To combat heretics the church always employed many of the same techniques: An Inquisition, ex-communication, banishment, and now even branding and taking away their rights to almost anything. All were successful to points in their various times and this time the methods worked well as well. The marking of and slandering of all who may… Continue reading →
Some believe that the Cathars and Waldensians were similar because they were both considered “heretics” by the church, but this is not the case. The Cathar’s thrived mostly in northern Italy and southern France. Originally, its’ ascetic priests set very few guidelines but one of the main characteristics of this movement were that they believed… Continue reading →
The Gregorian era ignited new movements of reformation giving raise to new heretical ideas. Madigan explains that while for centuries there was no evidence of popular heresy, things changed between the 11th and the 12th century. The reformation’s goal was to eradicate simony and unchastely corrupted priests. Two clergy critics moved from permissible denunciation, to… Continue reading →
Madigan describes two types of reform movements that became associated with heresy. The first type of reform movement had characteristics that were so completely different from orthodox Christianity that it was more than obvious that it included heretics. The groups in this category held different theological and cosmological opinions that were radically different with those… Continue reading →
