The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1898-06-19

H6loiBe drove him to take tho monAstto vows ne
st. Denis. Even in tho oloistor he was restless
and insubordlnAte He published a treatise on
the Trinity, which was denounced by tho aged
Roscelin as snvorlng Of Sabsllianism and
burned at a council in Scissors In 1921. He
left st. Denis after rousinR the fury OF
his fellow monks by demonstrating the un-
historical character Of the accredited legend
OF st. Dionysius, the Areopagite, their
reputed founder. After some years spent In
his new monastery of the Paraclete in Cham
payne, Abelhrd sought absolute retirement as
Abbot Of ST. Gildas dc Rhuys In the widest
part OF his native Brittany. But he fed. at last.
from tho savage monks OF st. Gildas, and again
appeared as n teacher in Paris. Recognised as
tho incarnation Of the new critical spirit, he had
long been obnoxious to the stout upholderB of
tho Ecclesiastical tradition, like st. Bernard.
The lattor now denounced him, and induced
tho French Bishops to assemble In council at
Sens to condemn his heresies. Despairing of
Justice at the hands of such q body, Abelard
appealed to the Pope, but Innocent H., who
was as much under Bernardo influence 80 were
the French Bishops, condemned him to lifelong
confinement In q monastery. Abelard fell sick
at Cluny while on his way. to Rome and was
treated with q sympathy and kindness that
stood in strong contrast to Demands inveterRtO
hostility. He was received into the Cluniao
fold and made some sort of recantation of his
heresy. In 1142 he died at Chalons. but the
spirit OF his teachings did not die with him.
The schools of Paris retained the fame with
which he had first invested them. While the
regular Canons Of st, Victor made their abbey
the homo of traditional theology, tempered by
mysticism. The secular schools of tho cathedral
retained the spirit Of inquiry and criticism
which secured for them q pormAnenco OF
influence that not even the patronage
OF ST Bernard could give to the
school of st. Victor. II the stigma Of heresy
was attached TO some OF Abelard's disciples. as
to Arnold of Brescia, others, like Peter the
Lombard, became lights of orthodoxy without
any great departure from Abelard's doctrines.
Gilbert de la Porree, q disciple OF tho humanistio
school of Charities and Bishop Of Poitiers, was
denounced by ST. Bernard as a hereto, and, in
HAS. Pope EuGenius presided at a council in
Refms to deal with Gilbert's errors. But the
very Cardinals refused to follow any longer
Demands leading. When Gilbert escaped I'M
condemned. tho new theology had won
its way to q recognized position in the
Church. With its wider diffusion, however,
the new learning lost the character of revolt
which, in AbelRrd's time, had been associated
with it. But the spirit of revolution, though
conquered in the schools. took presently moro
popular shapes. Even in tho eleventh century
there had been wandering teachers OF strange
doctrines. From the beginning of the twelfth
century distinctly h~eretical sects were crystal.
lizing round different principles Of innovation.
For moro than twenty years an unfrocked priest,
Peter de Bruys, taught with powerful effect in
Dauphiny and Provence. He was an enthusi-
asst like the old Montanists, rejecting all
forms. discipline and tradition in favor of
the living spirit and denouncing the
sacerdotal system and many Of the most
treasured doEmas of the Church. About 1897
Peter was burned alive at st. GILES by the mob,
whose fury he had excited by making a bonfire
Of crosses and pious emblems. His followers,
however. kept together after his death. and,
eventually, Joined themselves to the now sect
of the WaldeDses or vaudois. About 1177
Peter Valdez, a rich merchant of Lyons, gave
up all his property and began to wander over
the country teaching repentance and the imi-
tation of the apostles. He was one of the
many prototypes of Tolstoi. Two hundred
years before Wycliffe's English version ap-
peared Valdez procured the TRANSLATION of the
Bible into a vulgar tongue. and soon began
to gather followers. After q few years
Of liberation he was communicated. and
then became moro frankly heretical. Before
his death, in 1897, adherents of his were to be
found in Bohemia. in Lorraine. in southern
France. in Aragon and in northern Italy. Those
"poor men of Lyons as thoy were called, re-
jected all priestly ministrations and included In
one sweeping denunciation prayer for the dead.
six OF the seven military service
and private property. Tho wise policy of later
Popes allowed the more moderate to combine
their own way of thinking with acceptance of
the Church's authority. and they remained,
for the most part. humble-minded quiet
lists, whose highest aspiration was to live
in peace. Other sects assumed q more
dangerous complexion than the poor men of
Lyons" From the eleventh century onward
obscure bodies Of heretics appear under tho
names of Manicheans, Paulicians. Cathari, Bull
garians. Patarini, and Publicani. Their strength
lay at first in the Rhineland. whence they in
fected the north of France. Ultimately they
found a moro sympathetic field in southern
France, where heresy had long 1ourished in
various forms. The origin of these sects is
doubtful; their doctrines. too. are hard to de-
fine. as we have for the most part to rely upon
statements of their enemies. 1t is clear, however,
that they represented mother a definite sect
nor an organized body of heretical teach.
ings. Like the early Gnostics. they indicate a
vague general tendency rathor than any pre-
else opinions, and differed widely, ono from an
other. The more thorough-going of them were
dualists, believing that there existed two equal
and co-oternal delties. the one evil and tho
other good. The practical teachings Of these
heretics were as various as their doctrines. They
utterly despised all things of tho flesh. and from
this contempt flowed moral views both as.
celtic and antinomian. They distinguished
sharply between the elect and tho repro
bate. They rejected the authority both Of
tho Church and of tho State. Instead of the
ordinary offices of tho Church they had a sort of
spiritual baptism called conSoldmentum, which
was reserved to the perfect believers. Apart
from their religious horesies they were frankly
hostile to tho whole order OF society. The on
spring of vague discomfort, twelfth century her
esy took. as a rule. such vague and fantastic
shapes that it almost condemned itself, but. how
ever ill.regulated. 1t was another sign that the
human mind had awakened from tho sleep of
the dark ages.
iii.
Another great intellectual incident of the
twelfth century was the revival OF the scientific
study Of law. which grew up alongside the new
birth of d~ialcctic and philosophy. had almost
as powerful an influence as these studies in