Peter Waldo or Valdo or Pierre de Vaux (died 1218) was the founder of a radical ascetic Christian movement in 12th-century France. Specific details of his life are largely unknown. It is believed that he was a rich merchant in Lyon making his money by "wicked usury", when around 1160 he was transformed into a radical Christian and gave his real estate to his wife, and the remainder of his belongings he distributed as alms to the poor. Wikipedia
And during the same year, that is the 1173d since Lord's Incarnation, there was at Lyons in France a certain citizen, Waldo by name, who had made himself much money by wicked usury. history.hanover.edu/courses/excerpts/344wald.html
The definitive Wikipedia entry for Peter Waldo. Wikipedia is the biggest multilingual free-content encyclopedia on the Internet. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Waldo
