Histoire Des Vaudois : Ou Des Habitans Des Vallees Occidentales Du Piemont, Qui Ont Conserve Le Christianisme Dans Toute Sa Purete Et A Travers Plus De Trente Persecutions, Depuis Le Commencement De Son Existene Jusqu'a Nos Jours, Sans Avoir Participe A Aucune Reforme

Paris : Chez Leclerc, 1796-01-01. Hardcover. Good. 2 Volumes in one. [4], xliv., [1] 28-132p; [1], 3-268p., vignettes. Subscribers list. Bound in modern quarter salmon leather. Gilt spine. Marbled boards and endpapers. Fine binding and cover. Library stamp to head of 2nd printed page. Stamp to head of first subscriber page. Dampstaining to pages, with the gutters stain throughout. Translated fragments of a Waldensian poem from the Franco-Provencal or Arpitan language. Waldensian Catechism on pg 253-68. Reprinted in English in 1827. Hoefer 7, 366; Barbier II 772. <br><br>Jacques Brez was a botanist and historian of the Piedmont region as well as a minister. This book details the history of the Vaudois, or Waldensians, from 1100 and its foundation by Peter Waldo, through all eleven persecutions up to the Piedmont Easter of 1655 and the efforts of Joshua Janavel in the late 17th century. The Piedmont Waldensians had been settled in the high valleys of Piedmont since Waldo and his followers were run out of Lyons as they continued their pursuit of Christianity based on the New Testament. The Waldensians were the first splinter group from the Catholic faith prior to Martin Luther and the Lutherans and the first group to translate the Bible from the Vulgate. <br> The timing of the publication is to be noted as several months had passed since the Piedmont had been overrun by the France which led to the 1796 Treaty of Paris, bringing the Piedmont back into French rule. Though it may be estimated that Brez wished to inform his fellow Waldensians and other about their history and struggle with the upcoming Napoleonic Wars, Napoleon allowed the Waldensians to enjoy genuine religious freedom, and he protected them in their rights. Following his defeat in 1814, they were again cruelly persecuted till 1848 when the King of Sardinia granted his Vaudois subjects freedom of religion on equality with his other subjects ending the nearly 800 year war between the Catholic Church and the Waldensians.