The Prophetic Faith of Our Fathers, vol. 1

APPENDIX D-The Waldensian Antiquity Problem ¹

I. Varying Views of Waldensian Origins

The Waldenses claimed to be a chain connected with the early church before Rome fell away from the apostolic faith. Under the circumstances it was virtually inevitable that the Papacy should call them a recent innovation, springing up suddenly to plague the ancient church, and reviving the gross errors of the older heretics. Brown comments on the conflicting views of the origin of the Waldenses in these clear lines: PFF1 937.1

“Two views of the origin of the Vaudois were put forward in the last century, the earlier by a learned French Vaudois, Muston, and the later by an Italian Vaudois professor, Comba. There is a great difference between the views of these two scholars. Muston points out the significance of the word Vaudois—dwellers in the valleys—and places their origin in very early times. On the other hand, Comba points out Waldo of Lyons as their founder, with the consequent denial of a pre-Waldo origin for the Vaudois. Muston, in ascribing to the Vaudois the dignity of an apostolic succession, indicates St. Ambrose and Claudius of Turin, among others, as being in the heretics’ line of descent. M’Crie, who wrote a History of the Reformation in Italy some time before Muston wrote, also referred to the opposition to the papal pretensions in Italy, by such as the great See of Milan, even in the eleventh century. Like Muston, the Scottish historian drew attention to what we might term the ‘Ambrosian resistance’—symbolized in the use of a liturgy different from that of Rome.” ² PFF1 937.2

1. THE Two EXTREMES

The contention that the Alpine Waldenses sprang merely from Peter the Waldensian, after 1173, was made, as we have seen, by the Romanist Bossuet—and some Protestants who followed him—who wished the world to think that the Valdensian “heresy” was of recent origin—not to mention their desire to blot out the beam of uncomfortable light focused upon the church’s departures from the early faith. ³ Some of the older Protestant writers claimed that the Waldenses formed a hidden apostolic succession back to the early church, and that they had preserved the apostolic faith unadulterated. They were the Vallenses, Valdenses, or Vaudois, men of the valleys, or the dense valleys, according to some writers. ⁴ Indeed, Muston and Monastier conjectured that instead of these evangelicals taking their name from Waldo, he derived his name and doctrine from them. ⁵ PFF1 937.3

Peter Waldo of Lyons, it was pointed out, clearly had disciples to whom he left the name Waldenses, or Valdenses, derived from his own name, which, according to the early sources, was not Waldo, but Valdes, Valdus, Valdius, Valdensis, Valdesius, Valdexius, Gualdensis. ⁶ But this did not prove that the Vaudois of the Alps derived their origin from him. ⁷ Waldo was probably not his family name, for family names were not yet in general use. ⁸ First names then were in vogue. He was Peter of the Valleys. And Peter’s name, says Faber, could easily have been derived, in accordance with the time, from some town, people, or country, perhaps from the section named Valdis, Valden (Gallican form), or Vaudra, on the borders of France.” ⁹ PFF1 938.1

2. THE NEWER VIEWS

Although the reaction from the earlier apostolic-antiquity school of thought was a denial of any origin before Waldo, later writers show a trend away from that extreme reaction, and point out that the Waldensians in a larger sense were a fusion of earlier and later elements. PFF1 938.2

“Spreading into Lombardy, they [the followers of Waldo] met a party already organized and like-minded. This party was known as the Humiliati. Its adherents were plain in dress and abstained from oaths and falsehoods and from lawsuits. The language, used by the Third Oecumenical council and the synod of Verona, identified them with the Poor Men of Lyons. PFF1 938.3

“Originally, as we know from other sources, the two groups were closely affiliated. It is probable that Waldo and his followers on their visits in Lombardy won so much favor with the older sect that it accepted Waldo’s leadership. At a later date, a portion of the [orthodox] Humiliati associated themselves in convents, and received the sanction of Innocent III. It seems probable that they furnished a model for the third order of St. Francis. One portion of the Humiliati early became known as the Poor Men of Lombardy and had among their leaders, John of Roncho. A portion of them, if not all, were treated by contemporaries as his followers and called Runcarii. Contemporary writers treat the two groups as parts of the same body and distinguish them as the Ultramontane and Lombard Poor Men or as the Ultramontane and Italic Brethren.” ¹⁰ PFF1 938.4

There are differing opinions as to identifying the Italian Waldenses with various other older groups besides the Humiliati, but regardless of the exact interrelationships it seems settled that the Waldensians embrace elements from several evangelical groups. The source materials are not plentiful, for the writings of the Waldenses themselves were systematically destroyed, and the records of their enemies must be used with caution. PFF1 938.5