- Published in print:
- 2004
- Published Online:
- May 2006
- ISBN:
- 9780195168372
- eISBN:
- 9780199784745
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0195168372.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, History of Christianity
This book is the third and final volume of the entire collection of the extant letters of Hildegard of Bingen translated from Hildegard’s sometimes rather quirky Latin into English. Contained here ...
More
This book is the third and final volume of the entire collection of the extant letters of Hildegard of Bingen translated from Hildegard’s sometimes rather quirky Latin into English. Contained here are letters to and from members of the minor clergy; secular figures of the highest estate (emperors, kings, queens, dukes); and ordinary people of no worldly importance whatsoever. Notable in this volume is the correspondence with Frederick I, Barbarossa, who informs Hildegard in a letter that all her prophecies to him have come to pass. Also noteworthy are the letters regarding Richardis von Stade, letters of vain protest from Hildegard about the dereliction of her favorite nun (as she saw it), and letters of remorse and consolation at Richardis’s early death. Some of the letters in this volume read more like (or perhaps were intended as) treatises or sermons on various subjects such as the dangers and iniquities of the Cathars, and the horrors of hell and purgatory. It also includes a long letter citing a large number of Hildegard’s songs and poems.Less
This book is the third and final volume of the entire collection of the extant letters of Hildegard of Bingen translated from Hildegard’s sometimes rather quirky Latin into English. Contained here are letters to and from members of the minor clergy; secular figures of the highest estate (emperors, kings, queens, dukes); and ordinary people of no worldly importance whatsoever. Notable in this volume is the correspondence with Frederick I, Barbarossa, who informs Hildegard in a letter that all her prophecies to him have come to pass. Also noteworthy are the letters regarding Richardis von Stade, letters of vain protest from Hildegard about the dereliction of her favorite nun (as she saw it), and letters of remorse and consolation at Richardis’s early death. Some of the letters in this volume read more like (or perhaps were intended as) treatises or sermons on various subjects such as the dangers and iniquities of the Cathars, and the horrors of hell and purgatory. It also includes a long letter citing a large number of Hildegard’s songs and poems.
Carol Lansing
- Published in print:
- 2001
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195149807
- eISBN:
- 9780199849079
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195149807.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, European Medieval History
Catharism was a popular medieval heresy based on the belief that the creation of humankind was a disaster in which angelic spirits were trapped in matter by the devil. Their only goal was to escape ...
More
Catharism was a popular medieval heresy based on the belief that the creation of humankind was a disaster in which angelic spirits were trapped in matter by the devil. Their only goal was to escape the body through purification. Cathars denied any value to material life, including the human body, baptism, and the Eucharist, even marriage and childbirth. What could explain the long popularity of such a bleak faith in the towns of southern France and Italy? This book explores the place of Cathar heresy in the life of the medieval Italian town of Orvieto. Based on extensive archival research, it details the social makeup of the Cathar community and argues that the heresy was central to the social and political changes of the 13th century. The late 13th-century repression of Catharism by a local inquisition was part of a larger redefinition of civic and ecclesiastical authority. The book shows that the faith attracted not an alienated older nobility but artisans, merchants, popular political leaders, and indeed circles of women in Orvieto, as well as in Florence and Bologna. Cathar beliefs were not so much a pessimistic anomaly as a part of a larger climate of religious doubt. The teachings on the body and the practice of Cathar holy persons addressed questions of sexual difference and the structure of authority that were key elements of medieval Italian life. The pure lives of the Cathar holy people, both male and female, demonstrated a human capacity for self-restraint.Less
Catharism was a popular medieval heresy based on the belief that the creation of humankind was a disaster in which angelic spirits were trapped in matter by the devil. Their only goal was to escape the body through purification. Cathars denied any value to material life, including the human body, baptism, and the Eucharist, even marriage and childbirth. What could explain the long popularity of such a bleak faith in the towns of southern France and Italy? This book explores the place of Cathar heresy in the life of the medieval Italian town of Orvieto. Based on extensive archival research, it details the social makeup of the Cathar community and argues that the heresy was central to the social and political changes of the 13th century. The late 13th-century repression of Catharism by a local inquisition was part of a larger redefinition of civic and ecclesiastical authority. The book shows that the faith attracted not an alienated older nobility but artisans, merchants, popular political leaders, and indeed circles of women in Orvieto, as well as in Florence and Bologna. Cathar beliefs were not so much a pessimistic anomaly as a part of a larger climate of religious doubt. The teachings on the body and the practice of Cathar holy persons addressed questions of sexual difference and the structure of authority that were key elements of medieval Italian life. The pure lives of the Cathar holy people, both male and female, demonstrated a human capacity for self-restraint.
Carol Lansing
- Published in print:
- 2001
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195149807
- eISBN:
- 9780199849079
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195149807.003.0004
- Subject:
- History, European Medieval History
This chapter locates the Orvietans which are linked to Catharism within the bigger social and political context and compares them with what is known of the Cathars in Florence in the 1240s. It ...
More
This chapter locates the Orvietans which are linked to Catharism within the bigger social and political context and compares them with what is known of the Cathars in Florence in the 1240s. It discusses the minor elites, furriers and artisans, and Florentine Cathars.Less
This chapter locates the Orvietans which are linked to Catharism within the bigger social and political context and compares them with what is known of the Cathars in Florence in the 1240s. It discusses the minor elites, furriers and artisans, and Florentine Cathars.
Colin Morris
- Published in print:
- 1991
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780198269250
- eISBN:
- 9780191600708
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0198269250.003.0015
- Subject:
- Religion, Church History
Signs of heretical protest are evident in the period from 1050–1140, although it is hard to be sure whether they are the result of outside influences or are protests against the new clericalization ...
More
Signs of heretical protest are evident in the period from 1050–1140, although it is hard to be sure whether they are the result of outside influences or are protests against the new clericalization of society. From 1140, the Balkan influence is clear in the Cathar movement, while the Waldensians were a clear example of a reform movement of an ‘evangelical’ kind. Magic was thought of as relying on the power of the devil, and Jews, heresy and magic were often linked in a pattern of dissent.Less
Signs of heretical protest are evident in the period from 1050–1140, although it is hard to be sure whether they are the result of outside influences or are protests against the new clericalization of society. From 1140, the Balkan influence is clear in the Cathar movement, while the Waldensians were a clear example of a reform movement of an ‘evangelical’ kind. Magic was thought of as relying on the power of the devil, and Jews, heresy and magic were often linked in a pattern of dissent.
Alfred Haverkamp
- Published in print:
- 1992
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198221722
- eISBN:
- 9780191678486
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198221722.003.0006
- Subject:
- History, European Medieval History
New efforts were made to ease material poverty, from the end of the 11th century, mainly in the centres of social change — along the trade and pilgrimage roads, and in the towns. The merchant and ...
More
New efforts were made to ease material poverty, from the end of the 11th century, mainly in the centres of social change — along the trade and pilgrimage roads, and in the towns. The merchant and craft guilds, organized like brotherhoods, in their religious and charitable aspect aspired to mutual support for their members, especially in times of real need. Against the social background of mass poverty, poverty voluntarily accepted for religious reasons gained a new emphasis. The second section describes the principle of following Christ in voluntary poverty. The third section discusses wandering preachers and heretics. Meanwhile, the last two sections describe the Cathars, the Waldensians, and other communities close to heresy.Less
New efforts were made to ease material poverty, from the end of the 11th century, mainly in the centres of social change — along the trade and pilgrimage roads, and in the towns. The merchant and craft guilds, organized like brotherhoods, in their religious and charitable aspect aspired to mutual support for their members, especially in times of real need. Against the social background of mass poverty, poverty voluntarily accepted for religious reasons gained a new emphasis. The second section describes the principle of following Christ in voluntary poverty. The third section discusses wandering preachers and heretics. Meanwhile, the last two sections describe the Cathars, the Waldensians, and other communities close to heresy.
Carol Lansing
- Published in print:
- 2001
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195149807
- eISBN:
- 9780199849079
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195149807.003.0001
- Subject:
- History, European Medieval History
This introductory chapter begins with a brief discussion of Catharism. It then sets out the focus of the book, namely the Cathar community in the town of Orvieto. This book aims to provide a vivid ...
More
This introductory chapter begins with a brief discussion of Catharism. It then sets out the focus of the book, namely the Cathar community in the town of Orvieto. This book aims to provide a vivid evocation of the Cathars in one important community, to compare them with the Cathars from other towns, and to draw on that understanding to open larger questions about Italian Cathar belief and popular attitudes. It discusses two ways to study Catharism. First, one can reconstruct the social and political roles, motivations, and beliefs of the Cathars themselves. Second, one can analyze their repression: the ways their opponents defined them as heretics who threatened the whole of Christian society and then used that threat to reshape their own authority.Less
This introductory chapter begins with a brief discussion of Catharism. It then sets out the focus of the book, namely the Cathar community in the town of Orvieto. This book aims to provide a vivid evocation of the Cathars in one important community, to compare them with the Cathars from other towns, and to draw on that understanding to open larger questions about Italian Cathar belief and popular attitudes. It discusses two ways to study Catharism. First, one can reconstruct the social and political roles, motivations, and beliefs of the Cathars themselves. Second, one can analyze their repression: the ways their opponents defined them as heretics who threatened the whole of Christian society and then used that threat to reshape their own authority.
Carol Lansing
- Published in print:
- 2001
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195149807
- eISBN:
- 9780199849079
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195149807.003.0002
- Subject:
- History, European Medieval History
The spread of Cathar beliefs in Italy took place during the period of the collision of civic and ecclesiastical efforts at statebuilding. That conflict gave the Cathar movement a distinctive ...
More
The spread of Cathar beliefs in Italy took place during the period of the collision of civic and ecclesiastical efforts at statebuilding. That conflict gave the Cathar movement a distinctive character. In the 13th century, political and religious ideas were interwoven: beliefs about the nature of the sacraments were closely linked to beliefs about the nature of authority. The brilliant pope Innocent III recognized this fact and directly tied his understanding of papal sovereignty to the definition of heresy. Therefore, the success of Catharism in Orvieto and the other Italian centers of the faith is best understood in the context of contemporary politics. This chapter explores the association between ecclesiastical statebuilding, the early Cathars, and efforts to repress them as heretics.Less
The spread of Cathar beliefs in Italy took place during the period of the collision of civic and ecclesiastical efforts at statebuilding. That conflict gave the Cathar movement a distinctive character. In the 13th century, political and religious ideas were interwoven: beliefs about the nature of the sacraments were closely linked to beliefs about the nature of authority. The brilliant pope Innocent III recognized this fact and directly tied his understanding of papal sovereignty to the definition of heresy. Therefore, the success of Catharism in Orvieto and the other Italian centers of the faith is best understood in the context of contemporary politics. This chapter explores the association between ecclesiastical statebuilding, the early Cathars, and efforts to repress them as heretics.
Carol Lansing
- Published in print:
- 2001
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195149807
- eISBN:
- 9780199849079
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195149807.003.0003
- Subject:
- History, European Medieval History
Only one contemporary reference to Orvietan Cathars survives from the first four decades of the 13th century. The faith did not die out during this period. The inquisitors of the mid-13th century ...
More
Only one contemporary reference to Orvietan Cathars survives from the first four decades of the 13th century. The faith did not die out during this period. The inquisitors of the mid-13th century were convinced that it persisted and considered a handful of individuals and families to be longstanding Cathars and the involvement of some houses to date back to the time of the murder. When the Franciscan inquisitors of 1268–9 pursued the Orvietan Cathars, the sentences they imposed were retrospective: they mentioned events long past and ancestors involved in heresy, and in some cases they convicted the dead. As a result, there is enough evidence to construct a list of a large part of the Orvietan Cathar community as it existed in the 1240s and 1250s. This chapter provides the context needed to make that list meaningful: a portrait of the social makeup and institutional structure of the larger community. It turns first to Orvietan society, drawing on tax surveys and wills to analyze something of the population, the distribution of wealth, and the patterns of family structure. Because scholars have argued that Cathar beliefs were spread through networks of clientage, the chapter considers the meager evidence for 13th-century urban clientage. Then, it looks at the crucial political transformation of the period, the rise of popular political institutions. The last section describes the failure of the early efforts against heresy.Less
Only one contemporary reference to Orvietan Cathars survives from the first four decades of the 13th century. The faith did not die out during this period. The inquisitors of the mid-13th century were convinced that it persisted and considered a handful of individuals and families to be longstanding Cathars and the involvement of some houses to date back to the time of the murder. When the Franciscan inquisitors of 1268–9 pursued the Orvietan Cathars, the sentences they imposed were retrospective: they mentioned events long past and ancestors involved in heresy, and in some cases they convicted the dead. As a result, there is enough evidence to construct a list of a large part of the Orvietan Cathar community as it existed in the 1240s and 1250s. This chapter provides the context needed to make that list meaningful: a portrait of the social makeup and institutional structure of the larger community. It turns first to Orvietan society, drawing on tax surveys and wills to analyze something of the population, the distribution of wealth, and the patterns of family structure. Because scholars have argued that Cathar beliefs were spread through networks of clientage, the chapter considers the meager evidence for 13th-century urban clientage. Then, it looks at the crucial political transformation of the period, the rise of popular political institutions. The last section describes the failure of the early efforts against heresy.
Carol Lansing
- Published in print:
- 2001
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195149807
- eISBN:
- 9780199849079
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195149807.003.0005
- Subject:
- History, European Medieval History
This chapter explores the religious beliefs of Italian Cathars, in the context of contemporary skepticism and religious debate. It begins with giving some direct evidence for the beliefs of ...
More
This chapter explores the religious beliefs of Italian Cathars, in the context of contemporary skepticism and religious debate. It begins with giving some direct evidence for the beliefs of individual Cathars. First, the chapter gives a 1229 account of Cathar beliefs from an Italian perfect. Seconly, it gives an uncoerced statement from a literate and well-informed Cathar believer in Toulouse, Peter Garcias. Garcias, despite his distance from Orvieto, provides a clear look at a well-informed mid-13th-century Cathar. Having established a rough Cathar orthodoxy, the chapter turns to the more problematic belief of three Italians convicted of Catharism. The second section sets those beliefs in the broader context of contemporary religious debate and doubt.Less
This chapter explores the religious beliefs of Italian Cathars, in the context of contemporary skepticism and religious debate. It begins with giving some direct evidence for the beliefs of individual Cathars. First, the chapter gives a 1229 account of Cathar beliefs from an Italian perfect. Seconly, it gives an uncoerced statement from a literate and well-informed Cathar believer in Toulouse, Peter Garcias. Garcias, despite his distance from Orvieto, provides a clear look at a well-informed mid-13th-century Cathar. Having established a rough Cathar orthodoxy, the chapter turns to the more problematic belief of three Italians convicted of Catharism. The second section sets those beliefs in the broader context of contemporary religious debate and doubt.
Carol Lansing
- Published in print:
- 2001
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195149807
- eISBN:
- 9780199849079
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195149807.003.0006
- Subject:
- History, European Medieval History
This chapter explores three topics in Cathar understandings of male and female bodies, set against the background of contemporary Catholic belief. The first topic is sexual difference and lust. It ...
More
This chapter explores three topics in Cathar understandings of male and female bodies, set against the background of contemporary Catholic belief. The first topic is sexual difference and lust. It explores ideas about sexual difference as stated and as practiced by Cathars. The second topic is marriage. One teaching common to virtually all Cathar texts is the condemnation of marriage and the procreation of children. Finally, the chapter turns from sexuality and marriage to a third focus of debate over the body: corpses. Catholic clerics did not directly attack dualist heresy by emphasizing the divine origins of human sexuality and consummation as the perfection of the sacrament of marriage. Instead, they answered heresy by stressing the ways in which corpses revealed sanctity or sin.Less
This chapter explores three topics in Cathar understandings of male and female bodies, set against the background of contemporary Catholic belief. The first topic is sexual difference and lust. It explores ideas about sexual difference as stated and as practiced by Cathars. The second topic is marriage. One teaching common to virtually all Cathar texts is the condemnation of marriage and the procreation of children. Finally, the chapter turns from sexuality and marriage to a third focus of debate over the body: corpses. Catholic clerics did not directly attack dualist heresy by emphasizing the divine origins of human sexuality and consummation as the perfection of the sacrament of marriage. Instead, they answered heresy by stressing the ways in which corpses revealed sanctity or sin.
Carol Lansing
- Published in print:
- 2001
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195149807
- eISBN:
- 9780199849079
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195149807.003.0007
- Subject:
- History, European Medieval History
In 1268 an inquisition headed by a Franciscan, Fra Benvenuto, sentenced the Orvietan Cathars. In all, eighty-five people were sentenced, twenty-eight of them women. In eighteen cases—twelve men and ...
More
In 1268 an inquisition headed by a Franciscan, Fra Benvenuto, sentenced the Orvietan Cathars. In all, eighty-five people were sentenced, twenty-eight of them women. In eighteen cases—twelve men and six women—the inquisitors convicted the dead. This chapter examines the sentences of the 1268 inquisition and the problem of the repression of heresy in 13th-century Italy.Less
In 1268 an inquisition headed by a Franciscan, Fra Benvenuto, sentenced the Orvietan Cathars. In all, eighty-five people were sentenced, twenty-eight of them women. In eighteen cases—twelve men and six women—the inquisitors convicted the dead. This chapter examines the sentences of the 1268 inquisition and the problem of the repression of heresy in 13th-century Italy.
Carol Lansing
- Published in print:
- 2001
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195149807
- eISBN:
- 9780199849079
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195149807.003.0008
- Subject:
- History, European Medieval History
This chapter examines the ways in which the Orvietan commune, from the mid-1260s on, became identified with the papal curia and the celebration of the Corpus Domini feast. Ecclesiastical and civic ...
More
This chapter examines the ways in which the Orvietan commune, from the mid-1260s on, became identified with the papal curia and the celebration of the Corpus Domini feast. Ecclesiastical and civic authority became closely linked: men in high popular office were now more apt to be papal appointees than former Cathars. The town's ceremonies and processions in the late duecento and early trecento linked hierarchy and orthodoxy: in the Corpus Domini play, the town's popular executives, the Seven, accompanied by the clergy, carried the bloody altar cloths that constituted proof of transubstantiation to the pope. On the façade of the new cathedral, Lorenzo Maitani's workshop carved one of the masterpieces of early-14th-century sculpture, reliefs that portrayed in detail the sanctity of physical creation.Less
This chapter examines the ways in which the Orvietan commune, from the mid-1260s on, became identified with the papal curia and the celebration of the Corpus Domini feast. Ecclesiastical and civic authority became closely linked: men in high popular office were now more apt to be papal appointees than former Cathars. The town's ceremonies and processions in the late duecento and early trecento linked hierarchy and orthodoxy: in the Corpus Domini play, the town's popular executives, the Seven, accompanied by the clergy, carried the bloody altar cloths that constituted proof of transubstantiation to the pope. On the façade of the new cathedral, Lorenzo Maitani's workshop carved one of the masterpieces of early-14th-century sculpture, reliefs that portrayed in detail the sanctity of physical creation.
Donald S. Prudlo
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- August 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780801454035
- eISBN:
- 9781501701535
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Cornell University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7591/cornell/9780801454035.003.0003
- Subject:
- History, European Medieval History
This chapter argues that papal infallibility in solemn canonization was the result of a dynamic process. From the papal perspective, the early 1170s saw two significant events in the history of ...
More
This chapter argues that papal infallibility in solemn canonization was the result of a dynamic process. From the papal perspective, the early 1170s saw two significant events in the history of Christian sainthood. The murder of St. Thomas Becket at Canterbury and the papal repudiation of the cult of St. Eric of Sweden were to have profound consequences for the development of canonization. They set in motion the centralization and solemnization of canonizations in the hands of the papacy, a long and arduous process that would not be completed for almost five centuries. This chapter first provides an overview of the social and cultural contexts of heresy in relation to the veneration of saints before discussing the elaboration of persons whom Cathars emphatically considered not to be in heaven. It also looks at the Waldensians' critique of the communion of the saints.Less
This chapter argues that papal infallibility in solemn canonization was the result of a dynamic process. From the papal perspective, the early 1170s saw two significant events in the history of Christian sainthood. The murder of St. Thomas Becket at Canterbury and the papal repudiation of the cult of St. Eric of Sweden were to have profound consequences for the development of canonization. They set in motion the centralization and solemnization of canonizations in the hands of the papacy, a long and arduous process that would not be completed for almost five centuries. This chapter first provides an overview of the social and cultural contexts of heresy in relation to the veneration of saints before discussing the elaboration of persons whom Cathars emphatically considered not to be in heaven. It also looks at the Waldensians' critique of the communion of the saints.