At a time when ignorance and fear reigned supreme, the Catholic Church played a paternalistic and protective role with the population. Its supremacy seemed unquestionable, yet beliefs took hold that would undermine the foundations of Christianity established centuries earlier. Under the threat of the flock seeking salvation elsewhere, the Church had no choice but to establish its power in a radical manner. The idea of an inquisitorial practice did not happen overnight, but gradually crept into feudal society, creating a climate of terror among those who had chosen to renounce the Catholic faith.
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Une spiritualité trop inaccessible?
It was long before the beginning of the Middle Ages that Christianity established its doctrines among the population. After the Edict of Milan, in the year 313, the emperors Constantine I[1] and Licinius, one emperor of the Eastern Roman Empire and the other of the Western Roman Empire, authorized freedom of religious practice. Despite the fact that the edict advocated tolerance towards other beliefs, the young Catholic Church was quick to show its power by various punishments against the deviances still present. Christian converts who decided to believe in another doctrine were punished with spiritual punishments: the way of the cross, attendance at services, conversion, etc. The most rigorous punishments were excommunication and exile.
However, the so-called Manichean doctrines[2] were established in the course of the expansion of Christianity. One of them, Priscillianism, based on dualistic beliefs, would have created such a stir in Spain that its founder, Priscillian, was sentenced to death with several of his followers by the emperor Maximus in 385. This was the beginning of the heretical repression. It was not until the dawn of the 11th century that heresies began to worry the Catholic Church. The crusades allowed Christianity to make conversions and acquire land and fortunes. This race for absolution also opened new horizons on the technological, cultural and spiritual side, notably the Manichean doctrines mentioned above. It did not take much more than that for Christians in need of faith to find a certain interest.
As many heresies were emerging in Europe, the Church felt threatened. Unfortunately, the ecclesiastical structure of the time tended to distance the regular clergy more and more from their flock.
Since the majority of the people could not read or write, they did not understand the words of Christ transmitted by the clergy, and therefore went to church only because social norms prescribed it. Moreover, oral tradition and superstitions passed on from one generation to the next tended to keep people away from a word that was said to be sacred, but which they were not able to understand. Therefore, before rushing to the church pews, the people were inclined to believe much more easily what their relatives were ready to teach them.
Rise of new religious movements
The line between the faithful and the preachers was unfortunately too wide to encourage a solid and lasting bond between the Church and its faithful. The heresies that the Church considered threatening, such as Catharism or the Waldensians, were the way out for these Christians who were repulsed by the gigantism of the Church, which left them so little room.
From 1145 onwards, Catharism became more and more widespread, especially in several regions of France. At about the same time, the Bogomils, originally from the Bulgarian countries, adopted a doctrine similar to that of the Cathars. The simplified rites and the accessibility of the word of Christ appealed to a large number of people, so that the Cathars organized themselves into dioceses in France and Italy. Unfortunately, Catharism posed a devastating threat to the pontiff because in seeking spiritual perfection, the Cathars rejected orthodox Christianity by placing far more value on the spirit than the body. They were loved by the people for their adoption of a Christ-like poverty and frugality in comparison to the opulence and wealth of the Catholic institution.
The first real action towards the establishment of the Inquisition was instigated by Pope Alexander III, during the Council of Tours, in 1163 by offering the judge of heretical cases the initiative of prosecution, thus increasing his power exponentially. It was not until much later that real action was taken by the Papal States against these heresies. In 1170, in the city of Lyon, France, a mendicant order was created, led by Peter of Valdes, first called the « Poor of Lyon » and later, in association with the name of their founder, the Waldensians.
Their doctrine dedicated them to a life of poverty and begging. They even made a translation of the Bible into French, making it much more accessible. They also practiced wandering preaching.
Le pape Alexandre III a approuvé l’initiative des Vaudois. Cependant, il s’est inquiété de les voir échapper à tout contrôle ecclésiastique. « L’Église Vaudoise » a pris une considérable expansion au-delà des frontières françaises pour rejoindre l’Allemagne et l’Espagne.
Birth of the Holy Inquisition
Unfortunately, the Waldensians were wrongly associated with the Cathars, and the two anti-clerical doctrines led to the establishment of religious crusades, financed and approved by the Church, and where, unfortunately, too many men and women died. Indirectly, Pope Innocent III proposed the idea of the Inquisition by turning arrests into massacres, as was the case in 1209, when eighty Waldensians were murdered by the Crusaders. There were many massacres without trial, as the Crusaders seemed to escape the control of the Church. It was during this period that the Dominican and Franciscan orders were formed, which would become, a few years later, the spearhead of the Inquisition. The Franciscan order, founded by St. Francis of Assisi in 1209, was a secular order whose doctrine and practices were very similar to the Waldensians. The Franciscans lived in mendicancy, without having taken religious vows and with no authority other than that of their founder. It was not until the death of Francis of Assisi that the Franciscans became a religious order.
As for the Dominican religious order, it took root around 1215, founded by St. Dominic. Created during the tumult of the Cathar heresy, their role was primarily to spread the Christian message through preaching and teaching. They would later play a key role in suppressing the heresy by providing most of the cadres of the Inquisition. Although some individuals, such as Pierre le Bourgue, famous for his summary trials and bloody executions, flouted this rule, inquisitors were answerable only to the pope for their actions.
It was in 1231 that Pope Gregory IX codified the inquisitorial procedure, with the decree Ille humani generis[3], thus entrusting the Inquisition to the Dominicans. Despite the priority of Cathar eradication, the Dominicans were instructed to detect any form of heresy. They often proceeded by denunciation of peers, followed by interrogations, where the accused were unfortunately not entitled to legal advice.
The accused were then imprisoned and divided into those who repented and those who, at the risk of their lives, remained in their positions. The latter, often condemned by the hearsay of the population and accusations without real foundation, ended their lives on the stake. Those who repented were stripped of their possessions and condemned to wear the yellow cross, synonymous with their past heresy.
From 1246 onwards, Franciscan monks became actively involved in the Holy Office[4]. The inquisitorial threat now threatened all of Europe, forcing the Cathars and Waldensians into hiding.
Although some inquisitors, such as Pierre le Bourgue, who apparently took a wicked liking to torturing his victims and multiplying bloody executions, it was established that inquisitors were not to use torture to extract confessions from the accused.
Despite this, Pope Innocent IV issued the papal decree Ad Extirpenda in 1252, which now authorized inquisitors to use torture as a means of obtaining confessions. A decree issued a few years earlier, in 1243 (Cum adversus haereticam), which was more focused on Italy, promulgated death by burning at the stake, a police force to serve the Inquisition, and an extension of the principle of confiscation to the heirs of heretics. From that moment on, movements considered heretical, such as the Cathars and Waldensians, were forced to practice their religion in total secrecy. The fear of the Inquisition became greater and greater and rumors of torture only accentuated this increasingly terrifying climate. Towards the beginning of the 14th century, the number of burnings at the stake increased and the Holy Office adopted more precise rules. One of the most famous inquisitors, Bernard Gui, a native of France and member of the Dominican order, was one of the first to write down rules. He composed for the exclusive use of the Inquisition a « guide » to facilitate the work of the inquisitors, especially during the Albigensian crusade, which ended in total eradication in 1320.
The beginnings of the Inquisition are a clear indication of the growing and frightening power of the Church within feudal society. This institution, whose beginnings were timid, would turn into a veritable hammer of heretics that would last until the 19th century. The creation of the Inquisition almost completely suppressed the anti-clerical movement that had begun in the 10th century. Religious heresy was only the tip of the iceberg for the Inquisition, which was to embark on a witch hunt in the following centuries…
To learn more:
BURMAN, Edward, The Inquisition : Hammer of Heresy, Dorset Press, New York, 1992 (1984), 253 pages.
MOURRE, Michel, Le petit Mourre : dictionnaire de l’Histoire, Éditions Bordas, Paris, 2003 (1981), 1288 pages
Collectif, Une histoire du monde médiéval, Larousse « Bibliothèque historique », Paris, 2005, 479 pages
Collectif, Dictionnaire du Moyen-âge, Collection Quadrige, Presses universitaires de France, Paris, 2002, 1548 pages.
[1] The emperor Constantine would have renounced polytheism in 312, but would have converted only on his deathbed, in 337.
[2] Doctrine dite dualiste où l’on retrouve un Dieu du Bien pour tout aspect spirituel et un Dieu du Mal pour tout aspect matériel et physique.
[3] Of the humane race.
[4] Another name given to the Tribunal of the Inquisition
Sanctuaire - Blogue de Véronique Lessard 