title: Muhammad Shah

text: In the Punjab region, the Sikhs were at war with Mughal Subedars, and the hit-and-run tactics of the Sikh warriors caused devastation. In Ajmer, Ajit Singh carved out a vast territory and allied himself with the renegade Marathas. While in the Deccan the Marathas had ruined Mughal fortifications and were already on the warpath. All this greatly contributed to the decline of the Mughal Empire.


title: Muhammad Shah

text: In 1737, the Marathas under Baji Rao I annexed Gujarat, Malwa and Bundelkhand, and raided the Mughal capital Delhi.


title: Muhammad Shah

text: In 1739, Nader Shah of Persia, lured by the wealth and weakness of the Mughals, took advantage of a rebellion on his eastern borders near Kandahar and initiated a campaign against the Mughal Empire capturing Ghazni, Kabul, Lahore, and Sindh. He then advanced against Muhammad Shah and defeated him at the Battle of Karnal. The Persians, having crushed the Mughal armies in less than three hours, marched upon and sacked Delhi, hoarding priceless treasures that were taken back to Persia. This event weakened the Mughals significantly, paving the path for more invaders and eventually the East India Company.


title: Muhammad Shah

text: In 1748, Ahmad Shah Durrani of Afghanistan invaded the Mughal Empire. Heir apparent Ahmad Shah Bahadur, Grand Vizier Qamaruddin Khan and his son Moin-ul-Mulk better known as Mir Mannu, Intizam-ud-Daula and Safdarjung were sent with 75,000 men after the defeat of Shahnawaz Khan in Lahore. At the Battle of Manupur (1748), Durrani's 12,000 men were defeated, and he was forced to retreat. There was a great rejoicing for this event throughout the Mughal Empire.


title: Muhammad Shah

text: While Urdu (derived from "Zuban-i Urdū-yi Muʿallá" or in local translation "Lashkari Zaban", shortened to "Lashkari") was already in use before Muhammad Shah's reign, it was during his reign that it became more popular among the people and he declared it as the court language, replacing Persian. During Muhammad Shah's reign, Qawwali was reintroduced into the Mughal imperial court and it quickly spread throughout South Asia. Muhammad Shah is also known to have introduced religious institutions for education such as Maktabs. During his reign, the Quran was translated for the first time in simple Persian and Urdu. Also, during his reign, the formal Turkic dress, normally worn by the high Mughal nobility since Mughals originally hailed from Samarqand, was replaced by the Sherwani.


title: Muhammad Shah

text: Mohammad Shah was a patron of the performing arts, almost at the cost of administrative priorities, paving the way for the disintegration of governance. While Mughal political power did decline in his reign, the Emperor encouraged the arts, employing master artists such as Nidha Mal (active 1735–75) and Chitarman, whose vivacious paintings depict scenes of court life, such as Holi celebrations, hunting and hawking. The Mughal court of the time had musicians such as Naimat Khan, also known as Sadarang, and his nephew Firoz Khan (Adarang), whose compositions popularised the musical form of Khyal.Naimat Khan composed Khyal for his disciples and he never performed Khyal. This key component of Indian classical music evolved, ascended and received princely patronage at the court of Muhammad Shah.


title: Muhammad Shah

text: During the reign of Muhammad Shah, a significant scientific work known as the Zij-i Muhammad Shahi was completed by Jai Singh II of Amber between the year 1727 and 1735; it consisted of 400 pages.


title: Muhammad Shah

text: After Asaf Jah I left Delhi, the Marathas, who had already expanded up to the river Narmada, invaded the rich province of Malwa in the beginning of 1723. The Mughal Emperor entrusted its defence to its governor, who failed him. By winter of the same year, they reached Ujjain, the capital of Malwa.


title: Muhammad Shah

text: In 1725, the governorship of Gujarat was transferred to Sarbuland Khan. Enraged by the authority of the Mughal Emperor, the Marathas invaded Gujarat but were routed by Sarbuland Khan and his forces. This was mainly because most of the Maratha forces, including their leader Baji Rao I, were at the time fighting the Asaf Jah I in Hyderabad. The war with Hyderabad, however, proceeded favourably for the Marathas.


title: Muhammad Shah

text: In the year 1728, the Marathas led by Baji Rao I and his brother Chimnaji Appa invaded the Mughal province of Malwa and challenged the Mughal Subedar Girdihar Bahadur, who led a fairly large Mughal Army during the Battle of Amjhera. Both Girdihar Bahadur and his trusted cousin Daya Bahadur were defeated and killed. On 29 November, Chimnaji Appa went on to besiege the remnants of the Mughal Army of Malwa during a failed Siege of Ujjain.


title: Muhammad Shah

text: In the year 1731, Asaf Jah I the Nizam of Hyderabad had managed to secure the defections of influential Maratha leaders, such as Trimbak Rao Dabhade and Sanbhoji who threatened to abandon the Marathas and join the forces with the Mughal Emperor Muhammad Shah instead. This move was considered unacceptable by Baji Rao I and his brother Chimnaji Appa who led a large well armed Forces of Marathas to intercept Trimbak Rao Dabhade and Sanbhoji during the Battle of Dabhoi, where the defecting factions were all defeated, overrun and killed. Baji Rao I then attacked Gujarat with full force and finally drove out Sarbuland Khan by 1735.


title: Muhammad Shah

text: In the year 1736, Siddi's of Murud-Janjira set out to recapture Raigarh from the forces of Baji Rao, on 19 April 1736, Chimnaji attacked the gathering forces in the encampments of the Siddi's during a battle near Riwas, when the confrontation ended, 1500 Siddi's including their leader Siddi Sat were killed. Peace was concluded in September 1736, but the Siddi's were confined to Janjira, Gowalkot and Anjanvel.


title: Muhammad Shah

text: In the year 1737, Asaf Jah I the Nizam of Hyderabad led a large Mughal Army to assist the Nawab of Bhopal Yar Muhammad Khan Bahadur but was instead besieged inside the city of Bhopal by 80,000 Marathas led by Baji Rao I. The Battle of Bhopal continued until Safdarjung and his relief forces were driven away by Malhar Rao Holkar. With the following peace negotiations, Asaf Jah I agreed to the peace treaty ratified by the Mughal Emperor Muhammad Shah that granted Malwa to the Marathas.


title: Muhammad Shah

text: In the year 1737 the Maratha chieftain Baji Rao I attacked the Mughal imperial capital at Delhi, and defeated a well trained Mughal Army led by Amir Khan Bahadur, but was forced to withdraw when the Mughal sent substantially well armed reinforcements fought major skirmishes with the Marathas on the outskirts of Delhi. Baji Rao I and his Marathas fled southeast to Badshshpur, where he corresponded with the Mughal Emperor Muhammad Shah, who ratified peace by agreeing the handover of Malwa to the Marathas.


title: Muhammad Shah

text: Among the loyal tributaries of the Mughal Empire was Meenakshi, the queen of the Madurai Nayaks in Dindigul Fort, she had assisted Mughal forces in the Carnatic several times against the Marathas.


title: Muhammad Shah

text: In the year 1740, Dost Ali Khan to Nawab of the Carnatic and Chanda Sahib faced the task of expelling the Marathas under Raghoji I Bhonsle, authorised by Shahu. Dost Ali Khan lost his life on 20 May 1740 at the Battle of Damalcherry in defence of Arcot and its populace, which was eventually looted and plundered. Chanda Sahib along with his garrison was captured and imprisoned in Satara. Chanda Sahib and his forces ferociously defended their rightful reams during the Siege of Trichinopoly and almost all the territories of the Nawab of the Carnatic despite being outnumbered substantially by the Marathas, their daunting efforts soon attracted the attention of the curious French East India Company official named Joseph François Dupleix. dissatisfied by the Maratha occupation of the territories of the Nawab of the Carnatic, Asaf Jah I led an expedition to liberate the Carnatic he was joined by Sadatullah Khan II and Anwaruddin Muhammed Khan together they recaptured Arcot and initiated the Siege of Trichinopoly (1743), which lasted five months and forced the Marathas led by Murari Rao Ghorpade to evacuate the Carnatic.


title: Muhammad Shah

text: In the year 1747, the Marathas led by Raghoji I Bhonsle, began to raid, pillage and annex the territories of the Nawab of Bengal Alivardi Khan. During the Maratha invasion of Orissa, its Subedar Mir Jafar completely withdrew all forces until the arrival of Alivardi Khan and the Mughal Army at the Battle of Burdwan where Raghoji I Bhonsle and his Maratha forces were completely routed. The enraged Nawab of Bengal Alivardi Khan then dismissed the shamed Mir Jafar. However, four years later Orissa was ceded over to the Marathas by the Mughal Emperor.


title: Muhammad Shah

text: On 13 February 1739 the Persians under the military genius Nader Shah, the commander of the Afsharids, had deposed the former Safavid dynasty, then defeated Persia's arch rival, the Ottoman Empire several times, and had therefore secured the western front. Now his eyes turned upon the wealthy but weakened Mughal Empire. In the year 1739, Nader Shah invaded the Mughal Empire, and defeated Muhammad Shah during the Battle of Karnal in less than three hours, and then marched upon the Mughal capital Delhi, and after a chain of events, he completely sacked and looted it, and occupied much of the northern regions of the Mughal Empire.


title: Muhammad Shah

text: Nader Shah wanted to subdue Afghan rebels led by the Ghilzai tribe particularly in the region around Kandahar. He therefore requested the assistance of the Muhammad Shah to close the frontiers around Kabul and the Indus Valley so that the rebels may not flee or seek refuge. Muhammad Shah gave a confirming reply to Nader Shah but didn't do any thing practically, because the local Subedars and Faujdars sympathised with the Afghan and rejected Persian rule. The Afghan rebels eventually did flee to the Mughals.


title: Muhammad Shah

text: Outraged by this, Nader Shah sent an ambassador to Muhammad Shah, demanding deliverance of the fugitives. The Mughal Emperor did not provide a positive response and kept the Persians marginalised from Delhi for an entire year. Nader Shah became furious with Muhammad Shah. He had now found himself two reasons of why to invade the Mughal Empire; one, that the Mughals didn't deliver the Afghan rebels to him, and two, he knew that the Mughals were weak, but still extremely wealthy.


title: Muhammad Shah

text: On the basis of the above reasons, Nader Shah decided to invade the Mughal Empire, by starting to attack from Afghanistan. In May 1738 he attacked Northern Afghanistan. In the same month, he captured Ghazni, in June he captured Kabul and in September Jalalabad also fell to him. In November he surrounded the fortress of Peshawar and razed it to the ground after the Battle of Khyber pass.


title: Muhammad Shah

text: Finally in January 1739, he captured Lahore, after completely subduing the forces of the Mughal viceroy, Zakariya Khan Bahadur and his 25,000 elite Sowars, by the river Chenab the Afsharid forces soon encountered bands of Sikh rebels whom Nader Shah predicted would clearly benefit after his invasion.


title: Muhammad Shah

text: Now Nader Shah had captured territory all the way up to Attock, and Muhammad Shah and his courtiers could not close their eyes from further danger. They finally understood that the Persian emperor was not the sort of enemy that could be bought off with the loot of a province. Furthermore, he had devastated the area he just conquered. The cities of Wazirabad, Emanabad and Gujrat were not only sacked but razed to the ground. Near Larkana the Afsharid forces completely routed the Mughal Army of the Nawab of Sindh, Main Noor Mohammad Kalhoro, and later captured him and his two sons.


title: Muhammad Shah

text: In February 1739, Nader Shah captured Sirhind and moved towards the field of Karnal, a battle destined to be fateful to the Mughal rulers. On 13 February, the battle of Karnal was fought. Emperor Muhammad Shah had over a hundred thousand force against Nader Shah's 55,000 men but was still decisively defeated in less than three hours. In the event, the "Khan Douran" died and wrote a will that the Mughal and Afsharid emperors should not meet, but Nader Shah should be turned back from there at all costs. But the Mughal Emperor Muhammad Shah believed that he had no other choice but to surrender to Nader Shah on 26 February in the Afsharid encampments, thirteen days after the Battle of Karnal. The Mughal Emperor Muhammad Shah handed over the keys of the Delhi gate and marched as a captive with Nader Shah to Delhi, which was then completely plundered.


title: Muhammad Shah

text: After entering Delhi, Nader Shah claimed to occupy the Mughal Empire out of religious devotion and that if ""the wretched Marathas of the Deccan"" moved towards Delhi, he might ""send an army of victorious Qizilbash to drive them to the abyss of Hell"". In fact Nader Shah had delivered catastrophe from which the Mughal Empire itself never recovered and the subjects of the emperor were outraged by the ascendancy of the Afsharids.


title: Muhammad Shah

text: At first, things were cordial among the two emperors. However rumours spread throughout Delhi that Nader Shah was assassinated. The masses attacked the Persian force and killed some soldiers. Nader Shah, furious, ordered to massacre the populace, and at least 30,000 people died. The Emperor and Asaf Jah I had to beg Nader Shah for mercy and thus he stopped the massacre and turned to looting the Mughal treasury. The famous Peacock Throne, the Daria-i-Noor diamond and unimaginable wealth was looted. In addition, elephants, horses and everything that was liked was taken. Muhammad Shah also had to hand over his daughter Jahan Afruz Banu Begum as a bride for Nader Shah's youngest son. Asaf Jah I retired to Deccan after installing his eldest son Intizam-ud-Daula as a major commander in the Mughal Army.


title: Muhammad Shah

text: After the whole event, Muhammad Shah was crowned as emperor by Nader Shah himself on 12 May, and he ceded the area west of river Indus to Nader Shah, although the Kalhora Nawabs of Sindh continued to fight the invading Afsharids. Nader Shah then took the Koh-i-Noor diamond and the other aforementioned famous treasures, and he and his Persian forces started to return to Persia.


title: Muhammad Shah

text: Nader Shah's invasion destroyed what was left of the Mughal Empire and neared it to its end. After the invasion, the Mughals rapidly disintegrated. The weakness of the Mughal Army was clearly elaborated after this invasion. The Nawabs clearly could not even relieve their captured city of Delhi, which was the seat of their authority. The Mughals were completely looted of their wealth, and rebellions and disloyalty became commonplace.


title: Muhammad Shah

text: In 1719, Kolis of Mahi River were most rebellious against Mughal rule and plundering the villages, Mihir Ali Khan who was acting as Viceroy of Gujarat at the place of Ajit Singh of Marwar, marched against Koli rebels of Mahi who were committing piracy against muslims and subdued them.


title: Muhammad Shah

text: In 1721, Kasim Ali Khan who was an officer in Mughal Empire under Muuhammad Shah employed against the Kolis of Kheda district to collect the fine but they refused to pay and there was a battle in Pethapur between Kolis and Mughal army under Kasim Ali Khan. Kasim Ali Khan was killed by Kolis and Mughal army was defeated and retreat to base.*


title: Muhammad Shah

text: In 1722, Muhammad Bahadur, son of Salabat Khan Babi, was placed in charge of Sadra and Virpur, with the title of Sher Khan. Shortly after his arrival the viceroy marched against and subdued the rebellious Kolis of the Chunval but was wounded deeply. After that Kolis of Modhera opposed the Muhammad Shah but Modhera village was burnt down.


title: Muhammad Shah

text: In 1729, Mughal Viceroy of Sultan Muhammad Shah faced the challenge of anti-muslim activities of Kolis of Sorath, viceroy marches against Kolis of sorath and destroying them taken to Ahmednagar. after this, Jawan Mard Khan Babi who was Governor of Petlad ordered against rebellious Kolis of Balor, probably Bhátod about fifteen miles east of Bharuch, but Jawan Marad Khan was killed by a man of Koli tribe, and in revenge for his death the town of Balor was plundered. On the death of Jawán Mard Khan, at the request of Salabat Muhammad Khan Babi, his eldest son Kamal-ud-din Khan Babi received the districts of Sami and Munjpur and the title of Jawan Mard Khan.


title: Muhammad Shah

text: In 1738, Sher Khan Babi was of Junagadh was appointed as governor of sorath, Babi was obliged to march against a Koli chieftain Kanji Chunvalia of Chhaniar in Chunval because Kanji opposed and resisted the mughal authority but Sher Khan Babi was bravely resisted by Kolis so Momin Khan was called with large force and Chhaniar was burned down by mughal army.


title: Muhammad Shah

text: In 1739, Koli chieftan Jamaji of Thara, raised the Kolis of Kankrej against sultan and continually plundered the mughal territory. Jawan Marad Khan was ordered to march against the Koli chieftain but he was unable to maintain order so he requested the Fida-ud-din Khan to subdue the Kolis. After defeating the Koli chieftain, the Koli country was plundered by mughal troops.


title: Muhammad Shah

text: In 1740, Kolis of Atarsumba, challenged the Mughal authority and refused to pay any form of tax to mughal sultan. Jawan marad khan along with his brother Zorawar Khan Babi Marched against Kolis of Atarsumba but they were strongly resisted and there was a battle but mughals defeated the Kolis and make them to pay tax. But it was not for long time, after some time, Kolis again refused to pay tax and mughal troops were sent under Abdul Hussain Khan and Vajeram burnt the three Koli villages.


title: Muhammad Shah

text: In 1747, Rangoji a Maratha military leader returned to Áhmedábád, and Jawán Mard Khán had an interview with him a few miles from the city. Shortly after this the Kolis of Mehmudabad and Mahudha rebelled, but the revolt was speedily crushed by Sháhbáz Rohilla.


title: Muhammad Shah

text: Following Nader Shah's invasion, Persia's arch rival the Ottoman Empire, quickly exploited the void that was created at their Eastern borders as almost all Persian units were deployed in the Mughal Empire. During that period Mughal Emperor Muhammad Shah closely observed the actions of the Ottomans, and also cooperated with the Ottoman ambassador Haji Yusuf Agha until the emperor's death in 1748 after the victory of the Mughal Army at the Battle of Manupur (1748) against yet another foe (Ahmad Shah Durrani).


title: Muhammad Shah

text: Emperor Muhammad Shah had four wives. His first wife and chief consort was his first-cousin, Princess Badshah Begum, the daughter of Emperor Farrukhsiyar and his first wife, Gauhar-un-Nissa Begum. He married her after his accession on 8 December 1721 at Delhi, and gave her the title "Malika-uz-Zamani" (Queen of the Age) by which she was popularly known. On this occasion there was a great ceremony lasting for weeks. She bore him his first son, Shahriyar Shah Bahadur, who died young in 1726. She was his most influential wife and exercised her opinions on him. She died on 14 December 1789. Later, Muhammad Shah took a second wife, Sahiba Mahal. With her, he had a daughter, Hazrat Begum, who married Ahmad Shah Durrani in the year 1757.


title: Muhammad Shah

text: His third wife was a dancing girl, Udham Bai, who bore him his future successor, Ahmad Shah Bahadur on 23 December 1725. Upon his birth, he was taken from her and was lovingly brought up by Badshah Begum, who considered him her own son. It was through Badshah Begum's efforts that Ahmad Shah was able to ascend the throne upon Muhammad Shah's death in 1748.


title: Muhammad Shah

text: The victory of the Mughal Army during the Battle of Manupur (1748) came with a heavy price as many fell in battle. Initially this was kept a secret. However, when the news reached the Mughal Emperor Muhammad Shah, he could not speak, suddenly became sick, and did not come out of his apartments for three days. During this period he fasted. His guards could hear him crying out loud and saying: ""How could I bring about anyone as faithful as he? (Qamaruddin Khan)"". He died due to grief on 26 April 1748, his funeral was attended by visiting Imams from Mecca. Muhammad Shah's tomb is located in an enclosure within the Nizamuddin Dargah complex.


title: Ed Markey

text: Edward John Markey (born July 11, 1946) is an American lawyer, politician, and former Army reservist who has served as the junior United States senator from Massachusetts since 2013. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the U.S. representative for from 1976 to 2013. Between the House and Senate, Markey has served in Congress for more than four decades. He was also a member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives from 1973 to 1976.


title: Ed Markey

text: In 2013, after John Kerry was appointed United States Secretary of State, Markey was elected to serve out the remainder of Kerry's Senate term in a 2013 special election. Markey defeated Stephen Lynch in the Democratic primary and Republican Gabriel E. Gomez in the general election. Markey was elected to a full term in the Senate in 2014. Markey fended off a primary challenge from Joseph Kennedy III and was reelected in 2020 by a wide margin.


title: Ed Markey

text: Markey is a progressive who has focused on climate change and energy policy and was chair of the House Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming from 2007 to 2011. He is the Senate author of the Green New Deal. Markey is the dean of the Massachusetts congressional delegation, having served in Congress since 1976. Markey's progressive policies have led to widespread support among young voters. "The Hill" has called him "an icon to Gen Z activists".


title: Ed Markey

text: Markey was born on July 11, 1946, in Malden, Massachusetts, the son of Christina M. (née Courtney) and John E. Markey, a milkman. Markey's mother was the valedictorian of her high school class but was unable to attend college because her mother died and she was needed to care for the family. The family was Irish Catholic, and Markey was educated at Immaculate Conception School and Malden Catholic High School.


title: Ed Markey

text: Starting in the summer of 1965, Markey was the driver and salesperson for an ice cream truck in Lexington, Massachusetts. He was known as "Eddie the Ice Cream Man" to neighborhood children and used the proceeds from the HP Hood route to pay tuition at Boston College. In the late 1960s Markey was cited by the Lexington Police for the ringing of his bell to announce the ice cream truck's presence. Soon after the citation, the selectmen of Lexington changed the ordinance and he was allowed to ring his bell.


title: Ed Markey

text: Markey graduated from Boston College in 1968 with a Bachelor of Arts and from Boston College Law School in 1972 with a Juris Doctor.


title: Ed Markey

text: After graduating, Markey worked as a lawyer in private practice. He served in the United States Army Reserve from 1968 to 1973, attaining the rank of Specialist Fourth Class. He joined while a junior in college, and has said that he enlisted before knowing whether he would receive a Vietnam War draft notice. Markey also said that even though he opposed the war, he would have answered the induction notice and gone to Vietnam if he had been drafted, despite having secured a position in the Reserve. His South Boston reserve unit included Thomas P. O'Neill III, Steve Grossman, and Markey's brothers Richard and John.


title: Ed Markey

text: Markey was elected to the Massachusetts House of Representatives, where he represented the 16th Middlesex district (Malden and Melrose) and 26th Middlesex district from 1973 to 1976.


title: Ed Markey

text: On May 21, 1976, incumbent Congressman Torbert Macdonald died in office. Markey, who had just been elected to a third term in the state house, entered a twelve-candidate Democratic primary for what was then the 7th district. In the primary—the real contest in this heavily Democratic district—Markey won the nomination with a plurality of 22% of the vote. In the November 1976 election he defeated Republican Richard Daly 77%–18%. That election doubled as both a special election for the balance of Macdonald's 11th term and a regular election for a full two-year term, and so Markey took office later that night. This gave him greater seniority than other Representatives first elected in 1976.


title: Ed Markey

text: Markey has been challenged in a Democratic primary three times, first in 1980, when he won 85%; then in 1984, when he won 54%; and finally in 2002, when he won 85% of the vote.


title: Ed Markey

text: Markey was reelected 19 more times from this district, which included most of the northern suburbs of Boston. His lowest vote total was 62% in 1992, in a three-way election. Markey faced no Republican opposition in eight of his bids for reelection, in 1978, 1980, 1986, 1988, 1990, 2000, 2002, and 2006. His district was renumbered the 5th after the 2010 census, in which Massachusetts lost a district.


title: Ed Markey

text: Markey was a member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, and the "National Journal" gave him a "Composite Liberal" score of 89.2.


title: Ed Markey

text: In December 2007, Markey became the first US politician to use Second Life, through which he addressed the delegates of the UNFCCC in Bali as part of OneClimate's Virtual Bali event. It was estimated that the carbon dioxide he saved by not flying to Bali was around 5.5 tons. Pressure from Markey prompted BP to provide a live underwater video feed showing oil leaking out of a pipe in the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in 2010. Markey has been a longtime critic of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) and has been critical of the NRC's decision-making on the proposed Westinghouse AP1000 reactor design and the NRC response to the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster.


title: Ed Markey

text: In reply to Alaska's Governor Sarah Palin's position on how the American Clean Energy and Security Act (also known as Waxman-Markey, named after Markey and Henry Waxman) could have a negative impact for Alaskans, Markey wrote an article criticizing Palin's inaction on global warming and her environmental positions.


title: Ed Markey

text: Markey sarcastically suggested in August 2010 that global warming deniers form their own country on an iceberg: "An iceberg four times the size of Manhattan has broken off Greenland, creating plenty of room for global warming deniers to start their own country." Markey also said that, at the time, 2010 was the hottest recorded year and that "scientists agree Arctic ice is a canary in a coal mine that provides clear warnings on climate". Markey has derided Republicans' stance on global warming, stating during a hearing: "I won't physically rise, because I'm worried that Republicans will overturn the law of gravity, sending us floating about the room."


title: Ed Markey

text: In January 2011, House Republicans eliminated the Select Committee for Energy Independence and Global Warming, which Nancy Pelosi created in 2006 and Markey chaired.


title: Ed Markey

text: Markey was one of the 31 House Democrats who voted not to count Ohio's 20 electoral votes in the 2004 presidential election. George W. Bush had won Ohio by 118,457 votes. Without Ohio's electoral votes, the election would have been decided by the U.S. House of Representatives, with each state having one vote, as dictated by the Twelfth Amendment to the United States Constitution.


title: Ed Markey

text: Markey introduced legislation to change the duration of Daylight Saving Time and to increasing privacy controls over children online.


title: Ed Markey

text: Markey drew some controversy through his proposal to introduce legislation that deals with amusement parks' roller coasters, believing that newer, faster rides that exert greater G-pressures on the human body are dangerous mentally and physically, despite a lack of concrete evidence to support these claims, and contrary to studies that affirmed the safety of roller coasters in general.


title: Ed Markey

text: In 2009, Markey sponsored the Internet Freedom Preservation Act to enact principles of net neutrality. The proposed legislation received support from a few dozen co-sponsors and public interest organizations but ultimately died in committee before enactment.


title: Ed Markey

text: In 2003, Markey called attention to the lack of security surrounding air cargo placed on commercial passenger planes, arguing that if passenger baggage is screened for explosive devices, cargo on the plane should be as well. In 2007, he succeeded in getting a 100% air cargo screening requirement signed into law. In the law codifying the recommendations of the 9/11 Commission, Markey wrote the mandate requiring all cargo on passenger planes to be screened.


title: Ed Markey

text: In 2004, Markey was considered a contender for John Kerry's seat in the United States Senate if Kerry were to be elected President of the United States. He was also considered a leading contender in the 2010 special election to replace the late Ted Kennedy, but on September 12, 2009, he announced his decision not to run and endorsed fellow Congressman Michael Capuano, who went on to lose the Democratic primary to Martha Coakley.


title: Ed Markey

text: On December 27, 2012, Markey was the first to announce his candidacy to run in a special election to fill Kerry's seat after Barack Obama nominated him for United States Secretary of State. Several politicians, including Kerry, endorsed Markey even before the Senate confirmed Kerry. On April 30, 2013, Markey won the Democratic nomination by defeating fellow Congressman Stephen Lynch in the primary election. He defeated Republican challenger Gabriel E. Gomez in the general special election on June 25 and completed the remaining 17 months of Kerry's term.


title: Ed Markey

text: Markey is the longest-tenured House member ever elected to the Senate, with his 36-plus years of service exceeding that of Frederick H. Gillett, who served in the House for 32 years before moving to the upper chamber in 1925. He is the 11th oldest candidate to win a U.S. Senate special election out of more than 170 men and women since the passage of the 17th Amendment.


title: Ed Markey

text: Markey sought a full six-year term in 2014. He defeated Republican Hopkinton selectman Brian Herr with 62 percent of the vote.


title: Ed Markey

text: In the 2020 Democratic Party presidential primaries, Markey endorsed fellow Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren. After Warren withdrew in early 2020, he endorsed Joe Biden.


title: Ed Markey

text: Several Massachusetts Democrats announced primary challenges to Markey in the September 1, 2020 election, but all but 4th district Representative Joe Kennedy III dropped out, leaving Kennedy as the sole challenger. On September 13, 2019, Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, with whom Markey has collaborated on the proposed Green New Deal, endorsed Markey.


title: Ed Markey

text: Markey defeated Kennedy with 55.6% of the vote, with overwhelming margins in Boston and the surrounding suburbs, including Kennedy's Newton, and in the college towns of Western Massachusetts. The primary race was seen by many as a showdown between the Democratic establishment, represented by Kennedy, and its new and growing progressive wing, embodied by Markey. Despite the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee's longstanding opposition to Democratic primary challengers, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi endorsed Kennedy, whose fundraising and campaigning efforts she credited for returning the House to Democratic control in the 2018 midterm elections. Meanwhile, Markey had the support of Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, Senator Elizabeth Warren, Ocasio-Cortez, and the youth-led Sunrise Movement founded in 2017 to promote the Green New Deal as a solution to the climate crisis.


title: Ed Markey

text: Markey resigned his House seat on July 15, 2013, and was sworn into the Senate on July 16. Although he is the dean of the Massachusetts delegation, he is the state's junior Senator, since Elizabeth Warren took office six months before he did.


title: Ed Markey

text: Markey is known for the "blizzard" of public letters he posts on his website and sends to the press to draw attention to his favored issues.


title: Ed Markey

text: Markey was on Capitol Hill to participate in the 2021 United States Electoral College vote count when Trump supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol. During the attack, he and his staff sheltered in place in an undisclosed location. During the siege, he tweeted, "Donald Trump is responsible for the coup that is unfolding at the Capitol. He is a fascist and a direct threat to our country." After the Capitol was secure, Markey tweeted that Trump should be impeached. When Congress returned to count the electoral votes, Markey gave his remarks, calling Republicans who objected to the count seditious. The next day, he called for the Twenty-fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution to be invoked.


title: Ed Markey

text: When he was first elected to Congress, Markey opposed abortion and supported a constitutional amendment to ban it. He described his opposition as a matter of conscience. Starting in 1983, he began moving away from his opposition, voting against measures that blocked funding for abortion for federal employees unless their life was at risk. During his 1984 Senate campaign, Markey said that while he still personally opposed abortion, he believed that it should remain legal. Since then, he has opposed restrictions on abortion.


title: Ed Markey

text: In June 2019, Markey was one of six Democrats led by Amy Klobuchar who signed letters to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the Department of Justice recounting that many of them had "called on both the FTC and the Justice Department to investigate potential anticompetitive activity in these markets, particularly following the significant enforcement actions taken by foreign competition enforcers against these same companies" and requesting that each agency confirm whether it had opened antitrust investigations into each of the companies and pledge that it would publicly release any such investigation's findings.


title: Ed Markey

text: In 2019, Markey and 34 other senators introduced the Child Care for Working Families Act, a bill that they claim would create 770,000 new child care jobs and ensure that families making less than 75% of the state median income would not pay for child care, with higher-earning families having to pay "their fair share for care on a sliding scale, regardless of the number of children they have." The legislation also supports universal access to high-quality preschool programs for all 3- and 4-year-olds and changes child care compensation and training.


title: Ed Markey

text: In 2019, after the Federal Communications Commission announced changes to the Children's Television Act of 1990, Markey and eight other Democratic senators signed a letter to FCC Chairman Ajit Pai that expressed concern that the proposed changes "would limit the reach of educational content available to children and have a particular damaging effect on youth in low-income and minority communities" and asserted that the new rules would decrease access to valuable educational content through over-the-air services.


title: Ed Markey

text: In November 2018, Markey was one of 25 Democratic senators to cosponsor a resolution in response to findings of the Intergovernmental Panel On Climate Change report and National Climate Assessment. The resolution affirmed the senators' acceptance of the findings and their support for bold action to address climate change. In 2019, the League of Conservation Voters, which works to elect pro-environment candidates, endorsed Markey.


title: Ed Markey

text: Markey is the Senate author of the Green New Deal. In February 2019, Markey and Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez released a 14-page summary of their Green New Deal plan to address climate change. It calls for implementing the "social cost of carbon" that was part of the Obama administration's plans to address climate change and transitioning the United States to 100% renewable, zero-emission energy sources, zero-emission vehicles, and high-speed rail systems. It also aims to provide new jobs and alleviate poverty. On March 26, in what Democrats called a "stunt", Republicans called for an early vote without allowing discussion or expert testimony. Markey said Republicans were trying to "make a mockery" of the Green New Deal debate and called the vote a "sham". In protest, Democrats, including Markey, voted "present" or against the bill, resulting in a 57–0 defeat on the Senate floor.


title: Ed Markey

text: In March 2019, Markey was one of 11 senators to sponsor the Climate Security Act of 2019, legislation to form a new group within the State Department to develop strategies to integrate climate science and data into national security operations as well as to restore the post of special envoy for the Arctic, a group that President Trump dismantled in 2017. The envoy would advise the President and the administration on the potential effects of climate on national security and be responsible for facilitating all interagency communication between federal science and security agencies.


title: Ed Markey

text: Markey proposed that the COVID-19 vaccine be distributed to underserved areas and communities of color as a priority for racial justice. He said on February 20, 2021, "Even though Black and Hispanic residents have borne the brunt of this pandemic here in Massachusetts and all across the country, these communities are not receiving the vaccine in proportion to their share of their population."


title: Ed Markey

text: In April 2018, Markey was one of five Democratic senators to sign a letter to FEMA administrator Brock Long calling on FEMA to enter an agreement with the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development that would "stand up the Disaster Housing Assistance Program and address the medium- and longer-term housing needs" of evacuees of Puerto Rico in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria. The senators asserted that "FEMA's refusal to use the tools at its disposal, including DHAP, to help these survivors is puzzling—and profoundly troubling" and that hundreds of hurricane survivors were susceptible to being left homeless in the event that FEMA and HUD continued not to work together.


title: Ed Markey

text: In December 2016, Markey was one of 17 senators to sign a letter to President-elect Trump asking him to fulfill a campaign pledge to bring down the cost of prescription drugs, stating their willingness "to advance measures to achieve this goal", and calling on Trump "to partner with Republicans and Democrats alike to take meaningful steps to address the high cost of prescription drugs through bold administrative and legislative actions."


title: Ed Markey

text: In December 2018, Markey was one of 21 senators to sign a letter to Commissioner of Food and Drugs Scott Gottlieb stating their approval of the actions of the Food and Drugs Administration to hinder youth access to e-cigarettes and urging the FDA "to take additional, stronger steps to prevent and reduce e-cigarette use among youth."


title: Ed Markey

text: In February 2019, Markey was one of eight senators to sign a letter to the Federal Communications Commission and Department of Justice asking that regulators prohibit a proposed $26-billion merger between T-Mobile and Sprint because American enforcers have understood for the last 30 years "that fostering robust competition in telecommunications markets is the best way to provide every American with access to high-quality, cutting-edge communications at a reasonable price" and the merger would result in a return "to the dark days of heavily consolidated markets and less competition, with all of the resulting harms."


title: Ed Markey

text: In March 2019, Markey was one of six senators to sign a letter to the Federal Trade Commission requesting that it "use its rulemaking authority, along with other tools, in order to combat the scourge of non-compete clauses rigging our economy against workers" and saying that non-compete clauses "harm employees by limiting their ability to find alternate work, which leaves them with little leverage to bargain for better wages or working conditions with their immediate employer." The letter added that the FTC had the responsibility of protecting both consumers and workers and needed to "act decisively" to address their concerns over "serious anti-competitive harms from the proliferation of non-competes in the economy."


title: Ed Markey

text: In December 2016, Markey and Senators Chris Coons and Marco Rubio suggested to the Department of State that the U.S. curtail assistance to the Philippines' law enforcement units due to alleged extrajudicial killings and other human rights violations in Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte's drug war, in adherence to the Leahy Law. In April 2019, Markey and four other Democratic and Republican senators introduced a resolution urging the release of Philippine senator Leila de Lima, a key proponent of the inquiry on the Duterte administration's reported human rights violations who has been detained since 2017 for suspected drug trafficking; the senators believed that De Lima's detention was politically motivated. In January 2020, Markey revealed that the Philippine government had declared him and Senators Dick Durbin and Patrick Leahy (principal sponsor of the Leahy Law) "persona non grata" to the country. After Duterte stepped down from office in 2022, Markey visited the Philippines and met with De Lima privately.


title: Ed Markey

text: In 2018, Markey cosponsored the Countering the Chinese Government and Communist Party's Political Influence Operations Act, a bill introduced by Rubio and Catherine Cortez Masto that would give the U.S. Secretary of State and the Director of National Intelligence (DNI) the authority to create an interagency task force to examine Chinese attempts to influence the U.S. and key allies.


title: Ed Markey

text: In October 2018, Markey was one of eight senators to sign a letter to Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats requesting a classified briefing on what the American intelligence community knew about threats to U.S.-based Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi so that the senators could fulfill their "oversight obligation" as members of Congress. In March 2019, Markey was one of nine Democratic senators to sign a letter to Salman of Saudi Arabia requesting the release of human rights lawyer Waleed Abu al-Khair and writer Raif Badawi, women's rights activists Loujain al-Hathloul and Samar Badawi, and Dr. Walid Fitaih. The senators wrote, "Not only have reputable international organizations detailed the arbitrary detention of peaceful activists and dissidents without trial for long periods, but the systematic discrimination against women, religious minorities and mistreatment of migrant workers and others has also been well-documented."


title: Ed Markey

text: In November 2018, Markey, Senators Chris Coons and Elizabeth Warren, and a bipartisan group of lawmakers sent the Trump administration a letter raising concerns about the People's Republic of China's undue influence on media outlets and academic institutions in the United States. They wrote: "In American news outlets, Beijing has used financial ties to suppress negative information about the CCP... Beijing has also sought to use relationships with American academic institutions and student groups to shape public discourse."


title: Ed Markey

text: In February 2019, ahead of the 2019 North Korea–United States Hanoi Summit, Markey said that it was "pretty clear that Kim wants to have a personal meeting with Trump with hopes that he can, in fact, elicit concessions from President Trump that might not otherwise be possible if it was just our diplomats talking one-on-one" and that the US "could run the risk that Kim is given concessions which are not accompanied by real concessions that the United States is receiving in return from Kim and his regime." Markey called for Trump to receive commitments on denuclearization from Kim Jong-un before making commitments in return.


title: Ed Markey

text: In April 2019, Markey was one of 34 senators to sign a letter to Trump encouraging him "to listen to members of your own Administration and reverse a decision that will damage our national security and aggravate conditions inside Central America", asserting that Trump had "consistently expressed a flawed understanding of U.S. foreign assistance" since becoming president and that he was "personally undermining efforts to promote U.S. national security and economic prosperity" by preventing the use of Fiscal Year 2018 national security funding. The senators argued that foreign assistance to Central American countries created less migration to the U.S. by helping to improve conditions in those countries.


title: Ed Markey

text: In October 2020, Markey accused Turkey, a NATO ally, of inciting war between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh and called on the Trump administration to immediately suspend U.S. military aid to Azerbaijan sent through the Pentagon's "building partner assistance program." According to critics, the aid could be used in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. He co-signed a letter to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo that read: "If Turkey is unwilling to step back from active engagement in the conflict, then the State Department should immediately suspend all sales and transfers of military equipment to Ankara."


title: Ed Markey

text: On October 10, 2002, Markey voted in favor of the Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Iraq Resolution of 2002, authorizing the use of the United States Armed Forces against Saddam Hussein's government in what became Operation Iraqi Freedom. As of March 2020, Markey has said that voting for the authorization was a "mistake", and that he did so because "George Bush lied, Donald Rumsfeld lied, Dick Cheney lied to the American people about the presence of nuclear weapons in Iraq. I'm still angry about that lie to the American people."


title: Ed Markey

text: In March 2019, Markey and 38 other senators signed a letter to the Appropriations Committee opining that contractor workers and by extension their families "should not be penalized for a government shutdown that they did nothing to cause" while noting that there were bills in both chambers of Congress that if enacted would provide back pay to compensate contractor employees for lost wages. The letter urged the Appropriations Committee "to include back pay for contractor employees in a supplemental appropriations bill for FY2019 or as part of the regular appropriations process for FY2020."


title: Ed Markey

text: Markey supports gun control, including improved background checks, ending illegal gun trafficking, and closing loopholes on gun purchases.


title: Ed Markey

text: In 2015 he proposed a "smart gun" bill that aimed to equip handguns with technology making them usable by only the purchaser.


title: Ed Markey

text: In January 2016, Markey led 18 senators in signing a letter to Thad Cochran and Barbara Mikulski requesting that the Labor, Health and Education subcommittee hold a hearing on whether to allow the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to fund a study of gun violence and "the annual appropriations rider that some have interpreted as preventing it" with taxpayer dollars. The senators noted their support for taking steps "to fund gun-violence research, because only the United States government is in a position to establish an integrated public-health research agenda to understand the causes of gun violence and identify the most effective strategies for prevention."


title: Ed Markey

text: After the Orlando nightclub shooting, Markey called for more gun regulations and supported the Feinstein Amendment, which would have made it illegal for suspected terrorists to buy guns. He also supports universal background checks.


title: Ed Markey

text: In response to the 2017 Las Vegas shooting, Markey said, "This Congress has the responsibility to make sure the NRA stands for 'not relevant anymore' in American politics, and we have to begin this debate now." He co-sponsored a proposal to ban bump stocks, which make semi-automatic weapons act like automatic weapons.


title: Ed Markey

text: In November 2017, Markey was a cosponsor of the Military Domestic Violence Reporting Enhancement Act, a bill to create a charge of domestic violence under the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ) and stipulate that convictions must be reported to federal databases to keep abusers from purchasing firearms within three days in an attempt to close a loophole in the UCMJ whereby convicted abusers retain the ability to purchase firearms.


title: Ed Markey

text: In January 2019, Markey was one of 40 senators to introduce the Background Check Expansion Act, a bill that would require background checks for either the sale or transfer of all firearms, including unlicensed sellers. Exceptions to the bill's background check requirement included transfers between members of law enforcement, loaning firearms for either hunting or sporting events on a temporary basis, giving firearms to members of one's immediate family, firearms being transferred as part of an inheritance, or giving a firearm to another person temporarily for immediate self-defense.


title: Ed Markey

text: Markey supports the creation of a single-payer federal healthcare program. In September 2017, he was one of 16 senators to cosponsor the 2017 Medicare for All Act introduced by Bernie Sanders, which proposes establishing a federal health insurance program by expanding Medicare coverage to all United States residents.


title: Ed Markey

text: In June 2019, Markey was one of eight senators to cosponsor the Territories Health Equity Act of 2019, legislation that would remove the cap on annual federal Medicaid funding and increase federal matching rate for Medicaid expenditures of territories along with providing more funds for prescription drug coverage to low-income seniors in an attempt to equalize funding for American territories Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa and the Northern Mariana Islands with that of U.S. states.


title: Ed Markey

text: In April 2019, Markey was one of 41 senators to sign a bipartisan letter to the housing subcommittee praising the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development's Section 4 Capacity Building program as authorizing "HUD to partner with national nonprofit community development organizations to provide education, training, and financial support to local community development corporations (CDCs) across the country" and expressing disappointment that President Trump's budget "has slated this program for elimination after decades of successful economic and community development." The senators wrote of their hope that the subcommittee would support continued funding for Section 4 in Fiscal Year 2020.


title: Ed Markey

text: In July 2019, following reports that the Trump administration intended to cease protecting spouses, parents and children of active-duty service members from deportation, Markey was one of 22 senators led by Tammy Duckworth to sign a letter arguing that the protection gave service members the ability "to fight for the United States overseas and not worry that their spouse, children, or parents will be deported while they are away" and that its termination would both cause service members personal hardship and negatively affect their combat performance.


title: Ed Markey

text: Also in July 2019, Markey and 15 other Senate Democrats introduced the Protecting Sensitive Locations Act, which would require, except in special circumstances, that ICE agents get approval from a supervisor before engaging in enforcement actions at sensitive locations, and that agents receive annual training in addition to reporting annually on enforcement actions in those locations.


title: Ed Markey

text: On October 27, 2006, Markey called for the arrest of security researcher Christopher Soghoian for creating a website to generate fake boarding passes. At 2AM on October 28, 2006, FBI agents seized computers and other materials from Soghoian's house.


title: Ed Markey

text: On October 29, 2006, Markey issued a statement revising his previous comments, stating that the Department of Homeland Security should instead "put him to work showing public officials how easily our security can be compromised". The statement was critical of Soghoian's disclosure method—deeming it "ill-considered"—but also said that "he should not go to jail for his bad judgment".


title: Ed Markey

text: In May 2014, days before the FCC was scheduled to rewrite its net neutrality rules, Markey was one of 11 senators to sign a letter to FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler arguing that Wheeler's proposal would destroy net neutrality and urging the FCC to "consider reclassifying Internet providers to make them more like traditional phone companies, over which the agency has clear authority to regulate more broadly."


title: Ed Markey

text: In September 2017, Markey was one of nine senators to sign a letter to Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai accusing the FCC of failing "to provide stakeholders with an opportunity to comment on the tens of thousands of filed complaints that directly shed light on proposed changes to existing net neutrality protections."


title: Ed Markey

text: In March 2018, Markey was one of ten senators to sign a letter spearheaded by Jeff Merkley lambasting Pai's proposal to cut the Lifeline program during a period when roughly 6.5 million people in poor communities relied on it for access to high-speed internet, writing that it was Pai's "obligation to the American public, as the Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, to improve the Lifeline program and ensure that more Americans can afford access, and have means of access, to broadband and phone service." The senators also wrote, "Lifeline reaches more Americans in need of access to communication services."


title: Ed Markey

text: In February 2019, Markey, Richard Blumenthal, and Josh Hawley sent Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg a letter about Project Atlas and its relevance to "longstanding concerns that Facebook has used its products to deeply intrude into personal privacy."


title: Ed Markey

text: In May 2018, Markey led 11 senators in signing a letter to Chairman of the Federal Labor Relations Authority Colleen Kiko urging the FLRA to end efforts to close its Boston regional office until Congress debated the matter because the closure would place staff farther away from the federal employees whose rights they protect.


title: Ed Markey

text: In September 2014, Markey was one of 69 members of the US House and Senate to sign a letter to then-FDA commissioner Sylvia Burwell requesting that the FDA revise its policy banning donation of corneas and other tissues by men who have had sex with another man in the preceding 5 years.


title: Ed Markey

text: In May 2017, Markey was one of 46 senators to introduce the Equality Act of 2017, described by Representative David Cicilline as ensuring "that every LGBT person can live their lives free from the fear of discrimination. Above all, it's about honoring the values that have guided our nation since its founding. It's critical that Congress pass the Equality Act into law."


title: Ed Markey

text: In October 2018, Markey was one of 20 senators to sign a letter to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo urging him to reverse the rolling back of a policy that granted visas to same-sex partners of LGBTQ diplomats who had unions that were not recognized by their home countries, writing that too many places around the world have seen LGBTQ individuals "subjected to discrimination and unspeakable violence, and receive little or no protection from the law or local authorities" and that refusing to let LGBTQ diplomats bring their partners to the US would be equivalent of upholding "the discriminatory policies of many countries around the world."


title: Ed Markey

text: In June 2019, Markey was one of 18 senators to sign a letter to Pompeo requesting an explanation of a State Department decision not to issue an official statement that year commemorating Pride Month nor to issue the annual cable outlining activities for embassies commemorating Pride Month. They also asked why the LGBTI special envoy position remained vacant and asserted that "preventing the official flying of rainbow flags and limiting public messages celebrating Pride Month signals to the international community that the United States is abandoning the advancement of LGBTI rights as a foreign policy priority."


title: Ed Markey

text: In August 2013, Markey was one of 23 Democratic senators to sign a letter to the Defense Department warning that some payday lenders were "offering predatory loan products to service members at exorbitant triple digit effective interest rates and loan products that do not include the additional protections envisioned by the law" and asserting that service members and their families "deserve the strongest possible protections and swift action to ensure that all forms of credit offered to members of our armed forces are safe and sound."


title: Ed Markey

text: In July 2019, Markey was an original cosponsor of the Sensible, Timely Relief for America's Nuclear Districts' Economic Development (STRANDED) Act, a bipartisan bill introduced by Susan Collins and Tammy Duckworth that would give local government entities economic impact grants to offset the economic impact of stranded nuclear waste, form a task force to identify existing funding that could be used to benefit communities, and form a competitive innovative solutions prize competition to aid those communities in their search for alternatives to "nuclear facilities, generating sites, and waste sites."


title: Ed Markey

text: In February 2017, Markey and 30 other senators signed a letter to Kaléo Pharmaceuticals in response to an increase of the opioid-overdose-reversing device Evzio's price from $690 in 2014 to $4,500. They requested the detailed price structure for Evzio, the number of devices Kaléo Pharmaceuticals set aside for donation, and the totality of federal reimbursements Evzio received in the previous year.


title: Ed Markey

text: In March 2017, Markey led 21 senators who signed a letter to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell that said that 12% of adult Medicaid beneficiaries had some form or a substance abuse disorder, that one-third of treatment for opioid and other substance use disorders in the United States is financed by Medicaid, and that the American Health Care Act could "very literally translate into a death spiral for those with opioid use disorders" due to inadequate funding, often resulting in individuals abandoning substance use disorder treatment.


title: Ed Markey

text: In October 2016, Markey was one of five senators to sign a letter to President Obama requesting the administration halt work on the Dakota Access Pipeline until the permitting process of the Army Corps was transparent and would "include public notice and participation, formal and meaningful tribal consultation, and adequate environmental review", and stating their support for the "tribes along the pipeline route in their fight against the Dakota Access pipeline project."


title: Ed Markey

text: Markey advocates making public transit fare-free. In June 2020, he and Representative Ayanna Pressley co-authored the Freedom to Move Act, which would offer $5 billion in annual competitive grants to transit agencies that offer fare-free transit access. Markey argues that fare-free public transportation would help "provide low-income workers, families, seniors, and individuals with disabilities with improved access to jobs, education, medical care, and other critical services."


title: Ed Markey

text: In June 2019, Markey was one of ten senators to cosponsor the Safe Freight Act, a bill that would require freight trains to have one or more certified conductors and a certified engineer on board who can collaborate on how to protect the train and people living near the tracks. The legislation was meant to correct a Federal Railroad Administration rollback of a proposed rule intended to establish safety standards.


title: Ed Markey

text: In September 2018, Markey was one of five senators to sign a letter to United States Secretary of State Mike Pompeo urging him to employ more multifactor authentication measures to secure the State Department's information systems and seeking answers on how the department would boost its security following the Office of Management and Budget's designation of the department's cyber readiness as "high risk", what the department would do to address the lack of multifactor authentication required by law, and statistics on the department's cyber incidents over the last three years.


title: Ed Markey

text: In April 2021, Markey sponsored a bill in the Senate to expand the Supreme Court of the United States from nine to 13 justices.


title: Ed Markey

text: Since 1988, Markey has been married to Susan Blumenthal, who served as Deputy Assistant Secretary of Health and Human Services for Women's Health and held the rank of rear admiral as Assistant U.S. Surgeon General. From 2005 to 2017, he was a contributing writer for "The Huffington Post". He was one of several politicians who had a cameo role in the 2003 film "Gods and Generals", in which he played an Irish Brigade officer.


title: Waldensians

text: The Waldensians (also known as Waldenses (), Vallenses, Valdesi or Vaudois) are adherents of a church tradition that began as an ascetic movement within Western Christianity before the Reformation.


title: Waldensians

text: Originally known as the "Poor Men of Lyon" in the late twelfth century, the movement spread to the Cottian Alps in what are today France and Italy. The founding of the Waldensians is attributed to Peter Waldo, a wealthy merchant who gave away his property around 1173, preaching apostolic poverty as the way to perfection.


title: Waldensians

text: Waldensian teachings came into conflict with the Catholic Church and by 1215 the Waldensians were declared heretical, not because they preached apostolic poverty (which the Franciscans also preached), but because they were not willing to recognize the prerogatives of local bishops over the content of their preaching, nor to recognize standards about who was fit to preach. Pope Innocent III offered the Waldensians the chance to return to the Church, and many did, taking the name "Poor Catholics". Many did not, and were subjected to intense persecution and were confronted with organised and general discrimination in the following centuries. In the 16th century, the Waldensians were absorbed into the Protestant movement, under the influence of early Swiss reformer Heinrich Bullinger.


title: Waldensians

text: In some aspects the Waldensians of the Middle Ages could be seen as proto-Protestants, but they mostly did not raise the doctrinal objections characteristic of 16th century Protestant leaders. They came to align themselves with Protestantism: with the Resolutions of Chanforan on 12 September 1532, they formally became a part of the Calvinist tradition. They are members of the Community of Protestant Churches in Europe and its affiliates worldwide. They were nearly annihilated in the 17th century.


title: Waldensians

text: The main denomination within the movement was the Waldensian Evangelical Church, the original church in Italy. In 1975, it merged with the Methodist Evangelical Church to form the Union of Methodist and Waldensian Churches—a majority Waldensian church, with a minority of Methodists. Another large congregation is the Evangelical Waldensian Church of Río de la Plata in Argentina, Paraguay, and Uruguay.


title: Waldensians

text: Congregations continue to be active in Europe (particularly in the Piedmont region of Northern Italy), South America, and North America. Organizations such as the American Waldensian Society maintain the history of the movement and declare their mission as "proclaiming the Christian Gospel, serving the marginalized, promoting social justice, fostering inter-religious work, and advocating respect for religious diversity and freedom of conscience."


title: Waldensians

text: Most modern knowledge of the medieval history of the Waldensians originates almost exclusively from the records and writings of the Roman Catholic Church, the same body that was condemning them as heretics. Because of "the documentary scarcity and unconnectedness from which we must draw the description of Waldensian beliefs", much of what is known about the early Waldensians comes from reports like the "Profession of faith of Valdo of Lyon" (1180); by Durando d'Osca (c.1187–1200); and the "Rescriptum" of Bergamo Conference (1218).


title: Waldensians

text: Earlier documents that provide information about early Waldensian history include the "Will of Stefano d'Anse" (1187); the (c.1206–1208); and the "Anonymous chronicle of Lyon" (c.1220). There are also the two reports written for the Inquisition by Reinerius Saccho (died 1259), a former Cathar who converted to Catholicism, published together in 1254 as ("On the Cathars and the Poor of Lyon").


title: Waldensians

text: They also rejected a number of concepts that were widely held in Christian Europe of the era. For example, the Waldensians held that temporal offices and dignities were not meant for preachers of the Gospel; that relics were no different from any other bones and should not be regarded as special or holy; that pilgrimage served only to spend one's money; that flesh might be eaten any day if one's appetite served one; that holy water was no more efficacious than rain water; and that prayer was just as effectual if offered in a church or a barn. They were accused, moreover, of having scoffed at the doctrine of transubstantiation, and of having spoken blasphemously of the Catholic Church as the harlot of the Apocalypse. They rejected what they perceived as the idolatry of the Catholic Church and considered the Papacy as the Antichrist of Rome.


title: Waldensians

text: The Waldensians likely denied the practice of infant baptism, at least to some extent. This is seen from the Waldensian writing, "The noble lesson", which says "And baptized those who believed in the Name of Jesus Christ". Renerius Saccho, additionally writing against the Waldensians, stated that the Waldensians believed that the "ablution which is given to infants profits nothing".


title: Waldensians

text: The Waldensians were associated by councils and papal decrees with the Cathars; however they differed radically from them: the Waldensians never accepted Gnostic views, they did not reject the sacraments in total and did not believe in mysticism.


title: Waldensians

text: According to legend, Peter Waldo renounced his wealth as an encumbrance to preaching, which led other members of the Catholic clergy to follow his example. Because of this shunning of wealth, the movement was early known as The Poor of Lyon and The Poor of Lombardy.


title: Waldensians

text: Though arising to prominence in the 12th century, some evidence suggests the existence of the Waldenses even before the time of Peter Waldo. Pope Alexander in 1167 at the synod of tours lamented the Waldenses as a "pest of long existence". While the Inquisitor Reinerius Saccho in the 12th century also spoke about the dangers of the Waldenses for among other reasons its antiquity "some say that it has lasted from the time of Sylvester, others, from the time of the Apostles."


title: Waldensians

text: The Waldensian movement was characterized from the beginning by lay preaching, voluntary poverty, and strict adherence to the Bible. Between 1175 and 1185, Waldo either commissioned a cleric from Lyon to translate the New Testament into the vernacular—the Arpitan (Franco-Provençal) language—or was himself involved in this translation work.


title: Waldensians

text: In 1179, Waldo and one of his disciples went to Rome, where Pope Alexander III and the Roman Curia welcomed them. They had to explain their faith before a panel of three clergymen, including issues that were then debated within the Church, such as the universal priesthood, the gospel in the vulgar tongue, and the issue of voluntary poverty. The results of the meeting were inconclusive, and the Third Lateran Council in the same year condemned Waldo's ideas, but not the movement itself; the leaders of the movement had not yet been excommunicated.


title: Waldensians

text: The Waldensians proceeded to disobey the Third Lateran Council and continued to preach according to their own understanding of the Scriptures. In 1184, Waldo and his followers were excommunicated and forced from Lyon. The Catholic Church declared them heretics, stating that the group's principal error was contempt for ecclesiastical power. Rome also accused the Waldensians of teaching innumerable errors.


title: Waldensians

text: Waldo and his followers developed a system whereby they would go from town to town and meet secretly with small groups of Waldensians. There they would confess sins and hold service. A traveling Waldensian preacher was known as a "barba". The group would shelter the "barba" and help make arrangements to move on to the next town in secret. Waldo possibly died in the early 13thcentury, possibly in Germany; he was never captured, and his fate remains uncertain.


title: Waldensians

text: They were also called "Insabbatati", "Sabati", "Inzabbatati", or "Sabotiers"—Some historians such as the Jesuit Jacob Gretser claimed this designation arose from the unusual type of sabot they used as footwear. However, he admitted that his reasoning on this etymology did not have the support of the literature of his day because these sources, he said, contained many errors. Other historians such as Melchior Goldast stated that the name insabbatati was because of sabbath keeping in the manner of jews. Jesuit Inquisitor Francis Pegne cited in Nicholas Eymerich famous work the Directorium Inquisitorium stated that “many used to think it [insabbatati] came from Sabbath, and that they [Waldenses] observed the Sabbath according to the custom of the Jews.” Likewise in the 12th century, Inquisitor Moneta of Cremona railed against the Waldenses for seventh day sabbath keeping after the manner of Jews. Johann Gottfried Gering in 1756 in his Compendieuses Church and Heretic Lexicon defined Sabbatati (a sect of the Waldenses) as those who kept the sabbath with the Jews. In the early Waldenses prose tracts there existed an exposition on the 10 commandments which put forth their own explanation on the 4th commandment which defended sabbath keeping


title: Waldensians

text: Many among the Waldensians claimed that people such as Claudius of Turin and Berengar of Tours were first representatives of the sect, but in modern times claims of the Waldenses to high antiquity are no longer accepted.


title: Waldensians

text: The Catholic Church viewed the Waldensians as unorthodox, and in 1184 at the Synod of Verona, under the auspices of Pope Lucius III, they were excommunicated. Pope Innocent III went even further during the Fourth Lateran Council in 1215, officially denouncing the Waldensians as heretics. In 1211 more than 80 Waldensians were burned as heretics at Strasbourg; this action launched several centuries of persecution that nearly destroyed the movement. Waldensians briefly ruled Buda, the capital of Hungary from 1304 to 1307. The Waldensians in turn excommunicated Pope Benedict XI.


title: Waldensians

text: In 1487 Pope Innocent VIII issued a bull for the extermination of the heresies of the Vaudois. Alberto de' Capitanei, archdeacon of Cremona, responded to the bull by organizing a crusade to fulfill its order and launched an offensive in the provinces of Dauphiné and Piedmont. Charles I, Duke of Savoy, eventually interfered to save his territories from further turmoil and promised the Vaudois peace, but not before the offensive had devastated the area and many of the Vaudois had fled to Provence or south to Italy.


title: Waldensians

text: The theologian Angelo Carletti di Chivasso, whom Innocent VIII in 1491 appointed Apostolic Nuncio and Commissary conjointly with the Bishop of Mauriana, was involved in reaching a peaceful agreement between Catholics and Waldensians.


title: Waldensians

text: When the news of the Reformation reached the Waldensian Valleys, the Tavola Valdese decided to seek fellowship with the nascent Protestantism. At a meeting held in 1526 in Laus, a town in the Chisone valley, it was decided to send envoys to examine the new movement. In 1532, they met with German and Swiss Protestants and ultimately adapted their beliefs to those of the Reformed Church.


title: Waldensians

text: The Swiss and French Reformed churches sent William Farel and Anthony Saunier to attend the meeting of Chanforan, which convened on 12October 1532. Farel invited them to join the Reformation and to emerge from secrecy. A Confession of Faith, with Reformed doctrines, was formulated and the Waldensians decided to worship openly in French.


title: Waldensians

text: The French Bible, translated by Pierre Robert Olivétan with the help of Calvin and published at Neuchâtel in 1535, was based in part on a New Testament in the Waldensian vernacular. The churches in Waldensia collected 1500 gold crowns to cover the cost of its publication.


title: Waldensians

text: Outside the Piedmont, the Waldenses joined the local Protestant churches in Bohemia, France, and Germany. After they came out of seclusion and reports were made of sedition on their part, French King FrancisI on 1January 1545 issued the "Arrêt de Mérindol", and assembled an army against the Waldensians of Provence. The leaders in the 1545 massacres were Jean Maynier d'Oppède, First President of the parliament of Provence, and the military commander Antoine Escalin des Aimars, who was returning from the Italian Wars with 2,000 veterans, the "Bandes de Piémont". Deaths in the Massacre of Mérindol ranged from hundreds to thousands, depending on the estimates, and several villages were devastated.


title: Waldensians

text: The treaty of 5 June 1561 granted amnesty to the Protestants of the Valleys, including liberty of conscience and freedom to worship. Prisoners were released and fugitives permitted to return home, but despite this treaty, the Vaudois, with the other French Protestants, still suffered during the French Wars of Religion in 1562–1598.


title: Waldensians

text: As early as 1631, Protestant scholars began to regard the Waldensians as early forerunners of the Reformation, in a manner similar to the way the followers of John Wycliffe and Jan Hus, also persecuted by authorities, were viewed.


title: Waldensians

text: Although the Waldensian church was granted some rights and freedoms under French King HenryIV, with the Edict of Nantes in 1598, persecution rose again in the 17thcentury, with an extermination of the Waldensians attempted by the Duke of Savoy in 1655. This led to the exodus and dispersion of the Waldensians to other parts of Europe and even to the Western Hemisphere.


title: Waldensians

text: In January 1655, the Duke of Savoy commanded the Waldensians to attend Mass or remove to the upper valleys of their homeland, giving them twenty days in which to sell their lands. Being in the midst of winter, the order was intended to persuade the Vaudois to choose the former; however, the bulk of the populace instead chose the latter, abandoning their homes and lands in the lower valleys and removing to the upper valleys. It was written that these targets of persecution, including old men, women, little children and the sick "waded through the icy waters, climbed the frozen peaks, and at length reached the homes of their impoverished brethren of the upper Valleys, where they were warmly received."


title: Waldensians

text: By mid-April, when it became clear that the Duke's efforts to force the Vaudois to conform to Catholicism had failed, he tried another approach. Under the guise of false reports of Vaudois uprisings, the Duke sent troops into the upper valleys to quell the local populace. He required that the local populace quarter the troops in their homes, which the local populace complied with. But the quartering order was a ruse to allow the troops easy access to the populace. On 24April 1655, at 4a.m., the signal was given for a general massacre.


title: Waldensians

text: The Duke's forces did not simply slaughter the inhabitants. They are reported to have unleashed an unprovoked campaign of looting, rape, torture, and murder. According to one report by a Peter Liegé:


title: Waldensians

text: This massacre became known as the Piedmont Easter. An estimate of some 1,700 Waldensians were slaughtered; the massacre was so brutal it aroused indignation throughout Europe. Protestant rulers in northern Europe offered sanctuary to the remaining Waldensians. Oliver Cromwell, then ruler in England, began petitioning on behalf of the Waldensians, writing letters, raising contributions, calling a general fast in England and threatening to send military forces to the rescue. The massacre prompted John Milton's poem on the Waldenses, "On the Late Massacre in Piedmont". Swiss and Dutch Calvinists set up an "underground railroad" to bring many of the survivors north to Switzerland and even as far as the Dutch Republic, where the councillors of the city of Amsterdam chartered three ships to take some 167 Waldensians to their City Colony in the New World (Delaware) on Christmas Day 1656. Those that stayed behind in France and the Piedmont formed a guerilla resistance movement led by a farmer, Joshua Janavel, which lasted into the 1660s.


title: Waldensians

text: In 1685 Louis XIV revoked the 1598 Edict of Nantes, which had guaranteed freedom of religion to his Protestant subjects in France. French troops sent into the French Waldensian areas of the Chisone and Susa Valleys in the Dauphiné forced 8,000 Vaudois to convert to Catholicism and another 3,000 to leave for Germany.


title: Waldensians

text: In the Piedmont, the cousin of Louis, the newly ascended Duke of Savoy, Victor Amadeus II, followed his uncle in removing the protection of Protestants in the Piedmont. In the renewed persecution, and in an echo of the Piedmont Easter Massacre of only three decades earlier, the Duke issued an edict on 31 January 1686 that decreed the destruction of all the Vaudois churches and that all inhabitants of the Valleys should publicly announce their error in religion within fifteen days under penalty of death and banishment. But the Vaudois remained resistant. After the fifteen days, an army of 9,000 French and Piedmontese soldiers invaded the Valleys against the estimated 2,500 Vaudois, but found that every village had organized a defense force that kept the French and Piedmontese soldiers at bay.


title: Waldensians

text: On 9 April, the Duke of Savoy issued a new edict, enjoining the Waldensians to put down their arms within eight days and go into exile between 21 and 23April. If able, they were free to sell their land and possessions to the highest bidder.


title: Waldensians

text: Waldensian pastor Henri Arnaud (1641–1721), who had been driven out of the Piedmont in the earlier purges, returned from Holland. On 18 April he made a stirring appeal before an assembly at Roccapiatta, winning over the majority in favor of armed resistance. When the truce expired on 20April, the Waldensians were prepared for battle.


title: Waldensians

text: They put up a brave fight over the next six weeks, but by the time the Duke retired to Turin on 8 June, the war seemed decided: 2,000 Waldensians had been killed; another 2,000 had "accepted" the Catholic theology of the Council of Trent. Another 8,000 had been imprisoned, more than half of whom died of deliberately imposed starvation, or of sickness within six months.


title: Waldensians

text: But about two or three hundred Vaudois fled to the hills and began carrying out a guerilla war over the next year against the Catholic settlers who arrived to take over the Vaudois lands. These "Invincibles" continued their assaults until the Duke finally relented and agreed to negotiate. The "Invincibles" won the right for the imprisoned Vaudois to be released from prison and to be provided safe passage to Geneva. But the Duke, granting that permission on 3January 1687, required that the Vaudois leave immediately or convert to Catholicism. This edict led to some 2,800 Vaudois leaving the Piedmont for Geneva, of whom only 2,490 survived the journey.


title: Waldensians

text: Arnaud and others now sought help of the allied European powers. He appealed to William of Orange directly from Geneva, while others, amongst whom was the young L'Hermitage, were sent to England and other lands to canvas for support. Orange and the allies were glad of any excuse to antagonise France, whose territorial encroachments on all fronts were intolerable. The League of Augsburg was formed in 1686 under Orange, who promised support to Arnaud. In August 1689, in the midst of the wars between the League of Augsburg and France, Arnaud led 1,000 Swiss exiles, armed with modern weaponry provided by the Dutch, back to the Piedmont. Over a third of the force perished during the 130-mile trek. They successfully re-established their presence in the Piedmont and drove out the Catholic settlers, but they continued to be besieged by French and Piedmontese troops.


title: Waldensians

text: By 2 May 1689, with only 300 Waldensian troops remaining, and cornered on a high peak called the Balsiglia, by 4,000 French troops with cannons, the final assault was delayed by storm and then by cloud cover. The French commander was so confident of completing his job the next morning that he sent a message to Paris that the Waldensian force had already been destroyed. However, when the French awoke the next morning they discovered that the Waldensians, guided by one of their number familiar with the Balsiglia, had already descended from the peak during the night and were now miles away.


title: Waldensians

text: The French pursued, but only a few days later a sudden change of political alliance by the Duke, from France to the League of Augsburg, ended the French pursuit of the Waldensians. The Duke agreed to defend the Waldensians and called for all other Vaudois exiles to return home to help protect the Piedmont borders against the French, in what came to be known as the "Glorious Return".


title: Waldensians

text: After the French Revolution, the Waldenses of Piedmont were assured liberty of conscience and, in 1848, the ruler of Savoy, King Charles Albert of Sardinia, granted them civil rights.


title: Waldensians

text: Enjoying religious freedom, the Waldensians began migrating outside their valleys. By the time of Italian unification, the Waldensian had congregations throughout the peninsula, some originated by preaching, others by migration. However, poverty, societal discrimination, and demographic pressure led the Waldensians to emigrate, first as seasonal workers to the French Riviera and Switzerland, and later to Colonia Valdense in Uruguay, Jacinto Aráuz in La Pampa, Argentina and ultimately, to the United States. Those who remained in Italy have experienced upward social mobility. Waldensian companies dominated Turin's chocolate industry for the latter half of the nineteenth century and are generally credited with the invention of gianduja (hazelnut chocolate).


title: Waldensians

text: Waldensian scholarship also flourished in the nineteenth century. Copies of the Romaunt version of the Gospel of John were preserved in Paris and Dublin. The manuscripts were used as the basis of a work by William Stephen Gilly published in 1848, in which he described the history of the New Testament in use by the Waldensians. The Waldensian College began training ministers in 1855, first in Torre Pellice. A few years later, the Waldensian College relocated to Florence and, in 1922, to Rome. Economic and social integration have eased acceptance of ethnic Waldensians into Italian society. Writers like Italo Calvino and politicians like Domenico Maselli and Valdo Spini are of Waldensian background. The church has also attracted intellectuals as new adherents and supporters and enjoys significant financial support from non-adherent Italians.


title: Waldensians

text: In 2015, after a historic visit to a Waldensian Temple in Turin, Pope Francis, in the name of the Catholic Church, asked Waldensian Christians for forgiveness for their persecution. The Pope apologized for the Church's "un-Christian and even inhumane positions and actions".


title: Waldensians

text: The present Waldensian Church considers itself to be a Protestant church of the Reformed tradition originally framed by Huldrych Zwingli and John Calvin. It recognizes as its doctrinal standard the confession of faith published in 1655 and based on the Reformed confession of 1559. It admits only two ceremonies, baptism and the Lord's Supper. Supreme authority in the body is exercised by an annual synod, and the affairs of the individual congregations are administered by a consistory under the presidency of the pastor.


title: Waldensians

text: Over the centuries, Waldensian churches have been established in countries as far away from France as Uruguay and the United States where the active Waldensian congregations continue the purpose of the Waldensian movement. The contemporary and historic Waldensian spiritual heritage describes itself as proclaiming the Gospel, serving the marginalized, promoting social justice, fostering inter-religious work, and advocating respect for religious diversity and freedom of conscience. Today, the Waldensian Church is member of the World Communion of Reformed Churches, the World Methodist Council, the Federation of Evangelical Churches in Italy, and the World Council of Churches.


title: Waldensians

text: The Waldensians were influences to the Zwickau Prophets who came out in support of believer's baptism. The Waldensians also influenced some in the Bohemian reformation, especially Petr Chelčický. Petr Chelčický was influenced by the Waldensians very early in his life, as there existed Waldensian congregations in the area of his birth.


title: Waldensians

text: Some early Protestants felt a spiritual kinship to the Waldensians and wrote positively about them. John Milton, for example, wrote in his sonnet "On the Late Massacre in Piedmont" of the 1655 massacre and persecution of the Waldensians.


title: Waldensians

text: It was once held that the Waldenses were first taught by Paul the Apostle who visited Spain and then allegedly traveled on to Piedmont. As the Catholic Church indulged in excesses in the time of Constantine (Roman Emperor from 306 to 337) – the account tells – the Waldenses held true to their apostolic faith of poverty and piety. These claims were discounted in the nineteenth century.


title: Waldensians

text: There were also other claims that the Waldensians predated Peter Waldo's activities in the late 12th century. In his "A History of the Vaudois Church" (1859), Antoine Monastier quotes Bernard, abbot of Foncald, who wrote at the end of the 12th century that the Waldensians arose during the papacy of Lucius. Monastier takes Bernard to mean Lucius II, in office from 1144 to 1145, and concludes that the Waldenses were active before 1145. Bernard also says that the same Pope Lucius condemned them as heretics, but they were condemned by Pope Lucius III in 1184.


title: Waldensians

text: Monastier also says that Eberard de Béthune, writing in 1210 (although Monastier says 1160), claimed that the name "Vaudois" meant "valley dwellers" or those who "dwell in a vale of sorrow and tears", and was in use before the times of Peter Waldo.


title: Waldensians

text: Waldensians feature in the theories of Baptist successionism and Landmarkism concerning an alleged continuous tradition of practices and beliefs from John the Baptist onwards.


title: Waldensians

text: Some historical writers suggest Waldensian beliefs came from missionaries from the early church and that their history may have its origins in the apostolic age, though this idea itself stems from Baptist Successionism, an idea that was very popular among some 19thcentury Church historians but has been largely rejected by modern scholars in the field. The Roman Inquisitor Reinerus Sacho, writing c.1230, held the sect of the Vaudois to be of great antiquity, thus preceding Waldo by centuries. According to some early baptist sources there are also accounts of Paulicians, Petrobusians, and Pasaginians, along with the Waldenses of the Alps, who kept Saturday as the Lord's day. Some Anabaptist and Baptist authors have pointed to the Waldensians as an example of earlier Christians who were not a part of the Catholic Church, and who held beliefs they interpreted to be similar to their own. In the 17th to the 19th centuries, Dutch and German Mennonite writers like van Braght, "Martyrs Mirror" (1660) and Steven Blaupot ten Cate, "Geschiedkundig onderzoek" (1844), linked Anabaptist origins to the Waldensians. Baptist authors like John L. Waller also linked their origins to the Waldensians. James Aitken Wylie (1808–1890) likewise believed the Waldensians preserved the apostolic faith and its practices during the Middle Ages.


title: Waldensians

text: Still later, Seventh-day Adventist Ellen G. White taught that the Waldenses were preservers of biblical truth during the Great Apostasy of the Catholic Church. She claimed the Waldenses kept the seventh-day Sabbath, engaged in widespread missionary activity, and "planted the seeds of the Reformation" in Europe. Despite the claims of that the Waldensians were observant of resting on the Sabbath, Waldensians historians like Emilio Comba, Giorgio Spini, and Gabriel Audisio have stated the confusion is due to either the name of shoes worn by their travelling preachers or of their accusation's of holding Witches' Sabbath, as the inquisitors often charged heretics in general. Though other Waldenses sources do suggest there were groups who kept the sabbath.


title: Waldensians

text: Scholar Michael W. Homer links the belief in an ancient origin of the Waldensians to three 17th century pastors, Jean-Paul Perrin of the Reformed Church of France and the Waldensian pastors Pierre Gilles and Jean Léger, who posited that the Waldensians were descendants of Primitive Christianity.


title: Waldensians

text: Some authors try to date a Reformation-era Waldensian confession of faith back into the Middle Ages in 1120 to assert their claim of doctrinal antiquity. However, in the current historiography from the Waldensians themselves it is asserted that this confession was drafted in 1531.


title: Waldensians

text: Protestant theology in Germany was interested in the doctrinal antiquity and apostolic continuity being expressed by the Waldensian faith. The high independence of the communities, lay preaching, voluntary poverty, and strict adherence to the Bible and its early translation through Peter Waldo have been credited to prove an ancient origin of Protestantism as the true interpretation of the faith. Mere anti-Catholic sentiments and controversies, for example in the , played a role. Heinrich Gottlieb Kreussler's 1830 "History of the Reformation" contains a ballade about the fate of the Waldensians and quotes "History of the Waldenians" (1750) (authored with Siegmund Jakob Baumgarten, published by Johann Jacob Korn) as proof of an early origin of the Waldensians. The strong German Protestant support for the Waldensian diaspora community in Italy—leading staff of the Gustavus Adolphus Union (GAW) praised them as one of the most interesting churches of all—was not confined to a theological fascination. It led to extensive financial support, loans, exchange of priesters and communities, aid missions and political interventions for the Italian Waldensians and their charitable efforts, starting from the 17th century. After World WarII, the Evangelical Church in Germany actively contributed to reconciliation efforts with Italy and France based on its relationship with the Waldensian community. The GAW has ongoing links with the Waldensians in Italy.


title: Waldensians

text: In 1848, after many centuries of harsh persecution, the Waldensians acquired legal freedom in the Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia as a result of the liberalising reforms which followed Charles Albert of Sardinia's granting a constitution (the Statuto Albertino). Subsequently, the Waldensian Evangelical Church, as it became known, developed and spread through the Italian peninsula.


title: Waldensians

text: The Waldensian church was able to gain converts by building schools in some of the poorer regions of Italy, including Sicily. There is still a Waldensian church in the town of Grotte, at the southwest of the island. German Protestants have been supportive of the Waldensians in Italy since the 17th century.


title: Waldensians

text: During the Nazi occupation of North Italy in the Second World War, Italian Waldensians were active in saving Jews faced with imminent extermination, hiding many of them in the same mountain valley where their own Waldensian ancestors had found refuge in earlier generations.


title: Waldensians

text: After 1945, the Evangelical Church in Germany led by Theophil Wurm (who was also Bishop of Württemberg) issued the Stuttgart Declaration of Guilt and actively contributed to reconciliation efforts with Italy (and France) based on relationships with the diaspora. The 1948 centenary festivities of the Savoy civil rights declaration were used for efforts of EKD leading staff to support German Italian reconciliation after World War II. A most fruitful cooperation was established at the community level, with Waldensian delegates from both sides pioneering. 1949, Guglielmo Del Pesco (1889–1951), moderator of the Tavola Valdese (Waldensian round table), was invited back to Maulbronn, celebrating the 250th anniversary of the Waldensian emigration to Germany. He was unable to come for reasons of health but sent A. Jalla, a teacher, described as being full of spite and hatred against all things German after 1945, but who joined in the effort for reconciliation 1949. Based on these experiences, the first town-twinning partnership between Germany and France was signed 1950 between Ludwigsburg and the Protestant exclave Montbéliard, again based on a special connection of the Württemberg Landeskirche. The German Gustavus Adolphus Union is supportive of Waldesian projects and charitable efforts in Italy till the present.


title: Waldensians

text: In 1975, the Waldensian Church joined the Methodist Evangelical Church in Italy to form the Union of Waldensian and Methodist Churches. It has 50,000 members (45,000 Waldensians, of whom 30,000 in Italy and some 15,000 divided between Argentina and Uruguay, and 5,000 Methodists).


title: Waldensians

text: The eight per thousand tax () introduced 1985 in Italy greatly helped the Waldensian community. The eight per thousand law allows taxpayers to choose to whom they devolve a compulsory 8‰ = 0.8% ('eight per thousand') from their annual income tax return. They may choose an organised religion recognised by Italy or a social assistance scheme run by the Italian State. While the Waldensians have only about 25,000 enlisted members, more than 600,000 Italians are willing to support the Waldensian community and its charitable works. The ordination of women and, since 2010, the blessing of same-sex unions are allowed.


title: Waldensians

text: The first Waldensian settlers from Italy arrived in South America in 1856. From that date there have been several migrations, especially to Argentina, such as the town of Jacinto Aráuz in the southern part of the province of LaPampa, where they arrived around 1901. the Waldensian Church of the Río de La Plata (which forms a united church with the Waldensian Evangelical Church) has approximately 40 congregations and 15,000 members shared between Uruguay and Argentina.


title: Waldensians

text: The Uruguayan town of Colonia Valdense, in the department of Colonia, is the administrative center of the Waldensian Evangelical Church of the River Plate. In 1969, the Church established a mission in Barrio Nuevo, which became a soup kitchen for Saturdays and Sundays, for 500 poor families. Missionary activity has led to the conversion of new people without Waldensian ancestry, who are called "new Waldensian".


title: Waldensians

text: From Uruguay or directly from Italy, some Waldensian families also found a home in Brazil. There, they ended up joining the local Protestant churches.


title: Waldensians

text: Since colonial times there have been Waldensians who sailed to America, as marked by the presence of them in New Jersey and Delaware. Many Waldensians, having escaped persecution in their homelands by making their way to the tolerant Dutch Republic, crossed the Atlantic to start anew in the New Netherland colony, establishing the first church in North America on Staten Island in 1670.


title: Waldensians

text: In the late 19th century many Italians, among them Waldensians, emigrated to the United States. They founded communities in New York City; Boston; Chicago; Monett, Missouri; Galveston, Texas; Rochester, New York; Hunter, Utah; and Ogden, Utah. The Monett congregation was among the first to be established in the United States, in 1875, by some 40 settlers who had formed the original South American settlement in Uruguay in the 1850s. With the outbreak of the Uruguayan Civil War they had fled violence in the Uruguayan countryside, traveling first back to Europe then across the Northern Atlantic to New York and by train to southern Missouri. Waldensians living in the Cottian Alps region of Northern Italy continued to migrate to Monett until the early 1900s, augmenting the original colony, and founded another, larger settlement in Valdese, North Carolina, in 1893. The first Waldenses settled in North Carolina in 1893. Both the Monett and Valdese congregations use the name Waldensian Presbyterian Church.