statutes, and endeavored from time to time to reform the profligacy
which seemed inseparable from the institution. When the ascetic Antonio
Fluviano, who held the grand mastership from 1421 to 1437, promulgated
a regulation that any one guilty of public concubinage should receive
three warnings, with severe penalties for contumacy,[908] it suggests
a condition of morals by no means creditable to the brethren. So, a
century later, the stern Villiers de l’Isle-Adam was forced to declare
that any one openly acknowledging an illegitimate child should be
forever after incapacitated for office, benefice, or dignity.[909] What
the knights were soon afterwards, the scandalous pages of Brantôme
sufficiently attest.
The Marian or Teutonic Order, perhaps the most wealthy and powerful
of all, was founded in 1190, and adopted the rule of the Templars as
regards its religious government, with that of the Hospitallers to
regulate its duties of charity and hospitality. For a full century of
its existence it was sorely oppressed with poverty,[910] but at length,
when transferred from the Holy Land to Northeastern Germany, it bore
a prominent part in Christianizing those regions, and what it won by
the sword it retained possession of in its own right. With wealth
came indolence and luxury, and the order became corrupt, as others
had been.[911] Its history offers nothing of special interest to us
until, in 1525, the grand master Albert of Brandenburg went over to
Lutheranism with many of his knights, founded the hereditary dukedom
of Prussia, and married—of which more hereafter. Those of the order
who adhered to Catholicism maintained the organization on the rich
possessions which the piety of ages had bestowed upon them throughout
Germany, until this worn-out relic of the past disappeared in the
convulsions of the Napoleonic wars.
XXIII.
THE HERESIES.
Allusion has already been made to the introduction of Manichæism into
Western Europe through Bulgaria and Lombardy. Notwithstanding its
stern and unrelenting suppression wherever it was discovered during
the eleventh and twelfth centuries, its votaries multiplied in secret.
The disorders of the clergy, their oppression of the people, and their
quarrels with the nobles over their temporal possessions made them many
enemies among the laity; and the simplicity of the Manichæan belief,
its freedom from aspirations for temporal aggrandizement, and its
denunciations of the immorality and grasping avidity of the priesthood,
found for it an appreciative audience and made ready converts. Towards
the close of the twelfth century the South of France was discovered
to be filled with heretics, in whom the names of Cathari, Paterins,
Albigenses, &c., concealed the more odious appellation of Manichæans.
It is not our province to trace out in detail the bloody vicissitudes
of Dominic’s Inquisition and Simon de Montfort’s crusades. It is
sufficient for our purpose to indicate the identity of the Albigensian
belief with that of the ancient sect which we have seen to exercise
so powerful an influence in moulding and encouraging the asceticism
of the early church. The Dualistic principle was fully recognized.
No necessity was regarded as justifying the use of meat, or even of
eggs and cheese, or in fact of anything which had its origin in animal
propagation. Marriage was an abomination and a mortal sin, which could
not be intensified by adultery or other excesses.[912]
Engrafted on these errors were others more practically dangerous,
as they were the inevitable protest against the all-absorbing
sacerdotalism which by this time had become the distinguishing
characteristic of the church. In denying the existence of purgatory,
and the efficacy of prayers for the dead and the invocation of saints,
a mortal blow was aimed against the system to which the church owed
its firmest hold on the souls and purses of the people. In reviving
the Hildebrandine doctrine that the sacraments were not to be
administered by ecclesiastics in a state of sin, and in exaggerating
it into an incompatibility between sin and holding church preferment,
a most dangerous and revolutionary turn was given to the wide-spread
discontent with which the excesses of the clergy were regarded.[913]
So sure a hold, indeed, had such views upon the popular feeling, that
we find them reappear with every heresy, transmitted with regular
filiation through the Waldenses, the Wickliffites, and the Hussites, so
that in every age, from Gregory to the Reformation, the measures with
which he broke down the independence of the local clergy returned to
plague their inventors.
Yet with all this, the heretics to outward appearance long continued
unexceptionably orthodox. Industrious and sober, none were more
devoted to all the observances of the church, none more regular at
mass and confessional, more devout at the altar or more liberal at the
offertory. Hidden beneath this fair seeming, their heresy was only the
more dangerous, as it attracted converts with unexampled rapidity.
Priests gave up their churches to join the society, wives left their
husbands, and husbands abandoned their wives; and when questioned as
to their renunciation of the duties and privileges of marriage, they
all professed to be bound with a vow of chastity. Yet if so ardent a
combatant as St. Bernard is to be believed, their rigorous asceticism
was only a cloak for libertinism. It is possible that the enthusiastic
self-mortification of the sectaries led them to test their resolution
by the dangerous experiments common among the early Christians, and
possibly also with the same deplorable results. St. Bernard at least
argues that constant companionship of the sexes without sin would
require a greater miracle than raising the dead, and as these heretics
could not perform the lesser prodigy, it was reasonable to presume
that they failed of the greater—and his conclusion is not unlikely
to be true.[914] Be this as it may, the virtue of these puritan sects
rendered chastity dangerous to the orthodox, for the celebrated Peter
Cantor relates as a fact within his own knowledge, that honest matrons
who resisted the attempts of priests to seduce them were accused of
Manichæism and condemned as heretics.[915]
The orthodox polemics, in controverting the exaggerated asceticism of
these heretics, had a narrow and a difficult path to tread. Their own
authorities had so exalted the praises of virgin purity, that it was
not easy to meet the arguments of those who merely carried out the same
principle somewhat further, in fearlessly following out the premises to
their logical conclusion.[916] There is extant a curious tract, being
a dialogue between a Catholic and a Paterin, in which the latter of
course has the worst of the disputation, yet he presses his adversary
hard with the texts which were customarily cited by the orthodox
advocates of clerical celibacy—“qui habent uxores sint tanquam non
habentes,” “qui non reliquerit uxorem et filios propter me non est me
dignus,” &c.; and the Catholic can only elude their force by giving to
them metaphorical explanations very different from those which of old
had been assumed in the canons requiring the separation of man and wife
on ordination.[917]
The stubborn resistance of the Albigenses to the enormous odds brought
against them shows the unconquerable vitality of the antisacerdotal
spirit which was then so widely diffused throughout Southern Europe.
In a different shape it had already manifested itself during the first
half of the twelfth century, when Pierre de Bruys infected all the
South of France with the heresy called, after him and his most noted
follower, the Petrobrusian or Henrician. This was an uncompromising
revolt against the whole system of Roman Christianity. It not only
abrogated pædo-baptism, and promulgated heretical notions respecting
the Eucharist, but it abolished the visible symbols and ceremonies
which formed so large a portion of the sacerdotal fabric—churches,
crucifixes, chanting, fasting, gifts and offerings for the dead, and
even the mass. But little is known respecting the Petrobrusians,
except what can be derived from the refutation of their errors by
Peter the Venerable. He says nothing specifically respecting their
views upon ascetic celibacy, but we may assume that this was one of
the doctrinal and practical corruptions which they assailed, from
a passage in which, describing their excesses, he complains of the
public eating of flesh on Passion Sunday, the cruel flagellation of
priests, the imprisonment of monks, and their being forced to marry by
threats and torments. Even after de Bruys was burned alive in 1146, his
disciple, Henry, boldly carried on the contest, and the papal legate,
Cardinal Alberic, sent for St. Bernard to assist him in suppressing
the heretics. The latter, in a letter written in 1147 to the Count of
Toulouse, describes the religious condition of his territories as most
deplorable in consequence of the prevalence of the heresy—the churches
were without congregations, the pastors without flocks, the people
without pastors, the sacraments without reverence, the dying without
consolation, and the new-born without baptism. Even making allowance
for some exaggeration in all this, there can be no doubt that the
heresy received extensive popular support and that it was professed
publicly without disguise. At Alby it was dominant, so that when the
Cardinal-legate went there, the people received him in derision with
asses and drums, and when he preached, scarce thirty persons assembled
to hear him; but two days later St. Bernard so affected them with his
eloquence that they renounced their errors. He was less successful
at Vertfeuil where resided a hundred knights-banneret, who refused
to listen to him, and whom he cursed in consequence, whereof they
all perished miserably. Though St. Bernard was forced to return to
Clairvaux without accomplishing the extirpation of the heresy, Henry
was finally captured, and probably died in prison.[918]
In Britanny, about the same period, there existed an obscure sect
concerning whom little is known, except that they were probably a
branch of the Petrobrusians. Their errors were nearly the same,
and the slender traces left of them show that their doctrine was a
protest against the overwhelming sacerdotalism of the period. The
papal legate, Hugh, Archbishop of Rouen, sought to convert them by
an elaborate denunciation of their tenets, among which he enumerates
promiscuous licentiousness and disregard of clerical celibacy. Daniel,
he gravely assures them, symbolizes virginity; Noah, continence; and
Job, marriage. Then, quoting Ezekiel XIV. 13-20, wherein Jehovah,
threatening the land with destruction, says, “Though these three men,
Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, they should deliver but their own
souls through their righteousness,” he proceeds triumphantly to the
conclusion that recantation alone can save his adversaries from the
fate which their errors have deserved.[919]
It was probably another branch of the same sect which was discovered
at Liége in 1144, described as brought thither from the south and
pervading all France and the neighboring countries. Its followers
denied the efficacy of baptism, of the Eucharist and of the imposition
of hands; they rejected not only oaths and vows, but marriage itself,
and denied that the Holy Spirit could be gained except through
good works. These heretics, however, had not in them the spirit of
martyrdom, and speedily recanted on being discovered.[920]
Connected probably in some way with these movements of insubordination,
was the career of the singular heresiarch, Éon de l’Étoile. During one
of the epidemics of maceration and fanaticism which form such curious
episodes in mediæval history, Éon, born of a noble Breton family,
abandoned himself to the savage life of a hermit in the wilderness.
Drawn by a vision to attend divine service, his excited mysticism
caught the words which ended the recitation of the collect, “Per _eum_
qui venturus est judicare vivos et mortuos;” and the resemblance of
“eum” with his own name inspired him with the revelation that he was
the Son of God. Men’s minds were ready for any extravagance, and Éon
soon had disciples who adored him as a deity incarnate. Nothing can be
wilder than the tales which are related of him by eye-witnesses—the
aureole of glory which surrounded him, the countless wealth which
was at the disposal of his followers, the rich but unsubstantial
banquets which were served at his bidding by invisible hands, the
superhuman velocity of his movements when eluding those who were bent
on his capture. Éon declared war upon the churches which monopolized
the wealth of the people while neglecting the duties for which they
had been enriched; and he pillaged them of their treasures, which he
distributed lavishly to the poor. At last the Devil abandoned his
protégé. Éon, when his time had come, was easily taken and carried
before Eugenius III. at the Council of Rouen, in 1148. There he boldly
proclaimed his mission and his power. Exhibiting a forked staff which
he carried, he declared that when he held it with the fork upwards,
God ruled heaven and hell, and he governed the earth; but that when
he reversed its position, then he had at command two-thirds of the
universe, and left only the remaining third to God. He was pronounced
hopelessly insane, but this would not have saved him had not his
captor, the Archbishop of Rheims, represented that his life had been
pledged to him on his surrender. He was therefore, delivered to Suger,
Abbot of St. Denis, to be imprisoned, and he soon afterwards died.
Even this did not shake the faith of his disciples. Many of them,
in their fierce fanaticism, preferred the stake to recantation, and
numbers of them were thus put to death before the heresy could be
extinguished.[921]
* * * * *
When, about the middle of the twelfth century, the sudden death of
a companion so impressed Peter Waldo of Lyons that he distributed
his fortune among the poor, and devoted himself to preaching the
supereminent merits of poverty, nothing was farther from his thoughts
than the founding of a new heresy. Ardent disciples gathered around
him, disseminating his views, which spread with rapidity; but
their intention was to establish a society within the church, and
they applied, between 1181 and 1185, to Lucius III. for the papal
authorization. Lucius, however, took exception to their going barefoot,
to their neglect of the tonsure, and to their retaining the society
of women. They were stubborn, and he condemned them as heretics.[922]
The enthusiasm which the church might have turned to so much account,
as it subsequently did that of the Franciscans and Dominicans, was
thus diverted to unorthodox channels, and speedily arrayed itself in
opposition. The character of the revolt is shown in a passage of the
_Nobla Leyczon_, written probably not long after this time, which
declares that all the popes, cardinals, bishops, and abbots together
cannot obtain pardon for a single mortal sin; thus leading directly to
the conclusion that no intercessor could be of avail between God and
man—
Ma yo aus o dire, car se troba en ver,
Que tuit li papa que foron de Silvestre entro en aquest,
Et tuit li cardinal et tuit li vesque e tuit li aba,
Tuit aquisti ensemp non han tan de potesta,
Que ilh poissan perdonar un sol pecca mortal.
Solament Dio perdona, que autre non ho po far.[923]
Still, they did not even yet consider themselves as separated from
the church, for they consented to submit their peculiar doctrines to
the chances of a disputation, presided over by an orthodox priest.
Of course, the decision went against them, and a portion of the
“Poor Men of Lyons” submitted to the result. The remainder, however,
maintained their faith as rigidly as ever. From Bernard de Font-Cauld,
who records this disputation, and from Alain de l’Isle, another
contemporary, who wrote in confutation of their errors, we have a
minute account of their peculiarities of belief. Their principal
heresy was a strict adherence to the Hildebrandine doctrine that
neither reverence nor obedience was due to priests in mortal sin,
whose ministrations to the living and whose prayers for the dead
were equally to be despised. In the existing condition of sacerdotal
morals, this necessarily destroyed all reverence for the church at
large, and Bernard and Alain had no hesitation in proving it to be
most dangerously heterodox. Their recurrence to Scripture, moreover,
as the sole foundation of Christian belief, with the claim of private
interpretation, was necessarily destructive to all the forms of
sacerdotalism, and led them to entertain many other heretical tenets.
They admitted no distinction between clergy and laity. Every member of
the sect, male or female, was a priest, entitled to preach and to hear
confessions. Purgatory was denied, and the power of absolution derided.
Lying and swearing were mortal sins, and homicide was not excusable
under any circumstances.[924] Yet naturally they did not repudiate
the ascetic principles of the church, and they regarded continence as
counselled, though not commanded, by the Christian dispensation—
La ley velha maudi lo ventre que fruc non a porta,
Ma la novella conselha gardar vergeneta.[925]
Though marriage is praised and its purity is to be preserved—
Gardes ferm lo matrimoni, aquel noble convent,[926]
thus showing their disapproval of the Manichæan doctrines of the
Cathari and Paterins.
Independence such as this could only result in open revolt against
sacerdotalism in general, and it shortly came. The Waldensian
exaltation of poverty was grateful to the nobles, who were eager to
grasp the possessions of the church; its condemnation of the pride and
immorality of the clergy secured for its sectaries the goodwill of the
people, who everywhere suffered from the oppression and vices of their
pastors. Under such protection the sect multiplied with incredible
rapidity, not only throughout France, but in Italy and Germany.
Enveloped, with the Albigenses, in merciless persecution, they endured
with fortitude the extremity of martyrdom. The Germans and Italians
sought refuge in the recesses of the Alpine valleys, and in the Marches
of Brandenburg and Bohemia, where they seem to have adopted the custom
of sacerdotal marriage, and where in time they merged with the churches
of the Orthodox Brethren.[927] Some feeble remnants also managed to
maintain an obscure existence in Provence, but their tacit revolt
could not be forgotten or forgiven, and at intervals they were exposed
to pitiless attempts at extermination. These are well known, and the
names of Cabrières and Merindol have acquired a sinister notoriety
which renders further allusion to the Waldenses unnecessary, except to
mention that in 1538 they formally merged themselves with the German
reformers by an agreement of which the 8th and 9th articles declare
that marriage is permissible, without exception of position, to all who
have not received the gift of continence.[928]
* * * * *
The antisacerdotal spirit, however, did not develop itself altogether
in opposition to the church. Devout and earnest men there were, who
recognized the evil resulting from the overgrown power and wealth of
the ecclesiastical establishment, without shaking off their reverence
for its doctrine and its visible head, and the authorities at length
saw in these men the effective means of combating the enemy. In thus
availing themselves of one branch of the reformers to destroy the other
and more radical portion, the chiefs of the hierarchy were adopting an
expedient effective for the present, yet fraught with danger for the
future. The Franciscans and Dominicans were useful beyond expectation.
They restored to the church much of the popular veneration which had
become almost hopelessly alienated from it, and their wonderfully
rapid extension throughout Europe shows how universally the people had
felt the want of a religion which should fitly represent the humility,
the poverty, the charity of Christ. Yet when Innocent III. hesitated
long to sanction the mendicant orders, he by no means showed the
want of sagacity which has been so generally asserted by superficial
historians; rather, like Lucius III. with the Waldenses, his far-seeing
eye took in the possible dangers of that fierce ascetic enthusiasm
which might at any moment break the bonds of earthly obedience, when
its exalted convictions should declare that obedience to man was revolt
against God.
Before the century was out, the result was apparent. When St.
Francis erected poverty into an object of adoration, attaching to
it an importance as insane as that attributed to virginity by the
early ascetics, he at once placed himself in opposition to the whole
system of the church establishment, though his exquisite humility
and exhaustless charity might disguise the dangerous tendency of
his doctrines.[929] As his order grew in numbers and wealth with
unexampled rapidity, it necessarily declined from the superhuman
height of self-abnegation of which its founder was the model. Already,
in 1261, the council of Mainz can hardly find words severe enough to
condemn the mendicant friars who wandered around selling indulgences
and squandering their unhallowed gains in the vilest excesses. One of
these lights of the order publicly preached, in the horse-market of
Strassburg, the doctrine that a nun who surrendered her virtue to a
monk was less guilty than if she had an intrigue with a layman.[930]
This falling from grace naturally produced dissatisfaction among
those impracticable spirits who still regarded St. Francis as their
exemplar as well as their patron. The breach gradually widened, until
at length two parties were formed in the order. The ascetics finally
separated themselves from their corrupted brethren, and under the
name of Begghards in Germany, Frèrots in France, and Fraticelli in
Southern Europe, assumed the position of being the only true church.
Their excommunication at the council of Vienne, in 1311, in no wise
disconcerted them. The long-forgotten doctrines of Arnold of Brescia
were revived and intensified. Poverty was an absolute necessity to
true Christianity; the holding of property was a heresy, and the Roman
church was consequently heretic. Rome, indeed, was openly denounced as
the modern Babylon.
While thus carrying out to its necessary consequences the
sanctification of poverty, which was the essence of Franciscanism, they
were equally logical with regard to the doctrines of ascetic purity
which had been so earnestly enforced by the church. Their admiration
of virginity thus trenched closely on Manichæism, and in combating
their errors the church was scarcely able to avoid condemning both
the vow of poverty and that of celibacy, which were the corner-stones
of the monastic theory.[931] Active persecution, of course, aroused
equally active resistance. The Fraticelli espoused the cause of the
Emperor Louis of Bavaria, in his long and disastrous quarrel with John
XXII., whom they did not hesitate to excommunicate. Exterminated after
a prolonged and desperate struggle, their memory was blackened with
the slanders disseminated by a priesthood incapable of emulating their
ascetic virtues; and principal among these slanders was the accusation
which we find repeated on all occasions when an adversary is to be
rendered odious—that of promiscuous and brutal licentiousness. No
authentic facts, however, can be found to substantiate it.[932]