His only aim is to crush the emperor." The attempt of Francis I.thus failed, first in Germany, and then at Paris also, where the Sorbonne was not disposed, any more than the German politicians were, to listen to any talk about a specious conciliation; and the persecution resumed its course in France, paving the way for civil war.
The last and most atrocious act of persecution in the reign of Francis I.
was directed not against isolated individuals, but against a whole population, harried, despoiled, and banished or exterminated on account of heresy.

About the year 1525 small churches of Reformers began to assume organization between the Alps and the Jura.

Something was there said about Christians who belonged to the Reformation without having ever been reformed.

It was said that, in certain valleys of the Piedmontese Alps and Dauphiny and in certain quarters of Provence, there were to be found believers who for several centuries had recognized no authority save that of the Holy Scriptures.

Some called them Vaudians (Waldensians), others poor of Lyons, others Lutherans.