Cathars and the Material World

Peter Biller

doi:10.1017/S0424208400000528

Cathars and the Material World

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 04 January 2016

Peter Biller

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Peter Biller*: Affiliation:
University of York

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On 6 August 1221 Dominic ‘migrated to Christ’ in the Dominican convent in Bologna. He had no bed of his own and he had lent his only tunic to someone. As he slept in the convent, he was lying on a borrowed bed and dressed in borrowed clothes.

This was the story later told by Moneta of Cremona, the friar who had lent his bed and clothing to the dying holy man. Moneta features in another story, collected by a friar who was commissioned by a general chapter of the Order in 1256 to collect miracles and tales illustrating the wonderful early progress of the Order. Progress included the entry of important men. At Bologna there was ‘Master Moneta, who was then famous throughout Lombardy for his lecturing in the arts’. The Dominican friar Reginald was preaching with great success in Bologna. Fearing the power of Reginald’s sermons, Moneta tried to keep his students away from them. But he failed to protect himself.

Type: Research Article
Information: Studies in Church History , Volume 46: God’s Bounty? The Churches and the Natural World , 2010 , pp. 89 - 110

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0424208400000528 [Opens in a new window]
Copyright: Copyright © Ecclesiastical History Society 2010

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References

¹ Stephen of Salagnac and Gui, Bernard, De quatuor in quibiis Deus Praedicatorum ordinem insignivit 3.2, ed. Kaeppeli, T., Monumenta Ordinis Praedicatorum Historica 22 (Rome, 1949), 33 Google Scholar. For a modern account of these events, see M.-H. Vicaire, Saint Dominic and His Times, trans. K. Pond (London, 1964), 373–74.

² Gerald of Frachet, Prior Provincial of Provence. His Vitae Fratrum was written in 1259–60; ed. B. Reichert, Monumenta Ordinis Praedicatorum Historica 1 (Louvain, 1896).

³ Ibid. 4.10 (ed. Reichert, 169):‘magister Moneta, qui tunc in artibus legens in tota Lombardia famosus erat’.

⁴ Ibid. 4.10 (ed. Reichert, 17o):‘Ingressus autem ordinem, qualis in omni sanctitate fuerit, quantum in verbo et doctrina et heresium confutacione profecerit, non de faciliscribi posset.’

⁵ See, on him, T. Kaeppeli and E. Panella, Scriptores Ordinis Praedkatomm, 4 vols (Rome, 1970–93). 3: 137–39.

⁶ Moneta of Cremona, Adversus Catharos et Valdenses Libri Quinque, ed. Ricchini, T. A. (Rome, 1743)Google Scholar. On the manuscripts, see Kaeppeli and Panella, Scriptores, 2: 138—9, 4: 201; Quellen zur Böhmische Inquisition im 14. Jahrhundert, ed. A. Patschovsky, MGH Quellen 2 (Weimar, 1979), 87–88.

⁷ C.W. Bynum, Jesus as Mother: Studies in the Spirituality of the High Middle Ages (Berkeley, CA, 1982), 130–31, 134; eadem, Holy Feast and Holy Fast:The Religious Significance of Food to Medieval Women (Berkeley, CA, 1987), 64, 252–53; eadem, Fragmentation and Redemption: Essays on Gender and the Human Body in Medieval Religion (New York, 1991), 143–44; M. Rubin, Corpus Christi: The Eucharist in Late Medieval Culture (Cambridge, 1992).

⁸ R. French and A. Cunningham, Before Science: The Invention of the Friars’ Natural Philosophy (Aldershot, 1996), expound the view of this interest in the natural world as a response to heretical dualism.

⁹ M. G. Pegg, The Corruption of Angels. The Great Inquisition of 1245–1246 (Princeton, NJ, 2001); A Most Holy War: The Albigensian Crusade and the Battle for Christendom (Oxford, 2008). See the reviews of The Corruption of Angels by B. Hamilton, AHR 107 (2002), 925; P. Biller, Speculum 78 (2003), 1366–70.

¹⁰ Stephen of Salagnac and Bernard Gui, De quatuor in quibus 3.2 (ed. Kaeppeli, 33). A terminus is given by the death in 1291 of the author of this part, Stephen of Salagnac.

¹¹ P. Biller, The Waldenses, 1170–1530: Between a Religious Order and a Church, Collected Studies 676 (Aldershot, 2001), 258–61, 273, 276, 290, 295.

¹² Moneta, Adversus Catharos 1, Descriptio fidei haereticorum (ed. Ricchini, 3): ‘Quidam illorum duo asserunt principia sine initio et sine fine. Unum dicunt patrem Christi et omnium justorum et Deum lucis, alium … Deum tenebrarum. Isti credunt eum creasse quatuor dementa ista quae vidimus, scilicet terram, aquam, aerem et ignem, et omnia quae in terra hac vel in aqua ista vel in aere isto sunt, similiter et caelum istud visibile et omnem ornamentum eorum [recte: eius], scilicet solem, lunam et stella. Credunt etiam quod iste sit Deus de quo ait Moyses, Genes, cap. i, in principio creavit Dens caelum et terram etc…. Isti credunt visibilia ista et transitoria esse ab ilio per creationem. E converso credunt Deum patrem Christi et justorum esse creatorem permanentium tantum et aeternorum, et credunt quod ipse alia sua quatuor elementa creaverit et omnia quae in eis sunt et suos caelos, et quod ordinaverit sole alio quam sit iste visibilis, et alia luna et alus stellis.’

¹³ See for the following, L. Paolini, ‘Italian Catharism and Written Culture’, in P. Biller and A. Hudson, eds, Heresy and Literacy, 1000—1530 (Cambridge, 1994), 83—103. Notable among modern editions of these treatises are F. Sanjek, ‘Raynerius Sacconi O. P. Summa de Catharis’, Archivimi Fratrum Praedkatorum 44 (1974), 42–60; Disputatio inter Catholicum et Paterinum Hereticnm, ed. C. Hoécker, Edizione Nazionale dei Testi Mediolatini 4, series 1, 3 (Tavarnuzze, 2001); Salvo Burci, Liber Suprastella, ed. C. Bruschi, Istituto Storico Italiano per il Medio Evo, Fonti per la Storia dell’Italia Medievale, Antiquitates 15 (Rome, 2002); Andreas Florentinus, Summa contra hereticos, ed. G. Rottenwöhrer, MGH Quellen 23 (Hanover, 2008).

¹⁴ From the second half of the twelfth century,‘Patarene’ denoted Italian Cathars: Disputatio inter Catholicum et Paterinum Hereticum, ed. Hoécker, xvi-xvii.

¹⁵ Moneta, Adversus Catharos 1.3.2, 1.6.3, 1.8.3, 3–3-4. 4-1-9 (ed. Ricchini, 42, 71, 94, 248, 292):‘sicut quidam Catharus scripsit’;‘volunt autem hoc habere pluribus testimoniis, quae in scriptis cujusdam haeretici Tetrici nomine reperi [possunt]’;‘ut haereticus dixit in quodam suo tractatu’;‘nota haereticum dixisse et scripsisse quod’j‘haeresiarcha qui Desiderius vocatur … aliquando …praedicavit et scripsit’.

¹⁶ A. Grafton, The Footnote: A Curious History (Cambridge, MA, 1997).

¹⁷ Moneta, Adversus Catharos 1.6.2 (ed. Ricchini, 79):‘sicut Thetricus haereticus in quadam parte cujusdam libri sui cap. II’.

¹⁸ Ibid. 1.1.2 (ed. Ricchini, 111).

¹⁹ Bozóky, E., Le livre secret des Cathares, Interrogatio Iohannis:Apocryphe d’origine Bogomile, Textes Dossiers Documents 2 (Paris, 1980), 60 Google Scholar.

²⁰ Moneta, Advenus Catharos 1, Praefatio (ed. Rjcchini, 2): ‘Unum autem peto a lectoribus huius operis … ubi etiam viderint me ponere argumenta aliqua contra Ecclesiam aut responsiones pro haereticis, non me lacerent, dicentes ea non ab haereticis duxisse originem sed me proprio ingenio adinvenisse hujusmodi quae possent nutrire et augere haereticam pravitatem – quia vel ex ore eorum vel ex scripturis illa habui.’

²¹ Ibid. 1.8.1 (ed. Ricchini, 80, 81):‘Probatio haereticorum quod transitoria non sunt a Deo. … Ut dicit Dominus, Matth. 24. v. 35, Caelum et terra transibunt.’ I have not compared the printed text with manuscripts to see whether the enumeration of the verse comes from the eighteenth-century editor.

²² Ibid. 1.1.2 (ed. Ricchini, 22).

²³ Ibid. 1.8.2 (ed. Ricchini, 84).

²⁴ Ibid. 1.8.2 (ed. Ricchini, 86).

²⁵ Ibid. 2.1.1 (ed. Ricchini, 116).

²⁶ Ibid. 1.8.2 (ed. Ricchini, 87).

²⁷ Ibid. 1.8.3 (ed. Ricchini, 89).

²⁸ Ibid. 2.2.5 (ed. Ricchini, 122).

²⁹ Ibid. 2.2.5 (ed. Ricchini, 122).

³⁰ Ibid., 2.2.5 (ed. Ricchini, 123).

³¹ Ibid. 1.8.1 (ed. Ricchini, 82).

³² Ibid. 2.3.1 (ed. Ricchini, 124).

³³ Ibid. 1.1.3 (ed. Ricchini, 23). These axiomatic arguments are investigated more fully in P. Biller, ‘Northern Cathars and Higher Learning’, in P. Biller and [R.] B. Dobson, eds, The Medieval Church: Universities, Heresy and the Religious Life. Essays in Honour of Cordon Leff, SCH S 11 (Woodbridge, 1999), 25–53.

³⁴ Moneta, Advenus Catharos 1.8.1 (ed. Ricchini, 83):‘inducunt quamdam propositionem: si causa invariabilis, et effectus ejus. Cum ergo ista visibilia sint variabilia, non potest esse quod caussa [sic] eorum sit Deus sanctus et verus, qui invariabilis est.’

³⁵ Biller,‘Northern Cathars’, 28–33, 50–53.

³⁶ The fundamental study of this manuscript is Y. Dossat, Les crises de l’inquisition Toulousaine au XIIF siècle (1233–1273) (Bordeaux, 1959), chs 2–3.

³⁷ Toulouse 609, fol. i^v: ‘Et audivit hereticos dicentes quod Deus non fecerat visibilia, et quod hostia sacrata non est corpus Christi, et quod baptismus aque nichil valet, et quod in matrimonio non est salus. Et ipse testis credebat sicut ipse dicebant.’

³⁸ Texte zur Inquisition, ed. K.-V. Selge, Texte zur Kirchen- und Theologiegeschichte 4 (Gütersloh, 1967), 71–72; ET in W. L. Wakefield, Heresy, Crusade and Inquisition in Southern France, 1100–1250 (London, 1974), 250–58.

³⁹ Toulouse 609, fol. 7^V: ‘et audivit eos dicentes errores: de visibilibus, quod Deus non fecerat ea; de hostia sacrata, quod non est corpus Christi vel Domini; de baptismo et matrimonio, quod non valent ad salutem; de resurrectione carnis, quod non erit.’

⁴⁰ Arnold, J. H., Inquisition and Power: Catharism and the Confessing Subject in Medieval Languedoc (Philadelphia, PA, 2001)CrossRef Google Scholar; idem, ‘Inquisition, Texts and Discourse’, in C. Bruschi and P. Biller, eds, Texts and the Repression of Medieval Heresy (Woodbridge, 2003), 63–80, at 69.

⁴¹ Bruschi, C., ‘“Magna diligentia est habenda per inquisitorem”: Precautions before Reading Doat 21–26’, in Bruschi and Biller, eds, Texts, 81–110 Google Scholar, at 94.

⁴² In the following, a number inside parentheses indicates the number of times something is attested. Toulouse 609, fols 1^r (2), 1^v (2), 2^r (2), 2^v, 3^v, 4^v, 5^r, 5^v, 6^r, 7^v, 8^r, 10^r, 10^v (2), 11^r, 12^v, 13^v (2), 14^v, 15^r, 16^r, 18^r-v, 19^v 20^r, 21^r, 21^v-22^r, 22^r, 22^v, 24^v, 31^r, 32^r, 33^r (2), 33^v (2), 34^r. 34^v, 36^r, 40^r, 41^v (2), 43^v, 45^r. 50^r, 50^v (2), 51^v, 52^r, 55^v, 56^r (2), 56^v, 58^v, 60^r, 62^r (2), 62^v, 63^v, 64^r, 64^v, 65^v, 66^v, 67^r, 67^v, 69^r, 70^r, 71^v, 72^r-v, 72^r, 73^r (2), 73^v (5), 74^r (5), 74^v (5), 75^r (4), 75^v (2), 76^v, 77^v, 77^v (2), 79^r (2), 80^r, 87^v, 88^v, 90^v, 91^v, 94^r, 96^r, 98^r, 99^v, 100^r, 101^r, 101^v, 102^r, 103^r, 110^v (2), 111^r, 112^r, 114^v (2), 117^v, 120^r (2), 121^v, 122^r, 123^v, 125^r, 126^v, 127^r, 130^r, 130^v, 131^r, 132^v, 133^r (2), 134^r, 136^r, 137^r, 140^r, 141^r, 142^v, 143^r (2), 144^v. 146^r, 147^v, 148^r, 149^r, 149^v, 150^v, 151^v, 152^r, 153^v, 154^r, 154^v, 155^v, 156^r (2), 156^v (3), 158^r, 158^v, 159^r, 159^v, 160^v, 164^r, 167^v, 168^r, 171^r, 173^r-v, 174^r, 175^r, 184^v, 187^r, 187^v, 188^r, 192^v-193^r, 193^v, 194^r (3), 195^r, 196^v, 197^r, 198^r, 198^v, 201^r, 203^v (2), 204^v, 210^v, 215^r, 215^v, 216^r, 219^v (2), 220^r, 220^v, 221^v, 224^v, 225^r, 225^v, 228^r, 235^v, 236^v, 243^r, 246^v, 251^r.

⁴³ Ibid, fols 4^v, 12^v, 19^v, 20^r, 24^v, 33^r (2), 41^v, 50^r, 50^v (2), 52^r, 62^r, 63^v, 64^r, 66^v, 67^v, 70^r, 71^v, 75^r (2), 76^v, 79^r, 110^v, 111^r, 122^r (2), 122^v, 123^r, 126^v, 130^r, 131^r, 132^v, 133^r, 136^r, 137^r, 143^r, 144^v, 146^r, 147^v, 149^v, 155^v, 156^r (2), 156^v, 158^r (2), 158^v, 164^r, 194^r, 204^v, 243^r.

⁴⁴ Ibid, fols 10^v-11^r, 21^v-22^r, 196^v; see also 210^v.

⁴⁵ Ibid, fols 1^v, 3^v, 5^r, 6^v (2), 7^r (2), 8^v, 9^v, 10^r, 12^v, 13^r, 14^r (2), 14^v, 16^v, 17^r, 17^v, 18^r, 18^v, 19^r (2), 19^v, 20^r (3), 21^r, 21^v, 23^r, 24^r, 25^r, 25^v, 26^r (2), 29^r, 29^v, 30^v, 31^r, 32^v, 35r, 37^v, 38^v, 39^r (2), 40^v (2), 45^v, 49^r (2), 50^v (2), 51^r, 51^v (3), 52^r (2), 56^v, 57^r (2), 59^r, 69^v, 70^r, 73^r (2), 73^v (2), 74^v, 76^r, 76^v, 77^r, 78^r (3), 78^v (2), 79^r, 83^r, 83^v, 84^r, 87^r, 87^v (2), 88^r (4), 91^v, 92^v, 93^r, 94^v, 95^r, 97^v, 101^v, 105^r, 105^v, 108^r, 109^r, 110^r, 113^r, 115^r (3), 118^r (2), 118^v, 121^r, 121^v (2), 123^v, 130^r, 132^r (2), 134^v (2), 135^r, 135^v, 137^r; (2), 137^r-v, 137^v (2), 138^r, 141^v (2), 142^r, 146^v, 152^r, 157^r, 160^v, 161^v, 162^r, 163^r (2), 163^v, 164^v, 167^v, 168^r, 169^r, 171^r, 171^v, 172^r, 174^v, 182^r, 185^r, 188^r, 189^v, 190^r, 190^v, 192^r, 193^r (2), 193^v, 194^v, 195^r (2), 195^v, 203^v, 204^v, 207^v, 213r, 214^v, 220^r, 221^v, 222^v, 225^v, 231^r (2), 232^r, 232^v, 235^v, 236^r (2), 252^r. Here I have noted those whose denials list the errors or refer to ‘errors’ (errores), suggesting questioning on the individual doctrines. Not noted are those who denied hearing heretics ‘preaching’ (predicantes), a reply that suggests that they deponents had only been asked the general question,’Did you hear them preaching?’, and had not been taken through the individual doctrines.

⁴⁶ Ibid. fol. 45^r: ‘multociens’; for other examples, see fols 55^v, 75^v, 134^r, 224^v, 251^r.

⁴⁷ Ibid, fols 188^r, 246^v.

⁴⁸ Ibid, fols 192^v-193^r.

⁴⁹ Ibid. fol. 158^r: ‘diabolus fecerat omnia ista visibilia’; for other examples, see fols. 2^r, 64^r, 150^v.

⁵⁰ Ibid. fol. 4^v: ‘caro et sanguis regnum Dei non possidebunt’.

⁵¹ Ibid. fol. 15^v: ‘audivit hereticos dicentes quod Deus non fecit celum et terram’.

⁵² Ibid. fol. 63^v: ‘Deus non faciebat florere nec granare, sed terre hoc faciebant per se’.

⁵³ Ibid. fol. 103^r:‘nichil de his que Deus fecerat potuerant corrumpi nec preterire’.

⁵⁴ Ibid. fol. 65^v: ‘de erroribus requisita, dixit quod bene audivit hereticos loquentes quod omnia visibilia facta fuerant de volúntate et vultu Dei, tamen ipse non fecerat ea’.

⁵⁵ Ibid. fol. 22^r.

⁵⁶ Ibid, fols 19^v, 24^v, 64^r, 111^r, 132^v, 133^v, 149^v, 156^r, 158^v, 194^r, 235^v, 243^r.

⁵⁷ Ibid, fols 21^v, 33^r, 71^v.

⁵⁸ Ibid, fols 55^v, 140^v, 173^v.

⁵⁹ Ibid. fol. 36^r: ‘et si plus inveniretur in confessione facta fratti Ferrario, totum approbabat’. For another example of belief in totum, see fol. 134^r.

⁶⁰ Ibid, fols 3^r, 12^V, 16^r, 34^v, 52^r, 56^r (2), 58^v, 62^v, 63^v, 70^r, 75^r, 80^r, 117^v, 123^r, 156^r, 159^v, 16o^v, 188^r, 192^v-193^r, 228^r, 236^v.

⁶¹ Unidentified place-name.

⁶² Toulouse 609, fol. 157^v:‘opera tamen eorum credebat esse bona et fidem malam’.

⁶³ Ibid. fol. 13^V: ‘preter hoc quod nunquam credidit quod Deus non fecisset visibilia’; for other examples, see fols I^r, 4^V, 150^v, 156^r, 243^r.

⁶⁴ Ibid, fols 42^r, 130^v.

⁶⁵ Ibid, fols 133^v, 136^r, 142^v, 177^r, 213^v, 225^r, 243^r.

⁶⁶ Ibid. fol. 159^r.

⁶⁷ Disputations: ibid. fol. 25^r.

⁶⁸ Ibid. fol. 222^v: ‘audivit dici quod heretici dicebant’; see also ibid, fols 111^r, 114^v, 152^r.

⁶⁹ C. Douais, La somme des autorités à l’usage des prédicateurs méridionaux au xii^r siècle (Paris, 1896), 36–37.

⁷⁰ Ibid. fol. 110^r:‘audivit tamen clericos exprimentes errores quos heretici dicunt de visibilibus, de baptismo, de hostia sacrata, de resurrectione carnis’ (‘He heard, however, clergy expressing the errors that heretics say about visible things, about baptism, about the consecrated host, about the resurrection of the flesh’). For other examples, see fols 1^v, 16^v, 17^r, 18^v, 31^v, 232^r.

⁷¹ Ibid. fol. 235^v: ‘sed audivit ab episcopo Tholosano <hereticos dicere> quod deus non fecerat visibilia’.

⁷² The History of the Albigensian Crusade: Peter of les Vaux-de-Cemay’s Historia Albigensis, trans. W. A. and M. D. Sibly (Woodbridge, 1998), 22–23.

⁷³ Paris, BN, MS Collection Doat 25, fols 7^v-8^r: ‘quadam die visitavit compatrem suum Deodatum de Brass, et commatrem suam Petronillam, qui sunt de Villa Franca, et in domo ipsorum iacuit, et comedit, et facto mane, cum esset dies dominica, et populus ivisset ad ecclesiam, ipsa testis remansit sola cum dicta Petronilla, commatre sua, et cum ostendisset ei domum et bladum, et vinum, et alia qua; habebat, dixit quod omnia ista erant diaboli’.

⁷⁴ E. Le Roy Ladurie, Montaillou: Cathars and Catholics in a French Village, 1294–1324, trans. B. Bray (London, 1978).

⁷⁵ Le registre d’inquisition de Jacques Fournier évêque de Pamiers (1318—1325), ed. J. Duvernoy, Bibliothèque Meridionale 3rd ser. 41, 3 vols (Toulouse, 1965), together with J. Duvernoy, Le registre d’inquisition de Jacques Fournier évêque de Pamiers (1318–1325): Corrections (Toulouse, 1972).

⁷⁶ Registre, ed. Duvernoy, 1: 281—2: ‘Deus vero malignus fecerat omnia que occulis corporalibus sentiri possunt, vel aliis sensibus corporalibus, sicut sunt celum et terra, et omnia ammalia, aer et aqua, et omnia que sunt in eis.’

⁷⁷ Ibid. 2: 422: ‘illud solum quod durat et perseverat semper … fecerat Deus, set illa que corrumpuntur et destruuntur Deus non fecerat’; cf. ibid. 2: 35 for a similar formula.

⁷⁸ Ibid. 1: 304, 378; 2: 36, 58, 113–14.

⁷⁹ Ibid., 1: 230, 283; L’Inquisiteur Geoffroy d’Ablis et les Cathares du Comté de Foix (1308–1309), ed. A. Pales-Gobilliard, Sources d’Histoire Médiévale Publiées par l’Institut de Recherche et d’Histoire des Textes 15 (Paris, 1984), 134; Le livre des sentences de l’inquisiteur Bernard Gui, ed. A. Pales-Gobilliard, Sources d’Histoire Médiévale Publiées par l’Institut de Recherche et d’Histoire des Textes 30, 2 vols (Paris, 2002), 1: 680, 684, 704, 740.

⁸⁰ Registre, ed Duvernoy, 11.230; Inquisiteur Geoffroy d’Ablis, ed Pales-Gobilliard, 104.

⁸¹ Registre, ed Duvernoy, 2:.58:‘pater celestis nichil omnino faciebat in hoc mundo, nec florere nec granare, nec concipere, nec parere, nee fetus producere’.

⁸² Ibid. 2: 36: ‘blada nascentur et crescent et florebunt, et tamen non granabunt; et vine emitent palmites, et tamen non fructificabunt; et arbores habebunt folia et flores, et tamen non fructificabunt’.

⁸³ See Wakefield, W. L., ‘Some Unorthodox Popular Ideas of the Thirteenth Century’, Medievalia et Humanística ns 4 (1973), 23–35 Google Scholar, on the expression of these views in the depositions contained in MS Collection Doat 25.

⁸⁴ Registre, ed. Duvernoy, 3: 52:‘similiter vidimus cotidie quod Deus facit miracula … nos vidimus quod in yeme omnes arbores sunt sicci et sine foliis, et in estate flori-untur, et granantur’.

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