Page 2034 : WALDENSES — WALES
long, finger-shaped stem called the spadix. The calla lily belongs to the same family.
(Image: WAKE-ROBIN OR TRILLIUM)
Waldenses (wŏl-dĕn'sēz) or Vaudois, a Christian denomination in Italy, founded about 1170 by Peter Waldo, a rich merchant of Lyons, who sold his goods and gave them to the poor, and then went forth preaching voluntary poverty. His followers were called the Poor of Lyons. They did not intend to secede from the church; but, thinking it utterly corrupt, they sought to bring it back to its primitive purity. When the archbishop of Lyons commanded them to be silent, they appealed to Pope Alexander III, but he also forbade their meetings. Waldo, however, continued to preach, and with his followers was excommunicated. His doctrines spread in Italy, France and Bohemia, and especially in the valleys of Piedmont, where the Waldenses were greatly persecuted during the i6th and 17th centuries. In 1680 they suffered at the hands of an Italian and French army, 3,000 being killed, 10,000 imprisoned, and 3,000 of their children being placed in different Catholic towns and villages. They had permission to emigrate the next year, and about 5,000 went from Piedmont to Switzerland, Holland, Brandenburg, Hesse and Wurttemberg. There are now ten congregations in Wurttemberg, with over 16,000 members. When all Italy was opened to them in 1858, they chose Florence as their center, removing there their theological seminary and printing press. They formed an Italian evangelical publication society in 1861, and have been especially active in printing religious books. They accept the Bible as their only rule of faith, but hold their Confession of Faith, published in 1655, as the most correct interpretation of it.
Waldersee (väl'dẽr-zā́ ), Count Alfred von, a German general, in command of the allied forces in China during the Boxer rising of 1900, was born at Potsdam, April 8, 1832, and entered the German army in 1850. He served with distinction through the war of 1866, and was chief of the general staff in the Franco-German War; he succeeded Von Moltke as chief of staff in 1888, and in 1891 became commander of the ninth army-corps. In 1895 he was created field-marshal, and in August, 1900, was appointed to the chief command in China of the allied armies engaged in suppressing the Boxer disturbances at Pekin and in the province of Pe-chili. In 1874 he married an American lady, widow of Prince Frederick of Schleswig-Holstein. He died in 1904.
Wales, a part of Great Britain, is a peninsula on the western coast of England, lying between Bristol Channel and the Irish Sea. It is 136 miles long and about 90 wide, with an area of 7,442 square miles, making it about as large as Massachusetts. It has a broken coast-line of 360 miles, and is a mountainous country. The Snowdon Mountains in the north, the Plinlimmon and the Black Mountains are the main ranges, with peaks over 3,000 feet high. There are several small streams, and only one lake, Bala. The country abounds in minerals; copper, lead, iron, coal, zinc and silver are found, and remains of gold mines worked by the Romans. The climate is not severe, though somewhat cold and very damp. Butter, cheese, wool and grain are among the most important products, and iron and flannel are the principal manufactures. All children between the ages of five and fourteen are required to attend schools provided for them, which are practically free. In 1905-6 Wales expended over $1,000,000 on secondary and technical schools. Among the higher institutions are the University of Wales, consisting of the Aberystwith, Bangor and Cardiff Colleges; University College; St. David's College; St. Beuno's College; and colleges at Bala, Brecon, Llangollen and Trevesca. The people are of Celtic origin, and call themselves Cymri, the name Welsh being given them by the English. The English language is spoken in most of the large cities, but Welsh or Cymraeg, as they call it, is the language of the country. It is the best preserved of the Celtic dialects.
Wales was inhabited by three Celtic tribes when the Romans invaded it, but the latter never conquered it. It was in constant warfare with the Saxons and the Danes, paying tribute to Athelstan, king of England, and
