The Marquisate of Saluces, located in Piedmont, has a complex history marked by the persecution of Waldensians and Protestants, particularly following the expulsion of 1601-1602 in the wake of the region’s return to the Duchy of Savoy after occupation by the French. As a result, the Protestants of the region retained strong ties with the churches of the French kingdom, particularly those of the Dauphiné province, and received significant aid from them. This solidarity mainly took the form of fund-raising campaigns to support refugees, as well as the persecuted and those who wished to return.

This article describes the modalities of this aid and highlights the difficulties encountered in the collection and distribution of the funds. The churches of the Dauphiné played a key role in collecting this aid and seeing to its distribution, although the poverty of some communities limited them in their ability to contribute. The invocation of confessional affiliation and persecution experiences played an essential role in the distribution of aid, even if support for refugees was not sufficient to meet the needs, and it dried up at the beginning of the Thirty Years’ War.