Protestantism in the Waldensian Valleys - James Aitken Wylie

marchioness, or fear of losing their errand and
ruining their affairs, would often induce such to
comply."
While busied in the prosecution of these
schemes the Marchioness di Pianeza was stricken
with death. Feeling remorse, and wishing to make
atonement, she summoned her lord, from whom
she had been parted many years, to her bedside,
and charged him, as he valued the repose of her
soul and the safety of his own, to continue the good
work, on which her heart had been so much set, of
converting the Vaudois. To stimulate his zeal, she
bequeathed him a sum of money, which, however,
he could not touch till he had fulfilled the condition
on which it was granted. The marquis undertook
the task with the utmost goodwill.[4] A bigot and a
soldier, he could think of only one way of
converting the Vaudois. It was now that the storm
burst.
On the 25th of January, 1655, came the famous
order of Gastaldo. This decree commanded all the
Vaudois families domiciled in the communes of
192