| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
In the literature of the eleventh and twelfth centuries, there appears the figure of an intriguing man who had an exceptional impact on the society of his day. He is referred to variously as Valdes, Valdesius, Valdensius and Waldo (Valdo), from the city of Lyons.
References to the movement he founded ("Waldensians" "the poor of Lyons" "the Leonese" "the Poor of Lombardy" or simply "the Poor") appear repeatedly throughout the succeeding centuries of European history. They are always in the shadows, always under bitter persecution, always hard to understand, but always seemingly at the cutting edge of reformation ferment.
The actions and views of Waldo are shrouded in shadow, because neither he, nor contemporaries in his movement ever chronicled their lives. No existing documents speak of the exact year of his birth, of his youth, or even of the very last years of his life.1 This problem is made worse by the fact that the Poor of Lyons themselves desired to establish an argument for their legitimacy based on antiquity.
In a day when there was only one legitimate church, the Poor of Lyons felt that they had to answer the charge that they must be heretics because they were new. Therefore, they developed the argument that they were the remnant of a movement that had been resisting the Roman Catholic Church since the time of Constantine's donation of the western empire to Pope Sylvester in the fourth Century AD. This claim depended on the spurious documentation for the donation of Constantine, which both Catholics and Waldensians believed to be authentic at the time but which is actually without historical support.2
This development would have been harmless enough, but unfortunately, some early Protestant historians, writing in the 1600's were also in the market for a claim to antiquity. They saw the Waldensians as the bridge between themselves and the Apostles.3 They were inclined to believe the legends of the Poor of Lyons, and unfortunately they had possession of the earliest authentic Waldensian manuscripts.
These documents were compiled with commentary in a history written by Perrin, pastor at Lyons in the year 1618.4 Perrin's history was commissioned by the Synod of Dauphiny (which included the now reformed Waldensian Churches).5 A few years later, in 1655, John Leger, a Waldensian pastor, compiled another collection of source material, which eventually wound up in the library of the University of Cambridge.6 Perrin and Leger attributed dates to the documents which were far too early. Some Waldensians documents were dated as early as 1100 AD, (at least 60 years before the movement began). Other documents from the reformation period were dated as coming from before the reformation. This had the effect of portraying the Waldensian movement as reformed in doctrine throughout their history, whereas in fact they were not reformed until after the reformation.7
In 1875, Alexis Muston published The Israel of the Alps, which, although critical of some of the earlier work, such as Perrin's,8 continued to accept the basic thesis that the Waldensians originated at the time of Sylvester. Almost every Protestant work done since the time of Muston in turn has depended on his work until recent times. In fact, studies carried out by denominations such as the Presbyterians as recently as 1912 have continued to follow this line.9 Catholic sources are no better. Melia is an example of a Roman Catholic author as recently as 1870 attempting to deny that religious persecution of the Waldensians occurred at all.10 In the same way that John Leger accepted exaggerated accounts of the persecution, Melia has accepted non-credible Roman Catholic accounts.
It is perhaps not surprising that study of the Waldensians has become unpopular among scholars because it is viewed as the province of biased ideologues. For these reasons, there are few contemporary histories of the Waldensian Movement that have scholarly credibility.11
Because of these developments, it is difficult for the average student of history to arrive at a clear picture of the chronology and development of the movement without careful comparison of contradictory material. Further, in this case one must not only compare different authors, but must also ascertain that they do not depend on each other.
All we have from the earliest period is a few fragmentary writings from letters, commentaries and poems which circulated within the group, and a larger body of contemporary material written by Roman Catholic clerics, all from a hostile point of view. Therefore, as with so many "heresies" of the medieval period, it is necessary for the student to read between the lines of detractors' comments to separate the facts of the situation from the polemical elements in the inquisitorial literature.
Back to the Waldensian table of contents
Back to the Church History page
Read on to the next section in "Waldensians"
Back to the Equipping Division page
Ask Dennis a question or share a comment.
