VI. Massacre of 1655 Arouses British Investigation

The adherence of the Waldenses to the Reformation at the Chamforans Synod of 1532 drew upon them the eyes of the Roman Curia and led to action. But the armed expeditions of 1534 and 1560-61 were successfully hurled beck. This led to treaties and a period of relative tranquillity. However the Society for the Propagation of the Faith, established by Gregory XV in 1622, included among its objectives the “Extirpation of Heretics.” In 1650 a branch was established at Turin. ^{81Leger, op. cit., part 2, chap. 6, pp. 72, 73, Wylie, op. cit, vol. 2, pp 449-481,} The tranquillity ended in the “Bloody Easter” massacre of the Piedmont, in 1655, which aroused the British to energetic intervention.PFF1 855.1

By an edict authorized by the duke of Savoy (who was also Prince of Piedmont), dated, January 25, 1655, all Waldenses were ordered to become Catholics or give up their property and leave the best portion of their valleys within a few days, under pain of death—and that in the dead of Alpine winter. On April 17, 15,000 of Pianezza’s troops marched in, and on the 24th the terrible atrocities began. Butchery, torture, and en slavement was the dreadful fate. The battles continued on into May, June, July, when an army of 1,800 invested La Torre. Lofty Mount Castelluzzo, standing sentry at the entrance to the valleys, with its base covered with forests, and its peak mass of precipitous rock, had a cave, high on its face, into which hundreds of Waldenses fled, only to be trapped by their persecutors, dragged forth, and rolled down the awful precipice. Thus Castelluzzo became a giant Waldensian martyr monument. ^{82The details of the butchery are too sickening and revolting to recite, even in generalities. The completely documented narrative of the dreadful persecutions leading up to and climaxing in the Massacre of 1655 appears in Monastier, op. cit., pp. 262, 263, 267-283; see also Morland, op. cit., pp. 287- 384, 519-534; Leger, op. cit., part 2, pp. 108-137, 186-198. Leger, a Vaudois pastor, who was an eyewitness to the massacre, wrote out the full story in his history. The original of these depositions was given by Leger to Sir Samuel Morland, and by him placed in Cambridge University.}PFF1 855.2

1. BLOODY EASTER INSPIRED MILTON’S POWERFUL SONNET

It was the horrors of this spot that impelled the blind John Milton, Latin secretary to Oliver Cromwell, and then at the peak of his poetical achievements, to write the lines of his gripping sonnet titled “On the Late Massacher in Piemont.” This sublime protest was heard where nothing else made any impression. It has been described as one of the most powerful sonnets ever written:PFF1 856.1

“Avenge O Lord thy slaughter’d Saints, whose bones Lie scatter’d on the Alpine mountains cold, Ev’n them who kept thy truth so pure of old, When all our Fathers worship’t Stocks and Stones, Forget not: in thy book record their groanes Who were thy Sheep, and in their ancient Fold Slayn by the bloody Piemontese that roll’d mother with Infant down the Rocks. The moans The Vales redoubl’d to the Hills, and they To Heav’n. Their martyr’d blood and ashes so O’re all the Italian fields where still doth sway The triple tyrant: that from these mad grow A hunder’d-fold, who having learned thy way, Early may fly the Babylonian wo.” ^{83John Milton’s Complete Poetical Works, ed. by H. F. Fletcher, vol. 1, pp 43, 44. Even this poem contains prophetic interpretation; it applies the epithet “Babylon” to the “triple tyrant,” the Roman pontiff,}PFF1 856.2

2. CROMWELL’S ENERGETIC ACTION ENDS THE PERSECUTION

All Protestantism was stunned and incensed by the dreadful tidings. Deep sympathy and strong indignation were awakened. A wave of protest swept over Europe. The Reformed countries moved as one man. Almost all the Protestant churches humbled themselves before God by a day of fasting and prayer in behalf of the valleys. Liberal offerings were taken to care for the remnant Switzerland leading the way ^{84Monastier, op. cit., pp. 283, 284.} Sweden, Germany, and Holland were all moved. But in Britain, Cromwell, the lord protector of England, took upon himself the alleviation of their sufferings. He ordered a day of fasting and prayer to be kept throughout England, and started a subscription for funds for their relief to the amount of more than X38,000 ^{85Morland, op. cit., pp. 552, 553, 596; Monastier, op. cit., pp. 284-286.} At Cromwell’s direction Milton, then his Latin secretary, wrote letters of state in powerful phrasings to the rulers of Europe. Proclamations were issued, the second of which was printed as a broadside, written when the events were “hot in memory and indignation was flaming.” English public opinion was swiftly formed, and help resulted from Cromwell’s proclamations. ^{86Richard W Hale, Poetry, Prose and History, pp 5, 6}PFF1 856.3

Picture 3: MILTON, THE BLIND POET, DICTATING TO HIS DAUGHTERS
John Milton, poet and Latin secretary to Oliver Cromwell, profoundly stirred by the wanton slaughter of the Waldenses in 1655, wrote his powerful lines-“avenge o lord thy slaughter’d saints”.
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Sir Samuel Morland was sent by the British Government to interpose through personal appeal to the duke of Savoy and the king of France, and if possible to stop the persecution, and after investigation to lay the case before the Protestant world. Morland bore with him Cromwell’s letters of astonishment and sorrow over the barbarities. He visited the valleys and saw the situation with his own eyes, and addressed the duke in a powerful plea, which included these words:PFF1 858.1

“The Angels are surprised with horror! men are amazed Heaven itself seems to be astonied with the cries of dying men, and the very earth to blush, being discoloured with the gore-bloud of so many innocent persons Do not, O thou most high God, do not thou take that revenge which is due to so great wickednesses and horrible villanies! Let thy bloud, O Christ, wash away this bloud!” ^{87Morland, op cit, p 570. (The complete correspondence of Cromwell and Morland with these rulers appears on pages 539-709)}PFF1 858.2

Arriving at Turin in June, and at Geneva in July, Morland delivered so effective a protest that the edict of the duke of Savoy was withdrawn in August, 1655. A treaty brought the military operations to an end, and the Waldenses were allowed to return to their form of worship without further loss of life or property. ^{88Monastier, op. cit., pp. 286-288.}PFF1 858.3