
1733; 9 vols. fol. — D'AegentrS, "Collectio judiciorum de novis erroribus."
Paris, 1728; 3 vols. fol. — Baluzius, Miscellanea, 1678-1715; 7 vols. 8vo.
(See vol. ii., p. 208). — Labbeus, Bibliotheca manuscriptorum, &c.
4. "Bullarium magnum," — for the Bull of Innocent VIII., &c. — Ripoll,
" Bullarium ordinis prEedicatorum." See in vol. i., p. 52, a letter to the Bishop
of Mayence, given also by Raynald, in his Annales, No. xliii., ad an. 1233.
Another letter to the Archbishop of Cologne, concerning the heresies of the
time, is to be seen in Tengnagel, " Collectio veterum monumentorum contra
schismaticos ; " Ingolstadt, 1612; vol. i., p. 368; also in Junius, Acta sacra,
vol. i., p. 345. — Mansius, " Collectio conciliorum." See in vol. xxii., p. 476,
the decree of Pope Lucius II., contra hosreticos. — Hardouin, Concilia Gallia,
vol. i., p. 30. — Meiers, " Codex canonum ecclesia1 universse ex recens. Jus-
telli, editus nova cura, " &c. In this will be found most of the authors edited
by GretzeruB, contra Valdenses, with new introductions, which, however, con-
tun nothing new.
5. Duchesne. "Scriptores historiaj Francorum." Edition of Baluze, vols.
v. and vi. (The Paris edition of 1636 is in 5 vols, fol.) — Mabillon, Vetera
analecta, concerning Peter de Bruys. Vol. iii., pp. 312 and 315 of the second
edition.. — Lelong, " Bibliotheque historique de la France." Paris, 1768,
5 vols. fol. ; vol. i. for notices of books ; Biblioth. manuscriptorum for notices
of old MSS. — Biblioth. sacra. Halle, 1768, 4 vols. 4to. — "Collection de
documents pour l'histoire de France." There are a number of works with this
title, by Cimber and Danjou, Guizot, Leoointe and Miohaud, Bouquet,
Leber and Petitot, &c.
6. Crespin (his name is not in the title-page of the work). "Histoire des
martyrs persecutes et mis a mort pour la verite de I'Evangile depuis les temps
des ApOtres jusqu'a present, &c." . . . Geneva, 1570; fol. The first edition
was issued with the following title, " Le livre des martyrs, depuis Jean Huss,
jusqu'en 1534." Geneva, 1554 ; 8vo. Claude Baduel translated this work
into Latin, and published it with the title, "Acta martyrum qui sceculo xvi. in
Gallia . . . Italia, constans dederunt nomen Evangelio idque sanguine suo
obsignarunt," 1556, 8vo. ; and 1560, 4to. A third edition of Crespin, in French,
appeared in 1559, and a fourth in 1561. The edition of 1570 was republished
with several different titles ; it is divided into eight books. Simon Goulard
enlarged it by the additidn of two books, in 1597. The edition of Geneva, in fol.,

No. i] BIBLIOGRAPHY. 441
1619, divided into twelve books, is the most complete. This Protestant marty-
rology has been placed in the Index by the court of Rome. This work has sup
plied the greater part of the materials for the History of the Martyrs (in Dutch),
by Mellinus, Amsterdam, 1620; The Mirror of the Martyrs, by Van Braoht,
fol., Amsterdam, 1685; The Martyrology of Pantaleon, Basle, 1563 (contain
ing the Confession of Faith presented by the Vaudois of Provence to Cardinal
Sadolet (part II., book v., p. 130,) &c. Crespin was born at Arras about 1519.
He retired to Geneva in 1548, and conceived the design of writing his admirable
History of the Martyrs, in consequence of an account which he received of the
sufferings and courage of five young Frenchmen, students at Lausanne, who
were arrested at Lyons, when they were returning from visiting their parents,
and burned alive in that city, as heretics, in 1552. "I may well say," such are
Crespin's own words, "that they have suggested to me by their writings, the
first thought of making these collections." (Edition of Geneva, 1619, fol. 5, at
the bottom, in the Argument des douze livres.) The story of these five youths
is related in this edition, from .folio 201 to folio 931. The facts concerning the
Vaudois are to be found in folios 111, 133, 182, 319, 333, 396, 411, 412, 418,
506, and 532-547.
7. In the Journal des Savants, the Bibliotheque Universelle, and other collec
tions, documents have been published, of very various interest, connected with
the history of the Vaudois. In particular, I shall mention (as pointed out to
me by Professor Dumesnil), an interesting refutation of the charges made against
the Vaudois of Cabrieres and Merindol, in vol. iii. of " L'histoire de France,
depuis l'etablissement de la monarchie francaise dans les Gaules, dediee au Roi,
par le P. Gabriel Daniel, de la compagnie de Jesus." (Paris, 1713, 3 vols, fol.)
This refutation is to be found in the " Bibliotheque choisie, pour servir de
suite a la Bibliotheque universelle, par Jean Le Clerc;" year 1713. Amster-
, dam, vol. xxvii., 32mo, pp. 49-76.

PAET II.— MANUSCRIPT WORKS.
Section I. — Ancient vaudois manuscript in the romance language.
4 1. — Origin of these MSS.
Bossuet, in his "History of the Variations of Protestantism" (book xi.,
§ cxxvii.) exclaims, "Until some known library shall be pointed out to us
where we may see the manuscripts, we cannot but be astonished that books are
brought forward against us as authentic, which nobody ever saw save Perrin
alone ; as neither Aubertin nor La Roque refer to them, otherwise than upon
his authority, only not saying that they never had them in their hands. This
Perrin, who alone makes great use of them in his argument, takes no notice of
any of the marks by which it is possible to establish the date of a volume, or to
prove its antiquity ; he merely tells us that they are old Vaudois books, a
description sufficiently general to be applicable to the most modem black letter
volumes." And before this he says, " Not only the language of Ville-Hardouin,
who wrote 100 years after Peter de Bruys, but even that of authors subsequent
to Ville-Hardouin, is more antiquated and obscure than that to which the date
of 1120 is assigned ; so that there can be no grosser absurdity than the attempt
to palm these treatises upon us as of great antiquity." (Id. § cxxvi.) Such are
Vol. II. 116

442 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. [Appenmx.
Bossuet's words. "There is good reason, therefore, for thinking," he after
wards adds, "that these books, which are so vauntingly brought forward, with
out any solid proof of their date, were composed or altered by these reformed
Vaudois, after the manner of Farel and his associates." (End of § cxxvii.)
By these words, Bossuet (1.) expresses a doubt of the existence of the Vaudois
manuscripts ; (2.) signifies his opinion that the language in which they are written
is that of a later period than the thirteenth century; and (3.) insinuates that
these books were composed or falsified by the Vaudois of the seventeenth century.
Besides which, other authors have alleged (4.) that these manuscripts proceeded
not from the Vaudois but from Petrobrusians ; (5.) that they contain internal
evidence of a more recent origin ; and (6.) that they belong not to the Vaudois
but to other Protestant sects of the Middle Ages. These different objections I
propose to examine very briefly.
1. Almost all the Vaudois MSS., referred to by Perrin, are now deposited in
public libraries, in which the author of the Variations might have consulted
them. This is a sufficient reply to his first objection. (See these MSS. noticed
in §§2,3, and 4 of this section.)
2. Whether the language of Ville-Hardouin is more antiquated than that of
the Vaudois MSS., the reader may judge. "Un Venisien et un chevalier de
France qui avoit nom Andre d'Urboise, entrerent en la tor (tour), et autres
genz comencent a entrer apres als (eux); et oil (ceux) de la torse desconfisent
(debandent) et s'en vont . . . Ensi fu l'oz hebergie com vos avez oi (oui), et
Constantinople prise le lundi de Pasque florie," Such is the language of Ville-
Hardouin, who lived from 1167 to 1213. Hut. de la conquSte de Constants
nople, towards the end. Compare with this, the first lines of the Vaudois poem
La Bavca (Geneva MSS. No. 207; Dublin MSS; Class C, shelf 5, No. 21):—
"La sancta Trinita nos don parlar
Cosa que sia donor e de gloria
E que al profeit de tuit poysa torhar
E a li auvidor done atalentament," Ac.
As I cannot suppose that the language of these lines will be so readily under
stood as that of Ville-Hardouin, I subjoin a reduction of them into modern
French : — " Que la sainte Truiite nous donne de dire
Des choses qui soient a son honneur et a sa gloire,
Et qui au profit de tous puissent toumer ;
Et qu'aux auditeurs elle donne pareillement," ' &c.
¦Let us compare also with these some lines of the Chatelain De Coucy, who
whT!'™? ^T """?', £? fnderea bY *he adTerb ^remme^, comes from tal, aital,
*lTv H ' fi ' I'J:"1' *"""• SemUam- With the "a™*" termination in men,,
t™Xi tl ^PaS5elfr°m *he E0manC6 ^SU*®6 to the French. Eaynouard, who
translates tta word deSlre [desir], unconsciously affords a proof of the differencTbetween the
Idiom of the Troubadours and that of the Vaudois; for he was perfectly acquainted™ the
was less familiar to Jum. It would, consequently, be wrong to confound the one with the
other. The recent labours of the BcoU des Churtes have manifested the existence T tte great
family of the Romance tongues, of a greater number of branches than had blpS
supposed That which extended into the Vaudois valleys is one of the most Sm
Fauriel had already gxven it a place by itself (Verbal communications, Nov , jSHod M
Augustm Thierry aetaowledges the distinct character of the Vaudois idiom nS 185^'
This opinion is shared by M. Vfllemain (whom I saw at the «m„ „„• T ( ", .?. ?^-' ''
the middle ages made hrm very competent to judge of such a matter. (iSer on tte Inti
quity of the Nobla Iq/cxn. Geneva, I2th June, IS52.) l">raer °n tne Anti-

Ko I] ' BIBLIOGRAPHY. 443
died in 1192. Let us see if they do not come much nearer to the French of the
present day, than the Vaudois language does to that of the Troubadours of the
twelfth century : — " Bele dame me prie de chanter
Si est bien drois que je face chancon. . . ."
(This song is quoted by Tissot in his Lecons et model.es de litUrature fran-
raise, vol. ii. p. 41.) To find in the earlier states of the French language, some
thing analogous to the Vaudois language, we must go much farther back than
the time of the Troubadours. I will now show what resembles it most nearly.
" Pro Deo, et pro Christian poblo, et nostro commun salvament, d'ist di (from
this day) in avant, in quant Deus savir (savoir) et podir (pouvoir) me dunat
(donnera) si salvarai io cist meon fradre Karlo (so will I defend my brother
Charles)," &c. (Tissot, i. 13.) Such was the language of the eighth and ninth
centuries. The sentence just quoted is from the speech of Louis of Germany,
to the vassals of Charles the Bald, who died in 876, at the foot of Mount Cenis.
These brief specimens will suffice to show the character of the language at these
different periods ; and from this it follows that the idiom of the Vaudois books
much more nearly resembles the language of the eighth century than that of the
twelfth. And Raynouard, in placing these Vaudois poems amongst the Primi
tive monuments of the Romance tongue, sufficiently recognizes them as pos
sessing an antiquity greater than the days of the Troubadours.
3. All the MSS. mentioned by Perrin, and to which this note relates, are
of a date anterior to the Reformation, and consequently could neither have been
composed nor falsified by the Reformed, as Bossuet more maliciously than justly
insinuates. All these manuscripts (with the acknowledged exception of one
only) are anterior to the invention of printing. However, none of them is as
ancient as the works which they contain. In other words, we have not (unless
it be in one or two doubtful exceptive instances) the paper written by the
authors' own hand, we have only copies. It is easy, therefore, to see how modi
fications might be introduced by copyists, as we shall by and by find that they
have been. But the copyists themselves lived before the Reformation, and
therefore could not be subject to its influence, which deprives Bossuet's insinua
tions of all power. At the end of the treatise on the reading and efficacy of the
Word of God, which occurs in the first volume of the ancient Vaudois MSS.
deposited at Cambridge, No. 4, this date appears, Anno Domini 1230.
4. After having cited the Vaudois treatise Oe Antichrist, dated in the year
1120 (p. 57), Perrin found a difficulty of reconciling that date to his system,
which made the Vaudois to derive their origin from Valdo of Lyons (chap. i.
and ii.), according to the received opinion of all the writers of his time. Nor
could he devise any better means of escape from this embarrassment, than to
ascribe to Peter De Bruys the Vaudois works which bore a date anterior to
Valdo, and in particular this treatise Of Antichrist. ¦ See the marginal note in
pp. 253 and 254. It was evidently this note that suggested to Fusselin, Baum-
garten, and other authors, their opinion which ascribes the Vaudois books to
the Petrobrusians. But the character of the Petrobrusians, as Neander observes
in his Life of St. Bernard, is very different in its warlike fire, from the peace-
fulness and the calm and serene faith which generally marked the Vaudois.
Moreover, Peter De Bruys, as the writers of that country say, was a native of
the Vallouise. (See Hist, du diocese d'Embrun, by Father Albert, i. 56;
Memoires de Domenique Rochas, MS. of Carpentras and Grenoble ; Hist, des
Alpes CottUnnes, by Father Marcelin Fournier, MSS. of Gap and Lyons).

444 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. [Apphmdix.
According to other authors, Valdo himself retired to Freyssinieres (MSS. of
Carpentras, No. 606, vol. i., p. 101). The Abbot of Cluny (Peter the Venerable)
wrote against Peter De Bruys to the prelates of Embrun, Gap, Die, and Aries;
(See this letter in Fleury, Hist.. Eceles., vol. lxix. No. 24.) We know that
Bruys was burned alive at St. Gilles. But it was only in these regions, where
his doctrine was new, that a violent feeling was excited against him. His party
subsisted but for a short time, and consequently could not produce works which
exhibit proofs of long meditation. Moreover, these MSS. have been found
nowhere but amongst the Vaudois mountains. If it was there that Peter De
Bruys was born, it is natural to admit that he was of Vaudois descent. To
conclude, we can account for the motive which causes these manuscripts to be
ascribed to the Petrobrusians — this motive is based merely upon a hypothesis —
this hypothesis is not supported by any proof, and there are numerous proofs
that they ought to be ascribed to the Vaudois. (See Nos. 6 and 7 of this §.)
5. The different treatises in the Romance language contained in the Vaudois
manuscripts, have not been all composed at the same period. The MSS. which
we now possess are mere copies ; and these copies also have been made at very
different dates. Some of them are on paper, and cannot be older than the
fourteenth century ; others are on parchment, and may be of a much earlier date.
Iii these latter, however, the orthography, the writing, the abbreviations, the
form of the letters, &c, still vary sufficiently to prove that there are amongst
them great differences of age. "I find reason to think that there does not exist
any very ancient manuscript of these pieces," said Mr. Raynouard, in a letter
to me upon this subject (6th April, 1833). In some of these manuscripts, there
are private annotations or new citations, written sometimes on the margin, and
sometimes at the bottom of the page, by subsequent hands (for example in the
MSS. of Geneva, No. 208, pp. 4, 5, 6, 7, 12, 14, 20, 21, &c. ; and in that of
Dublin, Class C, Shelf 5, No. 18). Later copyists often introduced these addi
tions into the text at the place to which they referred, so that the new book,
when it came from their hands, was clean on the margins, and seemed really
new; this has been the source of unquestionable interpolations. It is upon
these considerations that the authenticity of the date 1120, in the book Of
Antichrist above quoted, is defended, notwithstanding the reference which it
contains to the Milleloquium, and which could not have been made before the
fourteenth century. This reason is a good one ; but the numerous passages of
the Old and New Testaments which are contained in this treatise (Perrin, pp.
273-280, and Leger, pp. 77-79), do not correspond to the antient divisions of
the sacred books (nrXot and xefaXum), but rather to the present division (see
Perrin, pp. 279, 280, &c); introduced by Cardinal Hugo of Saint Cher, in the
thirteenth century. '
Moreover, Leger places in the same Book of Antichrist, and under the date
1120, a Confession of Faith, which contains a canon of the books of Scripture,
such as was not determined till a much later period2 (Leger, p. 92), and this
1 I speak here of the division into chapters, for the division into verses was not introduced
into the gospel till 1551, by Robert Stephen. M. Monastier (vol. ii., p. 344) has indicated
the verses where the text published by Perrin (p. 274) does not indicate them. But the
books of the Old Testament were already divided into verses, from the time of Jesus Christ.
2 I think it may even be said that this canon was not fixed till after the Reformation. (1.)
Because the books of the Old Testament were never before that epoch (from the fifth century
at least) distinguished into apocryphal and canonical. (2.) Because the sentence which be
gins with the words, Ainsi sen segon U libres Avocriphes, &c, is to be found also in the con
fessions produced after the Reformation (Gallican, art. iv. ; Anglican, art. vi. ; Belgic, id., &c.)
(3.) Because it is only since the Reformation that there have been reckoned two books of

No. 1 ] BIBLIOGRAPHY. 445
Confession of Faith occurs almost word for word in the MS. of Dublin, Class C,
Shelf 5, No. 18, p. 21, under the date 1530. Perrin also gives it as being ex
tracted not from the treatise Of Antwhrist, but from another book whose date
is not signified. (Marginal note in p. 79.) But after all these difficulties are
removed, by the supposition of the alterations to which this treatise may have
been subjected by later copyists ; it remains, however, by no means probable,
that it was composed in the year 1120 (Leger dates it in 1126, chap. xv. p. 83),
because at this period the Church of Rome was not regarded as Antichrist ; and
because the Vaudois always speak of that Church with respect, in their most
ancient writings, even when contending against and exposing its errors.
. It would be interesting to inquire if a number of these treatises, in the Ro
mance language, are not translations or imitations of various short Latin
treatises published about the same period. Finally, it ought to be observed
that the Romance idiom was preserved in the Vaudois valleys much longer
than anywhere else, proof of which may be found in the Acts of the Synod of
1532. (Dublin MSS., Class C, Shelf 5, No. 18.) To conclude, the Vaudois
works are not all of the same antiquity ; but even when in a work of ancient
composition, passages are found of a modern date, it does not follow that the
antiquity of the book is to be rejected, for these passages may have been inter
polated by copyists. Also, a work written on paper, may be anterior to the
invention of paper, as Homer and Virgil, printed in our days, are nevertheless
anterior to the invention of printing. The surest marks of antiquity are pre
sented in the very contents of the works in question. The general character,
the roots, and what may be called the very woof of the language in which they
are written, afford also a solid basis for determining their date. The more that
this language resembles Latin, it is the more ancient. ' (See the principles of
this comparison applied to the Vaudois MSS., in No. 2 of this §).
6. Do these writings really belong to the Vaudois ?
(1.) On the first leaf of the Geneva MS., No. 207, are these words, "This
Book contains the Exposition of the Song of Songs of Solomon, and the poems
entitled La Barca, Novel Confort, Nobla Leyczon, Lo Payre Eternal, Lo Novel
Sermon, Lo Despreczi del mont, and the Avangeli de li quatre semencz, also a
Treatise on Penitence. /* belongs to the Reformed Churches of the valleys of
Piedmont, who request that it may be preserved in the Library of Geneva."
(2.) The treatise De la penitencia is also in part to be found in the other
Geneva MSS., Nos. 208 and 209, and in the Dublin MS., Class C, Shelf 5,
No. 22. The poems are to be found also in the Dublin MS. of the same series,
No. 21. ?
(3.) It is in exactly the same idiom that all the other works are written,
which bear the general designation of Ancient Vaudois MSS. in the Romance

(4.) Perrin, who gives the fist of these manuscripts (Part i., pp. 57-60), de
clares that they all come from the Vaudois valleys. (Perrin, part i., pp. 13, 18,
20, 24, 29, &c. Part ii., p. 157, et seq.) Those which Leger sent to the library
of Geneva in 1662, came also from these valleys. (Leger, chap, iii., p. 23.)
(5.) The acts of several Synods attest the Vaudois origin of these manuscripts.
(See sect. I. of this Bibliography, art. Pen-in.)
(6.) In these manuscripts, the Vaudois speak in their own name (Book
of George Morel, Dublin MSS., Class C, Shelf 5, No. 18), and often name
Samuel and two of Kings: before that period they were only reckoned as four books of Kings.
Other incompatibilities have been pointed out iu vol. i. p. 334 of the Reims Theologigue,
Strasburg, 1850.

446 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. [Appmdix.
themselves, "Ilh dion qu'es Vaudes." (Nobla Leyczon, 1. 372— " Le petit
tropel de li christians, appella par fals nom, Vaudes " [Perrin, p. 224], because
this little flock which was called Vaudois, claimed to be designated by the name
of Christians alone) .
(7.) All the learned men who have published fragments of these different
manuscripts, agree in giving them without hesitation as Vaudois manuscripts.
(Raynouard, vol. ii. ; Morland, chap. iii. ; Hahn, pp. 560-703, &c.)
(8.) The enemies of the Vaudois, who have frequented their country, them
selves attest the existence of such manuscripts, which they say that they
have seen, held in their hands, and read in the valleys. (Rorengo, Memorie
istorichi dell' introduttione degV eresU nelle valli. 4tp edition, p. 20. " Se bene
il Perrino n'habbia prodotto qualche particetta . . ," says he, which implies
that the unpublished portion was very considerable.
(9.) We know that one of the principal occupations of the Vaudois Barbas,
was to make copies of pious books, for the instruction of their disciples. (Gil
les, chap. ii. p. 15. Preface to Olivetan's Bible.)
(10.) All these books, which are now scattered in different libraries, were
once obtained from the Vaudois valleys. (Perrin, p. 57, marginal note, and
the articles Perrin and Gilles in this Bibliography.) None of them have ever
been. met with elsewhere. The Synod of Grenoble (1602) having_ caused search
to be made for all the Vaudois and Albigeois MSS. which still existed, found
none but Vaudois MSS. No other people, that I know of, have produced any
similar. Everything, therefore, concurs to prove that these MSS. are really
the work of the Vaudois, and nothing indicates the contrary.
7. Were all these pieces composed in the language of the Vaudois valleys ?
One circumstance which has never been noticed, and concerning which, the
Vaudois themselves must be the only witnesses, but which is nevertheless of great
importance with regard to this question, is that all who are acquainted with the
present patois of the valleys (and especially with that of the mountains 1 ), very
easily, and almost without any preparatory study, comprehend the language
of these ancient Vaudois books which Raynouard calls the primitive Romance
tongue. On the contrary, it frequently happens that persons versed in the idiom
of the Troubadours, are very far from understanding the Vaudois books ; and,
for myself, I do not hesitate to avow, that there are in the writings of the
Troubadours many passages which I could not understand without a transla
tion, which is not the case with the books now under consideration. The
author of the Choix de poesies originates des Troubadours, and of the Grammar
of the Romance tongue (Grammaire de la langue romane), may certainly be
regarded as well acquainted with the idiom of the primitive monuments of that
language; yet M. Monastier justly takes notice. of inaccuracies into which Ray
nouard has fallen in the translation of the Nobla Leyczon, in fines 100 146
147, 151, 190, 191, 196, 208, 223, 276, 281, 299, &c. May I be permitted also
to take notice of similar inaccuracies in modern authors.
M. Herzog says, at the conclusion of his thesis De origine et pristino statu
i For that part of the valleys whioh is adjacent to the plain of Piedmont has undergone
modifications in its language, caused by the admixture of Piedmontese. It appears that this
was already the case even in the days of Rorengo ; for he compares the old Romance tongue,
which he calls the Vaudois tongue, -with, that which was then spoken in our mountains:—
" Sono qui, libri scritti a mano, uno de quali tengo appresso di me in lingua Valdese, o per dir
meglio montagnara." (Memorie Istorichi dell' introd. degV eresie nelle valli, p. 20.) ' At the pre
sent day it is in the communes of Bobi, Pral, and Rodoret that it is spoken in its greatest
perfection.

No. 1] BIBLIOGRAPHY. 447
Vald. &c. (p. 44), " Secutus sum adjutorem Genevensem, Hahn editoris,
linguae Valdensise admodum peritum." And in the first piece published by
/ Hahn, I find the following inaccuracies : — P. 560, note 1, atalentament, trans
lated by desire, signifies in like manner. — P. 561, note 1, Per que .... non
se debia levar, translated how he should not take, signifies that he might not rise.
— P. 562, note 7, Paure n'intren, translated we enter there, signifies we enter' there
poor. — P. 563, note, Frevols et devols .... This last word, translated devout, sig
nifies weak ; the first is not translated, it signifies frail, languishing, and it is diffi
cult to conceive what meaning could have been attached to it by the translator.
In the same page, note 10, Local es verms (the word should have been vernis),
e lendenas e peolh abi-ivol (which should be abimnol). These corrections are
derived from the original manuscript. The first part of this line is translated
thus, seed of vermin. It should be translated^AicA is varnished (brilliant ex
ternally) ; the word lendemas, which has been translated by slow, signifies the
interior, and the conclusion of the line, which is not translated, signifies abomin-
abU dust. It may be remarked that the passages which most need explana
tion, are often those which are left untranslated. — Same page, note 13, neyes
translated same, signifies there are some of them. At the end of this line is the
word abastat; it is not translated, and probably was not understood, it signifies
enough; hence the Italian word abbastanza. — In p. 564, note 1, li scurczis,
translated tears away, signifies becomes dim. — Same page, note 3, . . . li colla
e lo fla . . . , translated adheres, and his side . . . , signifies slips away from
him, and his breath . . . — P. 565, note 7, chaczin, translated bark, should be
chamin and the translation way. (Moreover, chaczin does not signify a bark.)
—Same page, note 9, pereisere, translated shall perish (plural), should be parei-
sere, and the translation, shall appear (singular), &c. I shall proceed no farther.
I have scarcely gone over one-half of the piece (La Barca) pubhshed by Hahn.
(Pp. 560-570).
In the few citations of the Vaudois books, for which M. Herzog has not made
use of Raynouard's translations, a. few inaccuracies might, perhaps, also be
noticed. Thus, in p. 8, fourth quotation, the words cum trey de sostenguis,
translated sicut tres Deos sustines, signifies cum tribus digitis sustmes. This
quotation is taken from the sixteenth stanza of the poem Lo Payre Eternal.
In p. 9, third quotation, the word ordenament is translated commode, but
would, perhaps, be more accurately rendered by regulariter. In p. 10, first quo
tation, the words sencza defalhiment, translated sine vitio, ought to be rendered
sine intermissione. In the same page, last line, al segle present, translated
hominibus hujus mundi, literally signifies ad seculum prozsens. Not being able
to comprehend the translation which M, Herzog gives in the next page, p. 11,
of the first quotation which appears there, I shall content myself with observing
that the first word perque, translated nam, ought to be translated ut, and that
the general meaning of the passage has reference to'regeneration. In the fol
lowing page, in the last quotations, De renovellar me dl present tu I'affrecza,
translated In eo est ut restaures me in presenti, signifies Ad nunc me renovandum
te ipsum deprimis. (S'affreczar, a genuine onomatopy to represent the noise
made by the wings of a bird when it alights. In the next line, que, yo non
rimagna enfecza, translated ne remaneam retro, rather means ne morar in como.
In the next line, de grades istament, approximatively rendered by full of grace
(plena gratice), literally signifies of gracious support, &c.
It ought also, I think, to be taken into account, in order that a right estimate
may be formed of the probability of very ill-founded opinions having been put
forth concerning these Vaudois books in the Romance tongue — and I make this

448 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. [Appekdix.
remark not with reference to the works of MM. Hahn and Herzog, but quite
generally — that Raynouard alone, and persons who were inhabitants of the
Vaudois valleys, have successfully attempted to translate any of them entire.
(See the translation of an antient Vaudois poem, recently discovered in the
Echo des valUes, t. i., No. 10.)
I think, therefore, it may be said —
(1.) That the idiom in which the old Vaudois books (from the twelfth to the
fourteenth century) were written, was not the vulgar tongue of France at that
epoch. (Evidence of this will be found in comparing with these books, the
writings of the contemporary Troubadours, particularly those of the Lyonnais,
Provence, and Dauphiny. I have not room to institute this comparison here.)
(2.) That the idiom of the Vaudois books is called by Raynouard (vol. ii.) the
Primitive Romance tongue, and by Rorengo (p. 20) lingua Valdese, o per dir
meglio montagnera.
(3.) But where was this mountain tongue spoken ? No doubt just where we
find it still in use after the fourteenth century. But it was this language which
the Vaudois employed in 1530, in writing to CEcolampadius (Perrin, p. 211),
and to Bucer (Id. p. 213; the original is amongst the Dublin MSS., Class A,
Shelf 4, No. 13, p. 5). It was in this language that they stated to the Re
formers their doctrines and usages. (Same MS., of which a passage is quoted
in the Israel of the Alps, part I. chap, i., note.) It was in this idiom also
that the Acts of the Synod held at Angrogna, in 1532, were written. (Same MS.,
from p. 118 to p. 125, although the style of the concluding prayer already exhibits
some traces of Italian). And this idiom was also employed by the Vaudois of
the Alps in writing to one another. (See the letter of the Barba, Bartholemew
Tertian, in Perrin, pp. 73-78. This Barba lived in 1470, and his language is
still the Primitive Romance tongue, almost without alteration.)
(4.) In comparing the present dialect of different parts of the valley of the
Rhone, with that of the Vaudois valleys, we find that it is still the latter which
exhibits the greatest number of points of analogy to the old Romance tongue.
(5.) From these different considerations I think I may conclude, [1.] That
the Nobla Leyczon, and the other works written in the same language, belong to
the people who spoke that language. [2.] That this idiom, called by Raynouard
the Primitive Romance tongue (Langue romane primitive), and by Rorengo,
Lingua valdese, was really the idiom of the Vaudois, and [3.] That consequently
the books are to be ascribed to the Vaudois. See the linguistic considerations
in No. 7 of next chapter, relative to the difference which existed in the twelfth
century, between the idiom of the Alps and that of the Lyonnais.
§ 2.— Biblical MSS.
Gilles says, " This Vaudois people have bad pastors of great learning
versed in the languages of Holy Scripture .... and very laborious
especially in transcribing to the utmost of. their ability, the books of Holy
Scripture, for the use of their disciples." (Chap. ii. p. 15, paragraph 2.) This
explains the circumstance that copies of the books of the Bible, translated into
the Romance tongue, are of far more frequent occurrence than copies of any
other work preserved in our Vaudois MSS.
1. Vaudois Bible of Lyons. (Library of the palace of the arts, No. 60.)
This MS. forms a small 4to volume, on vellum (parchment), containing the
four Evangelists, the Acts of the Apostles, the Apocalypse, the Epistle of
St. James, those of Peter and John, and those of St. Paul. Amongst these
last, is to be found the Epistle to the Laodiceans, placed after that to the Colos-

No. I.] BIBLIOGRAPHY. 449
sians, and beginning thus :" Paulus, apostols, no domes ni per Homes, mais per
Jesu-Xrist, als fres que son a laudicia : graczia a vos, et patz de Diu lo paire
nostre ed el senhor Jesu-Xrist : " a translation of the text given by Fabricius
(Codices Apocryphorum Novi Testamenti, vol. i. p. 859). — HxSxos avrltrmXos, nix
At' &v$oa>iraiv, evol di* avSpuvrov aXXa Vice 'itjirov Xaifrfau, <rois E* Aaootxiia aatktyais.
Xapi; vfj.tv xai upwt] a.rro Qisv trarpas. xat xupiou np&v 'Itiffov Xpurrov, . . . &C1
After the Epistle to the Hebrews, which is the last, come the Benedicite and
the Pater noster, in Latin, and then follow these words: "Adoremus Patrem
et Filium et Spiritum Sanctum tres vegadas, gratia domini nostri Iyesu-Xrist,
sit cum omnibus nobis." The volume is concluded by six leaves, filled, in like
manner, with sentences of a religious character.
I believe this to be one of the most ancient of all the Vaudois MSS. ; (1.)
upon account of the form of the letters, in which no resemblance to the black
letter yet appears ; (2.) upon account of the character of the language, which
is much nearer to the Latin ; (3.) upon account of the absence of ornaments ;
(4.) because it contains the Epistle to the Laodiceans.
2. Another Biblical manuscript, in the Romance language, is also deposited
at Lyons, but in the Archives of the Prefecture. According to a letter from
the Archiviste of this establishment, this manuscript was brought from Nimes
to Lyons, a few years ago. It is in small 4to, double-columned, and full of
abbreviations. It contains the whole of the New Testament, and concludes
with a ritual occupying ten leaves. I have not seen this manuscript.
3. Vaudois Bible of Grenoble, (Deposited in the public library, being
No. 488 of the new catalogue, and No. 8595 of the old.)
This manuscript is 167 millimetres in length, 123 in breadth, and 51 in thick
ness. The boards are of wood, formerly covered with red skin, and held to
gether by two brazen clasps, one of which has disappeared. It is written in
black letter (with a few ornaments made by the pen, and capitals coloured
with red and blue) in double columns, except the first page. All the leaves of
this manuscript are of parchment, except the last thirty, which are of paper.
It contains all the books of the New Testament, also twelve chapters of Proverbs,
the book of Ecclesiastes, ten chapters of Wisdom, fifteen chapters of Ecclesias-
ticus, and the Song of Songs. All these books of the Old Testament are placed
after the Apocalypse. The verses are nowhere marked. The divisions of the
chapters do not always correspond with those in our Bibles at the present day.
Each of the books of the New Testament is preceded by a Uttle preface,
entitled, Prolic. The following is the commencement of the Prolic sobre
Mathio: "Abm Mathio hagues predica premierament en Judea, e volent
trapassar a las gencz, fo lo primer loqual scris levangeli en hebraye . . . ," &c.
On the thirty leaves of paper, at the end of this volume, are (1.) a list of pas
sages to be read and meditated upon for every Sabbath and festival in the year ;
(2.) a chapter entitled, De Sanctis; (3.) a little commentary on the Beatitudes
(Matt. v. 2-10), entitled, De la oyt benayranczas scriptas cwm~breveta; (4.) a
paraphrase of the Lord's Prayer; (5.) an extract from the twenty-seventh chap
ter of Numbers, which terminates the volume.
4. Vaudois Bible of Dublin. (Library of Trinity College, Class A, Shelf
4, No. 13, ex Biblioth. Usserii.) This manuscript is mentioned by Lelong in
his Bibliotheca sacra, vol. i., art. 2, in the chapter on the Italian Bible. It, in
many respects, resembles the Vaudois Bible of Grenoble, of which it is probably
i " This epistle," says M. E. Reuss, " exists only in Latin. The present Greek translation was
made in the sixteenth century ; however, it is probable that there was formerly a Greek ori
ginal." (Letter of 9th July, 1850.)
Vol. II. 117

450 ¦ THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. [appendix.
a copy, for it contains exactly the same books, with prefaces to the Gospels and
Epistles corresponding to the prolics above-mentioned. The following is the
commencement of the preface to Saint Matthew in the Dublin manuscript:
"Prologus Sancti Jeromi secundum Mattheum. Cum Matthio agues pre-
mierament predica lavangeli in Judea, volent trapassar a las gent, scris pre-
mierament lavangeli en abraie," &c. Yet it does not necessarily follow that
the one of these two manuscripts has been copied from the other. The date of
that of Dublin is indicated at the end of the Book of Revelation, as follows :
Deo gras, 1522. The whole MS. is in the same hand, very easily read, on vel
lum, in 4to, and in good preservation.
5. Vaudois Bible of -Zurich. (Public Library, Codex MS. N. T. Valden-
sis, c. 169.) Lelong mentions this manuscript in the following terms : "Novum
Testamentum, lingua pedemontana Vallensi, per Barbetum [a Barba or Barbet]
quemdam, seu ministrum Valensem translatum. Codex, in-12 ; scriptus post
annum MC." (Bibliotheca sacra, vol. i., p. 369.) This manuscript is upon vel
lum. I have no particular note of the books which it contains. Lelong's note
seems to mention only those of the New Testament. None of these books has
any introduction or preface, as in the Grenoble and Dublin manuscripts. The
following is the beginning of the Gospel according to John, in the Zurich manu
script : " Lo filh era al comenczament, e lo filh era enapres Dio, e Dio era lo
filh. Aiczo era al comenczament ensfpres Dio. Totas cosas son faitas per luy,
e alcuna cosa non es faita sencza luy. Czo que fo fait en luy era vita, e la vita
era lucz de li ome. E la lucz luczic en las tenebras, e' las tenebras non cumpre-
seron ley." (Gospel according to John, chap, i., vers. 1-5.)
6. Vaudois Bible of Aix. (Indicated by Lelong, vol. i., p. 369.) Con
tains the four Gospels, the seven Canonical Epistles, the fourteen Epistles of
St. Paul, also the Proverbs of Solomon, Ecclesiastes, the Song of Songs ; the
first ten chapters of the Book of Wisdom, and the first fifteen of Ecclesiasticus.
The Grenoble manuscript also has only ten chapters of the Book of Wisdom,
and fifteen of EccleBiasticus. Lelong adds concerning the Aix manuscript: —
' ' Codex spissus in-4to, integer, in quo nihil deest, in membranis a quadringen-
tis annis circiter exaratus ; at versio antiquior, sicut ad me scripsit dom. Thoma-
sin de Mazangue, fihus senatoris Aquensis, penes quern extat hoc exemplar :
quod usui Valdensibus fuisse, multis probari potest argumentis," &c.
There is also a description of this manuscript, by Remerville de St. Quentin,
in the collection entitled, PUces fugitives d'histoire et de lUterature, Paris,
1704 ; second part, p. 270. Alexander Natalis likewise speaks of it in his Vindex
librorum deutero-canonicorum Veteris Testamenti, &c. But he seems to think
that the manuscript mentioned by Remerville, is not the same as that described
by Lelong on the authority of Thomas de Mazangue.
7. Vaudois Bibles of Paris. The libraries of this capital contain several
Biblical manuscripts, which belong or have been ascribed to the Vaudois. Dr.
Gilly, in the learned introduction prefixed to the Romance version of the Gospel
according to John, published by him at London in 1848, has given a particular ac
count of these manuscripts. I shall follow him rapidly in his examination of them.
A. — MS. No. 8086, of the Bibliotheque Nationale, in Paris. This MS. is
mentioned under the head, Nouveam Testament en provengal. It is on vellum
in small 4to, written in double columns, and has suffered much from time or
use. The first leaf of the volume is marked as being properly the thirty -second.
The Gospel of Matthew, and the commencement of that of Mark, seem to have
been removed. It contains the following books : — St. Mark, from fol. 32" to fol,
48; St. Luke, fol. 48-72; St. John, 72-86; Acts, extending to the second page

No. I.] BIBLIOGRAPHY. 451
of fol. 114; the Epistles of St. James, St. Peter, and St. John, which occupy
fol.114-126. Then come the Epistles of St. Paul, to fol. 182. They are followed
by the Epistle to Philemon and that to the Hebrews, fol. 186-196; and the volume
concludes with the Apocalypse, from the midst of which also some leaves have
been removed. The first verses of 'the Gospel according to John, are in this vol
ume as follows : —
"Lo filh era al comensament; el filh era am Dieu, el filh era Dieus. Aquest
era al comensament am Dieu. Totas cauzas foron fachas per el: e nenguna
causa non fou fach senz el; so che fou fach, era en lui vida : e la vida era lus
dels homes. "
I regard this MS. as belonging, by its language, to the class of Vaudois MSS.
B.— MSS. Nos. 6831-6833 of the same library. Three folio volumes, double-
columned, containing the Old and New Testaments. This MS. is set down as a
Bible in' Provencal, but it had been formerly regarded as a Catalan Bible. (See Le
long, Bibl. Sacra., vol. i., p. 369.) It belonged to the library of Cardinal Mazarin.
The first volume begins with Genesis, and ends with the Book of Job. The second
begins with Proverbs, contains the Psalms and the Prophets, and ends with a
short dissertation on St. Mark, as a transition to the third volume, which con
tains the New Testament.
The sheets of this MS. are of paper, mingled with vellum, and adorned with
vignettes. It is said to belong to the fifteenth century.
A short preface, entitled, prolic, is placed at the head of a few of the books.
There is none prefixed to the Gospel according to Matthew; but that which is
prefixed to the Gospel according to John, has a great resemblance to the prolic
which precedes the same book in the Dublin MS. Other parts of these little
prologues resemble those contained in the Vaudois Bible of Grenoble.
The following is the commencement of the Gospel according to John, in our
MS. No. 6833 :—
" En lo comensament era paraula, e la paraula era ab Deu ; e Deu era la
paraula. Acso era en lo comensament ab Deu. Totes coses son fetes per ell,
e sens ell nenguna cosa non es fata."
The first volume of this work, which bears the number 6831, and which con
tains part of the Old Testament, commences thus : —
" En lo principio crea Deu lo ciel e la terra ; hera vana e vuyda, e les tene-
bres heran sobre la fac del abis, e l'esperit de Deu era portat sobra les aigues. "
In the Book of Job, it is to be remarked that the word Leviathan, is trans
lated by lo diabla.
I believe this MS. also, upon account of its language, to belong" to the class
of Vaudois MSS.
C. — MS. of the same library, bearing the No. 72682' 2', and known by the
name of the Bible of the Poor. One vol. 4to, on vellum, written in double
columns, with coloured initial letters, which have almost everywhere been taken
away. This manuscript formerly belonged to the library of Colbert. It con
tains the following books: — (1.) Genesis; (2.) Exodus, which begins at fol. 30 ;
(3.) Numbers, beginning at fol. 52 — the first leaf of this book has been removed;
(4.) Deuteronomy, beginning at fol. 76 ; (5.) Joshua, fol. 97 ; (6.) Judges, fol.
3; (7.) Ruth, fol. 125 ; (8.) The First Book of Kings, of which one leaf has
been removed, fol. 128 ; (9.) The Second Book of Kings, fol. 145 ; (10.) The
Third Book of Kings, fol. 161; (11.) The Fourth Book of Kings, fol. 179;
(12.) Tobit, fol. 196 ; (13.) Judith, fol. 201; (14.) Esther, fol. 209; (15.) Job,
fol. 216; (16.) Psalms, fol. 232. The initial letters are preserved in fol. 232,
241, 248, and 252. (17.) The Gospel according to St. Matthew, fol. 270; (18.)

452 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. [Appendix.
Mark, fol. 290 ; (19.) Luke, fol. 306 ; (20.) John, fol. 330 ; (21.) Acts of the
Apostles, fol. 348; (22.) The Epistle of St. James, fol. 368; (23.) The two
Epistles of St. Peter, fol. 369. The last of these Epistles is incomplete; the
end of the MS. has been torn, and is completely awanting.
Concerning this MS., M. Paulin-Paris, expresses himself in the following
terms : — "This precious volume formerly belonged to James Augustus De Thou,
whose signature may still be seen upon the first leaf  The text is the
most ancient that I know of the literal translation of the sacred books ; this copy
being as old as the earlier part of the thirteenth century .... The writing,
the ink, and the dialect of the marginal notes, all combine to prove this. But
it is not so easy to fix the date of the translation itself. Why should it not be
as old as the twelfth century ? May it not be that famous translation made by
the Lyonnese, Stephen De Hansa, or D'Ansa, at the request of Peter Valdo,
about 1170 — a translation which was called the Bibh of the Poor, because of
the name which the Vaudois heretics affected' We have no positive proof, but
it may be presumed that this French translation of the sacred books, undertaken
for the first time under the auspices of Peter Valdo, is the same which was cen
sured by Innocent III., about the year 1200, and the origin of which was un
known to that pontiff. A great number of writers of the thirteenth century,
point it out as a book dangerous to read, and no other contemporary author of
any similar translation is mentioned."1 "I doubt not," he adds, in a subse
quent place,2 "that the MS., 72682'2', was executed in the diocese of Reims,
or in that of Sens." "Ere we can acknowledge the existence of translations
of the Bible anterior to this, in the vulgar tongue," he also says,3 "we must
have evident proofs of it, which as yet we have not." M. Le Roux De Lincy4
has made us acquainted with several partial translations, which he regards as
belonging to the twelfth century, but he acknowledges that the known manu
scripts are not older than the century following.5 — "Such is the translation of
the four Books of Kings, preserved in the Mazarine Library, and in the Royal
Library ; the Psalms of Nos. 1152 bis, 278 Latin, and 7887 French; the Apoca
lypse, No. 7013," &c.6
Brief specimens of these various manuscripts will give a just idea of the lan
guage spoken in France in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries.'
First specimen, taken from Psalm xiii. [xiv] — Dixit insipiens in corde suo,
&c. — "The fool hath said in his heart," &c.
I.— From MS. 72682'2-, fol. 234. II.— From MS. 68183', fol. . .
"Cil qui estoitneant sages (who has no wis- "Cil qui estoit noient sage, dist en son
dom) dist en son cuer, Dex n'est pas. II sont cuer, Dieux n'est pas. Ilz sont corrompuz e
corrompu, et sont fet abhominable. II n'est leur feit abhominable; il n'est qui face bien
qui face bien, de si a un seul. " de si a un seul."
III.— MS. 6701. IV— MS. 6S162.
" Li nient sage, dist en son quer {cceur) ; il " Le fol (or he who lacks wisdom) dit en
n'y al Deu. Cil sont corruptz et faitz sont son cuer, Dieu n'est pas: lis sont corrompus
1 Les manuscripts francais de la bibliotheque du roi, leur histoire et celle des testes alle-
mands, anglais, hollandais, italiens, epagnols de la meme collection; par A. Paulin-Paris
de 1'academie royale des inscriptions et belles lettres, conservatoire adjoint de la biblio
theque du roi. Section des manuscripts. Paris (Techner, Place de Louvre, 12), 1848. Vol.
vii., pp. 185 and 188.
2 Id. ibid., p. 189. s Id. ibid., p. 190.
* IntroductUm to his edition of the old translation of the Four Books of Kings, Paris 1841.
5 Paulin-Paris, vol. vii., p. 192 e Id.
7 These quotations are all extracted from the work of M. Pauuh-Paeis, above-named,
vol. vii., pp. 194, 195.

No. I

] BIBLIOGRAPHY. 453

abhominables. En lour estudies (en leurs et sont faisabhominables en leurs estudes; il
etudes), il n'y a nul qui fait bien ; il n'y ad n'est qui face bien, jusques a ung seul."
mil, desqes {jusques) a un."
Second specimen, taken from the First Psalm, as preserved in MS. 68183 : —
I.— MS. 6818*. II.— MS. 6818*.
" J'ai ma fiance en Nostre S. coniant dites- " J'ay ma fiance en Nostre Seigneur. Com-
vous a m'ame {ct ma ame) trespasse en la ment dictez vous a mon ame; trespasse la
montaigne moysnel. (En moineau; like a montaigne comme un moinel. Car veoy lea
sparrow.) Pour ce vees ci les pecheurs, qui pecheurs, qui ont tendu leur arc, et ont ap-
ont tendu leurs ars (arcs) et ont appareillies pareillie leurs saiectes (sajettes; arrows) et
leurs saietes, pour courre qu'il saietent caulx leurs tarquois tres forts, ad oe qu'il saietent
qui ont cuer droiturier, en lieu obscur." (pierce with an'ows) en bien osour, ceux ont
cuer droiturier."
Third specimen, same passage, from the Bible of the Poor, No. 72682-2-
" Ge ai ma fiance en Nostre Seignor. Coment dites vos a m'ame, trespasse en la montaigne
comme moinel."
" Por ce veiz ci, les pecheors qui ont tendu lor arc, et ont appareillie lor saietes (have pre
pared their arrows) en lor coivre (cuivre; quiver) que ils saietent (sajettent; pierce with arrows)
eels qui ont cuer droiturier, en lieu oscur."
I regret that I have not at hand one of the Vaudois MSS. already mentioned,
that I might borrow from their translation a passage to be compared with those
just quoted. But so many passages of these Vaudois MSS. have been already
quoted in this Bibliography, and in the first chapter of the Israel of the Alps,
that the reader may easily institute a satisfactory comparison between the dia
lects of these two classes of manuscripts. It results, I think, from this com
parison, that the difference which exists between the Vaudois language and the
French of the twelfth century, is still greater than that which distinguishes our
present French from the French of that period. The Vaudois books, written
in the primitive Romance tongue, do not, therefore, exhibit the Lyonnese idiom,
which even then was the French dialect, or the Romance language in a secondary
form; they cannot, therefore, have been written by inhabitants of Lyons ; they
are not, therefore, to be ascribed to disciples of Valdo : there were, therefore,
in the Alps, Vaudois anterior to Valdo.
Dr. Gilly demonstrates, by many arguments, that this Bible of the Poor served
as the basis of the translation of the Holy Scriptures, by Guiart Des Moulins,
the MS. of which is also preserved in the National Library at Paris (No. 6830).
I agree with him in thinking that the language of the MS. 72682"2" is not the
ancient Romance tongue, and, consequently, that it is not to be classed amongst
the Vaudois MSS.
D. — (1.) MS. endorsed No. 6, B. L. F., in the Bibliotheque de V Arsenal, in
Paris, and indicated by Dr. Gilly, in the first note of p. xiii. of his Introduc
tion, as being, like the preceding MS., a translation of some books of the Bible,
not into the Romance tongue, but into old French. This MS. is unknown to me.
(2.) MS. bearing the No. 6833s in the National Library, indicated by the
same author (p. lxxv.) as being an incomplete volume. It contains a portion of
the books of the New Testament. At the end of it are the words — "Euthonius
Satorra fecit iste liber anno a nativitate Domini MCCCCLXI." But Dr. Gilly
believes it to be more ancient. He even seems inclined to believe that Reynerus
(an author of the thirteenth century) was acquainted with this MS., ocwith an
earlier MS., of which this is merely a copy. This opinion he rests upon the
following correspondence : — Reynerus says that the Vaudois ' ' corrupte Scrip-
turam exponunt, ut est illud Johannis I, In propria venit et sui non receperunt,

454 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. [Appknihx.
ibi dicunt sues id est porci non receperunt" (Biblioth. Pair, iv., par. ii., p. 478) ;
and in this MS. we read in the passage thus pointed out (John i. 11.) — " En les
sues propres coses vench, e los sues non raberan aquell."
(3.) Dr. Gilly adduces also, on the authority of Raynouard, the following
MSS. as belonging to the class of Vaudois MSS., or at least, of ancient MSS.,
in the Romance tongue : — An Abridgment of the Old and New Testaments, with
pictures; National Libr., No. 2317 bis. — Abridged History of the Bible, entitled,
Bible en langue gascone. Library of St. Genevieve, in Paris, endorsed A. F. 4,
No. 32. — History of the Bible, described as en proveng al (Rayn. vol. i., p. 605).
— The book of Sydrac in the Romance tongue, and not in Spanish, as the title
bears. National Library, Ponds de Baluze, No. 590. — Naturas d'alcunas bestias.
Same Library, Fond de La Valhere, No. 14. —Sermons en provencal, ibid., No.
3548. — A catechism in the same language (No. 808); and, finally, Lo libre de
vUes e de vertutz; a treatise which is alsq to be found in other Vaudois MSS.,
and which bears the No. 7693. It is to be wished that a careful comparison'
were made of these various MSS. with reference to the subject now before us.
8. Perrin mentions (p. 57), "a New Testament on parchment, in the Vau
dois tongue, very well written, although in a very ancient character ; " and in
the margin he adds, " These books, and a number of others, were collected in the
valley of Pragela." It has been supposed that this might be the copy now
deposited in Dublin, or perhaps that of Grenoble. Vol. vi., in the division F
of the ancient Vaudois MSS., deposited at Cambridge, contained a portion of
the books of the New Testament, viz. : — The Gospel according to St. Matthew,
and that according to St. John; the first chapter of St. Luke; the Acts of the
Apostles; six Epistles of St. Paul; the eleventh chapter of the Epistle lo the
Hebrews, and the two Catholic Epistles of St. Peter. This MS. is no longer to
be found. § 3.— Geneva MSS.
MS. I., No. 43, of the Public Library.
This MS. is noted, by mistake, in several works, as No. 44. It is a large
16mo volume, written entirely upon a thick kind of paper, with the exception
of the first leaf, which is parchment, and which contains forty-two lines in the
Romance tongue, in beautiful black letter. (This leaf certainly belonged to
another MS.) The MS., No. 43, is inclosed in a parchment cover, one side of
which is extended and folds round, as is common in pocket books. Upon the
back is a label affixed, with these words— Vaudois Manuscript, believed to le of
the fourteenth century.
This MS. exhibits two very distinct parts : the first is in Latin, and occupies
almost half the volume ; the second is the Romance tongue, and fills up the rest.
The following is a note of the different pieces which it contains :-i-
1. The forty-two lines of the first leaf. They are on the Passion of Our
Lord Jesus Christ.
2. The Apostles' Creed, in Latin. Each of the articles of the Creed is
specially attributed to a particular apostle ; and there follows a quotation of the
prophets, to show that all the events of the life of Jesus Christ had been pre
dicted. This treatise occurs also in the Romance tongue in other MSS. The
following is an extract from it, borrowed from Hahn, pp. 608-610 : 
" San Peyre, apostol, pause" lo premier article, diczent .... Sanct Thoma
pause lo V, diczent: Descende a li enfern; to tercz jorn rexucite de la mort.
Coma propheticze Ozea, diczent: O mort, yo serey la tea mort. Per aquest

No. I.] BIBLIOGRAPHY. 455
deven creire que Yeshu Xrist descends a li enfern en apres la soa mort, per des-
liorar e trayre las armas de li sant paires (to unbind and bring out the souls of
the holy patriarchs), e du tuit aquilh que morrion del commenczament del mont,
en fe e en sperancza qu' ilh fossan salva. Car per lo pecca d' Adam, convenia
que tuit, bons e mals, descendessan en lenfern ; mas li bon, eran en bona e ferma
sperancza que lo filh de Dio li vengues liberar e salvar, coma era ista promes per
li seo san prophetas. "
3. Glosa super symbolum Apostolorum. This gloss was also written in the
Romance tongue ; and it is from the Romance text that Leger gives a partial
translation (Part I., ch. viii., and Perrin, p. 197). The Romance text is to be
found in the Dublin MS., Class C, Shelf 4, No. 17.
4. A treatise on almsgiving, entitled, Elemosina. It occurs in the Romance
tongue in the Geneva MS., No. 209, and the Dublin MS., Class C, Shelf 5,
No. 26.
5. Expositio moralis orationis dominicalis. A number of treatises upon this
subject are still in existence in the Romance tongue, Le'ger, part I., ch. vii., and
in a translated form, Perrin, p. 201, and Leger, p. 47.
6. De summo pontifice. This piece, which occupies only one page, differs
very much from the usual tone of the Vaudois ; it is full of violent and reproach
ful expressions, attesting the indignation which the conduct of the popes had at
that period excited. These expressions, however, are not stronger than those
of Dante and Petrarch on the same subject.
7. Prophetia Hildegardis.
8. Versus magistrales.
9. De gaudiis Paradisi. This last piece occupies only one page.
Such are the titles of the Latin treatises. The latter half of the volume is
filled with edifying discourses in the Romance tongue, each entitled Sermo.
MS. II., No. 206.
Until 1825, this passed for a MS. in the Catalan language ; and it is so marked
in the catalogue. In that year I examined it, and ascertained and proved it to
be a Vaudois MS. in the Romance tongue.
It is a small 12mo volume, containing 121 leaves of parchment, much black
ened on the edges, like those of books which villagers have long kept in their
chimney. It wants some leaves at the beginning and end. The first leaf, as
well as those from the 16th to the 28th, have the margins deeply notched by
oblique cuts, which, however, have not reached the text. Fol. 18 is torn out
altogether, as well as three or four others, in different parts, of the volume,
The first fifteen or sixteen leaves are blotted with ink. This MS. is generally
very difficult to read, because of the numerous abbreviations, although it is well
written in black letter. The initial letters are adorned with red, green, and blue.
1. The first part of this MS. contains the book of the Virtues, thus headed,
Vertucz ; but the commencement of the treatise (the first six paragraphs) has
disappeared, the first leaves of the volume having been torn out. The end of
the sixth paragraph only occupies the four leaves which are now the first in the
work. The Dublin MS., Class C, Shelf 5, No. 22, begins also with a treatise
on the Virtues, entitled, Liber vertulum. It is there complete. See also Le'ger,
Part I., p. 51.
1 It would be interesting to compare this treatise with the Sum of the Vices and Virtues,
by Brother Laurent, of which there are a number of MS. copies in the National Library at
Paris Nos. 70183', 70432', 7044, 7284, &c. It is a point which I have not been able to in-

456 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. [Appendix.
2. In fol. 29, begins an article on Compunction, of which the first sentences
are the following: "La componsion del cores humilitade la perfeta naysencza,
en lagrimas de la recordanza de li peca e de la temor del medici. Per lo peca
es fait ardrament cant quest ardiment es recongta en grant superbia." Farther
on appears this remarkable maxim, "La ley de liberta es laqual de la vita "
(The law of liberty is that of life.)
3. After this treatise comes the Epistle to the faithful (Pistola fideli). At the
top of a single page, it bears this title, Pistola amicus (Epistle of a friend, or to
friends). Perrin speaks of an epistle with this title, at the bottom of p. 58.
In our MS. it begins thus, " O frayres carissimes . . ." And the last words
are " Donca o carissimes, sia curios d'eserquiar limal: tota mala parola non
yessa de la vera boca; ma si alcuna bona ..." The end is awanting, some
leaves having been torn from the volume or misplaced. Hahn (pp. 623-626)
ha9 published an Epistola amicus, which is different from this.
4. At the top , of the first leaf which comes after -this, is inscribed the title
Isaya (Isaiah).
5. Jeremia.
6. Sermo; occupying three leaves.
7. Job; occupying four leaves.
8. Noczas (Les Noces; the Marriage). The following are the first words of
this piece: — "Totas cosas son aparelhas veni a las noczas, enayma es dit en
san Matthio. 21. lo rey local fe noczas al sio filh, es dio payre, de la familha
del qual son tuili fidel. Lo filh es lo nostre senhor Jeshu Xrist . . ," &C.
9. Sermo; occupying seven leaves.
10. Three other sermons (on Luke, Matthew, and Mark), occupying, altogether,
nine leaves.
11. Del judici (Of the judgments) ; occupying seven leaves.
12. A sermo on Joan, occupying four leaves.
13. A treatise on joys and pains.
14. Glosa pater noster. A Vaudois commentary on the Lord's prayer is
pubhshed by Le'ger, chap. vii. Another is to be found in Perrin, p. 201.
There is a similar one in the Dublin MS., No. 7 of the Vaudois MSS. That of
our MS. goes no farther than the fourth petition, and concludes thus, "La
quarta cosa di qual nos deveh mastigar aquest pan con devocion: le que nos
lo deven rescober en la boca del cor. '' The last leaves of the volume, which are
awanting, contained the end of this Gloss.
This book is unusually difficult to read, because of the numerous abbrevia
tions which it contains, and which produce a frequent running of the letters
into one another, even between words which ought to be separate and distinct,
whilst also the syllables of the same word are often disunited, and one part
attached to the word preceding, another part to the word following. But this
MS., 206, is indisputably proved to be a Vaudois MS. ; (1.) by the language;
(2.) by the sentiments ; and (3.) by the fact that some of the treatises which it
contains are also to be found in other Vaudois MSS., of which the origin is no
way doubtful. MS. III., No. 207.
Of all the Vaudois MSS., this is the best known, and has been most fre
quently quoted. It forms a small 18mo volume, bound in wood, covered with
skin written upon vellum, in fine black letter, and in the Romance tongue.
It contains 165 leaves, not paged, and has neither gloss, nor preface, nor
general title. I have mentioned in this section (§ 1, No. 6) the inscription

No. I.] BIBLIOGRAPHY. 457
which it bears upon the first sheet, and which indicates all the books contained
in it.
1. Commentary on the Song of Solomon, with this title, "Incipit prologus
in secundo libro exponicionum canticon Salomona." It begins thus : "0 karis-
simes, lo nostre cor non se merveilha si una spia (fpi, grain, particle,) da questas
sentencias engenra moti grande parollas," &c. The following is a fragment,
from near the end :—
"To, non penso mi haver compres totas I do not imagine that I have understood
cosas, ni aver script tota aquella sciencia, all the things, nor written out all the wis-
lacal si rescont enoara en aquest libro. E dom (knowledge) which is still hidden in this
emperczo laysant calquecal cosa remen al foe book. And therefore we leave some things
celestial." to await the celestial fire (graoious illumina
tion).
"Donca,olegidorkarissime, repausateen- Therefore, O dearest reader, repose thou
tre li baron de mira, cum lical hint a lorey amongst those barons ( of distinction, with
de gloria. Vejas cantas cosas son recoynta whom the King of glory dwells. Thou seest
de lor meseymes, e cant bella es la ley del what things are recounted of them ; and how
Seguor, e cant deleitivol es studiar en ley." excellent is the law of the Lord, and how de
lightful is the Btudy of that law.
Notwithstanding all that the author has thus voluntarily suppressed, the
commentary now being noticed is of very considerable length ; it fills 221 pages
(more than half of the volume), and concludes thus : " Enayma dis Ysaya li tio
olh vean cum li just to sey en la soa bellecza focal vio e regna dio (lequel vii et
rsgne Dieu, i.e., etant Dieu) cum lo payre e cum lo sant sperit, per tuit li segla
de li Begle. Amen."
2. A poem, entitled The Bark, indicated by these words, Ayci commenga la
Barca (in p. 222). This poem contains fifty-six stanzas of six lines each. (The
fifteenth, however, seems to have only five, because the first and second have
been written in one line through evident negligence of the copyist ; the forty-
eighth, on the contrary, contains seven lines instead of six ; and stanzas eighteen
and nineteen, forty and forty-one, fifty-five and fifty-six, are not separated from
one another in this MS.) Tt is not until we reach the thirty-sixth stanza, that
the course of man upon the earth is likened to the voyage of a bark advancing
towards the harbour. The harbour is heaven, the passengers are men. What
do they bring with them ? All their works are defiled. Let the sinner acknow
ledge his errors, and let him accept for his pilot Jesus Christ alone, the merits
of Christ for his only treasure ; such is the conclusion of the poem. Raynouard
(Choix de poesies orig. des troub., vol. ii., Monuments primitifs de la langue
romane), quotes four stanzas of this poem. Hahn gives it entire (Geschichte
der Waldenzer, pp. 560-570). I have quoted the first lines in this section
(§1, No. 2).
3. Lo novel Sermon. A poem of 408 lines, djvided into twenty-one paragraphs
or sections of unequal length. This poem occupies seventeen pages of the
manuscript. It has for its subject, an exposure of the deceitful vices of the age
and the necessity of serving God. Raynouard quotes detached portions of it;
Hahn publishes it entire, pp. 570-581. This poem commences thus : —
" O frayres karissimes, entende mon parlar. . . ,"
and ends with the following lines : —
" Adonca li felhon seren mot engana,
Ma a tart conoisceren quilh auren mal obra.
Adonca sare fait cambi dun chascun istament:
A quilh que han czay lo deleyt auren lay torment'.
Vol. II. 118

458 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. [Aphshdix.
Ma li Serf dal Segnor que han ozay tribulacion,
Auren lay eternal gloria e grant consolation.
Benaura seren aquilh que sereu de li perfeit,
Cant la sere compli lo nombre de li eleyt!
La poisencza del payre et sapiencia del filh
Et la bonta del sant Sperit nos garde tuit
Denfem, e nos done Paradis. Amen."
Of these lines, the following is a translation: "Then the wicked shall be
much deceived, but at last shall discover that they have done ill. Then shall
there be interchange of every state ; those who have chosen pleasures shall have
torment ; but the servants (serfs) of the Lord, who have chosen tribulations,
shall have eternal glory and great consolation. Happy shall those be who shall
be amongst the perfect, when the number of the elect shall be filled up ! The
power of the Father, and the wisdom of the Son, and the bounty of the Holy
Spirit, keep us all from hell and give us Paradise. Amen."
4. Le novel Confort. A poem of 300 lines ; consisting of seventy-five verses
of four fines each. It wants one line in the fortieth stanza. A little red line
separates the quatrains from one another in the manuscript, of which this poem
occupies thirteen pages. Raynouard quotes eighteen verses of it, selected here
and there ; Hahn gives it complete (from p. 581 to p. 589). The poem has for
its object to confirm the Christian in his detachment from the world, and to
encourage him in seeking salvation by the gospel. The seventy-third verse, and
the last verse, are as follows: —
" 0 car amic, leva vos del dormirt
Car vos non sabe lora que Xrist deo venir ;
Velha tota via de cor en dio servir
Per istar en la gloria iacal non deo fenir
" Vene! e non attende a la noyt tenebrosa,
Lacal es mot scura, orribla e spavantosa;
Aquel que ven de noyt, ja lespos ni lesposa,
Non hubrire a luy la porta preciosa. Amen."
Translation : "0 dear friends ! arise from your slumber, for you know not the
hour when Christ is to come. Watch continually to serve God heartily, that
you may abide in glory which shall have no end. — Come ! and await not the
gloomy night, which is very dark, horrible, and fearful. He who comes in the
night, neither the bridegroom nor the bride shall open to him the precious
gate." Raynouard thinks that this poem is of more recent origin than the others,
because of the greater perfection of the verse.
5. La nobla Leyczon. A poem of 479 lines, having for its object to exhibit
the three successive laws which God has given to the world — the natural law,
the law of Moses, and the law of the gospel. This object is intimated in line
438. The first part extends from fine 57 to line 138 ; the second, from line 138
to line 207 ; and the third, from line 207 to line 346. The poem concludes with
a general recapitulation and pious exhortations. Morland, Raynouard, Plen-
derleath, Gilly, and Hahn, have published this poem entire. Le'ger gives only
fragments of it. Part I., chap. iv. The date of this poem is fixed by the
sixth line — "Ben ha mil et cent ancz compli entierament."
Many writers deserving of consideration think that the date contained in
this line is not to be taken as exact, but only as approximative ; and that the
poem should not be referred to the year 1100, but to about the year 1190, the

No. I.] BIBLIOGRAPHY. 459
period when Valdo and his disciples, are supposed to have come to the Vaudois
valleys, either from Piedmont or from Dauphiny, and that, therefore, it is to
be ascribed to the disciples of Valdo.
We are entitled to demand positive evidence in support of this opinion, which
those who maintain it do not produce. I shall attempt to bring forward some
evidence to the contrary. Let us suppose the Nobla Leyczon to have been com
posed, not in the year 1100, but in the year 1200 ; and let us see if it could be
the work of the disciples of Valdo. This poem is in the Romance language : it
was not the language of Lyons. (See the writings of that period in the vulgar
tongue.) The disciples of Valdo left that city between 1180 and 1190.1 Would
they not require some years to acclimatize them in a new country, and is it to
be supposed that in so short a time they could have learned a new language,
so as to produce in it most perfect works — (most perfect for that time at least) ;
and that amidst the difficulties of their settlement, they could have had leisure
for the composition of a poem of such length ? Could they immediately after
their arrival in these mountains, exhibit the characters of extension already
acquired, of firm establishment, tranquillity, and duration, which this poem
ascribes to the Vaudois? It appears to me that an impartial mind will find
much more difficulty in admitting all these things, without evidence, as those
are obliged to do who maintain that the Vaudois are descended from Valdo —
than in admitting that they were anterior to him, on the testimony of this
work, dated in the year 1100, and of the authors of the twelfth century, whom
we have quoted. (Israel of the Alps, part I., chap, i.)
The difficulty becomes an impossibility if we hold to the date of the Nobla
Leyczon (and there is nothing to set it aside), or if we merely admit that it was
composed before 1180 ; for nothing at that period can explain the production
of it among the disciples of Valdo. The latter not only is not named in it, but
there is not the least allusion which can be supposed to refer to him. This is
not surprising, if the piece is anterior to him ; but it would be very extraordinary
if its composition was owing to his direct influence, and if it was produced by
his disciples.
It is natural, indeed, to wish for precise information, that we may give a
precise account of the origin of things, especially in history ; and we cannot
give a precise account of the origin of the Vaudois in an historic manner, except
by connecting them with Valdo ; but this, again, we cannot do except by hypo
theses, that is, by uncertainties. To these laborious uncertainties, is it not
rational to prefer the inevitable uncertainty which must reign over the origin
of the Vaudois regarded as anterior to Valdo, on this very ground, that if their
origin had been recent, it must have left traces ? I repeat, there is a testimony
to the existence of the Vaudois in the Alps anterior to Valdo ; but it is disputed.
There are only hypotheses to establish their descent from Valdo, and these
hypotheses are also disputed. Accurate minds must at least desire that this
question should be further studied : it is the part of a superficial or prejudiced
erudition, I think, to consider it as decided in favour of the hypotheses.
The Vaudoisare named in line 372 of the Nobla Leyczon; —
" Ilh diou qu' es Vaudes e degne de punir."
The poem concludes thus : —
l The Chronique de Loan, (published by Bouquet, vol. xiii.) places Valdo in 1173. His
doctrine was condemned in 1177, 1178, and 1179. It was not till 1183 or 1184 that he was
expelled from Lyons; and his disciples did not probably all leave it on the same day.

460 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. [Appisdtx.
" Placza ha aquel Segnor que forme tot lo mont
Que nos siam de li esleit per istar en sa cort.
Dio gracias. Amen."
This work is followed in the MS. of which we speak, by two pages of moral
sentences. — Not to prolong this article, I shall merely indicate the poems which
follow, and which are also to be found in the Dublin MS., Class G, Shelf 5,
No. 21. When we come to that MS., I shall accompany the mention of them
with some details, as I have done with regard to the preceding poems.
6. Lo Payre Eternal. This poem is composed of 156 lines, divided into fifty-
two verses of three lines each. These triplets are separated from each other in
the Geneva MS. by a red line which joins the arabesques on the margin. There
is a hiatus here and there. The first line of verse thirty-two contains in reality
two lines, of which the first ends with the word cresent, and the second with the
word ben. The last line of this verse does not belong to it, and ought to be
the first of a subsequent verse, which remains incomplete. This poem, which
occupies five pages of MS., is simply a prayer in which are introduced many
passages of the psalms of David. Raynouard thinks that it is of more recent
date than the -other Vaudois poems. (Letter of 6th April, 1833.) He quotes
thirteen triplets of it, in the Monuments primitifs de la langue romane. (Choix
des poesies originales des Troubadours, vol. ii., p. 117.) Hahn gives it entire
(pp. 590-594). I quote some passages of it in the next §, vol. iv., No. 4.
7. Lo despreczi del mont. A poem on detachment from the world; occupying
four pages of the manuscript, and consisting of 115 lines. Fragments of it are
quoted by Raynouard (vol. ii., p. 121), and it is given entire by Hahn (pp. 594-
597). A red line has been drawn after every two fines of the poem, between
the distiches, in the Geneva MS., but on the first page only. For other par
ticulars, see next §, concerning Dublin MS., vol. iv., No. 5.
8. L'Avangeli de li quatre semencz. (The gospel of the four seeds.) A poem
on our Saviour's parable (Matt, xiii.) It occupies eleven pages of the MS., and
contains 300 fines, divided into seventy-five quatrains. — Raynouard has pub
lished twenty-five quatrains (vol. ii., p. 126). Hahn gives it entire (pp 598-604).
The verses are separated in the MS. 207, by red lines which join the arabesques
on the margins. See quotations from it in next §, on vol. iv., No. 2.
9. After this poem comes a treatise on Penitence, indicated by the words La
sensec de la penitencia. (Here follows concerning penitence.) It occupies the
last twenty -four pages of the MS., and is not complete, because some leaves are
awanting at the end of the volume. This treatise contains an interesting pas
sage on Confession, which occurs also in another Geneva MS. (No. 209, fol. 17)
and in those of Dublin, Class C, Shelf 5, No. 22, and same series, No. 25,
fol. 242. MS. IV., No. 208.
This MS. is in small 8vo, written upon paper, and bearing upon the back this
modern title, Controverses vaudoises. The leaves of this MS. are in very great
disorder. That which occupies the first place, ought to be the seventeenth, and
to find what precedes it, it is necessary to begin reading at fol. 14. Many other
transpositions are also to be observed ; they must have been the result of the
ignorant handling of a modern binder.
The following are the pieces which this volume contains :—
1. Beginning at p. 29, we find a protest of the ancient Vaudois church against
the innovations of the Church of Rome, under this title, Circa Id variela de las
cosas emergent. (Concerning the variety of things which now present them-

No. I.] BIBLIOGRAPHY. 461
Belves.) The following are the first words of this grave and admirable mani
festo : —
"A Lausor e gloria de 1'etornal Dio com- To the praise and glory of the eternal God,
enczament et fin de tolas cosas, e refugi de the beginning and end of all things, and re-
tot esperant en si: emperczo comenczant de fuge of all those who hope in him; therefore,
lui, nos preguen humilment la sua magni- commencing in him (or proceeding in him),
ficienoia que el ordone lo comenczament we humbly entreat his magnificence, that he
daquesta nostra obra, e endreissa lo mecz, e would order the commencement of this our
perducza la fin, ha honor e gloria de lui work, and rectify the middle and perfect the
meseynce, e de tota la cort celestial, e ha salu end of it, to his own honour and glory, and
de tot Mel. Amen." of all the celestial court, and to the salvation
of all believers. Amen.
These words are also to be found in the Dublin MS., Class C, Shelf 5. No.
22; in the second page of fol. 176, under the title, Ayczi commencza lo prolic
del Wore apella Thresor e lume de fe (Treasure and light of faith. Quoted
by Perrin, pp. 59, 201 ; Le'ger, p. 47, &c.) This preface or prolic is continued
in the Geneva MS. (No. 208) as far as p. 32. This introduction has for its
object to establish the Bible as the sole foundation of all authority in matters
of faith.
2. A statement of the Vaudois faith, indicated by the words, de li article de
la fe. To follow the order of the treatise, we must, after having read from
p. 28 to p. 32, return to p. 1, and read without interruption twenty-seven con
secutive pages, and then resume reading at fol. 17. These Articles of Paith
are published by Hahn, from p. 605 to p. 608.
3. Then follows an Exposition of the Apostles' Creed, analogous to that spoken
of as in No. 3 of MS. 47 of Geneva, the first in this §. Hahn publishes this
piece, pp. 608-611.
4. Des sept sacrements, beginning at p. 17 and occupying nineteen pages of
the manuscript. The articles are these, (1.) Del baptismo. (2.) L'imposicion
de li mans. (3.) Lo teres sagrament es la communion del corps e del sang de
Xrist. This article occupies five pages, and ends with an dec. (4.) Lo quart
sagrament es la penitencia. (MS. 209 bears that, La ley de matrimoni es lo
cart sagrament de la gleysa.) A part of the " Treatise on Penitence," which i3
found at the end of MS. 207 is the same with this. (5.) Lo quint sagrament,
es ordonament de preires e de diaques. (6.) Lo matrimoni. (Placed in the
fourth place in MS. 209.) (7i) La honcion de li enferm (the unction of the
infirm). "These two sacraments are admitted," says M. Tron in a note, "but
only in the simplicity of the evangelical institution ; thus there is nothing of
extreme unction, nothing of consecrated oil . . . &c." A part of this treatise
of the sacraments is placed much farther on, and on account of the disordered
condition of the MS., is intercalated in the midst of the work following.
5. Exposition of the Ten Commandments. This treatise seemingly occupies
eighty-six pages of the MS., but twenty-two pages must be deducted, viz., pp.
30-52, which belong to the preceding work. This treatise enters into its subject
at much greater length than the quotations given by Le'ger (p. 51), and Perrin
(p. 182), under a similar title. It is probable that these authors quoted from
the "Book of Virtues," and not from the Thresor e lume de la fe. The first
two commandments are united together in one in MS. 208 ; but the tenth is
divided into two, viz., IX., a prohibition of coveting moveable property, and
X., a prohibition of coveting fixed property.
6. A Treatise Of Penitence, occupying eight pages of the MS. It is in part
also to be found in MSS. 207 and 209, as well as at the end of 208. The
treatise in MS. 209 is the same as that in 207, with the exception of a few

462 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. [Aprasmx.
slight variations in the first lines. That which is contained in MS. 209, in the
second part of this treatise, seems to be an abridgment of that which is found in
MS. 207. The latter, however, wants the article entitled penitencia esterior.
The copy of MS. 208 agrees with that of 209, except that all which relates io
la falsa penitencia (the first part of the treatise) is awanting in the former,
which, however, is much longer than the other two in what relates to oracion,
under the head of penitencia esterior.
7. Of fasting; occupying nine pages of the MS. The object of this treatise
is principally to prove that bodily fasting is of no value without spiritual
fasting. This treatise, and the preceding, are united in MS. 209, under the
title, De la penitencza e del juni.
8. A Commentary on the Lord's Prayer; occupying eight pages of the MS.
It appears also in the Dublin MS., Class C, Shelf 5, No. 22, fol. 230. The
same commentary, with slight variations, is given by Leger (pp. 40-46), and
copied by Hahn, pp. 697-701. A partial translation of another treatise, on the
same subject, iB given by Perrin, p. 47, and by Le'ger, p. 201.
9. A Treatise Of Purgatory; occupying forty-six pages of the MS., containing
the treatise Of the Invocation of Saints, and that De la potesta dona a li vicario
de Xrist (of the power given to the vicar of Christ). This last-mentioned work
occupies twelve pages of the MS. Hahn has published a part of it, pp. 611-
616. These different treatises are also to be found united in the book Of Anti
christ. (Perrin, pp. 253-295 ; Leger, pp. 71-91.) After this treatise comes in
the MS. 208, the sequel of the Exposition of the Ten Commandments, mentioned
in No. 5 of this article.
10. Ara sensec de la penitencza (Now follows Of Penitence), as at the end
of MS. 207. (See No. 6 in this article.) This treatise occupies thirty pages of
the MS., and concludes the volume. The last words of it are the following: —
"La defi» icion de la penitencia part en prima desplaisencza e dolor del pecca,
en la secunda temor de non recagir. Linconiens prima es abandonar li pecca
comes e abandonnans plorar lor e degittar." "The sufficiency of penitence
depends, in the first place, on a displeasure and sorrow for sin, and, in the second
place, on a fear (attentive observation) not to fall into it again. The conse
quences are, first, an abandoning of sins committed, and in abandoning them — a
deploring and rejecting of them." These last words, lor e degittar, are inclosed
in a sort of scroll, made by the pen, with slight arabesques on both sides, and
terminated by the figure of a hand with the forefinger stretched out.
MS. V., No. 209.
This MS. is in small 8vo, written on paper, in the Romance tongue, and in
black letter. The binding is modern, and upon the back is the title, Conseils
des barbes.
The leaves of this MS. are also in disorder, like those of Codex 208. — The
commencement of the first page is to be found after the sixteenth, and that
first page itself contains only the end of an article, of which the first part must
be sought in fol. 20. Not having had time to note the proper place of all the
leaves of this MS., I shall now indicate its contents according to the order in
which they are at present placed.
Fol. 1. — The first leaf belongs, as has just been stated, to a work which has
been placed farther on in the volume. It treats of heritages and the division
of goods.
Fol. 3. — In fol. 3, begins Pislolctta (a little epistle), containing pious exhor
tations. It would seem that this fol. 3 ought to be the first in the volume.

No. I] BIBLIOGRAPHY. 463
Fol. 6. — La ley del matrimoni (of marriage). Marriage is designated the
fourth sacrament of the church. The division of this treatise is extremely sim
ple — (1 .) Duties of the wife towards her husband (the husband is called lo Baron) .
— (2.) Duties of the husband towards his wife. — (3.) Of the two together to,-
wards their children ; above all, says the MS., that lifilli, liqual nayson carnal.
sian rendu a Dio spirital (that the children who are born carnal may be made
spiritual to God). Is not this the loftiest aim of education ?
Pol. 7. — Of justice.— -Here we find this recommendation: Non avez recors al
judici secular. If you would be just, it is said, see that ye offer "Vos meseymes
a Dio, con totas aquellas cosas que son vostras, amor e ajutori al proyme ; a vos
meseymes, sanctita; al amis, concordia; per lenemis, oracion devota; al rey
. . . tribu," &c. In regard to the love of enemies, it is said, "I well know
that you cannot attain to it of yourself, but call God to your aid, and he will
put into your heart that love which he has had for us, who have so much
offended him. "
Fol. 8. — Detached thoughts, entitled, Pensiers. — It is from this piece that
the thought is extracted which is quoted in the Israel of the Alps, part I., ch. ±.,
note. It is to be found upon the second page of fol. 8, which corresponds to
p. 16.
Fol. 11. — A treatise Of Penitence, which occurs also elsewhere. See No. 6
and No. 10 in the account of the preceding MS. — In fol. 17 is a piece, entitled,
La sancta confession. The following is a brief extract : — " Aquilh que se volon
confessar vocalment, ilhi dovon cerca preires sapient e discret e dot : car silhi
recoraren a li mal preire, ilh seren plus engana que certifica." Prayers, fasting,
and almsgiving are afterwards spoken of. This treatise is very long.
Fol. 21. — About the middle of p. 41, or of the first page of fol. 21, is this
title written by itself in red ink. Que cosa sia pecca (What sin is). This new
treatise is also of great length. The characters of pride, envy, anger, luxury,
sloth (aczidia), avarice, &c, are successively examined, with the remedies appro
priate to them. The following is a brief specimen of the preliminary part : —
"Lo es de saber (it est a savoir) que lo pecca mortal, a receopu lo nom de la
mort, emperczo car el mortifica l'arma (I'dme). Trey pecca son apelha pecca
capita, czo es principals de Ji quals li autre pecca prenen nayssament," &c. A
few of these passages will be found extracted in chap. iv. of Perrin, p. 13, et seq.
Fol. 53. — The Prayer of Manasseh.
Fol. 54. — A Commentary on the Lord's Prayer. "Glosasobre Pater Noster."
These last words being Latin, would seem to indicate that the Vaudois said the
Lord's Prayer in that language. This commentary is pubhshed by Le'ger, pp.
40-46, and by Hahn, pp. 697-701. But the different petitions, or requerenczas,
are given by them in the same idiom as the commentary.
Fol. 77. — De las quatre cosas que son awenir. [Of the four things which are
to come.] These four things are death, judgment, hell, and paradise. After
this treatise three leaves of the MS. are left blank, viz., fol. 118, 119, and 120.
From this last to the end of the volume (which ends with fol. 156), is Occupied
with the following treatise : —
Fol. 121.  Vergier de consollacion. This is one of the Vaudois books, tho
title 'of which has been most frequently cited, but it has never been published.
It contains —
(1.) General remarks on the Divine law.
(2.) On human corruption.
(3.) An examination of different vices. (Part of what is said on this subject,
has already occurred in the treatise above-mentioned : Que cosa sia pecca.) In

464 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. [Appendix.
the article De la Temptacion, heresy and heretics are spoken of. We cannot
but desire to know what the Vaudois understood by these terms.
" Li hereges son dit quelli coma errant de Heretics are so called as wandering from
la verita. En ayma las vestimentas cuebron the truths As garments cover the body, so
lo cors, en ayma las bonas obras cuebran lar- do good works cover the soul of the heretic,
ma de larege, e tollon las vestimentas de li- and come in place of (take away) the gar-
qual ilh destruonliben." ments of which they destroy the possession. '
(4.) Faith, hope, and charity are spoken of. Charity, we are told, begins
with the love of God; it renders us invulnerable by injuries of men, &c.
(5.) An examination and recommendation of different virtues.
(6.) A long article on Friendship; in which occurs a quotation from Aristotle.
(7.) Of prelates. — A very long article, pointing out the resemblance which
they ought to bear to Jesus Christ.
(8.) Of preachers. — They ought to be the light of the world.
(9.) Of Divine chastisements, containing quotations from St. Isidore.
(10.) Of the fear and love of God.
(11.) Of the love of our neighbour, of almsgiving, &c.
(12.) Of penitence and contemplation. This last term is thus defined: —
" Es sostracion de ment a Dio, cum desmentigancza de las cosas temporals. "
(It is the elevation of the soul to God, with forgetfulness of temporal things.)
(13.) Of the praises of the Lord.
(14.) Of perseverance, poverty, obedience, humility, and chastity. May the
practice of these virtues, says the author in conclusion, " per tu, Segnor, e lo
tio nom, sia a mi recreacion I "
This treatise, deficient in method, has evidently received the name of Vergier
de consollacion, from analogy to an orchard (verger) in which all sorts of trees
grow unrestrained, because of its pages filled with matters, various indeed, but
all edifying. It would seem that to have entitled it, Of the virtues and vices,
would better have made known its general character. I doubt if this treatise
is complete. It contains a number of passages which are also to be found else
where ; and a number which it is very difficult to read. A copy of the Vergier
de consollacion occurs in the Dublin MS., vol. 7, No. 3. It would be desir
able to have these two copies compared with one another.
MSS. which have disappeared.
Other MSS. besides these were deposited in the library of Geneva, by John
Le'ger, in 1662. M. Gerard was then librarian. The receipt which he gave
for these documents is inserted in the work of Le'ger, part I., ch. iii., p. 23.
According to a letter of M. Raynouard (of 6th April, 1833), the greater part of
these documents were sent to England, at the request of Cromwell; but as
Cromwell died in 1658, and his son resigned the Protectorate in 1659, whilst
these MSS. were not deposited at Geneva till 1662, it is impossible that this
can have been the way in which they disappeared. Be it as it might, they are
not now to be found in the library of that city.
Amongst these documents there was only one volume in the Romance tongue.
It came from the- valley of Pragela (Le'ger, p. 23). AJ1 the books which it con
tained are to be found in other MSS. still existing. The following is a note of
them : —
1. La nobla Leyczon. — To be found in the Geneva MS., No. 207, and Dublin
MS., vol. iv., No. 6. (Class C, Shelf 5, No. 21.)
2. Lo pwrgatori soima. (Of the invention of purgatory.) Dublin MS.,
vol. iii., No. 36. Published by Le'ger, p. 295, and by Perrin, p. 93.

Na I.] BIBLIOGRAPHY. 465
3. De li tramettament. (Of traditions.) Was to be found in the Cam
bridge MS., No. vi., t. i. (Indicated by Morland, pp. 95-98, and by Le'ger,
pp. 21-23.)
4. De Vinvocassion de li sant. (Of the invocation of the saints.) Dublin
MS., vol. iii., No. 57. (Class C, Shelf 5, No. 22.)
5. Lo novel confort. — Geneva MS. 207; and Dublin MS., vol. iv., No. 1.
6. Lo Dottor. (The Teacher, containing sentences from the fathers of the
church, on Repentance.) Cambridge, vol. ii., No. 3.
7. Glosa Pater Noster. — Cambridge, vol. ii., No. 1 ; Dublin, vol. vii., No.
2 ; Geneva, MS. No. 43, § 3, and No. 209, fol. 54, also No. 206.
8. Glosa simbolum aposiolorum. — Geneva, MS. 43, No. 3.
9. ExplUation of the Ten Commandments. — Geneva, MS. 208; No. 5.
10. Various sermons, or discourses of no great length, on different Scrip
ture subjects. Dublin MSS., vol. iii., fol. 11-17, and fol. 348-368.
These different treatises, of a MS. incontestably of Vaudois origin, being found
scattered throughout all the MSS. which bear the general name of Vaudois
manuscripts, although an attempt has been made to dispute the claim of the
Vaudois to them, establish that claim so that it can no longer be set aside.
§ A.— Dublin MSS. (Library of Trinity College.)
These MSS. were derived from the library of Usher (in Latin, Usserius) the
celebrated author and Church of England divine, who was born at Dublin in
1580, became Bishop of Meath in 1620, and Archbishop of Armagh in 1626,
and died in 1655. The Vaudois MSS., deposited in Cambridge by Morland in
1658, and which have never since been to be found, were not in England at so
early a date as those of Usher which still exist in Dublin.
Volume I.
(Class A, Shelf 4, No. 13.) Vaudois Bible. — I have already given an
account of this MS. in the present section, in No. 4 of § 2, entitled, Biblical
MSS. Volume II.
(Class C, Shelf 5, No. 18.) This MS. is known by the name of the Manu
script of George Morel. It is a volume of paper, six inches in length, by four
inches and a half in breadth. It contains a collection of letters and other docu
ments relative to the mission of George Morel and Peter Masson, to the Refor
mers on behalf of the Vaudois in 1530.
The following is an account of its contents, seriatim, according to a letter of
Dr. Todd, inserted in the British Magazine, No. cxiii., p. 397.
1. At p. 1 is a letter of the Vaudois to OUcolampadius, commencing thus —
" Salve mi Domine Gilcolampadie. Pero aczo que tu dones conselh a nos, e
confermes nos frevols, anne lo present eorda loqual es entre d' nos ministres.
Car moti racontant . . . ," &c— The remainder as in Perrin, p. 211. This
letter occupies only one page.
2. Pp. 2-5. — Reply of OScolampadius. Perrin, p. 46, and Le'ger, p. 105.
(A letter of much greater length, but commencing in the same way, is pubhshed
in the Epistolcs virorum doctorum, edited by Bibliander. Basle, 1548, p. 2.)
3. P. 5, Epistola ad Bucerum.
4. Bucer's Reply. Perrin, p. 47.
5 De ministrorum ritibus. Published by Schultet, an. 1530,— Von der
Hardt, Pars v., p. 161. In the Dublin MS., in pp. 8, 10, 25, 31, ix., there
Vol. II. 119

466 THE ISRAEL OP THE ALPS. [Appehoix.
are words, and even entire sentences, erased by a modern hand. In some places
there are words written in, which were not there originally. The words and
sentences, erased in the MS., are omitted by Perrin, and the changes made by
a modern hand are adopted by him.
The portion of the MS. which treats de mmistrorum ritibus, extends as far
as p. 116. Each particular is made the subject of a question (peticio), after
which follows the reply of (Ecolampadius or of Bucer. It is in peticio xii. that
the Confession of Faith occurs, which so very strikingly resembles that pubhshed
by Le'ger, p. 92. Perrin also, who was the first to publish it, says it is ex
tracted from the Memoires de Georges Morel (the very MS. in question), as well
as the Almanack spiritual. (P. I., ch. xii., marginal note, p. 79.)
In p. 56, this question occurs — " Qual cosa se deo entendre par las claos dona
a sant Peyre?" The reply of GScolampadius is identical with the paragraphs
de clavibus ecclesia;, which are to be found in the Epistolos doctorum vitrorwtn, p. 4.
Peticio xxiii. is in these terms — " Item, si tot jurament es defendu," &c.
6. P. 116. Letter of OEcolampadius, of which a copy appears in the Epistolce
doct. vir., p. 8.
7. Letter of Bucer, dated anno salutis 1530.
8. P. 118. Report of the proceedings of the Synod held at Angrogna, 12th
Sept., 1532. (See the Israel of the Alps, vol. i., ch. vii.) This piece also ex
hibits erasures. It is supposed that this is the same MS. which Perrin had in
his hands, and which he quotes under the title of the Book, or Memoirs of
George Morel and Peter Masson (pp. 46, 106, &c), because the passages quoted
by him exactly correspond with those of the existing MS.
Volume III.
(Class C, Shelf 5, No. 22). Not having before me any exact account of this
MS., and not having myself seen it, I can do no more than indicate the subjects
which are treated in it.
1. In p. 1, is a little calendar of the church.
2. P. 2 — p. 156. The Book of the Virtues (Liber Vertutum), occupying 77
leaves. 3. A treatise on education, contained in fol. 78-83, de lenseignement de li filh;
and from fol. 83-85, de las garda de lasfilhas.
4. A treatise on marriage, beginning thus — Ayczi vollen parlor del ma ri-
moni, a confort de U bon. This treatise extends from fol. 85 to fol. 91.
5. On dreams. (De li soyme). Fol. 91-94.
6. Ayczi vollen parlor de li pecca de la lenga. This treats of evil-speaking,
calumny, false judgments, &c. Fol. 94-118. It is to be found in part in the
Geneva MS. 209, fol. 51-53.
7. De la superbia (Of pride). Fol. 118-139.
8. Laparollade Dio. Fol. 139-145.
9. Deliperilh. Occupying only the first page of fol. 145.
10. lot don noble (Eight eminent graces), or Tot don noble (AU eminent
grace). Between these two versions the general scope of the piece and the view
of the MS. alone can decide. This treatise occupies only two pages.
11. Seven sermons, occupying fol. 146-167 of the MS. The following are
the first words of each, by which they may be recognized: — (1.) " Aquilh que
fameian . . '. " — Those who are hungry. (2.) " O Seignor, tu me pocz mondar
si tu voles" — 0 Lord, thou canst make me clean, if thou wilt. This is to be
found also in No. 13 of vol. vi. of this series. (3.) "Sermo d' Erodiana."
On Herodias; the death of John the Baptist. (4.) " De la parollas auciosas" —

No. I.] BIBLIOGRAPHY. 467
Of idle words. (5.) Li parlar de li philosofe"-— T!ie sayings of the philoso
phers. (6.) "Vevos mi filh mort unial de la sua mayra" — The death of the
only Son. (7.) " Sermo de las noczas" — Sermon on the marriage feast (the
introduction of the elect into the kingdom of God). A few pages on the same
subject are to be found in the Geneva MS., No. 206.
12. Various fragments, of which some are also to be found in the Liber
vertutum. They extend from fol. 167 to 175. They are (1.) " De la ubrieta "
— Of drunkenness. (2.) "Luxuria." (3.) " De la familiarita de las fennas."
(4.) "De la honesta" — Of modesty. (5.) "De la sapiencia de Dio." (6.)
"Angel . . . " — (The angel . . ). (7.) "La consideration de la brievita
de la vita," — Considerations on the shortness of fife. (8.) "De li parlar dalcuns
doctors." (9.) "Alenfern . . . ." (10.) De labendelparadis." (These frag
ments, (9.) and (10.), are two parts of the same piece.) (11.) "De la Cristianita."
13. "Tr&or e lume de fe." This important treatise extends from fol.
176 to 271. It contains (1.) the remarkable introduction already noticed in the
Geneva MS., No. 208, fol. 15. It is indicated in the Dublin MS. by these
words — "Ayczi commencza lo prolic del fibre appella Tresor e lume de ee."
This introduction extends from fol. 176 to 179. (2.) " Lo simbole d'Anastais."
(3.) "De li articles de la fe." (4.) "Li sept sacrament," occupying 16 pages.
(5.) "Li commandament de Dio,'; occupying 33 pages. (6.) "Tracta del
oracion," 23 pages. (7.) "De la penitencia," 78 pages. (Concerning this
last piece, see No. 6 of Geneva MS. 208.)
14. In fol. 271, we read — "Ayczi comenczan Las Tribulaoions." This
treatise ocqupies 13 pages. Published by Le'ger, part i., ph. vi., p. 35, and by
Hahn, pp. 692-696.
15. "Las interrogaoions menors." — This is the little catechism which
Perrin (p. 157) and Le'ger (p. 58) have published, as of date a.d. 1100. There
is no Vaudois book which has been Bo often reprinted. Koecher, Monastier,
Dieterici, Brez, Hahn, and others, have given it in their works. It has also
been separately printed in Edinburgh.
' 16. Two fragments: "Delibal" (fol. 292-297) and "De laTaverna" (fol.
297, 298). These passages have been published. They are very severe against
balls and public houses.
17. The Apostles' Creed; occupying the first page of fol. 298.
18. "Alcuns testimoni del Apocalis," from the second page of fol. 298 to
the end of fol. 299.
19. "De li VIII. pensiers;" occupying page 600, or the first page of fol.
300. 20. " De las quatre cosas que son a venir." These four things are death,
judgment, hell, and paradise. From fol. 301-304, where commences "Del
alegrecza de li Salva," which extends to fol. 334.
21. Fragments, similar to some which occur in the Book of Virtues. (1.)
"Del pecca de la desubidienza ; fol. 337-341. (2.) "De la veniancza "— Of
vengeance; occupying four pages. (4.) "De la desperacion "— Of despair;
occupying five pages. (5.) " Lo fellon abandonne la soa via" — Let the wicked
forsake his ways ; occupying two pages.
22. Sermons. These pieces are six in number. (1.) "De lo mesquin."
(2.) " En aquella contra de Bethlem eran pastors . . . ." (3.) "Yeshudisa
li seo disciples . . . ." (4.) "Johan deczia al poble." (5.) " Jeshu montant
enlanauta ..." (into the boat). (6.) " Le fantin Jeshu ..." (the infant
Jesus . &c.) These six sermons extend from fol. 348 to fol. 373.
23. " Del Purgatori"— A treatise Of Purgatory, extending from fol.- 373 to

468 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. [Appehdix.
385, and containing " De la convocation de li son:," fol. 378-383, and De I'abso-
lution," fol. 383-385.
24. A Sermon, commencing thus— " 0 Frayres ! sabent aquest tempo, car
hora es ja a nos levar del sopn ..." (from sleep), concludes the volume in
fol. 389. Volume IV.
(Class C, shelf 5, No. 21.) This volume contains the same poems in the
Romance tongue which are in the Geneva MS. 207 ; but in a different order.
1. Lo novel oonfort. I have quoted the last two verses of it in the pre
ceding § (MS. iii., No. 4) ; M. Monastier gives a passage of considerable length
(vol. ii., pp. 278-282) borrowed from the work of Raynouard. There are
some variations which would require to be further examined. The following,
for example, presents itself in the second line of the third verse : —
" Tota la vostra vita es un petit dormir ;
Et donnent vos soyma un soyme de plaezir . . ." &c.
" And in your sleep your dreams are all of pleasure . . . ." The length of this
poem and its prmcipal characteristics, have been indicated in the section above
referred to.
2. Lavangeli de li rv semenoz. A poem on the Parable of the Sower. One
of the most remarkable of the ancient Vaudois poems, and, perhaps, that which
best shows how thoroughly the Vaudois had apprehended the moral import of
the Scriptures. (See'MS. 207, No. 8, in the preceding §.) It contains also
very valuable notices of the different classes of Christians (corresponding to
the different classes of the seed) as they appeared at that epoch. There are
those who at first receive the Word of God with eagerness —
" E de present qu'ilh senton la perseguecion,
' Un poc d'espavament o de tiibulacion.
Ilh renean e laysan la predication
Lacal ilh sooutavan con tanta devocion" (verse 15).
Time has not, in this respect, changed the heart of man ; but the obstacles are
no longer the same. — The tares which grow with the good grain, represent the
enemies of the kingdom of God —
" Czo, son li filh fellon, plen de tota malicia ;
De persegre Ii just han mota cubiticia : "
it is said in verse 65, and in'the next verse —
" Ma li just son ferm ; en Xrist han lor oonfort . . ."
Accordingly, this strength does not fail them (verse 67) —
" Emperczo temon Dio, gardant se de mal far,
La ley del Segnor s'eff orczan de gardar ;
E totas adversitas en paciencia portar
Entro que sia vengu lo temp del meisonar."
It has been previously said (verses 39 and 40) —
" Mot son pacific, human e ben suflrent:
Non se volon deffendre, non son mal respondent,
Mas portan en paciencia greo cosas entra la gent ;
Emperczo son apella filh de Dio tot poysent.
" Tribulations suffron e perseguecion grant ;
Son tormenta e aucis e en grant career istant ;
Per czo son plen de temor e de grant spavant :
Sovent d'un lusc en autre fuon tranBfugant . . ."

No. I.] BIBLIOGRAPHY. 469
Such was the condition of Christians at that time, such was the condition of the
Vaudois, in the midst of their adversaries —
" Que volon devorar lo tropellet petit
/ Del cal es bon pastor lo segnor Jeshu Xrist" (verse 8).
And it is especially worthy of notice, how it is afterwards said of this little
flock, or church of persecuted believers —
" Aquesta es la sancta Gleysa, recebent confidancza
La parolla de Xrist e la soa amonestancza" (verse 47).
" Mother es de Vagnel e dicta la soa sposa
Humil e casta, e vio mot vertuosa" (verse 60).
It could scarcely have been more decidedly intimated that the Vaudois re
garded themselves as the Church.
3. La Barca. A poem, already mentioned, and an account given of it, in
article ii. of the Geneva MS., No. 207.
4. Lo Patre Eternal. (See No. 6 of the same MS.) This poem is a
prayer, addressed successively to the Father, to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit,
and then to the fortissimo Trenita. I give the following verses as specimens
of it:— " O primiera cayson sencza defalbiment,
Fin sies de totas cosas, sencza comenczament :
Mostra me la toa facia alegre e resplandent !
" Consolador droiturier, sant e prencipal,
Purifica la mia anna d'tot pecca mortal,
Planta hi las vertucz, e dereycza li venial !
" Segnor segnoriczant de las tres girarchias,
E de la gleisa triumphant que uferc a tu MesBias,
Prego te, fay nos esser d'aquellas compagnias I
" Conselhador fidel, merevilhos e fort,
Conselha lo tio poble, qu'es tormenta a tort,
Que habandone aquest mont per venir al tio ort."
The word ort literally signifies garden, and metaphorically Paradise. — These
four triplets are the 18th, 19th, 21st, and 37th of the poem. I cannot here
, give a complete translation of these passages, because of the Uttle room which
now remains to me within the limits assigned to this Bibliography.
5. A poem which bears no title in the MS. of Dublin, but which is the same
with that which, in the Geneva MS., is entitled, "Lo despreczi del mont."
(See MS. 207, No. 7-) This poem (judging from the Geneva MS., which alone
I have seen) does not appear to me to have been completed, for in the 95th line
the subject is stated in these terms : —
" Lonor del mont yo te volh recontar . . ."
And twenty lines after, the author unexpectedly comes to a close, the sense
being interrupted — '*Aquel non ista segur, ni mot ben alloga
Local po esser de la mort subitament arappa."
It is evident that the subject is not exhibited in the manner promised at the
beginning ; and the formula, with which most of the other Vaudois poems con
clude, being omitted in this, seems also to indicate that it has been broken off
in the middle. I proceed to quote a few lines : —
" Las cosas terrenals totas venon a nient;"

470 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. [appendix.
(Earthly thingB all come to uothing.) — With what wilt thou redeem thyself,
when Death comes to slay thee? For Death will acknowledge no paction nor
agreement . . . , &c.
" De cal te reconprare cant la mort te aucire I
Car pat ni convenencza la mort non recebr*- ;
L'or ni l'argent non te secorrare,
Ni preguiera d'amic non te desliorare
Al dia de la besogna, cant 1'arraa perire."
(In the day of need, when the soul shall perish.) — There is no trust to be placed,
says the Vaudois author, in any of this world's possessions.
" Ni en torre, ni en palays, nl en grant maysonament,
Ni en tantas, ni en convilis, ni en Ii grant manjament,
Ni en ly leyt honorivol, ni en li bel parament,
Ni en vestimentaB Claras e fortment resplandent ;
Ni en grecz de bestias, ni en lavor de moti camp . . ," &c.
The enumeration of the things of which the men of that time were proud,
might, with some study, aid to determine the period at which the poem was
composed. 6. La Nobla Leyczon. (See a particular account of it, in the preceding §,
MS. 207, No. 5.)
7. Lo Novel Sermon. (See the preceding § ; MS. 207, No. 3.)
8. Sermon, in prose, entitled, Del Mesquin.
9. The original of a fragment, of which Perrin (p. 178) and L^ger (p. 57)
have given the translation, under the title of Confession of Sins of the ancient
Vaudois. These two authors publish it as being in prose ; this fragment is also
written as prose in the Dublin MS. The Rev. Dr. Gilly having had the kind
ness to send me a copy, I perceived that it was in verse; and that this was to be
added to the number of the ancient Vaudois poems already known, although
Perrin and L^ger themselves do not seem to have been aware of it. I procured
the publication of this fragment in the Echo des ValUes, first year, No. 10,
pp. 154-159, with a very exact translation, executed by M. Meille. The follow
ing are a few fines of it : —
" Segnor perdona me, per la toa bointa !
Temeros soy a far ben, e fortment pereczos
E ardi a far lo mal e mot evananczos.
Segnor, dona me gratia, que non sia de li fellon . , .
Hayas marczi da mi e dona me humilita . . .
Segnor Dio, tu sabes to czo que yo hay confessa,
Encara hi a moti mal que yo non hay recunta . . . ," &c.
In the inequality of the measure, and the simple assonance of the rhymes,
these verses bear the marks of high antiquity. This must be regarded as one
of the most ancient Vaudois poems which has come down to us.
10. " De las proprietas de las animanczas." A didactic treatise, containing
examples and lessons, derived from the habits of different animals. This trea
tise was in the ancient Vaudois MSS. deposited at Cambridge, and now lost, in
vol. i., Div. A, No. 2.
11. "Ayczi comencza alcunas sposicions sobre alcuns passages de S. Matth."
Such is the title of the last work in this volume. That it contains a piece in
verse written as prose, is sufficient proof that this MS. is merely a copy made
at a time very remote from the time when what is contained in it was composed.

No. 1.] BIBLIOGRAPHY. 471
Volume V.
(Class C, Shelf 5, No. 25.) This volume begins with a fragment, which in
some other volumes forms part of the " Treatise on Antichrist."
1. " Ayczo es la causa del despartiment de la Gleysa roman." In most of
the collations hitherto published, we read del nostro despartiment . - . , &o.
2. "Joachim Camerarius," in narratione historica "de Ecclesiis Fratrum in
Bohemia et Moravia." Camerarius having lived in the sixteenth century, the
MS. which contains his work must necessarily be of a very recent date. But
the presence of this work in a Vaudois MS. shows the interest which the
Vaudois took in the Bohemian Brethren, and in some measure attests the rela
tion which subsisted between them.
3. " La Epistola al serenissimo rey Lancelau." This piece, if it were pub
lished, would perhaps be of a nature to throw more light on the relations of the
Vaudois with Bohemia. With it this volume terminates. The work of Came
rarius occupies the greater part of the volume.
Volume VI.
I can only mention the first few words of each of the treatises which this
volume contains.
1. "A Isach. se tu despartires la preciosa cosa de la vii . . . ."—(If thou
separate the precious things from the vile . . . .}
2. " De las vertucz teologicals." — (Of the theological virtues.)
3. "L'beneuranczas." — (The Beatitudes.)
4. "Oyt cosas son que nos deven pensar per chascun dia." — (There are
eight things of which we ought to think every day.)
5. " Cant tu seres envida a las noczas . . . ." — (When thou art invited to
the marriage feast . . . .)
6. " Jo entendo d'dire cal cosa matrimoni . . . ." — (I propose to say what
marriage is.)
7. " Li filh heal naison a li payrans carnals . . . ." — (The children who
are born to their parents carnal . . . .) Compare with an analogous passage,
noticed in this Bibliography, in art. vi. of the Geneva MS., No. 209.
8. "Del pecca de la desubidiencza." — (Of the sin of disobedience.) These
last four fragments are probably parts of the same treatise.
9. Sermon. " En aquel temp Herode fey pilhar e ligar e encarcerar Johan
Baptista." — (At this time Herod caused John the Baptist to be seized, bound,
and cast into prison.)
10. "Nos vesen esser na tres greo perilh." — (We see that three great perils
are produced.)
11. ,"Donca nos mesquins, perque tarden de ben far." — (Why then, poor
creatures that we are, do we defer to do right ?)
12. " Lo felhon abandone la soa via." — (Let the wicked forsake his way.)
13. " 0 segnor tu me pocz mondar si tu voles."— (O Lord, if thou wilt thou
canst make me clean.) •
14. " Tu sies sol pelegrin in Jerusalem." — (Thou art the only pilgrim towards
Jerusalem.) 15. "Lo fantin Jeshu." — (The infant Jesus.) "Lo teo payre e io dolent
querian tu.  (Thy father is now afflicted and seeks thee, or rather; It is I thy
father who seek thee sorrowful.') " En aquellas contra te Belem, eran pastors
1 If it were not that Dr. Muston's familiarity with the Romance tongue is so great, and

472 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. [appendix
... (In that country of Bethlehem, were there shepherds . . .) — " E cum
Jeshu fossa na en Bellem . . ."—(And when Jesus was born at Bethlehem
. . .) "En aquel temp zoes li savi atroba e adora lo fantin." — (At this time
came the wise men, to find and adore the child.) I have joined these five frag
ments under the same number, because they appear to belong to one piece.
They were in part contained also in the ancient Vaudois MSS. deposited at
Cambridge, vol. . . . Div. B, No. 21.
16. " Li teo olh vean dreytas cosas." — (Thine eyes shall behold right things.)
17. "De li bal."— (Of balls.) "De la Taverna."— (Of taverns.) "De la
Beniancza." — (Of Benevolence.) "De la Desperacion." — (Of Despair.) "Yo
non volh la mort del peccador . . ." — (I desire not the death of the sinner.)
It appears to me that these five fragments ought to be connected with a dis
course on Conversion, which follows them.
18. "De las parollas auciosas." — (A sermon on idle words.) This was also
contained in the second volume of the Vaudois MSS. of Cambridge, No. 19.
19. " Yot don noble."— (Eight eminent gifts.) Perhaps this ought to be
Tot don noble: Every elevated quality, &c. . . . In the MS. above-mentioned,
there is a treatise concerning the Seven Gifts of the Spirit, which recalls the
treatise of Stephen De Borbonne, De septem donis Spiritus sancti, founded upon
Isa. ii., and a treatise on the six things honourable in this world, Nos. 15
and 19.
20. Two treatises sobre luswa (on usury).
21. Paraphrase, "Jeshu fo mena del esprit al desert, qu'ilh fossu tempta
del diavol . . . — (Jesus was led of the Spirit into the wilderness, to be tempted
of the Devil.)
22. Three sermons, one of which is entitled, " Lo bon pastor." — (The good
Shepherd.) The second begins with these words, "Petit e non verre mi e
dereczo petit e veyre mi." — (A little while and ye shall not see me, and again a
little while and ye shall see me.) And the third begins with the words, "La
fenna cant ilh aperturis a tristicia, car lora de ley yo soy conpira al fane " (Job
xxx.) The last five words of this sentence must have been inaccurately copied.
23. A treatise de la penitencia, already noticed elsewhere.
24. Six sermons commencing thus : (1.) " Cant vos devian del judici avena-
dor . . ." (2.) "Yofameiey(I have been hungry) a vos non doner a mi a
maniar . . ." (3.) " E vevos fenna Cananea yssic daquellas encontras , . ."
— (And behold a woman of Canaan came out of these countries . . .) (4.) "O
segnor, filh de David merceneia de mi." — (Have mercy on me.) (5.) "Vevos
aqual que semenava . . ." — (Behold he who sowed . . .)
25. " A Isach, Crisostomo di, Tota la gloria de Dio e tota la salu de li ome
es pausa en la mort d'Xrist." — (All the glory of God, and all the salvation of
men, rests upon the death of Christ.) Volume VII.
(Class G, Shelf 4, No. 17.) Entitled: "Waldensium tractatus tres, veteri
'lingua Britannica conscriptae." I know not on what ground it could be supposed
that this volume was written in the ancient Breton language ; the treatises which
it contains are in the Romance language, and are elsewhere to be met with
amongst other Vaudois MSS.
that I can scarcely pretend even to a slight acquaintance with it, I would suppose this to be
from Luke ii. 48, and the translation to be, "Thy Father and I have sought thee sorrow
ing." — Translator.

No. I.] BIBLIOGRAPHY. 473
These three treatises are —
1. Glosa soere lo Pater Noster. Occurs also in the Geneva MSS., Nos.
206, 209, and 43.
2. De la quatre cosas que son avenir. Occurs also in the Geneva MS.,
No. 209, fol. 77. The subject of it is indicated in these terms, " Lo es denten-
dre dun chascun dias que quatre cosas son avenir ; czo es asaber : la mort, lo
jorn del iuiament, las penas eternals, li goy de paradis." (It is every day to be
recollected that there are four things to come, viz., death, the day of judgment,
the eternal pains, and the joys of paradise.)
3. Vergier de consolacion. Frequently referred to by Perrin and L6ger.
It is to be found also in the Geneva MS., No. 209, at the end of the volume,
of which this treatise occupies the last seventy-two pages. In this treatise it
is said of faith, hope, and charity —
"Lafe endreycza al sobeiran ben, en ores- Faith guides us {puts us in the right way)
sent e consentent lo ver mediant." to the sovereign good, making us to grow
and to consent to the true Mediator.
" L'esperancza endreicza en resemilhant e Hope elevates us {puts us in the right way),
ecompeitant las plus autas cosas, mediant assimilating us to, and making us to compete
lasquals laxma se espert . . . es fiancza de Ii for the highest things, by means of which
ben avenadors, per la gratia de dio e per la the soul is encouraged. . . It is the confi-
bona conscientia." dence of good things to come (to be obtained)
through the grace of God and through a good
conscience.
"Carita . . . es lamor de dio e del proyme. Charity . . . is the love of God and of our
La carita donna liberta de griefta ; la temor neighbour. Charity gives exemption from
non sent lo lavor, non regarda lo merit." the injuries (of, self-love) ; fear (or the solici
tude which arises from love) neither feels la
bour nor regards merit.
See the present section of this Bibliography, § 3, MS. 5.
Volume VIII.
(Relating to the inhabitants of Frayssinieres.) (Class C, Shelf 4, No. 18.)
Entitled, Valdenseia documenta, and containing —
1. " Poursuiles dirigees," &c. — Prosecutions instituted in 1497, by the Arch
bishop of Embrun, against some of the inhabitants of Frayssinieres.
2. "Sentence contre . . . ," &c. — Sentence against Peter Valois of Frays
sinieres. 3. "Note sur les eVenements," &c. — Note on the historic events of 1488.
(Crusade of Innocent VIII.)
4. "Tractatus, seu epitome, eorumque continentur in accusatione et lite
intentata coram reverendissimis dominis. domino inquisitore apostolico, atque
venerando officiali hujus curias, prsesentibus ac prsesidentibus, contra Stephanum
Ruffum (Gaspard le Roux) e loco, vel oppido, quod vulgo apud Gallos, vocatur
la Frayssiniere."
5. "Requete . . . ,"&c. — Petition addressed by some inhabitants of Frays
sinieres to the Archbishop of Embrun, and dated in 1483.
6. Lis intentata contra duos Barbas. — This piece is apparently the same
with that which occurs in vol. ix., No. 7, letter I.
7. A letter of the Archbishop of Embrun.
Volume IX.
(Historic Documents, generally relating to the Vaudois of Dauphiny.)
1. Origo Valdensium et processus contra eos facti.
Vol. II. 120

474 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. [appebdix.
2. A French translation of the piece, No. 5 of vol. viii.
3. Bull of Innocent VIII. against the Vaudois. (Albert Cattanee, Legate.)
4. Copia protestationis factse per Castellanum Vallis Loysise una cum omni
bus habitatoribus dictse vallis, declarantes se esse bonos et fideles, orthodoxos,
prseceptis ecclesiae obedientes, et quod nullum intendunt prosequi causam in
curia christianissimi Francorum Regis.
5. "Processus factus et formatus in facto sanctse fidei, per reverandum in
Christo pastorem et dominum Johannem Episcopum Ebredunensem.
6. Bull of Alexander VI. to absolve the Vaudois. (See the Israel of the
Alps, Part I., chap. iii. and iv.) This is followed by two other bulls of the
same pope, for the same purpose.
7. Judicial Pieces, — A. Examinations of divers Vaudois. — B. Compearance
of Auduin Crispin (Crespin) of Val-Lo'ise. — C. Translation of the piece noticed
under No. 3 of vol. viii. — D. Copy of No. 4 of- same vol. — E. Examinations
of divers prisoners. — F. Other informations. — G. Examination of Peter Valois.
— H. Sentence against the same. — I. Case against two Barbas, Martin and
John. — K. Case against Peyronnette (published by Allix). — L. Other papers
relative to the same affair.
8. Various PUces. — A. Discourse, by Rostaing, Archbishop of Embrun.—
B. Trial and abjuration of Antoine Blaise. — C. Letter of Archbishop Rostaihg.
— D. Copy of the Letters-Patent of Louis XII., in favour of the inhabitants
of Frayssinieres. — E. Mandate of the king, to restore to the inhabitants of
Frayssinieres and Val-Lo'ise, their properties which had been confiscated. — F.
Letter to the Bishop to the same effect. — G: Another letter (of the king), to
the same effect. — H. Incomplete papers relating to the affair of Odin Crespin.
§ 5. — Ancient Vaudois MSS. deposited at Cambridge.
In this library there was for some time the most voluminous collection known
of ancient Vaudois MSS., and documents relative to our history. Le'ger fur
nished seven volumes of it, and Morland fifteen — in all twenty-two. (For these
numbers, compare what Leger says, part I., chap, iii., p. 21, with Gilly's Wal-
densian Researches, chap, i., and Morland, p. 95.) There were other small
articles also deposited with them, under the designation of documents. (L^ger,
p. 23.) The seven volumes which came from Le'ger, and of which he gives a
particular account, pp. 21-23, were sent by him to Morland, Cromwell's am
bassador at the Court of Turin in 1655; Morland himself brought back from
this embassy, fourteen or fifteen bundles of documents, which are now bound
up in five volumes. (These papers mostly relate to the events which took place
in the Vaudois valleys, from 1650-1656.)
The seven volumes, deposited by Le'ger in the Cambridge library,- are no
longer to be found there. They are not mentioned in a catalogue of that library,
printed in 1690. The new catalogue, printed in 1753, mentions only the bun
dles sent to the library by Morland in 1656. These are the pieces which ori
ginally formed fifteen unbound volumes, and which having recently been bound,
now form five volumes, still remaining.
The MSS. which have been taken away, alone contained Vaudois treatises in the
Romance tongue. They were the most valuable. " It is probable," says the
Rev. Dr. Gilly (Waldensian Researches, chap, i.,) "that they were secretly
removed or destroyed during the reign of James II." A letter which I received
in 1845, informed me that these MSS. had been discovered at Oxford; but this
oews has not been confirmed.
Being under the necessity of restricting this Bibliography within as narrow

No. I ] BIBLIOGRAPHY. 475
limits as possible, I do not here give a list of these MSS., which may be found
in Morland, pp. 95-98 (edition of 1658), Leger, part I., chap, iii., pp. 21-23,
and Monastier, vol. ii., pp. 235-239.
§ 6. — A Note of what has been already published of the ancient Vaudois MSS.
in the Romance tongue.
I.
Brief fragments, quoted by Perrin : —
1 . Letter of the Vaudois to King Lancelau (Wladislas), Perrin, p. 1 4.
2. "Of Luxury," extracted from the Book Del remedi de pecca de luxuria,
chap. xxi. (probably forming part of the treatise entitled, Cal cosa sia pecca),
Perrin, p. 15.
3. " Of Marriage," extracted from the book of Virtues. — Pp. 16, 17.
4. " Of Baptism," extracted from the Almanach spiritual, fol. 45. — P. 18.
5. " Of Swearing," from the same book. — P. 20.
6. " Of the Pope," from the book Ayczi es la causa del nostro despartiment
de la gleysa romana, p. 235. — P. 21.
7. "Of Holy Places," from the same book, p. 125.— P. 23.
8. "' Of Judicial Authority," from the Thresor e lume de fe, fol. 214. — P. 24.
9. " Of Civil Authority," from the book named in No. 6, p. 41. — P. 25.
10. " Of the Trinity," from the Thresor e lume de fe, art. 2. — Pp. 25, 26.
11. Against Revenge, from the book De las tribulacions, p. 224. — P. 27.
12. Against Astrology, from the book of the Exposition of the Ten Com
mandments (found also in No. 6 of the Book of Virtues). — P. 29.
13. Against belief in sorcerers and conjurers, from the same book. Pp. 30-32.
II.
Fra; ments of which the original text is published by Perrin and Le'ger : —
1. " On the Education of pastors." Taken from the Book of George Morel,
p. 8. Three pages. Perrin, pp. 70-73; L^ger, p. 190. Hahn gives articles x.
and xi. of it, p. 702.
2. "Letter of the Barba Bartholemew Tertian." — Entire; Perrin, p. 73;
L<5ger, p. 200.
3. " Athanasian Creed," as in use among the Vaudois. — Perrin, p. 91; Ldger,
p. 116.
4. "Letter of the Vaudois to QScolampadius. — A fragment. Perrin, p. 211.
(L^ger does not copy this fragment.)
5. " Interrogations menors." A Vaudois catechism, of date a.d. 1100. En
tire; Perrin, p. 157; Le'ger, p. 58; Monastier, vol. ii., pp. 296-315; Hahn, p.
673. 6. "Discipline of the Vaudois."— Perrin, pp. 225-252; L<5ger, p. 190.
7. "A treatise concerning Antichrist." — P^mn, p. 253; Le'ger, p. 71; Mon
astier. p. 323. This treatise sets forth (1.) The marks of Antichrist; Perrin,
pp. 253-261; Leger, pp. 71-73. (2.) His works, distinguished into eight classes;
Perrin, p. 262; Leger, p. 73. (3.) How his adherents seek to justify them. Nine
means are pointed out. Perrin, p. 269; Le'ger, p. 76. (4.) How he is combated
by the Bible; Perrin, p. 273; Leger, p. 77.
" 8. " Chapters on Antichrist," sometimes separately referred to. (1.) Causes
of our separation from the Church of Rome. — Perrin, p. 281; L<%er, p. 79.
(2.) The iniquities of AntUhrist, essentially contrary to the Apostles' Creed, ex
hibited under four heads. — Perrin, p. 285; L<5ger, p. 80, near the bottom.

476 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. [appehuix.
9. " Chapters on Antichrist," separately referred to by Perrin and L^ger. (1.)
Of the invention of Purgatory (Del purgatori soima); Perrin, p. 295; Lfeger,
p. 83; Monastier, vol. ii., pp. 365-375. (2.) Of the Invocation of Saints.
Perrin, p. 310; Leger, p. 87. (3.) Of the Sacraments; Perrin, p. 324; L^ger,
chap. xii.
10. This treatise on the Sacraments is also to be met with in a number of other
Vaudois works — in the A Imanach spiritual, the Thresor e lume de fe, &c. Per
rin (p. 211) gives a translation of a similar treatise, which Leger copies (p. 65),
making its paragraphs alternate with those of another treatise -inserted under the
same title in the book Of AntUhrist. The latter is the treatise now under notice.
The chapter ore the Lord's Supper (Le'ger, p. 66) is derived from this book; those
on Orders, Chrism, and Extreme Unction (Le'ger, p. 67, at the bottom) are derived
from the Almanach spiritual. Perrin, without stating where this treatise occurs,
places it at the end of the book on Antichrist; but a number of passages of this
treatise correspond exactly with the translation which he gives of that which is
found in the Almanach spiritual. (Compare p. 324 of Perrin, with p. 213.)
The following are the chapters of this treatise on the Sacraments : —
(1.) Of Baptism. Perrin, p. 324; L^ger, p. 65.
(2.) Of the Lord's Supper. Perrin, p. 325; Lfiger, p. 67.
(3.) Of Marriage and Orders. Perrin, p. 327; Leger, p. 67 (for what relates
to orders solely).
(4.) Of Chrism or Confirmation. Perrin, p. 328; L^ger, p. 68.
(5.) Of Extreme Unction. Perrin, p. 330; L(%er, p. 68.
(6.) Of Fasting. Perrin, p. 331; Leger, p. 69. With this article is united
in L^ger that on the Visitation of the sick, given by Perrin, p. 219. It will be
perceived that the number and order of the Sacraments are not entirely the same
as the Church of Rome holds at the present day. I believe this treatise may be
regarded as containing a summary of what is contained on this subject in the
Almanach spiritual. Compare, as to the divisions, Perrin, p. 211, and Le'ger,
p. 65; as to the subject, Perrin, p. 331 and 219, with Le'ger, p. 69; and as to the
expressions, Perrin, p. 213, with p. 324, and with L6ger, p. 67.
11. A Confession of Faith, of date (according to L6ger) a.d. 1120. (This
author says it is extracted from the Book on Antichrist, L^ger, p. 92; and Per
rin, that it is extracted from the Almanach spiritual, and from the Book of George
Morel; Perrin, p. 79, marginal note). See No. 1 of chap. i. of sect. 3, of this
Bibliography. III.
Fragments and Treatises from the ancient Vaudois books, in the Romance
tongue, of which Perrin and Leger have pubhshed translations only : —
1. A Confession of Sims, beginning thus : "0 Dio de li rey, et Segnor de li
Segnor." LiSger, p. 57; Perrin, p. 178; Hahn, p. 687; Monastier, vol. ii., p.
376. AU these authors give this piece as being in prose. The original exists
in the Dublin MS., Class C, Shelf 5, No. 21, art. ix. It is indeed written as
if it were prose; but it has been pubhshed in the form of verse in the Echo des
valUes, first year, No. 19, pp. 154-159.
2. " An Exposition of the Ten Commandments." Taken from the Uooii: of
Virtues. Perrin, p. 182; Leger, p. 51; Hahn, pp. 679-687.
3. "An Exposition of the Lord's Prayer." Taken from the Thresor e lume
de fe. Perrin, p. 201; L^ger, p. 47. This last-named author gives under the
same title the original of a similar piece in the Romance tongue. Pp. 40-46.
i. A Treatise on the Sacraments; extracted, it is said, from the Almanach

No- r] BIBLIOGRAPHY. 477
spiritual. Perrin, p. 211; Le'ger, p. 65. A portion of the original, relating
to the sacrament of Baptism, is given by Perrin, p. 18.
5. Of Marriage; extracted also from the Almanach spiritual. Perrin, p. 211.
This fragment is not copied by Le'ger.
7. Of the Visitation of the Sick; from the same book. Le'ger, p. 69; Perrin,
p. 219. IV.
Fragments and original works in the Romance tongue, published by Leger;
and by other authors, but not by Perrin.
I. "La nobla Leyczon." (See sect, ii., § 3, of this Bibliography, MS. 207,
No. 5.) Leger gives only a fragment of this poem, part I., chap, iv., p. 25.—
Raynouard (vol. ii., pp. 73-102), Monastier (vol. ii., pp. 246-269), and Hahn
(pp. 628-647) give it entire.
2. "De la temor del Segnor" — A Sermon on the fear of God. L6ger, chap.
v., p. 30; Hahn, pp. 689-692.
3. "De las tribulacions." — A treatise on afflictions. Leger, chap, vi., p. 35.
Hahn, pp. 692-696.
4. "Glosa pater noster" — An exposition and commentary on the Lord's
Prayer. Leger, chap, vii., p. 40; Hahn, pp. 697-701.

Vaudois poems in the Romance tongue, published for the first time in a com
plete form by Hahn; and fragments of certain other works of the ancient
Vaudois, first pubhshed by the same author. (Geschichte der Waldenser und
verwandter Sekten. Stuttgard, 1847; 8vo, pp. 822.)
A. — Works in Verse.
The works mentioned below, are poems extracted from the Geneva MS., No.
207:— 1. "LaBarca,"  Hahn, pp. 560-570.

2. " Lo novel Sermon,'-
3. " Lo novel confort,"
4. "Lo payre eternal,"
5. " Lo despreczi del mont,"

570-581.
581-589.
590-594.
594-597.

6. " L'Avangeli de li quatre semencz," „ „ 598-604.
The various fragments of these poems, which are published by M. Raynouard,
in the second volume of his Chotx des poesies originates des Troubadours, ai e
copied by M. Monastier, in his Hist, des Vaudois, vol. ii., pp. 272-288.
B. — Works im Prose.-
1. " De li article de la fe." Hahn, pp. 605-608.
2. " Le credo." (Each of the different articles of the creed, is ascribed to
one of the twelve apostles.) Hahn, pp. 608-611.
3. "De la potesta dona a li vicari de Xrist? (Extracted from the Geneva
MS., No. 208.) Hahn, pp. 611-616.
4. " Sermo del judyci" (on the judgment). Hahn, pp. 617-623.
5. "Epistola amicus." (A similar epistle is in the MS. 206.) Hahn, pp.
623-626. 6. "Epistola fideli." (Extracts only given.) Hahn, pp. 626-628.

478 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. [Appendix.
VI.
Other recent publications.
In " L' Echo des Vallees vaudoises," the publication of various hitherto un
published fragments of the ancient Vaudois books was begun, and was meant to
have been continued. (Vol. i., No. 10, p. 154: the poem, No. 9 of vol. iv.
of the Dublin MSS.) This journal having been given up, I believe I may ex
press a hope that the Bibliotheque de I'ecole des Chartes will supply its place
in respect of the publication of these works.
Section II. — MS. deposited in various Archives.
This section ought to be divided into two chapters : (I.) Public Archives; (II.)
Private Archives. It would have been much longer than the preceding section.
Its magnitude compels me to suppress it. I shall content myself by reminding
the reader that the principal archives from whose contents I have derived infor
mation in preparing this work, are, In Turin, the State Archives, the Archives
of the Senate, and those of the Court of Accounts ; — In Pignerol, those of the
City, of the Intendance, and of the Bishop's Palace ; — In the neighbourhood,
those of the Vaudois Table, and of the municipalities of Lucerna, La Tour,
La Perrier, Fenestrelles and Briancon ; — In Grenoble, those of the department
of the Isere, of the Bishop's Palace, and of the Court of Accounts ; — In Paris,
the National Archives of France, the MSS. of the former Royal Library, and
the State Diplomatic Archives ; — In Geneva, those of the Hotel de Ville, of the
Council of State, and of the Venerable Company of Pastors. — In most of the
other towns of Switzerland and Germany, which interested themselves on be
half of the Vaudois, or in which they settled, are also to be found treasures of
greater or smaller amount, but it would be useless to enumerate them without
giving some further account of them.

PART III.— DETACHED DOCUMENTS, PRINTED AND IN
MANUSCRIPT.
Chapter I. — Confessions op Faith, published by the Vaudois, or in
THEIR NAME, IN DIFFERENT LANGUAGES.
I.— (1120.)
A Confession of Faith, called George Morel's Confession.- — Leger gratuitously
assigns to it the date 1120, saying that it is " extracted from the old manuscript
mentioned above" (Leger, p. 92, line 16) ; but the last manuscript mentioned
above, is that concerning Antichrist, which, indeed, Perrin dates in 1120 (Per
rin, p. 57') ; but Perrin himself, in speaking of this Confession (chap, xii.), says
1 Even this date is doubtful, for Perrin indicates it thus : — " Item, un livre intitule 1'An-
techrist, letruel commence ainsi : Qual cosa sia VAntechrist, en datte de Van mil cent et vmgt."
These last words, although in Italics, are not in the Romance language, and are not to be
found in the text of the original. They have therefore been added by Perrin ; it may be
supposed that he did bo by reason of a date inscribed upon the volume which he had in his
hands ; but there is no proof whatever of the authenticity of this date. See also Part II.,
section i., § 1, No. 5, of this Bibliography.

No. I.] BIBLIOGRAPHY. 479
it is extracted from the Book of George Morel (Perrin, p. 79, marginal note), in
which it is to be found to this day. (Dublin MSS., Class C, Shelf 5, No. 18.)
But that MS. is not older than the year 1530. Moreover, this Confession says,
nos non aven conegu autre Sacrament que lo Baptisme e la Eucharistia — We have
not known any other Sacrament than Baptism and the Eucharist — (Hahn, p.
651), which is true of the Vaudois only since the Reformation. The characters
of the language, the spelling of the words, and the use of capital letters in the
middle of sentences ; above all, the composition of the Canon which this piece
contains (see Part II., sect, i., § 1, art. v., note 2, of this Bibliography), com
pel us to assign this MS. a date posterior to that of the MSS. of the thirteenth
and fourteenth centuries. The Confession contains fifteen articles, and is pub
lished by Leger, chap, xvii., p. 92; Monastier, vol. ii., p. 316; Hahn, pp. 647-
651; and Bert, p. 416. For a critical examination of it, see the Revue tMolo-
gique, vol. i., p. 337. i
II.— (1431.
Under this date, Leger places a Confession of Faith of the Bohemian Breth
ren, erroneously attributed to the Vaudois of Piedmont. It was directed, as a
protest, against Rokenzana or Rockyzane. (Le'ger, p. 108.) Leger gives only
a summary of its contents ; but it is to be found entire in the Waldensia of
L. Lydius. (See this Bibliography, Part I., sect, ii., § 3, No. 1,)
III.— (1488.)
In the MS., entitled, "Histoire generate des Alpes maritimes ou Cottiennes,
et particuherement d'Embrun, leur me"tropolitaine : chorographique, et melee de
l'histoire seeuliere avec l'ecclesiastique : divisfe en cinq parties ; composee par le
Reverend P. Marcellin Fournier, de la compagnie de Jesus ; " in p. 356, mention
is made of a Confession of Faith of the Vaudois, drawn up in opposition to the
Bull of 1487, by which Innocent VIII. confided to the legate Cattanee the
charge of persecuting them. This MS. is in the library of the Little Seminary
at Gap. The original is in Latin, and is in the library of the Syon College ;
there is a copy of it in Paris. The MS. of Gap is a translation made by Ray
mond Juvenis, royal procurator in the bailiwick of Gap in 1680. Fournier's
history ceased with the year 1640 ; Juvenis continued it to his own time, and
added many notes. He is the author of the unpublished Memoires historiques,
preserved in the libraries of Grenoble and Carpentras.
IV.— (1532.)
The Confession of Angrogna or Farel's Confession, drawn up by a Synod held
at Angrogna on the twelfth of September, 1532. Such is the date given by
Gilles and in 'the Dublin MS., Class C, Shelf 5, No. 18, fol. 59 ; but Leger
(p. 95) says the twelfth of December, 1532 ; and Perrin (p. 157) the twelfth of
September, 1535. This Confession was composed under the direct influence of
Farel and of Saulnier, who were present at the meeting of Synod in which it
was adopted. It contains seventeen articles, very concisely expressed. It
denies free-will and asserts predestination. I have spoken of it more at large
in the Israel of the Alps, Part I., chap. vii. It is given entire, in a translation,
by Perrin, p. 58; Leger, p. 95; Moser, p. 319; and Hahn, p. 652. Gilles
softens down the terms of it in his work (chap, v.,) as if the opinion expressed
in it had only obtained a temporary triumph in the valleys.
V.— (1535.)
The Confession of the Magnates of Bohemia, "presented lo the King of

480 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. [Appendix.
Bohemia," says Leger, "by his subjects, the Vaudois, in the year 1535, who,
after an excellent preface of the Picards or Vaudois . . . and another . . .
of the Barons of the country, set forth the causes for which they had embraced
their religion." But this style is too confused and full of inaccuracies to convey
any clear idea. This Confession is not of the year 1535, for Melancthon speaks
of it in a letter dated from Wittemberg, in 1533. — (D'Argentrfi, vol i.; see also
the separate pamphlet which contains this piece.) Nor is' it a Confession of the
Vaudois of Piedmont. It is preceded by a preface by the Magnates of Bohemia,
on the reasons which have induced them to embrace the Reformation, and not
the religion of the Vaudois, as Le'ger seeks to insinuate by his ambiguous ex
pression. There follows a letter of Luther on the Picards, whom Leger calls
the above-mentioned Vaudois (p. 104), and an eulogy of this letter by Wesem-
becius. This Confession of Faith contains twenty long articles. It is in Latin,
and is mentioned only by Leger, pp. 96-104, and Hahn, pp. 654-665 (Leger,
in p. Ill, quotes also, as Confessions of the Vaudois, two Confessions of Faith
addressed by the French refugees, in 1532 and in 1538, to the Marquis of Bran
denburg.) VI.— (1543.)
Confession of Faith of the Vaudois of CabrUres to Cardinal Sadolet, then
Bishop of Carpentras. It contains a statement of the primitive doctrines, with
out a trace of predestination, and contains twenty-six articles. Leger gives
only an extract of it (p. 107); but it is given entire in Pantaleon's Martyrologe
(Basle, 1563; book v., fol. 130 of the second part). In 1541, the Vaudois of
Merindol presented to Francis I., a petition, which also contained a profession
of faith, and which is given in Crespin (edition of 1619, fol. 138).
VII.— (1544.)
Confession of Faith of the Vaudois of Provence to Francis I. — The preced
ing (the first of No. 6), was only made in name of the inhabitants of Cabrieres
du Comtat ; this was made in name of those of Cabrieres d'Aignes, of Lour-
marin, of Merindol, &c. It is conceived in a very good spirit — evangelical,
rational, and practical. It contains twelve articles, and is to be found in Per
rin, p. 87; Le'ger, p. 109; Du Moulin, De Monorchia Francorum, p. 60; Hahn,
p. 665. It was after reading this document that Francis I. exclaimed, " I
would like to know what they can get to reply to that ! "
VIII.— (1550.)
Confession of Faith of the Vaudois, according to Vignaux (cited by Perrin,
pp. 49, 50). It bears no precise date; that which I give is only an approxima
tion, and determined by the period at which Vignaux was a pastor in the Vau
dois valleys. This Confession of Faith regards certain practices of the Church
of Rome merely as superfluous (art. vii.) It admits of no other degrees in the
ecclesiastical hierarchy than those of Bishops, Priests, and Deacons (art. viii.)
It contains, in all, eleven articles; and does not appear to have been drawn up
under the influence of any of those temporary causes, the effect of which may
too often be traced in similar productions, whilst the authors who have written
under such influences have neglected to refer to them. It must have been drawn
up previous to the Reformation. IX.— (1556.)
Confession of Faith, presented to the Parliament of Turin, by the Vaudois
church, in reply to the edict of 23d March, 1556. It accepts the Creeds of

No. I.] BIBLIOGRAPHY. 481
the first four general councils (those of Nice, Constantinople, Ephesus, and Chal-
cedon), and also the Athanasian Creed. It contains five articles of doctrine,
very brief; and five paragraphs in reply to the charges brought against the
Vaudois in respect of doctrine, in the above-mentioned edict. It is mentioned
by Gilles, p. 59; and given by Le'ger, p. 106.
X.— (1572.)
Confession of Faith of the Vaudois of Bohemia, mentioned by Calvin in one of
his lettera. — (Letter 204 of the Collection). I have sought for this Confession
in various works, but have not been able to assure myself of its identity : and
I have not at present any opportunity of repeating this search.
XL— (1603.)
Confession of Faith of the Vaudois of the valley of Suza and the Marquisate
of Saluces. This piece is drawn up in the form of articles. It is rather a mani
festo than a confession. It affords evidence of the necessity which the Protes
tants of Piedmont felt, of keeping on such terms with foreign powers as to
secure their political support. To be convinced of this, we have only to read
the declaration which terminates this piece, and which Le'ger has published
(p. 115) after the Confession of 1655. For the original words of the manifesto
of 1603, see Perrin, p. 185, and L^ger, p. 111.
XIL— (1655.)
A Confession which might be named the Anathematizing Confession, as it is
the only one of all the published writings of the Vaudois, or of those published
in their name, which pronounces an anathema against those who do not agree
with their views. — (See L^ger, p. 116, line 8.) L^ger entitles it a "Brief Con
fession of Faith of the Reformed Churches of Piedmont, published with their
manifesto, upon occasion of the dreadful massacres of the year 1655." — (Part I.,
ch. xvii., p. 112). These words do not say where, nor how, nor by whom this
Confession of Faith was drawn up. They only tell us that it did not exist
before 1655; but, in 1055, no Synod was held in the Vaudois valleys to draw
it up; it first appeared in a book published in a foreign country without place
of publication. — (See Part I., sect, ii., § 2, No. 2, of this Bibliography). This
book could not at that time penetrate into Piedmont; the Confession of Faith
which it contains was therefore not published there. Its origin is very doubt
ful. — (See Part I., sect, i., § 2, No. 2, of this Bibliography). It may, however,
be safely asserted, that the Vaudois church (as represented by a regular Synod)
took no part in its preparation; it is probable that the majority of the members
of that church did not know of it when it appeared; it is certain that it does
not at all agree with the ancient doctrine of the Vaudois. Any other Confes
sion of Faith, emanating from any of the numerous sects of Protestantism ex
isting at that time, might just as well have been ascribed to the Vaudois, in
virtue even of the declarations which it contains. — (See Le'ger, p. 115, lines
20-23.) The Vaudois, in fact, here renounce the title of a special church (see Le'ger,
p. 112, third paragraph); they reject even the name of Vaudois, and take only
that of Reformed. It might be said that they renounce at once the name and
the doctrine of their fathers, if this Confession were really their work; but, on
the contrary, everything shows that they had (as a church at least) nothing what
ever to do with it. The most probable opinion is, that one of their pohtical
Vol. II. 121

482 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. [Appendix.
friends, with the consent, no doubt, of a few Vaudois, produced it in their name
in a foreign country, to rally all the Reformed Churches in their defence.
This Confession of Faith contains thirty -three articles, modelled after those
of La Rochelle. It is published by Leger, p. 112, and by Hahn, p. 668.
The doctrine which predominates in it is that of absolute predestination. All
men are damned from their mother's womb. — (Art. 9 and 10). God withdraws
the predestinated ones from damnation, and leaves the others in it, without any
possibility of our prayers, our virtues, or our efforts producing any change in
these destinies which are independent of us and fixed beforehand. — (Art. 11,
16, and 18.)'
"This doctrine," says M. Guizot, "is as old as the fifth century. Its origin
is obscure and doubtful. Saint Augustine earnestly defended himself from the
charge of having taught it. But from the time when it appeared, it clashed
with the good sense and moral equity of the greater part of Christians." — (Cours
d'Histoire moderne, Lect. IV., Brussels edition of 1835, vol. i., pp. 178, 179.)
We find no trace of it in the ancient books of the Vaudois in the Romance
tongue. "We have always believed," say they, on the contrary, "that God
has given to man a principle of spontaneity and of virtue (action, force), by
means of which he may labour for his salvation, according to the gifts which
he has received, as the parable of the talents appears to teach; and with the aid
of God, according to what is said, / stand al the door and knock; and that the
reprobate were made so by their own fault, agreeably to these words — Every
man shall receive according to his works . . . ," &c. — (Extract and abridgment
of articles xv. and xvi. of the statement of the Vaudois faith made to the Re
formers; Dublin MS., Class C, Shelf 5, No. 18. — Scultetus, Annales evangelii
renovali, anno MDXXX. — Ruchat, Hist, de la reformation en Suisse, vol. iii.
— OEcolampadius, Epistoloz . . . , &c.) Of all that I have found in the ancient
Vaudois books, the strongest opinion of an opposite character, is expressed in
the following terms : —
"La potesta natural, laqual es lo libre ar- The natural power, which is free-will, is ca-
bitre, se po, alcuna vecz, alargar per graczia pablo of being sometimes extended by grace
e alcuna vecz restregner. ..." and sometimes restrained. . . .
" Lo libre arbitri, se po perdre per lo pecca, Free-will may be lost by sin and increased
e accreisser per graczia. ..." by grace. . . .
" E similhant raczon es del retenament e And a similar account is to be given of the
del ligament de li pecca." retaining and of the binding of sins (of the
remission or responsibility of sin).
(De la poslesta donna a li VUari de Xrist; pubhshed by Hahn, Geschichte
der Waldenser . . . . , &c, pp. 611-616; end of the first paragraph). But
even these words suppose the existence of free-will, which the Confession of
1655 denies (art. ix.)
It cannot be denied that a severe logic conducts us to the doctrine of predes
tination. But it ought not to be forgotten that logic is a form of our under
standing; and that without this form, and not within it, lie the bases of life.
Faith in God, in our own existence, in the immortality of the soul, &c, are not
the result of a syllogism. It has not pleased God that our life should depend
upon our good or bad reasoning. It is in vain that an irreproachable logic leads
us to fatalism : a reasoning not less correct tells me also that if God could not
be moved, our prayers were useless; that the laws of causality annul moral
i I translate these paragraphs as I find them. This is no place to discuss the subject, ot
to prove that the learned author himself has not been free from the influence of prejudices.
But the reader will easily perceive their nature and tendency. — Translator.

N°- I ] BIBLIOGRAPHY. 483
liberty; that our physical existence is merely an hypothesis, &c; but I feel that
I exist, I feel that I am free, I feel that prayer does me good; and I thank God
that he has put within me something which reasoning can neither prevail over
nor destroy.1
It has been attempted to bind the conscience of the Christians of our times
to this Confession of Faith of doubtful origin; but any authority whatever,
external to the Bible, which proposes to limit at once the meaning of the Bible
and the conscientious opinions of men, is nothing but a disguised Popery. It
supposes that the faith of the framers of a Confession is capable of being trans
mitted to those who adopt it by the mere fact of its adoption. The result is the
formation of two classes of believers : the one class composed of those who be
lieve of themselves ; and the other, of those who believe in virtue of the church's
code, on the authority of the former. This delegation of faith has no founda
tion in the gospel. It is, moreover, incompatible with the principle of private
judgment; for we cannot say to any one — " I grant you the right of private judg
ment, on condition that you arrive at results previously determined by me.''
Such a pretension would be the seal of bondage placed on human thought. More
over, convictions are necessarily individual; they concern things which the per
son understands; they are, therefore, relative to our means of understanding; and
as they vary according to the individuals, we can never, in a society composed
of people of all ages and all diversities of character, consider a single formulary
as the sincere expression of the convictions of all. The same conviction would
suppose the same moral type, and therefore the same life, which is not the case.
Finally, such a formulary would be a Procustes' bed for the minds of men, if
they were really to be subjected to it; but they cannot he so; it is, therefore,
only a fiction; and those who maintain it, or submit to it, by reason of its offi
cial character, are tacitly involved in falsehood. Again, what is an official faith?
Under all religious forms, whether dogmatic or ceremonial, there are hearts with
out life. The life of the soul is the only condition of salvation; this life is
obtained by the grace of God, and not by assent more or less enlightened to
matters of doubtful speculation, nor by practices of devotion more or less puer
ile. Indeed, life is not incompatible with these forms; but it does not proceed
from them: and if the disciples of Christ were called Christians (Acts xi. 26),
it was because they led a Christian life. It was on the same ground that the
Vaudois of ancient times might be called the heirs of the primitive church.
Chapter II. — Historic Documents and Notes anterior to the Bull of
Innocent VIII.
(1487.)
The events anterior to the epoch indicated at the head of this chapter occu
pying little space in this history, I think it right to point out here some of the
documents of which, in a more extended work, use might be made to throw
light upon them. The question how the Vaudois valleys became part of the
dominions of the Duke of Savoy, is one of the first which presents itself. —
The name of Savoy is not met with before the fourth century. Ammianus
Marcellinus is the first author in whose work it occurs. After having formed
part of the kingdom of Burgundy, Savoy was annexed to the Empire in the
¦ [The Translator refrains from appending any remarks of his own on this and the follow
ing paragraphs, but he feels called upon to guard himself against being supposed to assent to
all the opinions and reasonings of the author.]

484 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. [Apmndix.
tenth century. In 1050, Peter Damian complains to the Countess of Suza (in
whose county the Vaudois valleys were), that part of her domains did not ob
serve the ordinances of the church; (Damiani opera, p. 566, quoted by Gilly,
Waldensian Researches, p. 88, and by Coste De Beauregard, vol. i., p. Ill),
and a short time afterwards, the Chronicle of Saint Thron (from 1108 to 1136)
mentions, without naming the Vaudois, a country in the Italian Alps, celebrated
for its heresy.— (Dacherii Spicilegium, vol. viii., p. 493.) The documents which
follow would seem to determine this country to be the Vaudois valleys on both
sides of the Alps.
1056. A Bull of Pope Victor II., addressed to Viminian, Archbishop of Em
brun, in which are the words — " Ecclesiam Ebredunensem . . . mirabiliter est
corrupta." — (Quoted by Father Albert, vol. i., p. 56. For the exact title of
this work, see Part I., sect, vi., chap, i., § 1, No. 14, of this Bibliography.)
1064. Foundation of the convent of Pignerol, by Adelaide of Suza. — (Chro-
nologie de chiesa, chap, xxiv.; Rorengo, p. 41; Monumenta patrias, vol. i.) —
In 1076 and 1078, she endowed it with the neighbouring lands.
1081. Gift of properties situated at Saluces, to the same convent, by the
Countess of Suza.— (State Archives at Turin.) If the domain of the Countess
of Suza extended from Pignerol to Saluces, the Vaudois valleys must have been
comprised in it.
1096. A Bull of Urban II., in which he makes mention of the same valleys,
but on the French side, as infested with heresy. The Val-Louise is designated
in this Bull the Vallis Gyrontana. — ("Recueil des actes, pieces et procedures
sur remphytheose des dymes du Brianconnais;" note in p. 55; and Father Al
bert, vol. i., p. 56.)
1100. Supposed date of the Nobla Leyczon, in which the Vaudois are desig
nated by name; and of the catechism, Interrogations menors, which they were
accustomed to use. — (Le'ger, Part I., pp. 26 and 68; Perrin, Part II., p. 157;
Buxhorn, Hist. Norland, pp. 36-48, &c.)
1119. Council of Toulouse: decrees of the Inquisition, against the heretics
who existed partly in Italy and partly in France. — (Gallois, Hist, de I'Inquis.,
pp. 81, 83, 84.)
1130. About this period Peter De Bruys began to propagate bis opinions in
the south of France. According to the Catholic authors of Dauphiny, he was
a native ol the Val-Louise (Hist, du diocese d'Embrun, by Father Albert, vol.
i., p. 56; Fournier, MS. quoted in No. 3 of the preceding chapter, &c.) Con
cerning the doctrine of Bruys, see the letter of Peter the Venerable, of Cluny. —
(Biblioth. Cluniacensi, pp. 1117-1230.; Bibl. Max. P. P. Lugdun., vol. xxii.,
p. 1033, &c.)
1144. The heretics of Dauphiny were denounced by Pope Lucius II. (Veter.
monumentorum amplissima collectio, vol. i. — Quoted by Gillt, Waldensian
Researches, chap, ii.) — "The passage to which he alludes, occurs in a letter
written by the Chapter of Liege to Pope Sixtus II. — Martene and Durand, vol.
i., p. 776.) In this letter mention is made of the heretics established at Mons-
Guimari; Martene makes a conjecture, forte Mons-Limarii (Montelirnart), in
Delphinatu. But the place intended is the castle of Monte Vimers, near Cha-
lons-sur-Marne." Note by M. Schmidt.
1165. "A numerous detachment of Albigeois, leaving the south of France,
took refuge in the valleys of Piedmont, where they united themselves with the
Vaudois, both in doctrine and worship."— (Morison, Hist, of the Ref.; trans
lated by Burnier, p. 35.) The author gives no proof of this fact; but this is
the date at which Gilles places the arrival of the disciples of Valdo, in the

N°- I J BIBLIOGRAPHY. '485
Vaudois valleys.— (Chap, iii., p. 17.)— He had previously said 1160. (Chap, i.,
p. 2.)
1188. Thomas, Count of Savoy, seizes the Vaudois valleys. — (Old Chronicle,
deposited in the Library of Carpentras. MS. of Peyresk, Register LIX., vol.
i., p. 27.)
1190. The period about which Valdo of Lyons may have retired into the
Vaudois valleys. The History of the town of Pernes, by Giberti, vol. i., p.
101, says, that Valdo retired to Freyssinieres (MS. of Carpentras, No. 606).—
Raumer (Hist, des Hohenstaufen , vol. iii., p. 273) places the conversion of Valdo
in the year 1173. This is also the date assigned to it in the Chronique de Laon,
published by Bouquet, (Recueil des Histoires de Gaule et de France, vol. xiii.) —
Valdo was condemned in 1179, by the Council of Lateran; his disciples were
condemned in 1186, by Lucius III., in the Council of Verona.
1192. " Statuta synodalia Odonis Episcopi Tullensis, de hosreticis .... qui
vocantur Vadoys." — (Martene, Thes. anecdolorum, vol. iv., p. 1182.)
1194. Edict of Alphonso IL, King of Aragon (and Marquis of Provence),
against the Vaudois and other heretics. — (Nicol. Eymeric, Directorium Inqui-
sitorum, p. 282.) Mansius attributes this decree to Peter II. (vol. xxii., fol. 673),
— other authors to Alphonso, or Hildefonso, of Aragon, but under the date
1192. — (D'ArgentrS, Collectio judiciorum de novis erroribus, vol. i., fol. 33.—
Biblioth. Max. P. P. vol. xxv., fol. 190.— Bert, Valdesi, p. 424, &c.) This
latter date also appears to me the more probable.
1200. Origin of the Inquisition. (Perrin places it in 1206. P. 104.) It
was not established in an active form till 1208 in France, 1224 in Italy, and
1231 in Spain.
1209. Decree of Otho IV. (passing through Piedmont, on his way to be
crowned at Rome), by which he authorizes the Bishop of Turin to employ tem
poral arms against the Vaudois. — (Monumenta patriae, vol. iii., col. 488.)
1211. Refusal of the Count of Toulouse, to whom the Council of Narbonne
offered the restoration of his dominions, upon condition that he would expel the
heretics from his territories. — (History of the Albigenses.)
1213. Letter of the Emperor Frederic II. to Pope Innocent III., in which
he promises to the Pontiff that he will exert himself for the extermination of
heretics. — (Raumer, vol. iii., p. 304. Bert, p. 427.)
1215. The Council of Lateran (the fourth of that name; the twelfth general
council), assembled by Innocent III., condemns the Vaudois. The Council
of Cremona, held in 1226, treats also of the extirpation of heretics in Italy.
(Art de verifier les dates.)
1220. Decree of the municipality of Pignerol, forbidding any one to show
hospitality to a Vaudois man or Vaudois woman, under pain of a fine of twelve
sous. " Liber statutorum civitatis Pinarolii." Turin, 1602. Cap. 84. "Mo
numenta Patrise, " vol. ii.
1224. Edicts of the Inquisition against heretics in Italy. (Gallois, " Hist.
de l'lnquisition," p. 81.)
1228. Conferences of monks in Dauphiny against the Vaudois. (Perrin, pp.
104, 105.)
1231. Bull of Gregory IX. against the Vaudois. (M'Crie, "Hist, of the
Reformation in Italy, chap, i.— Gallois, Hist, de l'lnquis., p. 84.)
1233. Thomas, Count of Savoy, makes himself of Pignerol, under pretext
that the race of the Counts of Piedmont is extinct. (Historians differ from one
another as to this fact.) Amadeus III., or IV., according to other chronologists,
succeeded Count Thomas, his father. He was appointed Vicar of the Empire

486 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. [Appehdix.
in Lombardy and Piedmont, in 1241, by the Emperor Frederic II. (Art de
verifier les dates.)
1235. A Synod held at Avignon, concerning the Vaudois and Albigeois.
1238. Quotation of a MS. concerning the Vaudois, according to Usher and
Cappel. (Ldger, pp. 328-331.)
1240. Concilium Rituricense, in which a, new crusade against the Albigeois
was proposed.
1242. Acts of the Synod of Tarascon, held against the Vaudois. (Mansi,
vol. xxiii., p. 553.)
1265. Brief of Alexander IV., to the Prior of Paris, against the heretics.
(Martene and Durand; Thes. nov. anecdotorum, vol. v., p. 1814. — Hahn,
p. 735.)
1273. Instructions of Gregory X., regarding the Inquisition. — (Same works;
Martene, vol. v., p. 1817 ; Hahn, p. 739.)
1300, or thereby. — Wars of Amadeus V., Count of Maurienne and of Savoy,
with Humbert, first Dauphin of Le Viennois. Settlement of the Vaudois, who
came from the valleys of the Po, on tho banks of the Durance. Foundation
of Merindol, Cabrieres, &c. — (Numerous authors.)
1315. Accounts of the Delphinal chatelain of the valley of Pragela, contain
ing a statement of the sums which he had furnished to the inquisitors for the
destruction of heresy in the Vaudois valleys. (Archives of Fenestrelle.)
1332. Brief of John XXII. (dated from Avignon, 8th July), in which he
says: " Multiplicati sunt haeretici . . . prsecipue, de secta Valdensium . . .
frequentes congregationes, per modum capituli, habent ... in quibus ali-
quando quingenti simul fueiant congregati." (Rorengo, Memorie historichi,
4to edition, Turin, 1619, p. 16. — -Le'ger, part, ii., p. 20.) According to Platina,
the pope who issued this brief, must have born the title of John XXIII. (De
vitis Pontificum Rom., 4to edition; Cologne MDC, p. 255.)
1335. Bull of Benedict XII. to Humbert II. , Dauphin, against the heretics
of Dauphiny. (Valbonays, Hist, du Dauphine-, p. 326. — Raynaldi, Annales,
No. 63.) — At the same date there occurs an extract of the accounts of Borelli,
Baillif of Embrun, "pro persequendis Valdensibus et aliis expensis." (Val
bonays, p. 326. — Raynaldi, Annales, No. 68.)
1344. Pastor began to act against the Vaudois of Dauphiny. (Fournier,
MS. already mentioned, translation of Juvenis, p. 361. — 1712.)
1345. Accounts of the Delphinal chatelain of the valley of Pragela, for the
purchase of various instruments of torture, for the use of the inquisitors. (Ar
chives of Feuestrelles.)
1348. Letter of the Dauphin, Humbert IL, to the Baillif of Embrun and
other civil officers, " quibus injungit ut quoties fuerit requisitus ab Archiepis-
copo Ebredunesii, ei auxilium prsestet contra Valdenses." (Records of the
Court of Accounts at Grenoble, vol. K, p. 301.)
1349. Dauphiny ceded to France. — In 1347, the Republic of Quiers in Pied
mont, voluntarily submitted to Amadeus VI., Count of Savoy, and to the
Princes of Achaia. (Hist, de Quiers, vol. i., p. 891. Cibrario, p. 143.)
1353. War between Maurienne and Dauphiny, about the boundaries of these
provinces. Guillaume de Bordes, Archbishop of Embrun, and Guillaume Du-
puy, Inquisitor sent by Innocent VI. against the Vaudois, destroy their place
of meeting in Vallouise, and put numbers of them to death. (Founder's MS.,
already quoted. The author adds after this, "I can learn nothing of what was
done against the Vaudois in the end of this century, because the papers are
awanting.)

Ko- 1-J BIBLIOGRAPHY. 487
'¦ 1354. Order of the Prince of Achaia to the Governors of La Tour in Val
Lucerna, against the Vaudois. (Rorengo, Mem. Hist., p. 16, first paragraph.)
1360. Maxims of the Inquisition reduced to practice with regard to the Vau
dois. (Perrin, pp. 102 and 127; Le'ger, p. 337.)
1369. Commission given to Borelli and to Bertrand de St. Guillaume to per
secute the Vaudois, in virtue of a bull of Urban V. (Chorier, Hist. gen. du
Dauphine. Book xii., chap, v., p. 392.)
1373. Bull of Gregory XL, addressed to the inquisitors Borelli and Bertrand
de St. Guillaume, calling upon them to destroy the Vaudois. (D'Argentr^,
Collect, judic. de novis erroribus, vol. i., p. 392.) — Some authors, and amongst
others, Raymond Juvenis, in his Memoires Historiques (MS. preserved at Car
pentras), ascribe this bull to Gregory IX. Father Albert places it in 1365.
(Hist, eceles. du diocese d'Embrun, &c, vol. i., p. 59.) Gregory XI. addressed
private letters, with the same view, to the Emperor Charles V., to the Bishop
of Paris, to the Archbishops of Vienne, Embrun, &c, to the Governor of
Dauphiny, and in particular to the Count of Savoy (Amadeus VI.) — The ponti
fical letters, addressed to the latter, are of date 20th March, and of 7th May.
and 17th June, 1373. (Extracted from various archives.)
1375. Repetition of this Bull. (Mem. Hist, of Juvenis, unpublished.) — Prose
cutions in virtue of it. (Same MSS. , also Mtfmoires Hist, of Dominique Rochas,
quoted by M. Gautier, author of the Letters Hist, sur le Gepengois.)
1380. New orders to destroy the Vaudois given to Borelli by Clement VII.
(Perrin p. 113. This author says that this is the first persecution which had
come under his notice.) New pontifical letters were then written, with the same
view, in Dauphiny and Piedmont. It must be remarked, that at this period,
Clement VII. was pope in Avignon, and Urban VI. in Rome.
1386. The towns of Nice and Barcelonnette withdrew themselves from the
dominion of the Count of Provence, to put themselves under the protection of
the Count of Savoy. (Art de verifier les dates.)
1390, &c. — Judicial investigations directed against the Vaudois of Dauphiny
by the inquisitors. (Bossuet, Hist, des Variat., liv. xi., § ciii.) These inves
tigations must not all be referred to one year. They took place in 1344 (Four-
nier, MS. of Gap, Hist, des Alpes, &c, p. 361); in 1353 (id. p. 355); in 1393
(Perrin, p. 114, lines 1, 29, and 30, compared with the first lines of p. 115).
They were especially numerous from 1487 to 1497. (For the intermediate dates,
see Perrin, pp. 127, 131, 132, 134, and 137-) — In 1485, the papers connected
with them were so voluminous, that by themselves alone they formed the burden
of a mule (Perrin, p. 141, marginal note). They were then transported to Paris
by order of the Grand Chancellor (Adam Fumee, whose father was physician to
Charles VII., Louis XI., and Charles VIII.) New ones succeeded, which
were also transported to Paris, in 1501. (Memoires of Rostaing, Archbishop ot
Embrun, quoted by Perrin, pp. 140-143.) Similar investigations taking place
again, it came to pass that in 1585, when Embrun was taken by Lesdiguieres,
the papers fell into the hands of the Reformed. (Perrin, Dedication, p. 2, 1. 22 ;
marginal notes, pp. 47, 68 ; p. 128, &c.) Part of these papers seem to have
been preserved for some time at Grenoble, in the Archives of the Parliament
(Rorengo, Memorie Hist., p. 12) ; but they can no longer be found. Perrin had
access to them (Dedication to Lesdiguieres). Those which belonged to the
libraries of Colbert and the Marquis de Seignelay (Bossuet, Histoire des Var.,
hv. xi., § ci.) have also been lost. Part of these processes were in the hands
of Le'ger, for the years 1475, 1478, 1483, and 1497 (Part I., p. 23, No. 7 );
these were deposited at Cambridge, whence they have also disappeared. Allix

488 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. [Appehhix.
(Some Remarks, &c, end of the 4to vol. ; Lond. 1590) has published some con
siderable fragments of them. Basnage (vol. ii., p. 1440) and Perrin (p. 133,
&c.) speak of them ; and Le'ger gives a translation of one of them (Part IL,
p. 21). Various fragments of these processes are now amongst the Vaudois
MSS. of Dublin (Class C, Shelf IV, No. 18). Father Bonnet and Lelong speak
of them in their dictionaries. In 1838, the Minister of Public Instruction
caused researches to be made in Paris for the recovery of these documents, but
they were unsuccessful.
1393. Sentence of the inquisitor Borelli, who delivered to the fire 150 Vau
dois of Dauphiny (Perrin, p. 114). Chorier makes the number 230 (Hist. gen.
du, Dauphine, liv. xii., § v.) Joseph Dominique Rochas, in his Memoires Hist.,
follows Chorier's version (MS. above quoted, second series, p. 71). Brunet
places at this date, and ascribes to Borelli, the events which took place in 1487,
at the instigation of Veyletti, according to Perrin and Chorier. (See Brunet,
Seigneur de l'Argentiere, Recueil des Actes, . . . &c, p. 55; Perrin, p. 127;
Chorier, under date above mentioned).
1400, or thereby. A part of the Vaudois, settled in Provence, being persecuted,
says Gilles, at the instance of the pope, whose seat was in Avignon (Gregory IX.),
retired to the valleys, and thence proceeded to Calabria (Gilles, p. 19). At the
same period, the valley of Pragela was invaded (Perrin, p. 116).
1413. The Count of Saluces is compelled by force of arms to render homage
to the Count of Savoy (Amadeus VIII.)
1416. The county of Savoy is erected into a duchy by the Emperor Sigis-
mond, passing through Piedmont, on his way to seek the antipope, Benedict
XIII., at Perpignan.
1419. Iolande of Arragon relinquishes to the Duke of Savoy (Amadeus VIII.,
who was only count in 1413) the country from Nice to Ville-Franche. (By
treaty signed at Chambery, on the 5th of October.)
1434. Amadeus VIII. retires to the priory of Ripailles, where (on 7th No
vember, 1434) he instituted the order of secular knighthood, de I'Annonciade
(which was only a transformation of that of the Lacs d'Amor, established in
1355). The Council of Basle (in its session of 5th November, 1439), having
previously deposed Eugenius IV. (session of 25th June), elevated Amadeus of
Savoy to the popedom, whose coronation took place at Basle (24th July, 1440).
He assumed the pontifical name of Felix V. The Council of Florence, under
the presidency of Eugenius IV., declared Felix V. an antipope, heretic, &c.
(Session of 23d March, 1440, the fourth of the Council.) He retained the tiara,
however, till 9th April, 1449, when he laid it down to prevent a schism. Ama
deus then returned to Ripailles, and died at Geneva, on 7th January, 1451.
(Art de verifier les dates.)
1448. " Privileggii, immunita e franchigie, concesse alle communita e nomini
della valle di Luserna.'' Dated 14th September. (Deposited in the Archives
of the Court of Accounts at Turin, under No. 576.) Numerous ratifications
of these Patents are to be found at Pignerol, under the title of "Libertates et
franchisise, Dominis vallis Lucerne et hominibus suis . . . concessse." (Civil
Archives, Categ. Lucerna, Mazzo di Bobio.)
1453 (16th July). Brief of Nicholas V., addressed to the Bishops of Turin and
Nice, authorizing them to relieve those of the inhabitants of Lucerna who should
renounce their heresy from the interdict under which the valley had been laid.
(Rorengo, p. 19.)
1475 (29th November). Orders by John de Compesio, Archbishop of Turin, to
the inquisitor Andrew d'A quapendente, to punish in various ways the Vaudois

N°- I] BIBLIOGRAPHY. 489
who had relapsed — i.e., who having become Catholics, had afterwards returned
to their former doctrines. (Rorengo, pp. 22-24; Gilles, p. 24.)
1476 (23d January). Edict of the Duchess Yolande, to cause the Vaudois
to observe the orders of the Inquisition and the ceremonies of the Church of
Rome. (Raccolta dagl. editti . . . Sec, p. 1 ; Rorengo, p. 24 ; Borelli, under
the date mentioned; Hahn, p. 705.)
1477 (27th April). Brief against the Vaudois, mentioned by Sclopis in his
Storia della legge di Piemonte, p. 487.
1478 (18th May). Letters of Louis XI. to put an end to the persecutions to
which the Vaudois, and in particular those of Freyssiniferes, were subjected in
Dauphiny. (Perrin, pp. 118-124; Hahn, p. 725.) Ten years after, their bre
thren of Vallouise were completely destroyed. These letters are dated from
Arras. 1483. Petition of some of the inhabitants of Freyssiniferes to the Archbishop
of Embrun. (Vaudois MSS. of Trinity College Library, Dublin, Class C, Shelf
IV., No. 18, piece 5. Other historic documents are also to be found in this
volume and the next.)
1484. Edict of investigation into the conduct of the Vaudois, issued by the
Duke Charles, and "registrato nel protocollo del Bessone, nel Archivio di Cham-
b£ri." (Rorengo, p. 25.)
1484 (29th August). Election of Innocent VIII. to the popedom. It was he
who published the celebrated tariff oi the indulgences, the traffic in which awak
ened the indignation of Luther. The following is the title of this rare book,
preserving the orthography of the time : "Rubrica, regule, ordinatiories et consti-
tutiones cancellarie, sanctissimi domini, domini Innocentii, divina providentia
Pape viij, scripte et correcte in cancellaria apostolica. Roma MCDLXXXVII."
According to this tariff, all possible vices might be redeemed for so much money.
For parricide, eight gros ; for fratricide, the same price ; for a husband killing
his wife, six gros ; for incest, seven gros, &c. (The gros was worth about six
teen sous, and corresponded in value to eighteen or twenty francs [fifteen or
seventeen shillings], at the present time.) During the time of this tariff ap
peared the following bull : —
1487 (27th April). Bull of extermination fulminated by Innocent VIII. (odo
nocens, according to a saying of the time) against the Vaudois. The legate to
whom the execution of these sanguinary orders was confided was Albertus Cat
taneus Cremonensis (Albert Cattanfe of Cremona), often called De Capitanei's.
The bull is dated by Innocent VIII., " On the 5th of the Calends of May, in
the third year of our pontificate." It is to be found amongst the Vaudois MSS.
of Dublin, Class C, Shelf IV., No. 18, vol. II. (vol. IX. of the MSS.), article 3.
It is published entire by L^ger, Part II., pp. 8-20 ; and by Hahn, p. 744.
M. Bert, in his work / Valdesi, p. 438, gives an abridgment of it. Other
documents which I have not had opportunity of consulting, but some of which
most probably relate to the events of the same period, are also to be found in
vol. IX. of the Dublin MSS. already mentioned.

Vol. II.

122

490 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS, [AprEumx.

APPENDIX, No. II.

Note on these passages oe Part I., Chap. IV. (Vol. i. p. 50), "Tlie victo
rious Protestants incurred the guilt of bloody reprisals," and (Vol. i. p. 51)
"Cruelties and spoliations, unworthy of their name, were perpetrated by the
Protestants."The Catholic historians pretend that at Molines they buried the parish priest
of that place alive, leaving only his head above ground, which they used as a
mark for bowls, and that the priest of Reortier was rolled from the summit of
the mountain in a cask filled with nails, &c. These atrocities, although very
improbable, cannot be disproved. The first printed work in which they are
mentioned is a publication of the year 1783, an anonymous History of the Dio
cese of Embrun. The author of this history was an abbfi, named Albert. • The
occurrences which he relates took place two centuries before (from 1583 to 1586);
he cannot, therefore, have received his information from an eye-witness, and
where did he find any account of them ? In an unpublished work of a Je3uit,
entitled, A History of the Maritime or Cottian Alps, by Father M. Fournier, a
voluminous manuscript, preserved in the library of Gap. To this manuscript
Father Albert has been indebted for almost all that his book contains, as any
one may easily be satisfied who will undertake a comparison of the two works ;
but the history of Father Fournier has been written without judgment, and is
replete throughout with errors, now well known as such, so that I could not use
it as an authority. Every one knows how readily false reports arise and spread
in troublous times, how everything is exaggerated and perverted ; the Jesuit
may have admitted, without due examination, statements which perhaps were
false ; he lived, moreover, at a great distance from the valley of Molines. I could
not reckon his testimony sufficient ; but I had no other of earlier or of the same
date by which it could be set aside, and impartiality required that I should make
mention at least, in a general way, of the atrocities which he alleges to have
been perpetrated.
Since the Israel of the Alps was published, I have, however, become acquainted
with a testimony anterior to his, and that, too, of a Catholic, and of one living
in the village of Molines itself, at the very time when these things are said to
have taken place, which I think I may adduce as proving the falsehood of all
the stories which he tells. . A number of families in the high Alps were in the
habit of keeping, under the title of Trangetons, which signifies a relation of
strange or extraordinary events, a simple chronicle of the history of their loca
lity. A chronicle of this kind, kept at Molines, from the year 1469 onwards,
contains only the following particulars concerning the period to which our pre
sent inquiry relates : — "On the 8th of January, 1551, died M. Chaffre Gourdes,
parish priest of Molines, who had held that office for thirty-two years. During
this time, he caused the church to be rebuilt," &c. "In the year 1584, the
Sieui'S Constant Bonnet and Augustin Chabrans were consuls." After this there
is no entry till 1590. But if the atrocities mentioned by the authors above
cited, had taken place in 1586, the village chronicler could not have failed to
have noticed them, as under date 1591 he notices the expedition of the Vaudois
into Queyras, in these terms:— "On the 30th of March of this year, the Vau-1"

No. 111.3 JOURNAL OF A VAUDOIS OFFICER. 491
dois came to La Monta and La Chalp, and after having pillaged all, they came
to Ristolas, where they burned nine houses, and killed nine persons." And in
the year 1555, he had already said that 400 Vaudois women from the valley of
Lucerna, "sought refuge in this commune of Molines," &c.
The manuscript from which these extracts are made, is a folio, entitled, Livre
¦de Memoires par moy Chaffrey Roulph de Fougillarde, hameau de la commune
de Molines . . . tires des trangetons les plus anciens que j'ai pu trouver. . . ,
&c. [Book of Memoirs, by me, Chaffrey Roulph of Fougillarde, a hamlet in
the commune of Molines . . . derived from the most ancient trangetons which
I have been able to find. . . , &c] It is in the library of M. Aristide Albert,
advocate in Grenoble, the author of a learned monograph on the Oisannais, &c.

APPENDIX, No. III.

Journal op a Vaudois Oeeioer, concerning the Military Operations
which followed the return of the Vaudois to their own country
in 1689, and particularly the siege op the Balsille in 1690.
The work from which these extracts are made, is a. quarto manuscript of
.seventy-two pages, written in a neat hand. On the margin of the first page is
the following note: — "Mr. G. Robert, the author of this narrative, was after
wards a lieutenant in the service of the Republic [of Holland]. In the year
1716, he sent to me at Voorburg this narrative, written with his own hand."
Arnaud, in the enumeration which he gives of the Vaudois troops andtheir__
officers, says, that the troops from Pramol and St. Germain were placed under
the command of Captain Robert. (Glorious Return, First J3ay, p. 46.) It is
probable that Captain JRobert _wiS--eo"mp"eIrecMfo leave the Vaudois valleys in
consequence of the new vexations to which their inhabitants were subjected in
1698, and that he repaired to Holland, and there followed the profession of arms.
M. Clignet, postmaster at Leyden, of whom Arnaud speaks in his preface (p.
54) resigned his office in 1734, in favour of a person named Robert, of Neuville,
who was his relative. Perhaps this relationship may have helped to attract the
author of the following memoir to the United Provinces.
Our extracts begin at the moment when the expedition roaches the Vaudois
country. When we reached Pragela, M. Arnaud offered up a prayer full of thanks
giving, for the goodness of God to us in having enabled us to surmount all the
difficulties which we had experienced on our way. We saw some cavalry on
the heights above Fenestrelle, which had been detached in order to cut us off;
but as soon as they perceived us in the valley, they withdrew. Fifteen or
twenty young men of that valley joined us.
Having passed the night here, we set out next morning to enter the valley of
St. Martin. Our route lay by the Col du Lis. This mountain makes the en
trance to. that valley very difficult. The first opposition which we met with

492 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. [Appenuix.
there, was from a company of soldiers of the army of His Royal Highness ; but
after having rolled down some stones upon us as we approached, they fled. We
pursued our way to the highest part of the mountain, where, unknown to us,
the Marquis of Parele awaited our coming, at the head of 800 men. Besides
that this number was superior to ours, they were so advantageously posted, that
it would have been impossible for us to have forced the pass, if the heavens had
not favoured us in the way which I am now to relate. The air was as calm and
serene as possible, when suddenly there came on a mist, so thick that a man
could scarcely be seen at the distance of a few paces. Thus it happened that
one of our people, who was a short distance from the rest, came unexpectedly
upon a sentinel. He became aware of this fact by hearing before he saw any
one ; but marching right up to the sentinel, until he almost touched him, he was
addressed in the words, " Say who you are, or I will shoot you;" upon which,
without any answer, he shot the sentinel dead. A tumultuous noise arising
from the ranks of the soldiers when this first shot was heard, we fired in the
direction of the sound, and without giving the enemy time to make any obser
vation as to the amount of our force, we rushed forward, and they, who had not
imagined that we were so near, fell into confusion, and fled. Ten or twelve of
them, wandering in the mist, fell into our hands. These we put to death.
The mist not permitting us to pursue the enemy, our further gains consequent
upon this exploit, were limited to the capture of a flock of sheep, which we
found upon this mountain. We proposed to kill them at the village of Barsile,
the first to which we came, and the prospect of such food was most acceptable
to us, exhausted as we were in consequence of the great scarcity of provisions
which we had experienced from the commencement of our expedition. But we
had scarcely begun, when our sentinels descried the company of soldiers which
has been already mentioned. They also perceived us ; but supposing that it was
the Marquis of Parele, tbey imprudently advanced with their handkerchiefs on
the ends of their muskets, to signify that they were friends. We surrounded
them on all sides, and they discovered their mistake, but rather too late, for it
^bVf~hrougilt' to ie borne in mind Ijriat we had no place m which^tb keep cittr*
prisoners and that to have allowed them to escape, would have been in two
ways destructive to us, by their again Sgrrting_against us, and still more by tho
information which they would have given as to our numbers, which were not
ljjpamn. and were supposed to be greater than they were. Above all, it should
be considered that any of our people who were taken by the French," WeTe either
hanged or sent to the galleys, and we were firmly persuaded that the Savoyards
would not treat us with greater favour.
After this success, all the Vaudois who were amongst us, wished to proceed
at once to their own respective villages. But M. Arnaud represented to them
so well the certain destruction which they would thus bring upon themselves,
that they remained together.
We next went to Pras, where we found some Savoyards, who had come intc
the place of the Vaudois when they were expelled. The avidity with which they
had come to seize on possessions which did not belong to them, cost them their
lives. None of them were spared whom it was in our power to kill. We found
there also a little Protestant place of worship, which the Savoyards had used
for saying their mass. We threw down the altar and cast out the images. Here
M. Arnaud preached his first sermon to us. His text was, "Our help is in the
name of the Lord." ' i Psal. oxxiv. 8.

No. Ill] JOURNAL OF A VAUDOIS OFFICER. 493
After we had remained in this place for some timo, it was resolved to go into
the valley of Lucerna, as being more habitable than that of St. Martin. However,
a troop of our people remained there until we should return. As we were on the
way, two battalions of a regiment of guards of His Royal Highness awaited us
on the Col Julian, and seemed determined to dispute our passage. But having
put our forces in order, we attacked them with such success, that we compelled
them to take to flight, and pursued them for a good hour to a position still
more advantageous, called the Sere-de-Cruel. But in this new position they
made even less resistance than in the former. They abandoned it to us at the
first discharge, and passing through the village of Beubisout in haste, they beat
a retreat, and at the same time abandoned to us a part of the valley of Lucerna.
We then made our cantonment in the hamlet above Beubi, whence we after
wards sent out different detachments.
One of these having made an incursion into the valley of Cayras, we brought
back from it a considerable booty of cattle. This enabled us to change our diet,
for we had lived for many days upon nothing but chesnuts. The animal food
coming after this, we had it for ten days without mixture of any other thing
whatever. At the end of that time, there came to us some peasants of that
valley, asking us to restore them a part of their cattle, and promising to pay us
» certain sum agreed upon, and to furnish us with some salt and other things
of which we had need. We were very glad of this interview, and hoped that
we might in future have some intercourse with them ; and it was very much on
this account that we granted them, their request, although, indeed, some such
arrangement was very necessary for us. They demanded an escort to conduct
them over the mountain, and to which they should give the things that had
been agreed upon. We gave them a few men for this purpose ; but instead of
keeping their word with us, they brought the men into an ambuscade of a com-
pany of French soldiers. Our people discovered this just in time to throw
themselves into a building of four stone walls which had served as a sheepfold,
and which became a sort of rampart for them, in which they defended them
selves like lions, till the captain who attacked them, enraged that four men
should resist him so long, resolved to storm their fortress, and rushed on, sword
in hand. But his boldness cost him his life, and the lives of some of the bravest
of the soldiers who followed him. The rest, finding that only death-strokes
were to be got by fighting with men thoroughly desperate, thought proper to
retire. Our men then left the scene of combat unharmed. It may easily be
conceived, that although those who had deceived us in this case had failed in
their design, we did not like them the better upon that account, and did not
omit the first proper occasion which presented itself of punishing them.
We sent another detachment to make an incursion into the valley of An
grogna. But the Marquis of Parelle had occupied a position which commands
the entrance of the valley, and after a whole day spent in a combat of mus
ketry, without our being able to force it, we were obliged to return without
having gained anything by our enterprize.
On our way back, however, we attacked the garrison of Le Villars, and
carried the outwork which defends the entrance of the place, whereupon the
garrison threw themselves into the church, making use of it as their last
entrenchment. To carry this stronghold, we rolled great casks before us,
always advancing nearer; but when we were just near enough the gate and
ready to enter, there came a detachment sent by the enemy from the town of
Lucerna. As we were not strong enough to make head in two directions at once,
we left the church to oppose the relieving party; and whilst we were engaged

494 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. [Appindix.
with them, the garrison in the church issued from it and fled. Upon this tho
detachment which came to their assistance also retired. Not being able to
pursue them, and being unwilling that all our efforts should end in accomplish
ing nothing, we demolished the church. The enemy, however, being reinforced
by a new detachment, returned to attack us. Being thus opposed by a force
greater than our own, and feeling ourselves to be the weaker party, we retired
with the loss of a few men killed and taken prisoners. M. Montoux, minister,
was amongst the latter. The enemy, having set fire to the village, retired
also. Upon this, it was thought proper to form a little flying camp of ninety men
to scour the valley and observe the enemy. Being near the fort of La Tour, we
came upon two women who were gathering chesnuts, and to whom we did
nothing except questioning them. On finding themselves at liberty, they went
and gave information to the Marquis of Parelle of the place where we were and
our supposed numbers. The marquis did not allow the opportunity to pass
unimproved, but despatched a party during the night to form an ambuscade
and surprise us. When the day broke, unarmed men were sent out, who made
a pretence of gathering chesnuts. We, having perceived them without suspect
ing the artifice, ran after them to the place where the party in ambush arrested
us by a discharge of musketry. We replied in a similar style. At the sound
of the firing, one of our captains, who had come to the vicinity with the view
of seizing some grain, attacked the enemy on another side, and we had begun
to pursue them, when a double detachment of horse and foot came to reinforce
them. The foot soldiers advanced to take possession of a height to whioh we
might have retired, and the cavalry followed the course of a river, thinking to
place us between the foot soldiers and themselves. But perceiving their design,
we saved ourselves by running with all speed till we gained Le Villard. Deem
ing this position strong enough to arrest them, we barricaded a bridge which
was there, and entrenched ourselves behind the walls of a garden which fronted
the bridge. A portion of the enemy having pursued us, delayed to attack us,
that they might give time to the other detachments to come up and take us in
the rear. But discovering their scheme, we abandoned this post. We were
pursued beyond Beubi, which is more than a league and a half from the place
we were first attacked. They left a garrison at Beubi, and we rested at Serre-
de-Crust, rather less than a quarter of an hour's march from that place.
All this trouble having been caused to us by those two women, and we con
sidering that all with whom we had any intercourse must be proper objects of
suspicion to us, as all conspired to seek our destruction, and moreover, that
these people followed us in order to gather our chesnuts and grapes, which was
to deprive us of the means of subsisting for any considerable time, it was
resolved that, in future, no quarter should be given to any one.
The new garrison of Beubi was a great annoyance to us, as we could no
longer move about with the same freedom as before. But we kept the garrison
also very closely shut up, and no convoy could reach it without a strong escort.
We occupied the heights in the neighbourhood, and as soon as we discovered
a convoy, we were ready to fall upon it. We had always the heights to retreat
to. The enemy placed a watch at the distance of a musket-shot from the gate
of their garrison, and we surprised it during the night and put all who com
posed it to the sword except two, who escaped and carried the tidings to the
garrison. About this time a Vaudois named Gros, who had hitherto preferred his patri
mony to his religion, came and joined us. But being unable to submit to tha

No. Ill] JOURNAL OF A VAUDOIS OFFICER. 495
fatigue and hunger whioh we were obliged to endure, he took the first favour
able opportunity of deserting us again ; and having asked a cousin whom he had
in our troop to accompany him a little way, he conducted him to the enemy.
He played us another trick, which we discovered a few days after, on the death
of a captain whose detachment we defeated. Those who killed him found in
his pocket a memorandum of the places of concealment in which we had stored
up the little provisions which we had. It was in the handwriting of Gros him
self. Hereupon, having made a Serjeant of the guards prisoner, we pretended
to consider that Gros was a prisoner also, and proposed an exchange. He fell
into the snare, thinking that he would find opportunities enough of escaping
again. But being convicted by the memorandum in his own handwriting, and
having no answer to make when he was asked for news of his cousin, he
was immediately incapacitated for any further treachery.
There was yet another Vaudois who, being won over by the two capuchins
and the Chevalier De Molte, whom we still kept prisoners, fled along with
them. The Savoyards at Roura thought themselves pretty secure, because of their
greater distance from us, and of the garrisons which were between, but we came
¦ upon them by surprise. We killed all whom we could find of both sexes,
carried off much cattle, and set fire to the village. We burned also every house
in the neighbourhood where the enemy could find shelter ; and they doing the
same thing on their part, it was in a short time so completely done, that it
would have been difficult to have found in the whole valley a roof under which
to be protected from the rain.
His Royal Highness having sent three regiments to join the garrison of
Beubi, they proceeded to attack us. It became necessary for us to beat a retreat,
having first sent away forty cows and 800 sheep which we had on the moun
tain. But whilst we were retreating, a lamb fell behind on the way and its
mother left the flock to seek it, whereupon she was followed by a second and
that by a third; and so one after another all the sheep went over' to the side of
the enemy, who raised shouts of joy as if they had gained a battle. Having
taken up a position at a place called Le Quille, we were there attacked by the
enemy on more sides than one, but we repulsed them at all points ; and they,
having continued these assaults against us all day, retired in the evening. We,
Seeing no good prospect of being able to maintain our ground much longer in
that valley, adopted the resolution of returning to the valley of St. Martin.
Fifteen of our friends, however, spent the winter there, moving rapidly about
amongst the rocks from one hole to another, and living on whatever they could
contrive to get hold of. We passed the Col de Julian again, and went to Pras,
where we found the troop still remaining which we had left there. They had
found means to make some bread, and upon our arrival they shared it with us,
of which we had much need.
After having reposed there for two days, we proceeded to seize the villages of
Perier and Villesfeche which are situated at'the entrance of that valley and at
no great distance from Peyrouse and Pignerol. A small garrison which was in
Perier retired at our approach. There we burned a monastery, and demolished
it to the foundations. It was within that monastery, according to the Vaudois,
that most of the woes inflicted upon them were devised. The vintage not
having yet taken place, we replenished our cellars. We collected also a large
quantity of chesnuts, with the design of drying them for winter use. Being
near La Peyrouse, we attacked a post which was about a cannon-shot from it,
and having driven out the French who occupied it, and. killed some of them and

496 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. [Appendix.
taken others prisoners, we caused one of thorn to be hanged by hia comrade in
the sight of our enemies.
We had here too good a position for the French, with whom we had to do,
to permit us long to occupy it. A great detachment was sent out from Pignerol
and passed the Col du Pis, the highest mountain which bounds that valley. We
encountered them, dividing our forces so as to meet them in each of the defiles
by which they had to come. But being inferior to them in numbers, and being
attacked in different parts at once, we were compelled to give way, but not un
til we had disputed, as well as we could, all the passes in which we could act
against them with advantage. They set fire to every habitation which they
found in their way, from the highest to the lowest part of the valley. They
burned the chestnuts which we had laboriously collected, poured out our wine,
and retired by Peyrouse. We returned to re-occupy our position, wasted by fire
as the place was, and thence we continued to make our excursions. Being gen-
erally upon the heights, to see what could be seen, we one day descried three
mules approaching, two of them laden with bread, and one with wine for a post
in the neighbourhood, and conducted by two companies of Piedmontese. Upon
this, a Vaudois captain, named Tron, exclaiming, "He that loves me, follow
me," eighteen of us went with him in pursuit of the mules. We could notcome
up with them until they reached the post whither they were going, but the two
companies abandoned it to us. Thus, we had bread and wine, which we carried
off, after having killed the mules, for we could not bring them by the paths which
we were accustomed to use. The chestnuts now began to fail, and we were at
a loss to find anything on which to live. This was the reason that thirty French
refugees, losing courage, resolved to return to Switzerland by the mountains of
Dauphiny. But they had the misfortune to be taken by the French, who con
ducted them to Grenoble, where sentence was passed upon them, and some were
hanged and others sent to the galleys. One of them was put to a cruel death
for having assumed the title of Commandant, which, however, the Vaudois had
not accorded to him. He was broken on the wheel. A dozen Vaudois, who
also thought fit to leave us, were arrested as they were passing by the . . .
They had chosen this route in the hope that, on account of the language, they
might have less difficulty. His royal highness merely kept them prisoners.
The French being informed of our condition by those of our people whom
they had taken prisoners, again sent out a great detachment to seize upon the
villages of P^rier and Villesfeche. They came again by the Col du Pis. Al
though we were only about 480 men, we did not hesitate to go to meet them.
But not being sufficiently strong to occupy all the defiles, as would have been
requisite, and fearing that we might be cut off, we retired after a few discharges.
They thought to fortify themselves at Macel. But as this would entirely have
cut off our communication with Pras and the valley of Lucerna, we took post
on a height above the village, from which we fired upon them, so that they were
obliged to retire.
They placed garrisons at Le P&ier, Villeseche, and Le Becet, by which we
were so closely hemmed in, that we could no longer find anything on which to
subsist. We spent some days to no purpose in moving about around their gar
risons, thinking that some convoys would make their appearance. Three days
having passed, during which we did not succeed in seizing anything, we were
reduced to the necessity of feeding on the coarsest wild fruits which we found
in the woods. One of our parties having gone in the direction of Angrogna,
surprised a small body of the troops of his royal highness, who fled and aban
doned their very camp, and thirteen mules which had brought them munitions

No. 111.] JOURNAL OF A VAUDOIS OFFICER. 497
of war. Our people killed the mules, set fire to the tents, and carried away
some provisions which they found there.
We then resolved to seek a proper place to winter in. That which seemed
to us the best, was a Uttle hill at the base of the mountain of Le Clapi(5. It is
called the Four Teeth [Les Quatre Dents.] I suppose it has received this name
from its form; for this little hill has four points in the form of teeth, which served
us for bastions and half-moons; the second commanding the first, and the last
commanding all the rest. It is situated above the village of La Balsille. We
there made some entrenchments and barracks, which we dug in the earth, in
order to render them less subject to cold, covering them with hay, straw, or
boards, as we could find materials for our purpose. Thirteen days were employed
in this work, during which we had no food, except some coleworts and radishes,
which we boiled without salt, fat, or butter. Often, indeed, we ate them with
out taking time to cook them.
We afterwards discovered a few houses on the mountain, which had escaped
burning, with corn unthrashed, of which several barns were full. We carried
it to our post. There were two mills in the neighbourhood, one at the distance
of a musket-shot, and the other of half-an-hour's walking. But the millstones
only were there without any machinery. We fitted them up again at the ex
pense of two other mills which we plundered in Dauphiny, and we laboured so
assiduously, that in a few days our mills began to yield us flour.
The enemy, contrary to their usual conduct, had given us time to accomplish
all" this, without incommoding us, till one morning they surprised those of our
men who were at the mill farthest away, of whom they killed two and carried
other two to Pignerol. When we heard the firing, we ran to the spot, but were
not able to reach it soon enough; so that the enemy broke the millstones, and
set fire to the building, after having thrown the corn and flour into the river.
But we gave them something to do at the two most difficult parts of the way
which lay between them and our stronghold, keeping them in check so long, that
our people who were at the other mill had time to retire. This they did after
taking away all the machinery and some boards which covered it. The whole
place seemed nothing but a paltry ruin; for our people had also taken the pre
caution to cover the millstones with water. The French, arriving and seeing
nothing but a ruin, planted themselves behind it to fire at us. There they re
mained till evening. And when they retired we convoyed their rear-guard with
discharges of musketry, which were not all thrown away. They returned after
wards several times to attack us, but managing always in the same way, we pre
served our mill during the whole winter. As we continued to make incursions
into Dauphiny, the enemy being apprised that one of our detachments had gone
towards Bouriet, sent a party from Villesfeche to cut it off. But we seeing them,
advanced to meet them. We found them just arrived at the base of the moun
tain . But as it was of importance to gain the height, by which our people must
return to their own place, we climbed within pistol-shot of each other, without a
musket being fired. We very soon, however, got before them, being better used
to that sort of climbing than they were, and seized the pass. There they attacked
us several times, but they were repulsed. In the evening, our people arrived,
and we returned to our fort, and the French to their garrison.
There now took place so great a fall of snow, that it was almost impossible for
us any longer to make incursions into Dauphiny. Moreover, there was no vil
lage on the frontier, when there were not now troops, and when we approached
any of them, the enemy entrenched themselves in the churches, in which also
they slept, so as to prevent us from taking them by surprise. Sometimes we
Vol. II. laS

498 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. [apm-sdix
made an attempt upon one village, sometimes upon another. - When we arrived,
we divided our force into two parts, the one half confronting the enemy, whilst
the other entered the houses and loaded themselves with bread or flour. Those
who had confronted the enemy, then became the rear-guard, and then we divided
what we had got, which often was very Uttle, among the whole detachment.
Towards the peasants of that region, we conducted ourselves in a very differ
ent way from that which we adopted towards the Savoyards. For we fre
quently paid for the victuals which we took, when no resistance was made to us.
Whereupon, some of the people of the village of Bourcet came and offered them
to us for payment. They added, that we must go to their village and take them.
We sent eight of our men along with them, who, on arriving at the village,
found themselves surrounded by soldiers; and the soldiers hastily firing on them,
killed one of our captains. The rest found means of escaping. We soon pun
ished this treachery, one of our detachments burning the village.
We afterwards made ah expedition to  , passing by the Col du Pis.
This mountain being very high, there was so much snow upon it, that for two
leagues we found it in many places more than four feet deep. And as no previous
parties of any kind had passed that way, we found it necessary to make a path
for ourselves, which was not done without much labour. Arriving in the neigh
bourhood of the village during the night, we sent scouts to reconnoitre, who
brought us word that the garrison was stronger than we, and entrenched in the
church. We did not think our force sufficient to attack them; we therefore
found ourselves obliged to return without doing anything, and without gaining
anything by our toil but a great appetite. Many had brought no bread with
them, some, because they had it not, and others, because they counted upon
getting it; so that those who had a little were under the necessity of sharing it
with their companions.
On our way back to our fort, we did not know what was to become of us.
We were surrounded by mountains covered with snow, with enemies at the
mouths of all the passes which led from them, and without any provisions. In
this hard extremity, having no longer any help to expect from men, we lifted
up our hearts and our hands to God, whose Providence and infinite goodness had
already supplied our wants before we had even asked it. He had preserved a
kind of manna in our frightful wilderness, by which we saw that he never utterly
abandons those who have really put their trust in him. Thus it was. When
we arrived in the valleys, there were some fields in elevated situations which had
not yet been reaped, and the corn having been laid flat upon the ground by the
rain, had been afterwards entirely covered with snow. All who are acquainted
with that country, are aware that these heights are covered with snow during
six months of the year. But by a special interposition of Providence, at the
very time when we were at the point of perishing for hunger, there came a south
wind and melted the snow which covered the corn, and had preserved it for us.
Hereby we saw that God was always for us. This wind began in the month of
January, and continued till the en d of April. In this wonderful and peculiar man
ner we were supplied with bread all the time that we were shut in upon every side.
The enemy also ceased to harass us, because the snow made the roads impractica
ble. And as they were not aware of the source from which our means of sub
sistence were derived, and had been informed that we were destitute of provi
sions, they thought themselves sure of having us without any risk.
Here I must not omit to state what our conduct was amongst ourselves. In
general it was founded upon perfect mutual confidence. Therefore, whatever
was done, and whatever happened, every one was contented. When the whole

No. III.] JOURNAL OF A VAUDOIS OFFICER. 499
body went on any expedition, and left only a detachment to guard the strong
hold, everything that we had was equally divided on their return. When a small
party went out, the members of it were allowed to keep to themselves for their
reward, whatever they might get. Our barracks contained each a company,
which was as a family residing under the same roof. However, as there is a
great depth of corruption in most men, there were some individuals of our body
who did not do exactly as they ought. They had in some excursion made prize
of a Uttle money. But instead of making this known, they even denied it.
Against this conduct our minister spoke very strongly in some sermons which
he made upon the subject. He declared that those who kept the forbidden
thing, put themselves in danger of the chastisements of God. Time shewed
us how foolish it is to despise such warnings; for the most of these per
sons, and particularly those of them who were Vaudois, being tempted by their
money to return to Switzerland, were taken on the way, as has been already
related. M. Arnaud preached three sermons to us every week, and conducted prayer
twice every day, when the enemy left us at peace to meet for it. He led forth
no detachment without having first implored the Divine aid, and when they had
reached any place where they were to spend tho night, they did not lie down
nor rise up without engaging again in prayer. In our barracks, some of us
read aloud one or more chapters at daybreak, a psalm or two were then sung,
and this was followed by a prayer. This exercise was repeated three times a-day.
Thus it was that our time was spent on that mountain. In spite of us, indeed,
it was a Lent, kept with very meagre fare. We ate nothing for some months
except bread made of the grain which Providence had led us to discover, as I
have already mentioned. This bread was very brown, and had little substance
in it. We had nothing to drink but water.
The month of April being come, we began to be released from winter bond
age so as to be able to renew our excursions. Every one, as it may well be
imagined, was anxious to see an end of our Lent. We sent out a detachment
to try if anything could be got with which to keep Easter. It was necessary
to march by night, to avoid being discovered by the French, for we passed very
close by them. We passed over a mountain where there was still much snow,
and were exposed all night to snow then falling. But notwithstanding all this,
we arrived an hour before daybreak at a place half a quarter of a league from
Pramort. There part of us awaited the dawn, and the rest went on to St. Ger
main. These two places, both in the valleys, were inhabited by Savoyards, who
dwelt in great security, trusting to their garrison, and imagining, as others did,
that we must all have died of famine in course of the winter. This being the
case, they were, in no small degree, astonished when we burst into their villages,
which was at daybreak, and just about the same time the garrison beat the
alarm. We did not succeed in surprising the garrison, which fled by the one
end of the village as we entered by the other. Not many, even of the peasants,
lost their lives. After having collected together aU the cattle, we set fire to the
village. Whilst we were thus occupied at Pramort, our comrades were doing
the like at St. Germain, and from these two places we carried off a considerable
booty. Towards evening, the party from St. Germain rejoined us, and we re
passed the. mountain. We thought to have kept the same road, under cover of
the night, by which we had come. But tho French having been apprised, posted
themselves at a, pass which wo could not avoid, without retracing our steps.
This, therefore, we were compelled to do; and, after having passed over the
mountain, we were under the necessity of ascending it again on the other side.

500 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. [Ahihdix.
We were so fatigued, and so overcome by sleep, that we flung ourselves down
upon the snow to sleep. But the cold soon compelled us to rise, and when the
one left us, the other laid hold of us. In this condition it was that we moved
along the mountain side, not far from its summit, till we had reached the vicinity
of our fort. In this counter-march we lost some of our cows, which, sliding
and falling upon the frozen snow, were seized by the enemy, who followed closely
on our track. It was the only advantage that they gained. We arrived hap
pily at our fort, without any other loss.
In the beginning of May, the French came, in order, as they said, to exter
minate us. They were 11,000 men, as we afterwards learned; and having made
themselves masters of all the positions around our entrenchments, they remained
there within pistol-shot. The sentries were obliged to keep themselves concealed,
because there was a continual firing on the one side or the other. As their in
tention was to cut off all possibility of our escape, by occupying all the passes;
they were obliged, for this purpose, to place some of their troops on the highest
parts of the mountain, where there was a considerable quantity of snow, and
where they had not even wood to make a fire. Besides which, all the time that
they remained in our vicinity, snow, hail, or rain never ceased to fall; and, what
was most remarkable, was, that every time they attacked us, the weather was
almost the same, which made them say, that we had the command of the' winds
and of the rain.
All their precautions did not hinder one of our detachments from making a
. sortie by night, in order to annoy a regiment of dragoons, encamped on a wooded
slope, above which was a great rock. There our people, having gathered a great
quantity of large stones, and arranged them as well as they could on the edge
of the rock, launched them all at once. As they fell, they set loose other stones,
and all together came down with a terrible din upon the poor dragoons. The
dragoons having been obliged to kindle fires upon account of the cold, the light
of their fires enabled us, amidst the darkness of the night, to see burning billets
thrown up as high as the tree-tops when the stones came in contact with them.
We learned afterwards that many of the dragoons suffered upon this occasion.
Those who were struck by the stones, escaped death only by the loss of a limb.
Some were cut through the middle. When it was day, they placed a guard at
the spot from which the evil had come upon them; our people, in the meantime,
having left it as they went to it.
This regiment of dragoons was encamped by itself, apart from the rest of the
enemy's troops, so that their provisions must of necessity be carried past our
fort. They were carried past it only during the night. A corporal of our com
pany, and three men with him, meeting this convoy upon one occasiqn as it
passed, without regard to the number of the enemy, fired upon them, and each
of our men killing his man, they seized what these men had earned, and each
brought back to us a bag of bread, which served as a supply for us all. The
corporal who performed this exploit, found himself seized by the collar when he
had fired, but as he was stronger or more adroit than his adversary, he threw
him down and killed him with his bayonet. The French being apprised of what
was taking place by the noise that arose, and more perfectly by the fugitives
marched their piquet towards the scene of action. We descried them by tho
light of the moon, and saluted them with great discharges of musketry, upon
which they made haste to get out of the way again.
We were at this time 370 men in all, divided into fourteen companies. Each
company had its assigned post, more or less dangerous according to the strength
of the company. There were two stationed at one point, whioh was the most

No. III.] JOURNAL OF A VAUDOIS OFFICER. 501
exposed of all, but they did not amount together to more than ninety men.
M. De La Parat, lieutenant-colonel of the regiment of Artois, having been
commanded to carry this position by force, advanced at the head of 700 grena
diers, and taking advantage of a thick fog, he was not discovered till he was
close to the sentry, who had scarcely time to cry "To arms." Our men, promptly
seizing their arms, and rushing from their barracks, were the first to fire, and
having discharged their pieces, they dashed forward sword in hand. This move
ment was executed so rapidly, and was attended with such success, that the
enemy were seized with a panic and took to flight, and not knowing how to
find the gorge by which they had come, many of them flung themselves head-
* long over the rocks. Besides these, however, seventy were left upon the ground
where the action took place. M. De Parat being wounded in the thigh, we
made him prisoner, along with two Serjeants who were attempting to bear him
off. There was also a captain of grenadiers found amongst the slain. Our
people were in too great haste to take the spoils of the slain; had this not been
the case, only a very small number of the enemy would have escaped, unequal
as was the force opposed to them. We saw their extreme disorder without
being able to aid our comrades, because the French were within a short distance
of all our posts, and would not have failed to embrace the opportunity,of enter
ing if we had left any of them unguarded. The most remarkable thing in this
action was that none of our people received any injury, except one man whose
musket burst and slightly wounded him in the hand. This was all that we
suffered from an army which ought to have exterminated us at once. And,
indeed, it was not their fault that they did not. They had the best possible
intention of doing so, but God being for us, all their efforts were necessarily
fruitless, and turned to their own disadvantage. Behold another manifest proof
of this.
We had neglected a place where the hill sloped suddenly away from the very
centre of our fort, because of the extreme difficulty of ascending there. The
French, perceiving this, caused a detachment to advance upon this point, whilst
M. Parat made his. assault. This design succeeded so well, that they had
reached the base of a poor entrenchment of dry stones which we had made there.
There was no guard there, for the reason which I have already stated; and they
were on the point of entering, when a woman prevented them. She had gone
for water and was returning by this place, and perceiving the enemy, she began
to roll down the stones of the fortification upon them. They had no oppor
tunity of firing at her; and she ceased not from her efforts till they were con
strained to retire, which was very soon the case, as they were upon a very steep
slope, where the stones that were thrown down produced an extraordinary effect.
But for this opposition which Providence seemed to have prepared against
the enemy, there can be no doubt that we were in great danger of utter destruc
tion. The good woman to whom, under God, our preservation was to be as
cribed, was a Savoyard, whom we had found in the country, and who had
always followed us, taking great care of our wounded. We became the objects
of this affection to her, because she embraced our religion.
About an hour before the enemy attacked us, we had sung, at the post where
my company was stationed, the sixty-eighth psalm, which the enemy might well
enough hear. When we brought in the Ueutenant-colonel, he told us that when
he was ordered upon that duty, and had made himself acquainted with the place,
he had sworn an oath that he would sleep that night in our barracks. But he
did not think that it was to be as a prisoner. Next day, our people cut off the
heads of all the dead, and fixed them upon the points of the palisades where

502 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. [appendix,
they bad entered. This was done in sight of the enemy. They sent us a sur
geon to heal M. De La Parat, with a ridiculous stipulation, that we were to get
no benefit of his medicines. However, we paid no attention to this, but kept
them carefully because we had none ourselves. And here I ought to mention
that after we lost our own, we had nothing to apply to our wounds, but a com
position which the Vaudois make, and of which human fat is an ingredient.
Every kind of sore was bathed, not with spirits, but with cold water. Notwith
standing all this, almost none died. So true it is that he whom God keeps is
well kept.
The enemy having intimated to us that they would give us what ransom we
wished for the lieutenant-colonel, we replied that we could not think of selling •
the blood of our brethren, and that if they would give us prisoners in exchange,
we would be very happy to give him into their hands. But they would do no
thing. We said to them that they could not wonder if we made reprisals.
. Our mode of proceeding seemed very strange to them, and great exaggerations
were published by them on this subject, as that when we took prisoners we put
them to cruel deaths, flaying them alive, or subjecting them to other torments
equally terrible. I was present when the greatest numbers of prisoners were
taken, and can protest that I never saw anything of the kind; and that when
the prisoners were put to death, it was from mere necessity, because of the in
jury which we might have sustained from letting them escape, or to try if there
was no way of putting a stop to that barbarity which the enemy had always
shown, both in this war and the preceding ones, sparing neither men, women,
nor children. The story current amongst the enemy that we flayed the pri
soners alive, may have arisen from the circumstance already mentioned, that
the Vaudois made use of human fat in preparing a salve for wounds. When,
therefore, they found a fat corpse, they opened it to take out the fat, and the
enemy, finding the bodies in this condition, were apt to imagine what I have
above stated, their own treatment of us tending to confirm them in such an
opinion. But this error was advantageous to us : for they conceived at last a
notion of this thing" so terrible, that they no sooner saw us appear than they
became completely panic-stricken. The following circumstance I saw with my
own eyes, and could not have well believed it otherwise. Two of our people,
creeping along to surprise an advanced sentry of that regiment of dragoons
which I have already had occasion to mention, and being discovered, the regi
ment quitted its post and ascended a height, from whioh they began to roll
down stones upon the two men.
The enemy, seeing how little success had attended all their enterprises, and
distressed by. the continual snow and hail, were compelled to decamp. As this
movement took place entirely under our eyes, we waited until they had all de
filed, to make an attack upon them, which we did at the descent of a hill.
They did not perceive us till we were upon them. They fell into confusion and
fled, without having time even to form a rear-guard. We pursued them for a
league -and a half, firing upon them continually, whilst they never fired a single
shot. The most remarkable thing was, that the weather became fine as soon as
they were gone.
It was not long, however, till they came back, with a reinforcement of 3000
men of the troops of his royal highness, making, with the French troops, a
total of 13,000 men. They brought with them two cannons, and with great
difficulty dragged them to a height from which they might act against our forti
fications. As we had always a detachment out somewhere, and it so happened
that we had then one of forty men ia Pragela, we numbered in fact only- 330

No. IH-3 JOURNAL OF A VAUDOIS OFFICER. 503
men. They invested us again on all sides. They then sent several communi
cations to us, promising to give us good terms if we would surrender, but de
claring that if we waited till the first cannon was fired wo should have no quar
ter. We having rejected this proposal, they afterwards added, that if we would
retire into Switzerland they would send hostages whom the Swiss should keep
till we were all arrived there, and that the king would give each of us 900 louis
d'or. As these were mere Machiavellian proposals, the whole object of which
was that they might have us without peril to themselves, we replied that they
must fire their cannon and we would find means to answer them. They again
demanded the Ueutenant-colonel, offering us whatever money we might wish
for his ransom. We made them the same answer as before, that we wished
only to get other prisoners in exchange ; and at the same time we gave orders
to the man who kept ward over him, to kill him in the event of our fort being
stormed, which he did. We also intimated to the enemy that we wished to
have no more conferences with them. They continued, however, whilst they
laboured at their battery, to call to us very often through a speaking trumpet,
to surrender before the cannon began to fire, if we would save our lives, to
which we replied only by discharging our muskets.
The battery having begun to fire, made terrible havoc of our entrenchments,
which consisted only of dry stones, and it became impossible to remain behind
them. A sufficient breach having been made, the enemy divided themselves
into several bodies, in order to attack us on all sides. We were thus obliged to
retire to our innermost stronghold ; and to do this we were under the necessity
of exposing ourselves to the fire of more than 3000 men, who kept up an inces
sant fire on the points against which they had been led, whilst the rest pursued
us. Yet we had none killed, althougn many were wounded. Being no longer
able either to advance or retreat, we arrested the enemy by musket shots, and
by rolling down stones upon them. However, we could not have continued
our resistance much longer, if the night had not come on, when the enemy re
laxed their efforts ; but keeping us shut in upon all sides, and doubling their
guard, which was now limited to a much narrower space than before, they
had no thought that we could escape from them. Thus were we reduced to a
most deplorable condition, and to all appearance it was a thousand to one that
we should all perish. But God yet once more displayed his power in our be
half, employing as his instrument for our deliverance an old Vaudois captain
called A'Polet. This good man, who had been a great hunter of roebucks, and
knew all the paths, encouraged us, and promised that with the help of God he
would extricate us from the midst of our enemies. As the first step towards
the execution of his plan, we kindled a, number of fires, as if we had intended
to pass the night where we were. Then we moved off in single file, each man
holding by the coat of the man before him, for the night was so dark that if
any one let go the coat of his comrade, it was necessary to cause the head of
the file to halt. We were often compelled to hold by the brambles and bushes
to keep ourselves from falling down the steep. Besides all the other risks which
we ran, we passed close by several of the enemies' posts, so near, that to avoid
being heard, we aU put off our shoes. At last, after having marched all night,
with extreme toil and incredible danger, we found ourselves at daybreak out of
danger. Of course the enemy did not fail to attack our fortress, as they were
commanded, and it is easy to imagine how great must have been their surprise.
The greater part of them believed that our minister was a magician, and that
he had transported us from thence in the clouds. We continued to march all
day without finding anything to eat. Next day we arrived at Rodore", where

504 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. [Appendix.
we found herbs: beginning to grow in some of the meadows, and halted to gather
them ; but as we were going to cook there, the enemy, who had come by a
shorter road in order Lo cut us off, appearing at hand, we were compelled to de
camp in haste. We did not fail, however, to carry with us our pots, and some
as they ran ate the half-cooked vegetables without any seasoning. We suc
ceeded in increasing our distance from the French on paths which we knew
much better than they. And having passed over the mountain, we arrived at
Pramort, where there were four companies of Piedmontese. On our arrival,
two of them threw themselves into a church, and the other two into a house.
There we besieged them, and some of our people having found means of mount
ing on the roof of the house, made an opening in it by which we entered and
were hand to hand with these two companies. We gave quarter for the first
time to a captain, two lieutenants, and a surgeon. We would have dealt as
tenderly with the other captain, hut he was too aged to be able to follow us,
which cost him his life. As for the soldiers who were in the church, we had
already applied fire to the door, which was burning satisfactorily, when the
French made their appearance, and we were obliged to relinquish this enter
prise. Having sent our prisoners on before us, and also some cows which we
had found at this place, under the care of our wounded men, we amused the
enemy for some time until they should reach a sufficient distance ; after which
we retired to a place called Les Clots, a narrow pass at the base of a mountain
bordering on the valley of Lucerna.
When we were established in this stronghold, his royal highness sent us
word by a special messenger, that he had entered into the grand alliance with
England and Holland, and that he would soon give us proof of it. But seeing
his troops acting against us in conjunction with those of the French, we sup
posed that this was merely a snare to entrap us, and accordingly this message
produced no further effect. But whilst we were still in the same place, another
message came to us to the samo purpose, with the addition, that to prove the
truth of it, we had only to fix a place where as much bread would be brought
to us as we had need of. We fixed a place, and took all possible precautions
against being surprised, if there should he any design of the kind. Finding
that the promise which had been made to us was kept, we took as much bread
as we could cany, and returned to the place from which we had come. On
this and the cows which we had brought from Pramort, we were able to subsist
lor some days.
The French did not now know where we were, till they were conducted to
the spot by one of our detachments, which having attacked them, and having
been repulsed, was pursued by the enemy to our very hold. This led us to send
away our wounded men and our prisoners, with the surgeon, who had been sent
for M. de Parat, into a hole of the rook upon the mountain.
The enemy having sent out a number of detachments with a view to cut us
off, we did as much in the same way on our part against them as the dispropor
tion of our forces would permit. We anticipated the design of a party of forty
grenadiers, which was marching to intercept our passage by the summit of the
mountain, and intercepted theirs. After we had thrown them into disorder,
eighteen of our number pursued them, sword in hand, for half a league, till
they reached their reserve, with which they took shelter. M. De Clerembeau
was not more fortunate. For, having ascended in another place with a large
detachment, he was attacked by our people, and so roughly handled, that such
of his men as escaped slid down the mountain in a sitting posture to the base.
The snow being frozen, was in excellent condition for such an amusement. But,

No. III.] JOURNAL OF A VAUDOIS OFFICER. 505
unfortunately, these fugitives came upon the place where our wounded men
were, who, not being in general so severely wounded that they could do nothing
to preserve themselves from capture, aU contrived to make their escape except
two. These two were captured, and the surgeon was recaptured, and the two
Piedmontese officers set at liberty. Our two wounded men were tied together
by the neck, and so conducted, thinking that it would have been an act of kind;
ness to have killed them on the spot, and their liveB were prolonged only that
they might die in public. Having passed through the valley of Lucerna, and
arrived at Villarod, which was in their path, they thought it desirable to have
some refreshment. There was there a Vaudois captain, with a detachment,
who, having abjured his religion, had entered into the service of his royal
highness. M. De Clerembeau, not knowing that his royal highness had en
tered into the grand alliance, asked the captain if he would have the goodness
to give some refreshment to the remains of his detachment, which had escaped
from the fury of the barbas, saying that they had had almost nothing to eat
for some days. The Vaudois captain affected to sympathize very deeply in
his misfortunes, and said that nothing could be more reasonable than his re
quest ; that he would go to give orders about everything, and that in the mean
time he must cause his men to lay down their arms and go into a house where
he would see that everything that was necessary should be brought to them.
All this being done as the captain desired, he caused his own detachment, whom
he had close at hand, to seize the arms of the enemy, after which he told M. De
Clerembeau that he arrested him and all his men, in the name of his royal
highness. This was cause of no little surprise, but at the same time of very
great joy to our two wounded men, whom the captain ordered to be set at
hberty. Those of our people who had so severely handled this detachment, re
turned to us laden with their spoils.
All this did not prevent the French from finding means of hemming us in.
We were compelled to fight every day, and often in such close combat, that
not having time to charge our muskets without giving our enemies opportunity
of rushing upon us, we made good use of part of the weapons with which David
slew Goliath, and drove them back with stones. At this crisis, his royal
highness again sent a messenger to tell us to take courage, and that if we could
contrive to get out of the dangerous place in which we were, and would come
into the valley of Lucerna, we would find plenty of provisions for our use. He
knew our malady; for hunger was the worst enemy with which we had to con
tend. He added also, that he had a regiment of French refugees on the march
to join us. It was the regiment of Loche. All this gave us so much the more
pleasure, because till this time we had still feared that his royal highness was
against us. This good news being soon diffused, the courage of our men at
aU our posts was redoubled, and that very evening we found means of making
our escape.
We reached Beubi, where the garrison had orders from his royal highness
to yield that post to us, and to leave us some flour and some wine which they
had. This order was executed even before our arrival, for they got out of
our way with as much haste, as if we had still been enemies. We, for our part,
carried what we found there to a height at a small distance, where we resolved
to remain until we should have a perfect certainty of the alliance of which we
were' still in doubt. But to put an end to all our suspicions, his royal high
ness sent us some convoys of ammunition and provisions, and caused those of
our people that had been taken prisoners to be restored to us. The detachment
which had gone to Pragela, before we were besieged in our fort, rejoined us
Vol. II. !24

506 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. [appendix.
now, and we received confirmation on all hands of the news that his royal
highness was really our ally. Our wounded men, who had been dispersed by
the fugitives of M. De Cleremheau's detachment, also returned. There was
one of them who having wandered among the mountains and having nothing
to eat, killed a young wolf which he came upon, and subsisted for some days
upon its raw flesh. He rejoined us about the end of this time, his wound
being healed, for which he had never done anything except to wash it with
fresh water, which served him instead of spirits, and balsam.
Shortly after this, his royal highness sent the Chevalier Verceil to take
command of us ... , &c.

The remainder of the memoir is chiefly filled with particulars already known,
and which are related in the Israel of the Alps.

APPENDIX No. IV.

Note, by the Translator, on the present state op the controversy
respecting the origin op the Vaudois.
It is my wish merely to present, in the following pages, such a view as the
necessary limits will admit, of the opinions and arguments whioh have been
advanced by two or three of the authors who have taken the most prominent
part in this controversy, and whose works appear most deserving of attention.
The temptation to enter into the discussion of the subject, will, as far as possi
ble, be resisted ; but I do not hold myself bound to abstain from the expression
of opinion or the indication of an objection to an argument.
Were I to enter into the discussion of the important subject to whioh this
Appendix relates, I would arrange my observations according to the parts of
that subject. But my present intention will perhaps be better accomplished,
consistently with the narrow limits to which I must confine myself, by a differ
ent mode of procedure. I propose, therefore, to exhibit a concise analysis of
a few of the most important recent works upon this subject, in the order of
their publication. The first of these, and the only one which I shall notice of
which the author belongs to the Church of Rome, is the work anonymously
published in 1836, but afterwards acknowledged by M. Charvaz, then Bishop
of Pignerol, "Recherches Historiques sue la veritable Origine des Vau
dois ET sur la caractere DE LEURS doctrines primitives," an octavo volume
of considerable thickness.i
M. Charvaz begins by assuming that Bossuet did not feel it to be necessary
to discuss the question of the origin of the Vaudois in his History of the Var
iations of Protestantism, because most of the writers of his own and of preced-
' See the "Bibliography," pp. 411 and 412 of the present volume.

Ko.1V.] ORIGIN OF THE VAUDOIS. 507
ing times held the same opinion upon that subject with himself. ' Yet afterwards,
apparently unconscious of the inconsistency, he refers the opposite opinion to
the period of the Reformation, and to the dishonesty both of the Vaudois and
the Reformers, whom he represents as more anxious to establish an apparent
apostolic descent, than scrupulous about the means of accomplishing it.2 In
addressing himself to his task of proving that the Vaudois had no existence
prior to the latter part of the twelfth century, M. Charvaz singles out two advo
cates of the opposite opinion, against whom more especially to contend with the
weapons of argument, sarcasm, and ridicule. These are two Vaudois ministers,
M. Brez, the author of a History of the Vaudois, published in Paris in 1796 ;3
and M. Muston, now the author of the Israel of the Alps, but who had then
only given to the world the first volume of a History of the Vaudois on a dif
ferent plan,4 upon account of whioh he was banished from the land of his
fathers, and separated from his friends and from his flock.
It may be noticed in passing, that M. Charvaz descants not a little upon- the
uncharitable spirit displayed, as he thinks, by these writers, and by the whole
class to which they belong, in the use of such expressions as atrocitUs, fero'
cious fanaticism, and the monstrous tyranny of Rome. He wonders at their
want of gentleness, but ascribes it to their religion ! 5 His own gentleness and
charity prevent him from giving utterance to any severe censure of the deeds
which have formed, as he says, "the text for the outrageous declamations of the
Vaudois historians. " He describes only the declamations as outrageous [bloodyjf
he applies no such epithet to the deeds. Thus he affords an illustration of a kind
of charity very peculiar, but sufficiently, familiar to those who have read much in
the writings of the controversialists of Rome. That the treatment to whioh the
Vaudois were subjected, can be appropriately characterized in language less
severe than that which Protestant historians have employed, M. Charvaz does
not think it necessary even to attempt to show. But he would fain relieve his
church from the blame, if the deeds are blameworthy ; and whereas the want
of gentleness and charity seems at first to be in the mere use of the severe con
demnatory language, it by-and-by seems rather to be in the application of that
language to the Church of Rome, to which the events which are the text of the
outrageous declamations ought by. no means to be ascribed. No, the Vaudois
were never persecuted on account of their religion ; they suffered only as rebels
against the state ! 7 The effrontery with which such an assertion is hazarded,
can only be excelled by the parade of charity with which it is accompanied.
And when we find M. Charvaz charging Vaudois authors with dishonesty in the
use of documents, or seeming to establish a point by quotation's from authors
not easily accessible for verification, it is right to bear in mind not only the
common tricks of the apologists of Rome, with whom dishonest quotation is
habitual, but also how, in this instance, he shows himself capable of misrepre
senting the surest and plainest facts of history.
For sources of true information respecting the Vaudois, M. Charvaz refuses
the Vaudois historians, because (he says it with pain !) they are not to be trusted ;
they abound in falsehoods and contradictions.8 And in support of his strong
statements upon this point, he quotes a letter of Morland, which is nothing to
the purpose. Morland complains of the difficulty which he finds in obtaining
exact information concerning the events of a period of war and trouble, and that

1 Avant-vropos, p. il. ] f' f> e(/*
s See " Bibliography," in the present volume, pp. 408, 409. I bid. P- «5.
6 Avant-propos, p. x. «' Sanglantes. ' Avant-propos, p. xi. e P. 19.

508 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALrS. [ArpBKDix.
the published narratives are inaccurate in many things. And this M. Charvaz
is pleased to accept as -¦ proof not only of the unfaithfulness of the Vaudois
pastors, by whom some of these narratives were written, but of Vaudois authors
in general. Had not this conclusion been one which it suited his purpose to
draw, M. Charvaz would have easily found many reasons for inaccuracy of de
tails in the contemporaiy narratives of a time of trouble, quite consistent with
truthfulness, and would have seen the fouy of extending an inference from a
few such narratives to all the writings of Vaudois pastors.
He has yet another reason for refusing to admit the Vaudois historians as
authorities in the earlier 'periods of Vaudois history : they do not write the
history of the sect of Valdo, but that of an imaginary sect which nobody ever
knew anything about till they proclaimed it. But this is so manifestly the very
question at issue, that it is hard to imagine how even a Popish controversialist
could venture to introduce it, at the outset, as a reason for his choice of authori
ties, Prevented, by these strong reasons, from giving any heed to Vaudois evidence,
M. Charvaz has recourse to the evidence of old authors who have written con
cerning the Vaudois sect. That the evidence thus obtained may be a little one
sided, does not appear to occur to him as any objection to its absolute suffici
ency. His mode of procedure, in these historio researches, is to fling aside at
once all that comes from a Vaudois source, and to receive with full confidence
all that is said of the Vaudois by their adversaries.
No fact, he says, is more clearly established by contemporary evidence, or
Unites more perfectly all the characteristics of historic certainty, than that the
Vaudois were regarded as a sect of quite recent origin at the beginning of the
thirteenth century, and that they first made their appearance in the latter half
of the twelfth.1 The first witness whom he adduces is Bernard, abbot of Fon-
cald, who, in the end of the twelfth century, wrote a Treatise against the Vau
dois,2 He rests much upon the fact, that this author designates the Vaudois
as neu) heretics, who suddenly made their appearance in the time of Pope Lu
cius (Lucius III., 1181-85), and were condemned by that pope, and by the
Bishop of Narbonne ; and he argues that even if some years elapsed between the
first promulgation of their errors and the condemnation of them, these heretics
must be held not to have appeared till towards the end or within the second half
of the twelfth century.3 But he forgets that if the existence of the Vaudois in
the earlier part of the second half of the twelfth century can be proved, it is
as fatal to the supposition that they derived their doctrines and their name from
Valdo, as if they were proved to have maintained the same doctrines and borne
the same name in the previous century :" for it was not till 1173 that, according
to the Chronicle of Laon, Valdo began to devote himself to a life of piety and
evangelistic zeal ; it was not till 1178 that he went to Rome to lay before Pope
Alexander III. his scheme of a religious fraternity, and it was shortly after
this year that he became the object of dislike on the part of the bishops and
clergy, and that he and his disciples incurred ecclesiastical censures, and finaUy
excommunication, which was confirmed by Pope Lucius in 1184. l Moreover,
the words of Bernard of Foncald, " Subito exlulerunt caput novi heretici," do
not very clearly declare that the heresy originated at the time of which he
speaks, but may signify no more than that these heretics then, for the first time,
i P. 33.
2 See the Israel of the Alps, vol, i. p. 18, note, and the "Bibliography," in the present
Volume, p. 414. ' Pp. 33-33.
1 See Gilly, article " Valdo," in the seventh edition of Encyclopedia Britannica.

Nc IV.] ORIGIN OF THE VAUDOIS. 509
attracted attention by new efforts for the promulgation of their opinions. And
if the words were more precise, yet they could not well be admitted as proving
more than that Bernard, his perfect truthfulness being taken for granted, was
not aware of the previous existence of the sect. His evidence on this point
cannot well be regarded as more than merely negative, seeing that he does not
declare the connection between the Vaudois and Valdo, but gives another deriva
tion of the name of the Vaudois, "Nimirum a valle densd."1 However, this
derivation may be regarded as merely a jest upon the part of the old abbot;2
yet his omission of all mention of Valdo is not only important, as rendering his
evidence concerning the novelty of the sect merely negative, but also as show
ing either that he was very imperfectly infonned concerning the subject of
which he wrote, or that the connection between Valdo and the Vaudois was
much less intimate than even Vaudois and Protestant historians are accustomed
to represent it. The testimony of this witness, viewed as a whole, is certainly
not favourable to the case, in support of which M. Charvaz has called him.
The second witness whom he adduces is Alain de l'lsle (Alanus Magnus de
Insulis),3 a celebrated professor of theology in the university of Paris, towards
the end of the twelfth century. This author certainly says that the Vaudois
derive their name from their heresiarch Valdo,1 but his distant residence renders
his testimony on such a point of little value,5 whilst his spirit is displayed in
bitter and ridiculous declamations against Valdo and his disciples. Moreover,
he speaks of the new heretics of his time as the promulgators both of new and
old heresies, "Imb veteribus et novissimis hceresibus debacchantes." Bat that the
"heresies" of the Vaudois were more ancient than the days of Valdo, is the
very point with reference to which the question of the origin of the name is of
importance. M. Charvaz next quotes from Eberard of Befhune,0 but to What purpose does
not appear, as Eberard never mentions Valdo, and, like Bernard of Foncald,
gives a derivation of the name Vallenses from vallis, 1 making the supposition
not improbable s that he wrote before Valdo had done anything to attract notice.
Peter of Vaucemay, whom M. Charvaz next adduces,9 and whose history of
the Albigenses was probably written in 1212, certainly derives the name of the
Vaudois from Valdo, but his whole account of them i3 such as may be supposed
to have been written by a credulous and bigoted monk, but could never have
proceeded from the pen of a well-informed and trustworthy historian. As to
the inhabitants of the Alpine valleys, Peter of Vaucemay might very probably
know little about them; and even as to the Albigenses, the main subject of his
history, he relates things utterly absurd and incredible.10
After these witnesses, M. Charvaz brings forward, with no little parade,
1 See Israel of the Alps, vol. i. pp. 13, 14, and notes there.
a His words are, "Qui quodam prassagio futurorum sortiti vocabulum, dicti sunt Val
denses ; niroirum a valle densS ; eo quod profundis et donsis errorum tenebris involvantur."
The passage is given by Charvaz in his Appendix.
3 See " Bibliography," in this volume, p. 413.
1 " Hi Valdenses dicuntur a suo hseresiarclia qui vocabatur Valdua."
5 It is perhaps worthy of notice, as bearing on the value of the testimony of Alanus Mag
nus, "the universal doctor," that lie records the familiar appearance of Satan to the Albi
genses in the form of a great cat. (See Faber, Vallenses and Albigenses, pp. 253 and 255.)
fi P. 40, &c. See Israel of the Alps, vol. i. p. 18, note, and p. 413 of the present volume.
7 "Quidam autem qui Vallenses se appellant, eo quod in valle lacrymarum maneant,
Apostolos habentes in derisum," &c.
s See Israel of the Alps, vol. i. p. 18, note. « P. 42, &o.
'• See Faber, Inquiry into the History and Tlieology of the Ancient Vallenses and Albigenses,
p. 255, note.

510 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. [Appemdix.
"one who, of all that were contemporary, or nearly contemporary, with Valdo,
has recorded, with the greatest minuteness and precision, everything relative to .
the time, the place, and other circumstances, of the appearance of this sect.
This important witness is Stephen of Belleville, or of Borbone,5 who certainly
gives a sufficiently minute and circumstantial account of the commencement of
Valdo's evangelistic labours, and declares him to have been the first author of
the heresy of the Vaudois ("Valdenses autem dicti sunt a primo hujus hseresis
auctore, qui nominatus fuit Waldensis"). The passage quoted from this author,
M. Charvaz thinks, leaves nothing to be desired, the evidence which it contains
is so conclusive as to the origin of the Vaudois heresy. Father Stephen, how
ever, was not quite a contemporary of Valdo ; the date assigned by M. Charvaz,
for his having already acquired a great reputation by the exercise of his ministry
at Lyons, is 1223, fully thirty years after the events which he relates ; and whilst
allowance ought certainly to be made for the influence on his mind and narra
tive of the prejudices of his class, it seems worthy of notice, that he calls the
Lyonese reformer not Valdo, but Waldensis, or Valdensis, which seems an ap
pellative, and as such needs to be accounted for; and also that he speaks of
Valdo's followers, the Poor Men of Lyons, as having joined with other heretics
of Provence and Lombardy, whose errors they adopted and propagated. (" Postea
in Provincial terrd et Lombardhe cum aliis htereticis se admiscentes, et errorem
eorum bibentes et serentes.") M. Charvaz thinks himself entitled to ridicule
M. Muston for assuming, as he says (in his first work), that these pre-existing
heretics, of Provence and Lombardy, were the Vaudois of Piedmont. But the
proof that the Vaudois doctrines existed in Lombardy and Piedmont before
Valdo's time, is as complete as M. Charvaz's own witness can make it.
His next witness, whom he thinks as good as those already adduced, is Father
Moneta, "a celebrated professor of philosophy, in the university of Bologna,"3
to whose work he assigns the date 1244, and who speaks of the Vaudois heresy
having originated with Valdo about eighty years before — ("Non sunt plures quam
octoginta anni, vel si plures aut pauciores, parum plures vel pauciores existunt ").
This statement Moneta makes for the purpose of arguing that the Vaudois can
not be the church of God— ("Ergo non sunt successores Ecclesise primitive; ergo
non sunt Ecclesia Dei"). "But if the Vaudois assert that their way existed
before Valdo, let them prove it by some evidence," says Father Moneta,
"which," he adds, "they can by no means do."4 Father Moneta may not be
a very good witness to prove that the Vaudois originated from Valdo, although,
certainly, a very willing one ; but he is not a bad witness to prove that in his
day already the Vaudois represented themselves as having existed before Valdo,
so that this is not, as is sometimes alleged by Popish writers, a novel claim of
comparatively recent times.
M. Charvaz's next witness is Reynerus Saeeho,6 who, having been for some
time a Vaudois minister, became a Popish priest and inquisitor of the province of
Lombardy. These circumstances, M. Charvaz thinks, entitle him to the highest
possible credit ; and a passage in which he declares the Leonists, or Poor Men
of Lyons, to have originated from Valdo, is vauritingly adduced as decisive ;
and because it is so decisive concerning the origin of the Vaudois, the Vaudois
authors, M. Charvaz says, have not ventured to quote it ! It is not necessary
to follow him into any question concerning the identity of the Vaudois and the
Poor Men of Lyons. Admitting all that he asserts on this point, the testi-
1 P. 43. 2 See p. 414 of this volume. « Ibid.
1 See Charvaz, pp. 49-52, and Appendix, p. 457. 5 See p. 412 of this volume.

No. IV.] ORIGIN OF THE VAUDOIS. 511
mony of his witness, Reynerus, on the question of the relation of the Vaudois
to Valdo, is manifestly worthless.
Not much more to the purpose is that of Peter de Polichdorf,1 whom he next
quotes, and who, he says, "lived, according to Basnage, towards the middle of
the thirteenth century, and must have been perfectly acquainted with the Vau
dois."2 Incidentally, however, it appears from the passage which M. Charvaz
quotes from Polichdorf, that the Vaudois of his day by no means recognized
Valdo as the founder of their sect, and on this point his testimony is liable to
no suspicion. He is very angry with these "sons of iniquity," for referring
their separate ecclesiastical existence to the time of Pope Sylvester, when they
represented the Roman church as having become corrupt by the acquirement
of temporal possessions — ("Ortus et origo Waldensium hjereticorum talis est:
licet iniquitatis filii coram simplicibus mentiantur, dicentes sectam eorum durasse
a temporibus Sylvestri papas").3 That Polichdorf makes such mistakes in mat
ters of fact, as to make the author of the Vaudois heresy a rich citizen of Wal-
den1 instead of Lyons, and to give the time of Pope Innocent II., who died in
1143, as that in which his heresy originated, does not seem to M. Charvaz a reason
for doubting his evidence concerning the connection of the Vaudois with Valdo.
These are mere errors in matters of detail,5 he says, and easily accounted for,
by considering that Polichdorf was a German, and somewhat more remote than
the previous witnesses from the scene of the events. With still greater absurdity,
if possible, M. Charvaz goes on to quote a fragment of uncertain authorship,
sometimes ascribed to Polichdorf, from which he tries to make it appear that
the Vaudois of PoUchdorf's time were accustomed to mention more than one
date of their origin, and more than one founder of their sect ; that if their fiction
{mensonge) regarding the times of Pope Sylvester were not credited, they might,
at least, get credit for having existed from the time of Valdo. The probability
that his author may have blundered in some of these matters of detail, does not
occur to M. Charvaz.
¦ And now he proceeds to adduce his last witness, an anonymous author, by
some supposed to have been Ivonetus,6 but of whom he does not himself pre
tend to fix the precise date, and who, after all, only says that the Poor Men of
Lyons derived their origin from Valdo ( Valdensis). He thinks it unnecessary
to go farther in the way of quotation, because ' ' the depositions of witnesses,
posterior to those who have been cited, could add nothing to their authority."
He might have made the same reflection rather sooner ; but with prodigious
complacency, he tells us that these "contemporary, or almost contemporary"
authors whom he has quoted, must be the source and authority of all history
upon this subject.7 Let the reader look again to the dates of the contemporary,
or almost contemporary authors, and compare them with the date of Valdo's
labours. And let the character and prejudices of the witnesses be duly taken
iulo account, that it may be seen whether M. Charvaz has established the point
with regard to which they were adduced. A very Uttle inquiry into the stories
told concerning the heretics of these ages, by contemporary or almost contem:
porary monks and priests, is enough to deprive their testimonies of much value,
even as to those things which they might have known with greatest certainty.3
M. Charvaz now takes up a new branch of his argument. He undertakes to
'Seep. 413 of this volume. 2 Charvaz, p. 62. 3 Charvaz, Appendix, p. 460.
4 " Quze in finibus Francise sita est," says he ; but the site of Walden has never been dis
covered. 5 Charvaz p. 65. 6 See p. 414 of this volume. 7 Cliarvaz, pp. 75, 76.
3 See Faber, Ancient Vallenses and Albigenses.

512 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. [appendix.
account for the alliance of the Vaudois and the Reformers, and after a descrip
tion of Protestantism, to which it is hard to say whether ignorance or wilful
falsehood has most largely contributed, he sets forth, with all the confidence of
a historian stating the most notorious facts, the motives by which both Vaudois
and Protestants were basely animated, the hatred of the Roman Catholic church
which impelled the Vaudois to embrace the new tenets of the Reformers, and
the anxiety for some show of antiquity which made the Protestants value such
feeble auxiliaries. After this characteristic display of generous and charitable
feeling, he goes on to state that a descent from Valdo not appearing sufficient,
a claim to higher antiquity was invented, and Valdo was represented not as the
founder of a sect, but as a disciple of a sect long previously existing.1 It can
hardly escape observation, that this account of the origin of the Vaudois claim
to an antiquity reaching back beyond the time of Valdo, is directly contrary
to the admissions of the old Catholic authors, just before adduced as witnesses
by M. Charvaz, who, in the very passages quoted by him, plainly speak of such
a claim as already put forth by the Vaudois in their time. It seems, however,
to have escaped the observation of the Bishop of Pignerol. He had not a
sufficiently good memory !
Proceeding to another part of his subject, he discusses the origin of the name
Waldenses or Vaudois, a point, however, upon which he does not throw much
light. He, indeed, affects to despise the derivation of Valdo or Valdensis
from vallis (a valley) ; but seems to admit, that the latter form of Valdo's name
has been used upon the supposition of its being a name derived from the name
of a place.2 As to the old Catholic authors who derive the name from vallis,
playfully adding pleasant fancies of their own as to the kind of vaUey, M. Char
vaz does not hesitate to set aside all that they have said of this sort, keeping
firm hold, however, of their statement, that Valdo founded the Vaudois sect.
Polichdorf was "certainly mistaken" when he made the heresiarch a citizen of
Valden; but Polichdorf does say that Valdo founded the Vaudois sect (Petrus
Valdensis  ex quo secta Valdensis est orta), "'and this is enough for
us (et cela nous suffit)," adds M. Charvaz, with no apparent consciousness of
absurdity.3 M. Charvaz devotes a number of pages to the other names borne by the Vau
dois, in what he calls the first ages of their existence, and to their union with
other sects, in whioh will be found little that is relevant to the question of their
origin : but an argument which he founds upon a passage of William of Puy
Laurens, perhaps deserves to be noticed. That author mentions amongst here
tical sects, the Vaudois or Lyonese (Valdenses sive Lugdunenses). It is im
possible, says M. Charvaz in a note, to imagine how this historian could call
them indifferently Vaudois or Lyonese, unless they really derived their origin
from Lyons and from Peter Valdo ! 4 It is impossible for him to imagine that
the new impulse given to their cause may have given rise, and particularly
amongst those who knew nothing of them before, to a new name.
It may not be improper to mention also, an attempt which M. Charvaz makes
to show that the advocates of the antiquity -of the Vaudois are at variance
amongst themselves as to the date to which they make it remount, some going
back only to Claude of Turin, some to Pope Sylvester, and some to the apos
tles. This is only worthy of notice, however, as showing the unfairness which
characterizes M. Charvaz as a controversialist. He is one of those who mis
represent then- opponents, and to whom no sort of argument comes amiss.
i Charvaz, pp. 86-103. 2 Ibid. p. 117. » Ibid. p. 133. 4 Ibid. p. 153.

N°- 1VJ ORIGIN OF THE VAUDOIS. 513
A large part of his work is devoted to an examination of the proofs which
have been adduced to show that the Vaudois existed before the clays of Valdo.
He expresses himself in very strong terms against the Vaudois historians for
resting too much upon certain passages which they quote from Reynerus Saccho
and from Polichdorf, and dishonestly keeping out of view the great number of
other writers, some of whom are more ancient than these, who testify expressly
against this pretended antiquity. We have seen already who these other writers
are, and what their testimony is. We may take for granted that M. Charvaz
has not failed to supply this defect of the Vaudois historians. The passage of
Reynerus, quoted by Le'ger and other authors as supporting the Vaudois claim
of antiquity, causes him no Uttle trouble. No sect is more pernicious, Reynerus
says, than that of the Leonists, and this for three reasons, first, because it is of
longer endurance, some saying that it has endured from the time of Sylvester,
and some, that it has endured from the time of the apostles ; secondly, because
it i3 more general, there being almost no country in which it does not exist.
("Inter omnes has sectas, quae nunc sunt, vel fuerunt, non est pernieiosior
Ecclesise quam Leonistarum. Et hoc tribus de causis. Prima est quia est
diuturnior. Aliqui enim dicunt quod duraverit a tempore Sylvestri : aliqui a
tempore Apostolorum. Secunda quia est generalior. Fere enim nulla est terra
in qua hsec secta non sit. Tertia," &c.') In his next chapter, Reynerus give3 an
account of the origin of the Leonists, deriving them from Valdo of Lyons, and
which we have already seen that M. Charvaz adduces in support of his view
of the origin of the Vaudois. But it is in vain that he alleges that chapter to
have been intended by Reynerus as a refutation of the higher antiquity ascribed
by some to the Leonists, or claimed by themselves. The passage bears no such
shape; and Reynerus remains a witness that in his day the claim was well
known, which Popish writers would now fain represent as a novelty of modern
times. And, moreover, it may fairly be taken for granted, that if Reynerus,
who wrote Uttle more than half a century after the days of Valdo, had regarded
the claim to antiquity as utterly unfounded, he would not have failed to have
exclaimed against those who had the audacity to advance it. The writers of his
class and time do not generally err on the side of excessive gentleness. Nor
does M. Charvaz himself, notwithstanding his pretensions in that way, when
he caUs Le'ger a Uar, for asserting, as on the authority, of Polichdorf, the preva
lence of an opinion amongst the Vaudois of his time, that they had existed, at
least, from the beginning of the sixth century. The words of Polichdorf have
been already quoted, and the reader may judge for himself as to their import.
It may be here mentioned, once for all, that M. Charvaz perpetually reiterates
charges of dishonesty against the Vaudois authors, and makes it an argument
against their religion, that it was found to have need of such support !
It is not necessary, for our present purpose, to follow this author very closely
in the part of his work to which we have now come, nor even to inquire whether
he is or is not successful in setting aside some of the arguments adduced by
Vaudois authors. Let us pass on to his examination of the Vaudois docu
ments. He begins by saying that Ldger pubhshed many in his History, but
that the Vaudois writers of the present day have prudently reduced the num
ber to two — the Book of Antichrist and the Noble Lesson. The truth of this
statement may be, in some measure, tested by reference to Part II. of the Biblio
graphy in the present volume. As to the Book of Antichrist,2 M. Charvaz
refuses to admit that it can be a production of the twelfth century, because of
i Quoted by M. Charvaz, in Appendix, p. 474. 2 See pp. 443, 444, of this volume.
Vol, II. 125

5J4 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. [Appendix.
the quotation which it contains from the Milleloquium, a work of which the
author was born in 1243.1 He also denies that it is a Vaudois work at all, and
his reasons are curious. He not only argues from the absence of anything dis
tinctively Vaudois, or which did not equally belong to the Cathari, and from
the want of any mention of the Vaudois by name (he does not say that the
Cathari, or any of the other sects whom he would represent as so distinct from
the Vaudois, are mentioned by name), hut he actually finds an argument in the
absence of any mention of the founder of the Vaudois, and of the time and
circumstances in which they originated.2
Having thus satisfactorily disposed of the treatise Of Antichrist, he proceeds
to consider the Noble Lesson.3 On this he ventures an opinion similar to that
which he has expressed concerning the treatise Of Antichrist, that it may not
be a Vaudois work at all, but that the author may have belonged to the Cathari,
or the Petrobrusians.4 It is curious, then, not only that the work, along with
others, should have been preserved by the Vaudois only, but that the author
should have mentioned the Vaudois only, and in the manner he does,5 and not
his own sect. M. Charvaz feels this difficulty, and tries to get quit of it by
saying, that such compliments are common amongst friends associated in the
same cause ! "
But, according to M. Charvaz, the most eminent philologists and paleograph-
ists assign to the Noble Lesson the date of the thirteenth century, or not earlier
than the twelfth, so as to place it after the appearance of Valdo.7 Philology
and paleography must be nicely accurate, to determine, in such a case, as to
a few decades, less or more. But for the greater assurance of his readers,
M. Charvaz favours them with a facsimile of a few lines of the Noble Lesson, .
from the Geneva MS. — As to the important line which fixes, or seems to fix,
the date, he accounts for it by reference to the prevalence of the notion that the
world was to be destroyed about the year 1000, and by the supposition, which
many others have made, and the probability of which every one may estimate
for himself, that such a date might be used at any time till the end (and his theory,
of course, brings it very nearly to the end) of the century.
These are the parts of M. Charvaz's work which chiefly demand attention in
connection with the present question. It is not necessary to examine, in the
same manner, the chapters which he devotes to the pretensions of antiquity
made by the Vaudois in their petitions to the Dukes of Savoy, the testimonies
in favour of their antiquity which have been derived from the writings of Pro
testants, their aUeged separation from the Church of Rome in the days of Claude
of Turin, &c. Were there space for it, a few extracts might be given of his
vilifications of Claude of Turin, on whom he heaps abuse, partly original, and
partly collected from the writings of Theodemir, Dungal, Jonas of Orleans,
and other eminent contemporaries of the iconoclast bishop. Towards the con
clusion of his work, he turns to account the outward conformity of the Vaudois
before the Reformation to the Church of Rome ; contrasts the doctrines of Valdo
' On this point see Dr. Muston's remarks, in p. 444 of this volume. 2 Charvaz, p. 242.
3 See the Israel of the Alps, vol. i. p. 15 and p. 28; and the present volume, pp. 420-422
and 458-460.
4 Charvaz, p. 259. 5 See Israel of the Alps, vol. i. p. 2S.
c It appears to me that the argument of Dr. Muston, in pp. 420-422 and 458-460 of this
volume, derives additional force from a consideration of the form of the name Vaudois in tlrJ
Noble lesson, "Ilh dion qu'es Vaudes e degne de punir." Without pretending to know much
of the Romanoe tongue, I think I may venture to express the opinion that this is not an ad
jective formed from the name Valdo, or from the name of any man whatever.
7 Charvai, p. 253.

No. IV.] ORIGIN OP THE VAUDOIS. 515
and his foUowers, in the thirteenth century, with those of the present Vaudois ;
exclaims against Valdo's vain imagination that he could understand and explain
the Scriptures, and his error of thinking that laics can preach, and finds occa
sion to bestow a few passing words upon Bible Societies. There is nothing in
this latter part of the work of any real importance, except what relates to the
doctrines of the Vaudois ; and in the works which still remain to be noticed,
this subject is both more fully and more fairly treated.
I proceed now to give some account of an academic thesis (ad sacra Christi
natalitia anni 1848 pi6 riteque celebranda) by Dr. Herzog, ordinary professor
of theology in Halle, " De origine et pristino statu Waldensium secundum
antiquissima eorum scripta CUM LIBRIS Catholicorum EJUSDEM 2EVI COL-
lata." The plan of this thesis has been stated by Dr. Muston in the "Biblio
graphy" of the Israel of the Alps.1
Dr. Herzog begins by expressing his opinion that the disputed question of
the origin and pristine state of the Vaudois, admits of being much elucidated by
a comparison of the most ancient Vaudois documents with the writings of the
Roman Catholic authors who have mentioned them since the end of the twelfth
century, and his surprise that this comparison has not already been made. He
blames those who have written on this subject, for confining themselves too
much to one class of authorities, and applies this censure to Muston on the one
side,2 and to Bishop Charvaz on the other. Even the writers who attribute the
greatest authority to the Waldensian documents, have not, he says, closely
enough examined them.
The whole controversy, he says, may be reduced to this, Did the Vaudois
exist under that name before the year 1170, when Valdo made his appearance
as a reformer, or is Valdo himself to be regarded as the founder of the sect ?
With which question another is connected, Did the Vaudois, before the time of
Valdo, occupy the same regions which they now occupy ? This is certainly the
question to be tried, but it is not so easy to agree with Dr. Herzog, when he
goes on to state the test by which he thinks it may be determined, namely, to
examine carefully if those things which the "Catholics" report concerning the
Vaudois doctrines and institutions agree with the things which are to be found
in the books of the Vaudois themselves ; for if so, he thinks it plain that the
account given by the Roman Catholic authors must be received, and the Vau
dois accordingly held to have originated from Valdo ; but if the Vaudois docu
ments do not correspond with the Roman Catholic report of the doctrines and
institutions of Valdo's foUowers, then he thinks it may be concluded that there
was another and more ancient sect separated from the Church of Rome, and
occupying those same regions in which the documents were found. " Nam si
demonstrari potest, libros Catholicos eandem hominum societatem spectare
quam Waldensium libri produnt, liquido patet, Catholicis fidem adhibendam.
esse, nee dubitandmn, quin Waldenses omnino a Waldo alio oriundi sint. Quod1
si contra," &c.3
Now, that which Dr. Herzog thinks so plain ("liquido patet"), I think by
no means plain at all; and as this is of so great importance, it may not be im
proper to pause here for a little and consider it. The fruits of his learned re
searches still remain in this and his other work, hereafter to be noticed, undi
minished in value by any fallacy which may be found in his argument; but if
that argument ¦ shall be found based upon an entirely fallacious principle, the
conclusion at which he arrives may be regarded as probably erroneous, and the
'" See p: 415' of this volume. i With reference, of course, to his first work only.
3 Herzog, De Vrig:;~&c:', p"."2. " - -

516 THE ISKAEL OF THE ALPS. [Appendix,
materials which he has provided ought to be gratefully accepted and used anew.
Now, surely it is not enough to warrant a conclusion in favour of the accuracy
of the account given by Roman Catholic writers of the origin of the Vaudois,
that it shall be found from comparison of their writings and the Vaudois docu
ments, that they relate to the same sect. Dr. Herzog himself afteiwards ad
mits that the Roman CathoUc writers are by no means accurate in all their
statements regarding the Vaudois. That the authors of the Vaudois poems,
and other works, were of the number of those whom the Catholics called Wal
denses ("ex numero eorum fuisse, quos Catholici Waldenses vocarunt"), is a
conclusion which he reaches, notwithstanding discrepancies of some things con
tained in these books from the things reported by the Catholics ; for who does
not at once perceive, he asks, that these and such hke things were unjustly im
puted to the Vaudois by those who hated them, or were true only of some small
part of them ? (" Attamen quis non statim intelliget, haec et alia ejusdem gen
eris exosis hominibus ab adversariis injuste imputata esse, vel nonnisi paucos
spectare?"1) Is it difficult to suppose, then, that the same untruthfulness ex
tended to the other and very important point of the origin of the Vaudois?
The supposition does no injustice to these Roman Catholic authors, nor to the
class to which they belong ; and if known prejudice and a motive to deceive
make probable the falsification of history, the probability is not in this case
awanting. There is no point on which authors, zealots for the Church of Rome,
and full of passionate hatred against the Vaudois, ought to be read with more
suspicion than that of the antiquity or recent origin of the detested sect. And
Dr. Herzog ought surely to have considered, and given some weight to the con
sideration, that those who hold the opinion of the existence of the Vaudois
anterior to the time of Valdo, do not regard his foUowers as forming an en
tirely distinct and separate sect; for this renders it of still less consequence
as to the question now at issue, to prove that the accounts given by the Roman
Catholic authors relate to those whose religious views agreed with the poems
and treatises preserved in the vaUeys of Piedmont. And I will add only one
other observation, that the whole amount of Roman Catholic testimony to the
descent of the Vaudois from Valdo is by no means great. Even were inten
tional misstatement and the influence of prejudice entirely out of the question,
very little evidence is offered whioh, when the circumstances of time and place
are considered, deserves much attention. We have already seen what are the
quality and the quantity of this evidence, as adduced by Bishop Charvaz.
We may now return to the examination of Dr. Herzog's thesis. It appears
that the Roman Catholic authors upon whose testimony he depends are in gen
eral the same with those quoted by Bishop Charvaz. Of the Vaudois docu
ments, in so far as they have been pubUshed, he says it is evident that they
have been written by men living at very different times and in very different
circumstances. But he-ascribes the highest authority to the poems caUed La
Nobla Leyczon, La Barca, Lo Novel Sermon, Lo Novel Confort, Lo Payre Eter
nal, Lo Despreczi del mont, and L'Avangeli de li quatre semencz, and to the
prose compositions called La Potesta dona a li Vicaris de Xrist, Sermon del
Judyci, Epistola amicus, Epistola fideli, De la temor del Segnor, De las Tribu
lations, and Glosa Paternoster? Concerning the language in which they are
written, he quotes Raynouard as to its general identity with the language of
the Troubadours, and thence infers that the language affords no proof that they
were written in the regions now inhabited by the Vaudois.3
1 Herzog, De Orig., &e., pp. 36, 37. 2 Herzog, De Orig., &c., pp. 4, 5.
3 See Israel of the Alps, vol. i. p. 15, and particularly pp. 446-448 of this volume.

No. IV.] ORIGIN OF THE VAUDOIS. 517
Dr. Herzog bestows a chapter on the question, Whether or not the Vaudois
books were known to the Catholio authors whom he has enumerated? and this
he decides in the affirmative, but only on such grounds as these, that they teU
us of books which the Vaudois of their age used ; that they mention a transla
tion of the Bible, or of part of it, into the vulgar tongue, as having been made
and used by the Vaudois, and that such a translation exists, and is claimed by
the Vaudois of Piedmont as the work of their ancestors ; and that the Council
of Tan-agon, in 1242, decreed that those should be treated as persons suspected
of heresy who heard the preaching or reading (lectio) of the Inzabbati (another
name of the Vaudois) ; the word lesson (leyczon, lectio) being one of very com
mon occurrence in the Vaudois documents. It will not seem very presumptu
ous to assert that this chapter is of little value in reference to the question of
the origin of the Vaudois, and cannot even be regarded as containing any proof
that Stephen De Borbone, Yvonetus, and the other Roman Catholic authors
quoted by Dr. Herzog, were very intimately acquainted with the people or sect
from whom the existing Vaudois poems and treatises have been inherited. Of
evidence that they knew anything of the works now existing, there is not a
shadow. Nor if there were, would it greatly affect the main question.
Dr." Herzog next enters into learned and interesting inquiries concerning the
religious opinions of the Vaudois, and spends a number of pages in proving
that the authors of the Vaudois poems and treatises, and the sect whose reli
gious opinions they represented, were perfectly free from the Manicheism, and
other gross errors usually ascribed to the Cathari ; and after many quotations
from Bonacursus, Moneta, Reinerius, Ermengardus, and other Catholic au
thors, concerning these errors of the Cathari, and from the Vaudois documents,
but particularly the Noble Lesson, asserting the most opposite doctrines, ho
condemns in the strongest terms the opinion of Bishop Charvaz, who, without
assigning any reason, supposes the Noble Lesson to have been the work of some
one belonging to the sect of the Cathari. (" Profecto igitur ridicula sententia
episcopi Pinerolse esse videtur ter dicentis, nullo argumento allato, auctorem
carminis Nobla Leyczon e Catharorum numero fuisse. Tantum enim abest, ut
ejus auctorem potius contra hos aUquoties taoite pugnare credideris, veritatem
asserendo errori oppositam." ')
That the ancient Vaudois did not agree in all doctrines and practices with
the Protestants of the present day, but retained many things which are now
retained only in the Church of Rome, Dr. Herzog has no difficulty in proving,
and with this a considerable part of his thesis is occupied ; but how this bears
upon the question of their descent from Valdo, or origin anterior to -him, I con
fess myself unable to perceive. For if a theory can be easily framed to account
for this fact, upon the supposition that Valdo was the founder of the sect, it
seems not very difficult to frame a theory by which it may be as completely ac
counted for upon the opposite supposition. The historic inquiry concerning the
doctrines and practices of the Vaudois, anterior and long anterior to the Refor
mation, is indeed extremely interesting. But Dr. Herzog's thesis has a special
reference to the question of the origin of the Vaudois, and the chapters which
he bestows upon the subject of their religious opinions and practices have no
other bearing upon that question, than as showing that the Vaudois poems and
treatises have really been produced by authors belonging to the same sect of
which we obtain information from Stephen De Borbone, Reinerius, Yvonetus,
and other Popish authors. I refrain from attempting to follow him in his ex-
i Herzog, De Orig., &c, p. 1?.

518 ' THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. [Appenwx,
hibition'of the tenets of the earlier Vaudois, for which, it may be observed,
that notwithstanding his anxiety to establish the authority of the Popish au
thors as to the point of descent from Valdo, he depends rather upon the Vau
dois documents than upon their testimony.
We have seen already by what a fallacious argument it is that Dr. Herzog per
suades himself to receive the testimony of the Popish authors, who assert Valdo
to have been the founder of the Vaudois. But he finds a difficulty which must
be removed if this opinion is to be adopted — the alleged date of the Noble Les
son — a date not affixed to any MS., but embodied in the poem itself.1 But
why, Dr. Herzog asks, if the author meant to reckon eleven hundred years
from the birth of Christ, did he not plainly say so ? He thinks, therefore, that
the reference must be to the time when the" New Testament was written—
" Ben ha mil e cent ancz compli entierament
Que fo scripta 1'ora, car sen al dernier temp;"
and that .the time which, in unusual phraseology, is said to have been written
("fo scripta l'ora"), must be the m^ar/i agx spoken of by the Apostle John in
his first epistle, chap. ii. 18. And he adduces evidence to show the expec
tation which prevailed of the destruction of the world in the year 1000, the
similar expectation still prevailing after that dreaded date was past, and the
kindred apprehensions of the coming of Antichrist, in connection with which
he quotes the warning in the Noble Lesson against participation with Anti
christ. And after this, and from these premises, he, without hesitation, con
cludes that the Noble Lesson was written about the end of the twelfth century,
after Valdo had taught for a considerable time; a conclusion confirmed, he says,
by the perfect agreement of aU which it contains with what we learn from Ca
tholic authors of the doctrines, actings, and sufferings of the Vaudois. (" Ita-
que constat, illud carmen sub finem seculi duodecimi, postquam Waldus jam
diu docendi initium fecit, scriptum esse. Id quod eo maxime comprobatur,''
&c.) It seems almost incredible, that with no other show of arguments than
this, Dr. Herzog should think it proved that the Noble Lesson belongs to the
end of the twelfth century. His dismissal of this important document is some'
what too summary.
He proceeds to examine into the antiquity of some of the other Vaudois do
cuments. He easily disposes of the exact dates assigned to some of them by
Le'ger,2 arguing from the want of dates in most of the MSS. used by the earlier
historian Perrin, and holding these dates, even when affixed to the manuscript
volumes, to be no trustworthy evidence. And this must certainly be admitted:
a date may have been inscribed upon a MS. by another hand than that which
wrote it, and does not necessarily prove anything either as to the time of com
position or of transcription. And Le'ger shows no reason for thinking that the
dates which he quotes, as if they were indisputably accurate, are anything else
than dates thus affixed.
Dr. Herzog adopts the argument of Bishop Charvaz, concerning the Treatise
on Purgatory, that it cannot belong to the beginning of the twelfth century,
because it contains a quotation from the Milleloquium, the author of which is
known to have died in 1328. And to Monastier, who,— iu his History of the
Vaudois, has sought to repel this objection by saying that he has had in his
hands a MS. of the Treatise on Purgatory, in which the quotation from the
Milleloquium doe3 not occur, so that it appears to have been inserted by some
later copyist,— Dr. Herzog replies that he has omitted to advert to a very iin-
1 See pp. 458, 459, of this votamo, ¦ • - ' - ¦ -s See pp. 414, 445, of this volume.

i i i i
i i i i

No. IV.] ORIGIN OF THE VAUDOIS. 519
portant circumstance, namely, that in the very copy upon which he depends as
authentic, mention is made of Hugh of Saint Victor, who died in 1141. Dr,
Herzog derives his knowledge of this circumstance from Monastier himself.
The quotation from Hugh of Saint Victor, is from his book De Sacramentis.
And Dr. Herzog refers to authorities in proof that he is known to have written
this book towards the end of his life. The reply to Monastier is in fact a new
argument, and which, besides turning upon a question of a few years only, not
of a century or half a century, is manifestly liable to be set aside, unless sup
ported in some other way, upon the general ground stated by Dr. Muston,1 of
probable or possible interpolation by transcribers. For it is most improbable
that either one or other of the copies now existing is the original copy of the
Treatise on Purgatory.
Against the antiquity assigned to the Book of Antichrist, Dr. Herzog urges
reasons substantially the same with those upon which Dr. Muston comes to
the same conclusion,2 and at the same time he uses an argument founded upon
his own peculiar interpretation of the passage in the Noble Lesson, which is so
generally regarded as containing the date 1100, and in which mention is made
of the last time. Insisting strongly upon the incomplete separation of the Vau
dois from the Church of Rome, until the period of the Reformation, as a reason
for holding that the Book of Antichrist does not express such sentiments as
they entertained, Dr. Herzog thinks himself warranted in not only concluding
it to have been produced after the Synod which met in 1532, at Angrogna, but
in supposing that the author has imitated the language of the ancient Vaudois
("sermonem veterum Waldensium plus minusve bene imitatus est"), and that
both he and the person who affixed the date have been guilty of a pious fraud,
which however is not to be imputed to the whole congregation.3 I will ven
ture to express my opinion, that even if the Book of Antichrist were proved to
be a work of the Reformation period, there is not the shadow of a reason for
suspecting a pious fraud on the part of its author, and that even the date may
have been affixed afterwards in perfect good faith, although erroneously. This
suspicion of pious fraud against men whose principles give no ground for it, is
one which ought not to be lightly admitted.
The Confession of Faith, to which Leger assigns the date 1120, Dr. Herzog
unhesitatingly sets down as a production of the Reformation period, as Dr.
Muston also does, and on much the same grounds.4 He quotes passages to
show its even verbal correspondence with the letter of the Vaudois delegates to
(Ecolampadius.5 He regards the Book of Antichrist, the Treatises on Purga
tory and on the Invocation of Saints, the Catechism, and the Confession of Faith,
as aU indicating a knowledge of evangelical truth more perfect than was pos
sessed by the earlier Waldenses, or than the Noble Lesson indicates.6
Finally, he examines the names Valdo and Vaudois, in order to determine
their relation to one another. Against the derivation of Valdo's name, from
his connection with a people previously bearing the name of Vaudois, he uses
arguments which probably may not appear to many quite so powerful as he
expresses his confidence that they are. ("Quam sententiam prorsus falsam et
erroneam esse, firmissimis argumentis probatur.") First op all, he says, ac
cording to the testimony both of the Catholic writers and of the Vaudois them
selves, this was not a name which they themselves assumed. Ebrard, he ad
mits 'does say that they called themselves Vallenses, but he easily sets aside
i See pp 444, 445, of this volume. 2 See p. 445 of this volume.
3 Herzog, De Orig., &c, p. 40. « See pp. 478, 479, of this volume.
s Herzog, De Orig., &c., pp. 40, 41. ° Ibid., pp. 41, 42.

520 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. [AppENmx.
Ebrard's testimony, "Qui in hanc rem non accurate" inquisivit." (So that it
would seem a testimony is to be received or not, for no other reason than its
agreement or disagreement with a foregone conclusion. This is not a point on
which the testimony of Ebrard is liable to the same suspicion which affects the
evidence of Popish authors on some other points concerning the Vaudois.) The
use of the name Vaudes in the Noble Lesson, in the line already well known to
the reader, he contends, is such that it appears to have been a name reproach
fully given to the Vaudois by their adversaries. And in accordance with this,
he proceeds to show that they rejected the name, for in the letter which they
addressed to Ladislaus, king of Bohemia, they call themselves "Lo petit tropel
de li Chrestiens apella per fah nom falsament Pauvres o Valdes;" and Samuel
Cassini, a Franciscan, who wrote a book against the Vaudois in 1610, has
these words, "Dicis, te non esse Waldensem sed membrum ecclesiae Christi.'"
It seems scarcely necessary to state the ready explanation of which aU this ad
mits, and which renders it of no moment whatever in reference to the point as
to which it is adduced by Dr. Herzog. In the second place, he says that
the name Vaudois is certainly not derived from vallis. But as his argument
under this head is not long, and as it appears to me, in so far as it has any
bearing upon the subject, altogether to tend to a conclusion contrary to that
which Dr. Herzog draws from it, I think it best to give it entire, and in his
own words. "Porro certissimum est, nomen Waldenses, Valdesii, Vaudes,
Valdes, Wadoys omnino non a valle trahendum esse, nee vertendum Thalleute.
Quae sententia ex mera inscitia linguae Romanae et Franco-galliese orta est.2
Vox enim val, vaux in illis Unguis significat vallis, valles. Unde dictum po-
pulare: par monts et par vaux (fiber Berg und Thai). Ita quoque in Mireour
du monde, p. 177. Ab hoc verbo differt vox Vaud, Vaudes, Vaudois, Valdes,
Waldensis, Sec. Cujus differentiae insigne testimonium in pago Waldensi Hel-
vetico invenitur. Rodolphus rex Burgundorum anno 1011 dono dedit Henrico
Lausannensi episcopo comitatum Waldensem; v. Memoires et documents publies
par la socieU d'histoire de la Suisse romande (t. vii. p. 2). Idem nomen sse-
pius usurpatur in aliis diplomatibus. Eginolfus episcopus voeatur in pago Wal-
dense (t. vi. p. 4). Ludovicus Sabaudiae dux Dominus Vaudi voeatur in diplo
mats anni 1300 (t. vii. p. 78), Seigneur de Vaut in diplomate anni 1331 (t.
vii. p. 102). In hoc eodem vero comitatu vel pago Waldensi regio sita est,
quse ab antiquissimis temporibus ad hunc usque diem Vaux, la Vaux voeatur,
idemque nomen singulae ejus partes aeceperunt. Ludovicus Sabaudiaj dux illo
diplomate anno 1300 jam citato in episoopum Lausannensem omnia jura trans-
fert, quse in totai valle de Lustriaco (vaux3 de Lulry) habet. Eadem vox usur
patur in diplomate anni 1348 (t. vii. p. 142). "4 There may be something here
which I have failed to apprehend, yet all seems plain enough ; and I can only
express my surprise that anything here adduced should be regarded as affording
an argument against the derivation of the name Vaudois from Val. Yet it
ought to be remembered that this is, after all, a point of mere secondary conse
quence. For the name Vaudois may have some totally different origin, and
yet may be much older than the age of Valdo, and he may have derived from it
1 Herzog, De Orig., p. 42.
2 Concerning this point of knowledge of language, the reader may compare Dr. Muston's
remarks in pp. 446-448 of this volume. They refer particularly to a note at the end of Dr.
Herzog's thesis, connected with that part of it which is devoted to the question of the reli
gious opinions of the earlier Vaudois.
3 There is certainly a slight inaccuracy in this translation.
4 Herzog, De Orig., &c, pp. 42, 43.

No. IV.] ORIGIN OF THE VAUDOIS. 521
his name. But, in the third place, Dr. Herzog asserts that Valdo was the
only name of the rich citizen of Lyons who became an evangelist and reformer,1
and that the name Peter was first given to him by mistake by Polichdorf, writ
ing in Germany in the fifteenth century.2 And this he regards as of much con
sequence in proving that the name Valdo was not in any way indicative of his
country or race. This by no means appears to foUow ; and Dr. Herzog omits
to account for the occurrence, in the very earliest works in which Valdo is men
tioned, of such forms of his name as Valdensis, Waldensis, Valdesius, Valdius,
Waldius, &c. ; although it must be granted to be very uncertain that he bore
the name of Peter, and the name Valdes or Waldo was certainly, as Dr. Her
zog asserts, common enough in the middle ages. It is "of very common oc
currence," Dr. Gilly says, "in Gallic and Germanic documents, from the ninth
to the twelfth century, and W is the Germano-Burgundian spelling ;" and Val
do's "praenomen Petrus," he adds, "occurs, we believe, for the first time in a
Latin book of Peter de Polichdorf, written during the last half of the four
teenth century."3 It might be interesting to investigate the origin and use of
the name Valdo or Waldo, but it seems hasty to conclude, from its occurrence
as a proper name both before and after his time, that it was merely so in the
case of the Lyonnese reformer of the twelfth century, or that even as used in
previous centuries, it had no reference to country or race.
The next work of which it is requisite to take notice, is Die Waldenser im
Mittelalter; Zwei historischeUntersuohungbn von A. Wilh. Dieckhofe,
Lioentiaten und Privatdocenten der Theologie zu Gottingen" (Gottin-
gen, 1851). Dieckhoff's work was published almost immediately after Dr. Mus
ton 's Israel of the Alps, which the author had not seen when he wrote.
In his preface he declares the insufficiency of the researches hitherto made
into the history of the Vaudois. He regards his own work as merely a con
tribution to a better knowledge of this subject, and points out how much still
remains to be done, particularly in inquiries concerning the Taborites, Bo
hemian Brethren, and other allied sects of the middle ages, and of their rela
tions to the Vaudois, which he holds to have been intimate. He expresses his
regret that the documents connected with the history of the Bohemian sects
have as yet been so little studied, and that so many of them have hitherto re
mained entirely locked up in a language with which the students of ecclesias
tical history are in general unacquainted. As to what he himself has accom-
plished, he expresses himself with confidence that it has opened up the wa,y to a
better knowledge of Vaudois history, by removing causes of error which have
generally misled inquirers at the very outset. For he holds, as we shall see,
that he has succeeded in proving the Vaudois manuscript literature to have been
fabricated after the Reformation, and that what existed previously was altered,
and can afford no evidence of the previous tenets and circumstances of the
Vaudois, or of their existence at the early period to which it has been usually
referred. But he concludes with the just reflection, that any change which
historic researches may make in our views of the relations of the Vaudois to
the Church of Rome, can in no way affect the question of right and wrong in
the Reformation, or as between Protestantism and the system to which it is
opposed. If, however, it must be admitted that the reference to the Vaudois
has often been made in the controversy against Popery neither very judiciously
nor very accurately, it by no means follows that there is no important use to
¦ Compare Israel of the Alps, vol. i. p. 14. 2 See p. 413 of this volume.
3 Gilly, article "Valdo," in seventh edition of Encyclopedia Britamica.
Vol. II. 126

522 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. [Appendix.
be made in that controversy of a reference to them, and to the other opponents
of Popish error in the middle ages. Even if We were to adopt all Dieckhoff's
conclusions from his researches into Waldensian literature, there would still re
main sufficient evidence of a long-continued and widely extended opposition,
during the middle ages, to the conniptions and spiritual despotism of Rome.
And this cannot be regarded as unimportant even by those who reject, as con
temptuously as Dieckhoff himself, the notion of a sort of episcopal succession,
purer than that of Rome, transmitted through the Vaudois ; who refuse, like
him, to link one ancient sect arbitrarily to another for the sake of a mere ex
ternal continuity, and agree with him in regarding such a demand for external
continuity as more in harmony with the principles of Popery itself than with
those of Protestantism; who, like him, believe that neither was any of the
sects opposed to Rome a witness for the whole of Christian truth, nor the
dominant" church itself, with all its corruptions, entirely destitute of it ; and who
look upon the Reformation not as the more extensive adoption of a testimony
transmitted without modification through a long succession of ages, but rather
as a triumph of the truth within the church, casting away the falsehood by
which it had been oppressed (" Wie die Kirche trotz der Irrthiimer, denen sie
verfaUen war, doch nicht aufgehort hatte, die Wahrheit des Christenthums in
sich zu haben, so werden wir auch die Reformation als eine Krise betrachten
miissen, in welcher die Wahrheit in der Kirche das Falsche von sich stoszt.")1
Dieckhoff complains, in the commencement of his work, of the injury done
to the interests of historic truth, by the polemical aspect in which every ques
tion regarding the Waldenses has been viewed; shows how naturaUy it resulted
from the circumstances in which Vigneaux, Perrin, GiUes, Morland, Leger, and
other Vaudois and friends of the Vaudois wrote, that they should anxiously seek
out whatever was favourable to the character and antiquity of the sect ; and
points to Fiacius, the author of the Catalogus testium veritatis, and "father of
Protestant historic investigation, " as having led the way in researches too ex
clusively limited to what was good in the early Vaudois and agreeable to the
Scriptures, and contrary to the errors of Rome. All this may be just, and it
may be quite true, that Protestants have in general followed too closely in the
-track in which Fiacius, almost of necessity, prosecuted his investigations ; but
when we find the author, who finds fault with this, describing the views which
Vaudois and Protestant authors have generally adopted concerning the origin
and history of the Vaudois as a "post-Reformation tradition,"2 we must call to
remembrance, what has been, I trust, sufficiently made manifest in previous
pages of this appendix, that we have the evidence of Popish authors, writing
in a spirit of the greatest hostility to the Waldenses, for the existence of such
a tradition at least as early as the thirteenth century. And this undeniable
fact takes away, I think, all value from the consideration, to which Dieckhoff
and others attach great importance, of the opposition of this Waldensian "tra
dition" to, the statements of these Popish authors.
But looking to this conflicting evidence, on the side of the Vaudois and on
that of the Church of Rome, Dieckhoff proposes to himself the task of a criti
cal examination to determine what deserves to be believed. He thinks the tes
timony of the "Catholic" authors has been too hastily rejected, not on the
ground of any incredibility proved to exist in the matter of their testimony, but
on the ground that they are unworthy of trust ; a ground, nevertheless, which,
if we bear in mind the spirit which they display, and the testimonies which men
1 Pp. 4-7. 2 Pp. io, 13, etc.

No. IV.] ORIGIN OF THE VAUDOIS. 523
of the same spirit and the same religion have more recently borne concerning
the lives of Luther, Calvin, Knox, and other Reformers, and concerning the
whole history of the Reformation, we may claim the right still to maintain as
good ground for the rejection of their testimony unless corroborated by other
evidence. He does not think himself entitled, however, as the value of their
evidence is disputed, to make use of it for a test of the authenticity and genu
ineness of the Vaudois documents. But neither will he receive as accurate
and satisfactory the accounts given of the Vaudois by the Protestant historians
of the seventeenth century, of whom he asserts that writing with too much
regard to apologetic interests, they have kept as much as possible out of view
the errors which prevailed amongst the Vaudois before the Reformation. He
thinks that with regard to the Vaudois manuscript documents, attention has
hitherto been too exclusively devoted to the inquiry what is the earliest date
at which they may possibly have been composed, and this with a view to , sup
port the opinion that the Vaudois existed before Valdo, but he deems it impor
tant to inquire what is the latest date at which they may possibly have been
composed, and upon this evidently important question it is of course obvious
enough that the question what changes were introduced amongst the Vaudois
by the Reformation has an important bearing. That these changes were great,
he finds evidence in Protestant and Vaudois authors, from whom he makes a
number of quotations, beginning with one, which may here suffice as indicating
the general character of the whole, from Crispin's A eta Martyrum; "Valdenses
autem, etsi boni erant homines, cumprimis Deum nietuentes, summoque verbi
Dei studio affecti, tamen luce Evangehi jam exorta, cognoverunt multa deside-
rari in suis ecclesiis, quae ad veram religionem ao pietatem pertinerent : plera-
que etiam ignoratione ac temporum culpa jamdiu recepta retineri, quae a
pura Evangelii doctrina Ecclesiaeque disciplina abhorrerent."1 But that upon
which he chiefly depends is the evidence as to the doctrines and practices of the
Vaudois before the Reformation afforded by their first communications with
the Reformers, particularly George Morel's letter to CEcolampadius,2 from which
he concludes that, contrary to the view generaUy adopted by Protestant and
modern Vaudois authors, all the Acts of the Synod of Angrogna were reform
ing,3 a conclusion to which he attaches the greatest importance for the further
prosecution of historic inquiries (" Erst dann liesze sich ein sicherer Gebrauch
von jenem Beschliissen machen, wenn es feststande, dasz sie alle reformatorische
gewesen sind: erst dann wurde es gestattet sein, sichere Ruckschlusse aul
den fruheren Zustand der Sekte zu machen.") 4 He thinks it certain enough
that the author of that letter did not represent things as worse than they actu-
aUy were, and even hints a suspicion that he may have concealed many tilings
which would have appeared to the disadvantage of his brethren 5— a most un
worthy suspicion, for no document of that or of any age bears stronger internal
evidence of candour than that letter of the Vaudois Barba to the Swiss Reformer.
It is too easy to see, from the very expression given to this suspicion, with what
circumspection it is necessary to follow the steps of Dieckhoff s critical exam
ination of the evidence concerning the Vaudois and their early history. And
immediately we find him laying it down as a safe principle on which to proceed,
i P 20- quoting Crispin, vol. i. p. 225.— All the quotations made by Dieckhoff on this
noint 'are very interesting, and would have been copied here, but for want of space, although
I regard him as exaggerating their importance in the use which he makes of them.
2 See Israel oftlie Alps, part i. chap. 7.
3 Compare Israel of the Alps, part i. chap. 7, and " Bibliography," in this vol., pp. 478, 479.
4 P. 19. ' '

524 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. [Appehdix.
that whenever anything appears in a Vaudois document contrary to any of the
errors evinced by Morel's letter to have prevailed at the commencement of the
intercourse between the Vaudois and the Reformers, we must conclude that
document to be either of later date than the Reformation, or to have been sub
jected to alteration and interpolation— a principle, the adoption and unhesitat
ing application of which, can only be warranted however by assumptions, which
he does not pause to show that we are entitled to make, particularly that there
had been no declension in the Vaudois church, nor any Barbas at any time more
enlightened than those whose grievous deficiency in education Morel's letter
exhibits,1 and that all his statements were equally applicable to all the Vaudois,
those on the Italian as well as those on the French side of the Alps. And it
is very obvious that even if we were to adopt the conclusions which Dieckhoff
reaches by the application of his rule, in all that relates to the doctrines or
practices of the Vaudois before the Reformation, it could lead to no warrant
able conclusion as to the important question of their, origin. And here it may
be incidentally noticed as somewhat strange, that with Morel's letter before
him, Dieckhoff should have represented the opinion of the existence of the
Vaudois anterior to Valdo as a post-Reformation tradition; for in that letter
their high antiquity is twice asserted.2 Proceeding, however, to test the Acts
of the Angrogna Synod by the account of the Vaudois in Morel's letter, Dieck
hoff has no difficulty in concluding them to be entirely of a reforming charac
ter. To what extent they are so, is doubtless an important inquiry ; but its
bearing on the question of the origin of the Vaudois is not such as to make it
requisite for us to follow him very closely in his prosecution of it. The princi
ple upon which he proceeds it is necessary for us to have in view, as he seems
more anxious to apply it to the Vaudois Manuscript Literature, than to the
Acts of the Angrogna Synod; but it is satisfactory to find that when he comes
to point out instances of Reformation doctrine in the Vaudois books, he insists
chiefly upon such things as are in perfect accordance with the account of the
Vaudois in the middle ages, given in the first chapter of the Israel of the Alps,
and that the Vaudois works, to which he particularly signalizes as not of the
early date ascribed to them, are not those upon which Dr. Muston's arguments
rest, one of them being the Confession of Faith, to which Le'ger, without the
support of any evidence, assigns the date 1120, and another, the Treatise on
Antichrist, concerning both of which Dr. Muston's opinion agrees with that of
Dieckhoff, and is based upon the same grounds.3 In connection with the Trea
tise o» Antichrist, Dieckhoff proposes and briefly considers the question of a
possible declension through the effect of persecution from a better state of things
to that described by Morel at the period of the Reformation, but it is only in
reference to the single point of a complete formal or outward separation from
the Church of Rome ; and although he adduces no better evidence than that of
Stephen De Borbone and Yvonetus, it may freely be admitted that he is proba
bly correct in supposing the separation never to have been so complete before
the Reformation as it afterwards became.
i It is given by Scultetus hi his Annals, and Dieckhoff copies it entire, with the answer of
(Ecolampadius, in his Appendix.
= Near the beginning of the latter, in the words, " Quandoquidem, ut rem seme! capias
sumus qualescunque doctores cujusdam plebis indigfe et pusilte, qu* jam plusquam quad-
rmgentis annia imo ut frequenter nostrates narrant a tempore Apostolorum, non tamen ut
facile jucbcai-unt quique pu, citra Christl ingentem favorem, inter spinas skvissimas com-
morata est ;" and near- the end of it, in the words, "A tempore Apostolorum s^lo fid™
sicut vos, sentientes coucordavimus." »=^ijoi ™ *«">,
3 See in this volume, pp, 444, 445, and 47s, 479.

Ko. IV] ORIGIN OF THE VAUDOIS. 525
But taught by the instances which he has found of the evident influence of
the Reformation in "some of the most important of the known pieces of Vau
dois manuscript literature," to suspect that much more of it maybe of the same
nature and origin, Dieckhoff proceeds to examine, as is unquestionably very
proper, into the history of the manuscripts by which these Vaudois works have
become known to us.1 He admits that there is abundant evidence of the exist
ence of Vaudois books at an early date ; but he adduces evidence also to show
that the ancient MSS. had become very rare by the end of the sixteenth cen
tury, which, if anything to the purpose, can be so only by leading to the suppo
sition that they may completely have perished, and that entirely new works,
or copies, thoroughly modified into accordance with Reformation doctrine, may
have been substituted in their stead ; a supposition to which his remarks on the
language of the existing books appear to tend, concerning which he concludes
that the dialect in use amongst the Vaudois after 1530 was so similar to the
Romance tongue, that a forger or interpolator would find no difficulty, and that
therefore the language can afford us no evidence of the antiquity of the books.2
He labours more than perhaps was necessary to set aside the authority of Per
rin as to the antiquity of manuscripts,3 calling attention to the circumstance
that Perrin includes the book of George Morel4 amongst the old books which
he enumerates, and that he describes as a very old book, "livre fort vieux," a
manuscript with the title " Aigo esla causa del nostre despartiment de la Gleisa
Romana," the original authorship of which, according to Dieckhoff, is to be
referred to the Bohemian brethren and to the beginning of the sixteenth cen
tury,6 from aU which he concludes it to be very probable that many of the
manuscripts which Perrin collected were composed after the Reformation. He
doubts very much if any of the manuscripts now existing in Geneva and else
where were really those coUected by Leger, and animadverts upon the circum
stance that Ldger, although later than Perrin, appears to have had ancient
MSS. in greater number, and is more confident in the statement of their dates.
The authority of the dates assigned to the Vaudois documents by L^ger, he has
of course Uttle difficulty in overthrowing ; and when he censures Lager's use of
manuscript documents as "uncritical," his judgment may be admitted as in all
probabiUty quite just ; but when he imputes to the persecuted Vaudois minister
the tricks of a literary impostor, it is not easy to repress a feeling of indigna
tion that such a charge should be advanced and sustained as it is by proofs
ridiculously slender.0 Of the wretched hypercriticism with which he afterwards
endeavours to point out dishonesty in Perrin's quotations from Morel's letter,
I regret that I cannot exhibit a, few specimens. So anxious is he to make out
a dishonest intention, that he forgets the possibility of honest quotation in refer
ence to a particular point, whilst what has no immediate bearing on that point
is omitted, which consideration is almost of itself sufficient to justify Perrin
in all that is alleged against him as to this document. The object of all this
labour to make out charges of dishonesty is to throw discredit upon every quota
tion made by Vaudois historians from old Vaudois documents, and to create a
suspicion of forgery concerning the existing documents themselves. Nor does
it suffice this author to cast doubt upon the genuineness of what have been
usuaUy deemed existing relics of the Vaudois of early times, but he finds it
necessary to adopt the theory of an intentional fabrication and corruption of
documents, with the intention of deception concerning important historical
l p 34 2 P. 37.— On this point see Dr. Muston, in "Bibliography."
3 See the article on Perrin, in the " Bibliography," pp. 398, 399, of tins volume.
4 See "Bibliography," p. m. 5 P. 41. c PP- 45"39'

526 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. [ArrzNmx.
points, ¦ making very little allowance, as it seems, for the easy possibility of mis
takes as to the date of documents upon the part of uncritical historians, far from
all seats of learning, and in the midst of wars and persecutions, or for the proba
bility of the frequent recension of the works circulated in manuscript among
the Vaudois and their accommodation, with no fraudulent purpose whatever, to
the reformation which had actually been accomplished.
From the position which he has thus gained, however, Dieckhoff proceeds
with the most perfect confidence in his further critical examination of the Vau
dois documents. It would certainly have been necessary for him to have estab
lished a charge of fraudulent dealing with documents against more than Perrin
(and in all that he says concerning L^ger, there is rather a repeated utterance
of unworthy suspicions than any attempt to make out a specific charge by
proof), it would have been necessary for him also to have adduced some surer
proof of fraudulent purpose than his comparison of Morel's letter and Perrin's
quotations from it can reasonably be held to afford, ere he proceeded to deal
with the Vaudois manuscript literature in general, on the assumption that the
same fraud has been practised wherever we find anything favourable to the false
notion of doctrines and practices before the Reformation harmonious with those
of subsequent times. .For this is frhe weapon of criticism which he now takes
into his hand, and shows himself resolved to use unsparingly — ("Was ware
durch die Falschung dieses einzelnen Stiickes fur den Zweck des Falschers
gewonnen gewesen, wenn er andere "Zeugnisse fiber den wahren friiheren Zu-
stand der Sekte unverandert hatte ? Gewisz, wenn einmal eine solche Falschung
unternommen wurde, wie sie sich an der waldensischen Umarbeitung des Morel's-
chen Beriehtes herausgestellt hat, so muszte sie auch mit Nothwendigkeit liber
einen groszeren Kreis von Zeugnissen und Schriften ausgedehnt v-°rden, und
die historische Kritik ist vollkommen berechtigt, aUes das, was in der walden
sischen Manuscripten-Literatur wegen seines, dem falschen Scheme der Ueber-
einstimmung zwischen Alt- und Neu-Waldensischem dienenden Inhalts verdach-
tig erscheint, als Produkt derselben absichtsvollen Falschung zu verwerfen, deren
Absicht, wie wir gesehen haben, eben auf die Hervorbringung dieses falschen
Schemes gerichtet war.") If Perrin were reaUy proved guilty of fraudulently
dealing with Morel's letter, the suspicion thence arising could only affect the
other Vaudois works and fragments given in his history, unless we might sup
pose that there was a conspiracy amongst the Vaudois to deceive the world
concerning their whole earlier history, and that aU who wrote the now existing
Vaudois manuscripts were concerned in it.
But however we may reject Dieckhoff's theory of wilful falsification, the
part of his work to which we now come is interesting, from the connection
which he certainly exhibits between the Vaudois literature and that of the Bo
hemian churches. That a connection subsisted, in times previous to the Refor
mation, between the Vaudois or Waldenses of the Alps and the Bohemian
Christians (who were often also called Waldenses) has indeed been long known.
But this is a subject well deserving of more investigation than it has yet received.
Dieckhoff holds, that in a Confession of the Waldenses in Bohemia in 1431,2 he
has found the original of a very considerable part of the Vaudois manuscript
literature published by Perrin and Le'ger.3 A document, called by Balthasar
Lydius, "Confessio Taboritarum ," whioh however is not properly a confession
of faith, but a vindication of themselves by the Taborites against the accusa
tions of John Rokenzana and the Prague "masters," professes to be founded
1 Pp 6S, 69. " See "Bibliography," in this volume, p. 479. 3 P. 73.

No. IV.] ORIGIN OF THE VAUDOIS. 52*7
upon an older confession, agreed upon in the year 1431, and it appears itseli
to have been prepared not long after.1 Between this Taborite production and
some of the Vaudois documents, Dieckhoff points out correspondences which
unquestionably are not accidental. He devotes many pages to this subject, and
fortunately gives the corresponding passages at great length in parallel columns
in an appendix, -so that we are enabled the more easily to follow his argument,
and to judge of the soundness of his conclusions. Viewed as illustrating the
connection between the churches of the Cottian Alps and the churches of Bo
hemia, the correspondence exhibited is fuU of interest. Several Vaudois works
are found to agree very closely in matter, often even in words, with the parts
of this Taborite Confession; in particular the "Almanach Spirituel," the trea
tise "Del Purgatori Soima," and that " Del'Envocation de li Sanct." But
when this exact correspondence is exhibited, what proof is there of a recension
executed after the Reformation, and with purpose to deceive ? That the Vau
dois works, as we now have them, are in some points nearer to our Protestant
doctrine than the Taborite Confession is, Dieckhoff thinks, proof enough that
they have been subjected to recension since the Reformation, although the in
stances which he adduces do not seem capable, either singly or coUectively, of
supporting a very weighty conclusion. But why may not such a recension
have been honestly made ? Except a reference to Perrin's mode of dealing
with Morel's letter, I can find nothing alleged by Dieckhoff as a reason for
supposing that these works have been altered in order to support the "modern
Vaudois tradition" of antiquity. Yet he seems only to doubt if the transla
tion was altogether executed for the sake of the falsification, or if the falsifier
found an eariier and more honest Vaudois translation already in existence !
But what evidence have we that the Taborite Confession is the original, and
that the Vaudois works are mere translations and recensions of parts of it ?
That the title "Del Purgatori Soima," corresponds with that of a section of
the Confession "De Somniato Purgatorio post hanc vitam et mendaciis Sacer-
dotum super iUo seininatis," and that we have other such but less notable cor
respondences in titles, wiU not of itself prove much. For the supposition of a
common and more ancient original might not unreasonably be entertained.
And that some of the fragments occur in several of the Vaudois works, and in
somewhat modified forms, does not diminish the probability of this supposition.
That the Vaudois Treatise ore Purgatory contains quotations from the sermons
of John Huss,2 certainly makes it probable that the original was Bohemian ;
but the manner in which reference is made to Huss, rather seems to favour the
supposition that the Vaudois translation was made before the Reformation. It
is not upon any of these documents that the question depends as to the anti
quity of the Vaudois church : but all Dieckhoff 's labours appear to me to con
firm our right to use them, their Bohemian and Vaudois forms being compared,
as evidence of what the Vaudois were before the Reformation.
It is interesting to observe, what Dieckhoff is careful to point out to us, the
want in the Taborite Confession of any clear statement of the fundamental Re
formation doctrine of justification; and that the whole argument against purga
tory is framed in a manner different from what it certainly would have been if
that doctrine and its relation to the doctrine of sanctification had been well
understood. It is interesting also to observe, how in the Vaudois Treatise on
Purgatory, whilst the general structure of the argument accords with that in
' Pp. 74, 75.
2 Dieckhoff shows (pp. 88, 89, and 3S8-391) that the Master John quoted in this treatise is
not John Chrysostom, as Monastier had imagined, but John Huss.

528 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. [Appp.hdix.
the Taborite Confession, the great truths of the gospel are also more fully intro
duced. Thus where the Taborite Confession sets forth that men are to be puri
fied from their sins in this life, and speaks of faith and charity, and works of
faith and piety, and patience in adversities, and the forgiveness of injuries and
the like, as the means of this purification, the whole passage is much modified
in the Vaudois treatise, and the most prominent place is given to faith, by
which, it is said, ' ' Saint Peter shows, in the fifteenth chapter of Acts, that
hearts are purified, and which he shows to be sufficient for purifying men's
hearts without any other external aid." To find, in this and similar improve
ments of the Vaudois recension, proof of a later date, may be reasonable and
just ; but to regard them as the manifest work of a literary impostor, evinces
only the power of a foregone conclusion. The fact that different copies of the
Vaudois Treatise on Purgatory differ much from each other, is surely of itself
favourable to the supposition of honest rather than of fraudulent recension.
But Dieckhoff, comparing them together, and finding in them such an agree
ment as to incline him to the opinion that there must have been a Vaudois
translation earlier than any of them upon which they were more immediately
founded, only wonders if this older version was also made with the same pur
pose of deceit ! His incessant repetition of the words Falschung and Fdlscher,
in such total absence of proof to support the charge, becomes positively pain
ful. He has by no means even proved, in regard to the Treatise on Purgatory,
and other Vaudois treatises of the same series, that there was not a Vaudois
original older than any Taborite Confession whatever, and of which the Tabor-
ites made use in preparing their Confession of 1431 and the subsequent de
fence, by which the substance of that Confession is now known to us, against
the accusations of Eokenzana and the other Prague "masters."
Yet from assuming it as a thing absolutely certain, that this Confession was
strictly of Bohemian origin, Dieckhoff derives great advantage for his outset
in his next argument, which is directed to the object of showing the Bohemian
origin of the Catechism,1 generally regarded, upon Leger's authority, as a Vau
dois Catechism of the year 1100. Of course, the date given by Le'ger has no
real authority whatever ; but it may be proper to add that to reject his authority
on this point is no impeachment of his good faith as an historian. Nor does the
rejection of this date involve the rejection of the Catechism as a document afford
ing evidence of the doctrines of the Vaudois before the Reformation, in order
to which the circumstance that it was known and used amongst them is of
more importance than the answer to the question, Whether it was composed
in the valleys of the Alps or in Bohemia? Dieckhoff's anxiety, however, is
great to proceed from probability to certainty, assuming, on the ground of his
previous discoveries just noticed, an antecedent probability that it also is of
Bohemian origin. And this attempt he prosecutes throughout many pages,
comparing the Bohemian form of the Catechism, as it exists in a German trans
lation published in Luther's time, with the Vaudois form. The correspondence
between this "Catechism of the Bohemian Brethren" and the Vaudois Cate
chism has been long known ; but it has been generaUy taken for granted, per
haps too hastily, and only on Lager's authority, that the Catechism was originally
Vaudois. The question is not of the highest importance either with reference
to the origin of the Vaudois, or to their state during the middle ages. The
clear and precise statement in the Vaudois Catechism, as it now exists, of some
doctrines which are not so well stated in the Bohemian Catechism, Dieckhoff
> Seo "Bibliography," in this volume, p. 467, 475.

N°- IV] ORIGIN OP THE VAUDOIS. 529
of course refers, and not without some appearance of probability, to the influ
ence of the Reformation. But his argument, founded chiefly upon a comparison
of the arrangement in the two forms of the Catechism, from which he concludes
that the Bohemian form is the original, and that the Vaudois Catechism has
been derived from it, is of such a nature that no abridgement can do justice
to it. Ten pages of his work would require to be copied in order fairly to ex
hibit it. Perhaps I may be allowed to describe it as wire-drawn. But what
ever may be its value as an argument, no great historic question can be much
affected by it.
Taking a retrospective glance, however, Dieckhoff now expresses himself
much satisfied with the results of his labours. For he supposes himself to have
succeeded in proving the worthlessness of the documents upon which the delu
sion in regard to the early history of the Vaudois has been based.1 Let the
reader consider what the documents are, of which the value has been discussed,
and let him also consider how far the question of the origin of the Vaudois de
pends upon them, and he will perhaps be surprised at the expression of such an
opinion. The Noble Lesson and the other Vaudois poems have not yet been
noticed !
I pass somewhat hastily over a portion of Dieckhoff's work, in which he ex
amines into the probable time of that forgery or falsification of documents which
he holds to be so certain. It is proper, however, to mention that after all
which he has said before, he excuses Perrin, as a man who seems rather to have
been himself deceived than to have been a wilful deceiver. His suspicions fas
ten upon Vigneaux, whose own knowledge of the state of things before the
Reformation muBt have prevented him from being altogether deceived in such a
matter. It wUl be remarked how confidently in all this our German contem
porary assumes a very complete knowledge, on his own part, of the state of
things amongst the Vaudois before the Reformation, and the amount of change
then introduced. His suspicion of Vigneaux it is scarcely impossible to avoid
characterizing as equally preposterous and ungenerous. Without having a page
of that author's writings in his hands, knowing only the date at which he lived,
and the fact that Perrin derived great part of his materials from compilations
made by him, this investigator of historic truth points him out as the probable
perpetrator of a gross imposture, and, at least, as a principal participator in
systematic literary forgeries!2 Dieckhoff's theory is indeed a very complete
one. The writings which had been used by the Barbas might at first have been
changed with no intention of deception as to the former state of things, but
merely to accommodate them to continued use : this he at last admits. But
this favoured the notion of the unchanged continuity of the sect, and a wide
field was opened for pious fraud ; and political reasons operated to make it very
desirable that the sect should not be identified with the churches of the Refor
mation, for its members might thus hope to enjoy ancient privileges and to
escape persecution, and the fabrication and falsification of documents were em
ployed as means to promote this deception. But who were to be deceived?
and how was this deception to serve the political purpose? Did Vigneaux and
Perrin suppose that their works would influence Popish bishops or Popish
princes? Or were the great ones of the earth very likely to ponder the pages
of the Vaudois Catechism and the Treatise on Purgatory ? However, it is not
necessary to muster many objections against Dieckhoff's theory. It is enough
to observe that it is entirely a product of the imagination.
i p. ne. 2 pP- m> 125-
Vol. II. 127

530 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. [Appendix.
Yet this theory, more than any evidence of falsification in any particular
instance, seems to have emboldened its author to adopt a new method of Bolving
the difficulty which, if the Vaudois are not believed to have existed before
Valdo, arises out of the Une of the Noble Lesson so often quoted as indicating
its probable date. May not that line be an interpolation?1 That the Nolle
Lesson is really the production of a period long aBterior to the Reformation, he
admits to he certain enough; but seeing that we have such abundant proof of
wilful falsification (absichtsvolle Falschung), why should we hesitate to set down
this as another instance of it? Dieckhoff has no hesitation; but besides the
reason just indicated, his only other reason is the impossibility of ascribing to
this poem so early a date as the beginning, or even the end of the twelfth cen
tury, which Gieseler, Neander, and Herzog assign to it. He applies to it the
innere Krilik — a powerful weapon certainly, but one which requires cautious
handling — and finds that it cannot be older than the year 1230, because it de
scribes a state of things which did not exist till about that date. With like
confidence, and on similar grounds, his countrymen fix dates for different por
tions of Isaiah's prophecies, assigning some of them, therefore, to one author,
and some of them to another ; although, indeed, they differ a little in the opinions
which they so confidently advance. Until some other evidence be adduced to
bring down the date of the Noble Lesson to the thirteenth century, we may be
contented to learn a little from it as to the state of things before that period.
In refusing to accept the date 1100, which so many have imagined that they
found in the text of the ancient poem itself, Dieckhoff also proceeds upon what
he deems the ascertained historic fact of the descent of the Vaudois from Valdo,
concerning which he thinks himself bound to accept the testimony of the
' ' CathoUc '' witnesses. But he refuses to adopt the method adopted by Gieseler,
Neander, and Herzog, of dealing with the date in the poem itself. He cannot
beheve that the eleven hundred years are to he reckoned from any other period
than the beginning of the Christian era; he rejects this as an unnatural interpre
tation of the line. "Eimnal namlich wird die Rechnung auf diese weise viel
zu kiinstlick." Moreover, he adopts, as of great weight upon this point, the
argument of Muston, 2 from the descriptiop of the Vaudois given in the poem,
that it cannot have been composed within a few years of the origin of the
sect, and agrees with him that if it could be proved to have been composed, as
Gieseler, Neander, and Herzog suppose, in the end of the twelfth century, it
would evince the existence of the Vaudois long before the time of Valdo.3
For historical research concerning the Vaudois, he thinks the true point of
departure is to be found in the testimonies of the "Catholic" writers. He ad
mits that these are liable to much suspicion, but seems to think that they have
been in general too hastily rejected, upon the mere ground of confidence in the
Vaudois manuscript literature. In a long and elaborate note he examines the
"Catholic" testimonies, upon which he thinks we must depend in this matter
— (" die zu Grande gelegten katholischen' Zeugnisse.") He begins with that of
the English clergyman, Walter Mapes,4 which, relating as it seems to do to the
third Lateran Council, a.d. 1179, he finds not to consist weU with his opinion
that the Vaudois derived their origin from Valdo, for Valdo had at that time
made little progress in his career; and Dieckhoff can by no means assent to the
notion, which Hahn and others have entertained, that the heretics described by
Mapes were not Vaudois ; wherefore, founding upon a general similarity of the
i P. 121, note, and pp. 141-144.
2 In his first work. But see the "Bibliography" in this volume, pp. 420, 421, and 459.
3 Pp. 142-144. 4 Ses Israel ofthe AlpS: T0l j p 15j nofe

No. IV.] ORIGIN OF THE VAUDOIS. 531
story of Mapes to a record in the Ursberg Chronicle, of occurrences at a council in
Rome in 1210, he concludes that there must be an error in the date ! Mapes, in
deed, says very expressly, ' ' Vidimus in conciUo Romano sub Alexandra Papa III.
celebrate," which fixes the date unquestionably as 1179, hut Dieckhoff thinks
it quite likely that the words "sub Alexandra Papa III. celebrato" were inter
polated by some copyist in subsequent times, who was not himself well-informed
as to dates, and that the name of Innocent III. should have appeared instead
of Alexander III -1 But we may reject both this arbitrary conjecture and Hahn's
notion, that the "heretics" of 1179 were not Vaudois, and easily suppose pro
ceedings of the same kind to have taken place at the Roman councils in 1179
and 1210, unless we are constrained by the necessity of deriving the Vaudois
from Valdo. The next " Catholic" author whose testimony Dieckhoff adduces
as important is Alanus de Insulis, and he spends some closely-printed pages in
distinguishing him from other persons of the same name, and determining the
date of his testimony, which he thinks cannot be after 1215, whilst he thinks
it cannot be long before 1200. But he finds it necessary again to have recourse
to the convenient theory of interpolations ; for in the work of Alanus against
heretics, mention is made of an excommunication of Waldenses by the Lateran
councU, which Lateran council cannot have been before 1215, 2 yet there is
reason to think (according to Dieckhoff) that the genuine Alanus de Insulis
died in 1202, so that there is really no help for it but to apply the sharp critical
knife and cut out all that relates to the Lateran council as an interpolation
("ein spaterer, unechterZusatz"), for which excision, however, many additional
good reasons are immediately presented.3 The other "Catholic" testimonies
upon which the greatest dependence is placed, are those, already familiar to us, of
Bernard of Fontcaude, Eberard of Bethune, Peter of Vaux-Cernay, and Stephen
of Borbone.
In what remains of Dieckhoff's volume, are many things both interesting
and important, of which it is impossible here to present a complete view, and
which have reference more to the state of the Vaudois and their history during
the period between Valdo and Luther, than to the question of their origin or
of their existence anterior to Valdo. Yet I venture to express the opinion,
that even in respect to this question, it is not unimportant to notice the exist
ence, in the earlier part of the twelfth century, of the Poor Men of Lombardy,
as a religious denomination, distinguished from the. Poor Men of Lyons, although
nearly alUed, the latter being described by Stephen de Borbone as the true
Waldenses — " qui dicuntur Waldenses, a suo heresiarcho." The Poor Men of
Lombardy are regarded by Dieckhoff as foUowers of Valdo, who, having crossed
the Alps amidst the distresses. arising from the Albigensian war, had mingled
more or less with other sects in Italy.4 His general view of the state of mat
ters before and after that period, is, that there were many similar religious
movements, of which that of Valdo and his followers was only one — a view, the
perfect correctness Of which is by no means inconsistent with the existence of
the Vaudois in the valleys of the Alps for centuries before the birth of Valdo.5
1 P. 344. 2 The third was in 1179, the fourth in 1215.
s p. 353! 4 Pp. 159-164.
s "Die waldensische Sekte gehort als einzelnes Glied einer weit iiber sie hinausgreifen-
den Beihe von Entwickelungen an, die alle durch ein Gemeinsames des Strebens und der
Auffassung der zur Geltung zu bringenden christlichen Frommigkeit beherrscht erscheinen.
Hierin ist es begriindet, wenn die Waldenser schon in den friiheren Bestrebungen eines Pe-
trus von Bruis und eines Heinrich in der ersten Halfte des 12. Jahrhundarts die ihrigen
T.-ie.Isi-fiuden wollen." — P. 166.

532 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. [Appendix.
Even the authors who most earnestly contend for the historic apostolicity of
the Vaudois, have generally regarded them as connected with other sects on
both sides of the Alps, who maintained like themselves, more or less perfectly,
a testimony against the corruptions of Rome, and amongst whom was preserved,
as amongst the Vaudois, the religion which in earlier and better times had been
that of the whole church of these regions.
I deem it not unimportant also, in respect to the question now under con
sideration, and particularly with reference to the value of the whole of Dieck
hoff's previous argument founded upon Morel's letter, that iu the latter part of
his work may be found proofs of a state of things in earlier times very con
siderably different from that which Morel's letter depicts. For, in the first
place, he admits that before the terrible period of the Albigensian war, the fol
lowers of Valdo opposed themselves more openly to the Church of Rome than
they did after they had been broken down by persecution.1 He proves, by no
less authoritative testimony than that of Alanus de Insulis, that these "here
tics," in the beginning of the thirteenth century, not only maintained their right
to preach without permission from the Romish hierarchy, but to perform all
spiritual functions, professing themselves bound to obey good prelates only.2
He acknowledges that the opposition to Rome was openly maintained in Upper
Italy after it had been in a great measure suppressed in France, and that in the
' ' Catholic " accounts of the middle of the thirteenth century, it is no longer the
south of France but Upper Italy that is represented as the principal seat of the
Waldensian heresy. He quotes Moneta as stating the chief distinction between
the Poor Men of Lombardy and the Transalpine (ultramontane) Poor Men to
consist in this, that the former stood out in more decided opposition against the
Church of Rome, and particularly against its priests and their exercise of their
functions, so that, whilst the Transalpine Poor Men submitted to receive the
sacraments from the Romish priests, those of Lombardy administered the sacra
ments amongst themselves.3 Can it be doubted after this that the state of things
described in Morel's letter was a declension from better times — a consequence of
those persecutions by which the Papal church sought to wear out the saints of
the Most High? Does it not even become probable that Morel's letter more
accurately describes the state of the Vaudois on the west side of the Alps, than
of those in the vaheys of Piedmont? It is strange, however, that Dieckhoff
seems not in the least degree conscious of anything in all this to weaken the
force of the leading argument in the first part of his work, founded upon Morel's
letter. Nay, although Dr. Muston, as well as Dieckhoff, deems it a probable
argument against the high antiquity of the Treatise on Antichrist, that the
Church of Rome is therein very disrespectfully spoken of,4 yet we may hesitate
» P. 155.
2 Pp. 214, 215. — It is rather curious, however, to find Dieckhoff theorizing as to the dis
tinctive peculiarity of the Vaudois sect, and making it to consist in their preaching without
authority of the Romish hierarchy, and this upon the ground that the great complaint made
against them by their Popish adversaries is for their so doing. P. 167, &c. — How any sect '
could be supposed to exist without preachers and preaching, he does not condescend to ex
plain. The theory is maintained by a reference to Valdo's preaching, and by proofs that the
Vaudois did assert a right to preach without consent of the prelates, one of which, however
(from an edict of King Alphonso of Arragon, in the year 1194), is straugely contrary to the
theorist's purpose, for it actually represents other heretics equally with the Vaudois, as ad
dicting themselves to funesta prcedicatio. (" Si quis igitur ab hac die et deinceps praedictos
Waldenses et Zappatatos aliosque haereticos, cujuscunque fuerint profesBionis, in do mi bus
Buis recipere, vel horum funestam prsedicationem aliquo loco audire, vel his cibum vel aliud
aliquod beneficium largiri praesumpserit," &c.
3 Pp. 219-221. * See p. 445 of this volume.

No- lv0 ORIGIN OF THE VAUDOIS. 533
about concurring with him when we find Rainerius charging the Poor Men of
Lombardy with asserting of that church "quod Ecclesia est Ecclesia malig-
nantium et Bestia et Meretrix, quae leguntur in Apocalypsi." ' And whatever
modifications and recensions may have taken place at subsequent times, nay,
although the Treatise in its present form may even be satisfactorily traced to a
Taborite Confession, the probability of an old Vaudois original will not seem
inconsiderable, if Dieckhoff is right in maintaining that the Taborites derived
their views in a great measure from the Vaudois.*
Following the chronological order, I intended now, in the next place, to have
noticed an article from the pen of M. E. Cunitz, in the (Strasburg) Revue de
The'ologie et de Philosophic Chi-etienne, for August, 1552, in which the works of
Muston and Dieckhoff are reviewed. And if there had been room for it, I
would gladly have quoted from that article an extremely clear and succinct view
of the early Vaudois as they are represented in the writings of their adversaries,
which, however, it is hard to understand how any one can think it right to
accept as a fair historic representation of them. But as M. Cunitz does Uttle
else than adopt the opinions and arguments of Dieckhoff, foUowing him even
to the length of his rejection of the date in the Noble Lesson as an interpolation,
we may pass on to the only other work which now remains to be noticed, after
mentioning an argument of his own, directed against Dr. Muston, in regard to
the language of the Vaudois works, which he denies to afford any proof of their
having been produced by the Vaudois of Piedmont ; for the same language,
he maintains, with alight modifications, prevailed over the whole south of France.
"M. Muston denies that the Vaudois of Provence and of Dauphiny could or
would have written in this idiom, and yet the Barba Morel .... belonged to
these provinces and used this dialect. Moreover, M. Muston, founding upon
the language alone, concludes that he has discovered one of the oldest Vaudois
MSS. in a New Testament preserved at Lyons, and yet this MS. could not
have belonged to the inhabitants of the vaUeys, because it is a relic of the sect
of the Cathari, and contains their liturgy. Thus the whole argument falls to
the ground by which he seeks to prove that all this literature originated in the
churches of Piedmont. Every probabiUty is in favour of its rather belonging
to the sectaries who were spread over the south of France ; who, from the state
of civilization around them, were more Ukely to possess the learning of which
some of these works afford evidence, than the poor inhabitants of the remote
and lonely valleys which descend from Mount Genevre and Mount Viso." I
give his argument in his own words. But the question as to the existence of
the Vaudois before Valdo does not depend very much on this question of lan
guage ; nor would their high antiquity be rendered less probable should it be
ascertained that a considerable portion of their MS. literature originated in the
south of France, and after the time of Valdo.3
It now only remains, for completion of the design of this Appendix, to give
some account of a recent work by Dr. Herzog, whose academic thesis has been
already noticed. It is entitled " Die bomanischen Waldenser, ihee vobbe-
FOBMATOBISCHEN ZCSTANDE UND LEHBEN, IHEE ReFOEMAIION IM 16. JAHB-
HUNDEBT UND DIE RtJCKWIBKUNGEN DEESELBEN, HAUPSACHLICH NAOH IHEEN
' Quoted by Dieckhoff, p. 222. 2 Pp- 272, 273, note.
3 The Revue de The'ologie et de Philosophic Chritienne contains, also, in the numbers for
June, 1851, December, 1852, and February, 1853, articles by Professor Heusz, of Strasburg, on
the Vaudois translations of the Bible, which I regret that I can do nothing more than merely
point out as containing much that is of importance to the study of the ecclesiastical history of
the middle ages.

534 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. [ArrnNmx.
eigenen Soheieten dabgestellt " (Halle, 1853), and is a work containing
much new and valuable information, the fruit of patient research, and displays
not only the learning and talents for which the author enjoys a high reputation,
but a candour in judgment which, even when venturing to dissent from his
conclusions, it is impossible not to mark with respect. It is a work which,
upon many accounts, deserves to be noticed much more fully than is possible
at present, all that I can attempt being merely to indicate the nature of its con
tents, and to make somewhat particular mention of those things which most
closely bear upon the question of the origin of the Vaudois, the proper subject
of these pages.
Dr. Herzog has undertaken and executed a more thorough examination of
the Vaudois manuscript literature than was ever previously made. This state
ment of what may be called the origin of his work, is of itself sufficient to
show that it must be entitled to great attention. He visited Geneva, Grenoble,
Dublin, and other places where Vaudois MSS. were to be found, carefully per
used these MSS., collating them with the printed text in those cases in which
the works had already been printed, and making transcripts of the most im
portant with his own hand, or causing them to be made under his eye, and sub
jecting them to a careful revision. The result of all this is, that we have now
through his labours the Vaudois literature more completely before us than ever
hitherto, and the several parts of it in a more correct form. The difficulty of
reading and transcribing these MSS. being, in some cases, very great, and some
of those who previously undertook it being by no means very well qualified for
the task, it is not to be wondered at, that in the printed text of Vaudois works
there have hitherto been numerous inaccuracies.
Dr. Herzog's work is divided into four books; the first, "Introductory," is
occupied chiefly with an historical account of the Vaudois literature and a de
scription of the existing MSS., in connection with which the question is con
sidered of the language in which the Vaudois works are written ; the second
book is devoted to an examination of the condition and doctrine of the Romanic
Vaudois, according to those documents in which a Hussite influence is not mani
fested ; the third book treats of their relation to the Hussite sects, and the in
fluence of these upon their literature ; the fourth, of the Reformation and its
influences, and particularly with regard to their views and representations of
their previous history.
Throughout the whole work, it appears to me, that Dr. Herzog regards the
two questions as more intimately connected than they really are, of the origin
of the Vaudois, and of the form and measure of their opposition to the Church
of Rome. However fully it may be proved that the Vaudois after the Refor
mation erred (and it was an error into which it may well be conceived that they
were very apt to faU without any "pious fraud" whatever), in exaggerating the
opposition of their fathers to Rome, and representing their church as having
possessed, during the dark ages, a greater measure of scriptural light than it
did in reahty possess, I confess myself unable to see how from this a conclusion
Bhould be drawn unfavourable to its existence before the days of Valdo. It
might be natural for the Vaudois fo adopt readily, too favourable a view of their
past history on both points, but error on the one point does not necessarily
involve error on the other.
As to the condition and doctrines of the Vaudois before the Reformation,
and before the Hussite influence began to prevail amongst them, Dr. Herzog
modestly confesses his inability, from the sources of information which have yet
been opened up, to give a full and accurate representation of them.1 He blames
i P. £4.

No. IV.] ORIGIN OF THE VAUDOIS. 535
Dieckhoff, however, for accepting, so completely and unhesitatingly, the ac
counts given of them by their "Catholic" adversaries. For although, as to
the relation of the Vaudois to Valdo, Dr. Herzog stiU proceeds upon the testi
mony of these authors, as when he wrote his academic Programma, he does
not think it right to receive as perfectly accurate all their statements concerning
the doctrines and character of the heretics whom they so cordiaUy hated ; and
he asserts, concerning the Vaudois of the middle ages, that whilst there prevailed
amongst them much Romish error, both of doctrine and practice, they yet main
tained the formal principle of Protestantism ; and on this ground he accounts
for their immediate concurrence in the Reformation when it took place, and
contradicts the assertion of Bossuet, so often repeated by Popish writers, that
they had more in common with Catholicism than with Protestantism.1 They
were not, he says, as some have represented them, free from error, resisting
completely aU the influences with which they were surrounded; they appear, from
their own literature, more such as we might expect from their whole circum
stances ; they appear as opponents both of the Romish church and of the here
tics who sapped the very foundation of Christianity ; they appear as aiming, not
without weakness, but really and perseveringly, at the great object of a moral
and religious reformation.2
Dr. Herzog thinks it probable that most of the old Vaudois MSS. were
destroyed in the persecutions previous to the Reformation, and that after that
great event a new period of literary activity began. He thinks also that the
productions of this later period were, in some instances, given out as ancient
works, in order to sustain the pretensions of high antiquity and hereditary
purity. For, to a certain extent, he still maintains the theory of a "pious
fraud;" but "this conjecture," he says, "can only be entertained with refer
ence to some of the documents published by Perrin and Le'ger. The other
writings, certainly, do not belong to a time subsequent to the Reformation ; for
they contain many Catholic elements. Nay, even of those writings which Perrin
and Le'ger have published, some are to be found in Geneva and Dublin, in a form
which is certainly older than the Reformation,"3 However, he thinks that per
sons not having opportunity of examining the Geneva and Dublin MSS. were
very excusable in extending the conjecture farther.
He thinks it also not wonderful that the evidence of Hussite influence in
some of the Vaudois documents, and even of the derivation of some of them
from Bohemian originals, should have led to the supposition that all of them
are, in this respect, alike, concerning which a date anterior to the Reformation
must be admitted. But he unhesitatingly rejects this view, and assures us that
the Vaudois writings, in which the Hussite influence has been so clearly traced,
form a class by themselves, distinguished by a peculiar character, being more
didactic than the rest, and having more of a learned air, more abundant cita
tions, and more of a Latin tint in the language, besides a keener tone of oppo
sition to the Romish church, and the scholastic style of the latter part of the
middle ages.4
Concerning the language of the Vaudois documents, Dr. Herzog points out
that although, as Raynouard says, it substantially agrees with that of the Trou
badours, yet there are dialectic differences. But it being now known that there
were a number of slightly different dialects of the Romance tongue, he thinks
we ought to regard that of the Vaudois documents as having belonged to some
particular district, and to inquire what that district was. He does not regard
' Pp. 19-23. - Preface, pp. viii., ix. 3 P. 2E>. 1 P. 30.

536 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. [Arrasnix.
the progress hitherto made in the study of these dialects to be such as would
warrant us in saying that the dialect in which the Vaudois writings are com
posed was peculiar to the Vaudois. But he notes it as a highly significant fact,
that hitherto no documents have been found in this dialect except Vaudois docu
ments.1 As to the district in which this dialect was spoken, he does not express
himself with confidence. He refuses to accept the judgment of Vaudois authors
as conclusive, whom he thinks biassed by party feeling, and states reasons for
dissenting from their identification of the language of the old documents with
the present patois of the valleys. And on this point it at least deserves to be
considered that the dialects of different districts may have well marked pecul
iarities ; whilst that of one district may yet be readily inteUigible to the inhabi
tants of another. Herzog appears to think it probable that the Waldensian
literature originated in the valleys not of the eastern but of the western side of
the Alps, although he seems afterwards to admit that the same dialect may have
prevailed upon both sides ; and of what consequence it is to assign the litera
ture to one side rather than to the other does not clearly appear, nor can the
probability in favour of the western side be deemed very great when it is found
merely to rest upon the identity of the language of the old Vaudois documents
with that of Morel's letter to CEcolampadius, whilst even of this letter it is
afterwards shown that it contains more words derived from the French than
they do. 2
Comparing the language of the older documents, however, with this letter,
and with the works borrowed from the Taborites, Dr. Herzog thinks there is
no such difference as would lead to the supposition of a number of centuries of
higher antiquity. He thinks we might, from considerations of language alone,
regard them as probably belonging to the fifteenth century. But he shows that
the contents of them do not accord with the state of things in that century, as
we learn it from Morel's letter and other sources, whilst the works themselves
bear every mark of proceeding from a people persecuted upon account of their
religion, but not long secluded in Alpine valleys from the scenes of busy com
merce, wealth, luxury, and gaiety, of all which a knowledge is exhibited such
as it is not easy to suppose the inhabitants of Merindol, of Cabrieres, or ot
Lucerna to have possessed. All this points to a higher antiquity, and Dr. Her
zog thinks it not improbable that the language of the oldest documents may
have been modified by transcribers, so as in the existing copies more nearly to
resemble the language of the sixteenth century than it did in the originals.3
Proceeding to the examination of the existing MSS,, Dr. Herzog adduces
reasons for concluding with certainty that none of the volumes deposited by
John Le'ger, and by his uncle, Anthony Le'ger, in the PubUc Library of Geneva,
are amongst the five volumes now existing there.4 — The MS. No. 206 s he re
gards as unquestionably the oldest of the Vaudois MSS. now existing in Ge
neva, and as belonging to the fifteenth century, probably to the beginning of
the century. But the treatises which it contains are evidently transcribed from
earlier originals, because some of them are given in an incomplete form.  The
MS. No. 207° he regards as belonging to the latter half of the fifteenth century,
and quotes the opinion of Dr. Todd, of Dublin, to the same effect. This ma
nuscript has been very generally regarded as belonging to the twelfth century,
in consequence of an opinion to that effect expressed by Senebier,7 and adopted
1 P- 32. 2 Pp. 33-42. 3 pp. 43_46. t pp 47> 4g
3 See "Bibliography," in this volume, pp. 465, 456. « See pp. 456-460 of this vol.
.' Author of Catalogue roAsonne des Manuscrits conserves dans la Bibliotheque de la Ville de
Geneve, 1779.

No. IV.] ORIGIN OF THE VAUDOIS. 537
from him by Raynouard.1 But Senebier's incompetency to judge in such a
matter is iUustrated by his error in supposing the previous MS. No. 206, to
be in the Catalan tongue, and by his making twenty-two blunders in copying
eighteen lines from the poem La Barca. This volume, also, Dr. Herzog re
gards as evidently containing copies from older originals; and assigns for this
opinion the foUowing very conclusive reasons: — That the Commentary on tha
Song of Solomon is incomplete, wanting tho first book; and that the text of the
Noble Lesson is marred by omissions which destroy the sense, and exhibits proofs
throughout of carelessness on the part of the transcriber. — The MS. No. 20S2
he assigns to the latter half of the sixteenth century ; but in this case, also, he
holds that the contents of the volume have been copied from older manuscripts,
because, along with a number of treatises, all of which are of Taborite origin, or
exhibit the Taborite influence, it contains one piece, the first in the volume,
Articles de la fe, which is indisputably of older date.3 — He regards the MS.
No. 209 4 as belonging to the latter half of the sixteenth century. The title on
the back, Conseils des Barbets du 15me siecle, is, he observes, in a more mo
dern hand than the MS. itself. — The MS. formerly No. 43 5 has now, it would
appear, been ranked along with the other Vaudois volumes, as MS. i09a. Dr.
Herzog refers it to the latter part of the sixteenth, or the beginning of the
seventeenth century.6
Of the MSS. in the library of Trinity College, Dublin (derived from that of
Archbishop Usher), the first which Dr. Herzog mentions, is that (Class A,
shelf i, No. 13) containing the Vaudois translation of the New Testament and
of part of the Old Testament.7 He mentions the date (mentioned also by Dr.
Muston, in his "Bibliography," p. 450), and adds, particularly, that it is in
the same hand in which the whole is written. From this MS. it was that the
gospel of John was edited by Dr. Gilly in 1851. Dr. Herzog caused a copy of
all the rest to be made, which he himself revised, and which is now in the Royal
Library of Berlin, he having received a commission for that purpose from the
Royal Academy of Sciences in that city. He describes the other Dublin MSS.,
and concerning them all he expresses himself as certain that they are the very
MSS. which were used by Perrin, although it appears that Perrin possessed
also other MSS. besides those which now remain. In the "Book of George
Morel, " in particular, Perrin's citations correspond with the very pages of the
MS. — Dr. Herzog gives a particular account of the MS. No. 3,8 and mentions
that it bears the date 1524 near the beginning of the volume, the rest being in
a somewhat more modern hand. In his description of the fifth volume,9 he
mentions that the fragment with which it begins, "Ayezo es la causa del de-
partiment de la gleysa romana," is terminated by a note of the transcriber,
"Ayci finis l'obra non complia d'aquest libre per mancament d'exemplar," a
clear enough indication of the comparative antiquity, and also of the rarity of
i Senebier and Raynouard are not likely to be suspected of pious fraud upon this account.
And yet this instance of an error springing up and getting firm root, without any dishonest
intention on the part of any one, might show the propriety of a charitable judgment regard
ing Vigneaux, Perrin, and Le'ger, of whom much suspicion has been very rashly and confi
dently expressed.
2 See pp. 460-462 of this volume. .
3 He mentions that Monastier is mistaken in saying that the MS. of the Treatise on Pur
gatory, contained in this volume, wants the quotation from the Milleloquium Augustini, and
accounts for this mistake by the extreme disarrangement of the leaves.
4 See pp. 462-464 of this volume. 5 See pp. 454, 455, of this volume.
e pb. 4S-52. 7 See " Bibliography," in this volume, pp. 449, 450, and 465.
3 Ibid. pp. 466-468. ' Ibid. P- 471.
Vol. II. 128

538 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. [Appendix.
the originals, from which the copies now existing of these Vaudois books were
made. l
Of the existing Biblical MSS., Dr. Herzog describes the Zurich and the Gre
noble MSS. of the New Testament, and of certain parts of the Old Testament
and Apocryphal books,2 as written in the same language with the Dublin MS.,
and that the language which prevails in the Vaudois writings.3 These two
MSS,, he tells us, contain different recensions of the same translation which
the Dublin MS. contains; and he mentions instances in which the Grenoble
MS. agrees more nearly with the Vulgate than the Dublin MS. does; and,
what is much more interesting, he informs us, on the authority of Professor
Renaz, that the Zurich MS. is a translation improved from the Greek text.4
He says that Muston is mistaken in enumerating two Lyons MSS. ; and that
which does exist, is not, according to him, a Vaudois MS., but belonged to the
Cathari, whose ritual (Consolamentum) is annexed to it, and has been edited by
Cunitz (Jena, 1852).5 The Paris MS., A of Muston's "Bibliography,"0 No.
8086 of the Bibliotheque Nationals (or Du Roi), Dr. Herzog regards as in the
language of the Troubadours.
That so many of the existing Vaudois MSS. belong to the sixteenth century,
Dr. Herzog in conclusion remarks, is no proof of the recent origin of the works.
On the contrary, these MSS. are evidently mere copies ; and it is not difficult
to account for an increased activity in transcribing at that time. Moreover,
the dates which we find in two of them are of that part of the sixteenth cen
tury which was previous to the introduction of the Reformation among the
Vaudois. He then proceeds to give a more particular account of some of the works
which bear the surest marks of antiquity. Assuming the antiquity of the
Geneva MS. No. 206 itself, he begins with the works contained in it, compar
ing the different existing copies of the same work as he goes on. I regret that
it is impossible to do more than merely to indicate the nature of this part of his
labours, by which great light is thrown upon the interesting subject of the con
dition and doctrines of the Vaudois before the reaction upon them of a religious
influence from Bohemia. He notes very carefuUy the points of agreement and
disagreement with the Church of Rome, and calls attention to the evidence
afforded by the nature of some of the works of an externally flourishing state
of society. He does not undertake to determine the dates of most of the works ;
although showing from the nature of their contents, as well as from the exter
nal evidence of the Geneva MS., that they must be older than the time of Hus
site influences. Some of them, indeed, appear to have been composed when
the circumstances of the Vaudois were comparatively prosperous, and others in
times of persecution. The Exposition of the Song of Solomon, in the Geneva
MS. No. 207, is referred to a time not earlier than the latter part of the thir
teenth century, because it contains the expression fe forma (fides formata), the
first use of which is ascribed to Thomas Aquinas,' whUst, if it were not for this
1 Pp. 54-60. 2 See " Bibliography," in this volume, pp. 449, 450.
3 Pp. 61, 62. — In a subsequent place, pp. 99-103, he gives a more particular account of the
ilublin MS. ; compares the quotations in the old Vaudois books with the text as found in.it;
shows how it generally agrees with, and how in many cases it departs from the Vulgate; and
adduces arguments to show that it is of date much anterior to the Hussite influences.
4 P. 103.
5 I mention this merely as the opinion of Dr. Herzog and of Cunitz, without venturing to
express either concurrence or dissent, which, without more particular information as to the
MS. and an examination of the Consolamentum, could have no reasonable foundation.
" Pp. 450, 451, of this volume. 7 But is it certain that he was tha first to use it ?

No IV] ORIGIN OF THE VAUDOIS. 539
circumstance, Dr. Herzog evidently inclines to think that there are other indi
cations of an earlier origin — particularly in the polemical character of the work,
which is very much directed against heresies more prevalent at an earlier period.
The Articles of Faith, in the Geneva MS. No. 208, and in the third Dublin
volume, although they are found amongst works which are of Hussite origin,
are unhesitatingly referred to an earlier date, because of their agreement with the
Articles of the Confession of Faith, ivhich a Strasburg MS.,1 of the year 1404,
represents the Waldenses as demanding from their ministers at their ordination.
The Treatise on Tribulations, in one of the Dublin volumes, mentions a perse
cution under a Pope of the name of Tnnocent, and describes the faithful as
compelled to flee to the mountains, and to abide in solitudes, where they suffei
from hunger, cold, robbers, and wild beasts. Dr. Herzog thinks there are in
dications of an earlier date than that of the persecution under Innocent VIII.,
in the latter part of the fifteenth century, and concludes with the remark, that
if we could with certainty refer this treatise to the time of the persecutions
under Innocent IV., the early date of at least a great part of the Vaudois
literature would receive the strongest confirmation.4
But more particular attention must be given to what Dr. Herzog says, in this
part of his work, regarding the Noble Lesson; as its evident antiquity, and the
date which it contains, supply the strongest arguments employed to prove the
existence of the Vaudois before Valdo, whilst all who reject that view find it
necessary to dispose, in some way or other, of the apparent evidence of the
date. Dr. Herzog, in his anxiety to maintain the descent of the Vaudois from
Valdo, would evidently be glad to accept Dieckhoff s theory of an interpolation
of the two troublesome lines; But this he does not find himself warranted in
doing, as the lines are certainly present in all existing copies of the poem, in
print and MS., and thus certainly appear not to have been interpolated since
the Reformation. However, he still accepts what help the possibility of an
interpolation may give to his main argument ; and even contributes his best
endeavours to make the possibility appear more probable by pointing out the
further possibUity that another passage may be also an interpolation, as the
removal of it would not destroy the sense, a principle of criticism that would
make strange havoc if applied to many a work, both ancient and modern. He
maintains, indeed, that the Noble Lesson is certainly of Vaudois origin, in
opposition to Dieckhoff, who, in a loDg note,3 sets forth reasons for thinking
that it may have been originally a production of the Bohemian Brethren. But
as I did not think it necessary to state Dieckhoff's arguments, so neither do I
think it necessary now to exhibit those by which Herzog refutes them. Dieck
hoff's observations on his mode of explaining away the apparent date, Dr. Her
zog does not meet. In favour of that mode of explanation, already placed
before the reader in the notice of his Programma, he now advances no better
argument than that the date of the poem must be later than the time of Valdo,
because it is certain that the Vaudois derived their origin from him. Upon
this he founds as an ascertained truth, to the certainty of which everything
must be made to bow.4 And thus when he proceeds to exhibit in his second
book, the doctrines and condition of the Vaudois, before the Hussite influence
was felt, he begins as from this- starting point, and traces the whole character
of the Vaudois movement to the original impulse which it received from Valdo.
In particular, the much use made of the Scriptures, and high reverence paid to
the Scriptures, which distinguished the Vaudois above all other Christians of
1 Published in Niedner's Zeilschriftfur die historische Theologie, 1852. z Pp. 66-99.
3 Die Wald. im Mitlelcdter, pp. 337-340. 4 Pp. 76-91.

540 THE ISRAEL OF THE ALPS. [Appekdix.
the middle ages, he regards as originating in that love of the Scriptures which
Valdo manifested. But how his mind was so strongly directed to the Scrip
tures, Dr. Herzog regrets that there is nothing to show. Now, it may be per
mitted to ask, if another explanation would not accord with the facts at least
as well as that which Dr. Herzog has chosen ; and what then is there in aU these
facts inconsistent with the supposition of the existence of the Vaudois before
Valdo. I think it ought to be here mentioned that Dr. Herzog' points out a flagrant
error of Yvonetus, who does not hesitate to say that the Vaudois reject the Old
Testament— a statement plainly contrary to the whole character of the old Vau
dois literature. But this Yvonetus is one of the "Catholic" witnesses, upon
whose testimony the chief reliance is given as to the origin of the Vaudois.
I have endeavoured to present a brief analysis of that part of Dr. Herzog's
work which more immediately bears upon this great question in ecclesiastical
history. Of the remainder of the work I cannot attempt any such analysis.
But its contents are highly important with respect to the period between Valdo
and the Reformation, and the condition and doctrines of the Vaudois during
that period. That Dr. Herzog is sometimes biassed in his judgment by his
determination to derive the Vaudois from Valdo, in deference to the " Catholic"
witnesses; and that he sometimes shows that disposition so general in the pre
sent day amongst his learned countrymen to build too confidently on the narrow
basis of a single critical observation, are circumstances which may render it
requisite to foUow him with caution, and carefully to test the soundness of all
hi3 conclusions, but which do not detract from the merit of his laborious re
searches in the difficult field of Vaudois literature. He has not only removed
the doubt which had been thrown upon the genuineness of many most important
documents, but he has discriminated more clearly than was ever done before the
products of the different periods of Vaudois history.
It is no inconsiderable advantage to the cause of truth when bad arguments
are cleared away which have been used in its support. It is well to know that
the dates which have so often been relied on as proof of the antiquity of certain
Vaudois documents are of no value whatever, and that some of the works to
which they have been assigned are of a comparatively recent origin ; and that,
therefore, it is not by these works that the historic apostolicity of the Vaudois
themselves can be proved. But a conclusion, favourable to the claims which
we have seen that the Vaudois have put forth, not merely since the Reformation,
but since the thirteenth century, at all events, if it is to be reached with greater
difficulty now than when these dates were supposed to warrant it of themselves,
is reached by such means that it may be maintained with greater confidence ;
and the date in the Noble Lesson, not affixed, but embodied in the poem, seems
so to resist all attempts made against it, that of itself it may be held sufficient
proof of the existence of the Vaudois under their present name in tho beginning
j of the twelfth century. ' Pp. 120, 130.

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