Henri Arnaud

Henri Arnaud was a French Protestant pastor and the leader of the Waldensian community in the 17th century. He was born in Dieulefit, a town in the Drôme department of southeastern France, where his father was a merchant and a Waldensian elder. He studied theology in Geneva and became a pastor in 1666. He served several Waldensian congregations in the Piedmont region of Italy, where they faced persecution from the Catholic Duke of Savoy. In 1685, after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes that granted religious freedom to the Protestants in France, Arnaud fled to Switzerland with many other refugees. He became the leader of a group of Waldensian exiles who planned to return to their homeland and reclaim their rights. In 1689, he led about 900 men in a daring expedition across the Alps, known as the Glorious Return. They fought against the Savoyard and French troops that occupied their valleys and managed to regain some of their lands. Arnaud organized the defense of the Waldensian community and resisted several attacks until 1690, when he negotiated a treaty with Victor Amadeus II, the Duke of Savoy, that granted them some religious and civil liberties. Arnaud continued to serve as a pastor and a political leader for the Waldensians until 1698, when he was exiled again by the Duke of Savoy, who changed his policy towards the Protestants under the influence of France. Arnaud settled in Schönenberg, near Zürich, where he became the pastor of a French refugee church. He also wrote several books about the history and doctrine of the Waldensians, including The Glorious Recovery of the Vaudois (1690) and The Ancient Vaudois Church (1692). He died in Schönenberg on September 8, 1721, and was buried in the local cemetery.