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PART II

we pass over in silence, as they would oblige us CENT. to enter into a detail inconsistent with the bre- XII. vity we propose to observe in this work. The government of this church was administered by bishops, and each bishop had two vicars, of whom one was called the eldest son, and the other the younger; while the rest of the clergy and doctors were comprehended under the general denomination of deacons [t]. The veneration, which the people had for the clergy in general, and more especially for the bishops and their spiritual sons, was carried to a length that almost exceeds credibility. The discipline observed by this sect was so excessively rigid and austere, that it was practicable only by a certain number of robust and determined fanatics. But that such as were not able to undergo this discipline might not, on that account, be lost to the cause, it was thought necessary, in imitation of the ancient Manichæans, to divide this sect into two classes, one of which was distinguished by the title of the consolati, i. e. comforted, while the other received only the denomination of confederates. The former gave themselves out for persons of consummate wisdom and extraordinary piety, lived in perpetual celibacy, and led a life of the severest mortification and abstinence, without ever allowing themselves the enjoyment of any worldly comfort. The latter, if we except a few particular rules which they observed, lived like the rest of mankind, but at the same time were obliged by a solemn agreement they had made with the church, and which, in Italian, they called la convenenza, to enter before their death, in their last moments, if not sooner, into the class of the comforted, and to receive the consolamentum, which was the form

on presbyte

I 2

[See SACHONI summa de Catharis, p. 166.

af

CEN T. of inauguration, by which they were introduced PART Minto that fanatical order [u].

XII.

brussians.

VII. A much more rational sect was that which The Petro-was founded about the year 1110 in Languedoc and Provence by PETER DE BRUYS, who made the most laudable attempts to reform the abuses and to remove the superstitions that disfigured the beautiful simplicity of the gospel, and after having engaged in his cause a great number of followers, during a laborious ministry of twenty years continuance, was burnt at St Giles's, in the year 1130, by an enraged populace, set on by the clergy, whose traffic was in danger from the enterprising spirit of this new reformer. The whole system of doctrine, which this unhappy martyr, whose zeal was not without a considerable mixture of fanaticism, taught to the Petrobrussians, his disciples, is not known; it is however certain, that the five following tenets made a part of his system: 1. That no persons whatever, were to be baptized before they were come to the full use of their reason. 2. That it was an idle superstition to build churches for the service of God; who will accept of a sincere worship wherever it is offered; and that therefore such churches as had already been erected were to be pulled down and destroyed. 3. That the crucifixes, as instruments of superstition, deserved the same fate. 4. That the real body and blood of Christ were not exhibited in the eucharist, but were merely represented, in that holy ordinance, by their figures and symbols. 5. And, lastly, That the oblations, prayers, and good works of the living, could be in no respect advantageous to the dead [w].

VIII:

[u] For a further account of this sect, see the writers mentioned above, and particularly the Codex Inquisitionis Tolosane. [w] See PETRI Venerab. Lib. contra Petrobrussianos in Bibliotheca Cluniensi, p. 1117.-MABILLON, Annal. Benedict.

tom.

XII.

cians.

VIII. This Innovator was succeeded by ano-c E N T. ther, who was an Italian by birth, and whose PART II. name was HENRY, the founder and parent of the sect called Henricians. It was, no doubt, a The Henrirare thing to see a person, who was at the same time monk and hermit, undertaking to reform the superstitions of the times; yet such was the case of HENRY, who leaving Lausanne, a city in Switzerland, travelled to Mans, and being banished thence, removed successively to Poitiers, Bourdeaux, and the countries adjacent, and at length to Thoulouse in the year 1147, exercising his ministerial function in all these places with the utmost applause from the people, and declaiming, with the greatest vehemence and fervour, against the vices of the clergy, and the superstitions they had introduced into the Christian church. At Thoulouse he was warmly opposed by St BERNARD, by whose influence he was overpowered, notwithstanding his popularity, and obliged to save himself by flight. But being seized, in his retreat, by a certain bishop, he was carried before Pope EUGENIUS III. who presided in person at a council then assembled at Rheims, and who, in consequence of the accusations brought against HENRY, committed him, in the year 1148, to a close prison, where, in a little time after this, he ended his days [x]. We have no accurate account of the doctrines of this reformer transmitted to our times. All we know of that matter is, that he rejected the baptism of infants; censured with severity the corrupt and licentious

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tom. vi. p. 346.-BASNAGE, Histoire des Eglises Reformées, period iv. p. 140.

[x] Gesta Episcoporum Cenomanens. in MABILLON, Analect. veter. avi, p. 315. ed. Nov.-GAUFRIDI Epistola in Lib. vi. Vita Sti. Bernardi. tom. ii. Opp. Bernhard. p. 1207.-MATTH. Histor. Major. p. 71-MADILLON, Præf. ad Opera Bern bardi, sect. vi. & Annal. Benedict. tom. vi. p. 346. 420. 434.

XII.

CEN T. manners of the clergy; treated the festivals and PART II Ceremonies of the church with the utmost contempt; and held clandestine assemblies, in which he explained and inculcated the novelties he taught. Several writers affirm, that he was the disciple of PETER DE BRUYS; but I cannot see upon what evidence or authority this assertion is grounded [y].

The horrid

IX. While the Henricians were propagating blasphemy their doctrines in France, a certain illiterate man, linus. called TANQUELINUS, or TANQUELMUS, arose in

of Tanque

Brabant about the year 1115, excited the most deplorable commotions at Antwerp, and drew after him a most numerous sect. If the accounts that are given us of this heresiarch by his adversaries may be at all depended upon, he must either have been a monstrous impostor, or an outrageous madman. For he walked in public with the greatest solemnity, pretended to be God, or, at least, the Son of God, ordered daughters to be ravished in presence of their mothers, and committed himself the greatest disorders. Such are the enormities that are attributed to TANQUELMUS, but they are absolutely incredible, and therefore cannot be true [z]. What seems most

worthy of credit in this matter is, that this new teacher had imbibed the opinions and spirit of the Mystics; that he treated with contempt the external

[y] That HENRY was the disciple of PETER DE BRUYS is not at all probable; since, not to insist upon other reasons, the latter could not bear the sight of a cross, and in all likelihood owed his death to the multitude of crucifixes which he had committed to the flames: whereas the former, when he entered into any city, appeared with a cross in his hand, which he bore as a standard, to attract the veneration of the people. See MABILLON, Analecta, p. 316.

[x] Epistola Trajectens. Ecclesiæ ad Tridericum Episcopum de Tanchelmo, in SEL. TENGNAGELII Collectione Veterum Monumentor. p. 368.-BOULAY, Histor. Acad. Paris. tom. ii. p. 98. -ARGENTRE, Collectio Judicior. de novis erroribus, tom. i. P. 10.

XII.

external worship of God, the sacrament of the CE N T. Lord's supper, and the rite of baptism; and held PARTIL clandestine assemblies to propagate more effectually his visionary notions. But as, besides all this, he inveighed against the clergy, like the other heretics already mentioned, and declaimed against their vices with vehemence and intrepidity, it is probable that these blasphemies were falsely charged upon him by a vindictive priesthood. Be that as it may, the fate of TANQUELMUS was unhappy, for he was assassinated by an ecclesiastic in a cruel manner. His sect, howe

ver, did not perish with him, but acquired strength and vigour under the ministry of his disciples, until it was at length extinguished by the famous St NORBERT, the founder of the order of Præmonstratenses, or Premontres [a].

excited in

Arnold of

Brescia.

X. In Italy ARNOLD of Brescia, a disciple of editions ABELARD, and a man of extensive erudition and Italy by remarkable austerity, but also of a turbulent and impetuous spirit, excited new troubles and commotions both in church and state. He was, indeed, condemned in the council of the Lateran, A. D. 1139, by INNOCENT II. and thereby obliged to retire into Switzerland; but, upon the death of that pontif, he returned into Italy, and raised at Rome, during the pontificate of EUGENIUS III. several tumults and seditions among the people, who changed, by his instigation, the government of the city, and insulted the persons of the clergy in the most disorderly manner. He fell however at last a victim to the vengeance of his enemies; for, after various turns of fortune, he was seized in the year 1155, by a præfect of the city, by whom he was crucified, and afterwards burned to ashes. This unhappy man seems

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[a] LEWIS HUGO, Vie de S. Norbert, livr. II. P. 126.CHRYS. vander STERRE Vito S. Norberti, cap. xxxvi. p. 164. & POLYC. de HERTOCHE, ad illam Annotationes, p. 387.

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