Published Articles
Since 1896, the Waldensian Historical Society has published a bulletin of scholarly articles. Many of these deal with the life and times of the people, including studies about the Exiles (including the Second Exile in 1698-1699.)
The articles were in French until the modern nation of Italy was again reunited, well into the 1800s, after which they switched to Italian. If you don’t read either of those languages, you can benefit from several of the articles by scanning the pages for your ancestral surnames. Of course, just because someone had the same surname as your ancestor, you shouldn’t merely assume the person is your ancestor; you would want to use the notary and other records in order to verify that.the person listed is indeed your ancestor.
The Family History Library in Salt Lake City has this journal. The call number is International book 945 F5. Specific volumes would also be available through the Interlibrary Loan system.
Here are the titles of sample articles from the Bulletin:
- “Liste de Vaudois exilés en 1698 et 1699” (“List of Waldensians Exiled in 1698 and 1699”) BSHV No. 10-11 (1893-18944) pages 21-74.
- “Registres de l’ancioenne Eglise Evangelique Vaudoise de Mentoulles, en Val Cluson , de Juin 1629 jusqu’a Octobre 1685” (“Register of the Ancient Waldensian Evangelical Church of Mentoulles in Cluson Valley, from June 1629 until October 1685").
With the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes, all Protestants in France were in grave peril. In 1685 they were given the choice of becoming Catholic or dying, and the law prohibited them from leaving the country. But many of them did leave. When the Catholic priest took over the parish register, it was a fairly new book and, rather than buy another one simply to keep Protestant and Catholic records separate, the priest began writing his entries in the same book.
Because of that, when old records were collected and centralized in the State Archives in Torino, the Mentoulles parish register was deemed a Catholic record. It wasn’t included with the Waldensian parish records when they were microfilmed.
- “La Soumission des Vallees Vaudoises a Charles Emmanuel Ier in 1594” (“The Submission of the Waldensian Valleys to Charles Emmanuel 1st in 1594”)
Charles Emmanuel, the Duke of Savoy at that time, signed a peace treaty with the Waldensians in 1594. Click HERE for a list of the Waldensian town officials who signed that treaty.
- “Divisione del Luogo d’Angrogna tra’ fratelli Berengario e Riccardo di Luserna (1232). (“Division of Angrogna among the Brothers Berengario and Riccardo of Luserna-1232” )
The lords of Luserna were the Waldensians’ overlords through the Medieval period—with the Duke of Savoy over the lords of Luserna as well as over the Waldensians. You might someday be interested in knowing if any if your Waldensian surnames was represented there in 1232. BSHV No. 4 (1888) pages 4-6.
- “Les Vaudois efugies de Piemont en Suisse en 1731” (“The Waldensian Refugies from Piedmont in Switzerland in 1731”), BSHV No. 29 (1911) pages 14-30.