plaisted@cs.unc.edu (David Plaisted) (08/17/89)
The Albigenses were a religious group in France in the Middle Ages. A recent posting asserted that they were Manicheans. However, I doubted this. Here are the results of some checking of references. Perrin, Gretzer, and Favyn claim that they are another branch of the Waldenses; the Waldenses dwelt in Italy in the Middle Ages and were almost eliminated by persecution in the 17th century. The Albigenses are also similar to the Paulicians, who are also accused of being Manicheans. However, Gibbon vigorously denies this, as does Faber. In the early 13th century, the Catholic church sponsored a bloody crusade against the Albigenses, promising forgiveness of all sins to those who participated. The Albigenses were exterminated or exiled. The Albigenses were one of a number of groups in Europe during the Middle Ages who had the Scriptures and held to them and denied the authority of the Pope, the mass, the adoration of Mary, the veneration of saints, auricular confession, and so on; thus, their faith was in many ways similar to modern Protestant faith. To me it seems that a Bible based faith does not mix with Manicheanism. A Roman Catholic historian (Favyn) asserts that the doctrines of Jovinianus were passed on to Vigilantus and then to the Waldenses and Albigenses and from them to Huss and Jerome's followers and Wycliffe; this is an evidence of their purity (from a Protestant point of view). The purity of the Waldenses' faith was attested by Protestants who met with them after the Reformation, according to McCabe. Anyway, I think we should be careful, in our ease and prosperity, not to judge as heretics those who suffered and died for their faith, without careful examination. I hope someone finds this information interesting. Dave Plaisted plaisted@cs.unc.edu (The Lollards were also called Manicheans in the same posting; they were followers of Wycliffe.) [I'm certainly not in a position to respond authoritatively. I can only say that every church history I have read, including major Protestant writers, classifies the Albigenses as similar to Manicheans. But it could be that they are working from suspect information. One problem is that both the Albigenses and the Waldensians covered a fairly large area over a fairly large period of time. So there may well have been differences in practice. I agree with your characterization that the Waldensians are basically main-stream Protestants who just had the bad luck to start too early. However in Southern France there was apparently some contact between the Waldensians and Albigenses, and some (probably small number of) Waldensians rejected the created world in Manichean fashion. I agree that the evidence is not helped by the fact that it mostly comes from the inquisition. But it does appear that most Protestant historians are willing to credit it. Both Roland Bainton (in "Christianity") and John Clare (in the Eerdman's Handbook to the History of Christianity) portray the Albigenses as clearly Manichean. They believed in two gods, good and bad. Matter was evil. The OT was rejected, as was the Christ's incarnation. I didn't see any evidence of heresy on the part of the Lollards, but I don't have as much information about them as about the Albigenses. (And even that is not exactly primary source material.) Do we have anyone who is familiar with the primary sources from this period? --clh]