page_title: Waldensians
section_title: Catholic response
hierarchical_section_title: Waldensians / History / Catholic response
caption_attribution_description: Deutsch: Hexenflug der "Vaudoises" (hier Hexen, ursprünglich Waldenser) auf dem Besen, Miniatur in einer Handschrift von Martin Le France, Le champion des dames, 1451 English: Illumination depicting the two witches on a broomstick and a stick, in Martin Le Franc's "Ladies' Champion", 1451 Français&#160;: Enluminure représentant le vol de deux sorcières sur un balai et un bâton, dans Le Champion des dames de Martin Le Franc, 1451.
context_page_description: The Waldensians are adherents of a Protestant church tradition that began as an ascetic movement within Western Christianity before the Reformation.
  Originally known as the "Poor Men of Lyon" in the late twelfth century, the movement spread to the Cottian Alps in what is 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. Waldensian teachings came into conflict with the Catholic Church and by 1215 the Waldensians were declared heretical. Subjected to intense persecution, they were nearly annihilated in the 17th century and were confronted with organised and general discrimination in the centuries that followed. In the 16th century, the Waldensians influenced early Swiss reformer Heinrich Bullinger. Upon finding the ideas of other reformers similar to their own, they merged into the larger Protestant Reformation and, with the Resolutions of Chanforan on 12 September 1532, they formally became a part of the Calvinist tradition.
context_section_description: 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.
  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.
  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.
caption: Illustrations depicting Waldensians as witches in Le champion des dames, by Martin Le France, 1451
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