An Account of Those who Suffered in the Twelfth Century

[At the beginning, mention is made of this salutary but bloody century, in which the pious witnesses of the Lord come in multitudes to receive the crown of martyrdom on the battlefield of Christ.

Four persons, having no good opinion of infant baptism and transubstantiation, banished from the bishopric of Treves, in the year 1105.

Some of the followers of Berengarius, in the same bishopric, follow their fellow companions, and are not only banished, but also expelled, one year later, namely, in the year 1106.

The persecutions increase in violence; some who maintained the doctrine of Berengarius, burned alive at Treves and Utrecht, in the year 1135.

Arnald, a lector at Brescia, opposes infant baptism and the mass; for this he is persecuted, and finally, having come to Rome, is deprived of his life by fire, in the year 1145.

The teacher of this Arnald, namely, Peter Abelard, follows his disciple's footsteps in the persecution, and is, by order of the pope, imprisoned in the dungeon of a monastery, where he ends his life, in the same year as above.

Peter Bruis, burned at Saint Giles; Henry of Toulouse, arrested and put out of the way by the pope's legate; also many other persons put to death at Paris, for the true evangelical doctrine, about the year 1145, 1147.

Certain peasants, called Apostolics, put to death for maintaining the doctrine of the apostles, near Toulouse in France, in the year 1155.

Gerard, with about thirty persons, men as well as women, come to Oxford, in England, where, for maintaining the evangelical doctrine, they are branded on the forehead and scourged out of the city, where they perish from the cold, in the year 1161.

Arnold, Marsilius, and Theodoric, together with five other men and two women, burned alive at Cologne and Bonn, in the year 1163.

Many pious Christians, throughout all France and England, for maintaining their true belief, cast into the fire alive, where they die in great pain, in the year 1182.

Many Christians in Flanders, put to death by fire for the same reason; many others perish miserably in other places, in the year 1183.

One year after the death of the last mentioned martyrs, namely, in the year 1184 or 1185, a decree of Pope Lucius the Third is published against the Waldenses, who are called by various names.

The bloody decree of Ilphons, King of Arragon, published against these same Waldenses, in the year 1194, presented in detail.

Origin of the inquisition, set up by Pope Innocent the Third against the Waldenses and Albigenses, about the year 1198; to that end, mention is made of three letters he wrote about this matter; after which it followed that, in the year 1200, five men and three women were burned at Troyes, in Campania, and some expelled from Metz.]

From here on we will not have to confine ourselves to such scanty material in the account of the martyrs as we necessarily had to do in some of the preceding centuries, when, for lack of ancient histories and records, we were often compelled to break off our account of the sainted confessors of Jesus Christ too soon; which often grieved us to the heart.

Now, however, comes the salutary though bloody century, in which abundant material is furnished us to accomplish our purpose; the pious witnesses of the Lord now come in multitudes, who willingly let themselves be put to death for the proclamation of the only saving truth; crowns of martyrdom are now held out to all Christian champions who have acquitted themselves well on the field of martyrdom, under the bloody banner of Jesus Christ.

Excommunication is the beginning of their conflict; then follow fire, sword, and much other dreadful violence; in and under which they, calling upon God, end their lives, leave the earth, and take their rest under the wings of their Savior, or under the altar of God, until the number of their slain brothers is fulfilled. We then turn, first, to the portal or entrance of the arena of the Christian martyrs, where we see that some persons must leave their country, and are banished as heretics.