A History of the Inquisition of the Middle Ages; volume ILea, Henry Charles
History
A History of the Inquisition of the Middle Ages; volume I
Lea, Henry Charles
Inquisition -- History
All their efforts might well be needed, for Peter was succeeded by a yet
more formidable heresiarch. Little is known of the earlier life of
Henry, the Monk of Lausanne, except that he left his convent there under
circumstances for which St. Bernard afterwards reproached him, but which
may well have been but the first ebullition of the reformatory spirit to
which he finally fell a victim. We next hear of him at Le Mans, perhaps
as early as 1116, but the dates are uncertain. Here his austerities
gained him the veneration of the people, which he turned with disastrous
effect upon the clergy. We know little of his doctrines at this time,
except that he rejected the invocation of saints, but we are told that
his eloquence was so persuasive that under its influence women abandoned
their jewels and sumptuous apparel, and young men married courtesans to
reclaim them. While thus teaching asceticism and charity, he so lashed
the vices of the Church that the clergy throughout the diocese would
have been destroyed but for the active protection of the nobles. Henry
had taken advantage of the absence in Rome of the bishop, the celebrated
Hildebert of Le Mans, who, on his return, overcame the heretic in
disputation and forced him to abandon the field, but could not punish
him. We have glimpses of his activity in Poitiers and Bordeaux, and then
lose sight of him till we find him a prisoner of the Archbishop of
Arles, who took him to the presence of Innocent II. at the Council of
Pisa, in 1134. Here he was convicted of heresy and condemned to
imprisonment, but was subsequently released and sent back to his
convent, whence he departed with the intention of entering the strict
Cistercian order at Clairvaux. What led to his resuming his heretical
mission we do not know, but we meet him again, bolder than before,
adopting substantially the Petrobrusian tenets, rejecting the Eucharist,
refusing all reverence for the priesthood, all tithes, oblations, and
other sources of ecclesiastical revenue, and all attendance at church.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account