"Agnes and Huguette were two Waldensian women who were interrogated by the inquisitional court of Parniers, in southern France, in 1319 and subsequently burnt at the stake for their heretical beliefs. Shahar uses the records of their inquisition as the basis for an examination of the Waldensian sect's attitude towards its women members, and their role within the sect, comparing their lives with women in the Catholic church and in other sects." "The Waldensian Sisters did not enjoy the same status as the Brothers, but for the Believers in this persecuted voluntary sect, gender was largely immaterial, subordinate to the fervent religious commitment of the members; nor did the court of inquisition distinguish between male and female, subjecting heretics of either sex to the same kind of interrogation and the unrepentant ones to the same horrible punishment." "This is the first book-length treatment of women Waldensians, who have been almost written out of the main narratives of the sect, but are here shown to have played a full role within it. It throws light on women and gender in medieval society as well as on one of the main heretical movements in Western Europe in the early fourteenth century."--BOOK JACKET.