Waldenses Rejections of Holy Church in Medieval Europe [Paperback]

This is the first one-volume scholarly account in English of the Waldenses - a movement comprising various forms of religious dissidence and self-expression that was founded in the late twelfth century.

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

... exemplary in its clarity and comprehensiveness and will easily count as the standard treatment in the subject for years to come. Times Literary Supplement <!--el�