side and Ianavel on the other that they quite routed them and killed above an hundred among whom were three Officers of note But by a great misfortune for the Vaudois Captain Ianavel at the end of the Fight was shot with a Musket bullet which entring in at his breast went out at his back betwixt his shoulders which put him into such a condition that it was thought he would have dyed immediately he had notwithstanding the Judgment to desire Captain Iayer to enterprize no more that night because his Souldiers could do no more and he himself gave advice in what he thought was necessary to be done he made himself be carried to Pinache and about the end of Iuly he was perfectly cured of his Wounds The Enemies of the Vaudois not being able to withstand the Vaudois in the Mountains they made use of a Traytor to draw Captain Iayer down to the plain this perfidious wretch after the battel of which we have spoke came to seek out the Captain and told him that there were no Troops on Orsacy side where he might have a considerable Booty and repay the Enemies in their own Coin without danger in burning their Houses and Cabbins He took with him an 150 Soldiers of this little Army and set some Cabbins on fire near Orsacy and took some booty but in such places where the Cavalry could have no advantage the Traytor who led him out to slaughter told him that a little lower there were some Cabbins and good store of Cattle which would cost him nothing but taking and perswaded him to go thither he no sooner came to the place where he led him than he was surrounded with a Squadron of Savoyards which defeated him with 40 Soldiers that had followed him seeing himself betrayed he killed the Tray tor with his own hand and three Captains of Horse his Son and his Souldiers sold their Lives dear but having to do with so many Enemies they were all cut in pieces except one who saved himself in a Morass The Death of Captain Iayer and the wounding of Captain Ianavel which was believed mortal hapning the same day caused a great consternation among the Vaudois But notwithstanding they took fresh courage and under the conduct of Captain Laurence and a Brother of Captain Iayer who succeeded him under his command they mustered upon the Mountain of Vachere where they resolved to meet their Enemies that were coming to assault them and they fell upon them with that Resolution Courage and Dexterity that they put them to flight in a very great Disorder after having left more than 200 of their Companions dead upon the place among whom was a Lieutenant Collonel of the Regiment of Bavaria and several Officers of note besides the wounded and Prisoners the Vaudois lost in this fight only Captain Bertin and a common Soldier and that which is most to be admired is that they were but 550 men and their Enemies 6000. according to the report of the Prisoners and this is particularly remarkable and full of admiration that as soon as Captain Bertin was killed his Son and Heir out of his filial Piety having carried off the body of his Father presently placed himself at the head of his Fathers Company and began his charge with these words Take heart my Brethren for though my Father be dead our celestial Father can give me the same Courage and Conduct as by his Grace he has filled me with the same Zeal The day following the Vaudois were in continual Skirmishes with their Enemies at Tour and Taileret where many of their Enemies were killed and wounded and the Vaudois had but one Soldier slightly wounded Their Enemies knowing that all the Protestant Princes would interest themselves in the affairs of the Vaudois they reinforced their Army with new Troops to do the utmost to destroy the Vaudois before the Ambassadors of England and Holland should arrive at the Court of Savoy The 11th of Iuly all the Army of the Enemies came to attack them upon the Mountain of Vachere where the Vaudois were posted before Colonel Andrion of Geneva and Iohn Leger Minister were newly arrived in these Valleys they observed the Vaudois had made their Lodgments too far asunder that they might the better make use of the shelter of some Stables that were in that place they exhorted them for the better avoiding of surprizes to assemble altogether in one place of the Mountain where they had made some Barricadoes the better to defend themselves but it was impossible to oblige them to it The day following which was the day of the attack they sent 4 Soldiers 2 hours before day to observe the Enemy of which were two who made a halt near the Church of Angrogne they spoke Piemontese which was the reason that they took them to be some of their own but a little after they stealing away when with great precipitation they took the way of the Mountain they shot after them which served the Vaudois for an Alarm and at the same time they put themselves in a posture of defence The Enemy divided themselves into 4 bodies for to fall upon the Vaudois in 4 several places as presently after they did the battel was sharp and lasted about six hours the Enemies being strong refreshed themselves and encouraged one another they had now made themselves Masters of the first Barricado and cryed Victory But the Vaudois that were retreated into their last Retrenchment after a short but ardent Prayer to God sallied out and fell upon them with so much Fury that they obliged them to retreat which they did without any disorder Collonel Andrion would not permit of a pursuit for fear of the Enemies Horse that was below in this Fight the Enemies lost about 400 men among whom were many Officers of Note and 180 Soldiers of the Regiment of Bavaria the Vaudois had only some few Soldiers slightly wounded After this battel the Enemies having lost all hopes of reaping the Corn of Angrogne as they had done that of the Plain enterprized the burning of it but the Vaudois came in so quickly upon them that they obliged them to quit their design for after having killed about a dozen of them they fell upon the rest and put them to flight of which a great number to be the more nimble threw away their arms to save their Lives Captain Bertin pursued them to Tour and killed and wounded a great many of them he killed likewise the Centinel and 4 Soldiers that appeared upon the Ramparts of the Fort and struck the Enemies with so great a terror that they vowed afterwards that if he had followed his blow he might have made himself Master of the place Among all the Battels that we have spoke of it appeared visibly that God had declared himself the protecter and defender of the Vaudois otherwise how was it possible that a handful of men of little or no experience in War should have been able to resist much less
Vaudois of Piemont in the year 1662 and 1663 by Charles Emanuel Second Duke of Savoy THE Marquess of Fleuri and Angrogne who attacqued them the one by the way of Secundus and the other by the way of Briqueras joyned themselves together upon the top of a Hill which is between the Valley of Lucerne and the Valley of Perouse from whence they might easily win the place called Bal upon the Mountains of Vachere at the height of Angrogne which is as it were a most important Fort and the centre of the three Valleys from whence one may easily descend into those of Lucerne Perouse and St. Martin They came to the top of this Hill about break of day and designed to seize upon the Fort of Vachere they were stopt in their carreers by a Body of about sixty men who had posted themselves in a streight place called the Gate of Angrogne without this the Vaudois had been ruined for if they had lost this place they had been utterly undone it being the only place that served them for a refuge and as it were a Sanctuary against the utmost efforts of their Enemies Those that were commanded by the Marquesses of Fleuri and Angrogne who were at least 4000. seeing themselves stopped by the foresaid body posted themselves upon the top of a little eminency they had gained and with green Turf made themselves an Intrenchment the height of a man the Vaudois not being able to hinder them and whiles some wrought to fortify this Post others did their utmost to gain the streight pass kept by the sixty Vaudois The other part of the Army commanded by the Count of Bagnols consisting of equal number was likewise divided into two parts of which one took the way of Chebas and the other the way of St. John and another party took that of Angrogne and the Vaudois were constrained to retreat though they had there the greatest part of their Forces they fought nevertheless in their retreat even to Rochemanant which was a more advantageous post higher up towards Angrogne and there under the shelter of the Rocks and some old Walls they stood their ground and stopt the further progress of their Enemy they being repulsed from the post after several sharp Assaults and the loss of three hundred men God struck them with so great fear that they fled in great disorder tumbling one upon another down the Hills The Vaudois pursued them to the Foot of the Hill where their Cavalry was and killed a great many of them and after having sufficiently provided for the post from which they had so shamefully driven their Enemies they ran to succour their Brethren who fought where the two Marquesses were which they did with very great success The sixty Vaudois that kept the pass of Angrogne were weary having fought above half the day but when they saw that their Brethren came to their succor they took fresh courage two of them creeping upon their Bellies being hid by a part of the Rock came so near the Enemies Retrenchments that they killed two of their Centinels and with their Swords in their hands fell upon their Camp who being quickly followed by all the rest they quickly made themselves masters of it killing and cutting to pieces all that opposed them putting the rest to flight who ran away in great Confusion the two Marquesses were none of the hindermost in the Flight The Vaudois pursued their Enemies to Briqueiras and killed a great many of them there were more than 600. of the Enemy killed and a great many wounded of which the greatest part dyed of their Wounds The Vaudois lost but five or six men and had but a dozen slightly wounded So God did wonderfully deliver the Vaudois and punish the Treachery of their Persecutors and one may say that as in old times the Sword of God was with that of Gideon so in this Rencounter we may truly say that it was with Captain Ianavel and his little Troop otherwise how should 500 men who were extreamly fatigued having fought above half the day have driven their Enemies out of their Camp fortified the height of a man the Vaudois were not then above 500. for they had left one part of their little Army to guard the place from whence they had chased the Count of Bagnols and they had not in all above 700. men After they had beaten their Enemies they gave thanks to God for their Deliverance and the Victory he had given them and gave him all the Glory The Vaudois after having defeated their Enemies went often out in parties to seek them out in every place where the Cavalry could not incommode them nor surprize them and by this means they diminished their Army there scarce being a day that a good number of Savoyards and Piemonteses did not fall into the hands of the Vaudois From the 6th of Iuly till the 10th of the Month of August all that time there were continual Skirmishes where every where the Vaudois had the Advantage over their Enemies The Marquesses of Fleuri and Angrogne who commanded the Army of the Duke recruited their Army with all the Militia of the States of his Royal Highness or with Troops drawn out of Garrisons and with this great Army they undertook a memorable enterprize they attacqued Roras where some Vaudois were retired This Community as we have remarked before was separated from the rest of the Valleys and by consequence could not be succoured before the Massacre and War of 1655. it consisted of but 25 Families the Enemies that were an hundred against one fell upon this little place by so many ways that at last they made themselves Masters of it they killed 23 Vaudois who defended it but they lost above 200 men this was the greatest loss that the Vaudois sustained in this war of 1663. and the greatest Exploit of the Generals of Savoy After that the Enemies had made themselves Masters of the Rocks and Desarts of Roras with so considerable loss the day after they made an excursion to St. Margarite which is a little Village of the Community of Tour consisting of 20 or 25 houses which they burnt to Ashes the Vaudois being assembled together in a small number upon the Mountains of Tour as soon as they saw the Town on a Flame fell with that Swiftness and Resolution upon these Incendiaries that they put them to Flight and covered the ground with their dead Carcasses and killed more of them than they had burnt beams of houses of the Vaudois side there were none either killed or wounded for it was remarked that these Massacrers were struck with so great a fear that they had neither Hands to fight nor Legs to fly Towards the end of the Month of August Captain Janavel intirely defeated an Ambuscade that the Enemies had laid at the place of the Vines to surprize him but they themselves were surprized and cut in pieces The Council of the Propagation of the Faith seeing that the
there were none of the Communities that were not disposed to receive them which they did without any opposition or resistance The Regiments of Foot and the Troops of Horse which they had agreed to receive were no sooner entred and quartered in the several Communities but they seized on all the passes and were followed by all the rest of the Army they were desired to quarter in the Towns and Villages below as being more commodious for them they being offered to be furnished with all things necessary but they marched on as long as the day would permit even to the highest places that were inhabited One part of the Army mounted upon the common road to Angrogne another part upon that of Villar and Bobbi and the third part of the Army possessed themselves of the Meadow of Tour which was the strongest place of Angrogne which served as it were for a Fortress for the Vaudois and in marching they set fire on every place and killed all they met in the way This strange and barbarous proceeding discovered their Treachery then every one fled to save their Lives the greatest part of the men by the favour of the night got to the Mountains and saved part of their Families from these cruelMassacrers and sliding down the other side of the mountain they gained the Valley of Perouse a part of the King of France's Territories This Army besprinkled with the blood of Saints found the houses of Angrogne and the Goods as well of the natural Inhabitants as of those that were fled from other places from which they had been chased by the ordinance of Gastaldo but they found but few Inhabitants except it was of Women Children Old and Sick people The Enemies of the Vaudois having by this Treachery and Perfidiousness made themselves masters of all the Valleys even of the strongest places which would have served them as so many Fortresses against their Persecutors stayed two days without exercising their Rage and projected Cruelty feigning they would do nothing but refresh themselves in their Quarters and in the mean time they strongly perswaded those that remained to recall those that fled assuring them they should have no harm done them and there were some of them that through their too great Credulity cast themselves into the Snares which they had happily escaped The third day the signal being given from the Hill of the Town which is called Castelas all the Innocent creatures that were found in their power were killed in the most cruel manner imaginable they did not kill them as Sheep prepared for the Butchery or as Enemies vanquished that were to be cut off with out quarter but in a manner more cruel and more barbarous the Infants were pulled violently from the Breasts of their Mothers and dashed against the Rocks and Walls by these most cruel Barbarians upon which their Brains were plaistered or else one Soldier took one of these Innocents by one Leg and another by the other and so rent them most miserably asunder and sometimes they dashed the Brains of one Child against the other and after killed their Mothers The Sick as well Women as Children were either burnt in their Houses or cut in pieces or tyed naked with their Heads betwixt their Legs and thrown down the Rocks or tumbled down the Mountains The Women and their Daughters were violated and stuffed with Pibbles and their Mouth and Ears with Powder and afterwards fire was given to the Train and by these sort of Diabolical mines they were miserably blown up others were empaled alive and in this dismal posture planted upon the high ways all naked some of them had their Heads Arms and Breasts cut off which these barbarians fricassy'd and eat Oh the brave Stomachs of the Papist Cannibals The men which were neither old nor sick which fell into the hands of these cruel Butchers some of them were flead alive others after they had cut off their privy Members they cut off their heads and put their Members in their mouths some were cut all in pieces limb from limb as you cut flesh in the Shambles those that did signalize themselves most in this sort of Cruelty were the Irish who had been used to such sort of Massacres in their own Country in the year 1642. After this great Massacre of the poor Vaudois that fell into their power the next day they went a hunting after those that had escaped them of which a great number were wandring in the Woods and among the high Mountains covered with Snow or hid in the caverns and holes of the Rocks not being able to save themselves partly because of the great quantity of Snow and partly because of their weakness being unable to make their escape because the Enemy had seized upon all the Passes This murthering Army having finished the Massacre of all the Protestants they could find in the Valleys or that were wandring in the Woods and Mountains or hid in the caverns and holes of the Rocks they set fire on all combustible things and quickly reduced all their Houses and Churches into ashes nothing was preserved but the Town and Church of Villar which is in the centre of the Valley of Lucerne and some houses in the Plain for quarters of the Irish to whom the Duke of Savoy gave this Country You may see in the General History of Iohn Leger the names and number of the persons massacred and the cruel manner in which they were martyred The Vaudois some of them being cruelly massacred others made Prisoners and the rest driven out of their Country the enemies being totally possessed of the Valleys and being made masters of all they established the Irish there which being a far greater number than the Vaudois that had escaped out of the Massacre there was no appearance that those poor people could ever enter and establish themselves in their Country but God to whom nothing is impossible took their cause in hand and touched the hearts of the Protestant States and Princes who gave them charitable assistance gave them strength and courage fought for them and made them with a handful obtain great and miraculous victories over their enemies and by these signal victories and the sollicitations of Protestant Princes they were re-established in their lost Country and continued there till the year 1686 in despight of all the artifices of their enemies CHAP. XIV The Fourteenth War against the Vaudois of Piemont after the Massacre in the year 1655. in which one may see God fighting visibly for them and with them AFter the cruel Massacre of which we have spoken there was a bloody War between the Vaudois and the murtherers the Vaudois driving them out of their Country in which one may visibly see that the God of Battel sought for them and with them by the glorious advantages they every day got upon their enemies The first Battel they fought was at Roras a little Community consisting of 25 families and which was far distant from
their houses reduced to Ashes and their Trees cut down To this Letter they answered that they had rather suffer a thousand deaths than go to Mass since it could never be clearly proved that either Christ or his Apostles ever did celebrate it that if after burning of their houses they were resolved to cut down their Wood they had a Father in Heaven who would tenderly provide for them After these Menaces the Marquess mustered his Army together composed of 10000 men of which eight Thousand were old Troops and 2000 were of the Country Peasants of Piemont which he listed in the neighbouring Communities he divided his Army into three Bodies of which one had orders to attacque the Vaudois on Villar side another on the side of Bagnols and the third on the side of Lucerne Ianavel with his little Troop went before the body of the Army which first presented themselves and fought valiantly and with incredible success having killed many of the Enemies but when he saw the other two Bodies had gained the Post where several poor Families were fled for refuge and that he could not succour them he saved himself with his 17 Country Peasants and his Son of eight years of Age whom he carried upon his Shoulders and retired into the Valley of Queiras in the Territories of the French King The obstinacy of the Enemies of the Vaudois in their resolution of destroying the small Town of Roras after so many successless attacques shews to all the world the violent passion that a false Zeal can produce in the Heat of those that persecute the Truth of the Gospel Those that are animated with a true Zeal never violate their promises nor oaths made to their enemies but those that are pushed on by a false zeal keep neither their Promise nor Oath they regard nothing but satiating their Malice and contenting their brutal and blind passion to destroy 24 poor Families of the Vaudois they were not content to make use of Force but they must add to it Treachery and Perfidiousness they Promise and Swear they would let them live in quiet as well on behalf of the Duke as of the General of the Army and the day following they command their Troops to cut their Throats and not being able with 500 men to destroy them they sent six hundred and afterwards 9 hundred afterwards 8 thousand and afterwards ten thousand and that which is remarkable is that neither the shame of being repulsed so often nor the loss of so many hundred of their companions made them give over their design The undaunted courage with which Captain Ianavel and his little company sustained the shock and repulsed the violent attacks of his enemies and the wonderful victories he gained shews to the whole world that the God of Battel was on his side For otherwise how was it possible for in the first rencounter with 7 men only to put to flight 500 and in the other Battels with 17 or 18 men of which 6 were only armed with Slings and Stones to rout sometimes 600 then 900 and after some thousands if God had not been with them and given them courage and strength And on the contrary side if he had not taken courage from their enemies and put confusion and terror in their hearts from whence followed their destruction and most shameful flight In short how was it possible that Ianavel and his little handful after so many dangerous fights should save themselves not one of them being killed or as much as wounded although they were attacked in the front and in the rear by their enemies if God had not covered them with his Shield and defended them from their enemies so that Miracles are not yet ceased The enemies Army having made themselves masters of Roras executed the same cruelties towards the families of this little place as they had done towards those of the other Valleys putting all to Fire and Sword without sparing age or sex but the General was enraged that with so puissant an Army he could only triumph over women and children and old decrepit men neither Ianavel nor any of his company falling into his hands The Wife and Daughters of Ianavel were carried Prisoners they were kept alive to make him lay down his Arms threatning to burn his Wife and Daughters if he continued in his Rebellion for so they called his just defence All the Valleys and their dependances being in the hands of their Enemies it seem'd as if these poor people should for ever be exiled from their Country but God who would preserve the light of his word in these Mountains and Valleys hastned to restore them The Massacre of the Valleys was upon the 24th of April but the taking and massacre of Roras was not till the beginning of May. Captain Ianavel after having refreshed himself at Queiras some days mustering some of his Brethren in suffering who had made their escape returned into the Valleys with some provisions and came and posted himself upon the Mountain called Palea de Iaimet from whence with his company he departed the 22d of the same month of May with a design to go to Lucernette which is a Village between the Towns of Lucerne and Bobiane to surprize some Cattel to live upon and to take some prisoners to cause them to restore his Wife and Daughters by way of exchange But his enterprize had not the success he desired for that that place was full of Souldiers He returned to his post and having understood that Captain Iayer with all those he could muster that had escaped the Massacre and were fled into the Valleys of Pierouse and Pragela in the territories of France had possessed himself of the Valley of Lucerne on Angrogne side he prayed him by Letters to assign him the time and place that he might joyn him which they did the 27th of the foresaid month of May. CHAP. XV. Of the conjunction of Jayer and Janavel Captains of the Vaudois and the wonderful exploits they did in the Valleys THese two Captains were no sooner joyned but they undertook the enterprize of seizing upon the Town of Garsillane which was garrisoned by their enemies which they found extremely well fortified The alarm being given the enemies which were very numerous in the neighbouring places as well Horse as Foot having notice by the ringing of the Bell run to the succour of the Town and surrounded the Vaudois who fighting couragiously retreated from the middle of their enemies and in their retreat they took from a Village that was near the Town six pair of Oxen and a good quantity of other Cattel and took some Prisoners with the loss of only one man The 28th of May they came very early in the morning near the Town of St. Secundus to surprize it after having spent some time in Prayer according to their Custom and encouraged one another they attacked it with so much vigour and dexterity that they made themselves Masters of it The Garrison
that was made up of Irish and Piemontes they put all to the Sword they burned the Town and the Churches in revenge of what had been done to their Houses and Temples and having carried away seven Bells and all the Cattel they retreated in the taking this Town they killed 800 Irish and 650 Piemontesses the Vaudois had only seven men killed and six wounded very slightly the Vaudois were about 600 men and their Enemies were at the least 1500 well entrenched and fortifyed The second of Iune the Vaudois went to burn the Forage and Houses upon the Plain of Briqueras and retreating by the way of St. Iohn they were encountered by the Enemy whom they charged so briskly in three several places that they put them to flight leaving 150 dead upon the spot besides those that were Prisoners and wounded In this rencounter there was but one Vaudois killed and two wounded Some days after the Battel of St. Iohn the enemy sent a Convoy to the Fort of Mirebouc conducted by 300 men it 's seituated above in the Valley of Lucerne Captain Ianavel met them by chance in a streight place upon the road he having then only 8 Souldiers with him he stopped them five or six hours and killed and wounded a great number of them without the loss of a man After these glorious exploits Ianavel having reinforced himself retired again to the Mountain called Paleade Iaimet and sent a message from thence to Tour and Bobbi who had revolted to escape the cruelty and barbarity of the enemy and were retired to the Town of Villar that if within 24 hours they did not all joyn him he would treat them as Apostates and Traytors to their Country They pesently came with a great deal of joy seeing some hopes of their liberty being very penitent for their former want of courage and confidence in God The Captains Iayer and Ianavel being joyned the second time resolved to fall upon the Town of Tour where was the strongest Garrison of the Enemy who having some intelligence of their coming put themselves betimes in a posture of defence and killed the first Vaudois that appeared upon the Bridge before the Gate of the Town Inshort they made a great Sally upon the assailants who received their Enemies with so much courage that they covered the earth with their dead Bodies The Battel continued till night the Vaudois entrenched themselves upon a little eminency of a hill they had gained from whence the enemy could not force them though they were a far greater number and were reinforced with some Troops that came from Lucerne to their assistance about the beginning of the night the enemy retired into the Town without being able to carry off their dead which were more than 300. This happy success gave so much courage to the Vaudois that the morrow following they went and posted themselves before the Gates of the Town and their enemies durst not sally out upon them After the attack of Tour the Vaudois retreated into a place of Angrogne called Verné there in a Council of War they resolved to send 450 men which made up the three fourth parts of their little Army to assault the Community of Crusol whose Inhabitants had done them much mischief in the time of the Massacre At the first noise of their approach those of Crusol retired into a great Cave which was in a neigbouring Mountain the Vaudois being not able to force them out from thence contented themselves to take away 400 Cows and Oxen 600 Sheep and Goats and whatsoever Booty they could meet with among which they met with good store of their own Goods that had been taken from them in the Massacre While the 450 Vaudois were on their march for the expedition of Crusol the Papists of St. Sccundus Lucerne Tour and Briqueras burned some houses that remained in Rocheplatte and from thence they went to Angrogne to surprize the little Garrison that was left there to defend that post under the command of the Captains Laurence and Benet They discovered their enemies as they approached them with design to fall upon them in several places at once this obliged the little Garrison to divide their small number into two little bodies of which the one presently gained the top of a mountain and the other kept a little below upon a small hill In conclusion they placed 17 men in ambuscade in an advantageous place where the enemies were to joyn these men rushing out upon them on a sudden and killing seven of them so daunted the rest that they retreated without daring to attempt any thing further After his return from Crusol Captain Jayer went to the Valley of Pragelas to sell a part of his booty but not returning at the day appointed Captain Janavel with 300 men that he had with him undertook to force the Town of Lucerne he came before it early in the morning the sixth of June and as soon as he came there he turned out of its course the Channel that brought water to the Town and broke their Bridge which was but a Musket-shot off the Town to hinder succours from coming in after which he attacked it and defeated two Corps de Guard But the night before Maroles who was Governour of it being entred into it with a new Regiment it was not possible for him with so small a company to make himself master of it so he contented himself with what he had done and retreated without any loss The 15th of June being in Angrogne with 300 men which he commanded was sharply set upon by the enemies Army consisting of 3000 men which was divided into four bodies of which one was to gain the top of a Hill the other was to attack him on the right another on the left and the fourth in the Front the Trumpet which was to give the signal to the Enemies to fall all at once upon the Vaudois having sounded a little sooner than he should have done gave time to Captain Janavel to post himself upon an advantageous neighboring hill where with the assistance of God whom he invoked he resisted from Morning till two hours after Noon all the Attacks of the Enemy and after having killed a great number of them they took their heels and fled in great confusion Janavel pursued them even below Angrogne and killed many of them in the flight the Enemies confess that on this occasion they lost 500 men and had a great many more wounded of the Vaudois there was but one killed and two wounded Immediately after the Battel Captain Iayer came with his little Troop which gave such courage to Ianavel and his that although they were extreamly fatigued with fighting all the day without taking any refreshment having remarked that the Enemies seem'd to doubt of nothing and only thought of dividing themselves that every one might retire to his own quarter they unanimously resolved to attack them and fell upon them with so much courage Iayer on the one
them and they waited the enemies coming with a great deal of resolution but they wanted regular Troops and experienced Commanders there were many that were corrupted and grew slack during the negotiation The greatest fault they committed was that they resolved to guard all the Posts for if they had abandoned the Posts that were the nearest the enemy and had retreated within the retrenchments that were within the Mountains and Rocks it 's probable they could not have been reduced to the extremity they after were The 22d the two Armies attacqued the Vaudois in several places the Army of the Duke being advanced as far as the Plain of St John divided it self into several bodys who attacqued at the same time divers retrenchments that the Vaudois had in the Valleys of Lucerne and Angrogne the Vaudois not being able to stand the fury of the Enemies Cannon in those open retrenchments were constrained after some resistance to abandon a part of their retrenchments and to put themselves into another stronger retrenchment above Angrogne where were 500 men The enemies after having burned all their Houses and whatso ever came in their way came to attacque the Fort the Vaudois defended themselves so stoutly against the whole Army that they kept that Post a whole day with the loss of only five men and the enemies lost above 300 although they were very well covered with retrenchments the Vaudois fearing they could not longer keep this Post deserted it and put themselves into another which was about 200 paces higher above the former and far more advantagious there they expected their enemies with a great deal of resolution and courage who advanced to attacque them when news was brought them that those of the Valley of St. Martin had yielded themselves up to the French who came to fall upon them in the rear This Valley as we have said was the strongest of all the Valleys and from thence they might easily enter into the Valleys of Lucerne and Angrogne They did not know upon what Conditions they had surrendred nor how their Brethren there had been treated by the French This melancholy news obliged the Vaudois to enter into a treaty with Don Gabriel de Savoy Uncle to the Duke and General of the Army and with the other Generals who after having known the sentiments of his Royal Highness who was at Lucerne promised positively on his behalf and their own that all past should be pardoned and that they should have the conditions promised in the Edict of the 9th of April provided they would surrender themselves up to His Most Serene Royal Highness's Clemency but the Vaudois making some difficulty to trust this bare promise Don Gabriel who was advertised of it sent them a promise in writing signed with his own hand in the name of His Most Serene Royal Highness in these words Lay your Arms down speedily and throw your selves upon His Royal Highness's Clemency and assure your selves he will extend his grace and favour to you and none shall touch your persons nor those of your Wives and Children An anssurance of this nature one would think was security enough for the lives and liberties of the Vaudois This promise was made in the name of the Duke but if it had but been in the name of Don Gabriel and the General Officers it ought not to be less inviolable for we do not read among the Turks nor the most Barbarous Nations that are that ever such promises were violated The Vaudois laid down their Arms upon confidence of this promise and the most part surrendred themselves up to their enemies but all those that came within their power were made Prisoners and sent to the Town of Lucerne under pretence that they should be conducted thither to make their submissions The enemies presently seized on all the Posts that the Vaudois had possessed in the Community of Angrogne and not content to have violated their faith and promise they had given that they would not meddle with their persons in making them Prisoners they sacked pillaged and burnt the Houses of these people and put a great many of them to the Edge of the Sword of all Ages and Sexes and violated many Women and Maids and committed such brutal actions that may astonish all that have any sentiments of humanity After this treaty many of the Vaudois retreated afar off and would not deliver themselves into the hand of their Enemies till they knew what became of the first that had surrendred and these seeing that the Army committed execrable cruelties every where where they went and that they kept all those that surrendred prisoners they hid themselves in the Woods and sent by one of St. Johns a Petition to Don Gabriel to desire him to release their Brethren that were kept prisoners against his solemn promise and to cease all acts of hostility that the Army committed with such barbarity Don Gabriel returned them no answer but some Officers answered him that brought the Petition they were only carried to Lucerne to make their submissions to His Royal Highness and after that they should be released which notwithstanding was not done The treaty made with Don Gabriel in one of the Articles was that the Vaudois should enjoy the benefit of the Edict of the 9th of April which promised them liberty of going out of the Duke's Dominions and carrying with them their moveables and what effects they pleased and to sell their effects and goods that they should leave behind all these conditions were violated they took and pillaged all their effects and burned their Houses and all they could not carry away The Vaudois who were in the Post of which we have spoke having surrendred themselves to their enemies upon the terms we have mentioned Don Gabriel made one part of his Army possess themselves of the high places of the Valley of Angrogne who finding no more resistance came to the Meadow of Tour the most considerable Fort of the Vaudois and in which was the greatest part of their Cattle the Marquess of Parelle who commanded this body of men told the Vaudois that were in the Fort that peace was made by the capitulation of Angrogne and that they had nothing to do but to enjoy the fruit of it He assured them at the same time upon the word of a person of honour that if they would put themselves into his hands he would neither meddle with their persons nor the persons of their Wives and Children and that they might carry with them what they would without the least fear or danger of any thing being taken from them and that they had nothing to do but to come to Lucerne where His Most Serene Royal Highness was to make their Submissions and after that all those that would become Catholicks might return in all security to their Houses and Estates and that those that would go out of his Highnesses Dominions might have Liberty according to the Edict of the 9th of April The
Marquess of Parelle who came from the Valley of St. Martin passed St. Juliane a Mountain which was then believed to be inaccessible and he was in a condition to attack the Vaudois from above this obliged them to quit Bobbi and place themselves among the Woods and Rocks The Marquess of Parelle and the Count of Brichanteau having possessed the Posts that the Vaudois had quitted sent to them in their Fastnesses divers persons to exhort them to yield and offered them the pardon of their Prince One part of these poor people being sorely harrassed and pressed with famine and other miseries laid hold on the proffer but they lost their liberty as well as the rest there were some also who surrendred themselves to the Governour of the Fort of Mirebouc upon promise that he made them of life and liberty but this Governour paid their confidence with a rigorous imprisonment Those who had posted themselves in the Mountain of Vandelin after having fought manfully for some time suffered themselves at last to be seduced by the Count de la Roche Governour of the Valleys he did promise them positively by a Writing under his Hand that they should return to their Houses without the least molestation but they had no sooner quitted their Post than he made them be seized on and imprisoned taking from them the Paper he had signed with his own hand The ill treatment they gave those that surrendred was the cause that there was a little party of Vaudois who chose rather to suffer famine and all sorts of miseries among the Woods and Rocks where they had hid themselves than to put themselves into the hands of their enemies The General sent a part of his Troops after them to seek them out they found some who were massacred in the endeavouring to make their ascape others were presently hanged upon the Trees others were carried Prisoners to Lucerne and afterwards cruelly hanged among whom was Monsieur Leidet a Minister in the Valley of St. Martin who died a most Christian death Those that fell not into the hands of their enemies led a languishing life among the Woods and Rocks where they had hid themselves living on Roots and wild Herbs that they gathered on the Mountains and in this sad condition some remained one month and some two The enemies of the Vaudois having by their perfidiousness and treachery killed more than three thousand of them and deprived above ten thousand of their liberty and taken and dispersed above two thousand Children they thought they had finished their design and fell to confiscating all the Goods and Lands of the Vaudois CHAP. XXI Containing a just diffidence of a part of the Vaudois which was the cause of their preservation Their courage and firm resolution to defend themselves which procured them a safe retreat out of the Duke's Dominions with Letters of safe Conduct ABout the end of the month of Iune the French Army and the Bandit's of Mondovi retired the Vaudois that would not hearken to the fraudulent propositions of peace that were offered them nor confide in the deceitful promises of their enemies being not so straitned by the Army of the Duke which alone staid behind in the Valleys came out of the places where they had hid themselves to seek for Victuals to sustain their languishing life there were about fourscore in the Valley of Lucerne and fifty in that of St. Martin with some Women and Children As soon as they were assembled together they seized upon an advantagious Post that their enemies had quitted after that they made several excursions into the Plain and allways carried off good store of booty and provisions They beat upon several occasions many detachments of the enemy killed a great number of the Savoyards that were come to inhabit in the Valleys and did for some months such bold and couragious actions that they put their enemies under Contribution and forced them to furnish them with Victuals to hinder their excursions into the Plain The Court of Turin having to no purpose employed force to chace them out of Valleys made them under hand an offer of safe conduct and Hostages for the security of their safe retreat out of the Country Those that brought this proposal to the Vaudois did not avow that they acted by order of the Court of Turin on the contrary they told them they spoke without any directions from thence but on their own heads and promised them that they did not doubt but to procure them passports and hostages by their own interest in that Court but it 's certain that this was not transacted without leave of the Court for besides that no one particular person durst of his own head intermeddle in the affair the safe conducts that were after expedited shewed clearly that all was done by order of the Court the Vaudois refused to hearken to these propositions whether it was because they had no confidence in their promises or because they were resolved to dye or release their Brethren out of Captivity Death being more sweet to them than life as long as their Brethren groaned under the Chains of their Enemies in Prison to oblige the Vaudois to accept of these offers they were told that the Duke of Savoy had declared that as long as they were in arms he would not release the Prisoners but they were positively promised that as soon as they were gone out of the Country their Brethren should be set at Liberty The Vaudois considering that their Resistance might furnish their Enemies with a pretence of detaining the Prisoners thought themselves obliged to retire out of the Dominions of the D. of Savoy It was at last agreed that they should go out of the Valleys with their Wives and Children Arms and Baggage in two Troops or Brigades their charges to be born and conducted safe into Switzerland at two several times by a Captain of his Royal Highnesses called Perret with passports in due form that for the security of of the first Troop there should Hostages be left in the Valleys in the hands of the second who should keep them till they had certain intelligence of the safe arrival of the first at the place agreed on and after that the first Troop should be safe arrived that Captain Perret should give an Officer of his Kindred for Hostage till the second Troop should be arrived there in safety If the Vaudois that treated with Don Gabriel and with Catinat had had these precautions and had not laid down their arms but taken Hostages for the performance of the promises that were made them they had not been imprisoned by thousands neither had their Children been taken away and their Wives and Daughters violated The Vaudois that were in the Valley of St. Martin did almost the same that those had done who were in the Valley of Lucerne for though they were fewer in number they notwithstanding defended themselves with so much courage and resolution that they forced their Enemies to
THE HISTORY OF THE VAUDOIS WHEREIN Is shewn their Original how God has preserved the Christian Religion among them in its Purity from the time of the Apostles to our days The Wonders he has done for their preservation with the Signal and Miraculous Victories that they have gained over their Enemies how they were dispersed and their Churches ruined and how at last they were re-established beyond the expectation and hope of all the World By Peter Boyer a Minister of the Gospel Dedicated to the King of England and newly translated out of French by a Person of Quality LONDON Printed for Edward Mory at the Three Bibles in St. Paul's Church-Yard M DC XCII TO THE KING OF Great BRITTAIN SIR THE wonders that God has done by Your Ministry in England and Ireland makes me hope that the History of the Vaudois will not be unacceptable and makes me take the liberty of presenting Your Majesty with it You will in it as in a fine mirror clearly see the wonders God has done for the preservation the of Churches of Piemont and the calm they enjoyed from the time of the Apostles when they received the doctrine of the Gospel till the year 1488 that Pope Innocent the VIII caused the Croisade to be published against them The number of those that took upon them the Badge of the Cross were 18000 men of regular Troops and 8000 Voluntiers of Piemont which were all intirely defeated by a handful of Vaudois Ever since that time they have been continually persecuted and disturbed with cruel wars But as they fought the battel of God in defending his truth so it visibly appeared that the God of battel was with them and fought for them without whose aid it had been impossible for them to have performed such extraordinary exploits and gained so many victories over their Enemies who were often times twenty or thirty sometimes a hundred against one Your Majesty shall see the cruel persecutions that the Enemies of the Gospel have made them to undergo and the constancy with which the Martyrs have sealed this Celestial Verity with their Blood If the Enemies had any advantage over them it was only then in violating the Publick Faith which should be inviolably sacred among men In conclusion Your Majesty will be astonished how so few have been able to subsist in the Valleys of Piemont till the year 1686 being surrounded with such puissant Enemies cruel full of diabolical artifices without Faith without Law but if their subsisting be miraculous their return and re-establishment is no less One may see every where that it 's the work of God and not of men I could not Sir address this my Little Work better to any than to Your Majesty who has seen the God of Armies march before you as anciently he marched before the Camp of Israel and as he marched and yet marches before them who are the subject of this History You maintain as they Sir the Cause of God and you fight for his Truth and there is no doubt but that he is with you and fights for you and with you the happy success of Your Enterprizes puts it beyond all doubt I pray God with all my heart that he may preserve Your Majestys Sacred Person that he may give you a flourishing and happy Kingdom and bless all Your Just Designs to his Honour and Glory this is the Ardent Prayer of him who with the most profound respect is SIR Your Majesties Most Humble Most Faithful and Most Obedient Servant P. Boyer ADVERTISEMENT OF all the people that ever have been from the Creation of the world till our times there is none except the ancient people of the Jews whose History contains so many wonders as this of the Vaudois of Piemont for whether one consider their Perseverance in the profession of the holy doctrine of the Apostles or one reflects upon the wars they have maintained these 200 years to preserve among them the Purity of the Christian Religion one sees so many miracles of Wisdom Goodness and Power of God that it 's impossible not to confess that God has declared himself plainly to be the God of this people and that he is the Protector and Defender of their Persons as well as Religion We learn from the Holy Scripture that the people of the Jews whom God had chosen above all the people of the Earth to be his people and in favour of whom he had done so many miracles in Aegypt in the Red Sea and the Wilderness often fell into Idolatry and polluted thimselves with the abominations of the Heathens that dwelt round about them but we do not find that the Vaudois did ever fall into Idolatry after they were once planted in the field of the Church we likewise see that many Heresies were introduced into the Primitive Church by the craft of Satan as those of the Eutichians Nestorians and above all that of the Arians but we can never discover that any of these Heresies took footing in the Valleys of Piemont and when all the world ran after the Beast of the Apocalypse after the great Harlot with whom the Kings of the Earth have committed Whoredom and who with her wine made all the Inhabitants of the Earth drunk the Churches of Piemont only followed Iesus Christ and inviolably adhered to his Doctrine So the Valleys had antiently for their arms a Torch environed with thick Darkness with this Motto Lux lucet in tenebris Light shines in darkness and as all Aegypt was covered over with palpable Darkness only in the Land of Goshen shined a clear bright Light even so as long as the Christian world was covered over with the Darkness of Idolatry and Errors there were only the Churches of Piemont that were illuminated with the clear light of the Gospel Now how was it possible that this celestial verity should be preserved pure in these Valleys even to our times if God by his infinite power and adorable wisdom had not hindred Satan from sowing his Cockle in the mystical Field of his Church to corrupt as he had done in other places the good seed of his word by the mixture of humane Traditions and Pagan Ceremonies which have corrupted sound Doctrine and that which is the greatest cause of admiration is that these Valleys are scituated in Italy where the great Whore has her Seat and the Princes of Piemont are subject to her Empire As to the wars that the Vaudois have maintained against their Enemies who rose against them to destroy them and to extinguish the bright Lamp of the Gospel they are all full of Miracles where one may see a handful of men conducted by Chieftains of no military experience put to flight great Armies commanded by the most valiant and most experienced Captains of the Age their Enemies were 20 and 30 and sometimes 100 against one Now how was it possible they should have got so many signal victories if the God of Battle had not fought for them and
Monsieur de Maugiron with ten Companies of Foot and Monsieur de la Motte Gondren with other Troops all composed of pickt and expert Soldiers he says it was granted him and that the Troops were joyned to the Army commanded by Count de la Trinita the Vaudois in sight of this Army reinforced with the Troops of France confiding in the aid Heaven went to force the Fortress of the Borough of Villar in the middle of the Valley of Lucerne that the Duke a while before had built to cut that Pass from the Enemy The Count del a Trinita being strengthned with the Troops of France and some fresh ones sent by the Duke attempted several times to attacque them but in every one of them they were repulsed with considerable loss sometimes they lost 900. men when the Vaudois lost not above 15. The Army of the Duke being extreamly weakned what by continual losses what by desertion of Soldiers who seeing they got nothing but blows in this War deserted in great numbers The Duke sollicited by his Dutchess whom as we have said had some knowledge of the Truth and had a great deal of tenderness for the Vaudois gave them Peace with the free exercise of their Religion by his Letters Patents dated at Cavor the fifth of June 1561. their Goods being restored to them the Prisoners released and those that were condemned to Galleys for their Religion were set at liberty and they were reestablished in all their Rights and Priviledges In the year 1565. four years after this Edict was published at the earnest desire of the Pope a new Order was published through all these Valleys That all the Subjects of the D. of Savoy who within ten days after the publication of the said order did not declare before some of their Magistrates that they would go to Mass should within two months be gone out of all the Estates of the said Duke and at the same time the Magistrates received an express order to make an exact list of all those that would not obey the said Order and send it speedily to his Highness The Protestant Princes of Germany were extreamly sensible of this new Vexation and made by their Letters a great Complaint to the Duke of the bad entreatment of the Vaudois to the Prejudice and contrary to the Tenour of his Letter Patents and desired him to remedy it for the future that they might enjoy the Benefit of his generous Grant the Prince Palatine sent one of of his principal Counsellors in an Embassy to procure peace to these poor People Margerite of France wife of the Duke who was a pious and vertuous Princess and who was very tender of the Vaudois sweetned as much as she could the anger of her Husband who by false reports of the Enemies of the Gospel was much irritated against them The day of St. Bartholomew in the Year 1572. there was made a most cruel Massacre of the Protestants at Paris and in several other places of the Kingdom of France Castrocaro Governor of the Valleys threatned to do as much to the Vaudois of Piemont But whether it was that the Duke of Savoy did not approve of the cruel Butchery which was made of the Protestants of France or whether at the earnest Sollicitations of his Dutchess who as much as possible with her natural Sweetness gained and wrought upon him to shew Mercy and Clemency to the Vaudois he put forth a Manifesto and declared to all his Subjects of the Valleys who for Fear of the Governour were fled that they might return without any Fear or Danger to their own habitations he gave them likewise order that they might receive their Brethren of France assuring them they might live very securely there and he kept his word for even to his Death which hapned the 13th of August 1580. they were not molested but enjoyed a quiet Repose CHAP. IX Of the fifth War against the Vaudois under Charles Emanuel Duke of Savoy and chiefly of those of the Marquisate of Saluzzo CHarles Emanuel his Son succeeded him who a little time after the Decease of his Father seized upon the Marquisate of Saluzzo which belonged to the Duke of Savoy Monsieur Del ' Esdiguiers by way of reprisal seized upon the Valleys of Piemont and forced the Inhabitants of these Valleys to take the Oath of Fidelity to the then King of France The Enemies of the Vaudois were not wanting under this pretence to irritate the Duke of Savoy against these poor People to extirpate them when a fit opportunity should offer without considering that they were forced by the powerful arms of the King to take the Oath their Prince having given them no succor War being begun between Henry VI. King of France and Charles Emanuel Duke of Savoy about the Marquisate of Saluzzo the King made himself Master of all Savoy in one Campaign which the Emperor and the King of Spain seeing they desired the Pope who was about marrying his Neice to the King of France viz. Mary de Medicis to endeavour to make a peace between these two Princes which he did by the Articles of it the King of France restored to the Duke of Savoy all that he had taken from him excepting Bresse which was exchanged for the Marquisate of Saluzzo The Enemies of the Vaudois as soon as the Duke was at peace abroad were not wanting to sollicite him to make War upon the Vaudois but he considering that his Father had had but ill Success in the War he had made upon them although he was assisted by the Forces of Spain and France would not declare open War against them but permitted them to be disturbed in their Affairs and when the Inquisitors had put any of them in Prison for their Religion and that Application was made to him for their Enlargement he would answer that he did not intermeddle in those Affairs But he acted in another manner with the Vaudois of Saluzzo than with those of the Valleys against those of the Valleys he was content to let their Enemies act but against those of the Marquisate he declared himself an open Persecutor from the time he was absolute master of it for about the end of the Month of Iune 1601. he made an Edict by which he commanded that every one must declare before the ordinary Magistrate that within the term of 15 days that he was resolved to renounce his Religion and to go to Mass with which if he complyed he might not only enjoy his House and Goods but other great Priviledges but for those that were obstinate and resolved to continue in their Religion they absolutely commanded to be gone out of all his Dominions in two Months time and never to return again upon pain of Death and Confiscation of their Goods There were 8 flourishing Churches inthis Marquisate but this Edict being executed with a great deal of rigour all these poor Churches were dissipated for the Faithful seeing that the Duke would not
Lucernette St. Iohn de la Tour de Bubbian de Fenil de Campligon de Briguieras and of St. Secundus the Commssion was dispatched the 13th of January 1655. and the 25th day of the same Month Gastaldo gave Orders and a strict command to all the Protestants of the foresaid places to abandon them and to retire with their Families within three days after the publication into places which his royal Highness did tollerate which are Bobbi Villar Angrogne Roras and the Country of the Bonnets under the pain of Death and confiscation of all their Goods if they found them in the aforesaid Limits if within twenty days they do not make it appear to us that they are become Roman Catholicks or that they have sold their Goods to Catholicks Those that gave this pernicious Counsel to the Duke knew that the Protetestants were time out of mind established there even before the Dukes of Savoy were Princes of Piemont and the Predecessors of Charles Emanuel II. who had given this commission to Gastaldo had maintained them by divers declarations and grants but they belived that the Vaudois who were well established in those places that they were commanded to quit would not obey the unjust command of Gastaldo and that so they would take their disobedience for a pretence to destroy them or if they obeyed and they could not be destroyed or chased out of the rest of the Valleys the places they should quit would be enough to receive the Irish who being a people that had been long trained up in the wars would be a bridle upon the Vaudois and put them upon an impossibility of ever recovering their former habitations Although the Protestants well knew the injustice of this order and that they had sufficient reason not to obey it nevertheless to take away all pretence from their Enemies of rendring them odious to their Prince and to make them pass for Rebels they quitted the places named by Gastaldo and retired into those assigned in the Proclamation after which they sent Deputies to the Duke who should go and cast themselves at his Feet and by a most humble petition which they presented him they supplicated him with a most profound respect to revoke the Orders given to Gastaldo as being conrrary to their Priviledges and the Grants but their request was without any answer The Vaudois seeing that they had no compassion of their miseries had recourse to her royal Highness his Mother to whom they presented a petition full of Respect and Submission this Princess sent them back to the Council of the Propagation their sworn Enemies and most cruel Persecutors and this Council sent them back to the Marquess de Pianesse who long before had received ordets to go and massacre them as the event made most evidently appear CHAP. XII The sixth war against the Vaudois of Piemont by the Dutchess of Savoy ' and Charles Emmanuel her Son WHile the Vaudois laboured by their humble Supplications and Submissions to sweeten the Spirit of their Prince and to incline him to maintain their rights and priviledges having done nothing that could forfeit them their Enemies laboured with the Duke with all their power to destroy them they raised for this purpose an Army of 15000 men formed of all the Troops of the Duke of four Regiments of French of one Regiment of Germans and twelve hundred of the Irish they were all old Troops Prince Thomas who then commanded the army of the King in Italy sent to the Duke his Nephew four of the best Regimnets of the Army with the Irish the Duke of Bavaria his Brother in Law sent him one of his best Regiments the Army was ready the 15th of April 1655. and in a condition to execute their wicked design against these innocent people who seeing the Enemies army approach their Valleys began to stand upon their Guard In the interim the Marquess of Pianesse who commanded the army amused their Deputies at Turin till they were marched near the Valley and ready to enter them the sixteenth he departed incognito and gave orders before his departure to stop the Deputies till they had received advice that he with his Army was entred the Valleys which would have been executed if a Person of Quality who did not approve the Perfidiousuess and Treachery that was made use of to destroy these poor people had not whispered them in the ear to be gone quickly the Marquess is in the Valleys in short he got into the Valley of Lucerne the day after his departure which was the 17th of the Month of April the 18th the Army foraged and sacked all the Communities and Countrys of St. Iohn and de la Tour without any resistance the 18th the Army going about to force the Vaudois that were retired into the places limited by the order of Gastaldo after they had implored the aid and assistance of the God of battle defended themselves couragiously against all this great Army which attacked them in four several places they repulsed them vigorously and after having killed a great number of their Enemies they put them to the rout though they were an hundred against one CHAP. XIII Of the abominable means that the Marquess of Pianesse made use of to surprize the Vaudois of Piemont and to enter into the Valleys and of the cruel Massacre he made of these poor Innocents after his Entry in the year 1655. THE Marquess of Pianesse seeing that he could not destroy the Vaudois by force of arms had recourse to a most strange and detestable piece of Perfidiousness which Satan had suggested to him He sent a Trumpeter to them to tell them that they should send their Deputies and hear from his Mouth the will and pleasure of his royal Highness that all was for their good and advantage and that they might come with a full assurance the Vaudois desiring nothing more than peace were presently taken in this gin the the Marquess had laid for them they sent away their Deputies with the Trumpet and were received with all demonstrations of Kindness Monsieur de Pianesse entertained them splendidly at Dinner made a thousand protestations of Amity and most endearing Caresses but this was all to surprize them and betray them them as Iudas did with a kiss After he had cast a mist before their Eyes by his Peotestations and deceitful Caresses full of Snares he told them he had nothing to do but with the Inhabitants of those places forbid by the order of Gastaldo but as for other places they had nothing to fear if they would only in sign ofObedience and Fidelity receive and quarter for 2 or 3 days in every one of their Communities a Regiment of Foot and two Troops of Horse the Deputies who believed the protestations of the Marquess were sincere and far from all Treachery and Perfidiousness when they returned to those that had deputed them they so strongly perswaded them to do what the Marquess of Pianesse had counselled them that
the rest Count Christopher who was Lord of the place and a member of the Council of Propagating the Faith being very far from preserving his vassals as his interest and duty obliged him violently carried on with a false zeal did all he could to destroy them and employed to that end force and treachery for contrary to the solemn Parole that he had given them on the Marquess of Pianesse's behalf that they should be left in quiet the same day that was designed for the cruel Butchery of the Vaudois he sent four or five hundred Soldiers to Roras for to treat the Inhabitants of that small place in the same manner that all the rest of the Valleys were treated and to surprize them the better he shewed them a secret way that the Soldiers might march with more expedition which shews that there is no crime nor wickedness of which a blind zeal is not capable of Captain Ianavel who was fled into Roras with his Family perceived a far off the Enemies he had then not with him above five or six Country Peasants with this little Company he went to expect the Enemy at an advantagious pass they killed six of the Enemies upon the Spot and the other being sorely frighted fled in great Confusion thinking the Vaudois were more in number than they were and in flying they lost fifty four of their Companions The Marquess of Pianesse who commanded the Enemies Army hearing of the ill success of his affairs at Roras the better to lull them in a secure sleep and surprize them he sent them word that the Soldiers that went to attacque them were only Rogues and Vagabonds and none of his Troops highly protesting that he knew nothing of the design and that he would have been extreamly pleased if they had cut them in pieces in the mean time the day following after he had sent them these specious protestations he detached 600 select Soldiers who should go and set upon Roras in three several places and exactly follow the ordes he had given Captain Ianavel having discovered them with his little company which was now composed of about 18 men of which 12 were armed with Fusees and Pistols and Faucheons six other with Slings only and Stones he divided them into three little Bands and placed them in Ambuscado in an advantageous post they charged so home their Enemies that they seeing themselves attacqued with so much courage by those that they went to surprize they betook themselves to their heels leaving dead upon the spot 60 of their men This second bad success did not notwithstanding make the General give over the Enterprize but as Treachery and Perfidiousness had had success in other Valleys so he was resolved to have recourse to the same he sent to Roras Count Christopher who as I told you before was Lord of the place to tell them that what was done was bottomed upon a false report but being better informed by the said Count and at his entreaty he would for the futurelet them live in perfect quiet thinking thus to surprize them by this cunning Artifice and Treachery of their own Lord and Master for the day after he sent a Detachment of 900 pickt men to fall upon those of Roras in several places at once Ianavel with his seventeen Peasants being got before them to the Passes when they came fell upon them with so much courage that he quite routed them killing a great number in the field and in the pursuit The Marquess being ready to burst with despight and rage for this third ill success of his Troops rallied together all the forces that he could conveniently that were in the Valleys for to go and cut the throats of those poor innocent Lambs that were in this little Community the Army consisted of about 8000 effective men which were at the Rendezvouze ordered by the General Captain Mario a valiant Souldier and a great Massacrer led the Troops that came from Bagnols and came first with a considerable body of men and thought himself strong enough to make himself master of Roras and without expecting the other Troops he divided his into two parts and fell upon the Vaudois in the front and the rear but the Vaudois having gained the top of an eminency that was above the highest Troops of their enemies so that they could not be attacked but in the front from this place they made so vigorous a defence that at last they disordered their enemies and put them to flight having left sixty five of their companions dead upon the place besides those that were wounded drowned and killed in the pursuit Captain Mario in flying fell into a whirlpool where without doubt he had been drowned if two or three of his Souldiers that were expert in swimming had not drawn him out he was brought back to Lucerne in his Shirt without either Hat or Shoes and was presently seized with a dreadful Malady during which he suffered horrible Torments which made him an hundred times cry out that he felt the fire of hell in his bowels for the Houses Churches and Persons he had burnt in the Valley of Lucerne he dyed in these torments and in this estate he went to give an account of his wickedness before the soveraign Judge of the world After so long a fight and so glorious a Deliverance Ianavel with his little Troop being retreated to the eminency of a little hill that there they might refresh themselves they had no sooner begun to eat than they saw another body of the Army which came by the way of Villar and were climbing up the Mountains to surprize them in the Rear as soon as they saw the Enemy they presently quitted their Dinners to put themselves in a posture of defence in the most advantageous place he that commanded in chief the Enemies made a small Detachment to take a view of the Vaudois who came very near them thinking they might be some of their own Gang the Vaudois discharged so home and thick upon them that every one killed one or more which caused so great a terror and confusion among them that remained that they fled in great disorder and spread the terror and dread of the Vaudois so among the Soldiers of that great body that they immediately all betook themselves to their Heels believing the Vaudois were considerable in number whereas they were but 18 Ianavel with his little Troop pursued and killed a great many of them after which he gave thanks to God for so glorious a deliverance as he was always accustomed to do when he gained any Victory over the Enemies Three days after these two battels the Marquess of Pianesse fuming and storming biting his Nails for Anger and Madness at the pitiful suceess of all his Designs he sent an express by a Letter to the people of Roras by which he commanded them on behalf of the Duke they should all within 24 hours go to Mass under pain of Death and seeing
to gain so many Victories over their enemies which were expert and tryed Souldiers as we have seen they have done to the 15th of July when they fought alone without the aid or assistance of any foreign help and that which is considerable they had to do with their Prince whom the emissaries of the Pope had armed against them only in hatred of their Religion Their Prince was assisted by the King of France and the D. of Bavaria of which the one was his Brother-in-law and the other his Cousin-geâ—…man The Vaudois were not the hundredth part of his Subjects and Estates The Prince and all his other Subjects were armed against them and notwithstanding they gained no advantage but on the contrary they were foyled and in most occasions most shamefully put to flight The Protestants of France hearing of the cruel Massacre that was committed upon their Brethren of Piemont made extraordinary prayers to God for them and large Collections to assist those that had escaped Some Provinces celebrated a Fast for them and that of Cevenne celebrated one by order of the Synod assembled at Sale in the month of June 1655. Upon the News that was divulged that those that had escaped the Massacre were re-entered into the Valley and defended themselves there couragiously many Officers and Soldiers of Cevenne and the lower Languedoc went to the succour of their Brethren who in little Companies by several ways got into the Valleys and so the Army of the Vaudois that had not been till the 14. or 15. of July above 600. men consisted of 1800. the 17th or 18th of July The Lord of Combies of the City of Anduse in Cevenne was of the number of those that went to succour their Brethren and because he had had considerable imploys in the Armys of the King of France he was by general consent chosen General of the Army after the example of those of the lower Languedoc and Cevenne many Soldiers out of the Delphinate came and joined them in the Vallies The Army being two thirds stronger than it was it was resolved in a council of War to go and force the Town and Fort of Tour they departed at night the 18th of Iuly for this expedition and they arrived the day following before day within a mile of Tour where they halted till day break and then Monsieur Combies sent some to view the Fortifications of the Fort and those that were sent made a report to the General that the place was impregnable against a greater Army upon which Monsieur Combies ordered to sound a retreat being apprehensive of ill success in his first design But Captain Bertin who was of a contrary opinion would not retreat with his Company but desperately assaulted the Town he was soon followed by the rest of the Vaudois and some two or three French men this Captain who was a Townsman of Tour knew all the weak places about it and presently broke through the Wall near the Convent of Capuchius before the Enemy took the Alarm made himself Master of the Borough and of the Convent which he burnt down to the Ground and there is no doubt to be made that if all the Army of the Vaudois had followed Captain Bertin but that they had taken the Fort notwithstanding the Succours that Maroles Governour of Lucerne brought as soon as he had News of the attempt Monsieur Combies having seen what Captain Bertin had done was much concerned that he had sounded a Retreat And here ends the War of the year 1655. which was followed by a cruel Massacre that was made of the Vaudois in the month of April in the same year but before we speak of Peace it 's necessary that we make some Reflections upon this War CHAP. XVI Reflections upon the War in the year 1655. and of the ensuing Peace made at Pignerol by the mediation of the Ambassador of France and the Ambassadors of the Protestant Cantons IT 's certain that the Duke of Savoy had no better nor more faithful Subjects than the Vuudois who always followed their Prince as well in his wars abroad as at home They never took up arms but when they would force their Consciences and deprive them of the free exercise of their Religion This appears in this that every time that war was made upon them they were commanded first to renounce their Religion and go to Mass and that they let alone in peace all those that obeyed and gave them several priviledges and immunities all the crime the Vaudois for which they were so severely handled was because they would not abandon their Religion which they had received from Father to Son from the time of the Apostles and was in every thing conformable to their Doctrine Those that escaped out of the Massacre had just reason to take up Arms the Enemies had unjustly murdered the Fathers and Mothers of some the Wives and Children of others some had lost their Brothers and Sisters and they would have done the same to them if they had fallen into the hands of these cruel Butchers So much Blood unjustly spilt cryed to Heaven for vengeance and God would make use of the hands of those that escaped to revenge it as the event shewed by the victories they gained over their Massacrers and by the great slaughter they made of them though they were inferior in number and that which is more they were driven from their own Houses Goods and Country against the Laws of Nature and Nations which orders that every one enjoy his own in quiet if he have committed no crimes that make him unworthy of it Now these poor people had committed no crime they were of the Religion they professed before the Dukes of Savoy had any thing to do with Piemont and besides it was confirmed to them by divers grants and priviledges If God had not been willing to re-establish them in their Country would he have given them courage to return without being recalled by their Prince after having been driven out by a cruel Massacre and a puissant Army When Captain Ianavel returned home which was about fifteen or twenty days after he was driven from Roras he had but about 200 men and they had established in the Valleys 1200 Irish all Soldiers there were besides that 3000 men of the old Troops of the Duke of Savoy and all the Inhabitants were Papists so that there were more than an hundred against one But though their Enemies were in so great a number and were Masters of the Country Ianavel notwithstanding returned and not barely content to make excursions but they carried away a good Booty from Lucernette which was a place full of the Enemies and scituate between the Towns of Lucerne and Bobiane where the Duke had strong Garrisons If God had not given the Vaudois courage how would they have undertaken the enterprize of St. Secundus where there were 800 Irish and 650 Piemonteses in garrison strongly fortified and intrenched and they were not
above 500 so small a number could they have forced the Town if God had not been with them and fought for them and delivered these Massacrers of their Brethren into their hands to revenge the blood they had so inhumanly and without cause spilt Although this war continued but three months it was nevertheless very bloody for the enemies of the Vaudois lost in the several rencounters and battels we have spoke of more than 4000 men of which the greatest part were of the number of the Massacrers who were sent to God in a short time to give an account of their barbarities and cruelties towards these poor Innocents The Vaudois during the whole war lost not above ninety five men reckoning in this number the forty who were killed with Captain Iayer by a signal piece of treachery of which we have spoke above And this is very remarkable that the enemies of the Vaudois never had any advantage over them but by their treachery and perfidiousness in violating the publick Faith and Treaties but when they were upon their guard and fought for the maintenance of their Religion they were always victorious over their enemies and as they maintained the celestial verity contained in the Holy Scriptures so Heaven took them under its protection and defended their Cause God covered them with his Buckler every where where they went and fought for them giving them courage and striking their enemies with confusion and terror otherwise they had never gained so many victories who as I said before were oftentimes more than an hundred to one The Duke of Savoy seeing that neither the Massacre he had made of the Vaudois nor the war that had followed the Massacre had answered his designs and the Consederates expectation was desirous of a peace and was very willing to be sollicited by the Protestant Princes and States to condescend to it for it was probable if he had continued the war three months more he would have been obliged to ask it of those he had been so unjust to His Army was very much weakned and that of the Vaudois was very well reinforced Of the 1200 Irish which in the beginning of the war were planted there 800 were cut off at St. Secundus and the rest either perished of Distempers or in other battels that they fought in afterwards the French Troops were retreated and the Lieutenant Collonel of the Regiment of Bararia and many of his best Officers and more than 200 common Soldiers were killed in this war and besides all this he had lost more than 3000 of his own Troops The Army of the Vaudois when the Peace was made consisted of 1800 men and encreased every day many famous Officers and Protestant Soldiers out of France joyning them in this Holy War and if the Vaudois when they were but between 500 and 600 always were victorious over their Enemies and in spight of all their opposition had recovered all they had lost it might reasonably be hoped that in three months more they might have quite destroyed the Enemies Army or at least have driven them out of the Valleys The Ambassadors of the Protestant Cantons had been a good while at Turin for to assist these poor people they offered their mediation for a lasting peace but the Duke excused himself saying That he had long ago reserred that affair to the King of France and that he durst not take it out of the hands of so great a King That which obliged the Duke to speak so was that he knew the King of France was perfectly linked to him by interest and that he had lent him his Troops and that he being the Umpire betwixt him and the Vaudois he would decide more for his advantage than for that of the Vaudois Monsieur de Servient the Ambassador of the King of France in that Court was the Mediator of peace and Monsieur de Servient knowing that the Ambassadors from Cromwell and the States of Holland were upon their journey to be employed upon that affair and that these two States had made great Collections for the Vaudois and that the Protector of England did very much interest himself in the business the better to please the zealous Protestants of England did precipitate the peace and conclude it before their arrival at Turin There is no doubt to be made but that if these Ambassadors had arrived before the conclusion of the peace that it would have been much more advantagious to the Vaudois than it was they would have obtained a restitution of all that had been unjustly taken from them by the order of Gastaldo and have forced them to demolish the Fort of Tour without suffering the Duke to build another 'T is true that by a private Article they were promised the Fort should be demolished and in effect it was done after the peace but it was but to build another more strong in the place where the Old first was which the Predecessors of the Vaudois had caused to be pulled down and even this was against the promise made to them that they should not build another The Duke gave them a Patent signed at Pignerol the 9th of August 1655. by which he pardoned the Vaudois for taking up Arms against him he established them in their Goods and Priviledges and in a free exercise of their Religion except in some places excepted in the Patent The Ambassador of France and the Ministers of the Duke drew the Patent so for to desend as they said the Honour of his Royal Highness but to defend the honour of their Prince they made innocent Subjects who had been unjustly Massacred and chased out of their Country to pass for Rebels and to be reputed Criminals and they deprived them of certain places which they had enjoyed from Father to Son many ages even before the Dukes of Savoy were Princes of Piemont and in which places they were confirmed by the Concessions and Declarations of the Predecessors of his Highness and which he himself had confirmed in the year 1653. CHAP. XVII Containing the wicked Artifices of which the Enemies of the Vaudois made use of for to compleat the destruction of those that had escaped the Massacre and War of 1655. With the breaking of the Peace of Pignerol THE Duke of Savoy and his Council not being able to destroy the Vaudois neither by the Massacre they had made of them nor by the cruel and continual war instead of letting them live in peace after the treaty of Pignerol as they had promised the Ambassadors the took more cunning and subtile ways but which were not less dangerous and diabolical for to destroy the remainder of these poor distressed Innocents The first artifice their enemies made use of to destroy them was to set them together by the ears about the Charitable Collections that were made for them in foreign Countries by spreading round about a report of a great abuse pretended to be committed in the distribution of the mony to this
end they made use of a Jesuit called Longuiel a famous Impostor who came into these Valleys and pretended he came from Longuedoc where he had as he said renounced the Roman Religion This Wolf disguised in Sheeps cloathing had obtained the School of Villar which is â—…n the center of the Valley of Lucerne There he associated to him Michael Berâ—…am of Ville Nuve in Piemont an ancient â—…ervant of the Marquess of Pianesse and â—…ith Iohn Vertu of Lucerne and Iohn â—…agnan of Provence who had been for â—…me time in those Valleys This Jesuit and his Associates did all that was possible to gain the poor and silly people of the Valleys suggesting to them that the sums gathered out of Charity were so considerable that if they were distributed according to the intentions of those that had given them every one at least would have for his share 14 or 1500 Livres and by this seditious discourse they designed to arm them one against the other and so to destroy them by their own Swords and not content with this they writ to the foreign Countrys France Swizerland Ireland and England where their Charitable Collections were gathered that the chief Inhabitants had divided it among themselves and made merry with it and let the Poor perish with hunger giving them no part and by these lies and shams they designed to hinder strangers from being any more touched with compassion of their miseries The second Artifice of their Enemies was to build a Fort at Tour against the secret Article of Pignerol in which they placed a strong Garrison as soon as it was built they committed all sorts of excesses and violences against the Vaudois taking away their Fruit and the Wine out of their Cellars pillaging likewise the moveables of their houses beating and killing whom they pleased violating their Wives and Daughters committing all sorts of Villanies and Rogueries without any remedy or the least offer of redress and to crown the misfortunes of the Vaudois the Government of the Valleys was given to the Count of Bagnols who had signalized himself so much in the Massacre in the year 1655. The third Artifice that was made use of to destroy them after the Treaty of Pignerol was to make criminal Processes against the principal of them upon false accusations before the Court of Turin against their priviledges which were that all Causes should be tried in the Valleys before the ordinary Judges if they remitted themselves to the Court of Turin they were kept two or three years prisoners sometimes without being heard where they either spent all their fortunes or died of hunger if they did not submit they were condemned to death or to the Gallies and their Goods were confiscated Those that were condemned for default if they did not forsake their Goods and Habitations they were seized on by the Souldiers of the Garrison of the Cittadel and brought into the Fortress where they made them suffer a thousand ills worse than death The fourth Artifice that the Enemies of the Vaudois made use of to destroy them was that they hindred them from keeping Schools and likewise the free use of their Religion in several places permitted by the Patent of Pignerol and established time out of mind The Vaudois seeing that the Treaty of Pignerol was broken and violated almost in every Article had recourse to their Prince and his Ministers to whom they made most humble remonstrances reiterated several times but finding that all was to no purpose they addressed themselves to Monsieur de Servient Ambassador of France who was also at Turin and had been the Mediator of the Peace they writ likewise to the Ambassadors of the Protestant Cantons that were at that Court and most humbly begged as well the Ambassador of France as those of the Swisse to interceed for them to his Royal Highness But instead of doing justice to these poor oppressed people they prepared fresh Forces to quite root them out and when they were near executing their wicked design Seignior Rica Treasurer General of the Duke came to Pignerol a Town of the King of France and near Neighbour of the Valleys where he called before him the principal Agents of all the Communities of the Valleys told them with tears in his eyes a true Popish Crocodile that he was very sorry to see them fall into inevitable ruine and that the only means to avoid it was to send a large and full deputation to Turin to his Royal Highness who was resolved to put an end to their miseries and that by the means of an humble and cordial submission which they could and ought to do they would without any doubt obtain their desires While the Treasurer General did amuse with fair words the principal Agents of the Valleys at Pignerol the Generals of the Army that was in the Valley of Lucerne called likewise before them all the chief Conductors of the Vaudois and told them that if in sign of obedience and confidence they would but guard a convey that was to be sent to the Fort of Mirebouc they might all return in peace to their Habitations The Vaudois who desired nothing but the peace and repose of their Families did what those Generals commanded believing what they said was true but the consequence made them sensible that it was only to entrap and destroy them for while one part of the Vaudois were employed in guarding the Convoy and another in getting their Families together following the Order of his Royal Highness that every one should retire home and bring back his Family and while the Principal Agents were amused and staid some at Pignerol with the Treasurer and others by the Generals of the Army the Troops of the Duke commanded by the Marquesses of Fleuri and Angrogne and by the Count of Bagnols in number more than 800 men fell upon the Valleys about break of day in four several places with great fury for to surprize and massacre the Vaudois as they had done in the year 1655. and that which made them hope for good success in their design was that they saw that these poor people were dispersed in several places and as it were lull'd asleep upon the confidence they had in the Orders of his Royal Highness and the fair promises made them by the Generals and did not in the least suspect such a piece of treachery and perfidiousness But if on the one side they separated them one from another and took from them their Chieftains that they might the more easily vanquish them So on the other side they furnished with Men and Ammunition the Fort of Mirebouc which was in the highest part of the Valley of Lucerne to stop their passage into the Delphinate and hinder them from saving themselves in the territories of France as they did in the Massacre in the year 1655. and employed them as guards for the Convey which was a double piece of treachery CHAP. XVIII Of the Eighth War made against the
Marquess of Fleuri had had ill Success in all his designs thought it was requisite to change the General and so the Mraquess was recalled to Court and the Marquess of St. Damian was put in his place who made a Levy of a greater Army than before but with worse Success The Soldiers seeing that in this War nothing could be got but blows the first having carried away all the Booty went only by force to this War and where they found any resistance they turned their backs and fled from the Vaudois their Officers being not able to stay their Flight CHAP. XIX The Second Peace made betwizt Charles Emanuel and the Vaudois by the mediation of the Protestant Cantons in the month of February 1664. which has continued till the year 1686. during which time the Vaudois did signal Service to the Duke of Savoy THE War of the year 1663. having had as ill Success as that of the year 1655. the Duke of Savoy would have been glad of Peace but he durst not ask it of the Vaudois for fear it should shew his weakness or at least he should be obliged to grant them more than he had done by his former Patent granted at Pignerol because of the Advantages they had gained over him For this Prince had drained his Revenues ruined by these Wars a part of his Dukedom lost more than 4000 men and the Vaudois but sixty They durst go no more into the Mountains to seek them and the Vaudois often descended into the Plains to attack their Enemies who being struck with a pannick Fear because of the many Victories of the Vaudois fled before them like a Flock of Sheep before a Troop of hungry enraged Wolfs The Suisse having private notice that the Duke was weary of the War sent an honourable Embassy to to sollicit a peace between the Vaudois and their Prince the Ambassadors came to Turin the 15th of December 1663 and were very well received by the Duke and the whole Court which was not so in the year 1655. after the Massacre nor in the year 1686. when the Duke was leagued with the King of France for the destruction of the Vaudois and to force them to go to Mass as he in the precedent year had forced the Protestants of France This good reception of the Ambassadors made it clear that the Duke was weary of the War and willing to make a Peace after they had had Audience they sent their Secretary to the Valleys to tell the Vaudois that they should send their Deputies to Turin who being arrived there a solemn Promise was made them that during the Treaty there should be no more Acts of Hostility done against the Vaudois The event made it apparent that this promise was only made them to lull them asleep that he might the better surprize them while the Treaty was on foot for by an unheard of Perfidiousness even among the most barbarous Nations notwithstanding this promise made in the presence of the Ambassadors the 21st of the same Month twelve hundred men of the lower Piemont were sent to reinforce the Army under the command of the Marquess of St. Damian and on the 25th at break of day they attacked Tillaret Angrogne Rocheplate and St. German without giving any notice that they would do any thing to the prejudice of the solemn Promise The first and strongest attack was at Tillaret where the Vaudois had like to have been born down with numbers but they of Angrogne sending them in the nick of time an hundred men this seasonable succour did so encourage them that they broke the Enemies Troops commanded by the Count of Bagnols and put them to flight and forced them to fly for safety to the Town and Cittadel of Tour in great disorder they pursued them with so much heat and vigour that many of the Vaudois entred with them pell mell into the Town and came out again without the least damage to the great astonishment of all the world and confusion of their Euemies On the side of Angrogne the Enemies could not make the Vaudois give back one foot of ground for all their furious Assaults but after having done their utmost to make them quit their post after having lost a great number of their men they most shamefully fled the Vaudois pursued them to the Plain and killed a great number of them and encamped afterwards near them upon the Plain where their Enemies durst not molest them All the harm the Vaudois suffered was on St. Germans side which was a very advantageous post and of great importance by the means of which they had till then kept clear the passage betwixt the Vallies of Lucerne and those of Perouse and St. Martin the Enemies unfortunately surprized this place which was not guarded because that Famine had obliged the Country people who believed there was no danger during the Treaty to go and seek victuals for themselves and their Families they killed there a man and two women the rest saved themselves miraculously they burnt likewise greatest part of the houses and cut down or pilled the Bark of all the Fruit Trees The Vaudois had great cause of Joy that day for that they happened to be dispersed in divers places and were not upon their Guard confiding in the solemn promise made at Turin but God not only delivered them out of the hand of their Enemies but gave them a signal victory The Enemies Army consisted of 18000 men viz. 6000 that the Marquess of St Damian had in his Army and 12000 Piemontese that had newly joined him and the Vaudois had but 700 men and on this day the latter lost but 6 men but the first according to their own relation lost fifteen hundred among whom were the Counts of St. Front and de la Trinita and many Officers of Note The Deputies of the Vaudois who were at Turin having received Intelligence of this perfidious dealing against the solemn promise desired the Lords Ambassadors from the Swisse Cantons to present their just complaints to the Duke which they did with a great deal of heat and resentment but that produced only a truce for twelve days which was at several times prolonged and renewed till the Lords Ambassadors had ended and fully concluded a peace and agreement contained in the Patent of the 14th of February 1664. by which the Vaudois were established in a full enjoyment of all their Goods and in the free exercise of their Religion in all places where it had been established by the treaty of Pignerol in the year 1655. But this Patent was no better executed and observed than the former although the Duke had engaged himself by his Letter to the Protestant Cantons the 28th of February 1664. to observe it punctually It 's no easie matter to represent here all the tricks that the Councel of the Propagation made use of to make this peace ineffectual as to the Vaudois it 's enough to say that it had been impossible for them to
Answer to their Proposals he expected the Communities of the Valleys should send their Deputies with an ample power of making the submissions that were due to him and to ask him leave of going out of his Dominions as a particular favour that they implored of him This change makes it clear that he consented to the retiring of the Vaudois for no other end but to divide them as it after hapned to the great satisfaction of their Enemies The Ambassadors thought this Answer very strange and plainly saw that themselves were plaid upon and the poor Vaudois only mocked They had refused to grant at their intercession a safe conduct for the Deputies of the Valleys to come to Turin They had been assured several times that if the Vaudois had liberty to go out of the Country that it should be only granted at the intercession and mediation of the Ambassadors and now it must not be the Ambassadors that must obtain leave but the Vaudois themselves must come and by their own humble supplications must obtain this cruel permission and people that had done nothing but serve God according to the purity of the Gospel must come and ask it as a great favour to be banished from their Country and to abandon their Houses and Lands to go and beg in a Foreign Country this ill treatment of the Ambassadors notwithstanding did not make them desist from assisting the Vaudois and to take away all pretences from their Enemies they petitioned for a safe conduct for the Deputies that the Duke demanded and they sent it to the Valleys by their Secretary who caused the Communities to be assembled that the Deputies might be nominated But as on the one side there were many who never had any design of quitting the Country and on the other many who suspected some new Tricks of their Enemies the Communities were not all of the same Sentiment nor were the Instructions they gave to their Deputies conformable one to another some of them asked leave to go out of their Country and the free disposal of their Goods others demanded by their Deputies the continuance of the free Exercise of their Religion and all their other Rights and Priviledges The Deputies being come to Turin the Ambassadors saw it was to no purpose for them to appear at Court so divided therefore they sent them back again into the Valleys to endeavour a union and in the interim they would endeavour to put a stop to the execution of the order above mentioned The Enemies of the Vaudois who had people a purpose in the Valleys ingaged to divide them were extreamly pleased to hear of their divisions they saw that this was an assured means to destroy them to foment their divisions an Edict was made and signed the 9th of April which permitted them a safe Egress and free Disposal of their goods under certain Conditions but we must observe that the Deputies of the Valleys did not ask leave to quit the Country nor did the Ambassadors then insist upon it any more at that time but only they petitioned to gain some time for the better assembling of the Communities and the freer Deliberation of what was expedient to be done in this affair This Edict had an effect contrary to the Intentions and Sentiments of their Adversaries it united the Vaudois instead of dividing them for having examined it they saw it was a snare that had been laid for their more easy Destruction First This Edict did not revoke the order of the 31st of January which commanded them to demolish all their Churches in 8 days but it confirmed it they were put upon this Dilemma that either they must demolish them themselves during the delay and at the same time prepare themselves for to quit their Houses and Lands for ever and dispose of their Goods which was impossible in so short a time or else their Enemies must demolish them during the delay otherwise they would be uncapable of the oblivion promised in the Edict and fallen from all hopes of future Favour their Enemies would not dare to demolish the Churches of the Vaudois before the Army was entred into the Valleys and made it self Mistress of them Secondly The Edict that they should lay down their Arms and retire to their Houses within 8 days and not to assemble in any hostile manner whatsoever the Vaudois had not forgot what happened to them in 1655. for having then given entrance to the Army of the Duke into the Valleys for to quarter there only 2 or 3 days as it was pretended for a mark of their Submission and Obedience they committed that cruel Massacre of which we have spoke And what followed made it apparent that the Order commanding laying down of arms and prohibiting any more Military Assemblys only tended to this to make them abandon their Religion and to massacre them with more ease as they afterwards did in several places after the Enemies Troops were entred into the Valleys Thirdly The Vaudois were by the Edict obliged to go out of their Country in three separate Companies and to appear in such places without arms where the Troops of the Duke were encamped and so expose themselves to the Discretion of the Soldiers and perchance to be massacred Fourthly They saw that the permission that the Edict gave of selling their Goods would serve them in no stead for that the Sale could not be made till after their retreat and that to Roman Catholicks only and by Roman Catholick Trustees they were sure that in the first place out of the price of them would be deducted all damages pretended to be sustianed by the Fryars Missionaries and all Catholicks as well ancient as modern which perchance they would have pretended came to more than the value of their Goods Fifthly If they would permit them to depart without any molestation why did they not suspend the execution of the order of the 31st of January and why gave they them so little time to demolish their Churches in and to prepare themselves for their departure Sixthly The Ambassadors were not named in the Edict and the Vaudois had no security for the execution of what was contained in it and had very great reason to be diffident considering what had formerly past Seventhly The Duke of Savoy had told the Ambassadors that he was not master of this affair because of the engagements he had made with the King of France it was therefore to be presumed that this Monarch on whom this affair depended would not have the Vaudois better treated than he had treated his own Subjects of the reformed Religion in France in conclusion this Edict made the Vaudois pass for the most wicked and criminal people of the World for not obeying the order of the 31st of January which was an order that destroyed all their Priviledges and took from them Liberty of Conscience and would have forced them to sacrifice their Children to Idols and by consequence the D. of Savoy could
few that yielded to the strength of the Temptation The Vaudois Prisoners were in this sad condition when the Duke of Savoy made Proclamation they should be released and have Liberty of retiring into Swtizerland but this Proclamation was not made in the same manner nor at the same time every where but successively according to what number were permitted to go first together it was made by an Auditor of the Dukes who first made all the Prisoners be brought before him who told them that all those that would retire out of the Dukes estate were at Liberty to do so even those that had promised to change their Religion for promises that were were made in Prison were looked upon as forced and consequently null that they were at Liberty to go or to change their Religion All that the Auditor said was only to try them for their Priests and Keepers of the Prisons did what was possible to hinder its effects they told them that the rigour of the season and the cruelty of the Soldiers would destroy a great many of them in the way which hapned to the Prisoners that were at Mondovi whom they made to begin their march at five of the Clock at night the same day that the liberty of going was proclaimed these distressed people were most of them distempered with divers Diseases yet they made them march that bitter cold night upon Snow and Ice four or five leagues without any rest which was the cause that more than an hundred and fifty sunk under the burthen of their maladies and fatigues and dyed their Brethren not being able to assist them in the least the same thing happened to the Prisoners that were at Fossan there was a company of them that lay all night at the foot of Mount Sonis who when they were ready to march the next morning perceived that there was a terrible Tempest upon the Mountain they told the Officer of it and desired him that they might have leave to stay till it were past and to have pity of so many weak and sick people but this Officer having less sence of pity than the very Rocks had the Cruelty to make them march immediately and so to sacrifice a part of them to his Barbarity for fourscore and six of them dyed and were buried by that horrible tempest of Snow they were most of them old men women and children who had not strength to resist the rigour of the season and the violence of the storm their Relations were forced to leave them there to become the food of wild Beasts and take a sorrowful leave of them not being able to pay them the last debt due to so near Relations Some Merchants that afterwards passed over the Mountains saw the bodies of these miserable people extended upon the Snow the Mothers having their Children in their arms in other places they cruelly whipped the Prisoners that would not change their Religion particularly at Ast. The Officers that conducted the rest used them more mercifully and charitably whether it was their natural inclination to do so or that the complaints that the Deputies of the Cantons made at the Court of Turin upon this subject made them change the orders that they had given to those that conducted them I am not able to determine They violated likewise the Treaty that was made with the Count de Govon in several Articles first of all in the way they took from the Parents several Children Secondly They would not release the Ministers but kept them close Prisoners Thirdly In that they were promised to be cloathed before they went out of the Dukes dominions which was very just it should be done since they detained all their Goods and sent them into perpetual Banishment in a most rigorous season and instead of cloathing them as they ought they only gave them some old pitiful Coats and little useless Breeches These poor people came to Geneva about Christmas at divers times and in several little Companies which consisted in all of about 2500 persons One may judge from hence how rigorous and severe their imprisonment was by the number of those that dyed in this miserable estate since of 10000 Prisoners only 2500 escaped they were all in such a miserable condition that when they came to Geneva they dyed between the two gates of the City finding the end of their Life in the beginning of their Liberty some were so sick that their death was expected every moment in the arms of those that had the charity to support them others through the extremity of cold had lost the use of their tongues some were scarce able to make a step further others had lost the use of their hands that they could not stretch them out to receive the charity that was proffered them the greatest part of them were half naked and without either Shooes or Stockins in short every one of them had so many marks of their sufferings that the most cruel and pitiless persons would have been touched with a sence of their miseries After they had reposed themselves at Geneva and had taken necessary refreshments before they went into Switzerland the first that came went to meet those that came after to inform themselves of their relations of whom they had heard no news since the surrendring of the Valleys The Father asked for his Children the Children for their Father the Husband sought for the Wife and the Wife for her Husband and every one endeavoured to hear some news of their friends and relations but in vain for the greatest part of them were dead in Prison This made such a spectacle that the by standers melted into tears while these miserable people oppressed with the excess of grief had not power to weep or make their complaints By this relation we have made of the sufferings of the Vaudois one may see that they had the simplicity of Doves but they had not the prudence of Serpents since they let themselves so often and so easily be cheated by their Enemies But the Vaudois were not so simple and innocent in their conduct as their Enemies were wicked malicious cruel and fraudulent regarding neither Faith nor solemn promises The advantages that the Vaudois had over their Enemies in the year 1686. in defending the most advantageous posts shews evidently that if they had contented themselves in guarding those posts they had without all doubt destroyed both the French and the Dukes army and kept themselves in their Country but their misfortune was that they were for keeping more of the Country than they were able to defend They likewise committed a second oversight in that when they entred into any Treaty with the Enemy having so often had experience of their frauds and breach of promise they did not demand Hostages for the due performance of the Treaty as it is commonly done but they confided in their words and fraudulent promises which were always violated as soon as their turn was served Those who to
great body of Foot but at last after an obstinate and long fight they gained this pass as well as the rest the Marquess was mortally wounded many French Officers lost their lives and more than 200 Soldiers After having surmounted all these difficulties they entred into their Country chased out those that had seized upon their Lands and Houses and killed those that would not restore them and this was done with an inconsiderable loss on their side CHAP. XXV Where it 's shewn how the King of France and the Duke of Savoy leagued together to oppose their return as they had been leagned to drive them out in the year 1686. THE King of France and the Duke of Savoy having understood that the Vaudois were arrived in the Valleys and that they had made themselves masters of them presently gave orders to their Troops to march and to chace them out They constrained them to quit one of their Valleys and the Forâ—… of Bobbi after having defended it a long time and killed a great number of Savoyards who attacked this Fort after which they retreated to the Mountain of Sezarna where they entrenched themselves This Post was in the Valley of Lucerne but they had others in the Valley of St. Martin which were most advantagious and out of which their Enemies could not drive them though they did the utmost after eight battels or rather rencounters that they had maintained after their departure out of Switzerland till the month of December They had not as yet lost an hundred men and the enemy had lost above a thousand and in the places in which they were entrenched they wanted neither victuals nor any sort of ammunition About the end of month of December they entirely defeated a regiment of French Dragoons who had undertaken to drive them out of one of their Posts In the month of January 1690. the Marquess of Parelle who commanded the Army of the Duke being reinforced with some French Regiments attacked them several times but without any effect In the months of February and March this Marquess continued his attacks but he lost a great many of his men without being able to annoy much the Vaudois or chace them out again as he had promised the Duke his Master In the month of April the Court of France being informed that the Vaudois made excursions into the Delphinate and that the Allies prepared to send them succours that the Vaudois that were in Brandenburg and Wirtenburg were making preparations likewise to go and joyn their Brethren the Marquess of Feuquiers was sent with about five or six thousand Foot and Dragoons to joyn the Troops of His Royal Highness and chace them if possible out of the Valley before the Succours came the Marquess obliged them to quit some Posts but do what he could he was not able to drive them out of the Posts they had made themselves masters of in the High Mountains where they were strongly entrenched CHAP. XXVI Of the disunion and discord between the King of France and the Duke of Savoy which caused the re-establishment of the Vaudois in in their own Country by order of their Prince and of the wonders that God wrought for their re-establishment THE Duke of Savoy seeing that the Allies were in a condition to succour the Vaudois and that the Emperor and King of Spain did sollicit him to take their parts he thought that in declaring himself neuter he might hinder the intended succours but the Court of France which till then was Mistress of the Duke of Savoy and his Estate would not hear speak of neutrality and would have the Duke declare wholly for France and to oblige him to it the King demanded of him for the better assurance all his Troops and that he would put into his hands the Cittadel of Turin and Verceil that he might in them lay up magazins and all sorts of ammunition hoping that the Duke would rather declare for France than submit himself to so hard conditions but seeing that the Duke demurred and was dubious he made Catinat march with sixteen thousand men towards Piemont with orders to enter into it and constrain the Duke to do what was demanded The Duke of Savoy considering that if the King of France had Garrisons in the Cittadel of Turin and in Verceil and that if all his Troops were in the service of France that that King would not only be master of his Estate but also of his Person he desired time to give in his answer to the King He offered him at the same time three thousand men of his best Troops viz. a thousand Horse and two thousand Foot for an assurance of the neutrality and in the interim he sent to the Allies to be secure of their succours in case he were attacked by the French The Spaniards being his next Neighbours by reason of the Dutchy of Milan offered him eight thousand men in case the French fell upon him The haughtiness with which France treated him caused him to embrace the part of the Allies and he entred into divers treaties with them especially with the Emperour and the King of Spain and being reinforced with the Troops of Spain that were in the Dutchy of Milan he declared war against France and commanded Catinat who was General of the French Army to be gone out of his Dominions We are to consider that the Duke of Savoy is a Prince of the Empire that the Emperour and his Allies were powerful and his Neighbours above all Spain and that they might do him great harm in succouring the Vaudois as their interest obliged them because they were neighbours of France and that by their means they might make a great diversion by making excursions into the Delphinate which is a Province of France near the Valleys where there were great store of Protestants who would joyn with the Vaudois or at least favour them And to hinder these excursions the French would be obliged to keep on foot a powerful army in the Delphinate The Duke likewise knew that the Protestant Cantons kept a good correspondence with France and above all the Canton of Berne who had beheaded one of their Burghers for making levys in that Canton without their leave for to aid the Vaudois and so there was no probability that the Canton of Berne would give passage to those that should go to succour the Vaudois As for the Roman Catholick Cantons he was assured that neither the Vaudois nor any that had a mind to succour them would offer to pass through their Country because they had seized of the Vaudois that had attempted to pass that way and had delivered them up into his hands There were none but the Grisons that could favour their passage but that was not enough for to go from the Country of the Grisons into Piemont they must necessarily cross the whole Dutchy of Milan Now the Duke hoped that in declaring himself neuter he would hinder the Spaniards from giving passage to