Foxe - The Book of Martyrs

Foxe’s Book of Martyrs
take that idol from my sight, you will constrain me to spit upon it." The priest rebuked him
for this with great severity; but he bade him remember the First and Second Commandments,
and refrain from idolatry, as God himself had commanded. He was then gagged, that he
should not speak any more, and fire being put to the fagots, he suffered martyrdom in the
flames.
An Account of the Persecutions in the Marquisate of Saluces
The Marquisate of Saluces, on the south side of the valleys of Piedmont, was in A.D.
1561, principally inhabited by Protestants, when the marquis, who was proprietor of it, began
a persecution against them at the instigation of the pope. He began by banishing the
ministers, and if any of them refused to leave their flocks, they were sure to be imprisoned,
and severely tortured; however, he did not proceed so far as to put any to death.
Soon after the marquisate fell into the possession of the duke of Savoy, who sent circular
letters to all the towns and villages, that he expected the people should all conform to go to
Mass. The inhabitants of Saluces, upon receiving this letter, returned a general epistle, in
answer.
The duke, after reading the letter, did not interrupt the Protestants for some time; but, at
length, he sent them word that they must either conform to the Mass, or leave his dominions
in fifteen days. The Protestants, upon this unexpected edict, sent a deputy to the duke to
obtain its revocation, or at least to have it moderated. But their remonstrances were in vain,
and they were given to understand that the edict was absolute.
Some were weak anough to go to Mass, in order to avoid banishment, and preserve their
property; others removed, with all their effects, to different countries; and many neglected
the time so long that they were obliged to abandon all they were worth, and leave the
marquisate in haste. Those, who unhappily stayed bheind, were seized, plundered, and put
to death.
An Account of the Persecutions in the Valleys of Piedmont, in the 17 th Century
Pope Clement the Eighth, sent missionaries into the valleys of Piedmont, to induce the
Protestants to renounce their religion; and these missionaries having erected monasteries in
several parts of the valleys, became exceedingly troublesome to those of the reformed, where
the monasteries appeared, not only as fortresses to curb, but as sanctuaries for all such to fly
to, as had any ways injured them.
The Protestants petitioned the duke of Savoy against these missionaries, whose
insolence and ill-usage were become intolerable; but instead of getting any redress, the
interest of the missionaries so far prevailed, that the duke published a decree, in which he
declared, that one witness should be sufficient in a court of law against a Protestant, and that
any witness, who convicted a Protestant of any crime whatever, should be entitled to one
hundred crowns.
It may be easily imagined, upon the publication of a decree of this nature, that many
Protestants fell martyrs to perjury and avarice; for several villainous papists would swear
97