V. Heretical Opposition to Ecclesiastical Authority.§ 108. The Protesters against the Church.Mediæval endeavours after reform, partly proceeded from within the church itself in attempts to restore apostolic purity and simplicity, partly from without on the part of those who despaired of any good coming out of the church, and who therefore warred bitterly against it. Such attempts were often lost amid the vagaries of fanaticism and heresy, which soon threatened the foundation of the social fabric, and often came into collision with the State. Most widely spread and most radical were the numerous dualistic sects of the Cathari. Montanist fanaticism was revived in apocalyptic prophesyings. There were also pantheistic sects, and among the Pasagians a sort of Ebionism reappeared. Another group of sects originated through reformatory endeavours of individual men, who perceiving the utter corruption of the church of their day, sought salvation in a revolutionary overthrow of all ecclesiastical institutions and repudiated often the truth with the error which was the object of their hate. The only protesting church of a thoroughly sensible evangelical sort was that of the Waldensians.
Mediæval endeavours after reform, partly proceeded from within the church itself in attempts to restore apostolic purity and simplicity, partly from without on the part of those who despaired of any good coming out of the church, and who therefore warred bitterly against it. Such attempts were often lost amid the vagaries of fanaticism and heresy, which soon threatened the foundation of the social fabric, and often came into collision with the State. Most widely spread and most radical were the numerous dualistic sects of the Cathari. Montanist fanaticism was revived in apocalyptic prophesyings. There were also pantheistic sects, and among the Pasagians a sort of Ebionism reappeared. Another group of sects originated through reformatory endeavours of individual men, who perceiving the utter corruption of the church of their day, sought salvation in a revolutionary overthrow of all ecclesiastical institutions and repudiated often the truth with the error which was the object of their hate. The only protesting church of a thoroughly sensible evangelical sort was that of the Waldensians.
§ 108.1.The Cathari.—Opposition to hierarchical pretensions led to the spread of sects, especially in Northern Italy and France, from the 11th century. Hidden remnants of Old Manichæan sects got new courage and ventured into the light during the period of the crusades. In France they were called Tisserands, because mostly composed of weavers. In Italy they were called Patareni or Paterini, either from the original meaning of the word, rabble, riff-raff (§97, 5), or because they so far adopted the attitude of the Pasaria of Milan, as to offer lay opposition to the local clergy, or because of the frequent use of the Paternoster. Of later origin are the names Publicani and Bulgări, given as opprobrious designations to the Paulicians. The most widely current name of Cathari, from early times a favourite title assumed by rigorist sects (§ 41, 3), had its origin in the East. In France they were called Albigensians, from the province of Albigeois, which was their chief seat in Southern France.—Of theWritings of the Cathariwe possess from the end of the 13th century a Provençal translation of the N.T., free from all falsification in favour of their sectarian views. Their tenets are to be learnt only from the polemical writings of their opponents, Alanus ab Insulis (§102, 5), the Dominican Joh. Moneta, aboutA.D.1240, and Rainerius, Sacchoni, Dominican and inquisitor, aboutA.D.1250.§ 108.2. Besides their opposition to the hierarchy, all these sects had in common a dualistic basis to their theological systems. They held in a more or less extreme form the following doctrines: The good God who is proclaimed in the N.T. created in the beginning the heavenly and invisible world, and peopled it with souls clothed in ethereal bodies. The earthly world, on the other hand, is the work of an evil spirit, who is held up as object of worship in the O.T. Entering the heavenly world he succeeded in seducing some of its inhabitants, whom he, when defeated by the archangel Michael, took with him to earth, and there imprisoned in earthly bodies, so as to make return to their heavenly home impossible. Yet they are capable of redemption, and may, on repentance and submission to purificatory ordinances, be again freed from their earthly bonds and brought home again to heaven. For this redemption the good God sent “the heavenly man” Jesus (1 Cor. xv. 47) to earth in the appearance of man to teach men their heavenly origin and the means of restoration. The Cathari rejected the O.T., but accepted the N.T., which they read in the vernacular. Marriage they regarded as a hindrance to Christian perfection. They treated with contempt water baptism, the Supper, and ordination, as well as all veneration of saints and relics, and tolerated no images, crosses, or altars. Prayer, abstinence, and baptism of the Spirit were regarded as the only means of salvation. Preaching was next to prayer most prominent in their public services. They also laid great stress upon fasting, genuflection, and repetitions of stated formulæ, especially the Lord’s Prayer. Their members were divided intoCregentz(credentesor catechumens) andBos homesorBos crestias(boni homines, boni Christiani=perfectiorelecti). A lower order of the catechumens were theAuditores. These were received asCredentesafter a longer period of training amid various ceremonies and repetition of the Lord’s prayer, etc. The order of thePerfectiwas entered by spiritual baptism, theConsolamentumor communication of the Holy Spirit as the promised Comforter, without which no one can enjoy eternal life. Even opponents such as St. Bernard admit that there was great moral earnestness shown by some of them, and many met a martyr’s death with true Christian heroism. Symptoms of decay appeared in the spread among them of antinomian practices. This moral deterioration showed itself as a radical part of this system in the so-calledLuciferiansor devil worshippers, whose dualism, like that of the Euchites and Bogomils (§ 71), led to the adoption of two Sons of God. Lucifer the elder, wrongly driven from heaven, is the creator and lord of this earthly world, and hence alone worshipped in it. His expulsion (Isa. xiv. 12) is carried out by the younger son, Michael, who will, however, on this account, whenever Lucifer regains heaven, be sent with all his company into eternal punishment. Of an incarnation of God, even of a docetic kind, they know nothing. They regarded Jesus as a false prophet who was crucified on account of the evil he had done.—Catharist sects suspected of Manichæan tendencies were discovered here and there during the 11th century. In the following century their number had increased enormously, and they spread over Lombardy and Southern France, but were also found in Southern Italy, in Germany, Belgium, Spain, and even in England. They had a pope residing in Bulgaria, twelve magistri and seventy-two bishops, each with aFilius majorandminorat his side. InA.D.1167 they were able to muster an œcumenical Catharist Council at Toulouse. Neither clemency nor severity could put them down. St. Bernard prevailed most by the power of his love, and subsequently learned Dominicans had more effect with their preaching and disputations. They found abundant opportunity of displaying their hatred of the papacy during the struggles of the Guelphs and Ghibellines. In spite of terrible persecution, which reached its height in the beginning of the 13th century in the Albigensian crusade (§109, 1), remnants of them were found down into the 14th century.§ 108.3. The small sect of thePasagiansin Lombardy during the 12th century, protesting against the Manichæan depreciation of the O.T. of the Catharists, adopted views of a somewhat Ebionite character. With the exception of sacrifice, they enforced all the old ceremonial observances, even circumcision, and held an Arian or Ebionite theory of the Person of Christ. Their name meaning “passage,” seems to refer to pilgrimages to the Holy Land, and possibly from this a clue to their origin may be obtained.§ 108.4.Pantheistic Heretics.Amalrich of Benataught first philosophy, then theology, at Paris in the end of the 12th century. InA.D.1204 Innocent III. called him to account for his proposition, Christian in sound, but probably pantheistically intended, that no one could be saved who is not a member in Christ’s body, and obliged him to retract. His death occurred soon after, and some years later we find traces of a pantheistic sect founded on the alleged doctrines of Amalrich vigorously propagated by his disciple William the goldsmith. God had previously appeared as Father incarnate in Abraham, and as Son in Christ, and now henceforth as the Holy Spirit in every believer, who therefore in the same sense as Christ is God. As such, too, he is without sin, and what to others would be sin is not so to him. In the age of the Son the Mosaic law lost its validity, and in that of the Spirit, the sacraments and services of the new covenant. God has always been all in all. We find him in Ovid as well as in Augustine, and the body of Christ is in common bread as well as in the consecrated wafer on the altar. Saint worship is idolatry. There is no resurrection; heaven and hell exist only in the imagination of men. Rome is Babylon, and the pope is antichrist; but to the king of France, after the overthrow of antichrist, shall the kingdoms of the earth be subject, etc. A synod at Paris inA.D.1209 condemned William and nine priests to be burnt, and four other priests to imprisonment for life, and ordered that Amalrich’s bones should be exhumed and scattered over an open field. Regarding the physical works of Aristotle as the source of this heresy, the council also prohibited all lectures upon these (§103, 1). This was seen to be a mistake, and so inA.D.1225 Honorius III. fixed on the true culprit and condemned theDe divisione naturæof Erigena (§ 90, 6). The penalties inflicted did not by any means lead to the rooting out of the sect. During the whole 13th century it continued to spread from Paris over all eastern France as far as Alsace, Switzerland, and the Netherlands, and in the 14th century reached its highest development in the pantheistic-libertine doctrines of the Brothers and Sisters of the Free Spirit (§116, 5). We never again meet with the name of Amalrich, and the sects were never called after him.David of Dinantat the same time with Amalrich taught philosophy and theology in the University of Paris. He also lived for a long while at the papal court in Rome, high in favour with Innocent III. as a subtle dialectician. The Synod of Paris ofA.D.1209, which passed judgment on the Amalricians, pronounced David a heretic and ordered his works to be burnt. He avoided personal punishment by flight. The central point of his system was the assumption of a single eternal substance without distinctions, from which God, spirit (νοῦς), and matter (ὕλη) sprang as the three principles of all later forms of existences (corpora,animæ, andsubstantiæ æternæ). God is regarded as theprimum efficiens, matter as theprimum suscipiens, and spirit as the medium between the two. David’s scholars never formed a sect and never had any connection apparently with the followers of Amalrich.The Ortlibarianswere a sect condemned by Innocent III., followers of a certain Ortlieb of Strassburg aboutA.D.1212. They held the world to be without beginning. They looked upon Jesus as the son of Joseph and Mary, sinless like all other children, but raised to be son of God only through illumination from the doctrines of their sect, which had existed from the earliest times. They admitted the gospel story of Christ’s life, sufferings, and resurrection, not, however, in a literal but only in a moral and mystical acceptation. The consecrated host was but common bread, and in it was the body of the Lord. A Jew entering their sect needed not to be baptized, and fellowship with them was sufficient to secure salvation. There is no resurrection of the flesh; man’s spirit alone is immortal. After the last judgment, which will come when pope and emperor are converted to their views and all opposition is overcome, the world will last for ever, and men will be born and die just as now. They professed a strictly ascetic life, and many of them fasted every second day.§ 108.5.Apocalyptic Heretics.—The Cistercian abbotJoachim of Floris, who died inA.D.1202, with his notions of the so called “Everlasting Gospel,” as a reformer and as one inclined to apocalyptic prophecy, followed in the footsteps of Hildegard of Bingen and Elizabeth of Schönau (§107, 1). His prophetic views spread among the Franciscans and were long unchallenged. InA.D.1254 the University of Paris, warning against the begging monks (§103, 3), got Alexander IV. to condemn these views as set forth in commentaries on Isaiah and Jeremiah ascribed to Joachim, but now found to be spurious. Preger doubts but, Reuter maintains the genuineness of the three tracts grouped under the title of theEvangelium æternum. The main points in his theory seem to have been these: There are three ages, that of the Father in the O.T., of the Son in the N.T., and of the Holy Spirit in the approaching fulness of the kingdom of God on earth. Of the apostles, Peter is representative of the first age, Paul of the second, and John of the third. They may also be characterized as the age of the laity, the clergy, and the monks, and compared in respect of light with the stars, the moon, and the sun. The first six periods of the N.T. age are divided (after the pattern of the forty-two generations of Matt. i. and the forty-two months or 1260 days of Rev. xi. 2, 3) into forty-two shorter periods of thirty years each, so that the sixth period closes withA.D.1260, and then shall dawn the Sabbath period of the New Covenant as the age of the Holy Spirit. This will be preceded by a short reign of antichrist as a punishment for the corruptions of the church and clergy. By the labours of the monks, however, the church is at last purified and brought forth triumphant, and the life of holy contemplation becomes universal. The germs of antichrist were evidently supposed to lie in the Hohenstaufen empire of Frederick I. and Henry VI. The commentaries on Isaiah and Jeremiah went so far as to point to the person of Frederick II. as that of the antichrist.§ 108.6.Ghibelline Joachitesin Italy, mostly recruited from the Franciscans, sided with the emperor against the pope and adopted apocalyptic views to suit their politics, and regarded the papacy as the precursor of antichrist. One of their chiefs, Oliva, who died inA.D.1297, wrote aPostilla super Apoc., in which he denounced the Roman church of his day as the Great Whore of Babylon, and his scholar Ubertino of Casale saw in the beast that rose out of the sea (Rev. xiii.) a prophetic picture of the papacy.—In Germany these views spread among the Dominicans during the 13th century, especially in Swabia. The movement was headed by one Arnold. who wrote anEpistola de correctione ecclesiæaboutA.D.1246. He finds in Innocent IV. the antichrist and in Frederick II. the executioner of the Divine judgment and the inauguration of the reformation. Frederick’s death, which followed soon after inA.D.1250, and the catastrophe ofA.D.1268 (§96, 20), must have put an end to the whole movement.§ 108.7.Revolutionary Reformers.ThePetrobrusians, whose founder,Peter of Bruys, was a pupil of Abælard and a priest in the south of France, repudiated the outward or visible church and sought the true or invisible church in the hearts of believers. He insisted on the destruction of churches and sanctuaries because God could be worshipped in a stable or tavern, burnt crucifixes in the cooking stove, eagerly opposed celibacy, mass, and infant baptism, and after a twenty years’ career perished at the stake aboutA.D.1126 at the hands of a raging mob. One of Peter’s companions,Henry of Lausanne, whose fiery eloquence had been influential in inciting to reform, succeeded to the leadership of the Petrobrusians, who from him were calledHenricians. St. Bernard succeeded in winning many of them back. Henry was condemned to imprisonment for life, and died inA.D.1149.Arnold of Brescia, who died inA.D.1155, a preacher of great moral and religious earnestness, addressed himself to attack the worldliness of the church and the papacy. Except in maintaining that sacraments dispensed by unworthy priests have no efficacy, he does not seem to have deviated from the church doctrine. Officiating as reader in his native town, his bishop complained of him as a heretic to the second Lateran Council ofA.D.1139. His views were condemned, and he himself was banished and enjoined to observe perpetual silence. He now went to his teacher Abælard in France. Here St. Bernard accused him at the synod convened against Abælard at Sens inA.D.1141 (§102, 2) as “the armour-bearer” of this “Goliath-heretic,” and obtained the condemnation of both. He was then excommunicated by Innocent II. and imprisoned in a cloister. Arnold, however, escaped to Switzerland, where he lived and taught undisturbed in Zürich for some years, till Bishop Hermann of Constance, at the instigation of the Saint of Clairvaux, threatened him with imprisonment or exile. He was now taken under the protection of Guido de Castella, Abælard’s friend and patron, and accompanied him to Bohemia and Moravia. On Guido’s elevation as Cœlestine II. to the papal chair inA.D.1143, Arnold returned to his native land. FromA.D.1146 we find him in Rome at the head of the agitation for political and ecclesiastical freedom. For further details of his history, see §96, 13,14. A party of so-called Arnoldists occupied itself long after his death with the carrying out of his ecclesiastico-political ideal.§ 108.8.The so calledPastorelleswere roused to revolution by the miseries following the crusades. An impulse was given to the sect by the news of the imprisonment of St. Louis (§94, 6). A CistercianMagister Jacobfrom Hungary appeared inA.D.1251 with the announcement that he had seen the Mother of God, who gave him a letter calling upon the pastors to rescue the Holy Sepulchre. Those who have heard the Christmas message are called of God to undertake the great work which neither the corrupt hierarchy nor the proud, ambitious nobles were able to perform; but before them, the poor shepherds, the sea will open a way, so that they may hasten with dry feet to the release of king Louis. His fanatical harangues soon gathered immense crowds of common people around him, estimated at about 100,000 men. But instead of going to the Holy Land, they first gave vent to their wrath against the clergy, monks, and Jews at home by murdering, plundering, and ill treating them in all manner of ways. The queen-mother Blanca, favourable at first, now used all her power against them. Jacob was slain at Bourges, his troops scattered, and their leaders executed.In theApostolic Brotherswe have a blending of Arnoldist and Joachist tendencies. Their founder,Gerhard Segarelli, an artisan of Parma, was moved aboutA.D.1260 by the sight of a picture of the apostles in their poverty to go about preaching repentance and calling on the church to return to apostolic simplicity. He did not question the doctrine of the church. Only when Honorius inA.D.1286 and Nicholas IV. inA.D.1290 took measures against them did they openly oppose the papacy and denounce the Roman church as the apocalyptic Babylon. Segarelli was seized inA.D.1294 and perished in the flames with many of his followers inA.D.1300.Fra Dolcino, a younger priest, now took the leadership, and roused great enthusiasm by his preaching against the Roman antichrist. He bravely held his ground with 2,000 followers for two years in the recesses of the mountains, but was reduced at last inA.D.1307 by hunger, and died like his predecessor at the stake. He distinguished four stages in the historical development of the kingdom of God on earth. The first two are those of the Father and the Son in the O.T. and the N.T. The third begins with Constantine’s establishment of the Christian empire, advanced by the Benedictine rule and the reforms of the Franciscans and Dominicans, but afterwards falling into decay. The fourth era of complete restoration of the apostolic life is inaugurated by Segarelli and Dolcino. A new chief sent of God will rule the church in peace, and the Holy Spirit will never leave the restored communion of His saints. Remnants of the sect were long in existence in France and Germany, where they united with the Fraticelli and Beghards. Even inA.D.1374 we find a synod at Narbonne threatening them with the severest punishments.§ 108.9.Reforming Enthusiasts.A certainTanchelmaboutA.D.1115 preached in the Netherlands against the corruptions of the church. He claimed like honour with Christ as being assisted by the same Spirit, is said to have betrothed himself to the Virgin Mary, and to have been killed at last inA.D.1124 by a priest.A Frenchman,Eon de Stellaof Brittany, hearing in a church the words “perEumqui venturus est judicare vivos et mortuos,” and understanding it of his own name, went through the country preaching, prophesying, and working miracles. He secured many followers, and when persecuted, fled to the woods. He denied the Divine institution of the hierarchy, denounced the Roman church as false because of the wicked lives of the priests, rejected the doctrine of a resurrection of the body, denied that marriage was a sacrament, and regarded the communication of the Spirit by imposition of hands the only true baptism. InA.D.1148 troops were sent against him, and he and many of his followers were taken prisoners. His adherents were burnt, but Eon was brought before a synod at Rheims, where he answered the question of the pope Eugenius III., “Who art thou?” by sayingIs qui venturus est, etc. He was then pronounced deranged and delivered over to the custody of the archbishop.§ 108.10.The Waldensians.Their Origin.—A citizen of Lyons, named Valdez (Valdesius, Waldus, the Christian name of Peter, given to him first 120 years later, is quite unsupported), who had become rich by the practice of usury, an occupation condemned by the church, was aboutA.D.1173 deeply impressed by reading the legend of St. Alexius, and was in his spiritual anxiety directed by a theologian to the words of Christ to the rich young ruler in Matthew xix. 21. Making over to his wife only his landed property, and distributing all the rest of his possessions among the poor, and then, for further instruction in regard to the imitation of Christ required of him, having applied himself to the study of the gospels, the Psalter, and other biblical books, and a selection of classical passages translated for his use by two friendly priests out of the writings of the Fathers into the Romance dialect, he founded inA.D.1177, in company with certain men and women, who were prepared like himself to abandon the world and all its goods, a society for preaching the gospel among the people. In accordance with the Lord’s command to the seventy disciples (Luke x. 1-4), they went forth two and two in apostolic costume, in woollen penitential garments, without staff or scrip, their feet protected with merely wooden sandals (sabatas, sabots), preaching repentance, and proclaiming the gospel message of salvation throughout the land, in order to bring back again among the people the Christian life in its purity and simplicity. The Archbishop of Lyons prohibited their preaching; but they referred to Acts v. 29, and appealed, praying for a confirmation of their association, to the Third Lateran Council ofA.D.1179, under Alexander III., which, however, scornfully dismissed their appeal. As they nevertheless still continued to preach, Pope Lucius III., at the Council of Verona, inA.D.1184, laid them under the ban. They had hitherto no intention of offering any sort of opposition to the doctrine, worship, or constitution of the Catholic church. Even the Catholic authorities did not so much take offence at what they preached but rather only at this, that they without ecclesiastical call and authority had assumed the function of preaching. Innocent III., also, admitted the imprudence of his predecessor, and favoured the plan of a Waldensian who had left his brethren to transform the association of thePauperes de Lugdunointo the monastic-like lay union ofPauperes Catholici, to which inA.D.1208 he assigned the duties of preaching, expounding Scripture, and holding meetings for edification under episcopal supervision. But this concession came too late. Since the church had itself broken off the fetters which had previously bound them to the traditional faith of the Catholic church, the Leonists had gone too far upon the path of evangelical freedom to be satisfied with any such terms. Innocent now renewed the ban against them at the Fourth Lateran Council ofA.D.1215. Of the later life and work of the founder we know with certainty only this, that he made extensive journeys in the interests of his cause. Even during his lifetime (he died probably aboutA.D.1217) the members (socii) of the society (Societas Valdesiana) founded by him had spread themselves in great numbers over the whole of the south of France, the east of Spain, the north of Italy, and the south of Germany, and had even crossed the Channel into England. They were named, in accordance with their fundamental principle, as well as from the starting point of their apostolic mission,Pauperes de LugdunoorLeonistæ=from Lyons, also from the covering of their feet,Sabatati; but they styled themselves among one anotherfratresandsorores, and their adherents among the peopleamiciandamicæ; while the Catholic polemical writers, who for a similar class among the Cathari had employed the distinctive termsPerfectiandCredentes, made use of these designations in treating of the Waldensians. The latter continue “in the world,” that is, in the exercise of their family duties, and the discharge of civil obligations, and all the positions and entanglements connected therewith; while the former devoted themselves to a celibate life, to absolute poverty, to incessant preaching from place to place, and to unconditional refusal of all oathtaking, and a literal acceptance of all the precepts of the Sermon on the Mount, involving the rejection of any sort of fixed residence, and on the basis of Luke x. 7, 8, any handiwork that would earn for them the necessaries of life. They had their ownministrifor the administration of the sacraments; but these were elected onlyad tempus, namely once a year, simply for the discharge of that duty. At the head of the whole community down to his death stood the founder himself. He led the entire movement, received new members into thesocietas, and chose and ordained theministri.—The two most important sources for the primitive history of the Waldensian movement, mutually supplementing one another, are, theChronicon Laudunenseof an unnamed canon of Laon in theMon. Germ. Scrr.xxvi. 447, and the tractDe Septem Donis Spir. S.of the inquisitor Stephen de Borbone, who diedA.D.1261, which is given in full inde la Marche, Anecdotes historiques, etc., Paris, 1877.§ 108.11.Their Divisions.—One of the oldest, most important, and most reliable sources of information regarding the affairs of the old Waldensians was first published by Preger in 1875, in hisBeiträge z. Gesch. d. Waldensier im MA., namely, an epistle embodied by the “anonymous writer of Passau” in his heretic catalogue, from the “Poor Men of Italy” to their fellow believers in Germany,ad Leonistas in Alamannia, in which they give a report of the proceedings at a convention held at Bergamo inA.D.1218, with the deputies from “the ultramontane,” that is, the French, “Poor Men.” On the basis of this communication Preger has contested the view that the “Poor Men of Italy” were the Waldensians, and traces their origin rather to the working men’s association of theHumiliatithat had already sprung up in the eleventh century (§98, 7), which having even before this, by adopting Arnoldist ideas, become estranged from the Catholic church, came also into connection with Valdez, appropriated many of his opinions, and then entered into fraternal relations with the French Waldesians. This theory, as also no less the explanations connected therewith of the constitutional and doctrinal differences of the two parties, has been proved by Carl Müller in hisDie Waldensier u. ihre einzelne Gruppen bis Auf d. 14. Jhd.to be in many particulars untenable, and he has shown that the Waldensian origin of “the Poor Men of Lombardy” is witnessed to even by this epistle. The results of his researches are in the main as follows: The movement set on foot inA.D.1177 by Valdez of Lyons in the direction of an apostolic walk and conversation was transplanted at a very early period into northern Italy, and found there a favourable reception, especially in the ranks of the Humiliati. These, too, as well as Valdez, inA.D.1179, approached Alexander III. with the prayer to authorize their entering on such a vocation, but were also immediately repulsed, attached themselves then to the “Poor Men of Lyons,” submitting to the monarchical rule of their founder, and along with them, inA.D.1184, fell under the papal ban. Yet among the Lombards a strong craving after greater independence and freedom soon found expression, which asserted itself most decidedly in the claim to the right of their own independent choice and ordination of lifelong organs of government for their society, as well as for priestly services, which, however, Valdez, fearing a dissolution of the whole society from the granting of such partial independence, answered with a decided refusal. With equal decision did he insist upon the disbanding of those workmen’s associations for common production, which the Lombards, as formerly the Humiliati, formed from the laymen belonging to them, and forbade them even engaging in any handicraft which they had hitherto pursued alongside of their spiritual vocations, as inconsistent with the apostolic life according to the prescriptions of Christ in Luke x. Thus it came about, in consequence of the unyielding temper of both parties, that there was a formal split; for the Lombards appointed their own independentpræpositus, who, just like theirministricharged with the conduct of worship, held office for life. In the course of the year the split widened through the adoption of other divergences on the part of the Lombards. Yet after the death of the founder, aboutA.D.1217 they entered upon negotiations about a reunion, which found a hearty response also among the French. By means of epistolary explanations a basis for union in regard to those questions which had occasioned the separation had already been attained unto. The French granted to the Lombards independent election and ordination of their ministers for church government and worship, and allowed the appointment to be for life, while they also agreed to the continuance of their workmen’s associations. In May,A.D.1218, six brethren from the two parties were at Bergamo appointed to draw up definite terms of peace, and to secure a verbal explanation of other less important differences, which was also accomplished without difficulty. The whole peace negotiations, however, were ultimately shattered over two questions, which first came to the front during the verbal explanations: (i.) Over the question of the felicity of the deceased founder, which the Lombards were disposed to affirm only conditionally,i.e.in case he had been penitent before his death for the sins of which he had been guilty through his intolerant treatment of them, while the French would have it affirmed unconditionally; and (ii.) over the controversy about the validity of the dispensation of the sacrament of the altar by an unworthy person. On both sides they were thoroughly agreed in saying that not the priest, but the omnipotence of God, changed bread and wine in the Lord’s Supper into the body and blood of Christ. But while the French drew from this the conclusion that even an unworthy and wicked priest could truly and effectually administer the sacrament, the Italians persisted in the contrary opinion, and quoted Scripture and the writings of the Fathers to prove the correctness of their views.§ 108.12.Attempts at Catholicizing.—On the origin, character, and task of thePauperes Catholicireferred to above, the epistles of Pope Innocent III. regarding them afford us pretty accurate and detailed information. The first impulse toward their formation was given by a disputation with the French Waldensians held by Bishop Diego of Osma at Pamiers inA.D.1206, by means of which he succeeded, aided by the powerful co-operation of his companion St. Dominic, in persuading a number of the heretics to return to the obedience of the Catholic church. Among those converted on that occasion was the Spaniard Durandus of Osca (Huesca), who now laid before the pope the plan of forming from among the converted Waldensians a society of Catholic Poor Men under the oversight of the bishops, which, by appropriating and carrying out all the fundamental principles of the Waldensian system—apostolic poverty, apostolic dress, apostolic life, and apostolic vocation, according to Luke x.—would not only paralyse or outbid the ministry of the heretical Poor Men among the people, but would also open up the way for their own return and attachment again to the church. The pope approved of his plan, and confirmed the union founded by him inA.D.1208. The undertaking of Durandus seems to have been from the first not altogether without success in the direction intended. At least we find that Bernard Primus was encouraged one and a half years later to found a second similar society on essentially the same basis, which Innocent III. approved and confirmed. This later association was distinguished from the earlier only in this, that it allowed its members, besides their itinerant preaching and pastoral work, to engage also in their own handicraft. We are now led, by this difference, to the conclusion that, as the institution of Durandus issued from the bosom of the French Waldensians, that of Bernard had its origin among the groups of the Poor Men of Lombardy. This supposition is further confirmed when we observe that the latter, in drawing up its Catholic confession of faith, expressly abjures the formerly cherished conviction of the inefficacy of sacramental actions performed by unworthy priests. But the reason why both these unions, notwithstanding papal approval and support, failed to exert any permanent influence is to be sought pre-eminently in this, that, tainted as their reputation was with the memory of their former heresy, they were soon far outrun and overshadowed by the two great mendicant orders, which wrought with ampler means and appliances in the same direction.§ 108.13.The French Societies.—What these found fault with in the Catholic church was, not its dogmatics, to which, with the single exception of the doctrine of purgatory and all therewith connected, indulgence, masses for souls, foundations, alms, and works of piety on behalf of the dead, they firmly adhered; nor yet its liturgical institutions, which, with the exception of masses for souls, they left untouched; nor yet its hierarchical constitutionsper se, for they transferred its leading principles into their own organization: but it was simply this, that its clergy had become guilty of the deadly sin of assuming and exercising the apostolic prerogative without undertaking the obligations of apostolic poverty, the apostolic life, and the apostolic vocation, which alone warranted such assumption. But as they thus, nevertheless, firmly adhered to the Catholic principle of the validity of a sacrament administered even by an unworthy person, if only he had authority for doing so from the church, they could allow themselves, and specially their lay adherents, to take part in all Catholic services and acts of worship, without regarding themselves or their followers as under obligation to yield obedience to the pope and the bishops, or to recognise their spiritual jurisdiction, authority to inflict punishment, and right of arbitrary legislation in regard to fasts, festivals, impediments to marriage, etc.—As to the organization of the society, it is now perfectly clear that there was a threefold division of offices: bishops, presbyters, and deacons. Reception into theSocietas Fratrumwas consummated by the imparting of the ordination of deacon. This, however, was preceded by a longer or shorter novitiate,i.e.a period of trial and preparation for the apostolic vocation of preaching. The entrance into this novitiate (conversio) required the surrender of all property for the benefit of the poor, and on the part of those already married the abandonment of every form of marital relationship; and on reception into the brotherhood the vow of obedience to the superiors was exacted, as well as a vow of celibacy and chastity.—To the bishop, who as such was also calledministerandmajorormajoralis, belonged the right to administer the sacraments of penance and ordination, as well as the consecration of the eucharistic elements; he might preach wherever he chose, and he assigned to presbyters and deacons their spheres of labour. The presbyters, in addition to preaching, also heard confessions, imposed penance, and granted absolution, but did not administer the punishments imposed, for this was the exclusive function of the bishop.—The deacons were only to preach, but not to hear confession, and their special duty consisted in collecting contributions for the support of the brethren. That also women, on the basis of Titus ii. 3, 4, were admitted into these societies is an undoubted fact. Their position was essentially the same as that of the deacons; but the number of preaching sisters continued always relatively small.—After the death of the founder the society once a year chose from among the existing bishops tworectores, who now together administered that supreme government and high priesthood which had previously been exercised by the founder alone. It was, however, by-and-by found desirable to revert to the older monarchical constitution, but all through the 13th century this office was held only by a yearly tenure. The retiring bishops, however, received for life the rank and title ofmajor. But even over the rector stood thecommuneorcongregatio;i.e.the general chapter assembled once or twice in the year, in which the brethren of all the three orders had a seat and vote. The obligation to wear the apostolic dress, persistence in which would have in a very short time thrown all the brethren into the Moloch arms of the Inquisition, was abandoned soon after the erection of that tribunal inA.D.1232.—The lay adherents attracted by the preaching and pastoral activity of the brethren, the so-calledAmici, Fautores, Receptatores, were not organized as exclusive and independent communities, because their continued participation in the services and sacraments of the Catholic church was regarded as permissible. On the other hand, they maintained, as far as possible, regular intercourse with the brethren, who in various styles of dress visited them secretly, preached to them, exhorted and instructed them, prayed with them and said grace at their tables, heard their confessions, imposed penances and granted absolution, uttering the formula of absolution, however, not in the language of an absolute judicial proclamation, but as a supplication and fervent desire. TheAmiciwere allowed to make their Easter confession and observance of the Supper at the Catholic service. The brethren had of course also an independent celebration of the Lord’s Supper, which occurred only once a year, on Maundy Thursday, but was confined as a rule to the brothers and sisters there assembled. The profound acquaintance with Holy Scripture, especially the New Testament, not only among the preaching “brothers,” but also among their “friends,” many of whom knew by heart a large portion of the New Testament, was the subject of general remark and the occasion of astonishment. Besides Holy Scripture, the selection of patristic passages used by Valdez and theMoraliaof Gregory the Great were in high repute as means of instruction and edification.—The systematic efforts put forth fromA.D.1232 for the uprooting and extirpating of heresy wrought effectually among the French Waldensian “brethren” and “friends.” The remnants of them that survived the persecution were driven farther and farther into the remotest valleys of the western and eastern spurs of the Cottian Alps, into Dauphiné and Provence on the French side, and into Piedmont on the Italian side.—The most important sources are:Adv. Valdens. sectam, of Bernard Abbot of Fonscalidus, who died inA.D.1193;Doctrina de Moda Procedendi a Hæret.of the Inquisition at Carcassone and Toulouse ofA.D.1280; theconsultatioof Arch. Peter Amelius of Narbonne and the provincial synods held under him inA.D.1243, 1244; and the recently publishedPractica Inquisition.of the inquisitor Bernard Guidonis ofA.D.1321.—Continuation, §119, 9A.§ 108.14.A representation of the origin and character of the old Waldensian movement completely different from that given in the sources mentioned and used in the preceding sections, especially in reference to the French societies, has been current since the middle of the 16th century in the modern Waldensian tradition, and by means of falsified or misunderstood documents has been repeated by most Protestant historians down to and including U. Hahn. The investigations of Dieckhoff and Herzog first demolished for ever those fabulous creations of Waldensian mythology, though more recent Waldensian writers,e.g.Hudry-Ménos, but not Comba, seek still tenaciously to assert their truth. According to these traditions, long before the days of Waldus of Lyons there were Waldensian,i.e.Vallensian communities in the valleys of Piedmont, the “Israel of the Alps,” the bearers of pure gospel truth, whose origin was to be traced back at least to Claudius of Turin, while others fondly carried it back to the Apostle Paul, who on his journey to Spain (Rom. xv. 24) may have also visited the Piedmontese valleys. It was to them that Peter of Lyons owed his spiritual awakening and his surname of Waldus,i.e.the Waldensian. For proof of this assertion we are referred to a pretty copious manuscript literature said to be old Waldensian, written in a peculiar Romance dialect, deposited in the libraries of Geneva, Dublin, Cambridge, Zürich, Grenoble, and Paris. Upon close and unprejudiced examination of these literary pieces, of which the oldest portion cannot possibly claim an earlier date than the beginning of the 14th century, it has become quite apparent that these, in so far as they are not fabrications or interpolations, do not afford the least grounds for justifying those Waldensian fantasies. This view is further corroborated by the fact, that the most careful and thorough investigator in this department, Carl Müller, confidently maintains the conviction and shows the basis on which it rests, “that the whole so-called Waldensian literature of the pre-Hussite period has been without exception derived from Catholic and not from Waldensian sources.” The falsifications in this reputed old Waldensian group of writings referred to, by means of interpolation, omission, and alteration in the tracts belonging to that collection, as well as the forging of new writings, and that simply for the purpose of vindicating for their society the mythical fame of a primitive, independent, and ever pure evangelical church, first found place after the Protestantizing of the Romance or Piedmontese Waldensians, and were thereafter successfully turned to accountbonaormala fideby their historians, Perrin, Leger, Muston, Monastier, etc. In theNobla laiczon(=lectio),e.g.a religious doctrinal poem, in the statement ofvv.6, 7, that since the origin of the New Testament writings 1,400 years had passed (mil e 4 cent anz) the figure 4 was erased, so that it might appear to be an ascertained fact that inA.D.1100, seventy years before the appearance of Waldus, there were already Waldensian communities in existence. But when, inA.D.1862, the Morland manuscripts, which had been lost for 200 years, were again discovered in Cambridge library, there was found among them a copy of theNobla laiczon, in which before the wordcentan erasure was observable, in which the outlines of the loop of the Arabic numeral 4 were still clearly discernible. In another piece contained in this collection the passage referred to was quoted as “mil e CCCC anz.” Hussite writings translated from the Bohemian were also palmed off as genuine Waldensian works of the earlier centuries, and were in addition provided with the corresponding date. A manuscript of the New Testament at Zürich was assigned to the 12th century; but on more careful scrutiny it was shown that the writer must have had before him the Greek Testament of Erasmus. But the most glaring case of falsification is seen in the “Waldensian Confession of Faith,” first adduced by Perrin as evidence of the faith of the old Waldensians, to which a later hand had ascribed as the date of its composition the year 1120.It copies almost word for word the utterances of Bucer as given in Morel’s report of his negotiations with that divine and Œcolampadius. In this way a new stamp has been put upon the doctrinal articles of the old Waldensians.320§ 108.15.The Lombard-German Branch.—In regard to the Lombards themselves, since the epistle of Bergamo we have only scanty reports, and these are found in the treatise of Monata, of 1240,Adv. Catharos et Valdenses, and in theSumma de Catharis et Leonistisof the Dominican inquisitor Rainerius Sacchoni, of 1250. We have ampler accounts, however, from their German mission-field, which had already extended so far as to stretch from the Rhine provinces into Austria. From the time of the unsuccessful endeavours at Bergamo to effect a union between the two principal groups, there was, so far as we are aware, no further intercourse between the two. On the other hand, the German Waldensians during the 13th and 14th centuries maintained a pretty regular communication with their Italian brethren.—In general, too, the Lombards continued, along with their German offspring, to hold firmly by the fundamental tenets of the primitive Waldensian faith. Their preaching brothers and sisters were also called in GermanyMeister(magistri) andMeïsterinnen, the men alsoApostlesandTwelve-Apostles, or, since also there, next to preaching, they had as their most essential and important spiritual function the administration of the sacrament of penance,Beichtiger(bihter), confessors. The view that had been already so vigorously maintained at Bergamo, that a priest guilty of mortal sin, and such in their eyes were all Catholic priests, could not efficaciously administer any sacrament, led them naturally to assume a much freer attitude toward the Catholic church, which summed itself up in the radical principle, that everything connected with that church which cannot be shown from the New Testament to have been expressly taught and enjoined by Christ or His apostles, is to be set aside as an unevangelical human addition. This position however was insisted upon by them less in criticism and confutation of the church doctrine than in opposition to the practices of the church as a whole. In consequence of this criticism, they, transcending far the mere negations of the French, rejected not only all church festivals, beyond the simple Sunday festival, not only all processions and pilgrimages, all ceremonies, candles, incense, holy water, images, liturgical dress and cloths, all consecrations and blessing of churches, bells, burying grounds, candles, ashes, palms, robes, salt, water, etc., but also the centre and climax of all Catholic worship, the mass; not only of purgatory and everything in church practice that had sprung from it, not only ban and interdict, but also invocation of saints, image and relic worship, etc. Yet all the masters did not go equally far in this negative direction. Especially during the second half of the 13th century a remarkable reaction set in against the severity and exclusiveness of that negation, because increasing persecution obliged them to withdraw into secrecy as much as possible with their confession and their specifically Waldensian forms of worship, or to suspend their services altogether, and indeed, to save themselves from the suspicion of heresy, to allow to themselves and their lay adherents liberty to engage in the services of the Catholic church, and to submit to the indispensable demands of the church, such as the attendance at mass, making confession, and taking the communion at Easter. They held indeed firmly by the principle,Quod sacerdos in mortali peccato sacramentum non possit conficere, but they comforted themselves by the assurance already expressed at Bergamo, that the Lord Himself directly gives to the worthy communicant who, in case of need, receives the sacrament from the hand of an unworthy priest, what by him cannot be communicated, for the transubstantiation is effected notin manu indigne conficientis, butin ore digne sumentis. Thus during the times of oppression they kept their own observance of the supper quite in abeyance, the dispensation of which was not among them, as among the French, restricted to the masters; but on this account they laid all the greater weight on the necessity of confession to their own clergy as those who could alone give absolution. Also the prohibition of all oaths as well as bloodshedding, therefore also of military service, and the acceptance of magisterial and judicial offices, was strictly adhered to.—A peculiar adaptation of the Roman Catholic tradition of the baptism and donation of Constantine, which seems to have found no acceptance among the French, became a favourite legend among all the Lombard and German Waldensians. According to it the ancient church had existed for three hundred years in apostolic humility, simplicity, and poverty. But when the Roman bishop Sylvester was endowed by the emperor Constantine the Great with such superabundance of worldly might, riches, and honour, the period of general decline from the apostolic pattern set in. Only one of his fellow clergy protested, and was, when all enticements and threatenings proved of no avail, driven away along with his adherents. The latter increased and spread by-and-by over the earth. After a violent persecution, which had almost cut off all of them, Peter Waldus made his appearance with his companion, John of Lyons, as the restorer of the apostolic life and calling, etc. To this there was subsequently attached another legend. The brethren had previously based their right to discharge all priestly functions with the greatest confidence simply on their apostolic life, and so they could not conceal from themselves at a later period the fact that the want of continued apostolic succession, on which the Catholic church rested the claims of their priests, would place the Waldensian masters very much in the shade as compared with the Catholics. They began, therefore, not only to claim that their founder Waldus had been previously a Roman presbyter, but also to devise the fable of a bishop or even a cardinal of the Romish church, through whose favour that defect had been overcome.—Continuation, §119, 9.§ 108.16.Relations between the Waldensians and Older and Contemporary Sects.—Owing to the extraordinarily lively and zealous propagandist activity of the sects at the time of the origin and early development of the Waldensian movement, there can scarcely be a doubt that the latter, after it had freed itself from all obligation of obedience to the pope and bishops, and had been driven out by them, must at various points have come into close relations with the other sects which, like it, had risen in rebellion against the papacy and the hierarchy, and like it had been persecuted by these. The numerous sect of the Cathari holds a conspicuous position in this connection. That Waldus and his companions must have decidedly repudiated the dualistic principles which all these otherwise greatly diverging Catharist sects had in common is indeed quite self-evident; but this by no means prevented them from recognising and appropriating such particular institutions, forms of organization or modes of worship, peculiar moral requirements, etc., practised by them as might seem fitted to further their own ends. And that this actually was done, many noticeable points of agreement between the two plainly indicate. Thus on both sides we find a similar division of members, thePerfectiandCredentescorresponding to theFratresandAmici, and the kind of spiritual care which the former took of the latter, the grace at table said by the itinerant preachers, the importance attached to the possession and use of bread that had been blessed by the brethren, the frequent use by both of the Lord’s Prayer, the rejection of purgatory and everything connected therewith, also the prohibition of swearing and of military service, the refusal of the magisterialjus gladii, etc. On the other hand, however, it is more than probable that at last the remnants of the Cathari which escaped the Inquisition in great part had found refuge among the Waldensians in the valleys of the Cottian Alps, and there became assimilated and amalgamated with them (§119, 9A).—Further, the assumption that the Lombard Waldensians had first reached the principle by which they are distinguished from their French brethren, about the incapacity of unworthy priests for dispensing the sacraments, from outside influences, perhaps from the Arnoldists, is raised almost to a certainty by the statement made by their deputies at Bergamo inA.D.1218, that they had even themselves in earlier times held the opposite view.—Even the pantheistic tendency of an Amalrich and the Brethren of the New Spirit may have found entrance among the German Waldensians, and have there given origin to the sect of the Ortlibarians.
§ 108.1.The Cathari.—Opposition to hierarchical pretensions led to the spread of sects, especially in Northern Italy and France, from the 11th century. Hidden remnants of Old Manichæan sects got new courage and ventured into the light during the period of the crusades. In France they were called Tisserands, because mostly composed of weavers. In Italy they were called Patareni or Paterini, either from the original meaning of the word, rabble, riff-raff (§97, 5), or because they so far adopted the attitude of the Pasaria of Milan, as to offer lay opposition to the local clergy, or because of the frequent use of the Paternoster. Of later origin are the names Publicani and Bulgări, given as opprobrious designations to the Paulicians. The most widely current name of Cathari, from early times a favourite title assumed by rigorist sects (§ 41, 3), had its origin in the East. In France they were called Albigensians, from the province of Albigeois, which was their chief seat in Southern France.—Of theWritings of the Cathariwe possess from the end of the 13th century a Provençal translation of the N.T., free from all falsification in favour of their sectarian views. Their tenets are to be learnt only from the polemical writings of their opponents, Alanus ab Insulis (§102, 5), the Dominican Joh. Moneta, aboutA.D.1240, and Rainerius, Sacchoni, Dominican and inquisitor, aboutA.D.1250.
§ 108.2. Besides their opposition to the hierarchy, all these sects had in common a dualistic basis to their theological systems. They held in a more or less extreme form the following doctrines: The good God who is proclaimed in the N.T. created in the beginning the heavenly and invisible world, and peopled it with souls clothed in ethereal bodies. The earthly world, on the other hand, is the work of an evil spirit, who is held up as object of worship in the O.T. Entering the heavenly world he succeeded in seducing some of its inhabitants, whom he, when defeated by the archangel Michael, took with him to earth, and there imprisoned in earthly bodies, so as to make return to their heavenly home impossible. Yet they are capable of redemption, and may, on repentance and submission to purificatory ordinances, be again freed from their earthly bonds and brought home again to heaven. For this redemption the good God sent “the heavenly man” Jesus (1 Cor. xv. 47) to earth in the appearance of man to teach men their heavenly origin and the means of restoration. The Cathari rejected the O.T., but accepted the N.T., which they read in the vernacular. Marriage they regarded as a hindrance to Christian perfection. They treated with contempt water baptism, the Supper, and ordination, as well as all veneration of saints and relics, and tolerated no images, crosses, or altars. Prayer, abstinence, and baptism of the Spirit were regarded as the only means of salvation. Preaching was next to prayer most prominent in their public services. They also laid great stress upon fasting, genuflection, and repetitions of stated formulæ, especially the Lord’s Prayer. Their members were divided intoCregentz(credentesor catechumens) andBos homesorBos crestias(boni homines, boni Christiani=perfectiorelecti). A lower order of the catechumens were theAuditores. These were received asCredentesafter a longer period of training amid various ceremonies and repetition of the Lord’s prayer, etc. The order of thePerfectiwas entered by spiritual baptism, theConsolamentumor communication of the Holy Spirit as the promised Comforter, without which no one can enjoy eternal life. Even opponents such as St. Bernard admit that there was great moral earnestness shown by some of them, and many met a martyr’s death with true Christian heroism. Symptoms of decay appeared in the spread among them of antinomian practices. This moral deterioration showed itself as a radical part of this system in the so-calledLuciferiansor devil worshippers, whose dualism, like that of the Euchites and Bogomils (§ 71), led to the adoption of two Sons of God. Lucifer the elder, wrongly driven from heaven, is the creator and lord of this earthly world, and hence alone worshipped in it. His expulsion (Isa. xiv. 12) is carried out by the younger son, Michael, who will, however, on this account, whenever Lucifer regains heaven, be sent with all his company into eternal punishment. Of an incarnation of God, even of a docetic kind, they know nothing. They regarded Jesus as a false prophet who was crucified on account of the evil he had done.—Catharist sects suspected of Manichæan tendencies were discovered here and there during the 11th century. In the following century their number had increased enormously, and they spread over Lombardy and Southern France, but were also found in Southern Italy, in Germany, Belgium, Spain, and even in England. They had a pope residing in Bulgaria, twelve magistri and seventy-two bishops, each with aFilius majorandminorat his side. InA.D.1167 they were able to muster an œcumenical Catharist Council at Toulouse. Neither clemency nor severity could put them down. St. Bernard prevailed most by the power of his love, and subsequently learned Dominicans had more effect with their preaching and disputations. They found abundant opportunity of displaying their hatred of the papacy during the struggles of the Guelphs and Ghibellines. In spite of terrible persecution, which reached its height in the beginning of the 13th century in the Albigensian crusade (§109, 1), remnants of them were found down into the 14th century.
§ 108.3. The small sect of thePasagiansin Lombardy during the 12th century, protesting against the Manichæan depreciation of the O.T. of the Catharists, adopted views of a somewhat Ebionite character. With the exception of sacrifice, they enforced all the old ceremonial observances, even circumcision, and held an Arian or Ebionite theory of the Person of Christ. Their name meaning “passage,” seems to refer to pilgrimages to the Holy Land, and possibly from this a clue to their origin may be obtained.
§ 108.4.Pantheistic Heretics.
§ 108.5.Apocalyptic Heretics.—The Cistercian abbotJoachim of Floris, who died inA.D.1202, with his notions of the so called “Everlasting Gospel,” as a reformer and as one inclined to apocalyptic prophecy, followed in the footsteps of Hildegard of Bingen and Elizabeth of Schönau (§107, 1). His prophetic views spread among the Franciscans and were long unchallenged. InA.D.1254 the University of Paris, warning against the begging monks (§103, 3), got Alexander IV. to condemn these views as set forth in commentaries on Isaiah and Jeremiah ascribed to Joachim, but now found to be spurious. Preger doubts but, Reuter maintains the genuineness of the three tracts grouped under the title of theEvangelium æternum. The main points in his theory seem to have been these: There are three ages, that of the Father in the O.T., of the Son in the N.T., and of the Holy Spirit in the approaching fulness of the kingdom of God on earth. Of the apostles, Peter is representative of the first age, Paul of the second, and John of the third. They may also be characterized as the age of the laity, the clergy, and the monks, and compared in respect of light with the stars, the moon, and the sun. The first six periods of the N.T. age are divided (after the pattern of the forty-two generations of Matt. i. and the forty-two months or 1260 days of Rev. xi. 2, 3) into forty-two shorter periods of thirty years each, so that the sixth period closes withA.D.1260, and then shall dawn the Sabbath period of the New Covenant as the age of the Holy Spirit. This will be preceded by a short reign of antichrist as a punishment for the corruptions of the church and clergy. By the labours of the monks, however, the church is at last purified and brought forth triumphant, and the life of holy contemplation becomes universal. The germs of antichrist were evidently supposed to lie in the Hohenstaufen empire of Frederick I. and Henry VI. The commentaries on Isaiah and Jeremiah went so far as to point to the person of Frederick II. as that of the antichrist.
§ 108.6.Ghibelline Joachitesin Italy, mostly recruited from the Franciscans, sided with the emperor against the pope and adopted apocalyptic views to suit their politics, and regarded the papacy as the precursor of antichrist. One of their chiefs, Oliva, who died inA.D.1297, wrote aPostilla super Apoc., in which he denounced the Roman church of his day as the Great Whore of Babylon, and his scholar Ubertino of Casale saw in the beast that rose out of the sea (Rev. xiii.) a prophetic picture of the papacy.—In Germany these views spread among the Dominicans during the 13th century, especially in Swabia. The movement was headed by one Arnold. who wrote anEpistola de correctione ecclesiæaboutA.D.1246. He finds in Innocent IV. the antichrist and in Frederick II. the executioner of the Divine judgment and the inauguration of the reformation. Frederick’s death, which followed soon after inA.D.1250, and the catastrophe ofA.D.1268 (§96, 20), must have put an end to the whole movement.
§ 108.7.Revolutionary Reformers.
§ 108.8.
§ 108.9.Reforming Enthusiasts.
§ 108.10.The Waldensians.
§ 108.11.
§ 108.12.
§ 108.13.
§ 108.14.
A representation of the origin and character of the old Waldensian movement completely different from that given in the sources mentioned and used in the preceding sections, especially in reference to the French societies, has been current since the middle of the 16th century in the modern Waldensian tradition, and by means of falsified or misunderstood documents has been repeated by most Protestant historians down to and including U. Hahn. The investigations of Dieckhoff and Herzog first demolished for ever those fabulous creations of Waldensian mythology, though more recent Waldensian writers,e.g.Hudry-Ménos, but not Comba, seek still tenaciously to assert their truth. According to these traditions, long before the days of Waldus of Lyons there were Waldensian,i.e.Vallensian communities in the valleys of Piedmont, the “Israel of the Alps,” the bearers of pure gospel truth, whose origin was to be traced back at least to Claudius of Turin, while others fondly carried it back to the Apostle Paul, who on his journey to Spain (Rom. xv. 24) may have also visited the Piedmontese valleys. It was to them that Peter of Lyons owed his spiritual awakening and his surname of Waldus,i.e.the Waldensian. For proof of this assertion we are referred to a pretty copious manuscript literature said to be old Waldensian, written in a peculiar Romance dialect, deposited in the libraries of Geneva, Dublin, Cambridge, Zürich, Grenoble, and Paris. Upon close and unprejudiced examination of these literary pieces, of which the oldest portion cannot possibly claim an earlier date than the beginning of the 14th century, it has become quite apparent that these, in so far as they are not fabrications or interpolations, do not afford the least grounds for justifying those Waldensian fantasies. This view is further corroborated by the fact, that the most careful and thorough investigator in this department, Carl Müller, confidently maintains the conviction and shows the basis on which it rests, “that the whole so-called Waldensian literature of the pre-Hussite period has been without exception derived from Catholic and not from Waldensian sources.” The falsifications in this reputed old Waldensian group of writings referred to, by means of interpolation, omission, and alteration in the tracts belonging to that collection, as well as the forging of new writings, and that simply for the purpose of vindicating for their society the mythical fame of a primitive, independent, and ever pure evangelical church, first found place after the Protestantizing of the Romance or Piedmontese Waldensians, and were thereafter successfully turned to accountbonaormala fideby their historians, Perrin, Leger, Muston, Monastier, etc. In theNobla laiczon(=lectio),e.g.a religious doctrinal poem, in the statement ofvv.6, 7, that since the origin of the New Testament writings 1,400 years had passed (mil e 4 cent anz) the figure 4 was erased, so that it might appear to be an ascertained fact that inA.D.1100, seventy years before the appearance of Waldus, there were already Waldensian communities in existence. But when, inA.D.1862, the Morland manuscripts, which had been lost for 200 years, were again discovered in Cambridge library, there was found among them a copy of theNobla laiczon, in which before the wordcentan erasure was observable, in which the outlines of the loop of the Arabic numeral 4 were still clearly discernible. In another piece contained in this collection the passage referred to was quoted as “mil e CCCC anz.” Hussite writings translated from the Bohemian were also palmed off as genuine Waldensian works of the earlier centuries, and were in addition provided with the corresponding date. A manuscript of the New Testament at Zürich was assigned to the 12th century; but on more careful scrutiny it was shown that the writer must have had before him the Greek Testament of Erasmus. But the most glaring case of falsification is seen in the “Waldensian Confession of Faith,” first adduced by Perrin as evidence of the faith of the old Waldensians, to which a later hand had ascribed as the date of its composition the year 1120.It copies almost word for word the utterances of Bucer as given in Morel’s report of his negotiations with that divine and Œcolampadius. In this way a new stamp has been put upon the doctrinal articles of the old Waldensians.320
§ 108.15.
§ 108.16.