It was also stipulated by this treaty, that the pastors of the Vaudois
churches were to be natives of the district only, and that they were
to be at liberty to administer religious instruction in their own
manner in all the Vaudois parishes, excepting that of St. John, near
La Tour, where their worship was interdicted. The only persons
excepted from the terms of the amnesty were Javanel, the heroic old
captain, and Jean Leger, the pastor-historian, the most prominent
leaders of the Vaudois in the recent war, both of whom were declared
to be banished the ducal dominions.
Under this treaty the Vaudois enjoyed peace for about thirty years,
during which they restored the cultivation of the valleys, rebuilt the
villages, and were acknowledged to be among the most loyal, peaceable,
and industrious of the subjects of Savoy.
There were, however, certain parts of the valleys to which the amnesty
granted by the Duke did not apply. Thus, it did not apply to the
valleys of PГ©rouse and Pragela, which did not then form part of the
dominions of Savoy, but were included within the French frontier. It
was out of this circumstance that a difficulty arose with the French
monarch, which issued in the revival of the persecution in the
valleys, the banishment of the Vaudois into Switzerland, and their
eventual "Glorious Return" in the manner we are about briefly to
narrate.
When Louis XIV. of France revoked the Edict of Nantes in 1685, and
interdicted all Protestant worship throughout his dominions, the law
of course applied to the valleys of PГ©rouse and Pragela as to the
other parts of France. The Vaudois pastors were banished, and the
people were forbidden to profess any other religion than that
prescribed by the King, under penalty of confiscation of their goods,
imprisonment, or banishment. The Vaudois who desired to avoid these
penalties while they still remained staunch to their faith, did what
so many Frenchmen then did--they fled across the frontier and took
refuge in foreign lands. Some of the inhabitants of the French valleys
went northward into Switzerland, while others passed across the
mountains towards the south, and took refuge in the valley of the
Pelice, where the Vaudois religion continued to be tolerated under
the terms of the amnesty above referred to, which had been granted by
the Duke of Savoy.
The French king, when he found his Huguenot subjects flying in all
directions rather than remain in France and be "converted" to Roman
Catholicism, next tried to block up the various avenues of escape, and
to prevent the rulers of the adjoining countries from giving the
fugitives asylum. Great was his displeasure when he heard of the
flight of the Vaudois of PГ©rouse and Pragela into the adjoining
valleys. He directed the French ambassador at Turin to call upon the
Duke of Savoy, and require him to prevent their settlement within his
dominions. At the same time, he called upon the Duke to take steps to
compel the conversion of his people from the pretended reformed faith,
and offered the aid of his troops to enforce their submission, "at
whatever cost."
The Duke was irritated at the manner in which he was approached. Louis
XIV. was treating him as a vassal of France rather than as an
independent sovereign. But he felt himself to be weak, and
comparatively powerless to resent the insult. So he first temporised,
then vacillated, and being again pressed by the French king, he
eventually yielded. The amnesty was declared to be at an end, and the
Vaudois were ordered forthwith to become members of the Church of
Rome. An edict was issued on the 31st of January, 1686, forbidding the
exercise by the Vaudois of their religion, abolishing their ancient
privileges, and ordering the demolition of all their places of
worship. Pastors and schoolmasters who refused to be converted were
ordered to quit the country within fifteen days, on pain of death and
confiscation of their goods. All refugee Protestants from France were
ordered to leave under the same penalty. All children born of
Protestant parents were to be compulsorily educated as Roman
Catholics. This barbarous measure was merely a repetition by the Duke
of Savoy in Piedmont of what his master Louis XIV. had already done in
France.
The Vaudois expostulated with their sovereign, but in vain. They
petitioned, but there was no reply. They requested the interposition
of the Swiss Government as before, but the Duke took no notice of
their memorial. The question of resistance was then discussed; but the
people were without leaders. Javanel was living in banishment at
Geneva--old and worn out, and unable to lead them. Besides, the
Vaudois, before taking up arms, wished to exhaust every means of
conciliation. Ambassadors next came from Switzerland, who urged them
to submit to the clemency of the Duke, and suggested that they should
petition him for permission to leave the country! The Vaudois were
stupefied by the proposal. They were thus asked, without a contest, to
submit to all the ignominy and punishment of defeat, and to terminate
their very existence as a people! The ambassadors represented that
resistance to the combined armies of Savoy, France, and Spain, without
leaders, and with less than three thousand combatants, was little
short of madness.
Nevertheless, a number of the Vaudois determined not to leave their
valleys without an attempt to hold them, as they had so often
successfully done before. The united armies of France and Savoy then
advanced upon the valleys, and arrangements were made for a general
attack upon the Vaudois position on Easter Monday, 1686, at break of
day,--the Duke of Savoy assailing the valley of Luzerna, while
Catinat, commander of the French troops, advanced on St. Martin.
Catinat made the first attack on the village of St. Germain, and was
beaten back with heavy loss after six hours' fighting. Henry Arnaud,
the Huguenot pastor from Die in Dauphiny, of which he was a native,
particularly distinguished himself by his bravery in this affair, and
from that time began to be regarded as one of the most promising of
the Vaudois leaders.
Catinat renewed the attack on the following day with the assistance of
fresh troops; and he eventually succeeded in overcoming the resistance
of the handful of men who opposed him, and sweeping the valley of St.
Martin. Men, women, and children were indiscriminately put to the
sword. In some of the parishes no resistance was offered, the
inhabitants submitting to the Duke's proclamation; but whether they
submitted or not, made no difference in their treatment, which was
barbarous in all cases.
Meanwhile, the Duke of Savoy's army advanced from the vale of Luzerna
upon the celebrated heights of Angrogna, and assailed the Vaudois
assembled there at all points. The resistance lasted for an entire
day, and when night fell, both forces slept on the ground upon which
they had fought, kindling their bivouac fires on both sides. On the
following day the attack was renewed, and again the battle raged until
night. Then Don Gabriel of Savoy, who was in command, resolved to
employ the means which Catinat had found so successful: he sent
forward messengers to inform the Vaudois that their brethren of the
Val St. Martin had laid down their arms and been pardoned, inviting
them to follow their example. The result of further parley was, that
on the express promise of his Royal Highness that they should receive
pardon, and that neither their persons nor those of their wives or
children should be touched, the credulous Vaudois, still hoping for
fair treatment, laid down their arms, and permitted the ducal troops
to take possession of their entrenchments!
The same treacherous strategy proved equally successful against the
defenders of the Pra du Tour. After beating back their assailants and
firmly holding their ground for an entire day, they were told of the
surrender of their compatriots, promised a full pardon, and assured of
life and liberty, on condition of immediately ceasing further
hostilities. They accordingly consented to lay down their arms, and
the impregnable fastness of the Pra du Tour, which had never been
taken by force, thus fell before falsehood and perfidy. "The defenders
of this ancient sanctuary of the Church," says Dr. Huston, "were
loaded with irons; their children were carried off and scattered
through the Roman Catholic districts; their wives and daughters were
violated, massacred, or made captives. As for those that still
remained, all whom the enemy could seize became a prey devoted to
carnage, spoliation, fire, excesses which cannot be told, and outrages
which it would be impossible to describe."[108]
[Footnote 108: Huston's "Israel of the Alps," translated by
Montgomery; Glasgow, 1857; vol. i. p. 446.]
"All the valleys are now exterminated," wrote a French officer to his
friends; "the people are all killed, hanged, or massacred." The Duke,
Victor Amadeus, issued a decree, declaring the Vaudois to be guilty of
high treason, and confiscating all their property. Arnaud says as many
as eleven thousand persons were killed, or perished in prison, or died
of want, in consequence of this horrible Easter festival of blood.
Six thousand were taken prisoners, and the greater number of these
died in gaol of hunger and disease. When the prisons were opened, and
the wretched survivors were ordered to quit the country, forbidden to
return to it on pain of death, only about two thousand six hundred
contrived to struggle across the frontier into Switzerland.
And thus at last the Vaudois Church seemed utterly uprooted and
destroyed. What the Dukes of Savoy had so often attempted in vain was
now accomplished. A second St. Bartholomew had been achieved, and Rome
rang with _Te Deums_ in praise of the final dispersion of the Vaudois.
The Pope sent to Victor Amadeus II. a special brief, congratulating
him on the extirpation of heresy in his dominions; and Piedmontese and
Savoyards, good Catholics, were presented with the lands from which
the Vaudois had been driven. Those of them who remained in the country
"unconverted" were as so many scattered fugitives in the
mountains--sheep wandering about without a shepherd. Some of the
Vaudois, for the sake of their families and homes, pretended
conversion; but these are admitted to have been comparatively few in
number. In short, the "Israel of the Alps" seemed to be no more, and
its people utterly and for ever dispersed. Pierre Allix, the Huguenot
refugee pastor in England, in his "History of the Ancient Churches of
Piedmont," dedicated to William III., regarded the Vaudois Church as
obliterated--"their present desolation seeming so universal, that the
world looks upon them no otherwise than as irrecoverably lost, and
finally destroyed."
Three years passed. The expelled Vaudois reached Switzerland in
greatly reduced numbers, many women and children having perished on
their mountain journey. The inhabitants of Geneva received them with
great hospitality, clothing and feeding them until they were able to
proceed on their way northward. Some went into Brandenburg, some into
Holland, while others settled to various branches of industry in
different parts of Switzerland. Many of them, however, experienced
great difficulty in obtaining a settlement. Those who had entered the
Palatinate were driven thence by war, and those who had entered
Wurtemburg were expelled by the Grand Duke, who feared incurring the
ire of Louis XIV. by giving them shelter and protection. Hence many
little bands of the Vaudois refugees long continued to wander along
the valley of the Rhine, unable to find rest for their weary feet.
There were others trying to earn, a precarious living in Geneva and
Lausanne, and along the shores of Lake Leman. Some of these were men
who had fought under Javanel in his heroic combats with the
Piedmontese; and they thought with bitter grief of the manner in which
they had fallen into the trap of Catinat and the Duke of Savoy, and
abandoned their country almost without a struggle.
Then it was that the thought occurred to them whether they might not
yet strike a blow for the recovery of their valleys! The idea seemed
chimerical in the extreme. A few hundred destitute men, however
valiant, to think of recovering a country defended by the combined
armies of France and Savoy! Javanel, the old Vaudois hero, disabled by
age and wounds, was still alive--an exile at Geneva--and he was
consulted on the subject. Javanel embraced the project with,
enthusiasm; and the invasion of the valleys was resolved upon! A more
daring, and apparently more desperate enterprise, was never planned.
Who was to be their leader? Javanel himself was disabled. Though his
mind was clear, and his patriotic ardour unquenched, his body was
weak; and all that he could do was to encourage and advise. But he
found a noble substitute in Henry Arnaud, the Huguenot refugee, who
had already distinguished himself in his resistance to the troops of
Savoy. And Arnaud was now ready to offer up his life for the recovery
of the valleys.
The enterprise was kept as secret as possible, yet not so close as to
prevent the authorities of Berne obtaining some inkling of their
intentions. Three confidential messengers were first dispatched to the
valleys to ascertain the disposition of the population, and more
particularly to examine the best route by which an invasion might be
made. On their return with the necessary information, the plan was
settled by Javanel, as it was to be carried out by Arnaud. In the
meantime, the magistrates of Geneva, having obtained information as to
the intended movement, desirous of averting the hostility of France
and Savoy, required Javanel to leave their city, and he at once
retired to Ouchy, a little farther up the lake.
The greatest difficulty experienced by the Vaudois in carrying out
their enterprise was the want of means. They were poor, destitute
refugees, without arms, ammunition, or money to buy them. To obtain
the requisite means, Arnaud made a journey into Holland, for the
purpose of communicating the intended project to William of Orange.
William entered cordially into the proposed plan, recommended Arnaud
to several Huguenot officers, who afterwards took part in the
expedition, supplied him with assistance in money, and encouraged him
to carry out the design. Several private persons in Holland--amongst
others the post-master-general at Leyden--also largely contributed to
the enterprise.
At length all was ready. The men who intended to take part in the
expedition came together from various quarters. Some came from
Brandenburg, others from Bavaria and distant parts of Switzerland; and
among those who joined them was a body of French Huguenots, willing to
share in their dangers and their glory. One of their number, Captain
Turrel, like Arnaud, a native of Die in Dauphiny, was even elected as
the general of the expedition. Their rendez-vous was in the forest of
Prangins, near Nyon, on the north bank of the Lake of Geneva; and
there, on the night of the 16th of August, 1689, they met in the
hollow recesses of the wood. Fifteen boats had been got together, and
lay off the shore. After a fervent prayer by the pastor-general
Arnaud, imploring a blessing upon the enterprise, as many of the men
as could embark got into the boats. As the lake is there at its
narrowest, they soon rowed across to the other side, near the town of
Yvoire, and disembarked on the shore of Savoy. Arnaud had posted
sentinels in all directions, and the little body waited the arrival of
the remainder of their comrades from the opposite shore. They had all
crossed the lake by two o'clock in the morning; and about eight
hundred men, divided into nineteen companies,[109] each provided with
its captain, were now ready to march.
[Footnote 109: Of the nineteen companies three were composed
of the Vaudois of Angrogna; those of Bobi and St. John
furnished two each; and those of La Tour, Villar, Prarustin,
Prali, Macel, St. Germain, and Pramol, furnished one each.
The remaining six companies were composed of French Huguenot
refugees from Dauphiny and Languedoc under their respective
officers. Besides these, there were different smaller parties
who constituted a volunteer company. The entire force of
about eight hundred men was marshalled in three
divisions--vanguard, main body, and rearguard--and this
arrangement was strictly observed in the order of march.]
At the very commencement, however, they met with a misfortune. One of
the pastors, having gone to seek a guide in the village near at hand,
was seized as a prisoner by the local authorities, and carried off. On
this, the Vaudois, seeing that they were treated as enemies, sent a
party to summon Yvoire to open its gates, and it obeyed. The lord of
the manor and the receiver of taxes were taken as hostages, and made
to accompany the troop until they reached the next commune, when they
were set at liberty, and replaced by other hostages.
When it became known that the little army of Vaudois had set out on
their march, troops were dispatched from all quarters to intercept
them and cut them off; and it was believed that their destruction was
inevitable. "What possible chance is there," asked the _Historic
Mercury_ of the day, "of this small body of men penetrating to their
native country through the masses of French and Piedmontese troops
accumulating from all sides, without being crushed and exterminated?"
"It is impossible," wrote the _Leyden Gazette_, "notwithstanding
whatever precautions they may take, that the Vaudois can extricate
themselves without certain death, and the Court of Savoy may therefore
regard itself safe so far as they are concerned."
No sooner had the boats left the shore at Nyon for the further side of
the lake than the young seigneur of Prangins, who had been watching
their movements, rode off at full speed to inform the French resident
at Geneva of the departure of the Vaudois; and orders were at once
dispatched to Lyons for a strong body of cavalry to march immediately
towards Savoy to cut them off. But the Vaudois had well matured their
plans, and took care to keep out of reach of the advancing enemy.
Their route at first lay up the valleys towards the mountains, whose
crests they followed, from glacier to glacier, in places almost
inaccessible to regular troops, and thus they eluded the combined
forces of France and Savoy, which, vainly endeavoured to bar their
passage.
The first day's march led them into the valley of the Arve, by the Col
de Voirons, from which they took their last view of the peaceful Lake
of Geneva; thence they proceeded by the pyramidal mountain called the
Mole to the little town of Viu, where they rested for two hours,
starting again by moonlight, and passing through St. Joire, where the
magistrates brought out a great cask of wine, and placed it in the
middle of the street for their refreshment. The little army, however,
did not halt there, but marched on to the bare hill of Carman, where,
after solemn prayer, they encamped about midnight, sleeping on the
bare ground. Next day found them in front of the small walled town of
Cluse, in the rocky gorge of the Arve. The authorities shut the gates,
on which the Vaudois threatened to storm the place, when the gates
were opened, and they marched through the town, the inhabitants
standing under arms along both sides of the street. Here the Vaudois
purchased a store of food and wine, which they duly paid for.
They then proceeded on to Sallanches, where resistance was threatened.
They found a body of men posted on the wooden bridge which there
separated the village of St. Martin from Sallanches; but rushing
forward, the defenders of the bridge fled, and the little army passed
over and proceeded to range themselves in order of battle over against
the town, which was defended by six hundred troops. The Vaudois having
threatened to burn the town, and kill the hostages whom they had taken
on the slightest show of resistance, the threat had its effect, and
they were permitted to pass without further opposition, encamping for
the night at a little village about a league further on. And thus
closed the second day's march.
The third day they passed over the mountains of Lez Pras and Haute
Luce, seven thousand feet above the sea-level, a long and fatiguing
march. At one place the guide lost his way, and rain fell heavily,
soaking the men to the skin. They spent a wretched night in some empty
stables at the hamlet of St. Nicholas de Verose; and started earlier
than usual on the following morning, addressing themselves to the
formidable work of climbing the Col Bonhomme, which they passed with
the snow up to their knees. They were now upon the crest of the Alps,
looking down upon the valley of the IsГЁre, into which they next
descended. They traversed the valley without resistance, passing
through St. Germain and Scez, turning aside at the last-mentioned
place up the valley of Tignes, thereby avoiding the French troops
lying in wait for them in the neighbourhood of Moutiers, lower down
the valley of the IsГЁre. Later in the evening they reached Laval, at
the foot of Mont Iseran; and here Arnaud, for the first time during
eight days, snatched a few hours' sleep on a bed in the village.
The sixth day saw the little army climbing the steep slopes of Mont
Iseran, where the shepherds gave them milk and wished them God-speed;
but they warned them that a body of troops lay in their way at Mont
Cenis. On they went--over the mountain, and along the crest of the
chain, until they saw Bonneval in the valley beneath them, and there
they descended, passing on to Bessant in the valley of the Arc, where
they encamped for the night.
Next day they marched on Mont Cenis, which they ascended. As they were
crossing the mountain a strange incident occurred. The Vaudois saw
before them a large convoy of mules loaded with baggage. And shortly
after there came up the carriage and equipage of some grand personage.
It proved to be Cardinal Ranuzzi, on his way to Rome to take part in
the election of Pope Alexander VIII. The Vaudois seized the mules
carrying the baggage, which contained important documents compromising
Louis XIV. with Victor Amadeus; and it is said that in consequence of
their loss, the Cardinal, who himself aspired to the tiara, afterwards
died of chagrin, crying in his last moments, "My papers! oh, my
papers!"
The passage of the Great and Little Cenis was effected with great
difficulty. The snow lay thick on the ground, though it was the month
of August, and the travellers descended the mountain of Tourliers by a
precipice rather than a road. When night fell, they were still
scattered on the mountain, and lay down to snatch a brief sleep,
overcome with hunger and fatigue. Next morning they gathered together
again, and descended into the sterile valley of the Gaillon, and
shortly after proceeded to ascend the mountain opposite.
They were now close upon the large towns. Susa lay a little to the
east, and Exilles was directly in their way. The garrison of the
latter place came out to meet them, and from the crest of the mountain
rolled large stones and flung grenades down upon the invaders. Here
the Vaudois lost some men and prisoners, and finding the further
ascent impracticable, they retreated into the valley from which they
had come, and again ascended the steep slope of Tourliers in order to
turn the heights on which the French troops were posted. At last,
after great fatigue and peril, unable to proceed further, they gained
the crest of the mountain, and sounded their clarions to summon the
scattered body.
After a halt of two hours they proceeded along the ridge, and
perceived through the mist a body of soldiers marching along with
drums beating; it was the garrison of Exilles. The Vaudois were
recognised and followed by the soldiers at a distance. Proceeding a
little further, they came in sight of the long valley of the Doire,
and looking down into it, not far from the bridge of Salabertrans,
they discerned some thirty-six bivouac fires burning on the plain,
indicating the presence of a large force. These were their enemies--a
well-appointed army of some two thousand five hundred men--whom they
were at last to meet in battle. Nothing discouraged, they descended
into the valley, and the advanced guard shortly came in contact with
the enemy's outposts. Firing between them went on for an hour and a
half, and then night fell.
The Vaudois leaders held a council to determine what they should do;
and the result was, that an immediate attack was resolved upon, in
three bodies. The principal attack was made on the bridge, the passage
of which was defended by a strong body of French soldiers, under the
command of Colonel de Larrey. On the advance of the Vaudois in the
darkness, they were summoned to stand, but continued to advance, when
the enemy fired a volley on them, killing three men. Then the Vaudois
brigade rushed to the bridge, but seeing a strong body on the other
side preparing to fire again, Arnaud called upon his men to lie down,
and the volley went over their heads. Then Turrel, the Vaudois
captain, calling out "Forward! the bridge is won!" the Vaudois jumped
to their feet and rushed on. The two wings at the same time
concentrated their fire on the defenders, who broke and retired, and
the bridge was won. But at the further side, where the French were in
overpowering numbers, they refused to give way, and poured down their
fire on their assailants. The Vaudois boldly pressed on. They burst
through the French, force, cutting it in two; and fresh men pouring
over, the battle was soon won. The French, commander was especially
chagrined at having been beaten by a parcel of cowherds. "Is it
possible," he exclaimed, "that I have lost both the battle and my
honour?"
The rising moon showed the ground strewed with about seven hundred
dead; the Vaudois having lost only twenty-two killed and eight
wounded. The victors filled their pouches with ammunition picked up on
the field, took possession of as many arms and as much provisions as
they could carry, and placing the remainder in a heap over some
barrels of powder, they affixed a lighted match and withdrew. A
tremendous explosion shook the mountains, and echoed along the valley,
and the remains of the French camp were blown to atoms. The Vaudois
then proceeded at once to climb the mountain of Sci, which had to be
crossed in order to enter the valley of Pragelas.
It was early on a Sabbath morning, the ninth day of their march, that
the Vaudois reached the crest of the mountain overlooking
Fenestrelles, and saw spread out before them the beloved country which
they had come to win. They halted for the stragglers, and when these
had come up, Arnaud made them kneel down and thank God for permitting
them again to see their native land; himself offering up an eloquent
prayer, which cheered and strengthened them for further effort. And
then they descended into the valley of Pragelas, passing the river
Clusone, and halting to rest at the little village of La Traverse.
They were now close to the Vaudois strongholds, and in a country every
foot of which was familiar to most of them. But their danger was by no
means over; for the valleys were swarming with dragoons and
foot-soldiers; and when they had shaken off those of France, they had
still to encounter the troops of Savoy.
Late in the afternoon the little army again set out for the valley of
St. Martin, passing the night in the mountain hamlet of Jussand, the
highest on the Col du Pis. Next day they descended the Col near Seras,
and first came in contact with the troops of Savoy; but these having
taken to flight, no collision occurred; and on the following day the
Vaudois arrived, without further molestation, at the famous Balsille.
This celebrated stronghold is situated in front of the narrow defile
of Macel, which leads into the valley of St. Martin. It is a rampart
of rock, standing at the entrance to the pass, and is of such natural
strength, that but little art was needed to make it secure against any
force that could be brought against it. There is only one approach to
it from the valley of St. Martin, which is very difficult; a portion
of the way being in a deep wooded gorge, where a few men could easily
arrest the progress of an army. The rock itself consists of three
natural stages or terraces, the highest part rising steep as a wall,
being surmounted by a natural platform. The mountain was well supplied
with water, which gushed forth in several places. Caverns had been
hollowed out in the sides of the rocks, which served as hiding-places
during the persecutions which so often ravaged the valleys; and these
were now available for storehouses and barracks.
The place was, indeed, so intimately identified with the past
sufferings and triumphs of the Vaudois, and it was, besides, so
centrally situated, and so secure, that they came to regard its
possession as essential to the success of their enterprise. The aged
Javanel, who drew up the plan of the invasion before the eight hundred
set out on their march, attached the greatest importance to its early
occupation. "Spare no labour nor pains," he said, in the memorandum of
directions which he drew up, "in fortifying this post, which will be
your most secure fortress. Do not quit it unless in the utmost
extremity.... You will, of course, be told that you cannot hold it
always, and that rather than not succeed in their object, all France
and Italy will gather together against you.... But were it the whole
world, and only yourselves against all, fear ye the Almighty alone,
who is your protection."
On the arrival of the Vaudois at the Balsille, they discerned a small
body of troops advancing towards them by the Col du Pis, higher up the
valley. They proved to be Piedmontese, forty-six in number, sent to
occupy the pass. They were surrounded, disarmed, and put to death, and
their arms were hid away amongst the rocks. No quarter was given on
either side during this war; the Vaudois had no prisons in which to
place their captives; and they themselves, when taken, were treated
not as soldiers, but as bandits, being instantly hung on the nearest
trees. The Vaudois did not, however, yet take up their permanent
position at the Balsille, being desirous of rousing the valleys
towards the south. The day following, accordingly, they marched to
Pralis, in the valley of the Germanasca, when, for the first time
since their exile, they celebrated Divine worship in one of the
temples of their ancestors.
They were now on their way towards the valley of the Pelice, to reach
which it was necessary that they should pass over the Col Julian. An
army of three thousand Piedmontese barred their way, but nothing
daunted by the great disparity of force, the Vaudois, divided into
three bodies, as at Salabertrans, mounted to the assault. As they
advanced, the Piedmontese cried, "Come on, ye devil's Barbets, there
are more than three thousand of us, and we occupy all the posts!" In
less than half an hour the whole of the posts were carried, the pass
was cleared, and the Piedmontese fled down the further side of the
mountain, leaving all their stores behind them. On the following day
the Vaudois reached Bobi, drove out the new settlers, and resumed
possession of the lands of the commune. Thus, after the lapse of only
fourteen days, this little band of heroes had marched from the shores
of the Lake of Geneva, by difficult mountain-passes, through bands of
hostile troops, which they had defeated in two severe fights, and at
length reached the very centre of the Vaudois valleys, and entered
into possession of the "Promised Land."
They resolved to celebrate their return to the country of their
fathers by an act of solemn worship on the Sabbath following. The
whole body assembled on the hill of Silaoud, commanding an extensive
prospect of the valley, and with their arms piled, and resting under
the shade of the chestnut-trees which crown the hill, they listened to
an eloquent sermon from the pastor Montoux, who preached to them
standing on a platform, consisting of a door resting upon two rocks,
after which they chanted the 74th Psalm, to the clash of arms. They
then proceeded to enter into a solemn covenant with each other,
renewing the ancient oath of union of the valleys, and swearing never
to rest from their enterprise, even if they should be reduced to only
three or four in number, until they had "re-established in the valleys
the kingdom of the Gospel." Shortly after, they proceeded to divide
themselves into two bodies, for the purpose of occupying
simultaneously, as recommended by Javanel, the two valleys of the
Pelice and St. Martin.
But the trials and sufferings they had already endured were as nothing
compared with those they were now about to experience. Armies
concentrated on them from all points. They were pressed by the French
on the north and west, and by the Piedmontese on the south and east.
Encouraged by their success at Bobi, the Vaudois rashly attacked
Villar, lower down the valley, and were repulsed with loss. From
thence they retired up the valley of Rora, and laid it waste; the
enemy, in like manner, destroying the town of Bobi and laying waste
the neighbourhood.
The war now became one of reprisals and mutual devastation, the two
parties seeking to deprive each other of shelter and the means of
subsistence. The Vaudois could only obtain food by capturing the
enemy's convoys, levying contributions from the plains, and making
incursions into Dauphiny. The enterprise on which they had entered
seemed to become more hopeless from day to day. This handful of men,
half famished and clothed in rags, had now arrayed against them
twenty-two thousand French and Sardinians, provided with all the
munitions of war. That they should have been able to stand against
them for two whole months, now fighting in one place, and perhaps the
next day some twenty miles across the mountains in another, with
almost invariable success, seems little short of a miracle. But flesh
and blood could not endure such toil and privations much longer. No
wonder that the faint-hearted began to despair. Turrel, the military
commander, seeing no chance of a prosperous issue, withdrew across the
French frontier, followed by the greater number of the Vaudois from
Dauphiny;[110] and there remained only the Italian Vaudois, still
unconquered in spirit, under the leadership of their pastor-general
Arnaud, who never appeared greater than in times of difficulty and
danger.
[Footnote 110: The greater number of them, including Turrel,
were taken prisoners and shot, or sent to the galleys, where
they died. This last was the fate of Turrel.]
With his diminished forces, and the increasing numbers of the enemy,
Arnaud found it impossible to hold both the valleys, as intended;
besides, winter was approaching, and the men must think of shelter and
provisions during that season, if resistance was to be prolonged. It
was accordingly determined to concentrate their little force upon the
Balsille, and all haste was made to reach that stronghold without
further delay. Their knowledge of the mountain heights and passes
enabled them to evade their enemies, who were watching for them along
the valleys, and they passed from the heights of Rodoret to the
summit of the Balsille by night, before it was known that they were in
the neighbourhood. They immediately set to work to throw up
entrenchments and erect barricades, so as to render the place as
secure as possible. Foraging parties were sent out for provisions, to
lay in for the winter, and they returned laden with corn from the
valley of Pragelas. At the little hamlet of Balsille they repaired the
mill, and set it a-going, the rivulet which flowed down from the
mountain supplying abundance of water-power.
It was at the end of October that the little band of heroes took
possession of the Balsille, and they held it firmly all through the
winter. For more than six months they beat back every force that was
sent against them. The first attack was made by the Marquis
d'Ombrailles at the head of a French detachment; but though the enemy
reached the village of Balsille, they were compelled to retire, partly
by the bullets of the defenders, and partly by the snow, which was
falling heavily. The Marquis de Parelles next advanced, and summoned
the Vaudois to surrender; but in vain. "Our storms are still louder
than your cannon," replied Arnaud, "and yet our rocks are not shaken."
Winter having set in, the besiegers refrained for a time from further
attacks, but strictly guarded all the passes leading to the fortress;
while the garrison, availing themselves of their knowledge of the
locality, made frequent sorties into the adjoining valleys, as well as
into those of Dauphiny, for the purpose of collecting provisions, in
which they were usually successful.
When the fine weather arrived, suitable for a mountain campaign, the
French general, Catinat, assembled a strong force, and marched into
the valley, determined to make short work of this little nest of
bandits on the Balsille. On Sunday morning, the 30th of April, 1690,
while Arnaud was preaching to his flock, the sentinels on the look-out
discovered the enemy's forces swarming up the valley. Soon other
bodies were seen approaching by the Col du Pis and the Col du Clapier,
while a French regiment, supported by the Savoyard militia, climbed
Mont Guinevert, and cut off all retreat in that quarter. In short, the
Balsille was completely invested.
A general assault was made on the position on the 2nd of May, under
the direction of General Catinat in person. Three French regiments,
supported by a regiment of dragoons, opened the attack in front;
Colonel de Parat, who commanded the leading regiment, saying to his
soldiers as they advanced, "My friends, we must sleep to-night in that
barrack," pointing to the rude Vaudois fort on the summit of the
Balsille. They advanced with great bravery; but the barricade could
not be surmounted, while they were assailed by a perfect storm of
bullets from the defenders, securely posted above.
Catinat next ordered the troops stationed on the Guinevert to advance
from that direction, so as to carry the position from behind. But the
assailants found unexpected intrenchments in their way, from behind
which the Vaudois maintained a heavy fire, that eventually drove them
back, their retreat being accelerated by a shower of stones and a
blinding fall of snow and hail. In the meantime, the attack on the
bastion in front continued, and the Vaudois, seeing the French troops
falling back in disorder, made a vigorous sortie, and destroyed the
whole remaining force, excepting fifteen men, who fled, bare-headed
and without arms, and carried to the camp the news of their total
defeat.
A Savoyard officer thus briefly described the issue of the disastrous
affair in a letter to a friend: "I have only time to tell you that the
French have failed in their attack on the Balsille, and they have been
obliged to retire after having lost one hundred and fifty soldiers,
three captains, besides subalterns and wounded, including a colonel
and a lieutenant-colonel who have been made prisoners, with the two
sergeants who remained behind to help them. The lieutenant-colonel was
surprised at finding in the fort some nineteen or twenty officers in
gold and silver lace, who treated him as a prisoner of war and very
humanely, even allowing him to go in search of the surgeon-major of
his regiment for the purpose of bringing him into the place, and doing
all that was necessary."
Catinat did not choose again to renew the attack in person, or to
endanger his reputation by a further defeat at the hands of men whom
he had described as a nest of paltry bandits, but entrusted the
direction of further operations to the Marquis de FГ©uquiГЁres, who had
his laurels still to win, while Catinat had his to lose. The Balsille
was again completely invested by the 12th of May, according to the
scheme of operations prepared by Catinat, and the Marquis received by
anticipation the title of "Conqueror of the Barbets." The entire
mountain was surrounded, all the passes were strongly guarded, guns
were planted in positions which commanded the Vaudois fort, more
particularly on the Guinevert; and the capture or extermination of the
Vaudois was now regarded as a matter of certainty. The attacking army
was divided into five corps. Each soldier was accompanied by a pioneer
carrying a fascine, in order to form a cover against the Vaudois
bullets as they advanced.
Several days elapsed before all the preliminaries for the grand attack
were completed, and then the Marquis ordered a white flag to be
hoisted, and a messenger was sent forward, inviting a parley with the
defenders of the Balsille. The envoy was asked what he wanted. "Your
immediate surrender!" was the reply. "You shall each of you receive
five hundred louis d'or, and good passports for your retirement to a
foreign country; but if you resist, you will be infallibly destroyed."
"That is as the Lord shall will," replied the Vaudois messenger.
The defenders refused to capitulate on any terms. The Marquis himself
then wrote to the Vaudois, offering them terms on the above basis, but
threatening, in case of refusal, that every man of them would be hung.
Arnaud's reply was heroic. "We are not subjects," he said, "of the
King of France; and that monarch not being master of this country, we
can enter into no treaty with his servants. We are in the heritage
which our fathers have left to us, and we hope, with the help of the
God of armies, to live and die in it, even though there may remain
only ten of us to defend it." That same night the Vaudois made a
vigorous sortie, and killed a number of the besiegers: this was their
final answer to the summons to surrender.
On the 14th of May the battery on Mont Guinevert was opened, and the
enemy's cannon began to play upon the little fort and bastions, which,
being only of dry stones, were soon dismantled. The assault was then
made simultaneously on three sides; and after a stout resistance, the
Vaudois retired from their lower intrenchments, and retreated to
those on the higher ledges of the mountain. They continued their
resistance until night, and then, taking counsel together, and feeling
that the place was no longer defensible in the face of so overpowering
a force, commanded, as it was, at the same time by the cannon on the
adjoining heights, they determined to evacuate the Balsille, after
holding it for a period of nearly seven months.
A thick mist having risen up from the valley, the Vaudois set out,
late at night, under the guidance of Captain Poulat, a native of the
district, who well knew the paths in the mountains. They climbed up on
to the heights above, over icy slopes, passing across gaping crevices
and along almost perpendicular rocks, admitting of their passage only
in single file, sometimes dragging themselves along on their bellies,
clinging to the rocks or to the tufts of grass, occasionally resting
and praying, but never despairing. At length they succeeded, after a
long dГ©tour of the mountain crests, in gaining the northern slope of
Guinevert. Here they came upon and surprised the enemy's outpost,
which fled towards the main body; and the Vaudois passed on, panting
and half dead with fatigue. When the morning broke, and the French
proceeded to penetrate the last redoubt on the Balsille, lo, it was
empty! The defenders had abandoned it, and they could scarcely believe
their eyes when they saw the dangerous mountain escarpment by which
they had escaped in the night. Looking across the valley, far off,
they saw the fugitives, thrown into relief by the snow amidst which
they marched, like a line of ants, apparently making for the mass of
the central Alps.
For three days they wandered from place to place, gradually moving
southwards, their object now being to take up their position at the
Pra du Tour, the ancient fortress of the Barbas in the valley of
Angrogna. Before, however, they could reach this stronghold, and while
they were still at Pramol in the valley of Perosa, news of the most
unexpected kind reached them, which opened up the prospect of their
deliverance. The news was no other than this--Savoy had declared war
against France!
A rupture between the two powers had for some time been imminent.
Louis XIV. had become more and more exacting in his demands on the
Duke of Savoy, until the latter felt himself in a position of
oppressive vassalage. Louis had even intimated his intention of
occupying Verrua and the citadel of Turin; and the Duke, having
previously ascertained through his cousin, Prince EugГЁne, the
willingness of the Emperor of Austria, pressed by William of Orange,
to assist him in opposing the pretensions of France, he at length took
up his stand and declared war against Louis.
The Vaudois were now a power in the state, and both parties alike
appealed to them for help, promising them great favours. But the
Vaudois, notwithstanding the treachery and cruelty of successive Dukes
of Savoy, were true to their native prince. They pledged themselves to
hold the valleys and defend the mountain passes against France.
In the first engagements which took place between the French and the
Piedmontese, the latter were overpowered, and the Duke became a
fugitive. Where did he find refuge? In the valleys of the Vaudois, in
a secluded spot in the village of Rora, behind the Pelice, he found a
safe asylum amidst the people whose fathers he had hunted, proscribed,
and condemned to death.
But the tide of war turned, and the French were eventually driven out
of Piedmont. Many of the Vaudois, who had settled in Brandenburg,
Holland, and Switzerland, returned and settled in the valleys; and
though the Dukes of Savoy, with their accustomed treachery, more than
once allowed persecution to recommence, their descendants continue to
enjoy the land, and to worship after the manner of their fathers down
to the present day.
The Vaudois long laboured under disabilities, and continued to be
deprived of many social and civil rights. But they patiently bided
their time; and the time at length arrived. In 1848 their emancipation
was one of the great questions of North Italy. It was taken up and
advocated by the most advanced minds of Piedmont. The petition to
Charles Albert in their favour was in a few days covered with the
names of its greatest patriots, including those of Balbo, Cavour, and
D'Azeglio. Their emancipation was at length granted, and the Vaudois
now enjoy the same rights and liberties as the other subjects of
Victor Emanuel.
Nor is the Vaudois Church any longer confined to the valleys, but it
has become extended of late years all over Italy--to Milan, Florence,
Brescia, Verona, Genoa, Leghorn, Naples, Palermo, Cataneo, Venice, and
even to Rome itself. In most of these places there are day-schools and
Sunday-schools, besides churches. The new church at Venice, held in
the Cavagnis palace, seems to have proved especially successful, the
Sunday services being regularly attended by from three to four hundred
persons; while the day-schools in connection with the churches at
Turin, Leghorn, Naples, and Cataneo have proved very successful.
Thus, in the course of a few years, thirty-three Vaudois churches and
stations, with about an equal number of schools, have been established
in various parts of Italy. The missionaries report that the greatest
difficulties they have to encounter arise from the incredulity and
indifference which are the natural heritage of the Romish Church; but
that, nevertheless, the work makes satisfactory progress--the good
seed is being planted, and will yet bring forth its increase in God's
due time.
Finally, it cannot but be acknowledged that the people of the valleys,
in so tenaciously and conscientiously adhering to their faith, through
good and through evil, during so many hundred years, have set a
glorious example to Piedmont, and have possibly been in no small
degree instrumental in establishing the reign of right and of liberty
in Italy.
INDEX.
Aiguesmortes, Huguenot prison at, 193, 273, 300.
Albigenses, 75.
Anabaptists of Munster, 282-3.
Anduze, visit to, 125.
Angrogna, valley of, 481;
fighting in, 481-86, 498.
Arnaud, Henry, 215, 512;
leads back the Vaudois, 503-15;
defends the Balsille, 515-19.
Athlone, siege of, 349-50, 355-8.
Balsille, the, 510;
defence of, 515-19;
given up, 519.
Baridon, Etienne, 442-3.
Barillon, M. de, 323, 330-1.
Baville on the Protestants of Languedoc, 77, 86;
occupies the Cevennes, 87;
at Pont-de-Montvert, 92.
Beauval, Basnage de, 364.
Beauvau, Prince de, 273-4.
Beckwith, General, 478.
Berwick, Duke of, 310-11, 333, 351.
Bibles, destruction and scarcity of, 215-16.
Boileau, General, 351-2.
Bonnafoux repulsed by Camisards, 142.
Book-burning, 215, 235-6.
Bordeille, RaphaГ«l, 318.
Bourg d'Oisans, 409-10.
Boyne, battle of the, 341-7.
Briançon, 414-16.
Briset, Lieut., death of, 335.
Broglie, Count, 143-4, 148;
superseded, 149.
Brousson, Claude, 30;
advocate for Protestant church at Nismes, 31;
meeting in house of, 34;
petition by, 35;
escape from Nismes, 42;
at Lausanne, 43, 46;
at Berlin, 44;
in the Cevennes, 50-2, 54;
reward offered for, 56; at Nismes, 57;
preaching of, 58-9;
to Lausanne, England, and Holland, 61-2;
at Sedan, 64;
through France, 66-7;
portraiture of, 68 (note);
to Nismes again, 69;
taken, tried, and executed, 70-3.
Browne, Col. Lyde, 380.
Brueys on fanaticism in Languedoc, 91.
Bull of Clement XI. against Camisards, 160.
