Arnaud de Bresse fell a victim to the cruelty of the Roman clergy in 1155, being first crucified and then burnt. He was succeeded by his zealous disciple Esperon. Rorenco in the work above cited, says, that we must by the names of Vaudois, Esperonites, Henricians, Petrobrusians, Arnaudites, and Apostolicals, understand one and the same sect, which is a sufficient proof of the identity of the doctrine of the Vaudois, and that of these zealous preachers. The celebrated Peter Valdo, a rich inhabitant of Lyons, openly professed the Vaudois doctrine in 1175. He abandoned all his possessions, gave himself up entirely to the promulgation of the gospel, had the bible translated into the vulgar tongue, and instructed the people publicly in the streets, commencing with the thesis, that we must obey God rather than man. He refused submission to the Pope and his bishops; exposed the scandalous lives of the monks; and refuted the doctrine of the mass, purgatory, adoration of images, and prayers for the dead. At the instance of Pope Alexander III., Valdo was driven from Lyons, with most of his disciples. A great part of them retired either to Lombardy, or (as an ancient writer observes,) into Cisalpine Gaul, and among the Alps, where they found a perfectly secure retreat, (tutissimum refugium.) That is among the valleys of Pragela, Meane, Saluces, &c., and we must pay great attention to this expression, since it appears natural that these valleys should be their surest place of refuge, being already peopled with Vaudois, who professed the same doctrines. Other disciples of Valdo withdrew to Picardy, Germany, Bohemia, and the Low Countries. I must here remark, that even those who in contradiction to the above chain of evidence, assert that the Vaudois derive their name and doctrine from Peter Valdo, must allow them to have been established in the valleys at least fifty years before the ancient counts of Savoy obtained the sovereignty of their country; for it appears in the history of the house of Savoy, that the first who began to make conquests in our country, was Thomas, son of Humbert, who had previously accompanied Louis, son of Philip Augustus, king of France, in his expedition against the Vaudois and the Albigenses of Provence. Hence we have every possible right to the possession of our country, in which we were established before our sovereigns. CHAPTER IV. ANTIQUITY AND PURITY OF THE VAUDOIS DOCTRINE, PROVED BY THEIR OWN WRITINGS