e duke, by these three persons, and the army,
in their different marches, many local barbarities were committed. At
Pignerol, a town in the valleys, was a monastery, the monks of which,
finding they might injure the reformed with impunity, began to plunder
the houses and pull down the churches of the Waldenses. Not meeting with
any opposition, they seized upon the persons of those unhappy people,
murdering the men, confining the women, and putting the children to
Roman catholic nurses.

The Roman catholic inhabitants of the valley in St. Martin, likewise,
did all they could to torment the neighbouring Waldenses: they destroyed
their churches, burnt their houses, seized their properties, stole their
cattle, converted their lands to their own use, committed their
ministers to the flames, and drove the Waldenses to the woods, where
they had nothing to subsist on but wild fruits, roots, the bark of
trees, &c.

Some Roman catholic ruffians having seized a minister as he was going to
preach, determined to take him to a convenient place, and burn him. His
parishioners having intelligence of this affair, the men armed
themselves, pursued the ruffians, and seemed determined to rescue their
minister; which the ruffians no sooner perceived than they stabbed the
poor gentleman, and leaving him weltering in his blood, made a
precipitate retreat. The astonished parishioners did all they could to
recover him, but in vain; for the weapon had touched the vital parts,
and he expired as they were carrying him home.

The monks of Pignerol having a great inclination to get the minister of
a town in the valleys, called St. Germain, into their power, hired a
band of ruffians for the purpose of apprehending him. These fellows were
conducted by a treacherous person, who had formerly been a servant to
the clergyman, and who perfectly well knew a secret way to the house, by
which he could lead them without alarming the neighbourhood. The guide
knocked at the door, and being asked who was there, answered in his own
name. The clergyman, not expecting any injury from a person on whom he
had heaped favours, immediately opened the door; but perceiving the
ruffians, he started back, and fled to a back door; but they rushed in,
followed, and seized him. Having murdered all his family, they made him
proceed towards Pignerol, goading him all the way with pikes, lances,
swords, &c. He was kept a considerable time in prison, and then fastened
to the stak