A MEMENTO FOR English Protestants Containing the following Particulars viz. An Epitome of the Massacre in Piedmont An Epitome of the French Massacre An Epitome of the Irish Massacre A Speech of Pope Sixtus Quintus A Collection of the most Remarkable Passages of Queen Maries Reign Together with A PREFACE by way of Answer to that part of the Compendium which reflects on the Bishop of Lincoln's late Book Rev. 6.9 10 11. I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God c. And they cried with a loud voice saying How long O Lord holy and true dost thou not judge and avenge our bloud c. And it was said unto them That they should rest yet for a little season untill their fellow servants also and their brethren that should be killed as they were should be fulfilled LONDON Printed for Jacob Sampson next to the Wonder Tavern within Ludgate 1680. THE PREFACE THE Papists have of late given us such fresh Occasions by their horrid and damnable Conspiracies against the Person of our King our Government and our Religion to renounce and detest the Communion of that Church which does not onely allow men but teaches them to be Murderers and Traytors And we have yet so great reason to apprehend the dismal Consequences of their secret and hellish Machinations that I am confident no Discourse which tends to heighten and improve the just Prejudices of Englishmen against that impious and absurd Religion will be thought at this time unnecessary by any good Protestant I shall not therefore make any Apology for the Collecting and Printing this Epitome of the three grand Massacres in Piedmont France and Ireland which is intended chiefly for the Instruction of ignorant and unlearned People for we fear not that Scholars and men of Sence should be made Papists except such whose Morals are so wretchedly debauch'd that they are ready at all times to sacrifice their Consciences to their Civil Interests and I hope there are not so many of those desperate Prostitutes as the Papists are apt to imagine and as the Manners of the Age we live in may I confess give us just cause to apprehend No 't is the ordinary Rank of men who have not had the advantage of Learning and a generous Education to defend themselves against the studied Fallacies and specious Pretences of the Romish Agents who commonly become the prey of those Wolves in Sheeps clothing To provide therefore for their Security that they may not fall into the snares that are laid for them ought to be our chiefest care since as 't is more charity to strengthen the hands of the weak than to add force to the strong so in this case 't is more prudent too in order to the support of the common cause of Protestant Religion the ignorant being by far the greater number Nor is this to be done a better way than by furnishing them with such plain Arguments as they are able to apprehend and manage themselves to the confusion of the common Enemy And these can be no other than such as are drawn from matters of fact they being easiest to be understood and hardest to be answer'd For this reason it was that this short Narrative of the bloudy Butcheries and inhuman Murders heretofore committed upon the persons of Protestants by Italian French and Irish Papists in cold bloud and by the instigation of their Church was prepared for the Press at the desire of a worthy Gentleman whose Zeal for the Interest of his Country and the Protestant Religion deserves a publick mention would his Modesty permit it in order to the being by him bestowed among his Country Neighbours who some of them perhaps have never heard of and others may have forgot the story of these holy Popish Cruelties these Religious Villanies the design being to let such sort of people see what a horrid thing Popery is when her Varnish is taken off what a deform'd and frightful Face this gawdy painted Whore * Rev. 17.2 9 6. With whom the Kings of the earth have committed fornication this mother of abominations made drunk with the bloud of the Saints and with the bloud of the Martyrs of Jesus I say what a deform'd and frightful Face she has when her Paint is laid by and she appears by true Lights in her proper Colours what monstrous and abominable Actions Papists are capable of when the Interest of that Idol of theirs their Church requires them By which as well as by their late Plots here in England 't is not hard for men of the meanest Capacities to perceive that their Religion cannot be the Religion of Christ while it justifies them in the grossest Immoralities and engages them in the most unchristian practices That those detestable Doctrines of Deposing and Killing Kings and extirpating Hereticks which have been so often objected to the Church of Rome by Protestant Divines are not Speculative Notions and Propositions Problematical as some of the Popish Writers and particularly the Author of that Lying Libel called * Compend pag. 77. The Compendium would make us believe but such settled Maxims of their barbarous Ecclesiastical Policy as too often have been and again will be put in practice whenever that proud uncharitable Church has a safe occasion to do it though at other times they must be disown'd with the usual Popish Impudence especially to such Protestants as have so little wit to take what they say on trust or so little reading not to be able to disprove them I hope no man will understand me here as if from the bare Actions of Papists and nothing else I argued to the Principles of Popery and concluded the one from the other this were bad Charity and worse Logick and one of their own constant Topicks in their Writings against Protestants 't were to say the worst that can be of it to fall directly into the ridiculous way of reasoning used by the Compendionist when he pretends to answer the Bishop of Lincoln's Book that admirable and learned Discourse a Discourse of so great use at this time and which does with such undeniable Evidence convince the Religion of Papists to be guilty of all their traitorous and bloudy Designs against Kings and Protestants that I cannot but take this occasion to correct that troublesom Impertinent who has made such a sensless Buzze and rais'd such a dust about it with design to puzzle and darken those Truths which the Bishop has there made so plain and clear especially since the Bishop himself has not thought him as indeed he is not worthy of his notice and no body else that I know of has yet expos'd that part of his impudent Pamphlet which concerns this truly Venerable and Excellent Person First then what a foolish Flourish does he make against the Bishop endeavouring to throw that wicked Principle of Deposing Kings upon Protestants with this gross Fallacy of Arguing from mens Practices to the Principles of
of Universal Bishop in which he was confirm'd by a Council held at Rome the Year following After this Corruptions and Heresies crept apace into the Church of Rome which were still opposed by some famous Writers of these Churches both in this and the seventh Century about the end of which viz. in the Year 794 the Emperour Charles the Great having called a Council at Franckfurt did with the Western Churches joyntly endeavour to have drawn Pope Adrian and the Church of Rome out of that gulph of Superstition and Idolatry into which it was fallen by persuading them to embrace the Doctrine of Christ and his Apostles But this design proving then ineffectual Lewis the Emperour Son and Successor to Charles undertook and prosecuted the same in the eighth Century and in order thereunto amongst other things he preferr'd to the Archbishoprick of Turin of which the Valleys of Piedmont are part one Claudius a chief Counsellour to Charles the Great and one of the most renowned men of his Age as well for Piety as Learning in the Year 815. But this good man finding that he could not resist that mighty torrent of Superstitious and Idolatrous Blasphemies which were taught and practis'd in the Church of Rome endeavour'd to keep his own Dioceses from being infected with them and to this end he told his People That they ought not to run to Rome for the Pardon of their Sins nor have recourse to the Saints or their Reliques that the Church is not founded upon S. Peter much less upon the Pope but upon the Doctrine of the Apostles that they ought not to worship Images nor so much as have them in their Churches c. These words we find in a Book written by a grand Adversary of his Also the same Author and others of the same stamp confess That Claudius and his Disciples and Successors were People of good Lives and Principles and that nothing could be objected against them for says one whereas all other Sects render themselves horrible by reason of their Blasphemies against God this hath a great appearance of Piety in as much as they live justly before men they believe aright concerning God in all things and hold all the Articles of the Creed there is onely one thing against them viz. that they deny the Church of Rome to be the holy Mother Church and will not obey her Traditions Another saith That these men did own the Christian Church in all other points and that he reckon'd and esteem'd them true Members of it I shall quote one Popish Writer more who was very famous in his time he in a Book published in the year 1632 with approbation and privilege saith That the aforesaid Doctrine which he calls Heresie continu'd throughout the ninth and tenth Centuries And afterward in another Book printed at Turin in the year 1649 dedicated to the Duke of Savoy speaking of the Doctrine which the Churches of the Valleys then held he saith It is the same which Claudius Archbishop of Turin and consequently of the Valleys being within that Diocese maintained in the eighth Century And thus you have seen the constant and uninterupted Succession of the Doctrine of these Churches from the times of the Apostles to that of Claudius and so through the ninth and tenth Centuries till the Waldenses came into these Valleys which was in the eleventh Century where they have profess'd and taught the same ever since I need not take the pains to prove the continued Succession of this Doctrine in those Churches from the eleventh Century till now because all Popish Writers do unanimously confess it but seeing divers of them have had the impudence to tell the World that the Waldenses who escaped the Massacre in France in the year 1165 and came from thence into the Valleys of Piedmont were the first Founders of that Religion which the Inhabitants there own and profess at this present I cannot but answer such Writers by telling them that it is not at all probable that the Waldenses who knew that the Seat of their grand Adversary was in Italy could have been so void of all sence and common prudence as to have undertaken so long and tedious a Journey over the Alps had they not been well assured beforehand that tho Natives of those Valleys had professed the same Religion with them and would receive and embrace them as Brethren I shall conclude this subject with a passage mention'd in the Preface of a French Bible which these Inhabitants caused to be printed at their own charge in the year 1535 and dedicate it to God himself where speaking as it were to him they say That they had always fully enjoy'd that Heavenly Truth contained in the Holy Scriptures ever since they were enriched with the same by the Apostles themselves I now come to give you the Causes of the Massacre in the Year 1655 and though many might be assign'd I shall mention two onely viz. the one general and the other particular the general Cause was the implacable Hatred and Malice of the Bishop of Rome and his Clergy against the Reformed Churches in the Valleys of Piedmont and in truth this hath been the Cause of all the other Massacres and Persecutions which have happen'd not onely in those Valleys but in all other parts of Europe ever since the Apostacy of the Romish Church has taken place and her tyrannical and usurped Power prevail'd in the World The particular Cause of this and other Massacres and Persecutions that have happen'd in these Valleys is the yearly allowance of Pensions Prebends Bishopricks Abbeys and Priories by the Court of Rome to the most eminent persons of the Duke of Savoy's Court upon condition of doing their utmost to destroy the Protestants and their Religion The principal means made use of by these Courtiers for effecting their designe were the same which had always prov'd successful formerly viz. they incensed the Duke of Savoy against his Protestant Subjects by many calumnies and false suggestions too tedious to be here inserted in so much that he publish'd an Order dated the 25th of January 1655. by which he commanded all his Protestant Subjects of what age sex or condition soever inhabiting certain Valleys therein mention'd to depart to other Valleys therein also nam'd in three days upon pain of death unless they should turn Papists within twenty days c. And though these poor Christians endeavour'd by their humble Addresses and Supplications to have oblig'd him to revoke this unjust and tyrannical Order yet he utterly refused to do it However he was not able to answer one of those many Arguments urged in their Petitions to induce him to grant their desires I shall name three First They urge the several Concessions made to them and their Ancestours by the Duke and his Predecessours for the free exercise of the reformed Religion in the Valleys of Piedmont and the quiet and peaceable enjoyment of their civil Rights and Priviledges Secondly They urge that
their Religion was planted in those Valleys by the Apostles and hath ever since their days been retained there and that their Ancestours inhabited those Valleys a very long time before the first Duke of Savoy possessed any part of Piedmont and therefore that this Duke could not without great and palpable injustice deprive them of their ancient Civil or Religious Rights Thirdly They urge that thâ—se Valleys to which they were Ordered to go did scarcely afford a Subsistance to the Inhabitants that were there already To this they added that if his Royal Highness would grant them a hearing they would be content to submit to this severe Order provided their Adversaries could prove any one thing against them by which they might deserve so great a punishment or the least unkindness from his Royal Highness c. But all this proving ineffectual at last they desired only so much time as might be sufficient for the disposal of their Goods before their Removal but this being also denied them those distressed Christians refused divers advantageous Offers made them by the Duke in case they would turn Papists chusing rather to suffer all the miseries of humane life and of a shameful and painful death and therefore quitting their Houses and Goods they retir'd according to the Order with their Wives and Children great and small old and young whole and sick with many lame blind and Ideots dragging those that were infirm by reason of Age or Sickness through the Rain Snow Ice and a thousand difficulties by which a great many of them perished And this they did to testifie their Obedience to their Prince thereby cutting off all manner of pretence from their Adversaries of branding them with Rebellion I shall now conclude with a few Instances of Popish Cruelties exercised upon the Bodies of those Protestants that remained in the Valleys of Piedmont during the Massacre which begun in the Moneth of April 1655. A Woman who had seen several Protestants cruelly put to death by the Popish Souldiers was her self ravish'd and then had her Breasts and part of her Privities cut off by some of them who carried the same to the next Town where they caused it to be fried and set before some of their Comrades telling them they were Tripes A poor man that was a Servant being taken prisoner by the Souldiers some of them gave him divers Stabs with a Dagger in the Soles of his Feet and in his Ears afterward they cut off his Privities and then applied a burning Candle to the Wound frying it with the slame thereof that so the Bloud might be stopp'd and his Torments prolong'd This being done to their minds they tore off his Nails with hot Pincers to try if they could by any means force him to renounce his Religion But when nothing would do they tied one of his Legs to the tail of a Mule and so dragg'd him till he was almost dead then binding his Head about with a Cord they strained and twisted the same with a Staff so hard that his Eyes and Brains drop'd out of his Head and at last having satiated themselves with all the Cruelties they could devise they threw his Body into a River They tied a man about 80 years old neck and heels together and hurl'd him down a vast Precipice but as he was falling he lighted in a cragged Branch of a True where he hung several days till he languished and died They cut in small pieces a man of 90 years old and did the like to a Woman and then strewed the Giblets and Mammocks of the torn Carkases along the High Way and hung some of them on Hedges They cut off the Nose then the Fingers and last of all the Hands of an ancient decrepid Woman and then left her to languish and die in this deplorable condition Another Woman was found in a Cave whose Flesh was all sliced from off the Bones so that she appeared as a mere Skeleton A most dreadful Spectacle They took a Maid and having driven a long Stake through her Body some of them carried her about upon their Shoulders as an Ensign and at last they stuck one end of the Stake into the ground and so left her in the High Way to be viewed by Passengers They put two men into a Dungeon and having stript off the Skin of their Arms and Legs by long Slices like Leather Points they afterward suffer'd them to starve there in that condition They took a beautiful young Girl of ten years old and because her Age and Stature had render'd her incapable of the ordinary course of Nature some of them forced her Body in so brutish and inhumane a manner that she was found afterward half dead and wallowing in her own bloud Another young Girl about the same Age they took as she fled from them upon the Snow and having thrust a Pike or Halberd through her Body they roasted her alive They hung one man upon a Gate by the Hands which they had tied to his Privities and because they could not make him renounce his Religion they took him down and having exercised many other Cruelties upon him they at last dispatched him They also hung two other men by their Privities having first tied their Hands behind them till at last the weight of their Bodies had almost torn out their Bowels and so they died in horrible pain They cut off the Nose Ears and other parts of a man of 80 years old and left him in that condition in the Snow where having lain a long time he at last died Having taken several Men and Women they cramm'd Gunpowder into their mouths and down their throats and then putting fire to it they tore their Heads in pieces They pull'd out a mans Eyes then cut off his Privities and having thrust his Yard into his mouth they expos'd him in this posture to publick view several days and not content with this they afterward fley'd him alive and then cutting his Skin into four parts they hung the same in the Windows of the four chief Houses of a Town Having taken eleven men they heated an Oven red hot and then forc'd these poor Creatures to throw one another into the Oven successively and when it came to the last man they themselves threw him in Having torn off the Nails of a certain Schoolmaster and prick d his Hands full of holes with a Dagger they stript him and putting a Cord about his middle dragg'd him naked through a Town and almost every step he made a Souldier on the one side cut off a piece of his Flesh with a Hanger and another on the other side gave him a blow with a Staff crying Well what sayst thou now wilt thou yet go to Mass To which the poor man with an incredible constancy as long as he was able to speak answer'd Much rather Death than the Mass dispatch me quickly for the love of God Whereupon one of them gave him a great blow on the head and