Waldenses derived their name from this martyr; but being
known as "heretics" long before his time, it is more probable
that they gave the name to him than that he did to them.]

Of one of the early persecutions, an ancient writer says: "In the year
1243, Pope Innocent II. ordered the Bishop of Metz rigorously to
prosecute the Vaudois, especially because they read the sacred books
in the vulgar tongue."[95] From time to time, new persecutions were
ordered, and conducted with ever-increasing ferocity--the scourge, the
brand, and the sword being employed by turns. In 1486, while Luther
was still in his cradle, Pope Innocent VIII. issued a bull of
extermination against the Vaudois, summoning all true Catholics to the
holy crusade, promising free pardon to all manner of criminals who
should take part in it, and concluding with the promise of the
remission of sins to every one who should slay a heretic.[96] The
consequence was, the assemblage of an immense horde of brigands, who
were let loose on the valleys of Dauphiny and Piedmont, which they
ravaged and pillaged, in company with eighteen thousand regular
troops, jointly furnished by the French king and the Duke of Savoy.

[Footnote 95: Jean Leger, "Histoire Generale des Eglises
Evangeliques des Vallees de Piedmont, ou Vaudoises." Leyde,
1669. Part ii. 330.]

[Footnote 96: Leger, ii. 8-20.]

Sometimes the valleys were under the authority of the kings of France,
sometimes under that of the dukes of Savoy, whose armies alternately
overran them; but change of masters and change of popes made little
difference to the Vaudois. It sometimes, however, happened, that the
persecution waxed hotter on one side of the Cottian Alps, while it
temporarily relaxed on the other; and on such occasions the French and
Italian Vaudois were accustomed to cross the mountain passes, and take
refuge in each others' valleys. But when, as in the above case, the
kings, soldiers, and brigands, on both sides, simultaneously plied the
brand and the sword, the times were very troublous indeed for these
poor hunted people. They had then no alternative but to climb up the
mountains into the least accessible places, or hide themselves away
in dens and caverns with their families, until their enemies had
departed. But they were often, tracked to their hiding-places by their
persecutors, and suffocated, strangled, or shot--men, women, and
children. He