hiding. Nevertheless, Waldensian strongholds, particularly in the Massif Central,
survived for centuries, providing a welcome soil for the spread of Protestantism in the
16th century.
According to R.I.Moore, the inquisitorial approach derived from “new” bureaucratic
elites intent on expanding their power. By rallying society against groups branded impure
and dangerous, officials created a sense of beleaguered community that they alone could
protect. So successful was this technique that where no real groups existed it was
convenient to invent them, targeting marginal groups like Jews, lepers, homosexuals, and
single women. The impression that the sources give—that the clergy tried unsuccessfully
to restrain rabid mobs infuriated by religious dissidents—may be a mirage. On the
contrary, it was the sympathy that apostolic heresies (and even Jews) elicited among the
populace that drove the clergy to action against them.
Richard Landes
[See also: ABÉLARD, PETER; ALBIGENSIAN CRUSADE; AQUINAS, THOMAS;
BÉGUINES; BERNARD OF CLAIRVAUX; CAPUCIATI; CATHARS; DOMINICAN
ORDER; ÉTIENNE TEMPIER; FRANCISCAN ORDER; HERESIES, APOSTOLIC;
HOMOSEXUALITY; INQUISITION; LANGUEDOC; MILLENNIALISM; PEACE OF
GOD; PETER DE BRUYS; POPULAR DEVOTION; ROBERT D’ARBRISSEL;
SCHOLASTICISM; SIGER DE BRABANT; UNIVERSITIES;
WALDO/WALDENSES]
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