nation of the cult of images, relics, saints, and the Virgin, but most productive of offense were their severe strictures upon the sacraments of the Church. Beginning about 1240, with the denial of the efficacy of sacraments administered by evil priests, the radical faction, assuming that all Roman Catholic priests were evil, proceeded to renounce Roman Catholic baptism as unnecessary; infant baptism as worthless; confirmation and extreme unction superfluous; and the Eucharist, ordination, and penance as administered by the Church, futile. The " friends," with the moderates, did not always follow to these extremes, and the Waldenses only very seldom attacked belief in the sacraments itself. This extreme radicalism of the Lombard Waldenses was due, in all probability, to the influence of the Cathari; and the similarity of the two sects occasionally led to their formal confusion, as in the sect of the Piedmontese Martino de Presbytero, which occupies a prominent place in the acts of the Inquisition in 1388. Dogma was not yet the prominent feature in Waldensian preaching, which was mostly content with inculcating abstinence from oaths, falsehood, war, and capital punishment. Manses, prayers, and offerings for the dead were declared futile, and purgatory was denied. Foremost was the admonition of the two ways (Matt. vii. 13-14). In Italy and Germany, for preaching and the instruction of the elders there were, in addition to the Bible, (1) an anthology entitled, Verbs sanctorum Augustini, Hieronymi, Ambrosii, Gregorii, Chrysostomi, et Isidori (such a collection was already in the hands of Waldo); (2) Liber electorum (probably called also Liber justorum); (3) the "Thirty Steps of Augustine, " a tractate on the virtues and vices; (4) Septem articuli fcdei, perhaps identical with the seven articles on God in the French Waldensian catechism (ut sup.); and (5) a " Rule," with data concerning the origin of the sect, apparently transmitted only orally. The German Waldenses of the thirteenth century possessed also vernacular poems, which seem never to have been committed to writing. In the fifteenth century the German Waldenses had interpretations of the Gospels and Pauline epistles in the vernacular, though these were probably from the work of some Roman Catholic author and restricted to the lessons of the Church. The Italian Waldenses evidently possessed a number of books previous to 1368, but after that date had scarcely more than the Bible and the Liber electorum. In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries the Waldenses of the Cottian Alps had a regular Bibliotheca Waldensis, but of its contents it is known that a small portion alone dated from the pre-Reformation period. To this portion belonged at least a tractate Vertucz; the Doctor and Vergier de consollacion both anthologies; Gloss paternoster, an exposition of the Lord's Prayer, probably translated from some Roman Catholic author; and Contica, a translation of a Roman Catholic commentary on Canticles in seven books (the first of which is lost), with a few specifically Waldensian additions. This commentary was probably prepared in the Cottian Alps or in Provence toward the end of the fifteenth century, as also the Penitence and Pccca_ An essentially Waldensian work was the great Noble leygon (ed. E. Montet, Paris, 1888), a


ENCYCLOPEDIA Waldenses
 poem of 479 duodecasyllabic verses, written by an
 author of some theological training, probably in the .
 Cottian Alps after 1231. It is a missionary sermon
 in verse after the order of the minstrels, reviewing
 the contents of the Bible under the threefold head
 of " the law of nature, the law of Moses, the law of
 Christ." The other didactic poems were probe- '
 bly ]ikewise of the thirteenth century: namely, La ' i
 Barca; Lo Novel Sermon; Lo Novel Confort; Lo
 Payre Eternal; Lo Despreczi del mont; L'Avangeli de j, ,
 li quatre sementz; and the corrupt L'Oraczon. In
 Germany, as among the French Waldenses, the
Lord's Supper was celebrated in the fourteenth cen
 tury annually on Maundy Thursday, but in the fol
 lowing century this usage disappeared and the i
 masters were confined mostly to hearing confession.
 In the Cottian Alps, on the other hand, as well as in
 Provence, Apulia, Calabria, and middle Italy, the
 independent celebration of the Lord's Supper lasted
 longer. In the fifteenth century the Waldenses of
 the Cottian Alps and middle Italy no longer all re
 ceived the Eucharist from Roman Catholic priests, I
 but took the bread consecrated by their " barbs "
 (clericals). But after the great persecution of 1487- i: ;
 1494, it was received only from the priests of the
 Church, except at clerical ordinations the commu
 nion was celebrated in the ancient Waldensian fash
 ion down to the sixteenth century. t
 Waldensian organization underwent an important ~ , ~ E
 change in the fourteenth century, when the German
 branch separated from the Italian, ceasing to have
 official relations with the Italian bishops and rector,



not, however, elect a rector, for in Germany his in-
 fluence had always been weak and the masters had I ;
 become accustomed to act on their own responsibil-
 ity. In all probability there was no general Wal- I E
 densian assembly in Germany, and no general or
 ganization. At the same time there was frequent
 intercommunication between all the conventicles of
 Germany, nor were relations with the Lombards en- '
 tirely broken off. In Italy the strong central organ
 ization was maintained until the Reformation period.
 In the fourteenth century the three orders of clergy ' E
 were found both in Italy and in Germany, but in the
 following century they disappeared from both lands. '
 r
 [It seems hardly probable that so radical a change
 should occur in the polity of so conservative a II , , [
 body within so brief a time. n. a. N.] The
 only ordination then known was that received at
 reception into the sect, precedence within the body
 I
 being determined solely by seniority. At the same i ;, , r
 time the position of the " juniors " corresponded in '
 a sense to that of the French deacons, and the " se- · r
 niors " to the French presbyters. In Germany all
 members of the sect were termed masters, while in
 Italy they were called " barbs " (East Provencal IT, I
 barbs, " uncle "). The mode of the life of the Wal
 i;.i
 denser, who received in Italy a new name at, their ~ ',
 ordination, was practically that of the early period.
 The system of training was carefully regulated. In E
 Germany the pupil must study with a master for a
 year or two. He was then ordained, but must still , i
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