A History of The Inquisition of The Middle Ages

Chapter 134

So far was Pierre Jean Olivi from partic.i.p.ating in these rebellious movements that he wrote a tract to prove the legality of Celestin"s abdication and Boniface"s succession (Franz Ehrle, Archiv f. L. u. K. 1887, p. 525).

[42] Angel. Clarin. Epist. (Archiv fur Litt.-u. Kirchengeschichte, 1885, pp. 522-3, 527-9).--Hist. Tribulat. (Ibid. 1886, pp. 314-18).--Franz Ehrle (Ibid. 1886, p. 335.) Franz Ehrle identifies the refuge of the Spirituals with the island of Trixonia in the Gulf of Corinth (Ibid. 1886, pp. 313-14).

[43] Angel. Clarin. Epist. (op. cit. 1885, 529-31).--Hist. Tribulat. (Ib. 1886, 320-6).--Wadding. ann. 1302, No. 8; 1307, No. 2-4.

[44] Cantu, Eretici d"Italia, I. 129.--Comba, La Riforma in Italia, I. 314.

A specimen of Jacopone"s attacks on Boniface will show the temper of the times-- "Ponesti la tua lingua Contra religione A dir blasfemia Senza niun cagione.

O pessima avarizia Sete induplicata, Bever tanta pecunia E non esser saziata!" (Comba, op. cit. 312.) There is doubtless foundation for the story related by Savonarola in a sermon, that Jacopone was once brought into the consistory of cardinals and requested to preach, when he solemnly repeated thrice, "I wonder that in consequence of your sins the earth does not open and swallow you."--Villari, Fra Savonarola, II. Ed. T. II. p. 3.

[45] Hist. Tribulat. (loc. cit. pp. 311-13).

[46] Wadding. ann. 1302, No. 1-3, 7; ann. 1310, No. 9.--Franz Ehrle (Archiv fur Litt-u. K. 1886, p. 385).

[47] Wadding, ann. 1278, No. 27-8.--Franz Ehrle, Archiv f. L. u. K. 1887, pp. 505-11, 528-9.

When Geronimo d"Ascoli attained the papacy he was urged to prosecute Olivi, but refused, expressing the highest consideration for his talents and piety, and declaring that his rebuke had been merely intended as a warning (Hist. Trib. loc. cit. 1886, p. 289).

[48] Wadding, ann. 1282, No. 2; ann. 1283, No. 1; ann. 1285, No. 5; ann. 1290, No. 11; ann. 1292, No. 13; ann. 1297, No. 33-4.--Chron. Gla.s.sberger ann. 1283.--Hist. Tribulat. (loc. cit. pp. 294-5).--Franz Ehrle, Archiv, 1886, pp. 383, 389; 1887, pp. 417-27, 429, 433, 438, 534.--Raym. de Fronciacho (Archiv, 1887, p. 15).

Olivi"s death is commonly a.s.signed to 1297, but the Transitus Sancti Patris, which was one of the books most in vogue among his disciples, states that it occurred on Friday, March 14, 1297 (Bernard. Guidon. Practica P. v.); Friday fell on March 14 in 1298, and the common habit of commencing the year with Easter explains the subst.i.tution of 1297 for 1298.

His bones are generally said to have been dug up and burned a few months after interment, by order of the general, Giovanni di Murro (Tocco, op. cit. p. 503). Wadding, indeed, a.s.serts that they were twice exhumed (ann. 1297, No. 36). Eymerich mentions a tradition that they were carried to Avignon and thrown by night into the Rhone (Eymerici Direct. Inquis. p. 313). The cult of which they were the object shows that this could not have been the case, and Bernard Gui, the best possible authority, in commenting on the Transitus states that they were abstracted in 1318 and hidden no one knows where--doubtless by disciples to prevent the impending profanation of exhumation.

[49] Wadding. ann. 1291, No. 13; 1297, No. 35; 1312, No. 4.--Lib. Sententt. Inq. Tolos. pp. 306, 319.--Coll. Doat. XXVII. fol. 7 sqq.--Lib. I. Clement, i. 1.--Tocco, op. cit. pp. 509-10.--MSS. Bib. Nat. No. 4270, fol. 168.--Franz Ehrle (ubi sup. 1885, p. 544; 1886, pp. 389-98, 402-5; 1887, pp. 449, 491).--Raymond de Fronciacho (Archiv, 1887, p. 17).

The traditional wrath of the Conventuals was still strong enough in the year 1500 to lead the general chapter held at Terni to forbid, under pain of imprisonment, any member of the Order from possessing any of Olivi"s writings.--Franz Ehrle (ubi sup. 1887, pp. 457-8).

[50] Hist. Tribulat. (loc. cit. pp. 288-9).--Coll. Doat, XXVII. fol. 7 sqq.--Lib. Sententt. Inq. Tolos. pp. 306, 308.--Bernard. Guidon. Practica P.Y.

[51] Hist. Tribulat. (loc. cit. pp. 300-1).--Tocco, pp. 489-91, 503-4.

Wadding (ann. 1297, No. 33-5) identifies Pons Botugati with St. Pons Carboneth, the ill.u.s.trious teacher of St. Louis of Toulouse. Franz Ehrle (Archiv fur L. u. K. 1886, p. 300) says he can find no evidence of this, and the author of the Hist. Tribulat., in his detailed account of the affair, would hardly have omitted a fact so serviceable to his cause.

[52] Baluz. et Mansi II. 249-50.--Bern. Guidon. Pract. P. v.--Doat, XXVII. fol. 7 sqq.--Bern. Guidon. Vit. Johann. PP. XXII. (Muratori S. R. I. III. II. 491).--Wadding. ann. 1325, No. 4.--Alvar. Pelag. de Planctu Eccles. Lib. II. art. 59.--Baluz. et Mansi II. 266-70.

[53] Franz Ehrle (Archiv f. L. u. K. 1886, pp. 368-70, 407-9).--Wadding. ann. 1297, No. 36-47.--Baluz. et Mansi II. 276.

Tocco (Archivio Storico Italiano, T. XVII. No. 2.--Cf. Franz Ehrle, Archiv fur L. u. K. 1887, p. 493) has recently found in the Laurentian Library a MS. of Olivi"s Postil on the Apocalypse. It contains all the pa.s.sages cited in the condemnation, showing that the commission which sat in judgment did not invent them, but as it is of the fifteenth century it does not invalidate the suggestion that his followers interpolated his work after his death.

[54] Concil. Biterrens. ann. 1299 c. 4 (Martene Thesaur. IV. 226).--Ubertini Declaratio (Archiv f. Litt.-u. K. 1887, pp. 183-4).

[55] Pelayo, Heterodoxos Espanoles, I. 450-61, 475, 590-1, 726-7, 772.--M. Flac. Illyr. Cat. Test. Veritatis, pp. 1732 sqq. (Ed. 1603).

[56] Pelayo, I. 454, 458, 464-6, 468-9, 730-1, 779.--Franz Ehrle, Archiv fur Litt.-und Kirchengeschichte, 1886, 327-8.

[57] Pelayo, I. 460, 464-8, 739-45.

[58] Pelayo, I. 470-4, 729, 734.--D"Argentre I. II. 417.--Du Puy, Histoire du Differend, Pr. 103.

One of the charges against Bernard Delicieux, in 1319, was that of sending to Arnaldo certain magic writings to encompa.s.s the death of Benedict. A witness was found to swear that this was the cause of Benedict"s death.--MSS. Bib. Nat., fonds latin, No. 4270, fol. 12, 50, 51, 61.

[59] Pelayo, I. 481, 772.

[60] Hist. Tribulationum (Archiv fur Litt.-u. K. 1886, I. 129).--Pelayo, I. 481-3, 773, 776.--Wadding. ann. 1312, No. 7.--Cf. Trithem. Chron. Hirsaug. ann. 1310; P. Langii Chron. Citicens. ann. 1320.

[61] Franz Ehrle (Archiv fur Litt.-u. K. 1886, pp. 380-1, 384, 386; 1887, p. 36).--Raym. de Fronciacho (Ib. 1887, p. 18).--Eymerich p. 316.--Angeli Clarini Litt. Excus. (Archiv, 1885, pp. 531-2).--Wadding. ann. 1210, No. 6.--Regest. Clement. (PP. V.T.V. pp. 379 sqq. Romae, 1887).

At the same time that the general, Gonsalvo, was seeking to repress the acquisitiveness of the friars they were procuring from the Emperor Henry VII. a decree annulling a local statute of Nuremberg which forbade any citizen from giving them more than a single gold piece at a time, or a measure of corn.--Chron. Gla.s.sberger ann. 1310.

[62] Archiv fur L. u. K. 1887, pp. 93 sqq.--Hist. Tribulat. (Ibid. 1886, pp. 130, 132-4).--Ehrle (Ibid. 1866, pp. 366, 380).--Wadding. ann. 1310, No. 1-5.--Chron. Gla.s.sberger ann. 1310.--Ubertini de Casali Tract. de septem Statibus Ecclesiae c. iv.

[63] Ubertini Responsio (Archiv fur L. u. K. 1887, p. 87).--Baluz. et Mansi II. 278--Franz Ehrle (Archiv fur L. u. K. 1885, pp. 541-2, 545; 1886, p. 362).--Hist. Tribulat (Ibid. 1886, pp. 138-41).--C. 1, Clement, v. 11.--Wadding. ann. 1312, No. 9; ann. 1313, No. 1.--Chron. Gla.s.sberger ann. 1312.--Alvar. Pelag. de Planct. Eccles. Lib. II. art. 67.

[64] Jordan. Chron. c. 326 Partic. iii. (Muratori Antiq. XI. 767).--Hist. Tribulat. (Archiv, 1886, 140-1).--Franz Ehrle (Ibid. 1886, pp. 158-64; 1887, pp. 33, 40).--Raym. de Fronciacho (Ib. 1887, p. 27).

[65] Hist. Tribulat. (loc. cit. pp. 139-40).--Lami, Antichita Toscane, pp. 596-99.--Franz Ehrle, Archiv, 1885, pp. 156-8.--Joann. S. Victor. Chron. ann. 1319 (Muratori S. R. I. III. II. 479).--Wadding. ann. 1313, No. 4-7.--D"Argentre I. I. 297.--Arch. de l"Inq. de Carca.s.s. (Doat, XXVII. fol. 7 sqq.).--Raym. de Fronciacho (Archiv, 1887, p. 31).

Fra Francesco del Borgo San Sepolcro, who was tried by the Inquisition at a.s.sisi in 1311 for a.s.suming gifts of prophecy, was probably a Tuscan Joachite who refused submission (Franz Ehrle, Archiv fur L. u. K. 1887, p. 11).

[66] Franz Ehrle (Archiv f. L. u. K. 1885, pp. 534-9, 553-5, 558-9, 561, 563-4, 566-9; 1887, p. 406).--S. Francisci Prophet. XIV. (Opp. Ed. 1849, pp. 270-1).--Chron. Gla.s.sberger ann. 1502, 1506, 1517.

[67] Franz Ehrle (Archiv fur Litt.-u. K. 1886, pp. 371, 411).--Arch. de l"Inq. de Carca.s.sonne (Doat, XXVII. fol. 7 sqq.).

[68] Franz Ehrle (loc. cit. 1886, pp. 160-4).--Wadding. ann. 1316, No. 5.

[69] Villani, Chronica, Lib. XI. c. 20.--Chron. Gla.s.sberger ann. 1334.--Vitodurani Chron. (Eccard. Corp. Hist. Med. aevi I. 1806-8).--Friedrich, Statut. Synod. Wratislav., Hannoverae, 1827, pp. 37, 38, 41.--Grandes Chroniques, V. 300.--Guillel. Nangiac. Contin. ann. 1326.--The collection of papal briefs relating to Saxony recently printed by Schmidt (Pabstliche Urkunden und Regesten, pp. 87-295) will explain the immense sums raised by John XXII. from the sale of canonries. It is within bounds to say that more than half the letters issued during his pontificate are appointments of this kind.

The accounts of the papal collector for Hungary in 1320 show the thoroughness with which the first-fruits of every petty benefice were looked after, and the enormous proportion consumed in the process. The collector charges himself with 1913 gold florins received, of which only 732 reached the papal treasury. (Theiner, Monumenta Slavor. Meridional. I. 147).

[70] Jo. de Ragusio Init. et Prosecut. Basil. Concil. (Monument. Concil. Saec. XV. T.I. p. 32).--Revelat. S. Brigittae; Lib. VII. c. viii.

[71] Wadding. ann. 1317, No. 9-14.--Hist. Tribulation. (Archiv fur L. u. K. 1886, p. 142).--Joann. S. Victor. Chron. ann. 1311, 1316 (Muratori S. R. I. III. II. 460, 478).

[72] Hist. Tribulat. (ubi sup. pp. 142-44, 151-2).--Franz Ehrle, Archiv, 1887, p. 546.

[73] Hist. Tribulat. (Ibid. pp. 145-6).--Raym. de Fronciacho (Ib. 1887, p. 29).

[74] Coll. Doat, x.x.xIV. 147.--Extrav. Joann. XXII. t.i.t. XIV. cap. 1.

[75] Baluz. et Mansi II. 248-51.--Hist. Tribulat. (loc. cit. p. 147).

[76] Raym. de Fronciacho (Archiv f. L. u. K.. 1887, p. 31).--Baluz. et Mansi II. 248-51, 271-2.--Joaun. S. Victor. Chron. ann. 1319 (Muratori S. R. I. III. II. 478-9).--MSS. Bib. Nat., fonds latin, No. 4270, fol. 188, 262. Bernard, however, in his examination, denied these allegations as well as Olivi"s tenet that Christ was alive when lanced upon the Cross, although he said some MSS. of St. Mark so represented him (fol. 167-8).

Of the remainder of those who were tried at Ma.r.s.eilles the fate is uncertain. From the text it appears that at least some of them were imprisoned. Others were probably let off with lighter penances, for in 1325 Blaise Boerii, a shoemaker of Narbonne, when on trial before the Inquisition of Carca.s.sonne, confessed that he had visited, in houses at Ma.r.s.eilles, three of them at one time and four at another, and had received them in his own house and had conducted them on their way.--Doat, XXVII. 7 sqq.

[77] Baluz. et Mansi II. 270-1, 274-6.--Extravagant. Joann. XXII. t.i.t. VII.--Mag. Bull. Roman. I. 193.

[78] Guill. Nangiac. Contin. ann. 1317.--Coll. Doat, XXVII. 7 sqq., 170; x.x.xV. 18.--Lib. Sententt. Inq. Tolos. pp. 301, 312, 381.

The case of Raymond Jean ill.u.s.trates the life of the persecuted Spirituals. As early as 1312 he had commenced to denounce the Church as the Wh.o.r.e of Babylon, and to prophesy his own fate. In 1317 he was one of the appellants who were summoned to Avignon, where he submitted. Remitted to the obedience of his Order, he was sent by his superior to the convent of Anduse, where he remained until he heard the fate of his stancher companions at Ma.r.s.eilles, when he fled with a comrade. Reaching Beziers, they found refuge in a house where, in company with some female apostates from the Order, they lay hid for three years. After this Raymond led a wandering life, a.s.sociating for a while with Pierre Trencavel. At one time he went beyond seas; then returning, he adopted the habit of a secular priest and a.s.sumed the cure of souls, sometimes in Gascony and again in Rodez or east of the Rhone. Captured at last in 1325 and brought before the Inquisition of Carca.s.sonne, after considerable pressure he was induced to recant. His sentence is not given, but doubtless it was perpetual imprisonment.--Doat, XXVII. 7 sqq.

[79] Raynald ann. 1322, No. 51.--Archivio di Firenze, Prov. del Convento di Santa Croce, Feb. 1322.--S. Th. Aquin. Summ. Sec. Sec. Q. Lx.x.xVIII. Art. xi.; Q. CLx.x.xVI. Art. viii. ad 3.--Franz Ehrle (Archiv fur Litt.-u. Kirchengeschichte, 1887, p. 156).--Lib. Sententt. Inq. Tolos. pp. 300, 313, 381-93.--Coll. Doat, XXVII., XXVIII.--Mosheim de Beghardis pp. 499, 632.--Vaissette, IV. 182-3.--Wadding. ann. 1317, No. 45.--Hist. Tribulat. (loc. cit. p. 149).--Arch. de l" Inq. de Carca.s.s. (Doat, XXVII. 162).--Johann. S. Victor. Chron. ann. 1316-19.

[80] Lib. Sententt. Inq. Tolosan. pp. 320, 325.--Wadding. ann. 1317, No. 23.--Coll. Doat, XXVII. 7 sqq.

[81] Lib. Sententt. Inq. Tolosan. pp. 298-99, 302-6, 316.--Bern. Guidon. Practica P. v.--Doat, XXVII. 7 sqq.--Johann. S. Victor. Chron. ann. 1316-19 (Muratori S.R.I. III. II. 478-9).

[82] Doat, XXVII. 7 sqq.--Lib. Sententt, Inq. Tolos. pp. 305, 307, 310, 383-5.--Bern. Guidon. Practica P. v.

[83] Lib. Sententt. Inq. Tolos. pp. 303, 309, 326, 330.--Bern. Guidon. Practica P. v.--Franz Ehrle (op. cit. 1885, pp. 540, 543, 557),--Raym. de Fronciacho (Ib.) 1887, p. 29.--Guillel. Nangiac. Contin. ann. 1330.--Wadding. ann. 1341, No. 21, 23.

A subdivision of the Italian Fraticelli took the name of Brethren of Fray Felipe de Mallorca (Tocco, Archivio Storico Napoletano, 1887, Fasc. 1).

[84] Coll. Doat, XXVII. 7 sqq., 95.

[85] Bern. Guidon. Practica P. v.

[86] Doat, XXVII. 156, 170, 178, 215; x.x.xII. 147.

[87] Concil. Tarraconens. ann. 1297 c. 1-4 (Martene Ampl. Coll. VII. 305-6).--Eymeric. pp. 265-6.--Raynald. ann. 1325, No. 20.--Mosheim de Beghardis p. 641.--Pelayo, Heterodoxos Espanoles, I. 777-81, 783.--For the fate of Arnaldo de Vilanova"s writings in the Index Expurgatorius, see Reusch, Der Index der verbotenen Bucher, I. 33-4. Two of the tracts condemned in 1316 have been found, translated into Italian, in a MS. of the Magliabecchian Library, by Prof. Tocco, who describes them in the Archivio Storico Italiano, 1886, No. 6, and in the Giornale Storico della Lett. Ital. VIII. 3.

[88] Pelayo, Heterodoxos Espanoles, I. 500-2.--Jo. de Rupesciss. Vade mec.u.m (Fascic. Rer. Expetend. et Fugiend. II. 497).--Froissart, Liv. I. P. ii. ch. 124; Liv. III. ch. 27.--Rolewink Fascic. Temp. ann. 1364.--Mag. Chron. Belgic. (Pistorii III. 336).--Meyeri Annal. Flandr. ann. 1359.--Henr. Rebdorff. Annal. ann. 1351.--Paul aemylii de Reb. Gest. Francor. (Ed. 1569, pp. 491-2).--M. Flac. Illyr. Cat. Test. Veritat. Lib. XVIII. p. 1786 (Ed. 1608).

[89] Wadding. ann. 1357, No. 17.--Pelayo, op. cit. I. 501-2.

[90] Fascic. Rer. Expetend. et Fugiend. II. 494-508.

[91] Fuesslins neue u. unpartheyische Kirchen-u. Ketzerhistorie, Frankfurt, 1772, II. 63-66.

[92] Chron. Gla.s.sberger ann. 1466 (a.n.a.lecta Franciscana II. 422-6).

[93] Constance, daughter of Bela III. of Hungary, was second wife of Ottokar I. of Bohemia, who died in 1230 at the age of eighty. She died in 1240, leaving three daughters, Agnes, who founded the Franciscan convent of St. Januarius in Prague, which she entered May 18, 1236; Beatrice, who married Otho the Pious, of Brandenburg, and Ludomilla, who married Louis I. of Bavaria. Guglielma can scarce have been either of these (Art de Ver. les Dates, VIII. 17). Her disciple, Andrea Saramita, testified that after her death he journeyed to Bohemia to obtain reimburs.e.m.e.nt of certain expenses; he failed in his errand, but verified her relationship to the royal house of Bohemia (Andrea Ogniben, I Guglielmiti del Secolo XIII., Perugia, 1867, pp. 10-11).--On the other hand, a German contemporary chronicler a.s.serts that she came from England (Annal. Dominican. Colmariens. ann. 1301--Urstisii III. 33).

[94] Ogniben, op. cit. pp. 56, 73-5, 103-4.

[95] Ogniben, op. cit. pp. 12, 20-1, 35-7, 69, 70, 74, 76, 82, 84-6, 101, 104-6, 116.

Dr. Andrea Ogniben, to whom we are indebted for the publication of the fragmentary remains of the trial of the Guglielmites, thinks that Maifreda di Pirovano was a cousin of Matteo Visconti, through his mother, Anastasia di Pirovano (op. cit. p. 23). The Continuation of Nangis calls her his half-sister (Guillel. Nangiac. Contin. ann. 1317).

[96] Ogniben, op. cit. pp. 30, 44, 115.--Salimbene Chronica, pp. 274-6.--Chron. Parmens. ann. 1279 (Muratori S. R. I. IX. 791-2).--Zanchini Tract. de Haeret. c. xxii.

[97] Ogniben, op. cit. pp. 20-1, 25-6, 31, 36, 49-50, 56-7, 61, 72-3, 74, 93-4, 104, 116.--Tamburini, Storia dell" Inquisizione, II. 17-18.

[98] Ogniben, op. cit. pp. 21, 25, 30. 36, 55, 70, 72, 96, 101.

[99] Ogniben, op. cit. pp. 17, 20, 22, 23, 30, 34, 37, 40, 42, 47, 54, 62, 72, 80, 90, 94, 96.

[100] Ogniben, op. cit. pp. 65-7, 83-4, 90-1, 110.--Ugbelli, T. IV. pp. 286-93 (Ed. 1652).--Raynald. ann. 1324, No. 7-11.

[101] Philip. Bergomat. Supplem. Chron. ann. 1298.--Bern. Corio Hist. Milanes. ann. 1300.

[102] Ogniben, op. cit. pp. 1, 2, 34, 74, 110.--Tamburini, op. cit. II. 67-8.

[103] Ogniben, pp. 14, 23, 33, 36, 39, 60, 72, 101, 110, 114.

[104] Ibid. pp. 13, 30-33, 39.

[105] Ogniben, pp. 21, 40, 42, 78-9.

Dionese de" Novati deposed (p. 93) that Maifreda was in the habit of saying that Boniface was not truly pope, and that another pontiff had been created. We have seen that the Spiritual Franciscans had gone through the form of electing a new pope. There was not much in common between them and the Guglielmites, and yet this would point to some relations as existing.

[106] Compare Andrea"s first examination, July 20 (Ogniben, op. cit. pp. 8-13), and his second, Aug. 10 (pp. 56-7), with his defiant a.s.sertion of his belief, Aug. 13 (pp. 68-72). So, Maifreda"s first interrogatory, July 31 (pp. 23-6), with her confession, Aug. 6, and revelation of the names of her worshippers (pp. 33-5). Also, Giacobba dei Ba.s.sani"s denial, Aug. 3, and confession, Aug. 11 (p. 39). It is the same with those not relapsed. See Suor Agnese dei Montanari"s flat denial, Aug. 3, and her confession, Aug. 11 (pp. 37-8).

[107] Ogniben, pp. 19-20, 77, 91.

[108] Ogniben, pp. 42-4, 63, 67-8, 81-2, 91-2, 95-6, 97, 100, 110, 113, 115-16.

[109] Spiritual eccentricities, such as those of the Guglielmites, are not to be regarded as peculiar to any age or any condition of civilization. The story of Joanna Southcote is well known, and the Southcottian Church maintained its existence in London until the middle of the present century. In July, 1886, the American journals reported the discovery, in Cincinnati, of a sect even more closely approximating to the Guglielmites, and about as numerous, calling themselves Perfectionists, and believing in two married sisters--a Mrs. Martin as an incarnation of G.o.d, and a Mrs. Brooke as that of Christ. Like their predecessors in Milan the sect is by no means confined to the illiterate, but comprises people of intelligence and culture who have abandoned all worldly occupation in the expectation of the approaching Millennium--the final era of the Everlasting Gospel. The exposure for a time broke up the sect, of which some members departed, while others, with the two sisters, joined a Methodist church. Their faith was not shaken, however, and in June, 1887, the church expelled them after an investigation. One of the charges against them was that they held the Church of the present day to be Babylon and the abomination of the earth. England has also recently had a similar experience in a peasant woman of not particularly moral life who for some fifteen years, until her death, September 18, 1886, was regarded by her followers as a new incarnation of Christ. Her own definition of herself was, "I am the second appearing and incarnation of Jesus, the Christ of G.o.d, the Bride, the Lamb"s Wife, the G.o.d-Mother and Saviour, Life from Heaven," etc., etc. She signed herself "Jesus, First and Last, Mary Ann Girling." At one time her sect numbered a hundred and seventy-five members, some of them rich enough to make it considerable donations, but under the petty persecution of the populace it dwindled latterly to a few, and finally dispersed. Aberrations of this nature belong to no special stage of intellectual development. The only advance made in modern times is in the method of dealing with them.

[110]

"O glorioso stare In nihil quietato! Lo" intelletto posato E l"affetto dormire!

Annichilarsi bene Non e potere humano Anzi e virtu divina!"

(Comba, La Riforma in Italia, I. 310.) [111] Salimbene, pp. 112-13.

[112] Salimbene, pp. 114-16.

[113] Concil. Lugdun. ann. 1274 c. 23.--Salimbene, pp. 117, 119, 329-30.--Concil. Herbipolens. ann. 1287 (Harduin. VII. 1141).--Lib. Sententt. Inq. Tolosan. p. 360.

[114] Salimbene, pp. 114-16.

[115] Salimbene, pp. 117, 371.--Mag. Bull. Rom. I. 158.--At the same time Honorius approved the Orders of the Carmelites and of St. William of the Desert (Raynald. ann. 1286, No. 36, 37).

[116] Mag. Bull. Rom. I. 158.--Chron. Parmens. ann. 1294 (Muratori S. R. I. IX. 826).--Hist. Tribulat. (Archiv fur Litt.-u. Kirchengeschichte, 1886, p. 130).--Addit. ad Hist. Frat. Dulcini (Muratori IX. 450).

[117] Hist. Tribulat. (ubi sup.).--Ubertini Responsio (Archiv f. L. u. K. 1887, p. 51).

[118] Salimbene, pp. 113, 117, 121.--Lib. Sententt. Inq. Tolos. pp. 360-1.--Muratori S. R. I. IX. 455-7.--Bern. Guidon. Practica P. v.--Eymeric. P. II. Q. 11.

The test of continence was regarded with horror by the inquisitors, and yet when practised by St. Aldhelm it was considered as proof of supereminent sanct.i.ty (Girald. Cambrens. Gemm. Eccles. Dist. II. c. XV.). The coincidence, in fact, is remarkable between the perilous follies of the Apostles and those of the Christian zealots of the third century, as described and condemned by Cyprian (Epist. IV. ad Pompon.).

[119] Muratori IX. 449-53.--Guill. Nangiac. Contin. ann. 1306.--R. Fran. Pipini Chron. cap. XV. (Muratori, IX. 599).--Cf. Lib. Sententt. Inq. Tolos. p. 360.--Pelayo, Heterodoxos Espanoles, I. 720.

[120] Hist. Tribulat. (ubi sup.).