§ 1. galatian
in order to understand the situation, political and ecclesiastical, in southern france we must bear in mind that the gauls of the west and the galatae of the east were of the same stock, and that each branch, though several nations intervened, retained unimpaired its racial characteristics. galli, galatae, keltae are but different forms of the same word. livy would speak of gauls in the east; polybius of galatians in the west. the gauls were a warm-hearted people, but unstable in their friendships, impetuous and courageous in war, but unable to wear down a foe by stubborn endurance. as c?sar noticed: "sunt in consiliis capiendis mobiles, et novis plerumque rebus student;" an opinion endorsed in modern times by one of their own nation—thierry: "une bravoure personnelle que rien n'égale chez les peuples anciens—un esprit franc, impétueux, ouvert à toutes les impressions, éminemment intelligent—mais, à c?té de cela, une mobilité extrême, point de constance, une répugnance marquée aux idées de discipline et d'ordre." to these traits may be added vivid imagination, a fondness for song and poetry, a love of nature so intimate that allegory became reality.
gaul had become one of the perpetual conquests of rome and had submitted to its governmental system, but nothing could eradicate its racial peculiarities. the {20} gaul was an individualist, the roman an imperialist, and hence the gaul might be conquered, but never destroyed. now this imperialism which the church took over from the state was developed vigorously and rapidly under pope gregory vii and his successors, and the insistence of it aroused a corresponding reaction in gaulish nationalism. the church had condemned nominalism as inimical to catholic unity, and had adopted the opposite scholastic theory of realism as most agreeable to the theory of the holy roman empire. this theory, however, now declared to be a dogma of the catholic faith, struck at the root of national and individual independence. such an independence france had constantly shewn, and it may be traced not only to the racial antipathy between gaul and pelagian, but to the fact that western gaul had never lost touch with its eastern kin. its christianity from the earliest times was on eastern rather than western lines. its monasticism was of the oriental type. the letter which the christians of gaul in a.d. 177, describing the sufferings and deaths of the martyrs in the persecution, sent to "the brethren in asia and phrygia, having the same faith and hope of redemption with us," can only be explained on the assumption that they were of the same kith and kin. in fact, one of the martyrs, alexander, was a phrygian.[13] the gallican liturgy was eastern (ephesian), not western.
§ 2. slavonic
the spirit of independence which pervaded southern france would be strengthened by its constant communication with slavonia, for the slavs, according to {21} procopius, had the same national characteristics. "they are not ruled by one man, but from the most ancient times have been under a democracy. in favourable and unfavourable situations all their affairs are placed before a common council." the "'times' history of the world" says: "the slavs are characterised by a vivacity, a warmth, a mobility, a petulance, an exuberance not always found in the same degree among even the people of the south. among the slavs of purer blood these characteristics have marked their political life with a mobile, inconstant and anarchical spirit.... the distinguishing faculty of the race is a certain flexibility and elasticity of temperament and character which render it adaptable to the reception and the reproduction of all sorts of diverse ideas." this likeness of temperament would naturally draw two nations together and account for the readiness with which the gallican mind absorbed slavonic propaganda.
§ 3. native
the country had been early converted to christianity, and the dominant form of christianity was now roman. but when we speak of a country being "converted" in the middle ages, we must regard the statement with considerable qualifications. conversions were often political conveniences, rather than personal convictions. the people followed their chiefs, accepted the church's ministrations and attended her services, but knew next to nothing of christian truth. in france two things contributed to this ignorance: (a) the official language of the church being different from that of the people; (b) the slackness and refusal of the church in providing services and sermons in a language which the people understood.
between the middle of the eighth and ninth centuries {22} latin was the language only of the learned and officials; the mass of the people ceased to understand it. latin was sacrosanct, and to address god in any other language was profane. hence the church lost its spiritual hold upon the masses. "the hungry sheep looked up and were not fed." so serious was the situation that charlemagne summoned five councils at five different places, the most southern being arles, and ordered the bishops to use the vulgar tongue in the instruction of their flocks. from this it is clear that the bishops and clergy were bilingual, but deliberately abstained from adopting in their pastoral work a language which their people could understand; even the bible was a closed book. the heretics, on the contrary, were most zealous in supplying this want, particularly the waldenses. not only did they translate the whole of the new testament and parts of the old, but added notes embodying sententiae or opinions of the fathers. they contended that prayers in an unknown tongue did not profit. they knew by heart large portions of holy scripture[14] and readily quoted it in their discussions with the church. the catharists also had composed a little work called "perpendiculum scientiarum," or "plummet of knowledge" (cf. is. xxviii. 17), consisting of passages of scripture whereby catholicism might be easily and readily tested. not until the eleventh century do we come across in the west any translation into the vulgar tongue by the church, and then only of legends of saints in the dialect of rouen. in southern france the vernacular which ultimately emerged was known as langue d'oc, and sometimes proven?al. "in its rise proven?al literature stands completely by itself, and in its development it long continued to be {23} absolutely original. this literature took a poetic form, and this poetry, unlike classical poetry, is rhymed." no class of literature is more easily remembered than rhymed verse in common speech. the results of it, therefore, need not cause us surprise. it produced a sense of unity, of comradeship. latin might be the language of the church, but this was the language of the people. its growth created a cleavage between church and people, which the former sought to bridge by giving the latter accounts of miracles and legends in verse and prose in the romance language, and by permitting them to sing songs of their own composition—and not necessarily sacred or even modest songs—in the churches.[15] but the experiment or concession only served to secularize religion, and turned the services into amusements. nor was it in accord with the real policy of catholicism which was to prevent the people generally from forming their own opinions of christianity by an independent study of the scriptures—a policy which to the gallican temperament would be particularly odious and exasperating.[16]
§ 4. secular elements
secular causes also account for the growing unpopularity of the church. on the one hand the seigneurs resented the increasing wealth and land encroachments of bishops and abbots. "in the eleventh century the fear of the approaching final judgment and the belief in the {24} speedy dissolution of the world spread throughout all europe. some bestowed the whole of their possessions on the church."[17] but when the donors recovered from their alarm, they regretted their sacrifice, and their descendants would be provoked every day at the sight of others in enjoyment of their ancestral lands. moreover, the break-up of charlemagne's vast kingdom threw great power into the hands of the dukes and counts. in their own domains they were practically autocrats. the only check upon their sovereignty came from the church, whose bishops and abbots were often able to protect themselves by their own routiers or by ecclesiastical penalties, such as excommunication. but the lords countered this by thrusting their own nominees, often their own relations, into the most powerful and lucrative offices of the church, or by keeping them vacant and appropriating their revenues. a semblance of legality was thrown over this practice by the fact that "the bishoprics being secular fiefs, their occupants were bound to the performance of feudal service," and the investiture into the temporalities of the office belonged to the sovereign. thus the freedom of the church in the election and appointment of her officers was curtailed.
§ 5. commerce
on the other hand, the increase of commercial prosperity broke down the feudal system. the merchants took advantage of the poverty of the counts through constant wars by obtaining in exchange for loans certain privileges which, by charter, settled into the inalienable rights of the ville franche. they built for themselves fortified houses in the towns, and from them laughed to scorn the threats of the seigneurs. their enterprise was constantly {25} bringing money into the country: the non-productive church was constantly sending it out. trade with foreign countries created in commercial and industrial circles a sense of independence, and their enlarged outlook gave birth to a religious tolerance favourable to doctrines other than, or in addition to, those of catholicism. thus peter waldo, the merchant of lyons, was moved to devote his wealth to disseminate the word of god as freely as he disposed of his merchandise. these goods had to be made, and the actual manufacturers, especially the weavers, shared in the general prosperity and imbibed this freedom of thought. erasmus' great wish, that the weaver might warble the scriptures at his loom,[18] was anticipated by three centuries by the albigenses, and especially by the waldenses. so widely did heresy spread among these textile workers that heretic and tesserand became synonymous. at cordes a nominal factory was set up, but in reality a theological school for instruction in catharism.[19]
§ 6. literature
although it suited the purpose of the church to regard them as "unlearned and ignorant men," it was from the people that the proven?al literature emanated. the bourgeoisie encouraged poetry and art. the industrial classes turned in contempt from the stupid and impossible stories of saints to a personal study of the scriptures and their patristic explanations. the poor men of lyons were poor in spirit, not in pocket. business {26} ability and training enabled them to organize their movement on lines that were both flexible and compact, and their wealth supported their officers. clerks could copy out their pamphlets, and their colporteurs or travellers could distribute them. at the beginning of the thirteenth century the marquis of montferrand, in auvergne, just before his death, burnt a great quantity of books, especially those of albigensian propaganda, which he had been collecting for forty years. (stephen de belleville, 85.) the proven?al, arnauld, was a most prolific writer, and sold or gave to the catholics little books deriding the saints of the church. moneta de cremona, in his great work against the albigenses, declares that he drew his information of their doctrines from their own writings, and quotes largely from a teacher called tetricus, a dialectician and interpreter of the bible. tetricus was probably that william who was canon of nevers, returned to toulouse in 1201, under the name of theodoric, and was held in great esteem by the albigenses for his knowledge.[20]
§ 7. moral and spiritual elements
but of all the causes of the unpopularity of the church the unworthy lives of the clergy was the most potent, the evidence for which comes less from the accusations of the heretics than from the confessions of the church itself. to allow immodest songs, composed by the people, to be sung in church is sufficiently significant of the low standard of the clerical mind; but instances are given of the clergy themselves composing these songs. agobard, bishop of lyons, found there a service-book compiled by an assistant bishop (chorepiscopus) so {27} indecent that he could not read it without a blush. the decrees of councils throw a strong light upon the luxurious and worldly lives of bishops and clergy—their costly clothes, painted saddles and gold-mounted reins, joining in games of chance, their habit of swearing, and allowing others to swear at them without reproof, welcoming to their tables strolling players, hearing mattins in bed, being frivolous when saying the offices, excommunicating persons wrongfully, simony, tolerating clerical concubinage, dispensing with banns, celebrating secret marriages, quashing wills. these are not the slanders of heretics, but the testimony of the church in formal assembly. the pope, innocent iii, is equally scandalized. writing of the archbishop of narbonne and its clergy, he exclaims: "blind! dumb dogs that cannot bark! simoniacs who sell justice, absolve the rich and condemn the poor! they do not keep even the laws of the church. they accumulate benefices and entrust the priesthood and ecclesiastical dignities to unworthy priests and illiterate children. hence the insolence of the heretics; hence the contempt of nobles and people for god and his church. in this region prelates are the laughing stock of the laity. and the cause of all the evil is the archbishop of narbonne. he knows no other god than money. his heart is a bank. during the ten years he has been in office he has never once visited his province, not even his own diocese. he took five hundred golden pennies for consecrating the bishop of maguelonne, and when we asked him to raise subsidies for the christians in the east he refused. when a church falls vacant, he refrains from nominating an incumbent, and appropriates the income. for the same reason he has reduced by half the number of canons (eighteen) and kept the archdeaconries vacant. in his diocese monks and canons regular have renounced their order and married wives; {28} they have become money-lenders, lawyers, jugglers and doctors." even papal legates, sent to combat heresy, conformed to the same luxurious mode of life, and called down upon themselves the severe reproofs of bishop diego and prior dominic. gaucelin faidit wrote a play, called "the heresy of the priests," in which he flung back upon the clergy the charges which they brought against the cathari. it was acted with much applause before boniface, marquis of montferrat, the friend of raymond vi, count of toulouse (a.d. 1193-1202). nor, indeed, could it be expected that those who shewed themselves so indifferent to the sacredness of their calling would do other than encourage violations of their prerogatives by the powers of this world. the counts, therefore, according to godfrey's chronicle, handed over churches to stupid persons or to their own relations, and that simoniacally. such people shew themselves to be hirelings, shearing the sheep and not attending to their infirmities, and—what is worse—encouraging in sin those whom they ought to correct. the bishops went about their dioceses exacting illegal taxes and exchanging procurations for indulgences.
in contrast to all this was the life and character of the catharists—for we may dismiss as incapable of proof the charges of extinguished lights, promiscuous intercourse, etc., which were but a réchauffé of the charges made against the early christians. catharism, which means puritanism, was a constant and conspicuous protest to an age and people characterized by a joie de vivre. the asceticism of the "perfect" in particular went beyond that of the severest monasticism, for they eschewed meat always, and not merely at certain times of the year, as well as all food produced by generation. their relationship of the sexes was ultra-strict. their word was their bond, and their religion forbade them {29} to mar it with an oath. they possessed no money, and were supported by the community. their simplicity and modesty in dress, their frugality, their industry, their honesty, kindled the respect, even the reverence, of the masses.[21] no hardships or dangers daunted their missionary ardour. when the church attacked the heretics by means other than by fire and sword, she failed until the dominicans copied their methods and the franciscans their manners.
[13] ο? ?ν βι?νν? κα? λουγδο?ν? τ?? γαλλ?α? παροικο?ντε? δο?λοι χριστο?, το?? κατ? τ?ν ?σ?αν κα? φρυγ?αν τ?ν α?τ?ν τ?? ?πολυτρ?σεω? ?μ?ν π?στιν κα? ?λπ?δα ?χουσιν ?δελφο??. (euseb., h.e., v. 1.)
[14] reinéri saccho says he knew an ignorant rustic who could recite the book of job word for word.
[15] in sanctorum vigiliis in ecclesiis historicae (= histrionicae) saltationes, obsceni motus seu choreae fiunt ... dicuntur amatoria carmina vel cantilenae ibidem (council of avignon, canon xvii, a.d. 1209).
[16] prohibemus—ne libros veteris testamenti aut novi laici permittantur habere: nisi forte psalterium vel breviarium pro divinis officiis, aut horas beatae mariae aliquis ex devotione habere velit. sed ne praemissos libros habeant in vulgari translatos arctissime inhibemus (council of toulouse, canon xiv, a.d. 1229).
[17] hegel's "philosophy of history," pt. iv, sect. ii.
[18] paracelsus, "works," vol. iv, p. 141.
[19] prob. in a.d. 1212, when the inhabitants fled to cordes (then a mere hunting-box of the counts of toulouse) from st. marcel, which was destroyed by simon de montfort. the date usually assigned to the founding of cordes, viz. 1222, is wrong. see "records of the académie imperiale des sciences, toulouse," series 6, vol. v. for this reference i am indebted to my friend, col. de cordes.
[20] nearly a century before this (v. infra) henry, the successor of peter de bruis, wrote a book which peter venerabilis had seen himself, setting forth the several heads of the heresy.
[21] reinéri saccho, a former catharist (but not, as he is careful to point out, a waldensian) and afterward an inquisitor, says the heretics were distinguished by their conduct and conversation: they were sedate, modest, had no pride in clothes, did not carry on business dishonestly, did not multiply riches, did not go to taverns, dances, etc.; were chaste, especially the leonists, temperate in meat and drink, not given to anger, always at work, teaching and learning, and therefore prayed little, went to church, but only to catch the preacher in his discourse; precise and moderate in language. a man swam the river ibis every night in winter to make one convert.
