Thank you for reminding me of this resource. I have found it on line and have started reading - but goodness! Doesn't he woffle?!
I know of no historians who have charged the Waldenses with Gnosticism. My issues are twofold: whether the Albigenses were orthodox in their beliefs, and whether the Lollards were baptistic. So I have started reading Allix slightly more than halfway through, at the point where he deals with with the Albigenses.
I won't comment further until I have finished reading. That may take some time!
Yes, Allix is absolutely a stiff read. I warned you of that.
He writes like a 17th‑century French scholar, not a modern historian, and his prose can feel like wading through wet cement. But once you push through the density, the value is in the documentation he preserves and the sources he cites that are otherwise hard to access.
You’re right that Waldenses were not charged with Gnosticism.
My point was narrower: Rome routinely lumped dissenting groups under labels like “Manichaean,” “Gnostic,” or “heretic” regardless of whether the charge fit. That’s why Allix is useful, he distinguishes the actual beliefs of these groups from the accusations made against them.
Your two concerns are fair:
Were the Albigenses orthodox?
Were the Lollards baptistic?
Allix, and the other books I listed, deal with both. Allix is slow and methodical in the way of his era. It takes patience to extract the substance, but the substance is there.
Take your time with it. It’s not a book anyone finishes quickly.
When you’re done, I’ll be interested in your assessment of his treatment of the Albigenses. Even if we don’t agree on every point, at least we’ll be discussing the primary sources rather than the caricatures.
