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Multum ieiunantes et se castigantes: medieval Waldensian Asceticism1

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 March 2016

Peter Biller
Peter Biller*
Affiliation:
University of York
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Extract

The first half of a recently published book describes Waldensianism in the Cottian alps c. 1500. The author decides to pass over both the Waldensian preachers, whom I shall call ‘Brothers’, and their literature. He argues that there is insufficient trial evidence about the Brothers, and that in any case their ‘ascetic detachment from society’ would have made it unlikely that they would have had much influence among peasant Waldensians. Their books were only uncertainly Waldensian, he says, and there is little evidence of their actual use. In the resulting picture of Waldensianism as a popular, rural, lay movement asceticism plays no special part, though there is some question of a Waldensian sense of moral superiority.

Type
Research Article
Information
Studies in Church History , Volume 22: Monks, Hermits and the Ascetic Tradition , 1985 , pp. 215 - 228
Copyright
Copyright © Ecclesiastical History Society 1985

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Footnotes

1

Acknowledgement is due here to the British Academy for a grant for purchase of microfilms of A[rchives de 1’] I [sère] B 4350 and 4351, to Professor J.A. Bossy for comment, and to Dr CF. Clark and Dr and Mrs T. Lodge for general help. See also nn 3, 5, 33 and 65 below.

References

2 Cameron, [E.], [The Reformation of the Heretics. The Waidenses of the Alps 1480–1580 (Oxford 1984)] pp. 15–16 Google Scholar, 66–67. Opposing views for heresy in fourteenth century Piedmont are given in [G.G.] Merlo, [Eretici e Inquisitori nella Società Piemontese del Trecento (Turin 1977)] pp. 46–47, 57–60.

3 Cameron, p. 181, uses lack of earlier references to Morels in Fressinières to argue against this. This is dangerous as an argument e silentio. There is no special reason to doubt origin in Fressinières, which appears early, in a source probably of 1548, A. Fromment, Les Actes et gestes merveilleux de ta cite de Geneve, ed G. Revilliod (Geneva 1854) p. 2 – see p. IV for date. Highland Morels are not implausible: a Guillermus Morel, accused of Waldensianism, was found on the eastern side, Pinasca, in 1387, G. Amati, ‘Processus contra Valdenses in Lombardia superiori anno 1387’, ASI ser 3 (1865) I pp. 32, 34. An unsumamed Brother called Georges, from Cabrières-d’Aigues, is mentioned in a trial of 1532, and his learning and date suggest possible identification with Morel. Connections between the two places (e.g. there was massive Waldensian emigration from Fressinières to Cabrières in 1495) suggest a context in which one person might be attributed to both, [G.] Audisio, [Le barbe et l’inquisiteur (Aix-en-Provence 1979] pp. 9, 98, 102–103, 131. Since the writing of this note Professor G. Audisio, whose thèse de doctorat d’Etat on the Waldensians of Provence between 1460 and 1560 is about to be published, has communicated as follows. He has found no Morel among the alpine communities which emigrated from Waldensian localities into Provence between 1460 and 1560, nor among c.2000 accusations of heresy examined in registers of the Parlement of Aix and other trials, nor any Morel among the archives relating to Fressinières and neighbouring Waldensian localities which are preserved in Grenoble. However, he points out that Morel is a name attested in the Waldensian valleys of Piedmont, O. Coisson, I nomi di famigli delle valli valdesi (Torre Pellice 1975) p. 113, where the name is attested for Pragelato (1265), Perosa (1317), and Torre Pellice (1478). This makes it not improbable that a Morel family existed at Fressinières, given that relations and exchanges between the area of Fressinières and the Piedmontese valleys were intense. In the absence of positive proof to the contrary the historiographical tradition of Morel’s origin in Fressinières, present very early, should prevail.

4 [JJ] Herzog, [Die romanischen Waldenser (Halle 1853)] p. 347n.

5 Crespin, J., Le Livre des Martyrs (Geneva 1554) p. 658 Google Scholar. I am grateful to Antal Lókkös of the Bibliothèque Publique et Universitaire of Geneva (which has the first edition, Ba 4148 Res) for sending me a copy of this.

6 Audisio p. 102. A creams view of the Brothers (reported in Stettin 1393) – aliqui … sutores et edam aliqui litterati – suggests a similar spectrum, [Quellen zur Ketzergeschichte Brandenburgs und Pommerns, Veröffentlichungen der historischen Kommission zu Berlin 45, Quellenwerke 6, ed D.] Kurze [(Berlin New York 1975)] p. 164.

7 Vinay, [V.], [Le confessioni di fede dei Valdesi riformati (Turin 1975)] p. 36 Google Scholar.

8 Cameron, pp. 180–182 argues the opposite.

9 The texts of the exchanges are edited by Vinay pp. 36–137; variations of the dialect version are given by Herzog pp. 341–363.

10 Audisio pp. 53–54, 69–183 passim.

11 [J.I. von] Dollinger, [Beitrage zur Sektengeschichte des Mittelalters 2 vols (Munich 1890)] I pp. 92–97; [E.] Werner, [‘Nachrichten iiber spãtmittelalterliche Ketzer aus tschechoslowakischen Archiven und Bibliotheken’, Wissenschaftliche Zeitschrift der Karl-Marx-Universitãt Leipzig Ges.-u. sprachwiss. Reihe 12 (1963), Beilage] pp. 265–267 (further mss.: Prague Metropolitan Chapter D 54 fols 51r—53r; O 29 fols 137v-138r); Schloss Harburg II 1 ° 78; Trier Priesterseminar 81 fols 147r-149r; Trier Stadtbibliothek 680/879 f. 87v-90r); [T.W.] Röhrich, [Mitteilungen aus der Geschichte der evangelischen Kirche des Elsasses 3 vols (Strasbourg 1855) I] pp. 42, 51–52. See also [De inquisitione hereticorum ed W.] Preger, [ABÃW 14 (1879)] pp. 209–210, and [I.] Hlavácek, [‘Inkvisice ve Óechách ve 30. letech 14. stolen’,’ Ceskoslovensky casopis historicky 5 (1957)] p. 537.

12 They are analysed in more detail in [P.P.A.] Biller, [Aspects of the Waldenses in the fourteenth century (Oxford D.Phil, thesis 1974)] pp. 47–56.

13 Discussed Ibid pp. 54–63.

14 Preger p. 213.

15 Vinay p. 38; Herzog p. 34211.

16 Hlavácek p. 537: ‘nee recipitur nisi virgo’; Röhrich p. 42: ‘der zu nie keinre frówen kam, es were zu der ee oder zu der unee’. See however [Paris Bibliothèque Nationale Collection] Doat 21 fol 218r, where a credens refers to a Brother as his father-in-law. The requirement in Werner, p. 266, is that the applicant be castus.

17 Vinay p. 40; see however p. 38 and Herzog’s comments on a difficult text which appears to contradict, p. 343n.

18 Werner p 266: ‘quod nolit habere maiorem confidentiam de parentibus suis et omnibus consanguineis quam de aliis hominibus qualibuscumque,’ after Matthew 10: 37–38, 46–50, 19: 29.

19 Ibid p. 265. Schloss Harburg II 1 2° 78 foi 4órb refers to the reception of a habit, presumably (through the need for secrecy) worn only at profession.

20 Vinay pp. 36, 38, 46 (compare Herzog p. 364n), 60, 68, 76, 78, 80 (propositions of Angrogna 1532); Herzog pp. 342n, 343n, 35m. Serors appear in the alpine mss.—see, e.g., n34 below.

21 Compare Döllinger p. 93.

22 Röhrich pp. 42, 51.

23 P.P. A. Biller, ‘Medieval Waldensian abhorrence killing pre-c. 1400’, SCH 20 (1983) p. 138n.

24 G. Miolo, Historia breve e vera ed E. Balmas (Turin 1971) p. non; AI B 4350 fol 104r.

25 Ibid f. 301r: ‘Interrogatus quid faciunt dicti barbe. Respondit quod semper defferunt librum.’ The Brothers are seen at varied times and places reading from books to credentes. Röhrich p. 49: ‘wanne die winckeler hettent irr bûcher, daruss si bredigetent’. Fribourg [Archives d’Etat] GS 26 fol 13”: ‘legebat ibi in quodam libro.’ [J.] Chevalier, [Mémoire historique sur les hérésies en Dauphiné avant le xvie siècle (Valence 1890)] p. 155: ‘légère coepit quosdam parvos libros.’ P. Allix, Some remarks upon the Ecclesiastical History of the Ancient Churches of Piedmont (London 1690): ‘unus ipsorum légère coepit unum parvum librum quern secum deferebat.’ There are also references to credentes using the Brothers’ books: ‘aliquando legit in libris Valdensium,’ Doat 21 f. 274’; see also Fribourg GS 26 fols 2V, 3r, 7r, 35v, 49v. In a text of c. 1266 which appears to bear in an opposite direction – ‘Docent eciam et discunt sine libris,’ [Quellen zur Geschichte der Waldenser ed A Patschovsky and K.-V.] Selge, [Texte zur Kirchen- und Theologiegeschichte 18 (Gütersloh 1973)] p. 70 – one should perhaps stress eciam, and recall the topos of heretics as illiterati et idiotae present in this treatise.

26 R. Cegna, ‘La polemica antivaldese di Samuele di Cassini OFM’, B[oliettino della] S[ocietà di] S[tudi] V[aldesi] 115 (1964) p. 7n (the books not further identified); J. Sambuc, ‘“Le procès de Jean de Roma” inquisiteur, Apt 1532’, BSSV 139 (1976) p. 54.

27 Edited from Klosterneuburg CC 826 fols 215v-218r and collated with nine mss. in Biller pp. 264–270.

28 The Brother John Leser writes: ‘vestra regula (= Liber Electorum) narrât, ut ego memorie mee tradidi’, Klosterneuburg CC 826 fol 243r.

29 Biller p. 259. The renegade Brother John Leser refers to the Brothers’ use of the fabule in this text to reassure the credentes, Klosterneuburg CC 826 fol 244’.

30 Many of the dialect mss. are to appear in the series A[ntichi] T[esti] V[aldesi] under the general editorship of E. Balmas; vol 1 is cited n49 below. Representative critical articles by Balmas, dal Corso, Borghi Cedrini and Degan Checchini in BSSV from 145 (1979) onwards. See also the following n.

31 Balmas, E., ‘Note su i lezionari e i sermoni Valdesi’, Protestantesimo 29 (1974) p. 151 Google Scholar.

32 Cambridge University Library Dd xv 29 fols 100r-135v.

33 Dublin Trinity College 260 fols Ir—78v (acknowledgement is due here to the librarian for speed in sending a microfilm); Geneva Public and University Library 206 fols 1r-50r (incomplete; at time of writing about to be published in ATV 2).

34 Herzog, J.J., ‘Cantica’, Zeitschriftfitr die historische Théologie 31 (1861) pp. 491–493 Google Scholar,

35 Six Vaudois Poems ed H.J. Chaytor (Cambridge 1930) pp. 43 1.81, 27 1.276, 63 1. 38.

36 St Florian XI 152 fol 42v: ‘… gloriamini de operibus vestris bonis – vigiliis, ieiuniis, oracionibus, obsecracionibus, graciarum accionibus.’

37 Klosterneuburg CC 826 fol 235”.

38 Substantial extracts are given in Kurze pp. 77–261, and a question formula he used is given pp. 73–75.

39 Ibid p. 109. Cameron, p. 16 emphasises localism and only lists local men; he does not mention the Brother de Bogogna (? Borgogna, Burgundy) reported B 43 50 fol 104r. Most of the Brothers reported in the Stettin area were not local in origin.

40 Kurzepp. 118, 136, 146, 208 etc. See Doat 21: fol 260’, a Brother teaching a credens to make bread; fol 261”, a credens making shoes for Brothers; fol 214”, a Sister washing a credens’ head – service as an act of humility?

41 Róhrich p. 39.

42 Kurze pp. 77–261 passim.

43 Werner p. 265.

44 Kurze p. 237.

45 Sanctissimos eriam in mundo, ibid p. 96. Kurze omits most instances of the precise form credentes used. Other forms round in the ms., [Wolfenbiittel Herzog-August Bibliothek] Cod Helmst 403: fol 20v, probos rectos et veros; fol 64’, veros legales; fol 91r, optimis; fol 49v iustis. A form including sanaos is most common. See also Fribourg G S 26 fol IIV: bonis et sanais genúbus.

46 Róhrich p. 60.

47 Kurze p. 223.

48 Cod Helmst 403 fols 38r, 48v, 66v, 80r, 106v.

49 Pistola ed A.D. Checchini, ATVI (Turin 1979) pp. 3–10; Vinay p. 42 and Herzog p. 348n.

50 Chevalier p. 140.

51 Röhrich pp. 53, 56, 63.

52 Quare premis hominem per graue ieiunium, multam orationeml, Peter Zwicker, Cum dormirent homines, ed J. Gretser, Maxima Bibliotheca Veterum Patrum ed M. de la Bignè 28 vols (Lyons Geneva 1677, 1707) 25 col 287d; authorship is established in Biller pp. 354–362. See, however, Selge p. 77, for the possibility of Waldensian criticism of heavy penance in the church c. 1266. The words used to describe penance in the Noble Lesson are strong: castiar, give deciplina, Les Troubadours ed R. Nelli and R. Lavaud 2 vols (Brussels 1960–6) 2 p. 1072.

53 Kurze pp. 219, 238.

54 Merlo p. 206 (fol 49v).

55 Kurze p. 224.

56 Ibid p. 176; see also p. 89, penance being imposed on a woman when she becomes a widow; [W.] Wattenbach, [‘Über die Inquisition gegen die Waldenser in Pommern und der Mark Brandenburg’, ADAW 1886 I PhK (1887)] p. 47.

57 Vinay p. 42 and Herzog p. 348n.

58 Selgep. 88.

59 Chevalier p. 156.

60 T.N. Tentler, Sin and Confession on the Eve of the Reformation (Princeton 1977) p. 213 on holy times, pp. 210–212 on menstruation (on the latter, tradition sometimes more conservative).

61 Molnar, A., ‘Hus’ De matrimonio and its Waldensian version’, Communio Viatorum 1 (1958) p. 155 Google Scholar.

62 Wattenbach pp. 40–41, 47.

63 Kurze p. 202; whean testifying she was thirty-four.

64 Cameron p. 104.

65 Acknowledgement is due here to Mr J. Goldberg for comment on the Stettin data.