Proving Woman (16 page)

³³
At the time of this critical confrontation, the eighteen-year-old Margaret had almost gone back on her early spiritual promise
by falling in love with a handsome young man (
VMY
, pp. 108–9; trans. King, pp. 18–20).

³⁴
VMY
, p. 109; trans. King, pp. 20–21. Note certain analogues with Paul and Thecla. Thomas uses the same biblical phrase when Mary
of Oignies has a similar insight about a rich merchant who came to visit her (
SVMO
, p. 574; trans. King, p. 7).

³⁵
VMY
, p. 111; trans. King, pp. 24–25. The vision conferred a capacity for still greater levels of fasting and self-mortification
(
VMY
, pp. 114–15; trans. King, pp. 30–31).

³⁶
VMY
, pp. 116–17; trans. King, pp. 35–36.

³⁷
On one occasion, the intensity of Margaret’s longing for her confessor in order to allay her scruples provokes a miracle,
whereby she is permitted to picture Friar Zeger very clearly in her mind, although he is five leagues away in Lille. Drawing
on his scientific knowledge, Thomas likens Margaret’s miraculous vision to that of a lynx, which can penetrate opaque objects
with the light cast from its eyes (
VMY
, pp. 122–23, trans. King, pp. 46–48; cf. Thomas’s
Liber de natura
rerum
4.58, ed. H. Boese [Berlin:Walter de Gruyter, 1973], 1:143). For other attacks of scrupulosity, see
VMY
, pp. 118–19, trans. King, pp. 28–29;
VMY
, p. 120, trans. King, p. 42.

³⁸
VMY
, p. 119; trans. King, p. 40. Cf. Dorothea of Montau’s relationship with her confessor in Dyan Elliott, “Authorizing a Life:
The Collaboration of Dorothea of Montau and John Marienwerder,” in
Gendered Voices: Medieval Saints and Their Interpreters
, ed. Catherine Mooney (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1999), pp. 168–91.

³⁹
VMY
, pp. 128–29; trans. King, p. 59.

40 See John Coakley, “Friars as Confidants of Holy Women in Medieval Dominican Hagiography,” in
Images of Sainthood in Medieval Europe
, ed. Renate Blumenfeld-Kosinski and Timea Szell (Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 1991), pp. 222–46; idem, “Gender
and the Authority of Friars: The Significance of Holy Women for Thirteenth-Century Franciscans and Dominicans,”
Church History
60 (1991): 445–60.

⁴¹
VLA
, p. 202; trans. King, p. 59. Cf.
VMO
, p. 565; trans. King, p. 78. James’s letter of 1216 recounts how his baggage train was miraculously rescued by the intervention
of his “mother,” Mary of Oignies (
Lettres de Jacques de Vitry
, ed. R.B.C. Huygens [Leiden: Brill, 1960], ep. 1, p. 72); cf.
SVMO
, p. 579, trans. King, p. 27; cf.
VMY
, p. 110, trans. King, p. 22). Thomas also strove to place Lutgard in spiritual conversation with James and Mary. For example,
James is represented as giving the illiterate Lutgard practical advice bearing on her spiritual life, counseling subordination
to a more learned sister in her order (
VLA
, p. 207; trans. King, p. 88). See James’s letter to Lutgard and the rest of her community in which she is referred to as
“my most spiritual friend” (
Lettres de Jacques de Vitry
, ep. 2b, p. 79); also see ep. 6c. The otherworldly intervention described below further demonstrates the linkages between
the two holy women and their clerical sponsors.

⁴²
VLA
, p. 192; trans. King, p. 10. Bernard clearly contributed in some way to this vita, at the very least as a privileged informant.
See, for example,
VLA
, p. 205, trans. King, p. 79;
VLA
, p. 199, trans. King, p. 44. Note that King thinks Bernard is actually the author of this earlier life (
Life of Lutgard
, p. 120 n. 49). The Bollandists identify Bernard as penitentiary to Innocent IV (see
AA SS
,
commentarius praevius
, June, 4:187). Gregory IX, however, also had a Dominican penitentiary named Bernard who could have been Lutgard’s confessor
(Auvray, nos. 4812 [22 March 1239], 4917 [20 August 1239], 4918, 6089 [18 July 1241]). Moreover, this same Bernard plays a
small role in exposing the inquisitor Conrad of Marburg’s abuses (see chap. 3, pp. 98–99, below; Lea,
Inquisition
, 2:336, 344–45). Note that “papal penitentiary” in this period means someone with the papal power of absolution. But later
Thomas says explicitly that he is confessor to the pope as well (
VLA
, p. 205; trans. King, p. 81). Bernard came especially to Aywie`res for Lutgard’s extreme unction since she thought, wrongly
as it turned out, that she would die (
VLA
, p. 206; trans. King, pp. 84–85).

⁴³
VLA
, pp. 202–3; trans. King, pp. 65–66. Cf.
De apibus
2.10.7, pp. 160–61. See John of Freiburg’s efforts to comfort the priest who, in the course of hearing a confession, is stimulated
by sins of the flesh of which he had not hitherto been aware (
Summa confessorum
bk. 3, tit. 34, q. 81; bk. 3, tit. 34, q. 83 [Rome: n.p., 1518], fols. 192r, 192v–93v; cf. Raymond of Peñafort,
Summa de
poenitentia
3.34.30, p. 465; Antoninus of Florence,
Confessionale
, fol. 28r). John Gerson will even invoke the rhetoric of martyrdom on behalf of a priest aroused against his will (see Dyan
Elliott,
Fallen Bodies: Pollution, Sexuality, and Demonology in the Middle Ages
[Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1999], pp. 24, 29). Thomas’s complaints about such hazards continue in his
later writings (
De apibus
2.10.7, p. 161). See Alexander Murray, “Counselling in Medieval Confession,” in
Handling
Sin: Confession in the Middle Ages
, ed. Peter Biller and Alastair Minnis (University of York: York Medieval Press in association with Boydell and Brewer, 1998),
pp. 72–73.

⁴⁴
James of Vitry was freed from his dangerous attachment to a female religious through Lutgard’s prayerful intervention (
VLA
, pp. 196–97; trans. King, p. 30). She also interceded on behalf of a prior for his release from purgatory, where he was being
punished for an excessively harsh rule (
VLA
, p. 197; trans. King, pp. 31–32), and often intervened to assist potential penitents in making a confession. Thomas concludes
with an exemplum about a mysterious pilgrim, expert in discerning unconfessed sins, who has an eye on top of his head, representing
God’s knowledge of all sins (
VLA
, p. 202; trans. King, pp. 64–65). Cf. Christina Mirabilis’s spirit of prophecy, which revealed secret sins (
VCM
, p. 655; trans. King, p. 18). Christina Mirabilis is also alluded to in James of Vitry’s prologue to Mary’s life (
VMO
, p. 548; trans. King, p. 6). This kind of service is not restricted to the Beguine milieu. The Vallombrosan abbess Humility
of Faenza (d. 1310) performed the same office for her community (
Le Vite di Umilt[agrave] da Faenza: Agiogra
fi
a trecentesca
dal latino al volgare
, ed. Adele Simonetti [Florence: Sismel, Edizione de Galuzzo, 1997], c. 26–28, p. 11; on the secret sin, see chap. 5, pp.
223, 226–27, below).

⁴⁵
VLA
, p. 205; trans. King, p. 77.

⁴⁶
Glossa ordinaria
to Ps. 115.16, ad v.
O domine quia
(citing Augustine), vol. 3, fol. 259r.

⁴⁷
For the Cathars, see the account of Ralph of Coggeshall (d. 1218) excerpted and translated in
WE
, p. 253; Rainerius Sacchoni’s
Summa
(1250) in
WE
, p. 333; and the
Brevis summula
of an anonymous Franciscan friar (between 1250 and 1260) in
WE
, p. 356. For the Waldensians, see Stephen of Bourbon’s account, in
WE
, p. 347; Anselm of Alessandria’s notebook (1266), in
WE
, p. 371. Cf. Bernard of Fontcaude’s account, based on a debate between some Waldensians and orthodox proponents (ca. 1190),
in
WE
, p. 213. See Bernard Gui,
Practica inquisitionis hereticae
5.4, ed. Célestin Douais (Paris: Alphonse Picard, 1886), p. 248; trans. in
WE
, p. 391. Also see Caesarius of Heisterbach’s account of the Waldensians and the Cathars in
Dialogus miraculorum
5.20–21, ed. Joseph Strange (Cologne, Bonn, Brussels: J. M. Heberle, 1851), 1:299–303, trans. H. Von E. Scott and C. C. Swinton
Bland,
The Dialogue on Miracles
(London: George Routledge, 1929), 1:342–44. With regard to Cathar and Waldensian skepticism concerning the cult of saints,
seeMariano d’Alatri, “Culto dei santi ed eretici in Italia nei secoli XII e XIII,”
Collectanea Franciscana
45 (1975): 85–104; Caroline Walker Bynum,
The Resurrection of the Body
(New York: Columbia University Press, 1995), pp. 216–18; Carol Lansing,
Power and Purity: Cathar Heresy in
Medieval Italy
(New York: Oxford University Press, 1998), pp. 126, 127. Not all heretical sympathizers were consistent, however. See ibid.,
pp. 90, 99; AndréVauchez,
Sainthood in the Later
Middle Ages
, trans. Jean Birrell (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997), pp. 425–26 n. 2. On Cathar discussions of Christ’s supposed
miracles, see Raoul Manselli, “Il miracolo e i catari,”
Bollettino della Societ[agrave] di Studi Valdesi
97 (1976): 15–19; Lansing,
Power and Purity
, p. 128.

⁴⁸
The “novice” in Caesarius of Heisterbach’s dialogue expressed befuddlement over what the Cathars stood to gain from dying,
since they rejected the resurrection of the body, purgatory, etc. (
Dialogus miraculorum
5.21, 1:301; trans. Scott and Bland, 1:344–45).

⁴⁹
William of Puylaurens,
Chronique
c. 13, pp. 61 ff.; Lambert,
Medieval Heresy
, pp. 97–98, 133–38, 139–40.

⁵⁰
Edward Peters observes a similar impulse at work among the Protestants, who venerated their own dead (
Inquisition
[Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1989], pp. 126–29).

⁵¹
Stephen of Bourbon,
Anecdotes historiques, l
è
gendes et apologues tir
è
s du recueil in
è
dit
d
’
Etienne de Bourbon
, ed. A. Lecoy de la Marche (Paris: Librairie Renouard, 1877), no. 348, p. 308; cf. no. 350, p. 310.

⁵²
William of Newburgh, in
WE
, p. 247.

⁵³
Ralph of Coggeshall, in
WE
, p. 253. The girl’s death, occurring sometime between 1175 and 1180, was the result of a spiteful denunciation by the cleric
Gervaise of Tilbury. When the girl refused his advances, equating loss of virginity with damnation, he recognized her as
a heretic.

⁵⁴
See Pelhisson,
Chronique
, pp. 62–63. The passage is cited as an epigraph to chap. 4, below. See Dossat, “La répression,” pp. 238–39.

⁵⁵
Pelhisson,
Chronique
, pp. 80–83.

⁵⁶
Vauchez,
Sainthood
, pp. 147–55; Cf. Miri Rubin’s “Martyrdom in Late Medieval Europe,” in
Martyrs and Martyrologies
, ed. Diana Wood, Studies in Church History, vol. 30 (Oxford: Black-well, 1993), p. 162. Note the cult surrounding the martyred
heretics of southern France, particularly the case of Esclarmonda Durban, whose trial was believed to have been irregular
(chap. 4, pp. 175–76, below). This tendency is epitomized in the cult of a “martyred” dog. See Jean-Claude Schmitt’s
The Holy Greyhound: Guinefort, Healer of Children since the Thirteenth Century
, trans. Martin Thom (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1983).

⁵⁷
On martyred inquisitors, see Pierre Delooz, “Towards a Sociological Study of Canonized Sainthood,” in
Saints and Their Cults
, ed. Stephen Wilson (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1983), pp. 206, 215 n. 24.

⁵⁸
Vauchez,
Sainthood
, p. 37; see Peter of Vaux-de-Cernay’s discussion of Peter of Castro’s work in Toulouse (trans.
WE
, pp. 36–37).

work in Toulouse (trans. 59 Ibid., p. 142 n. 3.

⁶⁰
See Yves Dossat, “Le massacre d’Avignonet,”
Cahiers de Fanjeaux
6 (1971): 343–59; idem,
Les Crises de l
’
Inquisition Toulousaine au XIIIe sie`cle (1233
–
73)
(Boudeaux: Imprimerie B[egrave]ire, 1959), pp. 146–51. See William of Puylaurens, who makes the most of this episode, in
Chronique
ann. 1242, c. 43, pp. 166–67.

⁶¹
On his career, see Antoine Dondaine, “Saint Pierre Martyr,”
AFP
23 (1953): 66–162; Lea,
Inquisition
, 2:207 ff. Dondaine’s article was, in fact, written as a reaction to Lea’s dismissive treatment of Peter’s cult.

⁶²
Dondaine, “Saint Pierre Martyr,” pp. 87–88. Peter may also have been responsible for an inquisitorial manual. See Thomas
Käppelli’s excerpts, “Une Somme contre les hérétiques de S. Pierre Martyr (?),”
AFP
17 (1947): 294–335.

⁶³
Lea,
Inquisition
, 1:460.

⁶⁴
See Vauchez,
Sainthood
, pp. 415 ff. Cf. Rubin, “Martyrdom,” pp. 157 ff.

⁶⁵
William of Auvergne,
De virtutibus
c. 21, in
Opera omnia
(Paris: A. Pralard, 1674; reprint, Frankfurt am Main: Minerva, 1963), 1:186. This position might theoretically exculpate the
heretic from wrongdoing since he or she could not exercise free will (
De
fi
de
c. 2, in
Opera
, 1:9).

⁶⁶
Stephen of Bourbon,
Anecdotes
no. 18, pp. 25–26; no. 336, p. 286; no. 333, p. 283.

⁶⁷
Caesarius of Heisterbach,
Dialogus miraculorum
5.18, 1:296–98; trans. Scott and Bland, 1:338–41. Cf. 9.12, 2:175–76; trans. Scott and Bland, 2:118. See Caroline Walker Bynum’s
effort to come to terms with the tenor of violence, in “Violent Imagery in Late Medieval Piety,”
German
Historical Institute
30 (2002): 3–36.