Reaction and Reform: Reception of Heresy in Arras and Aquitaine in the Early Eleventh Century

The Catholic Historical Review VOL. LXXXIIIJULY, 1997No. 3 REACTION AND REFORM: RECEPTION OF HERESY IN ARRAS AND AQUITAINE IN THE EARLY ELEVENTH CENTURY BY Michael Frassetto* In the first decades of the eleventh century, chroniclers throughout Western Christendom took note of the sudden and dramatic resurgence of religious dissent around them.1 Although certain of the diabolic inspiration of the heretics, chroniclers have left modern scholars with an uncertain record of the precise nature of the heretics' teachings . Much of this confusion in the documents stems from the hostility *Mr. Frassetto is an assistant professor of history in LaGrange College, Georgia. He read a version ofthis article at the twentieth annual meeting of the Southeastern Medieval Association , held on September 29 and 30 and October 1, 1994. He wishes to thank Professor Daniel F. Callahan ofthe University ofDelaware for his long-standing support. 'Numerous ecclesiastical writers in this period report the appearance ofheresy in the early eleventh century. These writers, including Rodolphus Glaber, Paul of St. Père de Chartres, and Landulf of Milan, identify heretics in Orléans, southern France, Milan, Sicily, and other parts of Italy and the West. Useful introductions to and discussions of the sources may be found in D. Barthélémy and J. Chiffoleau, "Les sources cléricales et la notion de la clandestinité du Moyen-Age (France, XP-XTV' s.)," Hütoire et clandestinité du Moyen-Age à lapremière guerre mondiale (Colloque de Privas, May, 1977),Revue de Vivarais (1979), 19-39, esp. 21-23 and 26-27; Robert Henri Bautier,"L'hérésie d'Orléans et le mouvement intellectuel au début du XI1 siècle,"Actes du 95' Congrès national des soci étés savantes, Section philologique et historique, tome 1 (Paris, 1975), pp. 63-88; Monica Blöcker, "Zur Häresie im 11. Jahrhundert," Zeitschrift für Schweizerische Kirchengeschichte, 73 (1979), 193-234;Renate Gone,Die Ketzer im 11.Jahrhundert:Religi öse Eiferer—Soziale Rebellen? Zum Wandel der Bedeutung religiösen Weltbilder (Constance, 1981);and Brian Stock, The Implications ofLiteracy, Written Language, and Models ofInterpretation in the Eleventh and Twelfth Centuries (Princeton, NewJersey, 1983), pp. 101-151. 385 386REACTION AND REFORM: RECEPTION OF HERESY INARRASAND AQUITANE of the orthodox to the heretics and the tendency of some chroniclers to identify heresy in terms established by St. Paul and St.Augustine. This difficulty can be overcome by reference to Arras and Aquitaine, regions where heresy received the most elaborate and lengthy documentary reaction . The documents from these areas, the Acta SynodiAtrebatensis in Manicheos of 1025 of Gerard of Arras-Cambrai and the history and unedited sermons ofAdemar ofChabannes, contain the most important information concerning the nature of religious dissent in the early eleventh century.2 Moreover, in response to the arrival of the heretics, these authors provide in-depth commentary on the nature of orthodox belief and thus place themselves in the broader context of eleventhcentury religious controversies. A comparison of the works of Ademar and Gerard, thus,would reveal unique insights into the development of religious belief, orthodox and heterodox, in the eleventh century. The works of Ademar and Gerard are of particular value because of the backgrounds of these two ecclesiastics. The disgraced impressario ofthe failed apostolic cult of St. Martial,Ademar was a prominent monk in the communities of St. Cybard of Angoulême and St. Martial of Limoges .3 As a master of the arts of the scriptorium, he naturally became The Acta of Gerard are edited in the PL,Vol. 142, cols. 1269-1312.Ademar's history is edited byJules Chavanon, Chronique (Paris, 1897).The sermons are at Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale, MS. Lat. 2469, fols. G-112», and Berlin, Deutsche Staatsbibliothek (hereafter D.S.), MS. Lat. Phillipps 1664, fols. 58'-170r. I am assisting Daniel Callahan in the preparation of an edition of the sermons in two volumes to appear in Corpus Christianorum. It should be noted that there is another newly-discovered source concerning the appearance of heresy in Aquitaine. This is the long-known twelfth-century letter of the monk Heribert recently found by Guy Lobrichon in an eleventh-century manuscript. Although relevant to the discussion of this essay, I...