Brethren of the Free Spirit
The Brethren of the Free Spirit were adherents of a loose set of beliefs deemed heretical by the Catholic Church but held (or at least believed to be held) by some Christians, especially in the Low Countries, Germany, France, Bohemia, and Northern Italy between the thirteenth and fifteenth centuries. The movement was first identified in the late thirteenth century. It was not a single movement or school of thought, and it caused great unease among Church leaders at the time. Adherents were also called Free Spirits.
The set of errors condemned in the decree Ad nostrum at the
The meaning of the term has in more recent times been extended to apply to the beliefs of other Christian individuals and groups, active both before and after the core period of the late Middle Ages.
Origins
The set of beliefs ascribed to the Free Spirits is first to be found in a text called the Compilatio de novo spiritu put together by
- Autotheism – in other words, a belief that the perfected soul and God are indistinguishably one. This was often expressed through the language of indistinction or annihilation. This belief would be heretical because it would undermine the necessary distinction between created being and creator.
- Denial of the necessity of Christ, the church and its sacraments for salvation – such that austerity and reliance on the Holy Spirit was believed to be sufficient for salvation. They believed that they could communicate directly with God and did not need the Catholic Church for intercession.
- Use of the language of erotic union with Christ.
- Antinomian statements ("Nothing is a sin except what is thought to be a sin"). Critics of the Free Spirit interpreted their beliefs to mean that they considered themselves to be incapable of sin and above the moral conduct of the Church.[3]Verses such as Galatians 5:18 ("Those who are driven or led by the Spirit of God are no longer under the law") were seen as foundational to such beliefs.
- Anticlericalsentiment.
During the late thirteenth century, such concerns increasingly became applied to the various unregulated religious groups such as the
14th and 15th century
During subsequent centuries, there was great fear of the Heresy of the Free Spirit, and many individuals and groups were accused of it. In particular, beguine and beghard groups came under suspicion.
During the late fourteenth century, western Germany became a particularly important area for pursuing the heresy. An example of one person executed is the wandering preacher
In the early fifteenth century,
By the early fifteenth century, the Catholic Church in Germany viewed heresy as a serious threat. It became a leading topic for discussion at the Council of Basel in 1431.
Similarities to other Christian beliefs
Fears over sets of beliefs similar to the Heresy of the Free Spirit have recurred at various points in Christian history. Fears over esotericism and antinomianism, such as were detected in the Heresy of the Free Spirit, may be detected in the early Church's response to
What was perhaps novel in the fears of the Heresy of the Free Spirit was the fear of the notion of personal annihilation. This was a new idea to the mystical tradition, but was also seen as the root of many of the other dangers that were perceived in mystics in the late medieval period.[2]: 55
Similarities may also be detected with seventeenth-century
See also
- Marguerite Porete
- Meister Eckhart
- The Mirror of Simple Souls
- Ranters
- Sister Catherine Treatise
- Men of Understanding
References
- ^ Both Robert E. Lerner, The Heresy of the Free Spirit in the Late Middle Ages, (Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1972) and Malcolm Lambert, Medieval Heresy, 2nd edn, (Oxford: Blackwell, 1992) agree that the so-called "heresy of the free spirit" never actually existed, even in the early fourteenth century, at least not in the form of specific doctrines promoted by any organised body, still less by any sect and least of all by the Beguines or Beghards.
- ^ a b c d e f Bernard McGinn, The Harvest of Mysticism in Medieval Germany, (New York: Crossroad, 2005).
- ^ Michael D. Bailey. Battling Demons: Witchcraft, Heresy, and Reform in the Late Middle Ages. Pennsylvania State University Press, 2003, p. 56.
- ^ Richard Kieckhefer. Repression of Heresy in Medieval Germany. University of Pennsylvania Press, 1979, pp. 38-39.
- ^ Robert E. Lerner. The Heresy of the Free Spirit in the Late Middle Ages. Berkeley, California: University of California Press, 1972, intro.
- ^ Edmund Colledge and J. C. Marler. "'Poverty of the Will': Ruusbroec, Eckhart and 'The Mirror of Simple Souls'". In Jan Van Ruusbroec: The Sources, Content and Sequels of his Mysticism, ed. P. Mommaers and N. De Paepe (Leuven: Leuven University Press, 1984), esp. pp. 15-16.
- ^ Henry Frank Eshleman (1917). Historic Background and Annals of the Swiss and German Pioneer Settlers of Southeastern Eastern Pennsylvania, and of Their ReMote Ancestors, from the Middle, of the Dark Ages, Down to the Time of the Reva War. London: Forgotten Books (reprint), 2013, p. 5. Online text: scan B.
- ^ John C. L. Gieseler (1855). A Textbook Of Church History, vol. 3. New York: Harper and Brothers, 1858, tr. John W. Hull, p. 174, footnote 8, where he cites Justinger's Bernese Chronicle.
- ^ Bernard McGinn. The Harvest of Mysticism in Medieval Germany. New York: Crossroad, 2005, p. 402.
- ^ Denys Turner. "Dionysius and some late medieval mystical theologians of northern Europe". Modern Theology 24:4, 2008, p. 654.
- ^ Bailey, Battling Demons, 49.
Further reading
- Norman Cohn, The Pursuit of the Millennium (Oxford, 1957).
- Bernard McGinn, The Harvest of Mysticism in Medieval Germany, (New York: Crossroad, 2005)
- Robert E. Lerner, The Heresy of the Free Spirit in the Late Middle Ages, (Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1972).
- Malcolm Lambert, Medieval Heresy, 2nd edn, (Oxford: Blackwell, 1992).
- Denys Turner, ‘Dionysius and some late medieval mystical theologians of northern Europe’, Modern Theology 24:4, (2008),
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