Ad abolendam

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Ad abolendam (lit. 'On abolition / Towards abolishing'; full title in

Frederick I, Holy Roman Emperor. The document prescribes measures to uproot heresy and sparked the efforts which culminated in the Albigensian Crusade and the Inquisitions
. Its chief aim was the complete abolition of Christian heresy.

Historical origins

The historical context for the issuing of Ad abolendam was papal reassertion of its authority in Europe following the

Third Lateran Council of 1179 had already resolved to prevent schisms of the kind that the Investiture Dispute had created, and decretals such as Ad abolendam were intended to enforce this;[4] Fisher has suggested that it was no coincidence that the decree followed the Peace of Constance of the previous year, at which the Emperor was in effect compelled to acknowledge defeat.[5]

Heretics

The list of proscribed heretical sects was originally decreed at the

Passagines, nothing is known,[10] and the Josephines are not even associated with any doctrine at all.[11]

Penalty

Those accused of heresy, if they could not prove their innocence or forswear their errors, or if they backslid into error subsequently, were to be handed over to the lay authorities to receive their animadversio debita ("due penalty"). All those who supported heresy were deprived of many rights: the right to hold public office, the right to trial, the right to draft a will, and the hereditability of their fiefs and offices.[1]

For the enforcement of the measures demanded by the decretal, Lucius obligated all patriarchs, archbishops, and bishops to re-announce the excommunication on certain feasts and holidays. Those who did not observe this for three years consecutively would be deprived of their ecclesiastical offices. The bishops were furthermore obligated to "seek out" heretics. They were to make bi- or triannual rounds[clarification needed] of their dioceses, visiting locations of suspicion and questioning the people about the existence of heresy. The people would be required to swear under oath (compurgation) anything they knew about heretical activity. All oath-breakers were to be treated as heretics.[1]

Canon 3

The bull was incorporated as Canon 3 of the Fourth Council of the Lateran of 1215 under Pope Innocent III. Contrary to what is often said, Lucius did not institute the Inquisition, which was not created until the reign of Pope Gregory IX in 1234.

References

  1. ^ a b c Peters (1980), p. 170-173.
  2. ISBN 978-0-7864-4409-0
    . Retrieved 5 May 2011.
  3. ^ Duggan, A.J., 'Conciliar Law 1123-1215: The Legislation of the Four Lateran Councils’ in Hartmann, W. & Pennington, K. [eds.], The History of Medieval Canon Law in the Classical Period, 1140-1234 : From Gratian to the Decretals of Pope Gregory IX, Washington 2008, p.212
  4. ^ Moore, R.I. The War On Heresy, Bungay 2012, p.205 (citing Peters, Heresy and Authority in Medieval Europe, pp.168-70)
  5. ^ Fisher, H.A.L., A History of Europe, London 1936, p.239
  6. ^ Moore, R.I., The Formation of a Persecuting Society, Oxford 2007 (2nd ed.) p.20
  7. ^ Lambert, M., Medieval Heresy, Oxford 2002, p.45
  8. ^ Bolton, B., ‘The Poverty of the Humiliati’, Innocent III: Studies on Papal Authority and Pastoral Care, Aldershot 1995, p.59
  9. ^ Chenu, M-D., Nature, Man and Society in the Twelfth Century, Chicago 1968, p.235
  10. ^ Wakefield, W.L. & Evans, A.P., Heresies of the High Middle Ages, New York 1969, p.30
  11. ^ Wakefield, W.L. & Evans, A.P., Heresies of the High Middle Ages, New York 1969, p.31

Bibliography

External links
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