The Beguines of Medieval Świdnica: The Interrogation of the "Daughters of Odelindis" in 1332 9781914049125, 9781800109148, 9781800109155

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Heresy and Inquisition in the Middle Ages Volume 11

THE BEGUINES OF MEDIEVAL ŚWIDNICA

YORK MEDIEVAL PRESS York Medieval Press is published by the University of York’s Centre for Medieval Studies in association with Boydell & Brewer Limited. Our objective is the promotion of innovative scholarship and fresh criticism on medieval culture. We have a special commitment to interdisciplinary study, in line with the Centre’s belief that the future of Medieval Studies lies in those areas in which its major constituent disciplines at once inform and challenge each other. Editorial Board (2023) Peter Biller, Emeritus (Dept of History): General Editor Tim Ayers (Dept of History of Art): Co-Director, Centre for Medieval Studies Henry Bainton: Private scholar K. P. Clarke (Dept of English and Related Literature) K. F. Giles (Dept of Archaeology) Shazia Jagot (Dept of English and Related Literature) Holly James-Maddocks (Dept of English and Related Literature) Harry Munt (Dept of History) L. J. Sackville (Dept of History) Elizabeth M. Tyler (Dept of English and Related Literature): Co-Director, Centre for Medieval Studies Hanna Vorholt (Dept of History of Art) Sethina Watson (Dept of History) J. G. Wogan-Browne (English Faculty, Fordham University) Stephanie Wynne-Jones (Dept of Archaeology) All enquiries of an editorial kind, including suggestions for monographs and essay collections, should be addressed to: The Academic Editor, York Medieval Press, Department of History, University of York, Heslington, York, YO10 5DD (E-mail: [email protected]) Heresy and Inquisition in the Middle Ages ISSN 2046–8938 Series editors John H. Arnold, Faculty of History, University of Cambridge Peter Biller, Department of History, University of York L. J. Sackville, Department of History, University of York Heresy had social, cultural and political implications in the Middle Ages, and countering heresy was often a central component in the development of orthodoxy. This series publishes work on heresy, and the repression of heresy, from late antiquity to the Reformation, including monographs, collections of essays and editions of texts. Previously published volumes in the series are listed at the back of this volume.

The Beguines of Medieval Świdnica The Interrogation of the “Daughters of Odelindis” in 1332

Tomasz Gałuszka and Paweł Kras Translated into English by Stephen C. Rowell with a preface by Robert E. Lerner and a contribution by Letha Böhringer

Y ORK MEDIEVAL P RE S S

© Tomasz Gałuszka and Paweł Kras 2023 Translation © Stephen Rowell 2023 All rights reserved. Except as permitted under current legislation no part of this work may be photocopied, stored in a retrieval system, published, performed in public, adapted, broadcast, transmitted, recorded or reproduced in any form or by any means, without the prior permission of the copyright owner The right of Tomasz Gałuszka and Paweł Kras to be identified as the authors of this work has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 “The Swesteren of Odelindis of Pyrzyce (Piritz) and of Cologne and their European Context” © Letha Böhringer 2023 First published 2023 A York Medieval Press publication in association with The Boydell Press an imprint of Boydell & Brewer Ltd PO Box 9, Woodbridge, Suffolk IP12 3DF, UK and of Boydell & Brewer Inc. 668 Mt Hope Avenue, Rochester, NY 14620–2731, USA website: www.boydellandbrewer.com and with the Centre for Medieval Studies, University of York www.york.ac.uk/medieval-studies ISBN 978-1-914049-12-5 hardback ISBN 978-1-80010-914-8 ePDF The book is published with financial support from the National Programme for the Development of the Humanities, operated by the Polish Ministry of Education and Science, Grant Agreement No. 0156/NPRH8/H21/87/2019 (2019–2022), which enabled editorial work on the text and translation of the book into English.

A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library The publisher has no responsibility for the continued existence or accuracy of URLs for external or third-party internet websites referred to in this book, and does not guarantee that any content on such websites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate Cover image: the painting of Świdnica dated 1695 in the Cathedral Church of St Stanislaus and St Wenceslas in Świdnica (courtesy of F. Grzywacz)

Contents Note from the Series Editors Acknowledgements Foreword by Robert E. Lerner Abbreviations

vi viii xi xv

Part One: Historical Studies

Preface

3

1.

The Rise of the Beguines

20

2.

The Council of Vienne and the Persecution of Beguines

37

3.

John of Schwenkenfeld OP and the Interrogations of Świdnica Beguines 57

4.

The Daughters of Odelindis: Identity and Religious Practice

73

5.

A Dominican Inquisitor and the Theological Controversies of His Times

104

Conclusions

145



Part Two: Latin Edition and English Translation of the 1332 Protocol



Description of the Manuscripts

151



Critical Study

157



Editorial Principles

165



Edition and translation of Examinatio testium in causa Capuciatarum monialium in Swydnicz

168

The Swesteren of Odelindis of Pyrzyce (Piritz) and Cologne and their European Context  ​Letha Böhringer

258

Bibliography 272 Index 295

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Note from the Series Editors To some greater or lesser extent, any study of medieval heresy makes visible not only religious nonconformity but also both the dynamics of orthodox repression and some broader contours of spiritual life and pious enthusiasm, particularly the enthusiasms of the laity. In the particular case of the current book, all three elements – heresy, repression, lay spirituality – are notably in play. The beguines were a loosely connected movement of laywomen who spontaneously took up a self-directed and quasi-monastic form of religious life. We find them from the very late twelfth century onward in the towns of Northern Europe, particularly in the Low Countries and in German-speaking lands. They are, among other things, a strong testament to a persistent strand of self-directed and apostolically inspired lay piety. While they initially received strong support from a variety of reformist ecclesiastics, by the early fourteenth century suspicions had arisen among some in the Church that strands of this self-directed piety had given rise to the so-called heresy of the ‘Free Spirit’ – the notion that a transcendent piety freed one’s spirit from any wrongdoing, no matter how shocking to normal Christian morality. Inquisitors gained testimony from certain witnesses that attested to shocking ideas and practices among certain groups of beguines and beghards (the male equivalents to the female communities), particularly in relation to sexual amorality. However, as Robert E. Lerner then demonstrated some decades ago, these fourteenth-century inquisitors were in large part generating the ideas and evidence by their own processes, constructing a heretical ‘sect’ of the Free Spirit by imposing the very language of papal condemnation: a perfect circle of suspicion, denunciation, and attestation. The current book brings to an anglophone audience a tremendously important and absolutely fascinating set of trial records, those produced by the inquisitor John of Schwenkenfeld in trials conducted in 1332 in the Polish town of Świdnica, in which we find the testimonies of sixteen beguine women (‘Hooded Sisters’ as they seem to have been known locally). As Paweł Kras and Tomasz Gałuszka explain in their Preface, these records have been known by specialists for some long time, albeit understood in rather different ways, some interpretations distorting rather considerably what the trial evidence actually demonstrates. With this new scholarly edition and English translation, the detail of the material is now made accessible to all. Through their initial chapters, Kras and Gałuszka additionally provide wider scholarly context, giving us an overview of the beguine movement, a close study of the particular connections and inspirations of the Świdnica ‘Hooded Sisters’, and in Chapter Five – whose principal author was Gałuszka – a detailed analysis

vi

Note from the Series Editors of the orthodox theological context for John of Schwenkenfeld’s inquisitorial enquiries. An earlier version of the current book was originally published in Polish in 2017 (2nd edn 2018). This English edition has benefitted from some updating and emendations by Kras and Gałuszka, and from two new components: a Preface from Robert E. Lerner and an additional chapter contributed by Letha Böhringer that provides important detail regarding beguines in Cologne, and in particular Odelindis of Pyrzyce (Piritz), who seems to have inspired the Świdnica group. We, as series editors, are delighted to be able to bring this work to an anglophone audience, and we are most grateful to all who have contributed to the project.

vii

Acknowledgements The idea of writing this book originated at the workshop on ‘The Religious Movements in Medieval Poland’, hosted in April 2013 by the John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin. During a round-table debate attended by a number of outstanding Polish scholars, including Jerzy Kłoczowski, Urszula Borkowska, and Hanna Zaremska, the records of the 1332 interrogations of the Świdnica (Schweidnitz) beguines attracted particular attention. All the participants agreed that the 1332 trial records constitute a unique source for studying the operations of the papal inquisition in Poland, established in 1318. They also offer a valuable insight into the doctrine, practice, and domestic life of a small beguine community whose members called themselves ‘the Daughters of Odelindis’ or ‘the Hooded Sisters’. The records of the 1332 interrogations carried out by a tribunal chaired by John of Schwenkenfeld, Dominican lector in Świdnica and papal inquisitor in Silesia, are preserved in two medieval manuscripts. The original record of the testimonies given by sixteen women was produced by Nicholas de Pencwynsdorph, Wrocław clerk and notary public, shortly after the end of the 1332 trial. In unknown circumstances, in the late fourteenth century, this notarial instrument was delivered to the Papal Curia, and later became part of the Vatican Library, catalogued under the shelf mark Vat. Lat. 13119. A fifteenth-century copy of the 1332 trial record was commissioned by one of the Cracow cathedral canons, and is currently preserved in the Archives of the Cracow Cathedral Chapter under the shelf mark LA 37. For more than a century, the 1332 testimonies concerning the beguine community of Świdnica were available to scholars only in the Cracow copy which was published by Cracow historian Bolesław Ulanowski in 1889. The Vatican manuscript remained unknown until the 1950s, when it was catalogued for the first time and made accessible to researchers. Oddly enough, even though a couple of Polish and other scholars did draw attention to the Vatican manuscript, for the next sixty years no effort was made to research this unique source material systematically and produce its critical edition. Actually, only Robert E. Lerner, who examined the manuscript in the late 1960s, noticed that it differs significantly from the Cracow manuscript published by Ulanowski. During the 2013 workshop, it was stressed that a critical edition of the 1332 interrogations based on the Vatican manuscript should become a research priority in the years to come. The primary stimulus to work on the edition came from Izabela Skierska (1968–2014), a great medievalist of our generation, who died prematurely before our research project was brought to fruition (the Polish volume published in 2017 was dedicated to her memory). viii

Acknowledgements In autumn 2013 we decided to work together on the history of the beguine community in Świdnica and study the two manuscripts in order to produce a Latin–Polish edition of the 1332 records. Our team was joined by Adam Poznański, who agreed to translate the Latin depositions of the protocol into Polish. In 2014 our research project was submitted to the Polish National Science Centre and granted funding a year later. During two years of research, we consulted the manuscripts in the Vatican Library and in the Archives of the Cracow Cathedral Chapter, and worked in various international libraries which provided us with access to abundant literature concerning the history of medieval beguines and their organization, doctrine, and spirituality. During our work we experienced the amazing generosity of a number of Polish and foreign scholars who shared with us their expertise and supplied us with source materials. Without their friendly and very substantial assistance, the successful completion of our project would have been much harder or even impossible. Thanks to colleagues who responded to our detailed questions, we have been able to shed new light on the most intriguing problems related to the Świdnica community and have solved some mysteries concerning the origins and identity of ‘the Daughters of Odelindis’. First of all, we wish to extend our gratitude to Letha Böhringer, who enthusiastically supported our research and contributed significantly to some crucial findings. We are very grateful to our Polish friends, in particular Anna Adamska, Elżbieta Knapek, Marek D. Kowalski and Anna Zajchowska-Bołtromiuk, whom we consulted on a number of occasions. Among our international colleagues, we are much indebted to Frederik Felskau, Suzan Folkerts, Antonín Kalous, and KlausBernward Springer, who responded to our queries and willingly shared their knowledge with us. Thanks to Marzena Górecka and Paul Michael, we were able to check the reading and understanding of some Middle-German terms recorded in the 1332 trial record. In addition, we are grateful to Halina Manikowska and all researchers of the Medieval Studies Department at the Institute of History, Polish Academy of Sciences in Warsaw, who participated in discussions of our project and offered us valuable advice. The joint editors of York Medieval Press’s series ‘Heresy and Inquisition in the Middle Ages’ – John H. Arnold, Peter Biller and L. J. Sackville – have been the driving force behind the publication of the present volume. They appreciated the significance of the 1332 trial record, and when a copy of the book in its Polish form reached them in 2018, they encouraged us to produce an English version. The production of the present volume has been made possible thanks to the financial support from the Polish Ministry of Education and Science, which within the framework of the Narodowy Program Rozwoju Humanistyki (NPRH – National Programme for the Development of the Humanities) Universalia Programme covered the costs of the English translation and additional editorial work. We are very grateful to Stephen C. Rowell, who translated into English both the 1332 Latin text and the collection of Polish ix

Acknowledgements studies. His extensive knowledge and expertise in medieval studies have left a particular imprint on the entire volume. Last but not least, we are indebted to Caroline Palmer and the personnel of the Boydell & Brewer for their hard work on this volume.

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Foreword Robert E. Lerner

Medievalists are seldom granted a gift as rich as the record of the interrogations of the beguines of Świdnica (Schweidnitz) in 1332. Here we have examinations of sixteen witnesses concerning life in a female community implicated in heresy, with responses numbering 183 articles. The document not only draws back a curtain on a secret society, but offers a trove of fascinating details and sometimes even allows us to hear authentic voices from the long-distant past. Half a century ago I touched upon the Świdnica beguines in my Heresy of the Free Spirit in the Later Middle Ages, but there I allowed myself only seven pages for consideration of the subject. Now Fr Tomasz Gałuszka OP and Paweł Kras offer an exemplary full-length study, together with a meticulous, unsurpassable edition. The appearance of this splendid book thus offers me an opportunity to refresh some points I had previously made and call attention to others that I had neglected. To say that the document ‘draws back a curtain’ is not quite right, for the stage is still veiled by a skrim. By this I mean to refer to methodological issues that often leave uncertainty as to what we may really be seeing. The sixteen women spoke in German but their answers were translated by the notary into Latin, and we must rely on his choices. Then too, a substantial amount of the questioning was based on formularies – the papal decrees Ad nostrum and Cum de quibusdam mulieribus – meaning that examinees may have responded to leading questions with answers that the inquisitor wanted to hear. Thus in the case of a witness who stated that she heard another say ‘those women who are in such a state of perfection and freedom of spirit are not required to obey anyone’ (I.I.11), and ‘those women who have achieved perfection are not subject to human obedience’ (I.II.28), these are close repetitions of article 3 of Ad nostrum, which the witness most likely learned from the inquisitor or perhaps were based on independent German answers translated by the notary into Latin words that came from the formulary. Moreover, aside from such uncertainties come the facts that most of the witnesses told of things they only knew at second hand and that fourteen of the examinees were young women who had lived in the beguinage for only short periods of time and apparently bore grudges against their elders that inspired hostile or incriminating testimony.

xi

Foreword Nonetheless, even through the skrim we can see a remarkable panorama. Although the members of the Świdnica community referred to themselves as ‘Hooded Sisters’ (Capuciatae), we may call them ‘beguines’, for like beguines elsewhere, they were laywomen who lived together, reciting prayers, performing ascetic practices, earning their support through cloth production and striving for spiritual perfection. Not only did they believe that they could attain perfection (I.I.2) but one of the sisters said she heard from others that ‘they had attained such a state that all their works were perfect’ (I.II.18), and another that ‘she had heard from the women that they were able to make such progress that they became incapable of committing a mortal sin’ (I.IV.6). This was hearsay, to be sure, but very consistent hearsay, and it was obliquely confirmed by testimony of the older women. One of these stated that although her community was not licensed by the Church, ‘we can be saved as well in our sect as a Friar Preacher or Minor can be saved in his’ (II.2.2); asked whether she ever said ‘I am God with God’, she replied that she had heard it preached and ‘had not taught much more’ (II.2.7). Another swore she was told: ‘Do what we command and you shall not sin because we do not command you to do anything sinful’ (II.3.10). A certain ‘Blind Anna’, who had lived in the Świdnica community for twenty-six years, admitted to having said that ‘just as there were saints in heaven there were other saints on earth’, but, facing the inquisitor, conceded that ‘if this is bad, I wish to reject it’, and then ‘immediately she changed her words, saying that she did not know whether she had ever said that’ (II.V.2). All told, then, despite the hearsay and evasions, we may fairly say that the Świdnica community was propelled by what is customarily called ‘Free Spirit’ belief – the conviction that it is possible to reach a state of perfection on earth that renders one sinless. This is consonant with the errors listed in Ad nostrum, but one finds a complement in the Świdnica record that is not specified in Ad nostrum, namely that the state of perfection can only be reached by extreme ascetic practices. In this regard the evidence presents no uncertainty whatsoever. To take one of numerous examples, one young witness swore that when she entered the community she had had her hair shorn and then was subjected to ‘fasts, vigils, and other exercises so unreasonably that, whereas previously she had been a pretty girl, in a short time she was so destroyed that she could barely recuperate’; yet she was still made to eat carrion covered with flies: ‘and if any one of them eats such meat and vomits they say this is a fast she must suffer’ (I.VII.3). We read of one horrific ascetic exercise after another. A girl was ‘driven to an unhealthy state of mind due to indiscreet exercises and unreasonable castigations … When asked why she did not eat and what had caused her affliction, she replied that she had reached such a state of perfection that she did not want for food and drink because Christ would feed her, and she was completely infatuated and mentally distracted’ (I.II.6). The Świdnica women ‘beat themselves with hedgehog pelts and scraped themselves with fullers’ xii

Foreword combs’ (I.IV.27). In neighbouring Wrocław, ‘whenever several were in a room on the way out, the first would prostrate herself in the doorway and the second to leave would then tread upon her and lay down next to her and the third to leave would tread on the second and the first, and so it went’ (I.I.9). The more horrible a thing might have been, the more a sister was forced to do it in order to break her will (I.II.7). Such asceticism evidently was not compatible with sexual licence and consequently we must read of the latter cum grano. Reports of licentiousness came from two younger women who were no longer in the community and may have been resentful about the ascetic exercises they had been made to undergo. And even then, these reports came at second hand. Thus one said that ‘all manner of the sins of Sodom and filthy acts [were] committed’ and that she knew this ‘from certain knowledge’ (I.II.10). But we then learn that such ‘certain knowledge’ was based on ‘what she had learned from others’. A second young woman, questioned about what the first had said, answered that ‘she had heard such things from others but did not see them herself, although once she had had her own suspicions’ (I.IV.30). Nevertheless, we have a report of a third young woman (I.III.19) who claimed that a certain beghard had taught her that indulgence in sexual practice was an indication of ‘a coarse spirit’ and that one must overcome any such inclinations so that one may become ‘perfect and subtle of spirit’. In my previous account of the Świdnica evidence I omitted one of its greatest rewards: its frequent introduction of direct speech. Here now are some examples: ‘you only think of yourself’ (I.I.5); ‘old dogs cannot be tamed’ (I.I.8); ‘we see in the book of life, whereas priests and preachers see in the hides of cows’ (I.I.14); ‘Oh God, they are taking such a long time’ (I.I.17); ‘you vile woman’ (I.II.3); ‘I have such a grasp of the Holy Trinity that I ride on it like a saddle on a charger’ (I.II.9); and ‘[she] must needs have a pig’s mouth to be able to eat anything, a crane’s neck so she can look around cautiously … and the skull of an ox so she can bear everything with an even temper’ (I.IV.17). Whether such things were really said in the contexts in which they were reported or invented by witnesses in the course of their examination is irrelevant, for in either case we are offered a rare chance to listen to lively speech uttered by late-medieval women. More fundamentally, when I wrote about the Świdnica community in The Heresy of the Free Spirit, I failed to state that the members referred to themselves as belonging to the ‘union of the daughters of Odelindis’ (unio filiarum Udyllindis). The authors argue persuasively that the ‘Odelindis’ in question was one Odelindis of Pyrzyce, a woman who founded a house for ‘poor beguines’ in Cologne in 1291. The identification is noteworthy because it establishes a continuity of beguinal organization for three decades from 1291 until our trial of 1332, and also because it supports clues in our text that the centre of the ‘union’ of beguines was the Rhineland: one of the Świdnica witnesses (I.II.34) knew of the activities of a beghard of Cologne, and another xiii

Foreword (I.IV.20) had been in Cologne for a time herself. (We also know independently of a certain John of Brünn, who professed beliefs similar to those imputed to the beguines of Świdnica and who left his home in Moravia to live as a beghard in Cologne for twenty-eight years.) The use of the term ‘unio’ in our document points to another observable circumstance: beguine houses such as the one in Świdnica were in contact with others. We read of ‘sisters in Aachen’ (I.II.21), of knowledge of events in Strasbourg (I.II.8), and of Germanspeaking houses in Erfurt, Leipzig, and Wrocław (Breslau). My book also did not call attention to an aspect of the evidence now exposed by Gałuszka and Kras: reverberations of the theology of Meister Eckhart. Thus, for one example, the record reports a statement that ‘after a person has left behind, abandoned, and put beneath her feet all things below in this world, then she gives herself to making herself like God, naked, pure and alone; and she no longer cares what she suffers from forces below because her soul henceforth stands in its citadel and cannot be attacked or afflicted’ (I.IV.18). As Gałuszka and Kras observe, this statement is replete with terms used by Eckhart: the image of the ‘citadel’ (castellum) and the entire statement is a version of Meister Eckhart’s doctrine of Abgeschiedenheit – union with God as the product of seclusion and detachment. The authors pursue this and several other related propositions, wondering about the degree to which the examinees reported them on their own or responded to the inquisitor’s promptings. At least we can assume that the inquisitor, John of Schwenkenfeld OP, would have been well-informed about Eckhart’s teachings, for the two were contemporaries who belonged to the same Dominican Order, came from the same home base of Cologne, and might plausibly have known each other. Moreover, it is very likely that the inquisitor had before him the papal decree, In agro dominico, issued in 1329, just three years before the Świdnica trial, which condemned many of Eckhart’s propositions. Yet we should also remember that the Świdnica beguines themselves descended from a house founded in Cologne and had contacts with Cologne. The authors of this book therefore do well to treat this problem thoroughly and point out that it justifies further study. All told, then, this superlative book bears comparison to a ‘saddle on a charger’ and to do it justice, one needs ‘a crane’s neck’ to look at its many sides.

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Abbreviations

AASS

J. Bolland et al., Acta sanctorum, third edition, 68 vols. (Paris, 1863–1925)

AFP

Archivum Fratrum Praedicatorum 1 (1930–)

AHVN

Annalen des Historischen Vereins für den Niederrhein

BF

Bullarium Franciscanum, ed. J. Sbaralea et al., 7 vols. (Rome, 1759–1904)

BHL

Bibliotheca hagiographica latina antiquae et mediae aetatis, 2 vols. (Brussels, 1898–1901)

BJ

Biblioteka Jagiellońska, Cracow

BN

Bibliothèque nationale de France, Paris

CCCM

Corpus Christianorum Continuatio Mediaevalis (Turnhout, 1953–)

CCSL

Corpus Christianorum Series Latina (Turnhout, 1954–)

CSEL

Corpus Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum Latinorum (Salzburg and Vienna, 1864–)

DHGE

Dictionnaire d’histoire et de géographie ecclésiastiques (Paris, 1912–)

Döllinger

Beiträge zur Sektengeschichte des Mittelalters, ed. I. von Döllinger, 2 vols. (Munich, 1890)

DW

Meister Eckhart, Die deutschen Werke, ed. J. Quint, vols. 1–3 and 5 (Stuttgart and Berlin, 1958–76)

HAStK

Historisches Archiv der Stadt Köln

KH

Kwartalnik Historyczny 1 (1887)

LMA

Lexikon des Mittelalters, 9 vols. (Munich and Zurich, 1980–98; CD-ROM-Ausgabe, 2000)

LThK

Lexikon für Theologie und Kirche, 11 vols. (Freiburg, 1993–2001)

MGH SS

Monumenta Germaniae Historica. Scriptores (Hanover, 1826–)

MGH SS rer. Germ.

Monumenta Germaniae Historica. Scriptores rerum Germanicarum in usum scholarum (Hanover, 1871–)

MPH

Monumenta Poloniae Historica, 6 vols. (Cracow, 1864–93; rprt. Warsaw, 1960)

PSB

Polski Słownik Biograficzny (Cracow, 1935–)

xv

Abbreviations Tanner

Decrees of the Ecumenical Councils, ed. N. Tanner, 2 vols. (Ann Arbor, 1990)

TRE

Theologische Realenzyklopädie, 35 vols. (Berlin and New York, 2003)

All geographical names, unless they have an English equivalent, are given in the language of the country in which they are currently located. In the case of towns and villages located in Silesia, contemporary Polish names are used, although each time they are entered for the first time, a German name is also given in brackets, eg Świdnica (Schweidnitz). The reader should find a map (p. 2) on which all places are listed in this way.

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Part One: Historical Studies

The network of the Daughters of Odelindis in central Europe in the first quarter of the fourteenth century

Preface In 1778 Sigismund Justus Ehrhardt, the Lutheran scholar of Silesian religious history, described the persecution of beguines and beghards in the fourteenth century and remarked briefly on the activities of the papal inquisitor, John of Schwenkenfeld. The source of his knowledge of this matter was an inscription located in the Dominican Church of the Holy Cross in Świdnica (Schweidnitz). From this it transpired that John of Schwenkenfeld, an inquisitor in the dioceses of Wrocław (Breslau) and Lubusz (Lebus), conducted ‘a famous trial against the Hooded Sisters, women belonging to the beghard sect’.1 In 1862 Ehrhardt’s brief comment regarding the trial of the Świdnica moniales Capuciatae (‘Hooded Nuns’) was repeated by Wilhelm Wattenbach, the eminent publisher of sources relating to the medieval history of Silesia.2 However, neither of the German historians was familiar with any material concerning Schwenkenfeld’s inquisitorial activities or connected directly with the case against the Świdnica beguines. 1 Es

wird allerdings, in der alten Inscription auf den Inquisitor von Schwenckfeld in der Kreuß Kirche, auf diese Sache geziehlt, mit diesen klaren Worten: Beatus Johannes de Swenkinfelt, Magister in Theologia, de Conventu Suidnicensi, per Wratislauiensem et Lubicensem Diœcesin Inquisitor, Processus fecit egregium contra Cappuciatas Moniales que Sectam struebant Beckhuardarum. Hic tempore Nanceri Episcopi Wratislauiensis, propter expulsionem Cleri de Wratislauia et dissensionem inter Regem et Episcopum sedandam, Pragam abiit, ubi propter officium, quod gerebat, Martyrio coronatus est Anno Domini M.CCC.XLI. In vigilia S. Michaelis (Blessed John of Schwenkenfeld, Master of Theology, from the Świdnica friary, the inquisitor in the dioceses of Wrocław and Lubusz, conducted the illustrious trial of the Hooded Nuns who formed the sect of beghards. During the pontificate of Bishop Nanker of Wrocław, because of the expulsion of the clergy from Wrocław and in order to settle the dissent between the King [John of Luxembourg] and the Bishop [Nanker], he set out for Prague, where in the year of the Lord 1341, on St Michael’s eve [28 September] he received the crown of martyrdom because of the office [of inquisitor] he performed); S. J. Ehrhardt, Abhandlung vom verderbten Religions-Zustand in Schlesien vor der Evangelischen Kirchen-Reformation: als eine Einleitung zur Schlesischen Presbyterologie (Breslau, 1778), pp. 166–7. The description of this inscription was found in a seventeenth-century manuscript containing the so-called Excerpta ex Chronico Świdnicensi (Wrocław University Library, MS R 622 in), and also in the Klose Collection (Archiwum Państwowe we Wrocławiu, MS 150, fols. 13–44). Cf. J. Szymański, Ruchy heretyckie na Śląsku w XIII i XIV wieku (Katowice, 2007), p. 130, n. 73. 2 Das Formelbuch des Arnold von Protzan, ed. W. Wattenbach, Codex diplomaticus Silesiae, 36 vols. (Breslau, 1857–1933), V, 60, n. 1.

3

The Beguines of Medieval Świdnica A quarter of a century after Wattenbach’s publication, the Cracow Chapter archivist and director of the episcopal archive, Fr Ignacy Polkowski (1833–88), happened upon a copy of the records of John of Schwenkenfeld’s 1332 interrogations during his cataloguing of the collections of the Cracow Cathedral Chapter, a task which he had been carrying out since 1878.3 He shared his discovery with Dr Bolesław Ulanowski (1860–1919), who soon identified the material he had been shown as a record of the trial mentioned by the inscription that had existed at one time in the Świdnica Church of the Holy Cross. In the introduction to his edition of the Cracow text, Ulanowski wrote: ‘at the time I managed to find the complete text of a notary record of the interrogation of witnesses by John of Schwenkenfeld in Świdnica in 1332. At that time John was an inquisitor of heretical depravity and naturally also a member of the Dominican Order’. The learned Cracow historian informed his readers concisely of the circumstances in which the text was discovered, writing that ‘the codex is the property of the Cracow Chapter and for the opportunity to use it I am grateful to the exceptional kindness of Canon Polkowski who, as he brings order to the library entrusted into his care, is forever finding something new within his treasure house’.4 Ulanowski’s edition of the examination of witnesses concerning the life and customs of the Hooded Sisters of Świdnica appeared in the fifth volume of Archiwum Komisyi Historycznej [Archive of the Historical Commission], published in 1889.5 Dr Bolesław Ulanowski was at the beginning of his academic career when he worked on this edition. After studying in Cracow and Paris, he obtained his second ‘qualifying’ doctorate or Habilitation in 1886, and two years later became supernumerary professor and lecturer in law at the Jagiellonian University.6 The palaeographic skill he acquired during his years of study and his great diligence made him one of the most skilled editors of medieval

3 For

more on his activity as a bibliophile, see J. Nowak, ‘Ksiądz Ignacy Polkowski – kolekcjoner i “książkołap” w latach 1872–1888’, Nasza Przeszłość 89 (1998), 245–72; J. Linetty, ‘Badania archeologiczne i historyczne księdza Ignacego Polkowskiego (1833–1888) w Wielkopolsce’, Analecta. Studia i Materiały do Dziejów Nauki 23:2 (2014), 7–53. 4 B. Ulanowski, ‘[Introduction]’, in Examen testium super vita et moribus Beguinarum per inquisitorem hereticae pravitatis in Sweydnitz anno 1332 factum, in Archiwum Komisyi Historycznej 5, Scriptores Rerum Polonicarum, 22 vols. (Cracow, 1872–1917), XIII, pp. 235–9, at p. 235. 5 Ulanowski, Examen testium, pp. 239–55. A typesetter’s error means that in the title of this text the word ‘pravitatis’ was printed as ‘pranitatis’. 6 Bolesław Ulanowski (Cracow, 1920); M. Barański, ‘Ulanowski Bolesław’, in Słownik historyków polskich (Warsaw, 1994), pp. 537–8; W. Uruszczak, ‘Bolesław Ulanowski (1860–1919)’, in Ludzie, który umiłowali Kraków. Założyciele Towarzystwa Miłośników Historii i Zabytków Krakowa, ed. W. Bieńkowski (Cracow, 1997), pp. 199–207; W. Uruszczak, ‘Bolesław Ulanowski (1860–1919)’, in Uniwersytet Jagielloński. Złota Księga Wydziału Prawa i Administracji, ed. J. Stelmach and W. Uruszczak (Cracow, 2000), pp. 197–201.

4

Preface Polish sources. As his friend, Władysław Abraham, wrote in a memoir published after Ulanowski’s death, he ‘gave what he alone, of all Polish scholars, was able to achieve concurrently, namely excellent and broad publications of sources’. Underlining his services, he stated that: he [Ulanowski] possessed special abilities and qualities for editorial work in particular, unlike any other of our scholars. He was a palaeographer able to compete in world-class palaeography of his day with the best experts in the subject and was endowed with an exceptional gift for scholarly criticism and intuition, commanding the best scientific methods and an excellent knowledge of all source publications and the most important foreign libraries and archives, which he visited himself and searched. And moreover, without sparing labour or expense, he examined all our collections throughout Polish territory and brought to light a whole multitude of sources of first-rate value, gathering all that, in accordance with his great specialist knowledge, he recognised as being worthy of publication.7

To this day the name of Bolesław Ulanowski is linked with many editions of sources, especially the three-volume edition of Acta capitulorum necnon iudiciorum ecclesiasticorum,8 which for following generations of Polish and foreign medievalists became the starting point for research into the history of the late-medieval Church and its organization and legal practices, as well as the life and customs of Polish society.9 At the time he set about working on the records of the 1332 interrogations of the Świdnica beguines, Ulanowski was still a relatively young researcher who had already chalked up a number of highly valued source editions to his credit.10 During the years 1884–6 he published the fourteenth-century records of the Cracow Land Court,11 and a year later a diplomatic codex containing

7 W.

Abraham, ‘Świętej pamięci Bolesław Ulanowski’, KH 33 (1919), 17–24, at p. 20.

8 Acta capitulorum Cracoviensis (1438–1523) et Plocensis (1438–1523) selecta, in Archiwum

Komisji Historycznej 6 (Cracow, 1891); Acta capitulorum necnon iudiciorum ecclesiasticorum selecta, Monumenta Medii Aevi Historica Res Gestas Poloniae Illustrantia 13, 16, and 18 (Cracow, 1894–1918). 9 I. Skierska, ‘Źródła do badania praktyk religijnych w średniowiecznej Polsce: akta sądów kościelnych i kapituł’, Archiwa, Biblioteki i Muzea Kościelne 87 (2007), 175–95, at pp. 185–94; P. Kras, ‘Jak czytać protokoły inkwizycyjne? Sprawy husyckie w acta episcopalia Andrzeja Bnińskiego – uwagi wstępne’, in Kultura pisma w średniowieczu: znane problemy, nowe metody, ed. A. Adamska and P. Kras, Colloquia mediaevalia Lublinensia 2 (Lublin, 2013), pp. 193–240, at pp. 216–18. 10 Stanisław Kutrzeba presented his scholarly achievements in Bolesław Ulanowski, pp. 25–35; cf. J. Sawicki, ‘Bibliografia prac prof. dra Bolesława Ulanowskiego (1882– 1926)’, Prawo Kanoniczne 14:1–2 (1971), 309–24. 11 Antiquissimi libri iudiciales terrae Cracoviensis, ed. B. Ulanowski, Starodawne Prawa Polskiego Pomniki 7 (Cracow, 1884); Inscriptiones clenodiales ex libris iudicialibus palatinatus Cravoviensis, ed. B. Ulanowski, Starodawne Prawa Polskiego Pomniki 8 (Cracow, 1888).

5

The Beguines of Medieval Świdnica thirteenth-century Cuyavian and Mazovian documents appeared.12 The inquisition records of John of Schwenkenfeld belong to a group of minor works which he published in the series Archiwum Komisyi Historycznej. Ulanowski prefaced his edition of the interrogation text with a concise description of the manuscript, which was held in the collection of the Cracow Cathedral Chapter. He wrote that the document he was publishing ‘is preserved in an accurate fifteenth-century copy bound together with over a dozen copies of letters from that period in one small-sized codex’.13 Almost certainly working at great speed and preparing several other editions for publication at the same, Ulanowski lacked the time to carry out more systematic studies of this interesting relic. En passant, we should remember that for more than 120 years after this, scholars studying the trial of the Świdnica beguines made no effort to seek out the Cracow manuscript. The codex which Ulanowski used was not described in the catalogue of chapter manuscripts published by Fr Ignacy Polkowski in 1884, and for a long time it was regarded as being lost.14 However, in June 2016 archivists managed to come across this manuscript and Tomasz Gałuszka OP made the first inventory description of it.15 Bolesław Ulanowski was perfectly well aware what a valuable source the record of the 1332 case of the Świdnica Hooded Sisters was. The edition he made was an excellent editorial achievement, although it was accompanied by only a short introduction barely five pages long, in which reference was made to two constitutions of the Council of Vienne, Ad nostrum and Cum de quibusdam. As Ulanowski noticed accurately, ‘the examen testium conducted by the Świdnica inquisitor’ was based on these two documents. This valuable observation became an essential lodestar for later historians researching the content of the records and the interrogation techniques employed by the inquisitor, John of Schwenkenfeld. At the end of his editorial commentary, Ulanowski drew attention to three elements which made the Świdnica court records ‘a very significant and valuable document’. Firstly, he indicated that although this text does not refer directly to Poland, ‘the details it contains about the beguines and beghards have an obvious connection with certain members at least of that sect, which spread across Polish dioceses’. Secondly, he noted accurately that it is an exceptional document, since we know of no other ‘such accurate and extensive comments’ on Silesian beguines. Thirdly and finally, as an experienced specialist in medieval canon law, Ulanowski noticed in these records an important source for researching the reception

12 Dokumenty

kujawskie i mazowieckie przeważnie z XIII wieku, ed. B. Ulanowski (Cracow, 1887). 13 Ulanowski, ‘[Introduction]’, in Examen testium, XIII, p. 235. 14 I. Polkowski, Katalog rękopisów Katedry Krakowskiej, Archiwum do Dziejów Literatury i Oświaty w Polsce 3 (Cracow, 1884). 15 We would like to thank Prof. Jacek Urban, Director of the Cracow Cathedral Chapter Archive and Library, for providing us with photographs of this manuscript.

6

Preface of the constitutions of the Council of Vienne which were directed against the beguines and beghards.16 Examining from today’s perspective the development of studies on the court record published by Ulanowski, we may assert that he set out the main boundaries for academic exploration with great insight and that his remarks established the main directions for later research. In Polish and foreign scholarship devoted to the subject, Ulanowski’s edition is known by the name Examen testium, which derives from the title under which it was published in Archiwum Komisyi Historycznej. The title given to the source by the Cracow scholar appears in neither the Cracow copy nor the 1332 notarial instrument preserved in the Vatican Library (MS Vat. Lat. 13119a).17 In the title Ulanowski put forward, the editor made use of a formulation existing in the record itself which described the purpose of the interrogations carried out in 1332. On several occasions the notary stresses that the main task of the inquisition proceedings led by John of Schwenkenfeld was to obtain information ‘about the life, behaviour and customs of the Hooded Sisters’ (super vita, conversatione et moribus Capuciatarum).18 With his characteristic knowledge of legal questions, Bolesław Ulanowski established that the record he published contained the interrogations of witnesses in a case against a group of women from Świdnica, whom he identified as being beguines. In fact, as we shall discuss in more detail below, the records also contain evidence from witnesses (testes) as well as women who were themselves members of the Świdnica community and were examined as suspects (suspectae) in the case.19 The a priori recognition of the women, in whom John of Schwenkenfeld was interested, as beguines was a fully justified conjecture on the part of the editor, deriving from the previously mentioned inscription from the Dominican Church of the Holy Cross in Świdnica. It is interesting that throughout the trial records the women are described consistently as moniales Capuciatae or simply, Capuciatae; we shall return to this in more detail in a later chapter. The question of their name is a matter of importance, since the women themselves who belonged to the Świdnica religious community did not describe themselves as ‘beguines’, but the papal inquisitor adopted this name without reservation when he made use of the constitutions of the Council of Vienne.20

16 Ulanowski,

‘[Introduction]’, Examen testium, XIII, pp. 237–8. further details see below, pp. 151–2. 18 Examinatio, pp. 170, 180, 198, 208, 228, 230, 236, 238. 19 Kazimierz Dobrowolski was the first to draw attention to this matter, writing of the ‘testimonies of witnesses and the accused’, which were recorded in ‘select acts from the 1332 trial’. However, this was only a casual remark, since he was interested in neither the inquisition procedure nor the technique for reporting interrogation documentation. K. Dobrowolski, ‘Pierwsze sekty religijne na ziemiach polskich’, Reformacja w Polsce 3 (1924), 161–202, at p. 199. 20 See Chapter 4. 17 For

7

The Beguines of Medieval Świdnica The publication of the court record and testimonies from the 1332 case of the Świdnica beguines opened the way to research on this valuable source. In 1903 a large summary of this document based on Ulanowski’s edition was published in a volume of Regesten zur schlesischen Geschichte. The publishers of the German text managed to identify the places from which several of the persons mentioned in the record originated.21 It would be more than thirty years after Ulanowski’s publication before the first study of the Świdnica beguines appeared. In 1924 Kazimierz Dobrowolski published an article about the first religious sects on Polish territory in which he analysed the court records of John of Schwenkenfeld.22 On the basis of the contents of the 1332 documentation, he made quite succinct comments on beguine organization and religion and also their connections with the so-called Heresy of the Free Spirit. According to his assessment, the Świdnica beguines belonged to a much broader community known as the Free Spirit whose ideas ‘spread throughout Germany in beguine and beghard convents’ and ‘represented a consistent system [of thought] that still appeared generally unchanged in sources during the second half of the fifteenth century’.23 Accepting the findings of German and French scholars uncritically, especially those of Herman Haupt24 and Felix Vernet,25 Dobrowolski was convinced that a strong religious movement possessing a crystallized religious doctrine and its own system of organization appeared in the mid-thirteenth century. According to him, the basis of this doctrine was a: credence that the whole world and all that lives therein is permeated by a divine substance … Everything comes from God and returns to Him. The final purpose of Man lies in his melting into union with God. People are divided into the ordinary and the perfect (boni homines, perfecti). A person may reach a state of perfection, the idea of which derives from the Gospel, over a period of time filled with asceticism and contemplation. A person who joins himself to God, to the Holy Ghost, himself becomes God.26

According to Dobrowolski, the Heresy of the Free Spirit was an anarchic movement and the views propagated by its members had ‘excessively

21 Regesten

zur schlesischen Geschichte 1327–1333, ed. C. Grünhagen and K. Wudtke, Codex diplomaticus Silesiae, 36 vols. (Breslau, 1857–1933), XXII, pp. 161–2, no. 5146. 22 Dobrowolski, ‘Pierwsze sekty’, 198–201. 23 Ibid., 197. 24 H. Haupt, ‘Beiträge zur Geschichte der Sekte vom Freien Geiste und des Beghardentums’, Zeitschrift für Kirchengeschichte 7 (1885), 504–76; H. Haupt, ‘Zwei Traktate gegen Beginen und Begharden’, Zeitschrift für Kirchengeschichte 12 (1891), 85–90; H. Haupt, ‘Brüder des Freien Geistes’, in Realenzyklopädie für protestantische Theologie und Kirche, 22 vols. (Leipzig, 1896–1909), III, pp. 467–8. 25 F. Vernet, ‘Frères du libre esprit’, in Dictionnaire de théologie catholique, 15 vols. in 19 parts (Paris, 1899–1950), VIII, 803–4. 26 Dobrowolski, ‘Pierwsze sekty’, 197.

8

Preface anti-ecclesiastical and anti-social consequences’.27 Some of the Silesian convents, including the Świdnica community, were supposed to belong to a dangerous sect understood along such lines. The record of the interrogations from the case of the Świdnica beguines came to be known as an excellent source for researching ‘the religious life of an heretical convent during the fourteenth century’ in the Polish lands. As Dobrowolski argued, the Świdnica beguines were permeated by the ideology of the Free Spirit and their religious life was subordinated to the goal of attaining spiritual perfection and mystical union with God.28 The next Polish scholar to set about analysing the interrogation records from the case of the Świdnica beguines, albeit in a more systematic manner, was Jerzy Wyrozumski. This Cracow medievalist was interested primarily in the social structure of the beguines, the organization of their community, and their part in cloth production. In an article from 1971, being a published version of a paper delivered four years previously at a meeting of the Cracow branch of the Polish Historical Society, Wyrozumski attempted to solve several basic questions which had escaped the notice of Kazimierz Dobrowolski. Among other things, he was interested in the membership of the Świdnica beguines in a wider international community, and the internal structure of their group.29 Assessing the exceptional informative value of the testimonies of the Świdnica Hooded Sisters, Wyrozumski stressed that the ‘Beguine houses put into effect the idea of a common life, and the documents from the Świdnica trial allow us to analyse the details of their community’s organisation’.30 He also drew attention to the significance of physical labour for the religious formation of the beguines, which was ‘not only a means of rendering aid to their fellows but also had, in itself, a sanctifying character’.31 We may be surprised by the fact that despite the 1889 published edition which appeared in one of the major Polish publication series, for a considerable time the records of the interrogations from the case of the Świdnica beguines did not arouse the interest of foreign scholars. This source was not used in the classical general studies devoted to the beguines and medieval religious movements penned by Herbert Grundmann in 1935,32 Ernest

27 Ibid.

28 Ibid.,

199–200. Wyrozumski, ‘Beginki i begardzi w Polsce’, Zeszyty Naukowe Uniwersytetu Jagiellońskiego 261 (1971), Prace Historyczne, no. 35, 7–22. When he wrote his article, he did not yet know of the existence of the notarial instrument with the testimonies from the 1332 trial in the Vatican Library. 30 Ibid., 18. 31 Ibid. 32 H. Grundmann, Religiöse Bewegungen im Mittelalter. Untersuchungen über die geschichtlichen Zusammenhänge zwischen der Ketzerei, den Bettelorden und der religiösen Frauenbewegung im 12. und 13. Jahrhundert und über die geschichtlichen Grundlagen der deutschen Mystik (Berlin, 1935; 2nd revised and expanded edn, Darmstadt, 1961; 29 J.

9

The Beguines of Medieval Świdnica McDonnell in 1954,33 and Norman Cohn in 1957.34 Grundmann did pay attention to the records and testimonies from the case of the Świdnica moniales Capuciatae in a later account of medieval heresies from 1963.35 According to him, the Świdnica trial confirmed the penetration of certain beguine communities by the doctrine of the Free Spirit, which was inspired by mysticism. For him, the Świdnica Hooded Sisters were yet another milieu following on from the Strasbourg beguines, sharing a belief in the possibility of attaining spiritual perfection in the present life without resorting to the sacraments of the Church. The German scholar also drew attention to the practices of the Świdnica beguines, which he considered to be similarly linked to the doctrine of the Free Spirit. He stressed that the Hooded Sisters claimed that it did not matter what they did, but who they were. The most important aim of their strict lives was to attain perfection, and the road to this lay in fasting, flagellation, and other bodily mortifications. Thus, they understood perfection to be a state of freeing the spirit from the restrictions of sinful carnal urges, and considered that this state could be achieved through committing to a life of poverty and subjection to strict discipline.36 In 1967 Gordon Leff came across the published edition of Examen testium and carried out a detailed analysis of the interrogations from the 1332 case of the Świdnica beguines.37 This British scholar was greatly impressed by the testimonies and regarded them as a first-class source for researching the Heresy of the Free Spirit and its spread among the beguines. He considered that thanks to this text, ‘we are able to pose vital questions’ about the functioning of beguine communities that preached ideas of the Free Spirit.38 Making use of Ulanowski’s edition, which lacked explanatory notes, and

later reprints are of this 1961 edn). English translation of 2nd edition: Religious Movements in the Middle Ages, trans. S. Rowan, Introduction by R. E. Lerner (Notre Dame, 1995). 33 E. W. McDonnell, The Beguines and Beghards in Medieval Culture with Special Emphasis on the Belgian Scene (New Brunswick NJ, 1954). 34 N. Cohn, The Pursuit of the Millennium. Revolutionary Millenarians and Mystical Anarchists of the Middle Ages (London, 1957; 3rd edn, London, 1970, used here in 1993 rprt.). 35 H. Grundmann, Ketzergeschichte des Mittelalters, Die Kirche in Ihrer Geschichte 2 (Göttingen, 1963), pp. 55–6. 36 Ibid. 37 G. Leff, Heresy in the Later Middle Ages: The Relation of Heterodoxy to Dissent c.1250– 1450, 2 vols. (Manchester and New York, 1967), I, 386–95. 38 Ibid., I, p. 386: ‘We have reserved until last the one mass testimony – namely, by the Beguine women of the community of Sweydnitz in the diocese of Warsaw. It was the result of an enquiry into their life and morals made by the inquisition in 1332 under Henry Schammonis. There were sixteen witnesses; together their evidence depicts the Free Spirit at work within a Beguine community. For the first time we are enabled to form some firm answer to the two vital questions, of who were the Free Spirit and how it operated’.

10

Preface with no broader historical or geographical knowledge, Leff made a range of errors in his analysis of the records, some as obvious as mistaking Wrocław for Warsaw, or incorrectly referring to the parish priest, Henry of Mościsko, as the papal inquisitor who carried out the inquiry.39 Leff was convinced that the testimony of the women from the Świdnica community confirmed the reception of the doctrine of the Free Spirit among the beguines.40 Based on such a premise, Leff cited the responses of the women placed on trial in 1332 uncritically, ignoring the interrogation techniques and the technology used to compose the trial documentation. Summarizing his research, he claimed that in their quest for perfection, so vital for the doctrine of the Free Spirit, the Świdnica beguines attempted to follow Christ and His Apostles, subjecting their flesh to mortification and treating the clergy of their day with contempt. Their views and practices stemmed from their conviction in their own perfection, and were stamped with pantheism and anti-clericalism as well as libertinism and antinomianism. Gordon Leff did not question the credibility of the profligate sexual practices described by two women in their testimony which, in his opinion, were based completely on the doctrine of the Free Spirit.41 The works of Herbert Grundmann and Gordon Leff brought the records of the testimonies from the case of the Świdnica Hooded Sisters into international medieval studies.42 Five years after Gordon Leff’s general study, the American medievalist Robert E. Lerner published an extensive account in which he interpreted the Heresy of the Free Spirit in a new way. Like Grundmann and Leff, Lerner was in no doubt that he was dealing with a text of exceptional value for researching the Heresy of the Free Spirit. However, unlike his predecessors, he questioned unequivocally the very existence of a Free Spirit as a ‘sect’, understood as a separate movement of heterodox religion which possessed a common doctrine and its own organizational structure. Analysis of the Świdnica records allowed him to place a question mark over the credibility of the information obtained during the inquisition inquiry.43 He challenged the more controversial answers recorded, regarding them as the product of the morbid ravings of women who had been

39 In effect, the whole analysis of the testimonies carried out by Gordon Leff was based

exclusively on Ulanowski’s edition and lacks any scholarly apparatus. The citations in this part of his work are confined to the Świdnica court records. 40 Leff, Heresy, I, p. 394: ‘The value of the Sweydnitz evidence is that it makes the presence of the Free Spirit among the beguines a reality, depicting their interaction and the forms it took.’ 41 Ibid., I, pp. 394–5. See the critical remarks of R. E. Lerner, The Heresy of the Free Spirit in the Later Middle Ages (Berkeley, Los Angeles, and London, 1972), p. 8. 42 E. L. McLaughlin, The Heresy of the Free Spirit and Late Medieval Mysticism, Medievalia Humanistica: Studies in Medieval and Early Renaissance Culture n.s. 4 (Lanham MD, 1973), pp. 37–54. 43 Lerner, Heresy of the Free Spirit, pp. 112–19.

11

The Beguines of Medieval Świdnica mistreated physically and psychologically during their stay in the Świdnica community. He considered that the women’s testimony illustrated well the interrogation techniques of the case in which the main role was played by the papal inquisitor. It was he who set the form and themes of the inquiry, and in many cases he obtained the answers he wanted through the way he posed his questions. Lerner also drew attention to the techniques of drafting trial records by which witness answers were repeated frequently and underwent deformation. According to him, John of Schwenkenfeld was responsible for demonstrating that the Świdnica beguines expressed views attributed to the Free Spirit Sect which were recorded in the text of the Ad nostrum constitution. For this reason, he made use of the Council constitution during interrogation, as the notary sometimes stated expressis verbis in the record.44 According to Robert E. Lerner, the Świdnica beguine community was not, as would emerge from the contents of the record, a depraved sect operating secretly, in which negation of Christian norms and depraved sexual practices were a matter of everyday life.45 He approached with great scepticism the testimony of the younger sisters who felt animosity towards their elders and treated the inquiry as an excellent occasion to get their sisters back for any humiliations they had endured. He also drew attention to the fact that most of the most shocking information about the sexual excesses which were supposed to have taken place in the beguine houses in Świdnica and Wrocław came from the younger sisters. Moreover, none of them had been a direct witness to the events they described, and their knowledge of such matters was exclusively secondhand.46 Lerner likewise noted that pathological relations reigned among the Świdnica beguines, and this allowed the elder sisters to terrorize their juniors and impose strict acts of mortification on them. The strictness of life in the Świdnica community, the exhausting fasts, regular floggings, and psychological humiliations ensured that some sisters experienced serious harm to their health, while others became mentally ill. Robert E. Lerner was in no doubt that the group of Świdnica beguines did not form a conspiratorial Sect of the Free Spirit, and the court record of their interrogation cannot be taken as proof to confirm the existence of such a heresy. His conclusions, which indeed were not only in relation to the Świdnica

44 Ibid.,

p. 116: ‘Modern examiners might have been satisfied with these insights, but the Dominican Inquisitor wanted to show that the women were exponents of errors condemned by the pope and therefore confronted them with the decree Ad nostrum. But the notary only occasionally indicated this fact.’ 45 Ibid., p. 119. 46 Ibid., pp. 117–18.

12

Preface community, were accepted by international scholarship47 but did not meet with unequivocal acceptance among Polish specialists.48 It is worth stressing that Robert E. Lerner was the first historian to make use of the notarial instrument containing the original record of the interrogations from the 1332 case of the Świdnica beguines in his research.49 In the 1950s this document was discovered in the Vatican Library in the collection known as Vaticana Latina (Vat. Lat.). In 1955 the Dominican historian Vladimir Jozef Koudelka announced the manuscript’s existence when, in a work devoted to the medieval history of the Bohemian province of the Order of Friars Preachers, he placed a brief note about a parchment roll containing the original records of the testimonies from a trial conducted by John of Schwenkenfeld.50 Two years later, the next volume of the catalogue of Vaticani Latini manuscripts was made available to readers in the Vatican Library in a typescript which included a short description of this manuscript with the shelf mark 13119. From this it emerges that the manuscript contains two separate documents, namely a fourteenth-century parchment roll with its own text of the 1332 testimonies, known as MS Vat. Lat. 13119a, and a paper collection with the title Historia interfectionis fr. Iohannis Swenkenfelt, catalogued as Vat. 47 Cf.

A. Patschovsky, Die Anfänge einer ständigen Inquisition in Böhmen. Ein Prager Inquisitoren-Handbuch aus der ersten Hälfte des 14. Jahrhunderts, Beiträge zur Geschichte und Quellenkunde des Mittelalters 3 (Berlin and New York, 1975), pp. 74–8. Robert E. Lerner’s interpretation was also accepted by Malcolm Lambert, author of the classical general history of medieval heresy. Basing himself on Lerner’s research, he stated that: ‘In an interesting case at Schweidnitz in Silesia the inhabitants of a beguinage were shown to be followers of a fiercely ascetic life, with much flagellation, fasting and hard work, believers in their superiority, despite outward humility, and despising church attendance for which they were inclined to substitute their own prayers. Free Spirit beliefs in union with God did exist among them, but not libertinism, though they were accused of it.’ M. Lambert, Medieval Heresy: Popular Movements from the Gregorian Reform to the Reformation (2nd edn, Oxford, 1992), p. 214; in the 3rd edn (Oxford, 2002), this is at p. 234. 48 Recently Jarosław Szymański has expressed a polemical view of Robert E. Lerner’s questioning of the very existence of a Free Spirit heresy. After summarizing the views of the American medievalist, he observed that ‘researchers taking up this problem [the Free Spirit Heresy] repeat in agreement with Lerner that bishops and inquisitors … broadly speaking just impute to them the contents of that document [the Bull Ad nostrum]’. In a further part of his work he attempted to refute the view that the Świdnica is ‘the creation of an inquisitorial conspiracy, as Lerner claims, according to which the inquisitor “extracted” testimonies from those he interrogated in accordance with the text of the constitution Ad nostrum.’ Szymański, Ruchy heretyckie, pp. 114–15. 49 Lerner, Heresy of the Free Spirit, p. 112 and n. 15: ‘The original is Ms Vat. Lat. 13119, unaccountably overlooked by all historians of heresy. The published version is from a copy in Krakow … I quote from the Vatican Ms whenever its text differs significantly from the Krakow version.’ 50 V. J. Koudelka, ‘Zur Geschichte der böhmischen Dominikanerprovinz im Mittelalter’, AFP 25 (1955), 75–99, at p. 92.

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The Beguines of Medieval Świdnica Lat. 13119b, which was identified as being an excerpt from Kronika książąt polskich [Chronicle of the Polish Dukes].51 It was thirteen years after the catalogue became available that news of the notarial instrument containing the record of testimonies from the case of the Świdnica beguines reached Polish scholars. The first Polish historian to have the chance to work with this manuscript was Paweł Kielar OP In 1970 he published the results of his research, noting the existence of ‘the original acts of the Świdnica Beguine trial in the form of a parchment scroll almost two metres long’. The Dominican historian also asserted that the ‘Examen testium published by Ulanowski was based on an incomplete and imperfect copy.’52 Two years later, in a long article devoted to beguines on Polish territory, Danuta and Bohdan Lapis drew attention to ‘the original acts of the Świdnica trial’ which were held in the Vatican Library. They claimed that they had consulted the manuscript catalogued as Vat. Lat. 13119 from a microfilm produced by the Vatican Library, but the examination they claim to have made of this manuscript is not reflected in their study at all. In their introduction they claimed that the text of the testimonies in the Vatican manuscript did not differ fundamentally from the Cracow copy which was the basis for Bolesław Ulanowski’s edition.53 This concise reference allowed them to base their research on the beguines on Polish territory exclusively on the 1889 edition of the Examen testium. It is worth recalling that the opinion expressed by the Lapises differs from the assessment of Robert E. Lerner, who noted essential differences between the two versions and included twelve variant readings from Vat. Lat. 13119 in his footnotes. Despite Lerner’s observations, the opinion of Danuta and Bohdan Lapis was accepted uncritically by Polish historians, to the effect that the Cracow copy of the Świdnica records published by Ulanowski does not essentially differ from the notarial instrument preserved in the Vatican. Subsequent researchers dealing with the trial of the Świdnica beguines relied exclusively on the 1889 edition, noting at most that the original version of the testimonies was held in the Vatican Library. No one set about conducting a systematic study of the Vatican manuscript, or at least there is no trace of such a study in publications dedicated to the trial of the Świdnica beguines or the papal

51 H.

Laurent, Inventario dei codici Vaticani Latini 12848–13735 (typescript, Vatican City, 1957), p. 52. 52 P. Kielar, ‘Traktat przeciw beghardom Henryka Havrera’, Studia Theologica Varsoviensia 8 (1970), 231–52, at p. 231, n. 1. 53 ‘A comparison of both texts is possible thanks to our having obtained a microfilm of the Roman record … and this has allowed us to state certain differences between them consisting primarily in different spellings of many words, which do not, however, have any influence on the contents of the document that interests us’; D. Lapis and B. Lapis, ‘Beginki w Polsce w XIII–XV wieku’, KH 79 (1972), 521–44, at p. 534, n. 129.

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Preface inquisition.54 This was the case for the next two scholars to publish important studies of the Świdnica beguines in recent years. In 2007 Jarosław Szymański produced his doctoral dissertation on the subject of heretical movements in Silesia in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, which contains a long chapter devoted to ‘hypocritical maidservants’.55 Without going into more detailed analysis of the two preserved versions of the interrogation records, Szymański limited himself to stating that ‘the records of the Świdnica inquisition from 1332 were published from the Cracow Chapter codex by B. Ulanowski’. He went on to add that the papal inquisitor ‘sent the trial records to the pope in Avignon’ without mentioning the source of his knowledge.56 The chapter devoted to the Świdnica beguines includes many long quotations from the sources which are translated into Polish, and a range of valuable remarks by the author were included in footnotes explaining the excerpts quoted in the text. Five years later, in a study of beguines in the Holy Roman Empire, the German scholar Jörg Voigt acknowledged the testimony records to be the most valuable source for study of beguine communities during the first half of the fourteenth century. He considered that the particular value of this document lay in the fact that the 1332 record contains the responses of women who belonged to the Świdnica beguine community. In quite concise source references, Voigt noted that ‘the testimony records survive in two versions, the original of which is in the Vatican Library, while a fifteenthcentury copy is held in the Cracow Diocesan Archive [sic!]’.57

54 See, among others, Z. Mazur, ‘Powstanie I działalność inkwizycji dominikańskiej na

Śląsku w XIV wieku’, Nasza Przeszłość 39 (1973), 181–91, at pp. 183–4; Patschovsky, Die Anfänge, p. 61, n. 237; P. Kras, ‘Inkwizycja papieska w średniowiecznej Polsce. Zarys problematyki badawczej’, Almanach Historyczny 5 (2003), 9–48, at pp. 26, 34–5; P. Kras, ‘Dominican Inquisitors in Mediaeval Poland’, in Praedicatores, Inquisitores – I: The Dominicans and the Mediaeval Inquisition. Acts of the 1st International Seminar on the Dominicans and the Inquisition. Rome, 23–25 February 2002, ed. A. Palacios Bernal, Dissertationes Historicae 29 (Rome, 2004), pp. 249–310, at pp. 260–2, and in the appendix, ‘The Catalogue of Dominican Inquisitors in Medieval Poland (1318–1500)’, no. xv, ibid., pp. 301–2. 55 Szymański, Ruchy heretyckie, p. 98: ‘Let us move on to the trial conducted in Świdnica in 1332 by the inquisitor, John of Schwenkenfeld against beguines from the local community accused of heresy. After the trial an inquisition record was drafted which is a multifaceted source presenting that convent as permeated by the ideology of “the Free Spirit”.’ 56 Ibid., n. 118. 57 J. Voigt, Beginen im Spätmittelalter. Frauen Frömmigkeit in Thüringen und im Reich (Cologne, Weimar, and Vienna, 2012), p. 315 and n. 1348: ‘Ein Verhörprotokoll aus Schweidnitz (Diözese Breslau) aus dem Jahre 1332 ist die einzige erhaltene Quelle aus der ersten Hälfte des 14. Jahrhunderts, in der Aussagen mehrer Mitglieder einer religiöser Frauen ohne Ordensanbindung im Rahmen eines Inquisitionsprozesses überliefert sind. … Dieses Verhörprotokoll ist in zwei Fassungen überliefert. Das Original befindet sich in der Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, eine Abschrift des 15.

15

The Beguines of Medieval Świdnica In studies so far of the trial records in the case of the Świdnica Hooded Sisters, which began with Bolesław Ulanowski’s 1889 edition, it has often been stressed that this documentation is a valuable or even unique source. For some scholars the 1332 notarial instrument was a vital text, permitting them to observe in detail the internal organization of a beguine community, their religious beliefs and practices, and their everyday life. By reading the testimonies contained therein it was possible to see through a keyhole into a house where a group of a dozen Świdnica beguines laboured heavily to produce cloth, prayed, and mortified their flesh, thereby putting into practice the precepts of the vita apostolica. For other researchers the records were decisive evidence of the existence of the Heresy of the Free Spirit, which was supposed to have enjoyed fervent support among the Świdnica moniales Capuciatae. Under the influence of the doctrine of the Free Spirit, the Świdnica sisters were supposed to have expressed the view that they could obtain spiritual perfection and a state of union with God outside the institutions of the Church. As they sought such perfection, they gave themselves up to extraordinary mortification, strict fasts, and flagellation. Seemingly, they believed that after attaining a state of perfection they would become sinless and would not be obliged to follow the laws of the Church. The consequence of such a view was to be sexual freedom, which would lead to licentiousness and scandalous relations with the beghards.58 Many scholars accepted as credible the answers given on the topic of sexual excesses taking place in the beguine houses in Świdnica and Wrocław, which they linked with reception of the idea of the Free Spirit.59 Others who agreed with Robert E. Lerner claimed that the accusations regarding sexual matters were a product of the febrile imagination of a few young women who, encouraged by the inquisitor’s questions, associated the closed meetings of the older sisters, especially those in which beghards took part, with indecent behaviour. For almost all scholars, there was no doubt that the Świdnica sisters formed a heretical group whose doctrine and practices were condemned Jahrhundert im Diözesanarchiv Krakau, die zur Grundlage der Edition herangezogen wurde.’ 58 Among Polish scholars, the most extensive assessment of beghard views came from Stanisław Bylina, ‘Unum ovile et unus pastor. Wizja nowego społeczeństwa w chiliazmie begardów’, KH 80 (1973), 568–86 (reprinted in his Ruchy religijne w średniowieczu. Studia (Warsaw, 1991), pp. 155–75); S. Bylina, Wizje społeczne w herezjach średniowiecznych. Humiliaci, beginki, begardzi (Wrocław, Warsaw, Cracow, and Gdańsk, 1974), pp. 129–222 (for beghard licentiousness, see pp. 209–22). However, he did not devote a separate study to the religious life of the Świdnica moniales Capuciatae. In the second of the works cited above he made only a brief comment on the testimony of Catherine of Leipzig about the response of the beghards concerning the sinlessness of those who had attained a state of perfection (ibid., pp. 217–18). 59 Dobrowolski, ‘Pierwsze sekty’, 197–8; Leff, Heresy, I, 387–9; Wyrozumski, ‘Beginki’, 21.

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Preface by the Church at the Council of Vienne in 1312. The inquiries conducted by John of Schwenkenfeld were regarded as a consequence of the Council constitutions, which held the beguines and beghards to be sects of the Free Spirit. Scholars dealt with the documentation of the interrogations itself, and its structure and function, to only a limited extent.60 Even the discovery of the original of the 1322 notarial instrument in the Vatican Library collections did not lead to deeper reflections about the working techniques of the papal inquisitor and the technology of drafting the interrogation text which was penned by the notary public Mikołaj de Pencwynsdorph. In a text devoted to the Silesian Inquisition, the eminent Dominican scholar Zygmunt Mazur wrote scornfully of the cognitive value of these records in studies of the views expressed by the Świdnica beguines. He claimed that ‘in these views, if indeed the women expressed them, there are no original thoughts. They are a repetition of errors taken from the Clementine Constitutions.’ In his brief reflection on the technique of conducting interrogations, he admitted that John of Schwenkenfeld formulated questions which were based on opinions recorded in the constitutions of the Council of Vienne and expected to obtain only confirmation of such views from those he interrogated. In his opinion, ‘this was a schematic approach whereby he made accusations to the Beguines which had been set down by the Church authorities with regard to certain German religious communities’.61 Intensive research conducted since the 1970s into inquisition records has shed new light on the working techniques of inquisition courts and the many-staged process of drafting trial documentation. The answers of those interrogated would be translated from the vernacular into Latin, edited according to a pre-devised formulary and written down in the form of a specific legal discourse.62 These recent scholars concentrated on the structure and function of documentation compiled by the inquisitors.63 Of particular importance are the views of John H. Arnold, who, based on the documentation of inquisition trials from Languedoc, drew attention to the dominant role of the inquisitor, who imposed his form of interrogation, controlled the course of the inquiry and constructed a confessing subject. For in effect, the person under interrogation in an inquisition trial had very limited freedom 60 Lerner,

Heresy of the Free Spirit, pp. 114–17. ‘Powstanie’, 183–4. 62 C. Bruschi and P. Biller, ‘Texts and the Repression of Heresy: Introduction’, in Texts and the Repression of Medieval Heresy, ed. C. Bruschi and P. Biller, Studies in Medieval Theology 4 (York, 2003), pp. 3–19; P. Kras, ‘Protokoły inkwizycyjne: struktura i funkcje’, in Zbožnost středověku, ed. M. Nodl, Colloquia mediaevalia Pragensia 6 (Prague, 2007), pp. 191–209. 63 J. B. Given, Inquisition and Medieval Society: Power, Discipline, and Resistance in Languedoc (Ithaca and London, 1997); J. H. Arnold, Inquisition and Power: Catharism and the Confessing Subject in Medieval Languedoc (Philadelphia, 2001); M. G. Pegg, The Corruption of Angels: The Great Inquisition of 1245–1246 (Princeton, 2001). 61 Mazur,

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The Beguines of Medieval Świdnica to answer, and was compelled to respond to the questions of the inquisitor, who at the stage of editing the text of the testimonies was free to interpret the material himself and decided what should be recorded and what could be left out.64 In recent years, discussion of the Świdnica records has surrounded to a great extent the case of Magdalena Ogórek’s book on the Waldensians and beguines in Silesia and Moravia.65 In her 2012 study Ogórek described her difficulties in gaining access to MS Vat. Lat. 13119. Her method of conducting archival research – corresponding with the Vatican Library, and then resorting to the Embassy of the Polish Republic to the Holy See for help in gaining access to the above-mentioned manuscript – arouses amazement. However, we must concur with Magdalena Ogórek that none of the Polish scholars who have claimed to have used Vat. Lat. 13119 have analysed it conscientiously. While working on the critical edition of the records of the inquiry into the case of the Świdnica Hooded Sisters from the Vat. Lat. 13119 manuscript, it seemed to us that small variant readings would be revealed. The text of the testimony from 1332 allows for a better understanding of its contents and corrects some unclear passages which appeared in the Cracow copy that formed the basis for Bolesław Ulanowski’s edition. The full restitution of all omissions and textual distortions has shed new light on the relationship between the 1332 notarial instrument from the Vatican Library and the fifteenth-century copy held by the Archives of the Cracow Cathedral Chapter.66 The present publication comprises two separate parts: a collection of studies devoted to the Świdnica beguines and the trial of their case which took place in September 1332, and a Latin–Polish edition of the notarial instrument containing the testimonies of witnesses and beguines which is held in the Vatican Library under the shelf mark 13119a. Part One contains five chapters, the first of which is introductory in nature, outlining the rise and development of the beguine movement in the thirteenth century. Chapter Two presents the repression directed against beguine communities as a consequence of legislation approved by the Council of Vienne (1311–12). Chapter Three discusses the course of the 1332 interrogations and the structure of preserved trial documentation. The fourth chapter is devoted to the origin, organization, and religious practices of the Świdnica beguine community, whose members referred to themselves as ‘the daughters of Odelindis’. In

64 Arnold,

Inquisition and Power, pp. 74–115. Ogórek, Beginki i waldensi na Śląsku i na Morawach do końca XIV wieku (Racibórz, 2012). See the reviews by P. Kras (Roczniki Historyczne 79 (2013), 238–43) and J. Szymański (KH 122 (2014), 171–8); T. Gałuszka, Henry Harrer’s Tractatus contra beghardos: The Dominicans and Early Fourteenth Century Heresy in Lesser Poland, Studia i źródła Dominikańskiego Instytutu Historycznego w Krakowie 14, trans. M. Panz-Sochacka (Cracow, 2015), pp. 47–8, n. 77. 66 See below pp. 157–64. 65 M.

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Preface Chapter Five the doctrine of the Świdnica sisters is confronted with the theological views of John of Schwenkenfeld, who as papal inquisitor for the Diocese of Wrocław conducted the interrogations in September 1332. The second part of the publication comprises a critical edition of the Latin records of the 1332 interrogations along with a translation into English. This is preceded by four source studies: a description of the manuscripts; a critical study of the Vatican notarial instrument and the copy of this that is held in the Archives of the Cracow Cathedral Chapter; a discussion of editorial principles with reference to the Latin text; and notes on the Polish translation.67 The first version of this new edition appeared in Polish in 2017.68 The present English edition is based to a large extent on that publication, although the structure of the collection of studies has changed and some parts of the Polish version have been shortened, while others have been developed further.69 We are pleased that Professor Robert E. Lerner, an eminent specialist in the history of the beguines and the Heresy of the Free Spirit, agreed to provide an introduction to the present publication. We hope that this critical edition of the 1332 interrogations of the Świdnica beguines with a translation into English by Professor Stephen C. Rowell will provide an impulse for new research into the history of female religious communities during the difficult period of persecution that resulted from the repressive legislation of the Council of Vienne.

67 In

the Polish publication, with the gracious permission of the Apostolic Library, we published a facsimile of the manuscript of the notarial instrument (MS Vat. Lat. 13119a). This manuscript is now available online: https://digi.vatlib.it/view/ MSS_Vat.lat.13119. 68 T. Gałuszka, P. Kras and A. Poznański, Proces beginek świdnickich w 1332 roku. Studia historyczne i edycja łacińsko-polska (Lublin, 2017; 2nd edn, 2018). 69 The series editors further note the addition of a subsequent chapter by Letha Böhringer, following the main study and edition.

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1 The Rise of the Beguines During the second half of the twelfth century, religious movements developing dynamically among the laity drew inspiration from the ideals of religious life as described in the New Testament.1 At the centre of this new religious fervour stood voluntary poverty, acknowledged to be a means to achieve spiritual perfection and ensure salvation. The desire to ‘follow the naked Christ in his nakedness’ inspired primarily the representatives of wealthy townsfolk, who could see a basic contradiction between evangelical poverty and their own material gains.2 From this group there emerged, among others, Valdes, a well-to-do merchant and banker from Lyons. Around 1173, desiring to know the teachings of Christ and the principles of the life of the Apostles better, he ordered translations of parts of the New Testament into Provençal. As the Dominican Stephen of Bourbon tells us, being illiterate himself, Valdes would often listen to these translations of Holy Writ. Influenced by Christ’s words to the rich young man (Luke 18:18–23), Valdes abandoned his family, distributed his property to the poor, and began a life of poverty.3 His spiritual transformation inspired many followers and gave rise to the movement of the Poor of Lyons (pauperes de Lugduno), which, along with the Cathars, became one of the most powerful forces of religious 1 T.

Manteuffel, ‘Naissance d’une hérésie’, in Hérésies et sociétés dans l’Europe préindustrielle, 11e–18e siècles, ed. J. Le Goff, Civilisations et Sociétés 10 (Paris and The Hague, 1968), pp. 97– 8; R. Manselli, Il secolo XII: Religione popolare ed eresia (Rome, 1995), pp. 57–66. 2 H. Grundmann, Religious Movements in the Middle Ages, trans. S. Rowan (Notre Dame and London, 1995), pp. 69–74. 3 Quellen zur Geschichte der Waldenser, ed. A. Patschovsky and K.-V. Selge, Texte zur Kirchen und Theologiegeschichte 18 (Gütersloh, 1973), p. 16: Quidam dives rebus in dicta urbe, dictus Waldensis, audiens evangelia, cum non esset multum litteratus, curiosus intelligere quid dicerent, fecit pactum cum dictis sacerdotibus, alteri ut transferret ei in vulgari, alteri ut scriberet que ille dictaret, quod fecerunt; similiter multos libros Biblie et auctoritates sanctorum multas per titulos congregatas, quas sentencias appellabant (There was a certain man in that city, wealthy in goods, called Waldensis. When hearing the Gospels he was curious to understand what they said, and since he was not very literate he made a contract with the said priests [Bernard Ydros and Stephen of Anse]. One of them was to translate the Gospels into the vernacular, the other to write down what he dictated: and they did this. And they also did likewise for many books of the bible and many passages s of the saints [patristic texts], gathered under headings, which they called ‘Sentences’). See also the account of the Anonymous of Passau; ibid., p. 19.

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The Rise of the Beguines heterodoxy in the Middle Ages. At first Valdes and his followers enjoyed a certain favour among the local ecclesiastical authorities, who were supportive of the penitential side of this religious movement. However, when the Poor of Lyons took up preaching activities, which included expressing anti-clerical opinions, this led to a fundamental change in the stance of the clergy. The meetings of the Waldensians – during which discussions of Scripture, made available in the vernacular, took place – were observed with ever-increasing anxiety.4 In connection with this, in 1179 Valdes and a group of his followers made their way to Rome to seek support for their movement. After being questioned by the Fathers of the Third Lateran Council, Valdes did indeed win approval for laymen to live in humility and poverty, but at the same time the Waldensians were forbidden to make statements concerning doctrine.5 Attempts to impose clerical control over the movement of the Poor of Lyons ended in failure. Just a few years after the Council of Lyons, in 1184, the Waldensians were declared to be heretics and an object of inquisitorial action.6 Referring to St Peter’s words before the Sanhedrin that ‘we ought to obey God rather than men’ (Acts 5:29), the Waldensians rejected the Church’s prohibition and continued their preaching activity.7 The fate of Valdes and the Poor of Lyons, which he founded, became a sharp warning for all religious currents which attempted to implement the ideals of the apostolic life without the approval of the ecclesiastical authorities. Persecution also awaited the Humiliati, who were active in Lombardy, as well as lay communities which formed in Liège around the local reforming chaplain, Lambert le Bègue (‘the Stutterer’). The first of these formed societies of pious townsfolk, whose aim was to take care of the sick. In his parish Lambert organized prayer communities of layfolk, among whom

4 M.

Lambert, Medieval Heresy: Popular Movements from the Gregorian Reform to the Reformation (2nd edn, Oxford, 1992), pp. 63–5. 5 Walter Map, De nugis curialium, ed. M. R. James, C. N. L. Brooke, and R. A. B. Mynors (Oxford, 1983), pp. 124–7. See also the comments of A. Patschovsky, ‘The Literacy of Waldensianism from Valdes to c.1400’, in Heresy and Literacy, 1000–1530, ed. P. Biller and A. Hudson, Cambridge Studies in Medieval Literature 23 (Cambridge, 1994), pp. 118–19. 6 Grundmann, Religious Movements, pp. 17–21; J. Gonnet and A. Molnar, Les Vaudois au Moyen Age (Turin, 1974), pp. 75–83; G. Audisio, Les ‘Vaudois’. Naissance, vie et mort d’une dissidence (XIIe–XVIe siècles) (Turin, 1989), pp. 12–15. 7 Si quid enim nobis iusserint, quod a dei filio, nostro summo pontifice, dissonet, ex divinarum preceptis scripturaram collegimus, quid eis fiducialiter dicere debemus: ‘Obedire oportet deo magis quam hominibus’ (If any people command us to do some thing which is at variance with the son of God, our highest pontiff, we gather from the precepts of the holy scriptures that we ought to say to them boldly, ‘We ought to obey God rather than men’); Liber antiheresis des Durandus von Osca, ed. K.-V. Selge, Die ersten Waldenser, Arbeiten zur Kirchengeschichte 37, 2 vols. (Berlin, 1967), II, 61; cf. Gonnet and Molnar, Les Vaudois, pp. 80–1; E. Cameron, Waldenses: Rejections of Holy Church in Medieval Europe (Oxford, 2000), pp. 30–1.

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The Beguines of Medieval Świdnica he promoted ideals of religious life in line with the principles of the Gospel. To this end he himself translated parts of Scripture which he would explain during his Sunday meetings with the laity. Both these initiatives met with hatred on the part the local ecclesiastical authorities, which accused the two movements of heresy. Only the pontificate of Innocent III (1198–1216) brought a fundamental change in the attitude of the ecclesiastical authorities to the religious aspirations of the laity. The new pope approved the activities of the Humiliati and some of the Waldensians, who under the leadership of Durand of Huesca and Bernard Prim recognized the authority of the Holy See and joined the struggle against the Cathars as ‘the Poor Catholics’. However, first and foremost, Innocent III provided support for the movement of Francis of Assisi, in which the ideals of a life of humility and poverty found their fullest expression.8 As a result of the intercession of Jacques de Vitry, Innocent’s close collaborator and successor Honorius III approved the activities of the ‘pious ladies’ in Flanders and Brabant, whose model was Marie d’Oignies.9 The Apostles’ model for living inspired the founders of the new mendicant orders which arose during the first decades of the thirteenth century. St Dominic and St Francis placed voluntary poverty at the heart of the communities they founded. For St Francis and his closest companions, their life in poverty and humility was the natural consequence of their yearning to ‘follow the naked Christ in His nakedness’. The Franciscan model of religious life won great popularity in a short space of time. After obtaining the approval of Innocent III in 1209, hundreds of members from across Latin Christendom joined the Franciscan community. Alongside the men’s order a female order was founded by St Clare and groups of tertiaries also recruited lay supporters of voluntary poverty.10 St Mary Magdalene became a popular model for female holiness during this period and her cult underwent huge growth around the turn of the thirteenth century. As Susan Haskins’s research has shown, in the twelfth century Mary Magdalene became a popular model of religious practice for laywomen. The idea of a repentant sinner was much closer to the experience of ordinary people than the unattainable ideal of perfection represented by the Blessed Virgin Mary,11 and Magdalene’s tomb

8 F.

Andrews, The Early Humiliati, Cambridge Studies in Medieval Life and Thought, 4th series 42 (Cambridge and New York, 1999), pp. 64–98. 9 W. Simons, The Cities of Ladies: Beguine Communities in the Low Medieval Countries, 1200–1565 (Philadelphia, 2001), pp. 24–34. 10 J. Kłoczowski, Wspólnoty chrześcijańskie w tworzącej się Europie (Poznań, 2003), pp. 269–72; A. Vauchez, ‘Les ordres mendiants et la reconquête religieuse de la societé urbaine’, in Apogée et expansion de la chrétienté (1054–1274), ed. A. Vauchez, Histoire du christianisme des origines à nos jours, ed. J.-M. Mayeur et al., 14 vols. (Paris, 1900–2001), V, pp. 768–70. 11 S. Haskins, Mary Magdalen: Myth and Metaphor (London, 1993), pp. 107–25; A. Vauchez, La spiritualité du Moyen Âge occidental: VIIIe–XIIIe siècle (Paris, 2015), pp. 158–60.

22

The Rise of the Beguines in Sainte-Baume became one of the most popular pilgrimage sites. In 1225 the Penitential Order of St Mary Magdalene (Ordo sanctae Mariae Magdalenae de poenitentia) was founded for women desiring to live in humility and poverty, and two years later it obtained the approval of Pope Gregory IX.12 Elisabeth of Thuringia became a model of lay religious life. She rejected her privileged social station for the sake of the ideals of the Gospel and began to live in poverty, taking care of paupers and the needy.13 The appearance of the first beguines in the towns of Flanders and Brabant marked a turning point in the development of new forms of female lay piety. The central place in these new religious currents was occupied by a longing to follow Christ in humility, poverty, and service to one’s neighbour. During the second half of the twelfth century, such yearnings led an ever-greater number of women to enter convents which functioned under the guidance of the Cistercians and Premonstratensians. Following the strict rules of both of these orders was perceived to be the best guarantee of faithfulness to Christ’s teaching. The female monasteries which sprang up at that time became pioneering centres where attempts were made to reconcile life inside the cloister with charitable activity carried out beyond the convent walls. Communities of Cistercian and Norbertine nuns engaged in looking after the poor and sick in hospitals and hospices alongside their convents with special care.14 However, the large number of women seeking to implement their evangelical ideals within the bounds of newly founded convents exceeded the organizational ability of the Cistercians and Premonstratensians to oversee them. Supervising female communities became an increasingly burdensome and unwelcome obligation for monks, who were distracted by such work from the requirements of their own practices. The nuns’ activities among the laity also caused disquiet among the ecclesiastical authorities. From this point of view, even before the end of the twelfth century first the Cistercians and soon afterwards the Premonstratensians halted the foundation of new monasteries and attempted to impose complete observation of the enclosed life on their female communities.15 The increasingly

12 V.

Saxer, Le culte de Marie-Madeleine en Occident des origines à la fin du Moyen Âge (Auxerre and Paris, 1959), pp. 107–25; J. Voigt, Beginen im Spätmittelalter: Frauen Frömmigkeit in Thüringen und im Reich (Cologne, Weimar, and Vienna, 2012), pp. 44–63. 13 O. G. Oexle, ‘Armut und Armenfürsorge um 1200. Ein Beitrag zum Verständnis der freiwilligen Armut bei Elisabeth von Thuringen’, in Sankt Elisabeth, Fürstin, Dienerin, Heilige: Aufsätze–Dokumentation–Katalog (Sigmaringen, 1991), pp. 76–100. 14 E. W. McDonnell, The Beguines and Beghards in Medieval Culture with Special Emphasis on the Belgian Scene (New Brunswick NJ, 1954), pp. 116–19; S. Murk-Jansen, Brides in the Desert: The Spirituality of the Beguines (London, 1998), pp. 21–2; J. Ziegler, ‘Secular Canonesses as Antecedent to the Beguines in the Southern Low Countries’, Studies in Medieval and Renaissance History n.s. 13 (1991), 114–35. 15 C. Neel, ‘The Origins of the Beguines’, in Sisters and Workers in the Middle Ages, ed.

23

The Beguines of Medieval Świdnica strict limitations on admission into convents had a direct influence on the rise and dynamic development of the beguines, who tried to live the evangelical life in line with the example set by the monastic orders. Without accepting any monastic rule, they sought to obtain evangelical perfection through their own efforts, setting poverty, humility, and chastity at the heart of their spirituality. The first beguines were recruited overwhelmingly from among either married women who had encouraged their husbands to share a life of chastity, or widows who had adopted the religious life. At first the beguines did not form any organized communities but practised their ideals of life individually, according to the Gospel. Often they would live their religious life in the vicinity and under the auspices of monasteries or enjoying the support of the local secular clergy. The appearance of groups of beguines reflected the growing popularity of this evangelical way of life and at the same time testified to the ever-increasing independence of the whole movement, which was able to develop without clerical support. During the first half of the thirteenth century beguine groups grew up simultaneously in many towns and little is known about the circumstances in which they were founded. The spread of the beguines was not the consequence of any top-down organized process. No charismatic leader directed them, and there was no central place from which their model of religious life spread out to other communities. The triumphant development of the beguines is an historical phenomenon which is not open to simple interpretation. As Walter Simons noted, ‘the earliest manifestations of the movement are unusual and fascinating precisely because communities of like-minded women seeking a novel way of life, pursuing similar goals and connected by various individuals who moved between them, sprang up in different places in the southern Low Countries within a relatively short time’.16 The most valuable source for investigating the beginnings of the beguine movement in Wallonia and Flanders is the writing of Jacques de Vitry, a clerk educated at the University of Paris who later became bishop of Acre and cardinal. Under the influence of stories about ‘the pious ladies’ of the diocese of Liège, Jacques interrupted his studies and went off to Oignies. There he came to know the Blessed Marie d’Oignies, the first beguine whose religious life drew many followers. Jacques was fascinated by Marie’s piety and became her confessor and confidant. He entered the house of the Augustinian Canons Regular in Oignies and became a zealous promotor of beguine spirituality. After the death of Marie d’Oignies in 1213, he wrote her Life, which provides detailed information about the life and activities of the ‘pious ladies’ (mulieres religiosae) who followed in Christ’s footsteps, living a life of poverty and humility and taking care of the sick.17 In his Life of Marie d’Oignies Jacques J. M. Bennett et al. (Chicago and London, 1989), pp. 242–50. The Cities of Ladies, p. 36. 17 McDonnell, The Beguines, p. 4. A detailed exploration of this topic is offered by W. 16 Simons,

24

The Rise of the Beguines wrote enthusiastically of ‘many holy virgins … [who] scorned carnal enticements for Christ, despised the riches of this world for the love of the heavenly Bridegroom in poverty and humility and earned a sparse meal with their hands’. With admiration he stressed their voluntary poverty and disdain for their own social standing and material goods. He wrote that ‘although their families abounded in great riches, yet they preferred to endure distress and poverty and were forgetful of their people and the home of their father rather than to abound in riches which had been wrongly acquired or to remain in danger among worldly pomp’.18 A dozen years later, the Cistercian Caesarius of Heisterbach described with similar admiration the beguine community active within the diocese of Liège. Their innovative way of religious life drew his particular attention. He wrote that ‘they live among lay folk, wear lay dress and what is more in respect of their love of God they surpass other religious orders’. At the same time he added that they live ‘the life of hermits amid crowds of people, a spiritual life within a secular environment, the life of virgins amongst seekers after pleasure’.19 The originality of the beguine form of organization lay first and foremost in the fact that it was created by women who led a quasi-monastic life while still retaining their lay station.20 The beguines did not adhere to any rule recognized by the Church nor did they take any perpetual vows, although upon admission to the community they would swear obedience to their mistress.21 The very concept of ‘beguines’ (beguinae), which was used for the first time by Jacques de Vitry with reference to Marie d’Oignies, soon came

Simons, ‘Beginnings: Naming Beguines in the Southern Low Countries, 1200–1250’, in Libels and Labels: Naming Beguines in Northern Medieval Europe, ed. L. Böhringer, J. K. Deane and H. van Engen, Sanctimoniales 1 (Turnhout, 2014), pp. 9–52. 18 Jacques de Vitry, Vita Marie de Oegnies, in Vita Marie de Oegnies, Supplementum, ed. R. B. C. Huygens, CCCM 252 (Turnhout, 2012), pp. 45–6; for the English translation: The Life of Marie d’Oignies, trans. M. H. King, 2nd edn (Toronto, 1989), p. 37. In his dedicatory letter, Jacques de Vitry refers to Bishop Fulk of Toulouse, who in 1211–12 paid a visit to the diocese of Liège. Cf. B. Bolton, ‘Faithful to Whom? Jacques de Vitry and the French Bishops’, Revue Mabillon 70:9 (1998), 53–72, at pp. 55–7; Simons, Cities of Ladies, p. 168, n. 1. 19 Caesarius of Heisterbach, Dialogus miraculorum. Dialog über die Wunder, ed. N. Nösges and H. Schneider, 5 vols., Fontes Christiani 86 (Turnhout, 2009), V, 2114–17. 20 A. Vauchez, ‘Lay People’s Sanctity in Western Europe: Evolution of a Pattern (Twelfth and Thirteenth Centuries)’, in Images of Sainthood in Medieval Europe, ed. R. Blumenfeld-Kosinski and T. Szell (Ithaca and London, 1991), pp. 21–32, at pp. 28–9. 21 A thorough presentation of religious communities of laymen and laywomen is provided by Kaspar Elm, ‘Vita regularis sine regula. Bedeutung, Rechtstellung und Selbsverständnis des mittelalterlichen und frühneuzeitlichen Semireligiosentums’, in Häresie und vorzeitige Reformation im Spätmittelalter, ed. E. Müller-Luckner and F. Šmahel, Schriften des Historischen Kollegs, Kolloquien 39 (Munich, 1998), pp. 239–73.

25

The Beguines of Medieval Świdnica to be applied to all women who lived a communal religious life outside a convent (vita religiosa sine regula).22 Voluntary poverty, chastity, strict ascetic practices, and earning a living by the sweat of their brows became characteristic features of beguine life. Beguines took care of the sick and needy as well as organizing burials, and the source of their own maintenance was the production of cloth.23 Voluntary penance comprising regular fasts and other mortifications of the flesh lay at the centre of the ascetic spirituality of the first generation of beguines. As André Vauchez noted appositely, at the crossroads of asceticism which exerted great fascination on the faithful, and of the apostolic ideal the penitential state joined the spirit of poverty and charity with the search for physical suffering. Those who practised it yearned to reproduce the mystery of Christ, both Victim and Saviour, humiliated and triumphant in their daily existence. There is no Resurrection without the Passion – deeply certain of the rightness of their conviction, the penitents mortified themselves of their own free will to induce the divine power to reveal itself to them.24

Blessed Marie d’Oignies, whose life and piety were described in detail by Jacques de Vitry, became the pattern for the new model of life adopted by the ‘pious ladies’. Marie did get married, but she persuaded her husband Jean to preserve his chastity and live in poverty with her. She settled with him in a leper house, where along with her husband she set about taking care of the lepers. After her spouse died in 1207, Marie lived as an anchoress next to the Augustinian monastery in Oignies-sur-Sambre. Living in abject poverty and subjecting herself to strict asceticism, Marie sought to share in the sufferings of Christ, who was sore wounded, put to scorn, and led off to die on the Cross. Although she did not found any community herself or establish a religious rule, thanks to the Life written by Jacques de Vitry, Marie d’Oignies became the first beguine and a model of penitent godliness which seemed attractive to many women.25 In the 1240s a new version of The Life of Marie d’Oignies was 22 McDonnell,

The Beguines, pp. 3–5; B. Bolton, ‘Moniales sanctae’, in Sanctity and Secularity, the Church and the World, ed. D. Baker, Studies in Church History 10 (Oxford, 1973), pp. 77–95; Simons, Cities of Ladies, p. 35. 23 C.-F. Felskau, ‘Von Brabant bis Böhmen und darüber hinaus. Zu Einheit und Viefalt der “religiösen Frauenbewegung” des 12. und 13. Jahrhunderts’, in Fromme Frauen – unbequeme Frauen? Weibliches Religiosentum im Mittelalter, ed. E. Klueting, Hildesheimer Forschungen 3 (Hildesheim, 2006), pp. 67–103, at pp. 82–3; C. Guidera, ‘The Role of the Beguines in Caring for the Ill, the Dying and the Dead’, in Death and Dying in the Middle Ages, ed. E. E. DuBruck, and B. I. Gusick, Studies in Humanities, Literature, Politics, Society 45 (New York, 1999), pp. 51–72. 24 Vauchez, La spiritualité, p. 164. 25 V. von der Osten-Sacken, ‘Jakob von Vitrys Vita Mariae Oigniacensis’: Zu Herkunft und Eigenart der ersten Beginen, Veröffentlichungen des Instituts für Europäische Geschichte Mainz, Abteilung für Abendländische Religionsgeschichte 223

26

The Rise of the Beguines drafted by the Dominican friar Thomas of Cantimpré. Like Jacques de Vitry, Thomas was hugely impressed by the virtues and renunciations exhibited by Marie.26 The Life of Marie d’Oignies was the first medieval hagiographical text to promote the sanctity of the beguine life. Influenced by this, Lives (vitae) of other ‘pious ladies’ came to be written, such as those of Odile of Liège, Juette (Yvette) of Huy, Christina the Astonishing, Ida of Nivelles, Ida of Leuven, Margaret of Ypres, Ludgard of Aywières, and Juliana of Mont-Cornillon.27 These were penned by clerics who, like Jacques de Vitry, were fascinated by the strictness of the customs and the penitential lives of the beguines. Thomas of Cantimpré wrote four such vitae.28 In these vitae, composed for the most part during the first half of the thirteenth century, the mulieres religiosae were presented as a model of doctrinal orthodoxy and obedience to the Church of Rome. None of these women expressed views inconsistent with the Church’s teaching, and their ascetic religious practices were carried out within the bounds of Catholic ritual tradition. All the ‘pious ladies’ who became the heroines of these vitae had their own confessor and pastor. As the vitae stress,

(Göttingen, 2010), pp. 63–122; see also the remarks on its distribution by A. Vauchez, ‘Prosélitysme et action antihérétiques en milieu féminin au XIIIe siècle: La vie de Marie d’Oignies († 1213) par Jacques de Vitry’, in Propagande et contre-propagande religieuses. Actes du Colloque de Institut des études des religions de l’Université libre de Bruxelles, ed. J. Marx, Problèmes de l’Histoire du Christianisme 17 (Brussels, 1987), pp. 95–110. 26 See n. 86; for the English translation see The Supplement to James of Vitry’s Life of Mary of Oignies by Thomas of Cantimpré, trans. H. Feiss, in Mary of Oignies. Mother of Salvation, ed. A. B. Mulder-Bakker, Medieval Women: Texts and Contexts 7 (Turnhout, 2006), pp. 129–66. 27 B. Bolton, ‘Some Thirteenth Century Women in the Low Countries: A Special Case?’ Nederlands Archief voor Kerkgeschiedenis NS 61:1 (1981), 7–29; eadem, ‘ThirteenthCentury Religious Women. Further Reflections on the Low Countries “Special Case”’, in New Trends in Feminine Spirituality. The Holy Women of Liége and Their Impact, ed. J. Dor, L. Johnson, and J. Wogan-Browne, Medieval Women Texts and Contexts 2 (Turnhout, 1999), pp. 129–57; Simons, Cities of Ladies, pp. 37–8. For a recent overview of the entire corpus of hagiographical texts related to the mulieres religiosae from the Liège region, see J. Van Engen, ‘The Religious Women at Liège at the Turn of the Thirteenth Century’, in Medieval Liège at the Crossroads of Europe. Monastic Society and Culture, 1000–1300, ed. S. Vanderputten, T. Snijders, and J. Diehl, Medieval Church Studies 37 (Turnhout, 2017), pp. 339–70. 28 A. Vauchez, La sainteté en Occident aux derniers siècles du Moyen Âge. D’après les procès de canonisation et les documents hagographiques (Rome, 1981), pp. 149–50; G. G. Meersseman, ‘Frères prêcheurs et le mouvement dévot en Flandre au XIIIe s.’, AFP 18 (1948), 69–130. For analysis of all thirteenth-century lives of beguines, see B. Newman and A. B. Mulder-Bakker, ‘Canon of Thirteenth-Century Southern Netherlandish Saints’ Lives’, in Living Saints of the Thirteenth Century: The Lives of Yvette, Anchoress of Huy; Juliana of Cornillon, Author of the Corpus Christi Feast; and Margaret the Lame, Anchoress of Magdeburg, ed. A. B. Mulder-Bakker, Medieval Women: Texts and Contexts 20 (Turnhout, 2011).

27

The Beguines of Medieval Świdnica the women regarded the pastoral service of the Church with respect, took part in services in their parish church, and regularly went to confession and received Holy Communion. In living out the ideals of the Gospel and showing faithfulness to the ecclesiastical authorities in this way, the beguines differed from the heterodox religious movements. We may note, in fact, that Jacques de Vitry dedicated his Life of Marie d’Oignies to Bishop Foulque of Toulouse, who was one of the leading Church prelates engaged in the struggle against the Cathars in the Midi of France. Beguine spirituality did not run contrary to the Church’s pastoral programme as worked out in the codification of the Fourth Lateran Council in 1215. The lives of the beguines stressed their veneration of the Eucharist. They are said to have spent many hours in adoration of the Blessed Sacrament and would take Holy Communion often.29 Also important was the penitential character of the piety of the early beguines and their care for sinners, for whom they would pray and offer up their suffering. Thomas of Cantimpré described in detail the severe mortifications of the flesh endured by Christina the Astonishing, which she would offer up for the benefit of the souls suffering in Purgatory. Wishing to ease the pains of these souls, Christina subjected her own body to pain, spending hours in freezing water, and lying on the branches of trees and in tombs.30 During the first decades of the thirteenth century a new model of piety based on a life of poverty and humility would be propagated by the Franciscans and Dominicans. The huge success of the religious orders was a response to the ever-stronger desire for the Church to return to the principles of life according to the Gospel. The new monastic formations approved by the papacy and included in attempts to implement the pastoral programme of the Fourth Lateran Council made use of the religious expectations of lay people, who equated Christian perfection with the idea of faithfully following in the footsteps of Christ and His disciples.31 Similar desires guided the groups of women who, unable to find a place for themselves in enclosed orders, began to live communal lives based on the ideal of the vita apostolica, while maintaining their lay status. The first beguines connected their charitable activities on behalf of the sick and needy with personal poverty and zealous prayer.32 Unlike orders of enclosed nuns, the beguines actively took part in the life of urban society. Their efforts in self-maintenance and cultivating deep

29 A.

B. Mulder-Bakker, ‘Holy Lay Women and their Biographers in the Thirteenth Century’, in Living Saints, pp. 1–42. 30 Vita Christinae mirabilis, ed. J. Pinius, in AASS, 24 July, V, pp. 637–60; English translation: Thomas of Cantimpré: The Collected Saints’ Lives, ed. B. Newman, Medieval Women: Texts and Contexts 19 (Turnhout, 2008), pp. 125–57. 31 Vauchez, ‘Les ordres mendiants’, 785–92. 32 Vauchez, La spiritualité, pp. 161–2.

28

The Rise of the Beguines piety won them recognition from local society, which often supported them materially and ensured their safety.33 The development of the beguine movement would not have been possible without clerical support. The above-mentioned Lambert le Bègue of Liège is an excellent example of a clergyman who fought to promote lay religious communities.34 Jean de Nivelles (d. 1233) also gained the reputation of being a devoted shepherd, tending kindly to his flock, whose pastoral activities had a great influence on the behaviour of lay religious groups in Brabant.35 During the first decades of the thirteenth century, it was the diocesan clergy, especially cathedral canons that supported communities of women, who, while retaining their lay status, set about living in chastity and poverty. A group of reform-minded clergy in Paris, gathered around Peter the Chanter, played an important role in promoting this new form of lay piety.36 The religious movement spread in Brabant and Flanders by communities of mulieres religiosae found considerable support in the Rhineland. The renewal of economic links between the towns of Flanders and the Rhineland enabled a swift transfer of information concerning lay piety. The beguine way of life won particular popularity in Cologne, which occupied a key place on the transport routes leading southwards from Northern Europe.37 The diocese of Liège, which formed the cradle of the beguine movement, was part of the archbishopric of Cologne, and clergy moved often between the Rhenish metropolis and Brabant. In 1216 Jacques de Vitry, the confidant of Marie d’Oignies and zealous promotor of beguine piety, found himself in Cologne, but the details of his visit are not known. Clergy from both Flanders 33 Grundmann,

Religious Movements, p. 140; M. Wehrli-Johns, ‘Das mittelalterliche Beginentum – Religiöse Frauenbewegung oder Sozialidee der Scholastik?’ in Fromme Frauen oder Ketzerinnen? Leben und Verfolgung der Beginen im Mittelalter, ed. M. Wehrli-Johns and C. Opitz (Freiburg, Basel, and Vienna, 1998), pp. 25–51; Simons, Cities of Ladies, pp. 109–12; P. Dinzelbacher, ‘Religiöse Frauenbewegung und städtisches Leben im Mittelalter’, in Frauen in der Stadt, ed. G. Hödl, F. Mayrhofer, and F. Opll, Beiträge zur Geschichte der Städte Mitteleuropas 18, Schriftenreihe der Akademie Friesach 7 (Linz, 2003), pp. 229–64. 34 Simons, Cities of Ladies, pp. 24–34. 35 McDonnell, The Beguines, pp. 40–3; Simons, Cities of Ladies, p. 41. 36 Grundmann, Religious Movements, pp. 79–80; J. Oberste, ‘Predigt und Gesellschaft um 1200. Praktische Moraltheologie und pastorale Neuorientierung im Umfeld der Pariser Universität am Vorabend der Mendikanten’, in Bettelorden im Aufbau. Beiträge zu Insitutionalisierungsprozessen im mittelalterlichen Religiosentum, ed. G. Melville and J. Oberste, Vita Regularis 11 (Münster, 1999), pp. 245–94; Voigt, Beginen, pp. 34–7. 37 M. Margue, ‘Entstehung und Entwicklung der brabantischen Städte und die Straße Flandern-Köln (11.–13. Jahrhundert)’, in Städtelandschaft – Städtenetz – zentralörtiches Gefüge: Ansätze und Befunde zur Geschichte der Städte im hohen und späten Mittelalter, ed. M. Escher, A. Haverkamp, and F. G. Hirschmann, Trierer Historische Forschungen 43 (Mainz, 2000), pp. 383–406, at pp. 404–5. Felskau, ‘Von Brabant bis Böhmen’, pp. 76–82.

29

The Beguines of Medieval Świdnica and Brabant were members of the Cologne Cathedral Chapter and were well acquainted with the activities of the mulieres religiosae.38 Thanks to the initiative of these clergymen, the first beguine communities were set up in the Rhineland and Thuringia in the 1220s and 1230s.39 Matthew Paris, the English Benedictine from St Albans, writes in his Historia Anglorum of the large number of beguines who were active in the German lands at that time. One of the largest groups grew up in Cologne, where there may have been as many as several thousand beguines;40 the first followers had appeared in the city by 1223 and their first house was founded in 1230.41 As emerges from the research of Letha Böhringer, women from well-to-do patrician families whose members sat on the city council and possessed a significant amount of property numbered among the first Cologne beguines.42 Beguine groups also enjoyed great support from members of the Cologne Cathedral Chapter. A Cologne canon named Boniface (d. 1260) was a supporter of the mulieres religiosae. After studying in Paris, he held the office of dean of the chapter in St Gudula’s Church in Brussels between 1216 and 1222. Undoubtedly,

38 L.

Böhringer, ‘Kreuzzugsprediger, Domscholaster und fromme Frauen. Beobachtungen zum klerikalen Umfeld der ersten Kölner Beginen’, Rheinische Vierteljahrsblätter 72 (2008), 35–53. 39 Voigt, Beginen, pp. 33–41. 40 Matthæi Parisiensis Monachi Sancti Albani Historia Anglorum AD 1243, ed. F. Liebermann, MGH SS, XXVIII, p. 417: Temporibus quoque sub eisdem quidam in Alemannia sub numerosa multitudine, mulieres precipue, habitum et mores religiosorum sibi assumentes, Beguinos sive Beguinas sese fecerunt appellari, ratione nominis incognita et auctore penitus ignoto. Mulierumque numerus in brevi adeo multiplicabatur, ut in civitate Colonie plura milia invenirentur (Around these times some people in Germany – a very large number, especially women – took up the habit and way of life of the Religious [=of members of a Religious Order]. They had themselves called beghards [male] and beguines [female]. The reason for the name is unknown, and their founder is completely unknown. In a short space of time the women increased in number so much that many thousands were to be found in Cologne). In his Chronica maiora Matthew writes of there being more than 1,000 beguines in Cologne; ibid., 320: In Alemannia autem mulierum continentium, que se Beguinas volunt appellare, multitudo surrexit innumerabilis, adeo ut solam Coloniam mille vel plures inhabitarent (A countless multitude of the celibate women who want to call themselves ‘Beguines’ arose in Germany, to such an extent that a thousand or more lived in Cologne alone). 41 J. Asen, ‘Die Beginen in Köln’, Annalen Historischen Vereins für den Niederrhein 111 (1927), 81–180, at pp. 83–6; Böhringer, ‘Kreuzzugsprediger’, 35–6; L. Böhringer, ‘Merging into Clergy: Beguine Self-Promotion in Cologne in the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Century’, in Labels and Libels, pp. 155–6; Voigt, Beginen, p. 60. 42 Asen, ‘Die Beginen in Köln’, 86–7; L. Böhringer, ‘Möglichkeiten und Grenzen der sozialen Einordnung von Kölner Beginen unde ihren Familien’, in Städtische Gesellschaft und Kirche im Spätmittelalter. Arbeitstagung auf Schloss Dhaun 2004, Geschichtliche Landeskunde 62 (Stuttgart, 2008), pp. 167–88. See also concluding remarks of Letha Böhringer, ‘Kölner Beginen im Spätmittelalter – Leben zwischen Kloster und Welt’, Geschichte in Köln 53 (2006), 7–34, at pp. 12–18.

30

The Rise of the Beguines he was in a position to get to know the activities of beguines in Brabant well, and so after his arrival in Cologne it was unsurprising that he played an important role in the foundation of the city’s first beguine community.43 Another canon of Cologne, Albert Suerbeer, obtained a papal bull for local beguines in the archdiocese of Cologne from Pope Gregory IX in 1237, which ensured papal protection for the ‘converted sisters, who are called beguines in the vernacular’ (sorores conversae, que begine vulgariter appellantur).44 In subsequent years the model of communal life transplanted from Flanders and Brabant attracted numerous townswomen in Cologne as well as women from outside the city. During the second half of the thirteenth century many small beguine communities existed in Cologne and made a living for themselves through weaving. Many of them engaged in taking care of the sick and needy.45 In the mid-fourteenth century there were 169 beguine houses in the Rhineland metropolis, containing a total of around 1,170 women.46 Bearing in mind that Cologne had a population of only around 40,000 inhabitants at that time, such a significant number of beguines would have been clearly visible to all who visited the city.47 Before the middle of the thirteenth century, thanks to the Franciscans, the model of life of the ‘pious ladies’ in Flanders and Brabant had found a following in southern France. Douceline de Digne (c.1215–79) founded the first beguine community in Provence. She was the sister of Hugh de Digne, one of the leaders of the Franciscan Spirituals. Hugh played a key role in the organization of his sister’s community.48 After his return from Paris, where lay mulieres religiosae had become the subject of lively discussion, he introduced his sibling to the beguines’ communal way of life. In his sermons Hugh 43 Böhringer,

‘Kreuzzugsprediger’, 38–9; L. Böhringer, Geistliche Gemeinschaften für Frauen im mittelalterlichen Köln, Libelli Rhenani, Series Minor 5 (Cologne, 2009), pp. 48–51. 44 Osnabrücker Urkundenbuch, ed. F. Philippi et al., 6 vols. (Osnabrück, 1892–1989), II, 296 no. 378; cf. Böhringer, ‘Kreuzzugsprediger’, 44–5; Böhringer, ‘Merging into Clergy’, p. 43. 45 L. Böhringer, ‘Beginen und Schwestern in der Sorge für Kranke, Sterbende und Verstorbene. Eine Problemskizze’, in Organisierte Barmkerzigkeit. Armenfürsorge und Hospitalwesen in Mittelalter und Früher Neuzeit, ed. A. Dirmeier, Studien zur Geschichte des Spital-, Wohlfahrts- und Gesundheitswesen 1 (Regensburg, 2010), pp. 127–55. 46 Böhringer, ‘Merging into Clergy’, pp. 153–7. 47 H. Manikowska, ‘Klasztor żeński w mieście średniowiecznym’, Roczniki Dziejów Społecznych i Gospodarczych 62 (2002), 7–48, at pp. 9–11. 48 J. Paul, ‘Les franciscains et la pauvreté aux XIIIe et XIVe siècles’, Revue d’histoire de l’Église de France 52 (1966), 33–7; J. Paul, ‘Hugues de Digne’, Cahiers de Fanjeaux 10 (1975), 69–97; J. Paul, ‘Le commentaire de Hugues de Digne sur la règle franciscaine’, Revue d’histoire de l’Église de France 61 (1975), 231–41, at pp. 231–4. Hugh’s ideas on poverty were later adopted and spread by Peter John Olivi; D. Burr, Olivi and Franciscan Poverty: The Origins of the ‘Usus Pauper’ Controversy (Philadelphia, 1989), pp. 18–24.

31

The Beguines of Medieval Świdnica propagated the perfection that could be achieved through a life of poverty and chastity, and this undoubtedly added to the popularity of beguine groups founded by Douceline de Digne in Hyères and Marseilles. Much information about Douceline’s life and the activities of the community she founded is contained in her vita (Li vida de la benaurada sancta Doucelina), which appeared in its first version sometime before 1297 and its second in around 1315.49 Unlike the vitae of the ‘pious ladies’ of Flanders and Brabant, which were written in Latin by clergymen, the Life of Saint Douceline was composed in Provençal by a woman named Philippine (Filipa) Porcellet, who became mistress of the community after Douceline died.50 Li vida was intended for the sisters of the communities founded by Douceline and serve to popularize knowledge of her life and piety.51 The Life of Douceline is modelled on the Legenda maior of St Francis composed by St Bonaventure. Like the Legenda, Li vida comprises fifteen chapters, and one can even find direct references to the Bonaventure text in Porcellet’s work.52 As emerges from Li vida, Douceline chose the beguine model of religious life after careful consideration. After conversations with Hugh de Digne, Douceline decided not to take religious vows in any enclosed order and so decided on the beguine way of life.53 The Franciscan chronicler Salimbene 49 Li

vida de la benaurada Sancta Doucelina mayre de las donnas de Robaut, ed. J. H. Albanès, in La vie de Sainte Douceline fondatrice des béguines de Marseille (Marseille, 1879), p. 20: El sainta maire [i.e. Dulceline] fon en Prohensa il premiera beguina, e fon comensamens de totas cellas que preron aquel nom. E las enformava el servizi de Dieu. Mais alcunas n’i ac que si volgron ajustar perfiechamens ab ella (And the holy mother [Douceline] was the first beguine in Provence, and she was the origin of all those women who took this name. And she formed them in the service of God. But there were some who wished to unite themselves perfectly with her). 50 Li vida de la benaurada sancta Doucelina has been preserved in the single copy of the Bibliothèque nationale de France under the shelfmark MS BN Fonds Français 13503. Fr Joseph Hyacinthe Albanès’s 1879 edition was of 200 copies. A new edition of Douceline’s Life was published in 1927: La vie de Ste Douceline. Texte provençale du XIVe siècle, ed. R. Gout (Paris, 1927). 51 Ernest McDonnell stressed the significance of the vernacular text of Li vida in the development of the Provençal beguines’ religious identity (The Beguines, p. 400). Aviad Kleinberg has argued that ‘the fact that the Life was written in the vernacular is further indication of limited ambitions. Vernacular Lives were aimed at a local, lay readership; such readership could not significantly alter the saint’s official status. If we consider the biography’s dissemination a rough index of success, the vida of St. Douceline was not successful. In spite of the saint’s fame, her life survived in a single manuscript’; A. M. Kleinberg, Prophets in Their Own Country: Living Saints and the Making of Sainthood in the Later Middle Ages (Chicago and London, 1992), p. 122. For a detailed textual analysis of Li vida see G. Brunel-Lobrichon, ‘Existe-t-il un christianisme méridional? L’exemple de Douceline: le béguinage provençal’, Heresis 11 (1988), 41–51. 52 Ibid., 42. 53 K. Garay and M. Jeay, ‘Introduction’, in The Life of Saint Douceline, a Beguine of Provence (Cambridge, 2008), pp. 8–9.

32

The Rise of the Beguines stressed that ‘Douceline never entered any religious order but lived her whole life in piety and chastity’.54 Her choice of the beguine way of life was all the more significant given that Douceline did not join the Poor Clares, whose first convents in Provence were founded at this very time. Around 1243 Douceline founded the first beguine community in the suburbs of Hyères, and this was called the Congrégation de Roubaud after the name of the small river which flowed nearby. Li vida provides details about the beginnings of this community. During a service held in the Franciscan church in Hyères, after a sermon delivered by Hugh, Douceline swore vows of chastity before her brother and became head of the new community. She was joined by 131 women, 80 of whom took vows of chastity directly before her.55 The next two groups of ‘Dames de Roubaud’ formed at Hyères and Marseilles.56 From Li vida it emerges unequivocally that the foundation of the first beguine communities in Provence was connected directly with the charismatic figure of Douceline de Digne, whose strict asceticism, and sacrificial service of the poor, was an attractive form of piety for hundreds of other women. The history of the ‘Dames de Roubaud’ indicates the significance of local religious, social, and even political conditions for the development of beguine communities. In this case, besides the charismatic leader herself, the Franciscans played an important role, since their spirituality had a significant influence on Douceline’s life and that of her community.57 Also, the support of well-to-do influential families, from whom some of the ‘Dames de Roubaud’ were recruited, was also essential for the success of the Provençal beguines. The Li vida recounts how even Count Charles I of Provence (1246–85) and his wife supported the activities of the Provençal beguines and how Douceline stood as godmother to the noble couple’s daughter, who attributed her happy birth to Douceline’s zealous prayers.58 Groups of beguines active in various parts of Latin Christendom were founded in accordance with local conditions. It was important that there was a charismatic woman like Marie d’Oignies or Douceline de Digne who could attract other people through the example of her life. Equally important was the support of local religious and secular clergy as well as enthusiasm on the part of the town community. According to the classification proposed by L. J. M. Philippen and also adopted by Ernest McDonnell, four basic phases existed in beguine organizational development. In the first of these phases,

54 Hec

nunquam aliquam religionem intravit, sed semper in seculo caste et religiose vixit; Salimbene de Adam, Cronica, ed. G. Scalia, CCCM 125a, 2 vols. (Turnhout, 1999), II, 833. 55 Li vida de la benaurada sancta Doucelina, p. 18. 56 Garay and Jeay, ‘Introduction’, pp. 11–12. 57 Kleinberg, Prophets in Their Own Country, pp. 123–5. 58 Li vida de la benaurada sancta Doucelina, pp. 34–7, 154–9; The Life of Saint Douceline, pp. 36–7, 77–9.

33

The Beguines of Medieval Świdnica the women lived either alone as anchoresses or communally like a family. They did not enter marital relations and their religious life often developed near a monastery, where they would take care of the sick. The second phase comprised small groups of ‘pious ladies’ who submitted to the authority of a chosen mistress and lived according to the rules set by her (‘communities of disciplined women’, congregationes mulierum disciplinatarum). The third phase was connected with the foundation of separate communities of women (‘enclosed beguines, cloisters of beguines’, beguinae clausae, Curtis beguinarum) who led a quasi-monastic way of life. In the fourth phase, separate urban districts grew up inhabited by beguines whose religious life centred on a local church or chapel.59 However, the model of beguine organizational development worked out by L. J. M. Philippen is rather simplified in character and takes into account first and foremost the specific nature of the development of ‘pious ladies’ in towns in Flanders and the Netherlands. Research carried out in recent decades has shown that in fact most beguine communities did not fit the organizational evolution outlined above. During the second half of the thirteenth century most beguines led a stable way of life, working and praying in their own homes. For the most part they spun wool and produced cloth to make a living, and alms was only a supplementary source of income for them. In many towns beguine houses enjoyed the support of the town authorities, which tried to regulate the principles of their status and function.60 At the head of each community stood a mother superior known as the mistress, who exercised supervision over all members. Each woman following the beguine way of life took vows of obedience to the mistress.61 She would also hand over her property for the use of the whole community. The mistress took care of the sisters’ everyday needs and the duties she undertook were reminiscent of those of the Biblical Martha (Luke 10:38–42).62 A good example of the rules of communal life, including an outline of the powers of the mistress and her deputies, is provided in the statutes for the beguine houses in Strasbourg (Constitutiones domorum beguinarum Argentinensium), dated 1276. According to this document, the beguine

59 L.

J. M. Philippen, De Begijnhoven. Oorsprong, Geschiedenis, Inrichting (Antwerp, 1918), pp. 40–57; summarized by McDonnell, The Beguines, pp. 5–6. 60 J.-C. Schmitt, Mort d’une hérésie, l’Église et les clercs face aux béguines et aux béghards du Rhin supérieur du XIVe au xVe siècle (Paris, The Hague, and New York, 1978), pp. 45–51; Simons, Cities of Ladies, pp. 85–7; Manikowska, ‘Klasztor żeński’, 22–3. 61 Simons, Cities of Ladies, p. 50. 62 Felskau, ‘Von Brabant bis Böhmen’, 84; M. Wehrli-Johns, ‘Maria und Martha in der religiösen Frauenbewegung’, in Abendländische Mystik im Mittelalter, ed. K. Ruh, Germanistische Symposien 7 (Stuttgart, 1986), pp. 354–67. On the statutes of beguines in Cologne and the role of mistress, see Asen, ‘Die Beginen in Köln’, 100–2. For further comments on St Mary and St Martha as symbols of vita contemplativa and vita activa in medieval texts, see G. Constable, Three Studies in Medieval Religious and Social Thought (Cambridge, 1995), pp. 1–142.

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The Rise of the Beguines communities were subject to the pastoral care of the Dominicans and all decisions regarding the community required consultation with a specially appointed Dominican confessor.63 After spending a year in the community, a woman would take vows of obedience, and as a ‘professed and bound sister’ (confessa et obligata) she would then be subject to the authority of the mistress and the confessor. The mistress and her deputies were responsible for overseeing the rules of communal life and the maintenance of internal discipline. They also had the right to punish any show of disobedience or rule breaking. The statutes also regulated the expulsion from the community of a sister who breached discipline or committed a serious moral offence. According to the contents of the Strasbourg statutes, women entering a beguine community were obliged to live in poverty but did not take vows of either poverty or chastity. A woman who left the community before a year passed had the right to have her property returned to her. One who left the community after a year had passed could take with her only her clothing and bedding. A woman who was expelled from the community for breaches of discipline lost the right to claim back any of her property.64 Beguines wore particular clothing which distinguished them from other townsfolk, comprising a grey dress with a long hood reminiscent of a monastic habit. They functioned as a community of laywomen, membership of which was voluntary and could be rescinded whenever a woman wished. They were subject to parochial obligations and had to take part in the life of the parish within which their house stood. Many beguine groups lived in the vicinity of mendicant monasteries and made use of the pastoral care offered by the friars.65 After the Council of Vienne (1311–12), which forbade beguines to pursue their activities further, some communities transformed into houses of tertiaries and became completely subject to mendicant houses. In the German lands more than eighty beguine communities joined the Dominican Order and around forty transformed into convents of the Poor Clares.66 In terms of their status, the beguines stood astride the boundary between the cloister and the world. The very name ‘beguines’ at first referred to women who led a religious life outside the cloister and its rule. For almost

63 Grundmann,

Religious Movements, p. 353, n. 45. pp. 148–9; cf. Szymański, Ruchy heretyckie, p. 108, n. 144. 65 On the beguines in Flanders and the Low Countries, see Simons, Cities of Ladies, pp. 52–60; on the beguines in the Rhineland and Thuringia, see Voigt, Beginen, pp. 109–70; in Strasbourg: D. Phillips, Beguines in Medieval Strasburg: A Study in the Social Aspects of Beguine Life (Stamford, 1941), pp. 45–115; in Zurich: M. WehrliJohns, Geschichte der Züricher Predigerkonvents (1230–1524):Mendikantentum zwischen Kirche, Adel und Stadt, (Zurich, 1980), pp. 104–32; in Rheims: P. Desportes, Reims et les Rémois aux XIIIe et XIVe siècles (Paris, 1979), pp. 328–9; in Paris: T. S. Miller, The Beguines of Medieval Paris: Gender, Patronage, and Spiritual Authority (Philadelphia, 2014), pp. 105–9. 66 Grundmann, Religious Movements, pp. 91–118 and 242. 64 Ibid.,

35

The Beguines of Medieval Świdnica the whole of the thirteenth century the term ‘beguine’ carried a positive connotation. In Cologne the ‘pious ladies’ described themselves with pride as ‘beguines’ and the local ecclesiastical authorities used the term ‘beguine’ with reference to women who led a religious life according to the principles of the vita apostolica either in a separate community or living together with their family. As Li vida reminds us, Douceline de Digne consciously became a beguine in order to live a life of chastity and poverty, following in the footsteps of Our Lady.67 The protective bulls issued by popes in the first half of the thirteenth century approved this model of life and spoke positively of the beguines. Indeed, the support of Pope Gregory IX was key in spreading this model of the religious life for laywomen; on 30 May 1233 he issued the bull Gloriam virginalem, in which he praised the pious life and chaste practices of the ‘pious virgins’, whom he described as ‘the brides of Christ’ (sponsae Christi). The papal document approved the existence of communities in the German lands and ensured they had the support of the Roman Curia.68

67 Li

vida de la benaurada sancta Doucelina, p. 38. The Beguines, pp. 157–9; Voigt, Beginen, pp. 63–6.

68 McDonnell,

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2 The Council of Vienne and the Persecution of Beguines The interrogations carried out in the case of the Świdnica beguines in 1332 represented the implementation of the decisions of the Council of Vienne (1311–12), which accused the beguines of organizing informal religious communities and having links with heresy. The Cum de quibusdam and Ad nostrum constitutions worked out during the course of the Council challenged the raison d’être of the whole beguine movement and placed a question mark over the further functioning of their religious communities. In effect, Cum de quibusdam instructed the liquidation of beguine and beghard houses which functioned outside the structures of tertiaries, who were supervised by mendicant priories, while Ad nostrum accused the beguines of propagating the Heresy of the Free Spirit, which was condemned by the Council. Beguines were accused of lacking the necessary education to discuss the mystery of the Holy Trinity and other theological questions within their own circles. Key among the views condemned in Ad nostrum was the opinion censured by the Council Fathers that spiritual perfection and union with God could be attained without the pastoral services of the Church. Both Council documents became a turning point in the history of the beguines and beghards. The Council of Vienne regarded the further activities of this movement as a threat to the unity of the Church and Catholic orthodoxy. Based on obligatory Church regulations, Cum de quibusdam categorically forbade the continued existence of religious communities which did not adopt a monastic rule approved by the Church. Ad nostrum argued that groups of beguines and beghards were hotbeds of dangerous heresy that preached radical mysticism and pantheism. Sometimes the restrictive regulations of the Council of Vienne are linked with the trial of Marguerite Porete, French mystic beguine, who was burned at the stake in May 1310.1 The Church authorities regarded her opus, Le miroir 1 J.

Orcibal, ‘Le “Miroir des simples âmes” et la “secte” du Libre Esprit’, Revue de l’histoire des religions 176 (1969), 36–60, at pp. 38–40; E. Colledge, ‘Introductory Interpretative Essay’, in Marguerite Porete, The Mirror of Simple Souls, ed. E. Colledge, J. C. Marler and J. Grant, Notre Dame Texts in Medieval Culture 6 (Notre Dame, 1999), pp. xxv–xliii. Regardless of what has been conjectured – and unlike the case of the trial of the Templars – we do not know whether King Phillip IV of France was interested in the Council’s legitimisation of the sentence against Marguerite Porete. R. E. Lerner, The Heresy of the Free Spirit in the Later Middle Ages (Berkeley, Los Angeles, and London, 1972), pp. 80–1.

37

The Beguines of Medieval Świdnica des âmes simples, a handbook of spiritual life dated to 1306, as being heretical and forbade its distribution.2 Porete’s treatise, steeped in subtle mysticism, described the individual’s way to attaining spiritual union with God, in whom a person freed herself from earthly desires and sins. Basing her text on her own mystical experiences, the author describes the many stages of the process of the soul’s liberation from the limitations of consciousness, the annihilation of the personal ego, and melting into God.3 The sixth article of Ad nostrum states that ‘the practice of the virtues belongs to the state of imperfection and the perfect soul is free of virtues’ and sounds almost identical to the first of the opinions of Porete, condemned in 1310. There is also a certain similarity between article 8 of Ad nostrum regarding adoration of the Blessed Sacrament and another claim emerging from the French beguine’s book. In addition, articles 2 and 7 of Ad nostrum are reminiscent of a statement of Marguerite’s that can be found in the continuation of the Chronicle of Guillaume de Nangis.4 Marguerite Porete’s opus is exceptional with regard to the depth of its mystical reflections and its original literary form. However, its basic proposition, which aroused so much condemnation from the Parisian inquisitor and the divines working alongside him, reflected a view that enjoyed popularity at the time among the beguines and beghards. This view declared the superiority of the mystic path towards God over other forms of religious life and, at the same time, its accessibility to everybody, regardless of their origin, position in society, education, or gender.5 The Church authorities accepted the mystical experiences of cloistered religious people with certain reservations, including the condition that they only share their knowledge of the subject with a restricted group of suitably prepared recipients. Latin, which was the language in which mystical experiences were described, was an effective barrier to uneducated layfolk. Even the most popular works of the Benedictine nun Hildegard of Bingen and the Augustinian Juliana de Mont-Cornillon, as well as the texts of the Cistercian nuns Beatrice of Nazareth and Gertrude of Helfta, remained practically unknown outside a

2 Marguerite

Porete, Speculum simplicium animarum, ed. P. Verdeyen and R. Guarnieri, CCCM 69 (Turnhout, 1986). 3 For an all-round assessment of the views of Marguerite Porete and her trial, see S. L. Field, The Beguine, the Angel, and the Inquisitor: The Trials of Marguerite Porete and Guiard of Cressonessart (Notre Dame, 2012). 4 Attention was drawn to these similarities by R. Guarnieri, Il movimento del Libero Spirito, extracted from Archivio italiano per la storia della pietà 4 (1965) and paginated 351–708 (Rome, 1965), p. 416. See also Lerner, Heresy of the Free Spirit, p. 823. K. Emery Jr, ‘Margaret Porette and her Book’, in Marguerite Porete, The Mirror of Simple Souls, pp. viii–ix; J. Voigt, Beginen im Spätmittelalter. Frauenfrömmigkeit in Thüringen und im Reich, Veröffentlichungen der Historischen Kommission für Thüringen, Kleine Reihe (Cologne, Weimar, and Vienna, 2012), pp. 183–92. 5 Field, The Beguine, pp. 125–44.

38

The Council of Vienne and the Persecution of Beguines narrow circle of monastic clergy and religious people. However, what was approved with relation to nuns, who were subject to the strict rigour of the enclosed life, was inaccessible to lay people living in beguine and beghard communities. Meanwhile, during the first decades of the thirteenth century mystical experiences became an important part of the religious life of the first generation of beguines (Marie d’Oignies, Christina the Astonishing, Juliana de Mont-Cornillon, Douceline de Digne), who devoted themselves to strict ascetic practices and prayerful contemplation in order to attain a state of spiritual union with God.6 In the course of these states of ecstasy their souls would leave their body and be united with God. Their mystical experiences were written down in the Latin Lives of ‘holy women’ composed by Jacques de Vitry (in the case of Marie d’Oignies) and Thomas de Cantimpré (Christina the Astonishing, Juliana de Mont-Cornillon). Being themselves witnesses of these experiences, or drawing on trustworthy accounts of third persons, these authors treated such occurrences as evidence of the beguines’ deeper piety and, at the same time, as a sign of the general bounty of God.7 During the second half of the thirteenth century, such increasingly common experiences of spiritual unity with God came to be written down by beguines themselves and took on the form of vernacular texts. The works of Mechtild of Magdeburg and Hadewijch of Antwerp, among others, are exemplars of such texts. The use of the vernacular for describing mystical events aroused considerable disquiet among the Church authorities, who already viewed female mysticism with suspicion. Vernacular texts were regarded as a much easier means for the transmission of suspicious religious ideas among layfolk, especially in beguine and beghard communities.8 There have been various attempts to explain the etymology of the term ‘beguine’. Often it is derived from the verb beggen (pray) or the adjective bege (modern ‘beige’), meaning the grey colour of the rough woollen apparel worn by beguines. Some scholars have pointed to the nickname of the Liège preacher Lambert le Bègue, whose preaching activities were associated with the foundation of the first groups of lay religious communities in Brabant.9

6 S.

Moens, ‘The mulieres religiosae. Daughters of Hildegard of Bingen? Interfaces between a Benedictine Visionary, the Cistercians of Villers, and the Spiritual Women of Liège’, in Medieval Liège at the Crossroads of Europe: Monastic Society and Culture 1000–1300, ed. S. Vanderputten, T. Snijders, and J. Diehl, Medieval Church Studies 37 (Turnhout, 2017), pp. 301–38. 7 B. Newman, ‘Introduction’, in Thomas of Cantimpré, The Collected Saints’ Lives, ed. B. Newman, Medieval Women: Texts and Contexts 19 (Turnhout, 2008), pp. 3–54. 8 E. M. W. Pedersen, ‘Heterodoxy or Orthodoxy of Holy Women’s Texts: What Makes a Holy Woman’s Text Holy?’ in Cultures of Religious Reading in the Late Middle Ages: Instructing the Soul, Feeding the Spirit, and Awakening the Passion, ed. S. Corbellini, Utrecht Studies in Medieval Literacy 25 (Turnhout, 2013), pp. 13–32. 9 Inter alia: TRE, V, 404–11; LMA, I, 1799–800; LThK, II, 144–5; cf. G. Constable, ‘Introduction’, in Libels and Labels: Naming Beguines in Northern Medieval Europe, ed.

39

The Beguines of Medieval Świdnica As early as the first half of the thirteenth century, there seem to have been attempts to derive the term ‘beguine’ from the Latin Albigensis used with reference to the Cathars; it was based on this etymology that the Cologne Annals in the 1240s regarded beguine activities as a form of heresy.10 Such accusations of heresy levelled against the beguines were accompanied by claims of sexual dissipation and immoral relations with beghards.11 Recently most researchers have come to agree that etymologically the term ‘beguine’ derives from the Germanic root begg–, meaning ‘mumbling’ or ‘muttering under one’s breath’.12 Initially, however, these critical voices were few and far between, and until the end of the thirteenth century beguines enjoyed the support of many representatives of the ecclesiastical authorities, who saw in their activities authentic and imitation-worthy attempts to put into practice the principles of the vita apostolica. The bishop of Lincoln, Robert Grosseteste (1175–1253), regarded the beguine lifestyle as the most perfect model of Christian piety, and Robert de Sorbon thought that the beguines understood matters of faith better than many divines.13 Nevertheless, for some members of the clergy, the activities of the beguines aroused suspicion, and they viewed with anxiety the development of these lay religious communities which often remained outside the supervision of ecclesiastical authorities.14 Particular antipathy was aroused by their quasi-monastic way of life and their own conviction that this was the most perfect form of Christian spirituality.15 By the 1220s Caesarius of Heisterbach was noting the rise of antipathy towards the beguines. In his Dialogus miraculorum he described the experiences of the Cistercian abbot, Walter de Villers. During one of his travels, de Villers intended to visit a women’s convent where the nuns were famous for their religious zeal. When he stayed en route at the house of a certain rich woman, he conversed with

L. Böhringer, J. K. Deane, and H. van Engen, Sanctimoniales 1 (Turnhout, 2014), p. 2; Simons, ‘Beginnings’, ibid., p. 14. 10 Chronica Regia Coloniensis (Annales maximi Colonienses), ed. G. Waitz, MGH SS rer. Germ. 18 (Hanover, 1880), p. 185. Cf. H. Grundmann, Religious Movements in the Middle Ages, trans. S. Rowan (Notre Dame and London, 1995), pp. 81–2. 11 Lerner, Heresy of the Free Spirit, pp. 37–8. 12 Simons, ‘Beginnings’, in Libels and Labels, pp. 14–15. Cf. M. Bęcławski, review, ‘Labels und Libels: Naming Beguines in Northern Medieval Europe, ed. L. Böhringer, J. K. Deane, and H. van Engen, Sanctimoniales 1 (Turnhout 2014)’, Parergon 32:2 (2015), 266–8, at p. 267. 13 Grundmann, Religious Movements, pp. 140–1. 14 The burning at the stake in 1235 of an unknown beguine by the Dominican inquisitor Robert le Bougre was a one-off event. This incident is recalled by the Flemish mystic Hadewijch of Antwerp: De Visioenen van Hadewijch, ed. J. van Mierlo, 2 vols. in 1, Leuvense Studiën en Tekstuitgaven 10 (Louvain, Ghent, and Malines, 1924–5), I, 189. Cf. Grundmann, Religious Movements, p. 81. 15 Ibid., pp. 150–2.

40

The Council of Vienne and the Persecution of Beguines her on the topic of this convent. The mistress of the house referred scornfully to the nuns and called them ‘beguines’ on account of their religious zeal.16 The beghards, who became stigmatized as heretical before the end of the thirteenth century, met with much greater antipathy. At first the term ‘beghard’ signified pious men living in community and displaying their religious sentiments; but ‘Beghard’ also developed an ironic twist. In an exemplum cited by the Dominican preacher Stephen of Bourbon, beghard was taken to mean a peasant who started to pray fervently when a thunderstorm struck. Other peasants, who sneered at the fellow, perished from a thunderbolt.17 The term ‘beghard’ was employed with a similar meaning in the texts of Caesarius of Heisterbach and Robert de Sorbon, serving to signify religious zealots whose eccentric zeal left them open to ridicule.18 In the second half of the thirteenth century, ‘beghard’ became a symbol of false piety and religious hypocrisy in works of literature. Robert E. Lerner analysed over a dozen or so texts from this period where the beghard is presented as a religious hypocrite. Many of the critical evaluations made of the beghards came from the pens of mendicant authors. The behaviour of beghards, their scruffy apparel, with a hood reminiscent of a mendicant habit, and their begging, irritated the Dominicans and Franciscans, since the general aversion towards the beghards also touched on both orders. It is no coincidence that numerous groups of beghards would turn up in places where the chapters of the mendicant orders gathered. In 1302 eighty beghards appeared in procession in Basle at the same time as the Dominican General Chapter was celebrated there.19 A year later 300 beghards turned up in Colmar where the Franciscan Chapter gathered.20 The beghards were infamous vagrants, moving from place to 16 ‘Quid

quaeritis videre istas begginas?’ (Why do you want to visit these beguines?); Caesarius of Heisterbach, Dialogus miraculorum, ed. N. Nösges and H. Schneider, 5 vols., Fontes Christiani 86 (Turnhout, 2009), I, 438–41; cf. Böhringer, ‘Merging into Clergy’, pp. 157–8. 17 Stephanus de Borbone, Tractatus de diversis materiis praedicabilibus, Prologus, Prima pars: De dono timoris, ed. J. Berlioz and J.-L. Eichenlaub, CCCM 124 (Turnhout, 2002), p. 283. Stephen used ‘beguinus’, the equivalent of beghard, the masculine form of beguine: ‘vocantes eum Beguinum’ (calling him ‘beguine’). 18 Lerner, Heresy of the Free Spirit, pp. 38–9. 19 Annales Colmarienses maiores, ed. P. Jaffé, MGH SS 17 (Hanover, 1861), pp. 202–32, at p. 227: Capitulum fratrum Predicatorum fuit in Basilea solenniter celebratum, et ibi fuerunt fratres Predicatores 570, quingenti septuaginta … In hoc capitulo fuerunt conversi seu begihardi seu fratres non habentes domicilia, 80 in una processione, mendicantes cibaria (The chapter of the Friars Preachers [Dominicans] was solemnly celebrated in Basel, and 570 Friars Preachers were there, five hundred and seventy [sic] … At that chapter there were lay brothers, either beghards or brothers without domiciles, 80 of them in a procession begging for food). 20 Ibid., p. 228: Capitulum fratrum Minorum fuit in Columbaria solenniter celebratum. Conversi seu begihardi 300 bini et trini in processione per Columbariam transeuntes elymosinam mendicabant (The chapter of the Friars Minor [Franciscans] was solemnly celebrated at Colmar. Three hundred lay brothers or beghards begged for

41

The Beguines of Medieval Świdnica place and importunately begging for alms. In the Greater Colmar Annals the beghards are referred to as ‘homeless friars’ (fratres non habentes domicilia).21 However, for a long time there was no association made between the beghards and religious deviation. Not until the beginning of the fourteenth century in the period preceding the Council of Vienne did accusations arise linking the beghards with theological innovations and particularly with followers of the so-called Heresy of the Free Spirit. In German ecclesiastical circles accusations began to arise against the beghards, alleging they broke Church laws and scorned the clergy; this was supposed to result from their conviction as to their own spiritual perfection. In the eyes of the Church authorities, beghards, being free from clerical supervision, were forming a dangerous sect saturated with mysticism, pantheism, and antinomianism. They were connected with certain views, the most prominent among which was their conviction that it was possible to attain spiritual union with God by their own efforts and without the services of the Church. With this view was connected another, namely the conviction that attainment of a state of perfection liberated them from practising virtues and rendered taking part in the sacraments unnecessary.22 These views were based on the doctrine of the so-called Heresy of the Free Spirit, which was condemned at the Council of Vienne. The Council’s bull Ad nostrum described the most important ideas of the Heresy of the Free Spirit in eight articles, and both beghards and beguines were claimed to be supporters of these errors. As Lerner has shown, to a large extent this heresy was a figment of the mistaken imagination of certain German prelates regarding groups of lay people who questioned traditional forms of religious practice and possessed high opinions of their own godliness.23 The Council’s condemnation of the beghards and beguines as adepts of the Free Spirit Sect was more an emanation of clerical fears than reality, and at the same time a tool for subordinating restless enthusiasts of the apostolic life to supervision by the Church’s institutions. The Sect of the Free Spirit never existed in the form described by Ad nostrum. It possessed neither a common teaching nor a unified organizational structure or leadership. Despite the intentions guiding the fathers of the Council of Vienne as well as the members of the conciliar commission appointed by John XXII as a consequence, the publication of Ad nostrum gave a green light to repression that would affect the beguines and beghards. The Council constitution legitimised the identification of beghards and beguines as heretics, which meant they had to face procedures and sanctions as laid down by canon law. Alongside the reception of alms, going in twos and threes in procession through Colmar). Cf. Lerner, Heresy of the Free Spirit, p. 43. 21 Annales Colmarienses maiores, p. 227. 22 Voigt, Beginen, pp. 193–4. 23 Lerner, Heresy of the Free Spiriti, pp. 66–8.

42

The Council of Vienne and the Persecution of Beguines the Council’s legislation, a pejorative understanding of the terms beguine and beghard spread throughout Latin Christendom. In his treatise Contra beghardos, composed in the second half of the 1320s, the Prague Dominican Henry Harrer described with complete disdain a group of Cracow beghards who sought to live according to the principles of the vita apostolica.24 For Harrer, who was also expert advisor to Prague’s Bishop Jan IV of Dražice, the beghard was a dangerous purveyor of theological novelties who disguised his errors under a cloak of external piety. Harrer addressed the beghard as ‘a most vile heretic’, whose way of life demanded ridicule and condemnation.25 A similar view of beghards can also be found in the works of another Dominican, Johannes Tauler (1301–61). In his sermon on a text from St Luke for the Third Sunday after Holy Trinity he refers to beghards as religious eccentrics and seekers of novelty.26 From the end of the thirteenth century the ecclesiastical authorities observed with increasing disquiet the growth of beghard and beguine communities which possessed neither a monastic rule nor a fixed organizational structure. Some of these communities became hotbeds of theological discussion and some of them seemed subject to the influence of Joachim of Fiore’s mysticism, while others supported Franciscan hardliners true to the strict observance of the Rule of St Francis. In some communities members viewed with contempt the secularized clergy, who were contrasted with communities of lay people living in poverty and chastity. The sayings of Franciscan Spirituals were close to those of the beguines who maintained close contact with the Friars Minor. Spiritual Franciscans were scandalized by magnificent churches, monastic foundations, and farm buildings filled with supplies of food. John of Parma, who was minister general of the Order between 1247 and 1257 and whose godly and ascetic way of life earned him respect from all sides of the conflict, attempted without success to reconcile disputes within the Franciscan family over interpretations of the Rule. His attempt to impose discipline and unconditional poverty met with opposition from some friars. In 1257 John was accused of favouring the views of Joachim of Fiore and compelled to resign as minister general. He was replaced by St Bonaventure, a candidate more open to compromise.27

24 T.

Gałuszka, ‘Krakowscy pobożni laicy czy begardzi heretycy? Z badań nad czternastowiecznym Tractatus contra beghardos Henryka Harrera’, Folia Historica Cracoviensia 182 (2012), 47–73. 25 T. Gałuszka, Henry Harrer’s Tractatus contra beghardos: The Dominicans and Early Fourteenth Century Heresy in Lesser Poland, Studia i źródła Dominikańskiego Instytutu Historycznego w Krakowie 14 (Cracow, 2015), pp. 134–5. 26 Jean (Johannes) Tauler, Sermons: Édition integrale, ed. J.-P. Jossua, trans. E. Hugueny, G. Théry and M. A. L. Corin (Paris, 1991), pp. 282–3. 27 M. Robson, The Franciscans in the Middle Ages (Woodbridge, 2006), pp. 82–94; D. Burr, Olivi and Franciscan Poverty: The Origins of the ‘Usus Pauper’ Controversy

43

The Beguines of Medieval Świdnica From 1274 to 1290, the dispute over poverty erupted with a new intensity. The escalation of the controversy over the understanding of usus pauper led to a revolt dominated by Spiritual Franciscan houses which expressed obedience to the Order’s authorities.28 In the last quarter of the thirteenth century the leader of the Spirituals was Peter John Olivi (1248–98). His sermons and writings criticising the wealth of the clergy and calling for faithfulness to the ideal of the vita apostolica enjoyed great popularity in Spiritual circles as well as among Franciscan tertiaries and the béguins (this semantically related pejorative name was used in southern France to denote both men and women allied to Peter John Olivi and Franciscan Spirituals).29 His views signified the crux of the dispute between John XXII and the Franciscan Spirituals. The pope summoned a commission to examine Olivi’s writings, and this declared sixty articles taken from Olivi’s Lectura super Apocalipsim to be erroneous.30 John XXII’s disquiet was also aroused by the popularity of Olivi’s texts among the béguins, who regarded this author as a true disciple of St Francis and an uncompromising interpreter of the Gospel.31 A suggestive reference to béguin involvement in popularizing the views of the Franciscan preacher emerged from the writings of Bernard Gui, the Dominican inquisitor in Toulouse. In his manual for inquisitors, Gui described Provençal béguins who read and distributed Olivi’s writings. He also indicated that since they had been influenced by reading such texts, these men and women viewed the ecclesiastical authorities with contempt and expressed critical opinions of the clergy of their day.32 The severe repression of the Franciscan Spirituals introduced by John XXII led to a sharp conflict to which the beguines, too, fell victim. Admittedly, John XXII’s predecessor Clement V reached an agreement with the Franciscan minister general, Alessandro Bonini of Alessandria, on the question of

(Philadelphia, 1989), pp. 23–7; D. Burr, The Spiritual Franciscans: From Protest to Persecution in the Century after Saint Francis (Philadelphia, 2001), pp. 29–37. 28 Burr, The Spiritual Franciscans, pp. 43–66. 29 R. Manselli, ‘L’idéal du Spirituel selon Pierre Jean-Olivi’, Cahiers de Fanjeaux 10 (1975), 99–126; Burr, The Spiritual Franciscans, pp. 51–65; A. Vauchez, ‘La contestation et hérésies dans l’Église latine’, in Un temps d’épreuves: 1274–1449, ed. M. Mollat du Jourdin and A. Vauchez, Histoire du christianisme des origines à nos jours, ed. J.-M. Mayeur et al., 14 vols. (Paris, 1900–2001), VI, 329–33. 30 J. Koch, ‘Der Prozess gegen die Postille Olivis zu Apokalypse’, Recherches de théologie ancienne et médiévale 5 (1933), 302–15; T. Turley, ‘John XXII and the Franciscans: A Reappraisal’, in Popes, Teachers, and Canon Law in the Middle Ages, ed. J. R. Sweeney and S. Chodorow (Ithaca and London, 1989), pp. 74–88; Burr, The Spiritual Franciscans, pp. 137–58. 31 M. D. Lambert, Franciscan Poverty: The Doctrine of Absolute Poverty of Christ and the Apostles in the Franciscan Order, 1210–1323 (2nd edn, New York, 1998), pp. 230–1. 32 Bernard Gui, Practica inquisitionis haereticae pravitatis, ed. C. Douais (Paris, 1886), pp. 273–4; translated in Heresies of the High Middle Ages, ed. and trans. W. L. Wakefield and A. P. Evans (New York, 1969), pp. 424–6.

44

The Council of Vienne and the Persecution of Beguines interpreting the principles of poverty. On the basis of the bull Exivi de paradiso, he forbade the holding of theological discussions on the subject of the poverty of Christ and His Apostles but this compromise turned out to be fragile. After Clement V died, the persecution of the Franciscan Spirituals resumed and defenders of the principle of unconditional poverty gathered in friaries in Narbonne and Béziers. John XXII, who was elected pope in August 1316, regarded the Franciscan Spirituals as apostates, and as early as 15 March 1317 he demanded that King Frederick II of Sicily drive out Franciscans who rejected the mitigated interpretation of the Rule. A month later, on 27 April 1317, a group of leaders of the Franciscan Spirituals were summoned before the papal court.33 On 7 October 1317, wishing to break the resistance of supporters of unconditional poverty, John XXII issued the bull Quorundam exigit, the first of a series of documents imposing a mitigated interpretation of the Rule where poverty was concerned, reminding the friars of their obligation of obedience to the Holy See. At the same time, he condemned the wearing of a tattered habit. Resistance on the part of the Spirituals towards the papal commands meant that the newly elected Franciscan minister general, Michael of Cesena, set about dealing severely with his renegade confrères in Narbonne and Béziers. Most of them submitted to his recommendations, but the more stubborn were handed over to Michel le Moine, the Franciscan papal inquisitor for Provence. On 17 May 1318 a quartet of Franciscan Spirituals, who refused to acknowledge the pope’s decision, were condemned as heretics and burned at the stake.34 Against the background of these events, we should draw attention to the stance of the Provençal béguins, a significant number of whom sided with the Spirituals.35 In Franciscan tertiary and béguin circles in southern France a fervent cult developed which recognized the four Franciscans burned at the stake in 1318 as martyrs sentenced to death for their defence of evangelical poverty.36 At the turn of the fourteenth century the links between the 33 BF, V, 110–11, no. 256, and 118–20, nos 266–7. Cf. C. R. Backman, ‘Arnau de Vilanova

and the Franciscan Spirituals in Sicily’, Franciscan Studies 50 (1990), 3–29. V, 132–3, no. 293, pp. 132–3. Cf. P. Nold, ‘Two Views of John XXII as a Heretical Pope’, in Defenders and Critics of Franciscan Life. Essays in Honor of John V. Fleming, ed. M. F. Cusato and G. Geltner (Leiden and Boston, 2009), pp. 139–58. 35 See M. D. Lambert’s encyclopaedic survey, Medieval Heresy: Popular Movements from the Gregorian Reform to the Reformation (3rd edn, Oxford, 2002), for useful accounts of on the one hand the beguines and beghards of Northern Europe (pp. 200–7) and on the other hand the béguins – men and women – of Provence, which make their distinctness clear. An illuminating account of the social and geographical dimensions of the support given to the Franciscan Spirituals by the béguins of Provence is provided by R. Manselli, Spirituels et Béguins du Midi, trans. J. Duvernoy (Toulouse, 1989), pp. 214–17. See also L. Burnham, So Great a Light, So Great a Smoke: The Beguin Heretics of Languedoc (Ithaca and London, 2008). 36 Gui, Practica, pp. 268–71; cf. Manselli, Spirituels, pp. 34–7; Burr, The Spiritual Franciscans, pp. 204–6. 34 BF,

45

The Beguines of Medieval Świdnica béguins and the Franciscan Spirituals persecuted by the Church aroused evermounting distrust on the part of the clergy. The restrictions introduced during the first ten years of the fourteenth century significantly limited the activities of lay religious communities and prepared the ground for the constitutions of the Council of Vienne, which would pose a threat to the very existence of the beguine movement.37 The acts of repression which were used against beguines and beghards at the beginning of the fourteenth century were the result of the imposition of superior clerical religious authority and supervision over lay communities, a process that happened in multiple phases. During the last quarter of the thirteenth century, criticisms of these informal lay religious groups became stronger, and not being subject to the pastoral care of parish or monastic clergy, the beguines were in a vulnerable position. Suspicion was aroused by the religious zeal of layfolk who strove with their own hands to embody the ideal of the vita evangelica independently of existing Church structures and outside traditional forms of piety. The Church did not trust the grassroots initiatives of lay people, whom they regarded as uneducated persons easily prone to exuberance. In such an atmosphere of mistrust, accusations spread easily, and the laity were condemned for alleged false piety, hypocrisy, contempt for the clergy, and even heresy. Among Church authorities, especially in dioceses where the beguine and beghard movement made its greatest advances, there was a growing determination to deal with such informal lay religious communities. This position also won the support of the mendicant orders, which accused the beguines and beghards of forming quasi-monastic groups and usurping their own model of daily life. Broader discussion on the place of informal lay religious communities in the Church took place during the Second Council of Lyons in 1274. During the Council three expert analyses were presented which reflected well the nuanced stance of the clergy towards the beguines and beghards. In the first of these, Bishop Bruno of Olomouc argued that the beguines and beghards did not belong to any approved monastic congregation, yet despite this they wore monastic habits and led a religious life according to the mendicant model. He considered that in this way they usurped the rights which belonged exclusively to monastic orders. Furthermore, he accused the beguines and beghards of having disrespect for the clergy and avoiding their parish obligations. However, Bruno’s assessment contained no accusations with regard to questions of doctrine. The second expert, the Dominican master-general Humbert of Romans defended the communities of ‘poor and pious women’, praising their genuine piety and the hard physical labour by which they earned their living. The third expert view was the most inimical to the beguines and was produced by the Franciscan Gilbert of Tournai, who

37 S.

L. Field, ‘On Being a Beguine in France, c.1300’, in Labels and Libels, pp. 117–33.

46

The Council of Vienne and the Persecution of Beguines pointed out the serious threat posed to Catholic orthodoxy by the discussions of divine truths that were spreading within beguine communities. He accused the beguines and beghards of reading Holy Writ in public in vernacular translations of uncertain provenance without possessing the requisite competence to discuss its contents. Gilbert even obtained a copy of such a vernacular Bible in Paris, which, in his opinion, contained a range of erroneous formulations. However, like the two previously mentioned experts, the Franciscan did not question the beguine way of life or accuse these men and women of heresy. Even so, he demanded checks be carried out on the vernacular translations of Holy Writ in their possession.38 The most serious problem facing the fathers of the Second Council of Lyons in 1274 was the massive growth of beguine communities outside the control of the Church authorities. Particular disquiet was aroused by the activities of vagrant groups of beguines and beghards, who interpreted Scripture in their own way and made a living from begging. In this respect, on the basis of the constitution De novis religionibus prohibitis, the Council of Lyons renewed the prohibition on forming new religious orders and demanded the liquidation of those that had sprung up after the Fourth Lateran Council. The Church Fathers also ‘severely prohibited that anyone found henceforth a new order or form of religious life, or assume its habit’ (art. 23).39 Admittedly, the constitution did not mention specifically to which of the new orders this prohibition was supposed to apply, but there can be no doubt that its eye was trained on groups of beguines and beghards, who functioned in contravention of the constitution De novis religionibus prohibitis. In a short time the prohibitions promulgated by the Second Council of Lyons found their echo in synodal statutes, especially within the territories of the Holy Roman Empire. In 1277 the provincial synod in Trier instructed local clergy not to allow uneducated laymen, defined as beghards, to preach the Word of God. Parish priests were also called upon to restrain their parishioners from listening to lay preachers who debated religious questions on the streets and in squares, thereby propagating errors and heresies.40 A few years later, a synod in Eichstätt

38 McDonnell,

The Beguines, pp. 366–7; Lerner, Heresy of the Free Spirit, pp. 45–6; Voigt, Beginen, pp. 173–7. 39 Tanner, vol. 1, p. 326. 40 … praecipimus firmiter et districte sacerdotibus, ne predicare permittant aliquos illiteratos videlicet Begardos vel conversos seu alios, cuiuscumque ordinis sint, etiam extra ecclesiam videlicet in vicis vel in plateis, et sacerdotes parochianis suis praecipiant ne tales audiant propter haereses et errores quos seminant in populo (We firmly and sternly order priests not to allow any illiterates – that is to say either beghards or lay brothers or others of whatever Order they may be – to preach, even outside the church, in other words in streets or squares. And priests are to order their parishioners not to listen to such men, on account of the heresies and errors they sow among the people); Corpus inquisitionis haereticae pravitatis Neerlandicae, ed. P. Fredericq, 5 vols. (Ghent and ’S Gravenhage, 1889–1906), I, 141–2, no. 147. Cf. J.

47

The Beguines of Medieval Świdnica admonished ‘unlettered beghards’ for teaching the Truths of the Faith and spreading errors among simple folk.41 It is worth stressing that these prohibitions affected solely the groups of male beghards and were not addressed to the communities of female beguines. Further restrictions against the beghards were introduced in the first decade of the fourteenth century, shortly before the Council of Vienne. In February 1307 Archbishop Heinrich II von Virneburg of Cologne condemned the activities of beguines and beghards who regarded themselves as Apostles. Referring to constitutions of the Fourth Lateran Council of 1215 and the Second Council of Lyons of 1274, he accused beghards and beguines, laymen, and simple women (laici mares et feminae idiotae – ‘idiotae’ may qualify both sexes) of belonging to a community which had a quasi-monastic way of life (modus vivendi) and dress (habitus). As emerges from this document, the key element of the piety of this association was the principle of voluntary poverty. However, in the opinion of the Cologne prelate, this was only a cover for spreading errors.42 Von Virneburg asserted that the beghards and beguines were following the lifestyle of the mendicant orders deliberately, so that they could beg for alms instead of making their living from labour. Despite their lack of learning, the beghards were supposed to discuss Holy Writ and debate divine mysteries. Furthermore, convinced of their own knowledge and showing scorn for the clergy, they would interrupt the sermons preached by Franciscan and Dominican friars.43 The archbishop of Cologne also drew attention to the erroneous views held by beghards and beguines with regard to the sacrament of marriage. In his opinion, they questioned the importance of marriage undertaken before a priest and claimed that adultery was not a sin. Moreover, Heinrich’s disquiet was aroused by the beghards’ conviction

Heydenreich, ‘Zu den Trierer Synodalstatuten des 13. Jahrhunderts’, Zeitschrift der Savigny-Stiftung für Rechtsgeschichte: Kanonistische Abteilung 25 (1936), 478–85. 41 Lerner, Heresy of the Free Spirit, p. 46. 42 Fredericq, I, 150–4, at p. 151, no. 161. 43 Ibid., I, 153: Et quod amaricata mente ferimus, eorum aliqui laici ac litteras nescientes praedicatoribus et minoribus in sermonibus eorum et praedicationibus publicis, quibus in agro theologiae continue laborantibus praedicationibus verbum per sacrosanctam ecclesiam est commissum, Dei et fidei secreta lucescunt, non sine vehementi suspicione pravitatis haereticae publice restiterunt in fidelium injuriam et sanctae ecclesiae errorum et caecitatis caliginem in veritatis lucem spargentes temere insultarunt (And with grieving mind we report that some lay and illiterate men – not without vehement suspicion of heretical wickedness and to the harm of the faithful and the holy church – have offered resistance in public to the Preachers and Minors [Dominicans and Franciscans] in their sermons and public preaching, the men labouring working continually in the field of theology to whom preaching the Word has been entrusted by the most holy church, men who cast light on the secret things of God and the faith; and that they have mocked them arrogantly, spreading the darkness of their errors and blindness over the light of truth).

48

The Council of Vienne and the Persecution of Beguines that those inspired by the Holy Ghost were not subject to any human law.44 His description of the beghards and the women who accompanied them left no doubt that they formed an anarchistic group par excellence which violated social order and threatened the unity of the Church. On the basis of such an assessment, von Virneburg ordered the beghards and beguines to throw off their habits and return to lay life, and threatened those who disobeyed with excommunication. It should be stressed that this instruction related exclusively to those who led a wandering life based on begging. It did not affect the numerous beguine houses that existed within the archdiocese, whose inmates lived off the fruit of their labours.45 The Cologne statutes were among the first decrees to condemn the activities of groups of vagrant beghards and beguines. They were repeated in 1308 and disseminated among the clergy of the whole metropolitan see to become the fundamental document invoked in the fight against vagrant beghards. In 1310 Bishop Guy van Avesnes of Utrecht announced a campaign against beghard heretics throughout his diocese under the influence of these statutes.46 That same year statutes were issued for the provinces of Mainz and Trier which included regulations to deal with the unstable way of life of beghards and beguines. These differentiated between beguines who had their own houses and those referred to as begutte, who accompanied beghards and begged for their daily bread together with them. The activities of the first group earned the approval of the Church authorities but their further functioning was subjected to supervision by ecclesiastical officials. The statutes of Mainz state that ‘the frequent and overt moral failing of the young beguines brings the monastic estate into disrepute and scandalises many people’ (juvencularum beginarum lapsus frequens & evidens statum religionis deformat, et scandalizat plurimos). In order to prevent this, it was ordained that only women over the age of forty be admitted to beguine communities. In addition, clerics were forbidden to enter beguine houses so as not to give a pretext for the spread of various rumours and slander. Contacts between clergy and beguines were to be public in nature and take place in church. Sharper sanctions were meted out to vagrant beghards and the beguines who accompanied them.47 The statutes of Mainz forbade under pain of excommunication the activities of beghards who wandered around towns and villages begging for alms with the slogan ‘Brot durch Got’.48

44 Ibid.,

I, 153–4; cf. Voigt, Beginen, pp. 194–5. Heresy of the Free Spirit, p. 66. 46 Fredericq, I, 161, no. 167. 47 The word beguta derives from the German and refers certainly to the slogan ‘Brot durch Got’, used to beg alms. C. Du Fresne Du Cange, Glossarium mediae et infimae latinitatis, revised L. Favre, 10 vols. (Niort, 1883–7), I, 619a. 48 G. D. Mansi, Sacrorum conciliorum nova et amplissima collectio, 56 vols. (Venice, 1759–98), XXV, 325–6. 45 Lerner,

49

The Beguines of Medieval Świdnica Similar regulations appeared in the provincial statutes for the archdiocese of Trier published on 28 April 1310. These regarded the beghards as a sect, which had a distinctive lifestyle and dress.49 These beghards were wont to be mistaken for members of a monastic order, wearing a long tunic and cloaks with a pointed cowl, avoiding work, and organizing meetings where they would explain Holy Writ to simple folk (art. 51). The most serious accusation laid against the beghards was that they were importunate beggars.50 On this account the statutes forbade on pain of excommunication the giving of alms to ‘laymen who call themselves apostles’ and the receipt of these by the latter (art. 50).51 Growing clerical distrust of groups of beghards, and, in part, of beguines too, was expressed in the severe constitutions of the Council of Vienne, which attempted to find a radical solution to the increasing problem of informal lay religious groups.52 German bishops, who had introduced restrictions on these lay communities earlier, had significant influence over the development of conciliar legislation regarding the beghards and beguines.53 Attention was drawn at the Council of Vienne to the unorthodox views which found numerous supporters among beguines and beghards and also to the informal status of these groups. The set of erroneous assertions came under the definition of the Heresy of the Free Spirit, which was condemned by the Council constitution Ad nostrum. An important element in the piety of some beguines and beghards was their conviction that it was possible to attain a state of spiritual perfection understood as the mystical union of a human soul with God, which liberated the body from all norms and rules. One who attained such a state did not have to bother about Church sacraments, 49 Voigt,

Beginen, p. 195. Heresy of the Free Spirit, p. 67; Voigt, Beginen, pp. 196–8. 51 Fredericq, I, 154–5, no. 163: Item, cum quidam sint laïci in civitate, diocesi et provincia Trevirensi, qui sub praetextu cujusdam religionis fictae Begardos se appellant, cum tabardis et tunicis longis et longis capuciis cum ocio intendentes ac labores manum detestantes conventicula inter se aliquibus temporibus faciunt et conversant seque fingunt coram personis simplicibus expositores sacrarum scripturarum (Also, since there are some laymen in the city, diocese and province of Trier who under the sham pretence of being some sort of religious Order call themselves ‘Beghards’, wear tabards and long tunics and long hoods, intent on idleness reject manual labour, hold conventicles among themselves at certain times, and in the presence of simple people behave and pretend to be expounders of the holy scripture ... [the prohibition follows]). 52 L. Vereecke, ‘La réforme de l’Église au concile de Vienne 1311–1312’, Studia Moralia 14 (1976), 283–335. 53 Archbishop Heinrich II von Virneburg of Cologne and Bishop Johann von Dürbheim of Strasbourg and others took part in the Council sessions. E. Müller, Das Konzil von Vienne 1311–1312, seine Quellen und seine Geschichte (Münster, 1934), pp. 79–80; J. Lecler, Vienne, Histoire des Conciles Œcuméniques 8 (Paris, 1964), reprinted as Le concile de Vienne, 1311 (Paris, 2005), pp. 127–8; Vauchez, ‘Contestation et hérésies’, pp. 337–40. 50 Lerner,

50

The Council of Vienne and the Persecution of Beguines take part in services, or observe Church laws.54 The records of the Council’s sessions, which would have thrown light on the course of discussions over the conciliar constitutions concerning the beguines and beghards, have not survived. The initiator of the Council, Pope Clement V, did not manage to proclaim any conciliar legislation, since he died unexpectedly on 20 April 1314. This legislation was drafted by his successor John XXII and published five years after the Council ended. As the research of Jacqueline Tarrant has shown, Ad nostrum, which was so important for the fate of the beguines, was directed in its first version exclusively against the beghards. When preparing the Council constitutions for publication, Clement V did not seek to change or broaden the definition of beguines given by the regulations of the Second Council of Lyons. The decisions taken at the Council of Vienne were meant to strike against only those beguines who were connected with the beghards and debated matters of the Faith. However, during the work of the commission summoned by John XXII, those sanctions were extended to all beguines.55 The commentary of an influential canon lawyer, Giovanni d’Andrea, played a significant role in disseminating such an interpretation of the conciliar constitutions; d’Andrea’s work became the glossa ordinaria to the collection of conciliar legislation known as Clementinae.56 As mentioned in the previous chapter, two documents dealing with beghards and beguines are to be found in different parts of the Council’s codes. The constitution Cum de quibusdam was placed in the section dealing with religious orders, and Ad nostrum was attached to the part covering heresy.57 This indicates that the problem of the Heresy of the Free Spirit was dealt with at the Council separately from discussions on the status of the beguines. It also follows that not all the beguines were connected with the views of the Free Spirit, which were attributed primarily to the beghards. Cum de quibusdam asserted that ‘certain unmarried women, commonly called beguines, who do not swear obedience to anyone and do not foreswear their property cannot be regarded in any way as nuns, even though they wear the Beguine habit’. In a further part there is mention of critical opinions regarding some beguines who ‘discuss at great length and proclaim about the Most Holy Trinity and the Essential Nature of God and spread assertions contrary to the Catholic Faith with regard to articles of Faith and the sacraments of 54 For

more on the significance of mysticism for beguine spirituality, see Religiöse Frauenbewegung und mystische Frömmigkeit im Mittelalter, ed. P. Dinzelbacher and D. R. Bauer, Archiv für Kulturgeschichte, Beiheft 28 (Cologne and Vienna, 1988); B. Degler-Spengler, ‘Die religiöse Frauenbewegung des Mittelalters: Konversen– Nonnen–Beginen’, Rottenburger Jahrbuch für Kirchengeschichte 3 (1984), 75–88. 55 J. Tarrant, ‘The Clementine Decrees on the Beguines: Conciliar and Papal Versions’, Archivum Historiae Pontificiae 12 (1974), 300–8. 56 Ibid., pp. 307–8; see also D. Maffei, ‘Alberico di Metz e il suo Apparato sulle Clementinae’, Bulletin of Medieval Canon Law n.s. 1 (1971), 43–56, at p. 55. 57 Lerner, Heresy of the Free Spirit, p. 81.

51

The Beguines of Medieval Świdnica the Church, as though they were seized by madness’. In the opinion of the Council Fathers, ‘in these matters the women deceive simple and naïve minds and lead many into various errors and by creating an appearance of holiness they make and cause things out of which arise perils to the soul’.58 It is acknowledged that not only are beguines unlawfully regarded as nuns, wearing clothes reminiscent of religious habits, but they also discuss matters of faith independently. For this reason the beguines were commanded to leave their religious communities and return to the lay state. Bishops and papal inquisitors were expected to implement these decrees. Only pious unmarried women living in their own homes ‘in the spirit of virtue and humility’ obtained permission to continue their activities further.59 The constitution Ad nostrum was directed against the Sect of the Free Spirit, whose adherents were supposed to exist among the beguines and beghards. Unlike Cum de quibusdam, Ad nostrum described a heretical doctrine which threatened the teaching of the Church. In the introductory part of the constitution attention is drawn to the activities of ‘a sect of wicked men, known colloquially as beghards and faithless unmarried women called beguines which has sprung up in the Kingdom of Germany to sow all manner of wicked things’.60 The heretical teachings of the Sect of the Free Spirit were summarized in the following eight points: 1. In the present life a person may obtain such a great degree of perfection that he becomes one without sin and can progress no further in grace. For, as they say, if a person were able to advance continually, then a person more perfect than Christ might be found; 2. After obtaining such a degree of perfection there is no need either to fast or to pray, since the senses are subject so perfectly to the spirit and reason that a person may allow his body whatever it likes; 3. One who finds himself in such a degree of perfection and freedom of spirit is not subject to obey human authorities and no rules of the Church apply to them, since, as they claim, ‘where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty’ (2 Cor. 3:17); 58 Tanner,

I, 374: Multos super his decipientes simplices, eos in errores diversos inducant alique quam plura periculum animarum parientia sub quodam ve lamine sanctitatis faciant et committant. 59 Ibid.: Sane per praedicta prohibere nequaquam intendimus quin, si fuerint fideles aliaquae mulieres, quae promissa continentia vel etiam non promissa, honeste in suis conversantes hospitiis, poenitentiam agere, voluerint et virtutum Domino in humilitatis spiritu deservire, hoc eisdem liceat, prout Dominus ipsis inspirabit (Of course we in no way intend by the forgoing to forbid any faithful women, whether they promise chastity or not, from living uprightly in their hospices, wishing to live a life of penance and serving the Lord of hosts in a spirit of humility. This they may do, as the Lord inspires them; transl. Tanner, I, 374). See also Vauchez, ‘Contestation et hérésies’, pp. 338–9. 60 Tanner, I, 382.

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The Council of Vienne and the Persecution of Beguines 4. In the present life a person may achieve in every degree of perfection the highest happiness he obtains in a happy life; 5. Every intellectual nature is itself of its nature happy in itself and a soul does not need the light of praise to lead it to see God and gain happy enjoyment of Him; 6. It is a sign of an imperfect person that he take care to advance according to virtue but a perfect soul does not need this and shuns virtues; 7. Kissing a woman when nature does not incline one to that is a mortal sin but a carnal act is not a sin when nature inclines one to this, especially when it is carried out under the influence of temptation; 8. They must not stand at the elevation of the Body of Christ nor pay Him honour, since they claim that for them it would be a mark of imperfection if they fell so low from the purity and height of their contemplation to contemplate the religious service or the Sacrament of the Eucharist or the suffering of the humanity of Christ.61 The supporters of such views were denounced as heretics and excommunicated, and bishops and inquisitors were obliged to investigate ‘the way of life, customs and understanding of the articles of Faith and Sacraments of the Church’ of communities of beguines and beghards. Persons recognized as being guilty of heresy were subject to severe punishment, while those who voluntarily renounced their errors were to do suitable penance and offer satisfaction for their deviation.62 The teaching attributed to the beguines and beghards was based on the conviction that every person was able to achieve such a state of union with God that, after achieving it, they lived without sin. This view implied far-reaching consequences. According to Ad nostrum, supporters of the teachings of the Free Spirit claimed that a person who had achieved a state of spiritual perfection had no need for virtues or the sacraments of the Church. After 1317 the list of errors from Ad nostrum became one of the inquisition’s models for identifying deviants belonging to the so-called Heresy of the Free Spirit. In this sense Robert E. Lerner regarded Ad nostrum as a sui generis ‘birth certificate of the heresy of the Free Spirit’. According to his assessment, we really do have a ‘birth certificate’, but it is unknown whether the ‘child’ of which we speak really did exist.63 The constitution Ad nostrum notes that the damnation of heretical beguines and beghards referred to the German 61 Ibid.,

I, 382–3. I, 383. 63 Lerner, Heresy of the Free Spirit, p. 83: ‘Ad nostrum is the birth certificate of the heresy of the Free Spirit since, technically speaking, heresy is defined by the pope and the decree referred explicitly to heretics who spoke of their “spirit of liberty”. But, as if it were in the theater of the absurd, there is a birth certificate without it being fully clear whether there was any child.’ 62 Ibid.,

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The Beguines of Medieval Świdnica territories. One precedent linking the content of Ad nostrum with heresy in Germany is the treatise of Albert the Great, composed more than forty years before the Council in Vienne, in which the Dominican friar attacked the views of a group of heretics from Ries in Swabia. Particularly relevant is article 94 of Albert the Great’s determinatio, where he disputed the claim that ‘a person in the present life may advance so far as to become sinless’.64 The condemnation of the beguines and beghards at the Council of Vienne became a turning point in the history of lay religious movements existing outside structures sanctioned by the Church. The publication of Ad nostrum and Cum de quibusdam in November 1317 triggered the large-scale inquisition action against the beguines and beghards. The first stage of this campaign took place between 1317 and 1328 and ended with the liquidation of the majority of beguine and beghard houses in the Rhineland, Thuringia, Alsace, and Northern France.65 The first actions against the beguines and beghards began in Strasbourg under Bishop Johann I von Dürbheim. In a decree of 13 August 1317 he instructed his clergy to undertake inquisition measures against those who act ‘under the pretext of a certain invented and false monastic community, whom people call beghards or Swestriones Brot durch Got’. At the same time, Bishop Johann considered that the beghards and beguines referred to themselves as ‘brothers and sisters of the Free Spirit or Voluntary Poverty’. In a later part of the decree he described the way of life and views expressed by the adherents of this sect, who were to be found among the local beguines and beghards. As a result of these inquisitorial measures, the bishop of Strasbourg commanded the dissolution of all beguine and beghard communities, along with the prosecution of all persons suspected of heresy.66 The intensive nature of the inquisitorial measures carried out by bishops and papal inquisitors between 1317 and 1328 placed a question mark over the future existence of beguine communities. In Flanders attempts to liquidate beguine houses were regarded as baseless and were met with protests. In 1318–20 the protectors of the beguines in the Papal Curia took action to safeguard the threatened communities. Among other things, a letter has survived from Count Robert I of Flanders, probably drafted in January 1320, requesting John XXII to exempt the beguine communities active within his lands from the restrictions imposed by the Council of Vienne. In his letter Count Robert stressed the godly life of the beguines, who had nothing in common with heresy. The Flemish beguines were described as women

64 Albertus

Magnus, Determinatio, ed. J. de Guibert, in Documenta ecclesiastica christianae perfectionis studium spectantia (Rome, 1931), pp. 116–25. 65 Voigt, Beginen, pp. 269–314; T. S. Miller, The Beguines of Medieval Paris: Gender, Patronage, and Spiritual Authority (Philadelphia, 2014), pp. 154–8. 66 A. Patschovsky, ‘Straßburger Beginenverfolgung im 14. Jahrhundert’, Deutsches Archiv für Erforschung des Mittelalters 30 (1974), Textbeilagen 1, 127–41.

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The Council of Vienne and the Persecution of Beguines working hard by the sweat of their brow to earn enough for their upkeep. Robert of Flanders drew attention to the fact that they lived in closed communities, took part in Mass every day, venerated the holy days according to the ecclesiastical calendar, listened to sermons, and partook of the sacraments. These arguments unambiguously countered the accusations levelled at the beguines in the constitutions Ad nostrum and Cum de quibusdam.67 Similar actions on the part of the French Angevins saved the communities of beguines founded at Hyères and Marseilles by Douceline de Digne from destruction. In 1320, 1323 and 1325, John XXII issued bulls protecting the beguine communities at Roubaud, exempting them from the restrictions imposed by the constitutions Ad nostrum and Cum de quibusdam.68 In the first document, addressed to Bishop Jean-Raimond de Comminges of Toulouse (1318–27), John XXII praised the godly women known as the beguines of Roubaud, who went to church, showed respect to the clergy, and did not become involved in discussions on religious topics. The pope drew attention to the religious zeal of the Provençal beguines, who ‘lived in holy and solitary simplicity’ and swore vows of chastity.69 John XXII issued a bull at the request of Sancia of Majorca, wife of Robert I, count of Provence and king of Naples and Sicily; the papal document makes two mentions of this lady. The second bull of 1323 was addressed to the bishop of Marseilles and repeated the contents of the 1320 bull, calling for the protection of the ‘beguines of Roubaud’ and opposition to any attempts to persecute them.70 This was undoubtedly connected with the inquisition measures taken by the bishop to implement the constitutions of the Council of Vienne. John XXII’s bull which came out two years later was addressed to the provost of the cathedral chapter in Aix-en-Provence. Basing his decision on the inquisitio conducted by the bishop of Marseilles, which confirmed the model of the religious life led by the ‘beguines of Roubaud’ as being godly and free from all error, John

67 The

sole surviving copy of this document was found by Walter Simons in the archive of the beguinage of the Most Holy Virgin Mary at Ter Hooie in the suburbs of Ghent. It is unknown whether this document was sent to the Papal Curia at all. W. Simons, ‘In Praise of Faithful Women: Count Robert of Flanders’s Defense of Beguines against the Clementine Decree Cum de quibusdam mulieribus (ca. 1318–1320)’, in Christianity and Culture in the Middle Ages. Essays to honor John Van Engen, ed. D. C. Mengel and L. A. Wolverton (Notre Dame, 2015), pp. 331–52, at pp. 353–4. 68 The papal documents were edited in ‘Pièces justificatives’, in La vie de Sainte Douceline fondatrice des béguines de Marseille, ed. J. H. Albanès (Marseille, 1879): pp. 299–300, no. 13bis (22 November 1320); pp. 276–7, no. 14 (18 December 1323); pp. 277–80, no. 15 (13 February 1325). For more details see K. Garay and M. Jeay, ‘Introduction’, in The Life of Saint Douceline, A Beguine of Provence, p. 13. 69 Albanès, ‘Pièces justificatives’, pp. 299–300, no. 13bis. 70 Ibid., pp. 276–7, no. 14.

55

The Beguines of Medieval Świdnica XXII directed the provost to take the women under his protection against the actions of their foes.71 In the case of the beguines active in Flanders and Provence, John XXII’s relaxation of the constitutions of the Council of Vienne affected groups that lived a stable way of life, possessed their own property, and had influential protectors.72 Both constitutions of the Council of Vienne remained in force until the Reformation and caused serious difficulties for the lay religious communities. At the end of the fourteenth century the constitutions were invoked in the struggle against the movement called the Brethren of the Common Life which formed in the Netherlands under the leadership of Geert Groote.73

71 Ibid.,

pp. 277–9, no. 15. intervention of local Dominicans and Franciscans secured the Paris beguines who also enjoyed the patronage of French Kings Charles IV and Philip V. See Miller, The Beguines of Medieval Paris, pp. 158–65. 73 J. Van Engen, Sisters and Brothers of the Common Life: The Devotio Moderna and the World of the Later Middle Ages (Philadelphia, 2008), pp. 84–95. 72 The

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3 John of Schwenkenfeld OP and the Interrogations of Świdnica Beguines Relatively little is known about the reception of the legal codification of the Council of Vienne in Polish lands. In Silesia the bishop of Wrocław, Heinrich von Würben (d. 23 September 1319), set about implementing the constitutions against the beguines and beghards.1 He had taken part in the sessions of the Council of Vienne, and soon after his return to Silesia he set about an intense struggle against heresy. He enlisted Franciscan and Dominican lectors in his anti-heretical campaign, whom he entrusted with inquisition tasks in 1315.2 The outcome of these inquisitions was heresy trials in Wrocław, Nysa (Neissen), and Świdnica, as a result of which several dozen heretics were burned at the stake. Surviving fragments of the trial proceedings in Świdnica reveal that the chief victims of this persecution were the Waldensians.3 In line with the decrees of the Council of Vienne, Heinrich von Würben attempted to extend his control over the groups of beguines that existed in most Silesian towns. Two undated documents survive in the formulary of Arnold von Protzan; these were drafted at the request of the bishop of Wrocław and were based faithfully on the constitution of the Council of Vienne, Cum de quibusdam. In the first document, citing the contents of the Council constitution, the bishop of Wrocław drew attention to ‘the grave and worthy condemnation of the crimes of certain women known generally as beguines, whom John XXII commanded be cut off from the Church and forbade anyone to live in such a state and wear the beguine habit’. In the final part of this decree, as in Cum de quibusdam, a clause was added which permitted some women under certain conditions to continue their communal religious life. The octave of the Feast of the Ascension of the Lord (probably 8 June 1318)

1 T.

Silnicki, Dzieje i ustrój Kościoła na Śląsku (Cracow, 1939), pp. 200–4; K. Pieradzka, ‘Henryk z Wierzbna’, in PSB, IX, 424–5; P. Nitecki, Biskupi Kościoła w Polsce w latach 965–1999. Słownik biograficzny (Warsaw, 2000), col. 145; J. Pater, Poczet biskupów wrocławskich (Wrocław, 2000), pp. 47–8; J. Maciejowski, Episkopat Polski dzielnicowej 1180–1320 (Cracow and Bydgoszcz, 2003), pp. 477–9. 2 P. Kras, ‘Inkwizycja papieska w średniowiecznej Polsce. Zarys problematyki badawczej’, Almanach Historyczny 5 (2003), 9–48, at pp. 33–4. 3 A. Patschovsky, ‘Waldenserverfolgung in Schweidnitz 1315’, Deutsches Archiv für Erforschung des Mittelalters 36 (1980), 137–76; J. Szymański, Ruchy heretyckie na Śląsku w XIII i XIV wieku (Katowice, 2007), pp. 25–50.

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The Beguines of Medieval Świdnica was set as the date for implementing this decree.4 The bishop of Wrocław’s decree was to be read publicly in all parish churches, and Arnold von Protzan included in his formulary a letter to this effect, addressed to parish priests within the see of Wrocław. The death of Heinrich von Würben in September 1319 and the subsequent seven-year period during which the see was vacant halted the implementation in Wrocław of the Vienne constitutions against the beguines. Testimony to this is provided by the fate of the Świdnica beguines, who were not subjected to any repression before 1332. It is possible that the Vienne legislation was put into effect after 1326, when Bishop Nanker (c.1265/70–1341) was transferred from Cracow to the see of Wrocław. The trial of the Świdnica moniales Capuciatae (‘Hooded Nuns’) in 1332 is the first inquisition against Silesian beguines known from surviving sources. This was carried out by the Świdnica Dominican John of Schwenkenfeld in his capacity as papal inquisitor for the Diocese of Wrocław. The records of the interrogations led by Schwenkenfeld in September 1332 are also the first known evidence of the engagement of the newly created papal inquisition in the fight against heresy on the territory of Silesia. We do not know the exact circumstances of the appointment of John of Schwenkenfeld to the office of papal inquisitor in the diocese of Wrocław. He was entrusted with the officium inquisitionis certainly after the resignation of Peregrinus of Opole OP from that post in 1327 and before November 1330, when Bishop Nanker instructed the Silesian clergy to work with Schwenkenfeld in carrying out his inquisitorial duties.5 Peregrinus of Opole, Schwenkenfeld’s predecessor and the first papal inquisitor in the diocese of Wrocław, had been appointed to that post by John XXII on 1 April 1318.6 He

4 Das Formelbuch des Arnold von Protzan, ed. W. Wattenbach, Codex diplomaticus Silesiae,

36 vols. (Breslau, 1857–1933), V, 59–61. original of this document is held in Archiwum Państwowym we Wrocławiu, Akta miasta Wrocławia, MS Dominikanie no. 64, rep. 57, no. 64. Regesten zur Schlesischen Geschichte (1327–1333), ed. G. Grünhagen and K. Wutke, Codex diplomaticus Silesiae, 36 vols. (Breslau, 1857–1933), XXII, 108, no. 4982: Nanker, Bischof von Breslau, gefiehlt den Pfarrern seiner Diözese, den Bruder Johann von Swenkenfelt, dem durch päpstliche Autorität das Ketzerrichteramt innerhalb der Breslauer Diozöse übertragen worden, in der Aufspürung der Ketzer, wenn er zu ihnen kommt, zu unterstützen und in nichts zu hindern noch zu beschweren (Nanker, Bishop of Wrocław, enjoins the parish priests of his diocese that, when in the course of tracking down heretics Brother John of Schwenkenfeld – to whom papal authority has given the office of judge of heretics within the Wrocław diocese – comes to them, they should support him and in no way hinder or obstruct him). Cf. V. J. Koudelka, ‘Zur Geschichte der böhmischen Dominikanerprovinz im Mittelalter’, AFP 25 (1955), 75–99, at p. 92; Z. Mazur, ‘Powstanie i działalność inkwizycji dominikańskiej na Śląsku w XIV wieku’, Nasza Przeszłość 39 (1973), 181–91, at p. 183. 6 P. Soukup, ‘Die Waldenser in Böhmen und Mähren im 14. Jahrhundert’, in Friedrich

5 The

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John of Schwenkenfeld OP and the Interrogations of Świdnica Beguines was a person of exceptional abilities and great legal competence. Before taking up the post of inquisitor, Peregrinus had held the rank of Dominican father provincial twice, which shows his high position in the Order’s hierarchy and the high respect he enjoyed among his brother friars. He also belonged to the elite ranks of highly educated Polish Dominicans. Evidence of his erudition and talent as a preacher is provided by the collection of his sermons De tempore and De sanctis, which number among the chief achievements of the late-medieval art of preaching.7 The appointment of Peregrinus of Opole as papal inquisitor in 1318 marked the start of a period of inquisitorial activity on Polish territory which was to last for more than two and a half centuries.8 His appointment was also accompanied by the presence of papal inquisitors for the sees of Prague, Olomouc, and Cracow. It seems that a deciding factor influencing the appointment of the first inquisitors in Bohemian and Polish territory was the arrival of disquieting news at the Avignonese Curia concerning the impact Waldensian groups were having in those lands. At the beginning of 1318 the pope was presented with serious complaints against the bishop of Prague Jan IV of Dražic, who was accused of pastoral shortcomings and toleration of heresy. In March 1318 John XXII suspended the bishop on the basis of these accusations and instructed him to appear in person in the Papal Curia to answer the charges laid against him.9 A month later the pope appointed papal inquisitors for two Bohemian sees (Prague and Olomouc) and two Polish ones (Cracow and Wrocław). Among the newly appointed inquisitors were two Dominicans, Kolda of Koldice and Peregrinus of Opole, and a pair of Franciscan friars, Hartmann of Pilsen and Nicholas Hospodyniec. As the bull decreed, the aim of the newly appointed inquisitors was to take action against heretics with whom, in the opinion of John XXII and his entourage,

Reiser und die ‘waldensisch-hussitische Internationale’ im 15. Jahrhundert. Akten der Tagung Ötisheim-Schönenberg, 2. bis 4. Oktober 2003, ed. A. de Lange and K. Utz Tremp (Heidelberg, Ubstadt, Weiher, and Basel, 2006), pp. 143–5; P. Soukup, ‘Inkvizitoři v Čechách v letech 1315–1415’, in Inkwizycja papieska w Europie ŚrodkowoWschodniej., ed. P. Kras, Studia i źródła Dominikańskiego Instytutu Historycznego w Krakowie 7 (Cracow, 2010), pp. 147–72. 7 J. Wolny, ‘Peregryn z Opola i kolekcja jego kazań de tempore i de sanctis’, in Peregryn z Opola, Kazania de tempore et de sanctis, ed. J. Wolny (Cracow and Opole, 2001), pp. 25–33; Szymański, Ruchy heretyckie, p. 118; P. Kras, ‘Dominican Inquisitors in Mediaeval Poland’, in Praedicatores, Inquisitores – I. The Dominicans and the Mediaeval Inquisition. Acts of the 1st International Seminar on the Dominicans and the Inquisition. Rome, 23–25 February 2002, ed. A. Palacios Bernal (Rome, 2004), pp. 249–310, at pp. 260–1. 8 P. Kras, ‘Inkwizycja papieska w Europie Środkowo-Wschodniej – powstanie I organizacja’, in Inkwizycja papieska w Europie Środkowo-Wschodniej, ed. P. Kras, Studia Dominikansiego Instytutu Historycznego 7 (Cracow, 2010), pp. 115–46, at pp. 126–44. 9 Z. Hlediková, Biskup Jan IV z Dražic (Prague, 1992), pp. 109–16.

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The Beguines of Medieval Świdnica the local church authorities had proved incapable of dealing. Dražic, who had gone away to Avignon in 1318, returned home to Prague in 1327.10 During his absence the papal inquisitors carried out action against heretics within the diocese of Prague.11 Unlike in the case of the activities of the first pair of papal inquisitors appointed for the sees of Prague and Olomouc, nothing is known about the anti-heresy work of Peregrinus of Opole and Nicholas Hospodyniec. In the case of the diocese of Cracow the situation appears particularly puzzling. The establishment of the officium inquisitionis in 1318 was certainly connected with the Cracow Franciscans at first, but its operations did not develop any further, and after twenty years the task was handed over to the Dominicans. In the 1320s not only was there no papal inquisitor in Cracow, but there was also no competent theologian able to assess the legitimacy of the beghards who were active in the city. The Cracow Dominicans to whom Piotr of Opatów, the official of Bishop Jan Grotowic of Cracow, had recourse in this matter asked their brethren in Prague for advice. In answer to their request, Friar Henry Harrer of the Prague friary drafted a Tractatus contra beghardos in which he presented an expert theological analysis of the views and religious practices of the Cracow beghards.12 In this situation only the activity of John of Schwenkenfeld sheds more light on the functioning of the papal inquisition in Silesia as well as more broadly within the ecclesiastical province of Gniezno. Without a doubt, the appointment to the office of papal inquisitor for the see of Wrocław was a promotion for Schwenkenfeld which reflected his considerable theological qualifications and his high standing in the Polish Dominican Province. Dominican papal inquisitors working in the metropolitan archdiocese of Gniezno formed an elite group within the Polish province of the Friars Preachers. They were counted among the best-educated theologians and most experienced friars. Most of them had completed theological study in a university, often confirmed by a bachelor’s degree or doctorate in divinity.13 Many of them held the rank of father provincial, definitor, prior, or lector. Schwenkenfeld belonged to this elite group. His selection as Wrocław inquisitor was effected by the provincial of the Polish Dominicans, Peter of Kulm (1327–31), who received authority from John XXII in 1327 to appoint 10 Monumenta

Vaticana res gestas Bohemicas illustrantia, Tomus prodromus, ed. Z. Hlediková (Prague, 2003), pp. 95–9 nos 103–5. See also A. Patschovsky, Die Anfänge einer ständigen Inquisition in Böhmen. Ein Prager Inquisitoren-Handbuch aus der ersten Hälfte des 14. Jahrhunderts, Beiträge zur Geschichte und Quellenkunde des Mittelalters 3 (Berlin and New York, 1975), pp. 191–3, no. 109. 11 Soukup, ‘Inkvizitoři v Čechách’, pp. 148–9. 12 T. Gałuszka, Henry Harrer’s Tractatus contra beghardos: The Dominicans and Early Fourteenth Century Heresy in Lesser Poland, trans. M. Panz-Sochacka, Studia i źródła Dominikańskiego Instytutu Historycznego w Krakowie 14 (Cracow, 2015). 13 Kras, ‘Dominican Inquisitors’, pp. 281–3.

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John of Schwenkenfeld OP and the Interrogations of Świdnica Beguines new inquisitors within the archdiocese of Gniezno. It may well be that the nomination of John of Schwenkenfeld as papal inquisitor for the diocese of Wrocław was the first such decision taken by the father provincial after he obtained his new powers. Sometime before September 1332, Schwenkenfeld’s powers were extended to the see of Lubusz.14 We possess only scant information about Schwenkenfeld’s life from the period before he gained his officium inquistionis. It is known that he was a scion of a knightly family which moved from Germany and settled in the village of Schwenkenfeld (now Makowice) in the vicinity of Świdnica in the middle of the thirteenth century.15 At the turn of the fourteenth century, John entered the Dominican house in Świdnica, which was founded between 1291 and 1300.16 Here he began his studies under the local lector. Schwenkenfeld probably continued his theological studies at a later date in one of the foreign studia generalia, judging by his general erudition and good orientation in the controversial theological debates current at that time. However, we do not know whether his studies were crowned with the award of a university degree such as a BA in divinity.17 In the Dominican historical tradition, Schwenkenfeld is referred to as a ‘master of divinity’ but this title may refer to his function as a lector, the teacher of theology in the Świdnica priory, a post he took up before 1331.18 In 1337 John became prior of the Świdnica house.19 Not only did he hold a high position in the Polish Dominican Province, but he also enjoyed the great confidence of Bishop Nanker, with whom he worked closely.20 Extant documents from the 1330s indicate that he represented the bishop of Wrocław and Apeczko of Ząbkowice, the Wrocław official and scholastic in court and arbitration cases. Among other examples we see that on 13 January 1331 Schwenkenfeld took part in the trial of a man posing as one ‘Fr Andrew of Brunswick’, who was caught in Świdnica and thrown into gaol at the request of the town council.21 Schwenkenfeld’s close relations with Nanker are illustrated by the presence in the inquisition tribunal’s work of Nicholas, son of Henry de Pontwyschdorph (probably now Panków, near

14 The

first information on this topic appears in the record of the interrogations of the Świdnica Hooded Sisters in September 1332, when John of Schwenkenfeld acted as papal inquisitor for the dioceses of Wrocław and Lubusz. Examinatio, p. 170. 15 T. Jurek, Obce rycerstwo na Śląsku do połowy XIV wieku (Poznań, 1996), pp. 104, 108, 143 and 293–4; S. Kotełko, ‘W średniowieczu – od początków miasta do 1526 roku’, in Świdnica. Zarys monografii miasta, ed. W. Korta (Wrocław and Świdnica, 1995), p. 86; Szymański, Ruchy heretyckie, p. 120. 16 J. Kłoczowski, Dominikanie polscy na Śląsku (Lublin, 1956), pp. 54 and 306–7. 17 K. Kaczmarek, Szkoły i studia polskich dominikanów w okresie średniowiecza (Poznań, 2005), pp. 412–13 and n. 63. 18 PSB, X, 481; cf. Kaczmarek, Szkoły, pp. 139, 149, 412. 19 Mazur, ‘Powstanie i działalność inkwizycji’, p. 183. 20 Silnicki, Dzieje i ustrój Kościoła, pp. 204–11. 21 Regesten zur schlesische Geschichte, XXII, no. 4996.

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The Beguines of Medieval Świdnica Świdnica) an imperial notary public who belonged to the narrow circle of notaries working in Bishop Nanker’s chancery.22 In the 1330s Schwenkenfeld was one of the most influential Dominicans working in Silesia. As a well-educated friar and papal inquisitor and at the same time a person enjoying the confidence of the bishop of Wrocław, Schwenkenfeld was entrusted with carrying out matters that were of great importance for his order. He played a key role in the foundation of a new Dominican friary in Brzeg. Probably during the Autumn provincial chapter in 1334 he was appointed to oversee the foundation of the new house in the name of the Dominican authorities.23 As part of his mission, Schwenkenfeld took pains to enlist support for the new house from Duke Bolko III the Generous of Brzeg and Legnica (1291–1352). He certainly also drafted the ducal foundation charter for the new friary. In addition, he obtained the support of Bishop Nanker which was essential for the completion of this foundation. On 29 July 1336, together with the Wrocław lector Jan Sutorka, he presented documents relevant to the Brzeg foundation to Bishop Nanker.24 Schwenkenfeld’s exceptional position is illustrated by the decision taken at the Dominican provincial chapter in 1338 to award him the powers to release and imprison brethren suspected of heresy (potestas libera incarcerandi).25 This was an exceptional power which only fathers provincial and provincial chapters were entitled to hold. Between 7 and 12 September 1332, in the refectory of the priory of the Friars Preachers in Świdnica, John of Schwenkenfeld conducted the interrogations of sixteen women on the life and customs of a beguine community whose members called themselves ‘the Hooded Nuns’ (moniales Capuciatae) and ‘the daughters of Odelindis’ (filiae Udyllindis). His purpose was to examine the beliefs of the Świdnica beguines and learn whether they had anything in common with the heretical doctrine of the Free Spirit. The testimonies of all deponents were translated from German into Latin and written down by assistant notary, revised by Schwenkenfeld, and recorded in the 22 On

the instructions of Nanker and his official, Apeczko of Ząbkowic (d. 1352), he drafted notarial instruments of the disputed matters settled by them. Nanker, who had studied law in Bologna (1305–7) and gained chancery experience, was very well aware of the significance of the public notary’s craft and was very willing to entrust the drafting of conscientious documentation of legal proceedings to notaries public. T. Silnicki, Biskup Nanker (Warsaw, 1953), pp. 23–9; see also K. Skupieński, Notariat publiczny w średniowiecznej Polsce (Lublin, 1997), p. 45. M. Koczerska, ‘Kancelarie I doumentacja kościelna’, in Dyplomatyka staropolska, ed. T. Jurek (Warsaw, 2015), pp. 339–89, at p. 354. 23 T. Gałuszka and K. Kaczmarek, Fratres apud Sanctam Crucem. Z badań nad dziejami dominikanów w Brzegu (Poznań, 2018), p. 53. 24 Ibid., pp. 28–30. 25 T. Gałuszka, ‘Mikołaj z Duthurowa OP Error condemnatus ab Ecclesia. Dominikanie polscy wobec herezji i nowych nurtów pobożności w 1. połowie XIV wieku’, KH 121:1 (2014), 73–106, at pp. 91–2.

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John of Schwenkenfeld OP and the Interrogations of Świdnica Beguines notarial instrument, which is currently preserved in the Vatican Library under the catalogue number Vat. Lat. 13119a. The Dominican inquisitor’s assistant was Nicholas, the son of Henry de Pencwynsdorph, a notary public ex auctoritate imperiali who was closely associated with the Wrocław Curia and the consistory tribunal.26 The notary Nicholas produced the report of the 1332 investigation shortly after the interrogations had been completed. It covers the inquisitorial proceedings and other actions taken by the inquisitor. All deponents were Germans and the questioning was held in German. During the work on the official register, all depositions were translated from German into Latin. Only a few German words were left to describe items that – according to the notary’s knowledge – had no proper equivalents in Latin. Exceptionally, the notary also recorded a contemptuous German statement of the older sisters against Hedwig of Wrocław, linked to her prolonged prayers at church: du mynsth selbe (‘you think only about yourself’) (I.I.5).27 The written material collected by the assisting notary during the interrogations was put together as a draft to be used later for the production of the Latin register. The notary, in cooperation with the papal inquisitor, made a selection of the material and rendered it in the proper form. In the draft version of the testimonies, with a few exceptions, the inquisitor’s questions were removed and the statements were edited based on Schwenkenfeld’s interrogatory used during the interrogations. When drawing up the official record, the notary used the inquisitorial discourse suitable for recording interrogations. The notarial document of the 1332 interrogations, preserved in the Vatican Library under the catalogue number Vat. Lat. 13119a, was edited carefully and does not contain any deletions. It has the form of a roll, 195.5cm in length and 37.5cm wide, and consists of four parchment folios sewn together. In a later period, a paper insert was added between folios 3 and 4 of the roll with a description of the death of John of Schwenkenfeld. Its text, Historia interfectionis fratris Iohannis Swenkenfelt, comprises four pieces of Kronika książąt polskich [The Chronicle of the Polish Dukes], dated from the 1380s.28 The circumstances of the register’s delivery to the Papal Curia in Avignon remain unknown. Probably, Schwenkenfeld’s fellow friars wished to demonstrate to the Holy See the eagerness with which he had been engaged in the combat against heresy. If this is the case, this material might have been used for a planned canonization of Schwenkenfeld, who had been killed in 1341 in Prague while performing his inquisitorial duties. As mentioned earlier, Nicholas de Pencwynsdorph was a notary then employed at the chancellery of Bishop Nanker. In the late 1320s and 1330s he produced a number of 26 F. Luschek, Notariatsurkunde und Notariat in Schlesien von den Anfängen (1282) bis zum

Ende des 16. Jahrhunderts, Historisch-Diplomatische Forschungen 5 (Weimar, 1940), pp. 216–17. 27 Examinatio, pp. 174–5. 28 See below p. 152.

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The Beguines of Medieval Świdnica documents for the bishop and his deputy judge Apeczko of Ząbkowice Śląskie. His work in the service of John of Schwenkenfeld during the 1332 interrogations testifies to Bishop Nanker’s engagement in the inquisitorial operations against the Hooded Nuns from Świdnica. Whether Bishop Nanker himself incited Schwenkenfeld to carry out this investigation remains unclear. But there is no doubt that while dealing with heresy suspects, Nanker and Schwenkenfeld closely collaborated with each other, consulted their actions and shared information. It is likely that the second, almost identical instrument of the 1332 interrogations, drawn up by the notary Nicholas, had been handed over to Bishop Nanker, and was later deposited in the archives of Wrocław cathedral. It differs significantly from the notarial document now in the Vatican Library.29 In the middle of the fifteenth century this second version of the interrogations was used to produce a copy for an unknown canon of Cracow cathedral, which is now kept in the Archive of the Cracow Cathedral Chapter under the catalogue number LA 37. At some point in time, it was joined by a collection of letters and documents, including some copies of letters of Popes Pius II and Paul II from the years 1463–7 relating to a conflict between the municipal authorities of Wrocław and the Bohemian King George of Poděbrad.30 The 1332 records document the opening part of the inquisitorial investigation of the life and customs of the Świdnica beguines. The trial was held before a specially appointed tribunal headed by the papal inquisitor John of Schwenkenfeld. It was composed of nine other members, including Henry, son of Schammo, the parish priest from Mościsko; Arnold, the rector of the leper house in the suburbs of Świdnica; and three Dominicans and three Franciscans (among them the lector Peter Swarczmann) from local friaries.31 During the opening phase of the trial, between 7 and 11 September 1332, eleven women, most of them former beguines from Świdnica and Wrocław, were interrogated. They testified as witnesses speaking freely about their experiences concerning the Hooded Nuns. In the first part of the proceedings, eight women testified in the following order: Hedwig of Wrocław, Adelheid the former recluse, Catherine of Leipzig, Margaret the Painter,32 Cunegund of Ziębice, Ludgard of Leipzig, Elizabeth of Strzegom, and Iliana. On the first day, 7 September, the first two women were questioned; on 8 September, the Feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the next two were

29 Robert

E. Lerner was the first to pay attention to the significant differences between these two versions of the 1332 records: The Heresy of the Free Spirit in the Later Middle Ages (Berkeley, Los Angeles, and London), p. 112, n. 15. A detailed philological analysis of these differences is offered on pp. 157–63. 30 See below, pp. 153–4. 31 Examinatio, pp. 168–9. 32 Given the community’s textile production, we suggest the Latin nickname pictix may mean ‘embroideress’.

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John of Schwenkenfeld OP and the Interrogations of Świdnica Beguines interrogated; and on the third day of the trial, 9 September, the final four women testified, as was noted by the notary after writing down the oath of the eighth witness, Iliana. After a one-day break on 10 September, the inquisition tribunal resumed the proceedings on 11 September and interrogated three other women: Margaret of Środa Śląska, Elizabeth of Ząbkowice, and Gertrude of Mościsko.33 In the second part of the trial, on 11 and 12 September, testimonies were collected only from members of the Hooded Nuns’ community.34 The opening formula contained in the records underlined the different statuses of the women interrogated as moniales Capuciatae. It reveals that nine women were summoned before the tribunal. However, the record of the enquiry contains only five testimonies. It remains unknown what happened to the other four sisters who supposedly did not appear before the inquisitorial court. Among these were Gertrude of Oleśnica, who acted as deputy to Heilwig of Prague, mistress of the Świdnica community, and three other senior sisters.35 The notary failed to give any explanation for the absence of the testimonies of the summoned women. The questionnaire employed during the interrogations by John of Schwenkenfeld revolved around several key issues. They were intended to determine how the beguine community operated and whether their activities had anything to do with heresy or violation of ecclesiastical laws. The Dominican inquisitor attempted to learn the circumstances surrounding the admission of each of the present and former sisters to the community. He was interested in the ceremony of initiation of new members: the procedure and text of the oath they swore. Almost all of the questioned women were asked about their status and the position of the Hooded Nuns in the structure of the Church. John of Schwenkenfeld inquired extensively about the mistress, her authority and role in the administration of the community.36 He was very inquisitive about the sisters’ religious life, their views on the Church, their attitude towards religious practices and the ways in which they participated in parish life. Particularly interesting are the statements of the older sisters on theological matters, often referred to by the younger women. As a well-educated theologian, the inquisitor easily picked out any controversies and tried to get to their gist and origin.37 The interrogatorium also contained questions about physical labour performed by the women on Sundays and

33 Examinatio,

pp. 238–42. pp. 242–57. 35 Ibid., pp. 242–3. 36 For further details see below, pp. 91–2. 37 Three important theological statements discussed by the Świdnica beguines and reported during the 1332 interrogations were related to Christ’s Incarnation, the double nature of Christ, and the problem of whether Christ took His cross to Heaven. 34 Ibid.,

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The Beguines of Medieval Świdnica Church holidays. The papal inquisitor kept asking why the sisters had worked on prohibited days. He was also interested in the management of their common property. During the questioning, John of Schwenkenfeld did not rely exclusively on the ready-made questionnaire, but was eager to ask additional questions to explore some areas of his own interest. The 1332 records demonstrate that the Dominican inquisitor fully controlled the course of the interrogation and skilfully framed his questions to elicit new information.38 Only in the case of the older sisters, Gertrude of Świdnica and Blind Anne, did his attempts to obtain additional explanation on disputable theological statements prove to be in vain. The records of the inquisition on the life and customs of the Hooded Nuns offer a revealing insight into both the inquisitor’s operating technique and the procedure of producing inquisitorial records. During subsequent interrogations, the Dominican inquisitor relied on the draft record of previously submitted testimonies, as the notary recorded properly in the report. The women’s statements were written down immediately and numbered. Each statement consisted of several, more than a dozen, or even several dozen paragraphs, each of which closed with the answer to the inquisitor’s questions. Such an arrangement of the written material facilitated references to previous statements and allowed the inquisitor to quote any passage he desired during subsequent interrogations. Sometimes Schwenkenfeld quoted some statement and awaited the woman’s answer; at the same time, the notary noted down what testimony the statement came from. For example, in the records of the second testimony of Adelheid, in paragraph 20, the notary recorded that ‘where flogging is concerned, the interrogated woman speaks like Hedwig’ (I.II.20).39 On the other hand, Catherine of Leipzig, who testified third, was confronted with the testimony of the two women who had made statements before her, Hedwig and Adelheid. In item 6 of her testimony, the notary noted that ‘like Adelhaid (ut Adylheydis), they say that she heard repeatedly how the Capuciatae said that if they had been allowed to preach, they would have done so better than priests and doctors because they [priests and doctors] rely on what is written on animal skin, whereas they [the sisters] drew their knowledge from the heart’ (I.III.6).40 And in item 9 concerning the lessons taught to the junior sisters, the notary noted that she had spoken like the other two sisters, Hedwig and Adelheid (I.III.9).41 Another time, the 38 On

the dominant role of the inquisitor during a heresy trial, see J. H. Arnold, Inquisition and Power: Catharism and the Confessing Subject in Medieval Languedoc (Philadelphia, 2001), pp. 74–115. 39 De flagellis uero dicit iurata et interrogata, ut Hedwigis; Examinatio, pp. 192–3. 40 Item Katherina iurata et interrogata dicit, ut Adylheydis, se multociens audisse, quod Capuciate dixerunt ‘Si fas esset nos predicare, melius sciremus, quam multi sacerdotes uel doctores, quia ipsi uident in cutibus faccarum, sed nos uidemus ab intus’. Ibid., pp. 200–1. 41 Ibid., pp. 202–3.

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John of Schwenkenfeld OP and the Interrogations of Świdnica Beguines notary, perhaps to save some space, only noted which items in the testimony the inquisitor referred to in his questioning. In the testimony of Margaret interrogated on 8 September as the fourth witness, the notary failed to write down the questions referring to Adelheide’s statements but provided those items of her testimony to which the questions alluded (I.IV.23–5). Under item 23, Margaret was asked about Adelheid’s statement recorded in her testimony as item 3 (‘super articulo IIIo per Adylheydim confesso’). Her statement as preserved in the record is an almost verbatim reiteration of Adelheid’s testimony.42 When asked in item 24 about Adelheid’s statement recorded in item 4 of her testimony, Margaret said that ‘it is entirely true’. Still she added information about some recommendations given to the younger sisters by the older ones in which they argued that failing in the obligation to attend Mass was not a matter that required confession (I.IV.24).43 The questions asked by Schwenkenfeld and the rendering of depositions speak much about how the Dominican inquisitor perceived the doctrine of the Free Spirit. As a trained theologian and an experienced Dominican friar, he did not doubt the existence of the Free Spirit Sect. Schwenkenfeld knew what ideas formed its doctrine, and how they were disseminated among beguines and beghards. As an inquisitor, his task was to prove that the Hooded Nuns of Świdnica were exponents of the Heresy of the Free Spirit. The 1332 inquisition report reveals that he worked hard to gather information and put together distorted pieces of evidence to demonstrate that the community of Świdnica beguines was a hotbed of heresy. His knowledge about the beguines and the Free Spirit rested first of all on the constitutions of the Council of Vienne. Schwenkenfeld was a diligent reader of Ad nostrum and extensively used the list of eight articles ascribed to the Free Spirit during his interrogations.44 Having the text of Ad nostrum on his table, he frequently quoted fragments from this document and expected deponents to comment on them. Sometimes, being aware of the complex theological discourse of Ad nostrum, Schwenkenfeld rendered some articles in a simpler form. Frequently he asked leading questions and suggested possible links between the condemned tenets of the Free Spirit doctrine and particular beliefs of the Świdnica beguines. The notary Nicholas omitted most of such questions, but when recording the depositions he sometimes made reference to particular articles of Ad nostrum, as is well demonstrated by the testimony of Margaret the Painter (I.IV.11,16,18).45

42 Ibid., 43 Ibid.

pp. 218–19.

44 Lerner,

Heresy of the Free Spirit, p. 116: ‘the Dominican Inquisitor wanted to show that the women were exponents of errors condemned by the pope and therefore confronted them with the decree Ad nostrum. But the notary only occasionally indicated this fact’. 45 Item iurata, utrum assererent secundum articulum, qui ponitur in Clementinis, uel

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The Beguines of Medieval Świdnica To get to the ‘truth’ of the doctrine of the Hooded Nuns, John of Schwenkenfeld used various techniques of interrogation. He found it much easier to elicit information from former sisters who were disappointed with their life in the community. Embittered and disillusioned with their past experience, the former sisters spoke openly and willingly about their suffering and humiliation. They also provided the most details about controversial views and suspicious conduct of the Świdnica beguines. The Dominican inquisitor exploited their willingness to cooperate and asked them a number of questions related to the beliefs and religious life of the Hooded Nuns. The most detailed testimonies come from Margaret the Painter and Adelheid. The former spent little more than half a year in the Świdnica community, the latter less than a year.46 Though their experience among the Świdnica community was relatively short, they provided lengthy answers to the inquisitor’s questions and offered unique information about the religious ideas and everyday life of the Świdnica community. The recorded testimony of Margaret is the longest and contains forty-one articles.47 The testimony of Adelheid is a bit shorter and contains thirty-four articles.48 As noted above, the records of the testimonies mostly lack the inquisitor’s questions. The notary left some in only a few places in his report. Four of them are found in the record of the testimony of Gertrude of Świdnica, one of the older sisters who, apparently, attempted to evade the inquisitor’s probing questions.49 Her statements were vague and evasive; it was probably for this reason that the notary decided to note down Schwenkenfeld’s questions in addition to her answers. Some more questions were recorded within the testimony of Margaret the Painter. The questions were rather ‘technical’, exposing the method of interrogation, during which the inquisitor referred to the constitutions Ad nostrum and Cum de quibusdam.50 The statements of the women written down by the notary Nicholas de Pencwynsdorph have reached our time in a distorted form as a result of the multi-level process of copying, translating, and editing. Recent studies of the structure and language of the inquisitorial records in general have highlighted that they fail to provide the authentic voices of the interrogated individuals, offering only heavily cropped and manipulated statements, subjected to further processing and recorded in a specific inquisitional discourse.51 Yet, the interrogation reports on the life and customs of the Świdnica beguines seem aliquid ei simile de hereticis, Ad nostrum, dixit se non audiuisse ab eis ita expresse uerba illa, sicut in illo articulo continentur, sed similia uerba et appropinquancia huic sensui audiuit, ut dixit. Examinatio, pp. 212–13. 46 Examinatio, pp. 208–9. 47 Ibid., pp. 208–27. 48 Ibid., pp. 208–27. 49 Ibid., pp. 180–99. 50 Ibid., pp. 212–19. 51 See note 64 and C. Bruschi and P. Biller, ‘Texts and the Repression of Heresy:

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John of Schwenkenfeld OP and the Interrogations of Świdnica Beguines to be susceptible to no such objections. Most statements in the 1332 records contain the third-person singular narrative characteristic of such documentation (dicit, dixit, respondit, scit, subiunxit, audiuit, etc.), and any quoted words are usually given in reported speech. Despite this, many statements of the women were recorded in indirect speech, which leaves the reader with the impression that really they were made before the inquisitional tribunal. It seems that the inquisitor or notary wished to obtain as faithful a record of some of the statements as possible. The legal proceedings in the case of the Świdnica beguines were part of wider inquisition activity regarding lay religious communities which lacked ecclesiastical legitimacy and whose orthodoxy raised suspicion among the Church authorities.52 Schwenkenfeld’s initiatives were coordinated with Bishop Nanker of Wrocław.53 At the beginning of 1340 Schwenkenfeld took inquisitorial action at the bishop’s request against the city councillors of Wrocław, who had handed over the parish churches of St Elisabeth and St Mary Magdalene to apostate clergy against the instructions of Bishop Nanker and ignored the sentence of excommunication imposed on them.54 To carry out the task he was set, Schwenkenfeld made off to Wrocław, where he preached a sermon in front of the Council House censuring the councillors for disobeying the bishop and then summoned them before his own tribunal. Along with Apeczko, the official of Wrocław, he led legal inquisition proceedings against the priests who had occupied the Wrocław parish churches and celebrated services in them in contravention of the Interdict. His Introduction’, in Texts and the Repression of Medieval Heresy, ed. C. Bruschi and P. Biller, York Studies in Medieval Theology 4 (York, 2003), pp. 3–19. 52 Little is known of the pastoral activities of Nanker in Silesia; his best-known achievement is the diocesan statutes of 1331. See Silnicki, Dzieje i ustrój Kościoła, pp. 223–5; Silnicki, Biskup Nanker, pp. 53–7; M. T. Zahajkiewicz, ‘Z badań nad reformą Kościoła w średniowiecznym ośrodku krakowskim (w XIV–XV w.)’, Acta Mediaevalia 4 (1983), 131–45; K. Ożóg, Kultura umysłowa w Krakowie w XIV wieku. Środowisko duchowieństwa świeckiego (Wrocław, Warsaw, Cracow, Gdańsk, and Łódź, 1987), p. 9. 53 Z. Budkowa, Nanker h. Oksza, in PSB, XXIII, 514–17; Silnicki, Dzieje i ustrój Kościoła, pp. 215–22; Silnicki, Biskup Nanker, pp. 95–8; J. Swastek, ‘Biskup Nanker jako ordynariusz diecezji wrocławskiej’, in Ludzie śląskiego Kościoła katolickiego, ed. K. Matwijowski (Wrocław, 1992), pp. 7–14. 54 J. Heyne, Dokumentierte Geschichte des Bistums und Hochstifts Breslau. Denkwürdigkeiten aus der Geschichte der katholischen Kirche Schlesiens, 3 vols. (Breslau, 1860–8), I, pp. 732–50; C. Grünhagen, König Johann von Böhmen und Bischof Nanker von Breslau (Vienna, 1864), pp. 93–5; K. Dobrowolski, ‘Pierwsze sekty religijne na ziemiach polskich’, Reformacja w Polsce 3 (1924), 161–202, at pp. 41–4; Silnicki, Dzieje i ustrój Kościoła, pp. 225–35; Biskup Nanker, pp. 99–108; J. Kłoczowski, Dominikanie polscy na Śląsku (Lublin, 1956), pp. 156–7; E. Schieche, ‘Politische Geschichte von 1327–1526’, in Von der Urzeit bis zum Jahre 1526, ed. L. Petry, J. J. Menzel, and W. Irgang, Geschichte Schlesiens, ed. H. Aubin et al., 3 vols. (Stuttgart, 1961–99), I, 166; Kłoczowski, Dominikanie, pp. 187–8; Szymański, Ruchy heretyckie, pp. 122–9.

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The Beguines of Medieval Świdnica actions met with the hostility and opposition of the Wrocław authorities, who forced him to leave the city.55 The king of Bohemia, John of Luxemburg, intervened to resolve the conflict between the citizenry of Wrocław and the papal inquisitor. In September 1341 the king summoned John of Schwenkenfeld to Prague, where shortly after his arrival he was murdered by assassins hired by the Wrocław city fathers. The investigation into Schwenkenfeld’s murder, opened by the papal inquisitor in the Prague diocese, Havel of Jindřichov Hradec, on 10 October 1341, shed light on the circumstances behind the assassination. From this it emerges that John of Schwenkenfeld arrived in Prague on the Feast of St Francis (4 October) and stayed at the Dominican priory in the Old Town. On Saturday, 6 October, Schwenkenfeld celebrated a morning Mass and delivered a sermon. Next, he went off to St Bartholomew’s chapel in the priory garden to prepare in solitude for his appearance before the Bohemian king. There he was assaulted by three killers who struck him with ten blows.56 Havel’s investigation left no doubts as to who had ordered and perpetrated the murder. In a document drafted between 18 November and 25 December 1341, the Prague inquisitor laid a sentence of excommunication on those who perpetrated the murder and those who abetted them.57 The body of the murdered inquisitor was transported to Wrocław and laid to rest in the Dominican Church of St Wojciech. Schwenkenfeld’s inquisition activities and especially his martyr’s death in the Church’s service made him a candidate for canonization. A local cult began to develop around Schwenkenfeld’s tomb and the Dominicans set about obtaining the canonization of the Silesian inquisitor. In the chapel where Schwenkenfeld’s relics were laid to rest, services and prayer vigils were held. It was here near the grave that an epitaph was placed in Schwenkenfeld’s memory, together with an effigy of him.58 News of the Silesian inquisitor’s death echoed loudly beyond the boundaries of Poland and Bohemia. The Milanese Dominican chronicler Galvano Fiamma (1283–1344) included a concise account of the murder of the Wrocław inquisitor at the hands of heretics in his Chronicon Ordinis Praedicatorum.59 Here he recorded the manifold miracles which had taken place by Schwenkenfeld’s tomb and also wrote about the efforts to 55 Das

Formelbuch, no. 92, pp. 294–5. account and edition of the text that opened the investigation in Die Anfänge, pp. 61–5 and 161–3 no. 64. Another account of Schwenkenfeld’s death which differs in some detail was included in the Chronicle of the Polish Dukes penned by Peter of Byczyna in the 1380s. Kronika książąt śląskich, in MPH, III, 525–6. 57 Patschovsky, Die Anfänge, pp. 215–17, no. 143. 58 The main source of our knowledge of the cult of John of Schwenkenfeld developing in Wrocław is the account recorded in the Chronicle of the Polish Dukes. See n. 264. 59 Galvano Fiamma was chaplain to Archbishop Giovanni Visconti of Milan and took regular part in the general chapters of the Order. In 1330 he acted as inquisitor in Bologna and in 1342 he was able to take part in the master-general’s embassy to the 56 Patschovsky’s

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John of Schwenkenfeld OP and the Interrogations of Świdnica Beguines obtain his canonization. The entry for 1341 is one of the last recorded in Fiamma’s chronicle, for the author died in 1344. After this come only two short entries about a silver reliquary with the head of St Peter Martyr worth 2,000 florins donated by Archbishop Giovanni Visconti, and an incomplete note about the Chapter General that was held at Le Puy on 22 May 1344. The information about a Dominican inquisitor murdered by heretics in Prague must have made a strong impression on the Milanese chronicler, and he reminded readers of the murder of the Lombard inquisitor Peter of Verona (Peter Martyr), whose relics were venerated in the Milanese Church of St Eustorgius. In his opus Fiamma described in detail the martyrdom of St Peter of Verona and scrupulously registered the occurrences connected with his cult.60 Unfortunately, in his account Fiamma mistakenly gave the name of the Dominican inquisitor murdered in Prague as Conrad. Interestingly, the contents of the entry regarding Schwenkenfeld are reminiscent of the entry on Conrad of Marburg, whom Fiamma describes moreover as a Dominican admitted to the Order by St Dominic himself.61 In the second half of the fourteenth century efforts were made to elevate Schwenkenfeld to the altars according to the model of St Peter Martyr. Murdered by Cathars in 1252, the papal inquisitor in Lombardy was canonized within a year of his martyrdom as the second saint of the Order of Friars Preachers after St Dominic himself. In his dynamically growing cult, Peter Martyr was a model of Dominican sacrificial service to the Church and a symbol of the relentless struggle in defence of Catholic orthodoxy.62 It was probably in connection with the attempts to secure the canonization of Schwenkenfeld that the records of the interrogations in the 1332 case of the Świdnica beguines were sent to the Papal Curia, along with an account of the life of the Wrocław inquisitor comprising fragments of text from the Chronicle of the Polish Dukes.63 Despite all the best efforts of the Wrocław Dominicans, Schwenkenfeld’s cult did not last long, a circumstance influenced decisively by the lack of miracles at his tomb. This is confirmed by Papal Curia in Avignon. It may be that one of the aims of this embassy was to obtain the canonization of the inquisitor murdered in Prague, John of Schwenkenfeld. 60 La Cronaca Maggiore dell’Ordine Domenicano di Galvano Fiamma. Frammenti editi, ed. G. Odetto, AFP 10 (1940), p. 370. R. Loenertz regarded this error as a lapsus calami: ‘Les origines de l’ancienne historiographie dominicaine en Pologne. Abraham Bzowski’, AFP 19 (1949), 49–94, at p. 76. 61 La Cronaca Maggiore dell’Ordine Domenicano, pp. 352–3. 62 C. Caldwell Ames, ‘Peter Martyr: the Inquisitor as Saint’, Journal of Medieval and Renaissance Studies 31 (2000), 137–74; D. Prudlo, The Martyred Inquisitor: the Life and Cult of Peter of Verona († 1252) (Aldershot and Burlington, 2008). 63 J. Szymański, ‘Johannes Swenkenfeldt – inquisitor et martyr’, Śląski Kwartalnik Historyczny Sobótka 58:1 (2003), 1–17, at p. 5. Cf. P. Kielar, ‘Traktat przeciw beghardom Henryka Havrera’, Studia Theologica Varsoviensia 8 (1970), 231–52, at p. 231, n. 1; D. Lapis and B. Lapis, ‘Beginki w Polsce w XIII–XV wieku’, KH 79 (1972), 521–44, at p. 534, n. 129.

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The Beguines of Medieval Świdnica the account in the Chronicle of Polish Dukes of the vision witnessed by the Dominican custodian of the chapel where Schwenkenfeld’s relics lay. The friar to whom Schwenkenfeld made his appearance asked the martyr why God was not working any miracles at John’s intervention. In response he heard that ‘there will be miracles in their own time and they will make the place and the convent where they rest famous’.64 The description given by the Silesian chronicler Peter of Byczyna (Bitschen) forms an impression of disappointment in Wrocław Dominican circles at the ‘incomprehensible’ lack of miracles to confirm the sanctity of the murdered inquisitor and contribute to the spread of the cult. By the middle of the fifteenth century, memory of the Wrocław inquisitor-martyr fell into oblivion. Only the Czech Jesuit Bohuslav Balbin, a bibliophile and erudite, asserted that among some manuscripts he found a papal document from which it emerged that Schwenkenfeld was numbered among the saints and given a day for his remembrance in the liturgical calendar.65 In histories of the Dominican Order memory of the assassinated inquisitor of Silesia took the form of a concise, erroneous legend. The Dominican historian Abraham Bzovius (1567–1637), who continued the Annales ecclesiastici of Cesare Baronio, gathered scraps of information about Schwenkenfeld’s life with great difficulty. From his work it appears that at that time Schwenkenfeld was almost completely forgotten in the Dominican priory in Wrocław, although his monastic cloak was still preserved there. When writing his Life of St Jacek (Propago divi Hyacinthi), which was in effect a history of the Polish Dominican Province, Bzovius did not manage to link the information included in Fiamma’s chronicle about the inquisitor Conrad murdered in Prague with John of Schwenkenfeld.66 Making use of Bzowski’s writings, historians and hagiographers repeated uncritically mistaken information about how two Dominican inquisitors were murdered in 1341.67

64 Kronika

książąt śląskich, MPH, III, pp. 525–6. De b[eato] Ioanne in MMSS [manuscriptis] Codicibus, Apostolicas literas inveni, in quibus illi, velut Martyri, inter Divos cultus, dies item eius sanctae memoriae consecratus decernitur (About Blessed John – among manuscript codices I have found Apostolic [Papal] letters in which a day for his blessed memory is assigned to him, as though to a martyr, among the divine observances); Bohuslav Balbinus, Epitome historica rerum Bohemicarum (Prague, 1672), pp. 342–3. 66 R. Loenertz, ‘Un catalogue d’écrivains et deux catalogues de martyrs dominicains’, AFP 12 (1942), 279–303, at p. 302, n. 22; Loenertz, ‘Les origines’, 76–7. 67 Inter alia: V. M. Fontana, Monumenta Dominicana breviter in synopsin collecta (Rome, 1675), pp. 212–17; P. Malpaeus, Palma fidei s. Ordinis Praedicatorum (Antwerp, 1635), pp. 72–6; K. Chodykiewicz, De rebus gestis in Provincia Russiae Ordinis Praedicatorum commentarius libris XI digestus in duas partes divisus. Diversarum antiquitatum monumentis et observationibus illustratus (Berdyczów, 1780), pp. 302–4; S. Barącz, Rys dziejów Zakonu Kaznodziejskiego w Polsce, 2 vols. (Lviv, 1860), I, 151–2. 65 275

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4 The Daughters of Odelindis: Identity and Religious Practice The Świdnica beguine community was founded at least as early as the beginning of the fourteenth century. The oldest of the sisters recorded in 1332, Gertrude of Świdnica, had belonged to the community for twenty-eight years (I.II), that is since around 1304.1 Another woman, Blind Anne, had been associated with the Świdnica beguines for two years less than Gertrude (II.V).2 The recorded testimonies also speak of an earlier mistress, Geza, who was succeeded later by Heilwig of Prague. It may be that she was the first mother superior of the Świdnica Hooded Sisters, whom only the oldest sisters knew personally.3 The Świdnica community was one of the oldest in Silesia.4 It was founded at the same time as, or slightly later than, the Wrocław community, with which it maintained close contact. We do not know the size of the group of women dwelling in the Świdnica house. However, it seems that the community numbered no more than a dozen women. The suit brought by John of Schwenkenfeld summoning the Świdnica moniales Capuciatae to give evidence named nine women.5 We may presume that during the 1332 interrogations this number was lower as a result of several younger sisters having left the community. These young women gave evidence in the first part of the trial as witnesses. They formed a separate community of women, with a mother superior, her deputy, and rules for a common life in imitation of a cloistered religious order. The women whose life and customs came under inspection by the papal inquisitor are described as moniales Capuciatae or simply Capuciatae.6 In the testimony record it is written that the aim of the examination was to obtain information ‘about the life and customs of the Hooded Sisters’ (de vita et moribus Capuciatarum). Also, the term Capuciata was written after the name of each sister who stood before the inquisitor. This was not a pejorative term or a name thought up by the inquisitor for the purposes of the trial.

1 Examinatio, 2 Ibid., 3 Ibid.

pp. 246–7. pp. 254–5.

4 J.

Szymański, Ruchy heretyckie na Śląsku w XIII i XIV wieku (Katowice, 2007), pp. 100–1. 5 Examinatio, pp. 242–3. 6 Ibid., pp. 170–1, 242–3.

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The Beguines of Medieval Świdnica The term moniales Capuciatae fulfilled the function of an official name for the Świdnica community, and was used by the women who belonged to the group themselves. They were known by this name to other townsfolk, and John of Schwenkenfeld himself, a lector from the local Dominican priory, as well as other members of the inquisition tribunal, had no reservations about referring to the notion of Capuciatae. It is worth remembering the inscription commemorating John of Schwenkenfeld that hung at one time in the Dominican Church of the Holy Cross in Świdnica, which mentioned the trial Schwenkenfeld held against the moniales Capuciatae.7 Admittedly, the circumstances under which this inscription came to be made are unknown, but it was no accident that its author referred to the moniales Capuciatae, and was either familiar with the contents of the court record or was able to draw on another source of information about this group of women, who formed the subject of Schwenkenfeld’s inquisitorial activities. The name moniales Capuciatae does not appear in any other known Latin legal or judicial texts dealing with the beguines. However, the German version of the word, Kapuzen, can be found in testamentary documents referring to beguines from the territory of Saxony.8 The first part of the name usually refers to nuns belonging to enclosed communities. In Latin texts this is used as a variant of sanctimoniales (nuns), sorores (sisters), or religiosae (religious).9 During the thirteenth century the term moniales was used frequently to refer to beguines, who were similar in their religious way of life to cloistered nuns.10 Recently Jürgen Voigt has made a detailed analysis of this problem with regard to thirteenth-century German territories, pointing out the close links between groups of beguines and mendicant houses.11 Despite repeated demands from the ecclesiastical authorities, the word moniales became a technical term referring to beguines on the same principle as virgines sanctae or mulieres religiosae.12 7 S.

J. Ehrhardt, Abhandlung vom verderbten Religions-Zustand in Schlesien vor der Evangelischen Kirchen-Reformation: als eine Einleitung zur Schlesischen Presbyterologie (Breslau, 1778), pp. 166–7. 8 Voigt gives two examples of beguine wills from Erfurt in 1327 which mention quondam Eychlindis dicta Kapuzen and soror Cunegndis dicta Kapuzen (J. Voigt, Beginen im Spätmittelalter: Frauenfrömmigkeit in Thüringen und im Reich, Veröffentlichungen der Historischen Kommission für Thüringen, Kleine Reihe (Cologne, Weimar, and Vienna, 2012), p. 128). This matter requires further archival research. 9 C. Du Fresne Du Cange, Glossarium mediae et infimae latinitatis, revised L. Favre, 10 vols. (Niort, 1883–7), IV, 506. In medieval Poland the term was used to refer solely to nuns from various enclosed religious communities; Słownik łaciny średnowiecznej w Polsce = Lexicon Mediae et Infimae Latinitatis Polonorum, in progress (Warsaw, 1953– Present), VI, 448–9. 10 Du Cange, Glossarium mediae et infimae latinitatis, I, 619. 11 Voigt, Beginen, pp. 109–70. 12 LThK, II, 144–5; D. Degler-Spengler, ‘Die religiöse Frauenbewegung des Mittelalters: Konversen–Nonnen–Beginen’, Rottenburger Jahrbuch für Kirchengeschichte 3 (1984),

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The Daughters of Odelindis: Identity and Religious Practice The use of the term moniales may indicate the women’s desire to imitate members of cloistered communities. In the Świdnica trial records we come across numerous mentions of a peculiar rivalry between the community of Hooded Sisters and the religious orders. The former were convinced of the superiority of their model of religious life and asserted that they were better than regular nuns (I.V.1).13 The desire to follow the way of life and wear similar clothes to the enclosed nuns ensured that the beguines were regarded in general opinion as nuns.14 The constitution of the Council of Vienne Cum de quibusdam states unambiguously that ‘certain unmarried women, commonly called beguines … can in no way be regarded as nuns (religiosae), even though they wear the so-called beguine habit (habitum qui dicitur Beguinarum)’.15 We may suppose that in fourteenth-century Świdnica, which had no nunnery, the local beguines might pass indeed for nuns (moniales) par excellence. This is surely the origin of the name of Nun Street (platea monialium), where beguines lived continually in the second half of the fourteenth century.16 A street running parallel to one of the sides of the market place in Świdnica came out on Cowl Street (Keppingasse), the site of the Franciscan friary and the Church of Our Lady. As Mateusz Goliński has noted, the name of this street, which exists only in the written record in German, may be related to the cowl (die Kappe) which formed a characteristic part of the Franciscan habit.17 There is no doubt that the women from the Świdnica group referred to themselves as sisters and addressed one another in this way. Among other things, Adelheid described the acts of humiliation undertaken by the mother superior of the Świdnica community, Heilwig of Prague, to serve ‘the sisters’ (I.II.17). In the opinion of Catherine of Leipzig, the older women claimed that they would be better able to serve the sisters (pro sororibus) by working

75–88; B. Delmaire, ‘Les béguines dans le Nord de la France au premier siècle de leur histoire (vers 1230–vers 1350)’, in Les religieuses en France au XIIIe siècle, ed. M. Parisse (Nancy, 1989), pp. 121–62; C. Neel, ‘The Origins of the Beguines’, in Sisters and Workers in the Middle Ages, ed. J. M. Bennett et al. (Chicago and London, 1989), pp. 241–9. 13 Examinatio, pp. 228–9: … cum quereret ab eis in Wratislauia, si essent aliis sororibus meliores, responderunt, quod sic, quia haberent durissimam uitam et plus aliis perfectam. 14 B. Bolton, ‘Moniales sanctae’, in Sanctity and Secularity, the Church and the World, ed. D. Baker, Studies in Church History 10 (Oxford, 1973), pp. 77–95. 15 Tanner, I, 374. 16 As Mateusz Goliński has shown, the name of this street derives from the beguine house which stood there. Information about a series of foundations of burgher women’s uncloistered convents located in this street survives from the fourth quarter of the fourteenth century: M. Goliński, Wokół socjotopografii późnośredniowiecznej Świdnicy, 2 vols. (Wrocław, 2000–3), I, 100. 17 The building of late-medieval houses on Nun Street can be seen clearly in a picture of Świdnica from 1695, which is now in St Joseph’s chapel in the church of Saints Wenceslaus and Stanislaus.

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The Beguines of Medieval Świdnica at home than by going to church or attending sermons (I.II.11). Margaret the Painter expressed a similar opinion with reference to sisters from the Świdnica group (I.IV.1). In the German-speaking female community the Latin term sorores was replaced by Swestere or Swestrionen, which is well known from other sources.18 In groups of beguines from the Rhineland the term ‘sisters’ had the same meaning as ‘beguines’, and both were used interchangeably.19 The wills of Cologne burghers often mention bequests for ‘sororibus que dicuntur swesthere’.20 Around the turn of the fourteenth century, we can observe a gradual replacement of the term Begine among Rhineland beguines by ‘Swestre’.21 The growing antipathy and intolerance of the Church authorities towards mendicant and vagrant groups of beguines and beghards meant that the very term ‘beguine’ came to take on a negative connotation and threw a shadow of suspicion over the activities of stable communities of secular women. From this point of view, from the end of the thirteenth century those who hitherto had called themselves beguines came to prefer more often to be known as ‘sisters’. The second part of the term moniales Capuciatae refers to a specific item of clothing worn by beguines. The broad cowl or caputium worn on the head became a characteristic part of the beguine habit. As early as the first half of the thirteenth century, the sisters sought to distinguish themselves from surrounding society by wearing a characteristic outfit with a cowl similar to a nun’s habit.22 The wearing of a cowl on the head was intended to underline the poverty and modest lifestyle of women implementing the ideals of the vita apostolica. Joining the community by taking vows of obedience at the hand of the mother superior was connected with the novice’s exchange of her everyday clothes for the beguine habit.23 It is worth recalling the decision of the first Provençal beguine, Douceline de Digne, who changed her previous clothing for a black costume with a white veil based on the dress of the women who appeared to her in a vision. Philippine Porcellet, the author of her vita, stressed that on her head she wore a cap in imitation of the Blessed

18 W.

Simons, Cities of Ladies: Beguine Communities in the Medieval Low Countries, 1200–1565 (Philadelphia, 2001), pp. 112–14. 19 Voigt, Beginen, pp. 23–5. 20 J. Asen, ‘Die Beginen in Köln’, part 1, Annalen Historischen Vereins für den Niederrhein 111 (1927), pp. 81–180, at pp. 145–7; and part 3, Annalen Historischen Vereins für den Niederrhein 113 (1928), pp. 13–96, at pp. 59–62; L. Böhringer, ‘Kölner Beginen im Spätmittelalter – Leben zwischen Kloster und Welt’, Geschichte in Köln 53 (2006), 7–34, at p. 20. 21 Böhringer, ‘Beginen’, pp. 20–1. I am most grateful to Dr Letha Böhringer for drawing my attention to the changes in the use of the terms ‘beguines’ and ‘sisters’ in communities of laywomen in Cologne. 22 See above pp. 49–51. 23 Szymański, Ruchy heretyckie, p. 99, n. 123.

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The Daughters of Odelindis: Identity and Religious Practice Virgin Mary, who after the death of her Son covered her head with the edge of her cloak.24 In the late thirteenth century, in the opinion of the Church authorities, the wearing of such a form of dress was an abuse and testimony to the hypocrisy of the beguines and beghards, who thereby impersonated members of cloistered orders. We have mentioned the prohibitions on wearing such clothing which appeared in German synodal statutes between 1307 and 1311.25 This problem was discussed during the Council of Vienne, and the constitution Cum de quibusdam (art. 16) declared that beguines could not be regarded as nuns even though they wore the so-called beguine habit.26 In an attempt to settle issues connected with religious habits, the Council of Vienne stressed in a separate constitution how a monastic habit should look (art. 14).27 For Church legislators, throwing off a grey cloak with a long, pointed cowl was tantamount to rejecting the beghard way of life. Until the end of the fourteenth century, the Church authorities opposed the practice of lay people wearing a style of dress similar to a religious habit. One of the elements of sharp conflict between the Church authorities and the communities of Brothers and Sisters of the Common Life was the wearing by the latter of clothing with a characteristic cowl. In 1395 Gerhard Zerbolt of Zutphen, a close collaborator of Geert Grote, wrote a separate tract on this subject in defence of such dress.28 At the same time across the Channel, English Lollards wore a long reddish-brown costume similar to a religious habit.29 Roger Dymmok understood such clothing to be a sign of the hypocrisy of Lollard preachers who so dressed in order to simulate poverty and humility.30 Some of the English knights who sided with John Wycliffe and supported Lollardy were called milites Capuciati. As the Benedictine chronicler Thomas Walsingham wrote, this name derived from the fact that they wore a hood on their head which they never removed, even when going up to take Holy Communion.31 24 Li

vida de la benaurada sancta Doucelina, ed. J. H. Albanès, in La vie de Sainte Douceline fondatrice des béguines de Marseille (Marseilles, 1879), pp. 18–19; The Life of Saint Douceline, a Beguine of Provence, ed. and trans. K. Garay and M. Jeay (Cambridge, 2001), pp. 30–1. 25 See above, pp. 48–50. 26 Tanner, I, 370–1. 27 Ibid., I, 374. 28 J. Van Engen, Sisters and Brothers of the Common Life: The Devotio Moderna and the World of the Later Middle Ages (Philadelphia, 2008), pp. 96–8. 29 A. Hudson, The Premature Reformation: Wycliffite Texts and Lollard History (Oxford, 1988), pp. 144–5. 30 Roger Dymmok, Liber contra XII errores et hereses Lollardorum, ed. H. S. Cronin (London, 1922), p. 307. 31 Milites Capuciati qui defendebant ubique pro viribus Wiclefenses, hunc in suis praedicationibus animaverunt, extulerunt, et indicibiliter laudaverunt. Qui ideo Capuciati vocabantur, quia nulli, nec ad sacramentum altaris quidem caputia deponebant (The hooded knights, who defended the Wycliffites everywhere with

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The Beguines of Medieval Świdnica As emerges from the testimony given in 1332, the Świdnica sisters wore clothing with a characteristic cowl. What that clothing looked like is unknown, but we may suppose that it was similar to the beguine habit mentioned in the constitution Cum de quibusdam. By wearing such a costume, the Świdnica Capuciatae infringed the prohibition issued by the Council of Vienne. Although from the point of view of the regulations of canon law the Świdnica Hooded Sisters were beguines, the women did not call themselves that name and nor did the papal inquisitor use that term to refer to them.32 In the 1332 trial records the term ‘beguine’ was used only twice, exclusively in the evidence of Margaret the Painter. Each time the term ‘beguine’ does not refer directly to the Świdnica sisters, but the context in which it appears is no accident. In separate parts of her testimony Margaret referred to ‘beguines’ in regard to the subject of beghard views, as cited by the inquisitor. The first of these referred to a person’s attempts to obtain spiritual perfection, which was illustrated by means of a syllogism.33 In answer to the inquisitor’s question as to what the beguines think about this matter, Margaret replied that they hold a similar belief (I.IV.26).34 In the second case, Schwenkenfeld referred to a fragment of Adelheid’s evidence regarding beghard teaching on the Holy Trinity. In reply Margaret confirmed that ‘the beguines preach similar views, which lead simple folk into error’ (I.IV.29).35 It is hard to suppose that both fragments of the interrogation were accidental and that they were not connected with the life and customs of the Świdnica sisters, who were the subject of the inquisition enquiry. From other evidence it emerges that the Świdnica sisters maintained close contacts with the beghards, welcomed them into their house, and discussed religious matters with them. It is difficult to imagine that when Margaret was speaking about the beguines she had some other group of women in mind which had nothing in common with the Świdnica moniales Capuciatae. Similarly, it would beggar belief to imagine that John of Schwenkenfeld, whose questions were recorded in this part of the testimony, was interested in the views of any distantly related beguines who had nothing in common with the Świdnica Hooded Sisters. On the one hand, John of Schwenkenfeld considered the Świdnica moniales Capuciatae to be ‘beguines’ and during his all their strength, infused him and his sermons with their spirit, to a degree that is indescribable, making them widely known and giving them praise. They were known as ‘the hooded’ because they took off their hoods for no-one, not even the sacrament of the altar); Thomas Walsingham, Historia Anglicana, ed. H. T. Riley, 2 vols. (London, 1862–4), II, 159. 32 Słownik łaciny średniowiecznej w Polsce, I, 1059–60, translates the term beguinae as ‘so-called vagrant nuns, living from begging’, but registers only two fifteenthcentury sources where it occurs. 33 Examinatio, pp. 220–1. 34 Ibid. 35 Ibid., pp. 222–3.

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The Daughters of Odelindis: Identity and Religious Practice examination of them he used that name. Nevertheless, at the editorial stage of recording the trial record he decided to use the term Capuciatae almost exclusively. On the other hand, however, the adoption of this latter name by the Świdnica sisters was surely the result of a desire to distance themselves from the beguines, who had been condemned by the Council of Vienne for spreading heresy. The treatise De beguinibus published by Ignaz von Döllinger expresses well the state of uncertainty and turmoil which reigned in beguine communities after the publication of the constitution Cum de quibusdam. From this it emerges that many of them did not know what to call themselves and, since they could not call themselves beguines, preferred to refer to themselves as sisters.36 The second name for the community of Świdnica sisters, which appears in the testimonies sworn before the tribunal of John of Schwenkenfeld, is more enigmatic. From these it emerges that the women called themselves ‘the daughters of Odelindis’ (filiae Udyllindis) and that their group was supposed to belong to an association of the daughters of Odelindis (unio filiarum Udyllindis). The phrase ‘daughters of Odelind’ appears four times in the testimonies of Adelheid, Margaret the Painter, Ludgard of Leipzig, and Blind Anne, respectively. Anne, who was the oldest sister in the Świdnica community, admitted that they belonged to ‘the community of the daughters of Odelindis’. She also asserted that this association did not possess a rule approved by the Church. She also added that if it had possessed such a rule, the sisters would have used it long ago to evade persecution (II.V.1).37 Adelheid, who was one of the younger sisters, had heard from others that they belonged to ‘the union of the daughters of Odelindis’, who had many regulations (I.II.7).38 Her evidence was confirmed by Margaret the Painter, who regarded ‘the community of the daughters of Odelindis’ as the official name of the association to which the Świdnica sisters belonged. At the same time, she added that the older sisters did not speak openly of the association’s regulations (I.IV.28).39 The evidence presented by Ludgard of Leipzig, 36 Döllinger,

II, 704: Item nesciunt, quo nomine nuncupari debent, quia nolunt dici ‘Beguinae’ sed volunt dici ‘sorores’, cum non sit hoc speciale nec sit generale et de nullo approbatum, sed fictum, cum ex regula earum, de qua dicunt se esse, debeant dici ‘poenitentes’ vel ‘sorores minores’ ac ratione ordinis (Also, they do not know what they ought to be called. For they do not want to be called ‘Beguines’ but would rather be called ‘Sisters’, since this is neither specific nor general, and approved by no-one, rather just made up; though from the Rule, to which they say they belong, and by reason of Order [the claim to be a religious Order] they ought to be called the ‘Penitents’ or the ‘Sisters Minor’). 37 Examinatio, pp. 254–5: ‘… si congregacio earum sit approbata, dicit quod non; si approbata esset, diu emissemus illam, per quam haberemus hoc …’. 38 Ibid., pp. 184–5: Adelheydis iurata et interrogata se audivisse ab illisque fuerunt inter eas quod titulus earum est unio filiarum Vdyllindis in qua secta multa sunt statuta. 39 Ibid., pp. 222–3: Item interrogata super primum statutum filiarum Vdyllindis de

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The Beguines of Medieval Świdnica who had spent a year previously in the beguine house in Erfurt and the nine months after this in Leipzig, includes information that the women regard themselves as ‘the Daughters of Odelindis in Union’ (filiae Udyllindis in unione). Only in this one testimony did Ludgard assert that she had heard that ‘Odelindis had behaved herself well, was a good sister and led other women to God’ (I.VI.2).40 However, she did not manage to provide any more information on this topic. As the recorded testimony reveals, there was a strong sense among the Świdnica Hooded Sisters, especially the older sisters, that they belonged to a larger organization whose patroness was one Odelindis. However, their knowledge of this ‘good sister’ was scant. The younger sisters of the Świdnica community knew only her name, while the older ones scarcely knew anything more, or deliberately hid what knowledge they had from the younger ones. One of the oldest sisters, Anne, when questioned by John of Schwenkenfeld about the name of the community (II.V.1), replied only laconically, adding nothing to what the inquisitor had learned from earlier testimonies.41 Thus far, research into the Świdnica beguines has seldom attempted to identify this patroness of the beguine convent, Odelindis.42 Herbert Grundmann, who was the first to take an interest in this name, considered that the Świdnica beguines called themselves ‘the Hooded Nuns’ and also ‘the Daughters of Odelindis’. He commented with a certain amazement that the women referred to Odelindis even though their actual superior was Heilwig of Prague.43 Grundmann was probably convinced that ‘Odelindis’ was the name of the superior of another beguine community who preceded unione per Adylheydim confessum, respondet, quod ille est titulus earum, ut audiuit, etiam licet non expresse audiret ab eis uerba et doctrinam … 40 Ibid., pp. 230–1: … Vdyllindem bene audiuit commendare, quod esset bona soror, et teneret alias ad deum, et non plus. 41 Ibid., pp. 254–5. 42 Ulanowski made no attempt to identify the women referred to by this name, but it should be remembered that his edition does not have any explanatory notes. The editors of the extracts of documents relative to the history of Silesia noted concisely that ‘die Beghinen ihre Zusammenkünfte die Vereiningung der Töchter der Udillyndis nennen’ (Regesten zur schlesischen Geschichte 1327–1333, ed. G. Grünhagen and K. Wutke, Codex diplomaticus Silesiae, 36 vols. (Breslau, 1857–1933), XXII, 161 no. 5146). There was no attempt to identify the woman referred to as ‘Udyllindis’ in later Polish and foreign studies of the Świdnica beguines. 43 H. Grundmann, Ketzergeschichte des Mittelalters, Die Kirche in Ihrer Geschichte: ein Handbuch, vol. 2, G part 1 (Göttingen, 1963), pp. 55–6, n. 10: Die Verhörten nannten sich auch filiae Udilindis, obgleich ihre Meisterin derzeit Heilbig von Prag hieß und sich durch eine andere in Schweidnitz vertreten ließ, die sogar einer Dominikanerpredigt gegen Ketzer öffentlich widersprochen hatte (The interrogated also called themselves filiae Udilindis, although their mistress at the time was called Heilwig of Prague and she allowed herself to be deputised in Świdnica by another, who had even spoken out in public, contradicting a Dominican sermon against heretics).

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The Daughters of Odelindis: Identity and Religious Practice Geza and Heilwig. Some time later, unaware of the comments of Grundmann, Jerzy Wyrozumski drew attention to the name ‘daughters of Odelindis’. He considered that this was proof that the Świdnica beguines belonged to a community which existed ‘across a large area from the Rhine to the Vistula’.44 The Cracow scholar acknowledged at the same time that he had been unable to establish ‘which Odelindis was referred to here’. However, in his opinion there could be no doubt that the ‘community referred to by her name was a group within beguine society at large and that the association was certainly steeped in heretical ideology’.45 The publication of the work of Jarosław Szymański in 2007 saw the first attempt to identify the ‘Odelindis’ whose ‘daughters’ the Świdnica beguines were. Szymański asserted that the name unio filiarum Udyllindis conceals ‘most probably the beguine congregation … of which the Świdnica convent was a part’. He suggested at the same time that ‘the name may be linked with the legendary foundress of one of the first women’s orders in Liège, the widow Odile (Odilia)’.46 Not being completely convinced of the correctness of this identification, Szymański put forward another hypothesis, namely ‘that this may refer to St Odile (who died in 720), the pious foundress of the Hohenburg nunnery (Odilienberg), whose example may have been equally attractive for the beguines’.47 Magdalena Ogórek, who did not address Szymański’s hypotheses, added nothing new to the discussion.48 This problem is intriguing and deserves deeper analysis. As we have noted, the Świdnica sisters regarded their community as being a part of the ‘union of the daughters of Odelindis’. We may accept that unio filiarum Udyllindis was the name (titulus) of the association of beguine groups indicated by the answer recorded in the court papers as having been given by both the older and younger sisters. This association was also described as a ‘community of the poor’ (congregatio pauperum). Voluntary poverty (paupertas) was the most important principle of religious life for the Świdnica community and all the sisters were bound by it. They did not possess any private property and all that they brought into the community became the property of all the sisters. In their testimonies the Świdnica beguines often recalled the necessity of maintaining poverty as an indispensable condition for obtaining spiritual

44 J.

Wyrozumski, ‘Beginki i begardzi w Polsce’, Zeszyty Naukowe Uniwersytetu Jagiellońskiego 261 (1971), Prace Historyczne, no. 35, 7–22, at p. 19. 45 Ibid., 20. 46 Szymański, Ruchy heretyckie, pp. 105–6. His hypothesis was based on the phonetic similarity between the names ‘Udilindis’ and ‘Odilia’, and a note is included in this place to J. Greven, ‘Der Ursprung des Beginenwesens’, Historisches Jahrbuch 35 (1914), pp. 291–8. 47 Szymański, Ruchy heretyckie, p. 106, n. 136. 48 M. Ogórek, Beginki i waldensi na Śląsku i na Morawach do końca XIV wieku (Racibórz, 2012), p. 225.

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The Beguines of Medieval Świdnica perfection. They asserted that whoever lives in poverty truly follows Christ and becomes perfect (I.II.27).49 Odelindis must have been an important figure for beguines in the German-speaking world especially during the persecutions enacted after the publication in 1317 of the constitutions of the Council of Vienne Ad nostrum and Cum de quibusdam. We may suppose that soon the Świdnica beguines were regarded, by the sisters themselves and by others, as the ‘daughters of Odelindis’ and that she was an exceptional figure. She must have been an extraordinary person whose life and activities were well known and aroused wide recognition among women seeking to implement a model of piety based on voluntary poverty. Her renown must have been quite widespread, since during the first quarter of the fourteenth century there existed an association of communities of lay sisters stretching from Aachen and Strasbourg to Prague, Wrocław, and Świdnica.50 The name Odelindis may refer to the mistress of some important beguine community or the mother superior of an enclosed order, whose model of life was an inspiration for these lay sisters. Udyllind is one form of the name Odile, the root of which derives from the Old High German uodal (odhil) meaning ‘patrimony’ or ‘inherited property’. In medieval texts the name was written sometimes as Odelina, Odeline, Odelinda, Odalinde, and also in collateral forms such as Udela, Udele, Udelia, Udelle.51 Udyllindis, whom the Świdnica Hooded Sisters regarded as their mother, may also be sought among women bearing the name Odile. In the first instance, two well-known figures spring to mind: namely St Odile of Hohenburg (c.662–720) and Odile of Liège (d. 12 December 1220).52 In medieval calendars only the first of these women was listed as a saint, and her liturgical feast was 13 September.53 St Odile lived at the turn of the eighth century and was foundress of the convent of Benedictine nuns at Hohenburg (Mont-Sainte Odile) near Strasbourg.54 She was the daughter of Duke Adalric (Etichon) of Alsace and his wife Persinda, and her brother was Adalbert, the founder of the monastery at Honau, where Celtic monks

49 Examinatio,

pp. 196–7. Szymański accurately drew attention to the range of this association and ‘the special exchange and rotation of persons between the Świdnica establishment and various houses in Silesia (Wrocław), Germany (Leipzig, Erfurt), and the Rhineland alike; Ruchy heretyckie, p. 106; E. Förstemann, Altdeutsches Namenbuch (Nordhausen, 1856), p. 983. 51 Ibid. Dr Letha Böhringer informed us that in the Cologne beguine database she has made, the names ‘Odila/Udila’ or ‘Odelindis/Udelindis’ do appear, but they are quite rare and there is no way of connecting them with the wider cult of St Odile. 52 Szymański, Ruchy heretyckie, pp. 105–6. 53 It is worth recalling another St Odile, who was a companion of St Ursula and one of the eleven thousand virgins murdered along with her near Cologne. 54 H. J. Hummer, Power and Politics in Early Medieval Europe: Alsace and the Frankish Realm, 600–1000 (Cambridge, 2006), pp. 52–4. 50 J.

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The Daughters of Odelindis: Identity and Religious Practice settled.55 As her vita relates, she was born blind and regained her sight miraculously immediately after she was baptised by Bishop Erhard of Regensburg. As a result of this account, she was regarded during the Middle Ages as a patroness of the blind to whom people would pray for restoration of their sight and also in the event of various eye diseases. The cult of St Odile developed mainly in Alsace whence it spread to Bavaria and Saxony and later, in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, to France and Bohemia too.56 Her tomb at Hohenburg became an important pilgrimage site. In the ninth century St Odile’s name was included in the litany of the Regensburg church and in the tenth it also appeared in the calendars of the sees of Freising and Utrecht.57 The first vita of St Odile was composed in the tenth century by an anonymous monk.58 During the second half of the twelfth century the Hohenburg convent adopted the Rule of St Augustine and belonged to the Premonstratensian Order. From that time a new stage began in the growth of the convent’s significance and it became famed far and wide for the strictness of its monastic life and the excellence of its intellectual formation.59 Towards the end of the thirteenth century the Dominican Jacobus de Voragine contributed to the propagation of St Odile’s cult by composing a new vita, defining the Alsatian nun as a model of female piety in keeping with the times.60 In this vita she was portrayed as a pious woman, who ‘from her childhood was devoted to serving God, spending day and night in prayer, vigil, fasting and almsgiving’.61 St Odile also appeared as a model prioress of the Hohenburg convent, who cared for her daughters, the nuns, like a good mother and taught them to serve God to the best of their ability. As Jacobus de Voragine writes, St Odile would mortify her flesh with strict fasting and except on feast days she would eat nothing but barley bread and vegetables. She slept on a bear pelt which formed her bed and laid her head on a stone for a pillow.62 She cared for the poor and pilgrims, for whom she built an 55 A.

M. Burg, Le duché d’Alsace au temps de sainte Odile, Études générales de la Société de l’Histoire de l’Église d’Alsace 3 (Woerth, 1987); P. Riché, Les Carolingiens. Une famille qui fit l’Europe (Paris, 2010), p. 57. 56 LThK, VII, 973–4; R. van Doren and A. M. Raggi, ‘Sancta Odilia’, in Bibliotheca sanctorum, ed. F. Caraffa, 12 vols. (Rome, 1961–9), IX, 1100–16. 57 See n. 00. 58 BHL, II, 906–7; La vie de sainte Odile, ed. C. Pfister, Analecta Bollandiana 13 (1894), 5–32. 59 LThK, VII, 974; H. Büttner, ‘Studien zur Geschichte des Stiftes Hohenburg im Elsaß während des Hoch-Mittelalters’, Zeitschrift für Geschichte der Oberheins, n.s. 52 (1939), 103–38; F. Pétry and R. Will, Le Mont Sainte-Odile (Bas Rhin) (Paris, 1988). 60 Jacobus de Voragine (Iacopo da Varazze), Legenda aurea vulgo historia lombardica dicta, ed. T. Graesse (Leipzig, 1850), pp. 876–7. 61 Haec ab infantia se Dei servitio subdidit, vigiliis et oratonibus, jejuniis et elemosinis die noctuque insistens; ibid., p. 876. 62 Haec beata praeter dies festos nihil comedit nisi panem hordeaceum et legumina; ibid.

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The Beguines of Medieval Świdnica alms-house next to the Hohenburg convent. She did not shirk physical labour and planted linden trees beside the convent.63 The Life of St Odile which was penned by the Dominican hagiographer is in many ways reminiscent of the Life of Blessed Marie d’Oignies and other Lives of ‘saintly maidens’ written by Thomas of Cantimpré OP We may further suppose that this thirteenth-century model of female piety was promoted so strongly by Dominican preachers and hagiographers that it had an effect on the religious sensibilities of German beguines. The devotion to St Odile and the religious community which developed dynamically around the Alsatian Premonstratensian convent in Hohenburg may have been at the same time a deliberate move to protect the lay ‘sisters’ from the repression emanating from the publication of the constitutions of the Council of Vienne.64 However, certain details raise doubt regarding the identification of Odelindis with St Odile of Hohenburg. Blind Anne, who had been connected with the Świdnica community for twenty-six years, gave the impression under interrogation that she did not know who Odelindis was. When asked by the inquisitor about the name of the community, she confirmed it was true that the Świdnica community belonged to the ‘Union of the Daughters of Odelindis’ (II.V.1), but she did not divulge further information on this subject.65 If St Odile were indeed Odelindis, whose daughters the Świdnica beguines regarded themselves as being, Anne’s silence is puzzling. We may suppose that Blind Anne must have heard of St Odile, who was a popular patroness of the blind to whom prayers were made for the restoration of sight as well as the cure of various eye diseases. Unlike St Odile of Hohenburg, Odile of Liège had never enjoyed official veneration as a saint in the Church’s liturgical tradition. She belonged to the first generation of mulieres religiosae who, at the turn of the thirteenth century, led a quasi-monastic life on the territory of the diocese of Liège.66 Her vita was composed between 1241 and 1251 by an unknown canon of the cathedral chapter in Liège who was closely connected with her son Jean.67 It shares a range of features common to the Lives of Marie d’Oignies and Yvette (Jutta) of

63 Ibid.,

p. 877. the second half of the twelfth century many women began to join existing Augustinian convents, and in the thirteenth century beguines often sought protection from the Premonstratensians. For more on this subject, see Neel, ‘The Origins of the Beguines’, pp. 331–9. 65 Examinatio, pp. 254–5. 66 LThK, VII, 974; Simons, Cities of Ladies, pp. 42–6; J. Voigt, Beginen im Spätmittelalter: Frauenfrömmigkeit in Thüringen und im Reich, Veröffentlichungen der Historischen Kommission für Thüringen, Kleine Reihe (Cologne, Weimar, and Vienna, 2012), pp. 22–3. 67 Vita b. Odiliae viduae Leodiensis: Libri duo priores, ed. C. de Smedt, Analecta Bollandiana 13 (1894), 197–287. The basic information about the life of Odile comes from Simons, Cities of Ladies, pp. 32, 38, 42 and 57. 64 During

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The Daughters of Odelindis: Identity and Religious Practice Huy. In each of these three texts the heroine is a ‘pious lady’ who devoted her life to God. Each of them felt abhorrence for marriage and a general aversion to sexual relations.68 Each undertook a struggle against those close to them – parents, husband – to preserve their chastity, ending with their victory.69 Odile of Liège represented a new model of female piety, at the centre of which stood service to Christ in chastity, poverty, and humility.70 Jacques de Vitry mentioned her in his Life of Marie d’Oignies, counting her among the first women to undertake such a new form of religious life.71 The Life of St Odile represents her as a pious woman, who desired from childhood to serve God and maintain her chastity. Her parents betrothed her against her will at the age of seven, and eight years later they forced her to enter into matrimony. For the next five years Odile managed to preserve her virginity, and from her husband’s death around the year 1203 until her own demise in 1220 she preserved her chastity, living a life of mortification, prayer, and care for the poor. Like Marie d’Oignies and other mulieres religiosae from the Liège region, Odile experienced mystic visions and ecstatic trances. Among other things, she experienced a vision while receiving Communion when Christ appeared to her in the form of a child.72 Odile of Liège was regarded as one of the first beguines. However, it is unknown whether she established any religious community for laywomen – though her son Jean, a canon of St Lambert’s cathedral in Liège, founded a house for twenty-four beguines besides the Church of St Mary Magdalene in Liège.73 Unlike Marie d’Oignies, whose vita was widely distributed, the Life of St Odile was practically unknown.74 The Latin vita of Odile of Liège survives in only two copies, one of which dates to the fifteenth century and comes from

68 Ibid.,

p. 70. b. Odiliae viduae, 210–11. 70 Simons, Cities of Ladies, p. 42. 71 Vita Mariae Oigniacensis, pp. 46–7. 72 Simons, Cities of Ladies, pp. 69–70. 73 Ibid., p. 70 and n. 44. 74 The vita of Marie d’Oignies was preserved in thirty-five medieval manuscripts spread across convents in Northern France, the Low Countries, the Rhineland, central Germany and England. The vita of Odile survives in a single manuscript. For the sake of comparison, the vitae of two other mulieres religiosae were preserved as a rule in several copies; for example, the Life of Margaret of Ypres survives in three, the Life of Elisabeth of Spalbeek in five and the Life of Julianne of Mont Cornillon is known from eleven manuscripts. S. Folkerts, ‘The Manuscript Transmission of the Vita Mariae Oigniacensis in the Later Middle Ages’, in Mary of Oignies: Mother of Salvation, ed. A. B. Mulder-Bakker, Medieval Women: Texts and Contexts 7 (Turnhout, 2006), pp. 221–42, at pp. 225–6. The Lives of Marie d’Oignies, Christina the Astonishing and Elisabeth Spalbeek were translated into Middle English: see J. N. Brown, Three Women of Liège: a Critical Edition of and Commentary on the Middle English Lives of Elizabeth of Spalbeek, Christina Mirabilis and Marie d’Oignies, Medieval Women: Texts and Contexts 23 (Turnhout, 2008). 69 Vita

85

The Beguines of Medieval Świdnica the house of the Canons Regular at Rooklooster near Brussels (now held in the Austrian National Library in Vienna, MS ser. no. 12848, fols. 1–191); the other one is an extract from this manuscript made at the turn of the seventeenth century (now held in the Biblioteca Vallicelliana in Rome, MS H 06, fols. 189–96). There is no information about the cult of Odile of Liège among the beguines of Brabant.75 Hence it seems somewhat unlikely that the Silesian Hooded Sisters would have had any knowledge of the first beguine of Liège, let alone regarded themselves as her daughters. The above-mentioned attempt to identify the Udyllindis referred to by the Świdnica Hooded Sisters with St Odile of Hohenburg or Odile of Liège is based on the premise that the name of the mother of the association is one of the collateral Old High German forms of the name Odile. Only in connection with these two women do we have surviving vitae which describe their strict life, mortifications, and mystical experiences, which may have been the inspiration of the model of piety of the Świdnica community. Given the present state of research, there is no way to prove the existence of a direct link between the Świdnica sisters and the Hohenburg convent, the site of the cult of St Odile, or the functioning of other female communities connected with Odile of Liège, who belonged to the group of the first beguines in Northern Europe. The most probable identification of Udyllindis, whose ‘daughters’ the Świdnica beguines were, is with a Cologne beguine, Odelindis of Pyrzyce (Odelindis dicta de Piritz).76 In 1291 she founded a new beguine community in Cologne and became its leader or mistress (magistra). Only ‘poor beguines’ belonged to this new community, and this differentiated it from previous communities of laywomen in Cologne.77 Odelindis’ community dwelt in a house on Marzellenstraße, purchased from a local married couple, Dietrich, the son of Hermann of Niele, and his wife Elisabeth. In a document dated 23 March 1291 which describes the purchase of half of the house, we read that it was intended for a dozen ‘poor beguines’.78 Odelindis’ beguine house stood near the Dominican priory of St Andrew, sited between Stolkgasse and Marzellenstraße, and the local Dominican friars provided the women with pastoral care. The document from March 1291 describes the principles under which the new beguine community headed by Odelindis functioned. Only 75 Our

thanks are due to Dr Suzan Folkerts for her valuable comments on the state of preservation and distribution of the Latin text of the Life of Odile of Liège. 76 [Series editors:] On Odelindis of Piritz and the beguines in Cologne, readers will also wish to note the new chapter contributed by Letha Böhringer to this volume. 77 On this very street four years earlier, a community of a dozen beguines was founded by Bertha of Walde (no. 85), and in 1333 another group of beguines was founded by Mechtild of Berge (no. 360): G. M. Löhr, Beiträge zur Geschichte des Kölner Dominikanerklosters im Mittelalter, 2 vols., Quellen und Forschungen zur Geschichte des Dominikanerordens in Deutschland 15 (Leipzig, 1920), I, 68. 78 A summary of this document was published in Löhr, Beiträge, II, 51–2, no. 96.

86

The Daughters of Odelindis: Identity and Religious Practice women renowned for their chaste lives, good name, and honest practices could be received into the community. Odelindis fulfilled the function of mistress, and was to head the community for her lifetime and organize the lives of the other eleven beguines.79 In the case of her death or heavy illness, which deprived her of her ability to direct the community, the sisters were to elect a new mistress from among their number. If they failed to agree on who should be the new mistress, the prior of the nearby Dominican priory was to make the election. He could also intervene in the community’s activities, removing from the office of mistress a woman who had proved to be unworthy and replacing her with another candidate.80 The women belonging to the community of Odelindis referred to themselves as beguines (Beginen) or sisters (sorores). Details of the group’s religious life and rules are unknown, but the community enjoyed wide popularity and was never the object of repressive measures directed against other beguines. Memory of their foundress was preserved in the community’s name, which referred to Ver Odenkonvent.81 In fourteenth- and fifteenth-century sources, the beguine community founded in Cologne by Odelindis of Pyrzyce is also referred to by the German term Einung (1349, 1379) or Einung zum Einhorn (1499).82 The second version is the equivalent of the Latin unio which the Świdnica beguines used – a calque of the German Einung. On the basis of the above analysis, there are grounds for supposing that the Świdnica community of Hooded Sisters derived from the Cologne beguine convent founded by Odelindis of Pyrzyce, which was defined as an Einhorn or Einung. The testimonies from the trial of the Świdnica Hooded Sisters may be regarded as the first evidence of the wider influence of the Cologne community. During the inquisition inquiry in 1332, no information emerged about direct contacts between the Świdnica community and the Cologne

79 Ibid.,

II, 52: … dicta Odelindis assumet sibi ad inhabitandum cum ipsa undecim begginas quas esse noverit caste vite, bone fame et conversacionis honeste, ipsa Odelinde duodecima et magistra dicte domus super dictas beginas existente et permanente. 80 Ibid.: Et si dictam Odelindem decedere vel adeo debilem effici contigerit ita, quod sibi ipsi videtur quod ad magisterium non sufficiat, tunc alie sorores inibi existentes aliam magistram inter ipsas sibi constituent et assument quam ipsis noverint expedire. Et si concordare in constitucione talis magistre non poterint, tunc prior fratrum Predicatorum domus in Colonia qui pro tempore fuerit ipsas concordabit, eisdem inter ipsas unam magistram … conferendo. 81 The last will and testament of Cunegund de Nova Janua dwelling in the house called Kettwig, which was made on 7 March 1333, contained among other bequests a gift of one mark for the ‘convent of Lady Oda’, which could be identified with the community founded by Odelindis of Pyrzyce. A summary of this will is published in Löhr, Beiträge, II, 145, no. 359. 82 Selected sources for the history of this community were collected and analysed in J. Asen, ‘Die Beginen in Köln (Fortsetzung)’, Annalen Historischen Vereins für den Niederrhein 112 (1928), 71–148, at pp. 145–7.

87

The Beguines of Medieval Świdnica beguines. The one mention of Cologne came from Adelheid and refers to the iconoclastic activities of a local beghard, who smashed church images and burned them to make himself warm (I.II.34).83 It is worth drawing attention to similar organizational structures in the Cologne and Świdnica communities which had a similar number of members and fell under the direct jurisdiction of their mistresses. The document from March 1291 speaks of twelve poor beguines who, together with Odelindis, formed a community governed by the latter. A similar number of women made up the Świdnica group of Hooded Sisters. During the interrogations carried out in September 1332, this group comprised nine women, but, as the evidence of women who belonged to the community earlier indicates, the group may have numbered around a dozen sisters at one time.84 The ideal of extreme poverty noted so often during the interrogation of the Świdnica Hooded Sisters was close to the religious practice of the Cologne community of poor beguines, who differed from the previously established beguine groups that had emerged from among quite powerful burgher and knightly families.85 Available sources indicate that the new beguine groups in Świdnica and Wrocław which referred to themselves as ‘the daughters of Odelindis’ emerged either at the turn of the fourteenth century or, in several cases, up to a dozen years after the foundation of the Cologne House of Odelindis of Pyrzyce. The first mistress of the Świdnica Hooded Sisters was Geza, whom the oldest sisters, Gertrude of Świdnica and Blind Anne, knew, although only the latter actually mentions her name (I.II.5). Since the Świdnica group of beguines emerged relatively soon after the foundation of the community of Odelindis, we may suppose that the German woman named Geza had occasion to know Odelindis personally and was very familiar with the activities of her community in Cologne. It was Geza who was able to plant the new model of poor beguine life, which came to enjoy popularity among the townswomen, in Świdnica and perhaps even in Wrocław. In the period of growing antipathy towards vagrant beguine and beghard groups, who based their lives on begging, even before the Council of Vienne some of the ‘pious women’ set about formalizing their activities and seeking pastoral supervision from one of the mendicant orders. The foundation of the group of poor beguines of Cologne headed by Odelindis of Pyrzyce may

83 Examinatio,

pp. 198–9: Item iurata dixit, quod in Coln fuit quidam Beghardus, qui quando frigus habuit, ecclesias intrauit, et quascunque potuit ymagines furabatur et ignem de eis fecit et calefecit se. This information cannot be certain evidence of any connections between the Świdnica sisters and Cologne. It comes from a secondhand source; either it was heard from other sisters or it represents a preaching exemplum serving to demonize the beghards. 84 See above, pp. 64–5. 85 See below, pp. 258–62.

88

The Daughters of Odelindis: Identity and Religious Practice be regarded as something quite symptomatic of the changes taking place within the beguine movement in one of its most important European centres. The new model of piety addressed to laywomen was based on unconditional personal poverty and imitation of the religious life. In a short time it found many supporters among German beguines, who had to find a new formula for their way of life, especially after the publication of the Constitution Cum de quibusdam. The records of the trial of the Świdnica moniales Capuciatae are the only source known so far to speak of the existence of a larger organizational structure which oversaw groups of German beguines in the territory lying between the Rhineland and Saxony, Bohemia, Moravia, and Silesia. The association covered groups of female beguines and male beghards alike and possessed houses in the Rhineland (Cologne, Aachen), Saxony (Erfurt, Leipzig), Alsace (Strasbourg), Bohemia (Prague), Moravia (Brno), and Silesia (Świdnica, Wrocław).86 The Świdnica sisters moved around within the realm of this association, whose geographical extent and structure remain poorly understood. The sisters’ great mobility is illustrated by their longer or shorter periods of residence in various houses which formed part of beguine religious formation. All the sisters who were in Świdnica in 1332 and were recorded in John of Schwenkenfeld’s interrogation material were ethnically and linguistically German; some of them hailed from Lower Silesia (Świdnica, Wrocław, Oleśnica, Strzegom, Środa Śląska), but a few came from more far-flung areas, including two sisters who came to Świdnica from Leipzig, namely Catherine, who was recorded as the third witness, and Ludgard, who was sixth on the list. The activities of John of Schwenkenfeld, papal inquisitor for the dioceses of Wrocław and Lubusz, regarding the community of Hooded Sisters form part of a broader process of inspecting communities of women and subjecting them to closer scrutiny in connection with the implementation of the legislation of the Council of Vienne and the repressive policy of John XXII with regard to the Franciscan Spirituals. The records of the interrogation of the Świdnica beguines represent a key source providing a view of the course of action of the ecclesiastical authorities towards uncloistered communities of women in Silesia. We know that the beguine movement found many supporters within the diocese of Wrocław and that the first communities of women implementing this model of religious life appeared there during the final quarter of the thirteenth century. From that time we have information about the activities of groups of beguines in the largest and most swiftly developing cities of Silesia, such as Wrocław, Nysa, and Głogów (Glogau). We cannot exclude the possibility that beguines also appeared in other locations within the diocese of Wrocław.87

86 Szymański, 87 D.

Ruchy heretyckie, p. 106. Lapis and B. Lapis, ‘Beginki w Polsce w XIII–XV wieku’, KH 79 (1972), 521–44,

89

The Beguines of Medieval Świdnica John of Schwenkenfeld’s records are a fundamental source for researching the Świdnica beguine community’s organization and forms of religious life. However, we do not know whether the group of women calling themselves moniales Capuciatae was the only beguine community active in Świdnica. As the work of Mateusz Goliński has shown, during the second half of the fourteenth century beguines dwelt in Świdnica in houses sited on the platea monialium, or Nun Street.88 The Świdnica house of moniales Capuciatae was a small community, similar to those which spread across the German territories, where most beguine groups numbered between ten and twelve women living together in one house.89 Small communities numbering a dozen or so women were also the characteristic form of the beguine movement in Flanders, Brabant, or the Netherlands. The research of Walter Simons indicates that only one quarter of beguine communities in these areas (77 out of 298) developed into larger convents known by the Latin term curtis or curia beguinarum (beginhof in Dutch). They formed separate quarters in urban spaces, usually surrounded by walls and possessing their own chapels in which as many as several hundred women might dwell.90 The 1332 inquisition record does not provide any topographical evidence allowing us to locate the position of the Świdnica house of the Hooded Sisters. However, we may suppose that they lived in one house comprising many quarters, some of which functioned as workshops for spinning and weaving. The house also contained a separate room where weekly meetings known as the chapter (capitulum) were held under the direction of the mistress or her deputy. Here most probably common prayers were said and flagellation was practised. The house of the Świdnica sisters must have been secure from outside intrusion and it would not have been easy to leave, since each excursion into the outside world had to be approved by the mistress or her deputy. The contents of the testimonies reveal that the Świdnica mulieres Capuciatae maintained close relations, albeit ones that are difficult to determine now, with the local Franciscan friary which was probably not far from the house. In any case, the records provide no information about pastoral supervision provided by the Świdnica Franciscans for the sisters, although we may suppose that the women often took part in services and sermons in the friary church. Certainly, it was not without reason that it was from the Franciscans that the older sisters sought assistance in times of danger when accusations were made against them. During the interrogation of Hedwig of Wrocław, the Franciscan friar Conrad de Ebyrspach, who was present, recalled that one of

at pp. 526–30; recently the state of our knowledge of the Silesian beguines was discussed in Szymański, Ruchy heretyckie, pp. 90–7. 88 Goliński, Wokół socjotopografii, p. 107, and map 10 on p. 110. 89 Böhringer, ‘Beginen’, p. 18. 90 Simons, Cities of Ladies, pp. 50–60.

90

The Daughters of Odelindis: Identity and Religious Practice the sisters had approached him with a plea to support Hedwig in the face of slander against the community (I.IV.28).91 Although the ‘association of the daughters of Odelind’ to which the Świdnica house belonged did not possess a written rule, its workings were subject to certain statutes which were passed down from the older women to their younger sisters. Adelheid asserted that the Hooded Sisters had ‘many regulations’ (multa statuta) for the direction of the Świdnica community (I.II.7).92 These regulations governed the sisters’ duties and the daily rhythm on which their cloth production, instruction, and mortifications were based. The records contain several comments with regard to the contents of these regulations and their provenance. The responses of Margaret the Painter shed considerable light on the bases for the functioning of the Świdnica ‘convent’. She confirmed the previously mentioned account of Adelheid concerning the rules governing the ‘association of the daughters of Odelindis’. These placed various obligations and tasks on the sisters on work days and feast days, which required them to abstain from church services (I.IV.28).93 A key role in the Świdnica community was played by the mother superior, known as the mistress (magistra). Witness evidence regarding the Świdnica mistress leads us to believe that her authority over the other sisters was absolute and unquestioned. The mistress would receive new candidates and accept their vows of loyalty and obedience. She also set the sisters their tasks in the house and gave instructions regarding principles of the community’s way of life. Every Friday a capitulum was held under the direction of the mistress or her deputy, during which the sisters would kneel before her, acknowledge their sins, and then be flogged. After the mistress had granted the sisters absolution from their sins, they could confess them to their chaplain (II.III.2).94 The mistress would set the sisters’ obligations, oversee their implementation, and punish any shortcomings and expressions of disobedience. She also decided whether the sisters could leave the house and what contact they might have with the outside world. The mistress would appoint a deputy to govern the Świdnica community during her absence. Heilwig of Prague was the mistress of the Świdnica community and her deputy was Gertrude of Oleśnica, who oversaw the community during Hedwig’s absence. Sophia, who had spent four years in the Świdnica community, admitted that Blind Anne had given her the information she reported about the mother superior and her deputy (II.III.2).95

91 Examinatio,

pp. 222–3. pp. 184–5. 93 Ibid., pp. 222–3. 94 Ibid., pp. 250–1: … que tenet eis capitulum sexta feria, in quo uerberat eas cum corrigiis, flectuntque genua coram magistra et dicunt culpam suam, tunc magistra parcit eis et tamen postea confitetur sacerdotibus. 95 Ibid.: Audiuit ab Anna ceca et a Gertrude de Olsna, quod Heilwig alias etiam esset 92 Ibid.,

91

The Beguines of Medieval Świdnica John of Schwenkenfeld’s 1332 inquisition record provided valuable data concerning the organization and way of life of a small beguine community during the period of persecution following the publication of the constitutions of the Council of Vienne. The structure of this community was similar to that of the groups of beguines who were active in the Rhineland or Thuringia. Each such group had a superior known as a mistress and also a deputy. The superior governed the community, received the vows of newly admitted women, taught them the rules of community life, and supervised their observance of the rule.96 A clearly defined hierarchy existed within the Świdnica community which divided the sisters into elders and juniors. The former, whose presence in the community stretched from five to more than a dozen years, held a position of privilege in the house. They were responsible for running the house together with the mistress, teaching the junior sisters the principles of community life and allotting and supervising various tasks. The older sisters were aware that they were part of a broader community, although the testimony they gave under interrogation does not permit us to determine the geographic extent and organizational principles of that community. The journeys of sisters from Świdnica to distant localities that were home to numerous beguine houses indicate that the creation of that community and its form and practices were connected with the expansion in Silesian territory of the model of common life for laywomen that formed during the first half of the thirteenth century in the territory of the Rhineland, Thuringia, and other German-speaking areas. The older sisters knew that their community was not a monastic convent and did not possess any rule approved by the Church authorities. Furthermore, they believed that their community was good and was governed in line with the precepts of the Gospel. The younger sisters, very clearly fearing to say what they thought about their community, referred to the opinions of the mistress and the older sisters. Among other things, when questioned by John of Schwenkenfeld as to whether ‘their community was good’, Sophia asserted that ‘their mistress says it is good, but she herself did not know’, thereby evading a direct answer (II.III.3).97 The conviction prevailed within the Świdnica community that the life of their community was more perfect than that of any religious order. The older sisters described themselves with pride as a community of poor women, acknowledging poverty as the fundamental condition for achieving spiritual perfection. In effect, poverty, mortification, and achievement of spiritual perfection are the three basic categories which allow us to describe the

magistra, sed Gertrudis de Olsna modo loco Heilwig. H. Grundmann, Religious Movements in the Middle Ages, trans. S. Rowan (Notre Dame and London, 1995), pp. 148–9; Simons, Cities of Ladies, p. 50; Böhringer, ‘Kölner Beginen’, pp. 18–19. 97 Examinatio, pp. 250–1: Interrogata, utrum congregacio earum sit bona, respondit ‘Magistra dicit, quod sit bona’, sed ipsa nescit. 96 Cf.

92

The Daughters of Odelindis: Identity and Religious Practice religious life of the Świdnica beguines. The sisters believed that although they did not possess any monastic rule, they lived a life in agreement with the Gospel, thanks to which they would obtain salvation. This conviction was supposed to persuade young adepts to remain in the beguine house. One of the novice sisters, who had been among the Świdnica Hooded Sisters for only a fortnight, stated that she had been promised that she would evade the pains of Purgatory if she remained in the community (I.III.7). A similar promise had also encouraged two other women, Elisabeth of Strzegom (I.VII.3) and Margaret (II.I.12), to enter life among the mulieres Capuciatae. Another of the younger sisters, who had joined the beguines only six months before the interrogations, admitted that she had joined the community in the hope of evading the pains of Purgatory (II.III.5). Within the community of the Hooded Sisters, strict discipline was demanded and enforced by the older sisters. When she joined the community, each adept had to swear vows of obedience and voluntary poverty on the hands of the mistress and in the presence of the other sisters. Before the newly admitted woman swore her vow, her hair was shorn. The formula of the vows also contained an obligation to remain within the community until death (II.I.3; I.VII.3). At the same time as a new sister was accepted into the community, she received special clothing with a cowl, which became the external sign of her belonging to the moniales Capuciatae. In the eyes of the older sisters, admission to their community was a special favour and grace. As a result of living in the group, each woman would heal her body and soul (I.VII.3).98 In subsequent stages younger sisters were taught the fundamental principles of life in the community. Severe mortification, flagellation, and fasting were intended to curb bodily temptations and make the sisters perfect. Hedwig of Wrocław asserted that the older sisters claimed that the younger sisters had to be broken by force through strict discipline, unconditional obedience, and the achievement of complete poverty (I.I.3).99 An important element in the organization of the lives of the Hooded Sisters was physical labour connected primarily with weaving. The sisters spoke much of the washing of wool, the spinning of cloth, and embroidery. One of them, Margaret, even bore the nickname ‘the Painter (Embroideress)’ or ‘maker of pictures’ (pictrix). Work occupied much time in the Świdnica house. It seems this occupied the sisters almost all day long and was much more important than other forms of activity. They were involved in such servile labour even when such was forbidden on Sundays and holy days, and this aroused considerable interest on the part of the inquisitor, who asked about the holy days when the sisters worked. As Catherine of Leipzig stated, ‘on St Mary Magdalene’s Day Sophia wove here in Świdnica, Anne prepared the 98 Ibid.,

pp. 232–3. pp. 172–3: … dixit eas obedienciam habere inter se, cum non sint alicuius ordinis approbati dicuntque ad subdictas sibi ‘Oportet uos flecti uel frangi’.

99 Ibid.,

93

The Beguines of Medieval Świdnica wool to spin the next day and Gertrude of Oleśnica sewed’. During their work with the wool the sisters also discussed religious topics. In the same statement Catherine recalled that during their common labour Gertrude of Świdnica and Blind Anne discussed the saints in her presence (I.III.17).100 The distribution of tasks was decided by the mistress or her deputy. The older sisters regarded hard work as one of the ways to mortify their flesh and attain spiritual perfection. They saw nothing bad in working when labour was forbidden. They claimed that work for the benefit of the community was more important than taking part in church services. The work was of a purely utilitarian nature to ensure the material sustenance of the community. Its spiritual aspect was also important. The older sisters claimed that by devoting themselves to hard work they were imitating the Virgin Mary, who in her childhood ‘worked in the Temple, cleaning and carrying out various servile labours’. As it appears from the evidence of Catherine of Leipzig, the sisters thought that ‘if [Our Lady] had not done this, she would never have become the Mother of Christ’ (I.III.18).101 The term congregatio pauperum (‘congregation of the poor’) which appears in the recorded evidence may be connected with the Franciscan ideal of voluntary poverty, which was dear to the men and women of the Franciscan Third Order and also to the beguines. Voluntary and unconditional poverty was the most important principle of the Rule of St Francis and the supreme value of the Franciscan charisma. At the turn of the fourteenth century, the dispute between the Franciscan Conventuals and Spirituals, which was ended by the condemnation and brutal trials of the Spirituals, meant that among some of the beguines and beghards, especially in German lands, and among béguins in southern France, there arose the conviction that the Franciscans had betrayed the ideal of poverty. In some communities it was acknowledged that in this situation only groups of ‘pious layfolk’ defended the principle of the vita apostolica and opposed the corrupt Church of Rome. The persecution of beguines and beghards after 1317 confirmed their conviction about the 100 Examinatio,

pp. 204–5. It is possible that the Świdnica beguines obtained knowledge of Mary’s labours in the Jerusalem Temple from a sermon referring to a legend for the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary from The Golden Legend of James of Voragine (Iacopo da Varazze): Jacobus de Voragine, The Golden Legend: Readings on the Saints, trans. W. Granger Ryan, 2 vols. (Princeton, 1993), II, 153; reprinted in one volume with continuous pagination and preface by E. Duffy (Princeton, 2012), pp. 538–9. On the oral transmission of The Golden Legend in the late Middle Ages, see E. B. Vitz, ‘From the Oral to the Written in Medieval and Renaissance Saints’ in Images of Sainthood in Medieval Europe, ed. R. Blumenfeld-Kosinski and T. Szell (Ithaca and London, 1991), pp. 97–114. Information on this subject comes from the apocryphal Proto-Gospel of St James, composed in the second half of the second century, which describes the presence of the young Mary in the Jerusalem Temple and her efforts to weave fabric for the Temple. The Proto-Gospel of James, in The Apocryphal Gospels: Texts and Translations, ed. B. D. Ehriman and Z. Pleše (Oxford, 2011), pp. 48–53.

101 Ibid.

94

The Daughters of Odelindis: Identity and Religious Practice ruthless struggle taking place between ‘pious layfolk’ and the clergy, between loyalty to the Gospel and falsehood. As Stanisław Bylina remarked, the cult of poverty as it was conceived by the beguines took on a character unencountered among earlier exponents of voluntary poverty [and] the Franciscan idea of rejecting property among the Provençal tertiaries took on the character of a singular truth and, at any rate, the most important truth, to which they did not hesitate to devote their lives.102

In Provence the terms beguina and beguinus were often used to denote men or women, Franciscan tertiaries, who adopted the views of Peter John Olivi and were inspired by the Franciscan Spirituals in their revolt against the Church authorities. In modern historical writing there is increasing use of ‘béguins’ to avoid confusion with Northern European ‘beguines’.103 Though the whole inquisition record of the 1332 interrogations does not contain any mention of St Francis or reference to the Rule of the Friars Minor, the views expressed by the Hooded Sisters were an echo of the dramatic conflict between the Church hierarchy and grassroots religious movements, which were driven to the margins and subjected to repression. Faced with the threat of the liquidation of their community, the Świdnica sisters, like other groups of beguines, became susceptible to extreme mystical ideas which justified the development of ascetic piety. Convinced of their loyalty to the evangelical model of their life, communities of beguines and beghards regarded themselves as being better than Church institutions, claiming that they were carrying out the injunctions of the Gospel better than the clergy and religious orders. This exclusivity nourished the development of extreme mysticism, which allowed its followers to believe that holy people themselves were able to attain spiritual perfection without the Church and Her sacraments. The call to a life lived in complete poverty was a key subject of the sermons of Meister Eckhart, which enjoyed huge popularity among the Rhineland beguines. For this Dominican preacher, poverty formed the final rung on the ladder to spiritual perfection; after having achieved this, a person no longer had to practise virtue or partake of the Church’s sacraments. It is supposed that the sermons of Meister Eckhart had a direct influence on the spread of enthusiastic mysticism in the Rhineland communities of female 102 S.

Bylina, Wizje społeczne w herezjach średniowiecznych. Humiliaci, beginki, begardzi (Wrocław, Warsaw, Cracow, and Gdańsk, 1974), p. 91; cf. R. Manselli, Spirituels et béguins du midi, trans. J. Duvernoy (Toulouse, 1989), p. 190. 103 The Dominican inquisitor Bernard Gui describes in detail the heretical activities of ‘those persons commonly called Beguins (but who refer to themselves as Poor Brethren of Penitence of the Third Order of St Francis)’ (Bequini vulgariter a[p] pellati, qui se ipsos Fratres Pauperes de penitentia de tercio ordine Sancti Francisci a[p]pellant) in his handbook Practica inquisitionis haereticae pravitatis, ed. C. Douais (Paris, 1886), p. 270; translated Heresies of the High Middle Ages, ed. W. L. Wakefield and A. P. Evans (New York, 1969), p. 419.

95

The Beguines of Medieval Świdnica Dominican tertiaries and beguines.104 It was probably under the influence of his preaching that some members of his audience thought that everyone in their worldly life was capable of attaining a state of mystic union with God, which freed them from the obligation to practise Christian virtues and take part in the sacramental life of the Church.105 Eckhart regarded the soul as the only created object capable of leading a person directly to God. Union with God enables the soul to break the shackles which bind it and remove the divisions that divide it, for only then will a person be in a state to see the continuity of his existence with God, from whom he is descended. As Étienne Gilson writes, Eckhart argued that: the only creature that can lead us directly to God is the soul itself, which is the most noble of all. By becoming conscious of its limits, and voluntarily denying them, the soul gives up everything that makes it a certain determined and particular being. Once the shackles binding it and the partitions separating it have fallen, the soul perceives in itself only the continuity of its being with the Being himself. The detachment, the abandonment of self to God by which the soul achieves complete liberty in reaching its pure essence, is its highest virtue. And the highest degree of that highest virtue is called Poverty for after reaching this degree of perfection, man known nothing, he can do nothing, he owns nothing.106

In the Rhineland beguine circles, Eckhart’s views on the matter of spiritual perfection and poverty enjoyed great interest.107 The reception of such views was favourable to the practice of unconditional poverty and at the same time aroused dislike of traditional forms of lay piety. In the inquisition trial held in 1326 by Archbishop Heinrich II von Virneburg of Cologne, Eckhart was condemned for preaching errors which became a source of unrest among layfolk. A year later the charges against the Dominican preacher were brought up in Avignon. Under pressure from Virneburg on 27 March 1329, Pope John XXII issued the bull In agro dominico, a year after Meister Eckhart’s death, which condemned seventeen theses derived from the latter’s writings and declared eleven others suspect.108 Some of Eckhart’s condemned views are reminiscent of the statements made by Strasbourg beguines and beghards

104 J.

Ancelet-Hustache, Maître Eckhart et la mystique rhénane (Strasbourg, 1963). Religious Movements, pp. 237–43; R. Lerner, The Heresy of the Free Spirit in the Later Middle Ages (Berkeley, Los Angeles, and London), pp. 208–13. For further details, see R. Kieckhefer, ‘Meister Eckhart’s Conception of Union with God’, Harvard Theological Review 7 (1978), 203–25. 106 E. Gilson, History of Christian Philosophy in the Middle Ages (Toronto, 1955), pp. 441–2. 107 Such an understanding of poverty as closely connected with the concept of spiritual perfection may be found in many of Eckhart’s treatises and sermons. Lerner, Heresy of the Free Spirit, pp. 215–21. 108 Acta Echardiana, ed. L. Sturlese, in Meister Eckhart, Die deutschen und lateinischen Werke. Die lateinischen Werke, ed. K. Weiss et al. (Stuttgart, 1936–), V, 597–600. 105 Grundmann,

96

The Daughters of Odelindis: Identity and Religious Practice against whom the local bishop, Johann I von Dürbheim acted.109 Considering the links between the Hooded Sisters of Świdnica and the Rhineland beguines and their membership of the ‘Association of the Daughters of Odelind’, Eckhart’s views may be regarded as one of the important sources of the women’s views on the matters of spiritual perfection and poverty.110 At the centre of the religious life of the Świdnica Hooded Sisters lay a yearning to attain spiritual perfection, which was achieved through strict discipline and a range of mortifications of the flesh. In the testimonies given before the papal inquisitor there are drastic descriptions of ascetic practices imposed on junior sisters by their elders. The road to perfection lay in voluntary poverty, fasting, flagellation, and other mortifications of the flesh. The interrogation record contains numerous statements from the younger sisters who described the strict conditions they lived under in the Świdnica community, the aim of which was the attainment of spiritual perfection identified with liberation of the spirit. Interesting information on this topic was provided by Hedwig and Adelheid, who were the first to testify. Hedwig, who had spent a whole year with the Świdnica beguines and had lived previously for ten months in the Wrocław beguinage, described how the sisters understood the state of spiritual perfection and in what way they strove to attain it. From her testimony it emerges that the Świdnica moniales Capuciatae considered that ‘those women who are in such a state of perfection and freedom of spirit are not required to obey anyone’ (I.I.11).111 They also claimed that ‘when they are in a state of perfection, dreams, vigils, food and drink, and fasting are all equally meritorious’ (I.I.6).112 Adelheid’s testimony provides further details of this matter. From her words it emerges that in the Świdnica community a conviction prevailed to the effect that those who attained a state of perfection are not subject to human laws, cease to pray, and need show obedience to no one. The Świdnica beguines were also said to profess that ‘here on earth people can progress so far as to become sinless and that their will is subject to God like that of the Blessed Virgin’ (I.II.27). They also considered that ‘those women who have achieved perfection are not subject to human obedience and they reject offerings and say they have transcended all obedience; these are the women who attain the spirit of freedom’ (I.II.28). Adelheid testified that ‘the Hooded Sisters say that committing acts of virtue is for imperfect people, but the perfect soul empowers all virtues from itself’ (I.II.29). The mother superior of the Świdnica community and the older sisters instilled in the younger sisters the principles of a strict life, as a result of which

109 A

detailed analysis of these actions is presented in A. Patschovsky, ‘Straßburger Beginenverfolgung im 14. Jahrhundert’, Deutsches Archiv 30 (1974), 56–198. For recent work on this topic, see Voigt, Beginen, pp. 233–68. 110 For further analysis see below, pp. 121–42. 111 Examinatio, pp. 176–7. 112 Ibid., pp. 174–5.

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The Beguines of Medieval Świdnica they would attain a state of perfection. Adelheid’s testimony sheds light on the terrible consequences of the ascetic practices to which the Hooded Sisters submitted themselves. Some sisters who sought to attain spiritual perfection would cease eating and drinking. As Adelheid claimed, the older sisters ‘teach girls that they should follow spiritual exercises so hard that they are driven out of their minds’. One of them, a girl from Kłodzko, was driven to an unhealthy state of mind due to indiscreet exercises and unreasonable castigation. When Adelheid asked her ‘why she did not eat and what had caused her affliction, she replied that she had reached such a state of perfection that she did not want for food or drink because Christ would feed her’ (I.II.6). The Świdnica beguines also claimed that people in a state of perfection had no need to practise virtues any further – only the imperfect were obliged to practise them (I.II.29).113 The accusation concerning the belief in the sinlessness of persons who had achieved a state of perfection referred to the reproaches levelled by Church authorities against those who followed the Heresy of the Free Spirit.114 The beghard Johann Becker of Mainz stated under interrogation that that those who are not perfect must obey the laws of the Church, unlike those who had received the Holy Ghost and become perfect. According to his belief, a soul that has been united with God by the Holy Ghost is subject to God alone and no human laws have any meaning for it. Becker himself considered that he did not need to pray to God with words.115 The difference between internal and external spirituality often appears in the statements of people accused of being followers of the Heresy of the Free Spirit. Johann of Brno, who spent twenty years in the beghard community in Cologne, criticised those who gave honour to the Blessed Sacrament but did not take care of their internal spiritual life.116 A similar view was expressed by heretics from Swabian Ries, who claimed it was necessary to follow one’s inner voice of the spirit and reject all that was outside.117 Opinions on the need to seek spiritual perfection and the possibility of obtaining mystical union with God in the present life are reminiscent of fragments of Marguerite Porete’s Mirror of Simple Souls. However, the convergence of such views is more apparent than real. Marguerite Porete formulated her position much more subtly, without claiming that after attaining a state of spiritual perfection a soul has no need of virtue. Unlike the courts cited above, she regarded a state of

113 Examinatio,

pp. 196–7. L. McLaughlin, ‘The Heresy of the Free Spirit in Late Medieval Mysticism’, Medievalia et Humanistica n.s. 4 (1973), 37–64, at pp. 42–3. 115 G. Ritter, ‘Zur Geschichte des häretischen Pantheismus in Deutschland im 15. Jahrhundert’, Zeitschrift für Kirchengeschichte 43 (1924), 153–4. 116 W. Wattenbach, ‘Über die Secte der Brüder vom freien Geiste’, Sitzungsberichte der Preussischen Akademie den Wissenschaften zu Berlin 29 (1887), 517–44, at p. 531. 117 Döllinger, Beiträge, II, 400. 114 E.

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The Daughters of Odelindis: Identity and Religious Practice union with God as transient. The Franciscan Spirituals abided by the view professing the possibility of attaining full and lasting union with God. Their leader, Ubertino da Casale, a disciple of Peter John Olivi, regarded as heretics all those who said that they did not commit sins, stating that Divine Mercy directs their behaviour.118 Similar warnings appeared also in the statements of the Rhineland Dominican mystics Heinrich Suzo and Johann Tauler, who occupied the thin line dividing mystical experiences from the delusions affecting many lay followers of spiritual perfection.119 It emerges from testimonies sworn before the inquisitor John of Schwenkenfeld that the Świdnica beguines regarded spiritual perfection as the most important aim of the life of their community. In order to attain this, they resorted to strict fasts, mortifications, and humiliations which served to bridle urges and needs. Hedwig testified that the sisters would whip themselves until they bled, perfecting their resistance to pain. Those who were perfect would show no impatience during any beating (I.I.3).120 Adelheid described in detail the various types of mortification to which she was subjected by the older sisters. In order to bridle her sensibilities, she was instructed to polish shoes with grease extracted from a dead cat and also to eat the caterpillar she found in her pot of cabbage (I.II.7).121 The main means to attain perfection was a life in complete poverty. On entering the beguine community, women would give up their property and hand all their belongings over to the mistress. The goods they handed over, along with the income from the sale of cloth and the alms given by townsfolk, formed the common property of the beguines, which was under the control of the mistress. In the eyes of the younger sisters, such deprivation of all their private property was a form of domination by the older sisters. Furthermore, as the 1332 trial testimonies show, the younger sisters accused their elders of hypocrisy. The older sisters were said to save the better clothing for themselves, claiming that this served to help the young ones attain perfection. The poverty of the older sisters manifested on the outside was supposed to be laced with hypocrisy, as a result of which they would receive various goods from burgher families. The older sisters would be invited to meals and obtain food which they then kept for themselves alone. Jerzy Wyrozumski appositely noted that perfection understood in this way and the road to it implied abiding as regarded the younger sisters not only by the rigours of strict mortification but also the limited quantities and quality of food and drink, and clothing and so forth, which did not apply to the perfect sisters. What the Church 118 Ubertino da Casale, Arbor vitae (Venice, 1485), fol. 153r; cited from McLaughlin, ‘The

Heresy of the Free Spirit’, 43. Ketzergeschichte, p. 55. 120 Examinatio, pp. 172–3. 121 Ibid., pp. 184–5. 119 Grundmann,

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The Beguines of Medieval Świdnica approved officially for the achievement of perfection, such as self-denial, mortification, humility, and restraint took on the form and proportions for some of the beguines at least of caricature further exaggerated on purpose by the inquisitors.122

From the testimonies given before Schwenkenfeld’s court, it emerges that for the Świdnica Hooded Sisters the attainment of spiritual perfection was possible without the aid of the Church’s sacraments. According to the older sisters, neither participation in church services nor reception of the sacraments of Confession and Holy Communion had any particular significance, and did not facilitate spiritual perfection. The elders told Adelheid, ‘We are very surprised that the Church has become your idol and that for so many years you have not gained enough merit with God to regard yourself as perfect and so sit at home and do works of charity’ (I.II.2).123 These words of criticism referred ironically to Adelheid’s previous status when she lived as a recluse.124 Hedwig of Wrocław met with similar criticism from the moniales Capuciatae. When she prayed for a long time in church, the older sisters would scold her, saying ‘You rely on yourself, you resort to yourself, you only think about yourself and are not suited to our way of poverty’ (I.I.5).125 Prayer in church was perceived to be out of keeping with the model of religious life to which the Świdnica community paid homage. The older sisters were deeply convinced that Hedwig was behaving badly by praying alone in church, since she could only attain spiritual perfection in the bosom of their community, and was perceived to be breaking the house’s rules.126 We can see here also echoes of the views of Meister Eckhart, who considered that the union of the spirit with God could be achieved only when people rejected their very selves and then gave themselves to loving God. According to this interpretation, when Hedwig prayed intensively in church she ran counter to the way of perfection imposed by the Hooded Sisters. Just as in the case of hard labour carried out by the beguines, the Blessed Virgin Mary was the model of holiness they sought to emulate through mortification. Some of them were convinced they were following Our Lady 122 Wyrozumski,

‘Beginki i begardzi w Polsce’, 20–1. pp. 180–3. 124 DHGE, XV, 766–87; LThK, V, 679–80; LMA, V, 426–7; H. Mayr-Harting, ‘Functions of a Twelfth-Century Recluse’, History 60 (1975), 337–52. 125 Examinatio, pp. 174–5. 126 Ibid., pp. 176–7. Here E. McLaughlin sees a convergence with the views of Johann Tauler, who in his sermons chastized Christians who took a liking to good works and devotional practices. He contrasted them with those who strive to deepen their spiritual lives, setting aside work and obligations and allowing God to act within such people (‘The Heresy of the Free Spirit’, 47). In her commentary on the above testimony of Hedwig, she states: ‘Compare with the Schweidnitz Beguines who chastise a sister for remaining too long in church at prayer, “… du mynst dich selbir…”, instead of rising above self to a true poverty of spirit’; ibid., 53, n. 51. 123 Examinatio,

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The Daughters of Odelindis: Identity and Religious Practice faithfully by rejecting carnal pleasures and controlling their natural urges. Having attained the same state as the Mother of God, for a period of six weeks the women did not pay Her any special honour (I.IV.5).127 The conviction of their own perfection, which placed them above other religious orders, was expressed in a statement of the older sisters which Hedwig quoted. When she was in the Wrocław community, she heard from one of the sisters there that ‘if Christ needed to be born again, as pure a maid as was the Blessed Virgin Mary would yet be found’ among them (I.I.15).128 As the older sisters saw it, traditional religious practices, participation in church services, prayers, or recourse to the sacraments of Confession and Holy Communion were not as valuable as physical labour and mortifications of the flesh. According to the older sisters, it was better to stay at home on holy days and take up labour for the benefit of the community than to attend services in church. Such a belief was widespread among the older sisters, who scorned going to church and compelled the younger sisters to work on holy days. Despite their critical opinion of pastoral care, the sisters did attend services in the local parish church. There they would go to confession and receive Holy Communion. Attendance at Mass in the parish church required permission from the mistress or her deputy.129 In the eyes of the younger sisters, participation in parish life was dictated by a desire to win the approval of ordinary people. As emerges from Hedwig’s testimony, the older sisters would attend church and take Holy Communion ‘for convenience’s sake’ (I.I.17).130 In the opinion of former beguines, the scorn of the older sisters for ordained religious practices went in tandem with disdain for the sacrament of the Eucharist. Receiving Holy Communion was of no great significance for their attainment of spiritual perfection. Even in times of sickness and life-threatening situations they were said to claim that it was better to die unshriven (‘unconfessed’) and without the viaticum (Eucharist) (I.II.19).131 From the testimonies given before John of Schwenkenfeld, it emerges that the Świdnica beguines considered that a state of perfection freed them from obligations of this world and ensured their sinlessness. Such a view is linked directly to article 3 of the constitution Ad nostrum, which was quoted in this form by the papal inquisitor during the interrogations.132 In the eyes of some of the younger women, the older sisters professed such views or ones 127 Examinatio,

pp. 208–9. pp. 178–9. 129 Ibid., pp. 190–1, 200–1, 210–11. 130 Ibid., pp. 178–9. 131 Ibid., pp. 190–1. 132 ‘In the confessions of the Schweidnitz Beguines we find the same association of the achievement of mystical return with this doctrine of freedom. They assert for example, that when higher virtutes of the interior life have replaced the lower virtutes, this subtilis spiritus is free of the danger of sin, for whatever happens in charity is not sin.’ McLaughlin, ‘The Heresy of the Free Spirit’, 47. 128 Ibid.,

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The Beguines of Medieval Świdnica similar to them, and their secret meetings with beghards were supposed to be the way they received the doctrine of the Free Spirit. Under the influence of questions posed by the inquisitor, the women who testified connected the belief regarding the state of perfection and sinlessness, of which the older sisters were most expressly proud, with the sexual excesses in which they were alleged to indulge during meetings with beghards. Adelheid, whom we mentioned earlier, speaks at great length about the scandalous sexual practices which she alleged took place in the Świdnica beguine house. In her opinion, the sisters were convinced of their own lack of sin and would kiss beghards and allow themselves to be touched in intimate places. They were also alleged to have committed the sin of Sodom (I.II.10).133 Adelheid’s suspicion as to the nature of the encounters between the sisters and the beghards was strengthened by the fact that she herself did not take part in them and on one occasion was even asked to leave such a meeting (I.II.11).134 Adelheid’s testimony about such perverse practices was confirmed only by Margaret the Painter (I.IV.30).135 We should agree with Robert E. Lerner that in both cases testimony was given by a younger sister who had not been an eyewitness of the scandalous behaviour of the older sisters but obtained her knowledge of such matters secondhand.136 The inquisitor himself had certain considerable doubts about the trustworthiness of these testimonies, since he took no interest in such accusations in later interrogations. Most earlier scholars who analysed the testimonies given during the 1332 trial considered that the views expressed about the perverse behaviour of the Hooded Sisters and their sexual relations with beghards were trustworthy. As a rule, they pointed to other interrogations as well as to polemical texts which contain similar accusations. This was supposed to prove the diffusion of the heretical doctrine of the Free Spirit, which justified the lewd behaviour of the beghards and beguines through their conviction in their own sinlessness.137 Robert E. Lerner queried the reliability of these statements, deducing that such views had little in common with the doctrine of the Free Spirit in the form in which it was described by the Council of Vienne. He also pointed out that during the interrogations the papal inquisitor made use of the text of Ad nostrum and interpreted the testimonies he heard in such a way that the statements of the women who testified concurred with the articles of the said conciliar constitution.138 The women who were questioned in 1332 were uneducated, and it is hard to believe that they were able to formulate their statements on theological matters as precisely as they were transcribed into

133 Examinatio,

pp. 186–9. pp. 188–9. 135 Ibid., pp. 224–5. 136 Lerner, Heresy of the Free Spirit, p. 117. 137 Wyrozumski, ‘Beginki i begardzi w Polsce’, 21. 138 Lerner, Heresy of the Free Spirit, pp. 116–17. 134 Ibid.,

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The Daughters of Odelindis: Identity and Religious Practice the court record. Nevertheless, they did possess a certain level of religious knowledge and literacy to allow them to discuss controversial theological topics freely. The trial record contains evidence that the sisters took part in sermons and discussions on religious topics within their community. We are also given the impression that the older sisters possessed a strong sense of their own identity connected with the conviction that the form of religious life they led was the most perfect. In any case, they managed to defend this belief courageously, as is witnessed by the outburst of Gertrude of Oleśnica, who interrupted the sermon of a Dominican preacher in a gesture of protest (I.I.18).139 In the case of the Świdnica beguines, we are dealing not so much with the reception of any disputed doctrine of the Free Spirit as with an ascetic religious training based on spiritual perfection. As the papal inquisitor saw matters, the ascetic practices imposed on the younger sisters and the potent anti-clericalism were regarded as typical elements of the so-called Heresy of the Free Spirit, as it was characterized in the constitution Ad nostrum. During questioning conducted in German, the women giving testimony attempted to describe as explicitly as they could how they understood the state of perfection and freedom of spirit. From their testimonies it emerges that striving to attain spiritual perfection consisted of rejecting all bodily desires and giving oneself up completely to God. To that end, the principles of poverty were observed categorically. The younger sisters had to deprive themselves of all belongings. When they were admitted to the community, they would give away their clothing and be given poor attire. Learning to live in poverty and humility, they would receive worse clothing from the older sisters and would have to eat worse food than the older sisters. Various kinds of physical exercise served to bridle the flesh and tame natural instincts. Regular flagellation, exhausting fasts and the frequent humiliations which they experienced at the hands of the older sisters were intended to form character and serve to overcome carnal weakness. Such practices were met with antipathy on the part of some of the women, who came to view themselves as victims robbed of their property, exploited in hard labour, and beaten and humiliated by the older sisters.

139 The

beguines were accused of interrupting the sermons preached by mendicant friars and indulging in theological discussions with preachers. In 1307 Archbishop Heinrich II von Virneburg of Cologne drew attention to beghards and beguines who acted in this way. Corpus inquisitionis haereticae pravitatis Neerlandicae, ed. P. Fredericq, 5 vols. (Ghent and ’S Gravenhage, 1889–1906), I, 153, no. 161.

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5 A Dominican Inquisitor and the Theological Controversies of His Times How did the education and intellectual and spiritual formation of inquisitors influence their approach to those suspected or accused of heresy? One way to answer this question, as Christine Caldwell Ames has shown,1 is to analyse texts drafted directly by the inquisitors themselves. In the case of the medieval inquisition on the territory of the archdiocese of Gniezno, the great scarcity of such source materials is such that at first sight this task appears to be unfeasible. However, it seems that a more careful reading of the court records from the Świdnica Trial of 1332 can enable us to tackle this challenge. While analysing the document that concerns us here, it is relatively easy to reconstruct the interrogatorium used by John of Schwenkenfeld, the set of questions and topics which enabled the interrogator to establish grounds for any charges of heresy. First of all, the Dominican friar wished to precisely examine the links between local beguines and the followers of the Free Spirit Sect, which was condemned by the Council of Vienne. Hence, large parts of the statements from those questioned also concentrate on articles included in the conciliar constitution Ad nostrum, namely the state of perfection, sinlessness, radical poverty, and scorn for the Church’s sacraments and institutions. Since we do actually come across more or less clear references in the records of the interrogation of the Świdnica sisters to the beguines and beghards condemned by the Council, most modern historians have been of one mind in linking the Świdnica community with the Free Spirit Heresy. However, it is worth indicating at this point that it is not completely correct simply to identify these groups with one another. Evidently, John of Schwenkenfeld himself was unable to define explicitly what these beguines actually were. There can be no doubt that John of Schwenkenfeld was an expert familiar with heterodox trends in the society of his day. However, it should be noted that he was also a specialist in questions that extended far beyond the realm of ordinary inquisition courts. Among the almost 190 articles recorded in the official proceedings of the Świdnica trial, there are also several real subtilia theologiae (‘theological subtleties’) which, as we shall see in this present study, should be regarded more as topics for refined debate in university 1 C.

Caldwell Ames, Righteous Persecution: Inquisition, Dominicans, and Christianity in the Middle Ages (Philadelphia, 2009), pp. 35–46.

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A Dominican Inquisitor and the Theological Controversies of His Times divinity departments than as subjects for inquisition proceedings held in a Dominican refectory.

Matters of Franciscan Theology It is not surprising that Schwenkenfeld, as a Dominican trained in the fourteenth-century schools of his order, cultivated a theology based on the thought of St Thomas Aquinas. By 1309 the Dominican General Chapter had adopted a teaching programme based on Aquinas’ oeuvre.2 The critical point in the implementation of this decision was Thomas’s canonization in 1323, which definitively confirmed his leading position within the Dominican Order.3 After this event, Thomist theology assumed an exceptional status not only among Dominicans but also in the Catholic Church as a whole, becoming as ‘sainted’ as its creator. After 1323 Thomists of the day moved from being defensores Thomae (‘defenders of Thomas’) to zealous propagatores Thomae (‘propagators of Thomas’) and sometimes even persecutores (‘persecutors’) of those who represented different views.4 Undoubtedly, for the 2 Acta

capitulorum generalium ordinis Praedicatorum ab anno 1304 usque ad annum 1378, ed. B. M. Reichert, in Acta capitulorum generalium ordinis Praedicatorum, ed. B. M. Reichert, 7 vols., Monumenta Ordinis Fratrum Praedicatorum historica 3, 4, 8–14 (Rome and Stuttgart, 1896–1904), II (= Monumenta 4), 39: Volumus et districte iniungimus lectoribus et sublectoribus universis, quod legant et determinent secundum doctrinam et opera venerabilis doctoris fratris Thome de Aquino, et in eadem scolares suos informent, et studentes in ea cum diligencia studere teneantur. Qui autem contrarium fecisse notabiliter inventi fuerint nec admoniti voluerint revocare, per priores provinciales vel magistrum ordinis sic graviter et celeriter puniantur, quod sint ceteris in exemplum (We wish and most strictly enjoin all lectors and sublectors that they lecture and determine [settle questions] in accordance with the teaching and works of the venerable doctor Brother Thomas of Aquino, and that they instruct their scholars in the same [teaching and works], and that their students should be bound to study diligently in the same [teaching and works]. Those who are found to have acted reprehensibly to the contrary, and when admonished are unwilling to retract, are to be punished so severely and quickly by the provincial prior or the master of the Order that they become an example to others). This decision was repeated many times at subsequent general chapters in 1313, 1314, 1315, 1329, 1340, 1342, 1343, 1346, 1352, 1353, 1357 and 1361. The policy of ‘one doctrine’ did not meet with immediate acceptance. As late as 1355 Dominicans gathered at the general chapter in Pamplona had to remind all their fellow brethren that the views of Thomas Aquinas were the only sensible teaching. 3 J.-P. Torrell, Amico della verità. Vita e opere di Tommaso d’Aquino, trans. G. M. Carbonne (Bologna, 2006), pp. 423–34; F. Amerini, ‘The Reception of Thomas Aquinas’ Philosophy in the Dominican studia of the Roman Province in the Fourteenth Century’, in Philosophy and Theology in the Studia of the Religious Orders and at the Papal Court, ed. W. J. Courtenay, K. Emery, and S. Metzger, Rencontres de Philosophie Médiévale 15 (Turnhout, 2012), pp. 139–64. 4 R. Cessario, Le thomisme et les thomistes (Paris, 1999), pp. 40–53.

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The Beguines of Medieval Świdnica Polish inquisitor, sympathies for other schools of divinity than the Thomist one were at the very least suspicious and demanded investigation. Would Christ Still Have Become Flesh, If Man Had Not Sinned? During the second day of questioning (8 September 1332), John of Schwenkenfeld called Catherine of Leipzig as his third witness. This woman had spent six months in the beguine community in Leipzig. It is difficult to ascertain whether she was a member of the Świdnica community at the time of her interrogation. However, it is certain that she knew the beguines of Świdnica very well. The court records note as many as twenty points from her evidence which show that the Dominican inquisitor regarded her answers as reliable and true for the purpose of assessing the orthodoxy of the Świdnica beguine community. Most of the reproaches contained in her evidence match thematically the answers given by the other beguines, although we also find one thesis to which John of Schwenkenfeld returned several times in later parts of the interrogation. Catherine admitted under oath that the following theological point of view was expressed in the beguine house, namely that even if man had not transgressed in Eden, God would still have made Himself flesh. We read in the record that ‘again, she says under oath that they [the women] say, “If Man had not sinned, God would still have become flesh”’ (I.III.12). John regarded this type of statement as a serious error of doctrine and set about finding out more exactly how the other beguines, especially those who had been in the community for a long time, regarded this type of teaching. The inquisitor returned to this problem during the remaining two days of the investigation. On 11 September the oldest local beguine, Gertrude of Świdnica, was summoned before the tribunal. After swearing her oath, she admitted that she had been a member of the local community for some twenty-eight years. Moreover, we are dealing here with a person who certainly had enjoyed the greatest authority within the local beguinage. All of the evidence from Gertrude as recorded in the court proceedings takes the form of short answers which provide a (more nuanced) commentary on the testimony of previous witnesses, and sometimes negate it. It is easy to see that Gertrude did not give any evidence willingly, and the inquisitor was loath to accept her explanations. In the document we read that ‘she responds to all the inquisitor’s questions convolutedly and as though in code’ (II.II.6). The theological problem we have cited also appears in her evidence. Gertrude acknowledged openly that ‘she had heard in a sermon that if Man had not sinned, God would still have been made flesh, and she affirmed this amongst the women, albeit in secret’ (II.II.10). This admission not only confirmed the reliability of the previous evidence given by Catherine of Leipzig but also proved that the older beguines were ‘contaminated’ with the same doctrine. Furthermore, Gertrude acknowledged that she had accepted 106

A Dominican Inquisitor and the Theological Controversies of His Times that theological point of view to be true in private conversations. One other detail which is important from the perspective of our study also appeared in her evidence, namely that this viewpoint was said to have been voiced by certain preachers. Sophia, who had dwelt among the beguines for four years, confirmed Gertrude’s words. The inquisitor included the following evidence in his record: ‘also she heard from her elders that God had so loved Man that if Man had not sinned, God would still have become Flesh’ (II.III.7). This time the inquisitor recorded another piece of information which is important from a theological point of view, namely that according to the Silesian beguines, love for mankind was a motive for the Divine Incarnation. The evidence of these three beguines was confirmed definitively by the last but one of the witnesses questioned, Hedwig of Strzegom, who had been in the Świdnica beguine house for almost a year. The inquisitor included seven statements from Hedwig in his record, including also the following claim: ‘also she heard from the sisters that if Man had not sinned, God would still have become Flesh’ (II.IV.4). Let us say from the start that the local beguine community certainly could have accepted this kind of theological doctrine and that its appearance in the inquisition records was not a product of John of Schwenkenfeld’s imagination. Firstly, the evidence of all four witnesses concurs and there are no suspicions that it was tampered with, and secondly and most importantly, it should be stressed that the beguines were able to sympathize with such an interpretation of the motivation for the Incarnation of Christ without any problem, since such an understanding was neither heretical nor theologically erroneous, but only a subject for heated debate among professors of divinity. However, it seems that for John of Schwenkenfeld, acceptance of this kind of theology was the equivalent of a serious infringement of ecclesiastical law and Catholic orthodoxy, such as, for example, adherence to the Sect of the Free Spirit, contempt for the sacraments, or immoral behaviour of the type attributed to heretical beghards and beguines. While trying to uncover the sources for exactly such an attitude and the Dominican inquisitor’s own way of thinking, in the first place it is worth outlining the course of discussions at that time on the issue that concerns us here, namely whether God would have become man if Adam had not sinned. At the beginning of the fourteenth century two completely different answers to this question took shape. The first of these developed in Dominican milieux and was preached by St Thomas Aquinas (d. 1274), while the second response grew up in the Franciscan schools and was propounded by Blessed John Duns Scotus (d. 1308). At the outset it should be noted that St Thomas Aquinas generally avoided discussing topics from the marginal realms of ‘alternative theology’ (what would God have done, if …), given that as God’s creatures people have no insight into the motives for divine actions unless God Himself has made His will manifest. However, several times in his university career, Aquinas did consider the matter of the motives behind 107

The Beguines of Medieval Świdnica the Incarnation of the Second Person of the Holy Trinity.5 He broached this problem for the first time in his commentary on the Sentences of Peter Lombard, that is before he took his MA (c.1255).6 Firstly, he drew attention to the fact that Holy Writ gives only one reason for the Incarnation of Christ, namely ‘the redemption of mankind from the slavery of sin’.7 Similarly, the Dominican stressed that Fathers of the Church such as St Leo the Great and St Augustine of Hippo perceived the motivation for the Incarnation above all else as the liberation of mankind from sin. As a consequence, undoubtedly basing his commentary on that of his teacher, St Albert the Great,8 Aquinas acknowledged that the opinion that God would not have become incarnate if mankind had not sinned was much more probable. However, he did not completely rule out the possibility that the motivation for the Incarnation ‘was not only liberation from sin but also the exaltation of human nature and the consummation of the whole Universe’.9 Taking into account this second motive, Aquinas acknowledged that God could have become flesh even if Adam had not sinned. In his later years as a professor of theology, the Angelic Doctor clarified his position, citing the Bible, and recognized Church authorities as the best and surest way to seek an answer to the question of the motive behind the Incarnation. In his commentary on the Epistles of St Paul to Timothy, composed around 1265, he explained that ‘we do not know what He would have ordained, if He had not known beforehand about sin; however, the authorities seem to say clearly that He would not have become flesh, if man had not sinned, and I am more inclined towards this view’.10 This ‘inclination’ of St Thomas to deny the possibility of the Incarnation without the pre-existence of sin can be seen very clearly in one of his last and at the same time most important works, the Summa theologiae. In the prologue to Part Three of the Summa, Thomas states unambiguously that Christ became man in order to liberate people from their sins.11 In a separate article he gave his personal view on this matter. He admitted that indeed opinions had 5 O.

H. Pesch, Thomas d’Aquin. Limites et grandeur de la théologie médiévale. Une introduction (Paris, 1994), pp. 425–6; Encyclopédie: Jésus le Christ chez saint Thomas d’Aquin, ed. J.-P. Torrell (Paris, 2008), pp. 969–82. 6 Thomas Aquinas, Scriptum super Sententiis, Lib. III, D. 1, q. 1, a. 3, ed. M. F. Moos (Paris, 1933), pp. 19–24 [nos 52–66]. 7 Ibid., resp., p. 22 [no. 57]: redemptio hominis a servitute peccati. 8 Albertus Magnus, Commentaria in IV libros Sententiarum, L. III, D. 20, a. 4, resp., ed. P. Jammy, Opera omnia, 21 vols. (Lyons, 1651), XV, 203a. 9 Thomas Aquinas, Scriptum, resp., p. 22 [no. 58]: non solum liberatio a peccato, sed etiam humanae naturae exaltacio et totius universi consummatio. 10 Thomas Aquinas, Super epistolam ad Timotheum, IV, 15, lect. 4, ed. R. Cai (Turin and Rome, 1953), p. 219 (no. 40): nescimus quod ordinasset, si non praescivisset peccatum; nichilominus tamen auctoritates videntur expresse sonare quod non fuisset incarnatus, si non peccasset homo, in quam partem ego magis decline. 11 Thomas Aquinas, Summa theologiae, pars IIIa, prol., ed. Commissio Leonina, Opera omnia, in progress (Rome, 1882–), XI, 6a.

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A Dominican Inquisitor and the Theological Controversies of His Times emerged among theologians, claiming that Christ would have become flesh even if the first man had not sinned, but in Thomas’s understanding, it had to be admitted that those who assert the opposite were right.12 He repeated emphatically that ‘in Holy Writ the reason for the Incarnation is attributed everywhere to the sin of the first man’ and, as a consequence, the theory that ‘if sin had not existed, there would have been no Incarnation’ was more probable.13 However, St Thomas refrained from unequivocal and categorical statements, and at the end of his answer he added that ‘the Divine power is not limited to this, for even if sin had not existed, God would still have been able to become flesh’.14 In Aquinas’ opinion, the issue concerning us here regarding the motivation for the Incarnation should always remain inconclusive. Until the fourteenth century, Thomist arguments with the Franciscan school’s views of this question did not harden. Among the Friars Minor, St Bonaventure’s view prevailed until the appearance of Duns Scotus, namely that ‘the redemption of the Human Race was a special reason for the Incarnation, although many reasons of another kind are related to this reason’.15 On the basis of the opinion cited above, we may perceive that the Franciscan divine was more open than Aquinas to other interpretations of the motivation for the Incarnation. In an extended lecture on this question, Bonaventure stressed very strongly the assertion that the second reason for the Incarnation of Christ was the perfection of mankind and the universe to make them like God. By adopting such a theological perspective, the Franciscan allowed for the possibility that ‘this manifold perfection applies not only to the state of well instituted nature; so much so that if man had not fallen, God would still have become flesh’.16 Nevertheless, although what Bonaventure said was only theological speculation, as was the case with Thomas Aquinas, in the doctrine of Duns Scotus this became the foundation on which the Subtle Doctor would build his own original Christology. Duns Scotus was perfectly familiar with the views of other divines of his day concerning the motives for the Incarnation of Christ. However, the theocentric theology concentrated on the truth of the Triune God, which

12 Ibid.,

q. 1, a. 3, resp., p. 14a. in sacra Scriptura ubique incarntionis ratio ex peccato primi hominis assignetur … peccato on existente, incarnatio non fuisset. 14 Ibid., p. 14a–b: potentia Dei ad hoc non limitetur: potuisset enim, etiam peccato non existente, Deus incarnari. 15 Bonaventure, Commentaria in III librum Sententiarum, D. 1, a. 2, q. 2, ed. Collegii a S. Bonaventura, Opera omnia, 10 vols. (Quaracchi, 1882–1902), III, 25b: praecipua ratio incarnationis fuit redemptio humani generis, quamvis multae rationes aliae congruentiae huic rationi sint annexae. 16 Ibid., III, 24a: haec multiplex perfectio non tantum respicit statum naturae lapsae, immo etiam respicit statum naturae bene institutae; ideo si homo lapsus non fuerit, nihilominus Deus incarnatus fuerit. 13 Ibid.:

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The Beguines of Medieval Świdnica Thomas and Bonaventure valued so highly, was for the Scot at the very least insufficient: according to Duns, the person of Christ should stand at the centre of meditation. In 1302 the Franciscan arrived at the University of Paris, where he began his commentary on the Sentences of Peter Lombard. Even though this commentary survives only in the form of student notes authorized in part by the friar himself (reportationes), researchers regard the extant text as a reliable and very mature expression of Duns’ views. In his commentary on the seventh distinction of the third book of the Sentences, Duns set out his revolutionary theory about the Incarnation of Christ.17 The Franciscan’s point of departure was his interpretation of the biblical verse ‘God is Love’ (1 John 4:8,16). Since He is Love, the subtle friar asserted, Love is the beginning and end of every divine action, and hence it follows that only Love could have been the motive for the Incarnation of Christ. Duns explained the way of this love as follows: ‘First God loves Himself; second He loves Himself for others and this love is pure; thirdly He wishes Himself to be loved by another, who is able to love Him completely, speaking of the love of some external being; and fourthly, He foresees union with this nature, which should love Him fully, even if none had fallen.’18 Thus, from the beginning, the Incarnation existed in the mind of God and no external factor such as the sin of Adam was the prime, let alone a necessary, motive for the Incarnation. If man’s sin had been the reason for Christ’s coming into the world, according to Duns this would mean that the Incarnation, the most splendid expression of divine power, was an accident that depended on the Fall of man. The Franciscan divine went even further in his considerations. According to him, the thesis that God would have had to refrain from so great a good as the Incarnation only because Adam had not sinned, is completely devoid of sense.19 The aim of the Incarnation was to show to mankind that their first calling is love of and union with God. The forgiveness of sins and the redemption of mankind, according to Duns’ theory, was not connected in any way with the Incarnation but rather with the Passion of Christ. Duns’ proposition was unambiguous and, frankly speaking, self-evidently true, and offered no space for any further possibilities and interpretations. Moreover, contrary opinions, including that of St Thomas Aquinas, were defined by Duns as being extremely irrational (valde irrationabile). Therefore, it comes as no surprise that Dominican circles felt affronted by Scotism, and so the Friars Preachers set about defending their authority

17 John

Duns Scotus, Reportata Parisiensia, L. III, D. 7, q. 4, scholium 2, Opera omnia, 26 vols. (Paris, 1891–95), XXIII, 303–4. 18 Ibid., XXIII, 303b. 19 Ibid., XXIII, 303a–b: Item, si lapsus esset ratio praedestinationis Christi, sequeretur quod summum opus Dei esset maxime occasionatum, quia gloria omnium non est tanta intensive, quanta fuit Christi et quod tantum opus dimisisset Deus per bonum factum Adae, puta si non peccasset, videtur valde irrationabile.

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A Dominican Inquisitor and the Theological Controversies of His Times figures. One such loyal defender was undoubtedly the Polish Dominican, John of Schwenkenfeld. Is There a Dual Existence in Christ? John of Schwenkenfeld’s exclusive attachment to Thomism can be seen even more clearly from his analysis of the evidence of the second witness, a woman named Adelheid. She had been in the Świdnica beguine community for almost a whole year. Since detailed and wide-ranging comments were made on her evidence in the inquisitor’s record, we may deduce that she was one of the persons who had brought the case against the local beguine house before the inquisition tribunal in the first place. In the course of questioning, the inquisitor’s attention was drawn by one piece of evidence. This did not refer directly to the Świdnica suspects but, in the opinion of the Dominican inquisitor, it effectively brought into doubt the reliability of the whole beguine movement at that time. Therefore, it also shows up in the Świdnica trial records. Adelheid admitted under oath that while she was in the beguine house in Aachen,20 she had heard from the sisters there the following theological thesis, namely that in Christ there is a dual form of existence, one that belongs to His divine nature and the other to His human nature: ‘Again, Adelheid says under oath that she heard from the sisters in Aachen, that they claimed Christ had two natures: one divine, the other human’ (I.II.21). From the outset we should note that the topic of the dual existence in Christ was one of the most difficult and subtle questions in medieval dogmatic theology. The fact that this question turned up in the Świdnica trial at all, and, what is even more interesting, was acknowledged by Schwenkenfeld as being unorthodox, is astonishing and demands further investigation. We have been able already to see that a positive or negative answer to the question of the motivation for the Incarnation allows us to define precisely a respondent’s adherence to a given school of theology, be it Thomist or Scotist. In the case of the question under debate here (is there a dual existence in Christ), the matter was slightly more complicated, for the dividing lines ran not only between Thomists and Scotists but also between various Thomist schools.21 Christian dogma holds that there are two natures, one divine and one human in the one person of Christ, and that each of these exists with its own

20 See

R. Hackstein, Der Aachener Beginenhof St. Stephan im Mittelalter (Aachen, 1997). F. Pelster, ‘La Quaestio disputata de saint Thomas De unione verbi incarnati’, Archives de Philosophie 3 (1925), 198–245; S. F. Brown, ‘Thomas Aquinas and His Contemporaries on the Unique Existence in Christ’, in Christ among the Medieval Dominicans: Representations of Christ in the Texts and Images of the Order of Preachers, ed. K. Emery and J. Wawrykow (Notre Dame, 1998), pp. 220–37; T. J. White, The Incarnate Lord: A Thomistic Study in Christology (Washington DC, 2015), pp. 73–125.

21 Cf.

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The Beguines of Medieval Świdnica specific properties without mixture or separation. However, does this mean that each nature has its own existence (esse, existentia)? Is there one existence proper to the person, or hypostasis (suppositum) of Christ? Generally, until April/May 1272 Thomas Aquinas consistently promoted only one answer to this question – since Christ is one substance, one person, he has only one substance, existence (unum esse substanciale) which is proper to the Divine Logos. He held this standpoint in his commentary on the Sentences (c.1255)22, Quodlibet IX (Advent 1257),23 Compendium theologiae (1265–7),24 and the Third Part of the Summa (Spring 1272).25 In Spring 1272 Thomas prepared a discussion question De unione Verbi incarnati, where he dealt with the problem of the oneness of the unique existence in Christ for the last time.26 However, this time he questioned, so to say, the whole of his earlier work on this matter. For he stated that, although in fact there is one existence in Christ (unum esse simpliciter), connected with the Person of the Eternal Word, another, second existence (aliud esse) belongs to that Person relating to His acceptance of human nature. However, the Dominican stipulated that this ‘second existence’ is not accidental, since the human nature of Christ is not an accidence of His Person, but it is also not equal to His main existence (principale esse). Thomas called this a second type of existence, or a secondary existence (esse secundarium). The conclusion of this argument must have aroused surprise among his readers: ‘and thus in Christ there is simply a dual existence’.27 Was the change introduced by Thomas a correction to his previous views, or just another stage in the development of his Christology? Modern specialists in Aquinas’ theology such as Franz Pelster S.J. and Jean-Pierre Torrell OP are inclined to view this as un développement continu.28 Let us add further that De

22 Thomas

Aquinas, Scriptum super Sententiis, L. III, D. 6, q. 2, a. 2, pp. 237–40. Aquinas, Quaestiones de quolibet, Q. IX, q. 2, a. 3 [3], ed. Commissio Leonina, Opera omnia, in progress (Rome, 1882–), XXV/1, 93–5; resp., p. 95, lines 83–6: oportet dicere quod in Christo est unum esse substantiale, secundum quod esse proprie est suppositi, quamvis sit multiplex esse accidentale. 24 Thomas Aquinas, Compendium theologiae, pars I, c. 212, ed. Commissio Leonina, Opera omnia, in progress (Rome, 1882), XL, 165a–6a; p. 166a, lines 28–30: Unde si esse accipiatur secundum quod unum esse est unius suppositi, uidetur dicendum quod in Christo sit unum tantum esse. 25 Thomas Aquinas, Summa theologiae, Pars IIIa, q. 17, a. 2, XI, 222a–3b; s. c., resp., XI, 222a: Sed contra, unumquodque, secundum quod dicitur ens, dicitur unum, quia unum et ens convertuntur. Si ergo in Christo duo essent esse, et non tantum unum, Christus esset duo, et non unum … Respondeo dicendum quod, quia in Christo sunt duae naturae et una hypostasis, necesse est quod ea quae ad naturam pertinent in Christo sint duo, quae autem pertinent ad hypostasim in Christo sint unum tantum. 26 Thomas Aquinas, Quaestiones disputate, Q. de unione verbi incarnati, a. 4, ed. P. Bazzi and R. Spiazzi, 2 vols. (Rome and Turin, 1949–53), II, 432a–b. 27 Ibid., resp., II, 432b. 28 Cf. Pelster, ‘La Quaestio disputata’, pp. 218–19; Encyclopédie: Jésus le Christ, pp. 1042–8. 23 Thomas

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A Dominican Inquisitor and the Theological Controversies of His Times unione Verbi incarnati, despite the doubts of some Thomists, is an authentic text by the Angelic Doctor.29 The question De unione Verbi incarnati for many years was overshadowed by the great synthetic works of St Thomas, as a result of which the concept of the ‘double existence’ (duplex esse simpliciter) of Christ was received weakly. His pupils and followers supported rather the views contained in the Summa theologiae and his commentary on the Sentences. Several influential Dominicans came out in favour of the ‘older’ Thomist thesis concerning a ‘single existence in Christ’ (unum esse in Christo). These include Jean de Paris (d. 1306), who built his theory of impanation on this concept;30 Thomas Sutton (d. after 1315), who enlisted the works of St Thomas in his dispute with the Franciscan Robert Cowton over whether there are several existences in Christ; and Guilhem de Peyre Godin (d. 1336), author of one of the most popular commentaries on Peter Lombard’s Sentences in the Dominican schools, generally known as Lectura Thomasina because of its many references to Aquinas.31 However, by the beginning of the fourteenth century, works in which we come across sometimes explicit references to the doctrine expressed in De unione Verbi incarnati began to appear in Dominican Thomist circles. Johannes Picardi de Lichtenberg (d. 1311) recalled on the basis of the Christological debate that ‘Thomas proposed … that there was a dual existence of the Person in Christ, namely a principal existence that is eternal and a secondary one that is temporal’.32 A short response from the renowned Thomist and one-time father general of the Order (1318–23), Hervé Noël (Natalis, de Nedellec, d. 1323) is also significant. To the question as to whether there is only one existence in Christ, he answered: some say that existence should follow human nature, but since this was assumed into the existence of another person [suppositum], therefore Christ lacks His own existence because it is impossible for there to be several existences in the same person, since then there would be several persons. And they wish to impute this to St Thomas because his words seem to say this for, according to him, it is impossible for there to be several existences in the same person in themselves [simpliciter]. However, I do not believe this position to be true or to be what St Thomas meant.33 29 Torrell,

Amico, pp. 273–80. to the theory of Impanation, the Body of Christ is found in the Eucharist in a symbolic way and at the same time retains its essence as bread and wine with their accidences. 31 See Pelster, ‘La Quaestio disputata’, 236–7; Brown, ‘Thomas Aquinas’, pp. 227–8. 32 Pelster, ‘La Quaestio disputata’, p. 237. 33 Ibid., p. 238: Dicunt aliqui quod licet necessarium esset esse sequi naturam humanam, tamen quia assumpta est ad esse alterius suppositi, ideo caret in Christo proprio esse, quia impossibile est in eodem supposito esse plura esse substancialia, quia tunc essent plura supposita. Et volunt imponere hoc sancto Thome quia videntur verba sua hoc sonare, quia secundum eum impossibile est in eodem 30 According

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The Beguines of Medieval Świdnica It is worth mentioning that Hervé was familiar with De unione Verbi incarnati when he was drafting his commentary on the Sentences, although he never cites this work of St Thomas anywhere in his text. However, he consistently defended the thesis concerning the dual existence in Christ. Like Aquinas, he taught that Christ’s human nature possessed its own existence, although that was not a ‘simple existence’ (esse simpliciter) or an existence in the full sense of the term. The existence of His human nature was secondary in relation to the existence of the Divine Logos, and according to Hervé, it was supposed to be rooted (inesse) in that. Although Christ’s existence is of a dual type, both existences are not equal, for the human nature of Christ could not exist without His divine nature.34 Moreover, we see that the fourteenthcentury Dominican’s view was consonant with the concept expounded in De unione Verbi incarnati.35 To summarize the above survey, it is necessary to distinguish two schools of theology among fourteenth-century Thomists in their approach to the question of whether there are ‘one or two existences’ (unum vel duplex esse) in Christ’s person: the ‘old school’, based mainly on St Thomas’s general works, defended the concept that Christ had one existence, while the ‘new school’ propounded the theory of the ‘double existence in Christ’ (duplex esse in Christo), inspired by De unione Verbi incarnati. Before returning to the inquisitor, John of Schwenkenfeld, it is worth taking another look at the opinion of Duns Scotus regarding the issue under discussion.36 In contrast with the old Thomist school, the Franciscans accepted there being a dual kind of existence in Christ (duplex esse simpliciter). However, this does not mean that his concept converged completely with the view expressed by representatives of the ‘new’ Thomist school. According to Duns Scotus, the existence (esse/existentia) of the human nature in Christ was neither secondary (esse secundarium), as Aquinas stated in De unione, nor rooted in His divine nature (inesse), as Hervé wrote, but possessed its own autonomy (propria existentia). The Subtle Doctor wrote, ‘I say therefore to the question, for given reasons, that human nature has its own essence in the Logos so there is a dual essence in Christ.’37 At the same time, he rejected categorically the

supposito esse plura esse simpliciter. Hanc autem positionem credo non esse veram nec esse de mente sancti Thome. 34 R. Cross, The Metaphysics of the Incarnation: Thomas Aquinas to Duns Scotus (Oxford, 2002), pp. 74–6 and 119–20. 35 Brown, ‘Thomas Aquinas’, pp. 230–1. 36 Cf. Cross, The Metaphysics, pp. 121–43; J. B. Reichmann, ‘Aquinas, Scotus, and the Christological Mystery: Why Christ Is Not a Human Person’, The Thomist 71:3 (2007), 451–74; M. Gorman, ‘On a Thomistic Worry about Scotus’s Doctrine of the esse Christi’, Antonianum 84 (2009), 719–33. 37 John Duns Scotus, Lectura in librum tertium Sententiarum, L. III, D. 6, q. 1 [no. 32], ed. Commissio Scotistica, Opera omnia, in progress (Vatican City, 1950–), XX, 178, lines 200–3; cf. Duns Scotus, Quaestiones in III Librum Sententiarum, L. III, D. 6, q. 1, Opera omnia, 26 vols. (Paris, 1891–95), XIV, 311–12.

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A Dominican Inquisitor and the Theological Controversies of His Times thesis that the existence in His human nature is dependent on, or subordinate to, the existence of His divine nature (esse increatum).38 According to Duns Scotus, Christ exists in His human nature which is not only in Him (in Christo) but is also a fully valid nature of His (Christi).39 In Duns’ opinion, therefore, only when it is acknowledged that both existences are equal does the danger of perceiving the human nature of Christ as an accidence disappear.40 As we can see easily, all of Duns’ efforts had one main aim, namely to underline the reality of the Incarnation and properly appreciate the human nature of Christ. However, the very strong significance he gave to the autonomy of the existence of Christ’s human nature could not be accepted by both the ‘old school’ Thomists, who in general rejected the concept of duplex esse in Christo, and representatives of the ‘new school’, for whom the existence in the human nature of Christ, albeit no accident, was secondary in relation to the ‘principal existence’ (principale esse). Furthermore, for those with a Thomist understanding, whichever school they adhered to, the Scotist conception aroused many doubts for yet another reason. Duns’ theology appeared to be very close to two heterodox Christologies: the Nestorian heresy, according to which there are two separate Persons in Christ,41 and the theory of assumptus homo, which interpreted the Incarnation as the assumption by the Divine Logos of a human person comprising a body and soul.42 On the basis of our earlier analysis, we know already that the Świdnica inquisitor, John of Schwenkenfeld, was conscious of his identity as a Dominican Thomist, and sought not only to identify heresy and doctrinal error but also to react to opinions that were out of keeping with the teaching of St Thomas Aquinas. This exceptionally sharp ‘Thomist sense’ can be seen pre-eminently in the problem of Christ’s esse, which we discussed above. We may suppose that the Silesian inquisitor developed as a theologian in the Thomist ‘old school’ based on the synthetic works of Aquinas or the commentary on the Sentences, and the Summa theologiae. For if he had been familiar with the new interpretations of his fellow friars, such as Johannes Picardi de Lichtenberg or Hervé Noël, the problem of duplex esse in Christo would probably not have been recorded among the errors afflicting the Świdnica beguines. Evidently, the Scotism spreading among the beguines was sufficient cause for his observing the local community carefully. 38 Duns

Scotus, Lectura [no. 33], XX, 178, lines 204–6. [no. 36], XX, 179, vv. 227–35. 40 Ibid., [no. 41], p. 181, vv. 263–6, 268–70: Secundo dico quod Chrystus habet aliud esse simpliciter ab esse increato, ita quod Christus simpliciter est et habet aliud esse quam increatum, quia esse naturae humanae est esse simpliciter … si igitur esse homo sit esse simpliciter, cuicumque dat natura esse homo, dat esse simpliciter; igitur Verbum simpliciter est per esse illius naturae. 41 Cf. Cross, The Metaphysics, pp. 190–1, 322. 42 Cf. H. Diepen, ‘Un scotisme apocryphe: la christologie du P. Déodat de Basly, O.F.M.’, Revue Thomiste 49 (1949), 428–92. 39 Ibid.,

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The Beguines of Medieval Świdnica Did Christ Take His Cross with Him to Heaven? In Adelheid’s evidence, which we noted above, there was one more response which throws light on the views of the Świdnica beguines. Bound by oath, this woman admitted she had ‘heard from Margaret of Lichynia that when Christ ascended, He took the wood of the Holy Cross with Him into Heaven’ (I.II.13). Recognizing that this point of view was a serious theological error, the inquisitor determined to confront another beguine with Adelheid’s evidence. This woman was Margaret the Painter (pictrix), who had spent a year and three months in the Świdnica community. We read in the court record that ‘again, when questioned about whether the sisters say the Holy Cross ascended into Heaven together with Christ, as Adelheid testifies, she replies that she heard them claiming that only the thieves’ crosses remained on earth when Christ ascended into Heaven’ (I.IV.32). Thus, not only did Margaret confirm Adelheid’s testimony, but she also added several details which she claimed to have heard from the local sisters, namely that when Christ ascended to Heaven with his Cross only the thieves’ crosses remained on earth. There can be no doubt that this kind of statement must have been shocking not only for a trained theologian like Schwenkenfeld, but also for the other members of the Świdnica tribunal and outside observers. Does this mean that in the beguine community where, as the records show, a subtle university-level theology was flourishing, other views were propounded that might be defined, in the words of Duns Scotus, as valde irrationabile, or highly unreasonable? Or perhaps the opposite is true, and the beguines had been trying in a clever and radical way to challenge the cult of the relics of the Holy Cross? In the search for the origins of the views recorded in Adelheid’s and Margaret’s testimonies, it is worth first of all consulting the written sources to which John of Schwenkenfeld could have referred, and which might have inspired the local beguines. Despite what we might suppose, the source we seek is not a text of any ancient or medieval heresiarch but the homily De cruce et latrone (On the Cross and the Thief) attributed to St John Chrysostom. Let us begin by comparing the evidence of both beguines with two versions of an excerpt from the said homily:

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A Dominican Inquisitor and the Theological Controversies of His Times Adelheid’s Testimony

… Christus ascendens et lignum sancte Crucis secum in celum assumpsit.

Margaret’s Testimony

… crucem sanctam cum Christo in celum simul ascendisse, … Christo ascendente non remanserunt in terra, nisi cruces latronum.

Johannes Chrysostomus, Opera, Homilia XXXI: De cruce et latrone, vol. 2 (Basle, 1630), p. 110

Johannes Chrysostomus, Homilia I: De cruce et latrone, no. 4, ed. J. P. Migne (Paris, 1862), (Patrologia Graeca, vol. 49), col. 403

Vidisti quod crux regnum est, volo et alia ratione cognoscas.

Vident quomodo crux sit regni symbolum? Visne et aliunde illud discere?

Crucem solam non reliquit in terra, sed secum eam levavit ad coelum.

Non relinquit eum in terra, sed attraxit eum et in caelum deduxit.

The similarities between the Świdnica trial record and the ancient homily in terms of content and phraseology are self-evident. John of Schwenkenfeld used a small fragment of John Chrysostom’s text, which without its broader context gives the impression of a highly controversial statement. It is worth remembering that the Homily on the Cross and the Thief was devoted to a popular topic of the time: the Apocalypse, the coming of the Antichrist, and the Second Coming of Christ on earth. In his description of the Day of the Last Judgment, Chrysostom outlines the signs which tell of the imminent Parousia. The first of the extraordinary events, as we read in St Matthew’s Gospel, will be the appearance of the ‘Sign of the Son of Man’ (Matthew 24:30). This signum Filii hominis, according to John Chrysostom, will be the Cross of Christ borne by angels.43 For the author of the homily, the appearance of the Cross on Judgment Day would be possible, if after His Resurrection Christ ‘did not leave the Cross alone on earth but carried it up with Him to heaven’. The 43 John

Chrysostom, Homilia I: De cruce et latrone, no. 4, col. 404: sic et Domino descendente de caelis, praeibunt exercitus angelorum et archangelorum, signum huiusmodi ferentes humeris, et regnum eius ingressum nobis praenuntiantes; ed. J.-P. Migne, Patrologia Graeca, 161 vols. (Paris, 1857–66), XLIX, 404. See also Chrysostom, Homiliae in Matthaeum, hom. 76 (77), ed. Migne, Patrologia Graeca, LVII, 698: Hoc est crux sole luculentior existens.

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The Beguines of Medieval Świdnica interpretation proposed by Chrysostom, despite its spiritual and theological value, is not easy to understand and gives rise naturally to such questions as: will the Cross borne by the angels be the True Cross or a symbolic one? If it will be the authentic wood of the Cross on which Our Lord died, did Christ take His Cross with Him on Ascension Day? John of Schwenkenfeld must have come across the text of De cruce et latrone as well as the questions associated with it during the course of his own studies in one of the Dominican schools of divinity. For by the twelfth century this homily had been discovered and found an influential patron in the person of Peter Lombard, who cited Chrysostom’s interpretation of signum Filii hominis as Christ’s Cross in the chapters of his Sentences that refer to the Last Judgment.44 Later commentators on Lombard’s opus generally agree with the author of De cruce et latrone in his exegesis of the Gospel text.45 The problem which required further explanation was the definition of the nature of the Cross which will appear during the Last Days, and this matter is also connected with the question as to whether Christ took His Cross with Him to Heaven. Let us say from the outset that these questions, given their rather marginal character in theological debates, attracted the interest of relatively few medieval authors; for example, Duns Scotus never wrote on these topics. By the thirteenth century three solutions to these difficulties had emerged. The explanation given by Thomas Aquinas in his commentary on the Sentences fully satisfied the Dominican milieu.46 According to the Angelic Doctor, Christ’s Cross was made from ordinary wood and did not belong to the order of matter which would be preserved from destruction after the Last Judgment (non habet aliquem ordinem ad incorruptionem). The Cross, like any other vegetable matter, did not have the ability to exist eternally.47 As a consequence, it was not taken up into Heaven, and on the Last Day it would cease to exist. Therefore, what will the Cross be like which, as John Chrysostom claimed, will appear during the Last Days? Aquinas explained that in place of the real wood of the Cross, a cross will appear in the skies in the form of an imitation presence, a sign or symbol (repraesentatio).48

44 Peter

Lombard, Sententiae in IV libris distinctae, L. IV, D. 48, c. 4 (278), no. 2, ed. Collegii a S. Bonaventura [I. Brady], 2 vols. (Grottaferrata, 1981), II, 545, vv. 19–21. 45 The only medieval author we know who did not agree with John Chrysostom’s interpretation of this text is the Dominican, Albert the Great. See Albertus Magnus, Super Matthaeum, ed. B. Schmidt, Opera omnia, in progress (Aschendorff, 1951–), XXI.2, 574, lines 11–16. 46 Thomas Aquinas, Commentum in quartum librum Sententiarum, L. IV, D. 48, q. 1, a. 2, ad 2; a. 3, expositio textus, Opera omnia, 25 vols. (Parma, 1852–73), VII.2, 1169a, 1170b. 47 Thomas Aquinas, Summa contra gentiles, L. IV, c. 97, ed. Commissio Leonina, Opera omnia, in progress (Rome, 1882–), XV, 298a–9b. 48 Thomas Aquinas, Scriptum super Sententiis, Lib. IV, d. 48, q. 1, a. 3, expositio textus,

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A Dominican Inquisitor and the Theological Controversies of His Times Franciscan divines could not agree with the thesis concerning the destruction of Christ’s Cross on the Day of the Last Judgment. In his eschatological reflections, Bonaventure came to the conclusion that Christ’s Cross should be regarded in the same way as another sign of Christ’s Passion, namely His Wounds.49 If, therefore, according to the generally accepted theological interpretation, Christ’s Wounds were preserved after His Resurrection and Ascension into Heaven, then His Cross should have been preserved too. Furthermore, the Cross will appear as a blaze of glory like the wounds on Christ’s glorified Body.50 Therefore, the Cross that will appear on Judgment Day will also be the real one, albeit transformed. Of course, this kind of identification of Christ’s wounds with His Cross gives rise to a range of questions: does the Cross, like His wounds, already appear on Christ’s glorified Body which is already in Heaven? Did Christ take all the signs of His Passion with Him when He left the earth, that is, not only His wounds but also His Cross? Indeed, Bonaventure does not explain such doubts. Similarly, another Franciscan, Richard Middleton (Mediavilla, d. 1308) decidedly rejected Thomas Aquinas’ interpretation. In his commentary on the Sentences written around 1285, he criticised ‘certain persons’ (dicunt aliqui) who claimed that the Cross, which was to appear on the Last Day, ‘will not be a sign of the Cross on which Christ was crucified, but some representative sign of that Cross’.51 In Richard’s opinion, on the Last Day angels will literally carry the same wooden cross on which Christ died. Unlike Bonaventure, this Franciscan divine identified the Cross not with Christ’s wounds but with His human Body. Since on the day of the Last Judgment God will raise bodies from the dust of the earth, He will do the same, Richard claims, with the Cross.52 Thereby he proposed an original concept, namely that of the ‘resurrection of Christ’s Cross’. From our study’s point of view, one observation is important – since the Cross shares the fate of the human body, i.e. changes into dust, it could not have been taken to Heaven on Ascension Day. VII.2, 1170b: Et dicendum, quod signum crucis non accipitur hic pro ipso ligno crucis dominicae, sed pro aliqua repraesentatione ipsius. 49 Bonaventure, Commentaria in IV librum Sententiarum, D. 48, a. 1, q. 3, ad 2, ed. Collegii a S. Bonaventura, Opera omnia, 10 vols. (Quaracchi, 1882–1902), IV, 987b. 50 Ibid.: Ad illud quod obiicitur, quod apparebit cum cruce et cicatricibus; dicendum, quod sicut cicatrices in Martyribus non sunt signum infirmitatis praesentis, sed infirmitatis praeteritae, immo quantum ad gloriam et decentiam et pulchritudinem sunt signa victoriae et gloriae; sic in Christo intelligendum, quia illae cicatrices et crux signa erunt mortis vilissimae, quam sustinuit; sed tamen, quia apparebunt in excellentia gloriae, signum erunt gloriae tunc praesentis. Unde Chrysostomus dicit super Matthaeum, quod Crux radiis solis erit lucentior similiter et cicatrices. 51 Richardus de Mediavilla, Super quatuor libros Sententiarum Petri Lombardi quaestiones subtilissimae, L. IV, D. 48, a. 2, expositio textus, 4 vols. (Brescia, 1591), IV, 645a. 52 Ibid., IV, 645b: qui enim corpora humana redacta in pulveres eadem in numero restaurabit, istam eandem crucem in numero poterit restaurare.

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The Beguines of Medieval Świdnica We do not know whether John of Schwenkenfeld was aware of the Franciscan concepts of Bonaventure and Richard Middleton regarding the Cross. However, he certainly knew his way expertly around Thomist theology and managed to spot any divergence from Thomas Aquinas’ teaching and mark it out. All the same, however, another question still requires explaining: did the Świdnica beguines really know and cite the Homily on the Cross and the Thief? As we have noted, this homily dealt with the problem of the Apocalypse as a whole. One of the main characteristics of fourteenth-century heretical movements was the rise of millenarian ideas manifested in a sort of ‘obsession’ with the end of the world and keeping watch for the Antichrist. In the Świdnica trial record, the testimony of Adelheid, the same woman who had made the first reference to the ascension of the Cross, provides interesting information about the local beguines’ millenarian views: ‘and they say when anyone begins to rise up against their sect that this is the most certain sign of the Last day and the Coming of the Antichrist and the completion of their perfection’ (I.II.22). However, Adelheid’s response was isolated, and we find nothing similar in the testimony of the other fifteen witnesses. Hence, perhaps John of Schwenkenfeld was not so interested in millenarian issues or simply no problem of this kind concerned the Świdnica beguine community. Finally, it is worth paying attention to another explanation for the presence of borrowings from De cruce et latrone in the records of the 1332 inquisition trial. At the beginning of this discussion, one quite daring hypothesis was put forward regarding the origins of the testimony which interests us, namely that in a clever and radical way the beguines were trying to challenge the cult of the relics of the Holy Cross. In light of this hypothesis, John Chrysostom’s homily was supposed to add credence to their original point of view. Of course, it cannot be ruled out that such concepts really did appear in the conversations of the local beguines and were intended not so much to attack Church teaching as primarily to poke fun at the local Dominicans and the inquisitor himself. For John of Schwenkenfeld was also conventual lector in the Dominican priory and church in Świdnica, which were both dedicated to none other than the Holy Cross.53 Thus, could it be that the testimony we cited above was an element of some greater conflict between the Świdnica beguine community and the local Friars Preachers? This hypothesis requires checking in further studies of the Świdnica trial. 53 During

the Middle Ages there were as many as eight churches dedicated to the Holy Cross in the Polish Dominican Province, seven of which were in the Silesian Contrata. See W. Rozynkowski, ‘Święci patronowie kościoła dominikanów w Gdańsku – wokół średniowiecznych wezwań dominikańskich w Polsce’, in Dominikanie. Gdańsk – Polska – Europa, ed. D. A. Dekański, A. Gołembnik, and M. Grubka (Gdańsk and Pelplin, 2003), pp. 231–41, at pp. 236–7. We do not have any source material on the presence of relics of the Holy Cross in the Dominican priory in Świdnica; see M. Starnawska, Świętych życie po życiu. Relikwie w kulturze religijnej na ziemiach polskich w średniowieczu (Warsaw, 2008), pp. 106–12.

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A Dominican Inquisitor and the Theological Controversies of His Times

Concerning Eckhartian Theology No scholar researching fourteenth-century intellectual culture can fail to come up against the works of the Dominican friar Eckhart of Hochheim (1260–1328).54 He belonged to the German Dominican Province, where he was involved chiefly in educational work (as a master of divinity) and pastoral activities (as a preacher and spiritual director). The originality of his thought and the huge popularity he enjoyed among the faithful, especially the German beguines, led first of all to misunderstandings and finally to accusations of preaching heretical views. Meister Eckhart spent the final years of his life defending his innocence, first in Cologne before two Dominican visitors during the provincial chapter (1325), then before the court of the archbishop of Cologne (1325–6) and finally in 1327 before the papal court in Avignon.55 As Walter Senner OP has established, Eckhart died in Avignon on 28 January 1328.56 The Eckhart Case resounded throughout the Dominican world. For example, we find traces of these controversies in the proceedings of the Chapter General in Toulouse in 1328. This Chapter instructed the authorities in all of the Order’s provinces to punish severely friars who spread erroneous and controversial teachings during their sermons.57 Within a year of the death of the Dominican divine, Pope John XXII questioned in his bull In agro dominico, to which we shall return below, the orthodoxy of several dozen statements contained in Eckhart’s texts and statements. With the appearance of the list of papal accusations in 1329, not only did the whole of the dead

54 There

are very many studies on Meister Eckhart. See in particular: Meister Eckhart und der Laie: ein antihierarchischer Dialog des 14. Jahrhunderts aus den Niederlanden, ed. F.-J. Schweitzer (Berlin, 1997); K. Ruh, Initiation à maître Eckhart: Théologien, prédicateur, mystique (Paris, 1997); S. Jäger, Meister Eckhart – ein Wort im Wort: Versuch einer theologischen Deutung von vier deutschen Predigten, Quellen und Forschungen zur Geschichte des Dominikanerordens, NS 15 (Berlin, 2008); Z. Kaźmierczak, Paradoks i zbawienie. Antropologia Mistyczna Mistrza Eckharta i Jana od Krzyża (Białystok, 2009); Encyclopédie des mystiques rhénans d’Eckhart à Nicolas De Cues et leur réception, ed. M.-A. Vannier (Paris, 2011); A Companion to Meister Eckhart, ed. J. M. Hackett (Leiden and Boston, 2013); M.-A. Vannier, Maître Eckhart prédicateur (Paris, 2018). 55 G. Théry, ‘Édition critique des pièces relatives au procès d’Eckhart contenues dans le manuscrit 33b de la Bibliothèque de Soest’, Archives d’histoire doctrinale et littéraire du Moyen-âge 1 (1926), 129–268; B. McGinn, ‘Eckhart’s Condemnation Reconsidered’, The Thomist 44 (1980), 390–414; L. Sturlese, ‘Eckhart, l’Inquisizione di Colonia e la memoria difensiva conservata nel codice di Soest 33’, Giornale Critico della Filosofia Italiana 80 (2001), 62–89; J. Devriendt, ‘Procès de maître Eckhart’, in Encyclopédie des mystiques rhénans d’Eckhart à Nicolas de Cues et leur réception, ed. M.-A. Vannier (Paris, 2011), pp. 983–1003. 56 W. Senner, ‘Meister Eckhart’s Life, Training, Career, and Trial’, in A Companion to Meister Eckhart, ed. Hackett, p. 77. 57 Acta capitulorum generalium ordinis Praedicatorum ab anno 1304 usque ad annum 1378, p. 180.

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The Beguines of Medieval Świdnica mystic’s legacy come to be viewed with mistrust, but also those who had sympathized with Meister Eckhart. As a result of several years of research into the proceedings of fourteenthcentury Polish Dominican provincial chapters, we know that Eckhart’s views were known to and disseminated by local friars.58 In 1338 the Chapter examined the case of Friar Nicholas Duthorow, probably from the Greifswald Priory, who was supposed to have spread views that his fellow brethren had acknowledged to be an error condemned by the Church (error condemnatus ab Ecclesia). Nicholas’s teaching contained clear links to Eckhart’s thought and works. Furthermore, the case of Nicholas Duthorow led the 1338 Polish Chapter to carefully review the orthodoxy of the other members of the Province. For this reason too, the Chapter handed papal inquisitors the power to root out and judge friars whose way of life, religious practices, and views clearly diverged from the Order’s generally accepted customs. At this time the inquisitors were Nicholas (in Greater Poland), John of Schwenkenfeld (in Silesia), and probably Stanislas of Cracow (in Lesser Poland). During research into this problem, I sought to identify among the brethren attending the 1338 Chapter a Dominican ‘expert’ who would have been familiar with Eckhart’s views and able to assess their orthodoxy properly. The then vicar of the Polish Province, the German friar John de Tweebergen, may have been just such a person.59 However, did the Polish Dominicans have to resort to ‘domestic experts’ in the case of the new religious trends and views of their German confrère? We can find an answer to this question in the records from the 1332 interrogation of the Świdnica beguine community. Did Man Create All Things Together with God? On the first day of the Świdnica hearing, John of Schwenkenfeld took the testimonies of two witnesses, the former recluse (quondam inclusa) Adelheid and Hedwig of Wrocław. Although neither of these women had been in the Świdnica beguine house for more than a year, their knowledge of the life and customs of this community was impressive. Among thirty-four accusations made by Adelheid and noted down in the notarial record, there was one which was of particular interest for the Dominican inquisitor. This woman testified under oath that Gertrude of Świdnica had said the following: ‘When God created all things, I created all things with and for Him, or I created all things with Him and I am God with God and I am Christ and I am more’ (II.II.12).

58 T.

Gałuszka, ‘Mikołaja Duthorowa OP Error condemnatus ab Ecclesia. Dominikanie polscy wobec herezji i nowych nurtów pobożności w 1. połowie XIV wieku’, KH 121:1 (2014), 73–106. 59 Ibid., pp. 90–1.

122

A Dominican Inquisitor and the Theological Controversies of His Times The inquisitor returned to the statements allegedly voiced by Gertrude of Świdnica the next day (8 September) during his questioning of the fourth witness, Margaret the Painter. Undoubtedly, the personality and testimony of this woman impressed the inquisitor greatly. He included in the court record forty-one points from Margaret’s statements which concerned not only the Świdnica beguines but also their sisters from other parts of Europe. She had lived in the local beguinage for almost seven months. Before she came to Świdnica she had spent time in communities of sisters in Cologne, Metz, and Aachen. It comes as no surprise that in her testimony there are topics which extend far beyond questions of the sisters’ customs and the day-to-day operations of the Świdnica beguinage. Margaret was interested very much in various theological problems. Reading her testimony, it is easy to see that the woman tried to answer the inquisitor’s questions in a matterof-fact and competent manner. Unlike those of the earlier witnesses, her statements do not contain expressions of personal grudges directed against the rest of the community. Confirmation of these observations include, among other things, the evidence where Margaret refers to Adelheid’s response regarding Gertrude’s views. She confirmed under oath that controversial theses of this kind were indeed voiced in Świdnica, but the source of this one, despite Adelheid’s suggestions, was not Gertrude but some other unidentified beguines: ‘When questioned under oath about what Adelheid admitted and heard from Gertrude of the City, namely that Gertrude had created all things with God, Margaret said she had heard this often from other women in the sect, but not from Gertrude herself’ (I.IV.31). On the penultimate day of the interrogations John of Schwenkenfeld decided in the light of these inconsistencies in the evidence to ask Gertrude of Świdnica about the reliability of Adelheid and Margaret’s testimonies. Gertrude responded to questions only reluctantly and the inquisitor received her explanations with distrust. To the Dominican’s question as to whether she had said ‘When God created all things, I created all things with Him and I am God with God’, Gertrude is recorded as having replied ‘I have heard it preached but I have not taught much more’ (II.II.7). Then Gertrude confirmed the reliability of Adelheid’s testimony, but tried to add a little nuance – theological opinions of this kind appeared in her learning but only quite sporadically. Furthermore, as an elder sister in the Świdnica community, wishing undoubtedly to exculpate herself, she pointed out that theological concepts of this kind were not something she had made up but were expressed in sermons she had heard. The Dominican inquisitor was able to feel satisfied with information he had obtained from the oldest of the beguines he questioned. Thanks to Gertrude’s testimony, he became sure that concepts which were evidently out of keeping with orthodox Church teaching were indeed known and, what is more, were disseminated within the Świdnica beguine house. Let us say simply that John did not have to be a learned divine and experienced 123

The Beguines of Medieval Świdnica inquisitor to know that the thesis of direct human collaboration with God in the creation of the universe was in the very highest degree controversial. How else could this view, that there is a possible different type of relationship between the Creator and His creatures, or that humans are identical with God and are one with Him in action, be taken? Indeed, we do not know how or with the help of which German-language concepts and formulae the women made their testimonies. The inquisitor must have drafted the Latin translation of their statements personally, although John concentrated more on extracting the sense of the testimonies he collected than on presenting them word for word like a stenographer. What is more, he must have used such precise theological terminology so his readers in Avignon could understand the recorded text. Bearing in mind that we do not come across views of human participation in the act of creation in the texts of Thomas Aquinas and Duns Scotus mentioned above, we must seek a different Latin source for the texts which might have inspired John of Schwenkenfeld. One text demands special attention: John XXII’s bull, In agro dominico, dated 27 March 1329, three years before the Świdnica trial.60 As has been mentioned already, In agro dominico was issued after the death of Meister Eckhart and referred to the theological correctness of twenty-eight articles drawn from various texts and statements of the Dominican divine. The articles were divided into two groups: articles 1 to 15 were acknowledged to be ‘erroneous or tainted with heresy’, articles 16 to 22 and two more added at the end of the list were described as ‘having a very bad sound and suspect of heresy, though capable, with many explanations and additions of being interpreted in a Catholic sense’. From the perspective of our research, I would draw attention to article 13, which the pope declared to be heretical: ‘Whatever is proper to the divine nature, all that is proper to the just and divine man. Because of that, this man performs whatever God performs, and he created heaven and earth together with God, and he is the begetter of the Eternal Word, and God would not know how to do anything without such a man.’61 The similarities between this text and the beguine testimonies are self-evident when we set their Latin versions side by side.

60 For

editions of the bull In agro dominico: M. H. Laurent, ‘Autour du procès de Maître Eckhart. Les documents des Archives Vaticanes’, Divus Thomas 13 (1936), pp. 435–47. An English translation can be found at: E. Colledge and B. McGinn, Meister Eckhart: The Essential Sermons, Commentaries, Treatises and Defense (New York, 1981), pp. 77–80. See also R. E. Lerner, ‘New Evidence for the Condemnation of Meister Eckhart’, Speculum 72 (1997), 347–66, at pp. 363–6. 61 The bull of John XXII, In agro dominico, art. 13; trans. Colledge and McGinn, Meister Eckhart, p. 79.

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A Dominican Inquisitor and the Theological Controversies of His Times Quando Deus omnia creauit, tunc ego concreaui sibi omnia uel creaui omnia cum eo, et sum Deus cum Deo, et sum Christus, et sum plus (Adelheid: I.II.12) Item iurata, interrogata super uerba que Adilheydis confessa fuit et audiuit a Gerdrude de Ciuitate, quod ipsa cum Deo omnia creauit (Margaret: I.IV.31)

Quidquid proprium divinae naturae, hoc totum proprium est homini iusto et divino. Propter hoc iste homo operatur, quidquid Deus operatur, et creauit una cum Deo caelum et terram, et generator verbi aeterni, et Deus sine tali homine nesciret quidquam facere (John XXII, In agro dominico, art. 13)

Quando Deus creauit omnia, ego cum eo omnia creaui sumque Deus cum Deo (Gertrude: II.II.7)

The thesis about the sameness of man and God, the most radical sign of which is their supposed shared creation of ‘heaven and earth’ or, as the beguines said, the creation ‘of all things’ appears in both the papal document of 1329 and the Świdnica trial records of 1332. When drafting his analysis of the sources for In agro dominico, W. Senner OP did not indicate any particular work of Eckhart’s from which the fragment referred to in article 13 may have derived.62 However, it is not difficult to point out texts, especially the Latin and German texts of Eckhart’s sermons, where the topic of the human soul’s participation in the creative actions of God features. At this point it is necessary to introduce the eminently Eckhartian question with which we shall deal below (pp. 137–44), namely the question of the spark of the soul (vünkelin). Here we shall note that according to Eckhart, the spark of the soul is what is the highest and at the same time deepest in the human soul; the spark is uncreated and uncreatable, and for that reason it is at one with the impersonal Absolute. The whole internal life of God is reflected in the life of the spark of the soul. Because of the perfect unity of the spark of the soul and the Absolute, the process of creation applies to God and man alike. Not only is the spark the witness of the divine act of creation but also inside it the creation of all things unceasingly takes place: Where time never entered, where no image ever shone in, in the inmost and highest part of the soul, God is creating the whole world. All that God created six thousand years ago, when He made the world, and all that God will create in the next thousand years, if the world lasts so long, is being wrought by God in the inmost recesses, at the apex of the soul.63 62 Senner,

‘Meister Eckhart’s Life’, p. 82. Eckhart, Sermon 18, Complete Mystical Works of Meister Eckhart, trans. M. O’C. Walshe (New York, 2009), p. 133; Predigt 30, DW, II, 95, v. 4, and 96, v. 4: Dâ nie zît în enkam, dâ nie bilde îngeliuhtete, in dem innigesten und in dem hrehsten der

63 Meister

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The Beguines of Medieval Świdnica Eckhart attempted to prove that as a matter of fact God’s actions act in that spark of the soul. All that God makes is perfected in it, including the creation of the world too. ‘All that is past, all that is present and all that is to come, God creates in the inmost part of the soul. All that God works in all the saints, that He works in the inmost part of the soul.’64 Thus, the spark of the soul creates together with God. However, this co-creation is not the work of humans understood as a physical whole but the exclusive work of the highest, most internal, and most noble part of the human soul. The lower part of the human soul raises itself to its highest part and proceeds to unite itself with God. This union is perfected already in the spark of the soul. It is also the source of perfect union with God and the common action of the Absolute and Man, or also the spark of his soul. Eckhart went as far in his considerations as to state that the spark not only takes part in the work of creation with God but also is the privileged ‘place’ where God the Father bears the Word, or the Person of His Son. ‘The Father bears His Son in the inmost part of the soul.’65 Thus the spark of the soul stands ‘above’ the personal God and is ‘earlier’ than the distinction of the Divine Persons. For Eckhart, union with God also signifies the co-participation of the soul in begetting the Holy Ghost. ‘I am one with Him, He cannot shut me out, and in that act the Holy Ghost receives his being, his becoming, from me as from God.’66 The matter of the begetting of the Son shared with the impersonal Absolute in the human soul also appeared in article 13, where we read that ‘he [man] is a begetter of the eternal Word’. We can detect traces of this concept in Adelheid’s testimony too. According to her, Gertrude of Świdnica was not only supposed to have taken part in creation and to have identified with the Absolute but also, as should be stressed, regarded herself as someone greater than the personal God – ‘I am more’. Article 13 is controversial and rings untrue to every orthodox theologian, especially one trained in the school of Aquinas. Johann Hiltalinger of Basel (d. 1392), commenting on the contents of the bull In agro dominico, made a short and unambiguous assessment of this article, namely that ‘I consider

sêle, schepfet got alle dise werlt. Allez, daz got geschuof vor sehs tusent jaren, dô er die werlt machete, und allez, daz got noch geschaffen sol über tûsent jâr, ob diu werlt sô lange bestât, daz schepfet got in dem innigesten und in dem hrehsten der sêle. 64 Eckhart, Complete Mystical Works, pp. 133–4; DW, II, 96, vv. 4–7: Allez, daz vergangen ist, und allez, daz gegenwertic ist, und allez, daz künftic ist, daz schepfet got in dem innigesten der sêle. Allez, daz got würket in allen heiligen, daz würket got in dem innigesten der sêle. 65 Eckhart, Complete Mystical Works, p. 134; DW, II, 96, v. 7: Der vater gebirt sînen sun in dem innigesten der sêle. 66 Eckhart, Sermon 10, Complete Mystical Works, p. 92; Predigt 25, DW, II, 11, vv. 3–4)]: Dâ bin ich ein mit im, er enmac mich ûzgesliezen niht, und in dem werke dâ enpfrehet der heilige geist sîn wesen und sîn werden von mir als von gote.

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A Dominican Inquisitor and the Theological Controversies of His Times this article to be worthy of the laughter of all men of understanding’.67 John of Schwenkenfeld certainly did not consider this type of thesis from Eckhart to deserve passing over with a smile in silence. Just the opposite: when he detected traces of this kind of concept in one of the beguines’ testimonies, he tried to verify the observations he had made as he continued his interrogations of the beguines. According to his findings, heretical views condemned scarcely three years earlier by Pope John XXII had evidently penetrated the Świdnica beguine community. The Silesian inquisitor had studied the bull In agro dominico carefully and, as we shall see, did not stop just at article 13. Do All Men Share a Common Nature with Christ? When interrogating Margaret the Painter, John of Schwenkenfeld presented her with a range of questions regarding articles from Clement V’s constitution Ad nostrum. This woman also expressed her opinion on the subject of the eighth and final article of this papal constitution regarding the beghard position on the consecrated forms of bread and wine. The beghards were supposed to scorn the Blessed Sacrament. For example, during Mass they would ostentatiously ignore the moment of the Elevation of the Host, regard themselves as higher than priests, and even denigrate the Passion of Christ. Margaret uttered a short, albeit quite shocking answer, namely that her fellow sisters from Świdnica, unlike, for example, the beguines and beghards of Cologne, did show reverence to the Eucharist, although they did so discreetly, without drawing attention to themselves: If they pay reverence to the Body of Christ, they do so not in order to be noticed by other people. She sees this goes against the agreement made in Cologne because she noticed that there at the elevation of the Body of Christ some men and women were rarely wont to rise or show any reverence (I.IV.20).

What is especially interesting is that Margaret linked her statement about the Świdnica beguines’ attitude towards the Eucharist with another topic, namely the theological interpretation of human nature. According to her testimony, not only did the sisters not despise human nature, but, on the contrary, it was through human nature that God could connect with their souls: ‘We do not have to do anything or such like but to seek in our human nature, whence we have God in our soul’ (I.IV.20). Hence such a spiritual and positive understanding of human nature set a corresponding perspective and practice towards approaching the Eucharist in which the humanity of Christ Himself 67 K.

H. Witte, ‘Die Rezeption der Lehre Meister Eckharts durch Johannes Hiltalingen von Basel: Untersuchung und Textausgabe’, Recherches de Théologie et Philosophie Médiévales 71 (2004), 305–71, at p. 364: Hunc articulum apud omnes intelligentes dignum risu aestimo.

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The Beguines of Medieval Świdnica becomes present. As a consequence, any disdain for the Blessed Sacrament would be disdain for themselves. Even if the Silesian inquisitor could share this positive attitude towards humanity in general, he was still worried by the exaggerated faith of the local beguines, as noted by Margaret, in the exceptional and almost divine status of human nature. It would be necessary to take a different view of the nature of every person, a different view of Christ’s human nature, untouched by sin and united with divine nature. For every disciple of St Thomas, it was obvious that the natural position of Christ as son is one thing (per naturam) and the position of human sons is something else (per adoptionem). There can be no talk of any kind of unambiguous identification of Christ’s human nature with the nature of other people. In order to better understand where the error lay, as perceived by John of Schwenkenfeld in Margaret’s testimony, we must return once more to the bull In agro dominico. In articles 10 and 11, the papal commission acknowledged two statements of Meister Eckhart concerning the question of human nature to be heretical. ‘We shall all be transformed totally into God and changed into him. In the same way, when in the sacrament bread is changed into Christ’s Body, I am so changed into him that he makes me his one existence, and not just similar. By the living God it is true that there is no distinction there’ (art. 10); ‘Whatever God the Father gave to his Only­Begotten Son in human nature, he gave all this to me. I except nothing, neither union, nor sanctity; but he gave the whole to me, just as he did to him’ (art. 11).68 The statements condemned by the pope derived, as Senner has shown,69 primarily from two of Eckhart’s German sermons. Here we are concerned with the following fragments. The first is from a sermon on the text Iusti autem in perpetuum vivent (Wisdom 5:16): The Father begets His Son unceasingly, and furthermore, I say, He begets me as His Son and the same Son. I say even more: not only does He beget me as His Son, but He begets me as Himself and Himself as me, and me as His being and His nature. In the inmost spring I well up in the Holy Ghost, where there is one life, one being and one work. All that God works is one: therefore He begets me as His Son without any difference. … the heavenly Father is truly my Father, for I am His son and get all that I have from Him, and I am that same Son and no other. Since the work the Father performs is one, so He makes me His only-begotten Son with no distinction.70 68 The

Bull of John XXII, In agro dominico, art. 10: Nos transformamur totaliter in Deum et convertimur in eum; simili modo sicut in sacramento panis convertitur in corpus Christi, sic ego convertor in eum, quod ipse operatur me suum esse unum, non simile. Per viventem Deum verum est, quod ibi nulla est distinctio; art. 11: Quidquid Deus Pater dedit Filio suo unigenito in humana natura, hoc totum dedit mihi. Hic nihil excipio, nec unionem nec sanctitatem, sed totum dedit mihi sicut sibi. 69 Senner, ‘Meister Eckhart’s Life’, p. 82. 70 Eckhart, Sermon 65, Complete Mystical Works, p. 331; Predigt 6, DW, I, 109, line 7 – 110,

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A Dominican Inquisitor and the Theological Controversies of His Times The second comes from the sermon In hoc appatruit (1 John 4:9): He says further that in all that the Father ever gave His Son Jesus Christ in human nature, He meant it more for me, and loved me more, and gave it to me rather than to him. How is this? He gave it to him for my sake, for I needed it. Therefore, whatever He gave him, he meant for me and gave it to me as well as to him. I except nothing, neither union nor the holiness of the Godhead nor anything else. All that He ever gave him in human nature is no more alien or distant from me than from him, for God cannot give a little: He must give either everything or nothing.71

Let us begin with article 11, which was excerpted from the sermon In hoc appatruit.72 The papal commission passed over quite a bold sermon statement from Eckhart in silence, which was to the effect that God the Father not only gives people all that Christ has in human nature but also much more. Just the thesis that ‘all that God the father gave His Only-Begotten Son in nature He has given me’ was enough for those levelling charges of heresy. According to orthodox Christian theology, when the Second Divine Person, the Son, took on human nature, He became a real man while remaining a real God. Divine nature and human nature were connected in the one person of Christ but without any mixing of those natures. Christ is of one being (consubstantial) with God the Father and God the Holy Ghost, at the same time as he is consubstantial in his humanity with other people. However, the consubstantiality of Christ looks different within the realms of His hypostatic union with God and different again in Christ’s unity with people. Eckhart, at least as we read in his commentary on St John’s Gospel, understood Christ’s consubstantiality in His human nature in an unambiguous way. ‘Nature is equally common vv. 4–7: Der vater gebirt sînen sun âne underlâz, und ich spriche mêr: er gebirt mich sînen sun und den selben sun. Ich spriche mêr: er gebirt mich niht aleine sînen sun, mêr: er gebirt mich sich und sich mich und mich sîn wcsen und sîn natûre. In dem innersten quelle dâ quille ich ûz in dem heiligen geiste, dâ ist éin leben und éin wesen und éin werk … Dar umbe ist der himelische vater wærlîche mîn vater, wan ich sîn sun bin und allez daz von im hân, daz ich hân, und ich der selbe sun bin und niht ein ander. Wan der vater éin werk würket, dar umbe würket er mich sînen eingebornen sun âne allen underscheit. 71 Eckhart, Sermon 13, Complete Mystical Works, p. 104; Predigt 5a, DW, I, 77, vv. 10–18: Er spricht ouch, daz der vatter an allem dem, daz er sinem sun Jesum Chrm ye gegah in menschlicher natur, so hat er mich ee angesehen und mich mer liebgehebt dann in und gab mir es ee dann im: als wie? Er gab im durch mich, wann es waz mir not. dorum, was er im gab, do meinet er mich mit und gab mirs als wol als im; ich nim nut usz weder eynung noch heilikeit der gottheit noch nutzend nit. alles daz er ·im in menschlicher natur ye gegah, daz enist mir nit frömbder noch verrer dann im. wann got enkan nit wenig geben; entweders er musz zemol gehen oder gar nut gehen. 72 For a commentary with insight on articles 10–12 of the bull In agro dominico, see S. Kikuchi, From Eckhart to Ruusbroec. A Critical Inheritance of Mystical Themes in the Fourteenth Century (Leuven, 2014), pp. 177–83.

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The Beguines of Medieval Świdnica to us all with Christ unambiguously.’73 This means that the term ‘human’ was understood by the Dominican unambiguously as being the same in the statements ‘Christ is human’ and ‘the human person is human’. This signifies that for Eckhart the human nature taken by Christ is indivisible in the same way as His person is indivisible. In short, the human nature of Christ and the human nature of every other human being is perfectly united and indivisible (ungetailt).74 According to Eckhart, the individuality of a particular human person should be overcome and it is the task of man to become God: The masters declare that human nature has nothing to do with time, being wholly unshakable and much more inward and close to a man than he is to himself. That is why God took on human nature and united it with his own Person. Then human nature became God, for he put on bare human nature and not any man. Therefore, if you want to be the same Christ and God, go out of all that which the eternal Word did not assume.75

The concept of an indivisible human nature led Eckhart directly to the idea that man, by virtue of his shared humanity, has direct and unambiguous access to all the gifts which Christ receives thanks to His hypostatic union. People similarly become children of God as Jesus is Son. We may speak of a sui generis communality of Christ’s human nature and the human nature of every other human being. In other words, all that we say about His humanity we can say equally about the humanity of other people. Man is not ‘only’ like Christ; he is completely at one with Christ. Let us cite once more that fragment of article 10: ‘He converts me into His being as one, not as like. By the living God it is true that there is no difference.’ Christology and anthropology of this kind did not go without consequences for other areas of theology such as teaching about the Eucharist. As we know, according to Catholic theology, Christ is able to change the substance of bread and wine into the substance of His own Body and Blood. In the Eucharist this happens really (realiter). He Himself, His true glorified humanity is present in the Blessed Sacrament. However, according to Eckhart

73 Eckhart,

Expositio sancti evangelii secundum Iohannem [no. 289] in Meister Eckhart, Die lateinischen Werke, ed. L. Sturlese et al. (Stuttgart, 1936–), III, 241: Natura est nobis omnibus aequaliter communis cum Christo univoce. 74 Eckhart, Sermon 47, Complete Mystical Works, pp. 255–7; Predigt 46, DW, II, 379, v. 5 – 382, v. 8. 75 Meister Eckhart, Sermon 92, p. 450; Predigt 24, DW, I, 420, vv. 1–7: die meister sprechent, daz menschlich natûre mit der zît niht habe ze tuonne und daz si zemâle unberüerlich sî und dem menschen vil inniger und næher sî dan er im selber. Und dar umbe nam got menschlîche natûre an sich und einigete sie sîner persônen. Dâ wart menschlich natûre got, wan er menschlîche natûre blôz und keinen menschen an sich nam. Dar umbe, wilt dû der selbe Krist sîn und got sîn, sô gahc alles des abe, daz daz êwige wort an sich niht ennam.

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A Dominican Inquisitor and the Theological Controversies of His Times such a change should be the aim of every believer. In one of his rare texts concerning the Eucharist,76 Meister Eckhart encourages his readers: And by the indwelling God they will be so inwardly trained and weaned of the bodily hindrances of temporal things and limbered up toward divine things, and so, strengthened by God’s body, your body will be renewed. For we should be turned into Him and become fully united with Him, so that His own becomes ours, and ours all becomes His: our heart and His one heart and our body and His one body. Thus our senses and our will, intention, our powers and our limbs are borne into Him so that we sense and become aware of Him in all the powers of body and soul.77

Article 10 probably was formulated on the basis of this text, for it opens with the words: ‘We are fully transformed and converted into God; in the same way as in the sacrament the bread is converted into the body of Christ, so I am converted into Him.’ Let us go back to the testimony of Margaret the Painter and the information she provides about the views of the Świdnica beguines. In the light of articles 10 and, which we have cited from the bull In agro dominico, it is highly probable that John of Schwenkenfeld recognized the condemned theses of Meister Eckhart in the statements made by Margaret. The Silesian inquisitor reacted and formulated a special article in his record. Let us emphasize that he opens with the instruction placed in the end section of In agro dominico: ‘If anyone should presume to defend or approve the same articles in an obstinate manner, we desire and order a process of heresy against those who would so defend or approve the fifteen articles and the two last.’78 As the inquisitor judged matters, the case of the Świdnica beguines met the conditions for implementing the pope’s instructions.

76 R.

Valléjo, ‘Eucharistie’, in Encyclopédie des mystiques, pp. 472–6. The Talk of Instruction, c. 20, in Complete Mystical Works, p. 509; Traktat 2: Die rede der underscheidunge, DW, V, 265, v. 9 – 255, v. 8: und von dem înwonenden gote sô werdent sie inwendic gewenet und gespenet von lîplîchen hindernissen der zîtlîchen dinge und werdent geringe ze götlîchen dingen, und, gesterket von sînem lîchamen, sô wirf dîn lîchame erniuwet. Wan wir suln in in werden gewandelt und alzemâle werden geeiniget, daz daz sîne unser wirt, und allez daz unser wirt sîn; unser herze und daz sîne éin herze und unser lîchame und der sîne éin lîchame. Alsô suln unser sinne und unser wille, meinunge, krefte und glider in in getragen werden, daz man sîn enpfinde und gewar werde in allen kreften lîbes und sêle. 78 The bull of John XXII, In agro dominico: Si qui vero eosdem articulos pertinaciter defendere vel approbare presumpserint, contra illos, qui predictos quindecim articulos et duos alios ultimos seu eorum aliquem sic defenderint aut approbaverint tanquam contra hereticos. 77 Eckhart,

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The Beguines of Medieval Świdnica Is God Adored in Spirit and in Truth without Use of Lips and Tongue? Thanks to further information given by Margaret the Painter, the inquisitor learned how the local beguines interpreted certain biblical texts. The woman admitted that: the beguines also utter such words through which simple folk fall all the more into error than they are edified and sometimes they explain the Scriptures falsely. For example, they explain the true adorers [shall adore the Father in spirit and in truth] (John 4:23) thus: you must adore God without your lips and tongue, which means adore Him in spirit and truth (I.IV.29).

Obviously, it is difficult to imagine that the woman being questioned proffered of her own initiative such a detailed exegetical question. Rather, we should understand that John of Schwenkenfeld himself introduced this question and waited for Margaret’s reaction. Once more, the inquisition trial in causa fidei transformed into an academic debate de subtilibus theologiae. In this case the Dominican raised a theological controversy closely connected with Mesiter Eckhart. It is easy to guess what a ‘model’ exegesis of John 4:23 should look like according to John of Schwenkenfeld. We already know that the Polish inquisitor identified himself with the legacy of Thomas Aquinas. The inquisitor regarded all other theological concepts which were not in accord with the thought of the sainted Dominican as suspect at the very least. In the case of the biblical text cited here, Aquinas proposed an explanation which differed sharply from the one attributed to the Świdnica beguines. In his Summa theologiae Thomas Aquinas dealt directly with this claim: ‘It seems that adoration does not require a physical action. For John (4:23) says the true adorers shall adore the Father in spirit and in truth. But what happens in spirit does not cause a physical action. Therefore worship does not cause a physical action.’79 Generally speaking, Thomas passed over the question of whether worship of God in spirit and in truth takes place in silence. It was obvious to him that authentic prayer always has a spiritual dimension, and at the same time he stressed that the body should play an active role in a person’s spiritual life. For this reason, each adoration which comes from within a person and is expressed in external gestures and audible words has an indubitably spiritual character.80 Aquinas did not only not exclude the body from the practice of prayer, but also stressed that true worshippers praying in spirit and in truth pray integrally or with their own person, body 79 Thomas Aquinas,

Summa theologiae, II-II, q. 84, art. 2, arg. 1, ed. Commissio Leonina, Opera omnia, IX, 212a: Videtur quod adoratio non importet actum corporalem. Dicitur enim Io. 4.23: Veri adoratores adorabunt Patrem in spiritu et veritate. Sed id quod fit in spiritu non pertinet ad corporalem actum. Ergo adoratio non importat corporalem actum. 80 Ibid., ad 1, p. 212b.

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A Dominican Inquisitor and the Theological Controversies of His Times and soul. Thus, according to Thomas, perfect worship has a spiritual-physical character. In Lectura super Iohannem the Dominican divine proposed as many as three possible interpretations of John 4:23.81 As in the Summa, we do not find even the slightest hint that adoration in spirit and in truth takes place, as the beguines are said to have claimed, ‘without your lips and tongue’. According to the first interpretation, true worshippers do not follow Jewish rituals and sacrificial practices. Those were only a foretelling of the true sacrifice of Jesus Christ and the true sacramental sacrifices that were to come, namely the Eucharist. Moreover, the Old Testament rites did not take place in spirit, since they were exclusively physical, or in truth, because they were only symbolic.82 Next, according to the second of Thomas’s proposed interpretations, adoration of God by non-Jewish and non-Christian worshippers such as the Samaritans ‘[was] in error for they worshipped what they did not know; Jewish adoration is true with a true knowledge of God’.83 Finally, according to his third interpretation, the Dominican provided two necessary conditions for authentic worship in spirit and in truth. Firstly, worship in spirit has a spiritual character, which means that it requires spiritual fervour (fervor spiritus). Secondly, worship equally requires acknowledgement of the true faith along with avoidance of incorrect gestures, pretence, and fictions.84 As we can see, Thomas did not mention either silence or limitations of internal signs, words, and gestures among the conditions necessary for worship in spirit and in truth. For rejection of spoken prayer would not only reduce human activity to the spiritual sphere, but also undermine the significance of communal public prayer, especially the Eucharist. For Thomas, the spirit permeates the body and expresses itself in it, and does not separate itself from it. However, the exegesis of John 4:23 presented in the commentaries and sermons of Meister Eckhart looks completely different. The Dominican mystic presented his main interpretation in his Exposition on the Holy Gospel according to St John (Expositio sancti evangelii secundum Iohannem). We should recall that in this commentary, unlike Aquinas, Eckhart provides glosses on only selected verses of the Gospel; for example, he makes an unusually detailed commentary on the prologue (John 1:1–14) and passes over almost the whole of the description of Christ’s Passion (John 18:19).85 Fortunately, he did deal

81 Thomas

Aquinas, Super Evangelium S. Ioannis lectura, nos 609–12, ed. R. Cai (Rome, 1952), pp. 115–16. 82 Ibid., no. 609, p. 116. 83 Ibid., no. 610, p. 116: Cum errore erat, quia adorabant quod nesciebant, ista vero est cum vera Dei cognitione. 84 Ibid., no. 611, p. 116. 85 D. F. Duclow, ‘Meister Eckhart’s Latin Biblical Exegesis’, in A Companion, ed. Hackett, p. 322.

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The Beguines of Medieval Świdnica with the verses that concern us here, and he explained as follows what, in his opinion, is meant by worship in spirit and in truth: Those who worship Him should do so in spirit and in truth, noting first that here are meant those who believe praying with a multitude of words (Matthew 6:7–8) and when you are praying speak not much as the heathens, for they think that in their much speaking they may be heard. Be not you therefore like to them. And in Matthew 15:8 and Mark 7:6 it is said against these people: This people honoureth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. Such people make of God a she-goat and feed it on leaves. Secondly, what is said in spirit and in truth may be explained according to 1 Cor. 14:15: I will pray with the spirit, I will pray also with the understanding; I will sing with the spirit, I will sing also with the understanding.86

Thus, for Eckhart the worship of which Jesus speaks certainly does not consist of speaking words. First of all, the Dominican mystic cites the relevant biblical verses which condemn wordiness in prayer and those who ‘honoureth me with their lips’, and then he quotes the words of St Paul which could have been interpreted easily as the identification of prayer in spirit with silent mental prayer. Undoubtedly, Eckhart himself also preferred this point of view. However, in his sermon Stand at the Gate (Sta in porta), Eckhart speaks of the necessity of silence as a condition sine qua non for true worship in spirit and in truth. In the opening words of the sermon he notes that in order to reach the innermost part of the human soul and hear the voice of God a person must be silent: ‘All voices and all sounds must cease and perfect stillness must reign there, a still silence’.87 In a further part of the sermon, explaining in detail what true prayer is, Eckhart based himself on the biblical verse which concerns us here. According to him, prayer in spirit and truth consists of entering into the internal world of the soul and uniting with what is not material or carnal there. Furthermore, a person at prayer must become spirit: ‘He who would praise God must be holy and collected and be one spirit and not be anywhere outside’.88 A human becomes like God and through this 86 Eckhart,

Expositio sancti evangelii secundum Iohannem [no. 378], Die lateinischen Werke, III, 322, vv. 3–10: Quantum vero ad secundum quod subditur: ‘qui adorant eum, in spiritu et. veritate oportet adorare’ notandum primo quod hie percutiuntur qui in multiloquio verborum orantes confidunt, Matth. 6: ‘orantes nolite multum loqui sicut ethnici; putant enim quod in multiloquio suo exaudiantur. Nolite ergo assimilari eis’. Et Matth. … … … … … … …