Medieval Heresy: Definition, Consequences, and Distinctions, Study notes of Literature

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PERCEPTIONS OF THE ORIGINS AND CAUSES OF

HERESY IN MEDIEVAL HERESIOLOGY

Lucy E. Bosworth

Doctor of Philosophy

University of Edinburgh

1995

Declaration Abstract Acknowledgements Abbreviations

Introd uction

• Introduction
• Notes on Sources

TABLE OF CONTENTS

I THE CONCEPT OF HERESY FROM THE 12TH-14TH CENTURIES

Ch. 1 Definitions of Heresy Ch. 2 The Characteristics of the Heretic

II THE ORIGINS AND CAUSES OF HERESY

Ch. 3 The Causes of Heresy Ch. 4 The Continuity of Heresy Ch.5 The Two Churches

Conclusion

• Epilogue: The Heretic, Jews and pagans
• Conclusion

Bibliography

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98 137 174

IV

ABSTRACT

This thesis examines perceptions of the origins and causes of heresy in the polemical literature of the 12th, 13th and 14th centuries. It touches on two areas of academic interest. The first is the medieval concept of heresy, a subject which has received little attention from either historians or theologians. The second is the question of the historical origins of heresy, a problem which has received a considerable amount of attention. The thesis has two aims: one is to analyse the concept of heresy itself, the other is to set this concept within the context of the debate about the historical origins of heresy in the medieval west by examining what medieval polemicists themselves considered to be the origins of heresy. Ch. 1 examines the formal definitions of heresy contained in polemical texts and other relevant literature, showing how the definitions moved away from concentrating on theological error, and thus 'heresy', towards contumacy and the authority of the Church, and thus the 'heretic'. Ch. 2 outlines the basic characteristics of the heretic and the ways in which these were conceived and discussed by orthodox contemporaries. Ch. 3 considers the causes of heresy as perceived by polemicists, setting these against the present-day debate, and argues that polemicists' analysis of the origins and causes of heresy was fundamentally incorrect. Ch. 4 analyses polemicists' accounts of the origins of particular heretical sects, highlighting the differences in approach between various polemicists. Ch. 5 examines the mindset which provides the underlying unity to these different approaches and reconsiders the concept of heresy in the light of the evidence presented inCh. 4. The central argument of this thesis is that polemicists' analysis of the origins and causes of heresy was distorted by their concept of 'the heretic'. First, their concept of heresy focused exclusively on the heretic as a particular kind of person. This separated heretics from merely sinful people and 'demonized' them to an extent which meant that they were deemed to have a supernatural nature transcending their earthly existence - a nature which was irredeemably evil, utterly inimical to the true Church and ultimately

' created and sustained by the Devil. Polemicists viewed this nature as uniting not only all medieval heretics, but all heretics throughout time. The heretics with which they were dealing were seen as the descendants of the first heretic - universally agreed to be Simon Magus - through a diabolical succession which mirrored the Church's apostolic succession. This sense of the 'otherness' of the heretic reflects the Augustinian civitas dei / diaboli typology - translated by medieval polemicists into a two-churches typology - which was the foundation of the conceptual framework within which the medieval concept of heresy operated.

The thesis concludes that, almost without exception, polemicists - the very people who were disseminating information to be used in the intellectual fight against heresy - fundamentally misunderstood the origins and causes of heresy. The two-churches typology and the diabolical archetype to which all heretics were subsumed ensured that the intellectual fight against heresy was directed away from the Church itself, and towards a many-headed heretical demon which did not in reality exist.

Vll Edinburgh and provided encouragement throughout. My thanks are due to the library staff in New College, especially to Mrs. Eileen Dickson, who organised numerous inter-library loans over the years, and to Mrs. Norma Henderson, whose cheerful help I greatly valued.

My final acknowledgement must be to my husband Andrew. For the first two and a half years of this period of research he bore with the infrequent trips between Edinburgh and Bath, and paid for the air fares which made that commuting bearable. Since our marriage he has lived with the intrusion of this thesis into our life; he has shown remarkable tolerance of the strain which the final stages have put on both of us.

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ABBREVIATIONS

Archivum Fratrum Praedicatorum

Archives d'histoire doctrinale et litteraire du moyen age

American Journal of Theology

Annales du Midi

Analecta Praemonstratensia

Analecta Sacri Ordinis Cisterciensis

Bulletin of the Institute of Historical Research

Bulletino dell'Istituto storico italiano per il medio evo e

Archivio muratoriano

Bulletin de litterature ecclesiastique

Bulletin of Medieval Canon Law

Corpus Christianorum (Continuatio Mediaevalis)

Cahiers de civilisation medievale

Cahiers d' etudes cathares

Church History

W. Lourdaux and D. Verhelst (Eds), The Concept of

Heresy in the Middle Ages: Proceedings of the

International Conference of Louvain, May 13-16, 1973

(Louvain,1976).

Dictionary of Christian Biography

Dictionnaire de droit canonique

Die deutsche Literatur des Mittelalters: Verfasser Lexikon

Dictionnaire de theologie catholique

Enclyopedia of Early Christianity

The Enclyclopedia of Religion

MGHSchr MGHSS

MIOG

Modernite et non- confonnisme

MS NCE NDB

ODCC

PGL

PL

REL RMAL

RSCI

RSPT

RSR

RTAM

SCH

SG SH TDNT TRE TS

USQR

ZNW

Monumenta Germaniae Historica (Schriften)

Monumenta Gennaniae Historica (Scriptores)

Mitteilungen des Instituts for Osterreichische

Geschichtsforschung

x

M. Yardeni (Ed.), Modernite et non-confonnisme en

France atravers les ages, Actes du colloque organise par

l'institut d'histoire et de civilisation fran~aises de l'universite de Haifa (Leiden, 1983).

Medieval Studies

New Catholic Encyclopedia

Neue deutsche Biographie

Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church

A Patristic-Greek Lexicon

Patrologiae Latinae Cursus Completus, Series Latina

Revue des etudes latines

Revue du moyen age latin

Rivista di storia della chiesa in Italia

Revue des sciences philosophiques et theologiques

Recherches de science religieuse

Recherches de theologie ancienne et medievale

Studies in Church History

Studi Gregoriani

Social History

Theological Dictionary of the New Testament

Theologische Realenzykloptidie

Theological Studies

Union Seminary Quarterly Review

ZeitschriJt fUr neutestamentliche WissenschaJt

lntroduction (^) 2 theological point of view. 3 Discussion of the early history of the concept of heresy has tended to concentrate on the etymological roots of the concept, in particular on the distinction between the concepts of heresy and schism, thus covering the very earliest development of the concept. 4 For the Patristic period there is Greenslade's 'Der Begriff der Haresie in der alten Kirche', but very little else dealing specifically with the concept of heresy.s For the medieval period there is more literature available. Much of the initial inspiration for this study came from Herbert Grundmann's article 'Der Typus des Ketzers in mittelalterlicher Anschauung'.6 Grundmann pointed out the ubiquity of the standardised type of the heretic (mirroring the Church's 'ideal type' of the true believer), and called for an examination of this type as a necessary preliminary for studying the orthodox sources for the history of heresy - sources which were inevitably distorted by their authors' conception of the heretic. I am indebted to this work for outlining the principal characteristics of the 'heretic-type', although the scope of the article is inevitably limited by its size. For many years, however, Grundmann's study has remained the only one of its kind. The publication of the Proceedings of the 1973 International Conference at Louvain on the concept of heresy goes a long way towards remedying this defect; out of this volume I have found Moore's 'Heresy as Disease', Leclercq's 'L'heresie d'apres les ecrits de S. Bernard de Clairvaux', and Verbeke's 'Philosophy and

3E.g. Brosch, theologien'; Congar, Das Wesen L'Eglise der une,Haresie; sainte Chenu, catholique 'Orthodoxie et apostolique, et heresie, pp. 65-121; Huber, 'Haresie Ie point de vue de III'; Lawlor, 'Occult Heresy and Membership in the Church'; Rahner, Was ist Haresie?'. 4For dictionary articles see Lampe, 'Hairesis'Greenslade, Schism in the Early Church, ch. 1; Petre,& Schlier, 'Hairesis'. 'Haeresis, schisma Further et leurs synonymes discussion in Latins'; Simon, 'From Greek Hairesis to Christian Heresy'. SE.g.Haeresie bei Klemens von Alexandrien'. Grundmann, 'Oportet' discusses the exegesis of the de Guibert, 'La notion d'heresie chez Saint Augustin'; Riither, 'Dei eine Kirche und die Pauline injunction 'Oportet et haereses esse' in this period. 6First published in (Leipzig/Berlin, 1927), Kultur- pp. (^) und 91-107. Universalgeschichte. I have used the version Walter Goetz printed zu seinem in the 60. MGH (Schr) Geburtstage collection of Grundmann's works.

-mtroduction 3

Heresy' most useful. More recently the focus has been on the question of

literacy, with the publication of Heresy and Literacy, 1000-1530. In particular

Biller's article 'The topos and reality of the heretic as illitteratus' draws

attention to this aspect of the concept of heresy. Segl's book on heresy in Austria in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries contains some helpful discussion of the concept;7 whilst Alphandery's 'Remarques sur Ie type sectaire dans l'heresiologie medievale latine' makes a brief contribution to the question. After the medieval period discussion of the concept of heresy virtually ends: I have found only Ie Brun's 'Le concept d'heresie a la fin du XVlJO siecle: la controverse Leibniz-Bossuet'. Some articles on religious

dissent in the early modern period are contained in the Modernite et non-

conformisme volume edited by Yardeni, and Bainton's The Travail of Religious

Liberty. More generally, there is Knox's Enthusiasm, which takes the question

up to the beginning of the eighteenth century.

The numerous aspects which the concept of heresy embraces - 'intellectual' and 'popular' heresy, the expansion of the concept within canon law and papal and conciliar legislation, the problem of simony as heresy, the role which the changing concept of heresy played in the emergence of the Inquisition - inevitably meant that the scope of this thesis had to be curtailed. It appeared that the most fruitful way of understanding the concept of heresy during this period was to focus on medieval explanations for the origins and causes of heresy, since these ideas are most directly concerned with the essence of heresy and the heretic. This led directly into the second area with which this thesis is concerned: the modern historical debate about the origins and causes of heresy. The secondary literature for this is

7Segl, Ketzer in Osterreich, pp. 1-6.

. IntroductIon (^) 5

particular on the debates about the definition and treatment of heresy, would be profitable. The difficulty with this approach is that the concept which it presents is a limited one, in that canon law reflects only the concept of heresy current among one particular group within the institutional Church, leaving many questions unanswered. How far did the concept of heresy which emerged from debates among the canon lawyers filter down the ecclesiastical hierarchy? Were they perhaps more influential in papal and curial circles, than in episcopal circles? The question of the relationship between papal and episcopal views of heresy is an important one. Whilst it was the Pope who decided policy towards heretical movements and initiated legislation, it was the bishops who were responsible for implementing that legislation, and who were, after all, most immediately and practically affected by the growing numbers of heterodox groups in their dioceses. Do we have here a case on the one hand of a papacy which was able to apply sharper theoretical distinctions, and to discriminate between heretical and orthodox; and on the other hand of the bishops, who had to deal not only with the heretics in practice, but also with the difficult problem of a populace which was largely unable to comprehend the finer distinctions which the papacy made between, for instance, the Franciscans and the Waldensians? Such a situation would indicate that there was no single concept of heresy, rather that there were differing, and sometimes conflicting ideas about its precise nature and treatment. A study of canon law, therefore, would give a somewhat one- sided - albeit revealing - view of the concept of heresy.

What was needed for a study of the medieval concept of heresy was a body of sources which held together as an autonomous collection, but which provided a wide variety of viewpoints and approaches within that unity. This is provided by the polemical literature of the twelfth, thirteenth and

Introduction 6

fourteenth centuries - treatises which not surprisingly date from those centuries during which the popular heretical groups emerged and consolidated, and therefore cover precisely the period when the canon lawyers were debating the question of heresy, and the concept itself began to expand. The specific concern of this thesis is therefore with the concept or concepts of heresy current amongst the anti-heretical polemicists of this period. The majority of the polemical treatises were written by churchmen,

although there are two treatises (Salvo Burci's Liber supra Stella and George's

Disputatio inter Catholicum et Paterinum haereticum) which were written by

laymen. Most deal with the Cathars or the Waldensians, although other sects make an occasional appearance. In spite of this the nature of the treatises is widely varied, due to the differing positions, concerns and methodology of the authors. Eckbert of Schonau and Bernard of Fontcaude were priests who wrote practical guides to heresy which were intended to be used by their colleagues in their own parishes. Far removed from these is Alan of Lille's

scholastic work, De fide catholica. Some were written by men who were

themselves reformed heretics (Durand of Huesca, Ermengard of Beziers and Reinerius Sacconi). Other were written by people engaged in the inquisitorial process for the information of their colleagues. Although a distinct group of sources, the variety within it is such that it gives a reasonably representative view for the Church hierarchy as a whole. It appeared, therefore, that this body of texts was uniquely placed to reveal what the orthodox views and definitions of heresy were, how churchmen responded to the challenge of the heretical movements, what assumptions governed their responses, the methods they used to counter their opponents and whether there were any

differences in their approach to the problem of heresy.

.,- '?In-t"-r-od-"'u-c-t--:-ion--

8

lacking in the two earliest polemical treatises, Peter the Venerable's Contra

Pet robrus ian os hereticos (1131-33) and William the monk, Contra Henricum

schismaticum et hereticum (1133-35). In practice, therefore, this study begins

with Honorius Augustodunensis' Liber de haeresibus (early twelfth century),

and ends with Peter of Pilichdorff's Contra haeresim Waldensium tractatus

(1395). Within these chronological limits there are some texts which, although invaluable for the history of the heretics themselves, contain little or no information which is relevant to this thesis. to In Chs 1 and 2 these limits have sometimes been exceeded, and material included which does not strictly fall into the category of 'polemical', in order to give as full a picture as possible of the basic characteristics of the medieval concept of heresy. It will become apparent from these self-imposed limits that the concept of heresy pursued in this thesis is the concept of 'popular' heresy. I have not dealt with so-called 'intellectual' heresy, since the sources for this area are directed more towards individuals than to providing a wider audience with general information. 11 Finally, I may be guilty at times of using the word 'heretic' too indiscriminately and of not distinguishing clearly enough between the different sects. If this is so, it can only be excused as to some extent inevitable in a study of a mindset which itself was careless about such distinctions.

tOE. for which see Wakefield, 'Notes g. Gerhoch of Reichersberg, on Liber Some Antiheretical Writings', pp. 292-93; Vacarius, contra duas haereses; Bonacursus, Manifestatio (1176-~0), Llber contra Broeckx, errores Le Catharisme, (1177-85); pp. 215-16; Ermengard Salvo of Beziers, Burci, Liber Contra supra haereticos Stella (1235), (1200-10), study for which see by Ilarino da Milano contained in a two-part article 'IIbrief discussion in Wakefield, 'Notes on "Liber Some supraAntiheretical Writings', p. 296; George, Stella" published prior to the text, Disputatio where he attributes the treatise to Bishop Gregory of Fano, (1240-50), study & partial version of the text in Ilarino although da Mil,?,~, thIS IdentifIcatIOn as 'Fr .. C:re~orio', rejected (d. Wakefield, by Dondaine, 'Le manuel', app. 'Notes on Some Antiheretical Writings', pp. 297-99); Anonymous, II (pp. 174-80) in favour of the anonymous De 'George~ heresl Catharorum, text & study in Dondaine, 'La hierarchie 1'. (^11) dge; For discussion of action against 'intellectual' heresy see e.g. Aegerter, Grundmann, Ketzergeschichte des Mittelalters, ch. 6. Les heresies du moyen

"------- Introduction

9 The medieval concept of heresy rested on the theological and scriptural criteria which had early been developed in order to evaluate 'the truth', This had emerged in the 'Rule of Faith', the principle of interpretation first put forward by Irenaeus and developed by Tertullian. The Rule of Faith, the body of teaching on handed down by apostolic succession, provided the means for the true interpretation of Scripture. Tertullian further argued that since the Scriptures were the possession of the Church, only the Church had the authority to be able to interpret them. However the Rule of Faith, even when combined with the baptismal creeds, could not provide an entirely infallible method of evaluating orthodoxy. Additional criteria were

expounded in Commonitorium attributed to Vincent of Lerins. Vincent's

famous and influential formula of quod ubique, quod semper, et ab omnibus

creditum est became the standard test of orthodoxy, inherited and widely

applied by the medieval Church. The evaluation of Catholic truth was to be governed by the principles of ecumenicity, antiquity and consensus. Vincent's insistence on antiquity as the basis of true doctrine bequeathed a horror of novelty - a cardinal sin - which was one of the hallmarks of the medieval Church; while his insistence on the common consent of the Church sowed the seeds of the steadily increasing emphasis which the medieval Church was to put upon its own authority and dictats as the deciding factor of orthodoxy.

The early definitions of heresy were essentially etymologically based. The

Greek word hairesis was subject to many nuances of meaning, although the

original idea of 'choice' was never lost. Whether heresy was taken to be false doctrine, a rejection of ecclesiastical authority, or a fusion of the two, the

12Peters, Heresy and Authority, ch. I, provides a good introduction this area.