A History of Medieval Heresy and Inquisition - Book Report/Review Example

The importance of heresy in the Medieval Europe The phenomenon of heresy and the activity of the Inquisition was always an interesting and many-sided issue which has been studied by many specialists (historians, sociologists and etc.) and it is still non fully uncovered topic for the discussion. In this paper we are going to penetrate into the medieval history with a help of the book History of Medieval Heresy and Inquisition by Professor Jennifer Deane. In the XII-XIII centuries in Europe the commodity-money relations has got further development and cities continued to grow and that led to the spread education and related freethinking. These processes are accompanied by the struggle of the peasantry against feudal lords and burghers, which took the form of ideological heresy. All this has caused the first significant crisis of Catholicism. Jennifer Deane, Associate Professor of History and a historian of medieval Europe, in her book History of Medieval Heresy and Inquisition writes: "Between approximately the fifth and tenth centuries, as small and scattered communities struggled daily for survival, local priests and Benedictine monks sought to embed Christian practice in their pagan or only lightly Christianized locks" (Deane, 2011). Church overcame it by organizational changes and ideological renewal. The new mendicant orders were established, as the official doctrine was accepted the teaching of Thomas Aquinas concerning the harmony of belief and reason. Also in Europe took place such a phenomenon as the spread of heresy, i.e. such religious movements, which were directed against the dominant feudal-Catholic Church and the result of their activity was the separation of the church from the larger or smaller number of believers. Deane defines heresy as: "an artificial category designed by authorities, who regarded themselves by definition as “orthodox” or “not heretic" (Deane, 2011). The development of medieval heresies closely is connected with the growth of cities, the social class of citizens was increasing as a special "third estate", revealing sharp social contradictions between the citizens and the feudal lords. Attacks of citizens on the feudal system in the way of heresy received a new kind of religious-ideological form. Usually heresy got its development in the Western Europe especially in those countries where the urban life was the most developed. Southern France, Southern Germany, Northern Italy, the Netherlands, England, the Czech Republic were significant centers of the heretical movements. These heretical movements acted in opposition to feudalism. Heresy and Church both operated some theological concepts. On the basis of the fact that in the Holy Scriptures there is no church hierarchy, monasteries, the papacy, rituals and so on, therefore all of them are the humans inventions, not corresponding to the will of God, heresy did anti-clerical and anti-feudal conclusions. In response to this the Church in 1231 forbade the laity to read the Bible which was used by the heretic sin to fight against the Church. To read the Holy Book was allowed only to the clergymen. Since the second half of the XIV century in the heretical movement burgher and peasant-plebeian heresy can be distinguished. The first one expressed the interests of the citizens and of the lower clergy, it was directed mainly against the Catholic Church and higher clergy, on the wealth and political position of which this kind of heresy attacked. These heretics demanded the restoration of simple pattern of the early church, the abolition of the monks, prelates and the Roman Curia. One of the first representatives of the Citizens heresy was a professor at Oxford University, John Wycliffe, who spoke at the end of the XIV century against the Church of England being dependent on the Roman Curia and also against the intervention of the Church into the affairs of the state. Wycliffe was a follower of the Czech theologian Jan Hus, who was the mastermind of the popular movement against the German dominance in the Czech Republic and against the Catholic Church. Peasant-plebeian heresy advocated the equality of men and the abolition of the feudal privileges and birth order. The prime example of this type of heresy was a movement of the Lollards in England, who demanded the transfer the right to be the land owner to peasant communities also they fought for the abolition of the villeinage, and the Taborites in the Czech Republic. The teachings of heretics has played a prominent role in the peasant uprising of Wat Tayler (1381) and the Hussite movement in the XV century in the Check Republic. John Wycliffe was an English precursor of the Reformation, a priest and a professor at Oxford University. He once expressed the idea to take the church property from the clergy and that is why he incurred the persecution from the Catholic Church. But, however, Wickliffe found support of the propertied classes of England, which representatives sought to use the confiscation of the church lands in their own interests. The enemy of the papacy and monasticism professor Wycliffe considered, however, that the idea to extend the call for the abolition of ecclesiastical levies on feudal obligations was insane. So, we can say that heretics saw themselves as the rebels who fight for freedom of thoughts and belief. For Churchs authority heretics seemed to be much more dangerous than the adherents of different creed. Heretics were the enemies within the church itself. So, to deal with the internal enemy is much more complicated. The Catholic Church responded to the heretical movement with the most ferocious repressions. To combat the heresies of the Catholic Church established a special judicial institution - the Inquisition (lat. Inquisitio Haereticae Pravitatis Sanctum Officium, «Holy investigations department aimed at heretical depravity"). It was the institutions created to combat heresy. Legal proceedings were conducted secretly. With the help of cruel tortures the recognition of heresy, witchcraft and other sins was pulled of the accused. If he/she agreed to confess, the person was sentenced to the life imprisonment, and if refused - to be burned. Inquisitors were considered to be not only the judges, but confessors. The reason for the accusations of witchcraft could be a rumor, hint, an anonymous letter from the neighbor and etc. Anyone could fall a victim to the libel, the artisan, merchant and even aristocrat. The inquisitorial court admitted all the charges - the testimony of other convicts, passersby and even children which in those days were not recognized trust worthy even in the ordinary courts. For the position of the inquisitors the best people of the most beloved people of orders - the Dominicans and Franciscans - were chosen. So what was considered to be heretics from the point of view of the Inquisition, Professor Deane says following: "Whether such actions were self-conscious and religiously inflected rituals or whether they were instead traditional courtesies into which inquisitor sread suspicious meaning probably varied over time and place" (Deane, 2011). "Hammer of Witches" (lat. Malleus Mcdeficarum) was the bloody Bible of the Medieval Inquisition. The authors of "The Hammer of Witches" argue that the force of the devil manifests itself most strongly during the carnal intercourse. Also they claim all witchcraft comes from carnal lust insatiable women. Witches are divided into three types: those that are engaged in all sorts of sabotage; those who possess only healing abilities; those who have both of these magical gift. Since these sin was great, then even criminals excommunication, false witness, prostitutes, foreigners were allowed to testify in court against witches. The Inquisition was entitled by law to inherit the property of convicted heretics, and used this privilege. Cathars, Mara, the Hussites were a reliable source of replenishment of the treasury of the Church. The Dominicans and Franciscans were the main creators of the Inquisition. Heresy became known as the conscious and deliberate evasion from the clearly expressed and articulated the dogmas of the Christianity. Truths of the Church doctrines were formed during the Ecumenical Councils. Jennifer Deane claims that: "Dominican friars in particular understood their charge to be “Doctors of Souls,” (Deane, 2011). The source of the heresy was the desire to fuse the old philosophical doctrines of the ancient world and still new Christian ones. Of particular importance was the Franciscan preaching, which penetrated into all the layers of the medieval society and its moral and practical orientation was quite different from the more scientific preaching of the Dominicans. In their turn, the Franciscans became loyal servants of the Roman Curia. In the field of religion, they, along with the Dominicans, have at their disposal the Inquisition of the heretics; in the political sphere, they were used to fight the enemies of the popes. In many countries, the Inquisition was extinct with the adoption of Protestantism. Also I would like to say that the institution of the Inquisition played a significant role in the development of the modern variant of the state and law. Speaking about the role of women in this context it should be noted that the attitude to the female sex has always been ambiguous. Deane argues that during the medieval centuries Church and people showed vivid hostility toward women (Deane, 2011). When the witchcraft, was recognized by the Church as a result of mans connection with the devil this relationship appeared to be a crime more serious than the actual damage caused by sorcery. All this leads to the beginning of the mass repressions against the witchcraft, and we can say that obvious is the fact that there was prevalence of women among defendants. In History of the Medieval Heresy and Inquisition it is written that: "The medieval scholarship first drew attention to the outpouring of religious enthusiasm among women and posited a particular affinity between women and heresy." Also Deane points that: female minds and bodies were considered by the medieval scholars as potential sources of the demonic power(Deane, 2011). The most famous woman who was accused of heresy was Jeanne D’Arc - the national hero of France who was burned on suspicion of being a witch. Concerning this issue professor Deane says: "Tried for heresy on trumped-up charges, Jeanne faced an ecclesiastical court that violated so many legal procedures as to make a mockery of the law. She was found guilty of heresy, including the crime of cross-dressing — of wearing garb inappropriate for her station." (Deane, 2011). Church considers the witchcraft to be the worst of crimes. So the servants of the Church must fully realize the enormity of divination, which is - the essence of renunciation of the Catholic faith, devotion and worship of the Devil, offering him some gifts among which there may be such things as the sacrifice of unbaptized children and sexual relations. Among the especially suspicious appeared to be the women, endowed with beauty and those with a red hair. Beauty, as we know, was created by the devil to tempt people. At all times the good looks and sharp mind owners attracted people and always had the envious persons. That is why the jealous and not quite beautiful and intelligent spouses often wrote denunciations of cute charming neighbors to the Inquisitors - just to make sure. Inquisitors (all of them were of the men sex) were not an exception; they also could not resist the charm of the beautiful women. And it was for them one of the main proofs of womens diabolical spirit and Witching gift. Bout the historical sources which preserved till the present time Deane writes the following: "Some examples of relevant surviving sources might include urban or monastic chronicles penned by local observers, episcopal or parish records, or scholarly treatises or histories referring to the events" (Deane, 2011). The phenomenon of heresy, for centuries has been an integral part of any religion. Especially clearly this connection is expressed the problem of heresy in Christianity. During the previous centuries any attempts to rationalize faith could be called heresy and punished according to the rules of the century. However, the available sources of heresy include the elements of rationalism, which owe their origin to the influence of ancient philosophy, but this fact does not make any Christian heresy certainly a rationalists one. In the modern world, society is organized in a different way than it used to be in the medieval time, now people have much more rights and freedoms, due to the modern democracy there emerged such postmodern forms of the organizations with the religious consciousness of rationalism as Dianetics or Scientology, which is directly accused of heresy, but it still has its right to exist. To sum up the information from this paper I should say that exploitation and violence, arbitrariness and inequality that have taken place in the Middle Ages, which protested the oppressed. When the dominant position of religion in the public mind of the Middle Ages this class protest could not be clothed in religious guise. It took shape in Western Europe various deviations from the doctrines and practices of the Roman Catholic Church, the papacy. Flow, either directly hostile opposition to the official doctrine, received the name of heresy. The Sacred Tribunal in the Middle Ages was a weapon with a help of which the government (Church) struggle with its opponents. In any state, there were such organizations which prevented the rebels. The source of heresy mainly was the suspicious attitude toward the clergy whom the Christians believed to protect only their own interests and the Church itself. Works cited Deane Kolpacoff Jennifer (2011). A History of Medieval Heresy and Inquisition (Critical Issues in World and International History). Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. Read More