The Corruption of Angels: The Great Inquisition of 1245-1246

249 Pages·2001·1.47 MB·English

by  Mark Gregory Pegg

THE CORRUPTION OF ANGELS
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THE CORRUPTION OF ANGELS
THE GREAT INQUISITION OF 1245–1246
Mark Gregory Pegg
PRINCETON UNIVERSITY PRESS
PRINCETON AND OXFORD
COPYRIGHT2001BYPRINCETONUNIVERSITYPRESS
PUBLISHEDBYPRINCETONUNIVERSITYPRESS,41WILLIAMSTREET,
PRINCETON,NEWJERSEY08540
INTHEUNITEDKINGDOM:PRINCETONUNIVERSITYPRESS,
3MARKETPLACE,WOODSTOCK,OXFORDSHIREOX201SY
ALLRIGHTSRESERVED
LIBRARYOFCONGRESSCATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATIONDATA
PEGG,MARKGREGORY,1963–
THECORRUPTIONOFANGELS:THEGREATINQUISITIONOF
1245–1246/MARKGREGORYPEGG.
P.CM.
INCLUDESBIBLIOGRAPHICALREFERENCESANDINDEX.
ISBN0-691-00656-3(ALK.PAPER)
1.ALBIGENSES.2.LAURAGAIS(FRANCE)—CHURCHHISTORY.
3.INQUISITION—FRANCE—LAURAGAIS.4.FRANCE—CHURCH
HISTORY—987–1515.I.TITLE.
DC83.3.P442001
272′.2′0944736—DC21 00-057462
THISBOOKHASBEENCOMPOSEDINBASKERVILLETYPEFACE
PRINTEDONACID-FREEPAPER.∞
WWW.PUP.PRINCETON.EDU
PRINTEDINTHEUNITEDSTATESOFAMERICA
1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2
To My Mother
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CONTENTS
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ix
1
TwoHundredandOneDays 3
2
TheDeathofOneCistercian 4
3
WedgedbetweenCathaandCathay 15
4
PaperandParchment 20
5
SplittingHeadsandTearingSkin 28
6
SummonedtoSaint-Sernin 35
7
QuestionsaboutQuestions 45
8
FourEavesdroppingFriars 52
9
TheMemoryofWhatWasHeard 57
10
Lies 63
11
NowAreYouWillingtoPutThatinWriting? 74
12
BeforetheCrusadersCame 83
13
WordsandNods 92
14
NotQuiteDead 104
viii CONTENTS
15
OneFullDishofChestnuts 114
16
TwoYellowCrosses 126
17
LifearoundaLeaf 131
NOTES 133
BIBLIOGRAPHYOFWORKSCITED 199
INDEX 219
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
T
HESTAFF,librarians,andarchivistsofOlinLibraryatWashing-
tonUniversityinSt.Louis,FirestoneLibraryatPrincetonUniver-
sity, Speer Library at Princeton Theological Seminary, Rare
Booksat ColumbiaUniversityin NewYork,theBibliothe`quenationale
inParis, the departmental archives of theTarn-et-Garonne in Montau-
ban,thedepartmentalarchivesoftheHaute-Garonne,theBibliothe`que
me´ridionale of the Institute d’e´tudes me´ridionales, and the Biblio-
the`que municipale, these last three all in Toulouse, were invaluable
throughoutthe writingofthisbook.Almostalloftheresearch wasun-
dertakenwithfellowships,grants,andfundsfromtheAndrewW.Mellon
Foundation,theHistoryDepartmentatPrincetonUniversity,theCenter
forHumanValuesatPrinceton University,The GroupfortheStudyof
LateAntiquityat PrincetonUniversity,theSchoolofHistoricalStudies
at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, and the History De-
partment at Washington University in St. Louis. Also, vital to the life
of this book were the participants of the seminars and lectures where
chapters, often quite shaggy and unshaven, were heard and discussed:
the University Center for Human Values at Princeton University, the
InstituteforAdvancedStudyinPrinceton,theCentreforMedievalStud-
iesattheUniversityofSydney,theQuodlibetConferenceattheCentre
for Medieval Studies atthe University of York,and theHistory Depart-
mentofWashingtonUniversityinSt.Louis.
More personally, my thanks (occasionally belated) go to Beatrice
Case`au, Ivona Percec, Elspeth Carruthers, Emily Rose, Barbara Kraut-
hamer, Christopher Brest (for his excellent map), Mark Spencer, John
Mundy, William Stoneman, Michael Stoller, David d’Avray, John Ward,
Teo´filo Ruiz, James Given, Susan Reynolds, Robert Moore, Jacques Le
Goff,GeorgeKateb,PierreBonnaisse,MauriceBerthe,ClairePe´quignot,
ClaireVernon,AlisonMacDonald,SunjooMoon,AnjaBelz,PeterBiller,
John Arnold, Caterina Bruschi, Sean McWilliams, Sara Lloyd, Bette
Marbs,SherylPeltz,AmandaHingst,HenryBerger,JosephSchraibman,
David Konig, Hillel Kieval, Le´opold Delisle, Elora Shehabudin, Victor
Bolden, Roy Seckold, Graham Knowles, Andrew Knowles, and Victoria
Knowles.Thisstudy,inanumberofpastguises,wasreadwithgreatintel-
ligence, care, and friendship by Peter Brown, Edward Peters, Malcolm
Barber,JohnPryor,DavidNirenberg,DerekHirst,GilesConstable,and
Anthony Grafton. My editor Brigitta van Rheinberg was, when things
looked a bit bleak, forever hopeful, always encouraging, and extremely
patient.LaurenLepowimprovedmywriting(andsomyideas)withwon-