The Wandering Heretics of Languedoc

by Caterina Bruschi

• ISBN13: 9780521873598
• ISBN10: 0521873592
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2009-07-20
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

How should historians read sources which record inquisitorial trials in the Middle Ages? How can we understand the fears felt by those on trial? By analyzing six volumes of depositions in the trial of Cathar and Waldensian heretics in Languedoc between the late twelfth and the fourteenth century, Caterina Bruschi challenges old methodologies in the study of dissent. She examines the intrinsic narratological problems related to the sources and, using approaches from the social sciences, analyses the different fears felt by deponents and how those fears affected their actions and decisions. In so doing, she sheds new light on itinerancy within the ecclesial structure of non-conformist movements and contextualizes the problem of itinerancy as a benchmark for the definition of heresy. Focusing on the lives and attitudes of trial witnesses, this innovative account is a major contribution to our understanding of the nature of religious non-conformity in the Middle Ages.

Table of Contents

Introduction

Stories, and how to read them

Catharism and its mobility

Heretical itinerancy

Patterns of fear and risk

Conclusions (and starting points

Bibliography

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