ntence by force
of arms, and oust the surprised vice-legate. No resistance was
attempted. Meynier was the first to render homage to the king for his
barony; and the people of Avignon, according to the admission of the
devout historian of Provence, celebrated their independence of the Pope
and reunion to France by Te Deums and a thousand cries of joy and
thanksgiving to Almighty God. Bouche, Histoire de Provence, ii. (Add.)
1068-1071.]

[Footnote 454: "Ministri, quos _Barbas_ eorum idiomate id est,
_avunculos_, vocabant." Crespin, fol. 88.]

[Footnote 455: The Histoire ecclesiastique, i. 22, while admitting that
the Vaudois "had never adhered to papal superstition," asserts that "par
longue succession de temps, la purete de la doctrine s'estoit grandement
abastardie." From the letter of Morel and Masson to Oecolampadius, it
appears that, in consequence of their subject condition, they had formed
no church organization. Their _Barbes_, who were carefully selected and
ordained only after long probation, could not marry. They were sent out
two by two, the younger owing implicit obedience to the elder. Every
part of the extensive territory over which their communities were
scattered was visited at least once a year. Pastors, unless aged,
remained no longer than three years in one place. While supported in
part by the laity, they were compelled to engage in manual labor to such
an extent as to interfere much with their spiritual office and preclude
the study that was desirable. The most objectionable feature in their
practice was that they did not themselves administer the Lord's Supper,
but, while recommending to their flock to discard the superstitions
environing the mass, enjoined upon them the reception of the eucharist
at the hands of those whom they themselves regarded as the "members of
Antichrist." Oecolampadius, while approving their confession of faith
and the chief points of their polity, strenuously exhorted them to
renounce all hypocritical conformity with the Roman Church, induced by
fear of persecution, and strongly urged them to put an end to the
celibacy and itinerancy of their clergy, and to discontinue the
"sisterhoods" that had arisen among them. The important letters of the
Waldensee delegates and of Oecolampadius are printed in Gerdes., Hist.
Evang. Renov., ii. 402-418. An interesting account of the mission is
given by Hagenbach, Johann Oekolampad und Oswald Myconius, 150, 151.]

[Footnote 456: Crespi