The Waldenses took the full brunt of official opposition. They were a minority group of Bible-oriented people who lived in poor villages in the southeast of the country. Some were burned at the stake, hundreds were massacred, and about 20 of their villages were ravaged.—See box on page 6.

“Cardinal de Tournon, alleging that the Waldenses were in a treasonable conspiracy against the government, persuaded the ailing, vacillating King to sign a decree (January 1, 1545) that all Waldenses found guilty of heresy should be put to death. . . . Within a week (April 12-18) several villages were burned to the ground; in one of them 800 men, women, and children were slaughtered; in two months 3,000 were killed, twenty-two villages were razed, 700 men were sent to the galleys. Twenty-five terrified women, seeking refuge in a cavern, were asphyxiated by a fire built at its mouth.”

Regarding such historical events, Durant commented: “These persecutions were the supreme failure of Francis’ reign.” But what was the effect upon those who observed the steadfastness of the Waldenses during the persecutions authorized by the king? Durant wrote: “The courage of the martyrs gave dignity and splendor to their cause; thousands of onlookers must have been impressed and disturbed, who, without these spectacular executions, might never have bothered to change their inherited faith.”