God as Freedom

The trial and execution of the three leaders of the Guglielmites in Milan (see the July 2 DM) must be seen in connection with the flourishing of many mystical strands in the late Middle Ages. The suspicion of heresy invested all of them, even though the repression was sporadic and capital punishments were rare until the 12th century, with the first official Inquisition established in Languedoc in the year 1184.

Historian R.I. Moore has traced the growth of intolerance and repression in the West in his amazing study The Formation of a Persecuting Society: Power and Deviance in Western Europe. It is a very important book for those trying to understand how modern Western society developed in such a violent way against the “other” of all kinds. From the 4th to the 10th century, prominent dissenting clergy were at most forbidden to preach or exiled. Then, in the year 1022, in the city of Orleans, France, fourteen clergy and lay people were led to death by fire, being accused of belonging to a satanic sect. A rare spectacle, but just the beginning of a long list.

Along the Low Middle Ages, some groups wanted to prove their orthodoxy and succeeded; some were condemned after lengthy trials; some were included or tolerated in the larger Western Church, provided they smoothed out certain claims; and some, like the Guglielmites or the Amalricians (see below), triggered the most violent response. All of this raises questions about the religious mind of that time, but also about that of our time, to the extent that it derives from its preceding forms.

One of the interwoven strands of Medieval religious critique is undoubtedly that related to voluntary poverty, which some, such as Francis of Assisi, embraced as a challenge to the growth of social inequality and early capitalism. Perhaps less known is another strand, that related to freedom and the Holy Spirit. Plenty of translated sources about this strand can be found in the volume The Movement of the Free Spirit, authored by Raoul Vaneigem. Most interestingly, Vaneigem is a kind of anarchist who looks into Medieval sources to ground his own political directions.

The essence of the “freedom of the Spirit,” which — as so many sources tell us — was sought by many people in the Low Middle Ages, is already found in the early Christian sources.

St. Paul claims repeatedly that the believer is not chained anymore by obedience to rules and authorities, inasmuch as he or she has internalized God’s good commandments and goodness flows naturally from his or her heart. Later, he made clear that one cannot challenge the state with impunity. Did he change his mind, or is Romans 13 essentially a cover-up?

The first Letter of John — written perhaps around the year 100 — is a testimony to the situation of people who claim they cannot sin anymore, as they are true believers. But who can verify such a claim?

Medieval men and women who claimed for themselves the freedom of the Spirit were avid readers of the New Testament and knew Paul’s and John’s letters very well. They were also influenced — to a lesser extent, pace the historians who do not know the New Testament — by Joachim da Fiore, a 12th-century abbot who elaborated a tripartite understanding of history. After the eras of the Father/Law and that of the Son/Gospel, the new imminent era was that of the Spirit/Freedom.

Let’s take as an example Beatrice of Nazareth, a 13th-century Cistercian abbess in Flanders. Her biographer wrote: She had arrived at such freedom of spirit, such constancy of heart, and such purity of conscience… that, in all her deeds and thoughts, she never feared nor was in awe of man, nor devil, nor angel, nor even divine judgment. In her writings, she talks about reaching the state of free conscience, without any remembrance of the sins committed, and praises the desire to attain such a freedom, in which the soul reflects perfectly the image of the Creator.*

Beatrice was never charged with heresy, even though her lack of sense of guilt or submission to male authorities is remarkable. She did not even fear God! Her experience strikes me as quite similar to that of Guglielma of Milan, except that Guglielma’s followers identified her with the Holy Spirit, which triggered the Inquisition machinery (see yesterday’s DM).

Sexual matters must be looked at as an important element of the charges against Free Spirit folks who were imprisoned, tortured, and often executed. A 1270 document called Determinatio de novo spiritu lists the errors of this kind of heretics as a tool for inquisitors. In it we find the belief that whoever is united with God can assuage his carnal desires with impunity and in any way, with either sex, and even by inverting the roles. Another, even more interesting belief, is this: People hinder and retard their perfection when they indulge in fasting, flagellation, discipline, vigils, and similar things.

The leaders of the Amalricians had already been condemned and burned alive in Paris — about ten of them in the year 1210. This group was especially charged with sexual offenses stemming from their belief in being divine, and thus beyond any law. Most interestingly, one of their teachings that was condemned is the following: Whoever knows that God is within him need never be sad, but should laugh.

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References from R.I. Moore, The Formation of a Persecuting Society: Power and Deviance in Western Europe

and Raoul T. Vaneigem, The Movement of the Free Spirit, pp. 107, 118-119, 121.

Banner Image: Heretics being led to execution in Orléans, 1022. Image by Émile Bayard, 1860s. Public Domain. Wikimedia Commons

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Queries for Contemplation

What is deep freedom to you in your spiritual quest? What connections do you see between the Low Middle Ages and our times?

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Related Readings by Matthew Fox

Julian of Norwich: Wisdom in a Time of Pandemic–and Beyond

Meditations with Julian of Norwich

Meister Eckhart: A Mystic Warrior for Our Time

Meditations with Meister Eckhart: A Centering Book

Passion for Creation: The Earth-Honoring Spirituality of Meister Eckhart

Confessions: The Making of a Post-Denominational Priest

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