The valleys which the Vaudois have raised into celebrity, lie to the west of Piemont, between the province of Pignerol and Briançon, and adjoining on the other side to the ancient Marquisate of Susa, and that of the Saluces, The capital, La Tour, being about thirty-six miles from Turin, and fourteen from Pignerol. The extent of the valleys is about twelve Italian miles, making a square of about twenty-four French leagues. The valleys are three in number, Luzern, Perouse, and St. Martin. The former (in which the chief town is now Catholic,) is the most beautiful and extensive, and contains the five parishes of Rora, St. Jean, La Tour, Villar, and Bobbi, through the three last of which runs the rapid Pelice, which has its source near the Pra Alp, and throws itself into the Po.
The Valley of Perouse is about twelve miles long, chiefly mountainous. It is traversed by the river Cluson, and the villages* on the Italian side of that river, (Pinache, Rivoire, Great and Little Doublon, and Villard,) as well as its chief town Perouse, are entirely inhabited by Roman Catholics. The Vaudois at this time possess only Pramol, Pomaret, and St. Germain.
* All those villages were once Vaudois.
Between the valleys Luzerne and Perouse, is the parish Prarustin, comprehending Roche Platte, and St. Barthélemi, which belong to neither of them.
The Valley of St. Martin is scarcely wider than the bed of the torrent Germanasque, which runs through it, and extends from the Valley of Perouse to that of Queiras in Dauphiné; it contains the parishes of Pral, Ma-neille, and Ville Sèche, of which the former is so elevated, as to be covered with snow during nine months in the year. The other parishes contain each several small villages, and Perrier, which is the capital of the whole valley, is now inhabited by Catholics alone. This valley, which was the scene of the heroic defence of Arnaud's band, is environed by lofty mountains, and rugged rocks, forming the most formidable natural defences; indeed the only passage into it for wheels,* is by a bridge, not far from Perouse, and this pass is so narrow that a few men might defend it against a large force.
The authors of poems and romances, in giving their enchanting descriptions of pastoral life, have excited a deep feeling of regret in sensitive minds, that the originals of their pictures are no where to be found. But I can console these friends of virtue, by shewing them where they may find what they have sought in vain in other parts of the world. And this happy asylum of innocence is no other than the valley of St. Martin. I have known there shepherdesses in every sense of the word, as amiable and interesting as the heroines of these romances. And if the delightful author of Estelle and Galatée had lived among them as I have done, he might have added many a lively tint to his portraits, the more charming as it would have been copied from nature and truth. But let it not be thought that my shepherdesses resemble the smart wives and daughters of our citizens then, indeed, they would have little interest in my eyes. Imagine virtue without pretensions or vanity, grace without frivolity, and amiability devoid of coquetry, and these set off by that true modesty which their simple habits inspire, and you have a true picture of my Vaudois heroines.
* The translator saw no wheeled carriage in this valley, anddoubts if one of any description could now be used there.** He writes at Utrecht.
Had I been born a poet, they should have formed the subject of my lays. The churches in the Valley of St Martin, as well as those of the other valleys, were formerly much more numerous. In the whole we have now but thirteen parish churches, though in the ancient records, examined by Leger, mention is made of ten other parishes to which pastors were attached; these are now annexed to the thirteen. In the valley of Cluson or Pragela, which adjoins those of St. Martin, and Perouse, were no less than six flourishing Vaudois churches, as late as 1727, when in consequence of the exchange of territory between France and the House of Savoy, all those who remained faithful to their religion, were forced into exile.* The Vaudois were also very numerous in the valleys of Queiras, Mathias, and Meane, until entirely extirpated there by Duke Charles Emmanuel in 1603. As they were in the Marquisate of Sa-luces, in 1633, where they had many churches.
* Many hundreds went to Holland.
Five villages, and the town of Luzerne, formerly attached to the parish church of St. Jean, have also been taken from them, in the valley of Luzerne; indeed, it is known that the Vaudois had churches in 1560, in Turin, Pignerol, and Quiers.
Notwithstanding that the Vaudois have been established in some of the places I have stated above, from time immemorial, and have had great possessions in others: they are now entirely confined within the three valleys mentioned in the beginning of this chapter, and there exists an edict rendering them incapable of purchasing beyond these limits. It is to be hoped that their fidelity and attachment to their sovereign, will be rewarded by a restoration to the rights which his other subjects enjoy, and that the goodness of the reigning prince, will lead him to consider it a duty, to reinstate them as soon as circumstances permit, in the full possession of those privileges which the claims of nature and society so loudly demand.
The population of the three valleys may amount to 16,000 or 17,000 souls,* which would give about 3000 for the number capable of bearing arms; it does not appear, however, that in the various persecutions our ancestors had ever more than 1500 men in the field, the rest being necessary for the defence of their own territory. By these feeble means has the God of armies effected the wonderful events which I am about to relate; and so extraordinary are they, that they might well appear incredible, did not the most authentic proofs exist of them.
* Vide population in 1820, about 22,000.
As to the name of the Vaudois, it might be sufficient to answer from the authority of that judicious critic, Theodore* Bèze,** and Coug-nard,*** advocate of the parliament of Normandy. That the Vaudois have received their name from the valleys they inhabit. The names of Waldense or Valdense in Italian, and Valdensis in Latin, are thus derived from the same root, vale, valle, and vallis, a valley, as Vaudois is derived from vaux, the word for valley, in their ancient patois.****
* Beza, the editor of the famous bible of Geneva, and friendof Milton.** Portraites des hommes illustres, p. 985.*** Traite touchant la Papesse Jeanne, p. 8.**** The Vaudois language seems as ancient at least as theProvençal, and very similar: it would be interesting totrace their origins and distinctions. Vide French work onthe Provençal poets and troubadours, and Sismondis languagesdu midi de l'Europe.
In the same way the inhabitants of the plain of the Po are called Piemontese or Piedmontese, Pedemontani, and those of the mountains, generally Montagnards. This word Vaudois, which they first acquired from their geographical situation, they have preserved as a token of their religion in all countries, as the Vaudois of Provence, and of Bohemia, and the Walloons of the Low Countries. Since the Reformation the names of Lutheran, Calvinist, and Reformed, have served to distinguish all those who rejected the papal doctrines, and the inhabitants of our valleys, the only people who have never been affected by these opinions, have alone retained their original name of Vaudois. I must, however, observe, that it is against their own wish that they have ever received it; the name of Christian was too precious in their eyes to have been willingly, on their part, exchanged for any other. As we find in the letter which they addressed to OEladislaus, king of Bohemia, they style themselves "the little flock of Christians, falsely called Vaudois." It has been pretended and even by those who have written our history, such as Perrin, and Gilles, that the name is derived from Peter Valdo, which can by no means be the case, as it is allowed on all hands, that this famous reformer of Lyons was not known before 1175, while we have ancient MSS. in the Vaudois language, dated 1120, and 1100, in the former of which are stated the differences between their church and that of Rome, and in the latter the word Vaudois is used as synonymous with virtuous Christian.
In the MS. dated 1100, and entitled La Noble Leiçon, (of which there exist two original copies, in ancient Gothic letters, one at Cambridge, and the other at Geneva,) is this passage.
Que sel se troba alcun bon que vollia amarDio et temar Jesu KristQue non vollia maudire, ni jura, ni mentir,Ni avoutrar, ni ancire, ni peure de l'autryNi venjarse de li sio ennemie *Illi dison quel es Vaudes e degne de morir.* Ennemio murir, another reading.
Whoever is a good man, and wishes to love God, and fear Jesus Christ, who will neither speak ill of his neighbour, nor swear, nor lie; who will neither commit adultery, nor kill, nor steal, nor avenge himself of his enemy; of him they say, he is a Vaudois, and worthy to die (of death.)
The opinion of Theodore Bèze is given in these words. Some have believed that the Vaudois had for founder, (of this sect,) a merchant of Lyons, called Jean, surnamed Valdo, in which they are mistaken, since this John was so surnamed from being one of the first among the Vaudois.
But not to give more importance to these things than they are worthy of, let it be remarked, that it is not in the name that they bear that the Vaudois take a pride. We as well as our ancestors, esteem ourselves happy and render thanks to God in that he has pre-served in our valleys the evangelical doctrine in all its purity, without any mixture of human opinions. We rejoice that the Supreme Being has deigned to choose our country, to preserve there the torch of truth, and that it has been the beacon to which other nations have come to seek the light that has enlightened them.* We are proud of never having been reformed; but that it is at our school that the reformers have been instructed, as they themselves avow. We rejoice finally in this that our valleys are the mother church of all Reformed and Protestant Churches. These are our titles; these are our testimonies.
Every one knows that Luther and Calvin commenced their labours in 1517 and 1536, while we have a confession of faith dated 1120.**
* The Vaudois' state seal bears a candle, with rays,surrounded by clouds; motto, Lux in Tenebris.—T.** The noble Leiçon, quoted above; vide extract at the endof Bresse.
It is almost needless to add the testimony of our enemies; Pope Pius II. known by the name of Aneas Sylvius before his election, and author of a history of Bohemia, printed by Anthony Bons, in which he says, they (the Bohemian heretics) have embraced the impious doctrine of the Vaudois, of that pestilential faction long ago condemned, whose doctrines are, that the Bishop of Rome is not superior to others; that there is no purgatory; that prayers for the dead are useless; that worship should not be rendered to the images of God, and the saints, &c. &c. To this testimony I must add that of Claude de Seyssel, bishop of Marseilles, and afterwards of Turin, celebrated in the reigns of Louis XI., Charles VIII., Louis XII., and Francis I., in whose reign it was thought no one could be so likely to bring back the Vaudois to the Roman Catholic faith, and he was in consequence made Bishop of Turin. The following, taken from a book written by him, expressly against them, shows all that he could find to complain of in their doctrine. They (says he of the Vaudois) will receive only that which is written in the Old and New Testaments; nay, they say that the Roman pontiffs, and other bishops, have degraded the sacred text, by their doctrine and false comments; they deny the power of absolution, celebrate no saints' days, and pretend that they alone possess the true evangelic and apostolic doctrine; they despise the indulgences of the church, detest images, teach the words of the evangelists and apostles in the vulgar tongue, and affirm that there is no power which can forbid the right of contracting marriages, and say that mass was not celebrated in the time of the apostles, &c.
We find in St. Paul's epistle to the Romans, written from Corinth, chapter xv. verse 24, that it was the intention of the apostle to go into Spain, and to pass through Italy on his way. Now if St. Paul afterwards performed this journey, he must necessarily have passed through the valleys, as they lay on his road to Spain at that time, and he would have preached the gospel in them, as he did wherever he went. From this, it is fair to conjecture that the Vaudois have received their doctrine from St. Paul himself; and if this is thought too bold an assertion, we have reason to suppose that his doctrine may have reached them during his lifetime, as it seems to have been propagated by his followers throughout Italy, before he left Rome; for in concluding his epistle from Rome, to the Hebrews, he says, "Salute all them that have the rule over you, and all saints, they of Italy salute you." He does not say they of Rome, as the number of Christians rapidly augmented in the capital, and they were nearly all dispersed by the persecutions under Nero and Domitian, it is extremely probable that some parties of this host of fugitives should have taken refuge among our mountains, in the time of the immediate successors of the apostles.
But to descend to a period of greater certainty, it is allowed by all that the whole of Italy embraced Christianity in the time of Constantine,* and therefore the Vaudois doctrines may be considered the same as those of the Universal Church, by which we do not find any superstitious rites or customs to have been adopted till the sixth century; nor are the dangerous and revolting dogmas of the court of Rome, and its flagitious practices to be traced before the end of the eighth. All that belongs to the doctrine and practice of the modern Roman communion was until then unknown, as is clearly proved by the testimony of Juellus Daitlè, Dumoulin, &c., and indirectly by the partizans of Rome, Baronius, Enuphius, Platina, &c.
These innovations, and particularly the adoration of images,** were loudly condemned by the churches of England, France, Germany, and the east.
* St. Augustine relates, that Constantine sent a band oftroops, after his victory over Maxentius, to destroy thestatue of Jupiter Peninus, in the temple of Mont S. Bernard,(now the site of the modern convent,) and gave them hisgolden thunderbolt as a reward.—T.** Established by Pope Adrian I.; vide Storia dei Pontefeci.
Which condemnation was confirmed by the council convoked by Charlemagne,* at Frankfurt-on-the-Main, in 794. The Bishops of Italy also proclaimed their discontent in a letter which they addressed, by means of Photius, to the patriarchs of the Greek churches. Baronius, who gives this letter, subjoins the following answer of the Patriarchs.** "We have received a synodal epistle from Italy, in which the inhabitants lay to the charge of their bishop an infinity of crimes and perverseness; among other things, the tyranny he wishes to exercise over them, and they call us, with tears, to the defence of the church." Here again let it be remarked, that as long as the superior church retained its purity, the Vaudois did not secede from it. It was the court of Rome that began with innovations, not they. Of this so many proofs press upon me, that I scarcely know which to choose. At the end of the eighth, or beginning of the ninth century, flourished Claude, bishop of Turin, whose diocese embraced not only our valleys, but Dauphiné and Provence.***
* Vide Histoire de Charlemagne, by** It should here be remarked, that the Vaudois recognizefor orthodox the decisions of the four first great councilsof the Church, Nice, Constantinople, Ephesus, and Chalce-done, the last of which was held in 451; and that theyrecommended the reading of the fathers of the first fivecenturies.*** Piémont making then part of France, it did not passunder the sway of the house of Savoy till the twelfthcentury.
He opposed himself so strenuously to the innovations of the court of Rome, that his doctrine has been since called calvinistic by his enemies.* Illyricus makes the following mention of him in his Catalogue Test. Veritatis, lib. 9. "Claude, Bishop of Turin, lived in the time of Charlemagne and Louis the Pious, of whom he was the intimate friend, even before he became Bishop; he strenuously opposed, (both by preaching and writing,) the adoration of images, of relicts, and the cross, invocations to the saints, pilgrimages, the precedence of the Pope, &c. He treated the Pope himself with great severity, loudly condemning the profit which he made by the poor superstitious people, whom he drew to Rome on pilgrimages."
In the fragments that remain of this courageous Bishop, which are cited by Leger, Part I. p. 137, he combats with great vigour, the abuses above mentioned, and proves that it was not his wish to establish any new sect, but to preserve the doctrines of the apostles in their original purity.** We cannot, therefore, doubt his having used his utmost exertions in his own diocese, of which our valleys formed a part.
* Genebrand Chronic, Liv. 3.** The title of the Bishop's work, of which fragments arecited by Leger, is Apologeticum rescriptum Claudii Episcopiadversus Theodemirum Abbatem. And after a carefulexamination of these fragments, and some of the Vaudois MSS.I am inclined to think that the latter are no more than adevelopment of the former; for there is the same connectionof ideas, and the arguments are placed in the same order; sothat the writings of Claude seem to have been the text onwhich the Vaudois amplified, which is natural, as the Bishopaddressed men of education and learning, and had notoccasion to use so many arguments and explanations as theVaudois writers had, who wrote for the illiterate and themultitude.—Note by Peyran.
Indeed we have the fullest evidence that the Vaudois preserved the purity of their faith during the ninth and tenth centuries. To prove this fact, it will be sufficient to give a single quotation from the missionary Marco Aurelio Rorenco, Grand Prior of St. Roch, at Turin, whose work is entitled Narratione delle Intro-duzione delle heresie nelle valli de Piemonte, Turin, 1632.* Speaking of the doctrine of Claude, which this author is pleased to call heresy, he says—"This doctrine continued in the valleys all the ninth and tenth centuries;" and again, "that during the tenth century no change took place, but the old heresies were continued." In order to feel the full force of the above citation, we must call to mind that Rorenco** had been for ten years a missionary, directly sent out to the Vaudois, with orders to search into the origin of their doctrine; and that writing with the approbation of the clergy of Turin, he was little likely to favour the Vaudois.
* He also wrote Memorie Historiche, Turin, 1645.** Rorenco says in another place, that it is impossible tosay with certainty at what period this sect took root in thevalleys.—p. 60 of Nar. del Introd.
In the eleventh century, Lambertus, a Catholic and friend of Gregory VII. writes thus: "The court of Rome has so completely stifled all charity and Christian simplicity, that almost all good and just men believe that the reign of Antichrist, of which St. John speaks, is already commenced." John the Fifth, who reigned before this period, has been called by cotemporary writers, the most wicked of men. In these unhappy times the Vaudois did not venture to preach any where but in the woods and highest mountains, except in their most remote villages, such as Macel and Pral, &c. In the eleventh century, Berenger, so celebrated for his knowledge and virtues, was condemned by two councils, convoked by Pope Leo IX., and was forced to retract what he had written against transubstantiation, &c. by Pope Nicholas. He lost no time, however, in protesting against this forced recantation, and persevered in his doctrine till his death, in 1091. Now the belief of Berenger, (says an ancient author,) the same as that of the Vaudois, was so well preserved in the valleys, that to call a man a Berengerian was the same as calling him a Vaudois. Peter de Bruys,* a priest of Toulon, whose doctrine was precisely similar, succeeded Berenger, and preached in Languedoc, Provence, and Dauphiné, particularly at Gap and Embrun, a few hours distance only from the Vaudois valleys; his disciples were called Petrobrusians, and he was martyred at S. Gilles, 1124.
* His disciples after his death, published a book,declarative of his reasons for opposing the Roman CatholicChurch; a copy of which, in ancient Gothic characters, isextant in the library of Cambridge.
Henry de Bruys, and Arnaud de Bresse now took up the cause, and extended the Vaudois doctrines in Lombardy. Of the disciples of the former, St. Bernard, who wrote in 1120, bears this testimony, "that they prided themselves in being the true successors of the apostles, and conservators of their doctrine."
Arnaud de Bresse fell a victim to the cruelty of the Roman clergy in 1155, being first crucified and then burnt. He was succeeded by his zealous disciple Esperon. Rorenco in the work above cited, says, that we must by the names of Vaudois, Esperonites, Henricians, Petrobrusians, Arnaudites, and Apostolicals, understand one and the same sect, which is a sufficient proof of the identity of the doctrine of the Vaudois, and that of these zealous preachers. The celebrated Peter Valdo, a rich inhabitant of Lyons, openly professed the Vaudois doctrine in 1175. He abandoned all his possessions, gave himself up entirely to the promulgation of the gospel, had the bible translated into the vulgar tongue, and instructed the people publicly in the streets, commencing with the thesis, that we must obey God rather than man. He refused submission to the Pope and his bishops; exposed the scandalous lives of the monks; and refuted the doctrine of the mass, purgatory, adoration of images, and prayers for the dead. At the instance of Pope Alexander III., Valdo was driven from Lyons, with most of his disciples. A great part of them retired either to Lombardy, or (as an ancient writer observes,) into Cisalpine Gaul, and among the Alps, where they found a perfectly secure retreat, (tutissimum refugium.) That is among the valleys of Pragela, Meane, Saluces, &c., and we must pay great attention to this expression, since it appears natural that these valleys should be their surest place of refuge, being already peopled with Vaudois, who professed the same doctrines. Other disciples of Valdo withdrew to Picardy, Germany, Bohemia, and the Low Countries. I must here remark, that even those who in contradiction to the above chain of evidence, assert that the Vaudois derive their name and doctrine from Peter Valdo, must allow them to have been established in the valleys at least fifty years before the ancient counts of Savoy obtained the sovereignty of their country; for it appears in the history of the house of Savoy, that the first who began to make conquests in our country, was Thomas, son of Humbert, who had previously accompanied Louis, son of Philip Augustus, king of France, in his expedition against the Vaudois and the Albigenses of Provence. Hence we have every possible right to the possession of our country, in which we were established before our sovereigns.
THEIR OWN WRITINGS
As the Vaudois have been accused of being Manicheans, Arians, and Cathares,* we shall be but doing our ancestors justice to appeal to their own writings. In the preface to the French Bible, which they printed at Neuchatel, in 1535, the Vaudois render thanks to God that having received the treasure of the gospel from the apostles or their immediate successors, they had always preserved to themselves the enjoyment of this blessing. In proof of which it appears by the noble Leiçon, dated 1100, that they had rejected and continued to reject all traditions, nor had ever received other doctrines than those contained in the Holy Scriptures.
* From Cathari, white, pure.
The treatise on Antichrist, dated 1120, proves the same point; as does that against the invocation of saints, which must have been written in the sixth century, since it calls this error a doctrine then in the bud, and we know that it took its rise at that period. So in all the confessions of faith given at divers times, the Vaudois profess to have received their tenets from father to son, from the time of the apostles. Rorenco himself has preserved one of their petitions to the Duke of Savoy, dated 1599, in which they say, that it is not within a few hundred years only that they have had knowledge of the truth, and that no one could be ignorant of their having taught the same tenets for 500 or 600 years, that is, when they openly declared against the abuses of Rome, under their Bishop, Claude. The Vaudois of the valleys Mathias and Meane* made the same declaration, (nearly in the same words,) when they were forced in 1603 to quit their country, for refusing to obey the order of Charles Emanuel, to abandon their faith. Finally in all their memorials, petitions, and letters, they have never failed to repeat the same thing, praying to be left in the enjoyment of that religion, which they had professed time immemorial even before the Dukes of Savoy were princes of Piémont. The authenticity of these petitions, &c. is unquestionable, since they have been printed, together with the answers to them, by order of the court of Turin, and are more than 100 in number.
** The Vaudois of these valleys formed one body with thoseof Luzerne, Perouse, and St. Martin.
To the internal evidence of the writings of the Vaudois themselves, we must now add that which is to be found in the works of Protestant authors, and first in those of the celebrated Theodore Bèze, who thus speaks of them* "These are the people who have always preserved the true religion, without allowing any temptation to pervert them. The Vaudois," says he, in another place, "are so called from their residence among the valleys and fastnesses of the Alps, and may well be considered as the remains of the purest primitive Christian church. Nor has it been possible to draw them within the pale of the Roman communion, notwithstanding the horrible persecutions exercised against them. At this time they have churches flourishing, as well in doctrine as in examples of a truly innocent life. I speak particularly of those of the Alpine valleys, of whom some are subjects of the king of France, and others of the Duke of Savoy."
* The expressions are sempre, al solito, da equi tempo,immemoriale, conforme all* antico soli to, conforme a loroantiché franchizie. The collection is printed at Turin,1678.** Portraits des hommes illustres.
Ileidanus* asserts, "that from the most remote antiquity they have opposed the Roman Pontiff, and have always held the purest doctrine."
* Historia Caroli Quinti Imp. lib. xvi. p. 534.
Esron Rudiger affirms that the Vaudois existed at least 240 years before John Huss, which agrees nearly with Bishop Claude. L'Histoire ecclesiastique des Eglises'réformées de France, printed in 1558, confirms the above assertions. Amyraut, Drelincourt, Basnage, Ruchat, Jurieu, Werenfels, and many other writers of the reformed church, give the same opinion.
Among the principal evidences in favour of the Vaudois, I must here refer to the large collection of edicts respecting them, published by the court of Turin. It is deemed unnecessary to recapitulate their dates. The Monk Belvedere, chief of a mission, sent to convert the Vaudois in 1630, in his answer to the College of Propaganda fide,* excuses himself for not having converted a single person, because "the valleys of Angrogna have always, and at every period, been inhabited by heretics."—Again, Reynerus Sacco, expressly appointed by the court of Rome, Inquisitor against the Vaudois, goes still farther than Belvedere; and in a book he published against them, calls them Leonists, from one of their ministers named Leon, who lived in the third century; he affirms that no sect was so pernicious to the church as the Leonists; and this for three reasons: 1st. Because it was the most ancient of all; some deriving its origin from the time of Pope Sylvester (the fourth century), and others from the Apostles themselves. 2ndly, Because it was the most extensive, there being scarcely any country into which it had not penetrated; and, 3dly, That instead of inspiring horror as other sects did, by their frightful blasphemies against the Divinity, it had a great appearance of piety; since its members "lived justly before men, believed rightly on God, and received the Apostles' Creed; but they blasphemed against the Roman church and clergy."**
* Relatione al consiglio de Prop. Fid. Turin, 1636.** Bibliothèque des Pères, de Gretserus Traité contra lesVaud.
The most obstinate opponents of the antiquity of the Vaudois must give way before the authority of Claude de Seyssel, Archbishop of Turin, who has this passage in his book against us, printed by privilege of Francis the First of France: "The sect of Vaudois," says he, "took its origin from one Leon, a truly religious man, who, in the time of Constantine the Great, detesting the extreme avarice of Pope Sylvester, and the lavish expenditure of Constantine, preferred living in poverty, with simplicity of faith, to the reproach of accepting a rich benefice with Sylvester. To this Leon all attached themselves who thought rightly of their Creed." The same author, after having made useless researches after the commencement of the Vaudois sect, concludes with these remarkable words: "That there must be some important and efficacious reason why this Vaudois sect had endured during so many ages. Again; all kind of different attempts to extirpate them have been made at different times, but they always remained victorious, and absolutely invincible, contrary to the expectation of all."
The reader will observe that this expression, "during so many ages," was written by Seyssel in 1500.
I have already quoted Rorenco, one of the most zealous of the missionaries sent against the Vaudois; his family still remains in the valleys. One of his descendants bearing the title of Count of La Tour, in his Memorie Historiche, addressed to the Duke Victor Amadeus, allows that the Vaudois doctrine was not new, in the time of Claude, many persons having opposed the Roman See before him; he also asserts that their doctrine remained the same in the 11th and 12th centuries. Rorenco will not, however, allow that the doctrine was derived from the Apostles, but avows (which nearly amounts to the same thing) that there is no ascertaining when it was first received in the valleys.
In fine, Samuel Casini, a Franciscan monk, says positively, in his work entitled Victoria Triomphale, printed at Coni, 1510, that "the errors of the Vaudois consisted in not admitting the Roman to be the sacred mother church, or obeying her traditions; although he could not, for his own part, deny that they acknowledged the Christian church, and had always been and still continued to be members of it."
Now it seems to me hardly possible, after these proofs, that anyone should venture to deny the truly Apostolic succession of the Vaudois church; but as some people have supposed that the Vaudois, after receiving the opinions of the court of Rome, have subsequently been reformed, like all those who are called Protestants; let them say when and where the Vaudois reformation took place; and let them also account for the silence of all historians on such an event! But as long as the testimony above quoted, of Catholics, Protestants, Vaudois; nay, of the very edicts of their princes, and their own petitions and replies, exists, I shall consider it as proved that the Vaudois church, having received the Gospel in the earliest days of Christianity, is the parent of all the reformed churches, and hasnever herself been reformed.
These truths having been established by such incontestable proofs, it remains only to give a sketch of the manners of the Vaudois, and the discipline of their churches, before we come to the historical part of my labours.
In religion, theory is nothing without practice, and of all species of knowledge none requires less speculation than that of the Gospel. Its Divine Author has declared, that the religion which he came to announce to us consists not in words, but in virtues, which important declaration at once defines the spirit of Christianity, in placing charity even above faith. However this great truth may be forgotten by many of the Christians of these days, or rendered nugatory by the pretensions of their teachers, it is not the less incontestable at the tribunal of reason and revelation, and let us hope, for the good of humanity, that it will soon prevail over the vain phantoms which have been substituted for it throughout the greatest part of Europe. Yes, indeed! I delight in believing that the march of knowledge is a guarantee of this, and that we are approaching that happy time when a man will not be required to prove he is a Christian, merely by repeating, like a parrot, the articles of belief, which have been drawn up by the chiefs of the sect to which he belongs, when it will not suffice alone coldly to admit some Evangelical truths, but when those who call themselves Christians will acknowledge—"That pure religion is this, to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep themselves unspotted from the world."* It cannot be too often repeated, that this is real Christianity.
And such have ever been the sentiments of the Vaudois, never have they been known to waste,in pernicious disputes or useless discussionsthat time which might have been employed in good works; and thus, by a natural consequence, they have formed a Christian society of virtuous conduct and irreproachable morals.
* Epistle of St. James, chap. i. ver. 22.
We have above quoted that remarkable passage of the Inquisitor Reynerus Sacco, in which he has borne witness in favour of our ancestors. We will add the testimony of Claude de Seyssel, who affirms that, "for their lives and moral behaviour, the Vaudois are without reproach before men, and do their utmost endeavours to keep the commandments of God." The respectable French historian, De Thou, says that "the Vaudois keep the commandments of the decalogue, and allow among them of no wickedness, detesting perjuries and imprecations, quarrels, seditions, and all debaucheries, usury, &c. &c."
The Cardinal Baronius bears witness to their chastity, and Thuanus (also a Catholic historian) adds to this, "that they are such scrupulous observers of honour and chastity, that their neighbours, though of a contrary faith, intrusted them with the care of their wives and daughters, to preserve them from the insolence of the soldiery."
This occurred in 1560, when the troops of Count de la Trinité were quartered at La Tour, and the Vaudois had retired to the mountains. It was then also that a young girl, to escape the pursuit of a soldier, preferring her honour to life itself, precipitated herself from the summit of a rock. An English monk, quoted by Boxhornius, also gives an example of the purity of Vaudois manners, in the answer of a young woman to the solicitations of her lover; "God forbid, O young man, that I should love thee so much as to become eternally miserable for the gratification of thy wishes."
This admirable purity is still respected in the valleys, and, notwithstanding the corruption of the age, we must look through a long series of years to find one or two females who have not observed it. Those who have fallen are become the objects of universal contempt. The very children point at them, and a whole life of virtue is scarcely sufficient to obtain for them the oblivion of their fault. Compare this with the manners of other Christian nations.
Let us now turn to Vigneaux, who was well qualified to judge of Vaudois morals, having been forty years a pastor among them, and having made a large collection of their ancient writings, which he translated: from his work "On the Lives, morals, and religion of the Vaudois," I extract the following, "They are a people of fidelity in their promises, of irreproachable lives, and are great enemies to vice;" and of his own time he adds, "We in these valleys of Piémont live in peace and concord with the others, but we do not connect ourselves in marriage with the Catholics. For the rest, our manners and morals are so approved by them, that they prefer taking servants from among us to themselves;* and some come from a great distance to choose nurses for their children, considering them more faithful than their own."
* Still the case in the valleys in 1825.
The order of the French government, in 1592, to M. de Birague, governor of Saluces, to massacre the Vaudois, drew forth the following testimony from one of the council of that town: "That his majesty must assuredly have been misinformed as to these poor people, who were good men, and did him honourable and faithful service, living peaceably with their neighbours; with whom indeed there was no fault to find, except their religion." To all these testimonies there is one other to be added, of still more weight, namely, that of all the edicts which have beensuccessivelypublished by the court of Turin against the Vaudois; in no one is the smallest reproach to be found on the score of probity, good faith, or morals. This silence becomes an invaluable avowal from those who eagerly sought some pretext to give a colour to the horrible persecutions they authorized.
Is it not astonishing, after this, to find the Vaudois calumniated by Albert de Capitaxis, Rubis, &c. as the first Christians were by the Pagans? Paradin* and Girard, however; may be cited in reply. They assert that the Vaudois were not guilty of any of the horrible crimes of which they were accused; but only of having freely inveighed against the corruption and vices of the priests and friars, and thus excited their mortal hatred....
* Annales de Bourgogne, par Guillaume Paradin, Lyons, 1566.
But we may well despise this slander, and consider what has been the cause of their real purity of manners. The ecclesiastical discipline, which has always been in great vigour, may be assigned as the cause, as it has induced the continual study of, and meditation upon the sacred writings. And here I must be pardoned another extract from an ancient author. "All the people," says he, "of either sex, and of whatever age, cease not to learn and teach; the labourer at his daily task either teaches his comrade or learns of him, and the evening is spent in the same instructions, even without books. He that has learnt for one week teaches others for the next, and if any one excuses himself from want of memory, he is told that even one word every day will amount to many sentences at the end of a year, which in many years will form a fund of knowledge." "I have heard with my own ears," says this author, "one of these poor peasants repeat the whole book of Job by heart, without missing one word; and there are others who have the whole of the New Testament at their fingers' ends. Do any of them lead an evil life? they are sharply rebuked, according to their discipline, and told the Apostles lived not thus, nor must we who imitate them." Reynerus Sacco again confirms this by saying, "The Vaudois know the whole of the New Testament by heart, and much of the Old, (in their own language,) nor will they hear any thing else," saying, "that all sermons which are not proved by the Scriptures are unworthy of belief."
This then has been the foundation of Vaudois morality, they knew no other rule of faith than the Gospel, and, as far as possible, adapted their sentiments and conduct to it. The sacred duty of an historian compels me to allow, that the effects of human frailty have sometimes shown themselves among them. Leger, who wrote more than a century ago, thus allows also, that "the Vaudois, his cotemporaries, no longer possessed that great sanctity and detachment from the world which distinguished their ancestors. But I must add," he continues, "that, compared with other reformed nations, there is none which surpass them in zeal for the word of God and constancy to their faith, at the peril of their lives and fortunes; as well as in simplicity, innocence, sobriety, and industry. For they abstain from cards, dice, gambling, and swearing, and have a horror of drunkenness, and even of dancing. So that if any one falls into a vicious life, he is esteemed infamous. Law-suits have been from time immemorial unknown among them; but, according to Thuanus, the first took place in the 16th century, owing to the litigious disposition of a young man, who had gained a smattering of law at the college of Turin, and sued his neighbour for having suffered some goats to browse among his cabbages."
However much it may cost me to avow it, I must in my turn allow that the Vaudois have degenerated since the days of Leger; law-suits are beginning to become common among them, and luxury and card playing are insensibly introduced; nay, there are even some families who live without labour, a thing formerly unknown.* The zeal for religion has also cooled in those parishes adjoining Piémont. But these blots in the morals of my compatriots are perhaps inevitable to human weakness, which cannot approach perfection: perhaps, too, we are carried away by the common mania of believing our ancestors ever better than ourselves. I remark this both for Leger and myself.