L'histoire Des Vaudois: From Authentic Details of the Valdenses

In the remote valleys of Piedmont, where the mountains rise sharp against the sky, a people refused to abandon their faith. The Vaudois, sometimes called Waldensians, traced their beliefs back to Peter Waldo, a merchant from Lyon who, in the twelfth century, began preaching a return to the purity of early Christianity. For seven hundred years, they endured. They were hunted by popes, driven into exile by French armies, burned in pyres, and yet they remained, tucked into their high valleys, guarding a flame that refused to die. J. Bresse, writing in the early nineteenth century, gathered what remained of the Vaudois manuscripts, the testimonies of Peyran, Henri Arnaud, and his own, in a world where these rare documents were fading into obscurity. The result is both a historical record and a passionate appeal: remember what your ancestors endured, remember what they preserved. This is a story of sorrow, yes, but also of stubborn, ferocious pride.