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Tradition and temerity: papal attitudes to deviants, 1159–12161
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 21 March 2016
Extract
The fourth Lateran council of 1215 represented a watershed in the official attitude towards heresy. It marked the end of a period of considerable flexibility and real experiment in dealing with dissident movements. For nearly sixty years, the Church had been seeking possible solutions to the problems posed by the formation of new religious groups which not only deviated in various ways from orthodox belief but which also failed to conform to accepted social patterns within the Christian community. Tradition and temerity were two elements in papal policy at this time. The tentative developments of the pontificate of Alexander III were given positive direction by the energetic actions of Innocent III who examined some of these groups to find a way by which they might be contained within the Church and thus allowed to fulfil their vocation. But at the same time, the Church was becoming institutionalised and its framework more rigid. The freedom of manoeuvre of the pope was limited. The episcopate and the regular orders saw Innocent’s actions as inimical to the hierarchical structure of the Church and, therefore, brought the whole weight of traditional opinion and influence to bear against the continuation of such policies.
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- Copyright © Ecclesiastical History Society 1972
Footnotes
page no 79 note 1
The most useful secondary works on heresy and the religious movements of this period have been Grundmann[H.], Religiöse Bewegungen [im Mittelalter] (2 edHildesheim1961); Maisonneuve[H.], [Études sur les] origines de l’Inquisition (2 edParis1960); Thouzellier[C.], Catharisme et Valdéisme [en Languedoc à la fin du xiie siècle] (2 edLouvain1969) and Le Goff[J.], Hérésies et sociétés [dans l’Europe pré-industrielle 11-18 siècles], École pratique des hautes études: Civilisations et Sociétés, X (Paris1968) which contains an excellent bibliography. WakefieldW. & EvansA. P., Heresies of the High Middle Ages (New York1969), present a selection of translated sources. Mr John Gillingham, Dr F. D. Logan, Dr Janet Nelson and Dr Colin Tite have read this paper at different stages and my most sincere thanks is due to them for their critical and helpful suggestions.
References
page no 79 note 2 Bouquet, [M.], Recueil [des historiens des Gaules et de la France], XV (Paris 1808) pp 790, 792, 799Google Scholar; PL, 200 (1855) col 187.
page no 80 note 1 Chromeon Universale Anonymi Laudunensis, [ed Cartellieri, A. et Stechèle, W.] (Paris 1909) pp 28–30 Google Scholar; Walter Map, De Nugis Curialium, [ed M. R.James], 1, xxxi, Anecdota Oxoniensia, Medieval and Modem Series, XIV (Oxford 1914) pp 60-2.
page no 80 note 2 PL, 214 (1855) col 921; Tiraboschi, G., V[etera] H[umiliatorum] M[onumenta] (Milan 1766-8) II, p 139 Google Scholar.
page no 80 note 3 PL, 214 (1855) cols 695-9; PL, 216 (1855) cols 1210-14.
page no 80 note 4 PL, 215 (1855) cols 1510-14; Potthast 1, nos 3571-3, p 308.
page no 80 note 5 PL, 216 (1855) cols 289-93; Potthast 1, nos 4014, 4015, p 346. On Francis’s visit to Rome see Grundmann, Religiöse Bewegungen, p 127 note 111 and p 132 note 116.
page no 80 note 6 PL, 216 (1855) col 601; Potthast 1, no 4505, p 389.
page no 80 note 7 There is a very clear account of cathar beliefs in Runciman, S., The Medieval Manichee. A Study of the Christian Dualist Heresy (Cambridge 1947)Google Scholar. See also Borst, A., Die Katharer, MGH SS, XII (Stuttgart 1953)Google Scholar.
page no 80 note 8 Some of the problems which such groups experienced are dealt with by Chenu, M. D., ‘Moines, clercs, laïcs au carrefour de la vie évangelique [au xiie siècle]’, RHE, XLIX (1954) pp 59–89 Google Scholar. See Maccarrone, [M.], ‘Riforma e sviluppo della vita religiosa [con Innocenzo III]’, R[ivista di storia della] C[hiesa in] I[talia], XVI (Rome 1962) pp 29–72 Google Scholar for an account of Innocent III’s interest in religious movements and C. Violante, ‘Hérésies urbaines et rurales en Italie du 11e au 13e siècle’ in Le Goff, Hérésies et sociétés, pp 171-97 who attempts an analysis of the movement towards the vita apostolica. Also valuable is the volume ‘Movimenti religiosi popolari ed eresie del Medioevo’, Relazioni del X Congresso internazionale di scienze storiche Roma 4-11 sett. 1955, 111; Storia del Medioevo (Florence 1955) pp 305-541: see R. Morghen, ‘Movimenti religiosi popolari nel periodo della riforma della chiesa’, pp 333-56; H. Grundmann, ‘Eresie e nuovi ordini religiosi nel secolo xii’, pp 357-402. Also Grundmann, Religiöse Bewegungen, pp 503-13.
page no 81 note 1 Caps III and IV Lateran III in Cottciliorum Oecumetticorum Decreta [ed Alberigo, J. et al] (2 ed Freiburg 1962) pp 188-9Google Scholar; Mansi XXII, cols 491-2.
page no 81 note 2 Isa. 56: 10. Innocent might well have been referring to Pons d’Arsac, deposed in 1181 by the cardinal of Albano because he was too feeble to enforce measures against heretics, Devic, [C.] and Vaissète, [J.], [Histoire du Languedoc,] VI (Toulouse 1879) p 5 Google Scholar. During his own pontificate, the bishop of Fréjus was declared incapable in October 1198, PL, 214 (1855) col 374 and Otto of Carcassone, who was senile, was removed from his diocese in December 1198, PL, 214 (1855) cols 457-8.
page no 81 note 3 In December 1203 the bishop of Toulouse was deposed: PL, 217 (1855) col 159; in February 1204 the bishop of Béziers was accused of associating with heretics and was deprived: PL, 215 (1855) cols 272–3; in June 1204 Peter, bishop of Vence, was removed for his scandalous behaviour: ‘quoniam igitur putridi dentes executiendi sunt de faucibus ecclesiae’, PL, 215 (1855) cols 366–8; in April 1211 the archbishop of Auch was deposed: PL, 216 (1855) col 283; together with the bishop of Rodez: PL, 216 (1855) cols 408–9. But the most notorious and most difficult to deal with was Berengar, archbishop of Narbonne, illegitimate son of Raymond Berengar, count of Barcelona. In May 1207 an attempt was made to remove him: PL, 215(1855) cols 1164-5; Potthast I, no 3113, p 265; but he was not finally deposed until 1211 or 1213: Devic and Vaissète, VI, p 137. On Italian heretical bishops see Dondaine, A., ‘La hiérarchie cathare en Italie’, A[rchivium] F[ratrum] P[raedicatorum], XIX (Rome 1949) pp 280–312 Google Scholar.
page no 82 note 1 Devic and Vaissète, VI, p 5; Maisonneuve, Origines de l’Inquisition, pp 127-9.
page no 82 note 2 Ibid pp 136-7. See also Dondaine, A., ‘Les actes du concile albigeois de Saint-Félix de Caraman’, Miscellanea Giovanni Mercati v, Studi e Testi, 125 (Vatican City 1946) pp 324-55Google Scholar.
page no 82 note 3 PL, 204 (1855) cols 223-5; Maisonneuve, Origines de l’Inquisition, p 132 note 224; Thouzellier, Catharisme et Valdéisme, pp 19-23. See also Y. M. J. Congar, ‘Henry de Marcy, abbé de Clairvaux, cardinal-évêque d’Albano et légat pontifical’, SA (1958) pp 1-38. Other letters about this mission are printed in PL, 204 (1855) cols 235-42 and PL, 199 (1855) cols 1120-4.
page no 82 note 4 PL, 215 (1855) cols 355-60; Potthast 1, no 2229, p 192.
page no 82 note 5 PL, 215 (1855) cols 1024-5. Thouzellier, C., ‘La pauvreté, arme contre l’albigéisme, en 1206’, Révue de l’histoire des religions, CLI (Paris 1957) pp 79–92 Google Scholar.
page no 83 note 1 PL, 215 (1855) cols 1510-14.
page no 83 note 2 ‘Ut solatio saltem humanitatis amisso ab errore viae suae respiscere compellantur’, Cap XXIII, Council of Tours. Mansi XXI, col 1178; Maisonneuve, Origines de l’Inquisition, p 127 note 198.
page no 83 note 3 Mansi XXI, cols 1159-60 and cols 1177-8; Maisonneuve, Origines de l’Inquisition, p 126.
page no 83 note 4 Ibid p 133.
page no 83 note 5 Cap XXVII Lateran III in Conciliorum Oecumenicorum Decreta, pp 200-1.
page no 83 note 6 Bouquet, , Recueil, XV, 790 Google Scholar, 792, 799. I am indebted to Mr Robert Moore for allowing me to see his translations of these texts in proof-copy. Alexander III’s position was difficult. The archbishop of Rheims was Louis VII’s brother while the pope was merely an exile in France, dependent for help and recognition upon the French king.
page no 84 note 1 ‘Scire autem debet tuae discretionis prudentia quia cautius et minus malum est nocentes et condemnatos absolvere quam vitam innocentiam severitate ecclesiastica condemnare’, PL, 200 (1855) col 187.
page no 84 note 2 ‘Quia negligentiae praelatorum Ecclesiae posset attribui, si non curarent evellere quac sunt ab universis fidelibus penitus resecanda’, PL, 200 (1855) cols 684-5; Bouquet, , Recueil, XV, 888 Google Scholar; Jaffé, no 11809, p 237. The religiosi viri were by no means necessarily churchmen.
page no 84 note 3 Guichard, a cistercian monk and archbishop of Lyons 1165-81. Thouzellier, Catharisme et Valdéisme, p 17. Chronicon Universale Anonymi Laudunensis, p 28.
page no 84 note 4 ‘Nisi rogantibus sacerdotibus’, ibid p 29. The scriptural justification is to be found in Rom. 10; 15 ‘Quomodo praedicabunt, nisi mittantur?’ and was used by St Bernard in his Toulouse campaign: PL, 182 (1854) col 436.
page no 84 note 5 For a discussion of this prohibition see Grundmann, Religiöse Bewegungen, p 64. See also Marthaler, B., ‘Forerunners of the Franciscans: the Waldenses’, Franciscan Studies, XVIII (New York 1958) pp 133-42Google Scholar; Dondaine, A., ‘Aux origines du Valdéisme: Une profession de foi de Valdès’, AFP, XVI (1946) pp 231-2Google Scholar.
page no 85 note 1 Walter Map c 1140-c 1208. De Nugis Curialium, pp 60-2. See also Grundmann, Religiöse Bewegungen, pp 64-5 for a critical view of Map’s beliefs.
page no 85 note 2 Mansi XXII, cols 476-8; PL, 201 (1855) cols 1297-1300. Thouzellier, C., ‘La répression de l’hérésie et les débuts de l’Inquisition’, in Fliche, A. et Martin, V., Histoire de l’Eglise, X (Paris 1950) pp 291–340 Google Scholar. Maisonneuve, Origines de l’Inquisition, pp 151-5.
page no 85 note 3 Thouzellier, Catharisme et Valdéisme, p 46.
page no 85 note 4 Maisonneuve, Origines de l’Inquisition, p 154.
page no 86 note 1 For elucidation on this point see Ullman, W., ‘The significance of Innocent III’s decretal Vergentis ’, in Etudes d’histoire du droit canonique dediées à G. Le Bras, I (Paris 1965) pp 729-41Google Scholar.
page no 86 note 2 Maisonneuve, Origines de l’Inquisition, p 157 note 37.
page no 86 note 3 ‘Ideoque, cum ferro abscidenda sint vulnera quae fomentorum non sentiunt medicinam et qui correctionem ecclesiasticam vilipcndunt brachio sint saecularis potentiae comprimendo auxilium tuum...invocandum duximus’; PL, 215 (1855) cols 1246-8; Potthast 1, no 3223, p 275; Thouzellier, Catharisme et Valdéisme, pp 204-12.
page no 87 note 1 ‘Quia vero non est nostrae intentionis innoxios cum nocentibus condemnare’, PL, 214 (1855) col 789.
page no 87 note 2 Ibid col 789.
page no 87 note 3 The Cistercian abbots of Lodi and Cerreto and the bishop of Vercelli: PL, 214 (1855) col 922; VHM, 11, p 136.
page no 87 note 4 On the Humiliati see Zanoni, L., Gli Umiliati nei loro rapporto con l’eresia, l’industria della lana ed i communi nei secoli xii e xiii, Biblioteca historica Italia, Serie 11, 2 (Milan 1911)Google Scholar; H. Grundmann, Religiöse Bewegungen especially pp 70-97 and pp 487-538 and my article ‘Innocent III’s treatment of the Humiliati’ in SCH, VIII (1971) pp 73-82.
page no 87 note 5 Grundmann, Religiöse Bewegungen, p 95 and note 46.
page no 87 note 6 PL, 214 (1855) cols 695-9; PL, 216 (1855) cols 1210-14; Potthast 1, no 781; Grundmann, Religiöse Bewegungen, pp 97-100.
page no 88 note 1 PL, 214 (1855) cols 697; Potthast 1, no 780.
page no 88 note 2 ‘Sic enervan non debet religiosa simplicitas’, PL, 214 (1855) col 699.
page no 88 note 3 Ibid col 699. Innocent recognised that the Metz sectaries were erudite men and appreciated their scientia.
page no 88 note 4 This commission was composed of the abbots of Cîteaux, La Crête and Morimond; PL, 214 (1855) cols 793-6.
page no 88 note 5 ‘Item in urbe Metensi pullulante secta quae dicitur Valdensium, directi sunt quidam abbates ad praedicandum, qui quosdam libros de latino in romanum versos combusserant et praedictam sectam extirpaverunt’, Aubry de Trois, Fontaines, Chronicon, MGH SS XXIII (Hanover 1874) p 878 Google Scholar.
page no 88 note 6 PL, 215 (1855) cols 1510-14; Potthast 1, nos 3571-3, p 308.
page no 88 note 7 Grundmann, Religiöse Bewegungen, pp 107-8.
page no 89 note 1 PL, 216 (1855) cols 73-4.
page no 89 note 2 Ibid cols 75-7.
page no 89 note 3 ‘nolentes, sicut etiam nee velle debemus, ut qui trahi gratia divina creduntur, per duritiam vestram ab infinita Dei misericordia repellantur’, ibid cols 274-5.
page no 89 note 4 PL, 216 (1855) cols 289-93; Potthast 1, nos 4014, 4015, p 346.
page no 89 note 5 PL, 216 (1855) cols 648-50; Potthast 1, no 4567, p 394.
page no 89 note 6 ‘sub disciplina et visitatione catholicorum pauperum permansuri’, PL, 216 (1855) cols 601-2; Potthast 1. no 4505, p 389.
page no 89 note 7 Grundmann, Religiöse Bewegungen, pp 127-35. The question of Francis’s acceptance by the Holy See is dealt with by T. Manteuffel, ‘Naissance d’une hérésie ‘, in LeGoff, Hérésies et sociétés, pp 97-103 especially p 99. He attributes to Innocent III the credit for the farsighted and flexible policy adopted towards Francis and his followers. The crucial issue was that of obedience to the Holy See. Francis not only had episcopal support but had also submitted to the decisions of the ecclesiastical authorities.
page no 89 note 8 Grundmann, Religiöse Bewegungen, p 133 notes 117 and 118.
page no 90 note 1 There is no evidence of the names of individual bishops at the council or of their attitudes towards heresy but ‘A new eye-witness account of the Fourth Lateran Council’, Stephan, Kuttner and Antonio García y, García, Traditio, XX (New York 1964) pp 115-78Google Scholar especially lines 168-78 p 128 shows Innocent III in a very human light, making sarcastic remarks and ordering Siegfried, archbishop of Mainz, to sit down three times in the course of one session.
page no 90 note 2 Caps I and III, Lateran IV in Conciliorum Oecumenicorum Decreta, pp 206-7, 209-11. Translated by Pullan, B., Sources for the History of Medieval Europe (Oxford 1966) p 91 Google Scholar.
page no 90 note 3 Cap XIII, Lateran IV in Conciliorum Oecumenicorum Decreta, p 218. See also Maccarrone, , ‘Riforma e sviluppo della vita religiosa’, RCI, XVI (1962) pp 60-9Google Scholar. Grundmann, Religiöse Bewegungen, pp 135-56 discusses Innocent III’s reaction to the Council’s decision and attempts to trace the means whereby the Franciscans became an approved order without adopting a recognised rule as required. Innocent seems to have taken steps to ensure their survival and papal protection was willingly granted to them in return for their obedience to the Holy See.