Wakefield, Walter; Evans, Austin., Heresies of the High Middle Ages (Records of Western Civilization. New York: Columbia University Press)
Text name(s):
Number of pages of primary source text: 560
Author(s):
- Alan of Lille
- Bernard of Clairvaux
- Gui, Bernard
- John of Salisbury
- Map, Walter
- Otto of Freising
- Peter of les Vaux-de-Cernay
- Stephen de Bourbon
- Vacarius
- Waldes, Peter
- William of Newburgh
- Ademar de Chabannes
- Anselm of Alessandria
- Bonacursus
- Burci, Salvo
- Capelli, James
- Eberwin von Helfenstein
- Ives de Narbonne
- Moneta of Cremona
- Peter of Bruys
- Rainerius Sacconi
Dates: 300 - 1500
Archival Reference:
Original Language(s):
- English - Anglo-Saxon / Old English
- French - Old French
- Italian
- Latin
- Other
Translation:
- Translated into English.
Translation Comments:
Geopolitical Region(s):
- Europe
- France
- England
- Germany
- Italy
County/Region:
Record Types:
- Inquisition - Heresy
- Treatise - Instruction/Advice
- Sermons
- Letter
- Commentary / Gloss / Exegesis
- Disputation - Philosophical/Theological
- Law - Treatise/Commentary
- Theology
Subject Headings:
- Theology - Heretical
- Theology - History
- Magic / Witchcraft
- Heresy
- Historiography
- Literature - Devotional
- Literature - Didactic
Apparatus:
- Index
- Appendix
- Bibliography
- Introduction
Comments:
Includes texts written about heresy, text written by heretics, inquisitorial records and manuals and theological treatise and letters. Each text has an introduction by Wakefield and Evans that gives the historical background of each text and its significance. The texts originate mostly from France and Italy, but a few are from Germany and England. The appendix is a list of polemical sources, in chronological order, that attacked heresy. The bibliography is a list of the sources cited in the authors’ notes, which puts an asterisk in front of the sources translated in the work. The index is mostly categorized by names of people, but a few important terms, such as Cathar, dualism, etc., are used and indexed.
Introduction Summary:
Wakefield and Evans present a sketch of heresies in the high middle ages, the origins of the heretical movements, the way in which the medieval Church viewed each specific heresy and the spread of each movement. The introduction focuses mostly on the Cathar heresy, and many of the book’s translated sources deal with Catharism. Within the introduction Wakefield and Evans deal with past historiography on inquisition and heresy, and by reading the introduction the researcher gains a good grasp of the heretical doctrine and the Church’s attempt to squelch the apparent rise in heresy.
Cataloger: CDB
