Vaudoir
The term Vaudoir refers both to inhabitants of the Swiss canton of Vaud, as well as a contemporary name for the Waldenses, a qusi-Protestant religious group of medieval origin. They originated in the late 12th century as the Poor Men of Lyons, a band organized by Peter Waldo, a wealthy merchant of Lyons, who gave away his property around 1176) and went about preaching apostolic poverty as the way to perfection. But this theory that Peter was the originator of the Waldensians is turned on its head as the oldest Waldensian manuscript is dated around 1020 AD. Other research suggests that these people of the valley were the decendants of the communities, that fled the early persecutions perpertrated by Rome. Being laymen, the "Poor Men" were forbidden to preach. They went to Rome, where Pope Alexander III blessed their life but forbade preaching (1179) without authorization from the local clergy. They disobeyed and began to teach unorthodox doctrines; they were formally declared heretics by Pope Lucius III in 1184 and by the Fourth Lateran Council in 1215. In 1211 more than 80 were burned as heretics at Strasbourg, beginning several centuries of persecution.
Key traits As the Protestants were to do centuries later, the Waldenses proclaimed the Bible as the sole rule of life and faith. They rejected the papacy, purgatory, indulgences, and the mass, and laid great stress on gospel simplicity. Worship services consisted of readings from the Bible, the Lord's Prayer, and sermons, which they believed could be preached by all Christians as depositaries of the Holy Spirit. Their distinctive pre-Reformation doctrines are set forth in the Waldensian Catechism (c.1489). They had contact with other similar groups, especially the Humiliati. The doctrine included absolute poverty and non-violence. The Vaudois sect, similar in some respects to the Cathars or to 16th-century Calvinism, may have numbered 20,000 members. They sent forth pairs of missionaires to many lands, and were persecuted savagely in France, Italy and especially Spain. They refused the sacraments and the efficacy of the cult of Saints, and they established their own clergy. The Vaudois were excommunicated in 1184. The Waldenses were most successful in Dauphiné and Piedmont and had permanent communities in the Cottian Alps southwest of Turin. In 1487 at the instance of Pope Innocent VIII a persecution overwhelmed the Dauphiné Waldenses, but those in Piedmont defended themselves successfully. In 1532 they met with German and Swiss Protestants and ultimately adapted their beliefs to those of the Reformed Church. In 1655 the French and Charles Emmanuel II of Savoy began a campaign against them. Oliver Cromwell sent a mission of protest; that occasion also prompted John Milton's famous poem on the Waldenses. At the time of the revocation of the Edict of Nantes (1685), the Waldensian leader, Henri Arnaud, led a band into Switzerland; he later led them back to their valleys. The treaty of 5 June 1561 granted amnesty to the Protestants of the Valleys, including liberty of conscience and freedom to worship. Prisoners were released and fugitives were permitted to return home. The Reformation was also somewhat beneficial to the Vaudois, with the religious reformers showing them respect, but they still suffered in the French Wars of Religion (1562-1598). In 1655 the Duke of Savoy commanded the Vaudois to attend Mass or remove to the upper valleys, giving them twenty days in which to sell their lands. In a most severe winter these targets of persecution, old men, women, little children and the sick "waded through the icy waters, climbed the frozen peaks, and at length reached the homes of their impoverished brethren of the upper Valleys, where they were warmly received." There they found refuge and rest. Deceived by false reports of Vaudois resistance, the Duke sent an army. On 24 April 1655, at 4 a.m., the signal was given for a general massacre, the horrors of which can be detailed only in small part. The massacre was so brutal it aroused indignation throughout Europe. Oliver Cromwell, then ruler in England, began petitioning on behalf of the Vaudois, writing letters, raising contributions, calling a general fast in England and threatening to send military forces to the rescue. Again the survivors were promised restoration to their homes and freedom of worship. A few years of troubled peace followed. Then Cromwell died. In 1685 Louis XIV revoked the Edict of Nantes, which had guaranteed freedom of religion to his Protestant subjects. In the renewed persecution, an edict decreed that all inhabitants of the Valleys should publicly announce their error in religion within fifteen days under penalty of death and banishment and the destruction of all the Vaudois churches. Armies of French and Piedmontese soldiers invaded the Valleys, laying them waste and perpetrating cruelties upon the inhabitants. After the French Revolution the Waldenses of Piedmont were assured liberty of conscience, and in 1848, the ruler of Savoy, King Charles Albert of Sardinia granted them full religious and civil rights. A group of Waldensians settled in the United States at Valdese, North Carolina The Waldensian Church is included in the Alliance of Reformed Churches of the Presbyterian Order. The principal Waldensian writer was Arnaud.
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