Student Number: 24780731

1

To what extent did heresy represent a threat to the later medieval Church?
The twelfth century saw the rise of what was to be termed as popular heresies. Due
to the major changes that were taking place in the context of the time, including the
rise of towns and cities, the growth in criticism towards the clergy and the increase in
lay literacy, the question of how much of a threat heresy was to the authority of the
Church is an important one.
When looking at the heresies that the Church had dealt with before to the
heresies that rose during the twelfth century, there are notable differing factors. An
important difference was the Churchs ability to bring the heretical movements into
the fold and thereby contain the threat. Previously the Church had been able to
institutionalise whatever religious fervour was attracting the masses.
1
This can be
seen when looking at the Churchs response to the Monasticism of Cluny, followed
then by Citeaux and then finally with the Mendicant orders.
2
However with the
twelfth Century heretics, the Church proved to be unwilling and unable to allow the
heretics into the fold, in part due to beliefs that could not be reconciled with the
Churchs doctrine.
3
For example the dualist beliefs of the Cathars meant that mass
was rejected as well as baptism.
4
As a result it could be argued that heresy was
proving to be an immediate threat due to its complete incompatibility with the Church
resulting in the Church being unable to take control of the followers that the
movement attracted.

1
Gordon Leff, Heresy and The Decline of the Medieval Church, Past and Present,
20 (1961), 36-51 (p. 41).
2
Ibid.
3
Ibid.
4
Bernard Hamilton, Religion in the Medieval West (London: Edward Arnold,
1986), p. 174.
Student Number: 24780731


2
According to the historian F. Donald Logan the Cathars were the most
significant medieval heretics, which is confirmed, he claims, by their numbers and
the sophistication of their organisation.
5
Its main feature that stood out amongst other
heresies was the fact that it in no way resided within a sect of the Catholic Church.
6
It
was in itself a separate church, and therefore did not aim to reform the current
Catholic Church but abolish it.
7
It is argued that the Cathars were the closest heretical
movement to producing a complete alternative to the Catholic Church.
8
Catharism
had no pope or overall leader, this again making it harder for the Church to put down,
as it appears there were no obvious sects or founders as there had been with older
heresies, therefore making it easier for the Church to combat.
9
When looking at the
area of Languedoc in the early thirteenth century, it is evident that the Cathars had
established bishops with dioceses in Agen, Albi, Carcassonne and Toulouse. The
areas in which Cathars gained a foothold also serve as evidence of the importance that
the support and strength of secular authorities had to the Churchs fight against
heretics. For example northern and central Italy, where the Cathars were supposedly
very popular, was seen as a hot bed for the heretics.
10
This was in part due to the
fact that its cities did not want to sacrifice is independence and follow the rulings of

5
Francis Logan Donald, A History of the Church in the Middle Ages (London:
Routledge, 2003), p. 203.
6
Ibid., p. 204.
7
Ibid.
8
Gordon Leff, Heresy and The Decline of the Medieval Church, Past and Present,
20 (1961), 36-51 (p. 44).
9
Herbert Grundmann, Religious Movements in the Middle Ages: The Historical
Links Between Heresy, the Mendicant Orders, and the Womens Religious
Movement in the Twelfth and Thirteenth Century, trans. by Steven Rowan (Notre
Dame: University of Notre Dame Press, 1994), p. 22.
10
Malcolm Lambert, Medieval Heresy: Popular Movements from the Gregorian
Reform to the Reformation 2
nd
edn (Oxford: Blackwell, 1992), p. 7.
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3
bishops and popes and to that end, preferred to grant the Cathars toleration.
11

Another factor is that Italian cities had fragmented authorities coupled with intense,
rapid social change, therefore making it easier for Cathars to take up social roots
amongst the conflicts.
12
By 1165, the lack of church discipline within Toulouse and
Albi resulted in leaders from the Cathar church being able to openly debate with the
Bishops.
13
This in turn also signifies that the Cathars were educated in high levels.
The city of Orvieto proved particularly tolerant of local Cathars which is evident due
to the fact that the Dominican inquisition sent to that area failed to make significant
progress in 1239, citing that they lacked local support.
14
During the 1140s a number
of civil offices in Orvieto were held by Cathars, this indicating that there was
acceptance on different levels of society.
15
When looking at parts of Languedoc there
are further examples of how the lack of secular support aided the rise of Catharism.
16

With its chronic political anarchy, an atmosphere of tolerance towards dissidents
was maintained.
17
This provided Cathars with time to gain supporters and build their
churches.
18
This degree of locality offered a sense of mutual support that would have

11
Ibid.
12
R. I. Moore, The Formations of a Persecuting Society: Power and Deviance in
Western Europe, 950-1250(Oxford: Blackwell, 1987), p. 3.
13
Ibid., p. 22.
14
Gordon Leff, Heresy and The Decline of the Medieval Church, Past and
Present, 20 (1961), 36-51 (p. 38).
15
Bruce C. Brasington, N/A, The Catholic Historical Review, 86 (2000), 103-105
(p. 103).
16
Malcolm Lambert, Medieval Heresy: Popular Movements from the Gregorian
Reform to the Reformation 2
nd
edn (Oxford: Blackwell, 1992), p. 103.
17
Malcolm Lambert, Medieval Heresy: Popular Movements from the Gregorian
Reform to the Reformation 2
nd
edn (Oxford: Blackwell, 1992), p. 7.
18
Ibid.
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4
seemed attractive to those, where the Catholic hold had lessened, who found the
Church lacking in such areas.
19

However whilst it is agreed there was an organised, ecclesiastical structure,
there is debate about the validity of arguing that the Cathars were able to replace the
Church.
20
The historian Robert Moore argues that the Cathars were not capable of
offering an alternative to the Catholic Church as they lacked the intellectual and
organisational power that was needed to become a threat.
21
It is argued that the source
material available, that suggested that the Cathars had such power, is not reliable in
accurately informing historians on the popularity or capability of the Cathars. For
example when trying to ascertain the amount of followers the Cathars had it is clear
that not all convicted Cathars can accurately be described as having been Cathars.
This is in part due to the fact that until the Lateran council in 1215 where Innocent III
established guidelines for lay instruction and practice, the laity did not fully
understand orthodox teachings.
22
Carol Lansing argues that the majority of believers
did not have basic knowledge of orthodox beliefs and practice.
23
This can be argued
as aiding heresy in becoming a threat however it also means that many that had no
intention of going against orthodox beliefs did unwittingly do so. As a result it can be
argued that those who were believed to be Cathar supporters posed no threat to the
Church, as they were not knowingly challenging the authority of the Church.
24
In fact
the lack of understanding worked both ways. There is little evidence suggesting that

19
David Knowles and Dimitri Obolensky, The Christian Centuries: A New History
of the Catholic Church 2
nd
edn (London: Darton, Longman & Todd, 1969), p. 369.
20
R. I. Moore, The Formations of a Persecuting Society: Power and Deviance in
Western Europe, 950-1250(Oxford: Blackwell, 1987), p. 151.
21
Ibid.
22
Carol Lansing, Power and Purity: Cathar Heresy in Medieval Italy (New York:
Oxford University Press, 1998), p. 16.
23
Ibid.
24
G. R. Evans, A Brief History of Heresy (Oxford: Blackwell, 2003), p. 98.
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5
among the lay people there was a better understanding of Cathar theology, suggesting
that the Cathar preachers were not able to effectively spread their beliefs.
25
When
looking at the transcripts of the inquisitors it would appear that for the most part,
those convicted did not have an understanding or inclination towards dualist beliefs.
26

There is also the problem of what inquisitors deemed to be heretical behaviour. Those
who had heard the Perfects preach, aided them or received their blessing were then
often labelled as Cathars.
27

In regards to the notion that the Cathar church was well organised it is argued
that this was a belief put forward by the Catholic Church itself. Due to the growing
concerns over the heretical movements, Catholic authorities depicted the Cathars, and
other movements, as being a bigger threat then they actually were.
28
The same can be
said, he argues, for the Waldensians.
29
Moore states that the Waldensians were made
up of a few scattered, insubstantial andunrelated sects, who, like the Cathars,
were only believed to be organised and capable of teaching due to the information
provided by inquisitors.
30
According to Moore this served as justification for the
Church to respond with the violent crusades and inquisitions.
31

Another important factor to analyse when looking at the extent of the threat
that heresy posed, is looking at the legitimacy of the label heresy. For example when
looking at the Templars, it is clear that the label of heresy was used for political and

25
Carol Lansing, Power and Purity: Cathar Heresy in Medieval Italy (New York:
Oxford University Press, 1998), p. 16.
26
Ibid.
27
Ibid.
28
Ibid., p. 18.
29
R. I. Moore, The Formations of a Persecuting Society: Power and Deviance in
Western Europe, 950-1250(Oxford: Blackwell, 1987), p. 151.
30
Ibid.
31
Carol Lansing, Power and Purity: Cathar Heresy in Medieval Italy (New York:
Oxford University Press, 1998), p. 18.
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6
financial means, meaning that the Templars posed no threat to the authority of the
Church. Malcolm Barber argues that the confessions demonstrated no more than the
power of torture over the mental resistance.
32
When looking at the heretical charges
that were associated with the Templars, it is clear that Phillip the Fair was using the
deep seated fears of contempories, making it unlikely that the Templars were guilty
of such things.
33
The trial of the Templars seems to be more about the threat that the
Templars posed to the King, with the belief that they were a military risk to the
crown, then any threat towards the Church. In fact when looking at other cases of
heresy there is evidence of the charges being the result of social and political tensions,
with authorities using the fear of heresy and the uncontrolled power of the inquisitors,
to benefit their own interests.
34
Therefore it can be argued that the perceived growth
of heresy from the eleventh century onwards was more of a weapon that authorities
used to serve their own self-interests.
35
Seymour Martin called the labelling of heresy
status politics.
36
This factor also brings into question the number of heretics that
resided in areas. If people were accused at the convenience of others this makes it
difficult to establish who were truly heretical.
Another factor to analyse when looking at the threat of heresy is the support
the Church did receive. One argument is that some heresies, for example the Lollards,
lost the support of lay people and secular authorities due to their extreme beliefs. For
example it is notable that there was more hostility towards the Lollards when Wyclif

32
Malcolm Barber, The Trial of the Templars (Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press, 1993), p. 243.
33
Ibid.
34
Lester R. Kurtz, Politics of Heresy: Modernist Crisis in Roman Catholicism,
American Journal of Sociology, 88.6 (1983), 1085-1115 (p. 1088).
35
Ibid.
36
Ibid.
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7
rejected transubstantiation.
37
It is argued that this was seen as an irreverent assault on
the mystery of the mass.
38
The fact that this denial of a core belief stimulated
objections amongst the population shows the unwillingness of many to stray too far
away from orthodoxy and the authority of the Church. Evidence that much of the
English populace were hostile, if not indifferent, to the Lollards can be seen in the
will of a London goldsmith, who left money to buy faggots for the burning of
heretics.
39

When analysing the context of the time it can be argued that heretics had the
advantage with the way in which populations moved in the cities and towns.
40

However the establishment of mendicant Friars meant that the Church were able to
reach the lay people, with educated preachers who could clearly counter the heretical
preachers.
41
The Friars were also important to the Churchs effort against sin as, like
the heretical groups that attracted the lay people who were disillusioned by the wealth
of the Church, the Friars followed the vita apostolica.
42
The Friars importance also
lay with their continued fidelity to the Churchs authority and their ability to set an
example to all levels of the laity, due in part to their openness with the laity.
43

A further feature of heresy that is important to look at is the effect heresy had
on the power of the Church and how it influenced the course that the Church took.
The threat of heresy in fact appears to have been essential to the strengthening of

37
Malcolm Lambert, Medieval Heresy: Popular Movements from the Gregorian
Reform to the Reformation 2
nd
edn (Oxford: Blackwell, 1992), p. 392.
38
Ibid.
39
Ibid., p. 8.
40
C. H. Lawrence, The Friars: The Impact of the Early Mendicant Movements on
Western Society (London: Longman, 1994), p. 3.
41
Ibid.
42
Michael Robson, The Franciscans in the Middle Ages (Woodbridge: Boydell
Press, 2006), p. 69.
43
Ibid.
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8
papal powers as well as influencing the creation of a clearer idea of what orthodoxy
was.
44
It was because of heretical beliefs that the Church clearly articulated the
orthodox teachings by using via negativa, indicating what was unacceptable.
45
For
example heresy sparked a growth in polemical literature written by influential men
such as Peter the Venerable and then later by the Friars.
46
An increase in social
control was also the result of the fear of the threat of heresy. Despite it being the view
that heresy was divisive and disruptive and a challenge to authority, it is evident that
the disruption often created a sense of a group solidarity, with the idea of a common
enemy and a deviant insider.
47
Heresy provided an opportunity for elites to reinforce
systems of control and therefore made it beneficial for secular powers to cooperate.
Confiscation of goods served as a continuing financial incentive for routing out
heretics and enforcing punishment.
48
This point may not be clear in most studies on
medieval heresy, as research tended to focus on the exceptions where repression was
ineffective or not even attempted.
49
Georg Simmel wrote that resistance[gave]
our powers the possibility of proving themselves.
50
Heresy provided the papacy with
an opportunity to extend their powers over secular rulers, for example enforcing
legislation to ensure the aid of the rulers with the risk of excommunication of the

44
Lester R. Kurtz, Politics of Heresy: Modernist Crisis in Roman Catholicism
(California: University of California Press, 1986), p. 1.
45
Ibid.
46
David Knowles and Dimitri Obolensky, The Christian Centuries: A New History
of the Catholic Church 2
nd
edn (London: Darton, Longman & Todd, 1969), p. 369.
47
Lester R. Kurtz, Politics of Heresy: Modernist Crisis in Roman Catholicism
(California: University of California Press, 1986), p. 1.
48
Malcolm Lambert, Medieval Heresy: Popular Movements from the Gregorian
Reform to the Reformation 2
nd
edn (Oxford: Blackwell, 1992), p. 392.
49
Ibid., p.7.
50
Lester R. Kurtz, Politics of Heresy: Modernist Crisis in Roman Catholicism
(California: University of California Press, 1986), p. 1.
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legislation was not obeyed.
51
When looking at the on-going social tensions, heresy
also served to be an anxiety-relieving ritual for elites, this again ensuring their
dominant positions among a society.
52
The persecution and punishment of heretics
offered authorities a controllable problem.
53

In conclusion it would appear that the factors that would have made heresy a
significant threat were fictional or exaggerated. The Church created much of the
information on the heretical movements in an effort to justify an intense response and
an increased presence amongst community. Heresy in actuality provided an
atmosphere where secular and religious authorities could tighten their hold over
populations, a hold they might have lost with the changing context of the time, and
establish their orthodoxy further.












51
Malcolm Lambert, Medieval Heresy: Popular Movements from the Gregorian
Reform to the Reformation 2
nd
edn (Oxford: Blackwell, 1992), p. 392.
52
Lester R. Kurtz, Politics of Heresy: Modernist Crisis in Roman Catholicism,
American Journal of Sociology, 88.6 (1983), 1085-1115 (p. 1085).
53
Ibid., p. 1090.
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Bibliography

Barber, Malcolm The Trial of the Templars (Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press, 1993)

Brasington, Bruce C., N/A, The Catholic Historical Review, 86 (2000), 103-105

Donald, Francis Logan, A History of the Church in the Middle Ages (London:
Routledge, 2003)

Evans, G. R.,A Brief History of Heresy (Oxford: Blackwell, 2003)

Grundmann, Herbert, Religious Movements in the Middle Ages: The Historical
Links Between Heresy, the Mendicant Orders, and the Womens Religious
Movement in the Twelfth and Thirteenth Century, trans. by Steven Rowan (Notre
Dame: University of Notre Dame Press, 1994)

Hamilton, Bernard, Religion in the Medieval West (London: Edward Arnold,
1986)

Knowles, David, and Dimitri Obolensky, The Christian Centuries: A New History of
the Catholic Church 2
nd
edn (London: Darton, Longman & Todd, 1969)

Kurtz, Lester R., Politics of Heresy: Modernist Crisis in Roman Catholicism
(California: University of California Press, 1986)

Lambert, Malcolm, Medieval Heresy: Popular Movements from the Gregorian
Reform to the Reformation 2
nd
edn (Oxford: Blackwell, 1992)

Leff, Gordon, Heresy and The Decline of the Medieval Church, Past and Present,
20 (1961), 36-51

Lansing, Carol, Power and Purity: Cathar Heresy in Medieval Italy (New York:
Oxford University Press, 1998)

Lawrence, C. H., The Friars: The Impact of the Early Mendicant Movements on
Western Society (London: Longman, 1994)

Moore, R. I., The Formations of a Persecuting Society: Power and Deviance in
Western Europe, 950-1250(Oxford: Blackwell, 1987)

Robson, Michael, The Franciscans in the Middle Ages (Woodbridge: Boydell Press,
2006)