Table of Contents

List of Plates viii

List of Maps ix

Preface x

Introduction 1

Waldenses and the Catholic Church 2

The Changing Shape of the Sources 3

Some Questions Arising 5

Part I The First Phase

1 Before Heresy: Valdesius and the Poor Brethren at Lyon to 1184 11

2 Disobedient Preachers, 1184-c.1210 23

3 The Lombard ‘Poor in Spirit’, c.1205-1240 36

4 The Reconciliations with Rome, 1208-1212 49

Part II The Age of Inquisition, Thirteenth to fifteenth Centuries

Introduction: The impact of Organized Inquisitorial Activity 63

5 Waldenses in Occitan France, c.1220-1320 70

6 Germany and Eastern Europe 96

7 The Southwestern Alps 151

Part III The Alpine Waldenses Confront the Reformation

Introduction: The End of Heresy? 209

8 The Alpine Barbes and their Culture, c.1520-1530 211

9 The Encounters of 1530-1532 and their Outcomes 232

10 Calvin’s Geneva takes over in Piedmont, 1555-1565 264

Epilogue: The Waldenses as Persecuted Martyrs and the ‘True Church’ 285

Conclusions and Reflections 297

Bibliography 304

Index 319