But the Order of the 31st of Ianuary deprives them intirely of the exercise of their Religion and of the Liberty of Conscience They saw themselves at one stroak precipitated into a dreadful abyss of misfortunes without perceiving any means of recovery and they found themselves exposed either to see the light of the Gospel extinguished in the Valleys that had shone so bright there for so many Ages or to see those cruel Massacres renewed that had sacrificed so many of their Brethren Nevertheless since they were perswaded that this Order was got by surprize and that their Enemies had imposed on the equity of their Prince they had recourse to complaints and supplications according to their usual custom and presented four Petitions to the Duke of Savoy to implore the revocation of this Order But since they could obtain nothing but some adjournment to prepare themselves for its execution they saw that their misfortune was without remedy they were yet more certain of it when they understood that the King of France who for reasons of State and Polity had hitherto protected them and who was also declared Garantee of the Patents aforesaid had not only obliged the Duke to put forth this Order but further that his Majesty had caused his Troops to advance into Piedmont for the execution of it Then it was that the Waldenses seeing themselves insulted over by the Papists of their neighbourhood took some Precautions to defend themselves and to preserve their Lives from the danger that threatned them In the mean time the Reformed Cantons having been informed of this order and of the measures that they had taken for the execution of it thought that they ought not to abandon a People persecuted for their Religion and that they ought to appear on this occasion as they had before appeared on others of the like nature They were resolved then in an Assembly held at Baden in the month of February 1686 to send again Ambassadors to the Duke of Savoy to intercede for the Waldenses These Ambassadors arrived at Turin in the beginning of March and made their Propositionstending to the revocation of the Order of the 31th of Ianuary They made it appear that the Reformed Cantons were interessed in this Affair not only as Brethren of the Waldenses in the Communion of one and the same Faith but also by reason that the Patents of 1655 and 1663. which that Order destroyed were the fruits of their Mediation and they back'd their demands with many cogent and solid Considerations The Court of Turin disputed not these Reasons and contented it self to cause it to be told the Ambassadors That the Engagements wherein the Duke of Savoy had entred with the King of France opposed the Success of their Negotiation This obliged the Ambassadors to represent in a Memorial which they gave for that purpose that the Predecessors of his Royal Highness having engaged their royal word to several Sovereigns and particularly to the Reformed Cantons for the execution of the Patents granted to the Waldenses he could not renounce Engagements so formal and so authentick whether because these Patents are not simple Tolerations but perpetual Concessions and inviolable Laws or because these Patents were granted at the intercession of several Sovereigns and according to the Law of Nations they are everlasting Monuments of the publick Faith or lastly because the words of Sovereigns ought to be sacred and inviolable They alledged also many reasons of Polity that ought to oblige the Duke of Savoy to maintain the Waldenses in their Privileges and the rules of Justice and Clemency did not permit him to carry Fire and Sword Blood and Slaughter into his own Dominions nor to destroy a People that implored his grace and mercy and who had done nothing to draw upon themselves this severe Order which was the cause of their despair But neither the Reasons of the Ambassadors nor their pressing Sollicitations nor the Letters of Intercession that many Protestant Princes wrote besides on behalf of the Waldenses produced any effect but served only to confirm the Ambassadors in the assurance of the Engagements wherein the Duke of Savoy had entred with the King of France for the extirpation of the Religion in the Valleys The Waldenses in the mean time were ignorant of that which passed at Turin they had not heard of the departure of the Ambassadors for they had taken and stopt two men on their Passage who went to carry the News into the Valleys It is true that they had heard at length by a common report That these Ambassadors were at Turin to demand a Revocation of the Order of the 31th of Ianuary but they knew nothing certain of the success of their Negotiation They could not go so much as to inform themselves for besides that none of them durst go to Turin since the adjournment that was granted them from the execution of the Order was expired the Court had moreover refused a safe conduct that the Ambassadors had demanded of them that the Deputies of the Valleys might come and defend their Rights as hath been practised in the preceding Negotiations but however things went in expecting the event of this the Waldenses had fortified themselves in their own Country with certain Entrenchments and stood upon their guard to hinder the entry of the Troops the most part of which were already encamped at the foot of the Valleys The Duke of Savoy returned an Answer to the proposition of the Ambassadors by the Marquess of St. Thomas one of his Ministers of State who hath the management of foreign Affairs and who swore to them that the Duke could not revoke his Order by reason he was not the Master of it He protested to them also on the part of his Royal Highness that provided the Order were executed he would not refuse to enter into some Expedients He gave them also to understand that upon their account he would not refuse to give the Waldenses permission to depart out of his Dominions and to dispose of their Goods The Ambassadors were persuaded that the Waldenses having neither a Commander nor regular Troops could not sustain a War against the King of France and the Duke of Savoy who were united for their Destruction They thought therefore that to avoid the storm with which the People were threatned the best way would be to procure a Retreat for them with the disposition of their Goods But because before they entred into this Negotiation it was necessary for them to consult the Opinion of the Valleys the Ambassadors took measures with the Court of Turin to make a Journey thither and the Duke of Savoy also gave them a Letter to this effect for the Governor of the Valleys The Ambassadors arrived there the 22th of March and caused the Communities to be assembled by their Deputies the next day to whom they declared what they had done They told them that the condition of the Waldenses being such that they were destitute of
THE HISTORY OF The Persecution OF THE VALLEYS OF PIEDMONT CONTAINING An ACCOUNT of what hath passed in the Dissipation of the Churches and the Inhabitants of the VALLEYS which happened in the Year 1686. LONDON Printed for Tho. Newborough at the Golden Ball in S. Paul's Church-yard MDC LXXX VIII THE HISTORY OF THE PERSECUTION OF THE Valleys of PIEDMONT IT is not my design at present to make a large and particular Relation of all that hath happened on account of this sad and lamentable Dissipation since I hope to treat of it more amply hereafter Nevertheless I shall observe all that is necessary to make it appear that there never was a Persecution more cruel nor more unjust than that which hath been put in execution this last time against the Churches and the Inhabitants of the Valleys of Piedmont that their Religion hath been the only cause of this Persecution and that those who have escaped from it do well deserve the compassion and charity of all good Christians The Churches of the Valleys of Piedmont or of the Waldenses as they are commonly called were the most ancient of all those that derive their Original from the Apostles whose Doctrine they have always followed and taught They stood in no need of a Reformation by reason that they never were partakers of those gross Errors and Idolatries with which the Church of Rome and Popery have infected Christendom The purity of their manners hath corresponded so well with their Doctrine that their very Enemies have not stuck to avouch That their moderation and the exemplariness of their Lives have contributed much to the establishment of their Religion They have not been content only not to enter into an idolatrous and superstitious Communion but they have always openly declared and protested against those Abuses and against the Papal Tyranny insomuch that neither Luther nor Calvin nor any other of our Reformers have pleaded more strongly or more boldly in confutation of the Heresies of the Roman Church as also the aforesaid great Men have given their approbation of the Doctrine of the Churches of the Waldenses as Orthodox and Apostolical It is not at all to be wonder'd at then that these Churches have always been the object of the hatred and rage of the Papists that Popes have caused Croisades to be published and engaged a part of Europe against them that divers famous Inquisitors have at several times made use of all that cruelty and subtilty that rage and malice could invent for the extermination of the Waldenses and that particularly the Council de propaganda fide extirpandis Haereticis hath left no stone unturn'd to effect their utter destruction But we cannot sufficiently admire that special and peculiar Providence with which it hath pleased Almighty God always to protect the Churches and the Inhabitants of the Valleys of Piedmont since notwithstanding so many violent Persecutions notwithstanding the perfidious Treasons with which their Enemies have always repaid their Fidelity notwithstanding seven or eight and twenty Wars which their Religion hath drawn upon them and notwithstanding the Massacres which have so often as a torrent overflowed the Valleys with the blood of the Waldenses this great God hath preserved them by continual Miracles of his Providence All Historians even they of the contrary party are agreed That these Churches have continued in an immemorial possession of the exercise of their Religion before they fell under the Dominion of the Dukes or Counts of Savoy which came not to pass till the Year 1233 when Thomas Count of Savoy made himself Master of the City of Pignerol and of the Valleys of Piedmont under pretence that the Race of the Princes of Piedmont was extinct It is also certain that the Waldenses never submitted to the Counts of Savoy from whom his Royal Highness is descended but on condition that they should be maintained in their Privileges In fine it is upon this Foundation that the said Counts being become Princes of Piedmont have defended and confirmed the Waldensian Churches in the exercise of their Religion and in their other Rights and Privileges They have granted unto them upon this account from time to time several authentick Concessions particularly in the years 1561 1602 and 1603 which being enacted and enroll'd in the Senate and in the Chamber of the Accompts of Turin in the year 1620 on consideration of a great sum of money which the Waldenses paid thereupon as appears by the Act of Enrollment these Concessions thus passed in form of an irrevocable Transaction and of a perpetual and inviolable Law the execution whereof was ordained by several solemn Decrees of the Dukes of Savoy in the years 1638 1649 1654 and 1655. The Council de propaganda fide which is obliged by its Establishment by its Title and by its Oath to procure the ruine of those whom it brands with the Name of Hereticks observing with great regret the peaceable and quiet State which the Waldenses enjoyed under the protection of these Laws put every thing in execution that might tend to the disturbance thereof To this end it was that this Council which was then composed partly of the Principal Ministers of State of the Court of Turin taking advantage of the minority of Charles Emanuel Duke of Savoy caused to be published in the month of Ianuary 1655 an Order which obliged all the Inhabitants of the Valleys to quit the Plain within three days and to retire into the Mountains upon pain of death in case they did not make proof that they were turned Catholicks The Waldenses obey'd this Order as unjust and cruel as it was But this their obedience that took away all pretence from their Enemies could not secure them from that horrible Massacre in the year 1655 of which all Europe hath been informed and astonished at and of which Posterity will speak as of an Action the most inhumane the most perfidious and the most infamous that ever was committed in the World. This Massacre seem'd in all appearance irrecoverably to have destroyed the Waldenses but there were many who having escaped the fury of these Butchers resolved to defend their Lives to the last gasp They executed this their Resolution with that brave force and undaunted Courage that they had defeated in several Rencounters a considerable party of their Enemies when all the Protestant Princes and Estates interessed themselves in behalf of the Waldenses These generous Protectors having been informed of this dreadful Massacre were not content only to open to them the bowels of their Charity and Benevolence but they continually sollicited the Duke of Savoy by their Intercessions The reform'd Cantons of Suitzerland among the rest sent on this account four Ambassadors to the Court of Turin These Ambassadors joining themselves to that of France who had already made himself Mediator or Arbitrator in this Affair in the name of his Master laboured together to procure a Peace and obtained for the Churches and Inhabitants of
all hopes of relief they had no more to do but to consider of a Retreat in case they could obtain it with leave to sell their Goods and that if they would embrace this Proposition they would relate this their disposition to it as coming from them The Deputies of the Commons being much surprized to understand that they might not expect any succor in an occasion wherein they thought that all the Reformed part of Europe ought to be concerned told the Ambassadors that they were persuaded that they could not do better than to follow their advice but that to take deliberation in an Affair of so great importance it was necessary to call a General Assembly The Orders being given for this the Ambassadors returned to Turin they informed the Marquess of St. Thomas of the Success of their Journey who assured them that this Negotiation was very agreeable to the Court. They demanded at length a safe Conduct that some of the Inhabitants of the Valleys might have liberty to come and bring the Deliberations that should be taken in this Assembly but it was refused upon these two Pretences one was That the Duke of Savoy would not permit that any Waldenses should appear at the Court the other was That he designed to do nothing in this Affair but only for the sake of the Ambassadors They were forced then to send the Secretary of the Embassy into the Valleys to fetch these Deliberations This Secretary found the Communities assembled at Angrogne the 28th of March very much unresolved what course to take for on one side they saw the lamentable consequences of War on the other side the dangers and the almost unsurmountable difficulties in the execution of their Retreat besides although they might depart without danger they could not behold but with extreme regret the hard necessity of being forced to abandon their Goods and their Native Country to go into a foreign Land to lead a miserable disconsolate and a vagabond of a life At last they took a Resolution to send a Memorial to the Ambassadors concerning the dangers and difficulties that obstructed their Departure and to write a Letter to them signed by nine Ministers and eight Lay-men in which after having entreated them to reflect on these Obstacles they should declare That they would refer the whole to their Prudence and Conduct Upon this Letter the Ambassadors made it their business to obtain a permission for the Waldenses to retire out of the Estates of Piedmont and to make sale of their Goods but the Duke of Savoy to whom this Proposition was referred gave it out That before he would return any Answer thereto he expected that the Communities of the Valleys should send Deputies to him with full power to make those Submissions that were due to him and to beg leave to depart out of his Territories as a peculiar favour that they should implore of their Prince The Ambassadors had reason to be surprized at these Preambles They had denied them the safe Conducts that they had demanded for the coming of the Deputies of the Valleys to Turin They had assured them several times that if they should grant to the Waldenses leave to retreat it was only upon the account and at the intercession of the Ambassadors nevertheless they would by no means have it said that the Ambassadors desired a permission for them to depart on their own behalf but on the contrary that it was the Waldenses themselves that made this Request This alteration was not made without cause and it was not for nothing that they took measures altogether different from their former The Council of the Propagation who managed this Affair had without doubt respect to these two several regards one was That they would not have the Ambassadors named in the permission of departure to the end that they should have the less right to demand the execution of those things that should be promised to the Waldenses the other That the Waldenses themselves desiring this Permission as a favour they might be at liberty to impose on them what conditions they pleased and lastly That the Waldenses making those Submissions that the Duke required of them must needs be in the state of Supplicants and would by consequence be forced to lay down their Arms otherwise they could not be in the condition of Petitioners But however it were the Ambassadors being willing to take away all pretences from the Enemies of the Waldenses took a safe Conduct to bring the Deputies whom they had demanded they sent this safe Conduct into the Valleys by the Secretary of the Embassy who caused the Communities to be assembled to nominate their Deputies But as on the one hand there were many who were never engaged in the design of departing and that on the other the new Marches of their Enemies appeared suspicious the Communities were not all of one mind nor the Orders they gave to their respective Deputies conformable one with another For the tenor of some was to beg leave to depart and sell their Goods and others required the maintenance of the exercise of their Religion and their other Rights These Deputies being arrived at Turin the Ambassadors thought it not convenient for them to appear at Court thus divided but sent them back into the Valleys to endeavour a Union between themselves and labour'd in the mean time to obtain a Truce for them Their Enemies heard with a great deal of satisfaction that the Communities were divided amongst themselves upon the point of departing they were so well persuaded that this division would be an infallible means to destroy them that they caused it to be carried on and fomented ever since in those parts by perfidious persons whom they had gained for that purpose It is also to be presumed that they never had proposed the expedient of departing but with a prospect that it might be the occasion of the disunion of the Waldenses To make advantage then of the variable dispositions of the Communities their Enemies changed their minds once more They had lately declared That they expected in the first place that the Waldenses should themselves desire a permission to depart and should make their Submissions thereupon The Waldenses had not made this Request nor these Submissions several of the Communities were not of the opinion to retire the Ambassadors did not sollicit any longer a permission to depart but a Truce as appears by a Letter that they wrote to the Marquess of S. Thomas the 8th of April 1686. In the mean time notwithstanding all this to accomplish absolutely the division of the Waldenses and consequently to ruine them with the greater ease they published forthwith and unknown to the Ambassadors an Edict dated the 9th of the same Month of April granting to the Waldenses an Amnesty and a permission to retire out of the Estates of Piedmont For the better judging of the design of the Council of the Propagation I have inserted a Copy of this