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
It was not possible that ignorant zeal could thus undertake the office
of religious instruction without committing errors which acute
theologians could detect. It is not likely, moreover, that it would
spare the vices and crimes of the clergy in summoning the faithful to
repentance and salvation. Complaint speedily arose of the scandals which
the new evangelists disseminated, and the Archbishop of Lyons, Jean aux
Bellesmains, summoned them before him, and prohibited them from further
preaching. They disobeyed and were excommunicated. Peter Waldo then
appealed to the pope (probably Alexander III.), who approved his vow of
poverty and authorized him to preach when permitted by the priests--a
restriction which was observed for a time and then disregarded. The
obstinate Poor Men gradually put forward one dangerous tenet after
another, while their attacks upon the clergy became sharper and sharper;
yet as late as the year 1179 they came before the Council of Lateran,
submitted their version of the Scriptures, and asked for license to
preach. Walter Mapes, who was present, ridicules their ignorant
simplicity, and chuckles over his own shrewdness in confusing them when
he was delegated to examine their theological acquirements, yet he bears
emphatic testimony to their holy poverty and zeal in imitating the
apostles and following Christ. Again they applied to Rome for authority
to found an order of preachers, but Lucius III. objected to their
sandals, to their monkish copes, and to the companionship of men and
women in their wandering life. Finding them obstinate, he finally
anathematized them at the Council of Verona in 1184, but they still
refused to abandon their mission, or even to consider themselves as
separated from the Church. Though again condemned in a council held at
Narbonne, they agreed, about 1190, to take the chances of a disputation
held in the Cathedral of Narbonne, with Raymond of Daventer, a religious
and God-fearing Catholic, as judge. Of course the decision went against
them, and of course they were as little inclined as before to submit,
but the colloquy has an interest as showing what progress at that period
they had made in dissidence from Rome. The six points on which the
argument was held were, 1st. That they refused obedience to the
authority of pope and prelate; 2d. That all, even laymen, can preach;
3d. That, according to the apostles, God is to be obeyed rather than
man; 4th. That women may preach; 5th. That masses, prayers, and alms for
the dead are of no avail, with the addition that some of them denied the
existence of purgatory; and 6th. That prayer in bed, or in a chamber, or
in a stable, is as efficacious as in a church.[58] All this was
rebellion against sacerdotalism rather than actual heresy; but we learn,
about the same period, from the "Universal Doctor," Alain de l'Isle,
who, at the request of Lucius III., wrote a tract for their refutation,
that they were prepared to carry these principles to their legitimate
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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