. The Waldenses, or “Poor of Lyon,” were members of a lay spiritual movement founded on three principal points: the adoption of voluntary poverty, access to the Scriptures through a vernacular translation, and public preaching. In many...

WALDENSIANS. The Waldensians, also called the Poor Men of Lyons, originated with Pierre Valdès, or Peter Waldo, a wealthy merchant of Lyons, France. The dates of his birth and death are not known, nor is his exact name. The name Peter was given...

The Waldensians, Waldenses or Vaudois began as a Christian spiritual movement of the later Middle Ages, descendants of which still exist in various regions. Over time, the denomination joined the Genevan or Reformed branch of the Protestant Reformation....

MOST people well-grounded in English literature have encountered the Waldensians once--in the famous sonnet written on 'the late massacre in Piedmont' when John Milton, despite encroaching blindness, was still consultant spin-doctor for Cromwell's very Protestant foreign policy. It begins, 'Avenge O Lord, Thy...

Building on work by Weber and Troeltsch, this article examines other- and inner-worldly asceticism in Waldensianism, one of the largest heterodox religious movements in the Middle Ages. To explain variation in the types and directions of religious conduct, the historical comparative analysis focuses on...