A History of The Inquisition of The Middle Ages Volume I Part 27

Inquisit. p. 182). The name of the Poor Men of Lyons was likewise forgotten, for Andreas's only remark with respect to them is that poverty is not a crime in itself.

The differences between the Italian and French Waldenses are set forth in a very interesting letter from the former to the German brethren, subsequently to a conference held at Bergamo in 1218. This was discovered about twelve years ago by Wilhelm Preger in a MS. of the Royal Library of Munich, and is printed in his Beitrage zur Geschichte der Waldesier im Mittelalter, 1875.

[57] Chron. Canon. Laudunens. ann. 1173 (Bouquet XIII. 680).--Steph. de Borbone s. Bellavilla Lib. de Sept. Donis Spiritus, P. IV. t.i.t. vii.

cap. 3 (D'Argentre Coll. Judicior. de Nov. Error. I. i. 85 sqq.)--Richard. Cluniacens. Vit. Alex. PP. III. (Muratori III.

447).--David Augustens. Tract. de Paup. de Lugd. (Martene Thesaur. V.

1778).--Monetae adv. Cath. et Waldens. Lib. v. cap. 1 -- 4.--Pet. Sarnens.

cap. 2.--Pa.s.saviens. Anon. ap. Gretser (Mag. Bib. Pat. Ed. 1618, T.

XIII. p. 300).--Petri de Pilichdorf contr. Haeres. Waldens. cap.

1.--Pegnae Comment. 39 in Eymerici Direct. Inquis. p. 280.

The pretension of the Waldenses to descend from the primitive Church through the Leonistae and Claudius of Turin is, I believe, now generally abandoned. See Edouard Montet, Histoire Litt. des Vaudois, Paris, 1885, pp. 32, 33; Prof. Emilio Comba, in the Rivista Christiana, Giugno, 1882, pp. 200-206, and his Riforma in Italia, I. 233 sqq.--Bernard Gui, in his Practica, P. v. (MSS. Bib. Nat. Coll. Doat. T. x.x.x. fol. 185 sqq.), following Richard of Cluny and Stephen of Bourbon, places the rise of Peter Waldo about 1170, and the Canon of Laon gives the date of 1173.

The time and place of Peter Waldo's death are unknown. His French disciples affectionately revered his memory and that of his a.s.sistant Vivet, to the extent of a.s.serting, as a point of belief, that they were in Paradise with G.o.d; the Lombard branch, however, would only prudently admit that they might be saved if they had satisfied G.o.d before death; both sides were obstinate, and at the Conference of Bergamo, in 1218, this promised to make a schism (Rescript. Paup. Lombard. 15.--W. Preger, Beitrage zur Geschichte der Waldesier, pp. 58, 59).

Waldensian literature long retained the impress given to it by Waldo of stringing together extracts from the Fathers of the Church. The slavishness with which these were followed is curiously exemplified in an exposition of Canticles a.n.a.lyzed by M. Montet (op. cit. p. 66). The verse "Take us the little foxes, the little foxes that spoil the vines"

(Cant. ii. 15) in mediaeval exegesis was traditionally explained by the ravages of heretics in the Church. In the papal bulls urging the Inquisition to redoubled activity the heretics are habitually alluded to as the foxes which ravage the vineyard of the Lord. If any originality could be looked for in Waldensian exposition, we might expect it in this pa.s.sage, and yet Angelomus, Bruno, and Bernard are duly quoted by the Waldensian teacher to show that the foxes are heretics and the vines are the Church.

[58] Chron. Canon. Laudunens. ann. 1177, 1178 (Bouquet XIII.

682).--Stephani de Borbone 1. c.--Richard. Cluniac. 1. c.--David Augustens. 1. c.--Monetae 1. c.--Gault. Mapes de Nugis Curialium Dist. 1.

cap. x.x.xi.--Lucii PP. III. Epist. 171.--Conrad. Ursperg. ann.

1210--Bernardi Fontis Calidi adv. Waldenses Liber.

[59] Alani de Insulis contra Haereticos Lib. II.--Disputat. inter Cathol.

et Paterin. (Martene Thesaur. V. 1754).--Rescript. Pauperum Lombard. 21, 22 (W. Preger, Beitrage, pp. 60, 61).--Eymerici Direct. Inquis. p. ii.

q. 14. (pp. 278, 279).--Petri Sarnaii Hist. Albigens. cap. 2.--In 1321, a man and wife brought before the Inquisition of Toulouse both refused to swear, and they alleged as a reason, in addition to the sinful nature of the oath, the man that it would subject him to falling sickness, the woman that she would have an abortion (Lib. Sententt. Inq. Tolosan. Ed.

Limborch, p. 289).

In the persecution of the Waldenses of Piedmont towards the close of the fourteenth century, one of the crucial questions of the inquisitors was as to belief in the validity of the sacraments of sinful priests.--Processus contra Valdenses (Archivio Storico Italiano, 1865, No. 39, p. 48).

[60] Rivista Cristiana, Marzo, 1887, p. 92.--Pegnae Comment. 39 in Eymerici Director. p. 281.--Steph. de Borbone 1. c.--Concil. Gerundens.

ann. 1197 (Aguirre, V. 102, 103).--Marca Hispanica, p. 1384.

[61] See the Sentences of Pierre Cella in Doat, XXII--Montet, Hist.

Litt. des Vaudois, pp. 116 sq.

[62] Tract. de Paup. de Lugd. (Martene Thesaur. V. 1792).--Wadding.

Annal. Minor. Ann. 1332, No. 6.--Bern. Guidon. Practica P. v. (Doat, x.x.x.).--Montet Hist. Litt. pp. 38, 44, 45, 89, 142.--Haupt, Zeitschrift fur Kirchengeschichte, 1885 p. 551.--Pet. Clest. (Preger, Beitrage, pp.

68, 69).--Kaltner, Konrad von Marburg, pp. 69-71.--Rescript. Paup.

Lombard. ---- 4, 5, 17, 19, 22, 23.--n.o.bla Leyczon, 409-413; cf. Montet.

pp. 49, 50, 103, 104, 143.--Pa.s.saviens. Anon. cap. 5 (Mag. Bib. Pat.

XIII. 300).--Disput. inter Cath. et Paterin. (Martene Thesaur. V.

1754).--David Augustens. (ibid. p. 1778).--Lucae Tudens. de altera Vita Lib. I. cap. 4-7.--Tract. de modo procedendi contra Haeret. (Doat x.x.x.).--Index Error. Waldens. (Mag. Bib. Pat. XIII. 340).--P. de Pilichdorf contra Waldens. cap. 34.--Lib. Sententt. Inq. Tolosan. pp.

200, 201.--n.o.bla Leyczon, 17-24, 387-405, 416-423.

Yet it was impossible to resist the contagion of superst.i.tion. The Pomeranian Waldenses, in 1394, are described as believing that if a man died within a year after confession and absolution, he went directly to heaven. Even speaking with a minister preserved one from d.a.m.nation for a year. There is even a case of a legacy of eight marks for prayers for the soul of the deceased.--Wattenbach, Sitzungsberichte der Preuss.

Akad. 1886, pp. 51, 52.

[63] Pa.s.saviens. Anon. cap. 5.--Bernard. Guidon. Practica P. v.--David Augustens. (Martene Thesaur. V. 1786).--Steph. de Borbone, l.

c.--Wattenbach, ubi sup.--Lib. Sententt. Inq. Tolosan. p. 352.

[64] Wattenbach, Sitzungsberichte der Preuss. Akad. 1886, p. 51.--Lib.

Sentt. Inq. Tolosan. p. 367.--Anon. Pa.s.saviens. cap. 7, 8.--Refutat.

Error. Waldens. (Mag. Bib. Pat. XIII. 336).--David Augustens. (Martene Thesaur. V. 1771-1772).--Archivio Storico Italiano, 1865, No. 38, pp.

39, 40.--Rorengo, Memorie Istoriche, Torino 1649, p. 12.--Even as late as the end of the fourteenth century, in the extensive inquisitions of the Celestinian Peter, from Styria to Pomerania, there is no allusion to immoral practices. (Preger, Beitrage, pp. 68-72; Wattenbach, ubi sup.).

For the ascetic tendency of the Waldenses, recognizing vows of chast.i.ty, and the seduction of nuns as incest, see Montet, pp. 97, 98, 108-110.

For the merit of fasting, see p. 99.

[65] Lib. Sententt. Inquis. Tolosan. p. 367.--Anon. Pa.s.saviens. cap. 1, 3, 7, 8.--Refutat. Error. Waldens. (Mag. Bib. Pat. XIII. 336).--David Augustens. (Martene Thesaur. V. 1771, 1772, 1782, 1794).--P. de Pilichdorf contra Error. Waldens. cap. 1.--Innocent PP. III. Regest. II.

141.--La n.o.bla Leyczon, 368-373.--Frat. Jordani Chron. (a.n.a.lecta Franciscana, T. I. p. 4. Quaracchi, 1885).

[66] MSS. Bib. Nat. Coll. Moreau, 1274, fol. 72.

[67] Bonacursi Vit. Haereticorum (D'Achery I. 211, 212).--Lucii PP. III.

Epist. 171.--Muratori Antiquitat. Dissert. LX.--Const.i.t. General. Frid.

II. ann. 1220, -- 5.--Lucae Tudens. de altera Vita Lib. III. cap.

3.--Anon. Pa.s.saviens. contra Waldens. cap. 6.--P. de Pilichdorf contra Waldens. cap. 12.--Hoffman, Geschichte der Inquisition, II.

371.--Schmidt, Hist. des Cathares, II. 284.

[68] Mosaic. et Roman. Legg. Collat. t.i.t. XV. -- 3 (Hugo, 1465).--Const.

11, 12, Cod. I. v.--P. Siculi Hist, de Manichaeis.--Zonara Annal. tom.

III. pp. 126, 241, 242 (Ed. 1557).--Findlay's Hist. of Greece, 2d Ed.

III. 65.

The Bogomili (Friends of G.o.d), another Manichaean sect, whose name betrays their Slav or Bulgarian origin, have been cited as a link connecting the Paulicians and the Cathari, but incorrectly, although they may have had some influence in producing the moderated Dualism of a portion of the latter. Their leader, Demetrius, was burned alive by Alexis Comnenus in 1118 after a series of investigations more creditable to the zeal of the emperor than to his good faith. They continued to enjoy a limited toleration until the thirteenth century, when they disappeared.--See Annae Comnenae Alexiados Lib. XV.--Georgii Cedreni Hist.

Comp. sub ann. 20 Constant.--Zonarae Annal. t. III. p. 238.--Balsamon.

Schol. in Nomocanon t.i.t. X. cap. 8.--Schmidt, Hist. des Cathares, I.

13-15; II. 265.

About the middle of the eleventh century Psellus describes another Manichaean sect named Euchitae, who believed in a father ruling the supramundane regions and committing to the younger of his two sons the heavens and to the elder the earth. The latter was wors.h.i.+pped under the name of Satanaki--(Pselli de Operat. Daemon. Dial.).

[69] P. Siculi op. cit.--Bleek's Avesta, III. 4.--Haug's Essays, 2d ed.

pp. 244, 249, 286, 367.--Yajnavalkya, I. 37.

For the corresponding tenets of the Cathari, see Radulf. Ardent. T. I.

p. II. Hom. xix.--Ermengaudi contra Haeret. Opusc.--Epist. Leodiens. ad Lucium PP. III. (Martene. Ampl. Collect. I. 776-778).--Ecberti Schonaug.

Serm. contra Catharos, Serm. I. viii. xi.--Gregor. Episc. Fanens.

Disput. Catholici contra Haeret.--Monetae adv. Catharos Lib. I. cap.

1.--Arch. de l'Inq. de Carca.s.sonne (Coll. Doat, x.x.xII. f. 93).--Rainerii Saccon. Summa.--Caesar. Heisterbac. Dial. Mirac. Dist. v. cap. 21.--Lib.

Sentt. Inquis. Tolosan. pp. 92, 93, 249 (Limborch).--Lib. Confess. Inq.

Albiens. (MSS. Bib. Nat. fonds latin 11847).--Trithem. Chron. Hirsaug.

ann. 1163.

In a MS. controversial tract against the Cathari, dating from the end of the thirteenth century, the writer, following Moneta, states that their objections to the Old Testament sprang from four roots: first, the contradiction which seemed to exist between the Old and New Testaments; second, the changefulness of G.o.d himself, manifest in Scripture; third, the cruel attributes of G.o.d in Scripture; fourth, the falsehood ascribed to G.o.d. A single example will suffice of the arguments which the heretics advanced in support of their position. "They quote Genesis iii.

'Behold, Adam has become as one of us.' Now G.o.d says this of Adam after he had sinned, and he must have spoken truth or falsehood. If truth, then Adam had become like him who spoke and those to whom he spoke; but Adam after the fall had become a sinner, and therefore evil. If falsehood, then he is a liar; he sinned in so saying and thus was evil."

To this logic the orthodox polemic contents himself with the answer that G.o.d spoke ironically. Throughout the tract the reasoning ascribed to the Cathari shows them to possess a thorough acquaintance with Scripture, and the use which they made of it explains the prohibition of the Bible to the laity by the Church.--Archives de l'Inq. de Carca.s.sonne, Coll.

Doat, x.x.xVI. 91. (See Appendix.)