Gordon Leff (1926–2020)

HERESY IN THE LATER MIDDLE AGES.

Since the publication of Lea's History of the Inquisition in 1888,
there has been no comprehensive work on medieval heresy which also
embraced the later middle ages. The present book is the first largescale
modern treatment of this later period. It attempts a synthesis,
based in the main upon original sources, but along different lines
from Lea's narrative approach. As the sub-title of his book indicates,
Dr Leff sees medieval heresy as springing predominantly from the
prevailing outlook of medieval society. Far from being something
alien or-initially at least-clandestine, it had its sources in the tensions
between Christian theory and practice and the desire to overcome
them. The author has thereupon treated the emergence of the main
later medieval heresies in the context of the dominant doctrinal
and spiritual themes of the period These have been grouped under
the three heads of Poverty and Prophecy, Union with God, and the
True Church, into which the book is divided. Each part examines both
the intellectual and spiritual antecedents as well as the heresy
associated with them; and the development of a sect, or sects, is
traced from its, usually, nonheretical origins to its final demise,
or, in the case of the Hussites and Waldensians, survival. There are
separate sections, or chapters, on the leading thinkers, Joachim of Fiore,
St Bonaventure, Peter John Olivi,

Eckhart and Wyclif, as well as the doctrines of the Ockhamists,
Marsilius of Padua and the Conciliarist writers.
The first part is concerned with the disputes in the Franciscan order
leading ultimately to the heresy of the Fraticelli. The second part
includes the first comprehensive modern examination of the heresy
of the Free Spirit. The third part deals with various groups like the
Waldensians, the English Lollards the Hussites (and the Cathars,
incidentally), who either rejected the Roman Church for their
ownseparate communion or sought its radical reform. The book opens with
a Prologue in which the nature and role of medieval heresy are considered
and its development during the 12th and 13th centuries sketched.… (meer)

HERESY IN THE LATER MIDDLE AGES

PREFACE
This book is an attempt at synthesis. It is not, however, a comprehensive
study of all later medicval heresy in the manner of Lea's History of the
Inquisition. I have included as much about Joachim of Fiore, St Francis
and Eckhart as the inquisition, and many of the central figures were not
herctics at all. The reason is that my concern has been with the place
of heresy in the outlook of the later middle ages. I have sought to treat
the main heretical beliefs of the cpoch in the context of its intellectual
and spiritual climate. The convergence between the heretical and non
heretical is the theme of this book. It is pre-eminently a study of heterodoxy
passing into dissent and ultimately heresy. Its major premise is
that heresy, far from being alien to Christian society, had its source in
the tensions between Christian precept and religious practice; it differed
from orthodoxy in the means which it sought to overcome them.
Accordingly attention has been directed principally to the making of
heresy. This has entailed giving prominence to many seeming
abstract notions; for this I can only ask the indulgence of those whose
interest lies in action, and suggest that they turn to those sections which
contain it.

The dates within which this study falls are not rigid. While it rarely
goes beyond 1450 it includes much that happened before 1250. That it
does not extend to the Albigensians, beyond the summary in the Prologue,
is intentional. The Cathar heresy played only a subsidiary role in
the later middle ages; it differs from the other heresies treated here in
not only containing important non-Christian elements but in being
in decline by 1300. I have omitted all references to sorccry and to what
appear to me to have been only transient groups or individuals such as
the Gugliemites. The bibliography does not include works for those
aspects not considered in the text.

I have made no attempt to achieve consistency over the spelling or
usage of names. The temptation was to render all names in their native
form; but it has seemed to me better to appear arbitrary in writin
Basel but Constance, John Gerson but Pierre d'Ailly, rather than reduce
them to a somewhat unnatural conformity. Again, the degree of
quotation, as well as Latin spelling, varies. Sources which are accessible
or well-known, such as the political writings of the thinkers discussed
in chapter five, have been only occasionally cited in extenso. Where this...

HEREJÍA EN LA EDAD MEDIA POSTERIOR

PREFACIO
Este libro es un intento de síntesis. Sin embargo, no es,, un estudio exhaustivo de toda herejía medieval posterior a la manera de Historia de la Inquisición de Lea. He incluido tanto de Joaquín de Fiore, San Francisco, y Eckhart como la inquisición, y muchos deEl figuras centrales no eran herejes en absoluto. La razón es que mi preocupación ha sido con el lugar de la herejía en la perspectiva de la edad media más tarde. He buscado para el tratamiento de las principales creencias heréticas de la época en el contexto de su clima intelectual y espiritual. La convergencia entre la herejía herético y no es el tema de este libro. Es pre-eminentemente un estudio de hetero- DOXY pasar a la disidencia y en última instancia herejía. Su principal premisa es que la herejía, lejos de ser ajeno a la sociedad cristiana, tuvo su origen en las tensiones entre cristianos precepto y la práctica religiosa; se DIF Fered de la ortodoxia en los medios que pidió a superarlos. En consecuencia la atención se ha dirigido principalmente a la realización de la herejía. Esto ha supuesto dando protagonismo a muchas nociones aparentemente abstractas; para esto solo puedo pedir la indulgencia de aquellos cuyo interés radica en la acción, y sugieren que se dirigen a aquellas secciones que lo contienen. Período en el cual este estudio caídas no son rígidos. A pesar de que rara vez va más allá de I4so que incluye mucho de lo que ocurrió antes de 1250. Eso no se extiende a los albigenses, más allá del resumen en el Pro Logue, es intencional. La herejía cátara sólo desempeñó un papel secundario en la edad media más tarde; se diferencia de las otras herejías la trataba no sólo contiene importantes elementos no cristianos, sino en estar en declive por haber omitido todas las referencias a la brujería y en qué me parecen haber sido sólo los grupos o individuos transitorios tales como la Gugliemites. El no incluye obras para aquellos aspectos no considerados en el texto no hice ningún intento de lograr consistencia en la ortografía o el uso de nombres. La tentación era hacer todos los nombres en su nativa pero me ha parecido mejor parecer arbitrarias por escrito de Basilea, pero Constanza, John Gerson pero Pierre d'Ailly, en lugar de reducirlas a una conformidad tanto contra natura. Una vez más, el grado de cita, así como ortografía América, varía. Las fuentes que son accesibles como los escritos políticos de los pensadores discutidos en el capítulo cinco, han sido sólo ocasionalmente citado in extenso. Donde esto… (meer)