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
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
monuments of the publick faith and the promises of Princes ought to be sacred and inviolable They demonstrated likewise by many strong arguments drawn out of the Schools of Politicks that the Duke of Savoy acted against his own interest in these proceedings and that he ought to maintain the Vaudois in their ancient priviledges and the rules of justice and clemency would not permit him to bring Fire and Sword and Desolation into his Estate and that he destroyed a people which implored his Grace and Mercy and that had done nothing to draw this Cruel Order upon their Heads which put them in despair But neither the excellent reasons of the Ambassadors nor their pressing sollicitations nor the Letters of intercession that many Protestant Princes wrote in their behalf produced the desired effect they only confirmed the Ambassadors in the certainties of the engagements that the Duke was entred into with the King of France for to extinguish the Protestant Religion in the Valleys as it had been done in France and that the same methods would be made use of to obtain their ends in this wicked design In the interim the Vaudois were wholly ignorant of what passed at Turin because their enemies had seized upon two men who were going into the Valleys to carry them the news it 's true they knew at length by common fame that the Swisse Ambassadors were at Turin to demand a revocation of the Order of the 31st of January but they knew nothing for certain of the subject of their negotiation and could not go themselves to Turin to be informed without great danger because the time was elapsed that was given them for conforming to the foresaid Order and which is more that Court had refused the Ambassadors to grant Letters of safe conduct for the Deputies of the Vaudois to come and maintain their right as it had been practised in former negotiations The Duke of Savoy returned the Ambassadors this Answer by the Marquess of St. Thomas one of his Ministers of State who had the direction of foreign affairs that he could not revoke the Order he had given because he was not Master of it but in case the Order were executed his Royal Highness would be willing to consider of some expedients he likewise told them that in respect to their Masters his Royal Highness would not refuse to give the Vaudois leave to go out of his Estates and to dispose of their Goods at their pleasure The Ambassadors considering that the Vaudois had no Head nor regular Troops and that they could not be able to maintain a War against the King of France and the Duke of Savoy who were leagued together for their destruction they thought the best way to shelter the Vaudois from this storm that threatned them was to procure a safe retreat and the free disposal of their Goods But before they entred into this negotiation they thought it proper first to know the sentiments of the Vaudois Upon this subject the Ambassadors concerted measures with the Court of Turin to make a Voyage into the Valleys and the Duke himself gave them a Letter upon this subject for the Governour of that Country but the event has made clear beyond dispute that the sentiment of the Court was not to let the Vaudois go out of Piemont but to force them to quit their Religion in the same manner as they had forced the Protestants of France and to destroy all those that would not conform to their Superstition And the consent that was given to the Vaudois of having liberty of quitting the Country was only a trick to divide them they knew well that there were a great many that would not abandon their Goods and Estates and lead a languishing and disconsolate life in foreign Countries and that those would sooner quit their Religion than submit to so hard conditions And as for those that would resolve to go out of the Country they would find means to trick them either in taking away their Children and bringing them up in the Roman Religion or in hindring them of disposing of their Goods or in imprisoning some and massacring others as they did in the year 1655. without the least regard to the most Solemn Promises or Publick Faith The Ambassadors arrived in the Valleys the 22d of March and the day after they caused all the Communities to be assembled by their Deputies to whom they gave an account of what they had done they told them in short that considering the condition they were in and that they could have no hopes of succour they had no better way to take than to retire and in case that this could be obtained with liberty of disposing of their Goods and Lands and that if they were resolved upon it they would present their Proposals to the Court of Savoy as coming from themselves The Deputies of the Communities were extreamly surprized to understand that they must hope for no success upon such an occasion that all the reformed part of Europe ought to be interested in They told the Ambassadors that they were perswaded that they could do no better than follow their advice but to fully determine an affair of that importance it was necessary first to have a general assembly And the necessary orders being given for this Assembly the Ambassadors returned to Turin and informed the Marquess of St. Thomas of the success of their negotiation who told them that their endeavours would be very agreeable to that Court. After which they petitioned for a safe conduct for some of the Inhabitants of the Valleys to come and bring the result of the deliberations of the Assembly but this was refused upon two frivolous pretences the one was that the Duke of Savoy would have none of the Vaudois to appear and follow his Court and the other was that he pretended to do nothing on this occasion but only upon the account and respect to the Ambassadors and this was the reason that they were constrained to send their Secretary into the Valleys to go and bring back the deliberations of the Assembly The Secretary found the Communities assembled at Angrogne the 28th of March unresolved what to do for on the one side they foresaw the dangerous consequences of a Bloody War on the other side they saw insuperable difficulties and dangers in quitting their Country but at last they concluded to send to the Ambassadors a memorial of the dangers and difficulties that opposed their retreat and the same time they writ them a Letter by which after having humbly supplicated them to make a reflection upon the foresaid difficulties they notwithstanding submitted all to their prudence and conduct By vertue of these Letters the Ambassadors acted vigorously to obtain leave for the Vaudois to have peaceable egress out of the Dukes Dominions and freedom of disposing of their Goods but the Duke to whom these propositions were carried made this answer be returned them That before he would give them a Categorical
upon these poor people as well by the body of the French Army as by the Detachment commanded by Melac that not being convenient for an Abridgment as this is it 's sufficient to say that the French did yield in nothing to the Cruelty Barbarity and Inhumanity of the Savoyards and Piemonteses but that which was the most astonishing was they exercised these infernal Cruelties upon people that had submitted to the orders and decrees of their Soveraign and against people that had laid down their arms and made no kind of resistance The Army of the King of France was encamped in a part of the Commuâ—…ty of Pramol called Rua about half a League from Peumian whither a part of the Communities of Pramol St. German Prarustin and Rocheplate were retreated to the number of 1500 persons men women and children the Vaudois who had so valiantly defended themselves against Villevielle seeing that the French that were encamped at Rua might fall upon them in the Rear quitted their post and put themselves into Peumian where there Brethren where and while they consulted upon the measures to be taken to defend themselves against the French who prepared themselves to come and attack them some Inhabitants of the Valleys being gained to the Enemies party came and told them that the Valleys of Angrogne and Lucerne had submitted themselves to the will of their Prince who had been gracious to them and had given them the benefit of the Edict of the 9th of April they likewise told them that none but themselves stood out and that it was impossible for them to bear the whole burthen of the war and that it was better now while it was proffered to accept of an advantageous peace This news daunted the Vaudois and made them resolve to send their Deputies with a Drum to the General of the French army to compose all matters this General who desired no better told him that the intention of his Royal Highness was to pardon them and promised them positively as well on the behalf of the Duke as of his own life and liberty with permission to return without any danger to their houses and estates provided they would speedily lay down their arms and as to what the Deputies said that they were afraid that the French being enraged at what happened at St. German should revenge themselves upon the Vaudois when disarmed he made great protestations with horrible Oaths That if all their Army went by their houses they would not kill so much as a Chick This agreement being made Catinat kept with him one of the Deputies and sent the rest to tell the Vaudois what was done and to oblige all those that were fled into the Mountains to surrender themselves the day following being the 25th of April at Peumian that every one might return to his own home after they were informed of the peace While the Vaudois gathered together at Peumian the dispersed Families Catinat gave notice of this Capitulation to Don Gabriel who sent him the same day a Courier which passed through Peumian and assured the Vaudois that were there that he was the Messenger of Peace and the day after at his return he told them that Peace was concluded they were so perswaded and secure of it that the day before they laid down their arms confiding entirely in the promises of Catinat in this estate they expected news of the Confirmation of it at Peumian but this French General observed no better the Treaty with the Vaudois that were assembled at Peumian than the General of the Duke's army did with those of Angrogne for he sent thither a Captain of the Garrison of the Fort of Perouse followed by many Dragoons he was well known to the Vaudois who afresh reiterated the assurances of Peace but they were fraudulent assurances as were those of the Generals in conclusion he put the men in one quarter and the women and children in another the French Troops being come the same time told the men they had orders to carry them back to their own houses and made them march four and four these poor people being constrained to leave their Wives and Children exposed to the Discretion of the Soldiers were conducted not to their houses as it was promised but to Don Gabriel who was encamped upon the Mountain of Vachere who ordered them to be carried Prisoners to Lucerne while they treated the men thus they experienced all that Fury and Brutality is capable to inspire enraged and insolent Soldiers with these Barbarians were not content to rob them of all their Money but they likewise violated many women and maids with circumstances that are an abomination to nature and massaceed those that fled to save their honour Catinat was not present at what was done at Peumian he left the conduct of that affair to some Officers that he might not be obliged to hear the just complaints of the Vaudois about their breach of promise and more than barbarous perfidiousness or else that he might not be spectator of the design that was upon these poor distressed people but howsoever it was it 's certain that except those women that were killed and those that escaped by flight the persecution of these Monsters and saved themselves in the neighbouring wood from the danger of the shot that was made after them to stop them all the rest were dragged into divers Prisons with monstrous Inhumanity The Valley of Perouse being reduced by the Capitulation of Peumian one part of the Fr. Army quitted that Valley and marched to joyn the Army of the Duke which was encamped upon the Mountain of Vachere and then it was that from all sides they gathered together the dispersed Vaudois and dragged them into several Prisons and Castles under pretence that they carried them to his most serene Royal Highness to beg his pardon but that which affected these poor people the more sensibly and made them the greatest object of compassion was that at their most earnest entreaty and tears they refused to put whole Families together they separated the Father from his Son and the Husband from the Wife that they might not have the means to comfort and help one another their Enemies were not content to violate the publick Faith of the Treaty and Oaths which always were counted sacred among men but they violated the Bonds of Nature and Blood to the end they might be less able to undergo the evils intended them there was a great number of Young Boys and Girls which they did not imprison but dispersed into several houses though Piemont not through a motive of equity or compassion but to make them change their Religion and to bring them up in the Roman Superstition and by this means to quite alienate their affections from their Fathers and Mothers There was yet a great number of Vaudois who had not surrendred and had not been taken prisoners those of Villar Bobbi and some other places of the Valley of Lucerne would not
the year 1559. EManuel Philibert Duke of Savoy and Successor of Charles having recovered his Estates by the General Peace in the year 1559. was spurred on by the Monks and Regulars of Pignerol to condemn the Vaudois to be burnt and their goods confiscated and given for a recompence to the Instruments of their ruine These poor people seeing themselves upon the brink of ruin and desolation after their recourse to him who has the heart of Kings in his hand by their Prayers Fastings and Humiliations they went and cast themselves at the feet of the Duke of Savoy their Prince and presented an Humble Petition to him tending to this that he would let them live and enjoy a free exercise of their Religion they presented another of the same tenure to the Dutchess his Wife who had a great share in the knowledge of truth and who always shewed a great tenderness for them But it was all to no purpose the Pope and the King of Spain to whom the Duke of Savoy was extreamly obliged because they had contributed their utmost endeavours to re-establish him in his Dominions sollicited this Prince very pressingly to destroy the Vaudois who contrary to his own interests was easily perswaded at the desire of the Monks who continually sollicited him to make War upon them While in the interim they endeavoured to sweeten their Prince and by their humble requests to turn off the storm which threatned them the Soldiers of the neighbouring Towns surprized the borough of St. German by the assistance of the darkness of the night the Protestants of this place in so dangerous a conjuncture thought of nothing but saving their persons the greatest part in their Shirts ran to the neighbouring Mountains except twenty five who being in the houses that were farthest off were by consequence the farthest from this retreat These seeing they had not time to fly cast themselves upon their Knees and making a short but ardent prayer to God in sight of their Enemies went to attaque them with that courage and resolution that they put them all to flight a great many were killed upon the spot and God striking the rest with a pannick fear a great many through their hasty flight fell into the River of Cluson and there perished miserably The Duke of Savoy assisted by the Pope Spain and France raised a powerful Army against the Vaudois and made General of it the Count De la Trinita who seeing this People weakned and shaken with so many furious shocks of Wars and Persecution did not doubt of bringing his designs speedily to his desired effect and to extirpate the Vaudois root and branch He had recourse to Politicks and Stratagems before he would make use of open force in short he sent for the Ministers and Guides of the Churches he exhorted them to lay down their Arms and to bring them to him on the one side he represented unto them the great dangers they were ready to be precipitated into if they did not submit themselves to the will of their Prince seeing the great forces which he had to compel them which it was impossible for them to withstand That the Pope the King of Spain the King of France had engaged the Duke in this War and did lend him their Troops that the General Peace being made they would employ all their forces to destroy them if they would not submit and obey On the other hand he made them specious and advantagious propositions giving them hopes that if they would submit to the will of their Prince they should enjoy peace and live in liberty with all their ancient priviledges Many were shaken and frighted by the treacherous discourse of this Lord who seeing them divided some being willing to submit to save their lives and fortunes to the will of their Prince others being of a different sentiment because of the dangerous consequences they foresaw this submission might draw after it In this dubious estate of their affairs he took his opportunity he laid ambushes for them in several places and having surprized them in small parties he made a cruel butchery without any resistance exercising all sorts of cruelties against these innocent Lambs who were betrayed by trusting to his sugared words This barbarous treachery cast these people into an inexpressible consternation but three hundred of those that escaped from the massacre being assembled together by the favour of the night and being fortified by little and little by their brethren who were diffident of the Counts promises and had saved themselves in the Mountains with this little Troop of the Vaudois God did such wonders as almost seem incredible if we had not seen what their Successors have done in the wars of the year 1655. and 1664. and the last year when seven or 800 Vaudois crossed all Savoy which was then all in Arms and forced several Passes kept by the Regular Troops of France and Savoy and in spight of their Enemies entred into their own Country and there have endured fifteen or sixteen bloody fights which fully perswades us that God is with this people and fought for them and with them without whose wonderful help it was impossible they should have performed such extraordinary exploits The day after this treachery the Count Del a Trinita employed his Army from morning till night in spoyling and ransacking all the places in the Valley of Lucerne of which he had made himself Master after which he marched with seven or eight thousand select men as high as Angrogne towards the place called the Meadow of the Tower where the greatest part of the Families of these poor Vaudois were retired as to the strongest Sanctuary or Azilum they could find in all the Valley of Lucerne He attacqued them in this place by three several ways and gave them no time of respite for four days one assault was no sooner repulsed but he gave another with fresh Troops without gaining any advantage In these assaults he lost two Collonels eight Captains and seven or eight hundred Soldiers The fifth day he being absolutely bent to carry the Post and to this end he made use of Spanish Troops which were fresh and as yet had never been engaged The Spanish Soldiers seeing â—…hey advanced nothing and that they â—…ell like hail mutined against their Officers that were obstinate to continue the attacque The Vaudois having observed the confusion that their Enemies were in fell upon them with so much courage and bravery that they put the whole Army to the rout and they were struck with so great a fear that many of them threw themselves off the rocks into the river of Angrogne and were drowned in its whirlpools they pursued their Enemies the space of two leagues and killed a great number of them To shew that France aided the Duke of Savoy in the War he had begun against the Vaudois D' Aubigni reports in his General History that this Prince having desired the King of France to lend him
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
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
Vaudois who were in the Fort of Tour surrendred themselves likewise upon the promises of the Marquess of Parelle which were no better observed than those of Don Gabriel for the Enemies were no sooner entred into the Fort of Tour than all that the Vaudois had was given to the plunder of the Soldidrs and the Bandits of Mondovi their most Capital Enemies who enriched themselves with their Spoils and those that were in the Fort of which the greatest number were old men and sick women and children were made Prisoners with some Ministers and driven on with that Fury that those whom Age or Sickness would not permit of march fast enough were killed out to hand or thrown off the Rocks and Precipices Behold the Prowess and inviolable Faith of the Army of the Duke Let us now see what the French Army did At the same time that the Dukes army attacked the Valleys of Lucerne and Angrogne that of France commanded by Monsieur Catinat fell upon those of Perouse and St. Martin the 22d of April they marched two hours before day by Torch-light and followed for some time the Banks of the River of Cluson which is in the Territories of France this General made a Detachment of Foot commanded by Villevielle Lieutenant Collonel of the Regiment of Limosin who having passed the River upon a Bridge entred into the Valley of Perouse belonging to the Duke they seized upon St. German a Village that the Vaudois had abandoned and came to force a Retrenchment which they had above in which there was 200 men the Vaudois after some resistance quitted that post and intrenched themselves in another more advantageous in the interim a new Detachment of Horse and Dragoons having past the River came to support those who were engaged in battel they did their utmost both together to master the Vaudois retrenchments and they thought to carry them being ten against one but they found so great resistance that after having lost a great many men they intrenched themselves about a Pistol shot off and they continually fired one upon another more than ten hours but at last the Vaudois came out of their Retrenchment with their Swords in their hands which much surprized the French who did not expect so daring an action and chased them into the Plain beyond Cluson where by good Fortune they found a Bridge that saved them from drowning in this action there were more than 500 French men killed and wounded the Vaudois had but 2 men killed and some few wounded in this rout Villevielle fortified himself in the Church of St. German with 70 Soldiers and some Officers he was summoned to surrender and they proffered him good quarter but he refused and gave many proofs of great Valour and Resolution although a great part of his men were wounded and killed the Vaudois without doubt had forced it but the night coming on they found themselves so harrassed with the fatigue they had endured all day that they were constrained after having lost some Soldiers at the Church door to go and seek some refreshment Villevielle was disengaged the day following early in the morning by some Troops that the Governour of Pignerol made to march thither all night long the Vaudois betook themselves to their Retrenchments thinking that they came to attack them but the Enemies being now a greater number than they were the day before contented themselves to intrench out of Pistol shot without firing for two days together on either side only some random shot While things went thus in Perouse the body of the French army marched up by the River of Cluson to the Fort of Perouse in the Territories of France Catinat then made a Detachment of Cavalry commanded by Melac which having passed the River over two Bridges marched to gain the Eminencies which separated the Valley of St. Martin from the Delphinate the rest of the Army having passed the River went to incamp with Catinat at Clos de Bolards one part of the night and the morrow following being the 23d he attacked the Valley of St. Martin at a Village called Rioclaret But as those that commanded in this Valley did not believe they should be attacked after the proffers they had made of submitting themselves to the Edict of the 9th of April and above all because the appointed day was not elapsed for their departure out of the Valleys so the Vaudois of this Valley had not put themselves in a posture of defence and so made no resistance they thought it best to lay down their arms and implore the Mercy and Clemency of the Conqueror but the French being enraged at what hapned near St. German did not content themselves to pillage and burn their houses but they massacred without distinction of Age or Sex with an incredible Fury all that could not fly from their Barbarity We are to observe that the Valley of St. Martin had entred into all the engagements with the other Valleys by a general consent of that Community by their Deputies at the general Assembly held at Angrogne the 14th of April and this Valley which was the strongest of all having changed their sentiments some days after sent to the Court that they accepted of the Edict of the 9th of April This unexpected change was very prejudicial to the others who seeing the Enemies were Masters of this Valley from whence they might easily pass into the rest began to despair of defending themselves this heart-breaking news obliged the Vaudois to enter into Treaty and make the best terms they could for themselves If the Inhabitants of these Valleys had defended themselves as they might and ought and that those of the other Valleys had contented themselves to guard the strongest passes of the Mountains it had been hard for the Enemies to root them out And two great Armies as were those of France and Savoy could not have subsisted long there without perishing either by Famine or by the Sword of the Vaudois as it had hapned to other Armies in the precedent wars that were sent to make war upon them and destroy them Catinat after having ravaged the whole Country of Rioclaret in a strange manner left some Troops in the Valley of St. Martin and with a part of his Army crossed over the Mountains that divide this Valley from that of Perouse and encamped himself without finding any Resistance in the Community of Parmol in the Valley of Perouse the Soldiers massacred all those that fell into their hands having no pity of women children old or sick The Detachment that Melac commanded having incamped one night upon the Eminencies of the Valley of St. Martin entred by divers ways into this Valley by passes unknown to any but the Inhabitants of this Valley without any resistance he left every where where he went marks of an unparalell'd Cruelty and marched to joyn the Army that was encamped at Pramol we shall not here give you the particulars of the Barbarity and Inhumanity exercised
he marched before them and fought for them without which it had been impossible to have forced so many difficult Passes and gained such signal victories The King of England being informed of their design of returning unto their country blamed their enterprize as rash and ill grounded and looked upon those 900 Vaudois as lost men The States of Holland were of the same opinion and refused to assist them looking upon it as to no purpose but when they saw that contrary to the hopes of all the world that they subsisted in the Country last May 1690. they sent them Money and procured some of the French Protestants that were in Switzerland and the Elector of Brandenburgs Territories to go and assist them If the Vaudois had not been entred into their Country and had not generously defended themselves against their Enemies the D. of Savoy when he broke with France had not thought of setting at liberty those that were unjustly imprisoned nor of recalling those that were dispersed in Foreign Countries and the Allies would have contented themselves with the Dukes declaration for themselves and embracing their party without troubling their heads about establishing the Vaudois though driven out against all right and justice The conduct of God in the Re-establishment of the Vaudois is admirable and makes it evident that his divine providence has Judgment and ways incomprehensible surpassing all human understanding The King of France in the year 1686. pushed on the Duke of Savoy to compel the Vaudois to forsake their Religion and to take the same measures he had taken against the Protestants of France they joined their arms together to force them and to compass their design they violated not only the treaty made with the Predecessors of the Duke but likewise all Treaties Oaths and Promises made by their Generals took them Prisoners killed and massacred them violated their Wives and Daughters killed their little Children and made use of all sorts of Cruelty against these innocent people after they had laid down their arms and in the year 1690 God sent a Spirit of Division between the King of France and the Duke of Savoy insomuch that they strove who should first gain the Vaudois to their party and by this division the Duke of Savoy was forced to re-establish the Vaudois in their Rights and Priviledges and to set all at liberty that had been imprisoned and to recall all those that were dispersed in Foreign Countries And so the King of France who had been the principal cause of their ruine became against his will the cause of their Re-establishment by forcing the D. of Savoy by his Haughtiness to join with the Allies this shews that God mocks and derides the designs and councils of Princes when they are levelled against Jesus Christ and his Church and with the breath of his mouth makes all their enterprizes vanish in Smoak Oftentimes he makes use of the Enemies of his Church to protect and defend it Henry the 2d. King of France while he persecuted the Protestants of his own Kingdom succoured the Protestant Princes of Germany against the Emperor Charles the 5th Lewis the 13th did the same against the Emperor Ferdinand 2d. and Lewis the 14th while he did his best to ruine the Protestants in France succoured the Protestants of Hungary against the Emperor Leopold Henry the 3d. King of France when he was but Duke of Anjou gave advice in an Assembly that was held at St. Clou to commit the Massacre of St. Bartholomew and when he was King of France he emoloyed all his Forces to finish the destruction of those that remained after the Massacre but while he busied himself wholly and took the most probable measures to put in execution his wicked designs God stirred up the Duke of Guise against him who under the specious pretence of destroying the Protestants of France made a League against Henry and drove him out of Paris seized upon his Guards and constrained him to throw himself upon the Protestants and implore their aid and assistance without which he had been lost the Duke would have put him in a Cloister as Charles Martel did Chilperick the 3d. and seized upon his Crown Henry in acknowledgment of the Services that he had received of the Protestants began to be very favorable to them gave them places of security and many other Priviledges and appointed Henry de Borbon who was a Protestant his lawful Successor to the Crown And so God by a secret and unhop'd for way of a cruel and implacable Enemy of the Protestants made him against his will their Defender and Protector King Henry and the Duke of Guise were both in arms against the Protestants they jointly made war upon them and had equally sworn their ruin God permits they should be divided and by their division the one to destroy the other to deliver the Protestants who were sore oppressed and persecuted almost the same thing hapned in the delivery of the Vaudois God sent the Spirit of division between the King of France and the Duke of Savoy to punish them for the cruel persecution they had raised against the Protestants these two Princes were equally their Enemies and had resolved and vowed their destruction and when their malice was at the highest pitch against these poor innocent Creatures and all things seemed desperate God Almighty blasted their design and made them turn their arms the one against the other to destroy the one by the other as he destroyed the Duke of Guise by Henry whom he caused to be assassinated at Blois in the sight of all France assembled in the persons of those that composed the States general and after God had punished the Duke of Guise for the evils he had done to the Protestants he likewise punished Henry who was assassinated in the Castle of St. Cloy by a Fryer in the same Hall where the consult was held and the Massacre of St. Bartholomew was resolved on of which Henry and the Duke of Guise were the principal Counsellors and Ring-leaders of that horrible Butchery CHAP. XXVII Of the two Prophesies of the Scripture accomplished in the History of the Vaudois of Piemont the one contained in the 11th Chapter and the other in the 12th of the Revelation THE History of the Vaudois shews us clearly the accomplishment of two Prophesies of Scripture the one contained in the 11th and the other in the 12th Chapter of the Revelation of St. John We have made mention of the last when we shewed that the Churches of Piemont have conserved the Doctrine of the Apostles in its purity from the time of the Apostles even to our days and that the Roman Church was corrupted in adopting and receiving Pagan Doctrine and Ceremonies and communicated her Corruptions to the other Churches of the West only the Churches of Piemont were preserved pure and undefiled from whence it follows by a necessary consequence that these Mountains and Valleys were the places assigned by God Almighty