Editing Peter Waldo

{{short description|French theologian}}
{{about||the ship|Peter Waldo (1811 ship)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2017}}
{{Infobox theologian
|name = Peter Waldo
|image = Worms Lutherdenkmal Petrus Waldus 2012-02-21-18-24-52.jpg
|caption = Statue of Peter Waldo at the [[Luther Monument (Worms)|Luther Monument]] in [[Worms, Germany]]
|native_name = Pierre Vaudès
|native_name_lang = fr
|birth_date = c. 1140
|birth_place = Possibly [[Lyon]], [[France in the Middle Ages|France]]
|death_date = c. 1205 (age about 65)
|death_place = [[Piedmont]], [[Kingdom of Italy (Holy Roman Empire)|Italy]], [[Holy Roman Empire]]
|occupation = Spiritual leader, theologian, merchant
|tradition_movement = [[Waldensian]]
}}
'''Peter Waldo''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|w|ɔː|l|d|oʊ|,_|ˈ|w|ɒ|l|-}};<ref>[http://www.dictionary.com/browse/waldo "Waldo"]. ''[[Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary]]''.</ref> also ''Valdo'', ''Valdes'', ''Waldes''; {{Langx|fr|Pierre Vaudès}}, ''de Vaux''; {{Langx|la|Petrus Waldus, Valdus}};<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NXamOroqXxgC&dq=%22petrus+valdus%22&pg=RA1-PA111|title=Britannicarum Ecclesiarum Antiquitates: Quibus Inserta Est Pestiferæ Adversùs Dei Gratiam À Pelagio Britanno in Ecclesiam Inductæ Hæreseos Historia. Accedit Gravissimæ Quæstionis De Christianarum Ecclesiarum Successione & Statu Historica Explicatio. A Jacobo Usserio ..|first=James|last=Ussher|date=19 February 1687|publisher=impensis Benj. Tooke|via=Google Books}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wsgRtLoBPtYC&dq=%22petrus+waldus%22&pg=PA6|title=Petrus Waldus und Franz von Assisi: Ein Vortrag auf Veranstaltung des Evangelischen Vereins für Kirchliche|first=Heinrich Eduard|last=Schmieder|date=19 February 1854|publisher=Schultze|via=Google Books}}</ref> c. 1140 – c. 1205) was the leader of the [[Waldensians]], a [[Christian movements|Christian spiritual movement]] of the [[Middle Ages]].

The tradition that his first name was "Peter" can only be traced back to the fourteenth century. This has caused some historians, such as Jana Schulman, to see it as likely a later invention.<ref name=Rise>{{cite book|title=The Rise of the Medieval World 500-1300: A Biographical Dictionary (The Great Cultural Eras of the Western World)|author=Jana K. Schulman|publisher=Greenwood Press|date=2002|isbn=9780313308178|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=f_jLbHTM_zgC&q=waldo}}</ref> He is considered a [[Proto-Protestant]].<ref name="Melton 2014 p. 775">{{cite book | last=Melton | first=J.G. | title=Faiths Across Time: 5,000 Years of Religious History [4 Volumes]: 5,000 Years of Religious History | publisher=ABC-CLIO | year=2014 | isbn=978-1-61069-026-3 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bI9_AwAAQBAJ&pg=PA775 | access-date=2023-03-07 | page=775}}</ref>

== Relationship with Waldenses ==
{{main|Waldensians}}
Peter Waldo is regarded by many historians, including Jana Schulman, as having founded the Waldensians sometime between 1170 and 1177.<ref>{{cite web |url= https://www.britannica.com/topic/Waldenses |title= Waldenses |website= Encyclopaedia Britannica |access-date= 28 January 2019 |quote= little is known with certainty about the reputed founder, Valdes (also called Peter Waldo, or Valdo). As a layman, Valdes preached (1170–76) in Lyon, France}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/15527b.htm |title= Waldenses |last= Weber |first= N. |date= 1912 | website= Catholic Encyclopedia | publisher= New Advent |access-date= 28 January 2019 | quote= The real founder of the sect was a wealthy merchant of Lyon who in the early documents is called Waldes (Waldo)… On the Feast of the Assumption, 1176, he disposed of the last of his earthly possessions and shortly after took the vow of poverty.}}</ref><ref name=Rise/>

There were claims that the Waldensians predated Peter Waldo. In his ''A History of the Vaudois Church'' (1859), Antoine Monastier quotes Bernard, Abbott of Foncald, writing at the end of the 12th century, that the Waldensians arose during the papacy of Lucius.{{sfn|Monastier|1859|p=58}} Monastier takes him to mean [[Pope Lucius II|Lucius II]], Pope from 1144 to 1145, and concludes that the Waldenses were active before 1145. Bernard also says that the same Pope Lucius condemned them as heretics, but they were condemned by [[Pope Lucius III]] in 1184.<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/15527b.htm |title= Waldenses |last= Weber |first= N. |date= 1912 |website= Catholic Encyclopedia |publisher= New Advent |access-date= 28 January 2019 | quote= Pope Lucius III consequently included them among the heretics against whom he issued a Bull of excommunication at Verona in 1184.}}</ref>

Monastier also says that [[Eberhard of Béthune|Eberard de Béthune]], writing in 1210 (although Monastier says 1160), claimed that the name ''Vaudois'' meant "valley dwellers" or those who "dwell in a vale of sorrow and tears", and was in use before Peter Waldo.

A claim persisted until the 19th century that Waldo had not begun any new movement but that he had arisen from a pure Christianity established by the Apostles in the Alps soon after Jesus' ascension, and that Waldo was merely perpetuating this pure faith.<ref name=Rise/>

==Life and work==
Most details of Waldo's life are unknown. Extant sources relate that he was a wealthy clothier and merchant from [[Lyon]] and a man of some learning. After establishing himself as a successful merchant, Waldo commissioned monks to create a translated copy of the Bible for him.<ref name=Rise/> The clerics from Lyon translated the [[New Testament]] into the [[vernacular]] "Romance" ([[Franco-Provençal language|Franco-Provençal]]).{{sfn|Lelong|1723|p=313-14}} This has caused Waldo to be credited with providing to Europe the first translation of the Bible in a 'modern tongue' outside of [[Latin]].{{sfn|Jones|1819|p=18-19}}

Through reading his Bible and writings of the [[Church Fathers]], Waldo became fascinated with the concepts of purity and perfection.<ref name=Rise/> He was also influenced by the movement started by [[Arnold of Brescia]]."<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.executedtoday.com/2014/06/04/1155-arnold-of-brescia/#:~:text=Though%20Arnold%20had%20vanished%20into,a%20generation%20on%20finds%20St|title=executedtoday.com}}</ref>. In 1173 in pursuit of purity, he embraced poverty after hearing an itinerant singer perform a song about [[Saint Alexius]]. Alexius had given up a large inheritance and a beautiful bride in order to live in poverty like Jesus.<ref name=Rise/> Waldo sold all he had, forswore his marriage and home, and put his two young daughters into a convent.<ref name=Rise/>

Waldo began traveling around Lombardy begging and preaching about the value of poverty. The region of Lombardy was a hotbed of religious reform movements at the time, many of which would be later deemed heresies by the Catholic Church. These include the Cathars, the [[Humiliati]], the Albigensians, and the [[Speronists]]. As Waldo gathered followers and they determined their own doctrines they shared many features with these other reform movements - to the point that it becomes difficult for historians to determine the origins of many of the religious ideas circulating among them.<ref name=Rise/> Unlike the leaders of these other groups Waldo had never joined the Catholic Church's priesthood or any of its religious orders.<ref name=Rise/>

Other events, besides hearing of Saint Alexius, may have also contributed to Waldo's decision to take up poverty and preaching including a rejection of [[transubstantiation]] when it was considered a capital crime to do it,{{citation needed|date=January 2020}} and the sudden and unexpected death of a friend during an evening meal.{{sfn|Perrin|1884|p=21}}{{sfn|Aston|1993|p=18}} From this point onward he began living a radical Christian life, giving his property over to his wife, while the remainder of his belongings he distributed as [[alms]] to the poor. At about this time, Waldo began to preach and teach publicly, based on his ideas of simplicity and poverty, notably that "No man can serve two masters, God and [[Mammon]]."<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://sourcebooks.fordham.edu/source/waldo1.asp|title=Internet History Sourcebooks Project|website=sourcebooks.fordham.edu}}</ref>

Inspired by his example Waldo began to attract followers and they grew into a community of believers. By 1170 Waldo had gathered a large number of followers, referred to as ''the Poor of Lyons,'' ''the Poor of [[Lombardy]],'' or ''the Poor of God.'' They evangelized their teaching while traveling as [[peddler]]s.{{sfn|Wylie|1848|p=17}} Often referred to as the [[Waldensians]] (or Waldenses), they were distinct from the [[Albigensians]] or [[Cathari]]. The Waldensian movement was characterized from the beginning by lay preaching, [[voluntary poverty]], and strict adherence to the Bible.

In January 1179, Waldo and one of his [[wikt:disciple|disciples]] went to Rome, where they were welcomed by [[Pope Alexander III]] and the [[Roman Curia]].{{sfn|RHGF|1786|loc=p. 682, section E}} They had to explain their faith before a panel of three clergymen, including issues which were then debated within the Church, such as the [[universal priesthood]],{{sfn|Roe|Hooker|Handford|1907|p=4445}}{{sfn|Cathcart|1883|p=1200}}{{sfn|Beard|1885|p=24}} the gospel in the vulgate or local language, and the issue of voluntary poverty. The results of the meeting were inconclusive. The pope affirmed the Waldensians' vow of poverty, but forbade them to continue preaching due to their status as laypeople.<ref name=Rise/> Waldo and his followers revolted against the ban and increased their preaching and missionary efforts. They continued to gather followers and began proclaiming doctrines at odds with Catholicism - such as the right of all worthy members including women to preach the Scriptures without permission from Church authorities.<ref name=Rise/> They also began preaching against Purgatory, prayers for the dead, and indulgences.<ref name=Rise/> They were excommunicated by the Catholic Church. By the late 1180s, they were being pursued as heretics. This persecution only increased their preaching against the Roman Catholic Church.<ref name=Rise/> The Waldensians developed a doctrine that forbids the use of weapons or of oaths, which led them to refuse any participation in Catholic rituals.<ref name=Rise/> The Catholic hierarchy accused them of apostasy.<ref name=Rise/>
[[File:Pierre Valdo gargouille cathédrale Saint Jean Lyon.jpg|thumb|Waldo depicted as a [[gargoyle]] on [[Lyon Cathedral]]: he is depicted with a hollow head, like a madman, preaching towards the sky, instead of prostrating himself before God.]]
Waldo condemned what he considered as [[Pope|papal]] excesses and [[Roman Catholic Church|Catholic]] dogmas, including [[purgatory]] and transubstantiation. He said that these dogmas were "the [[Whore of Babylon|harlot]]" from the [[book of Revelation]].{{sfn|Perrin|1884|p=22}}

Waldo's ideas, but not the movement itself, were condemned at the [[Third Council of the Lateran|Third Lateran Council]] in March of the same year.{{sfn|Map|1924|p=76}} The leaders of the Waldensian movement were not yet excommunicated.

In 1180, Waldo composed a profession of faith which is still extant.{{sfn|Tourn|1980|p=232}}{{sfn|Waldo|1969}}<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Waldensian Confessions of Faith (Circa 1120) {{!}} Reformed Theology at A Puritan's Mind |url=https://www.apuritansmind.com/creeds-and-confessions/the-waldensian-confessions-of-faith-circa-1120/ |access-date=2023-01-01 |language=en-US}}</ref>

Driven away from Lyon, Waldo and his followers settled in the high valleys of [[Piedmont]], and in France, in the [[Luberon]], as they continued in their pursuit of Christianity based on the New Testament. Finally, Waldo was excommunicated by [[Pope Lucius III]] during the synod held at [[Verona]] in 1184. The doctrine of the Poor of Lyons was again condemned by the [[Fourth Council of the Lateran|Fourth Lateran Council]] in 1215, when they mentioned the group by name for the first time, and declared its principles to be [[heresy]]. Fearing suppression from the Church, Waldo's followers fled to the mountainous regions of northern Italy in the [[Waldensian Evangelical Church]].<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |article=Peter Waldo |title=Encyclopedia of World Biography |date=2004 |publisher=[[Gale Group]] |url=http://www.encyclopedia.com/people/philosophy-and-religion/protestant-christianity-biographies/peter-waldo |access-date=8 August 2017}}</ref>
<!---This is incorrect and needs further discussion with other sources: "The French historian [[Thuanus]] dated his death to the year 1179.{{sfn|Jones|1819|loc=volume 2, p. 20-21}} --->{{Obsolete source|reason=|date=June 2019}}

==See also==
*[[Waldensians]]
*[[Waldensian Evangelical Church]]
*[[John Charles Beckwith (British Army officer)|John Charles Beckwith]]
*[[Luserna San Giovanni]] 
*[[Val Pellice]]
*[[Occitan Valleys|Waldensian valleys]]

==References==
{{Reflist|22em}}

==Sources==
===Primary===
{{refbegin|40em}}
* {{cite encyclopedia |author=Anonymous |article=The Conversion of Peter Waldo |orig-year=1218 |date=January 1996 |editor-first=Paul |editor-last=Halsall |title=Internet Medieval Source Book |chapter-url=http://sourcebooks.fordham.edu/halsall/source/waldo1.html |access-date=8 August 2017 }}
* {{cite web |last=Waldo |first=Peter |orig-year=1180 |date=1969 |title=Profession of Faith |translator-first1=Walter |translator-last1=Wakefield |translator-first2=Austin |translator-last2=Evans |website=Wikispaces.com |url=http://peterwaldo.wikispaces.com/page/view/Peter+Waldo%27s+Profession+of+Faith/253934302 |access-date=8 August 2017 |archive-date=14 July 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200714034821/http://peterwaldo.wikispaces.com/page/view/Peter+Waldo%27s+Profession+of+Faith/253934302 |url-status=dead }}
* {{cite encyclopedia |chapter=Ex Chronico Canonici Laudunensis |encyclopedia=Recueil des Historiens des Gaules et de la France |date=1786 |language=la |volume=XIII |location=Paris |chapter-url=https://archive.org/stream/RecueilDesHistoriensDesGaulesEtDe13/Recueil_des_historiens_des_Gaules_et_de_13#page/n768 |ref={{harvid|RHGF|1786}} }}
* {{cite book |last=Map |first=Walter |title=De Nugis Curialium |orig-year=after 1192 |date=1924 |translator-last1=Tupper |translator-first1=Frederick |translator-last2=Bladen Ogle |translator-first2=Marbury |chapter=Of the Sect of the Waldenses |chapter-url=https://archive.org/stream/in.ernet.dli.2015.184466/2015.184466.De-Nugis-Curialium#page/n107 }}
{{refend}}

===Secondary===
{{refbegin|40em}}
* {{cite book | last=Aston | first=M. | title=Faith and Fire: Popular and Unpopular Religion, 1350–1600 |location=London |publisher=Bloomsbury Academic | year=1993 | isbn=978-1-85285-073-9 }}
* {{cite book | last=Beard | first=C. | author-link=Charles Beard (Unitarian) |chapter=Reform before the Reformation |title=The Reformation of the sixteenth century in its relation to modern thought and knowledge |location=London |publisher=[[Williams and Norgate]] | series=The [[Hibbert Lectures]] | orig-year=1883 |year=1885 | url=https://archive.org/details/hibbertlectures00bearuoft | page=[https://archive.org/details/hibbertlectures00bearuoft/page/n37 24] }}
* {{cite encyclopedia | last=Cathcart | first=W. | article=Waldenses, The |title=The Baptist Encyclopædia: A Dictionary of the Doctrines, Ordinances, Usages, Confessions of Faith, Sufferings, Labors, and Successes, and of the General History of the Baptist Denomination in All Lands | location=Philadelphia, PA |publisher=Louis H. Everts | volume=2 | year=1883 | pages=1200–1201 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5sJNAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA1200 }}
* {{cite encyclopedia |last=Lelong |first=Jacques |author-link=Jacques Lelong |title=Biblia Gallica: Versiones antiquae et codices manuscripti|encyclopedia=Bibliotheca Sacra |date=1723 |language=la |volume=I |location=Paris |publisher=François Montalant |url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_tVGFQRbJXVoC/page/n3 }}
* {{cite book | last=Jones | first=W. |author-link=William Jones (1762–1846) | title=The History of the Christian Church from the Birth of Christ to the Eighteenth Century | location=London | publisher=W. Myers | volume=II | year=1819 | url=https://archive.org/details/historyofchris02jone }}
*{{cite book |last=Monastier |first=Antoine |title=A History of the Vaudois Church from Its Origin |publisher= Religious Tract Society|location= London |date= 1859|url= https://archive.org/details/historyofvaudois00mona|quote=Bernard. }}
* {{cite book | last=Perrin | first=J.P. | title=History of the Old Waldenses Anterior to the Reformation | location=New York, NY |publisher=Macon & Company | year=1884 | url=https://archive.org/details/historyoldwalde00perrgoog }}
* {{cite encyclopedia| last1=Roe | first1=E.T. | last2=Hooker | first2=L.R. | last3=Handford | first3=T.W. | article=Waldenses |title=The New American Encyclopedic Dictionary | location=New York, NY |publisher=J. A. Hill | year=1907 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GBYLAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA4445 }}
* {{cite book | last=Tourn | first=G. | title=The Waldensians: The first 800 years (1174–1974) | location=Torino |publisher=Claudiana | year=1980 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wHMmAQAAIAAJ }}
* {{cite book | last=Wylie | first=J.A. | author-link=James Aitken Wylie |date=1848 <!-- date from earlier Wikipedia editor. Sources I see put it at 1860 or so. --> |title=History of the Waldenses |location=London |publisher=Cassell, limited | url=https://archive.org/details/cu31924099176046 }}
{{refend}}

==Further reading==
{{refbegin|40em}}
* Audisio, Gabriel, ''The Waldensian Dissent: Persecution and Survival, c.1170 – c.1570'', Cambridge Medieval Textbooks. (1999) Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, {{ISBN|0-521-55984-7}}
* {{cite book | last=Leff | first=G. | title=Heresy in the Later Middle Ages: The Relation of Heterodoxy to Dissent, C. 1250-c. 1450 | publisher=Manchester University Press | year=1999 | orig-year=1967 |isbn=978-0-7190-5743-4 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0C68AAAAIAAJ }}
* {{cite book | last1=Wakefield | first1=W.L. | last2=Evans | first2=A.P. | title=Heresies of the High Middle Ages | publisher=Columbia University Press | series=ACLS Humanities E-Book | year=1991 | orig-year=1969 |isbn=978-0-231-09632-4 | url=https://archive.org/details/handbookonlawpe00coolgoog }}
{{refend}}
{{Proto-Protestantism}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Waldo, Peter}}
[[Category:1140s births]]
[[Category:1205 deaths]]
[[Category:French Christian religious leaders]]
[[Category:Clergy from Lyon]]
[[Category:Bible translators]]
[[Category:Roman Catholic mystics]]
[[Category:Waldensians]]
[[Category:12th-century merchants]]
[[Category:13th-century merchants]]
[[Category:12th-century Christian mystics]]
[[Category:13th-century Christian mystics]]
[[Category:French merchants]]
[[Category:12th-century businesspeople]]
[[Category:French evangelicals]]
[[Category:Proto-Protestants]]