For months the duke did not respond to the petition, while tensions between his Catholic noblemen and Waldensian peasants rose and eventually escalated to violence on 4 April 1560, and would only cease on 5 July 1561 when the Peace of Cavour was concluded between them.

[5] Alexis Muston, a 19th-century French Protestant pastor based in Bordeaux, claimed in L'Israel des Alpes (Paris 1852) that neither Duke Charles Emmanuel II of Savoy nor the Waldensians themselves had sought to wage war, and both parties were content with maintaining the peace.

[6] Although the Waldensian population (numbering around 15,000 in 1685[7]) in certain areas of Piedmont had held privileges of tolerance and freedom of belief and conscience for centuries that were written down in several documents, these long-established rights for Protestant Italians were being violated by new decrees passed by Andrea Gastaldo, member of the Council.

[6] Two decrees in particular threatened the continued existence of Waldensian communities in Piedmont: the Edict of 15 May 1650, abrogating the old Waldensian privileges, and the Edict of 25 January 1655, which was in fact a religious expulsion order:[6] That every head of a family, with the individuals of that family, of the reformed religion, of what rank, degree, or condition soever, none excepted inhabiting and possessing estates in Lucerne, St. Giovanni, Bibiana, Campiglione, St. Secondo, Lucernetta, La Torre, Fenile and Bricherassio, should, within three days after the publication thereof, withdraw and depart, and be withdrawn out of the said places, and translated into the places and limits tolerated by his highness during his pleasure; particularly Bobbio, Angrogne, Vilario, Rorata, and the county of Bonetti.

This caused a mass exodus of Waldensian refugees to the Valley of Perosa (Pérouse), and led to the formation of rebel groups under the leadership of Joshua Janavel, Jean Léger and Bartolomeo Jahier, whilst several states including England, France, Germany and the Protestant cantons of Switzerland attempted to intervene diplomatically.

[1] In 1685, King Louis XIV of France rescinded the Edict of Nantes and started purging the Val Chisone of Waldensians, forcefully converting the inhabitants to Catholicism.

The valleys, which were only inhabited by about 2,500 of pre-1686 converts to Catholicism, were resettled by Catholic Savoyard subjects from elsewhere in the summer of 1686 as part of a government colonisation programme to confiscate and resell the Waldensian properties.

[1] When the Nine Years' War broke out in September 1688, Victor Amadeus II gradually took the side of the anti-French Grand Alliance (League of Augsburg), although he would not formally accede to the coalition until June 1690.

[9] The Genevan Waldensian exiles formed a rebel army of about 900 men under leadership of Henri Arnaud in the summer of 1689, with the objective of returning home and retaking possession of their valleys.

He also entered into negotiations with the Swiss cantons for military aid in exchange for leniency towards the Waldensians, and considering allying himself with William III of Orange, now Protestant king of England and stadtholder in most provinces of the Dutch Republic.

[4] On the same day, Louis found out Victor Amadeus' secret plans for an alliance with the Emperor and Spain, and instructed Catinat to present the duke with an ultimatum to allow French troops passage through Piedmont to attack Spanish forces in Lombardy (Milan).

[10] Victor Amadeus was trying to buy time to switch alliances and to get Spain, the Emperor, William III, the Protestant Swiss cantons and the Waldensian troops on his side in exchange for freedom of worship in their valleys according to their old privileges.

On 9 May, he granted Catinat's demand for passage through Savoyard territory, but was also withdrawing his soldiers from the Waldensian valleys and secretly preparing his capital for a French siege.

Catinat realised the duke was trying to betray him, advanced his army further, and on 20 May, acting on fresh orders of the French king, demanded that Victor Amadeus hand over the citadel of Turin and the fort of Verrua.

Also on 4 June, Victor Amadeus II recalled the Waldensians from abroad back home to Piedmont; the vast majority did indeed return to their valleys in northwestern Italy.

[1] Duke Victor Amadeus's June 1690 defection to the League of Augsburg effectively put an end to the Savoyard–Waldensian wars, as the duchy once again tolerated the presence of Protestant subjects on its territory, and protected them against the persecuting French troops invading Piedmont.