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| 02.17.05 (7:14 pm) [edit] |
And I'm flipping proud so I'm posting it here! Please don't say I am copying the information for some damn reason I can't get hte foot notes to come on but I swear I sourced the whole essay! Enjoy it's about 2500 words!
History 205 Second Essay: Medieval Heresy and the Changing Approaches to it
Heresy during medieval times has been portrayed in many ways in movies, books and other popular media forms. Most people probably do not know what exactly this term means or what it deals with. When most people think of heresy they think of inquisitions, specifically the Spanish Inquisition and torture. This has not always been the case; there are many different events and techniques on dealing with heretics that make up what heresy was during the medieval era. Before talking about heresy or the measures taken to control it by the church, one must first understand the definition of heresy. Some would define it as an unorthodox opinion of any matter, including religion, or as a complete rejection of the church by a non-believer in god. The definition of heresy used for this paper is a direct rejection of religious dogma by a professed Christian. The act of punishing heretics however changes from one century to another. Specifically focusing on just the period between 1200 and 1300 in its self there is a wide variety of examples of how heretics have been dealt with. This is the period that will be focused on for the paper. Specific factors in the way heresy was dealt with throughout the 13th century vary but all have helped shape the way heresy was dealt with. One factor is the Fourth Lateran Council. This council came together and discussed changes to the punishment of heretics. After the Lateran Council came Pope Gregory IX. Many legislations that pope Gregory IX made were increasingly violent as compared to the previous popes and definitely increased in severity. Another factor is the papal allowance of torture in 1252 and other decrees that Pope Innocent IV legislated. The final factor this paper will discuss is the crusades and the way it brought heretics to justice; specifically discussing the Albigensian crusades and its affects. The punishment of heretics drastically changed during the 13th century from the often un-violent ways of dealing with heretics in the pre to early 13th century, to the painful and cruel methods of torture in the mid to later half of the 13th century.
The Fourth Lateran Council probably had the greatest impact on heresy during the 13th century. The reigning pope at the time, Innocent III, declared a meeting of all religious cannons at his palace in Rome. The cannons were made up of bishops, priests and representatives of all the princes of Europe. The use of this council was a regular way of deciding upon Christian matters during the 12th and 13th centuries. The actual purpose of the council was to create a code for all of Christian society. Laws began to take affect that told ordinary citizens how to be “good Christians” and groups such as Muslims and Jews were heavily discriminated against. There were two crucial things on the agenda of the council that changed life for heretics. One was an exact outline of religious doctrine. This defined exactly what it was to be a heretic. Once the Dogma was outlined it could be properly policed. There were two ways of policing heresy. One was setting up a “police like” force with in the church to catch people in the act of heresy. This was called “denuntiatio”. The second way was called “accusatio”. This form of policing was laid mostly on the shoulders of the civilians and was largely what the church relied on however there was poor motivation because if the civilians could not prove their case correctly against their neighbours then they were doomed to face the defendants’ punishment(s). The second was an outline of punishments that heretics were to receive. This council mostly reiterated punishments from the council at Verona that took place in 1184. The punishment for heretics as decided at the Lateran Council was to receive an imperial ban. This decree was still in the realms of the Carolingian Sendgericht however. The imperial ban included exile, confiscation of property, houses raised to the ground and prohibition of holding public office. The council also made it quite clear that the churches should be obliged to carry out the punishment on all heretics. One difference at the Lateran council that was not seen before is that Pope Innocent III did not call for death but he did not condone it as was seen before at all the other councils. This leads one to believe the church was not suggesting it as a means of punishment for heretics. It will later be addressed that torture was once again condoned during the reign of Innocent IV. The Fourth Lateran Council was a huge influence on heresy and the way heretics were punished. It however did not stop heresy all together and some different groups still thrived.
Pope Gregory IX was even more severe than the Lateran Council toward heretics. In February of 1231 Pope Gregory IX assigned a new constitution called “Excommunicamus”. It provided very systematic legislation on how to deal with heretics at the time. Some of the highlights of this constitution are the surrendering of heretics to secular arm, excommunication of certain groups such as Cathars and Waldensians, suspected heretics who do not come forward are automatically assumed heretics, imprisonment of heretics, no right for heretics to appeal, suspected heretics could have no lawyers, no parents suspected of heresy could see their child, “exhumation” of heretics who have not yet been punished and finally the demolishing of heretics homes. These policies, although put into place, where not immediately followed. Gregory did however see heresy as an important issue to deal with. During Gregory’s reign a great number of deaths occurred in Flanders. Several people were burnt at the stake and the pope did nothing to stop it, although, he did not sanction it either. Gregory IX wrote many epistles yet only a few were devoted to heresy. One of these epistles was written specifically to establish the inquisition. Heresy was not seen as a great enough threat by the papal institution to focus much effort on and the inquisition was not seen on a large scale until pope Innocent IV one reason for this is that they had no way to force a confession from people. Pope Gregory IX followed in Pope Innocent III’s footsteps by following much of already existing law patterns to deal with heresy while not adding many new foreign legislations to canon law. One inquisitor under Gregory was Conrad of Marburg. He was a German inquisitor who was said to take no mercy on even the innocent. Anyone who claimed they would be innocent would be burnt at the stake, their only comfort was knowing that they would be heroes in heaven. He also made people shave their heads. These types of punishments were not widely used against heretics but still existed. Later on Marburg was let go from the inquisition. Marburg was let go from the inquisition because of his murderous zeal that was not commonly seen during the reign of pope Gregory IX, with the rise of pope Innocent IV the kinds of punishments Marburg used would be quite widely accepted.
Another event that shaped heresy and the punishment of heretics was the papal allowance of torture in 1252 by Innocent IV and other bulls that he made. This was quite possibly one of the greatest weapons the church had against the common citizens. They could force a confession out of almost anyone and this seemingly helped their cause. The papal bull that allowed torture was called “Ad extirpanda” and although torture had been seen in both Roman and Barbarian law it was foreign to Canon law. Canon law had recognized flogging for penance but torture as a new form of punishment was an entirely new concept. Definitely if torture was used prior to 1252 it was not for extorting a confession from a person but merely as a form of punishment. The bull decreed that, “… any sort of torment short of mutilation was to be utilized in order to obtain confessions and information.” Even in 1252 the Ad extirpanda only allowed towns in Italy to practice torture. Torture was not allowed to be used anywhere else in Europe until Pope Alexander IV, Innocent IV’s successor. At first torture was a secular task but the church found this difficult to carry out and therefore torture became even more widespread after 1256 when Pope Alexander IV gave the non-secular inquisitors permission to absolve one another. Another problem for the inquisitors was that you could only torture a person once. However they got around this by saying that they were “continuing” a session of torture not repeating it, but in 1291 Philip the Fair tried to intervene and stop torture. Later in 1301 it was greatly inhibited when Pope Clement V made it so only the Bishop of the Diocese could perform the act of torture. Another decree that came from Pope Innocent IV was the rules on what to do once someone was decided to be a heretic. He stated that they would be removed, “… from the statutes of the commune all contrary laws under penalty of deprivation from office, a fine and prosecution for perjury.” After this was carried out a council of 12 men chosen by the local bishop was set off to seize the suspected heretic. The men are then dismissed by the “podestà” (or ruler) and it is then his duty to carry out the means to obtain a confession from the suspected heretic. Pope Innocent IV also made it impossible for the heretics to ever find out who accused them of being a heretic. This was the first pope to do this and therefore stripped away the heretics’ rights even further. Ad extirpanda did more for the church than just allowing torture it basically turned Italy into a police state making it harder for heretics. He also unlike his predecessor, Innocent III, condoned burning at the stake for relapsed heretics. Death at the stake was also a new allowance in 1952 under canon law. The bull also did not only strip heretics of property but it stripped their heirs of rights to their property as well. All of pope Innocent IV’s legislations during his reign led to the expansion of the inquisition and finally it’s operation on a large scale. These new legislations brought in during the middle of the 13th century show the every increasing severity of the punishment towards heretics. Violent punishments were suggested by the pope while pre 13th century they were looked down upon and most importantly pope Innocent IV’s new reforms led to the inquisition in a new and terrifying way.
The Albigensian crusades were another case of increased violence during the 13th century. There were many other crusades along with the Albigensian crusades but this crusade is the most prominent during the 13th century. The crusade in itself was a way to capture and punish heretics. The heretic group that the church was after were the Cathars. They were seen as a Christian group going directly against the church and rejected the dogma widely considered to be the true answer to religion. The first crusade started in 1209 and it was fought by international European forces. It ended in 1255 right after the papal allowance of torture. The Albigensian crusades were an early example of brutality in the 13th century. They were seen as the most successful attempt at abolishing heresy because of their wide scale massacres. The pope at the time gave crusaders that went to the holy land and fight forgiveness of past sins, martyrdom status and indulgences. This helped persuade men to fight for the religious cause. In the crusade first crusade 7000 people were massacred in just one town yet it had the effect of scattering heretics deeper throughout Europe. The pope, Innocent III, was called a failure at home and the people thought stricter measures against he heretics should be taken. The purging of the Cathars from Italy was a slow process with many numbers of people being burnt at the stake in 1233 and 1240. During the raid the pope decided that he would either wipe out or convert all Cathars to Catholicism. The Cathars in the Albigensian crusades put up with a lot more violence than any other heretic group during this time period. They were subjugated to massacres and mass burnings while other heretics received in comparison minor sentences of lost status, property and exile. All of these methods however were seen as a way to destroy and defeat enemies to Catholicism.
From the beginning of the 13th century on, one will see a progression of the methods of dealing with heretics become more violent throughout. In the beginning of the 13th century pope Innocent III held the Fourth Lateran Council. This council helped in shaping the punishment for heretics. Although the punishments mostly reiterated a previous conference it still shows the anti-violent tactics that were used. Next came the legislations from pope Gregory IX. Although his legislation was not widely adopted it still demonstrated the start to an increase in violent acts to punish heretics. Then came Pope Innocent IV. His papal allowance of torture in 1252 and many other decrees made by him were the final tools the church needed in order to carry out large scale inquisitions and violence against people thought to be heretics. The Albigensian crusade against the Cathars, although at the beginning of the 13th century, demonstrated some pretty powerful tactics that the church decided to use and attack heretics with in the 13th century. The crusades lasted until the mid 13th century. Violence in the 13th century grew greatly. From the beginning of the 13th century, were the pope was against torture and ultimately the punishment of death, to the middle and later half of the 13th century were there was a full blown inquisition that tortured and killed thousands daily. These violent acts were not always widely practiced but the acceptance of them especially with in the church and in cannon law grew immensely over the 13th century. When people think of the inquisition and mediaeval heresy they often think of the Spanish inquisition and brutal confessions of prisoners on the rack. The rack was not even a widely used source of torture. They would have more than likely burnt them at the stake or buried them alive. However, there is much more to heresy than torture. Families lost thousands of dollars worth of properties and children lost parents. The search and ultimate purging of heretics was a violence that should definitely not be repeated.
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posted by: AlCreed (reply)
post date: 02.20.05 (7:10 am)
...Yikes...
I'm glad I didn't live then... :S
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