Heresy Flashcards
What was heresy?
Theological or religious opinion or doctrine maintained in opposition, or held to be contrary, to the ‘catholic’ or orthodox doctrine of the Christian Church…(OED)
Who were the medieval heretics?
INC QUOTE
There were groups who established themselves in opposition to the established church. Notably, there were the Cathars, Waldensians…
Evidence for Dualism in Inquisitorial
Registers of the 1240s: A Contribution to
a Debate CLAIRE TAYLOR:
- Not self-defining!
A brief history of heresy / G.R. Evans.:
- More likely to be on fringes of society, as those with possessions would be less likely to renounce them and live like Christ (91)
- Some who might have been heretics were exceptional in introducing a radically different way of thinking and being accepted by the church ie St. Francis of Assisi (92)
- Religious orders provided means of living as aescetic without threating established order. It’s why those who wandered and didn’t identify with an order were condemned (92)
What Factors encouraged the growth of heresy in the middle ages?
Was heresy a response to social and economic change?
Was heresy a response to developments in the church?
Janet Nelson (1972)
- Early middle ages: “stable” society and religion
- Socioeconomic change (agricultural revolution) –> New society unstable
- “Marginal men” and the “crisis of theodicy”
- Reaffirmation of old tradition –> Rigidity and build of pressure –> Heretical ideas
Evidence for Dualism in Inquisitorial
Registers of the 1240s: A Contribution to
a Debate CLAIRE TAYLOR:
- Orthodoxy’s need to define itself against something
- Heresy “resonated with those suffering economically and socially”
How did the church respond to the threat of heresy?
Evidence for Dualism in Inquisitorial
Registers of the 1240s: A Contribution to
a Debate CLAIRE TAYLOR:
- “Arbitrariness” of the period in terms of response to heresy
The Albegenesian Crusade
Measures against heretics increased from late 12th to early 13th c:
- 1184, Heretics can be burned at the stake
- 1199, confiscation of goods
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How serious a threat did heresy pose to the papacy in this period?
i
Were there distinct types of heresies/heretic?
- Denying the sacraments
- Dualism was especially threatening to the established order of the church - A brief history of heresy / G.R. Evans., 123
Did the definition of orthodoxy ‘create’ heresy? Or did the proliferation of heresy force the church to define orthodoxy?
- Paradox of heretics who seem to be advocating scriptural orthodoxy
- D. Smith ‘grey areas’ theory of Charles 1’s administration can be applied here? When grey areas removed, more difficult for people to practice without opposing rigorous established order
Evidence for Dualism in Inquisitorial
Registers of the 1240s: A Contribution to
a Debate CLAIRE TAYLOR:
-Heresy not the result of a stereotype being “imposed” on the heretic, but of “sincerely held” belief by the heretic.
- Only indentified at the time, but doesn’t mean beliefs were invented by the inquisition. Heresy had been around for a while.
- Cathars ‘both real and not real’. Preconceived idea of heretic, but also learning process
From G. Ausudisio, The Walsendian Dissent K.-V. Selge has clearly shown that VaudeÁs and his
fellows did not only remain orthodox, but also had no intention of doing
otherwise
How were heretics different from other ‘reformers’?
Thin dividing line. St Francis could have been a heretic!
Evidence for Dualism in Inquisitorial
Registers of the 1240s: A Contribution to
a Debate, CLAIRE TAYLOR :
Heretics saw themselves as Xn. Challenged the church’s authority. Other ‘reformers’ worked within the authority of the church? Evidence in Arius/Athanasius of 386 BC
Waldensians: What did they do that was heretical?
- Preached without license
- Social causes suggested in G. Ausudisio, The Walsendian Dissent. Dislike by priests who had lost favour with the lay people in favour of the Walsendians ?
Waldensians: How did the church respond?
- Excommunication by Lucius III in 1184 in the house of Lyons
- After the end of the Albegenisian Crusade in 1230, the inquisition targeted them
- 1211, 80 burned at Strasbourg
Waldensians: How effective was the church response?
- Continued to preach even as late as 1207 according to G. Ausudisio, The Walsendian Dissent (16)
- After end of the offensive against the Cathars,
Cathars: What did they do that was heretical?
- Denied the Sacraments of Baptism and Eucharist, rejected the others
- Denied the material nature of Jesus and the Cruxifiction
- As dualists, believing in an ‘evil’ force, they denied the omnipotence of God. God created matter, Satan crafted it
- Rejected the authority of the Catholic church
- Rejected the prophets of the Old Testament
- Heretical as they were anticlerical? The Cathars and the Albigensian Crusade
By M. D. Costen:
Cathars: How did the church respond?
CLARE TAYLOR:
- Bernard of Clairvaux, preaches against them. “Canon 27 of the Third Lateran Council of 1179 forbade interaction with the sect, and the papal bull Ad abolendam (1184) of Lucius III (1181–5) compelled bishops to investigate it.”
–> UNSUCCESSFUL
- Pope Innocent III (1198–1216) orders action against Raymond VI of Toulouse, powerful lord sympathetic to heretics
- Murder of Innocent’s papal legate, Peter of Castelnau, in 1208, possibly ordered by Raymond –>
‘Albigensian Crusade’ (1209–29)
ALBIGENSIAN CRUSADE (1209-29)
- Chaos in region
- Thousands killed
- Disruption to Cathar structure and their preaching
THE INQUISITION
(separate card)
Cathars: How effective was the church response?
- Until the crusade, little disruption to Catharism in S. France
- CLARE TAYLOR: Inquisition had deep-seated, lasting impact
Why were heretics persecuted?
INC QUOTE
Formation of a Persecuting Society - R.I. Moore.: Simply because they existed, they were in opposition to the established church. This alone can explain their persecution
