These Paulicians increased, and scriptural knowledge was eagerly sought by several persons, who became eminent preachers in the southern parts of France, in Savoy, in Piedmont, and in the contiguous districts of Germany. Their followers were called after their teachers, or by various contemptuous appellations, taken from their peculiar customs or principles. Some were _Petrobrusians_, from Peter de Bruys, who, after twenty years’ labour, became a martyr for Christ; _Henricians_, from Henry, a disciple and colleague of Peter; _Albigenses_, from the city of Albi, where they were condemned in a council; _Cathari_, or Puritans, from their seeking the purity of Christian doctrine; and _Waldenses_, from Peter Waldo, a merchant of Lyons, in France. This great man procured translations of several parts of the Scriptures, and commenced his ministry, having relinquished his trade, about A.D. 1180, especially in France and Lombardy. The converts of these zealous men became very numerous; and they soon attracted the notice of the papal court in this century. Egbert, a German abbot, says of them, “They are increased to great multitudes throughout all countries. In Germany, we call them _Cathari_; in Flanders, they call them _Pipples_; in France, _Tisserands_ (weavers), because many of them are of that occupation.” Among these people many churches were formed, with intelligent and devout pastors of their own choosing. The _Cathari_, especially in Piedmont, formed separate societies, which were screened, in a great measure, from the popish prelates, by the retired seclusion of their habitations in the valleys, from which they were called _Valdenses_. These people were regarded with jealousy by the prelates, and their enemies commonly accused them of grievous errors; but it is well known that they were slandered, and that, while they rejected the claims and idolatries of the Romish priesthood, they generally held the essentials of the Gospel, as they derived their principles from the Scriptures. Egbert, the abbot, says of them, “They are armed with all those passages of Holy Scripture, which, in any degree, seem to favour their views: with these they know how to defend themselves, and to oppose the Catholic truth, though they mistake entirely the true sense of Scripture, which cannot be discovered without great judgment.”