CHAPTER II.

GUGLIELMA AND DOLCINO.

The spiritual exaltation which produced among the Franciscans the

developments described in the last chapter was by no means confined to

the recognized members of that Order. It manifested itself in even more

irregular fashion in the little group of sectaries known as

Guglielmites, and in the more formidable demonstration of the

Dolcinists, or Apostolic Brethren.

About the year 1260 there came to Milan a woman calling herself

Guglielma. That she brought with her a son shows that she had lived in

the world, and was doubtless tried with its vicissitudes, and as the

child makes no further appearance in her history, he probably died

young. She had wealth, and was said to be the daughter of Constance,

queen and wife of the King of Bohemia. Her royal extraction is

questionable, but the matter is scarce worth the discussion which it has

provoked.[93] She was a woman of pre-eminent piety, who devoted herself

to good works, without practising special austerities, and she gradually

attracted around her a little band of disciples, to whom such of her

utterances as have been recorded show that she gave wholesome ethical

instruction. They adopted the style of plain brown garment which she

habitually wore, and seem to have formed a kind of unorganized

congregation, bound together only by common devotion to her.[94]

At that period it was not easy to set bounds to veneration; the

spiritual world was felt to be in the closest relation with the

material, and the development of Joachitism shows how readily received

were suggestions that a great change was impending, and a new era about

to open for mankind. Guglielma's devotees came to regard her as a saint,

gifted with thaumaturgic power. Some of her disciples claimed to be

miraculously cured by her--Dr. Giacobbe da Ferno of an ophthalmic

trouble, and Albertono de' Novati of a fistula. Then it was said that

she had received the supereminent honor of the Stigmata, and although

those who prepared her body for the grave could not see them, this was

held to be owing to their unworthiness. It was confidently predicted

that she would convert the Jews and Saracens, and bring all mankind into

unity of faith. At last, about 1276, some of the more enthusiastic

disciples began to whisper that she was the incarnation of the Holy

Ghost, in female form--the Third Person of the Trinity, as Christ was of

the Second, in the shape of a man. She was very God and very man; it was

not alone the body of Christ which suffered in the Passion, but also

that of the Holy Ghost, so that her flesh was the same as that of

Christ. The originators of this strange belief seem to have been Andrea

Saramita, a man of standing in Milan, and Suor Maifreda di Pirovano, an

Umiliata of the ancient convent of Biassono, and a cousin of Matteo

Visconti. There is no probability that Guglielma countenanced these

absurd stories. Andrea Saramita was the only witness who asserted that

he had them from her direct, and he had a few days before testified to

the contrary. The other immediate disciples of Guglielma stated that she

made no pretensions to any supernatural character. When people would ask

her to cure them or relieve them of trouble she would say, "Go, I am not

God." When told of the strange beliefs entertained of her she

strenuously asserted that she was only a miserable woman and a vile

worm. Marchisio Secco, a monk of Chiaravalle, testified that he had had

a dispute with Andrea on the subject, and they agreed to refer it to

her, when she indignantly replied that she was flesh and bone, that she

had brought a son with her to Milan, and that if they did not do penance

for uttering such words they would be condemned to hell. Yet to minds

familiar with the promises of the Everlasting Gospel, it might well seem

that the era of the Holy Ghost would be ushered in with such an

incarnation.[95]

Guglielma died August 24, 1381, leaving her property to the great

Cistercian house of Chiaravalle, near Milan, where she desired to be

buried. There was war at the time between Milan and Lodi; the roads were

not safe, and she was temporarily interred in the city, while Andrea and

Dionisio Cotta went to the Marquis of Montferrat to ask for an escort of

troops to accompany the cortége. The translation of the body took place

in October, and was conducted with great splendor. The Cistercians

welcomed the opportunity to add to the attractions and revenues of their

establishment. At that period the business of exploiting new saints was

exceedingly profitable, and was prosecuted with corresponding energy.

Salimbene complains bitterly of it in referring to a speculation made in

1279, at Cremona, out of the remains of a drunken vintner named Alberto,

whose cult brought crowds of devotees with offerings, to the no small

gain of all concerned. Such things, as we have seen in the case of

Armanno Pongilupo and others, were constantly occurring, though

Salimbene declares that the canons forbade the veneration of any one, or

picturing him as a saint, until the Roman Church had authoritatively

passed upon his claims. In this Salimbene was mistaken. Zanghino

Ugolini, a much better authority, assures us that the worship of

uncanonized saints was not heretical, if it were believed that their

miracles were worked by God at their intercession, but if it were

believed that they were worked by the relics without the assent of God,

then the Inquisition could intervene and punish; but so long as a saint

was uncanonized his cult was at the discretion of the bishop, who could

at any time command its cessation, and the mere fact that miracles were

performed was no evidence, as they are frequently the work of demons to

deceive the faithful.[96]

In this case the Archbishop of Milan offered no interference, and the

worship of Guglielma was soon firmly established. A month after the

translation Andrea had the body exhumed and carried into the church,

where he washed it with wine and water and arrayed it in a splendid

embroidered robe. The washings were carefully preserved, to be used as a

chrism for the sick; they were placed on the altar of the nunnery of

Biassono, and Maifreda employed them in anointing the affected parts of

those who came to be healed. Presently a chapel with an altar arose over

her tomb, and tradition still points out at Chiaravalle the little

oratory where she is said to have lain, and a portrait on the wall over

the vacant tomb is asserted to be hers. It represents her as kneeling

before the Virgin, to whom she is presented by St. Bernard, the patron

of the abbey; a crowd of other figures is around her, and the whole

indicates that those who dedicated it to her represented her as merely a

saint, and not as an incarnation of the Godhead. Another picture of her

was placed by Dionisio Cotta in the Church of St. Maria fuori di Porta

Nuova, and two lamps were kept burning before it to obtain her suffrage

for the soul of his brother interred there. Other pictures were hung in

the Church of S. Eufemia and in the nunnery of Biassono. In all this the

good monks of Chiaravalle were not remiss. They kept lighted lamps

before her altar. Two feast-days were assigned to her--the anniversaries

of her death and of her translation--when the devotees would assemble at

the abbey, and the monks would furnish a simple banquet, outside of the

walls--for the Cistercian rules forbade the profanation of a woman's

presence within the sacred enclosure--and some of the monks would

discourse eloquently upon the saintliness of Guglielma, comparing her to

other saints and to the moon and stars, and receiving such oblations as

the piety of the worshippers would offer. Nor was this the only gain to

the abbey. Giacobbe de' Novati, one of the believers, belonged to one of

the noblest families of Milan, and at his castle the Guglielmites were

wont to assemble. When he died he instituted the abbey as his heir, and

the inheritance could not have been inconsiderable. There were,

doubtless, other instances of similar liberality of which the evidences

have not reached us.[97]

All this was innocent enough, but within the circle of those who

worshipped Guglielma there was a little band of initiated who believed

in her as the incarnation of the Holy Ghost. The history of the

Joachites has shown us the readiness which existed to look upon

Christianity as a temporary phase of religion, to be shortly succeeded

by the reign of the Holy Ghost, when the Church of Rome would give place

to a new and higher organization. It was not difficult, therefore, for

the Guglielmites to persuade themselves that they had enjoyed the

society of the Paraclete, who was shortly to appear, when the Holy

Spirit would be received in tongues of flame by the disciples, the

heathen and the Jew would be converted, and there would be a new church

ushering in the era of love and blessedness, for which man had been

sighing through the weary centuries. Of this doctrine Andrea was chief

apostle. He claimed to be the first and only spiritual son of Guglielma,

from whom he had received the revelation, and he embroidered it to suit

the credulity of the disciples. The Archangel Raphael had announced to

the blessed Constance the incarnation in her of the Holy Ghost; a year

afterwards, Guglielma was born on the holy day of Pentecost; she had

chosen the form of a woman, for if she had come as man she would have

died like Christ, and the whole world would have perished. On one

occasion, in her chamber, she had changed a chair into an ox, and had

told him to hold it if he could, but when he attempted to do so it

disappeared. The same indulgences were obtainable by visiting her tomb

at Chiaravalle as by a pilgrimage to the Holy Sepulchre. Wafers which

had been consecrated by laying them on the tomb were eagerly partaken of

by the disciples, as a new form of communion. Besides the two regular

feast-days, there was a third for the initiated, significantly held on

Pentecost, the day when she was expected to reappear. Meanwhile, the

devotion of the faithful was stimulated by stories of her being in

communication with her representatives, both in her own form and in

that of a dove. How slight was the evidence required for believers was

seen in an incident which gave them great comfort in 1293. At a banquet

in the house of Giacobbe da Ferno, a warm discussion arose between those

who doubted and those whose convictions were decided. Carabella, wife of

Amizzone Toscano, one of the earnest believers, was sitting on her

mantle, and when she arose she found three knots in the cords which had

not been there before. This was at once pronounced a great miracle, and

was evidently regarded as a full confirmation of the truth.[98]

If it were not for the tragedy which followed there would be nothing to

render Guglielmitism other than a jest, for the Church which was to

replace the massive structure of Latin Christianity was as ludicrous in

its conception as these details of its faith. The Gospels were to be

replaced by sacred writings produced by Andrea, of which he had already

prepared several, in the names of some of the initiated--"The Epistle of

Sibilia to the Novaresi," "The Prophecy of Carmeo the Prophet to all

Cities and Nations," and an account of Guglielma's teachings commencing,

"In that time the Holy Ghost said to his disciples." Maifreda also

composed litanies of the Holy Ghost and prayers for the use of the

Church. When, on the second advent of Guglielma, the papacy was to pass

away, Maifreda was to become pope, the vicar of the Holy Ghost, with the

keys of heaven and hell, and baptize the Jew and the Saracen. A new

college of cardinals was to be formed, of whom only one appears to have

been selected--a girl named Taria, who, to judge from her answers when

before the Inquisition, and the terms of contempt in which she is

alluded to by some of the sect, was a worthy representative of the whole

absurd scheme. While awaiting her exaltation to the papacy Maifreda was

the object of special veneration. The disciples kissed her hands and

feet, and she gave them her blessing. It was probably the spiritual

excitement caused by the jubilee proclaimed by Boniface VIII.,

attracting pilgrims to Rome by the hundred thousand to gain the

proffered indulgences, which led the Guglielmites to name the Pentecost

of 1300 for the advent of the Holy Ghost. With a curious manifestation

of materialism, the worshippers prepared splendid garments for the

adornment of the expected God--a purple mantle with a silver clasp

costing thirty pounds of terzioli, gold-embroidered silks and gilt

slippers--while Pietra de' Alzate contributed forty-two dozen pearls,

and Catella de' Giori gave an ounce of pearls. In preparation for her

new and holy functions, Maifreda undertook to celebrate the mysteries of

the mass. During the solemnities of Easter, in sacerdotal vestments, she

consecrated the host, while Andrea in a dalmatic read the Gospel, and

she administered communion to those present. When should come the

resurrection of Guglielma, she was to repeat the ceremony in S. Maria

Maggiore, and the sacred vessels were already prepared for this, on an

extravagant scale, costing more than two hundred lire.[99]

The sums thus lavished show that the devotees belonged to the wealthy

class. What is most noteworthy, in fact, in the whole story, is that a

belief so absurd should have found acceptance among men of culture and

intelligence, showing the spirit of unrest that was abroad, and the

readiness to accept any promise, however wild, of relief from existing

evils. There were few more prominent families in Milan than the

Garbagnati, who were Ghibellines and closely allied with the Visconti.

Gasparo Garbagnate filled many positions of importance, and though his

name does not appear among the sectaries, his wife Benvenuta was one of

them, as well as his two sons, Ottorino and Francesco, and Bella, the

wife of Giacobbe. Francesco was a man of mark as a diplomat and a

lawyer. Sent by Matteo Visconti in 1309 on a mission to the Emperor

Henry VII., he won high favor at the imperial court and obtained the

objects for which he had been despatched. He ended his career as a

professor of jurisprudence in the renowned University of Padua. Yet this

man, presumably learned and cool-headed, was an ardent disciple, who

purchased gold-embroidered silks for the resurrection of Guglielma, and

composed prayers in her honor. One of the crimes for which Matteo was

condemned in 1323 by the Inquisition was retaining in his service this

Francesco Garbagnate, who had been sentenced to wear crosses for his

participation in the Guglielmite heresy; and when John XXII., in 1324,

confirmed the sentence, he added that Matteo had terrorized the

inquisitors to save his son Galeazzo, who was also a Guglielmite.[100]

When the heresy became known popular rumor of course attributed to it

the customary practices of indiscriminate sexual indulgence which were

ascribed to all deviations from the faith. In the legend which was

handed down by tradition there appears the same story as to its

discovery which we have seen told at Cologne about the Brethren of the

Free Spirit--of the husband tracking his wife to the nocturnal

rendezvous, and thus learning the obscene practices of the sect. In this

case the hero of the tale is Corrado Coppa, whose wife Giacobba was an

earnest believer.[101] It is sufficient to say that the official reports

of the trial, in so far as they have reached us, contain no allusions

whatever to any licentious doctrines or practices. The inquisitors

wasted no time on inquiries in that direction, showing that they knew

there was nothing of the kind to reward investigation.

Numerically speaking, the sect was insignificant. It is mentioned that

on one occasion, at a banquet in honor of Guglielma, given by the monks

of Chiaravalle, there were one hundred and twenty-nine persons present,

but these doubtless included many who only reverenced her as a saint.

The inner circle of the initiated was apparently much smaller. The names

of those inculpated in the confessions before the Inquisition amount

only to about thirty, and it is fair to assume that the number of the

sectaries at no time exceeded thirty-five or forty.[102]

It is not to be supposed that this could go on for nearly twenty years

and wholly escape the vigilance of the Milanese inquisitors. In 1284,

but a few years after Guglielma's death, two of the disciples,

Allegranza and Carabella, incautiously revealed the mysteries of their

faith to Belfiore, mother of Frà Enrico di Nova, who at once conveyed it

to the inquisitor, Frà Manfredo di Donavia. Andrea was forthwith

summoned, with his wife Riccadona, his sister, Migliore, and his

daughter, Fiordebellina; also Maifreda, Bellacara de' Carentani,

Giacobba dei Bassani, and possibly some others. They readily abjured and

were treated with exceptional mildness, for Frà Manfredo absolved them

by striking them over the shoulders with a stick, as a symbol of the

scourging which as penitents they had incurred. He seems to have

attached little importance to the matter, and not to have compelled them

to reveal their accomplices. Again, in 1295 and 1296, there was an

investigation made by the Inquisitor Frà Tommaso di Como, of which no

details have reached us, but which evidently left the leaders

unharmed.[103]

We do not know what called the attention of the Inquisition to the sect

in the spring of 1300, but we may conjecture that the expected

resurrection of Guglielma at the coming Pentecost, and the preparations

made for that event, caused an agitation among the disciples leading

possibly to incautious revelations. About Easter (April 10) the

inquisitors summoned and examined Maifreda, Giacobba dei Bassani, and

possibly some others, but without result. Apparently, however, they were

watched, secret information was gathered, and in July the Holy Office

was ready to strike effectively. On July 18 a certain Frà Ghirardo

presented himself to Lanfranco de' Amizzoni and revealed the whole

affair, with the names of the principal disciples. Andrea sought him out

and endeavored to learn what he had said, but was merely told to look to

himself, for the inquisitors were making many threats. On the 20th

Andrea was summoned; his assurances that he had never heard that

Guglielma was regarded as more than an ordinary saint were apparently

accepted, and he was dismissed with orders to return the next day and

meanwhile to preserve absolute secrecy.[104]

Andrea and Maifreda were thoroughly frightened; they begged the

disciples, if called before the inquisitors, to preserve silence with

regard to them, as otherwise they could not escape death. It is a

peculiar illustration of the recognized hostility between the two

Mendicant Orders that the first impulse was to seek assistance from the

Franciscans. No sooner were the citations issued than Andrea, with the

Doctor Beltramo da Ferno, one of the earnest believers, went to the

Franciscan convent, where they learned from Frà Daniele da Ferno that

Frà Guidone de Cocchenato and the rest of the inquisitors had no power

to act, as their commissions had been annulled by the pope, and that Frà

Pagano di Pietra Santa had a bull to that effect. Some intrigue would

seem to be behind this, which it would be interesting to disentangle,

for we meet here with old acquaintances. Frà Guidone is doubtless the

same inquisitor whom we have seen in 1279 participating in the

punishment of Corrado da Venosta, and Frà Pagano has come before us as

the subject of a prosecution for heresy in 1295. Possibly it was this

which now stimulated his zeal against the inquisitors, for when the

Guglielmites called upon him the next day he produced the bull and urged

them to appear, and thus afford him evidence that the inquisitors were

discharging their functions--evidence for which he said that he would

willingly give twenty-five lire. It is a striking proof of the

impenetrable secrecy in which the operations of the Inquisition were

veiled that he had been anxiously and vainly seeking to obtain testimony

as to who were really discharging the duties of the tribunal; when,

latterly, a heretic had been burned at Balsemo he had sent thither to

find out who had rendered the sentence, but was unable to do so. Then

the Guglielmites applied to the Abbot of Chiaravalle and to one of his

monks, Marchisio di Veddano, himself suspected of Guglielmitism. These

asked to have a copy of the bull, and one was duly made by a notary and

given to them, which they took to the Archbishop of Milan at Cassano,

and asked him to place the investigation of the matter in their hands.

He promised to intervene, but if he did so he was probably met with the

information, which had been speedily elicited from the culprits, that

they held Boniface VIII. not to be pope, and consequently that the

archbishop whom he had created was not archbishop. Either in this or in

some other way the prelate's zeal was refrigerated, and he offered no

opposition to the proceedings.[105]

The Inquisition was well manned, for, besides Frà Guidone, whose age and

experience seem to have rendered him the leading actor in the tragedy,

and Lanfranco, who took little part in it, we meet with a third

inquisitor, Rainerio di Pirovano, and in their absence they are replaced

with deputies, Niccolò di Como, Niccolò di Varenna, and Leonardo da

Bergamo. They pushed the matter with relentless energy. That torture was

freely used there can be no doubt. No conclusion to the contrary can be

drawn from the absence of allusion to it in the depositions of the

accused, for this is customary. Not only do the historians of the affair

speak without reserve of its employment, but the character of the

successive examinations of the leading culprits indicates it

unerringly--the confident asseverations at first of ignorance and

innocence, followed, after a greater or less interval, with unreserved

confession. This is especially notable in the cases of those who had

abjured in 1284, such as Andrea, Maifreda, and Giacobba, who, as

relapsed, knew that by admitting their persistent heresy they were

condemning themselves to the flames without hope of mercy, and who

therefore had nothing to gain by confession, except exemption from

repetition of torment.[106]

The documents are too imperfect for us to reconstruct the process and

ascertain the fate of all of those implicated. In Languedoc, after all

the evidence had been taken, there would have been an assembly held in

which their sentences would have been determined, and at a solemn Sermo

these would have been promulgated, and the stake would have received its

victims. Much less formal were the proceedings at Milan. The only

sentence of which we have a record was rendered August 23 in an assembly

where the archbishop sat with the inquisitors and Matteo Visconti

appears among the assessors; and in this the only judgment was on Suor

Giacobba dei Bassani, who, as a relapsed, was necessarily handed over to

the secular arm for burning. It would seem that even before this Ser

Mirano di Garbagnate, a priest deeply implicated, had been burned.

Andrea was executed probably between September 1 and 9, and Maifreda

about the same time--but we know nothing about the date of the other

executions, or of the exhumation and cremation of Guglielma's

bones--while the examinations of other disciples continued until the

middle of October. Another remarkable peculiarity is that for the minor

penalties the inquisitors called in no experts and did not even consult

the archbishop, but acted wholly at their own discretion, a single frate

absolving or penancing each individual as he saw fit. The Lombard

Inquisition apparently had little deference for the episcopate, even of

the Ambrosian Church.[107]

Yet the action of the Inquisition was remarkable for its mildness,

especially when we consider the revolutionary character of the heresy.

The number of those absolutely burned cannot be definitely stated, but

it probably did not exceed four or five. These were the survivors of

those who had abjured in 1284, for whom, as relapsed and obstinate

heretics, there could be no mercy. The rest were allowed to escape with

penalties remarkably light. Thus Sibilia Malcolzati had been one of the

most zealous of the sect; in her early examinations she had resolutely

perjured herself, and it had cost no little trouble to make her confess,

yet when, on October 6, she appeared before Frà Rainerio and begged to

be relieved from the excommunication which she had incurred, he was

moved by her prayers and assented, on the ordinary conditions that she

would stand to the orders of the Church and Inquisition, and perform the

obligations laid upon her. Still more remarkable is the leniency with

which two sisters, Catella and Pietra Oldegardi, were treated, for Frà

Guidone absolved them on their abjuring their heresy, contenting himself

with simply referring them to their confessors for the penance which

they were to perform. The severest punishment recorded for any except

the relapsed was the wearing of crosses, and these, imposed in September

and October, were commuted in December for a fine of twenty-five lire,

payable in February--showing that confiscation was not a part of the

penalty. Even Taria, the expectant cardinal of the New Dispensation, was

thus penanced and relieved. Immediately after Andrea's execution an

examination of his wife Riccadona, as to the furniture in her house and

the wine in her cellar, shows that the Inquisition was prompt in looking

after the confiscations of those condemned to death; and the fragment of

an interrogatory, February 12, 1302, of Marchisio Secco, a monk of

Chiaravalle, indicates that it was involved in a struggle with the abbey

to compel the refunding of the bequest of Guglielma, as the heresy for

which she had been condemned, of course, rendered void all dispositions

of her property. How this resulted we have no means of knowing, but we

may feel assured that the abbey was forced to submit; indeed, the

complicity of the monks with the heretics was so clearly indicated that

we may wonder none of their names appear in the lists of those

condemned.[108]

Thus ended this little episode of heresy, of no importance in its origin

or results, but curious from the glimpse which it affords into the

spiritual aberrations of the time, and the procedure of the Lombard

Inquisition, and noteworthy as a rare instance of inquisitorial

clemency.[109]

About the time when Guglielma settled in Milan, Parma witnessed the

commencement of another abnormal development of the great Franciscan

movement. The stimulus which monachism had received from the success of

the Mendicant Orders, the exaltation of poverty into the greatest of

virtues, the recognition of beggary as the holiest mode of life, render

it difficult to apportion between yearnings for spiritual perfection and

the attractions of idleness and vagabondage in a temperate climate the

responsibility for the numerous associations which arose in imitation of

the Mendicants. The prohibition of unauthorized religious orders by the

Lateran Council was found impossible of enforcement. Men would herd

together with more or less of organization in caves and hermitages, in

the streets of cities, and in abandoned dwellings and churches by the

roadsides. The Carmelites and Augustinian hermits won recognition after

a long struggle, and became established Orders, forming, with the

Franciscans and Dominicans, the four Mendicant religions. Others, less

reputable, or more independent in spirit, were condemned, and when they

refused to disband they were treated as rebels and heretics. In the

tension of the spiritual atmosphere, any man who would devise and put in

practice a method of life assimilating him most nearly to the brutes

would not fail to find admirers and followers; and, if he possessed

capacity for command and organization, he could readily mould them into

a confraternity and become an object of veneration, with an abundant

supply of offerings from the pious.

The year 1260 was that in which, according to Abbot Joachim, the era of

the Holy Ghost was to open. The spiritual excitement which pervaded the

population was seen in the outbreak of the Flagellants, which filled

northern Italy with processions of penitents scourging themselves, and

in the mutual forgiveness of injuries, which brought an interval of

peace to a distracted land. In such a condition of public feeling,

gregarious enthusiasm is easily directed to whatever responds to the

impulse of the moment, and the self-mortification of a youth of Parma,

called Gherardo Segarelli, found abundant imitators. Of low extraction,

uncultured and stupid, he had vainly applied for admission into the

Franciscan Order. Denied this, he passed his days vacantly musing in the

Franciscan church. The beatitude of ecstatic abstraction, carried to the

point of the annihilation of consciousness, has not been confined to the

Tapas and Samadhi of the Brahman and Buddhist. The monks of Mt. Athos,

known as Umbilicani from their pious contemplation of their navels, knew

it well, and Jacopone da Todi shows that its dangerous raptures were

familiar to the zealots of the time.[110] Segarelli, however, was not so

lost to external impressions but that he remarked in the scriptural

pictures which adorned the walls the representations of the apostles in

the habits which art has assigned to them. The conception grew upon him

that the apostolic life and vestment would form the ideal religious

existence, superior even to that of the Franciscans which had been

denied to him. As a preliminary, he sold his little property; then,

mounting the tribune in the Piazza, he scattered the proceeds among the

idlers sunning themselves there, who forthwith gambled it away with

ample floods of blasphemy. Imitating literally the career of Christ, he

had himself circumcised; then, enveloped in swaddling clothes, he was

rocked in a cradle and suckled by a woman. His apprenticeship thus

completed, he embarked on the career of an apostle, letting hair and

beard grow, enveloped in a white mantle, with the Franciscan cord around

his waist, and sandals on his feet. Thus accoutred he wandered through

the streets of Parma crying at intervals "_Penitenzagite_" which was his

ignorant rendering of "_Penitentiam agite!_"--the customary call to

repentance.[111]

For a while he had no imitators. In search of disciples he wandered to

the neighboring village of Collechio, where, standing at the roadside,

he shouted "Enter my vineyard!" The passers-by who knew his crazy ways

paid no attention to him, but strangers took his call to be an

invitation to help themselves from the ripening grapes of an adjacent

vineyard, which they accordingly stripped. At length he was joined by a

certain Robert, a servant of the Franciscans, who, as Salimbene informs

us, was a liar and a thief, too lazy to work, who flourished for a while

in the sect as Frà Glutto, and who finally apostatized and married a

female hermit. Gherardo and Glutto wandered through the streets of Parma

in their white mantles and sandals, calling the people to repentance.

They gathered associates, and the number rapidly grew to three hundred.

They obtained a house in which to eat and sleep, and lacked for nothing,

for alms came pouring in upon them more liberally than on the regular

Mendicants. These latter wondered greatly, for the self-styled Apostles

gave nothing in return--they could not preach, or hear confessions, or

celebrate mass, and did not even pray for their benefactors. They were

mostly ignorant peasants, swineherds and cowherds, attracted by an idle

life which was rewarded with ample victuals and popular veneration. When

gathered together in their assemblies they would gaze vacantly on

Segarelli and repeat at intervals in honor of him, "Father! Father!

Father!"[112]

When the Council of Lyons, in 1274, endeavored to control the pest of

these unauthorized mendicant associations, it did not disperse them, but

contented itself with prohibiting the reception of future members, in

the expectation that they would thus gradually become extinguished. This

was easily eluded by the Apostles, who, when a neophyte desired to join

them, would lay before him a, habit and say, "We do not dare to receive

you, as this is prohibited to us, but it is not prohibited to you; do as

you think fit." Thus, in spite of papal commands, the Order increased

and multiplied, as we are told, beyond computation. In 1284 we hear of

seventy-two postulants in a body passing through Modena and Reggio to

Parma to be adopted by Segarelli, and a few days afterwards twelve young

girls came on the same errand, wrapped in their mantles and styling

themselves Apostolesses. Imitating Dominic and Francis, Segarelli sent

his followers throughout Europe and beyond seas to evangelize the world.

They penetrated far, for already in 1287 we find the Council of Würzburg

stigmatizing the wandering Apostles as tramps, and forbidding any one

to give them food on account of their religious aspect and unusual

dress. Pedro de Lugo (Galicia), who abjured before the Inquisition of

Toulouse in 1322, testified that he had been inducted in the sect twenty

years previous by Richard, an Apostle from Alessandria in Lombardy, who

was busily spreading the heresy beyond Compostella.[113]

Notwithstanding the veneration felt by the brethren for Segarelli he

steadily refused to assume the headship of the Order, saying that each

must bear his own burden. Had he been an active organizer, with the

material at his disposition, he might have given the Church much

trouble, but he was inert and indisposed to abandon his contemplative

self-indulgence. He seems to have hesitated somewhat as to the form

which the association should assume, and consulted Alberto of Parma, one

of the seven notaries of the curia, whether they should select a

superior. Alberto referred him to the Cistercian Abbot of Fontanaviva,

who advised that they should not found houses, but should continue to

wander over the land wrapped in their mantles, and they would not fail

of shelter by the charitable. Segarelli was nothing loath to follow his

counsel, but a more energetic spirit was found in Guidone Putagi,

brother of the Podestà of Bologna, who entered the Order with his sister

Tripia. Finding that Segarelli would not govern, he seized command and

for many years conducted affairs, but he gave offence by abandoning the

poverty which was the essence of the association. He lived splendidly,

we are told, with many horses, lavishing money like a cardinal or papal

legate, till the brethren grew tired and elected Matteo of Ancona as his

successor. This led to a split. Guidone retained possession of the

person of Segarelli, and carried him to Faenza. Matteo's followers came

there and endeavored to seize Segarelli by force; the two parties came

to blows and the Anconitans were defeated. Guidone, however, was so much

alarmed for his safety that he left the Apostles and joined the

Templars.[114]

Bishop Opizo of Parma, a nephew of Innocent IV., had a liking for

Segarelli, and for his sake protected the Apostles, which serves to

account for their uninterrupted growth. In 1286, however, three of the

brethren misbehaved flagrantly at Bologna, and were summarily hanged by

the podestà. This seems to have drawn attention to the sectaries, for

about the same time Honorius IV. issued a bull especially directed

against them. They were commanded to abandon their peculiar vestments

and enter some recognized order; prelates were required to enforce

obedience by imprisonment, with recourse, if necessary, to the secular

arm, and the faithful at large were ordered not to give them alms or

hospitality. The Order was thus formally proscribed. Bishop Opizo

hastened to obey. He banished the brethren from his diocese and

imprisoned Segarelli in chains, but subsequently relenting kept him in

his palace as a jester, for when filled with wine the Apostle could be

amusing.[115]

For some years we hear little of Segarelli and his disciples. The papal

condemnation discouraged them, but it received scant obedience. Their

numbers may have diminished, and public charity may have been to some

extent withdrawn, but they were still numerous, they continued to wear

the white mantle, and to be supported in their wandering life. The best

evidence that the bull of Honorius failed in its purpose is the fact

that in 1291 Nicholas IV. deemed its reissue necessary. They were now in

open antagonism to the Holy See--rebels and schismatics, rapidly

ripening into heretics, and fair subjects of persecution. Accordingly,

in 1294, we hear of four of them--two men and two women--burned at

Parma, and of Segarelli's condemnation to perpetual imprisonment by

Bishop Opizo. There is also an allusion to an earnest missionary of the

sect, named Stephen, dangerous on account of the eloquence of his

preaching, who was burned by the Inquisition. Segarelli had saved his

life by abjuration; possibly after a few years he may have been

released, but he did not abandon his errors; the Inquisitor of Parma,

Frà Manfredo, convicted him as a relapsed heretic, and he was burned in

Parma in 1300. An active persecution followed of his disciples. Many

were apprehended by the Inquisition and subjected to various

punishments, until Parma congratulated itself that the heresy was fairly

stamped out.[116]

Persecution, as usual, had the immediate effect of scattering the

heretics, of confirming them in the faith, and of developing the heresy

into a more decided antagonism towards the Church. Segarelli's disciples

were not all ignorant peasants. In Tuscany a Franciscan of high

reputation for sanctity and learning was in secret an active missionary,

and endeavored even to win over Ubertino da Casale. Ubertino led him on

and then betrayed him, and when we are told that he was forced to reveal

his followers, we may assume that he was subjected to the customary

inquisitorial processes. This points to relationship between the

Apostles and the disaffected Franciscans, and the indication is

strengthened by the anxiety of the Spirituals to disclaim all

connection. The Apostles were deeply tinged with Joachitism, and the

Spirituals endeavor to hide the fact by attributing their errors to

Joachim's detested heretic imitator, the forgotten Amaury. The

Conventuals, in fact, did not omit this damaging method of attack, and

in the contest before Clement V. the Spirituals were obliged to disavow

all connection with Dolcinism.[117]

We know nothing of any peculiar tenets taught by Segarelli. From his

character it is not likely that he indulged in any recondite

speculations, while the toleration which he enjoyed until near the end

of his career probably prevented him from formulating any revolutionary

doctrines. To wear the habit of the association, to live in absolute

poverty, without labor and depending on daily charity, to take no

thought of the morrow, to wander without a home, calling upon the people

to repent, to preserve the strictest chastity, was the sum of his

teaching, so far as we know, and this remained to the last the exterior

observance of the Apostles. It was rigidly enforced. Even the austerity

of the Franciscans allowed the friar two gowns, as a concession to

health and comfort, but the Apostle could have but one, and if he

desired it washed he had to remain covered in bed until it was dried.

Like the Waldenses and Cathari, the Apostles seem to have considered the

use of the oath as unlawful. They were accused, as usual, of inculcating

promiscuous intercourse, and this charge seemed substantiated by the

mingling of the sexes in their wandering life, and by the crucial test

of continence to which they habitually exposed themselves, in imitation

of the early Christians, of lying together naked; but the statement of

their errors drawn up by the inquisitors who knew them, for the

instruction of their colleagues, shows that license formed no part of

their creed, though it would not be safe to say that men and women of

evil life may not have been attracted to join them by the idleness and

freedom from care of their wandering existence.[118]

By the time of Gherardo's death, however, persecution had been

sufficiently sharp and long-continued to drive the Apostles into denying

the authority of the Holy See and formulating doctrines of pronounced

hostility to the Church. An epistle written by Frà Dolcino, about a

month after Segarelli's execution, shows that minds more powerful than

that of the founder had been at work framing a body of principles suited

to zealots chafing under the domination of a corrupt church, and eagerly

yearning for a higher theory of life than it could furnish. Joachim had

promised that the era of the Holy Ghost should open with the year 1260.

That prophecy had been fulfilled by the appearance of Segarelli, whose

mission had then commenced. Tacitly accepting this coincidence, Dolcino

proceeds to describe four successive states of the Church. The first

extends from the Creation to the time of Christ; the second from Christ

to Silvester and Constantine, during which the Church was holy and poor;

the third from Silvester to Segarelli, during which the Church declined,

in spite of the reforms introduced by Benedict, Dominic, and Francis,

until it had wholly lost the charity of God. The fourth state was

commenced by Segarelli, and will last till the Day of Judgment. Then

follow prophecies which seem to be based on those of the

Pseudo-Joachim's Commentaries on Jeremiah. The Church now is honored,

rich, and wicked, and will so remain until all clerks, monks, and friars

are cut off with a cruel death, which will happen within three years.

Frederic, King of Trinacria, who had not yet made his peace with the

Holy See, was regarded as the coming avenger, in consequence, doubtless,

of his relations with the Spirituals and his tendencies in their favor.

The epistle concludes with a mass of Apocalyptical prophecies respecting

the approaching advent of Antichrist, the triumph of the saints, and the

reign of holy poverty and love, which is to follow under a saintly pope.

The seven angels of the churches are declared to be Benedict, of

Ephesus; Silvester, of Pergamus; Francis, of Sardis; Dominic, of

Laodicea; Segarelli, of Smyrna; Dolcino himself, of Thyatira; and the

holy pope to come, of Philadelphia. Dolcino announces himself as the

special envoy of God, sent to elucidate Scripture and the prophecies,

while the clergy and the friars are the ministers of Satan, who

persecute now, but who will shortly be consumed, when he and his

followers, with those who join them, will prevail till the end.[119]

Segarelli had perished at the stake, July 18, and already in August here

was a man assuming with easy assurance the dangerous position of

heresiarch, proclaiming himself the mouthpiece of God, and promising his

followers speedy triumph in reward for what they might endure under his

leadership. Whether or not he believed his own prophecies, whether he

was a wild fanatic or a skilful charlatan, can never be absolutely

determined, but the balance of probability lies in his truthfulness.

With all his gifts as a born leader of men, it is safe to assert that if

he had not believed in his mission he could not have inspired his

followers with the devotion which led them to stand by him through

sufferings unendurable to ordinary human nature; while the cool sagacity

which he displayed under the most pressing emergencies must have been

inflamed by apocalyptic visions ere he could have embarked in an

enterprise in which the means were so wholly inadequate to the end--ere

he could have endeavored single-handed to overthrow the whole majestic

structure of the theocratic church and organized feudalism. Dante

recognized the greatness of Dolcino when he represents him as the only

living man to whom Mahomet from the depths of hell deigns to send a

message, as to a kindred spirit. The good Spiritual Franciscans, who

endured endless persecution without resistance, could only explain his

career by a revelation made to a servant of God beyond the seas, that he

was possessed by a malignant angel named Furcio.[120]

The paternity of Dolcino is variously attributed to Giulio, a priest of

Trontano in the Val d'Ossola, and to Giulio, a hermit of Prato in the

Valsesia, near Novara. Brought as a child to Vercelli, he was bred in

the church of St. Agnes by a priest named Agosto, who had him carefully

trained. Gifted with a brilliant intellect, he soon became an excellent

scholar, and, though small of stature, he was pleasant to look upon and

won the affection of all. In after-times it was said that his eloquence

and persuasiveness were such that no one who once listened to him could

ever throw off the spell. His connection with Vercelli came to a sudden

end. The priest lost a sum of money and suspected his servant Patras.

The man took the boy and by torturing him forced him to confess the

theft--rightly or wrongly. The priest interfered to prevent the matter

from becoming public, but shame and terror caused Dolcino to depart in

secret, and we lose sight of him until we hear of him in Trent, at the

head of a band of Apostles. He had joined the sect in 1291; he must

early have taken a prominent position in it, for he admitted in his

final confession that he had thrice been in the hands of the

Inquisition, and had thrice abjured. This he could do without forfeiting

his position, for it was one of the principles of the sect, which

greatly angered the inquisitors, that deceit was lawful when before the

Inquisition; that oaths could then be taken with the lips and not with

the heart; but that if death could not be escaped, then it was to be

endured cheerfully and patiently, without betraying accomplices.[121]

For three years after his epistle of August, 1300, we know nothing of

Dolcino's movements, except that he is heard of in Milan, Brescia,

Bergamo, and Como, but they were busy years of propagandism and

organization. The time of promised liberation came and passed, and the

Church was neither shattered nor amended. Yet the capture of Boniface

VIII. at Anagni, in September, 1303, followed by his death, might well

seem to be the beginning of the end, and the fulfilment of the prophecy.

In December, 1303, therefore, Dolcino issued a second epistle, in which

he announced as a revelation from God that the first year of the

tribulations of the Church had begun in the fall of Boniface. In 1304

Frederic of Trinacria would become emperor, and would destroy the

cardinals, with the new evil pope whom they had just elected; in 1305 he

would carry desolation through the ranks of all prelates and

ecclesiastics, whose wickedness was daily increasing. Until that time

the faithful must lie hid to escape persecution, but then they would

come forth, they would be joined by the Spirituals of the other orders,

they would receive the grace of the Holy Ghost, and would form the new

Church which would endure to the end. Meanwhile he announced himself as

the ruler of the Apostolic Congregation, consisting of four thousand

souls, living without external obedience, but in the obedience of the

Spirit. About a hundred, of either sex, were organized in control of the

brethren, and he had four principal lieutenants, Longino Cattaneo da

Bergamo, Federigo da Novara, Alberto da Otranto, and Valderigo da

Brescia. Superior to these was his dearly-loved sister in Christ,

Margherita. Margherita di Trank is described to us as a woman of noble

birth, considerable fortune, and surpassing beauty, who had been

educated in the convent of St. Catharine at Trent. Dolcino had been the

agent of the convent, and had thus made her acquaintance. Infatuated

with him, she fled with him, and remained constant to the last. He

always maintained that their relations were purely spiritual, but this

was naturally doubted, and the churchmen asserted that she bore him a

child whose birth was represented to the faithful as the operation of

the Holy Ghost.[122]

Although in this letter of December, 1303, Dolcino recognizes the

necessity of concealment, perhaps the expected approaching fruition of

his hopes may have encouraged him to relax his precautions. Returning in

1304 to the home of his youth with a few sectaries clad in the white

tunics and sandals of the Order, he commenced making converts in the

neighborhood of Gattinara and Serravalle, two villages of the Valsesia,

a few leagues above Vercelli. The Inquisition was soon upon the track,

and, failing to catch him, made the people of Serravalle pay dearly for

the favor which they had shown him. Deep-seated discontent, both with

the Church and their feudal lords, can alone explain the assistance

which Dolcino received from the hardy population of the foot-hills of

the Alps, when he was forced to raise openly the standard of revolt. A

short distance above Serravalle, on the left bank of the Sesia, a stream

fed by the glaciers of Monte Rosa, lay Borgo di Sesia, in the diocese of

Novara. Thither a rich husbandman, much esteemed by his neighbors, named

Milano Sola, invited Dolcino, and for several months he remained there

undisturbed, making converts and receiving his disciples, whom he seems

to have summoned from distant parts, as though resolved to make a stand

and take advantage of the development of his apocalyptic prophecies.

Preparations made to dislodge him, however, convinced him that safety

was only to be found in the Alps, and under the guidance of Milano Sola

the Apostles moved up towards the head-waters of the Sesia, and

established themselves on a mountain crest, difficult of access, where

they built huts. Thus passed the year 1304. Their numbers were not

inconsiderable--some fourteen hundred of both sexes--inflamed with

religious zeal, regarding Dolcino as a prophet whose lightest word was

law. Thus contumaciously assembled in defiance of the summons of the

Inquisition, they were in open rebellion against the Church. The State

also soon became their enemy, for as the year 1305 opened, their slender

stock of provisions was exhausted and they replenished their stores by

raids upon the lower valleys.[123]

The Church could not afford to brook this open defiance, to say nothing

of the complaints of rapine and sacrilege which filled the land, yet it

shows the dread which Dolcino already inspired that recourse was had to

the pope, under whose auspices a formal crusade was preached, in order

to raise a force deemed sufficient to exterminate the heretics. One of

the early acts of Clement V. after his election, June 5, 1305, was to

issue bulls for this purpose, and the next step was to hold an assembly,

August 24, where a league was formed and an agreement signed pledging

the assembled nobles to shed the last drop of their blood to destroy the

Gazzari, who had been driven out of Sesia and Biandrate, but had not

ceased to trouble the land. Armed with the papal commissions, Rainerio,

Bishop of Vercelli, and the inquisitors raised a considerable force and

advanced to the mountain refuge of the Apostles. Dolcino, seeing the

futility of resistance, decamped by night and established his little

community on an almost inaccessible mountain, and the crusaders,

apparently thinking them dispersed, withdrew. Dolcino was now fairly at

bay; the only hope of safety lay in resistance, and since the Church was

resolved on war, he and his followers would at least sell their lives as

dearly as they could. His new retreat was on the Parete Calvo--the Bare

Wall--whose name sufficiently describes its character, a mountain

overlooking the village of Campertogno. On this stronghold the Apostles

fortified themselves and constructed such habitations as they could, and

from it they ravaged the neighboring valleys for subsistence. The

Podestà of Varallo assembled the men of the Valsesia to dislodge them,

but Dolcino laid an ambush for him, attacked him with stones and such

other weapons as the Apostles chanced to have, and took him prisoner

with most of his men, obtaining ransoms which enabled the sectaries to

support life for a while longer. Their depredations continued till all

the land within striking distance was reduced to a desert, the churches

despoiled, and the inhabitants driven off.[124]

The winter of 1305-6 put to the test the endurance of the heretics on

their bare mountain-top. As Lent came on they were reduced to eating

mice and other vermin, and hay cooked in grease. The position became

untenable, and on the night of March 10, compelled by stern necessity to

abandon their weaker companions, they left the Parete Calvo, and,

building paths which seemed impossible over high mountains and through

deep snows, they established themselves on Monte Rubello, overlooking

the village of Triverio, in the diocese of Vercelli. By this time,

through want and exhaustion, their numbers were reduced to about a

thousand, and the sole provisions which they brought with them were a

few scraps of meat. With such secrecy and expedition had the move been

executed that the first intimation that the people of Triverio had of

the neighborhood of the dreaded heretics was a foray by night, in which

their town was ravaged. We do not hear that any of the unresisting

inhabitants were slain, but we are told that thirty-four of the Apostles

were cut off in their retreat and put to death. The whole region was now

alarmed, and the Bishop of Vercelli raised a second force of crusaders,

who bravely advanced to Monte Rubello. Dolcino was rapidly learning the

art of war; he made a sally from his stronghold, though again we learn

that some of his combatants were armed only with stones, and the

bishop's troops were beaten back with the loss of many prisoners who

were exchanged for food.[125]

The heretic encampment was now organized for permanent occupation.

Fortifications were thrown up, houses built, and a well dug. Thus

rendered inexpugnable, the hunted Apostles were in safety from external

attack, and on their Alpine crag, with all mankind for enemies, they

calmly awaited in their isolation the fulfilment of Dolcino's

prophecies. Their immediate danger was starvation. The mountain-tops

furnished no food, and the remains of the episcopal army stationed at

Mosso maintained a strict blockade. To relieve himself, early in May,

Dolcino by a clever stratagem lured them to an attack, set upon them

from an ambush, and dispersed them, capturing many prisoners, who, as

before, were exchanged for provisions. The bishop's resources were

exhausted. Again he appealed to Clement V., who graciously

anathematized the heretics, and offered plenary indulgence to all who

would serve in the army of the Lord for thirty days against them, or pay

a recruit for such service. The papal letters were published far and

wide, the Vercellese ardently supported their aged bishop, who

personally accompanied the crusade; a large force was raised,

neighboring heights were seized and machines erected which threw stones

into the heretic encampment and demolished their huts. A desperate

struggle took place for the possession of one commanding eminence, where

mutual slaughter so deeply tinged the waters of the Riccio that its name

became changed to that of Rio Carnaschio, and so strong was the

impression made upon the popular mind that within the last century it

would have fared ill with any sceptical traveller who should aver within

hearing of a mountaineer of the district that its color was the same as

that of the neighboring torrents.[126]

This third crusade was as fruitless as its predecessors. The assailants

were repulsed and fell back to Mosso, Triverio, and Crevacore, while

Dolcino, profiting by experience, fortified and garrisoned six of the

neighboring heights, from which he harried the surrounding country and

kept his people supplied with food. To restrain them the crusaders built

two forts and maintained a heavy force within them, but to little

purpose. Mosso, Triverio, Cassato, Flecchia, and other towns were

burned, and the accounts of the wanton spoliation and desecration of the

churches show how thoroughly antisacerdotal the sect had become. Driven

to desperation, the ancient loving-kindness of their creed gave place to

the cruelty which they learned from their assailants. To deprive them of

resources it was forbidden to exchange food with them for prisoners, and

their captives were mercilessly put to death. According to the

contemporary inquisitor to whom we are indebted for these details, since

the days of Adam there had never been a sect, so execrable, so

abominable, so horrible, or which in a time so short accomplished so

much evil. The worst of it was that Dolcino infused into his followers

his own unconquerable spirit. In male attire the women accompanied the

men in their expeditions. Fanaticism rendered them invincible, and so

great was the terror which they inspired that the faithful fled from

the faces of these dogs, of whom we are told a few would put to flight

a host and utterly destroy them. The land was abandoned by the

inhabitants, and in December, seized with a sudden panic, the crusaders

evacuated one of the forts, and the garrison of the other, amounting to

seven hundred men, was rescued with difficulty.[127]

Dolcino's fanaticism and military skill had thus triumphed in the field,

but the fatal weakness of his position lay in his inability to support

his followers. This was clearly apprehended by the Bishop of Vercelli,

who built five new forts around the heretic position; and when we are

told that all the roads and passes were strictly guarded so that no help

should reach them, we may infer that, in spite of the devastation to

which they had been driven, they still had friends among the population.

This policy was successful. During the winter of 1306-7 the sufferings

of the Apostles on their snowy mountain-top were frightful. Hunger and

cold did their work. Many perished from exhaustion. Others barely

maintained life on grass and leaves, when they were fortunate enough to

find them. Cannibalism was resorted to; the bodies of their enemies who

fell in successful sorties were devoured, and even those of their

comrades who succumbed to starvation. The pious chronicler informs us

that this misery was brought upon them by the prayers and vows of the

good bishop and his flock.[128]

To this there could be but one ending, and even the fervid genius of

Dolcino could not indefinitely postpone the inevitable. As the dreary

Alpine winter drew to an end, towards the close of March, the bishop

organized a fourth crusade. A large army was raised to deal with the

gaunt and haggard survivors; hot fighting occurred during Passion Week,

and on Holy Thursday (March 23, 1307) the last entrenchments were

carried. The resistance had been stubborn, and again the Rio Carnaschio

ran red with blood. No quarter was given. "On that day more than a

thousand of the heretics perished in the flames, or in the river, or by

the sword, in the cruellest of deaths. Thus they who made sport of God

the Eternal Father and of the Catholic faith came, on the day of the

Last Supper, through hunger, steel, fire, pestilence, and all

wretchedness, to shame and disgraceful death, as they deserved." Strict

orders had been given by the bishop to capture alive Dolcino and his two

chief subordinates, Margherita and Longino Cattaneo, and great were the

rejoicings when they were brought to him on Saturday, at the castle of

Biella.[129]

No case could be clearer than theirs, and yet the bishop deemed it

necessary to consult Pope Clement--a perfectly superfluous ceremony,

explicable perhaps, as Gallenga suggests, by the opportunity which it

afforded of begging assistance for his ruined diocese and exhausted

treasury. Clement's avarice responded in a niggardly fashion, though the

extravagant pæan of triumph in which the pope hastened to announce the

glad tidings to Philippe le Bel on the same evening in which he received

them shows how deep was the anxiety caused by the audacious revolt of

the handful of Dolcinists. The Bishops of Vercelli, Novara, and Pavia,

and the Abbot of Lucedio were granted the first fruits of all benefices

becoming vacant during the next three years in their respective

territories, and the former, in addition, was exempted during life from

the exactions of papal legates, with some other privileges. While

awaiting this response the prisoners were kept, chained hand and foot

and neck, in the dungeon of the Inquisition at Vercelli, with numerous

guards posted to prevent a rescue, indicating a knowledge that there

existed deep popular sympathy for the rebels against State and Church.

The customary efforts were made to procure confession and abjuration,

but while the prisoners boldly affirmed their faith they were deaf to

all offers of reconciliation. Dolcino even persisted in his prophecies

that Antichrist would appear in three years and a half, when he and his

followers would be translated to Paradise; that after the death of

Antichrist he would return to the earth to be the holy pope of the new

church, when all the infidels would be converted. About two months

passed away before Clement's orders were received, that they should be

tried and punished at the scene of their crimes. The customary assembly

of experts was convened in Vercelli: there could be no doubt as to their

guilt, and they were abandoned to the secular arm. For the superfluous

cruelty which followed the Church was not responsible; it was the

expression of the terror of the secular authorities, leading them to

repress by an awful example the ever-present danger of a peasant revolt.

On June 1, 1307, the prisoners were brought forth. Margherita's beauty

moved all hearts to compassion, and this, coupled with the reports of

her wealth, led many nobles to offer her marriage and pardon if she

would abjure, but, constant to her faith and to Dolcino, she preferred

the stake. She was slowly burned to death before his eyes, and then

commenced his more prolonged torture. Mounted on a cart, provided with

braziers to keep the instruments of torment heated, he was slowly driven

along the roads through that long summer day and torn gradually to

pieces with red-hot pincers. The marvellous constancy of the man was

shown by his enduring it without rewarding his torturers with a single

change of feature. Only when his nose was wrenched off was observed a

slight shiver in the shoulders, and when a yet crueller pang was

inflicted, a single sigh escaped him. While he was thus dying in

lingering torture Longino Cattaneo, at Biella, was similarly utilized to

afford a salutary warning to the people. Thus the enthusiasts expiated

their dreams of the regeneration of mankind.[130]

Complete as was Dolcino's failure, his character and his fate left an

ineffaceable impression on the population. The Parete Calvo, his first

mountain refuge, was considered to be haunted by evil spirits, whom he

had left to guard a treasure buried in a cave, and who excited such

tempests when any one invaded their domain that the people of Triverio

were forced to maintain guards to warn off persistent treasure-seekers.

Still stronger was the influence which he exerted upon his fastness on

Monte Rubello. It became known as the Monte dei Gazzari, and to it, as

to an accursed spot, priests grew into the habit of consigning demons

whom they exorcised on account of hail-storms. The result of this was

that the congregated spirits caused such fearful tempests that the

neighboring lands were ruined, the harvests were yearly destroyed, and

the people reduced to beggary. Finally, as a cure, the inhabitants of

Triverio vowed to God and to St. Bernard that if they were relieved they

would build on the top of the mountain a chapel to St. Bernard. This was

done, and the mountain thus acquired its modern name of Monte San

Bernardo. Every year on June 15, the feast of St. Bernard, one man from

every hearth in the surrounding parishes marched with their priests in

solemn procession, bearing crosses and banners, and celebrating solemn

services, in the presence of crowds assembled to gain the pardons

granted by the pope, and to share in a distribution of bread provided by

a special levy made on the parishes of Triverio and Portola. This custom

lasted till the French invasion under Napoleon. Renewed in 1815, it was

discontinued on account of the disorders which attended it. Again

resumed in 1839, it was accompanied with a hurricane which is still in

the Valsesia attributed to the heresiarch, and even to the present day

the mountaineers see on the mountain-crest a procession of Dolcinists

during the night before its celebration. Dolcino's name is still

remembered in the valleys as that of a great man who perished in the

effort to free the populations from temporal and spiritual tyranny.[131]

* * * * *

Dolcino and his immediate band of followers were thus exterminated, but

there remained the thousands of Apostles, scattered throughout the land,

who cherished their belief in secret. Under the skilful hand of the

Inquisition, the harmless eccentricities of Segarelli were hardened and

converted into a strongly antisacerdotal heresy, antagonistic to Rome,

precisely as we have seen the same result with the exaggerated

asceticism of the Olivists. There was much in common between the sects,

for both drew their inspiration from the Everlasting Gospel. Like the

Olivists, the Apostles held that Christ had withdrawn his authority from

the Church of Rome on account of its wickedness; it was the Whore of

Babylon, and all spiritual power was transferred to the Spiritual

Congregation, or Order of Apostles, as they styled themselves. As time

passed on without the fulfilment of the apocalyptic promises, as

Frederic of Trinacria did not develop into a deliverer, and as

Antichrist delayed his appearance, they seem to have abandoned these

hopes, or at least to have repressed their expression, but they

continued to cherish the belief that they had attained spiritual

perfection, releasing them from all obedience to man, and that there was

no salvation outside of their community. Antisacerdotalism was thus

developed to the fullest extent. There seems to have been no

organization in the Order. Reception was performed by the simplest of

ceremonies, either in church before the altar or in any other place. The

postulant stripped himself of all his garments, in sign of renunciation

of all property and of entering into the perfect state of evangelical

poverty; he uttered no vows, but in his heart he promised to live

henceforth in poverty. After this he was never to receive or carry

money, but was to live on alms spontaneously offered to him, and was

never to reserve anything for the morrow. He made no promise of

obedience to mortal man, but only to God, to whom alone he was subject,

as were the apostles to Christ. Thus all the externals of religion were

brushed aside. Churches were useless; a man could better worship Christ

in the woods, and prayer to God was as effective in a pigsty as in a

consecrated building. Priests and prelates and monks were a detriment to

the faith. Tithes should only be given to those whose voluntary poverty

rendered it superfluous. Though the sacrament of penitence was not

expressly abrogated, yet the power of the keys was virtually annulled by

the principle that no pope could absolve for sin unless he were as holy

as St. Peter, living in perfect poverty and humility, abstaining from

war and persecution, and permitting every one to dwell in liberty; and,

as all prelates, from the time of Silvester, had been seducers and

prevaricators, excepting only Frà Pier di Morrone (Celestin V.). it

followed that the indulgences and pardons so freely hawked around

Christendom were worthless. One error they shared with the

Waldenses--the prohibition of oaths, even in a court of justice.[132]

The description which Bernard Gui gives of the Apostles, in order to

guide his brother inquisitors in their detection, shows how fully they

carried into practice the precepts of their simple creed. They wore a

special habit, closely approaching a conventual garb--probably the white

mantle and cord adopted by Segarelli. They presented all the exterior

signs of saintliness. As they wandered along the roads and through the

streets they sang hymns, or uttered prayers and exhortations to

repentance. Whatever was spontaneously set before them they ate with

thankfulness, and when appetite was satisfied they left what might

remain and carried nothing with them. In their humble fashion they seem

to have imitated the apostles as best they could, and to have carried

poverty to a pitch which Angelo da Clarino himself might have envied.

Bernard Gui, in addition, deplores their intractable obstinacy, and

adduces a case in which he had kept one of them in prison for two years,

subjecting him to frequent examination, before he was brought to

confession and repentance--by what gentle persuasives we may readily

guess.[133]

All this may seem to us the most harmless of heresies, and yet the

impression produced by the exploits of Dolcino caused it to be regarded

as one of the most formidable; and the earnestness of the sectaries in

making converts was rendered dangerous by their drawing their chief

arguments from the evil lives of the clergy. When the Brethren of the

Free Spirit were condemned in the Clementines, Bernard Gui wrote

earnestly to John XXII., urging that a clause should be inserted

including the Apostles, whom he described as growing like weeds and

spreading from Italy to Languedoc and Spain. This is probably one of the

exaggerations customary in such matters, but about this time a Dolcinist

named Jacopo da Querio was discovered and burned in Avignon. In 1316

Bernard Gui found others within his own district, when his energetic

proceedings soon drove the poor wretches across the Pyrenees, and he

addressed urgent letters to all the prelates of Spain, describing them

and calling for their prompt extermination, which resulted, as mentioned

in a former chapter, in the apprehension of five of the heretics at far

off Compostella, doubtless the remnants of the disciples of the Apostle

Richard. Possibly this may have driven some of them back to France for

safety, for in the _auto_ of September, 1322, at Toulouse, there figures

the Galician already referred to named Pedro de Lugo, who had been

strenuously labored with for a year in prison, and on his abjuration was

incarcerated for life on bread and water. In the same _auto_ there was

another culprit whose fate illustrates the horror and terror inspired by

the doctrines of the Dolcinists. Guillem Ruffi had been previously

forced to abjuration as a Beguine, and subsequently had betrayed two of

his former associates, one of whom had been burned and the other

imprisoned. This would seem to be sufficient proof of his zeal for

orthodoxy, and yet, when he happened to state that in Italy there were

Fraticelli who held that no one was perfect who could not endure the

test of continence above alluded to, adding that he had tried the

experiment himself with success, and had taught it to more than one

woman, this was considered sufficient, and without anything further

against him he was incontinently burned as a relapsed heretic.[134]

In spite of Bernard Gui's exaggerated apprehensions, the sect, although

it continued to exist for some time, gave no further serious trouble.

The Council of Cologne in 1306 and that of Trèves in 1310 allude to the

Apostles, showing that they were not unknown in Germany. Yet about 1335

so well-informed a writer as Alvar Pelayo speaks of Dolcino as a

Beghard, showing how soon the memory of the distinctive characteristics

of the sect had faded away. At this very time, however, a certain Zoppio

was secretly spreading the heresy at Rieti, where it seems to have found

numerous converts, especially among the women. Attention being called to

it, Frà Simone Filippi, inquisitor of the Roman province, hastened

thither, seized Zoppio, and after examining him delivered him to the

authorities for safe-keeping. When he desired to proceed with the trial

the magistrates refused to surrender the prisoner, and abused the

inquisitor. Benedict XII. was appealed to, who scolded roundly the

recalcitrant officials for defending a heresy so horrible that decency

forbids his describing it; he threatened them with exemplary punishment

for continued contumacy, and promised that, if they were afraid of

damage to the reputation of their women, the latter should be mildly

treated and spared humiliating penance on giving information as to their

associates.[135]

After a long interval we hear of the Apostles again in Languedoc, where,

in 1368, the Council of Lavaur calls attention to them as wandering

through the land in spite of the condemnation of the Holy See, and

disseminating errors under an appearance of external piety, wherefore

they are ordered to be arrested and punished by the episcopal courts. In

1374 the Council of Narbonne deemed it necessary to repeat this

injunction; and we have seen that in 1402 and 1403 the zeal of the

Inquisitor Eylard was rewarded in Lubec and Wismar by the capture and

burning of two Apostles. This is the last authentic record of a sect

which a hundred years before had for a brief space inspired so wide a

terror.[136]

* * * * *

Closely allied with the Dolcinists, and forming a link between them and

the German Brethren of the Free Spirit, were some Italian heretics known

as followers of the Spirit of Liberty, of whom a few scattered notices

have reached us. They seem to have avoided the pantheism of the Germans,

and did not teach the return of the soul to its Creator, but they

adopted the dangerous tenet of the perfectibility of man, who in this

life can become as holy as Christ. This can be accomplished by sins as

well as by virtues, for both are the same in the eye of God, who directs

all things and allows no human free-will. The soul is purified by sin,

and the greater the pleasure in carnal indulgences the more nearly they

represent God. There is no eternal punishment, but souls not

sufficiently purified in this life undergo purgation until admitted to

heaven.[137]

We first hear of these sectaries as appearing among the Franciscans of

Assisi, where, under active proceedings, seven of the friars confessed,

abjured, and were sentenced to perpetual prison. When, in 1309, Clement

V. sought to settle the points in dispute between the Spirituals and

Conventuals, the first of the four preliminary questions which he put to

the contending factions related to the connection between the Order and

this heresy, of which both sides promptly sought to clear themselves.

The next reference to them is in April, 1311, when they were said to be

multiplying rapidly in Spoleto, among both ecclesiastics and laymen, and

Clement sent thither Raimundo, Bishop of Cremona, to stamp out the new

heresy. The effort was unavailing, for in 1327, at Florence, Donna

Lapina, belonging to the sect "of the Spirit" whose members believed

themselves impeccable, was condemned by Frà Accursio, the inquisitor, to

confiscation and wearing crosses; and in 1329 Frà Bartolino da Perugia,

in announcing a general inquisition to be made of the province of

Assisi, enumerates the new heresy of the Spirit of Liberty among those

which he proposes to suppress. More important was the case of Domenico

Savi of Ascoli, who was regarded as a man of the most exemplary piety.

In 1337 he abandoned wife and children for a hermit's life, and the

bishop built for him a cell and oratory. This gave him still greater

repute, and his influence was such that when he began to disseminate the

doctrines of the Spirit of Liberty, which he undertook by means of

circulating written tracts, the number of his followers is reckoned at

ten thousand. It was not long before this attracted the attention of the

Inquisition. He was tried, and recanted, while his writings were ordered

to be burned. His convictions, however, were too strong to allow him to

remain orthodox. He relapsed, was tried a second time, appealed to the

pope, and was finally condemned by the Holy See in 1344, when he was

handed over to the secular arm and burned at Ascoli. As nothing is said

about the fate of his disciples it may be assumed that they escaped by

abjuration. He is usually classed with the Fraticelli, but the errors

attributed to him bear no resemblance to those of that sect, and are

evidently exaggerations of the doctrines of the Spirit of Liberty.[138]

* * * * *

Before dismissing the career of Dolcino, it may be worth while to cast a

passing glance at that of a modern prophet which, like the cases of the

modern Guglielmites, teaches us that such spiritual phenomena are common

to all ages, and that even in our colder and more rationalistic time the

mysteries of human nature are the same as in the thirteenth century.

Dolcino merely organized a movement which had been in progress for

nearly half a century, and which was the expression of a widely diffused

sentiment. David Lazzaretti of Arcidosso was both founder and martyr. A

wagoner in the mountains of southern Tuscany, his herculean strength and

ready speech made him widely known throughout his native region, when a

somewhat wild and dissipated youth was suddenly converted into an

ascetic of the severest type, dwelling in a hermitage on Monte Labbro,

and honored with revelations from God. His austerities, his visions, and

his prophecies soon brought him disciples, many of whom adopted his mode

of life, and the peasants of Arcidosso revered him as a prophet. He

claimed that, as early as 1848, he had been called to the task of

regenerating the world, and that his sudden conversion was caused by a

vision of St. Peter, who imprinted on his forehead a mark (O+C) in

attestation of his mission. He was by no means consistent in his

successive stages of development. A patriot volunteer in 1860, he

subsequently upheld the cause of the Church against the assaults of

heretic Germany, but in 1876 his book, "My Struggle with God," reveals

his aspirations towards the headship of a new faith, and describes him

as carried to heaven and discoursing with God, though he still professed

himself faithful to Rome and to the papacy. The Church disdained his aid

and condemned his errors, and he became a heresiarch. In the spring of

1878 he urged the adoption of sacerdotal marriage, he disregarded

fast-days, administered communion to his disciples in a rite of his own,

and composed for them a creed of which the twenty-fourth article was, "I

believe that our founder, David Lazzaretti, the anointed of the Lord,

judged and condemned by the Roman curia, is really Christ, the leader

and the judge." That the people accepted him is seen in the fact that

for three successive Sundays the priest of Arcidosso found his church

without a worshipper. David founded a "Society of the Holy League, or

Christian Brotherhood," and proclaimed the coming Republic or Kingdom of

God, when all property should be equally divided. Even this communism

did not frighten off the small proprietors who constituted the greater

portion of his following. There was general discontent, owing to a

succession of unfortunate harvests and the increasing pressure of

taxation, and when, on August 14, 1878, he announced that he would set

out with his disciples peacefully to inaugurate his theocratic republic,

the whole population gathered on Monte Labbro. After four days spent in

religious exercises the extraordinary crusade set forth, consisting of

all ages and both sexes, arrayed in a fantastic uniform of red and blue,

and bearing banners and garlands of flowers with which to revolutionize

society. Its triumphal march was short. At the village of Arcidosso its

progress was disputed by a squad of nine carabineers, who poured volleys

into the defenceless crowd. Thirty-four of the Lazzarettists fell,

killed and wounded, and among them David himself, with a bullet in his

brain.[139] Whether he was enthusiast or impostor may remain an open

question. Travel and study had brought him training; he was no longer a

rude mountain peasant, but could estimate the social forces against

which he raised the standard of revolt, and could recognize that they

were insuperable save to an envoy of God. Possibly on the slopes of

Monte Amiata his memory may linger like that of Dolcino in the Valsesia;

certain it is that many of his disciples long expected his

resurrection.