The History of the Evangelical Churches of the Valleys of Piemont: Political Performance, and the Use of History in the Cromwellian Protectorate

Abstract

The History of the Evangelical Churches of the Valleys of Piemont: Political Performance, and the Use of History in the Cromwellian Protectorate

In 1655, the Duke of Savoy ordered the violent removal of Protestants from his territory in Northern Italy in the basin of the Italian Alps. The horrific massacre that resulted provided vivid evidence of the arbitrary cruelty of Catholic European powers in the development of mid-seventeenth-century polemic literature. Specifically, it provided the Cromwellian Protectorate a useful tragedy in conceptualizing and actuating long-standing threads of religious history that provided the backbone justification of military action against their enemies. This presentation focuses on the book commissioned by the Protectorate and compiled by Sir Samuel Morland titled The History of the Evangelical Churches of the Valleys of Piemont and the complex composition of this book in terms of its religious and political uses. This talk will include descriptions of extant copies of the book in addition to its contents and some history of its use, dissemination, and idiosyncratic elements of specific copies.

Content warning: This presentation will contain images from Morland’s work which graphically depict atrocious imagery of extreme violence against men, women, and children.