FRENCH VAUDOIS.

7

the mountain range towards Mont Cenis, which separates Piedmont from France. Though these lofty mountains offer the natural boundary to that part of France and Italy, they were not regarded as such till a late period. The territory on both sides was frequently under the dominion of the same temporal power; and the dioceses of Embrun and Turin were sometimes ruled by the same Bishop; and though, as we see from Bingham's Origines Ecclesiasticæ,* the Cottian Alps, (the name by which this range was formerly known) belonged to the Italic diocese, yet the jurisdiction of the Bishop of Embrun extended at times over the Italian frontier.

Thus, intimately connected together, it is natural that we should find the valleys on either side of these mountains occupied by a people, who professed the same religious sentiments, and who alike resisted unto death the encroachments made by the See of Rome upon their religious liberty. The Waldenses on the western side were the first to experience the tender mercies of the Popes; and after many crusades of extermination, their voice ceased to be heard; yet the seed of Evangelical truth, though too small to attract notice, still existed in the mountain village of Dormilleuse, and has been extensively increased under the pious labours of *Book ix. chap. i. sec. 6.

Felix Neff. On the east of these Alps the arm of the Almighty has evidently been raised in defence of His Church, and its enemies have not been permitted to prevail against it.

The confusion of the names Valdenses, or inhabitants of the valleys, and Waldenses, the term by which the followers of Peter Waldo, of Lyons, were particularly known, appears to have been purposely maintained by some Romish writers of the middle ages, with the object of giving to the Valdenses and these Waldenses, one common origin; and thereby concealing the far higher antiquity of the men of the valleys. The first trace of the name Vaudois is found in the poem, which will be spoken of hereafter, entitled "La Nobla Leyçon," in which the people are called "Vaudès." They were early distinguished by the name of Vaudois or Valdenses, as descriptive of their locality; and, at the present day, are known equally by the appellation of Vaudois, Waldenses, and Valdenses; and these terms will be applied indiscriminately in the present treatise. This nomenclature did not spring from themselves, but was probably first bestowed on them as a term of reproach, and implying contempt. We find, in a letter which they addressed to Uladislaus, king of Bohemia, they style themselves "the little, flock of Christians, falsely called Vaudois."

A great deal has been written respecting the

ETYMOLOGY OF VAUDOIS.

9

etymology of the word Vaudois, but the following derivation appears natural and easy :

then Waldenses, by a change, not uncommon at that period, of V into W, or, as the French say, double V.

The Waldenses of Lyons, disciples of Peter Waldo, were, like the primitive Church, early dispersed abroad by persecution, and thereby scattered the seed of a pure faith through many countries in western Europe, and often watered it with their blood. During this persecution, also, when they, with their founder, were driven from Lyons, it is probable that many of them joined themselves to the men of the valleys, to whom they brought a rich treasure in the translation of the Scriptures into French, which was executed under the direction of Peter Waldo, by Stephen de Ansa and two other eminent scholars;

* The following extract from a statute of Pignerol, dated A. D. 1220, shows the Latin translation of Vaudès :-" Si quis hospitaretur aliquem vel aliquam Valdensem vel Valdensum se sciente in posse Pinerolii," (in the district of Pignerol).— Gilly's Valdenses; p. 3.

and is the first translation into a vernacular language since the Latin has generally ceased to be such. But it was from the ancient Vaudois that Waldo had probably received his first impressions of the religious abuses around him, and light to guide him to the truth, which he afterwards so boldly and successfully upheld and diffused abroad.

Mr. Elliott, in his valuable Horæ Apocalypticæ, says, that "it was from residence in some place, or among some people of Valdensian name, that he derived his appellation of Valdes, and probably more or less his religious views."* He may have resided in one of the valleys of Dauphiny, where, from the letter addressed to Pope Lucius II, in 1144, we find that such doctrines, as Waldo afterwards taught, were openly received; † and thus have obtained his religious views and his sirname from one and the same place; being known as Peter of the valley,Petrus de Valle, or Vallensis; which the provincial dialect, as we have endeavoured to show, would change into Petrus Waldensis, or Waldo. ‡ The present Vaudois occupy a country situ

+ Gilly's Memoir of Felix Neff; p. 95.

In the Latin documents, it is written simply "Waldo," like "Otho," and other names of the same termination.-Elliott.

An ingenious suggestion is offered by Mr. Elliott, (Hora Apoc. pt. iii. ch. vii. sec. 6, 2nd Edit.) that Waldo might have resided in the valley of the Drone, in Dauphiny, which, from

ANCIENT AND MODERN VAUDOIS LIMITS. 11

ated on the eastern or Italian side of the chain of mountains, between Mont Genèvre to the north, and Mont Viso to the south. Their western limits form the frontier between France and Piedmont; and from this lofty ridge several streams descend, which, after fertilizing the Waldensian valleys, unite, just below their boundary, with the Pelice, which shortly after falls into the Po. The Vaudois country was formerly of much greater extent, dipping, as before stated, over the western side of the Alps, and extending into France from Briançon as far as Embrun on the Durance. The limits embraced also on this side, the valley of Queiras and the valley of Frassiniere, and the Waldensian opinions influenced, at times, nearly the whole of Dauphiny. On the Italian side it comprehended the sources of the Po, and extended to the valley of Maira. Relentless persecution has long since driven them from these extended limits, and confined them within the narrow districts of the three valleys of Lucerna, Perosa, and San Martino, with their small diverging fibres. Morland has thus quaintly, though feelingly, described the general character of the valleys:-"These valleys," says he, "especially that of Angrogna, Pramol, and St. Martin, are by nature strongly fortified, by reason of their

its chief town Die, might have been called the Vale of the Die, and a resident there Valdiensis, Valdensis, or Valdius.