L'Histoire Des Vaudois: From Authentic Details of the ValdensesBresse, J.
History
L'Histoire Des Vaudois: From Authentic Details of the Valdenses
Bresse, J.
Waldenses
It may well be imagined that the Marquis was not satisfied with it. He
now ordered 10,000 men to march to the reduction of Rora, and divided
them into three corps, one of which took the road from Luzerne, and the
others by Bagnol and Villar. Janavel hesitated not to attack the last of
these divisions, and succeeded in killing great numbers, when being
informed that the other divisions had gained the post where the
twenty-five families of Rora had taken refuge, and seeing himself
overcome by numbers, he escaped with his brave companions, into Val
Queiras, taking with him his son, who was only seven years old.
It is needless to harrow the feelings of my readers with a detail of
the dreadful fate of Rora; suffice it to say, that none of the horrid
tortures to which their countrymen were condemned on the 24th of April,
were omitted here; nearly all the victims were old or infirm, women,
and children. And lest any stragglers should ever return to their once
beautiful home, the houses were all burnt, and no vestige of cultivation
left around them.
Yet even this was not enough to glut the vengeance of Pianezza; Janavel
had escaped--and the Marquis did not hesitate to use the most unworthy
means of getting him into his power. He wrote to him, urging him to
renounce his heresy, as the only means of obtaining mercy for himself,
and his wife, and his daughters, who had been taken prisoners. In case
of non compliance, he was threatened that they should be condemned to
the flames, and that so high a price should be put on his head, that he
could not escape; in case of his capture no torture should be spared to
punish his rebellion. Janavel's simple reply was, that "no tortures were
horrible enough to induce him to abjure his faith, which the threats of
the Marquis only served to confirm; and as to my wife and daughters,"
he adds, "Providence will not abandon them; if you are permitted to put
them to death, the flames will only destroy their bodies, while their
pure souls will soon accuse you before the throne of the God of the
universe."
CHAPTER XIII.
Janavel returned from Dauphiné, after having remained there a short
time, and collected the Vaudois who had also taken refuge in that
province. He made, another attack, in hopes of taking some prisoners,
whom he might exchange for his wife and daughters, but being
unsuccessful, he proceeded to join Captain Jayer, who had put himself
at the head of those who had escaped the massacres. They very soon after
took the town of St. Second, by assault, and put the Irish garrison of
800 men to the sword, as a punishment for the barbarity with which they
had acted on the 24th of April. The Piemontese by their own avowal,
lost from 500 to 600 men, in this action; but the Vaudois had only seven
killed and six wounded. The houses and churches were burnt, and some
booty retaken; but the women, children, and old people, were not
insulted.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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