Revue semestrielle d'hêrésiologie médiévale: Édition de Textes-Recherche (review)

Short Notices Heresis. Revue semestrielle d'heresiologie medievale: Edition de Textes-Rech 25, December, 1995), Carcassonne, Centre d'Etudes Cathares, 1996; paper; pp. 181; R.R.P. FF.80.00. Readers may not yet be aware that the Carcassonne Centre dfitudes Cathar has been publishing for sometime, with the support of the C. N. R. S., a journal devoted to textual editions and research concerning medieval heresiology. The half-yearly issue under review containsfivepapers, a valuable 'chronique internationale' of some twenty pages, and reviews of a bibliographical nature. Anne Benon's paper 'La lettre d'Evervin de Steinfeld a Bernard de Clairvaux de 1143: un document essentiel et meconnu' (pp. 7-28) offers a translation into French and a commentary on Evervin's Epistula (Migne, PL., 182, col. 676-80) to the famous Cistercian preacher. The Rhineland Premonstratensian leader chronicled what he saw and heard about heretical practices among Christians in his region. The article also serves as a form of introduction to Beverly M. Kienzle, 'Tending the Lord's Vineyard: Cistercians, rhetoric and heresy 11431229 ' (pp. 29-61). The canticle interpreted in Bernard's homilies is the well known 2,15 in the Song ofSongs. A n examination is conducted into numerous other contemporary texts on the topic by assorted writers and preachers, but, above all, the concern is with Bernard's o w n programme against heretics. Emilio Mitre Fernandez of the Complutense University in Madrid is the author of 'Muerte, veneno y enfermedad, metafores medievales de la herejia' (pp. 6384 ). The stylistic and rhetorical usages of these terms are richly evaluated across a whole spectrum of documents: heresy as spiritual death, as a poisonous drug, or as a consuming malady in the manner of a cancer, gangrene, madness, and so on. A close study of the inquisitorial interrogations conducted by Bernard de Caux O.P. and Jean de Saint-Pierre O.P. in the Agenais and Quercy, between 1241 and 1249, is the foundation of Michel P A R E R G O N ns 16.1 (July 1998) 222 Short Notices Roquebert's 'Petites digressions sur le Marteau des heretiques' (pp. 85-107). The final article of the journal is by Christiane Labossiere, and it bears the title 'Societe et politique: les Ecrifs de Londres de Simone Weil' (pp. 109-25). The author cites inter alia Weil's impressions and pronouncements about medieval life and times, including heretical practices in the Midi. These were penned during her exile in London in the Second World War. I fail to see how this paper contributes to our knowledge of medieval heresy, and I wonder w h y the editors of Heresis accepted it for publication. K. V. Sinclair Canberra Hudson, Anne, ed., Selections from English Wycliffite Writings (Medieval Academy Reprints for Teaching 38), Toronto/Buffalo/London, University of Toronto Press, 1997; paper; pp. x, 235; R.R.P. US$16.95. This, the latest in the series of Medieval Academy Reprints for Teaching, i substantially the same as the original edition first published in 1978. Anne Hudson says 'research in the past twenty years has in many ways advanced understanding of Wyclif, his followers and opponents, and of their context; but it would be impossible to take account of that research without completely rewriting the book'. As an introduction to Wycliffite writing the book has richly informative critical apparatus: the clear introduction, imaginative selection of texts, full notes, comprehensive glossary, and select bibliography are all that could be required of a foundation text. The thirteen-page introduction gives a brief biographical account of Wyclifs life and a resume of his writings. This is followed by a lucid explanation of the substance of Wyclifs heresy and the reasons for his downfall. In the final analysis, his rejection of the Eucharistic doctrine of transubstantiation and of the priestly power of absolution challenged clerical authority. His further emphasis on the accessibility of the Bible to all and its importance as the single source of authority in the Church was considered by his contemporaries to be the prelude to social anarchy. The second half of the introduction is devoted to Wyclifs followers and to the Lollard movement which Anne Hudson firmly associates...