View source for Waldensians

{{short description|Christian movement}}
{{redirect|Waldensian|the ship|SS Waldensian}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2015}}
{{Infobox religion
| image        = Waldenser-Wappen.png
| caption      = Waldensian symbol ''Lux lucet in tenebris'' ("A light shines in the darkness")
| main_classification = [[Proto-Protestantism|Proto-Protestant]] 
| orientation = [[Reformed tradition|Reformed]]
| theology = Theology of [[Peter Waldo]] and other Waldensian theologians, nowadays also that of [[John Calvin]] and other Reformed theologians
| founder      = [[Peter Waldo]]
| founded_date = c. 1173
| founded_place = [[Lyon]], [[Kingdom of Burgundy-Arles]] in the [[Holy Roman Empire]] (now [[France]])
| separated_from = [[Catholic Church]]
| area         = Italy, Switzerland, France, Germany, Argentina, United States, Uruguay, and elsewhere
}}
{{Reformation}}

The '''Waldensians''', also known as '''Waldenses''' ({{IPAc-en|w|ɔː|l|ˈ|d|ɛ|n|s|iː|z|,_|w|ɒ|l|-}}), '''Vallenses''', '''Valdesi''', or '''Vaudois''', are adherents of a church tradition that began as an [[ascetic]] movement within [[Western Christianity]] before the Reformation. Originally known as the '''Poor of Lyon''' in the late 12th century,<ref name="Macy1984"/><ref name="New Advent" /><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.museeprotestant.org/en/notice/a-history-of-the-waldensians/|title = A History of the Waldensians}}</ref> the movement spread to the [[Cottian Alps]] in what is today [[France]] and [[Italy]]. The founding of the Waldensians is attributed to [[Peter Waldo]], a wealthy merchant who gave away his property around 1173,<ref name="britannica">{{cite web |title=Waldenses |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Waldenses |access-date=28 January 2019 |website=Encyclopaedia Britannica |quote=little is known with certainty about the reputed founder, Valdes (also called Peter Waldo, or Valdo). As a layman, Valdes preached (1170–1176) in Lyon, France}}</ref><ref name="New Advent">{{cite web |url= http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/15527b.htm |title= Waldenses |last= Weber |first= N. |date= 1912 |website= Catholic Encyclopedia |publisher= New Advent |access-date= 28 January 2019 |quote= The real founder of the sect was a wealthy merchant of Lyons who in the early documents is called Waldes (Waldo)&nbsp;... On the feast of the Assumption, 1176, he disposed of the last of his earthly possessions and shortly after took the vow of poverty.}}</ref> preaching [[apostolic poverty]] as the way to [[Christian perfection|perfection]].

In some aspects the Waldensians of the Middle Ages could be seen as [[proto-Protestants]], but they mostly did not raise the doctrinal objections characteristic of sixteenth-century Protestant leaders.<ref>Cameron 2000, pp. 264–284</ref> They came to align themselves with Protestantism: with the {{ill|Synod of Chanforan|fr|Synode de Chanforan|lt=Resolutions of Chanforan}} on 12 September 1532, they formally became a part of the [[Calvinist]] tradition. They were [[Savoyard–Waldensian wars|nearly annihilated in the seventeenth century]].

Congregations continue to be active in Europe (particularly in the [[Piedmont]] region of [[Northern Italy]]), South America, and North America. Organizations, such as the American Waldensian Society,<ref name="waldensian.org">{{cite web|url=http://www.waldensian.org |title=American Waldensian Society |access-date=26 February 2014}}</ref> maintain the history of the movement and declare their mission as "proclaiming the Christian Gospel, serving the marginalized, promoting [[social justice]], fostering [[inter-religious]] work, and advocating respect for religious diversity and freedom of conscience."<ref>{{cite book |last=Stroud |first=James Edward |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0Pd0VAfZGEIC |title=The Knights Templar & the Protestant Reformation |date=October 2011 |publisher=Xulon Press |page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=0Pd0VAfZGEIC&pg=PA70 70]| isbn=978-1-61904-906-2}}</ref>

Early Waldensian teachings came into conflict with the [[Catholic Church]] and by 1215 the Waldensians were declared [[heretical]], not because they preached apostolic poverty, which the [[Franciscans]] also preached, but because they were not willing to recognize the prerogatives of local bishops over the content of their preaching, nor to recognize standards about who was fit to preach. [[Pope Innocent III]] offered the Waldensians the chance to return to the Church, and many did, taking the name "[[Poor Catholics]]".<ref>E. Cameron, ''Waldenses: Rejection of the Holy Church in Medieval Europe'' (Oxford, 2000), pp. 49–62</ref> However, many did not, and were subjected to intense persecution and were confronted with organised and general discrimination in the following centuries. 

In the sixteenth century, the Waldensians were absorbed into the [[Protestant]] movement, under the influence of early Swiss reformer [[Heinrich Bullinger]]. The main denomination within the movement was the [[Waldensian Evangelical Church]], the original church in [[Italy]]. In 1975, it [[United and uniting churches|merged]] with the [[Methodist Evangelical Church in Italy|Methodist Evangelical Church]] to form the [[Union of Methodist and Waldensian Churches]]—a majority Waldensian church, with a minority of Methodists.<ref name="chiesavaldese3">{{cite web|url=http://www.chiesavaldese.org/pages/archivi/index_commenti.php?id=1048|publisher=Chiesa Evangelica Valdese – Unione delle chiese Metodiste e Valdesi|title=Patto di integrazione globale tra le chiese metodiste e valdesi|access-date=2014-03-23|archive-date=23 September 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150923224127/http://www.chiesavaldese.org/pages/archivi/index_commenti.php?id=1048|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name="PDF2024229388">{{cite web|url=http://www.chiesavaldese.org/pages/archivi/mater_studio/patto_cv-ad.pdf|title=Per un patto tra la Chiesa Assemblee di Dio e la Chiesa valdese|date=20 September 2009|access-date=23 March 2014|archive-date=23 September 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150923224140/http://www.chiesavaldese.org/pages/archivi/mater_studio/patto_cv-ad.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref> Another large congregation is the Evangelical Waldensian Church of Río de la Plata in [[Argentina]], [[Paraguay]], and [[Uruguay]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://iglesia-valdense.org/quienes-somos/|title=Quienes somos – IEVRP|language=es|access-date=2019-04-09}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.waldensian.org/5-southamerica/|title=South America|website=www.waldensian.org|access-date=2019-04-09}}</ref> Waldensian churches are members of the [[Community of Protestant Churches in Europe]] and its affiliates worldwide. 

== Historical sources ==
[[File:Worms Lutherdenkmal Petrus Waldus 2012-02-21-18-24-52.jpg|thumb|upright=0.8|Statue of [[Peter Waldo]] at the [[Luther Monument (Worms)|Luther Monument in Worms]]]]
Most modern knowledge of the medieval history of the Waldensians originates almost exclusively from the records and writings of the Roman Catholic Church, the same body that was condemning them as [[heretic]]s.<ref name="Pita 2014">Pita, Gonzalo (2014). "Waldensian and Catholic Theologies of History in the XII–XIV Centuries: Part I". ''Journal of the Adventist Theological Society'' 25.2: 65–87.</ref>{{rp|66}} Because of "the documentary scarcity and unconnectedness from which we must draw the description of Waldensian beliefs",<ref name="Pita 2014"/>{{rp|87}} much of what is known about the early Waldensians comes from reports like the ''Profession of faith of Valdo of Lyon'' (1180); {{lang|la|Liber antiheresis}} by Durando d'Osca (c.{{nbsp}}1187–1200); and the ''Rescriptum'' of Bergamo Conference (1218).

Earlier documents that provide information about early Waldensian history include the ''Will of Stefano d'Anse'' (1187); the {{lang|la|Manifestatio haeresis Albigensium et Lugdunensium}} (c.{{nbsp}}1206–1208); and the ''Anonymous chronicle of Lyon'' (c.{{nbsp}}1220). There are also the two reports written for the [[Medieval Inquisition|Inquisition]] by Reinerius Saccho (died 1259), a former [[Catharism|Cathar]] who converted to Catholicism, published together in 1254 as {{lang|la|Summa de Catharis et Pauperibus de Lugduno}} (''On the Cathars and the Poor of Lyon'').<ref>{{cite web|url= http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/waldo2.html |title=Medieval Sourcebook: Accusations against the Waldensians |publisher= Fordham University |access-date=26 February 2014}}</ref>

== Teachings ==
The early Waldensians were associated by councils and papal decrees with the [[Catharism|Cathars]]; however they differed radically from them: the Waldensians never espoused [[Gnosticism|gnostic]] or [[Dualism_in_cosmology#Cathars|dualist]] views or [[mysticism]], and they did not reject the sacraments in total.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Schaff |first=Philip |title=History of the Christian Church, Volume V: The Middle Ages. A.D. 1049–1294 – Christian Classics Ethereal Library |url=https://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/hcc5.ii.xii.vii.html |access-date=2022-08-07 |website=www.ccel.org}}</ref> The Waldensians initially saw themselves as a "church within the Church"<ref>{{Cite web |title=Philip Schaff: History of the Christian Church, Volume V: The Middle Ages. A.D. 1049–1294 – Christian Classics Ethereal Library |url=https://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/hcc5.ii.xii.vii.html |access-date=2023-11-11 |website=www.ccel.org}}</ref> and sprang from the High Medieval pauperistic movement that saw the development of [[Franciscan]]s etc.<ref name=Palombaro/>{{rp|79}}

The Waldensians taught certain doctrines also held by the Catholic Church: they accepted the [[Trinity]],<ref>{{Cite web |title=Philip Schaff: History of the Christian Church, Volume V: The Middle Ages. A.D. 1049–1294 – Christian Classics Ethereal Library |url=https://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/hcc5.ii.xii.vii.html |access-date=2022-07-29 |website=www.ccel.org}}</ref><ref name=":1" /> and the earliest Waldensians staunchly defended the Eucharist.<ref name="Alvarez2012"/> However, at least some of them later began to develop a more symbolic view of the bread and wine.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Waldenses {{!}} Description, History, & Beliefs {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Waldenses |access-date=2023-11-10 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite book | last = Audisio | first = Gabriel | date = 2007 | title = Preachers by Night – The Waldensian Barbes (15th – 16th Centuries) | location = Leiden – Boston | publisher = Brill | page = 44 | isbn = 9789004154544}}</ref>

The earliest Waldensians taught the [[real presence of Christ in the Eucharist]] and affirmed the necessity of priests for the offering of the [[Mass (liturgy)|Mass]].<ref name="Alvarez2012">{{cite web |last1=Alvarez |first1=Sandra |date=15 November 2012 |title=The Eucharist and the Negotiation of Orthodoxy in the High Middle Ages |url=https://www.medievalists.net/2012/11/the-eucharist-and-the-negotiation-of-orthodoxy-in-the-high-middle-ages/ |access-date=21 May 2023 |publisher=Medievalists |language=English |quote=The earliest Waldensian sources show a strong belief in the presence of Christ in the Eucharist. They drew on Peter Lombards’ "Sentences" to respond to the Cathars and explain how evil men could consume the Eucharist. Nothing here was heretical or deviated from Orthodoxy.}}</ref> However they denied the right of sinful priests to give the Eucharist.<ref name=":2" /> 

Early forms of the Waldensian Mass sought to recover the early Christian liturgy and contained a sevenfold repetition of the [[Lord's Prayer]], with the Eucharistic elements being consecrated through the [[sign of the cross]].<ref name="Macy1984">{{cite book |last1=Macy |first1=Gary |title=The Theologies of the Eucharist in the Early Scholastic Period: A Study of the Salvific Function of the Sacrament According to the Theologians, C. 1080-c. 1220 |date=1984 |publisher=Clarendon Press |isbn=978-0-19-826669-3 |page=57 |language=en}}</ref> The Waldensians observed the forty-day fast of [[Lent]] and practiced [[Friday fast|Friday abstinence]].<ref name="Audisio2007">{{cite book |last1=Audisio |first1=Gabriel |title=Preachers by Night: The Waldensian Barbes (15th-16th Centuries) |date=2007 |publisher=BRILL |isbn=978-90-04-15454-4 |page=192 |language=en}}</ref> 

Both Waldensian and Catholic sources, however, imply that the Waldensians rejected infant baptism, at least to some extent. This is seen from the disputed ''[[La_nobla_leyczon|The Noble Lesson]]'', which refers to Christ specifically calling to baptize those who believed, and texts attributed to [[Reinerius Saccho]] mentioning how the Waldensians believed that the "ablution which is given to infants profits nothing".<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last1=Anderson |first1=Roberta |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xaKXWpSx-KcC&dq=%2C+they+condemn+all+the+Sacraments+of+the+Church%3B+in+the+first+place%2C+as+to+baptism%2C+they+say+that+the+Catechism+is+nothing+-+%2A%2Aalso%2C+that+the+ablution+which+is+given+to+infants+profits+nothing&pg=PA177 |title=Medieval Worlds: A Sourcebook |last2=Bellenger |first2=Dominic |date=2013-06-17 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-136-40513-6 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=William |first=Jones |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ACpNCgAAQBAJ&dq=noble+lesson+infant+baptism&pg=PT31 |title=History of the Christian Church: From the Birth of Christ to the 18th Century |publisher=Delmarva Publications, Inc. |language=en}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite web |title=Waldenses: Description, History, & Beliefs |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Waldenses |access-date=2023-01-22 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en}}</ref> Thus there seems to have been an understanding among the Waldensians that infants could be saved without baptism.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web |last=Schaff |first=Philip |title=History of the Christian Church, Volume V: The Middle Ages. A.D. 1049–1294 – Christian Classics Ethereal Library |url=https://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/hcc5.ii.xii.vii.html |access-date=2022-07-29 |website=www.ccel.org}}</ref> They rejected confession to priests, the practice of venerating the saints, the use of oaths, secular courts and prayers for the dead.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Waldenses {{!}} Description, History, & Beliefs {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Waldenses |access-date=2023-01-22 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en}}</ref> 

Waldensians held and preached a number of doctrines as they read from the Bible. These included: 
# The atoning death and justifying righteousness of Christ;
# The [[Godhead in Christianity|Godhead]];
# The fall of man;
# The incarnation of the Son;
# The value or necessity of [[voluntary poverty]];
# Perhaps, the [[universal priesthood]] of believers,<ref>{{cite journal |url=https://opc.org/OS/html/V5/2e.html |last=Vos |first=J. G. |title=The Use and Abuse of Church History |journal=[[Ordained Servant]] |volume=5 |issue=2 |date=April 1996}}</ref> as according to de Bourbon they claimed that all good men are priests.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Philip Schaff: History of the Christian Church, Volume V: The Middle Ages. A.D. 1049–1294 – Christian Classics Ethereal Library |url=https://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/hcc5.ii.xii.vii.html |access-date=2022-08-07 |website=www.ccel.org}}</ref>

They also rejected a number of concepts that were widely held in Christian Europe of the era. For example, the Waldensians held that temporal offices and dignities were not meant for preachers of the Gospel; that [[relics]] were no different from any other bones and should not be regarded as special or holy; that [[pilgrimage]] served only to spend one's money; that [[Christian vegetarianism#Partial fasting and temporary abstinence|meat might be eaten any day]] if one's appetite served one; that [[holy water]] was no more efficacious than rain water; and that prayer was just as effectual if offered in a church or a barn. 

Some beliefs attributed to early Waldensians may have come from fabricated documents for polemic purposes, for example by English Puritan diplomat [[Samuel Morland]], some of whose sources were immediately lost and anachonistic. These beliefs have early Waldensians speaking of the Catholic Church as the [[Whore of Babylon|harlot of the Apocalypse]],<ref>Inquisitor Reyenerious, A. D. 1250, and extracted by Allix (Chap. 22)</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Morland |first=Samuel |url=http://archive.org/details/historyofevangel00morl |title=The history of the Evangelical churches of the valleys of Piemont : containing a most exact geographical description of the place, and a faithfull account of the doctrine, life, and persecutions of the ancient inhabitants; Together, with a most naked and punctual relation of the late bloudy massacre, 1655; And a narrative of all the following transactions, to the year of Our Lord, 1658 .. |date=1658 |publisher=London : Printed by Henry Hills for Adoniram Byfield |others=Princeton Theological Seminary Library |pages=143}}</ref> rejecting what they perceived as the idolatry of the Catholic Church and considered the papacy as the Antichrist of Rome.<ref>{{cite book | title = Historical Studies | first = Eugene | last = Lawrence | year = 1876 | pages = [https://archive.org/details/historicalstudie00lawr/page/202 202]–204 | url = https://archive.org/details/historicalstudie00lawr}}</ref> From Morland also comes the information that the early Waldensians rejected purgatory. These influenced Victorian views of the Waldensians, and the development of a myth or hypothesis of an earlier proto-Protestant community, the ''Vaudois''.<ref name=Palombaro/>

The characterization of the early Waldensians as [[proto-Protestant]]s has been questioned by modern scholars: while they may have had a form of ''sola scriptura'' they did not embrace ''sola fide'' in their view of justification; some emphasized a [[born-again]] experience.<ref name=Palombaro>{{cite journal |last1=Palombaro |first1=Ottavio |title=Reality and Representations of the Doctrine of Justification in Early Waldensian Preaching |journal=Medieval Sermon Studies |date=1 January 2020 |volume=64 |issue=1 |pages=77–84 |doi=10.1080/13660691.2020.1815435}}</ref>

{{lang|oc|italic=yes|[[La nobla leyczon]]}} (''The Noble Lesson''), written in the [[Old Occitan]] language, outlines the medieval Waldensian beliefs. It is believed that this poem was written some time between 1190 and 1240,<ref>Bosio, Enrico, "La Nobla Leyczon considérée au point de vue de la doctrine, de la morale et de l'histoire" (in French), ''Bulletin de la Société d'Histoire Vaudoise'', no. 2 (dic.{{nbsp}}1885), pp.{{nbsp}}20–36.</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=TAYLOR |first=Daniel T. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xUFVAAAAcAAJ |title=The Voice of the Church on the Coming and Kingdom of the Redeemer; Or, a History of the Doctrine of the Reign of Christ on Earth. Revised and Edited with a Preface by H. L. Hastings. Third Edition |date=1856 |pages=129 |language=en}}</ref> but there is evidence that it was written in the first part of the fifteenth century.<ref>Montet, Edouard, ''La noble leçon, texte original d'après le manuscrit de Cambridge'', 1888, pp.{{nbsp}}19–26.</ref> The Noble Lesson exists in four manuscripts: two are housed at the University of Cambridge, one at Trinity College in Dublin, and another in Geneva.<ref>Montet, Edouard, ''La noble leçon, texte original d'après le manuscrit de Cambridge'', 1888, p.{{nbsp}}19.</ref>

Works attributed to [[Reinerius Saccho]] gave the following charges against the Waldensians:<ref name=":0" />

* The Pope is the head of all errors
* The Monks are Pharisees
* Christians should obey God instead of the Prelates
* That no one is above one another in the church
* No one should kneel before a priest
* Tithes should not be given
* Bishops should not have royal rights
* They condemn the Catholic sacraments 
* The Church has erred by prohibiting the marriage of the clergy<ref name=":0" />

The Waldensians would, later in their history, adopt a number of doctrines from the [[Calvinism|Reformed churches]] due to the French Reformer [[William Farel|Guillaume Farel]], who introduced Reformation theology to Waldensian leaders. They officially adopted Reformed theology at a conference at Cianforan 1532. As a result of the conference, the Waldensians officially modified some of their previous positions such as their rejection of secular courts.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Waldenses {{!}} Description, History, & Beliefs {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Waldenses |access-date=2023-01-24 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en}}</ref>

== History ==

=== Origins ===

According to legend, Peter Waldo renounced his wealth as an encumbrance to preaching,<ref>''Liber visionum et miraculorum'', Anonymous Chronicles of Lyon</ref>{{full citation needed|date=May 2022}} which led other members of the Catholic clergy to follow his example. Because of this shunning of wealth, this early movement was known as The Poor of Lyon and The Poor of Lombardy.<ref>Tourn, Giorgio (1999). ''Les Vaudois, l’étonnante aventure d’un peuple-église''. Claudiana.</ref>

Although they rose to prominence in the twelfth century, some evidence suggests that the Waldenses may have existed even before the time of [[Peter Waldo]], perhaps as early as 1100.<ref name="Minahan 2002 p. 2031">{{cite book | last=Minahan | first=J. | title=Encyclopedia of the Stateless Nations: S-Z | publisher=Greenwood Press | series=Encyclopedia of the Stateless Nations: Ethnic and National Groups Around the World | year=2002 | isbn=978-0-313-32384-3 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Zu5GpDby9H0C&pg=PA2031 | access-date=2023-08-11 | page=2031}}</ref> In 1179, at the [[Third Council of the Lateran]], [[Pope Alexander III]] lamented that the Waldenses were a "pest of long existence".<ref>{{Cite book |last=Leger |first=Jean |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kItEJE3jb2kC |title=Histoire générale des Eglises evangeliques des vallees de Piemont; ou vaudoises. divisée en deux livres,...par Jean Leger, Pasteur & Moderateur des Eglises des Vallées, & depuis la violence de la Persecution, appelé à l'Eglise Wallonne de Leyde. Le tout enrichi de Tailles douces |date=1669 |publisher=chez Jean Le Carpentier |pages=155 |language=fr}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Gilly |first=William Stephen |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=C2UlwdHz0cAC&dq=waldenses+council+lateran+ancient&pg=PA45 |title=Waldensian Researches During a Second Visit to the Vaudois of Piemont: With an Introductory Inquiry Into the Antiquity and Purity of the Waldensian Church ... |date=1831 |publisher=C. J. G. & F. Rivington |language=en}}</ref> While the Inquisitor [[Reinerius Saccho]] in the thirteenth century also spoke about the dangers of the Waldenses for among other reasons its antiquity "some say that it has lasted from the time of [[Pope Sylvester I|Sylvester]], others, from the time of the Apostles."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Tuy |first=Lucas de |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yWDyvMCyE-EC |title=Lucae Tudensis Episcopi scriptores aliquot succedanei contra sectam Waldensium: nunc primum in lucem editi cum prolegomenis et notis ... |date=1613 |publisher=excudebat Andreas Angermarius |pages=54 |language=la}}</ref> In the seventeenth century, Waldensian Pastor [[Henri Arnaud (pastor)|Henri Arnaud]] stated that "the Vaudois are, in fact, descended from those refugees from Italy, who, after St Paul had there preached the gospel abandoned their beautiful country, like the woman mentioned in the apocalypse and fled to those wild mountains where they have to this day, handed down the gospel from father to son in the same purity and simplicity as it was preached by St Paul.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Arnaud |first=Henri |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kgpCAAAAcAAJ&q=paul |title=Histoire de la glorieuse rentrée des Vaudois |date=1710 |language=fr}}</ref>

The Waldensian movement was characterized from the beginning by lay preaching, voluntary poverty, and strict adherence to the Bible. Between 1175 and 1185, Waldo either commissioned a cleric from Lyon to translate the New Testament into the vernacular—the [[Arpitan]] (Franco-Provençal) language<ref>Harris, M. Roy (1984). "Old Waldensian: Some linguistic and editorial observations". ''Romance Philology'' 38(2), pp. 200–225.</ref>—or was himself involved in this translation work.{{citation needed|date= January 2019}}

In 1179, Waldo and one of his disciples went to Rome, where Pope Alexander III and the Roman Curia welcomed them. They had to explain their faith before a panel of three clergymen, including issues that were then debated within the Church, such as the universal priesthood, the gospel in the vulgar tongue, and the issue of voluntary poverty. The results of the meeting were inconclusive; in that same year, the Third Lateran Council condemned Waldo's ideas, but not the movement itself, while the leaders of the movement were not [[excommunication|excommunicated]] for the moment.<ref name="CE">{{cite encyclopedia|url= http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/15527b.htm |encyclopedia=Catholic Encyclopedia |title=Waldenses |via=New Advent |date= 1 October 1912 |access-date= 26 February 2014}}</ref>

The Waldensians proceeded to disobey the Third Lateran Council and continued to preach according to their own understanding of the Scriptures. In 1184, Waldo and his followers were excommunicated and forced from Lyon. The [[Catholic Church]] declared them [[heresy|heretics]], stating that the group's principal error was contempt for [[ecclesiastical]] power. Rome also accused the Waldensians of teaching innumerable errors.<ref>Brooke, Rosalind B. (1975), ''The Coming of the Friars'', New York: Routledge<!-- Barnes & Noble is a bookshop chain, not a publisher -->, pp.{{nbsp}}72–73</ref>

Waldo and his followers developed a system whereby they would go from town to town and meet secretly with small groups of Waldensians. There they would confess sins and hold service. A traveling Waldensian preacher was known as a ''barba''. The group would shelter the ''barba'' and help make arrangements to move on to the next town in secret.<ref>Comba, Emilio (1978) ''History of the Waldenses of Italy, from their origin to the Reformation''. New York: AMS Press, {{ISBN|978-0-4041-6119-4}}</ref> Waldo possibly died in the early thirteenth{{nbsp}}century, possibly in Germany; he was never captured, and his fate remains uncertain.<ref>{{Cite journal | doi = 10.1093/pastj/gtl004 | jstor = 4125197 | issn = 0031-2746 | pages = 3–33 | last = Biller | first = Peter | author-link = Peter Biller |title = Goodbye to Waldensianism? | journal = Past & Present | date = August 2006| issue = 192 | doi-access = free }}</ref>

Early Waldensians belonged to one of three groups:<ref name="herberman">Herbermann, Charles George (1913). ''The Catholic Encyclopedia'', p.{{nbsp}}250. Universal Knowledge Foundation</ref>{{nonspecific|reason=Entry needed|date=May 2022}}

* ''Sandaliati''<!-- What language are these words? Latin? Occitan? --> (those with sandals) received sacred orders and were to prove the [[heresiarch]]s wrong;
* ''Doctores'' instructed and trained missionaries;
* ''Novellani'' preached to the general population.

They were also called ''Insabbatati'', ''Sabati'', ''Inzabbatati'', or ''Sabotiers''—Some historians such as the [[Jesuits|Jesuit]] [[Jacob Gretser]] claimed this designation arose from the unusual type of [[Clog (shoe)|sabot]] they used as footwear.<ref name="Herzog">Gretser, J. (1738). Opera omnia antehac ab ipsomet auctore accurate recognita, opusculis multis, notis, et paralipomenis pluribus, propriis locis in hac editione insertis aucta et illustrata nunc selecto ordine ad certos titul: Lutherus academicus, et Waldenses sumptibus Joannis Conradi Peez. (p.112) [https://books.google.com/books?id=1utdyUTpKhsC]</ref> However, he admitted that his reasoning on this etymology did not have the support of the literature of his day because these sources, he said, contained many errors.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Gretser |first=Jacob |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wkZfkeLgeqUC |title=Opera omnia, antehac ab ipsomet auctore accurate recognita, opusculis multis, notis, et paralipomenis pluribus, propriis locis in hac editione insertis, aucta et illustrata, nunc selecto ordine ad certos titulos revocata |date=1738 |pages=112 |language=la}}</ref><ref name=Damstegt>{{Cite journal |last=Damstegt |first=Gerard |date=Autumn 2016 |title=Decoding Ancient Waldenses Names: New Discoveries |url=https://digitalcommons.andrews.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3448&context=auss |journal=Andrews University Seminary Studies |volume=54 |issue=2}}</ref>{{rp|247}} Other historians such as [[Melchior Goldast]] stated that the name insabbatati was because of Sabbath keeping in the manner of Jews.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Goldast |first=Melchior |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=du1TAAAAcAAJ&q=sabbato |title=Melchioris Haiminsfeldii Goldasti Rationale Constitutionum Imperialium, Autoschediasthen Sive Extemporale: In quo cum ipsis Constitutionibus argumenta dicuntur, tum Sacri Romani Imperii iura aduersus Caesaris Baronii Cardinalis Romani Annales elenchos praescribuntur (p. 78) |date=1607 |language=la}}</ref> [[Jesuits|Jesuit]] [[Inquisitor]] Francis Pegne cited in [[Nicholas Eymerich]] famous work the [[Directorium Inquisitorum|Directorium Inquisitorium]] stated that "many used to think it [insabbatati] came from Sabbath, and that they [Waldenses] observed the Sabbath according to the custom of the Jews."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Eymerich (O.P.) |first=Nicolau |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=N8ZJkWRUYSQC |title=Directorium Inquisitorum |date=1595 |publisher=sumptibus Simeonis Vasalini |pages=225 |language=la}}</ref> Likewise in the twelfth century, Inquisitor Moneta of Cremona railed against the Waldenses for seventh day sabbath keeping after the manner of Jews.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Moneta |first1=of Cremona |url=http://archive.org/details/venerabilispatri00mone |title=Venerabilis patris Monetae Cremonensis ordinis praedicatorum S.P. dominico aequalis Adversus Catharos et Valdenses libri quinque : quos ex manuscriptis codd. Vaticano, Bononiensi, ac Neapolitano |last2=Ricchini |first2=Tommaso Agostino |last3=Sintes |first3=Giovanni Battista |last4=Fratta |first4=Domenico Maria |last5=Pomarede |first5=Silvio |last6=Palearini |first6=Nicolò |last7=Palearini |first7=Marco |date=1743 |publisher=Romae : Ex typographia Palladis : Excudebant Nicolaus, et Marcus Palearini |others=Getty Research Institute |pages=475–476}}</ref> Johann Gottfried Hering in 1756 in his Compendieuses Church and Heretic Lexicon defined Sabbatati (a sect of the Waldenses) as those who kept the sabbath with the Jews.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Hering |first=Johann Gottfried |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OLYAAAAAcAAJ&q=sabbatati |title=Compendieuses Kirchen- und Ketzer-Lexicon: In welchem Alle Ketzereyen und Secten, und deren Urheber und Stiffter, von derer Apostel Zeiten her, wie auch die meisten geistlichen Orden angezeiget und beschrieben, darnebst auch viele zur Kirchen-Historie dienende Termini und Sachen angeführet und erklähret werden |date=1756 |publisher=Fulde |page=537 |language=de}}</ref> In the early Waldenses prose tracts there existed an exposition on the 10 commandments which put forth their own explanation on the 4th commandment which defended sabbath keeping.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Unattributed |url=https://digitalcollections.tcd.ie/concern/works/xw42nf17j?locale=en&fbclid=IwAR3_SiQ6eJ64fb2WRBC9-ksBXf8oR1N29UQXfB_PB8ZTHFRUUF8_SC0MZLE |title=Waldensian prose tracts. IE TCD MS 260 |publisher=Dominique Vigneaux d’’Angrogne |year=1524 |location=France? |pages=f.209 r |language=Latin}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Blair |first=Adam |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MtwRAAAAIAAJ |title=History of the Waldenses: With an Introductory Sketch of the History of the Christian Churches in the South of France and North of Italy, Till These Churches Submitted to the Pope, when the Waldenses Continued as Formerly Independent of the Papal See |date=1832 |publisher=A. Black |pages=527 |language=en}}</ref>

Many among the Waldensians claimed that people such as [[Claudius of Turin]] and [[Berengar of Tours]] were first representatives of the sect, but in modern times claims of the Waldenses to high antiquity are no longer accepted.<ref>{{Cite encyclopedia |encyclopedia=Catholic Encyclopedia |title=Waldenses |url=https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/15527b.htm|access-date=2021-11-05 |via=New Advent}}</ref>  Some religious groups attempted to associate [[Vigilantius]] with proto-Waldensians in the European Alps.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mA9gAAAAMAAJ |title=Sketches of the Waldenses |publisher=Religious Tract Society |publication-date=1846 |page=18 |chapter=Accounts of the Waldenses |year=1846 |isbn=978-1-02-236632-9 |quote=[...] returning to the region of the Alps, he [Vigilantius] found a body of Christians like-minded with himself; with these he gladly united, and laboured. |access-date=2 March 2022}}</ref>

=== Catholic response ===

[[File:Champion des dames Vaudoises.JPG|thumb|upright=0.8|right| Illustrations depicting Waldensians as [[Witchcraft|witches]] in ''Le champion des dames'', by Martin Le France, 1451]]
[[File:Piedmontese Children Forced from their parents (October 1853, X, p.108).jpg|thumb|upright=0.8|Piedmontese children forced from their parents<ref name="Juvenile1853">{{cite journal|title= Piedmontese Children Forced from their parents|journal= The Wesleyan Juvenile Offering: A Miscellany of Missionary Information for Young Persons|date= October 1853|volume= X|page= 108|url= https://archive.org/details/wesleyanjuvenil19socigoog|access-date= 29 February 2016|publisher= Wesleyan Missionary Society}}</ref>]]

The Catholic Church viewed the Waldensians as unorthodox, and in 1184 at the [[Synod of Verona]], under the auspices of [[Pope Lucius III]], they were excommunicated. 

In 1207 there was a religious conference of Catholics and Waldensians at [[Pamiers]]. Several leading Waldensians returned to Catholicism, notably including Waldo's disciple [[Durand_of_Huesca|Durand of Huesca]] who went on to found an order the [[Poor Catholics]] intended to appeal to the Waldensian emphasis on evangelical poverty and to preach.<ref>[https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/15527b.htm Weber, Nicholas. "Waldenses." The Catholic Encyclopedia] Vol. 15. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1912. 31 May 2021 {{PD-notice}}</ref> 

In 1211 more than 80 Waldensians were burned as heretics at [[Strasbourg]]; this action launched several centuries of [[Medieval Inquisition|persecution]] that nearly destroyed the movement.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia | last1= Ellwood | first1= R. S. | last2= Alles | first2= G. D. | article= Waldensians |title= The Encyclopedia of World Religions | location= New York |publisher= Facts on File | year= 2007 | isbn= 978-1-4381-1038-7 | url= https://books.google.com/books?id=1pGbdI4L0qsC&pg=PA471 | page= 471}}</ref>  [[Pope Innocent III]] went even further during the [[Fourth Lateran Council]] in 1215, officially denouncing the Waldensians as [[heresy|heretics]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Audisio |first1=Gabriel |title= The Waldensian Dissent: Persecution and Survival c. 1170 – c. 1570 |date=1999 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge |isbn= 978-0-521-55984-3 |pages=14; 16; 22}}</ref><ref>Compare:
{{cite book
| last1 = Blainey
| first1 = Geoffrey
| author-link1 = Geoffrey Blainey
| title = A Short History of Christianity
| date = 26 October 2011
| url =  https://books.google.com/books?id=DepQXhNVSk4C
| location = Camberwell, Victoria
| publisher = Penguin
| publication-date = 2011
| page = 430
| isbn = 9780857962553
| access-date = 2018-02-17
| quote = The Waldensians eschewed the Cathars, who were busy in the same regions at the same time. While the Cathars were heretics, the Waldensians generally were not. Their real act of defiance was quietly to deny the existence of purgatory.}}</ref> The Waldensians in turn excommunicated [[Pope Benedict XI]].

Waldensians [[Buda heresy|briefly ruled]] Buda, the capital of Hungary from 1304 to 1307.<ref>{{cite book |last=Galambosi |first=Péter |editor1-last=Kádas |editor1-first=István |editor2-last=Skorka |editor2-first=Renáta |editor3-last=Weisz |editor3-first=Boglárka |title=Veretek, utak, katonák. Gazdaságtörténeti tanulmányok a magyar középkorról |publisher=MTA Bölcsészettudományi Kutatóközpont |year=2018 |pages=223–245 |chapter=A budai eretnekmozgalom (1304–1307) |trans-chapter=The Heretical Movement in Buda (1304–1307) |isbn=978-963-416-124-0 |language=hu}}</ref> 

In 1487 Pope [[Innocent VIII]] issued a bull<ref>{{cite book|last=Innocent VIII |title=Id nostri cordis |series=Histoire générale des Eglises Evangeliques des Vallées du Piemont ou Vaudoises |volume=2 |page=8|date=1669}}</ref> [[Id Nostri Cordis]] for the extermination of the Vaudois. [[Alberto de' Capitanei]], archdeacon of [[Cremona]], responded to the bull by organizing a crusade to fulfill its order and launched a military offensive in the provinces of [[Dauphiné]] and [[Piedmont]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Baronio |first=Cesare |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qzBQAAAAcAAJ&q=1487+V.Kal |title=Annales ecclesiastici |date=1663 |publisher=Mascardus |language=la}}</ref> [[Charles I, Duke of Savoy]], eventually interfered to save his territories from further turmoil and promised the Vaudois peace, but not before the offensive had devastated the area and many of the Vaudois had fled to [[Provence]] or south to Italy.

The theologian [[Angelo Carletti di Chivasso]], whom Innocent VIII in 1491 appointed Apostolic Nuncio and Commissary conjointly with the [[Bishop of Mauriana]], was involved in reaching a peaceful agreement between Catholics and Waldensians.<ref name=Donovan>
{{cite encyclopedia |url=http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01484a.htm |encyclopedia=Catholic Encyclopedia |title=Bl. Angelo Carletti di Chivasso
|access-date= 30 April 2016}}</ref>

=== Reformation ===

When the news of the [[Protestant Reformation|Reformation]] reached the Waldensian Valleys, the Tavola Valdese decided to seek fellowship with the nascent Protestantism. At a meeting held in 1526 in Laus, a town in the Chisone valley, it was decided to send envoys to examine the new movement. In 1532, they met with German and Swiss Protestants and ultimately adapted their beliefs to those of the Reformed Church.

The Swiss and French Reformed churches sent [[William Farel]] and [[Anthony Saunier]] to attend the meeting of Chanforan, which convened on 12{{nbsp}}October 1532. Farel invited them to join the Reformation and to emerge from secrecy. A Confession of Faith, with Reformed doctrines, was formulated and the Waldensians decided to worship openly in French.

The French Bible, translated by [[Pierre Robert Olivétan]] with the help of [[John Calvin|Calvin]] and published at [[Neuchâtel]] in 1535, was based in part on a New Testament in the Waldensian vernacular. The churches in Waldensia collected 1500 gold crowns to cover the cost of its publication.<ref>{{cite book |last=Wylie |first=J. A. |year=1888 |title=History of the Waldenses |page=62 |publisher=Dalcassian Publishing Company<!--Book title page says Cassell, Petter, Galpin & Co.: London, Paris, & New York--> |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TA7UDwAAQBAJ}}</ref>

==== Massacre of Mérindol (1545) ====

{{Main|Massacre of Mérindol}}
[[File:Massacre of the Vaudois of Merindol.jpg|thumb|upright=0.8|left|[[Massacre of Mérindol|Massacre of the Mérindol Waldensians]] in 1545]]
Outside the Piedmont, the Waldenses joined the local Protestant churches in Bohemia, France, and Germany. After they came out of seclusion and reports were made of [[sedition]] on their part, French King [[Francis I of France|Francis{{nbsp}}I]] on 1{{nbsp}}January 1545 issued the "Arrêt de Mérindol", and assembled an army against the Waldensians of [[Provence]]. The leaders in the 1545 massacres were [[Jean Maynier d'Oppède]], First President of the [[Parlement of Aix-en-Provence|parliament]] of [[Provence]], and the military commander [[Antoine Escalin des Aimars]], who was returning from the [[Italian Wars]] with 2,000 veterans, the ''Bandes de Piémont''. Deaths in the [[Massacre of Mérindol]] ranged from hundreds to thousands, depending on the estimates, and several villages were devastated.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rvEBMIIcHQkC&pg=PA405|first=R. J.|last=Knecht |year=1984|title=Francis I|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-5212-4344-5|page=405}}</ref>

The treaty of 5 June 1561 granted amnesty to the Protestants of the Valleys, including liberty of conscience and [[freedom of religion|freedom to worship]]. Prisoners were released and fugitives permitted to return home, but despite this treaty, the Vaudois, with the other French Protestants, still suffered during the [[French Wars of Religion]] in 1562–1598.

As early as 1631, Protestant scholars began to regard the Waldensians as early forerunners of the Reformation, in a manner similar to the way the followers of [[John Wycliffe]] and [[Jan Hus]], also persecuted by authorities, were viewed.

Although the Waldensian church was granted some rights and freedoms under French King Henry{{nbsp}}IV, with the [[Edict of Nantes]] in 1598, persecution rose again in the seventeenth{{nbsp}}century, with an extermination of the Waldensians attempted by the Duke of Savoy in 1655. This led to the exodus and dispersion of the Waldensians to other parts of Europe and even to the Western Hemisphere.

==== Piedmont Easter ====
{{main|Piedmontese Easter|Savoyard–Waldensian wars}}
In January 1655, the [[Charles Emmanuel II, Duke of Savoy|Duke of Savoy]] commanded the Waldensians to attend Mass or remove to the upper valleys of their homeland, giving them twenty days in which to sell their lands. Being in the midst of winter, the order was intended to persuade the Vaudois to choose the former; however, the bulk of the populace instead chose the latter, abandoning their homes and lands in the lower valleys and removing to the upper valleys. It was written that these targets of persecution, including 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."<ref name="McCabe1874">{{cite book|author=James Dabney McCabe|title=Cross and crown: or, The sufferings and triumphs of the heroic men and women who were persecuted for the religion of Jesus Christ|url=https://archive.org/details/crosscrownorsuf00mcca|access-date=16 November 2018|year=1874|publisher=National Pub. Co.|page=[https://archive.org/details/crosscrownorsuf00mcca/page/66 66]}}</ref>

By mid-April, when it became clear that the Duke's efforts to force the Vaudois to conform to Catholicism had failed, he tried another approach. Under the guise of false reports of Vaudois uprisings, the Duke sent troops into the upper valleys to quell the local populace. He required that the local populace quarter the troops in their homes, which the local populace complied with. But the quartering order was a ruse to allow the troops easy access to the populace. On 24{{nbsp}}April 1655, at 4{{nbsp}}a.m., the signal was given for a general massacre.

[[File:AnnaCharboniereTortured.jpg|thumb|upright=0.8|Print illustrating the 1655 massacre in La Torre, from [[Samuel Moreland]]'s ''History of the Evangelical Churches of the Valleys of Piedmont'', published in London in 1658]]

The Duke's forces did not simply slaughter the inhabitants. They are reported to have unleashed an unprovoked campaign of looting, rape, torture, and murder. According to one report by a Peter Liegé:

{{blockquote|Little children were torn from the arms of their mothers, clasped by their tiny feet, and their heads dashed against the rocks; or were held between two soldiers and their quivering limbs torn up by main force. Their mangled bodies were then thrown on the highways or fields, to be devoured by beasts. The sick and the aged were burned alive in their dwellings. Some had their hands and arms and legs lopped off, and fire applied to the severed parts to staunch the bleeding and prolong their suffering. Some were flayed alive, some were roasted alive, some disemboweled; or tied to trees in their own orchards, and their hearts cut out. Some were horribly mutilated, and of others the brains were boiled and eaten by these [[Human cannibalism|cannibals]]. Some were fastened down into the furrows of their own fields, and ploughed into the soil as men plough manure into it. Others were buried alive. Fathers were marched to death with the heads of their sons suspended round their necks. Parents were compelled to look on while their children were first outraged [raped], then massacred, before being themselves permitted to die.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9MCVNUFB7GQC&pg=PA132 |title=History of the Waldenses |first=J. A. |last=Wylie |author-link=James Aitken Wylie |page=132 |publisher=Hartland |isbn=9780923309305 |year=1996|orig-year=1860}}{{dead link|date=December 2022}}</ref>}}

This massacre became known as the Piedmont Easter. An estimate of some 1,700 Waldensians were slaughtered; the massacre was so brutal it aroused indignation throughout Europe. Protestant rulers in northern Europe offered sanctuary to the remaining Waldensians. [[Oliver Cromwell]], then ruler in England, began petitioning on behalf of the Waldensians, writing letters, raising contributions, calling a general fast in England and threatening to send military forces to the rescue. The massacre prompted [[John Milton]]'s poem on the Waldenses, "[[On the Late Massacre in Piedmont]]".<ref>{{cite web |title=Milton: Sonnet 18 |publisher=Dartmouth.edu |url=http://www.dartmouth.edu/~milton/reading_room/sonnets/sonnet_18/index.shtml |access-date=26 February 2014 |archive-date=25 July 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080725142232/http://www.dartmouth.edu/%7Emilton/reading_room/sonnets/sonnet_18/index.shtml |url-status=dead }}</ref> Swiss and Dutch Calvinists set up an "underground railroad" to bring many of the survivors north to Switzerland and even as far as the Dutch Republic, where the councillors of the city of Amsterdam chartered three ships to take some 167 Waldensians to their City Colony in the New World (Delaware) on Christmas Day 1656.<ref>Scharf, Thomas J. (1888), ''History of Delaware, 1609–1888'', L. J. Richards & Co., Philadelphia [https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_IGk3AQAAMAAJ Vol. 1] [https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_IGk3AQAAMAAJ Vol. 2]</ref> Those that stayed behind in France and the Piedmont formed a guerilla resistance movement led by a farmer, [[Joshua Janavel]], which lasted into the 1660s.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.regard.eu.org/Livres.11/Janavel/ |title=Janavel |publisher=Regard.eu.org |access-date=26 February 2014}}</ref>

[[File:Chiesa valdese (Trinity church) 2.JPG|thumb|upright=0.8|left|Waldensian Church of Florence, Italy]]

=== Revocation of the Edict of Nantes and the "Glorious Return" ===

In 1685 [[Louis XIV of France|Louis XIV]] revoked the 1598 [[Edict of Nantes]], which had guaranteed freedom of religion to his Protestant subjects in France. French troops sent into the French Waldensian areas of the Chisone and Susa Valleys in the [[Dauphiné]] forced 8,000 Vaudois to convert to Catholicism and another 3,000 to leave for Germany.

In the Piedmont, the cousin of Louis, the newly ascended [[Victor Amadeus II of Sardinia|Duke of Savoy, Victor Amadeus II]], followed his uncle in removing the protection of Protestants in the [[Piedmont]]. In the renewed persecution, and in an echo of the Piedmont Easter Massacre of only three decades earlier, the Duke issued an edict on 31 January 1686 that decreed the destruction of all the Vaudois churches and that all inhabitants of the Valleys should publicly announce their error in religion within fifteen days under penalty of death and banishment. But the Vaudois remained resistant. After the fifteen days, an army of 9,000 French and Piedmontese soldiers invaded the Valleys against the estimated 2,500 Vaudois, but found that every village had organized a defense force that kept the French and Piedmontese soldiers at bay.

On 9 April, the Duke of Savoy issued a new edict, enjoining the Waldensians to put down their arms within eight days and go into exile between 21 and 23{{nbsp}}April. If able, they were free to sell their land and possessions to the highest bidder.

Waldensian pastor [[Henri Arnaud (pastor)|Henri Arnaud]] (1641–1721), who had been driven out of the Piedmont in the earlier purges, returned from Holland. On 18 April he made a stirring appeal before an assembly at Roccapiatta, winning over the majority in favor of armed resistance. When the truce expired on 20{{nbsp}}April, the Waldensians were prepared for battle.

They put up a brave fight over the next six weeks, but by the time the Duke retired to Turin on 8 June, the war seemed decided: 2,000 Waldensians had been killed; another 2,000 had "accepted" the Catholic theology of the Council of Trent. Another 8,000 had been imprisoned, more than half of whom died of deliberately imposed starvation, or of sickness within six months.

But about two or three hundred Vaudois fled to the hills and began carrying out a guerilla war over the next year against the Catholic settlers who arrived to take over the Vaudois lands. These "Invincibles" continued their assaults until the Duke finally relented and agreed to negotiate. The "Invincibles" won the right for the imprisoned Vaudois to be released from prison and to be provided safe passage to Geneva. But the Duke, granting that permission on 3{{nbsp}}January 1687, required that the Vaudois leave immediately or convert to Catholicism. This edict led to some 2,800 Vaudois leaving the Piedmont for Geneva, of whom only 2,490 survived the journey.

Arnaud and others now sought help of the allied European powers. He appealed to [[William III of England|William of Orange]] directly from Geneva, while others, amongst whom was the young [[René de Saunière de l'Hermitage|L'Hermitage]], were sent to England and other lands to canvas for support. Orange and the allies were glad of any excuse to antagonise France, whose territorial encroachments on all fronts were intolerable. The [[League of Augsburg]] was formed in 1686 under Orange, who promised support to Arnaud. In August 1689, in the midst of the wars between the League of Augsburg and France, Arnaud led 1,000 Swiss exiles, armed with modern weaponry provided by the Dutch, back to the Piedmont. Over a third of the force perished during the 130-mile trek. They successfully re-established their presence in the Piedmont and drove out the Catholic settlers, but they continued to be besieged by French and Piedmontese troops.

By 2 May 1689, with only 300 Waldensian troops remaining, and cornered on a high peak called the [[Balsiglia]], by 4,000 French troops with cannons, the final assault was delayed by storm and then by cloud cover. The French commander was so confident of completing his job the next morning that he sent a message to Paris that the Waldensian force had already been destroyed. However, when the French awoke the next morning they discovered that the Waldensians, guided by one of their number familiar with the Balsiglia, had already descended from the peak during the night and were now miles away.

The French pursued, but only a few days later a sudden change of political alliance by the Duke, from France to the League of Augsburg, ended the French pursuit of the Waldensians. The Duke agreed to defend the Waldensians and called for all other Vaudois exiles to return home to help protect the Piedmont borders against the French, in what came to be known as the "Glorious Return".<ref>Stephens, Prescot (1998), ''The Waldensian Story: A Study in Faith, Intolerance and Survival'', Lewes, Sussex: Book Guild, {{ISBN|978-1-8577-6280-8}}</ref>

=== Religious freedom after the French Revolution ===

[[File:Iscrizione tempio valdese 4 novembre Roma.jpg|thumb|left|Waldensian Church entrance in Rome, Italy]]
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 civil rights.

Enjoying religious freedom, the Waldensians began migrating outside their valleys. By the time of [[Italian unification]], the Waldensian had congregations throughout the peninsula, some originated by preaching, others by migration.<ref>Giorgio Spini (1971), ''L'Evangelo e il berretto frigio'' (Storia del movimento evangelico in Italia, Vol.{{nbsp}}I), Claudiana, Turin</ref> However, poverty, societal discrimination, and demographic pressure led the Waldensians to emigrate, first as seasonal workers to the French Riviera and Switzerland, and later to [[Colonia Valdense]] in Uruguay, [[Jacinto Aráuz]] in [[La Pampa Province|La Pampa]], [[Argentina]] and ultimately, to the United States.<ref>Watt, George B. (1941), ''Waldenses in the New World'', Durham, North Carolina: Duke University Press</ref> Those who remained in Italy have experienced upward social mobility. Waldensian companies dominated Turin's chocolate industry for the latter half of the nineteenth century and are generally credited with the invention of [[Gianduja (chocolate)|gianduja]] (hazelnut chocolate).<ref>Bächstädt-Malan Camusso, Christian (2002), "Per Una Storia dell'Industria Dolciaria Torinese: il Caso Caffarel", p.{{nbsp}}63, Doctoral thesis (Economics and Business), Universitá degli Studi di Torino</ref>

Waldensian scholarship also flourished in the nineteenth century. Copies of the [[Occitan language|Romaunt]] version of the [[Gospel of John]] were preserved in Paris and Dublin. The manuscripts were used as the basis of a work by [[William Stephen Gilly]] published in 1848, in which he described the history of the New Testament in use by the Waldensians.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Gilly |first=William Stephen |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NurxD-25FMYC |title=The Romaunt Version of the Gospel According to St. John... with an Introductory History of the Version of the New Testament, Anciently in Use Among the Old Waldenses... |date=1848 |publisher=J. Murray |publication-place=London |language=en}}</ref> The Waldensian College began training ministers in 1855, first in [[Torre Pellice]]. A few years later, the Waldensian College relocated to [[Florence]] and, in 1922, to Rome. Economic and social integration have eased acceptance of ethnic Waldensians into Italian society.{{Citation needed|date=July 2022|reason=Are there any sources for Waldensians being an ethnoreligious group?}} Writers like [[Italo Calvino]] and politicians like [[Domenico Maselli]] and [[Valdo Spini]] are of Waldensian background. The church has also attracted intellectuals as new adherents and supporters and enjoys significant financial support from non-adherent Italians.

In 2015, after a historic visit to a Waldensian Temple in [[Turin]], [[Pope Francis]], in the name of the Catholic Church, asked Waldensian Christians for forgiveness for their persecution. The Pope apologized for the Church's "un-Christian and even inhumane positions and actions".<ref>{{Cite web |date=2015-06-22 |title=Francis asks forgiveness for Waldensian persecutions, killings |url=https://www.ncronline.org/blogs/ncr-today/francis-asks-forgiveness-waldensian-persecutions-killings |access-date=2021-02-14 |website=National Catholic Reporter |language=en}}</ref>

=== Characteristics of the modern Waldensian Church ===

{{Further|Calvinism}}
The present Waldensian Church considers itself to be a Protestant church of the Reformed tradition originally framed by [[Huldrych Zwingli]] and [[John Calvin]].<ref name="CE" /> It recognizes as its doctrinal standard the confession of faith published in 1655 and based on the Reformed confession of 1559. It admits only two ceremonies, baptism and the Lord's Supper.<ref name="CE" /> Supreme authority in the body is exercised by an annual synod, and the affairs of the individual congregations are administered by a [[Consistory (Protestantism)#Reformed usage|consistory]] under the presidency of the pastor.<ref name="CE" />

Over the centuries, Waldensian churches have been established in countries as far away from France as Uruguay and the United States where the active Waldensian congregations continue the purpose of the Waldensian movement. The contemporary and historic Waldensian spiritual heritage describes itself as proclaiming the Gospel, serving the marginalized, promoting social justice, fostering inter-religious work, and advocating respect for religious diversity and freedom of conscience.<ref name="waldensian.org" /> Today, the Waldensian Church is member of the [[World Communion of Reformed Churches]], the [[World Methodist Council]], the [[Federation of Evangelical Churches in Italy]], and the [[World Council of Churches]].

=== Influence ===
The Waldensians were influences to the [[Zwickau prophets|Zwickau Prophets]] who came out in support of believer's baptism.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Brackney |first=William H. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YhUvxfkWW2oC&dq=Taborites+believer%27s+baptism&pg=PA332 |title=Historical Dictionary of Radical Christianity |date=2012-05-03 |publisher=Scarecrow Press |isbn=978-0-8108-7365-0 |language=en}}</ref> The Waldensians also influenced some in the [[Bohemian Reformation|Bohemian reformation]], especially [[Petr Chelčický]].<ref name="David">{{Cite book |last=David |first=Zdeněk V. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QYyyZl9baKQC&dq=Waldensians+Petr+Chel%C4%8Dick%C3%BD&pg=PA24 |title=Finding the Middle Way: The Utraquists' Liberal Challenge to Rome and Luther |date=2003-07-29 |publisher=Woodrow Wilson Center Press |isbn=978-0-8018-7382-9 |language=en}}</ref> Petr Chelčický was influenced by the Waldensians very early in his life, as there existed Waldensian congregations in the area of his birth.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Brock |first=Peter |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HlR9BgAAQBAJ&dq=Waldensians+Petr+Chel%C4%8Dick%C3%BD&pg=PA33 |title=Pacifism in Europe to 1914 |date=2015-03-08 |publisher=Princeton University Press |isbn=978-1-4008-6749-3 |language=en}}</ref>

However, on the other hand, some Hussites rejected Waldensian doctrines, including [[Jacob of Mies|Jacob of Miles]].<ref name="David"/>

== Appraisal by Protestants ==
{{Protestantism}}
[[File:Historical Sketches of the Foreign Missions - The Vaudois taking their oath.jpg|thumb|''The Vaudois taking their oath''. Anonymous illustration published in 1886.]]
Some Protestants have considered the Waldensians to be the oldest Non-Catholic Christian community in Western and Central Europe, and the oldest Protestant denomination.<ref name="Adogame Shankar 2012 p. 208">{{cite book | last1=Adogame | first1=A. | last2=Shankar | first2=S. | title=Religion on the Move!: New Dynamics of Religious Expansion in a Globalizing World | publisher=Brill | series=International Studies in Religion and Society | year=2012 | isbn=978-90-04-24337-8 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uRMzAQAAQBAJ&pg=PA208 | access-date=2023-03-10 | page=208}}</ref><ref name="Prudlo 2016 p. 59">{{cite book |last=Prudlo |first=D. S. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3ClUCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA59 |title=Certain Sainthood: Canonization and the Origins of Papal Infallibility in the Medieval Church |publisher=Cornell University Press |year=2016 |isbn=978-1-5017-0152-8 |page=59 |access-date=2023-03-10}}</ref><ref name="Kim Bush 2012 p. 196">{{cite book |last1=Kim |first1=E. J. F. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Tl5NAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA196 |title=The Rise of the Global South: The Decline of Western Christendom and the Rise of Majority World Christianity |last2=Bush |first2=L. |publisher=Wipf & Stock |year=2012 |isbn=978-1-61097-970-2 |page=196 |access-date=2023-03-10}}</ref> Early Protestants felt a spiritual kinship to the Waldensians and wrote positively about them. [[John Milton]], for example, wrote in his sonnet "[[On the Late Massacre in Piedmont]]" of the 1655 massacre and persecution of the Waldensians.

It was once held that the Waldenses were first taught by [[Paul the Apostle]] who visited Spain and then allegedly traveled on to Piedmont. As the Catholic Church indulged in excesses in the time of [[Constantine the Great|Constantine]] (Roman Emperor from 306 to 337) – the account tells – the Waldenses held true to their apostolic faith of poverty and piety. These claims were discounted in the nineteenth century.<ref>
{{cite encyclopedia | url= http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/15527b.htm | title= Waldenses | last= Weber | first= N. | date= 1912 | encyclopedia=Catholic Encyclopedia | publisher= New Advent | access-date= 28 January 2019 | quote= The first Waldensian congregations, it was maintained, were established by St. Paul who, on his journey to Spain, visited the valleys of Piedmont&nbsp;... In the nineteenth century, however, it became evident to critics that the Waldensian documents had been tampered with.}}</ref>

There were also other claims that the Waldensians predated Peter Waldo's activities in the late twelfth century. In his ''A History of the Vaudois Church'' (1859),<ref>See also: {{cite book |last1=Monastier |first1=Antoine |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6s5yRjnHr14C |title=A History of the Vaudois Church from Its Origin: And of the Vaudois of Piedmont to the Present Day |publisher=Religious Tract Society |year=1847 |edition=translated from the French |location=London |publication-date=1848 |trans-title=Histoire de l'Église vaudoise, depuis son origine et des vaudois du Piémont jusqu'à nos jours |access-date=25 Feb 2019}}
</ref> Antoine Monastier quotes Bernard, abbot of Foncald, who wrote at the end of the twelfth century that the Waldensians arose during the papacy of Lucius.<ref>{{cite book |last= Monastier |first= Antoine |title= A History of the Vaudois Church from Its Origin | publisher= Religious Tract Society |location= London | date= 1859|page= [https://archive.org/details/historyofvaudois00mona/page/58 58] | url= https://archive.org/details/historyofvaudois00mona}}</ref> Monastier takes Bernard to mean [[Pope Lucius II|Lucius II]], in office from 1144 to 1145, and concludes that the Waldenses were active before 1145. Bernard also says that the same Pope Lucius condemned them as heretics, but they were condemned by [[Pope Lucius III]] in 1184.<ref>
{{cite encyclopedia
 | url= http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/15527b.htm
 | title= Waldenses | last= Weber | first= N.
 | date= 1912 | encyclopedia=Catholic Encyclopedia
 | publisher= New Advent
 | access-date= 28 January 2019
 | quote= Pope Lucius III consequently included them among the heretics against whom he issued a Bull of [[excommunication]] at Verona in 1184.
}}
</ref>

Monastier also says that [[Eberhard of Béthune|Eberard de Béthune]], writing in 1210 (although Monastier says 1160), claimed that the name ''Vaudois'' meant "valley dwellers" or those who "dwell in a vale of sorrow and tears", and was in use before the times of Peter Waldo.

Waldensians feature in the theories of [[Baptist successionism]] and [[Landmarkism]] concerning an alleged [[The Trail of Blood|continuous tradition]] of practices and beliefs from [[John the Baptist]] onwards.<ref>
{{cite book
 | last1 = Garrett
 | first1 = James Leo
 | author-link1 = James Leo Garrett Jr.
 | chapter = 6: Baptist Landmarkism
 | title = Baptist Theology: A Four-century Study
 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=epEHq0mTsKgC
 | series = Baptist Series
 | year = 2009
 | edition = reprint
 | location = Macon, Georgia
 | publisher = Mercer University Press
 | publication-date = 2009
 | page = 216
 | isbn = 9780881461299
 | access-date = 25 February 2019
 | quote = George Herbert Orchard (1796–1861), an English Baptist pastor in Bedfordshire ... sought to trace Baptist churches from the time of John the Baptist through such groups as the Montanists, Novationists, Donatists, Paulicians, Patarines, Petrobrusians, Arnoldists, Albigenses, Waldenses, ''Unitas Fratrum'', Lollards, and Anabaptists. Thereby Baptist church successionism was added to the body of Landmark beliefs.}}</ref>

Some historical writers suggest Waldensian beliefs came from missionaries from the early church and that their history may have its origins in the apostolic age,<ref>{{cite book |title=Historical Studies |first=Eugene |last=Lawrence |year=1876 |page=[https://archive.org/details/historicalstudie00lawr/page/199 199] |url=https://archive.org/details/historicalstudie00lawr}}</ref> though this idea itself stems from [[Baptist Successionism]], an idea that was very popular among some nineteenth-century church historians but has been largely rejected by modern scholars in the field. The Roman Inquisitor Reinerus Sacho, writing c.{{nbsp}}1230, held the sect of the Vaudois to be of great antiquity, thus preceding Waldo by centuries. According to some early baptist sources there are also accounts of [[Paulicians]], [[Peter of Bruys|Petrobusians]], and [[Pasaginians]], along with the Waldenses of the Alps, who kept Saturday as the Lord's day.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Benedict |first=David |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=e8I4AAAAMAAJ |title=A General History of the Baptist Denomination in America: And Other Parts of the World |date=1813 |publisher=Lincoln & Edmands, no. 53, Cornhill |pages=413 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Luc : d' Achery |url=http://archive.org/details/bub_gb_TnBuXxxk2HsC |title=Spicilegium sive collectio veterum aliquot scriptorum qui in Galliae bibliothecis delituerant. Olim editum opera ac studio d. Lucae d'Achery, .. |date=1723 |others=National Central Library of Rome |pages=210 |language=Latin}}</ref> Some [[Anabaptist]] and [[Baptists|Baptist]] authors have pointed to the Waldensians as an example of earlier Christians who were not a part of the Catholic Church, and who held beliefs they interpreted to be similar to their own. In the seventeenth to the nineteenth century, Dutch and German [[Mennonite]] writers like [[Thieleman J. van Braght|van Braght]], ''[[Martyrs Mirror]]'' (1660)<ref>{{cite book |author= Theileman van Braght |title= Martyrs Mirror |page= 287 |publisher= Herald Press |location= Scottdale, Pennsylvania |year= 2009}}</ref> and Steven Blaupot ten Cate, ''Geschiedkundig onderzoek'' (1844),<ref>Steven Blaupot ten Cate (1844), [https://books.google.com/books?id=jo5dAAAAcAAJ ''Geschiedkundig onderzoek naar den Waldenzischen oorsprong van de Nederlandsche Doopsgezinden''], Amsterdam: Frederik Muller</ref><ref>{{Internet Archive|geschiedkundigo00categoog|Geschiedkundig onderzoek}}</ref> linked Anabaptist origins to the Waldensians. Baptist authors like John L. Waller also linked their origins to the Waldensians.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Waller |first=John L. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1UM5AQAAMAAJ |title=The Western Baptist Review "Were the Waldenses Baptists or Pedo-Baptists? |date=1847 |publisher=A. G. Hodges and Company, printers. |pages=30–32 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url= http://www.ewtn.com/library/councils/lateran4.htm |title=Lateran 4 – 1215 |publisher=Ewtn.com |access-date=26 February 2014}}</ref><ref>Brian Tierney (1970), ''The Middle Ages'', Volume 1, p. 223: Sources of Medieval History, New York, Alfred Knopf, quoted from S. R. Maitland (1832), ''History of the Albigenses and Waldenses''</ref><ref>G. H. Orchard (1987), ''A Concise History of Baptists'', p. 180, Texarkana: Bogard Press</ref><ref>Thomas Armitage (1988), ''A History of the Baptists'', pp. 302–303, Watertown, Wisconsin: Baptist Heritage Press</ref><ref>{{cite web|author=Greg Wilson |url= http://libcfl.com/articles/walden.htm#3-10 |title= Waldenses Were Independent Baptists |publisher=Landmark Independent Baptist Church |date=1 September 1988 |access-date= 26 February 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://baptistdocuments.tripod.com/waldenses_confessions_of_faith.htm |title=waldenses confessions of faith |publisher= Baptistdocuments.tripod.com |access-date= 26 February 2014}}</ref>{{self-published inline|date=May 2022}} [[James Aitken Wylie]] (1808–1890) likewise believed the Waldensians preserved the [[Apostolic Age|apostolic]] faith and its practices during the [[Middle Ages]].<ref>{{cite book |url=http://www.doctrine.org/history/HPv1b1.htm#CHAPTER%206|first=J. A. |last=Wylie |author-link=James Aitken Wylie |year=1882 |title=The History of Protestantism}}</ref>

Still later, [[Seventh-day Adventist Church|Seventh-day Adventist]] [[Ellen G. White]] taught that the Waldenses were preservers of biblical truth during the [[Great Apostasy]] of the [[Catholic Church]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=White |first=Ellen G. |author-link=Ellen G. White |title= The Great Controversy |date=1870|url= http://www.whiteestate.org/books/gc/gc4.html |chapter=Chapter 4: The Waldenses}}</ref> She claimed the Waldenses kept the [[Sabbath and Seventh-day Adventism|seventh-day Sabbath]],<ref>{{cite book|last1=Dollinger|first1=Johann|title=Beitrage zur Sektengeschichte Des Mittelalters |edition=2nd |url=https://archive.org/details/beitrgezursekt02dl |date=1890 |location=Munich|page=[https://archive.org/details/beitrgezursekt02dl/page/661 661] |language=de}}</ref> engaged in widespread missionary activity, and "planted the seeds of the Reformation" in Europe.<ref>{{Cite book |first=J. N.|last=Andrews|author-link=J. N. Andrews |title= History of the Sabbath |date=1873|url= http://dedication.www3.50megs.com/historyofsabbath/hos_twentyone_b.html#Anathema |chapter= Chapter 21–The Sabbath During the Dark Ages}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |first=J. N.|last=Andrews|author-link=J. N. Andrews |title= History of the Sabbath |date=1873|url= http://dedication.www3.50megs.com/historyofsabbath/hos_twentyfive.html#Keepers |chapter=Chapter 25: Sabbath Keepers During The Reformation Times From The Fifteenth To The Seventeenth Century}}</ref> Despite the claims of that the Waldensians were observant of resting on the Sabbath, Waldensians historians like Emilio Comba, Giorgio Spini, and Gabriel Audisio<ref>Audisio, Gabriel. ''The Waldensian dissent: persecution and survival, c. 1170 – c. 1570''. Cambridge University Press, 1999. pp. 72–77</ref> have stated the confusion is due to either the name of shoes worn by their travelling preachers or of their accusation's of holding [[Witches' Sabbath]], as the inquisitors often charged heretics in general.<ref>The first historian on the Waldensians, Gerolamo Miolo in his {{lang|it|italic=yes|Historia breve et vera de gl'affari de i valdesi delle Valli}} (1587), explicitly stated that "Thus began the appellation of Poors of Lyon, also called Waldensians, Lyonists, ''insabbati'', because they did not observe either the Sabbath nor any feasts." p. 84</ref> Though other Waldenses sources do suggest there were groups who kept the sabbath.<ref name=Damstegt/>

Scholar Michael W. Homer links the belief in an ancient origin of the Waldensians to three seventeenth-century pastors, [[Jean-Paul Perrin]] of the [[Reformed Church of France]] and the Waldensian pastors Pierre Gilles and Jean Léger, who posited that the Waldensians were descendants of [[Early Christianity|Primitive Christianity]].<ref name="seeking primitive christianity">{{cite journal |last= Homer |first= Michael W. |title= Seeking Primitive Christianity in the Waldensian Valleys: Protestants, Mormons, Adventists and Jehovah's Witnesses in Italy |journal= [[Nova Religio]] |date= May 2006 |volume= 9 |issue= 4 |page= 8 |doi= 10.1525/nr.2006.9.4.005 |jstor= 10.1525/nr.2006.9.4.005 |publisher= [[University of California Press]] }}</ref>

Some authors<ref>William Jones (1832), [http://www.landmarkbaptist.org/documents/The_History_of_the_Christian_Church__W_Jones_v2.pdf ''The History of the Christian Church''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131224100848/http://www.landmarkbaptist.org/documents/The_History_of_the_Christian_Church__W_Jones_v2.pdf |date=24 December 2013 }}, The Ages Digital Library</ref><ref>{{citation| url = http://media.sabda.org/alkitab-8/LIBRARY/PER_HOAC.PDF |last=Perrin|first=Jean Paul|title=History of the Ancient Christians |date=1847 |access-date= 26 February 2014}}</ref> try to date a Reformation-era Waldensian confession of faith back into the Middle Ages in 1120 to assert their claim of doctrinal antiquity.<ref>"La 'Confesion de fé' de los Valdenses llamada del ano 1120" (August 1935). ''Boletin de la Sociedad Sudamericana de Historia Valdense'', p.{{nbsp}}58</ref> However, in the current historiography from the Waldensians themselves it is asserted that this confession was drafted in 1531.<ref>"La 'Confesion de fé' de los Valdenses llamada del ano 1120" (August 1935), ''Boletin de la Sociedad Sudamericana de Historia Valdense'', pp.{{nbsp}}57–60</ref><ref>Vinay, Valdo (December 1972), "Mémoires de George Morel : l'importanza del codice valdese c-5-18 (Ms.{{nbsp}}259) del Trinity College di Dublino per la storia dell'adesione dei Valdesi alla Riforma", ''Bollettino della Società di Studi Valdesi – Bulletin de la Société d'Histoire Vaudoise,'' pp.{{nbsp}}93, 132.</ref>

Protestant theology in Germany was interested in the doctrinal antiquity and apostolic continuity being expressed by the Waldensian faith. The high independence of the communities, lay preaching, voluntary poverty, and strict adherence to the Bible and its early translation through Peter Waldo have been credited to prove an ancient origin of Protestantism as the true interpretation of the faith. Mere anti-Catholic sentiments and controversies, for example in the {{lang|de|[[Kulturkampf]]}}, played a role. Heinrich Gottlieb Kreussler's 1830 ''History of the Reformation'' contains a ballade about the fate of the Waldensians and quotes {{ill|Jean Léger|fr|lt=Jean Léger's}} ''History of the Waldenians'' (1750) (authored with [[Siegmund Jakob Baumgarten]], published by [[Johann Jacob Korn]]) as proof of an early origin of the Waldensians.<ref>Jean Léger, Siegmund Jacob Baumgartens, Johann Jacob Korn (1750), [https://books.google.com/books?id=i-M-AAAAcAAJ ''Algemeine Geschichte der Waldenser oder der evangelischen Kirchen in den Thälern von Piemont'']</ref><ref>Heinrich Gottlieb Kreussler (1830), [https://books.google.com/books?id=XvcrAAAAYAAJ ''Rückblicke auf die Geschichte der Reformation, oder, Luther in Leben und That: zur Erinnerung an die dreihundertjährige Augsburgische Confessions'']</ref><ref>similar in: F. Bender (1850) ''Geschichte der Waldenser'' [History is the Waldensians]</ref> The strong German Protestant support for the Waldensian diaspora community in Italy—leading staff of the [[Gustavus Adolphus Union]] (GAW) praised them as one of the most interesting churches of all<ref name=waldi/>—was not confined to a theological fascination. It led to extensive financial support, loans, exchange of priesters and communities, aid missions and political interventions for the Italian Waldensians and their charitable efforts, starting from the seventeenth century.<ref name=waldi>Barbro Lovisa (1994), ''Italienische Waldenser und das protestantische Deutschland 1655 bis 1989'' [Italian Waldensianism and protestant Germany 1655 to 1989], Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen {{ISBN|978-3-5255-6539-1}}</ref><ref>Paul R. Tarmann (2010) ''Der Armutsbegriff der Waldenser: eine sozialphilosophische Annäherung'', Frankfurt am Main: Lang {{ISBN|978-3-6316-0203-4}}</ref> After World War{{nbsp}}II, the [[Evangelical Church in Germany]] actively contributed to reconciliation efforts with Italy and France based on its relationship with the Waldensian community.<ref name=waldi/> The GAW has ongoing links with the Waldensians in Italy.

==Waldensians by region==

=== Italy ===
[[File:0660 - Milano - Facciata chiesa valdese - Foto Giovanni Dall'Orto 5-May-2007.jpg|thumb|upright=0.8|right|The Waldensian Church in Milan, built in 1949, incorporates materials from the demolished gothic church of [[San Giovanni in Conca]].]]
In 1848, after many centuries of harsh persecution, the Waldensians acquired legal freedom in the [[Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia]] as a result of the liberalising reforms which followed [[Charles Albert of Sardinia]]'s granting a constitution (the [[Statuto Albertino]]). Subsequently, the [[Waldensian Evangelical Church]], as it became known, developed and spread through the Italian peninsula.

The Waldensian church was able to gain converts by building schools in some of the poorer regions of Italy, including Sicily. There is still a Waldensian church in the town of [[Grotte, Agrigento|Grotte]], at the southwest of the island.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.grotte.info/ag/chiesavaldese.htm |title=Chiesa Evangelica Pentecostale 'L'Eterno Nostra Giustizia' |publisher=Grotte.info |date=26 December 2012 |access-date=26 February 2014}}</ref> German Protestants have been supportive of the Waldensians in Italy since the seventeenth century.

During the [[Nazi]] occupation of North Italy in the [[Second World War]], Italian Waldensians were active in saving [[Jews]] faced with imminent extermination, hiding many of them in the same mountain valley where their own Waldensian ancestors had found refuge in earlier generations.<ref>Scotland, Nigel (2012). ''Christianity Outside the Box: Learning from Those Who Rocked the Boat''. Wipf & Stock Publishers. p. 72.</ref><ref>Whittaker, Andrew (2010). ''Italy: Be Fluent in Italian Life and Culture''. Thorogood Publishing. p. 280.</ref>

After 1945, the [[Evangelical Church in Germany]] led by [[Theophil Wurm]] (who was also Bishop of Württemberg) issued the [[Stuttgart Declaration of Guilt]] and actively contributed to reconciliation efforts with Italy (and France) based on relationships with the diaspora. The 1948 centenary festivities of the Savoy civil rights declaration were used for efforts of EKD leading staff to support German Italian reconciliation after World War II.<ref name=waldi/> A most fruitful cooperation was established at the community level, with Waldensian delegates from both sides pioneering.<ref name=waldi/> 1949, Guglielmo Del Pesco (1889–1951), moderator of the Tavola Valdese (Waldensian round table), was invited back to [[Maulbronn]], celebrating the 250th anniversary of the Waldensian emigration to Germany.<ref name=waldi/> He was unable to come for reasons of health but sent A. Jalla, a teacher, described as being full of spite and hatred against all things German after 1945, but who joined in the effort for reconciliation 1949.<ref name=waldi/> Based on these experiences, the first town-twinning partnership between Germany and France was signed 1950 between [[Ludwigsburg]] and the Protestant exclave [[Montbéliard]], again based on a special connection of the Württemberg Landeskirche. The German [[Gustavus Adolphus Union]] is supportive of Waldesian projects and charitable efforts in Italy till the present.<ref>[[Gustavus Adolphus Union]] website [http://glauben-verbindet.blogspot.de/2013/01/gemeinsame-projektforderung-der.html Common projects (in German)] [http://glauben-verbindet.blogspot.de/search/label/Waldenser GAW Waldenser entries]</ref>

In 1975, the Waldensian Church joined the [[Methodist Evangelical Church in Italy]] to form the [[Union of Waldensian and Methodist Churches]]. It has 50,000 members (45,000 Waldensians, of whom 30,000 in Italy and some 15,000 divided between Argentina and Uruguay, and 5,000 Methodists).

The [[eight per thousand]] tax ({{langx|it|otto per mille}}) introduced 1985 in Italy greatly helped the Waldensian community. The eight per thousand law allows taxpayers to choose to whom they devolve a compulsory 8{{nbsp}}‰ = 0.8% ('eight per thousand') from their annual income tax return. They may choose an organised religion recognised by Italy or a social assistance scheme run by the Italian State. While the Waldensians have only about 25,000 enlisted members, more than 600,000 Italians are willing to support the Waldensian community and its charitable works.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.ottopermillevaldese.org/firme_italiani.php|title=otto per mille della dichiarazione irpef alla chiesa valdese|last=Valdese|first=OPM-Tavola|website=www.ottopermillevaldese.org|access-date=2016-03-15|archive-date=12 January 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190112202451/http://www.ottopermillevaldese.org/firme_italiani.php|url-status=dead}}</ref> The [[ordination of women]] and, since 2010, the [[Blessing of same-sex unions in Christian churches|blessing of same-sex unions]]<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.pcusa.org/news/2010/9/7/italian-protestants-approve-same-sex-blessings/ |title=Italian Protestants approve same-sex blessings |date=2010-09-07 |website=Presbyterian Church (U.S.A) |access-date=2016-05-26 |archive-date=5 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230105143250/https://www.pcusa.org/news/2010/9/7/italian-protestants-approve-same-sex-blessings/ |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ilfattoquotidiano.it/2010/08/27/i-valdesi-riconoscono-le-coppie-gay-primo-si-in-italia/53688/|title=Coppie gay, storica apertura della Chiesa valdese. Ma si aspetta ancora una legge|author=Gaetano Pecoraro|work=Il Fatto Quotidiano|date=27 August 2010|language=it |access-date=30 April 2016}}</ref> are allowed.

===South America===
[[File:Festejos en Colonia Valdense.jpg|thumb|Festivities celebrating the 150th anniversary of Italian immigration to [[Colonia Valdense]], [[Uruguay]].]]
The first Waldensian settlers from Italy arrived in South America in 1856. From that date there have been several migrations, especially to Argentina, such as the town of [[Jacinto Aráuz]] in the southern part of the province of La{{nbsp}}Pampa, where they arrived around 1901. {{as of|2016}} the Waldensian Church of the [[Río de La Plata]] (which forms a united church with the Waldensian Evangelical Church) has approximately 40 congregations and 15,000 members shared between [[Uruguay]] and [[Argentina]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.waldensian.org/5-southamerica/ |title=South America |publisher=American Waldensian Society |year=2016 |access-date=6 July 2016}}</ref>

The Uruguayan town of Colonia Valdense, in the [[Colonia Department|department of Colonia]], is the administrative center of the Waldensian Evangelical Church of the River Plate. In 1969, the Church established a mission in Barrio Nuevo, which became a soup kitchen for Saturdays and Sundays, for 500 poor families. Missionary activity has led to the conversion of new people without Waldensian ancestry, who are called "new Waldensian".<ref>Geymonat, Roger. ''El templo y la escuela: los valdenses en el Uruguay.'' Cal y Canto, 1994.</ref>

From Uruguay or directly from Italy, some Waldensian families also found a home in Brazil. There, they ended up joining the local Protestant churches.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2017-02-17 |title=Valdenses no Brasil |url=https://ensaiosenotas.com/2017/02/17/valdenses-no-brasil/ |access-date=2023-05-20 |website=Ensaios e Notas |language=pt-BR}}</ref>

===United States===
[[File:Waldensian Presbyterian Church.jpg|thumb|The [[Waldensian Presbyterian Church]] in the town of [[Valdese, North Carolina]]. This congregation belongs to the [[Presbyterian Church (USA)]].]]
Since colonial times there have been Waldensians who sailed to America, as marked by the presence of them in [[New Jersey]] and [[Delaware]]. Many Waldensians, having escaped persecution in their homelands by making their way to the tolerant Dutch Republic, crossed the Atlantic to start anew in the [[New Netherland]] colony, establishing the first church in North America on [[Staten Island]] in 1670.<ref>Morris, Ira. ''Morris's Memorial History of Staten Island, New York'', Volume 1. 1898, page 40</ref>

In the late nineteenth century many Italians, among them Waldensians, emigrated to the United States. They founded communities in New York City; Boston; [[Chicago, Illinois|Chicago]]; [[Monett, Missouri]]; [[Galveston, Texas]]; [[Rochester, New York]]; [[Hunter, Utah]]; and [[Ogden, Utah]].<ref name="Brigham Young University">{{citation |url= http://globalmormonism.byu.edu/?page_id=59 |title= Regions: Europe: Countries: Italy |work= Global Mormonism Project |publisher= Brigham Young University |access-date= 22 December 2011 |archive-date= 2 January 2009 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20090102224525/http://globalmormonism.byu.edu/?page_id=59 |url-status= dead }}</ref> The [[Waldensian Church and Cemetery of Stone Prairie|Monett congregation]] was among the first to be established in the United States, in 1875, by some 40 settlers who had formed the original South American settlement in [[Uruguay]] in the 1850s. With the outbreak of the [[Uruguayan Civil War]] they had fled violence in the Uruguayan countryside, traveling first back to Europe then across the Northern Atlantic to New York and by train to southern Missouri. Waldensians living in the Cottian Alps region of Northern Italy continued to migrate to Monett until the early 1900s, augmenting the original colony, and founded another, larger settlement in [[Valdese, North Carolina]], in 1893. The first Waldenses settled in North Carolina in 1893.<ref name="this-day">{{cite web |title=Waldenses Settle in Burke County |url=https://www.ncdcr.gov/blog/2013/05/29/waldenses-settle-in-burke-county |website=This Day in North Carolina History |date=29 May 2016 |publisher=N.C. Department of Natural & Cultural Resources |access-date=29 May 2019}}</ref> Both the Monett and Valdese congregations use the name [[Waldensian Presbyterian Church]].

In 1853 a group of approximately 70 Waldensians, including men, women, and children, left their homes in the Piedmont Valleys and migrated to Pleasant Green, Hunter, and Ogden, [[Utah]], after being converted to Mormonism by [[Lorenzo Snow]]. These Waldensians maintained their cultural heritage, while passing on their mixture of Mormon and Waldensian faiths to their descendants. Their descendants still consider themselves both Mormon and Waldensian, and have met occasionally over the many decades to celebrate both heritages.<ref name="Mormon Historic Sites Foundation">{{citation |first= Michael W. |last= Homer |date= Fall 2000 |title= 'Like the Rose in the Wilderness': The Mormon Mission in the Kingdom of Sardinia |journal= [[Mormon Historical Studies]] |volume= 1 |issue= 2 |pages= 25–62 |url= http://mormonhistoricsites.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/mhs1.2HomerFall2000.pdf |publisher= [[Mormon Historic Sites Foundation]] }}</ref><ref name="Maxwell Institute For Religious Scholarship BYU">{{citation |first= Michael W. |last= Homer |year= 2002 |title= Il Libro di Mormon: Anticipating Growth beyond Italy's Waldensian Valleys |url= http://maxwellinstitute.byu.edu/publications/jbms/?vol=11&num=1&id=287 |journal= [[Journal of Book of Mormon Studies]] |volume= 11 |issue= 1 |pages= 40–44 |publisher= Maxwell Institute For Religious Scholarship, [[Brigham Young University]] |jstor= 10.5406/jbookmormstud.11.1.0040 |s2cid= 193621954 |access-date= 22 December 2011 |archive-date= 1 July 2013 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20130701170721/http://maxwellinstitute.byu.edu/publications/jbms/?vol=11&num=1&id=287 |url-status= dead }}</ref><ref name="Harold B. Lee Library Digital Collections BYU">{{cite thesis |first= Diane |last= Stoke |year= 1985 |title= The Mormon Waldensians |url= http://files.lib.byu.edu/mormonmigration/articles/MormonWaldensians.PDF |type= [[Master of Arts|MA]] |publisher= Department of History, [[Brigham Young University]]; [[Harold B. Lee Library]] Digital Collections }}</ref><ref name="Christianity Today Library">{{citation |first= Giuseppe |last= Platene |date= 1 April 1989 |title= To A Home in the Land of the Free |url= http://www.ctlibrary.com/ch/1989/issue22/2232.html |journal= [[Christianity Today]] |access-date= 22 December 2011 |archive-date= 21 October 2013 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20131021173842/http://www.ctlibrary.com/ch/1989/issue22/2232.html |url-status= dead }}</ref>

In 1906, through the initiative of church forces in New York City, Waldensian interest groups were invited to coalesce into a new entity, The American Waldensian Aid Society (AWS), organized "to collect funds and apply the same to the aid of the Waldensian Church in Italy and elsewhere ... and to arouse and maintain interest throughout the US in the work of said Church." Today, this organization continues as the American Waldensian Society. The American Waldensian Society recently marked its Centennial with a conference and celebrations in New York City.

By the 1920s most of the Waldensian churches and missions merged into the [[Presbyterian Church (USA)|Presbyterian Church]] due to the cultural assimilation of the second and third generations.

The work of the American Waldensian Society continues in the United States today. The American Waldensian Society aims to foster dialogue and partnership among Waldensian Churches in Italy and South America and Christian churches within North America in order to promote a compelling vision of Waldensian Christian witness for North America. Thus, the American Waldensian Society makes public the contemporary and historic heritage to which Waldensian spirituality is committed: Tell the Story; Encourage "Crossings"; and Provide Financial Support.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.waldensian.org/2-whoweare/ |title=Who We Are |publisher=Waldensian.org |access-date=26 February 2014}}</ref>

The best known Waldensian Churches in America were in New York, Monett, Missouri and in Valdese, North Carolina. The church in New York City was disbanded by the mid-1990s.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/medny/halsall6.html |title=Medieval New York: Waldensians in New York City |publisher=Fordham University |date=3 May 1998 |access-date=26 February 2014}}</ref>

The American Waldensian Society assists churches, organizations and families in the promotion of Waldensian history and culture. The society allies with those who work to preserve their millennial heritage among their descendants. For example, since 1968, the Old Colony Players in [[Valdese, North Carolina]], have staged ''[[From This Day Forward (play)|From This Day Forward]]'', an outdoor drama telling the story of the Waldenses and the founding of Valdese.<ref name="this-day" /><ref>{{Cite news |date=1973-06-03 |title=Outdoor Drama At Valdese Has Long Run |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/622035661/?match=1&terms=%22from%20this%20day%20forward%22%20valdese |work=[[Charlotte Observer]] |page=17E}}</ref>

The Waldensian Presbyterian churches in the United States and the American Waldensian Society have links with the Italian-based [[Waldensian Evangelical Church]], but, unlike the South American Waldensian communities, today they are independent institutions from the European organization.

=== Germany ===
[[file:Wappen Neuhengstett.png|thumb|upright=0.8|left|Coat of arms of Le Bourcet (part of [[Althengstett]]) in Württemberg]]
[[File:Arnaud Brunnen.JPG|thumb|upright=0.8|Arnaud's fountain in [[Rutesheim|Perouse]] (Württemberg)]]

Several thousand Waldenses fled from Italy and France to Germany. [[Henri Arnaud (pastor)|Henri Arnaud]] (1641–1721), pastor and leader of the Piedmont Waldensians, rescued his co-religionists from their dispersion under the persecution of [[Victor Amadeus II of Sardinia|Victor Amadeus II]] the [[House of Savoy|Duke of Savoy]]. [[Eberhard Louis, Duke of Württemberg]] invited the Waldensians to his territory. When the Waldensians were exiled a second time, Arnaud accompanied them in their exile to [[Ötisheim|Schönenberg]], and continued to act as their pastor until his death.

Those who remained in Germany were soon assimilated by the State Churches (Lutheran and Reformed) and they are a part of various [[Landeskirche]]n in the [[Evangelical Church in Germany]]. The new settlers were free in their religious services, and kept holding them in French till the nineteenth century. The Waldensian community is often overlooked, as the [[Huguenots]] were larger in number. Henri Arnaud's home in Schönenberg close to [[Ötisheim]] is a Museum today. A memorial plate refers to the introduction of potatoes in Württemberg by the Waldensians.

[[File:Waldenserstein Neuhengstett.JPG|thumb|The Waldensian stone was erected north of Le Bourcet (now part of [[Althengstett]]) to commemorate the original settler families.]]
Main parts of the Waldensian refugees found a new home in [[Darmstadt|Hessen-Darmstadt]], [[Kassel]], [[Homburg, Saarland|Homburg]], [[Nassau-Dillenburg]] and in the then Grand Duchée [[Württemberg]]. The founded new communities in Rohrbach, Wembach und Hahn (today part of [[Ober-Ramstadt]]), Walldorf (today [[Mörfelden-Walldorf]]), [[Bad Homburg]]-Dornholzhausen, Gottstreu and Gewissenruh ([[Oberweser]]), [[Charlottenberg, Germany|Charlottenberg]]. Still today, French family names (Gille, Roux, Granget, Conle, Gillardon, Common, Jourdan, Piston, Richardon, Servay, Conte, Baral, Gay, Orcellet or Salen) show the [[Savoy]]ard background. Stuttgart hosts as well an Italian Waldensian community with about 100 members.

Municipality names like Pinache, Serres (both now part of [[Wiernsheim]]), Großvillars (part of [[Oberderdingen]]), [[Kleinvillars]], [[Rutesheim|Perouse]] show the French heritage, the latter communities are close to [[Maulbronn]] and its UNESCO world heritage site monastery and school. Maulbronn was the place of the festivities for the 250th anniversary of the Waldensian emigration to Germany,<ref name=waldi/> which played as well an important role in German Italian reconciliation after World War{{nbsp}}II.<ref name=waldi/> 
 
The Waldensian community is active and has various associations maintaining the specific heritage and keep relationships with their counterparts in Italy and South America.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Deutsche Waldenservereinigung |url=https://www.waldenser.de/ |access-date=2023-05-20 |website=www.waldenser.de |language=de-DE}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.waldenserorte.palmbach.org/|title=Deutsche Waldenserorte|access-date=30 April 2016|archive-date=1 June 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170601105026/http://www.waldenserorte.palmbach.org/|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.waldenserort-nordhausen.de/|title=Waldenserort Nordhausen|author=Weidenmann|access-date=30 April 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.waldenserkirche.de/|title=Waldenserkirche|work=Evangelische Waldenser-Kirchengemeinde|access-date=30 April 2016}}</ref> That includes as well a close watch on the ecumene, with the Waldensian-influenced theologians being more doubtful about a stronger cooperation with the Catholic Church than others.

==See also==
*[[Peter Waldo]]
*[[Louis du Bussy]]
*[[Arnoldists]]
*Czech reformers [[Petr Chelčický]], [[Jan Hus]], [[Jerome of Prague]] and [[Hussitism]]
*[[Durand of Huesca]] (later re-converted to Catholicism), early Spanish follower of [[Peter Waldo]] 
*[[Frederick Henry Snow Pendleton]], Anglican protector who worked with the Waldensians in South America
*[[Henri Arnaud (pastor)|Henri Arnaud]], a Waldensian writer, pastor, and soldier
*[[List of Italian religious minority politicians]]
*[[Lollards]]
*[[Proto-Protestantism]]
*[[Restorationism]]
*[[Waldensian Evangelical Church]]
*[[John Charles Beckwith (British Army officer)|John Charles Beckwith]]
*[[Luserna San Giovanni]] 
*[[Val Pellice]]
*[[Occitan Valleys|Waldensian valleys]]

==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}

==Further reading==
* Arnold, Eberhard (1984) ''The Early Anabaptists'', Plough Publishing House {{ISBN|978-0-87486-192-1}}
* Audisio, Gabriel (2007), ''Preachers by Night The Waldensian Barbes (15th–16th Centuries)'', {{ISBN|978-90-04-15454-4}}
* Audisio, Gabriel (1999) ''The Waldensian Dissent: Persecution and Survival, c.1170–c.1570'', Cambridge Medieval Textbooks. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, {{ISBN|0-521-55984-7}}
* Bellito, Christopher M., (Ed.), ''A Companion to the Waldenses in the Middle Ages'' {{ISBN|9789004420410}}
* Bost, Ami (1848) ''History of the Bohemian and Moravian Brethren'', pp.&nbsp;4–5, Religious Tract Society of London
* Cameron, Euan (2001) ''The Waldenses: Rejections of Holy Church in Medieval Europe'' {{ISBN|0-631-22497-1}}, {{ISBN|978-0-631-22497-6}}
* Comba, Emilio (1978) ''History of the Waldenses of Italy, from their origin to the Reformation'' {{ISBN|0-404-16119-7}}
* {{citation |first= William |last= Jones |year= 1816 |title= The History of the Waldenses: Connected with a Sketch of the Christian Church from the Birth of Christ to the Eighteenth Century |edition= Vol. 2, 2nd |url= https://archive.org/details/historywaldense04jonegoog |place= London |publisher= Gale and Fenner }}
* [[Alexis Muston|Muston, Alexis]] (1978) ''The Israel of the Alps : a complete history of the Waldenses and their colonies : prepared in great part from unpublished documents'' {{ISBN|0-404-16140-5}}
*Sossi, Andrea (2010), ''Medioevo Valdese 1173–1315. Povertà, Eucarestia e Predicazione: Tra identità minoritaria e rappresentazione cifrata del rapporto tra l'uomo e l'Assoluto'', UNI Service Editrice, Trento.
* [[w:James Aitken Wylie|Wylie, James Aitken]] (c.1860) ''History of the Waldenses'' {{ISBN|1-57258-185-9}} [http://www.reformedreader.org/history/wylie/toc.htm online ebook] ([https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/74084 Gutenberg])

==External links==
{{EB1911 poster|Waldenses|Waldensians}}
{{Commons category |Waldensians}}
* {{icon|wikisource}} [[s:Ecclesiastical History of the Ancient Churches of Piedmont|Ecclesiastical History of the Ancient Churches of Piedmont]]
* {{icon|wikisource}} [[s:An Inquiry into the History and Theology of the Ancient Vallenses and Albigenses|An Inquiry into the History and Theology of the Ancient Vallenses and Albigenses]]
* {{icon|wikisource}} [[s:The Waldensian Church in the valleys of Piedmont|The Waldensian Church in the valleys of Piedmont]]
* [http://www.waldensian.org/ American Waldensian Society], North America
* [http://www.gameo.org/encyclopedia/contents/W311.html Waldenses] at [[Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online]]
* [http://www.xenos.org/essays/waldo1.htm The Waldensian Movement From Waldo to the Reformation]

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