Protestantism in the Waldensian Valleys - James Aitken Wylie

The exemption from persecution, which the
Waldenses enjoyed during this period, was not
absolute, but comparative. The lukewarm are
seldom molested; and the quickened zeal of the
Vaudois brought with it a revival of the
persecutor's malignity, though it did not find vent
in violences so dreadful as the tempests that had
lately smitten them. Only two years after the
synod–that is, in 1534–wholesale destruction fell
upon the Vaudois Churches of Provence; but the
sad story of their extinction will more appropriately
be told elsewhere. In the valleys of Piedmont
events were from time to time occurring that
showed that the inquisitor's vengeance had been
scotched, not killed. While the Vaudois as a race
were prosperous, their churches mutliplying, and
their faith extending it geographical area from one
area to another, individual Vaudois were being at
times seized, and put to death, at the stake, on the
rack, or by the cord.
Three years after, the persecution broke out
anew, and raged for a short time. Charles III. of
Savoy, a prince of mild manners, but under the rule
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