Great Persecution of the Believing Waldenses on the Baltic Sea, in the Year 1390

About the year 1390 there began, in the countries on the Baltic Sea, the very severe persecution of the Waldenses which we mentioned in our account of the true faith in the fourteenth century. It continued on into the year 1391, and by it, among very many others, four hundred and forty-three of these people, whose names are recorded, in Pomerania, the Mark, and the places nearby, were brought to torture or the rack. They refused to renounce their faith, and freely confessed it, and told how many long years they had believed and confessed the truth of their faith, which was called a heresy. They are said to have been sober and frugal people, discreet in their speech, careful to avoid lying, swearing, and so on. Second book of the History of the Persecutions, folio 505, columns 3 and 4, from Catal. Test. Verit., book 18. Matt. Flacc. Illyr., book 15. Title, de Waldensibus. Vignier, Recueil de l'histoire de l'Église, in the year 1391. [n488-2]

NOTE. It seems that these people were not only persecuted and tortured for the faith, but also put to death, according to the account of P. J. Twisck, who says: [n488-1] "Of the believers, or Waldenses, more than four hundred and forty were arrested and put to death for their religion in the countries of Saxony and Pomerania. Their confession showed that they had received that doctrine from their parents, and that their teachers came to Bohemia; and the record of their trial shows, among other things, that they were sober, and discreet in their speech, carefully avoiding lying, swearing, and all dishonorable practices." P. J. Twisck, Chron., page 743, B., from Henr. Boxh., folio 27.