he errors of
popery, and after a period of study received ordination, and became pastor
of San Giovanni in 1557. He was waylaid while on a visit to Busca, his
native place, and carried to Turin, where he made a noble confession of his
faith amidst the flames on the 29th of March, 1558. Other victims would
have been sacrificed had not the Protestant princes of Germany and the
evangelical cantons of Switzerland intervened, and so for a little longer
the church in the valleys had a measure of rest prior to the outburst of
another fierce attack.

CHAPTER VII.

The death of Mary Queen of England put out the fires of persecution in our
own beloved land; but, alas! served to rekindle them in the devoted valleys
of the Alps. By the treaty of Cambresis, 1559, the kings of France and
Spain bound themselves anew to the extirpation of heresy. Moreover, they
agreed that the conquests made by each country during the preceding eight
years should be restored. Thus all the gains of Francis I. and Henry II. of
France were given up, and Philibert Emmanuel of Savoy was transposed by a
scratch of the pen from the condition of a landless mercenary into that of
a sovereign prince. Would that he had been free to rule as his own
disposition and that of his evangelical consort, Margaret of Navarre, would
have prompted! But the provisions of the treaty bound him to persecute
rather than protect his loyal subjects in the valleys. Too soon the
evidences of this appeared. First came edicts forbidding any one to attend
non-Catholic preaching. Then commands to hear mass. After that were kindled
the fires in which many bravely endured the worst rather than abjure the
faith. These proceedings were, however, preliminary to an attack on the
valleys. So the Vaudois betake themselves to united prayer for guidance.
After deliberation it was resolved to address the duke, the duchess, and
the council of the state. In these addresses they set forth the antiquity
of their religion, the conformity of their belief with the creeds and four
first councils of the church, and the writings of the early fathers, and
vindicate themselves from the calumnies of their enemies, also protesting
their loyalty to their prince. After much difficulty these documents
reached the parties addressed, but owing to the interference of the pope
nothing satisfactory was gained. The monks of Pinerolo signalized
themselves by the ardour with which they haras