(A.D. 1560 TO A.D. 1561.)
War was therefore declared. The Vaudois families made haste to gather together the things most indispensable for subsistence, and to retire with their flocks to the fastnesses of the high mountains. The pastors everywhere redoubled their zeal and fervour. The religious assemblies were never more largely attended. The army approached. It was about the end of October. The Vaudois valleys set apart a time for fasting and prayer. After these solemnities, an extraordinary celebration of the Lord's Supper took place, which united all the persecuted in one act of holy fellowship. Thus, without fear or weakness, but encouraging one another, did "these poor people," as Gilles says, "prepare, with incredible resolution and cheerfulness, to receive from the hand of God all the afflictions to which it might seem good to him to subject them. Nothing was to be heard from vale to mountain but the psalms and hymns of those who transported the sick, the infirm, the aged, the women and children, to the securest retreats of their rocks." "So that for eight days," adds Bichard, "you could see nothing but people passing and repassing on these rugged paths, diligently bearing luggage and little articles of furniture; as in the summer time the ants incessantly run and travel hither and thither, storing away provisions against the evil days; and amongst these worthy people none regretted his property, so resolute were they to await patiently all the good pleasure of God." The advice of their pastors had even been not to defend themselves by weapons of war, but merely to retire to a place where they might be safe from attack.
The Count of Racconis, Philip of Savoy, who came at this time to the valleys, wrote to his uncle, Philibert, saying, "These unhappy people persist in their opinions, but they are not willing to take up arms against their sovereign; some of them are going away from the place, others courageously await martyrdom in the midst of their families--a marvellous sight, and very piteous to behold."[2]
Three days after, a proclamation was published and put up in all the villages of Angrogna, to the effect that all would be destroyed by fire and sword if the Vaudois did not return to the Church of Rome. Next day, being the 1st of November, 1560, the army commenced its march, under the orders of George Coste, Count of La Trinité, and encamped at Bubiano. Hastily recruited, and its ranks filled up with adventurers, it wanted discipline; the soldiers gave themselves up to all sorts of excesses, and began to pillage before they had fought. Believing themselves already in the country of the Vaudois, they made Catholics and Protestants indiscriminately the subjects of their outrages. The former, therefore, desiring to secure the maidenly chastity of their daughters from the brutal grossness of that lawless soldiery, did a thing worthy oi the most admired times. Knowing the rigid purity of the morals of the Vaudois, the strength of their fastnesses, and the devotedness of those who were to defend them, they saw no refuge for their children more safe than these very retreats, and did not hesitate to confide the honour of their families to the virtuous fidelity of the Vaudois cottages. Accordingly, many of them took their trembling wives and children, and left them amongst these heroic mountaineers.
It was surely wonderful to see these young Catholic women committed with confidence to the care of the Protestants, at the moment when Catholicism was marching in arms against them. But this confidence was not misplaced. The Vaudois defended the sacred charge which had been intrusted to them with as much courage and respect as their own families. Without for a moment entertaining the thought of making precious hostages of these young people who were in their hands, and of taking advantage of the circumstance against their adversaries, they generously exposed themselves in their defence, concealing them instead of exposing them to danger; and after having preserved them from outrage, they restored them to their friends, without dreaming of any recompense. Incredible as this fact may appear, all the historians of the times, Gilles, Richard, De Thou, and Crespin make mention of it; and it affords the most beautiful testimony which their adversaries could have rendered to the virtue and generosity of the Vaudois.
On the 2d of November the whole army crossed the Pélis, and encamped in the meadows of St. John. Thereafter it advanced towards Angrogna, extending its wings over all the hills of the Costières. Many skirmishes took place along this great line. The advantage was nearly equal upon both sides; but the little parties left by the Vaudois for defence, found themselves too far separate from each other to act with vigour. They retired, therefore, still defending themselves, to the more and more confined plateaux of the mountain. Many of them had only slings and cross-bows.
But the enemy still ascended. This succession of partial engagements had only retarded them, and made them spend the whole day upon the march. On both sides fatigue began to be felt. Evening was come. The Vaudois were now united on the summit of the Costières, towards Rochemanant. There they halted and ceased to retreat. The enemy coming forward, paused when near them, a little way below, and kindled their bivouac fires, to pass the night there. The mountaineers, on the contrary, fell on their knees, to give thanks to God and to renew their prayers. This act gave occasion to a multitude of railleries and sarcasms in the ranks of their persecutors. Just at this time a Vaudois child, who had got hold of a drum, suddenly began to make a noise with it in a ravine close by. Supposing that a hostile troop had arrived, the Catholics soldiers sprung up in disorder, and seized their arms. The Vaudois, witnessing this movement, imagined that an attack was to be made, and rushed forward to repel it. Hereupon the troops, fatigued and surprised, gave way; they were pursued; they disbanded; and the night preventing them from recognizing one another, or discerning the way, the soldiers took to flight at hazard; the foremost were frightened at the sound of the feet of those who followed them; they flung away their arms, and never halted till they reached the plain, abandoning in one hour all the ground that they had gained by the day's march. But upon their arrival at the base of the mountain, they set fire to a number of houses. In this affair the Vaudois had only three killed and one wounded having re-ascended to the field of battle, they rendered thanks to the Lord for this deliverance, and bore to Pra-du-Tour the arms of their enemies.
Next day the Count of La Trinité, having rallied his forces, encamped at La Tour, repaired the fortifications which had been demolished, and placed a garrison there; but his troops conducted themselves so outrageously in that town, that there also the Catholics of the place sent their wives and daughters amongst the Vaudois. The little fortresses of Le Villar, in the valley of Lucerna, and of Perouse and Le Perrier, in the valley of St. Martin, were also garrisoned with soldiers.
On Monday, the 4th of November, a detachment issued from La Tour, and having been joined on the way by the garrison of Le Villar, which had just been driven back from the Combe, proceeded to attack Le Taillaret. The Vaudois seeing these troops of the enemy coming upon them, fell upon their knees, according to the custom of their fathers upon all great occasions; and according to the promise of God, that he will not forsake any who wait upon him, they received a spirit of strength and courage which made them victors. Voluntarily allowing themselves to be first attacked by their adversaries, that they might not, even in a single instance, be the aggressors, they firmly awaited them on the rocks, from which a hail-storm of stones and balls soon repelled the assailants. But the latter returned to the charge; the Vaudois resisted them; the combatants became furious; the more disciplined troop regained the advantage; when suddenly there arrived from the heights of La Fontanelle fresh combatants, by whom a portion of that troop had already been repulsed. They joined their brethren, who soon again had the best of the combat; the enemy gave way and disbanded; and the Vaudois pursued the fugitives, who uttered many cries and blasphemies on the subject of their rout; but on the noise of the firing, a reinforcement of fresh troops came up from La Tour, who took the Vaudois in the rear. These brave mountaineers faced to both sides, forming themselves into two bodies, of which the one engaged the new-comers, whilst the other completed the rout of the first assailants; this done, the two bodies reunited, and rushing at once upon their adversaries, passed through the midst of them, without leaving one of their number in their hands. In this combat they had only four killed and two wounded; their enemies, according to Richard, bore away whole cart-loads of their killed and wounded.
On the evening before, however,[3] the Count of La Trinité had sent a young lad to Angrogna, with a letter, in which he pretended that he had learned, with great regret, of the collisions of the preceding day. "My troops," he said, "had no object but to go to Angrogna, in order to ascertain if it were a place favourable for the construction of a fortress for the service of his highness and the defence of the country; but having encountered military posts and armed men, they thought themselves defied, and I am greatly grieved at the conflicts which ensued, as well as at the burning of the houses by my soldiers." The treacherous villain concluded by proposing an arrangement.
"It is matter of great regret to us also," replied the people of Angrogna, "to find ourselves assailed without cause by the troops of our lawful prince, to whom we have always been faithful and obedient. As to an arrangement, if it has for its object to convince us of error, by discussion and not by arms, we willingly agree to it; but if it be meant that we should sacrifice in it the honour of God and the salvation of our souls, it is better for us to die all together rather than consent to it." At the same time that they sent this reply, the Vaudois, readily foreseeing what reception it would meet with, despatched a messenger to their brethren of Pragela, to entreat them to come to their aid.
Their letter, however, having been presented to the Count of La Trinité, he did not seem to take the least offence at it, and demanded that the inhabitants of Angrogna should send deputies to confer with him. He received them very graciously, told them that the Duchess of Savoy was favourable to their brethren, and that the duke himself had uttered in his hearing the following words: "It is in vain that the pope, the Italian princes, and even my council, urge me to exterminate that people; I have taken counsel with God in my heart, and he urges me still more strongly not to destroy them."
Real or fictitious, these words were to be made good. But it does not appear that this was the intention of the Count of La Trinité; for whilst these negotiations were going on, not only did his troops attack Le Villar and Le Taillaret, but scaling the heights of Champ-la-Rama, they endeavoured to cross the mountain which separates the valley of Lucerna from that of Angrogna, in order to gain the bottom of the latter, and to seize upon the Pra-du-Tour, to which a great part of the Vaudois families had retired. These troops, having set fire to some barns, were observed, and were repulsed, as Gilles says, by a valiant combat. A few days after,[4] their general caused word to be carried to Angrogna, that if the Vaudois would lay down their arms he would go with a few attendants to have a mass celebrated at St. Laurence,[5] and would thereafter employ himself in endeavours to obtain peace for them.
The Vaudois spent a whole night in deliberating whether or not they ought to consent to this. But the desire of showing a pacific disposition--of giving no pretext for the violence of their enemies, and perhaps of not suffering a favourable opportunity to escape for putting an end to this war--induced them to accept the proposal. The Count of La Trinité came, caused mass to be celebrated without compelling anybody to be present, and then expressed a desire to visit that famous place, the Pra-du-Tour. It was difficult to refuse this privilege to the general of an army; but he was requested to leave his soldiers at St. Laurence, to which he consented. Pra-du-Tour is the place where the ancient Vaudois had the school of their Barbas, the secret source of those vivifying missions which they sent to both extremities of Italy. It is not situated on a height, but in a deep recess amongst the mountains. It is the bottom of a valley, savage and austere as the peaks of the Alps, remote from observation, and free from bustle as a nook of the forest. The steep mountain-slopes bring down into this deep dell the head-waters of the torrent of Angrogna, which escapes amongst the rocks. This verdant basin, surrounded with frightful precipices, seems a dark crater yawning at the feet of the traveller who views it from the lofty peaks, and looks like an oasis in the desert when he has descended into it. A difficult path, which winds among and around the rocks, is the only outlet by which visitors can enter or depart from it.
By this path the Count of La Trinité did not hesitate to proceed thither. The more and more savage aspect of the mountains filled him with a sort of dread as he advanced. During the whole journey he showed much kindness, consideration, and affability to the Vaudois, who surrounded him with demonstrations of honour. On arriving at the spot he manifested much emotion.
But during his absence his soldiers plundered the Vaudois cottages. The people became irritated; the general hastily returned by the way by which he had gone. At Serres he encountered a soldier who had just stolen a hen, and caused him to be hanged upon the spot. But at St. Laurence, when he was again in the midst of his troops, he inflicted no punishment on those who had pillaged the houses. He immediately led them back to La Tour, and left his secretary at Angrogna to receive the petition, which he himself had undertaken to present to the sovereign. In this petition the Vaudois assured him of their loyalty, and supplicated him to leave them liberty of conscience, that his own might not be charged with their death, before the judgment-seat of God. Vaudois deputies were sent to Verceil to present it to Emmanuel Philibert, who at that time resided there.
After their departure, the Count of La Trinité summoned the Vaudois of Le Taillaret to lay down their arms, no doubt in order that--their mountains being no longer defended--he might accomplish the design which he had formed of getting past the bulwark of the Pra-du-Tour.
The inhabitants of Le Taillaret met at Les Bonnets to deliberate upon this proposition. Meanwhile the enemy, in too great haste to take advantage of it, seized upon their houses, ravaged, plundered, and burned them, and carried off women and children prisoners. The meeting at Les Bonnets, being apprised of what had taken place, rushed to arms, pursued the ravishers, delivered the captives, and then resumed their deliberations. What singular meetings must those have been which were interrupted by such incidents! Scarcely had this meeting been recommenced in that remote hamlet, when the soldiers surrounded it in silence, approached the place in which it was held, suddenly broke into it, and fell upon the members of the little parliament. But they still had their arms, and defended themselves with great energy; the enemy fell back, the Vaudois gained upon them; the conflict extended into a multitude of partial engagements. An aged man was fleeing away; a soldier ran at him brandishing his sword. The old man, kneeling down, seized the soldier by the legs, flung him down, and then rushing into a ravine, dragged the soldier after him, and flung him over a precipice.
Another patriarch of these mountains, a man of 103 years of age, had retired into a cavern with his grand-daughter. A she-goat, concealed along with them, nourished them with its milk. The young woman was singing a hymn one evening; the soldiers heard her, and, guided by the voice, surprised the cavern, and killed the old man; they would then have seized the girl, but she rushed of her own accord over the rocks, to save her honour at the expense of her life.
All the Vaudois from the lower parts of the valley had retired to the mountains. The troops of the Count of La Trinité plundered and wasted the valley without resistance and without mercy. They soon ascended to Le Villar, where some inhabitants still remained, amongst whom they made a number of prisoners. It was here that a soldier of Mondovi uttered that ferocious saying: "I wish to carry home to my own country some of the flesh of the heretics!" and, rushing like a wild beast upon the first whom he encountered, he bit his face, and tore off a morsel of flesh.
The Vaudois, indignant at such acts of violence, went to complain of them to the Count of La Trinité to whom, however, they still expressed themselves with much moderation. "Is it not customary," said they, "to suspend hostilities during the time of a capitulation? We have laid down our arms in order to show respect to your word, and to our own deputation, by a calm and reserved attitude; but how is your authority respected by the troops? For we have no doubt that it is entirely contrary to your intentions that such excesses are committed against us." The count excused himself as usual, by hypocritical protestations. "Ah! if I had been there;" said he, "these things would not have happened." And he caused the prisoners to be given up, but he retained the booty.
However, partial vexations still continued everywhere. A band of depredators having commenced to pillage some isolated houses of Rocheplate, seventeen men of that commune successfully repelled them.
A traitor, named Vernon, had promised to seize the pastor of La Tour.[6] He followed him from one place of retreat to another, in order to lay hold of him. One day he got sight of him. "Here! here!" he cried to his companions, "we have caught the chicken!" Bat a Vaudois, named Cabriol, who accompanied the pastor, flung so heavy a stone at the breast of Vernon, that the scoundrel was knocked down. He was then killed, and cast over a precipice.
The irritation of the Vaudois still increasing, the Count of La Trinité invited them to meet with him again, that they might examine together the conditions of a solid agreement; and he promised to withdraw his troops, if they would engage to pay a sum of 20,000 crowns. "I will get this sum reduced to 16,000," said the worthy secretary of such a master, "if you will give me now a part of that reduction, in testimony of your gratitude." The amount of this testimony of gratitude was fixed at 100 crowns. The Vaudois, therefore, consented to pay 16,000 crowns (about 50,000 francs).[7] The Duke of Savoy remitted the half of it; there remained 24,000 francs which these poor people must raise. But how was this to be done? Their property wasted, their houses burned, their crops destroyed; unable to borrow, because no one would lend to them; uncertain of what might await them in the future, they were reduced to circumstances of overwhelming trial. They had nothing left but their flocks, which they had succeeded in saving from the plunderers. They resolved to sell them. George Coste insisted that these sales should not take place without his consent; and following the example of his secretary, he sold that consent for a price, to certain rich purchasers, who paid him for the monopoly, and finding themselves masters of the market, bought at a low rate these numerous flocks, the last riches of the unhappy Vaudois. And thus the 8000 crowns were paid.
The army ought to have been withdrawn, but it did not move. A petition was addressed to the general "You must send me all your arms," replied he. Some arms were sent to him. "Now remove your troops," said the Vaudois. "Give me first," said the count, "a bond for other 8000 crowns; for you agreed to pay 16,000, and you have only paid the half." "But the duke," said they, "has exempted us from the rest." "I do not care for that," he replied; "I know only your agreement." The bond for other 24,000 francs was accordingly signed. "Now send away your troops," they said. "Send away your pastors in the first place," said he, "for that is the essential object of my coming."
The Vaudois, driven to despair, perceiving, but too late, the errors into which they had fallen, fearing lest they might injure the success of their deputation, finding themselves disarmed and enfeebled, and hoping that this privation would be only of brief continuance, consented at last to send away their pastors, resolving to convey them to Pragela, which then belonged to France.
But the mountains were covered with snow; the road by the plain was infested by vagabonds, assassins, and robbers, especially by the armed recruits of the abbey of Pignerol. They resolved to cross the Col Julian. The enemy, being apprised of this decision, appointed an ambuscade to be placed in the neighbourhood of Bobi, where the pastors were to assemble, in order to seize them all at once. But the soldiers arrived too late; the travellers had set out two hours before. Hereupon they plundered and ravaged everything; entering all the houses of the village, causing their doors, and even those of apartments and closets to be opened to them, under pretext of seeing that the pastors were not hidden within, and seizing upon whatever could be an object either of cupidity or of lust.
The pastors, however, had succeeded in crossing the Col Julian. They stopped at Pral, and descending from thence to Macel, and again ascending the Col du Pis, they arrived safe and sound in Pragela.
Only one of their number did not accompany the rest--Stephen Noël, the pastor of Angrogna. Having been called, a few days before, to a conference with the Count of La Trinité, he had been strongly pressed by him to repair to the court of the duke, to defend the cause of his church. "It is to my parish that I belong," replied the pastor, "and I cannot dispose of myself without its consent." And it was well for him that he did not quit it; for a few days after, the perfidious Coste sent a party of soldiers to make him prisoner. Noël perceived them, and retired to the mountain; but his house was plundered, his books and papers were carried to the general, who committed them to the flames; forty other houses were rummaged, and everything valuable which was found in them was carried away. On the same evening the soldiers, provided with flaming torches, searched about on the mountain, in order to find the fugitive pastor. Not having found him, the count next day ordered the syndics of Angrogna to deliver him up under pain of death. The syndics replied that they knew not where he was.
The Vaudois deputation, nevertheless, having reached Verceil, the Count of La Trinité withdrew his army to the plain which extends from Briquièras to Cavour, but left strong garrisons at La Tour, Le Villar, Le Perrier, and Perouse. The Vaudois were required to provide for the sustenance of the garrisons. "We are," said they, "sheep compelled to nourish the wolves which devour them." However, they resigned themselves to their fate; and the syndics of Angrogna having gone to carry victuals and money to the garrison of La Tour, were maltreated and beaten in the most atrocious manner.
A party of this same garrison having, on the next day but one, taken the road to Angrogna, demanded to be supplied with meat and drink at a hamlet composed of a few isolated houses. The inhabitants of this hamlet clubbed together, and despoiling themselves, brought all the best that they had, and themselves served the soldiers in a close court-yard. This inclosure was bounded on one side by the dwelling-house, and on the opposite side by a shed, whilst on the two other sides were walls, in which the entrance gates opened one over against the other. Having well eaten and drunken, the soldiers closed the gates, seized upon the men, bound them one to another, and prepared to carry them away as prisoners. But the women set fire to the shed, and threatened the authors of all the violence, that they would burn them alive, with their victims, if they refused to let them go. They hesitated; a combat ensued; the gates were opened, and the invaders escaped with their prey, the children pursuing them, and throwing stones at them. Ten of the captives succeeded in making their escape, but four were carried to the castle of La Tour. They were afterwards given up, upon payment of a large ransom; but they had been so cruelly maltreated, that one of them died the day after he was set at liberty; and another, half-killed, only survived the torments to which he had been subjected, to endure an incredible prolongation of martyrdom. The flesh had been torn away from his feet and hands by the torturers; it fell off in pieces; the bones of his fingers and his toes then came away one after another, and he remained a cripple all his life. Their executioner was the captain of that garrison, a man named Bauster, the same who, having attempted to surprise the hamlet of Les Bonnets, bore off John and Udolph Geymet, whom he brought to so cruel a death.
I say nothing of the young girls who were detained in these infernal dens; the reader may imagine for himself to what frightful treatment they must have been subjected. The other garrisons left by George Coste, conducted themselves in the same manner, "and did no better," says Gilles, without adding a word of reproach to that expression, so pungent by its laconic simplicity.
Thus passed the year 1560; a bloody autumn, a fatal winter, misery everywhere, bereavement even in the smallest families; but everywhere, also, the invincible energy of a supreme confidence in the Lord; in every dwelling the reading of the Bible and its consolations; the word of life everywhere rising above these cries of death! Such was the picture which the Vaudois valleys then presented.
The deputation which they had sent to Verceil did not return till the commencement of January, 1561. How many hopes had been founded upon it! and how were they deceived! "Scarcely were we arrived at Verceil," said the afflicted deputies, "when the secretary, Gastaud, who accompanied us, and to whom we had already given 100 crowns for the part which he had taken as to the prayer of our petition, snatched that petition out of our hand, and would have us to sign another. Then, instead of giving us a paternal reception, the duke ordered us to prostrate ourselves before him as suppliants--to ask pardon of him for what he called the rebellion of our people. We were compelled, also, to make a like submission to the legate of the Holy See. After we had done all this, we supposed that we might be permitted to return home; but we were still detained for a month and a half incessantly tormented every day by swarms of monks and priests, who sought to make us go to mass. Finally it was decided that nothing more should be conceded to us than hitherto, and that we should even be deprived of what still remained to us. For all this priestly tribe, this vermin of abbés, and prelates, and monks, left our sovereign no repose, till he would promise to exterminate us all, without sparing so much as one. Accordingly, they are about to send us a multitude of preachers of idolatry, so that we shall no longer have means of subsistence for them; and, in fact, we have seen such troops of monks, and regiments of priests, and crowds of abbés, that there will very soon be no room but for themselves." Such overloading of society with idle priests, indicates the downfall either of the nations which endure it, or of the institutions which produce it.
How overwhelmed, how desolate, in what a posture of discouragement may we now expect to see the whole Vaudois Church! The very opposite was the case. No longer afraid of bringing any evil upon their deputies, who were now returned amongst them-- no longer fearing the loss of goods, of which they had already been plundered, nor that they might cause the failure of negotiations for an impossible peace--no longer occupied by any thought of consenting to proposals whose perfidy had been so often demonstrated to them--the Vaudois, feeling more happy in circumstances more unembarrassed, courageously re-installed in each parish the pastor who had been removed from it, rebuilt their places of worship, unanimously agreed upon defensive measures, and everywhere resumed their hymns, their labours, and the accustomed joys and exercises of their Christian life. At the same time, letters came to them from Switzerland and from Dauphiny, by which their brethren in other countries exhorted them not to give way to despondency, but to persevere in courage and prayer, to put all their confidence in God, and not to found their expectations upon men; the brethren in Dauphiny adducing themselves as an example, for the Reformed Church in France was then violently persecuted by the Duke of Guise and the Cardinal of Lorraine. The feeble Francis II, scarcely sixteen years of age, had placed the former at the head of his armies, the latter at the head of his council; and never had religious fanaticism been so powerful; but toleration and the Bible had also illustrious defenders. The Prince of Condé became the leader of the reformed; the Chancellor De L'Hôpital preserved them from the Inquisition by the institution of the Red Chamber [chambre ardente], a tribunal erected in connection with the parliaments, and appointed to take cognizance of the crime of heresy. In spite of this, Protestants multiplied in France; why, then, should they be annihilated in Piedmont?
The hearts of men are drawn together by a common danger. The valley of Pragela, which then belonged to Francis II, was threatened with the same calamities as the valley of Lucerna. Then took place one of those solemn and impressive scenes which sometimes elevate modern times to the level of the ages of antiquity, and which seem to be suited rather to poetry than to history, a scene at once heroic and religious, and, above all, grand in its simplicity. A few lines will suffice to describe it.
Deputies from the Val Pélis went to the Val Cluson,[8] in order to renew before God the covenant which had always subsisted among the primitive churches of the Alps. This covenant was sworn by all the people assembled on a platform of snow, over against the mountains of Sestrières and of the chain of Gunivert; where the Cluson takes its rise from the glaciers. Thereafter, the people of Pragela sent delegates and pastors in their turn to the valley of Lucerna. Not being able to follow the ordinary route, by reason of the troops which would have seized them, they traversed mountains rendered almost impassable by the snow which covered them, climbed that of Le Pis, by which they got to Macel, and thence again ascending to Pral, they crossed the Col Julian, in order to proceed to Bobi.
They arrived there on the 21st of January, 1561. The evening before, proclamation bad been made throughout the whole valley that the inhabitants must, within twenty-four hours, make up their minds to go to mass, or to endure all the penalties reserved for heretics--the stake, the galleys, the rack, the gibbet, and all the other corollaries of Catholicism. The expiry of this fatal term coincided precisely with the arrival of the pastors of Pragela. They had just descended to Le Puy, a hamlet of the commune of Bobi, situated on a verdant hill, covered with gigantic chestnuts, at a little distance from the latter village. Without loss of time, the pastor, the elders, the deacons, and the members of the church in Bobi and in the surrounding hamlets, mounted the hill to Le Puy, in order to make known to their newly arrived friends the sad extremities to which they were reduced; and there, says Gilles, after fervent prayers made to God for his counsel and assistance, considering that none of the Vaudois could think of abjuring, and that they had it not in their power to seek refuge elsewhere, and that the purpose of their enemies was absolutely to destroy them, "a thing to which the meanest worm," adds the chronicler, with inimitable artlessness, "will not submit without resistance," an enthusiastic resolution was adopted that they should defend themselves unto death. From that moment dates the commencement of the most glorious campaign which the heroic persecuted ever maintained against fanatical persecutors.
The delegates of Pragela and of the valley of Lucerna, standing up amidst the crowd, whilst emotion and seriousness at once prevailed, pronounced these solemn words:--
"In the name of the Vaudois churches of the Alps" of Dauphiny, and of Piedmont, which are all here united, and whose representatives we are, we here promise, with our hands upon the Bible and in the presence of God, that all our valleys will courageously stand by one another in what relates to religion, without prejudice to the obedience due to their lawful superiors. We promise to maintain the Bible, entire and without admixture, according to the usage of the true Apostolic Church, steadfastly continuing in this holy religion, although it should be at peril of our lives, in order that we may be able to leave it to our children intact and pure, as we have received it from our fathers. We promise aid and succour to our persecuted brethren, and not to regard individual interests, but the common cause, and not to wait upon men, but upon God."
And 130 years later, these same Vaudois, on their return to their valleys, from which they had been expelled by the united arms of Louis XIV and Victor Amadeus II, renewed, almost in the same place, on the hill of Sibaoud, the oath of the covenant which we have now recorded.
Scarcely had these words been pronounced, when many of those present exclaimed, "We are required to make an ignominious abjuration of our faith to-morrow: come, then, and let us make a striking protestation to-morrow against the persecuting idolatry which comes upon us with such a demand!" The Vaudois had exhausted all methods of patience and forbearance. It was now the time for them to show some energy. Before dawn of the following day, instead of flocking to the mass, they proceeded in a crowd, but with arms in their hands, to the Protestant church, which the Catholics had already crammed with the trumpery pertaining to their worship. Images, candles, and rosaries were presently flung into the street and trodden under foot. The minister, Humbert Artus, gave out a text from Isaiah 14:20: "Assemble yourselves and come; draw near together, ye that are escaped of the nations: they have no knowledge that set up the wood of their graven image, and pray unto a god that cannot save." The resolution of the hearers was wrought up to a higher pitch by his powerful and encouraging discourse. They then set out for Le Villar, in order to purge the place of worship there of the gross fetishes of the Romish idolatry. The Christians of the Alps marched that day, singing that hymn of Theodore Besa--
Loin de nous desormais
Tous ces dieux contrefaits, ...&c.[9]
And this iconoclastic zeal was not at that time a puerile act, but an act of true courage, because it was their response, at peril of their lives, to the capital summons, by which it had been attempted to exact the base abandonment of their religion.
The term allowed by this summons was already past; and the garrison of Le Villar had already marched out to make prisoners. The Vaudois of Bobi met it on the way; it attacked them; they defended themselves, repulsed the garrison, and pursued it even under the walls of Le Villar. The monks, the judges, the seigneurs, and the podestat, who had come thither in order to receive the abjuration of the heretics, had scarcely time to shut themselves up with the fugitive soldiers in the menaced fortress! The Vaudois laid siege to it, placed sentinels and posts of observation and defence, fortified themselves also in their turn, and awaited the progress of events.
The garrison of La Tour, arrived next day to deliver the besieged; the Vaudois routed it in the plain of Teynau. It returned in greater force on the following day, but they repulsed it again. Three bodies of troops advanced upon the fourth day and underwent the same fate. The siege lasted for ten days. The Vaudois made powder for themselves, also mines, Casemates, engines for throwing stones, and loopholes in the neighbouring houses, in order to shoot over the bastions of the citadel.
The army of the Count of La Trinité was put in motion for the deliverance of this place; but the besieged were ignorant of the attempts made to rescue them; and the besiegers pressed on the attack with increased vigour. The garrison was speedily reduced to the last extremities. It was in want of provisions and of ammunition, and was obliged to knead bread with wine, for want of water. At last it surrendered, upon condition that the lives of the soldiers should be saved, and that they should be accompanied by two pastors, thus showing, says Gilles, that they put more confidence in these so much-hated ministers, than in any other parties; and the ministers who were granted to them justified this confidence, for the officers of the garrison thanked them, he adds, for their conducting of them safely, with assurance of all possible courtesy, according to opportunity. The fortifications of Le Villar were immediately demolished by the conquerors.
This advantage of the Vaudois caused the Count of La Trinité to pause, and to resolve upon disuniting them, in order to destroy them. For this purpose he made his army to halt betwixt Lucerna and St. John, and began by giving the people of Angrogna to understand that they had nothing to apprehend from him, if they would not mix themselves up with the affairs of the other valleys. But that people, already so often deceived, allowed this message to remain this time unanswered; or rather, gave their answer to it only by increased activity in their preparations for the common defence.
They got ready entrenchments, posts, and signals; they were everywhere busy in the fabrication of pikes or the casting of balls; the best marksmen were united under the name of the Flying Company, in order that they might the more promptly repair to any spot to which the approach of danger should call them. Two pastors were appointed to accompany them, in order to prevent excesses, needless bloodshed, and relaxation in attention to religious duties; and before battle, as well as at the dawn and close of each day, they conducted prayers in the midst of the camp. By their strict equity the Vaudois desired to exhibit the righteousness of their cause.
Their most advanced post was that of Les Sonnaillettes. It was attacked on the 4th of February, 1561, and the combat continued until night.
Three days after, the army marched upon Angrogna, in many separate columns, which united on a steep and rocky mountain-slope called Les Costes. But they were driven back in confusion by the Vaudois, who occupied the height above, and rolled down rocks among the ranks of the enemy.
Seven days after, on the 24th of February, took place the terrible attack which had already been threatened. The count brought up all his forces, and availed himself of all the resources of strategy. His endeavour was to surprise the Pra-du-Tour, where all the population of Angrogna were assembled, and where they had constructed mills, ovens, houses, and all that was requisite for subsistence, as in a fort. This citadel of the Alps was defended not only by its rocks, but also by heroic combatants. An attempt was made to enter it by Le Taillaret, but the company of Le Villar maintained that passage. Two bodies of troops then advanced, the one by the valley of St. Martin, the other by that of Pragela. Charles Tronchet put himself at the head of the former, along with Louis de Monteil; George Coste commanded the latter. These two troops were intended to fell upon the Pra-du-Tour--the one by the Col du Laouzoun, the other by the Col de la Vachère. On the day appointed for this purpose, a third corps appeared in the lower part of the valley of Angrogna, burning and ravaging everything, in order to draw away the defenders from the principal post, but the stratagem did not succeed. The troop which came by La Vachère making its appearance first, the Vaudois assailed it and put it to flight. They then perceived that of Le Laouzoun, which was descending the mountain with difficulty. They allowed it to get involved amongst the ravines. The guides who went before it, arriving at an opening from which they had a view of the lower part of the valley, exclaimed, "Come down! come down! all Angrogna is in our power!"
"Say, rather, that you are in our power!" replied the Vaudois immediately, and rushed forward from the covering of the rocks. "And they did their duty marvellously well," says Gilles, in relating this occurrence. Nevertheless the enemy, observing their small numbers, made head against them, and endeavoured to surround them. But just then the Vaudois troop, already victorious at La Vachère, arrived with drums beating, and caused a diversion in this conflict by assailing the enemy on the left flank. The soldiers of Tronchet still resisted. "Courage! courage!" exclaimed the Flying Company, coming to the help of their Vaudois brethren, and now making their appearance on the right. Thus assailed upon three sides, the enemy thought proper to fall back. But the ascent of the mountain was more difficult than the descent. Three times they wheeled about and attempted to make a resistance; three times they were repulsed and put to flight. At last they were completely thrown into confusion and defeated. Charles Tronchet was knocked down by a stone, and his head was cut off with his own sword. Louis de Monteil, who had made his way back to the northern shoulder of the mountain, in order to descend again into the Valley of St. Martin, was also overtaken and killed among the snow.
All the soldiers would have been put to death but for the pastor of the Flying Company, who rushed to the field of battle in order to defend those who no longer defended themselves. "Kill them! kill them!" cried the Vaudois, still excited with the ardour of victory. "To your knees! to your knees!" exclaimed the pastor.[10] "Let us give thanks to the God of armies for the success which he has just granted us."
And like Moses at Meriba, who, during the whole battle of Israel against Amalek, ceased not to keep his arms raised towards heaven to obtain the triumph of his people, the Vaudois families left behind in the Pra-du-Tour had not ceased, all day long, to lift up their prayers to the Lord for his blessing on the arms of their defenders. Their prayer was answered; and that evening the whole place resounded with the praises of God, and with songs of joy and of triumph; whilst from all sides were brought in the arms and the booty taken from their enemies--arquebuses, morions, cuirasses, pikes, swords, poignards, and halberts. Never had these wild rocks been covered with such magnificent trophies.
To avenge this defeat the Count of La Trinité caused the houses of Rora to be burned, the families of which place did not retire till after a long and vigorous resistance. To attain a place of refuge in the valley of Lucerna, these poor fugitives had to go by the mountain of Brouard, which was at that time covered with snow. Kight overtook them. They were opposite to Le Villar, but still at a distance from it, though they saw its lights shining on the other side of the valley. Their cries, however, were heard there, and lights were seen in motion; torches were kindled, and their brethren came to meet them; friendly voices responded to theirs. The cries of distress were soon changed into accents of joy and deliverance; sufferers had met with one another, and the outlawed had found brethren. Before the day dawned the people of Rora were all lodged in the houses of Le Villar.
And now the Flying Company proceeded to drive from their mountain valley the ravagers who still occupied it. But, presuming that the enemy would not lose much time in attaining Le Villar and Bobi, the Vaudois proceeded immediately to erect barricades in the narrowest parts of the valley. These ramparts, raised especially in order to present an obstacle to cavalry, were hastily formed of trees cut down and laid one upon another, between a double row of stakes, which represented the faces of a wall. Amongst the branches of these trees great stones were heaped together, cemented to one another by snow beaten hard and moistened with lukewarm water, so that, being softened for a moment, it again congealed into a solid mass around the stones and branches, the whole forming a wall of one single solid block.
The Count of La Trinité divided his army into three columns; two bodies of infantry were to ascend by the two sides, and the cavalry by the bottom of the valley. A company of pioneers preceded, to level the barricades.
As soon as this movement commenced, the Vaudois advanced by the left bank of the Pélis till they were opposite Les Chiabriols, and fired upon the cavalry as soon as they made their appearance; then, retreating from tree to tree and from rock to rock, they continued to annoy them until they reached the barricades situated beneath Le Villar. There they halted, and united themselves to the ranks of the Flying Company, which defended that post. The day was spent in perpetual combat, now on one point, now on another, of this barricade, without the enemy being able to make a breach in it anywhere. All this while the bodies of infantry had pursued their way along the heights, and towards nightfall they passed the line so heroically defended.
The Vaudois were then obliged to separate into parties in order to repulse these new assailants. The first who appeared had already crossed the torrent of Respart, and commenced to ascend the vine-covered hills which look down upon Le Villar. The Vaudois, by running along the other slope, gained the summit and partly repulsed the enemy in a hand-to-hand conflict. They were still thus engaged when the infantry on the right side, descending above the barricade, attacked in rear the Flying Company, which still defended it. Some inhabitants of the Val Cluson, who belonged to this company, seeing themselves caught betwixt two fires, judged their destruction inevitable, and retired by the only way of escape which was still open to them--the heights of Les Cassarots, by which they gained the Col Julian and made their way home. But the greater number of the Vaudois kept their ground until evening, and then only fell back upon Le Villar.
The cavalry followed them upon the one side and the infantry upon the other. When they reached the village they were joined by those who had just succeeded in driving the enemy from the upper vineyards, and their combined forces made both horse and foot give way before them. But the enemy, as they retired, burned the houses of Le Villar, and fell back upon La Tour after having suffered considerable loss.
Next week (upon the 18th of February), the count returned to the charge and repeated the same manoeuvre, but with an increased number of assailants. He commenced a vigorous demonstration in the direction of Le Taillaret, in order to draw off the Vaudois, and to enfeeble them by that diversion. Having now carried away all that they reckoned most valuable to the most elevated of their mountain villages (if that name may be given to some scattered groups of poor dwellings suspended on the flanks of the precipices like the eyries of the eagle), the Vaudois renounced the defence of the lower part of the valley and confined themselves to the heights. The army of the count was, therefore, by and by concentrated in the verdant basin which extends uninterrupted from Bobi to Le Villar. They first attacked the hamlet of Boudrina, or Les Huchoires, situated upon the ledges of projecting rocks, at the summit of a very steep slope covered with vineyards. The Vaudois repulsed two successive assaults without the loss of a man, whilst their assailants left many dead upon the ground. This success of the Vaudois was not only owing to the valour of the men, and to the protection of God, but to the circumstance, that they were able to fire from above upon the enemy, and to shelter themselves from their bullets behind the numerous parapet-formed walls.
A detachment of 1500 men came to support the assailants, and to bring them back to the charge. But the sound of the firing had brought the Flying Company to the scene of combat, who, from the vineyards of Le Villar, really flew to the succour of their brethren. After all, however, it was only a reinforcement of 100 men, and it may easily be conceived that they could not hold their ground against the efforts of 2000. Abandoning, therefore, that perilous post, they retired higher. The remainder of the army, which was stationed in the plain, seeing these 2000 men take possession of the paltry buildings which had been so long disputed, raised shouts of joy, and made flourishes of trumpets to celebrate their victory.
Here let us allow Gilles to speak for a moment. "The Vaudois," says he, "having retired about a stone's cast, cried with one voice to the Lord, and resolutely united for further combat. Those who had not arquebuses made use of their slings, from which they cast a shower of stones upon the enemy. Three times the enemy rested, and three times returned to the assault. When the enemy took breath the people above prayed to God with loud voice, and when the assault was renewed, all of them, crying to God, did their duty marvellously. The women and children supplied stones to the slingers; those who, by reason of infirmity or old age, could do nothing, kept farther up the hill, crying to the Lord with tears and groans that he would succour them."
The succour was not long in coming, for at the third assault a messenger arrived crying, "Courage! courage! God has sent us the men of Angrogna." And the old men on the hill, and the combatants on the field of battle, eagerly took up the cry, "Courage! help is at hand!"
However, the men of Angrogna were not yet there. They were fighting at Le Taillaret, from which they drove the assailants; but the assailants of Les Huchoires, hearing it announced that assistance was coming to the Vaudois troop, which had already harassed them by six consecutive attacks, now beat a retreat to rejoin the cavalry which remained posted in the basin of Bobi. The Flying Company went in pursuit of them, overthrew the walls of dry stones behind which they had taken shelter, fairly routed them, and annoyed them all the way to the confines of La Tour. There it endured some loss by the unexpected attack of a body of fresh troops which came to the protection of the fugitives.
Notwithstanding this, the alarm was so great in the camp of the persecutors that the Count of La Trinité took flight and retired to Lucerna. Thereafter his army re-appeared no more at Le Villar or Bobi, for in these places, it is said, his loss had been very great.
But Angrogna still remained the central position of the valleys, approachable on all sides but the west, and of this he conceived hopes. Having gathered new troops under his dishonoured banners, he soon found himself at the head of 7000 combatants. On the 17th of March, 1561, being Sabbath, the Vaudois families that were assembled at Pra-du-Tour, with their defenders, had just been addressing their prayers to the Lord, when they saw, as they came out from sermon, three long files of soldiers, who advanced parallel to each other, one by the heights of La Vachère, another by the way of Les Fourests, and the third by that of Serres. The captain of the first battalion was named Sebastian De Virgile. "We shall sweep these heretics off the earth to-day!" he had exclaimed in the morning as he left Lucerna. "Sir," replied his hostess, "if our religion is better than theirs you will have the victory, but if not, you yourselves will be swept away."
The approaches of the Pra-du-Tour, against which the two first attacking columns were directed, were defended by a bastion of earth and stones which the Vaudois had thrown up; but the lower path had not been guarded and barred, although it would have been more easily shut up than any other passage, by reason of the narrow space within which it was inclosed. The natural difficulties of traversing it had been thought sufficient to guard it, and the enemy's column which advanced by it was, in fact, the last to appear in view of the Pra-du-Tour. The Vaudois were already occupied in defending their bastion against the columns which came by the higher paths, when this last battalion unexpectedly penetrated into the lower basin. Immediately they descended to repel it, leaving very few men at the bastion which was attacked; but these men had long pikes, and every enemy who showed himself upon the scarp was quickly hurled down.
After a great succession of exploits, which cost the lives of two of their number, they were on the point of giving way, when the Flying Company, which had just routed their assailants on the lower ground, arrived in a mass upon the higher bastion; whereupon, no longer contented with defending themselves, the Vaudois assumed the offensive. The enemy drew back; it was the signal for pursuit. The Vaudois rushed upon them, broke their ranks, dispersed them, and, by the ardour of their courage, really swept them away. Sebastian De Virgile was carried in a dying state to Lucerna, and the Count of La Trinité wept as he sat upon a rock, and looked upon so many dead. "God fights for them, and we do them wrong!" exclaimed the soldiers themselves.
On this decisive day the Vaudois were completely victorious. At the summit of the mountain, where they had another bastion, they had awaited the approach of the Catholics, without moving until they were close at hand, when, by a discharge within a short range, they brought them to a sudden pause. The battalion being taken by surprise, hesitated; the Vaudois, encouraged by this, redoubled their efforts; the enemy yielded; they rushed out upon them, overthrew them, pursued them, decimated, and almost destroyed them. "Never," said their captain afterwards, "did I see soldiers so affrighted, so timid as ours were before these mountaineers." They were half vanquished by the very idea of having to contend with them. Discouragement, therefore, was visible in the hostile army. They began to murmur, and their losses were considerable; whilst in the plains of St. John, of Briqueras, and of La Tour--where, from morning to evening, nothing was to be seen but dead or wounded men carried down from the summits of those dreadful mountains, upon which battalions melted away like snow--a sort of panic seized upon the minds of persons already moved by a war so unjust; and, in speaking of the Vaudois, it began to be said, "Surely God is on their side!"
Many persons at that time were surprised that the inhabitants of these mountains, familiar with every locality, and triumphant on all hands, did not pursue their adversaries to destroy them completely; "but the principal leaders," observes Gilles, "and especially the ministers, would not consent to that pursuit, for they had resolved from the beginning, that when in the last extremity they were forced to defend themselves by arms, they would keep always within the limits of legitimate defence, both out of respect for their superiors, and in order to spare human blood, and that in every victory granted to them by the God of armies, they would use their victory as moderately as possible,"[11] It is one of the most remarkable characteristics of greatness, always to combine moderation with courage, and piety also owns the duty of continuing humble and humane in the triumph of strength.
One of the Catholic leaders, by name Gratian De Castrocaro, a Tuscan by birth, and at that time a colonel of the ducal army, was made prisoner upon this occasion. He called himself a gentleman of the Duchess of Savoy, and the Vaudois generously released him; but if an act of kindness excites gratitude in noble minds, it is burdensome to bad hearts, and this Castrocaro showed.
The Catholic leaders ascribed the reiterated defeats of their troops to their being unaccustomed to mountain warfare; whereas, they said they would have beaten the enemy a thousand times on level ground. But a few days after, a combat took place on level ground, and the Vaudois were still victorious. "Thus," says Gilles, "it appears that victory does not depend upon great or small numbers, nor upon fighting in open field, or in narrow glens, nor on the plain, nor amongst the mountains, but only on the compassionate assistance of the Lord, who gives to the supporters of a just cause, the power to will and to do according to his own good pleasure." In this last conflict, however, the Vaudois were so closely engaged with the enemy, that they were actually hand to hand, fighting in this way in the open expanse of the valley, like those Homeric warriors, whose combats have given renown to the plains of Mysia.
After these numerous combats, in which the Vaudois lost only fourteen men,[12] the Count of La Trinité sent commissioners to enter into an accommodation with them. But amidst their negotiations, he made a new attack upon the Vaudois without notice, marching all his army on the night between the 16th and 17th of April, against the two strongest points in the whole country--the Pra-du-Tour and Le Taillaret.
The last-named place was first assailed at daybreak, by a great number of little attacking parties, who advanced at the same time against all the scattered hamlets that there occupy the different heights.[13] The inhabitants, surprised in their sleeps became in part the victims of that sudden assault many fled in their shirts, and owed their safety only to their agility amongst the rocks with which they were so familiar. The invaders made a number of prisoners, and laid everything waste; then they descended by Coste Roussine to the mountain-slopes which overlook the Pra-du-Tour, in order to unite with the rest of the army in the projected destruction of the Vaudois there.
But the first act of the latter, at the commencement of every day, was to unite in public prayer. They had terminated this religious exercise before sunrise. The first rays of the morning light were reflected by the gleaming arms and helmets of the ravagers of Le Taillaret, as they descended the mountain upon them. Six determined men immediately went forth to meet them, and posted themselves in a defile, where only two persons could pass abreast. There they held in check that long file of the enemy, who soon accumulated, and were crowded together before this obstacle. Of these six Vaudois, the two foremost had their pieces always charged, and being within easy range, killed each couple of soldiers who presented themselves at the turning of the rock. The two Vaudois placed in the second rank fired over the shoulders of the first--their comrades behind them reloading their pieces.
Thus, for a whole quarter of an hour, the passage was interrupted. The other Vaudois had time to gather. They mounted upon the higher ledges of the defile, in the depths of which the ranks of the enemy's line were involved. Suddenly from the higher parts of these steep peaks, rough rocks were loosened, which broke through the line from both sides, destroying the men, making gaps in the ranks, bursting like the thunderbolt, spreading in multiplied fragments like grape-shot, and rebounding like splinters of bomb-shells, between the contracted walls of that path of death. The rout was soon complete. Unable either to advance or to spread itself out, unable even to fight, this unfortunate troop retreated in disorder, and was torn to pieces ere it retired. The other party, which advanced on the same expedition by La Vachère, to the attack also of the Pra-du-Tour, seeing that those with whom they were to have co-operated were already defeated, retired likewise, of their own accord, renouncing an assault which could now have no object.
A greater number of the Vaudois then proceeded to drive off the first aggressors. It was a horrible situation to have to re-ascend a ravine, into which huge stones were rolling down with fearful noise and power of rapid destruction. But such was the situation of the enemy. And without having been able to touch one of their courageous antagonists, the assailing party withdrew from that narrow and bloody ravine, as a traitor should always withdraw from his own snares--shattered, mangled, defeated, and powerless.
By reason of their number, however, some companies succeeded in still showing front against the Vaudois, who ceased not to pursue them. They re-ascended with difficulty these mountain-slopes, so fatal to treachery, and succeeded in passing again over the Col of Coste Roussine, by which they counted upon regaining La Tour.
The Vaudois, so basely attacked in midst of the armistice which had been offered to them by the commissioners, and which they had accepted, eagerly pursued these fugitive troops; and, in spite of some partial attempts at resistance, by which the enemy sought at intervals to cover their retreat, they annoyed them with balls and stones all the way to the little plain of Champ-la-Rama, situated at a short distance from La Tour. There the Catholics made a stand, hoping to surround the insignificant number of their pursuers; more especially, as the Count of La Trinité had contrived to acquaint them that he would presently send fresh troops. But the Vaudois gave their enemies no time to await this reinforcement, impetuously rushing upon the centre of the troop, whose commander fell.
His name was Cornelio; he was a young man of noble birth, married a short time before. He had a certain military reputation; and the Count of La Trinité had employed the greatest urgency to get him to take a command in his army. His young wife burst into tears when he parted from her. "I swear by the holy Virgin, and I give you my knightly word," said the count to her, "that I will bring him back to you sound and safe." She consented to his going, but she only received back his corpse.
The troops retreated in confusion, and the Vaudois pursued them to the very gates of La Tour; for, after the death of their commander, the soldiers ceased to make any serious resistance; and the Count of La Trinité, seeing them arrive in so great disorder, broke up his camp that very evening and retired to Cavour. It was, he said, to return with cannon. "Let him bring them," replied the mountaineers, "and he shall not take them back." And immediately setting to work they covered the Pra-du-Tour, on the side towards La Vachère, with a bastion so considerable that it could be seen from Lucerna three leagues off.
At the same time there arrived in the valleys a new legion of defenders. The Vaudois of Provence--who had escaped from the massacres of 1545, prepared for war both by their misfortunes and by the rude life which they had led during their dispersion on the wild slopes of the Leberon--issued from their fastnesses, upon the news that their brethren of the valleys were persecuted; and whether the climate of Provence had inspired them with more violent passions, or the unexampled cruelties of Menier D'Oppède had excited in them a more profound indignation against the Catholics, certain it is that these new combatants were far from imitating the moderation of the Vaudois in respect of the Papists. Their phalanx--animated by a spirit of revenge, which may be accounted for, but not justified, by the frightful wrongs which they had endured--scoured the outskirts of the valleys, ravaging the possessions of the Catholics, returning carnage for carnage, and rapidly spreading on every side that unsurmountable terror which is inspired by those who combat in despair. The inhabitants of the surrounding districts--victims at once of the spoliations of the hostile army, and the devastating incursions of these implacable avengers, who had come from afar to protect the birthplace of their fathers--loudly demanded the termination of this war, so disastrous for all parties.
On the other hand, desertion had commenced in the Popish army; the soldiers would no longer fight against such adversaries; they refused to march in the direction of these dreadful mountains, "where, it was maintained," says Gilles,[14] "that the death of a single Vaudois cost the lives of more than a hundred of their enemies." At last the Count of La Trinité fell sick, whilst the valleys, far from being enfeebled, had defenders more resolute, more powerful, and more numerous than ever.
Serious thoughts then began to be entertained of treating with them. The first overtures consisted merely of offers of peace, upon condition that the Vaudois should send away their pastors again, and pay the ransom of their prisoners. But these conditions were rejected.
The Count of Racconis wrote to the Vaudois from Cavour, on the 5th of May, asking them to name deputies who should come and treat with him concerning the terms of a definitive arrangement. These deputies went, and after a number of difficulties, the following articles were signed at Cavour, on the 5th of June, 1561:--
1. An amnesty for the past.
2. Liberty of conscience granted to the Vaudois.
3. Permission to the banished and fugitives to return to their native country.
4. Restitution of confiscated property.
5. The Protestants of Bubiano, Fenil, and other towns of Piedmont, to be authorized to attend public worship in the valleys.
6. Those who had abjured to be authorized to return to their own church.
7. A promise that all the ancient privileges of the Vaudois should be confirmed.
8. The prisoners to be given up.
These articles were signed in name of the Duke of Savoy, by his cousin Philip of Savoy, Count of Racconis; and in name of the Vaudois, by Francis Vals, pastor of Le Villar, and Claud Berge, pastor of La Tour, and also by two laymen, George Monastier of Angrogna, and Michel Raymonet of Le Taillaret.
But the Catholic clergy raised a howl of vexation; the nuncio wrote to the Pope; the Pope complained to the consistory; and the Duchess of Savoy said some days after to Stephen Noël, pastor of Angrogna, who had been summoned to her presence, "You could not believe all the evil reports which are brought to us every day against you! But do not concern yourselves--do that which is right--be obedient to God and your prince, and peaceable towards your neighbours, and all that has been promised you shall be faithfully performed," "But in spite of this," says Noël,[15] "the Pope's legate did all that was in his power to have me put in prison." He would have wished all the Vaudois of the valleys to be destroyed, as all their brethren of Calabria had been. He could not conceive how a princess could receive a minister; he was very near raising a disturbance upon that account. Noël was obliged to take his departure next day; but he effected his return to the valleys, resumed his ministry, and long enjoyed the fruits of his labours.
Thus courage and faith prevailed. The articles of the 5th of June supplied the Vaudois with a solid basis for the future defence of their liberty of conscience. It was yet to suffer very violent assaults, but it has always triumphed over them; for their protector was always the same. "Call upon me in the day of trouble, I will deliver thee," saith the Lord.
These words may aptly serve as a concluding motto for the present chapter; which is nothing else than an illustration of them, in the whole of its contents.
Notes: