This book by Euan Cameron, professor of early modern history at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne and known for his previous stimulating foray into Waldensianism ( Reformation of the Heretics, 1984) attempts to provide a comprehensive overview of Waldensian history from its emergence in the 1170s to the early modern period. Its structure is conventional. In part I, Cameron begins with a detailed account of the first references to Valdensius and traces the charismatic leader's success in attracting followers and disseminating his message of the apostolic life through southern France. Cameron pays great attention to similarities and differences between groups in the Waldensian diaspora in the following years. He depicts the Leonist and Lombard strands of Waldensianism in the late twelfth and early thirteenth centuries, and also incorporates into his analysis splinter groups that returned to the bosom of the Church. These parts, delineating the shifting boundaries between Waldensian heterodoxy and Catholic orthodoxy, and reflecting on Waldensian attempts to rebuke Cathar claims to being the one true Christian church, are fascinating. In part II, Cameron turns to changes in Waldensian doctrine and life as a response to inquisitorial activities in Occitan France, Germany and eastern Europe, and the southwestern Alps. Most of Cameron's insights in this section are hardly novel, such as when he deals with the Austrian Waldensians, whose asceticism and egalitarian community structures are well established in the literature, but overall they amount to a perceptive and thorough description of varieties of the Waldensian experience. Part III, finally, turns to the links (or the lack thereof) between pre-Reformation Waldensian dissent and the reformatory movements in the late middle Ages and Reformation.
Possible disagreements over the minutiae of historical events in particular settings aside (which are best left to regional specialists to voice), there are six areas of (mild) criticism. First, Cameron does not always elucidate the biographical and social contexts of the accounts of ecclesiastical observers whose reports he depicts and analyzes. He tends to present these accounts in a synthetic manner, without always discussing whether one account should be privileged over the other(s), and why. Second, Cameron glosses over the differences in the types of extant inquisition records. As Yves Dossat, Lothar Kolmer, and others have demonstrated, of particular value for historical scholarship are those inquisitorial records that are not based on answers given to questions from an interrogatory but reflect attempts of the inquisitors to feel out the particularities and depth of heretical views and actions when they first encountered heretical groups. Cameron only scratches the surface of what is available in printed form in this regard. Third, and related to the previous point, it would have been interesting to see how Cameron evaluated the evidence of Waldensian beliefs, organization, and conduct in such sources as the MS 609 of the Bibliotheque Municipale in Toulouse or volumes 21ff of the Collection Doat in the Bibliotheque Nationale in Paris. But such detailed analyses would perhaps have transcended the framework that Cameron set himself in this work. Fourth, in his concluding remarks Cameron not only is lukewarm in his answer to the question to what extent inquisitorial persecution (rather than internal belief changes and deterioration of organizational structures) led to the marginalization of Waldensianism, but he also slightly misses the point there when he asserts that while Waldensianism was solidly grounded in scriptural knowledge and learning, what made such biblicism distinctive is that it "amount[ed]...to the rejection of the universal, ideal, and institutional Church". (302) While that is true, what is far more important here is that Waldensianism, particularly in its early stages, emphasized the learning of Biblical precepts in the vernacular much more than Catholicism, and thereby achieved a far tighter integration of ethical doctrine, religious beliefs, and religiously motivated conduct. Fifth, the maps are rudimentary. More detailed and informative ones are available elsewhere. Sixth, it might have been appropriate to include more references to the role of women in Waldensianism. Cameron does pay attention to gender, but perhaps not as much as one would like to see in such an excellent book.
In all, Cameron's book deserves to be considered the finest and most up-to-date general survey of Waldensian heresy. It compares favorably to the similarly aimed book by Gabriel Audisio ( Waldensian Dissent: Persecution and Survival, c.1170-c.1570, 1999) due to its more lucid writing style, inclusive references to the scholarly literature, and systematic coverage. In its comprehensiveness, it supersedes the more dated account of Jean Gonnet and Amedeo Molnar ( Les Vaudois au Moyen Age, 1974), and as an encyclopedic study of Waldensian heresy is a fine companion to Malcolm Lambert's equally thorough treatment of the Cathars. These are must- reads for any student of medieval heresy. Cameron's book will surely become a classic; no future analysis of Waldensian dissent can afford to ignore it.