Foxe - The Book of Martyrs

Foxe’s Book of Martyrs
desired the executioner to give him a stone; which he refused, thinking that he meant to
throw it at somebody; but Girard assuring him that he had no such design, the executioner
complied, when Girard, looking earnestly at the stone, said, "When it is in the power of a
man to eat and digest this solid stone, the religion for which I am about to suffer shall have
an end, and not before." He then threw the stone on the ground, and submitted cheerfully to
the flames. A great many more of the reformed were oppressed, or put to death, by various
means, until the patience of the Waldenses being tired out, they flew to arms in their own
defence, and formed themselves into regular bodies.
Exasperated at this, the bishop of Turin procured a number of troops, and sent against
them; but in most of the skirmishes and engagements the Waldenses were successful, which
partly arose from their being better acquainted with the passes of the valleys of Piedmont
than their adversaries, and partly from the desperation with which they fought; for they well
knew, if they were taken, they should not be considered as prisoners of war, but tortured to
death as heretics.
At length, Philip VII, duke of Savoy, and supreme lord of Piedmont, determined to
interpose his authority, and stop these bloody wars, which so greatly disturbed his
dominions. He was not willing to disoblige the pope, or affront the archbishop of Turin;
nevertheless, he sent them both messages, importing that he could not any longer tamely see
his dominions overrun with troops, who were directed by priests instead of officers, and
commanded by prelates instead of generals; nor would he suffer his country to be
depopulated, while he himself had not been even consulted upon the occasion.
The priests, finding the resolution of the duke, did all they could to prejudice his mind
against the Waldenses; but the duke told them, that though he was unacquainted with the
religious tenets of these people, yet he had always found them quiet, faithful, and obedient,
and therefore he determined they should be no longer persecuted.
The priests now had recourse to the most palpable and absurd falsehoods: they assured
the duke that he was mistaken in the Waldenses for they were a wicked set of people, and
highly addicted to intemperance, uncleanness, blasphemy, adultery, incest, and many other
abominable crimes; and that they were even monsters in nature, for their children were born
with black throats, with four rows of teeth, and bodies all over hairy.
The duke was not so devoid of common sense as to give credit to what the priests said,
though they affirmed in the most solemn manner the truth of their assertions. He, however,
sent twelve very learned and sensible gentlemen into the Piedmontese valleys, to examine
into the real character of the inhabitants.
These gentlemen, after travelling through all their towns and villages, and conversing
with people of every rank among the Waldenses returned to the duke, and gave him the most
favourable account of these people; affirming, before the faces of the priests who vilified
them, that they were harmless, inoffensive, loyal, friendly, industrious, and pious: that they
abhorred the crimes of which they were accused; and that, should an individual, through his
depravity, fall into any of those crimes, he would, by their laws, be punished in the most
exemplary manner. "With respect to the children," the gentlemen said, "the priests had told
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