ABSTRACT
In April 1559 the Treaty of Cateau-Cambrésis returned most of the Duchy of Savoy to Duke Emmanuele Filiberto. This territory in northwestern Italy, seized by the French during the Italian wars earlier in the century, included the Piedmontese valleys of the southwestern Alps that, since at least the fourteenth century, had been the home of the Waldenses, descendants of a dissident Christian group excommunicated in 1184. Under French occupation, the Waldenses had enjoyed freedom of religion, and even under ducal government, the local Catholic authorities initially limited their contacts with the heretics to doctrinal debates and preaching campaigns. But in 1560, the duke changed policy, expelling the Waldenses’ ministers and executing three members of their church. The failure of these measures to convert the Waldenses in any numbers persuaded the duke to order a military invasion of their valleys in October. A general assembly of the Waldenses decided to resist militarily, and in February and March 1561 they inflicted two serious defeats on the ducal forces. In the wake of this setback, the duke opened negotiations with the Waldenses, and in June his representative and four Waldensian delegates signed the Peace of Cavour, by which the duke guaranteed the inhabitants of the valleys pardon, protection, and the free exercise of their religion within their own communities. In return, the Waldenses agreed to permit the continuing presence of the Catholic Church in the valleys and to refrain from preaching their faith outside their own churches.
