CHAP. V.

Concerning the divisions and heresies that troubled the church during this century.

I.

I.

THE

XI.

PART II.

Ancient

HE state of the ancient sects, and parti- CENT. cularly of the Nestorians and Monophysites, who resided in Asia and Egypt, under the Mahometan government, was now much the same that it had been in the preceding century, sects. neither extremely prosperous, nor absolutely miserable. The case of the Manichæans, or Pauli- Manichæcians, whom the Grecian emperors had banished ans. from the eastern provinces into Bulgaria and Thrace, was much more unhappy, on account of the perpetual conflicts they had to sustain with the Greeks, who persecuted and oppressed them with much keenness and animosity. The Greeks, as usually happens upon like occasions, laid the blame of their violent measures upon the Manichæans, whom they represented as a turbulent, perfidious, and sanguinary faction, and as the declared and inveterate enemies of the Grecian empire [m]. This, however, is by no means to be received as an imperial state of the case; at least, it appears from many circumstances, that if the Manichæans were exasperated against the Greeks, their resentment was owing to the violent and injurious treatment they had received from them. The Grecian pontiffs and clergy were far from being destitute of the odious spirit of persecution; and it is certain that the emperors, instigated and set on by them, had exhausted the patience of the Paulicians by repeated cruelties and vexations, and alienated their affections by inflicting upon them

VOL. II.

рр

[m] Anna Comnena Alexiados, lib. v. p. 105. lib. vi. p. 124. 126. 145.

CENT. them, without interruption, a variety of punishXI. ments, such as banishment, confiscation of goods, and other such marks of severity and violence.

PART II.

An account

of the Pau

Alexius Comnenus, who, by his learning, was an ornament to the imperial sceptre, perceiving that the Manichæans were not to be vanquished, without the greatest difficulty, by the force of arms, and observing also that their numbers increased from day to day both in Thrace and in the adjacent provinces, had recourse to the power of reason and argument to conquer their obstinacy, and spent whole days at Philippopolis, in disputing with the principal doctors of that pernicious sect. Many of them yielded to the victorious arguments of this royal disputant, and his learned associates; nor is this to be so much wondered at, since their demonstrations were accompanied and enforced by rewards and punishments. Such of the Manichæans as retracted their errors, and returned to the bosom of the Greek church, were loaded with gifts, honours, and privileges, according to their respective stations; while such as stood firm against the reasoning of the emperor, were inhumanly condemned to perpetual imprisonment [n].

Their

II. Many of the Paulicians, either from a prinlicians in ciple of zeal for the propagation of their opiEurope. nions, or from a desire of getting rid of the persecution and oppression they suffered under the Grecian yoke, retired from Bulgaria and Thrace, and formed settlements in other countries. first migration was into Italy; from whence, in process of time, they sent colonies into almost all the other provinces of Europe, and formed gradually a considerable number of religious assemblies,

[n] There is an ample and circumstantial account of this controversy between the emperor and the Manichæans in the work mentioned in the preceding note, lib. xiv. p. 337.

XI. PART II.

blies, who had adhered to their doctrine, and who CENT. were afterwards persecuted with the utmost vehemence by the Roman pontiffs [o]. It is difficult to fix the precise period of time when the Paulicians began to take refuge in Europe; it is however, undoubtedly certain from the most authentic testimonies, that a considerable number of that sect were, about the middle of this century, settled in Lombardy, Insubria, and principally at Milan; and that many of them led a wandering life in France, Germany, and other countries, where they captivated the esteem and admiration of the Pp2 multitude,

[o] See Lud. Ant. Muratori Antiquitat. Ital. medii æi, tom. v. p. 83.-Limborch. Historia Inquisitionis, p. 31.—Thom. Aug. Richinii Dissertatio de Catharis, which is prefixed to the Summa B. Monetæ contra Catharos, p. 17, 18. We might also refer, upon this occasion, to Glab. Rodulph. Histor. lib. iii. cap. viii. to Matth. Paris, and other ancient writers. Certain Italian authors, and among others Richini, seem unwilling to acknowledge, that the Paulicians arrived first in Italy, and proceeded from thence into the other provinces of Europe; and maintain, on the contrary, that their first settlement was in France, and that from thence they came into Italy. These writers look upon it as ignominious to their country, to be considered as the first European nation which fostered such a pernicious and impious sect in its bosom. Be that as it may, their hypothesis is favoured by Petr. de Marca himself, a Frenchman, who, in his Histoire de Bearn, livr. viii. cap. xiv. p. 728. declares it as his opinion, that the Paulicians joined themselves to the Gallic armies that returned from the holy war in Palestine, by the province of Bulgaria, and were thus conducted into France. But that learned author alleges no proof to support this opinion: it appears on the contrary, from the records of the Inquisition of Thoulouse, published by Limborch, and from other authentic pieces, that the Paulicians settled first in Sicily, Lombardy, Liguria, and the Milanese, and sent from thence their doctors and missionaries into France. See the Codex Tolosanus, p. 13, 14, 32, 68, 69. & passim. We learn also from the Code of Thoulouse, that the French Paulicians, who were called Albigenses, had no bishop to consecrate their Anciani (such was the title they gave to their presbyters), so that such of them as were desirous of being placed in the order of presbyters, were obliged to repair to Italy, in order to their being regularly installed.

PART II.

CENT. multitude, by their sanctimonious looks, and the XI. uncommon air of piety, which they put on with much affectation. In Italy they were called Paterini and Cathari, or rather Gazari, which latter appellation the Germans have preserved, with a small alteration only, which was proper to adapt it to the genius of their language [p]. In France they were called Albigenses, from the town of Alby, in the Upper Languedoc, in Latin Albigia [q]. They were likewise called Bulgarians, in France, because they came from Bulgaria, and because the head of their sect resided in that country; as also Publicans, which was probably a corrupt pronunciation of Paulicians, and boni homines, or good men, with several other titles and epithets [r]. III. The

[p] The title of Paterini which was given to this sect in Italy, has been already explained in the second chapter of the second part of this century, sect 13, note [r]. As to the term Catharus, it was undoubtedly, when applied to the Paulicians, the same with Gazarus, as I have elsewhere demonstrated. See Histor. Ord. Apostol. p. 367. The country which bore, in this century, the name of Gazaria, was what we now call the Lesser Tartary.

[9] That the Paulicians were called Albigenses in France, and were a sect entirely distinct from the Waldenses and other heretics, appears evidently from the Codex Inquisitionis Tolosanæ, already mentioned. They received this name from a town in Aquitain, called Albigia, or Alby, where their errors were condemned in a council held in the year 1176. See Chatel, Memoires de l'Histoire de Languedoc, p. 305. It is, therefore, a mistake to consider the Albigenses as a sect so called from Alby's being the place of their birth, their residence, or the seat of their principal assembly; since that name was given them for no other reason than their having been condemned in a council held in that town. There were, indeed, several Paulicians among the various sects of dissenters from the church of Rome, that inhabited the country about Alby; and it is also true, that the title of Albigenses is usually extended to all the heretics, of whatever sect or denomination they were, who dwelt in these parts.

[r] The learned Du Fresne, in his Glossarium Latin, medii avi, tom. i. p. 1338, has proved, in an ample manner, that the Paulicians were called in France, Bulgares, and, by a cor

rupt

PART II.

Orleans

Mystics.

III. The first religious assembly which the Pau- CENT. licians had formed in Europe, is said to have been XI. discovered at Orleans, in the year 1017, under the reign of Robert. A certain Italian lady is The Manisaid to have been at the head of this sect; its chæans of principal members were twelve canons of the ca- seem to thedral of Orleans, men eminently distinguished have been by their piety and learning, among whom Lisosius and Stephen held the first rank; and it was composed, in general, of a considerable number of citizens, who were far from being of the meanest condition. The impious doctrines, professed by these canons, were discovered by a certain priest named Heribert, and by Arifastus, a Norman nobleman, upon which Robert assembled a council at Orleans, and employed the most effectual methods that could be thought of to bring these heretics to a better mind. But all his endeavours were to no purpose; this pernicious sect adhered obstinately to their principles, and hence they were at length condemned to be burnt alive [s].

It is difficult to come to a fixed determination with respect to the character and doctrine of these people; for when we examine matters attentively, Pp3

we

rupt pronunciation of that word Bougres. The same author in his Observations ad Villeharduini Historiam Constantinopolit. p. 169. has fully demonstrated, that the names Popolicana and Publicani, that were imposed upon these Manichæans, were no more than a corruption of the term Pauliciana, ill pronounced. The appellation of Boni Homines, or Lo bos Homes, as the southern French spoke at that time, was a title which the Paulicians attributed to themselves. See the Codex. Inquisit. Tolosanæ, p. 22. 84. 95, &c. and more especially p. 131.

[s] The accounts that the ancient writers have given of these heretics are collected by Boulay, in his Hist. Acad. Paris. tom. i. p. 364.-Charl. Plessis D'Argentre, Collection. judicior. de novis erroribus, tom. i. p. 5.-Jo. Launoy, De Scolis celebrioribus Caroli Magni, cap. xxiv. p. 90.-The history of the synod of Orleans, in which this sect was condemned, is given by Luc. Dacherius, in his Spicileg. Veter. Scriptor. tom. i. p. 604.