Great Medieval Heretics: Five Centuries of Religious Dissent, The
Michael Frassetto
Number of quotes: 43
Book ID: 226 Page: 7
Section: 2D3B
One of the earliest, most influential, and most elusive of all medieval heretics made his appearance first in tenth-century Bulgaria. This was the preacher Bogomil.
Quote ID: 5705
Time Periods: 7
Book ID: 226 Page: 7
Section: 2D3B
We know of his teachings only through the writings of orthodox ecclesiastics, whose evidence must be interpreted with care. The most important of these ecclesiastics was the priest Cosmas.
Quote ID: 5706
Time Periods: 7
Book ID: 226 Page: 11
Section: 2D3B
The most important early source for the heresy, however, is the eyewitness account in the sermon of the Bulgarian presbyter Cosmas. The earliest extant manuscript of this work comes from the fifteenth century, and it has been argued that Cosmas wrote it in the thirteenth century. It is most likely, however, that the sermon was composed c.970.
Quote ID: 5707
Time Periods: 7
Book ID: 226 Page: 13
Section: 2D3B
Cosmas admits as much in his description of Bogomil’s early disciples, which is most likely applicable to their mentor. The heretics, and most assuredly Bogomil himself, ‘are gentle and humble and quiet. They seem pale from their hypocritical fasts, they do not utter vain words, they do not laugh out loud, they do not show curiosity, they take care not to be noticeable and to do everything externally so that they may not be told apart from orthodox Christians.’ {14}
Quote ID: 5708
Time Periods: 7
Book ID: 226 Page: 14
Section: 2D3B
Hence Bogomil and his followers refused the physical pleasures and the material aspects of cult in the Orthodox Church, notably the water in baptism and the bread and wine of the Eucharist.
Quote ID: 5709
Time Periods: 7
Book ID: 226 Page: 16
Section: 2D3B
Later accounts state unambiguously that Bogomil heretics had a Docetist Christology, namely that they upheld the belief in a non-human, celestial Christ.
Quote ID: 5710
Time Periods: 7
Book ID: 226 Page: 17
Section: 2D3B
Cosmas’s discussion of the heretics’ refusal to venerate the cross suggests that Bogomil may not have fully worked out his Christology. Denial of the cross was a feature of early Bogomilism; Cosmas notes that the heretics ‘chop up crosses and make tools of them,’ {23} but this seems to be in line with their general rejection of material objects rather than emerging from some Christological viewpoint. Moreover, the Bogomils refused to adore the cross because the son of God was crucified on it and therefore ‘the cross is even more the enemy of God.’ They argued further, ‘If anyone killed the king’s son with a cross of wood, would the wood be dear to the king? The same is true of the cross of God.’ {24} This argument against the veneration of the cross suggests that they viewed it as the place of Christ’s actual suffering and death; but such a view, in turn, presupposes that Christ assumed the flesh, because Christ in his divinity cannot suffer and die.
Quote ID: 5711
Time Periods: 7
Book ID: 226 Page: 17
Section: 2D3B
He notes that ‘they do not honor the most glorious and pure mother of Our Lord and God Jesus Christ, and utter madness against her.’ {25}
Quote ID: 5712
Time Periods: 7
Book ID: 226 Page: 18
Section: 2D3B
He accuses his followers of claiming that ‘the most holy mother of God sinned.’ {27}
Quote ID: 5713
Time Periods: 7
Book ID: 226 Page: 18
Section: 2D3B
As Cosmas noted, ‘they insult every law which is part of the tradition of God’s Holy Church.’ {30}
Quote ID: 5714
Time Periods: 7
Book ID: 226 Page: 19
Section: 2D3B
The Bogomils refused to honor the saints recognized by the Church. They did not respect their relics and denied that miracles were performed by them through the power of the Holy Spirit.
Quote ID: 5715
Time Periods: 7
Book ID: 226 Page: 19
Section: 2D3B
The Bogomils denounced the practice of honoring religious images by declaring that ‘those who venerate icons are like the pagan Greeks,’ who worshipped false idols. {32}
Quote ID: 5716
Time Periods: 7
Book ID: 226 Page: 19
Section: 2D3B
They did not honor the clergy as God intended, concluded Cosmas; and he also observed that the heretics could not be Christians because they did not have any priests. Along with their rejection of the clergy, Bogomil and his disciples denied the validity of the sacraments offered by the Church. For them, the Eucharist was ‘a simple food like all others,’ and the sacrament of communion, or the mass itself, were not instituted by divine command but rather by the teachings of men. {34} Moreover, Bogomil understood the scriptural passages concerning Christ’s sharing of the bread and wine at the Last Supper in all allegorical sense, which was markedly different from the teaching of the Church.
Quote ID: 5717
Time Periods: 7
Book ID: 226 Page: 20
Section: 2D3B
They would replace the baptism with water by a spiritual baptism, even though Cosmas does not specifically mention this in his discourse. From the very beginnings of the movement, however, Bogomil and his adherents found baptism with water so distasteful that they loathed baptized children.….
The Bogomils denied that baptism was instituted by God.
Quote ID: 5718
Time Periods: 7
Book ID: 226 Page: 20
Section: 2D3B
His followers were taught to live simple and pious lives. Cosmas describes them as ‘gentle and humble and quiet,’ {37} and he notes that they fast frequently.
Quote ID: 5719
Time Periods: 7
Book ID: 226 Page: 22
Section: 2D3B
In the year 1018, ‘Manichaeans appeared throughout Aquitaine seducing the people. They denied baptism and the Cross and every sound doctrine. They abstained from food and seemed like monks; they pretended to be chaste, but among themselves practiced every sort of vice. They were messengers of Antichrist and caused many to turn away from the faith.’ {1} In this way Ademar of Chabannes (c.989-1034), a monk of southwestern France, announced the rebirth of heresy in western Europe in the Middle Ages, after more than five centuries when it had lain dormant.
Quote ID: 5721
Time Periods: 7
Book ID: 226 Page: 23
Section: 2D3B
Ademar described the heretics who appeared in his homeland as Manichaeans because he believed that they advocated a dualist religious heresy. The heretics’ beliefs and practices, as recorded by Ademar, recall those adopted by Bogomil and his followers. Indeed, Ademar’s description of the heretics as simple, pious folk who secretly indulged in debauchery offers a further echo of the behavior of the Bogomils as Cosmas explained it, and forms part of a long tradition of demonizing heretics and others outside the bounds of society.
Quote ID: 5722
Time Periods: 7
Book ID: 226 Page: 26
Section: 4B
The changes that took place around the year 1000 laid the foundation for a real revolution in the life and structure of the Church, but their immediate effects were not always positive. The increasingly elaborate sacramental structure of the Church and the expansion of its claims to authority alienated many faithful at all levels of society.
Quote ID: 5723
Time Periods: 7
Book ID: 226 Page: 26
Section: 2D3B
It should not be surprising that devout Christians at the time, dissatisfied with the failures of the local clergy but inspired by the ideals of apostolic purity and simplicity, and in the face of broader social transformations, sought an alternative religious life. The conditions they faced led to the outbreak of heresy in a number of places in western Europe during the closing years of the tenth century and the opening decades of the eleventh.Pastor John notes: Johns’ Note: What?!?
Quote ID: 5724
Time Periods: 7
Book ID: 226 Page: 27
Section: 3A2A
In fact, the response of the Church leaders was dramatic; it included the first officially sanctioned execution for heresy since antiquity. Indeed, according to one account written in the mid-eleventh century, heretics who appeared across Italy and Sardinia were hunted down and killed by the Catholics, and another account records that the local populace gave them a choice between forsaking heresy and being killed.
Quote ID: 5725
Time Periods: 4567
Book ID: 226 Page: 27
Section: 3A2A
In fact, the response of the Church leaders was dramatic; it included the first officially sanctioned execution for heresy since antiquity. Indeed, according to one account written in the mid-eleventh century, heretics who appeared across Italy and Sardinia were hunted down and killed by the Catholics, and another account records that the local populace gave them a choice between forsaking heresy and being killed.
Quote ID: 5726
Time Periods: 7
Book ID: 226 Page: 29
Section: 2D3B
The heresy, according to Ademar, emerged as the result of the preaching of a rustic from Périgord, who carried with him a powder made from the ashes of children; anyone who ingested this powder was irrevocably turned into a Manichaean, rejected Jesus Christ, and ‘practiced abominations and crimes of which it is shameful even to speak.’ {6}
Quote ID: 5727
Time Periods: 7
Book ID: 226 Page: 29
Section: 2D3B
The heretics at Orléans were men and women in the religious orders, esteemed for the piety of their lives, and they were led by the canons Stephen and Lisois.
Quote ID: 5728
Time Periods: 7
Book ID: 226 Page: 30
Section: 2D3B
Despite the apparent respectability of the group and its leaders, the heretics raised enough suspicion to make themselves ‘infiltrated’ by the knight Arefast. It was this knight who exposed the group and helped to bring about their fiery demise.
Quote ID: 5729
Time Periods: 7
Book ID: 226 Page: 30
Section: 3A2A
In place of Fulbert, Arefast found assistance from one of the clerics of Chartres, Everard, and was advised to prepare himself to do battle against the heretics by going to mass every morning, praying, and taking the Eucharist. Everard also told Arefast to protect himself with the sign of the cross; thus fortified he should go to the heretics, assume the role of a willing disciple, and learn all he could about their teachings.
Quote ID: 5730
Time Periods: 7
Book ID: 226 Page: 31
Section: 2D3B
Revelation was central to the sect of Stephen and Lisois. Their followers were to receive a special gnosis: truth granted by the Holy Spirit itself. In other words, the heretics offered Arefast a special connection with God, and also the true understanding of God’s word instead of the errors and rituals of the official Church.….
The new faith rejected many basic doctrines of the ‘orthodox’ Church, several of which had also been repudiated by the Bogomils. The heretics of Orléans proposed a Docetist Christology. Christ, they told Arefast, was not born of the Virgin Mary; he did not suffer and die on the cross and did not rise from the dead in the flesh. Baptism did not clean the soul of sin and the sacrament of the Eucharist was worthless. Stephen and Lisois rejected the martyrs and confessors and denied the validity of all the teachings of the Church.
….
The heretics responded that his eyes had been opened to the true faith by their instruction, and he would be granted further insights by the imposition of the hands. This rite would fill him with the Holy Spirit, who would teach him ‘the profundity of divine excellence of all the Scriptures.’ {9} Once this had happened, he would receive heavenly visions and be at one with God. The practice of the laying on of the hands, it should be noted, was reminiscent of the Bogomils’ initiation.
Quote ID: 5731
Time Periods: 7
Book ID: 226 Page: 32
Section: 2D3B
Imposition of the hands and the secret initiation were at the center of the teachings of Stephen and Lisois, and Paul describes yet another new element in the process of initiation. The group would come together at night in a designated place, each member carrying a candle and chanting the names of the demons. Upon the arrival of a demon, they would extinguish the candles, and each of them would grab the nearest woman and lie with her, even if she were a relative or a nun. Children born of these illicit unions would be burned, and the ashes were saved and venerated by the members of the sect. Anyone who ingested such ashes would become a permanent member. {10} Although it is most unlikely that the heretics indulged in the rites described by Paul (especially when it is recalled that the pagan Romans made the same allegations about the early Christians).….
by Stephen and Lisois and to show that their true father was the devil. Their ‘secret’ sinful ways were thereby made to appear in sharper contrast to their apparent religious piety and chaste lifestyle- merely a front designed to capture simple souls and enroll them to serve the devil.
Quote ID: 5732
Time Periods: 7
Book ID: 226 Page: 34
Section: 2D3B
The entire group, with the exception of one cleric and one nun, who recanted their errors, were burned at the stake: this was the first recorded execution for heresy since ancient times. According to Ademar, the heretics ‘showed no fear of the fire, predicted that they would emerge unscathed from the flames, and laughed as they were bound to the pyre.’ {15} To complete the destruction of the sect at Orléans, the body of the cantor Theodatus, who had died three years earlier, was exhumed and left exposed. Although he appeared to be most pious during his lifetime, it was discovered that he, too, had been a heretic and should have been punished for his religious dissent.PJ Note: These were followers of Stephen and Lisois.
Quote ID: 5733
Time Periods: 7
Book ID: 226 Page: 41
Section: 2D3B
The new century opened in fact with numerous reports of religious dissent, heralding the beginning of an almost continuous stream of heresy, which lasted until the end of the Middle Ages. The earliest account, in the first decades, is that of Guibert of Nogent, who reported an outbreak in Soissons in which some have recognized evidence of Bogomil influence. {2} Not long after the appearance of that heresy, Tanchelm preached in Antwerp, denouncing the clergy and rejecting the sacraments. He married a statue of the Virgin Mary and his followers are reported to have venerated him as God.….
More representative of the heretics of the period, however, is Peter of Bruis in Provence, whose career lasted for some twenty years; he, too, has been seen as influenced by the Bogomils. He rejected baptism, church buildings, crucifixes, the Eucharist, and various good works. His protest was violent and his death, in 1139 or 1140, occurred when his enemies pushed him into a bonfire of crucifixes he had started.
Quote ID: 5734
Time Periods: 7
Book ID: 226 Page: 42
Section: 2D3B
Henry was a force to be reckoned with. He was one of many wandering preachers, who, like Robert of Arbrissel, marched ‘barefoot through the crowds, having cast off the habit of a regular (e.g. a monk), his flesh covered by a hair shirt, wearing a thin and torn cloak, bare-legged, beard tangled...only a club was missing from the outfit of a lunatic.’{4}….
Indeed, even Henry’s rivals remarked on his apparent holiness, which was allegedly a false front, and on his preaching ability, of which one contemporary noted that by ‘his speech even a heart of stone could be moved to repentance.’{5}
Quote ID: 5735
Time Periods: 7
Book ID: 226 Page: 43
Section: 2D3B
Henry had a reputation for holiness and wisdom according to the chronicler, and seemed to set an example for all by his pious and celibate lifestyle. He seemed like one of the prophets and was able to ‘declare the sins of mortal men which they hid from others.’{37}
Quote ID: 5736
Time Periods: 7
Book ID: 226 Page: 43/44
Section: 2D3B
Coming after them, and in the wake of the bishop’s departure for Rome, Henry began preaching and attracted large and enthusiastic crowds. He spoke out against the abuses and excesses of the clergy, especially the more privileged and wealthy. His sermons were welcomed by the people of Le Mans.
Quote ID: 5737
Time Periods: 7
Book ID: 226 Page: 44
Section: 2D3B
But instead of peace, the letter continued, Henry sowed discord, called the clergy heretics, and preached false words that denied the truth of the Catholic faith. Listening to the message, Henry shook his head and responded to each sentence by saying: ‘You lie.’{10}
Quote ID: 5738
Time Periods: 7
Book ID: 226 Page: 49/50
Section: 2D3B
Henry’s assault on the teachings of the Church concerning the sacraments extended beyond his critique of baptism, to include the rejection of Catholic doctrine on marriage.….
For Henry, marriage needs no Church ceremony or religious rite; it does not have to be consecrated by a priest to be valid.
Quote ID: 5739
Time Periods: 7
Book ID: 226 Page: 56
Section: 2D3B
The origins of the Waldensian church, unlike those of the Cathar heresy, can be traced to a specific time and place: they are associated with the conversion of the merchant Valdes of Lyons.
Quote ID: 5740
Time Periods: 7
Book ID: 226 Page: 57
Section: 3C
Like other medieval heretics, also like the Protestant reformers of the sixteenth century and the modern critics of the Catholic Church in the twenty-first century, they identified the conversion of the Roman Emperor Constantine (ruled 305-37) as the pivotal moment in the history of the Church. The moral purity and spiritual purpose of the Church were lost when Pope Sylvester I (314-35) accepted from him the donation of authority over the western Roman Empire: Constantine had been cured of leprosy by Sylvester, then converted to Christianity, and he transformed the Church into a temporal power.
Quote ID: 5741
Time Periods: ?
Book ID: 226 Page: 68/69
Section: 3A2A
At a meeting in Verona in 1184, Pope Lucius III (1181-85) issued the decree Ad abolendam, which signaled not only a change of relationship between the Church and Valdes and his Poor of Lyons, but also a new orientation toward heresy in general. {22} Up until that point, the prosecution of heresy was the responsibility of the local bishop; they could choose to be most forceful and aggressive in the suppression of religious dissent, but also quite restrained if they so wished. Pope Lucius’s decree changed all that. It started a process of centralization in the suppression of heresy which was to culminate in the papal sponsorship of the Albigensian Crusade and in the emergence of the Inquisition.
Quote ID: 5742
Time Periods: 7
Book ID: 226 Page: 84
Section: 3A2A
The pope ordered the bishops of the region to publish the ban of excommunication in their churches until Raymond submitted. He laid an interdict over all of his lands, thereby prohibiting the holding of Church services or the administration of the Eucharist. He ordered that no one was to have any dealings with the count and released Raymond’s vassals from their oaths of allegiance.
Quote ID: 5743
Time Periods: 7
Book ID: 226 Page: 85/86
Section: 3A4C
And on March 10, 1208, Innocent III proclaimed a crusade against Raymond and his lands, addressing the king and nobles of France as follows:Since those who fight for liberty of the church ought to be fostered by the protection of the church, we, by our apostolic authority, have decided that our beloved, who in obedience to Christ are signed or are about to be signed against the provincial heretics, from the time that they, according to the ordinance of our legates, place on their breasts the sign of the quickening cross, to fight against the heretics, shall be under the protection of the apostolic seat and of ourselves, with their persons and lands, their possessions and men, and also all of their other property; and until full proof is obtained of their return or death all the above shall remain as they were, free, and undisturbed.{4}
Innocent thus offered a full indulgence - equal to that offered to crusaders to the Holy Land - to all those who took up arms against Raymond.
Quote ID: 5744
Time Periods: 7
Book ID: 226 Page: 86
Section: 3A4C
The reaction to the pope’s call for crusade was immediate and dramatic, as the French nobility enthusiastically signed up for the war in the south. According to the historian of the Crusade, William of Tudela, the response was overwhelming; an army larger than any he had ever seen came together in the spring of 1209. The response of the nobility was most understandable: what attracted them was the offer of the indulgence, which provided a much easier path to absolution than undertaking a crusade to the Holy Land.
Quote ID: 5745
Time Periods: 7
Book ID: 226 Page: 88/89
Section: 3A4C
After his humiliating act of submission, Raymond took one further step: he asked to be able to take the cross against the heretics. This request was granted, and he joined the crusaders at Valence on June 24.….
By taking the cross and undergoing the obligatory forty days of military service he would gain all the protections granted to crusaders, including the preservation of his own titles and his extensive land holdings throughout the region. Not only would he gain crusader immunity, he would also be able to assume a position of leadership in the Crusade and become privy to its plans and objectives. Moreover, he could redirect the Crusade itself, so as to make it suppress his rivals. Most importantly, he could turn it against his nephew, Viscount Raymond-Roger, who had caused him such trouble.
Quote ID: 5746
Time Periods: 7
Book ID: 226 Page: 89/90
Section: 3A4C
Instead of a long, drawn-out process, the capture of Béziers took place in just a few hours. Some of the townspeople initiated hostilities, and in the confusion that followed the gates were breached and one of the worst massacres of the Middle Ages followed. According to contemporary accounts, thousands of people took refuge in the church of La Madelaine and died when the crusaders burned it to the ground. The mounted knights and foot soldiers indulged in a horrific slaughter, killing men, women, and children - Catholic and heretic alike.
Quote ID: 5747
Time Periods: 7
Book ID: 226 Page: 92
Section: 3A4C
In May, de Montfort succeeded in taking the city of Lavaur. The fall of Lavaur was a turning point in the war and an example of the extreme brutality with which the Crusade was often pursued. For the first time, de Montfort approved of the execution of nobles and knights who had opposed him. The commander of the garrison and eighty of his knights were hanged, and Geralda, the lady of the castle, was thrown into a well and stoned to death. Along with them, four hundred heretics were burned - an example of terror that convinced other towns to accept de Montfort’s authority.
Quote ID: 5748
Time Periods: 7
End of quotes