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
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
defend themselves against so many subtilties and crafty policies of their Adversaries of the Propagation if God who holds the hearts of Princes and Kings in his hand had not changed the heart of Charles Emanuel the Second to favour the Vaudois This Prince having examined the conduct of all their doings began to know that it was without any good ground that the Vaudois were made so odious and calling to mind the great zeal they had testified on divers occasions for his service and particularly in 1638 and 1640 when the greatest part of his Estate was revolted against him and that the Cardinal of Savoy and Prince Thomas his Unkle had made themselves Heads of the Revolt being assisted by the Troops of Spain had seized almost all Piemont and even of the City of Turin it self and besieged Madam Royal his Mother in the Cittadel whither she had fled to save her self and that without the succours of Lewis the XIII his Unkle by the Mothers side and the help of the Vaudois it was probable that this Prince had been deprived of all his Principality In the year 1672. the Duke of Savoy made War upon the Genoeses and the Vaudois served him with so much zeal and courage that this Prince was not content only to praise their Conduct Courage and Fidelity by a Letter which he writ to them the fifth of November the same year but he gave them many sensible marks of his esteem and good-will towards them even to his death which hapned towards the end of the year 1678. Madam Royal his Widow treated them likewise not only with a great deal of sweetness and goodness but she also engaged her self to the Protestant Cantons by a Letter writ the 28th of Ianuary 1679. to maintain the Vaudois in the free exercise of their Religion and in all other priviledges and immunities CHAP. XX. The Ninth War against the Vaudois by Lewis the XIV King of France and Victor Amadeus II. Duke of Savoy with the perfidious treacheries of their Enemies which was the cause of the ruine and dispertion of these poor Churches THE sweetness of peace which the Vaudois enjoyed after the war against Genoua till the death of Charles Emanuel II. and after the death of this Prince under the Regency of Madam Royal his Widow till the year 1685. made them hope to enjoy a durable tranquility under the reign of Victor Amadeus II. who is at present Duke of Savoy and that which flattered them with this hopes was the considerable services they had done him in the year 1684. in the war against those of Mondovi in which they had signalized their courage and zeal for his service This very Prince had given them authentical assurances of his great satisfaction by a Letter that he writ to them on this occasion But they quickly lost their hopes when the Governour of the Valleys made Proclamation about the end of the year 1685 That no Stranger should come and stay in the Valleys above 3 days without his permission and that any that should entertain them any longer should be most severely punished The Vaudois had intelligence of the great violences that were made use of in France to force the Protestants there to change their Religion they had likewise news that that King had cancelled the Edict of Nants and they judged very well that the prohibition that was made them of giving a safe retreat to their Brethren of France was of a dangerous consequence but they did not foresee all the misery that hapned to them since nor all the evils that were prepared for them They were strangely surprized when there was published in the Valleys an order of the Duke of Savoy on the 31st of Ianuary 1686. which did generally forbid the exercise of the Protestant Religion under pain of death and confiscation of all their Goods and their Churches to be demolished and all their Ministers to be sent into banishment all Infants born hereafter to be baptised and brought up in the Roman Religion under penalty of condemning their Fathers to the Gallies it 's impossible to express the grief and fears of the Vaudois at the sight of so surprizing vigorous and unjust order so contrary to their rights and priviledges the forâ—…er orders only tended to the restraining them in narrower bounds but the Ordinance of the 31st of Ianuary entirely deprived them of the exercise of their Religion and liberty of Conscience In this sad condition into which they were plunged by the malice of their Enemies they had recourse to submissions and supplications according to their custom they addressed the Duke of Savoy four times to revoke the Order but they could obtain nothing but some delay that he might be the better prepared to execute the order they saw their misfortune was without remedy and of this they were the more certain when they understood that the King of France who for reasons of state and interest had always protected them and had declared himself the Warrantee of the Patents of 1655 and 1664. had now not only obliged the Duke to pass this Order but had also made his Troops advance towards Piemont for to see the execution of the Order performed The Protestant Cantons being informed of this Order and of the measures that were taken for the execution of it thought themselves obliged not to forsake a people persecuteâ—… upon the score of Religion and that they ought to appear on their behalf on this occasion as well as they had done on the former therefore they resolved in an Assembly held at Basil in the month of February 1686. to send a splendid Embassy to the Duke of Savoy to interceed for the Vaudois These Ambassadors arrived at Turin the beginning of March and made to the Duke their Proposals for the revoking of the late Orders of the 31st of January they shewed the Duke that they were interested in this affair not only as Brethren of the Vaudois making profession of the same Religion but because also the Patents of 1655 and 1664. which this last Order destroyed was the fruits of their former Mediation and they supported their demand with many strong and solid considerations The Court of Turin did not impugn these reasons but thought it was sufficient to tell the Ambassadors that the engagements that the Duke had entred into with the King of France opposed the success of their negotiation This Answer obliged the Ambassadors to give in a Memorial to the Duke to this purpose That the Predecessors of his Royal Highness having engaged their Royal Word to many Soveraign Princes and particularly to the Protestant Cantons for the due observing of the Patents granted the Vaudois such formal and authentical engagements ought to stand good for that the Patents were not meer tolleration for a time but perpetual grants and irrevocable Laws and besides the Patents were granted at the intercession of many Soveraign Princes and according to the Laws of Nations they are eternal