WALDENSES. I. Early History.

Waldo and the Poor Men (§ 1).

The Lombard Humiliati (§ 2).

Repression (§ 3).

Lombard Secession (§ 4).

II. Ideal, Method, and Government of the Poor Men.

Character and Rule (§ 1).

Preaching and Scripture (§ 2).

Missions; Government (§ 3).

III. The Ancient Waldenses. IV. The Lombard-German Branch before the Reformation.

In Italy (§ 1).

In Germany, Bohemia, Poland, and

Hungary (§ 2).

Internal Development (§ 3).

Organization (§ 4).

Persecutions (§ 5).

V. The Romance Waldenses after the Reformation. Entrance into the Reformed Body (§ 1).

Literature (§ 2).

The Waldenaian Reformed (§ 3).

VI. Present Condition.

I. Early History: Under the name Waldenseswith its variants Valdesii [the modern Vaudois], Vallensea, Leonistx (of Lyons), Inaabbatati, Sabbatati, Xabatati, Enpabots (sabot, " shoe "), Sandaliati, Sotularii, and Cotularii-Roman Catholic polemical writers after about 1180 opposed an ascetic body of preachers whose origin they ascribed to a Lyons merchant named Valdes (Peter Waldo), Valdesius, Valdexius, or Gual-

densis. While, however, at first only r. Waldo the French members of the organizaand the tion called their body Societal Yalde-

Poor Men. sans, or Socii Valdesii, the official name of the society was Pauperes spiritu (" Poor in Spirit "); or, later, Pauperes Christi; or simply Pauperes, with or without the additions de Lecgduno or de Lombardia. The society itself gave practically no information concerning its founder, except that he was a man of reckless determination, and that he died before 1218; and the sole source of knowledge consists, therefore, of Roman Catholic authorities of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, notably two anonymous writers of Laon and Passau and Stephen of Bourbon. According to the anonymous writer of Laon, Waldo heard, one Sunday in May or April of the famine year (1176), a traveling minstrel singing on the street the last stanzas of the old poem of St. Alexis [who had given away his property and gone on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, and thereby had won great peace]. He invited him into his house and on the following morning asked a theologian the shortest and best way to God. The answer was that of Christ to the rich young man. Waldo, giving a portion of his property to his wife, sold the remainder, bestowing the greater part of the proceeds on the poor; and later casting the balance upon the street, he begged alms, and soon afterward took a formal vow of poverty. In the following year he was joined by others at Lyons, and gradually the "poor men" began to castigate the sins of both themselves and others. In the spring of 1179 Waldo went to the Lateran Council at Rome, where Alexander III. confirmed his vow of poverty, but forbade him and his companions to preach, unless expressly invited by the priests. This was long observed by the Waldenses, but finally they disobeyed the mandate, only to be involved in ruin for their fault. Stephen of Bourbon, on the other hand, ascribes Waldo's conversion to his curiosity. Hearing of the Gospels, he had two priests translate them for him. In like fashion, he later obtained vernacular versions of many other books of the Bible XIL-16

State of Affairs in 1848 (§ 1).

Education in the Piedmont Valleys (§ 2)

·

Philanthropic Work and Statistics (§ 3)

·

Waldensian Emigration to nance (§ 4)

· The Waldensianain North and South

America (§ 5).

Missionary Work in Italy (§ 6).

Waldensian Churches in Italy (§ 7).

Educational and Philanthropic

Work in Italy (§ 8).

Missionary Work Outside Italy (§9).

and of the sayings of the saints. He now resolved to practise apostolic poverty, sold his property, threw the money in the mire, and began to preach in the streets. He was soon joined by many uncultured men and women, but all being unlettered, they taught many errors. They were accordingly forbidden to preach by Jean aux Blanches-Mains, archbishop of Lyons, but they persisted and were banned and expelled. In 1179 they were cited to appear at Rome, where, proving obstinate, they were declared to be heretics. The anonymous writer of Passau relates that the sudden death at a meeting at Lyons of one of the majores so shocked Waldo that he gave his property to the poor; taught them to imitate the voluntary poverty of Christ and the apostles, and forthwith began to translate the Bible into the vernacular. It is clear, moreover, from the account of Walter Map, that the followers of Waldo, when examined in connection with the Lateran Council, displayed utter ignorance of the simplest Christian teachings so that they were at once forbidden to preach. The anonymous writer of Laon, furnishing the most elaborate, immediate, and probable source, followed by Stephen, it may be concluded that the Waldenses originated according to the facts stated by the former; that, turning voluntarily to the Lateran Council (1179), the pope refused them the privilege of preaching; that, continuing, Pope Lucius III., instigated by Archbishop Jean of Lyons, issued against them, from Verona, the bull Ad abolendam, Nov. 4, 1184; and that the archbishop expelled them from Lyons toward the end of 1184, or at the beginning of 1185.

Meanwhile the Waldenses had gained a momentous advance elsewhere. 7n the spring of 1179 the Lombard Humiliati (q.v.) likewise sought at Rome to have their statutes confirmed and to be allowed to preach and hold religious gatherings.

They were, however, also refused, and

s. The the similarity of their aims and forLombard tunes led to a fusion of Waldenses

Humiliati. and Humiliati. The latter recognized

Waldo as leader, and assumed the name PduPeres spiritu, and the customs of apostolic living and preaching abroad, and impressed on their new allies their distinctive custom of uniting those brethren who felt themselves unfitted for preaching and pastoral care into ascetic companies of laborers. A second branch of Waldenses was thus established in Lombardy, their chief center being Milan, where in 1209 they numbered over a hundred. They were also in Cremona (1210), Bergamo, and, at least a,s

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missionaries, in a number of towns in northern and northwestern Italy. They were in Strasburg (1211), Bavaria and Austria (1218), and in the diocese of Treves and the region surrounding Mainz (1231). The determined effort to suppress heresy, then made throughout middle and southern Germany, was directed primarily against them. Meanwhile, the French Waldenses had extended their territory, so that it became necessary to take measures against them in Toul (1192), Metz (1199-1200), and Liege (1203). They were also present in Flanders at the beginning of the thirteenth century; but the south remained their chief field of operations. In Languedoc they engaged the attention of the bishops as early as the ninth decade of the twelfth century, and they soon caused commotion in Aragon and Catalonia. Here and in Languedoc they were, in all likelihood, most widely spread, numerous, and influential about the close of the twelfth and the beginning of the thirteenth century. They were drawn chiefly from the laity of the bourgeois and peasant classes, though a few priests and men of culture, and even monks, were to be found among them.

The papal ban (1184) had empowered the authorities of both Church and State to proceed against the Waldenses. In 1194 Alfonso II. of Spain issued an edict that all who should harbor, give

3. Repres- food and, drink, or even listen to the sion. Waldenses should be punished by con fiscation of property and prosecuted for lose majesfk, while any injury might be inflicted on the Insabbatati save death and mutilation. In 1,197 Pedro II. renewed this edict, with the added clause that Waldenses should be burned wherever taken, this forming the first public document in which death by burning was prescribed by the State for heresy. How far the mandate was enforced is uncertain, but in Germany about eighty members of the sect were burned at Strasburg in 1211. In their chief missionary centers, France and Italy, they were treated with more leniency. At Milan Archbishop Philip seems to have contented himself with razing their school, and in Pinerolo a vain effort was made to induce the inhabitants to refuse to receive them. In France only some of the bishops at first proceeded against them, and these with such moderate meas ures as summoning before the courts or burning their translations. Not until the Albigensian war broke out in southern France were bloody persecutions in flicted. Seven were burned at Maurillac in 1214. Throughout this first generation of the sect zealous efforts were made to reclaim them gently, or at leant to refute their peculiar tenets; and Bernard of Font caud, Alanus ab Insulis, and Eberhard of Bethune then composed then' works against the adherents of Waldo. In Languedoc there were attempts to recon cile them with the Church by means of religious colloquies at an unknown place previous to 1191, and at the castle of Pamiers in 1206. At the latter the Waldensian Duran of Huesca agreed to submit, provided he might retain his habit and his mode of life, and the Church was soon able to form from reconciled Waldenses a new brand of poor preachers, the Pauperes Catholici (q.v.), who, it was vainly hoped, would render valuable service in combating the Waldensian heresy.

At a very early date dissensions arose. Waldo vainly demanded the dissolution of the associations of laborers. He permitted the dissolution of marriage in case one wished to join his ranks, while the Lombards were of the opinion that the consent of the wife was necessary. The Lombards, because of his insistence, desired to become independent 4.. Lombard of him, and have a leader of their own.

Secession. The result was a crisis,which reached its climax about 1210, and a final rupture took place between the two bodies, the Lombards choosing their own leader in the simple and unlet tered Giovanni di Ronco. These internal dissen sions probably explain why, at this period, the sect made so slight a resistance to Roman Catholic efforts for their conversion; and why it now lost so many of its members, particularly of the more cultured class. This loss, and the considerable success of the Pau peres Catholici made the more moderate spirits in both factions anxious for reunion, and the death of both leaders opened the way. In May, 1218, there fore, six delegates from both aides met at Bergamo. Generous concessions were made to the Lombards, but two points the Waldenses would not yield: Lom bard recognition of Waldo and his otherwise unknown colleague Vivet as " blessed "; and the sur render of the distinctively Lombard sacramental doctrine, for which only toleration, not acceptance, had been asked. The Lombards refused to comply on these two points, and negotiations were accord ingly broken off, never to be resumed. Both were guilty of narrowness, yet the final cause of the divi sion is to be found in the fact that the Lombards were already an organized community with fixed regulations and self-consciousness when they joined the Waldenses.

II. Ideal, Method, and Government of the Poor Men: That the purpose of Waldo was a return to apostolic poverty, with a general revival of apostolic life based especially on Matt. x., is firmly established. The dearth of direct information concerning his regulations finds, however, a certain degree of compensation in two indirect z. Character sources: the statements regarding the

and Rule. French and Lombard "poor men" in later times; and the authentic data afforded by Innocent III. concerning the Pauperes Catholici, to whom the pope left, so far as possible, their old usages and organization. Inasmuch as all regular intercourse was broken off permanently, it may be considered a rule that all institutions and practises found in later times common to both Wal denses and Lombards date from before the schism. The " society " of the " poor in spirit " was pri marily nothing but an ascetic association of men and women who renounced the world, formally vowed to practise apostolic poverty and the apostolic calling, and wore as an outward.symbol the apostolic habit. They alone, later called in the Lombard-German group also " masters," " apostles," and even " lords," were members of the " society "; the re cent converts and "friends" who remained in the world had no share in their privileges and duties. By the excommunication of the society its character changed long before the schism; and Waldo, who had already claimed recognition as a bishop, and

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who had asserted the power of consecrating the Eucharist, prepared the way for the transformation of his following into a sect or antichurch, a tendency present already in 1184. Under the pressure of persecution even the "friends" felt themselves sectaries, and became increasingly merged with the main body of Waldenses, although the distinction between the two classes was never forgotten by Roman Catholic writers. The condition for admission to the " society " was, from the first, " conversion," in its monastic sense of renunciation of the worldly state and vocation and personal property, and the dissolution of a previous marriage. Reception into the community seems originally to have followed directly; but even before the schism a period of probation was required of one or two years in the German-Lombard division, and of five or six in the French. This period was devoted especially to committing the New Testament to memory, as well as other books of the Bible; and at its conclusion the neophyte was ceremonially admitted, making at first, probably only among the f` brothers and sisters," the following vows: perfect poverty, rigid obedience of the precepts of the Gospel, and the wearing of the apostolic habit. Previous to the schism the vow of celibacy seems also to have been exacted, while later both Lombards and Waldenses admitted only the unmarried. Finally, the novice pledged himself to complete submission to his superiors. The "apostolic ~habit" apparently consisted at first of a simple woolen cloak. Originally the "poor men" went barefoot, but at least before 1194, they began to wear a sandal, cross-tied and supplied with a small buckle or shield on the instep, whence their nicknames. Considerable significance was attached to the sandal, and to proffer it and put it on came later to be a part of the solemn rite of reception. Thus attired, the "poor men" roamed, two by two, as wandering preachers from city to city, imitating Luke x. 1. They were forbidden to earn their living by their own labors, receiving their food and other necessities from their friends (cf. Matt. x. 10 sqq.; I Cor. ix. 7 sqq.), and at first returning alms given in money. From the very first they attached high value to abstinence, fasting on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays; and they were equally devoted to prayer, though, except for the blessing at meals, they used only the Lord's Prayer (in Biblical strictness). At first they utterly disregarded the canonical hours, but later they prayed seven times daily. At a very early time, moreover, probably under the influence of the Cathari (see NEw MerncxEarrs, II.), they refused every form of oath (cf. Matt. v. 34 sqq.), abhorred every falsehood as a mortal sin, and condemned shedding of blood, even in a righteous war or in capital punishment (cf. Matt. v. 21 sqq., vii. 1 sqq.). They held their chief duty to be preaching, though after being excommunicated they began to hear confessions and to celebrate the Lord's Supper, as well as to ordain by prayer and laying on of hands. Yet before the schism they had apparently determined to celebrate the Lord's Supper only once a year, on the evening of Maundy Thursday (q.v.), when it should be celebrated by a bishop. In France it was apparently the custom, from an early time, to partake of fish as well as of unleavened bread and

wine at this celebration,, and the power of healing the sick was soon attributed to all these elements.

The preaching of the "poor men" was very simple, normally consisting only of exhortations to repentaUce and the recitation of long passages from the Bible in the vernacular. From the beginning

of the thirteenth century, at latest, a. )?reach- they laid special stress on the prohibiing and tion of oaths, falsehood, and the shed-

Scripture. ding of blood (cf. Matt. v. 21 sqq., vii.

1 sqq.). The heresies alleged by their opponents to exist among them only served to intensify their emphasis upon the preaching of repentance and the assertion of their undertaking against the hierarchy, holding, namely, that, (1) masses, alms, and prayers do not avail the dead; (2) purgatory does not exist; (3) episcopal indulgences are invalid; (4) obedience is due only to those good priests who live the apostolic life; and (5) that "merit is more essential to consecrating, blessing, binding, and loosing than office or ordination." The "poor men" doubted the efficacy of sacraments, especially the Eucharist, administered by unworthy Roman Catholic priests; and they held that prayer is more efficacious in the closet than in the church, besides contesting the peculiar sanctity of the sacred places of the Church. For all their doctrines and distinctive usages they at first gave formal proof by reference to the Bible: e.g., for lay preaching to James iv. 17; Rev. xxii. 17; Mark ix. 38-39; Phil. i. 15; Num. xi. 29; for the admission of women as preachers to Titus ii. 3-4, and the example of Anna (Luke ii. 36-38). While they did not avoid citing Roman Catholic writers occasionally, from the very first they adhered with the extremest rigidity to the minutest and most literal precepts of the Bible. They laid special stress from the beginning on the possession of the Scriptures by the laity in the vernacular. As early as 1179 Waldo seems to have had almost the entire Bible in Provengal, and this was very likely used by his adherents in Catalonia, Aragon, northern France, and Lorraine, and even Lombardy. In Germany, on the other hand, the Bible was translated anew. Many misunderstandings were more than probable; yet, in spite of not always realizing what the text meant, entire books were memorized and orally repeated. Even among the "friends" were some, who, though illiterate, could repeat the words of Christ, the forty Sunday gospels, and even Job and the entire four Gospels.

At first the Waldenses went about publicly in their apostolic habit, preaching in the streets, markets, and even churches. These practises they were able to keep up in Languedoc till late in the thirteenth

century, but elsewhere persecution soon 3. Missions; obliged them to lay aside their habit and Government. to prosecute their activity in secret.

They now went disguised as pilgrims, palmers, artizans, or laborers of various kinds, sometimes carrying different costumes with them. Wherever they could find a hearing, they sought to convert some from the world, i.e., to induce them to join them, while their other adherents, or "friends," they urged to hold regular conventicles, and panic. ularly to abstain from oaths and the shedding of blood. In Lombardy the "friends" were at first

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advised to enter one of the associations of laborers at Milan and elsewhere, and these associations and conventicles, sometimes erecting their own buildings, formed initially the fixed centers of Waldeneian missionary activity. To these were added in the German-Lombard section, in the thirteenth century, studia or " hospices," in which'the " converts " were trained and the preachers entertained. The laborers' associations, special objects of mistrust, apparently disappeared before 1218, but the other two institutions of conventicles and studia long lived on. [In the RescriPtum (of 1218) of the Poor Men of Lombardy to the Poor Men of Lyons, the former still plead for the toleration of the Congregationes laborantium on condition that abuses and vices be abolished. a. a. rr.] Until the secession of the Lombards the government of the Waldenses rested in the hands of Waldo, who was regarded as bishop and supervising head. It is evident that after. 1184 and before 1210 the society resolved to create anew the three orders of bishops, priests, and deacons. It then recognized Waldo as bishop, and he ordained other "poor men" as presbyters and deacons. The reason for this step was doubtless distrust of the sacramental ministrations of Roman Catholic priests, and these three offices were retained in accordance with the "law of God" in the Bible. Waldo was clearly prtTpositus or rector and bishop until the secession, after which the Lombards apparently continued the monarchical system; and till the end of the fifteenth century they had a summus pontifer,, who, after the second half of the fourteenth century, resided in Apulia or middle Italy. There is mention of several Lombard bishops in Lombardy and Germany about 1266. In France, about 1218, there is no evidence of a monarchical rector, only of two "procurators" chosen annually. Toward the end of the thirteenth century, however, a major minister chosen for life was to be found in France, together with other bishops, or majores, who conferred ordination, but exercised no administrative functions. From all this it is evident that the episcopal dignity conferred by ordination was at first not necessarily joined with the rectorate, which was subject to the election of the assembly and its regulations. Yet it was deemed important that the rector possess also consecration as bishop, which seems always to have been the case in Lombardy. The first exact information concerning the powers and duties of these incumbencies is contained in French sources of the late thirteenth and early fourteenth centuries. The deacon (also called minor; in Germany junior) was simply the servant of the presbyters, bishops, and rectors; and when the "poor men" went out in pairs, one was usually a presbyter and the other a deacon. Originally the deacon also had the right to preach and hear confession. The presbyter was empowered to preach in the district assigned him by the rector, to hear confession, and to pronounce the blessing at meals. Later he could also confer ordination if no bishop were present. In the Lombard-German Waldenses all consciousness of distinction between the orders of bishop and priest had vanished in the fifteenth century. The bishop, later called major or majoralis in France, likewise had the right to cele-

1 11 xl I,-,

brats the Lord's Supper and to confer ordination. The rector or prce'positus, later called major omnium or major minister in France, had, in addition to his episcopal functions, the prerogative of convening and conducting the assembly which met once or twice annually; and in France he might also preach everywhere and grant absolution. The rite of ordination for all three grades was simply confession of sins (lacking among the Lombard-Germans), the Lord's Prayer, and laying on of hands. In France all "poor men" were at least deacons about 1320. In addition were the " sisters "; but these were never very numerous, and in France, about the beginning of the- fourteenth century, it was resolved to admit no more sisters, since they could hold no spiritual office; while in the Lombard-German district they lived in the hospices by the close of the thirteenth century, having given up itinerant preaching. There was likewise a controversy between the Lombards and Waldenses concerning the "ministers," but at Bergamo it was decided that these officials should be chosen by the assembly either from the recent converts or from the "friends," and either far a term or for life. [The question at issue in 1218 between the Poor Men of Lombardy and the Poor Men of Lyons was whether prepositi (or bishops) should be appointed by the former. Waldo, considering his own headship sufficient, had positively refused to allow the appointment of such officials either by the Italians or the French in his own lifetime or even after his death. It was agreed between the parties that prepoaiti might be appointed for life (eternaliter) or rectors for a time, as might seem more useful or conducive to peace. n. H. N.] These "ministers" were evidently not part of the three spiritual orders of the Waldenses, but were chosen by the assembly to conduct the conventiclea of "friends" and the associations of laborers, and to aid the itinerant apostles. It thus becomes clear that before 1218 the attempt was made to organize the "friends" of the Waldenses. Ma jores, bishops, presbyters, and deacons had no fixed residence, but once or twice each year all, or all the older members, of the sect seem to have convened in a commune, or assembly, called by the Roman Catholics " council " or " chapter." So long as Waldo was recognized by the Lombards, this assembly was overshadowed by him, but after the schism it became a prominent feature in the administration of the society in Lombardy, as it did in France after the death of Waldo. This assembly decided on the admission of new members; chose presiding officers and " ministers "; determined who should receive ordination to the various grades of its clergy; exercised discipline; considered the general condition of the sect, and received a report from each member concerning the state of the work in his missionary district; and later ruled concerning the use of the alma and funds contributed by the "friends." As the missionary field of the sect grew, it became no longer possible to convene all members, so that from more distant regions three or four delegates were considered sufficient,

III. The Ancient Waldenses: After the schism of the Lombards the old Waldenses were restricted to their early missionary districts in Aragon, Cata-

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Ionia, France, and Lorraine. [It is not likely that either party had regard to national or geographical bounds. n. a. NJ In the two regions first named persecutions by Church and State continued, and in the thirteenth century all traces of the Waldenaes vanished from Spain, and in the thirteenth century they disappeared from Lorraine and Flanders. In the Franche Comt6, Provence, and Languedoc, however, they were so numerous in 1248 that Count John of Burgundy deemed himself able to cope with them only by means of the Inquisition. They were in conflict with the Church in Valentinoia and Provence until the second quarter of the fourteenth century; but as late as the first quarter of the same century their great missionary district was Languedoc, where repressive measures failed to diminish their activity or to disperse their "friends," who were sometimes able to form, both there and in Provence, small congregations with cemeteries of their own, as at Montauban, Montcueq, and Gonrdon. After the inquisition of Peter Cells (1241-42), however, the " poor men " and their " friends " were gradually dispersed even in Languedoc, so that by the beginning of the fourteenth century they had become a secret organization, and declined in the course of this and the following century. The internal conditions of the sect during its period of decline are revealed fairly well by the protocols of the Inquisition, and by Bernardua Guidonis. The society preserved, so far as possible, its old customs and regulations. As consequences of their conflict with the Church and the Cathari, the Waldenses had abandoned their apostolic habit, and the Church they regarded as the "Church of the wicked': and a "house of lien" because its members were permitted to take oaths and its priests were not bound to apostolic poverty. They denied the right of excommunication and enforcing obedience, and contested the right of Roman Catholic priests to administer the sacraments. They also denied the miracles of the saints, and rejected their invocation, though not the cult of the virgin; and they observed as feasts only Sundays, the days of the virgin, and sometimes the days of the apostles and evangelists. Nevertheless, to escape suspicion, they attended church industriously, sought the favor of priests and monks, and did not hinder the "friends" from confession to Roman Catholic priests. No longer a preaching association with a missionary activity within the Church, the French central affiliation became a sect or anti-church prevented from schism and independence only by the untoward circumstances. Hence the "friends" came to be designated as Waldenses, and only the descendants of parents who were " believers " were eligible for the " poor " class or the perfecti. The training imposed for the order of "poor men" consisted successively of five or six years of study, ordination as deacons, and about nine years more of theological study. Entrance was invariably by ordination as deacon, which was regarded as more important than the profession of vows. Women were no longer admitted to this order. The powers and duties of the officers were closely defined with a major minister at the head chosen for life. k catechism, apparently transmitted orally from generation to generation, consisting of

seven articles on God, seven on man, the Deealogue, and the seven works of mercy, was arranged.

IV. The Lombard-German Branch before the Reformation: The Lombards successfully advanced into Italy, Germany, Bohemia, Poland, and Hun gary. In Italy, Milan remained their headquarters and Lombardy their chief missionary district. By 1235, however, the persecution of heresy had begun, on a large scale, though how far the "poor men," who had imitated and borrowed much from the Cathari, despite their opposition to them, were af fected is uncertain. At all events, their organiza tion was not destroyed by 1266, when

z. In Italy. the assemblies could be held more frequently in Lombardy than anywhere else. Yet by that time the greater amount of money for the support of the clergy came from Germany, thus showing that the German Waldenses were then more numerous and stronger than the Lombard. In the course of the fourteenth century the Lombards seem to have died out in their original center; but as early as the previous century the "poor men" had found asylum in the Alpine valleys of western Piedmont and the neighboring Dauphiny. A tradition of the fifteenth century would have them come from France, crossing the Cottian Alps. However, the resemblance and close connection with the German Lombards, contradicts that tradition. Doubtless the movement entered not by migration but by missionary proselyting among the inhabitants on both declines of the Cottian Alps, who were originally sprung from an East Provengal stock. The dialect of the Waldensian literature supports this view. Precisely when this mission began is uncertain, ~ but the sect was widespread in the valleys on both sides of Mont G6nevre by the beginning of the fourteenth century. By the end of this century Waldenses occupied not only the so-called Waldenaian valleys, but they were to be found in the numerous villages in the valleys of Susa and the Sangone, and in the cities of the neighboring plain, Pianezza, Castagnola, Moncalieri, Carmagnola, Chieri. In the course of the same century there were also two southern colonization districts in Calabria and Apulia. The first group of towns were said by Waldensian tradition of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries to have been founded about 1315 or 1370 at the request of a Calabrian noble, by Waldenaea from the Cottian Alps. The accuracy of this tradition is questionable, though the names Borgo d'Oltremontani and Guardia Piemonteae, where Waldensian is still spoken, show that these towns owed their origin to the Waldenses. About 1400 some of them are said to have been driven from Provence to Apulia, where they founded the four towns of Monteleone, Faato, Cells,, and La Motta Montecorvino, while a century later others were said to have founded the city of Volturara; but it is shown again that Cells and Faito had been in existence in the twelfth century, and had received Provengal colonists in 1345 or 1347, but not Waldenses. However, they were certainly both numerous and influential in Apulia in the fourteenth century, so that about 1380 their summus pontifex was residing there, and was still receiving moneys from Piedmont in the middle of the fifteenth century. In their travels

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from Calabria and Apulia to the Alpine valleys, the Waldensian apostles evidently made missionary efforts in central Italy, thus explaining the communities found in the fifteenth century in the States of the Church, including Umbria, Tuscany, and Romagna. These communities seem to have been especially numerous in the duchy of Spolato, and small Waldensian conventicles were also to be found in Camerino, Ancona, Perugia, Bologna, Lucca, and Florence. Even Rome contained one, but the conventicles then existing at Genoa and elsewhere in Liguria were apparently survivals of the old Lombard mission. The most remarkable proof of the energy of the Italian Waldenses, however, is, that in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries they carried their propaganda into the territory of the French "poor men." The occasion was likely the colonizing, by the Barons Boulders, of a few Waldensian families of Saluzzo on the north bank of the Durance in France, who may have been tracked by the apostles. It is uncertain whether they found remnants of old French communities in their labors in Provence, Valentinois, Vivarais, Venaissin, Auvergne, Limousin, and Bordelais; but at all events they were able to gather a series of conventicles in Auvergne, Valentinois, and near Tr6voux, north of Lyons, and even to hold an assembly in Lyons, May 31, 1492.

In Germany occurred the first execution of Waldenses en masse, at Strasburg, in 1211 (ut sup.); and in 1231-33 took place there the first general persecution. Nothing was now heard of them for a long time in central Germany, but in upper Germany they soon again attracted attention. They were encountered in Constance in 1243, and in Hall in Swabia in 1248 they dared openly to defend the ex-

communicated Emperor Frederick II.

z. In and to brand Pope Innocent IV. as a Germany, heretic. In Bavaria and in Upper and

Bohemia, Lower Austria they spread so quickly, Poland, and despite incessant bloody persecution,

Hungary. that about 1260 the Inquisition found

Waldensian schools in forty-two parishes of Upper and Lower Austria; while in 1315 heretics were found in thirty-six places between St. Polten and Traiskirchen, the "poor men" themselves then estimating the number of their followers in the duchy of Austria at more than 80,000. Meanwhile they had also found their way into Bohemia, Moravia, Silesia, Meissen, Brandenburg, Pomerania, and Poland. By the end of the fourteenth century they were in a series of places in Hungary, and even in Transylvania. Half a century later the sect was first noticed in the duchy of Saxe-Wittenberg and in the district of Magdeburg, and twenty years later in what is now Mecklenburg-Schweizn. In southern Bohemia the Waldenses formed entire villages in the German colonies near Neuhaus, about 1340, and in Moravia they were so numerous that the Church almost despaired of overcoming them. In Brandenburg, Pomerania, and Mecklenburg no less than 443 persons were accused of the Waldensian heresy in 1393-94; and the sect seems to have been a regular concomitant of German colonization in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. The Waldenses were equally active in the interior of Germany. In the last decade of the fourteenth century the In-

quisition discovered them in many towns beside Erfurt, Mainz, Nuremberg, and Regensburg, and in all Upper and Lower Austria, Salzburg, and Styria. In Swabia, Augsburg was an early center of the sect, and they were found in Ulm, Donauworth (twentysix executed in 1393), and other towns. On the Upper Rhine among the notable places which they occupied were Strasburg, Hagena,u, and Speyer; and in Switzerland, Basel, Solothurn, St. Gall, Bern, Freiburg, Neuchatel, Lausanne, Vaud, and others. Records are wanting of their presence only in the Tyrol, in the Rhine valley north of Bingen with its lateral valleys, Lower Saxony, Frisia, Holstein, and, for a long time, the Netherlands. The Waldensians drew their recruits chiefly from the lower classes. In Upper Germany they were especially influential among the cloth-makers, but only a few of the clergy or of the cultured classes joined their ranks. Among their patrons and adherents, however, were not seldom those of knightly position or high office, so that as diligent artizans and colonists they received open favor in the ma,rgravate of Saluzzo, the Montagne du Luberon, Apulia, and Calabria. Among their "friends" were representatives of the higher classes, especially in the cities of Swabia, Franconia, and Bavaria, as well as in Bern and Freiburg in Switzerland.

The Lombard Waldensians developed their organization from an ascetic band of preachers to an antichurch or sect as quickly as their French brethren.

As early as 1260 they and their

3. Internal "friends" formed, even in Germany, Develop- a loose but practically organized secret went. church, which considered itself the only

Church of Christ, occasionally termed entrance to its number true baptism, and thus implied what it explicitly declared in the fourteenth century, that outside of it there was no salvation. It accordingly declined all the claims, hierarchy, and worship of the Roman Catholic Church, designating it, as early as about 1240, as the great beast of the Apocalypse, and declaring that it had ceased to be the Church of Christ when Pope Silvester, the first antichrist, received the donation from Constantine. The Waldenses protested against all privileges of rank, clerical prerogatives, the titles of pope and bishop, priestly despotism, all incomes and endowments of churches and monasteries, the division of the land into dioceses and parishes, against councils and synods, the whole system of ecclesiastical courts and penalties and of marriage law, the celibacy of the clergy, and the like. They also rejected, at least after the fourteenth century, monasticism in all its forms; ,the system of religious instruction; the mystical interpretation of the Scriptures; all ordinations and acts of worship not explicitly directed by the Bible; all church fasts and feasts excepting Sundays and sometimes Christmas, Easter, Ascension, Whitsunday, and the feasts of the apostles; the blessing of all articles such as candles, palms, water, and the use of articles thus blessed; the blessing and dedication of churches, cemeteries, pilgrims, and the like; the churching of women; and pilgrimages, processions, organs, bells, spires, canonical hours, the whole Latin liturgy, and all else appertaining to the externals of worship. More emphatic was their condem-

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nation of the cult of images, relics, saints, and the Virgin, but most productive of offense were their severe strictures upon the sacraments of the Church. Beginning about 1240, with the denial of the efficacy of sacraments administered by evil priests, the radical faction, assuming that all Roman Catholic priests were evil, proceeded to renounce Roman Catholic baptism as unnecessary; infant baptism as worthless; confirmation and extreme unction superfluous; and the Eucharist, ordination, and penance as administered by the Church, futile. The "friends," with the moderates, did not always follow to these extremes, and the Waldenses only very seldom attacked belief in the sacraments itself. This extreme radicalism of the Lombard Waldenses was due, in all probability, to the influence of the Cathari; and the similarity of the two sects occasionally led to their formal confusion, as in the sect of the Piedmontese Martino de Presbytero, which occupies a prominent place in the acts of the Inquisition in 1388. Dogma was not yet the prominent feature in Waldensian preaching, which was mostly content with inculcating abstinence from oaths, falsehood, war, and capital punishment. Manses, prayers, and offerings for the dead were declared futile, and purgatory was denied. Foremost was the admonition of the two ways (Matt. vii. 13-14). In Italy and Germany, for preaching and the instruction of the elders there were, in addition to the Bible, (1) an anthology entitled, Verbs sanctorum Augustini, Hieronymi, Ambrosii, Gregorii, Chrysostomi, et Isidori (such a collection was already in the hands of Waldo); (2) Liber electorum (probably called also Liber justorum); (3) the "Thirty Steps of Augustine," a tractate on the virtues and vices; (4) Septem articuli fcdei, perhaps identical with the seven articles on God in the French Waldensian catechism (ut sup.); and (5) a "Rule," with data concerning the origin of the sect, apparently transmitted only orally. The German Waldenses of the thirteenth century possessed also vernacular poems, which seem never to have been committed to writing. In the fifteenth century the German Waldenses had interpretations of the Gospels and Pauline epistles in the vernacular, though these were probably from the work of some Roman Catholic author and restricted to the lessons of the Church. The Italian Waldenses evidently possessed a number of books previous to 1368, but after that date had scarcely more than the Bible and the Liber electorum. In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries the Waldenses of the Cottian Alps had a regular Bibliotheca Waldensis, but of its contents it is known that a small portion alone dated from the pre-Reformation period. To this portion belonged at least a tractate Vertucz; the Doctor and Vergier de consollacion both anthologies; Gloss paternoster, an exposition of the Lord's Prayer, probably translated from some Roman Catholic author; and Contica, a translation of a Roman Catholic commentary on Canticles in seven books (the first of which is lost), with a few specifically Waldensian additions. This commentary was probably prepared in the Cottian Alps or in Provence toward the end of the fifteenth century, as also the Penitence and Pccca_ An essentially Waldensian work was the great Noble leygon (ed. E. Montet, Paris, 1888), a

ENCYCLOPEDIA Waldenses poem of 479 duodecasyllabic verses, written by an author of some theological training, probably in the . Cottian Alps after 1231. It is a missionary sermon in verse after the order of the minstrels, reviewing the contents of the Bible under the threefold head of "the law of nature, the law of Moses, the law of Christ." The other didactic poems were probe- ' bly ]ikewise of the thirteenth century: namely, La ' i Barca; Lo Novel Sermon; Lo Novel Confort; Lo Payre Eternal; Lo Despreczi del mont; L'Avangeli de j, , li quatre sementz; and the corrupt L'Oraczon. In Germany, as among the French Waldenses, the I, r Lord's Supper was celebrated in the fourteenth cen tury annually on Maundy Thursday, but in the fol lowing century this usage disappeared and the i masters were confined mostly to hearing confession. In the Cottian Alps, on the other hand, as well as in Provence, Apulia, Calabria, and middle Italy, the independent celebration of the Lord's Supper lasted longer. In the fifteenth century the Waldenses of the Cottian Alps and middle Italy no longer all re ceived the Eucharist from Roman Catholic priests, I but took the bread consecrated by their "barbs" (clericals). But after the great persecution of 1487- i:; 1494, it was received only from the priests of the Church, except at clerical ordinations the commu nion was celebrated in the ancient Waldensian fash ion down to the sixteenth century. t Waldensian organization underwent an important ~ , ~ E change in the fourteenth century, when the German branch separated from the Italian, ceasing to have official relations with the Italian bishops and rector, and regulating its affairs henceforth by I ; ;. ;, Organ- its own assemblies, which were held by izations. preference in the large cities at the time ~ E of the annual faire. The Germane did ',; : f not, however, elect a rector, for in Germany his in- fluence had always been weak and the masters had I ; become accustomed to act on their own responsibil- ity. In all probability there was no general Wal- I E densian assembly in Germany, and no general or ganization. At the same time there was frequent intercommunication between all the conventicles of Germany, nor were relations with the Lombards en- ' tirely broken off. In Italy the strong central organ ization was maintained until the Reformation period. In the fourteenth century the three orders of clergy ' E were found both in Italy and in Germany, but in the following century they disappeared from both lands. ' r [It seems hardly probable that so radical a change should occur in the polity of so conservative a II , , [ body within so brief a time. n. a. N.] The only ordination then known was that received at reception into the sect, precedence within the body I being determined solely by seniority. At the same i ;, , r time the position of the "juniors" corresponded in ' a sense to that of the French deacons, and the " se- · r niors " to the French presbyters. In Germany all members of the sect were termed masters, while in Italy they were called "barbs" (East Provencal IT, I barbs, " uncle "). The mode of the life of the Wal i;.i denser, who received in Italy a new name at, their ~ ', ordination, was practically that of the early period. The system of training was carefully regulated. In E Germany the pupil must study with a master for a year or two. He was then ordained, but must still , i £, k, ~i ~ I i, ·j k i i i 4

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work under the supervision of a master from six to nine years before he could hear confession. In Italy, the chief source of recruits in the fifteenth century being the peasantry, the candidates must first learn to read and commit to memory the Gospels of Matthew and John, as well as several of the New-Testament epistles. This consumed two months of each winter for three or four years, after which the candidate studied and practised manual labor for a year or two in one of the sister houses. He was then ordained, but must still act for years as the assistant of an older "barb." The sisters seem to have been used in missions in Germany as late as the fifteenth century; while in Italy they then lived as virgins in the houses and hospices which sheltered the "barbs" and their pupils. There were also "friends" who, in Germany, raised contributions for the masters, and in Italy also occasionally aided the "barbs" in hearing confession, and in preaching. The masters were well supported by the collections and the small confessional gifts. The Waldenses never ceased to be itinerant preachers; so that in Germany, toward the end of the fourteenth century, they changed their scenes of activity every year or two, and in Italy, as late as 1530, every two or three years. They held an assembly regularly each year. Meetings in Germany and the Cottian Alps occurred almost invariably at night, in a private house or barn, and admission was by a countersign. In Germany, Apulia, Calabria, and other Piedmontese colonies, the Waldenses attended Roman Catholic worship regularly; and only where they were in the majority, as in the Cottian Alps, did they and their "friends," before 1487, dare for years not to confess and commune in the Roman Catholic churches, which they there avoided altogether.

To understand the inner history of the Waldenses in Germany and Italy it must constantly be borne in mind that they were outlawed from 1231, and had to be prepared at every turn for a fresh persecution. After the great persecution in 1231 they

seem to have been disturbed only lo- 5. Perse- tally, about 1260, in Bavaria and Aus- cntions. tria, and perhaps also in Bohemia,

Moravia, and the neighboring Hungarian districts. At the beginning of the fourteenth century the persecution started anew in the same districts, spreading, by 1313, to Silesia, and, about 1330, to Poland, Hungary, Brandenburg, Thuringia, and Franconia; but the next general suppression, including also Switzerland, was inspired by Gregory XI. (1370-78). Here such energy was displayed by the inquisitors Petrus Zwicker and Martin of Amberg that these regions long remained unaffected by the Waldenses. It was not until the third decade of the fifteenth century that the surviving associations again dared to make their piesence known, being encouraged in such places as the Swiss Freiburg by the long respite, and inspired elsewhere by the Hussite propaganda. In Bohemia, Moravia, and the neighboring Austrian districts they seem to have been incorporated with the Hussites, so impressing their peculiar tenets as to produce a distinct body, the Bohemian Brethren (q.v.). These seem to have sought to attract to themselves all the Waldensians in Austria, Moravia, and Bohemia, though

with imperfect success, for some of the Waldenses even then would not surrender their formal union with the Church. This conservative party seems gradually to have died out. In Swabia and Franconia the Saxon noble, Johann Drandorf (burned 1425), and Peter of Turnau (burned 1426), sought to attach the regular Waldenses to the Hussites; more successful was the Hussite Bishop Friedrich Reiser (burned at Strasburg, 1458), especially at Nuremberg, Würzburg, Schweinfurt, Heilabronn, Strasburg, Basel, and other parts of southern and central Germany. Yet though many of the Waldenses thus recognized the Hussites as brethren, they did not themselves become Hussites, their adherence consisting merely in deeming Wyclif, Huss, -and Jerome of Prague to be Christian teachers, allowing Reiser and the Bohemian Nikolaus Pilgram to ordain priests, from whom they received the communion in both forms. However, they surrendered absolutely none of their own tenets, and Reiser's propaganda accomplished no more than the endeavor of Peter Chelcicky to convert the Hussites to Waldensian doctrines. Nevertheless, the union between the two sects became so close that when, in 1479, a fresh attempt was made to suppress the Waldenses in Uckermark and Neumark, they decided to emigrate to Bohemia and Moravia; some settled in Fuinek and Weisskirchen in Moravia, and others in Landskron in Bohemia. From this time nothing more is heard of German Waldenses, and it can only be conjectured that the sect still lingered on in Egerland and Voigtland. None the less, the influence of the Waldenses lived on, both in the tenets and customs of the Bohemian Brethren, and in the theories. of the Anabaptists, for whom they were the forerunners throughout Upper Germany and Austria. In Lombardy the persecutions, which began in 1231, did not achieve their ends until the close of the fourteenth century. In the valleys on the eastern slopes of the Cottian Alps the Inquisition began its work at latest by the end of the thirteenth century, and on the western side by 1289; but real severity first began in 1332. The instigation of Gregory XI. took effect also here. In the French valleys the soul of the movement against the Waldenses was the Minorite Francesco Borelli, who had 169 burned at one time on July 1, 1380; but the Dominicans in the Piedmontese valleys were less zealous, besides being checked by the secular officials. Equally fruitless was the effort of the Spanish Dominican Vincente Fewer (q.v.) in 1403 to win back the inhabitants of the Vals Louise, ArgentiCre, and Freissinitires. In 1412, therefore, the Inquisition resumed its activity in the western valleys, though with little success; but in 1434 it was replaced in Bardonneche, Oulx, Exilles, and elsewhere by the secular arm, so effectively that the Waldenses emigrated in large numbers. In France, on the contrary, they were protected for a time by Louis XI., who sought to check all exercise of ecclesiastical discipline; but against the chicanery of the incensed archbishop of Embrun and the offended provincial boards of Dauphiny his attempted protection was vain and the accession of Charles VIII. brought with it a fresh persecution transcending in extent and horror all that had'hitherto befallen the Waldenses of the Cottian Alps. A crusade was now preached

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against them at the direction of Innocent VIII., and under the auspices of the archdeacon Alberto de Catta,neo of Cremona, papal legate for the territories of Charles I. of Savoy, the assault was opened simultaneously in the dioceses of Vienne, Sitten, and elsewhere, and in Piedmont, Dauphiny, and the margravate of Saluzzo. In the Val Angrogna, successful resistance was offered and Charles was induced, in 1488 or 1489, to suspend the war in Saluzzo and Piedmont; but in Dauphiny greater success was obtained, where from 1488 the crusading army coerced the Waldenses of the Vals Pragelas, Cluson, Freissini6res, Louise, and Argenti6re. Those who remained loyal either sought refuge in the high valleys of Oulx and Bardonneche, or returned secretly to their old homes after the storm had subsided, so that in 1495 fresh processes were resumed against them in Val Pragelas, and in 1506 in the Vals Argentiere and Freissiniiires. In Saluzzo the widow of the margrave expelled the Waldenses from the upper valley of the Po in 1509, but they returned three years later and even gained absolution from Leo X. In Dauphiny only the Val Louise was really cleared of the Waldenses. In Piedmont they had proved victorious, and they were not even disturbed in their colonies in Provence, Calabria, Apulia, and middle Italy. In Lombardy they had completely disappeared, and they were practically destroyed in Germany, Switzerland, Hungary, and Poland. The number of Waldensiana put to death can not be approximately estimated, but was very high. More numerous than the steadfast were those who recanted under pressure, only to return to their faith. Then they had to be prepared for the worst, for-most sentences of death seemed to have fallen on these. They were also guilty of violence, as in Austria the murder of priests and monks, and in the Cottian Alps of an official of the Inquisition (1374), amore frequently took bloody revenge upon renegade masters and friends who had turned spies and informers for the Inquisition.

V. The Romance Waldenses after the Reformation: After Apr., 1523, Guillaume Farel (q.v.) la, bored for the Protestant cause for a time at Gap in Dauphiny, and though he was soon expelled, the agitation begun by him quickly reached the Waldenses of the Cottian Alps. Within a few years, by the labors of the "barb" Martin Gonin, a Protestant faction arose, especially among the Waldenses of Provence; and in the summer of 1530 two

"barbs," George Morel of Val Freisi. Entrance sinieres and Pierre Masson of Bur-

into the gundy, were sent across the Alps to Reformed confer with Faxel. Morel, who posBody. sessed a fair education, also conferred with Berthold Haller in Bern, with Å’colampadius in Basel, and with Butzer and Capito in Strasburg; and on his return was so energetic in behalf of the Protestant cause that Farel and other Protestants of French Switzerland were formally invited to visit his coreligionists at their assembly at Angrogna in 1532. Farel accepted, together with Anton Saunier and Robert Olivdtan. Farel dominated the assembly, as is shown by their renunciation of their distinctive doctrines. The doctrine of election and the Zwinglian doctrine of the

Lord's Supper were officially adopted and the only distinctive tenet retained was the prohibition against war. They, accordingly, ceased virtually to be Waldenses, and became merged in the Upper German and Swiss faction of the Protestants. As a result, however, the Waldenses became divided into the Protestant and the old-school factions. In the Cottian Alps the Protestant faction prevailed without serious antagonism, but in Provence the old-school Waldenses did more than protest, for late in 1532 or early in 1533 the two "barbs," Daniel de Valence and Jean de Molines, went to Bohemia for help. The moral support of the Bohemian Brethren they received, but to no purpose; for the assembly of Val San Martino, Aug. 15, 1533, explicitly confirmed the resolutions of Angrogna. The Protestant party now proceeded to carry the Reformation through everywhere in closest harmony with Farel and his followers. The new faith spread most rapidly in the colonies of Provence and Venaissin, where, by 1535, some 10,000 Protestant Waldenses, exhausted by the persecutions of Church and State, were ready to emigrate to Protestant Germany. But in 1545 troops were sent against them by the president of parliament, Jean ,Maynier, seigneur d'Opp6de, which destroyed twenty-two villages and put to death 4,000 Waldenses, only about an equal number escaping to Germany and Geneva. In the Cottian Alps, under Saunier's influence, the Waldenses decided in 1532 to have the Bible printed in French (see Bible Versions, B, VI., § 3). In consequence the Waldenses of this district now received French pastors from the Academy of Lausanne, who gradually remodeled their services after those of Geneva; induced them to erect them own churches from 1555, as well as to receive communion in both forms (to the number of 6,000 at Angrogna); and in 1559 drew up at Turin a creed based on the Gallican Confession (q.v.). When, moreover, Piedmont was restored to Duke Emanuel Philibert by the peace of Cateau-Cambresius, Waldensian refusal to receive Roman Catholic priests caused the duke to send troops against them in Nov., 1560. Such was their persistence in petty warfare, however, that by the peace of Cavour (June 5, 1561) the duke was constrained to great them limited toleration in a series of places in the valleys of Luaerna, San Martino, and Perosa. The congregations of these valleys and of Cluson and the margravate of Saluzzo were accordingly able to form an organization modeled after the statutes of Geneva at the synods of Angrogna (1563) and Villar (1564); and on Nov. 11, 1571, they formed a league to resist all infractions of the peace of Cavour. In Calabria and Apulia the Waldenses were less fortunate, and it was not till 1556 that the former appointed their own pastors and administration o_ the sacrament. For this they were formally extirpated in 1560 by Spanish troops under the auspices of the grand inquisitor Michele Ghislieri (later Pope Pius V.). In eleven days in June, 2,000 persons were put to death, 1,600 were imprisoned, and others were condemned to the galleys. The Apulian Waldenses, who had thus far prudently held themselves in retirement, now fled in larger numbers to Geneva, though the majority, intimidated by the slaughter in Calabria, reentered the Roman Church.

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After 1571 there remained of the old Waldensian communities within the bounds of the present kingdom of Italy only those in the margravate of Saluzzo and the so-called Waldensian valleys; and these were no longer Waldensian, but a part of the Calvinistic division of Protestantism.

When Daniel de Valence and Jean de Molines were defeated at the assembly of Val San Martino, on Aug. 15, 1533, they are said, on good authority, to have made away with all ancient Waldensian manuscripts and memoirs that they could secure. In the so-called Waldensian manuscripts, however, there is extant an entire series of treatises

z. Litera- doubtless modeled on Czech originals. tore. Here belong the following: Ayczo es la. cause del nostre departiment de la gleysa romana (based on the "Grounds of Separation" of Luke of Prague, q.v.); Deli sept sacrament, Purgatori, Dejuni, De las invocacions de li sent (all revisions of. chapters of the Confessio Taboritarum of 1431); De la potesta donor a li vicari de Christ (literal translation of a portion of John Huss's Tractatus de ecclesia); Las Interrogacions menores (revision of the catechism of the Bohemian Brethren); a fragment of a treatise on anti-Christ; and probably the Epistola al Lance lau. All these were apparently translated and adapt ed by Daniel de Provence and Jean de Molines, who sojourned, on their mission, six months in Bohemia. Five of them are extant only as integral parts of the voluminous Tresor a lume de fe, preserved in manu script at Geneva, Cambridge, and Dublin, and also containing the treatises Articles de la fe, Li Comman dament, Penitence, and De l'oragon dominical. The first formulary of the Articles is not of Bohemian, but of Waldensian origin, while the remainder of the treatise, like Lt Commandament, is demonstrably drawn from the Somme le roy of the Dominican Laurentius. It is to be concluded that manuscript Cambridge B was the original one, and among those which Daniel and Jean removed; that the prose works in the Waldensian tongue for a very con siderable part originated from these two after Aug., 1533; and that the collection and preservation of fragments of the ancient Waldensian literature are quite or wholly due to these two "barbs," especially since, for a long time, the Reformed Waldenses had no interest in the ancient language and itsjliterature.

The history of the Waldensian Reformed of Dauphiny and Provence forms part of the history of the Reformed Church of France; only the development of the Reformed communities in Piedmont, which have retained the name of Waldenses, need here be considered. Outside of the terri-

3. The tory covered by the peace of Cavour Waldensian they were gradually driven from the

Reformed. valleys of De Queryas, Barcelona, Mat tias, and Meana, and out of the eight localities in Saluzzo after its annexation to Savoy in 1603. Propaganda failing to render the govern ment pliant, Charles Emanuel II. decided upon force in 1655, only to arouse such commotion in the Protestant world that, at Cromwell's request, Maza rin induced the duke, in August, to grant peace and amnesty. Feeling that the terms of the peace were not observed, the Waldenses rebelled in 1663, and within the year forced the duke solemnly to ratify

the above treaty. Shortly after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, in 1686, Victor Amadeua II., in agreement with Louis XIV., issued a decree forbidding the Reformed faith in his dominions, requiring all the Reformed preachers and teachers to leave his territories within fourteen days; and empowering the Roman Catholic clergy to .baptize and educate all Reformed children in the tenets of that church. The Waldenses again resorted to arms but were defeated. More than 3,000 fell in battle; over 5,000 were taken prisoners; their churches were razed; and their property was confiscated. At the intercession of the Protestant powers, the duke permitted some 2,500, who had been condemned to prison or the galleys, to emigrate, the great majority finding refuge in Germany. Though apparently exterminated in Piedmont, they did not abandon hopes of regaining their old homes, and in the summer of 1689, in the confidence of William III. of Orange, the preacher Henri Arnaud collected 800-900 Waldenses and Huguenots on the shores of Lake Geneva and marched by devious roads to Piedmont. Here in the mountains he waged so stubborn a contest against fifty times his number that the duke broke off his alliance with France and on June 4,1690, freely permitted all Waldenses and French refugees to return to the valleys, besides releasing all their fellow sectaries who were still in prison or in the galleys. The Waldenses who had fled to Germany now flocked back to Piedmont, but on July I, 1698, at the instance of Louis XIV., the duke issued a patent forbidding the Reformed in the valleys from having any religious association with French subjects and ordering all French refugees to leave the country within two months. In 1698-1699, therefore, over 2,500 Reformed were forced to emigrate, the majority finding a new home in Germany, especially in Württemberg. The scattered colonies joined in a synod numbering fourteen churches and 4,000 members in 1716. In Piedmont, meanwhile, repressive measures were still enforced despite the protests of Protestant powers, though it was only in the Val Pragelas that real severity was exercised. On June 20, 1730, the duke ordered -that all who had been born or baptized in the Roman Catholic Church before 1686, or who had been Roman Catholics after 1696, but had subsequently apostatized, must either become Roman Catholic within six months or leave the country. The latter was preferred by 850, of whom 400 went to Holland, while the remainder were received in French or Waldensian colonies in Germany. During the Napoleonic invasion of 1799 the Waldenses had equal rights with Roman Catholics, and their clergy even received an annual subvention of 13,000 lire. With the return of the house of Savoy, however, conditions changed; and in Jan., 1815, Victor Emanuel I. withdrew the subvention and renewed all previous restrictions, though in the following year he removed some of the moat burdensome, and even gave each of the Waldensian clergy an annual stipend of 500 lire. Nevertheless, it was not until the act of emancipation promulgated by Charles Albert on Feb. 17, 1848, that the Waldenses permanently secured all civil rights. The history of the Waldenses, 1526-1848, is the account of a continuous strife with the house of Savoy, and that they were not annihi-

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laced was due to their heroic steadfastness as well as to the signal support of the Protestant world. Cromwell rescued them from total destruction in 1655 and instituted a collection which reached the amount of £38,097, he himself contributing £2,000. William of Orange not only assisted their grand return in 1889, but until the French Revolution the crown of Great Britain sustained the preachers and teachers of twelve Waldensian churches. Holland in 1731, for example, collected 308,199 florins, not to mention the amounts of money and asylum given by the German princes. Even in the first half of the nineteenth century the Protestant powers entered into an alliance with Alexander I. of Russia in behalf of the Waldenses. From the sixteenth century they were specially cherished and shielded by sympathetic Protestant Europe; because they were commonly looked upon as the only survivals of the Evangelical primitive Christians of apostolic times, and to protect them was deemed a sacred obligation.

At the outbreak of the great persecution of 1654, there were 14 churches and pastors with 16,000 members. This was reduced in 1699 to 13 churches and 5,000 or 6,000 members; but this membership had increased to 19,710 in 1829. Their organization was essentially that of Geneva. The highest governing body was the synod, and in the interim between synods the government was conducted by a committee called "The Table," consisting of three clericals (with two lay deputies after 1823), led by a moderator. There was no liturgy until 1829, except the various Swiss formularies. The language employed in their services was originally the east Provengal dialect of the Cottian Alps, but after the death of the majority of their pastors from the plague in 1630 and their replacement by French ministers, French was substituted for Waldensian: Schools were to be found in all Waldenaian communities as early as 1699, and in the eighteenth century a Latin school was founded at Torre. The period of the Enlightenment was as prejudicial to religious life in the valleys as elsewhere, nor was there a revival of spiritual life among the Waldenses until the third decade of the nineteenth century. With the proclamation of the act of emancipation in 1848 the Waldenses not only received liberty, but aspired to fresh opportunities. At the first synod (Aug. 1-4, 1848), the evangelization of Italy was assumed as an aim, and the resolve was made gradually to replace French by Italian as the language of instruction and worship. In 1855 a Waldensian theological school was founded at Torre Pellice, but was transferred to Florence in 1860. At the synod of 1855 the confession of 1655 was revived and a new constitution was adopted. The Waldensian Church is now an Italian church, and makes a Protestant propaganda not only throughout Italy, but also among Italian emigrants to America. The Waldensian colonies in Germany soon lost all distinctive characteristics. In Württemberg all the Waldensian congregations became incorporated in the national Lutheran Church in 1823, and in only two localities in Württemberg, Pinache-Serrea and Neu-Hengstett, does the Waldensian dialect partially linger to the present day. (H. BÖHMER.)

VI. Present Conditions: The conditions of the Waldenses on the eve of their emancipation in 1848 were most precarious. Although not persecuted openly by sword and fire, they were subjected to many wrongs and indignities. They were excluded from practising any liberal professions, such as those of medicine or law, and the humbler trades' alone were open to them. Children under z. State of ten were frequently abducted; the Affairs in universities were closed against stu- r848. dents from the valleys; and Walden sian conscripts were kept in the low est ranks. It was forbidden to open new places of worship; most of the cemeteries were unencloaed. The censorship of books circulating among them was very strict, and the Waldenses were prohibited from settling outside of their own narrow valleys. The act of emancipation, promulgated Feb. 17, 1848, by King Charles Albert, brought this intol erable state of affairs to a close and granted the Waldenses all civil and religious liberties, thus marking the dawn of a new epoch in their history. In their native valleys, the number of the Wal denses has not increased because the poverty of the soil and unbearable economical conditions, as well as new opportunities, have driven thousands to foreign lands, but their social and intellectual conditions are far better than before 1848. They pride themselves on saying that no Waldensian man, woman, or child over six years of age is illiter ate, and that no beggar is to be seen in their valleys. Through the interest of General John Charles Beckwith (q.v., Appendix) a school is in

2. Education

every hamlet, and for a higher educa- in thetion the Collegio Valdese in Torre Pel- Piedmonf lice, founded by William Stephen Gilly, Valleys. canon of Durham, who paid a first visit to the Waldenses in 1823, and whose Narrative of an Excursion to the Mountains of Piemont roused wide-spread interest and gained to the cause Beckwith, who must be regarded as their greatest benefactor. He settled among them in 1843, and, after a most useful career spent in their behalf, died in Torre Pellice July 19, 1862. The Collegio Valdese, where boys and girls are admitted when they are through with the elementary schools, and where they receive instruction for eight years, opens the way to all the university careers. There are now about one hundred students with a staff of eight professors, and the institution is recognized by the Italian government. Torre Pellice is the capital of the Waldensian valleys, not only because the college is there, but also because there is the largest church, and in that city there is held every year, during the first week in September, the Gen eral Synod of the Waldensian Church. The house where the synod meets was built in 1889, when the Waldenses celebrated the bicentenary of the "glori ous return" of their forefathers to their native valleys, and to its erection King Humbert I. of Italy contributed personally $1;000. There is the synod hall; the library, which has over 40,000 vol umes, many of them rare and valuable; the mu seum of Waldensian history, with interesting relics; the offices of the ruling body of the Church, called La Venerable table vaudoise; and the offices of the

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Waldenaian historical society, an institution founded in 1889. From. the college many young men have gone forth, entering various branches of activity. Lawyers, physicians, professors, business men, and officers in the army and the navy may be found in many cities of Italy who have had their early training and inspiration in that institution.

The valleys are also the center of a great philan thropic activity. There are two general hospitals, one at Pomaretto, in the Val San Martino, and a larger one in Torre Pellice, toward whose erection even Czar Alexander I. contributed. The or phanage for girls in Torre Pellice can accommodate forty-five inmates, and in Luaerna San Giovanni is the only home for incurables in Italy. It was founded some twenty years ago, and has accommo dations for fifty patients. The condi-

3. Philanthropic

tion of admission is that the patients have been refused by other hospitals.

Work and The institution makes no distinction Statistics. of nationality or creed, and patients come even from Switzerland or from Sicily. The orphanage for boys in Turin has thirty inmates, the homes for the aged in San Germano and San Giovanni contain some fifty people, and the deaconessea' institute in Turin, the aim of which is to train nurses for hospitals and kindred institutions, has a good number of pupils. All these in stitutions are partially endowed and supported by the voluntary contributions of the Waldenses. The Waldensian valleys, which form the first of the seven districts into which the whole Walden sian Church is divided, have seventeen churches with nineteen pastors: Prali, Rodoretto, Masaello, Perrero-Maniglia, Villasecca, Pomaretto, San Ger mano, Pramollo, Prarostino, Pinerolo, Toriyo, Lu serna San Giovanni, Torre Pellice, Villar Pellice, Bobbio Pellice, Roria, and Angrogna. The latest statistics for the valleys give 19 pastors, 190 teach ers, 3,932 children in the Sunday-schools, 12,213 church-members, and 96,400 franca as church con tributions. French is spoken as well as Italian by the Waldenses, and two weekly papers are pub lished in Torre Pellice, L'Echo des vallkes and L'Avri satare alpino. In the Italian Parliament one of the members is a Waldensian.

On account of the knowledge of French which even the less-educated Waldenses possess, it was natural, after the narrow limits of their valleys had been thrown open by the act of 1848, that they should make their way toward France in order to better their economical conditions.

4. Waldensign Emi-

Very few settled in the great cities of Italy, but France, being a most regration to sourceful country, attracted them. France. Thousands of Waldenses are to be found in Marseilles, Toulon, Cannes, Nice, and even in Paris. Many a Waldensian who has been a waiter in fashionable restaurants and hotels in those cities is now at the head of important business firms. In order to keep together and help each other, these "children of. the valleys" have organized, in all those cities, societies called Unions vaudoisea, which celebrate two dates every year as most important, Feb. 17, commemorating the act of emancipation, and Aug. 16, the departure of their forefathers, in 1689, from Praugins for their native valleys. In Marseilles the Waldenses attend the French Reformed churches; in Nice, there is a strong Waldensiasl church with a pastor from the valleys.

It was, however, across the ocean that the Waldenses had to develop the energies of their race and build up strong colonies. In 1859, through the interest of Frederick Henry Pendleton, chaplain of the British embassy in Montevideo, a group of Waldeneian families settled in Uruguay and founded Colonia Valdenae. They were followed by others, year after year, so that there are now no less than seven regularly organized churches, five in Uruguay and two in Argentina, viz.: Colonia Valdense, Cosmopolita, Artilleros, Belgrano, Lavalle San Salvador, Tarariras-Riachuelo, and Iris. The latest statistics for the seven colonies give 7 pastors, 1,716 church-members, 668 Sunday-school children, and 42,242 francs as church contributions. A college, called Liceo Valdenae, has been founded g. The in Colonia Valdense, with forty-two Waldenses students, and the institution is helped in North financially by the government of Uru- and South quay. Many groups of Waldenses, America. amounting altogether to more than 180 families, are scattered throughout Argentina and Uruguay, and are visited periodically by the pastors. A monthly paper in Spanish, La Union valdense, is published to keep the people to gether. In the United Staten there are three col onies distinctly Waldensian: at Wolf Ridge, near Gainesville, Tex., with some ten families; at Val dese, N. C., founded in 1891, with 42 families and over 200 people; and at Monett, Mo., with 25 fam ilies, founded in 1886. Through hard work and perseverance these farmers are now in prosperous circumstances.' They have joined the Presbyterian Church, although the services in the churches at Valdese and Monett are still held in French. Groups of Waldensian families are to be found in Chicago, California, and elsewhere, and there are four families at Hawthorns, near Ottawa, Canada. In New York, where there are no less than 350 of them, mostly young men and young women, they have organized Le Groups vaudois and meet regu larly for their services on Sunday afternoons. They have a pastor from their valleys. There are, alto gether, no leas than 12,000 Waldenses outside of the valleys of Piedmont.

General Beckwith is to be considered the promoter of the missionary work of the Waldenses. Having long been convinced that the Church of the valleys was the divinely predestined instrument for giving the Gospel to Italy, as soon as the political restrictions that had been so long im6. Mission- posed on the Waldenses were removed,

ary Work he wrote to the "Table," the govern- in Italy. ing board of the Church, emphatically urging them to undertake active mis sionary work. , The first step taken by the Wal denaes in this new field was to erect a beautiful church in Turin in 1853, having secured permission to build through Count Cavour, who was their friend. The clerical party strongly opposed such a grant, and it was for the Walderisea the first vio-

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tory in the enjoyment of their newly acquired religious liberty. The Waldensian church of Turin has now two pastors and 700 church-members, and contributes yearly 63,000 francs. About the same time a station was begun in Florence under the charge of two pastors, but the grand duke of Tuscany promptly banished those brethren, while seven persons found by the police studying the Bible in a private house were exiled for a year. As soon as Tuscany became part of the united kingdom of Italy, however, the work was resumed, and the Waldensian faculty of theology, which had been instituted in Torre Pellice in 1855, was transferred to Florence in 1860 in the famous palace that belonged formerly to Cardinal Salirati, and which had been secured through the interest of the minister of the Scotch church in Leghorn.

There are now two Waldensian churches in Florence (one of which is self-supporting), as well as the theological faculty with three professors and some ten students. The curriculum is for three years; then the students usually take a postgraduate course in some foreign university, as at Edinburgh, where they receive a scholarship; at Berlin, where a bursary is provided by the Hoq. Walden- henzollern family, or at Geneva. After sian one or two years as probationers under

Churches the care of an elder pastor, the candi- in Italy. dates to the ministry axe ordained at the age of twenty-five. In Florence, in the same Palazzo Salirati, is the printing-press of the mission work of the Waldenses, known as La Tipografia Claudiana, which publishes a monthly religious magazine, La Rivasta cristiana, and sup plies the churches with religious literature. In fifty years the society has circulated about 102,880 books or tracts, 2,000,000 religious almanacs, and 2,773, 400 Bibles, New Testaments, and portions of the Scriptures. In 1860, when southern Italy and Sicily, under Garibaldi, became part of the united kingdom of Italy, work was begun in Naples, Pa lermo, and Messina with much success by Rev. Georgio Appia, a Waldensian pastor, who later be came minister of a Lutheran church in Paris, and after the war of 1866 was stationed in Milan and Venice. When the Italian troops entered the city of Rome, Sept. 20, 1870, a Waldensian colporteur was with them with copies of the Epistle of St. Paul to the Romans; and on the following Sunday the first Protestant service in Rome in the Italian lan guage was held in a private house by Matteo Prochet (q.v.), president of the Waldensian com-' mittee on missions. On Nov. 25, 1883, a beautiful church on the Via Nazionale was dedicated. It can accommodate 500 people, and the congregation is self-supporting. In 1311 a second Waldensian church to accommodate 1,200 people was built in Rome across the Tiber, through the generosity of a wealthy American lady. In Rome are the headquarters of the missionary work of the Wal denses, and there is published the largest Italian Protestant paper, La Luce (10,000 copies weekly), which reaches many Italian immigrants in America.

As illiteracy was predominant in southern Italy and Sicily, the work of the Waldensian church in those parts of the country has been especially edu-

cational, and many day schools, evening schools, and Sunday-schools have been established. In Falerna (Catanzaro) such schools provide for 250 children, in Pachino (Sicily) for 200, in Vittoria (Sicily) for 250, in Riesi (Sicily) for 700, in Grotte (Sicily) for 500, in Palermo for 200, etc. The work of the Waldensian Church has been

8. ,Ednca- developed also along philanthropic tional and lines. Hospitals have been started in Philaa- Turin, Genoa, Milan, and elsewhere,

thropic and orphanages have been instituted

Work in in many cities. The Gould Memorial Italy. Home for Boys, founded in Rome by Mrs. Bliss Gould, wife of the physician of the American embassy, under the care of the Waldensian Church, can ~ accommodate fifty or sixty boys, the Comandi Home for Boys in Florence has some 150, the Ferretti Home for Girls in Florence has 40 inmates, and the Boyce Memorial Home for Girls in Bordighera has 40 or 50. Moreover, in all the principal cities of Italy, in connection with L'Union internationale des amies de la jeune fille, homes, called Foyers, have been opened to protect and help girls who would otherwise easily become the victims of the white slavers. Along temperance lines the Waldensian Church has started a strong movement in Italy and publishes a monthly paper advocating temperance, Benz sociale. The latest statistics for the mission field give 50 pastors, 18 evangelists, 9 teachers' evangelists, 47 teachers, and 12 eolporteurs, or a total of 136 workers; $24,000 church contributions, 12,000 church-members, and over 200 churches or stations, including one in Malta, two in Egypt, and one in Abyssinia. The missionary work of the Waldensian Church, in number of churches and stations, is now sixteen times larger than the mother church in the valleys of Piedmont. The churches in the principal cities of Italy are already self-supporting.

On account of the hundreds of thousands of Italian immigrants who come to America every year, some of them belonging to those churches or having been brought up in those schools in southern Italy or Sicily, the influence of the work is felt in this country. There are already 225 Italian Protestant churches in the United States and Canada, connected with various denominations, and having a total membership of no less than 12,000, some 100 of those churches having been started by Protestant immigrants or having been ministered 9. Mission- to by pastors or missionaries from

ary Work Italy. About 80 pastors, missionOutside aries, Bible women, and colporteurs Italy. at work among the Italian immigrants in America were formerly connected with the Waldensian Church. The congregation of Grotte (Sicily) alone has started, through its members, three such churches in the United States. On the other hand, Italian immigrants returning to their native villages and towns in Italy are very often the means of initiating religious movements. Already 16 missionary churches under the care of the Waldenses have been organized in that way and through such agents. The Waldensian Church is not directly engaged in missionary work in heathen countries, although no less than 12 Waldenses,

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under the Société des missions de Paris are preaching the Gospel in Basutoland and Barotseland, along the Zambesi River (South Africa), and there is one Waldensian missionary in China. Many pastors from the Waldensian valleys work in Switzerland and France, and there are now no less than 300 Christian workers in Italy, France, South Africa, South America, and North America who have been brought up in this church. See American Waldensian Aid Society, in Appendix.

Alberto Clot.

Bibliography: Lists of literature are: A. Mvston, Bibliographie historique et documentaire de l'Israel des Alpes, Paris, 1851 (valuable though incomplete); J. H. Todd, The Books of the Vaudois Preserved in Trinity College, Dublin, London, 1865; W. N. Du Rieu, in Bulletin de la commission de L'hist. des 6plises Wallonnes, iv. 2, The Hague, 1889; Bulletin de la soci&_ d'hist. vaudoise, xv. 160 sqq. (by J. Jails), xvi. 48 sqq. (by W. Meille); and Hauck-Herzog,

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to the Vaudois of Piedmont, London, 1855; P. Heber, Waldo, Kaiser Karla des Grrosaen yeiatlicher Rath, und die alteren Waldenser, Basel. 1858; D. Costello, Piedmont and Italy, 2 vols., London, 18591'; M. Young, The Life and Times of Aonio Paleario, 2 vols., London, 1880; P. Melia, The Origin, Persecutions, and Doctrines of the Wal denses, from Documents, many now the first time collected and edited, London, 1870; J. P. Maine, General Beckwith: his Life and Labours among the Waldenses of Piedmont, London, 1873; J. Goll, Quellen and Llnterauchungen zur Geschichte der bShmischen Briider, Prague, 1878-82; Jane L. Willyams, The Waldensian Church in the Valleys of Piedmont, from the Earliest Period to the Present Time, new ed., London, 1879; J. N. Worsfold, Peter Waldo, the Reformer of Lyons, London, 1880; J. A. Wylie, History of the Waldenses, London, 1880; W. Jones, Hist. of the Wal denaes, new ed., 2 vols., London, 1882; A. Deissmann, Wnldenaer in der GraJschaft Schaumburg, Wiesbaden, 1884; H. Meille, Recollections of Two Hundred Years ago in the Waldenaian Valleys, Edinburgh, 1888; E. Montet, Hist. Z%tteraire des Vaudois du Piemont, Geneva, 1886 (reprints early sources); K. Müller, Die Waldenser und ihre einzel nen Gruppe bis sum Anfang des 1.4. Jahrhunderts, Gotha, 1888; L. Brunel, Les, Vaudois des Alps Jrangaises, Paris, 1888; D. K. Guthrie, Lecture on the Waldenses and their Glorious Return, Edinburgh, 1889; A. Thomson, Letters Written in Connection with the Bi-Centenary Commemora tion of the "Glorious Return" of the Waldenses to their Native Valleys. Edinburgh, 1889; J. W. Brown, Italian Campaign, London, 1890; J. Chevalier, Mémoire his torique sur lee heresies du Dauphin, Valence, 1890; H. Haupt, Waldensertum and Inquisition, Freiburg, 1890 (re produces documents); A. Berard Les Vaudois . du l,. au 18. siecle, Paris, 1892; F. Rostan, The Waldensian Church and her Work of Evangelization in Italy, Torre Pel liee, 1894; T. Gay, The Waldenses, their Rise, Struggles, Persecutions, and Triumphs, London, 1895; Sofia V. Boni piani, A Short History of the Italian Waldenses who have inhabited the Valleys of the Cottdan Alps from Ancient Times to the Present, New York, 1897; C. Huck, Doymen historischer Beitrag zur Geschichte der Waldenaer, Frei burg, 1897 W. B. Worsfold, The Valley of Light: Studies with Pen and Pencil in the Vaudois Valleys of Piedmont, London, 1899; G. Jalla, Compendia di storia valdese, Florence, 1902; J. Gibson, The Waldenses, their Home and History, Edinburgh (1903); H. C. Lea, Inquisition of the Middle Ages, 3 vols., New York, 1908, and in general works on the Inquisition; T. de Cauzons. Les Vaudois et l'inquisitian, 2 vols., Paris, 1907; Schaff, Christian Church, v. 1, pp. 493-507; KL, xii. 1185-95. On Waldensian literature: F. J. M. Itaynouard, Choix des poesies des troubadours, ii. 73-102, Paris, 1817; G. von Zezschwitz, Die Kateclaismen der WaTdenser and bBhmischen Bruder, Erlangen, 1863; H. Haupt, Die deutsche Bibel übersetzung der mittelalterlichen Waldenser, Würzburg, 1885; F. Jostes, Die Waldenser und die vorlutheri3che deutsche Bibelubersetzung,Münster, 1885; J. bliiller, in Monuments Germanize pa!dagogica, vol. iv., Berlin, 1887.