Heresy and Authority in Medieval Europe

IV THE WALDENSIANS

IV THE WALDENSIANS Historians have sometimes argued that Catharism was not really a heresy at all, but an entirely different religion from Christianity, and in spite of its popularity, its organization, and its selective reliance upon scripture, it stands in stark contrast to many of the dissenting and heretical movements seen so far. However, movements which praised apostolic poverty criticized the laxity of the clergy, read scripture in vernacular versions, claimed the right of preaching sppiritual reform, encouraged private devotion, and emphasized the spiritual needs of laypeople were much more common-whether these movements were, as was that of Henry of Le Mans, generally conservative in outlook, or, as was that of the Waldensians, much more radical. It is with these movements that the thread of continuity between the early eleventh and the late twelfth centuries is much more visible. They can be understood as religious movements within Christianity, linked with the late eleventh-century reforms, and identified with what M.D. Chenu has called "the search for the apostolic life." Both Chenu and Rosalind Brooke have emphasized the devotion and energy that new forms of religious life pursued in the eleventh century, and the careers of hermits, wandering preachers, founders of new religious orders, individual holy men, and those who sympathized with them playa prominent role in the history of eleventh- and twelfth-century culture, as well as in the history of heresy in particular. Many of these movements were begun, as Moore and Lambert have made clear, by people who wanted to push some of the reform doctrines of the Gregorian movement, especially those dealing with lay and clerical status, to conclusions that lay beyond the point to which the twelfth-century Church was willing to go. Indeed, the passionate religious temper of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries is one of the few elements that link these movements, [ 139 l [ 140 1 Heresy and Authority in Medieval Europe particularly the Waldensians, with Catharism; to focus one's concern upon the questions of religious sentiment, rather than upon heresy or orthodoxy specifically, is a very useful approach to understanding the psychological and emotional context of heretical movements. Waldensianism, named after the twelfth-century merchant Valdes, was the most prominent of these evangelical movements, although those of the Humiliati, the Speronisti, and the Poor of Lombardy also played prominent roles in the late twelfth and thirteenth centuries, as did the Beguines and Beghards. Nor did any of these movements begin as heresies. The story of Valdes's conversion is typical of many spiritual experiences in the late twelfth century. In 1173, Valdes, a wealthy merchant of Lyons (the forename Peter that has been assigned to him has no basis in the sources and may have been attributed to him to link him to st. Peter), whose conscience appeared to have been bothering him because of the money he had made as a usurer, heard a jongleur tell the story of st. Alexis. The old French Vie de Saint Alexis, popular in the twelfth century, told the story of the heir of a wealthy family who ran away on his wedding night, lived a life of harsh asceticism, returned to his family home unrecognized, and lived out the rest of his life as a hermit in his own parents' house. Stirred by this and repeated hearings of the story, Valdes consulted the local clergy, one of whom quoted to him the lines from the gospel of Matt. 19:21, Jesus' advice for salvation: "Go, sell all your possessions, give the proceeds to the poor, and you will have riches in heaven. Then come and follow me." This text, along with other scriptural texts (cf. Matt. 6:19; 6:25-34; 10:9-42), inspired Valdes to separate from his wife, place his daughters in the convent at Fontevrault, dispose of his property, and begin to beg for his own food. Gradually, Valdes assembled a group of sympathetic followers into a kind of penitential order, sworn to apostolic poverty and preaching spiritual reform. Valdes had the Bible translated for the benefit of himself and his group (no. 23), thus raising the question of unauthorized translations from scripture, and he continued to preach without ecclesiastical authority. In 1179 Valdes was questioned by Pope Alexander III at the Third Lateran Council, and praised by the pope for opposing Catharism and living a life of voluntary poverty, but forbidden to preach. Walter Map, the indefatigable distorter of heretical opinions, gives a harsh portrait of what...