Academic literature on the topic 'Christian heresies History Middle Ages, 600-1500'

The fight against heresy in medieval Europe has fascinated scholars for centuries. Innumerable books, movies, and even video games have been made about this struggle to combat heresy in the Middle Ages. Despite this apparent fascination with the subject, our understanding of medieval heretics and the inquisitors who prosecuted them remains murky. What we do know is that many medieval people lost their lives, while others were punished with imprisonment or excommunication. We also know that many others dedicated their lives to rooting out what they believed was the evil of heresy among the populace. And we know that fear of the spread of heresy was rampant within the later medieval Church. But what constituted heresy? Who were the people accused as heretics? And why were they accused? These are questions that are still debated and discussed within the scholarly community. As a contribution to the study of heresy, I have chosen to analyze one particular document and its author. This document, the Compilatio de Novu Spiritu, written by Albertus Magnus around 1273, consists of a list of ninety-seven heretical beliefs attributed to heretics in the Swabian Ries. It has been previously studied as marking the beginning of the "Free Spirit" heresy. However, many of the previous assumptions about the heresy of the Free Spirit have been questioned by more recent scholarship, including whether the sect existed at all. Instead, the heresy of the Free Spirit is now generally acknowledged to be closely related to medieval mysticism, and practiced by only a few individuals or possibly small groups. Therefore, the significance of the Compilatio has changed. I will re-examine the document, analyzing it not as a precursor to a later religious movement that preached that souls united with God can act with moral impunity, but as a window into the mind of its inquisitorial author, Albertus Magnus. The intent of this study is to better understand the thinking of the inquisitors who fought against heresy, focusing particularly on the Compilatio and its author, Albertus Magnus (c.1200 - 1280). The methodology of the study of heresy has elicited significant debate among historians, and these issues need to be addressed prior to an analysis of this document. Therefore, I will discuss the historiography of medieval heresy and address the major disagreements within the field in this introduction. In Chapter 1, I set forth as historical background the religious situation in medieval Europe at the time the Compilatio was written. The medieval Church spent considerable time and resources in the struggle against heresy, so I will also examine the Church's response to heresy in this chapter. In the second chapter, I address how Albertus responded to the statements enumerated in the document and in particular, the manner in which he cites early church heresies. Lastly, in the final chapter, I explore how Albertus Magnus used early church writers such as Augustine and Gregory for substantiation throughout the document. Specifically, I analyze how Augustine, Gregory, and Albertus treat the sin of pride.

In this thesis I argue that Jordan of Saxony (d. 1237), Master of the Order of Preachers, fostered a culture of openness toward the participation of women in the religious life of the Dominican order. This is demonstrated, in part, through the study of the nature of Jordan's support for Diana d'Andalò (d. 1236) and her convent of Sant'Agnese and his presentation of female pastoral care in the Libellus, his history of the order. The argument is also developed by means of a chronologically-informed reading of Jordan's letters, which explores his use of familial language, his employment of the topoi of spiritual friendship, and the significance he attributes to the role of religious women's prayer in the order's evangelical mission. Jordan's friendship with Diana d'Andalò and her convent of Sant'Agnese is well-known, if not necessarily well-explored. It is usually treated as a case apart from the order's increasing hostility to the pastoral care of religious and devout women, which gained momentum over the course of Jordan's tenure. This thesis seeks to break down this compartmentalized view by articulating not only the close parallels between Jordan's perception of friars and nuns within the order, but also the way in which he extended bonds of mutual religious commitment to religious women outside the order. As such, this study also intends to contribute to a growing historiography that explores the various ways in which medieval men and women participated together in religious life.

Co-tutelle de thèse Université Paris I Panthéon-Sorbonne / Université Libre de Bruxelles, sous la direction conjointe de Michel KAPLAN (Université Paris I Panthéon-Sorbonne) et de Jean-Marie SANSTERRE (Université Libre de Bruxelles)

L’épiscopat constitue un fondement essentiel mais méconnu de l’Église mésobyzantine. Malgré la relative rareté des sources, il est possible d’en retracer l’histoire et les grandes évolutions :une part importante de l’hagiographie de l’iconoclasme et post-iconoclaste concerne en effet métropolites et évêques, témoignant du lien fort existant entre ceux-ci et le peuple des cités dont ils ont la charge, particulièrement quand ils sont considérés saints par la population. De nombreuses sources épistolaires, ecclésiastiques et sigillographiques, émanant des évêques eux-mêmes, permettent d’approcher les réalités du corps épiscopal et celles de la société provinciale qu’il représente auprès des autorités centrales. L’évêque apparaît également comme le relais des volontés impériale et patriarcale dans les provinces de l’Empire. Dans un contexte de compétition de pouvoir avec les autorités locales, l’évêque tente ainsi d’imposer le sien propre, dans ses aspects spatiaux, sociaux, religieux et symboliques.

L’approche collective et les approches individuelles de l’épiscopat doivent permettre de comprendre les réalités sociales d’un Empire de plus en plus centré sur sa capitale et dont sont progressivement détachées, du moins dans les sources, les périphéries. Une histoire décentrée de l’Empire byzantin passe dès lors par des études régionales mais aussi par des études consacrées à des groupes sociaux enracinés dans tout l’Empire, surtout lorsque, comme les évêques, ils revendiquent la spécificité de leur région et leur attachement à une société provinciale qui constitue le socle de l’Empire.

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The episcopate is an essential structure of the middle-Byzantine Church ;however, it remains little known. Although sources are limited, its history and evolution can still be reconstructed, as a large portion of the iconoclastic and post-iconoclastic hagiography deals with metropolitans and bishops. The sources reveal the strong connection between bishops and the inhabitants of the cities under their responsibility, especially when the population considers them as saints. Numerous epistolary, ecclesiastic and sigillographic documents issued by bishops themselves partially unveil the realities of the episcopal group and the provincial society that bishops represent to the central authorities. The bishop also serves as relay of both imperial and patriarchal wills to the provinces of the Empire. Competing with local authorities, the bishop thus tries to impose his own influence in its spatial, social, religious and symbolic dimensions.

Both collective and individual approaches of the episcopate make the social realities of the Empire more understandable, as it becomes more and more focused on its capital city while its peripheries gradually move away, which documentation seems to imply. Regional studies, but also studies focused on social groups established across the whole Empire, are the fundamentals of a decentred history of the Byzantine Empire. This is especially true since social groups such as bishops claim the specificity of their regions and their link to a provincial society that represents the cornerstone of the Empire.
Doctorat en Histoire, art et archéologie
info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished