(A.D. 1580 to A.D. 1630.)
Gli Banditti[1]
Emmanuel Philibert having died in 1580, his son, Charles Emmanuel, then eighteen years of age, succeeded him. He espoused, in 1585, Catharine of Spain, daughter of Philip II, after having been upon the point, two years before, of marrying Catharine of France, sister of Henry IV. But this latter princess being a Protestant, the projected marriage met with so much opposition in Italy, that he could not accomplish it.
In 1583 serious troubles arose in the valley of Pérouse, and led to the interposition of the people of the valley of Lucerna; for the Vaudois had bound themselves by oath never to abandon one another; and the prudence and energy are above all praise which they displayed under the diversity of their circumstances, which was attended with the greater difficulty, that they were the subjects of two different powers. But extricating always from all others the religious question, on which nothing ever could make them yield, they sustained the cause of their church without interfering in the affairs of the state. As the valley of Pérouse is merely a prolongation of that of Pragela, which then formed a part of Dauphiny, it is in the history of the latter valley that these events will naturally find their place.
In 1584 a new Jesuit invasion took place in the valley of Lucerna. The Duke of Savoy having, in the following year, espoused the daughter of Philip II, who was a member of the league against the reformed, it was supposed that Charles Emmanuel would ere long follow his example; "and the monks," says Gilles, "immediately sounded the horn with extravagant vauntings against our people, reckoning them all to be already exterminated. However, they caused them to be exhorted in all quarters, to prevent this misfortune by prompt conversion. The alarm was great, not so much upon account of these monkish lies and boastings, as of the certain accounts received of the league which was formed in France and elsewhere. Accordingly the Vaudois considered, in good earnest, that they had need, by true repentance and extraordinary waiting upon God, with fasting and prayer, to endeavour to avert the calamities which they dreaded."
Four days were therefore set apart for solemn fasting in the Vaudois valleys, namely, the 15th and 16th, and the 22d and 23d of May, 1585, according to the usage of the primitive church in similar difficulties; and as if the blessing or the might of God always attended the fervent prayers of men, they very soon heard that, throughout the whole of Dauphiny, the reformed were victorious over the soldiers of the league. A third part of the Vaudois valleys then belonged to that province; and the advantage which they derived from these successes, contributed much to confirm and encourage the rest.
A touching but melancholy circumstance occurred in 1588. The two oldest pastors of the valleys, Gilles Des Gilles and Francis Laurens, the last disciples of the ancient Barbas, anterior to the Reformation, and whose whole lives had been spent in the same labours, and in unbroken friendship, expired within a short time of each other, in their ripe but vigorous old age. Gilles died first; and Francis Laurens, being informed of the decease of him who had been the companion of his studies and of his journeys--his colleague for half a century, and his friend throughout the whole of his life--was so strongly affected that he took to bed that same hour, and died a few days after. Such sensibility is rare amongst old men; but the faith which gives immortality does not permit the souls which have obtained it to grow old.
In course of the same year, Charles Emmanuel seized the marquisate of Saluces. There was war betwixt him and France. This war still continued in 1592, for the Duke of Savoy was supported by Spain and Austria. The theatre of hostilities being on the frontiers of Provence and Piedmont, two diversions were attempted by the French forces in the Vaudois valleys. The commandant of Queyras Castle attempted to surprise the fort of Mirabouc, but was repulsed; and Lesdiguières, an abler commander, seized that of Pérouse, and afterwards those of Lucerna and La Tour, from which he re-ascended the valley, and assailing the fort of Mirabouc from the lower side, compelled it to capitulate. He fixed his headquarters at Briquéras, where he caused a fortress to be erected; and from thence he levied contributions upon all the surrounding district. The town of Vigon, having refused to pay, was given up to pillage. The castle of Cavour, defended by Count Emmanuel of Lucerna, made some resistance, but after a siege of twenty days, and 500 volleys of cannon--munitions and provisions being exhausted--it also fell into the hands of the French, on the 8th of December, 1592.
During the time of this siege, a skirmish took place at Garsiliano betwixt the troops of the Duke of Savoy and those of Lesdiguières, in which the latter had the advantage. At this time Lesdiguières had not yet abjured Protestantism, and the Vaudois were not subjected to great hardships under his domination. Finding himself master of the country, he caused the castle of La Tour to be demolished in 1593, as well as that of La Pérouse, which were untenable against cannon. It was proposed to have demolished also those of Lucerna and Mirandol, but the project was not executed. The French general soon found reason to regret this, for the Duke of Savoy seized these two places towards the end of the month of June. The French garrison of the castle of Mirandol allowed themselves to be cut in pieces rather than surrender. The fort of Exiles did not surrender till it had received 3000 cannon shot; and that of Briquéras endured more than 7000 before it yielded.
The Duke of Savoy had with him Neapolitan, Milanese, and Spanish troops. A detachment of these last surprised La Tour one Sabbath morning. The soldiers entered it by the street of Les Bruns, opposite to the town's house, for the principal entry was barricaded. They massacred, without distinction, both Protestants and Catholics whom they met in the streets. Afterwards forcing their way into the houses, they committed cruel acts of violence, "and went the length," says Gilles, "of cutting off the fingers of noble damsels, who were not able themselves quickly enough to pull off the gold rings which these plunderers wanted." But they did not long continue these barbarous spoliation, for the Vaudois having run to arms on all sides, the Spaniards took flight without waiting for them.
However, Lesdiguières having lost all the places which he had taken in Piedmont, except Cavour and Mirabouc, retired before the victorious army of the confederates, and regained Dauphiny.
The Duke of Savoy then re-entered into possession of his dominions; but as, under the French rule, an oath of fidelity to the King of France had been exacted from the Vaudois, the Church of Rome endeavoured to persuade Charles Emmanuel to seize upon this pretext for exterminating them. That prince was too skilful a politician not to wish to avail himself of the repose granted him from foreign wars, in order to other purposes than the ravaging of his own territories; but he consented to make some show of persecution, in order to satisfy the fanatics, who, perhaps, themselves hoped to win from the Vaudois by terror some concessions fatal to their churches.
The army which had taken Briquéras continued to occupy it. The commander-in-chief wrote to the Vaudois to send deputies to him. "My orders are," said he to them, "to enter your valleys, and to exterminate all their inhabitants, in order to chastise them for having taken an oath to the King of France, contrary to the duty which they owed to their sovereign." "Will you massacre also the Catholics," said they, "who took it as well as we?" "That is not your affair," he replied, "but as I am very unwilling to shed so much blood, I would recommend you to go and cast yourselves at the feet of his highness, to ask pardon of him, and submit yourselves absolutely to his will."
A petition was presented to the duke,[2] who allowed himself to be persuaded, and granted its prayer, on condition that Catholicism should be established in all the valleys, and that the Protestant places of worship, which had formerly belonged to the Church of Rome, should be restored to it. This last condition alone was accepted, and with its acceptance the sovereign was satisfied.
In 1595 Charles Emmanuel retook the castle of Cavour, which had still remained in possession of the French, and afterwards, about the end of June, he seized upon their last stronghold, the fort of Mirabouc. On his return from this expedition, he stopped in the public square of Le Villar, and said to the Vaudois who came to congratulate him upon his victory, "Be faithful to me, and I will be a good prince, nay, a father to you. As to your liberty of conscience, and the exercise of your religion, I have no wish to make any innovation contrary to the liberties which you have enjoyed until now, and if any one attempt to trouble you, come to me and I will see to it."
The Catholic clergy were irritated at these kind words, and not being able to obtain the employment of any violence against the Vaudois Church, they attacked them by insidious methods. Their first care was to obtain authority to establish Catholic missions in all the valleys, with right to enter the Protestant places of worship, to which the Protestants should not be entitled to offer any opposition. The Archbishop of Turin came in person to install the Jesuits in the valley of Lucerna, and the Capuchins in that of St. Martin. Scenes very distressing to the Vaudois occurred at this time.
Their former pastor, Andrew Laurent, who had succeeded Gilles Des Gilles in the parish of La Tour, had been made prisoner during the preceding war, and cast into the dungeons, one after another, of Saluces, of Coni, and of Turin. At first he resisted with great firmness the solicitations to apostasy, which usually followed the torments inflicted by Catholicism upon its victims; but at last, whether it was that his mind was weakened by his sufferings, or whether he had lost the strength of his former convictions, the unhappy Laurent consented to put an end to his tortures by an abjuration. Immediately he was transferred from noisome prisons to a sumptuous palace, whilst his soul was declared to have also passed from darkness to light. A richly-furnished house was prepared for him at Lucerna; the Jesuits, under pretext of boarding with him, never quitted him, watched him continually, and led him about as a trophy in the midst of them, in the excursions which they made among the Protestants.
Escorted by these children of darkness, a jealous and suspicious guard, who marked his slightest movements, whilst they professed to do him honour by their attendance, he was dragged about to make polemical addresses in the religious assemblies of the Vaudois, in the very churches where he had preached to them the word of God, in presence of his former colleagues, amidst his former parishioners; and after the sermon he was caused to declare before them that their religion was a heresy, that he himself had taught them nothing but error, and that, being himself converted, he would recommend them to follow his example. What a grief to the Vaudois, and what a humiliation to himself!
His repentant and submissive voice, his air of subjection and distress, made it obvious enough to what tyrannical injunctions he was compelled to render obedience. His appearance and his words excited in his afflicted hearers only a silent pity, more grievous to him than reproaches. Eyes were cast down as he passed, or accusing looks penetrated his soul like heart-rending weapons. O! there is no trifling with remorse! But Laurent died of it, after having been subjected to affronts perhaps more cruel, and humiliations more painful still. The Jesuits took charge of his family; and scarcely had it been confided to them, when his daughter lost her honour. The monk who debauched her fled, as if it were possible for a man to flee from his sin; but the unhappy father remained heart-stricken, afflicted in his soul, and through his dearest affections, till it ended in his losing his life. Distrusted by the one party, and despised by the other, he died, says Gilles, without esteem and without consolation; he died in his apostasy, by a slower and more cruel death than that of which, if he had persevered, his faithfulness would have been in danger. If a man's faults could be expiated by his sufferings, Andrew Laurent would have dearly won his pardon. But it is more pleasant to think that his pardon may have been freely given to him in Christ.
Public conferences betwixt the Jesuits and the pastors succeeded to these fruitless demonstrations. The first conference took place at Les Appias, on the marches of the three communes of Angrogna, La Tour, and St. John; the Count of Lucerna presided. The pastor, after having replied to the Jesuit, begged the president to declare which side had the advantage. "Gentlemen," replied he, "if you were disputing about the qualities of a good horse or a good sword, I could give you my opinion, because I understand something about it, but in your controversies I am not able to meddle." And upon this he dismissed the meeting. Other discussions, however, took place, but without any advantage to the Papists.
Then came sudden injuries and iniquitous acts of violence, unexpected arrests, and executions by sleight of hand (if that term may be used to characterize the secrecy and expedition with which they were conducted), the victims of which were Protestants living by themselves in remote places, whom the monks or their satellites contrived to seize by surprise; in a word, all the ill that wickedness, possessed of power, could inflict upon inoffensive weakness.
In 1597 an attempt was made to rob the inhabitants of Prarusting of the heritages of their fathers, but they resisted by force of arms, and God gave the victory in these conflicts to them and their righteous cause.
In 1598, on the 2d of August, a conference, long announced, took place betwixt the pastor of St. Germain and the Capuchin Berno, who had been specially authorized by the Duke of Savoy to enter into that polemical discussion. Their theses were printed, but the Inquisition prohibited the sale of these books, which would seem to prove that the victory did not remain with Catholicism. After this conference, as after those which had taken place at Les Appias, the monks sought to compensate themselves by deeds of violence for the arguments of their adversaries.
In this way they obtained some venal conversions, not more honourable for the Catholics than for the Protestants; "but the greater part of those who had allowed themselves to be turned aside, afterwards returned to the right way." Such is the testimony of Gilles. "In 1599," he continues, "a priest was sent to La Tour, who strutted about, looking as bold as a lion, and seemed more fit to occasion trouble than to guide the church." His name was Ubertin Braida. His first act was to exact tithes, which the Protestants had never paid. His demand was refused. But "still desiring to work mischief," says our author, "he treated the Vaudois with contempt in a multitude of ways; and, like another Goliath, he even went so far as to challenge them to personal combat with himself each man in his shirt, in an inclosure marked by four stakes." What a method of promoting the truth! "He always bore about, under his cassock, a coat of mail, and showed himself cowardly whilst he boasted that he was afraid of no man!"
"One evening, after supper, some young men, making themselves merry in the dear moonlight, went to make a racket near the abode of this priest, to try if he were as brave as he appeared Braida, dreading some act of vengeance, took to flight, without being pursued." The podestat of La Tour, at the instigation of the most respectable parishioners of the fugitive prior, caused the young men to be summoned before him, and condemned them to remain under arrest in the house of a gentleman whom he named. The Vaudois proceeded thither; but ere long they were apprised that a band of constables was to be sent to seize them, in order to convey them to Turin, and cast them into the dungeons of the Inquisition. They fled during the night, were again summoned to appear before the podestat, did not comply with the summons, and found themselves under sentence of banishment from the territories of Savoy, under penalty of the galleys in case of their being apprehended.
These young men retired to places of most difficult access, keeping themselves upon their guard, armed and in one body, but not remaining long in the same place. Their life was very soon that of vagabonds, under the necessity of living upon the voluntary or extorted contributions of others. As they were under sentence of banishment, or, as the Italian term is, Banditti, they were called the troop of Banditti; and for some years their numbers continually increased. A rigorous prohibition was published, by sound of trumpet, of giving them any relief, shelter, or assistance; but, pressed by hunger, they became only the more formidable.
The podestat of La Tour, who might, by more moderation, have prevented these troubles at the beginning, thought good to march against the outlaws with armed men; but he was defeated, and in danger of losing his life. Hereupon he retired to Lucerna, and did not venture any more to make his appearance at La Tour, even to discharge the duties of his office.
Independent of these acts of resistance and of vigour, there were individual acts of vengeance performed by unknown hands, which were placed, by gratuitous inference, to the account of the outlaws. The outlaws, not being able to settle anywhere, nor to gain their living in a constant and regular manner, were compelled to levy contributions from the surrounding districts, and sometimes made whole townships compound with them. As they had nothing to lose and nothing to hope for, there was no rein to restrain them.
The Vaudois deplored these disorders; they looked for some judgment from heaven, and all the phenomena of nature appeared to them to be its forerunners. "In 1601," says Gilles, "from the month of April to the month of June, although the weather was fine, the sun and moon did not display their ordinary brightness; every morning the sun appeared red and blackish, and in the daytime he looked pale and dull," all which they regarded as the signs of some approaching affliction.
In the beginning of February, 1602, there arrived in the valleys the Archbishop of Turin,[3] the governor of Piguerol,[4] and Count Charles of Lucerna, with a great train of Jesuits and Capuchins. They caused much disquietude to the Protestants of Lucerna and of the plain of Piedmont, as we have already seen in the twelfth chapter.
At this period, also, the Protestant churches of the marquisate of Saluces were cruelly persecuted, and the company of the Digiunati was there formed, analogous to that of the Banditti in the valleys. The Vaudois of Pérouse, and those of the neighbourhood of Pignerol, were alike subjected to prolonged annoyance. From day to day it was expected that the central part of the Vaudois valleys would be the scene of some catastrophe. The troop of the outlaws became greater than ever. The Catholics charged the whole Protestant population with the excesses which they committed, whilst their irritation continually increased; and trusting nobody, and fearing nobody, they made themselves dreaded by all.
The Duke of Savoy was earnestly implored to destroy, once for all, this focus of heresy and nest of robbers. The Vaudois were apprised, from time to time, of the progress of these instigations. They named pastors for the special duty of seeking out, exhorting, reproving, and restraining the outlaws; thereafter a solemn fast was held in the valleys, in the middle of the month of August,[5] to implore the pardon and compassion of Heaven. Affrighted families began already to retire to the mountains, whilst their defenders watched and prayed, knowing that the only good protection is that of the Lord.
Meanwhile, Governor Ponte proceeded to La Tour, where he convoked the syndics of all the Vaudois communes, and required them to deliver up the outlaws. They replied by protesting, in the first place, their loyalty to their sovereign, and then deploring the disorders which had been occasioned by unjust proscriptions:--"It is our persecutors," said they, "who have thrown all this people into this confusion; for your lordship is not ignorant how fatal are the effects of distrust and despair; and if some of these unhappy men have acted a desperate part, they are not the only guilty parties, and as it would be difficult to punish them all, and calamities enough have been endured already, it seems to us that it would be more expedient to cast water upon the fire, by procuring peace for all." Grovernor Ponte rejected this method, and commanded them to deliver up to him the outlaws, either dead or alive. There was not time for the execution of this order; for, a few days after, the governor himself was arrested, and deprived of all his dignities, on the presumption of his having been guilty of betraying the interests of his sovereign in secret transactions with the French generals.
Count Charles of Lucerna, who enjoyed a great influence at court, then came to the valleys to see about an arrangement. He had previously been at Prague, and afterwards at the court of the Emperor Rudolph, in the capacity of ambassador of Savoy. The Elector of Saxony gave him a splendid reception at Dresden; and the count having asked him how he could show his grateful recollection of it, the elector replied that nothing could be more agreeable to him than to learn that on his return he protected the Vaudois. The count promised it, and kept his word. The Vaudois deputies were now invited to assemble at his palace of Lucerna, on the 19th of November, 1602. Vignaux and Gilles were at that meeting--the one for the valley of Lucerna, the other for that of St. Martin. Everybody desired an agreement; for the troop of outlaws still increased by the addition of a great number of Protestants, expelled from the marquisate of Saluces and from the plain of Piedmont. With this the count at first reproached the Vaudois, treating them as guilty of a crime in having given these banished persons the means of subsistence. They replied that the Catholic townships had done so, much more than they, by paying them tribute. On both sides the excesses which had resulted from the proscription were deplored, and a deputation was sent to Turin, where the count promised to promote their endeavours to obtain a general pardon.
But the Duke of Savoy refused the amnesty requested by the Vaudois; and they in their turn refused the other favours which he was disposed to have granted them. The outlaws still pursued their wandering and warlike course of life, making several expeditions to places in the neighbourhood. After new endeavours to put an end to these disorders, the duke, on the 9th of April, 1603, passed an edict at Coni, by which those of the fugitives who belonged to the valleys were permitted to return to their abodes without being proceeded against. But there remained those banished from Saluces, Fenil, Bubiano, Villefranche, and some other parts of Piedmont. The duke wished to destroy them, and for this purpose he formed a special body of troops, to be maintained at the expense of the valleys, the command of whom was intrusted to Captain Galline; but, under pretext of proceeding against the outlaws, this petty general committed numerous crimes, both against persons and property.
One day in the month of July, having arrived at Bobi with his troop, whilst the people were occupied with their field labours, he fell upon the village sword in hand, killed a young man who came in his way, forcibly entered the dwelling of the pastor, who saved himself in the vineyards of Pausettes--and would have gone further with his ravages, if the villagers, hearing the cries of alarm, which were suddenly echoed from rock to rock, had not run from the higher parts of the mountains, and surrounded him in the heart of the valley. Galline, seeing his case to be desperate, and the superior forces of the Vaudois closing around him in a threatening manner, flung himself all at once into the arms of the most influential of his adversaries, Captain Pellenc, and entreated him to save his life. "It is very evident that it is not the outlaws whom you come to seek," said the irritated Vaudois, "since you kill peaceable people, and fall upon our pastors!" Galline humbly excused himself! He was allowed to escape, being first shown that they had it in their power to exterminate his band or to retain him a prisoner. "But those whom you treat so ill," added the leaders of the Vaudois troop, "know how to render good for evil, and, far from destroying you, we shall escort you to see that no harm happen to you."
The precaution was not unnecessary, for from all sides bold combatants descended before them. The soldiers of Galline thought fit still to brave them; a sergeant, named La Morre, meeting at La Pianta a group of mountaineers, commenced to treat them with contempt, and paid for his insolence with his life. The lesson might have served for his comrades; but as they passed through Le Villar, an indignant and armed crowd could not restrain the expression of their anger; someone replied by stabbing with a pike one of those who spoke; and upon this act of violence, the peasants, losing command of themselves, rushed upon the soldiers, and cut them in pieces. A small number escaped in great disarray. Galline arrived at Lucerna, bareheaded, without arms, and without men. Those who had cried to the Vaudois to spare them had readily obtained their request, and were conducted back to Bobi, to the number of forty, to remain there as hostages, until this affair should be settled.
The duke being apprised of it, sent to Lucerna the provost-general of justice, who disciplined Galline's troop; for, since his misadventure, the captain had formed it anew by many enrolments. It was arranged that it should remain on the right bank of the Pé1is, and the Vaudois on the left. The provost then caused the inhabitants of the other communes to be informed that they would have nothing to fear, provided that they would not meddle with the affair of Bobi and Le Villar; but all, without hesitation, made themselves mutually responsible for one another, and refused thenceforth to contribute anything at all for the maintenance of Galline's troop. The provost, therefore, returned, without having concluded anything; but a few days after. Count Charles of Lucerna announced himself to the valleys as a mediator plenipotentiary for the proposed arrangement; and after some negotiations, it was decided that the valleys should pay 1500 ducatoons, and that the banished should be pardoned, a general amnesty covering all past excesses.
The Vaudois were even authorized to retain the properties which they possessed beyond the limits of their valleys,[6] and to make profession of their religion in presence of Catholics when it should be asked of them; for hitherto they were not allowed even to avow it; and they were no longer forbidden to do anything except to defend it by polemical discussions. This was to recognize it as possessing a great power.
These concessions were especially favourable to a large number of the inhabitants of Saluces, who had taken refuge in the valleys, and who were permitted thenceforth to remain there. The liberal collections which came to them from France and Switzerland, now also enabled them to recover a little from the confiscations with which they had been visited.
Vignaux died in 1605, after half-a-century spent in the gospel ministry in the Vaudois valleys. He translated into French certain Italian memoirs concerning the Vaudois, drawn up by one of his predecessors, Jerome Miol, pastor of Angrogna. New documents were added by himself. It was on this work of Vignaux that the first history of the Vaudois was based, which was published by Perrin, in 1618, by order of a synod of Dauphiny.[7] Vignaux was nearly 100 years of age; his son assisted him as suffragan during the latter years of his life. For half-a-century he never revisited the place of his birth,[8] and was a pastor in the Vaudois Church. His first parish was that of Praviglelm, from which he went to Le Villar, and he died pastor of Bobi.
Three days before his death, all the ministers of the valley assembled in a company around him," says Gilles, "for he was as noble in heart as in birth and talent: and there," he adds, "this zealous patriarch addressed us in a discourse worthy of himself and suitable to our duties; these were his last advices, for he felt that the hour of his departure was come. I remained with him to the last, more and more comforted by his words replete with piety and wisdom, which he ceased not to speak to us as much as his extreme weakness would permit, and thus he expired without apparent pain." What a grave and calm picture! how pleasant does death seem in that aged Christian! His soul removes in peace and serenity from its dwelling; it parts from it without violence, as a ripe fruit parts from the branch on which it hung.
Two years after died the learned pastor of Angrogna, Augustin Gros, a former Augustine monk, as Luther was; converted to the gospel as the great Reformer was converted; zealous in defending and teaching it as erewhile the famous doctor of Wittemberg defended and taught it. He left three sons and a son-in-law, all four pastors in the valleys. A year before his death, in 1607, he was relieved from the active duties of the ministry--the first instance of emeritation which is connected with any particular name in the annals of our valleys.
The Vaudois having enjoyed at this period some years of tranquillity, their numbers increased daily, and the place of worship at Les Copiers received additions in 1608, which brought it to the size which it still retains.
Intelligence was received, however, that the reformed churches of France were exposed to new persecutions. A regiment was sent into the valley of Barcelonnette, to promote the conversion of the Vaudois of that locality. The Church of Rome is the only church which has set the example of employing such agents in the work of conversion. In Piedmont, also, she exerted herself to obtain the employment of similar means against the Vaudois valleys. A public fast was appointed for Thursday, the 20th of January, 1611. On all great occasions the Vaudois ceased not to have recourse, above all things, to fasting and prayer, penitence and supplications.
On the morning of that day a violent earthquake shook all our mountains. "It was," says Gilles, "one of the most terrible that ever was witnessed." Eight days after the regiment of the Baron of La Roche passed from Barcelonnette into the valley of Lucerna. "They were," says the same annalist, "men well-armed, making a fine appearance, and carrying themselves proudly, ravaging and putting to ransom wherever they were able, notwithstanding all that could be done to satisfy their insolence."
Quarters were found for them in the communes of the plain, in order that it might be possible to retire into those of the mountain in case of need. They thought fit to assail these, but were repulsed with loss; and if the wish of the more fiery spirits had been acted upon, they would have been driven out of the valleys; but the pastors, desiring that everything might be marked by the utmost moderation, appeased the people, and exhorted them to confine themselves patiently within the strict limits of legitimate defence.
A gentleman of the valley offered his mediation, to obtain from Charles Emmanuel the peaceable removal of these troops; but the treacherous fellow, on the contrary, urged the Duke of Savoy to keep that regiment of plunderers in the valleys, and to take advantage of its presence to obtain from the Vaudois concessions of servility and apostasy. "Yield nothing," said Captain Farel to the Vaudois, "for at the end of a month these troops must receive another destination, and be sent elsewhere, without any steps taken by you." His expectations were realized; and these troops having thought fit to continue, in their new cantonments, the same excesses which they had committed in the valley of Lucerna, were massacred by the peasants.
In 1613 a great part of the Vaudois were summoned out in arms, and required to leave home for the war of Montferrat. They were commanded by the Counts of Lucerna,[9] and reserved to themselves the privilege of assembling, morning and evening, for their own worship, in every place to which they should be led. They conducted themselves bravely in that campaign, and received the commendations of their sovereign.
The year following, Charles Emmanuel having got into a war with Spain, in consequence of his pretensions to Montferrat, new levies were demanded of the gallant mountaineers of our Alps, who then marched towards Verceil, still accompanied by their pastors. They thus had opportunity of removing many prejudices current concerning them, and of meeting now and then secret friends of their doctrines--minds familiarized with the Bible, whose warm reception of them afforded them the more pleasure, as the darkness of superstition reigned so fearfully over these countries.
Troubles, of which we have already given an account, befell the churches of Saluces, and of the neighbourhood of the Vaudois valleys, in 1620. The people of the valleys having interposed, with the view of bringing them to a termination, their deputies were imprisoned either at Turin or Pignerol. They were compelled to pay the sum of 6000 ducatoons, in order to obtain their deliverance and a termination of the annoyances which the Protestants endured.
It was in 1620, also, that the massacre took place of the Protestants of the Valteline, of which the narrative was published as an appendix to the Brief Account of the Persecutions of the People of Saluces.
The valley of Lucerna, which had come forward most prominently and resolutely in the common cause of the Vaudois churches, had paid the 6000 ducatoons which were exacted as the price of their tranquillity; and this sum had been well-nigh trebled by the numerous expenses of law and registration which it had involved. The valley of Lucerna then demanded from two other valleys (Pérouse and St. Martin) to be reimbursed for its advances, by the repayment of a part of the sum furnished for the common interest. This repayment appeared hard; peace had been granted. "It is a business concluded," whispered perfidious counsellors in the ears of the Vaudois of Pérouse; "besides you were no parties to the collisions of Le Villar and Bobi; not having shared in their fault, why should you share in their fine?" Advices favourable to personal interest always appear the best; the Vaudois did not recollect that they ought to distrust those of an enemy.
It was an endeavour to produce disunion amongst them. When peril is over, selfishness resumes its power; selfishness is blind, and peril returns. This was what happened to the two refractory valleys. They refused to pay. "But we became bound for you!" said the people of Lucerna. "What matters it? resumed the malicious advisers secretly; "disavow the negotiations." They were disavowed accordingly. "Then," said the magistrates, "you cannot take advantage of the edict of pacification, which was founded upon them, nor of the amnesty, which extends to all things past." The Vaudois had nothing to reply. "Let justice take its course," exclaimed their enemies. It would have been well, indeed, that justice should have had its course, if it had been justice. But hatred is unreasoning. The Catholics were in exultation. Their object was attained; they had divided the valleys, and opened up a way for the recommencement of persecution against two of them. And they took advantage of it accordingly.
The wealthiest inhabitants of Pinache, Les Clots, and Pral, were forthwith arrested, on pretext of their having taken part in the preceding troubles; and were obliged to pay more for their deliverance than both the valleys together should have furnished, in order to put themselves under the covert of the protecting edict, which they had so imprudently disavowed. Prosecutions were multiplied; and in order to get a stop put to them, the people of the two valleys, after having already left rich spoil in the hands of their enemies, by the numerous confiscations which had taken place amongst them, agreed to pay to the duke 3000 ducatoons.
It was demanded that they should, moreover, demolish six of their places of worship. They resisted this last condition. Hereupon seven regiments of infantry were sent against them, to treat them as a conquered country. The passes which led to the Val Lucerna were guarded; their brethren could come but slowly to their aid; their churches were demolished, and the villages ravaged, as the reader may see more at length in the history of Pragela and Pérouse, under the year 1623. "This," says Gilles, "has been set down, not so much to recall the faults of the past, as to afford instruction for the future."
Imprisonments and individual instances of annoyance were, however, continued in the valley of Lucerna from 1620 to 1624. But this valley had much better claims to urge for their discontinuance; and accordingly these proceedings had consequences less fatal. Moreover, Lesdiguières interceded for the persecuted, and frequently obtained concessions in their favour. In 1625 this general was called to Piedmont, to support the Duke of Savoy in the war which he had commenced against the republic of Genoa; and his presence in the valleys was of advantage to their inhabitants. But after his departure, the severities of magistrates and the attacks of monks were renewed, and more afflictively than ever.
Theological discussions were instituted with the pastors. The pastors did not fear discussion, but they feared treacherous arrests, and the bravi lying in wait in the pay of these good monks, who supplemented by daggers the weakness of their arguments. Some circumstances characteristic of this period are related in the last chapter of martyrs.
"About this time," says Gilles, (that is, from 1626 to 1627,) "a certain monk began to be seen making circuits in Piedmont, and particularly in the valley of Lucerna--a man of great reputation among those of his own religion, by name Father Bonaventure. When he prayed, he was sometimes seen, they said, to be lifted up from the earth by a mysterious power. Some took him for a saint, others for a sorcerer." A number of children, between the ages of ten and twelve years, disappeared as he passed through. It was discovered that they had been borne off and placed in the convent of Pignerol. On the urgent petitions of the Vaudois, an end was put to this carrying off of children.
But on the 9th of June, 1627, a number of Protestant heads of families were arrested at the same hour in the towns of Lucerna, Bubiano, Campillon, and Fenil; they were afterwards carried as prisoners to Cavour, and kept there. We have already seen the sequel of these events in the twelfth chapter of this work.
Shortly afterwards took place the confiscation of the goods of Anna Sobrèra whose husband had become a Catholic, and had consented that his wife should withdraw to the valley of Lucerna, where she married her three daughters to leading men of religion, according to the expression then habitually used. But a son of one of them, in his turn, promised to abjure, seduced by the hope that he would be put into possession of the whole property of his grand-mother. She had previously dwelt at Villefalet in Piedmont. The Bishop of Fossano, after many fruitless endeavours to obtain her abjuration, had caused her to be imprisoned. This violence succeeded no better than the fair words previously employed, and her husband, Sobrèra, obtained her liberation on bail. But after the death of the bishop, it so happened that the monks of Pignerol pretended to have found amongst his papers, proofs that his former captive had promised to abjure; hence the pretext brought forward for the confiscation of her goods. She was accused of having relapsed.
It was at this time (in 1628) that the Dutch ambassador to Constantinople, Cornelius Haga, asked from Geneva, and then from the Vaudois valleys, a Protestant minister for the service of his legation. There was sent to him the uncle of the historian John Léger, who was afterwards to shed such a lustre over our afflicted Valleys. The uncle's name was Anthony Léger; he was then pastor of the parish of St. John, in which he resumed his functions in 1637, on his return from Constantinople. But the incessant malice of the monks compelled him to flee from it in 1643, and he was then nominated a professor in the academy at Geneva, where he remained till his death. During his sojourn in the East, he had had some communications with the patriarch Cyril Lucar, whose life of trouble is so curious, and so little known.[10]
In 1628, a French army, commanded by the Marquis of Uxel, appeared at the gates of the Alps, in order to go to the assistance of Montferrat against the troops of Charles Emmanuel. The Vaudois were charged to defend the mountains, and acquitted themselves valiantly. The duke himself came twice to visit them upon this occasion,[11] and acknowledged in a becoming manner their patriotism, for they received no pay, but bread only. This, however, was a supply of no small importance, for all the crops had failed in Piedmont in the autumn of 1627; and from the very beginning of 1628 the poor people were under the necessity of selling their cattle, their furniture, and even their clothes, in order to obtain at Queyras the food which they needed.
The presence of Uxel's army on the French frontiers made their condition worse, by interfering with this exchange of commodities; besides that the people of Queyras, alarmed at the great quantity of articles of food which were taken out of their district, prohibited the exportation of them, and went the length of imprisoning the unhappy victims of famine who came to procure them. The monks of Pignerol and their followers took advantage of this state of things to attempt to purchase abjurations amongst the Vaudois, at the price of a morsel of bread--the abjurations of wretches wasted by hunger and at the point of death.
It was at this time that Mark Aurélio Rorengo began to signalize himself. He was the son of a seigneur of La Tour, and was originally intended for the magistracy, but afterwards admitted into orders, and named Prior of Lucerna, upon his promise to do his utmost for the destruction of heresy. He caused his father's house to be purchased by a religious corporation, and it was immediately transformed into a convent of Grey friars,[12] or, according to the expression of Gilles, into a nest of monkery; for, adds the historian, "a brood of monks multiplied there, to the great detriment of the valleys."
These monastics were settled there on the 23d of June, 1628. Their first care was to distribute provisions amongst the poor of their own communion, holding out brilliant promises to Protestants who should become Catholics. But doubly faithful to the example of the primitive church, the Vaudois from that time forth made all that they had, as it were, common property, and distributed amongst themselves, day by day, daily bread to those who stood in need. The monks, seeing this, directed their attempts at conversion by famine to other communes of the valleys, but with the same want of success.
At Bobi in particular, notwithstanding the presence of the Count of Lucerna, who made two visits to the spot, the people would not eyen consent that the Grey friars should celebrate a single mass. The friars at that time took up their abode at Le Villar, in an ancient palace, completely in ruins, which was gradually repaired, and which is now in our days both the Catholic Church and the residence of the parish priest. At Bora they seized upon a deserted houses where two monks made their residence; and at Bobi the governor of Mirabouc lodged two of them likewise in a little chamber which he had hired.
The language of these ecclesiastics was at first full of gentleness and benignity; but "on the 29th of September," says Gilles, "they discovered the scorpion's tail;" the Count Bighim then causing an edict to be published, by which "it was forbidden to anyone to trouble or incommode, in any manner, the very reverend Observantine fathers, in anything whatsoever which they might think it proper to do, under pain of death to the delinquent, and of a fine of 10,000 crowns of gold, to be imposed upon the commune in which the crime might be committed. Every informer, the edict added, shall receive two hundred crowns of gold, and his name shall be kept secret." What fit attendants Popery finds!
The Vaudois, far from murmuring, regarded this measure with a feeling of satisfaction, as it at once disclosed to them the evil designs of their adversaries, and enabled the Christians to take steps from the first to oppose the danger with which they were threatened. The people of Bobi assembled around the house in which the governor of Mirabouc had given the two monks a lodging, and begged them to depart before their presence should occasion troubles of which they might themselves be the first victims. The monks comprehended that this request might become an injunction, and returned to Lucerna. But Count Charles, the protector of the Vaudois in former times, had recently departed from this world, and his successor, Philip, was far from being equally favourable to them. He uttered terrible menaces against the people of Bobi, and against the commune of Angrogna, which would not consent to the establishment of the Observantines, upon any pretext, within its limits.
Count Capris, the governor of Pignerol, then came to the valleys, assembled all the syndics, as well as the pastors, and told them that the pope did not cease to insist with the Duke of Savoy that these monastics should be introduced amongst the mountains--that his highness had the right to command, and that if they would not conform with a good grace to his desires, he would employ force. "To-morrow," added he, "I will come and cause mass to be celebrated in Bobi." He came accordingly, but all the doors and all the windows were closed--not a human face was to be seen. He required the syndic to cause at least a stable to be opened to him, that he might have the cover of its roof. "My authority terminates at the threshold of private houses," replied the syndic. "Well, then," said the governor, "I will open your own house by force." "Let your highness consider well," said the syndic, "before you take such a step." The governor felt that it would be imprudent to insist, and that the defenders of the village were not the less near because they did not show themselves; he contented himself with causing a mass to be sung on the highway, and went away home. Two days after he appeared at Angrogna, on the same errand, and met with a similar reception.
Towards the end of January, 1629, he returned to La Tour, with a French seigneur, named De Serres, convoked anew the Vaudois delegates, and endeavoured to persuade them, by representing to them that in France the Catholic religious orders had it in their power to establish themselves everywhere in the midst of the Protestants. "Yes," replied the Vaudois, "but in France, the Protestants also have it in their power to establish themselves everywhere in midst of the Catholics, whilst here we are restrained within narrow limits, beyond which we cannot pass; let us have permission to extend ourselves over the whole of Piedmont, and if not, let the integrity of our own territory at least be respected."
These endeavours proving unsuccessful, the governor retired, and the Observantines, then settled at Le Villar and Rora, suddenly changed their tactics. With the view of inciting the Vaudois to some acts of violence, which might serve as a pretext for cruel reprisals, they laid aside the mildness and humility which had marked their demeanour hitherto, and became all at once intolerably insolent and provoking. "You will bring some mischief upon yourselves!" said friendly advisers. "So much the better," said they; "let them pursue us, let them strike us, let them kill us, it is just what we desire!"
Then the Vaudois did what they had done at Bobi; they assembled in arms around the abodes of the monks, but the monks refused to go away; and as all men were prohibited from laying hands upon them, the women assailed them; and some of these robust female mountaineers, accustomed to carry heavy burdens, took the poor churchmen upon their shoulders, like loads of wood, and bore them away without resistance. Their furniture, their copes, their relics, and all their baggage, were then carted off, and conveyed beyond the limits of the commune.
The clergy made their complaint at Turin. The Vaudois sent thither deputies to defend their cause; and an edict of the 22d of February, 1629, restored all things to the condition guaranteed in the preceding concessions. Thus were these long vexations [fâcheries] terminated, as the most ancient annalist of our valleys expressively but temperately calls them. The troubles which took place at the same time at Praviglelm and at Campillon, have been already related.
Here terminates the long period of Charles Emmanuel's reign. He occupied the throne of Savoy for half-a-century. Crowned on the 2d of September, 1580, he died on the 16th of July, 1630, at the age of sixty-eight years and a half.
The surname of the Great, which he received from his contemporaries, has not been ratified by history. He was a man of benevolence and of ability, but irresolute and changeable. His political course was characterized by restlessness, ambition, and uncertainty, and did not admit of his having faithful allies, for he was not a faithful ally himself. He added to his dominions the marquisate of Saluces, in exchange for Le Bugey and the Pays de Gex; but on his death, France seized upon Savoy and part of Piedmont.
The events briefly sketched in this chapter form two-thirds of the work of Gilles, from which our narrative of them is almost exclusively derived. They are certainly of considerable number; but they did not exercise a sufficient influence over the destinies of the Vaudois to merit so much space in a general work like the present. Nothing of importance has, however, been intentionally omitted.
The period which next follows opens with the calamities of the pestilence, and is closed by unparalleled massacres. To this several chapters will be devoted; but the two principal things which will there be seen continually to increase in importance, as the most active means employed at that time against the Vaudois Church, to wit, the introduction of monks and the cantonment of troops in the valleys, have already been witnessed in their commencement amongst the events just narrated.
But everywhere the protection of God will be seen unceasingly extended to his children; as also the courage of their faith rising to the level of their afflictions.
Notes: