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<DATE>2009-10-04</DATE>
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<NAME>Pip Willcox</NAME>
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<ITEM>Proofed and reviewed as part of batch Z090910.pdcc.</ITEM>
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<BIBNO T="oclc">52612215</BIBNO>
<VID>179519</VID>
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<TEXT LANG="eng">
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<DIV1 TYPE="title page">
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<P>THE Chri&s;tians Calamities: <HI>OR,</HI> The Prote&s;tants Complaint, Collected out of many &s;everall Letters, that were &s;ent from beyond the Seas into England, and pre&s;ented to his High|ne&s;s the Lord Protector, of <HI>England, Scotland and Ireland.</HI></P>
<P>The very truth of the matter is plainly &s;et down in this little Book, to the end that who&s;oever either reads or hears it, may take good notice of what is here &s;et down.</P>
<P>And withall, to pray unto the Lord, that the like mi&s;eries may never be|fall us here in England.</P>
<P>Faithfully collected, drawn up and written, By <HI>Laurence Price.</HI> 1655.</P>
<Q><L>From famine, blod&s;hed, plagues and &s;udden death,</L>
<L>Good Lord deliver us whil&s;t we are on earth.</L></Q>
<P>London, printed for Thomas Vere at the Angell without Newgate. 1655,</P>
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<DIV1 TYPE="to the reader">
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<HEAD><HI>AN INTRODUCTION,</HI> or Epi&s;tle to the Reader.</HEAD>
<P>BEloved Friends &amp; Countrymen, the rea&s;on why I drew up the co|py of this little Book, is, becau&s;e the world &s;hould know the truth of the mater, how crueIly &amp; how barbarou&s;ly our Chri&s;tian brethren are dealt with|all beyond the Seas by their blood|thir&s;ty enemies. It is a picture not drawn to the life, but of the death of many thou&s;ands of true and Faithfull hearted Prote&s;tants; and &s;o hoping that example of them may be a meanes to make us turn from our wicked wayes, and &s;eeke the Lord whil&s;t he may be found in mercy, I remain your loving Friend and well-wi&s;her.</P>
<CLOSER><SIGNED>L. P.</SIGNED></CLOSER>
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<DIV1 N="persecutions" TYPE="account">
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<HEAD>A briefe De&s;cription of the Bloody U&s;age and cruel Per&s;ecutions done upon Prote&s;tants in the vallies of <HI>Piedmont</HI> and other places, as you &s;hall hear immediatly.</HEAD>
<P>_IN the famous and fruitful Coun|trey, which is called, <HI>The Val|lies of Piedmont, and Lucern,</HI> under the command of the Duke of <HI>Savoy,</HI> there lately inhabited a people called <HI>Walden&s;es,</HI> famous for their con|&s;tant profe&s;&s;ion of the Prote&s;tant Religion in all ages for about <HI>500</HI> yeares together; to whom the blood-thir&s;ty Papi&s;ts have always born a mo&s;t venemous &s;pight, and have often con&s;ulted among&s;t them&s;elves how to get the&s;e Prote&s;tants quite rooted out and &s;o to make them&s;elves ma&s;ters of all that they en|joyed. In the pur&s;uance whereof about the later end of <HI>January</HI> la&s;t, the Duke of <HI>Savoy</HI> by the per&s;wa&s;ion of the <HI>Romi&s;h</HI> Prie&s;ts and Ie&s;uits, put forth a Proclamation that in ca&s;e all of the reformed Religion, both inhabitants and &s;trangers, &s;hould not in thr&eacute;e dayes turn
<PB N="6" REF="6"><!-- PDF PAGE 63 -->Papi&s;ts they mu&s;t for ever bid farewell to their native countrey, hou&s;es, lands and po&s;|&s;e&s;&s;ions, and that it &s;hould be death without mercy for any to di&s;obey the &s;ame,</P>
<P>Hereupon no &s;ooner was the time limited, overpa&s;t, but immediatly Prie&s;t and Monks &s;ent in upon them a world of cut-throats and villains, who in the depth of Winter, not &s;paring even women with child n&eacute;er delive|ry, nor tho&s;e that had Infants hanging on their brea&s;t, they were all without di&s;tinction both men, women, and children, driven out to wander through fro&s;t and &s;now in a mo&s;t bitter &s;ea&s;on to &s;&eacute;eke for &s;helter in hollow caves and rocks, and other de&s;olate places.</P>
<P>The like cruelties have never b&eacute;en acted &s;ince the worlds creation: for why? The Pa|pi&s;ts having gotten the upper hand of the Prote&s;tants, they &s;tole and tooke away their hor&s;es and cattell from off their ground, they fired and burned the Rickes and Barnes of Corn, they ravi&s;hed and deflowred both Wo|men and Virgins, in &s;uch a mo&s;t horrible and bea&s;tly manner, which may be a &s;hame to be &s;poken of: and yet that was not the wor&s;t, for when the di&s;tre&s;&s;ed Prote&s;tants had b&eacute;en by their Papi&s;ticall enemies at fir&s;t &s;o falfly and bea&s;tly betrayed, and afterwards &s;o ter|ribly
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<PB N="7" REF="7"><!-- PDF PAGE 64 -->a&s;&s;aulted, as many of them that could make, any &s;hift at all to e&s;cape away, fled in|to the mountains with their wives and chil|dren, but by the way were met withall by a great party of Iri&s;h Souldiers, which were under the Dukes command, who, fell upon them with &s;uch violence, that they murdred all both men, women and children, in&s;omuch that they left not one of them alive that they could take or lay hands on, &s;aying, that they would be revenged on them for the Romi&s;h Catholick blood that was &s;pilt by the Prote+&s;tants in Ireland.</P>
<P>Yet here followeth more &s;ad and &s;orrow|full news, which is wor&s;e then that which hath b&eacute;en already &s;poken of, the people which did yet remain in the vallies, that had no time to &s;hift for them&s;elves, ran &s;ome of them in|to Cr&eacute;eks and corners and hide them&s;elves in caves and hollow places, where many of them died mi&s;erable deaths for want of Food to &s;u&s;tain their hunger; and them that re|mained in Towns and Cities were &s;o cruelly murdered that the very Chanels in the &s;tr&eacute;ets were filld with blood: foure hundred men at one time were burned to death in a Church; fift&eacute;en hundred of women and &s;mall children on that &s;ame day &s;lain at a Fort cal|led
<PB N="8" REF="8"><!-- PDF PAGE 65 --><HI>Milbour,</HI> the women had their throats cut and their childrens brains were da&s;ht a|gain&s;t the rocks, and afterwards their Car|ka&s;&s;es burnt to powder. At the Towne of <HI>Bricherus</HI> all the men put to the &s;word, and &s;ixt&eacute;en great bellied women had their infants ript out of their wombs; in a great Forre&s;t that was very neare unto that place, were two hundred men that fled for their lives, overtaken, and afterwards nayl'd to the tr&eacute;es alive, &s;ome of them with their h&eacute;els upward, and their heads downwards towards &s;he ground. At the Citie of <HI>Turin</HI> was the Pro|te&s;tants Temple &s;et on fire, and burned to the very ground by Friers and Romi&s;h Prie&s;ts.</P>
<P>The Mini&s;ters belonging to the &s;ame, Mr. <HI>Gros</HI> and Mr <HI>Aghit,</HI> with all the chiefe&s;t Gentlemen &amp; officers were carried to pri&s;on, &amp; &s;tifled to death in their beds. Four Elders, among&s;t which <HI>Paul de Ro&s;&s;an,</HI> a man that was of very great note and e&s;t&eacute;eme, with many others more hanged at <HI>la Tour.</HI> Some had their bowels pull'd out of their Bellies, and thrown about the &s;tr&eacute;ets for Dogges to gnaw upon. The hou&s;es of <HI>Angrogue</HI> in which were thr&eacute;e thou&s;and Prote&s;tants got in for &s;helter, was fired, and never a man
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<PB N="9" REF="9"><!-- PDF PAGE 66 -->came out alive; the Souldiers and Romi&s;h Prie&s;ts, Fryers and Ie&s;uits, in companies running up and downe from one hou&s;e to another, and never left off murdering whil&s;t the day gave light, Some Children by the Souldiers torn limb from limb, and thrown at out anothers heads: and &s;ome were to&s;t upon the poynts of their pikes, to and fro. Many that were brought up high and mighty mountains, were tied neck and h&eacute;els toge|ther, and tumbled down the &s;t&eacute;ep Rockes.</P>
<P>At a gallant Town called <HI>Tollareta,</HI> they de&s;troyed all the women and children that they could light upon, and cut off the chil|drens heads, and boyled them, and eate the brains for &s;awce: and all the men that they could take they &s;tript them naked, and cut &amp; &s;la&s;ht their bodies with Swords and Fanl|chins and &s;topt up their wounds with Salt and Gunpowder. They overtooke &s;ome in their running. and &s;taked them fa&s;t to the ground. They hanged many up by the f&eacute;et till they dyed, and &s;ome they breched through with &s;pits and roa&s;ted alive.</P>
<P>And thus were the poore Prote&s;tants put to mo&s;t cruell and inhumane deaths, both in the vallies and in the mountains, and in eve|ry Towne and Citie where the Romi&s;h
<PB N="10" REF="10"><!-- PDF PAGE 67 -->Prie&s;ts and Papi&s;ts Souldiers came.</P>
<P>Some women had their brea&s;ts cut off, &s;ome men had their members cut off, &s;ome ware &s;tarved to death with cold, and &s;ome were forc'd to eate their own excrement, all which mi&s;eries was inflected upon them, be|cau&s;e they would not turn from their Reli|gion, and from the true wor&s;hip of the living God, to wor&s;hip and honour Idolatry.</P>
<P>A Religious man at <HI>Angrogue,</HI> named <HI>Peter Symon,</HI> being a hundred years of age, and his wife almo&s;t as much, with many o|ther aged people having gathered them&s;elves in a hou&s;e together into one place, intending there to &s;pend the remainder of the wretched time that they had to live in Divine Prayer and Supplycations to the Lord, were &s;et upon by the bloody Tyrants, and mo&s;t ba&s;ely murdered becau&s;e they would not goe to Ma&s;&s;e.</P>
<P>In another hou&s;e they tooke M. <HI>Thomas Margher</HI> almo&s;t an hundred years old, and becau&s;e he refu&s;ed to goe to Ma&s;&s;e, they fir&s;t cut off his No&s;e, then one of his Ears, and after the other, and la&s;t of all they cut him joynt from joynt till they had cut all his Limbs in p&eacute;eces, who &s;poke the&s;e words in the mid&s;t of his extremitie to the Tyrants
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<PB N="11" REF="11"><!-- PDF PAGE 68 -->that did it. <HI>Torment my body how and which way you will or can, but I am &s;ure that you have no power to hurt my &s;oule, and therefore I feare you not, I will never turn from my Chri&s;tian Faith to wor&s;hip I|dols, for had I ten thou&s;and lives I could be wel content to loo&s;e them all for the Truth and for the Go&s;pel of Chri&s;t;</HI> the&s;e were the late&s;t of his dying words, a great number more &s;uch horrible bloodie Murders have bin committed upon the Prote&s;tants, which if every &s;everall particular were &s;et down, a bigger Booke were not able to hold them: But here is a &s;ad precedent in what is alrea|die &s;et down, I would to God that it had bin better, for it is too well approved on, that a|bove thirtie thou&s;and Chri&s;tians that were Prote&s;tants peri&s;hed and were brought to untimely ends in two days and nights, which was done <HI>April</HI> the &s;ixth and &s;eventh this pre&s;ent Yeare, <HI>1655,</HI></P>
<DIV2 N="Piedmont" TYPE="account">
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<HEAD>Here followeth a briefe De&s;cription of the Cituation of the Countrie, where the&s;e Cruell, Bloody, and unhuman Ma&s;&s;acries was committed and done.</HEAD>
<P>THe People of the Nation are called the <HI>Walldences,</HI> mo&s;t of them are of a gallant re&s;olve, which had rather dye then to change and to turn from what their Ance&s;tors were, and it is well to be known that the faithfull <HI>Waldences</HI> have &s;tood up for the true Prote|&s;tant Religion at lea&s;t five hundred yeares: Not-with&s;tanding they have had many trou|ble&s;ome Mutinies and Per&s;ecutions ray&s;ed again&s;t them by the blood-thir&s;tie Papi&s;ts, but never none like to this before: the coun|tries wherein the <HI>Waldences</HI> did inhabit is called the valeys of <HI>Piedmont,</HI> and the va|leys of <HI>Lucerne,</HI> adjoyning clo&s;e with <HI>Italy</HI> and <HI>France</HI> on the other &s;ide, <HI>Savoy</HI> is al&s;o neere unto it; the Countrey in the valeys is very fruitfull baring and bringing forth Corn, Oyle and Wine in a plentiful manner, and by the report of many knowing men which have bin Travilers and pa&s;t through that Countrey, there is never a place in all <HI>Urope</HI>
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<PB N="13" REF="15"><!-- PDF PAGE 71 -->&s;o like unto <HI>England</HI> as that Countrey is, but the Lord in mercy grant that <HI>England</HI> may never be &s;o cruelly abu&s;ed, as the people of that Country have bin: and now let us turn back and reflect upon our &s;elves; are not w&eacute;e almo&s;t in the &s;ame condition as they were in? &s;uppo&s;e a forraign Nation &s;hould come as they have threatned to do and invade our Countrys and over-comens, who knows but their crueltie might be as much to us as the Papi&s;ts crueltie was to the <HI>Waldences;</HI> I am certainly per&s;waded that our &s;ins are as great and numberle&s;&s;e as theirs, and for ought w&eacute;e know our puni&s;hment may be as great as theirs unle&s;&s;e w&eacute;e &s;p&eacute;edily repent: wherefore I de&s;ire every man and every wo|man, old and young, rich and poore, to betake them&s;elves to true repentance by unfeigned prayers and amendment of life, &amp; to pro&s;trate our &s;elves both Soules and Bodies before the wrath of our mercifull God commeth upon us, for if our Enemies &s;hould re&s;i&s;t and make warre again&s;t us, it is not the arme of fle&s;h that could defend us, except the Lord of Hoa&s;ts be on our &s;ide, although w&eacute;e were ten for one again&s;t them, but if the Lord God be on our &s;ide w&eacute;e n&eacute;ed not fear our proude&s;t Enemies though a thou&s;and to one &s;hould
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<PB N="14" REF="14"><!-- PDF PAGE 72 -->magnifie them&s;elves again&s;t us: and now will &amp; put you in mind of &s;ome &s;ad mi&s;eries which have fallen and happened to many people in <HI>England</HI> &s;ince the&s;e la&s;t dome&s;tick wars began, which is known by wofull expe|rience to be too true; all which calamities, we as it were pulled down upon our owne hea<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="OXF" EXTENT="1 letter">a for want of &s;erding of God aright.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="cruelties" TYPE="account">
<HEAD>Here followeth a true Relation of many cruell acts which have been done &s;ince the&s;e unhappy and unnatural wars began in England, which is a thing very nece&s;|&s;ary to be lookt upon, and to kept in me|mory.</HEAD>
<P>THe Prophet <HI>Ho&s;ea, Chap. 4.</HI> crying out again&s;t the wickedne&s;&s;e of the people of tho&s;e times, &s;aith, <HI>The Lord hath a contro|ver&s;ie with the inhabitants of the land, be|cau&s;e there is no truth, nor mercy, nor know|ledge of God in the land, by &s;wearing and lying, and killing and &s;tealing, and who|ring, they break out, and blood hath touched blood.</HI> The very &s;ame occa&s;ion hath been in <HI>England:</HI> For all manner of &s;tnnes have &s;o much abounded here, that the like was never before: here is envy, &s;pite and hate among&s;t neighbours, here is coveton&s;|ne&s;&s;e pride and ambitien among&s;t rich men;
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<PB N="15" REF="16"><!-- PDF PAGE 73 -->here is lying, &s;wearing &amp; di&s;&s;embling among Trade&s;men, here is fal&s;e doctrine &amp; bla&s;phe|my taught among &s;editious men, and there is a generall di&s;temper among&s;t all men; in&s;omuth that there are few men contented with their pre&s;ent e&s;tate; and this was the cau&s;e of our homebred wars at fir&s;t, and that blood hath touched blood, we all know to be true: for &s;tnee tho&s;e wars began, there is no place in <HI>England</HI> but hath d&eacute;eply ta&s;ted of this bloody cup of civill wars, whereby &s;ome have lo&s;t their goods, &s;ome their lives, and many thou&s;ands both goods and lives; &s;o that the conntrey people in many places knew not whither to flys to hide them&s;elves from the terrible &s;troke of death. At night when men &s;hould have gone to their re&s;t, the Drums beat up their martiall Alarms; and by day when men &s;hould go to their labours, their hor&s;es &amp; rattel were taken up for Ser|vice and the two great Armies were in the howels of our nation, continually preparing them&s;elves for flaughter: and this was the cau&s;e of our &s;orrows &amp; troubles; had if not bin for this, there had not b&eacute;en &s;o many news of taking of towns, firing of hou&s;es plander|ing of Cities, ravi&s;hing of women, and de|flowring of maids: had it not b&eacute;en for the
<PB N="16" REF="17"><!-- PDF PAGE 74 -->wars, there had not b&eacute;en &s;o many Lords, Knights, Colonels &amp; Captains imprisoned, nor &s;o many Gentlemen &amp; others lo&s;t their Uves: tho&s;e unnatural civil wars have can|&s;ed many a wofull mother to bewaile the death of her flain &s;on, and many a &s;i&s;ter to mingle tears with her brothers blood, many fatherle&s;&s;e children to peri&s;h for want of nouri&s;hment, &amp; many a mournful widow to fit w&eacute;eping a lone for want of the company of her late decea&s;ed husband.</P>
<P>And thus have you heard of the mi&s;eriss that w&eacute;e have brought upon our &s;elves long of our &s;t<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="OXF" EXTENT="1 letter">s and taking up armes to fight one with another here in our own Countryes.</P>
<P>And now to conclude, if our Friends and Neighbours were &s;o violent and cruell a|mong&s;t us, who knowes but if an Army of &s;trangers would come and invade our Land, but that they would be farre wor&s;e, which I hope &s;hall never be: Therefore I de&s;ire of all men that they may love one another, and then will the Lord &s;end Love and Peace a|mong&s;t all: and for the di&s;tre&s;&s;ed <HI>Waldences</HI> that are yet alive let every man and woman &s;end up their Prayers to Almighty God for their deliverance, and happy are w&eacute;e if w&eacute;e can take warning by their harmes.</P>
<TRAILER>FINIS.</TRAILER>
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