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"...The church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth."
I Timothy 3:15
Persecution of the Waldenses in France
From Fox’s Book of Martyrs, 1830 Edition
Popery having brought various innovations into the church, and overspread the Christian world with darkness and superstition, some few, who plainly perceived the pernicious tendency of such errors, determined to show the light of the gospel in its real purity, and to disperse those clouds which artful priests had raised about it, in order to blind the people, and obscure its real brightness.
The principal among these was Berengarius, who, about the year 1000, boldly preached gospel truths, according to their primitive purity. Many, from conviction, assented to his doctrine, and were, on that account, called Berengarians. To Berengarius succeeded Peter Bruis, who preached at Thoulouse, under the protection of an earl, named Hildephonsus; and the whole tenets of the reformers, with the reasons of their separation from the church of Rome, were published in a book written by Bruis, under the title of Antichrist.
By the year of Christ 1140, the number of the reformed was very great, and the probability of its increasing alarmed the pope, who wrote to several princes to banish them from their dominions, and employed many learned men to write against their doctrines.
A.D. 1147, Henry of Thoulouse, being deemed their most eminent preacher, they were called Henericians; and as they would not admit of any proofs relative to religion, but what could be deduced from the Scriptures themselves, the popish party gave them the name of Apostolics. At length, Peter Waldo, or Valdo, a native of Lyons, eminent for his piety and learning, became a strenuous opposer of popery; and from him the reformed, at that time, received the appellation of Waldenses, or Waldoys.
Pope Alexander III being informed by the bishop of Lyons of these transactions, excommunicated Waldo and his adherents, and commanded the bishop to exterminate them, if possible, from the face of the earth; and hence began the papal persecutions against the Waldenses.
The proceedings of Waldo and the reformed occasioned the first rise of the Inquisitors; for pope Innocent III authorized certain monks as inquisitors, to inquire for, and deliver over, the reformed to the secular power. The process was short, as an accusation was deemed adequate to guilt, and a candid trial was never granted.
The pope, finding that these cruel means had not the intended effect, sent several learned monks to preach against the Waldenses, and to endeavour to argue them out of their opinions. Among these monks was one Dominic, who appeared extremely zealous in the cause of popery. This Dominic instituted an order, which, from him, was called the order of Dominican friars; and the members of this order have ever since been the principal inquisitors in the various inquisitions in the world. The power of the inquisitors was unlimited; they proceeded against whom they pleased, without any consideration of age, sex, or rank. Let the accusers be ever so infamous, the accusation was deemed valid; and even anonymous informations, sent by letter, were thought sufficient evidence.
To be rich was a crime equal to heresy; therefore many who had money were accused of heresy, or of being favourers of heretics, that they might be obliged to pay for their opinions. The dearest friends or nearest kindred could not, without danger, serve any one who was imprisoned on account of religion. To convey to those who were confined a little straw, or give them a cup of water, was called favouring of the heretics, and they were prosecuted accordingly.
No lawyer dared to plead for his own brother, and their malice even extended beyond the grave; hence the bones of many were dug up and burnt, as examples to the living. If a man on his deathbed was accused of being a follower of Waldo, his estates were confiscated, and the heir to them defrauded of his inheritance; and some were sent to the Holy Land, while the Dominicans took possession of their houses and properties, and, when the owners returned, would often pretend not to know them. These persecutions were continued for several centuries under different popes and other great dignitaries of the catholic church.
Persecutions of the Albigenses
The Albigenses were a people of the reformed religion, who inhabited the country of Albi. They were condemned on the score of religion, in the council of Lateran, by order of pope Alexander III. Nevertheless, they increased so prodigiously, that many cities were inhabited by persons only of their persuasion, and several eminent noblemen embraced their doctrines. Among the latter were Raymond earl of Thoulouse, Raymond earl of Foix, the earl of Beziers, etc.
A friar, named Peter, having been murdered in the dominions of the earl of Thoulouse, the pope made the murder a pretence to persecute that nobleman and his subjects. To effect this, he sent persons throughout all Europe, in order to raise forces to act coercively against the Albigenses, and promised paradise to all that would come to this war, which he termed a Holy War, and bear arms for forty days.
The same indulgences were likewise held out to all who entered themselves for the purpose as to such as engaged in crusades to the Holy Land. The brave earl defended Thoulouse and other places with the most heroic bravery and various success against the pope's legates and Simon earl of Montfort, a bigoted Catholic nobleman. Unable to subdue the earl of Thoulouse openly, the king of France, and queen mother, and three archbishops, raised another formidable army, and had the art to persuade the earl of Thoulouse to come to a conference, when he was treacherously seized upon, made a prisoner, forced to appear bare-footed and bare-headed before his enemies, and compelled to subscribe an abject recantation.
This was followed by a severe persecution against the Albigenses; and express orders, that the laity should not be permitted to read the sacred Scriptures. In the year 1620 also the persecution against the Albigenses was very severe. In 1648 a heavy persecution raged throughout Lithuania and Poland. The cruelty of the Cossacks was so excessive, that the Tartars themselves were ashamed of their barbarities. Among others who suffered, was the Rev. Adrian Chalinski, who was roasted alive by a slow fire, and whose sufferings and mode of death may depict the horrors which the professors of Christianity have endured from the enemies of the Redeemer.
The reformation of papistical error very early was projected in France; for in the third Century a learned man, named Almericus, six of his disciples, were ordered to be burnt at Paris, for asserting that God was no otherwise present in the sacramental bread than in any other bread; that it was idolatry to build altars or Shrines to saints; and that it was ridiculous to offer incense to them.
The martyrdom of Almericus and his pupils did not, however, prevent many from acknowledging the justness of his notions, and seeing the purity of the reformed religion, so that the faith of Christ continually increased, and in time not only spread itself over many parts of France, but diffused the light of the gospel over various other countries.
In the year 1524, at a town in France, called Melden, one John Clark set up a bill on the church door, wherein he called the pope Antichrist. For this offence he was repeatedly whipped, and then branded on the forehead. Going afterward to Metz, in Lorraine, he demolished some images, for which he had his right hand and nose cut off; and his arms and breasts torn with pincers. He sustained these cruelties with amazing fortitude, and was even sufficiently cool to sing the 115th psalm, which expressly forbids idolatry; after which he was thrown into the fire, and burnt to ashes.
Many persons of the reformed persuasion were, about this time, beaten, racked, scourged, and burnt to death, in several parts of France; but more particularly at Paris, Malda, and Limosin.
A native of Malda was burnt by a slow fire, for saying that mass was a plain denial of the death and passion of Christ. At Limosin, John de Cadurco, a clergyman of the reformed religion, was apprehended, degraded, and ordered to be burnt.
Francis Bribard, secretary to Cardinal de Pellay, for speaking in favour of the reformed, had his tongue cut out, and was then burnt, A.D. 1545. James Cobard a schoolmaster in the City of St. Michael, was burnt, A.D. 1545, for saying "That mass was useless and absurd;" and about the same time, fourteen men were burnt at Malda, their wives being compelled to stand by and behold the execution.
A. D. 1546, Peter Chapot brought a number of Bibles in the French tongue to France, and publicly sold them there; for which he was brought to trial, sentenced, and executed a few days afterward. Soon after a cripple of Meaux, a schoolmaster of Fera, named Stephen Polliot, and a man named John English, were burnt for the faith..
Monsieur Blondel, a rich jeweller, was, A. D. 1548, apprehended at Lyons, and sent to Paris; where he was burnt for the faith, by order of the court, A.D. 1549. Herbert, a youth of nineteen years of age, was committed to the flames at Dijon: as was Florent Venote, in the same year.
In the year 1554, two men of the reformed religion, with the son and daughter of one of them, were apprehended and committed to the castle of Niverne. On examination, they confessed their faith, and were ordered for execution; being smeared with grease, brimstone, and gunpowder, they cried, "Salt on, salt on this sinful and rotten flesh!" Their tongues were then cut out, and they were afterward committed to the flames, which soon consumed them, by means of the combustible matter with which they were besmeared.
Editor's note: Many are confused concerning where the Waldenses came from, therefore, we include below a portion from the book entitled, The Church That Jesus Built by Roy Mason, Th. D.
The Waldenses
The close connection of the Waldenses with the peoples whom I have previously mentioned is recognized by historians. Jones says (History, Vol. 2, p. 4):
"When the popes issued their fulminations against them (the Albigenses) they expressly condemned them as Waldenses."
Some have tried to begin the Waldenses with Peter Waldo and to make of him the founder, but without success. Peter Waldo did not start the Waldenses, neither are they called after him, for he and the Waldenses have their name from the same origin. On this point Jones says (H., Vol. 2): "The words simply signify 'valleys,' inhabitants of valleys, and no more." Peter Waldo was so called because he was a 'valley man,' and he was only a leader of a people who had long existed. The Waldenses held the opinion that they were of ancient or truly apostolic. In regard to some historian's way of dealing with them, Jones remarks: "The very generic character of the Waldenses is overlooked by most writers respecting the widespread community to whom it applied . . . They were spread all over Europe for many centuries . . . Whatever local name they bore, the Catholics called them all Vaudois or Waldenses."
Of their origin, Vedder says (Short History, p. 122):
"The Waldenses, in their earlier history, appear to be little else than Petrobrussians under a different name . . . The doctrines of the earlier Waldenses are substantially identical with those of the Petrobrussians, the persecutors of both being witnesses."